playing foul because they released a statement before ever contacting godaddy directly to resolve these issues

Oh, but conspiring with the media mafia and bought congressmen to censor the internet for profit. That's playing fair?

I hope they go bankrupt before 2012.

Somalian pirates, uppity citizens, same thing.

the bill applies only to foreign websites, not U.S. sites, accused of aiding copyright infringement.

Until a new law is passed that "clarifies" this one by allowing it to apply to U.S. sites.

In the past they've been been guilty of spending more on advertising than research.

Then you just say it was a gift exchange.

If businesses can use shady practices that adhere to the letter of the law while flaunting the spirit of it, so can citizens.

This was a response to a particular threat. The threat of citizens being free and wresting control back from the plutarchy.

The purpose of the TSA is to condition the citizens to a police state.

Very simple fix along those lines that I've wanted to see for years:

Deception for profit is illegal.

Deliberately broad.

This is what I was going to suggest. But before anyone actually tries this, I recommend watching a few thermite videos on youtube so you know what you're dealing with before you try it. That shit throws mad sparks and produces molten metal that whatever it is sitting on will have to deal with.

No it doesn't. A consumption tax invariably places a much larger tax burden on the lower classes because they spend a much larger portion of their income on consumables. I'm not saying an income tax makes much sense. But a consumption tax is incredibly jilted in favor of the rich.

Am I the only one that caught on to the fact that "beaming energy" has enormous potential use as a weapon?

I realize that's not the intention, and honestly, I think it's pretty neat, but it's somewhat alarming that the potential abuses do not seem to have been considered.

I totally agree with your sentiments. The percentage of American citizens that are millionaires is something like 0.3%, yet the percentage of elected representatives that are millionaires is about 40%. I think there should be a law that - given how important wealth is in our society - mandates that the income percentages of representatives match those of its populace. Then we might actually have enough people in there who care about the middle class and the poor to do something for them.

And Goddamn Democrats incapable of showing anything resembling leadership. Hook up that vagisil IV drip because they're just a bunch of vaginas.

I do not think that is the issue. Rather, that republican and democrat is to the wealthy what good cop and bad cop are to the police. That is, they're both working for the same side; the republicans as advocates, the democrats as purposely ineffectual opposition. That way the masses are kept placid by the illusion that we have a representative democracy and that it's not all controlled by one faction. When, if you ignore what they all say, and pay attention only to what is done or not done, we have a plutarchy. In theory we could just vote them all out. In theory, the next generation of pics could just develop wings and fly.

For some reason this has me thinking of the one ring...

then bitcoins will be worthless, since there is no ultimate source of bitcoin value

Untrue. The ultimate source of bitcoin value is the decentralized nature wherein your assets in BTC cannot be frozen by external entities, yet is electronically transmittable to anyone, immediately, without fees. Far though it may fall, this means that the value cannot be zero as there is value inherent in this ability. Requiring that you be able to pay your taxes in it is a red herring. If BTC is accepted as currency by any entity at all, then it has value. Governments and taxes don't enter into determining whether or not it has value, merely how much.

My entire point is that you need to just stop right there. Why would everyone start to accept bitcoin? It's complicated, and it offers zero advantage over federal reserve notes to 99.99% of people.

Because it is not controlled by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is neither federal, nor a reserve, but a form of fractional reserve banking system built on usury. It it is a bit more complicated. But it has to be because it is a distributed system. Just as torrents are more complicated. But do you deny that the bittorrent protocol isn't wonderfully elegant? The more people want to get a file, the faster it goes. The inverse is, a centralized server where, the more people want a file the slower it goes. Its the same for bitcoin. Decentralization makes the system better able to handle load, more robust and puts control in literally, everyone's hands instead of those of just a few. Just look at what happened when a tiny few people controlled the fed. 2% of the U.S. Population now owns 80% of the wealth. It's a pyramid scheme.

The only drawback I see with bitcoin is, people who are currently entrenched end up the most wealthy, or those who use current currency to buy into it end up the most wealthy. Still a pyramid scheme, just different masters. There has to be a way to inject value into the system and convert it into the fiat currency that is bitcoin. Perhaps I do not understand the project enough yet to know, but the scary part is, I'm afraid to even run the client for fear of being arrested by working on a currency system that is not owned and controlled by the Secret Service, FBI, and The Fed. The law is on their side, and they're frighteningly powerful besides.

Do you have any idea just how much your life would suck right now had it not been for the banking system bailout?

No, and neither do you. How it would have shaken out is pure speculation for everyone. Now that my money is in a credit union rather than a bank, I am immune to bank failure. How? A credit union isn't a bank! They're not part of the fractional reserve system of usury, but a local system that is available only to people in my area. We are all stakeholders and all derive interest from our savings and others' savings. In other words, it's a distributed system with a central authority for convenience, not profit.

I'm talking about your life. Just read up on previous liquidity crises where the federal government did not step in, and look at what happened to the common man like you and me.

I would rather have a temporary liquidity crisis than a permanent pyramid scheme. The liquidity crisis can be solved by a distributed currency system where the benefactors of interest collectors are the people who put the value in, instead of the bankers. Banks are bad for humanity. Credit unions and distributed systems are good. If you don't believe me, stop using the internet, because you don't believe distributed systems are good for humanity.

No it isn't sensationalist.

The last guy who tried something like this found himself in jail.

It is dangerous to be a part of. It is a crime, as listed under 18 U.S.C. 486

Whoever, except as authorized by law, makes or utters or passes, or attempts to utter or pass, any coins of gold or silver or other metal, or alloys of metals, intended for use as current money, whether in the resemblance of coins of the United States or of foreign countries, or of original design, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.