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Comment Re:You must be kidding. (Score 1) 63

I think EA and Microsoft should do their best to charge customers whatever their customers voluntarily agreed to

"Do their best"? That assumes any overcharges are accidental. You're giving those companies way too much credit.

What was the last time you heard of EA or Microsoft undercharging someone by accident?

Comment Re:Appropriate punishment (Score 1) 250

In the ruling, the SC made it expressly clear this was not some corporate pseudo-person's right to speech, but rather the rights of the owners, who carry along the right of free speech whatever they do, like anyone.

As AK Marc already pointed out, those owners already have their right of free speech, as individuals. Citizens United has conferred a further right, that other individuals do not have.

This was an attempt by right-wing extremists on the court attempting to extend the power of the ruling elite just a little longer. It will absolutely be overturned, and in the future, Citizens United will be looked at as an artifact of a shameful period in our history, sort of like Brown v Board.

Comment Re:Appropriate punishment (Score 2) 250

Citizens United is simply Freedom of Assembly + Freedom of Speech = Freedom of Speech for Assemblies of People.

Not quite. A corporation is not an assembly of people. By definition, it is an aggregation of capital. This is why you can have corporations that are entirely owned by another corporation, with the only human involved being the notary in another state who serves as the registered agent (at arm's length).

As you know from your thorough study of the writings of the Founders, especially the Federalist Papers, there was a strong belief that rights and responsibilities go hand in hand. A corporation is designed very specifically to remove personal accountability from shareholders (who are the owners of the corporation).

How can a legal mechanism be used on the one hand to shield individuals from personal responsibility be used at the same time to confer greater rights?

We'll look back on Citizens United approximately the same way we now look back on Brown v Board of Education. As the product of a shameful period in our history.

Comment Re:Transparency (Score 1) 139

Interesting, but let's look at another measure: the length of classification. The previous chart seems to indicate that the length of time these documents are being classified for is increasing.

Also, the declassification procedures are being fought by the administration at a very high level. Documents that should have become classified are becoming re-classified, which would not show up on your chart of "original classification activity".

Add in the level of whistleblower prosecutions and executive work product that is simple outside of the system via private emails, texts and "crashed hard drives", and you get a picture of a very secretive administration. What do you think?

Comment archeology (Score 4, Funny) 170

Where Can I Find Resources On Programming For Palm OS 5?

I'm pretty sure they were written in cuneiform on clay tablets, so you might want to learn the language of the Anunnaki

I might be wrong. Maybe they were written in Middle Egyptian on papyrus.

Either way, you could start by asking a very very old nerd. If you can find an old pay phone, wait for someone with long greasy grey hair to pick it up and start whistling into it. Make sure you have some jelly worms on hand, but not the green ones.

Comment Re:Appropriate punishment (Score 3, Interesting) 250

But slander and libel are notoriously hard to prove, and both Comcast and AT&T have very good lawyers to vet the message so that there was a very fine line they did not cross.

It's not their lawyers that are protecting them. It's their lobbyists and officers who decide on political donations.

We're in a brave new Citizens United world now. Makes no difference that a very large majority of people disagree with Citizens United and corporate personhood. Until Antonin Scalia and/or Clarence Thomas go to meet their judgement, we're stuck with it.

Comment Re:Appropriate punishment (Score 5, Funny) 250

They were not stating *facts*, but rather their opinion.

Did you look at the fliers?

There's this quote:

"internet service [is] already offered by two respectable private businesses?"

I'm pretty sure referring to Comcast as a "respectable business" is about as fraudulent as it gets. I'm surprised these fliers didn't burst into flames before the shills could hand them out.

Comment Re:don't have money to waste (Score 1) 114

The discussion wasn't about the military budget, it was about the cost of the wars.

Surely, when you want to know how much it costs to drive a car, you want to include gas and maintenance, right? Insurance and parking costs. Even the cost of traffic tickets.

The Council on Foreign Relations, who likes wars, tried to minimize the cost of the war just to the line items in the budget. It's worth having a more realistic estimate.

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