In that situation, no amount of information security is going to help in any case.

That is a straw man argument. No nation on this earth has the power to invade and take over the U.S. Even if they could somehow get past the physical isolation of the country and it's ginormous military and move in a large occupying force, they'd find a hostile, technically capable, and armed populace who wouldn't stand for it.

The choices we have are between U.S. fascism with some terrorist attacks, and U.S. liberty with slightly more terrorist attacks. Out of those two, which would you pick?

Pfft. Like rednecks are going to sign up for anything that requires a captcha to begin with. I'd be surprised if more than 10% of them knew how to turn on the "magic thinking box" (nevermind get online).

Let's retry your terribly inaccurate example:

I wasn't going to buy a Mercedes in the first place, it doesn't matter if I instantly create a duplicate copy of one on the spot at no cost to anyone and drive off with it.

That's a much more apt example.

I'll agree that artwork open to interpretation won't work, ascii or otherwise.

But what about simple rebuses? Only two to three images that when spoken aloud sound like another word. A little more mental effort, perhaps, but easier on the eyes and virtually impossible for present-day computers.

We have culture? Who knew?

Life expectancy represents an average statistic - it includes infant mortality and accidental/violent deaths (which occurs in the early 20's more often than not).

The U.S. has a lot of accidental/violent deaths. Gang violence in the inner cities, 3500 people every month in car accidents, over 1000 people every year from bringing electrical appliances into the bath with them (I shit you not). Hence, the lower life expectancy.

No worries, we're not socializing medicine.

I believe the plan is to (eventually) offer low-cost federal insurance that allows us to actually get to choose our own doctor. It's not mandatory, either - if we're insured under our employer or wealthy enough to afford our own insurance, we can choose that instead. There's been talk of making insurance mandatory only for children.

No one is getting free medical care in the U.S. - except those on medicare/medicaid (and that system needs a serious overhaul).

This article just pertains to step 1 of Obama's plan, which is to reduce costs so that the government can actually afford to offer subsidized insurance.

Yeah, I'm with you on that one.

Well, for minor infringement I'd accept a 30 year sentence followed by a "constitution offender" registration.

The problem with sending out information to a third party is that you automatically lose the right to withhold said information on the grounds that it's self-incriminating, and search & seizure laws no longer apply (no one needs a warrant to take it).

If you're going to have backups off-site, better to send it to a server you own and operate, or an offshore server you only access through anonymous proxy.

If you're good at hiding things, then you're probably better off with a copy hidden at home. An SD card will fit into a remote in lieu of batteries, or a zippo with the stuffing taken out (search warrants don't apply to your person). A USB drive can fit easily into a cigarette pack, or - if you're really paranoid - inside a light switch socket.

Yah, sure, why not? The only time I put money in the bank is when I have to pay the utility companies anyway. If I left money in there they could use it to lend out more loans they can't back up.

I really, really miss the Wild Wild Web. I don't see why it can't just stay that way. Fuck commerce. They can make money the old fashioned way, and we can have our international communications network.

SCOTUS can only rule on cases that are brought to it. I think you'd be hard pressed to find something in this bill you could sue the government over that wouldn't just get nullified by sovereign immunity anyway.

Yep. Two terms for senators, four for congressmen sounds about right. Congress briefly considered imposing term limits on themselves some years back, but then decided that it probably wasn't in their best interest.

Beyond that, we need blind elections (no party or incumbent designation on the ballot). This would make it much easier for minority parties to get into power and break up the dual monoparty system we have now.

We have three major minority parties in the U.S. right now (Green, Libertarian, Constitutional), and while their platforms vary greatly, they all have one thing in common - they all want a smaller federal government.

Yes, yes, everybody here is familiar with that sentiment. My issue is, I would never sacrifice freedom for (supposed) security - so why am I having it taken away from me anyway?

Not really. I was already dreading the up-and-coming anti-terror legislation while watching the news on Sept. 11, 2001.

I've never been afraid of terrorism in this country. It's too big, it's too spread out: terrorists would be lucky to pull off an escapade once in a decade that would cause as much loss of life as traffic accidents cause every month.