The home of the brave is not very brave sometimes.

The sad fact is that China has read the future better than us. It is developing more alternative and green power resources. For some time now it has been producing cheaper .AND. higher quality and more reliable goods than the US, while also having a lower carbon footprint. They are much smarter than Americans, so we should stop with the nonsense about: " if they had the same workplace rules we would be able to out compete them". It is just not true. They can beat us on a level playing field because they have a more efficient government for production, and a better work ethic.

It is about bloody time that a software developer is held accountable for delivering dangerous buggy firmware. As a purchaser, I have often been frustrated by how this industry has conditioned us to believe that this is normal and must be accepted. Indeed we are usually expected to subscribe to a continuing service to update delivered software for bug fixes. Can you imagine this happening with any kind of hardware delivery. Professionals in the motor vehicle must deliver a product quality that is consistent with the standards of that industry - even if it is software.

Israel treats Palestinians the way the USA treated American natives, and the way the Germans treated Jews. Of all the people who should know better.........

Wrong. It is impossible to criticize Israel without being accused of antisemitism. Of course they share intelligence with the USA. They owe us big time. This is a dog bites man story: expected, and therefore not news.

The reason is market failure caused by lack of sufficient regulation to ensure proper competition in the interest of consumers. We pay the highest price that the market will bear. It has nothing to do with the cost of production. Beware of deregulation: It is a con from those who want to distort markets.

Are you sure that the USA does not torture children? Consider the scenario: The CIA has captured a terrorist involved in a bomb plot. He knows when and where the bomb will hit. He is a tough bastard, trained by Al Qaeda to resist insipid American torture methods. This guy will take a long time to break. But wait, he has a 7 year old daughter who he clearly loves very much, She was captured with him and she is very frightened. He has been doing his best to protect her. Do you really think that the CIA would not torture her in front of him? That is the road you go down when you start torturing because the ends justify the means. A dozen innocent Americans are worth more than a little pain and suffering to the daughter of a filthy murdering terrorist. Right?

The elephant in the TSA room is that 911 demonstrated very clearly that sometimes passengers desperately need weapons to save the aircraft and prevent a disaster. Having a few passengers with criminal records and the guts, initiative, and fighting skill that usually go with them could not hurt either. If we dropped all screening at airports we would probably be safer.

American airline companies already have the shortest pitch in the world. They must use a model human who is an above the knee double amputee. This is almost endurable for short flights, but if you have to spend more than six hours with your knees crushed against the seat in front it is intolerable. Sleep is impossible. Australians, accustomed to 12 hour flights to Europe or USA, know this and avoid these airlines whenever they can. The idea of reducing this miserly pitch by an inch is plainly absurd. These greedy bastards deserve to lose market share.

It does not matter what anyone said because if they are too young they cannot give consent no matter what they say.

If the girl was below the age of consent, then it certainly (by definition) was rape.

I believe in moderation in all things, including moderation.

Australia says that it has a "Washminster" system, in that its lower house is like in Westminster but its Senate house is like in Washington. It does not have a President, but a Governor General whose powers are mostly symbolic, much like the Queen. The Queen of Australia at present happens to be the same person as the Queen of England. That is a cost saving outsourcing arrangement that will be changed soon. She "reins", not rules, by the consent of the people expressed through Parliament. If the Government loses a supply bill, the GG can require a double dissolution, which is an election for all members of both houses. That is just what the USA needs right now.

"Every great once in a while they are even useful." No advertising is ever really useful. The seller is paying to deliver you a message whether you want it or not. He will say anything in that message to persuade you to buy the product that he thinks he can get away with. Lies and exaggerations abound, and only a fool could believe anything. If you want a product like that do your own research and you will probably get a better deal elsewhere. Advertising forces up the prices of everything. It is best not to tolerate lies and exaggerations in your business life, as it is in your private life, and for the same reasons. The people who do them cannot be trusted with your love or your money. We can see in the comments on this thread that most Americans have become so tolerant of crappy advertising that they cannot imagine any other business model. Face it! It stinks if a marketeer is reading your private messages in order to sell you stuff. You can call it "scanning" rather than reading if you like but it is really much the same, and this will escalate to them reading your most private messages if they want to. At present they don't need to read the messages in the normal way, but if a business need for that arises in the future,then that is what they will do. A few big prosecutions under the wiretap laws now would be very helpful in showing these parasites that your privacy is more important than their profits.

I have a windows phone, HTC 8x, and it is nearly perfect. The only problems stem from Microsoft's pathetic attempt to own me. I don't want to use Explorer, and the APS store is pathetic. Every app claims to need my location, even when it certainly does not. This is enough for me to never buy Microsoft again. They deserve to fail because denying me the benefits of market completion should be a crime.