Municipalities charge taxes for roads, garbage, schools etc. At least where I live it's the power company or the phone company that fixes their own damaged equipment when lines come down, not the city. And you bet your ass the city won't lift a finger to fix anything unless they are generating revenue from it.

What GP is proposing is some sort of "public" trunk that everyone can then attach to at the end points and sell from there. OK. What GP has not mentioned is that someone has to own and maintain this "public" line and if it's the city, you bet your ass they are going to charge you for it one way or another. It's not a city service otherwise, is it?

As for private industry being the only one that can fix anything no, that's simply not true. The city will charge you an arm and a leg to fix something, do a shitty job and call what they bilk you for it "taxes". Private industry will charge you an arm and a leg, do a shitty job, and call the difference profit. But unless it's a life or death service, governments tend to take their sweet time about things. Feasibility studies have to be done, committees have to meet and decide, and finally the 2 guys responsible for actually fixing anything that goes wrong in the whole town have to fit it into their schedule. Or does your town not have potholes, burst pipes, etc? If those get fixed overnight please tell me where you live so I can move there. Private industry tends to be a bit quicker because they want the money ASAP. The city already has your money. Try not to pay them and see what happens.

Sure. When a car crashes into the pole and takes out that one fiber, who is going to repair it? The municipality will do it in 2 months because they just don't give a shit. Anyone else won't touch it because they don't own it. Be careful what you wish for.

Unless you happen to be creating NEWS. Those emails are not copyrighted they are news-worthy and their publication and republication is to substantiate said news. Wouldn't it be a sad day if everyone could hide behind copyright. Politician - what I said was copyrighted don't repeat it. Court - this judgement is copyrighted you can't see it. Criminal - the slashing patterns on the victim are my copyrighted work, you can't reproduce it... etc. But first, "let's kill all the lawyers..." -- Shakespeare (proving you can still make money and be famous even 400 years after you are dead and copyright has expired).

So your argument basically boils down to "put up with whatever they want or shut the fuck up". Uh huh. You are the new America. I'm glad I don't live there.

But then they'd run the risk of entering the right house and god forbid - run the risk of maybe facing CRIMINALS. That's dangerous! Heck, it might even be someone who was caught smoking a joint! And everyone knows how violent those drug crazed pot smokers can be.

Just need to know if that baby crib is occupied or not. No sense dropping a flashbang into an empty room.

This is why I am quite looking forward to fully automated self driving cars. Never again will I get a ticket - or if I do, I can sue the car manufacturer. Of course the game will be up when city politicians realize what these cars mean to their "lost ticket revenues". Isn't entitlement grand?

Anonymous and secure. LOL.

I don't think there's a malaysian "race" so you're pretty clear of racism while still being insensitive :P

Actually the gravity of the black hole would cause the earth to fall "up" into the black hole. Also the difference in gravity from one random distance to another from the black hole would tear the earth apart. Don't mess with black holes. If they exist, that is...

How about terrorists - how many of them nailed?

So what if it turned out one of the character names was hyphenated?

Hahahahahaha you think tax money goes to pay for water and highways. No. Tax money goes to pay for stuff like this, this and this.

Haven't you noticed that America's infrastructure is crumbling? Now why is that?

Giving more tax income for the government is no better than giving a crackhead more money. It has been a long time since the US government has made effective use of its money. Besides - all tax revenue is barely enough to cover the INTEREST on the deficit (even at these low low rates) - let alone the deficit. A few hundred million here or there will make zero difference to the ocean of pork.

Software should obviously only be allowed to screw the consumer, not the middle-man seller! Seriously I have to ask myself what value these re-sellers provide when they even rely on software to price "their product" for them. I agree they should be held to their contracts in an effort to encourage most of them to make a real living.

It doesn't make sense to me. The patent has expired. There is nothing stopping a 3rd party from now manufacturing the drug - which is what should happen. If the original manufacturer wants to focus completely on their new patent protected drug that's their business. But if you screw with the market this way, anyone trying to make the generic will be forced into competition with this manufacturer who already has a fair slice of market share.