Why the hell would anyone buy organic produce from China? People who choose organic are also usually choosing local produce, for similar reasons ( environmental impact ). Certainly I only buy local ( when I can't source the food from my own organic garden ).

What a stupid statement! Do you know what 'organic' is supposed to mean? If you have found ( God knows how you verified it ) some organic produce that had pesticide residue, you should report it and have the organic certification stripped.

The OP was asking about 'confiscating' *excess* wealth. No-one wants to take your Hummer ( well OK ... I think these these should be banned too ... but that's another dicsussion ).

It's a good question, and unfortunately for you, the answer that is in the US, there is a very strong culture of competition, accompanied with a disdain for helping others. Think 'reds under the bed'. Also note the stupid wank who posted 'fucking communist'. People like that are EVERYWHERE in the US - the whole social structure is decaying. Many people still buy the whole 'if we just remove all restrains on corporations and taxes, everything will be roses and lollypops'. It will take some very severe shocks to shake people out of this mentality ... and frankly ... very severe shocks is precisely what the US deserves. Let's see round 2 of the internetional financial market collapse ...

I agree with a lot of what you're saying ... however ... his service wasn't *necessarily* for illegal copying. Sure, that's what it was mostly used for. But it's a pretty slippery slope when you expect service providers to actively prevent copyright infringement.

Usually trolls are funny, witty, and somewhat related to reality. Usually.

Irrational fears? Are you an idiot, or a paid social media spammer?

Exactly. What astute capitalist would waste their money on a proper cleanup when there is no more profiting to be had? Better to hire accountants to hide the money, preferably transferring the assets and risk and clean-up responsibility to some shelf company with $1 in the bank. If the US government has a problem with the radioactive waste sitting around, they can always make radiation-laden ammunitions and dump it on the next civilian population standing in the way of the empire.

Actually the Japanese were trying desperately to negotiate a surrender even before the FIRST use of WMD against them. The idea that WMD somehow prevented deaths or suffering is total bullshit. It was a matter of the US asserting itself as the dominant military power, and Japan was a soft enough target to cop 2 WMD attacks. Interesting how the victors frame their attrocities.

Understanding what's killing us early is quite a different thing from DOING something about it. I can tell you what's killing us early right now. Diet. Toxic chemicals - in particular inorganic ones. Lack of exercise. Quick Summary: Western society. Now that we know what's killing us early, what do we do to fix it?

What are you progressing towards then? Absolute depletion of your resources and destruction of the environment? You may call that progress, but only because you're not capable of critical analysis of what Fox News and friends tell you.

Maybe you should be thinking creatively? Maybe you should REDUCE your energy 'needs'? Maybe you should replace your energy generation with safe technology? I've seen how you Yanks build cars. Jesus Christ! Now you're going to start building nuclear ( sorry ... new-clear ) reactors again? And, using a Westinghouse design. OMFG! By the way ... where's your million-year 100% safe waste dump this time? Not still that active volcano Dubya was pushing for?

They allow Israel to maintain their apartheid, terrorist state. The US has no problem with terrorism. In fact it trains terrorists - Israelis, the Taliban, and let's not forget the 'School of Americas' in Latin America, where they STILL train them en-masse.

While I accept what you say about the Taliban, I think it's equally important not to mistake the reason why the US are involved there. It's certainly not because the Taliban harboured terrorists. That actually makes you a 'special friend' of the US in many circumstances. It's not even because in this particular case, the terrorists they were harbouring happened to attack the US. It's because Afghanistan is sitting smack in the middle of Russia, Iran, China, Pakistan. It's geopolitical importance can't be understated. The US couldn't give a flying fuck about whatever atrocities were being committed there by the regime they left in charge, nor whatever atrocities are being committed there by the Taliban OR the US troups, OR the 'Nothern Alliance' ( who are just as bad as the other 2 ), nor whatever atrocities will be committed by whoever is left standing when the US are finally chased out with their tails between their legs. In a slightly less fucked-up world ... sure ... some benign superpower could step in and remove the Taliban without killing 1/2 of the civilian population in the process, then somehow leave the country gracefully and watch a vibrant new democracy evolve. This is NOT that world. The US is NOT that benign superpower. This war is NOT just, and nothing good will come of it.

By far the most insightful discussion I've seen on this topic is this book: http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Autopoiesis_and_cognition.html?id=nVmcN9Ja68kC&redir_esc=y Basically, it argues that life can be identified by it's circular organisation. It dismisses listing properties of living things. It also dismisses the idea that life must replicate or even evolve. Life is simply a particular kind of organisation. If it evolves and replicates, great. If it consumes something and expells something, great. But it's important not to list these as requirements of life, or we risk staring life in the face and not recognising it.