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Comment Re:"Full responsibilty?" (Score 1) 334

It's a bit of a grey area. Article I and Article II conflict a bit about who decides what and many of the clauses are somewhat vague. The war powers act of 1973 was supposed to clarify things but instead just muddied the water. Additionally, some question whether or not we can declare war on non-state actors like terrorists, Ron Paul for example suggested that we could not and recommended we use letters of marque instead. (which while still allowed are considered antique and haven't be actually used in a long time) In the US, where there are matters of contention these issues are usually resolved by the Supreme Court but in order to have standing you'd probably have to be the president or a member of congress and so far no one has pushed the issue. Personally I'd like to see us move back to formal declarations of war, but I doubt that's going to happen any time soon.

Comment Re:People of the book! (Score 3, Funny) 334

The only thing the religious hate more than unbelievers is heretics. The more similar the heresy, the higher the level of hate. Here is a nice joke from Emo Phillips to illustrate my point:

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!”
He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”
He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?”
He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me too! Protestant or Catholic?”
He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me too! What denomination?”
He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said, “Me too!”
“Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879 or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” I said, “Die heretic!” And I pushed him over.

Comment Re:Hey, there's a shock ... (Score 1) 334

Maybe your remote control warfare doesn't provide you with enough actual understanding of the situation and just deciding to bomb something without really knowing what you're doing is a bad idea?

'Collateral Damage' is military speak for "we don't actually care who we kill, but we'll pretend it's not a war crime".

There is never a zero percent chance of collateral damage, regardless of the weapon or soldier involved. It's important to set a high threshold of confidence, but that threshold will never be perfection, so from time to time you'll kill someone you didn't mean to. That's still quite a bit different from the terrorist's strategy which is to do 100% collateral damage ON PURPOSE.

Comment Re:lol, Rand sucking up to the dorks (Score 1) 206

The internet existed in 1983, and was spreading quickly in 1986.

Perhaps, but it wasn't available outside of a small number of specialists. I was a heavy computer user at that time I can guarantee you if it had been widely available I would have been all over that. Instead, for home users, the mid-1980s were mostly about BBS services, which while kind of similar, were by no means the huge interconnected thing that the internet has since become.

Comment Re:lol, Rand sucking up to the dorks (Score 1) 206

Minimizing future crime is certainly an important goal, but it's not the only one or even the most important one. The most important goal is that individuals should feel that they got enough justice that they're willing to abdicate their natural right to take matters into their own hands. A system which fails to meet that goal results in vigilantism and then eventually independent militias and civil war. This is one of the basics of being a civilized society ruled by laws rather than a group of barbarians.

Comment Re:the endgame is ironic here (Score 1) 289

if you had a great machine that automated all means of resource extraction, refining, assembly, and distribution, all powered by automated energy sources or just solar, then i'm sorry, the cost is negligible enough to be called zero

There would still be limitations on the quantity of raw materials, land, and the total energy production capacity. It would certainly be vastly different than things are now, but that doesn't mean everything would be free.

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