There are certainly problems with that plan, but the idea that you deserve some kind of compensation for basic changes to trading or how the market works is staggeringly egocentric.

Yes, you can be publicly christian in China, they ostensibly have "freedom of religion," but you have to join a state-run church. It's joining an underground church, with allegiance outside of their influence, that will get you in trouble.

Having a lot of fingers isn't monopolistic, having one giant finger that takes up the whole pie is.

Besides, this isn't a new finger: Google already did this with the Nexus Q.

You last point isn't really an obstacle, they can still call themselves married.

I'd like to take it further really, "civil union" is still a little too close to marriage and we want to get away from any semblance of government participation in a religious practice. What we're really talking about here are the legal benefits bestowed by that status, and they don't have to come as a lump - break them off into separate contracts. A couple can sign a contract for property sharing, another contract for hospital visitation rights, etc. The added abstraction of using contracts means that there's no excuse to put any limits on who can sign them: why limit property sharing to just couples? Why can't your whole hippie commune sign a contract together?

Doing it this way means that you are free to be married or unmarried according to your own religious beliefs: if you are part of a gay couple and you want to get married your church can perform the service and that's that, you're married. If someone else comes along and says that according to their religion you aren't really married then that's fine too. You can just disagree, as you doubtless do with other aspects of your beliefs.

Being conservative doesn't mean that you never move, always demanding more and more data without ever actually doing anything.

You understand that Al Gore didn't make up Global Warming in the early 2000s, right? This research has been going on since the seventies at least, I remember learning about it in elementary school. The question has been answered at this point.

Okay, this is ridiculous. I know that complaining is just one of the things that we do here, but it's April first and they announce a ridiculous new "feature" about reading stories out loud which turns out to be in morse code. I'd say that you all aren't getting the joke, but that would imply that you aren't hearing it, which would mean that you have no reason to complain in the first place.

What is with you folks? The rule has always been: if you don't like Slashdot on April first, don't come.

"If you continuously prophesy gloom, you will eventually be correct".

"If you continuously prophesy spoon, you will eventually be correct".

"If you continuously prophesy loom, you will eventually be correct".

Get over it. Lean to tell the difference between a prediction based on evidence and a prophesy based on wishful thinking.

This is a joke, but it would be great if it were true. This would represent some kind of oversight at least.

If I'm not mistaken, this is basically how the British police have managed to keep corruption levels so low - one district polices another.

Yes... This is what I said, what are you going on about?

No, it claims that it can't be done two hours after they're dead.

It's nice to see Defender's Quest there, even if it's in a weekly sale and not the main bundle. They've been snubbed by the Humble Bundle for quite a while, but it's really a great game with a heck of a lot to it.

Not to take away from your point, but everyone benefits from this. The environment shouldn't be a left/right issue, and it's shameful that it's been turned into that.

Well I did say "religious establishment," - a church, baptismal font, or religious themed amusement park. My dream doesn't apply only to the Westboro Baptist Church, but most of the gospel of wealth churches, the scientologists, etc. But again: classifying churches as non-profits, rather than in their own category, is really about separating government and religion.

You say the current rules aren't difficult, and I'm sure that's true, but so what? I don't see the point that you're making there. The rules under my dream would be non-existent. Maybe your screwy religion doesn't have a congregation but believes in salvation through good works, and you do that through a soup kitchen somewhere. A soup kitchen which shouldn't have to be classified any differently from any other religious establishment.

I think you may have misunderstood the comment. What we have now is lack of separation - the state, usually the courts, decides what is and is not a religion or a religious establishment and consequently how it will be taxed.

What people are pushing for is an end to this practice - treat all non-profits the same way, including religions. This means that your weird cult will have to fill out a little more paperwork to get its tax exempt status, but you don't run the risk of some orthodox judge denouncing you as heretics. The catch is, and this is why people lobby against this, you would actually have to be a non-profit. There are criteria to be met, audits to pass. Some "churches," which are really just operating as scams, wouldn't qualify. The Westboro Baptist Church, for example, operates out of the family home (tax free) and claims the swimming pool as a baptismal font (tax free).

It's never forever, these agreements always have time limits on them. Usually ten years with the option for renewal. Here's the factsheet for the big auction from 2008, if you recall that one.