You so beat me to it!

Color me surprised!

...is that thanks to the lack of an IOMMU on consumer x86 computers, JavaScript exploits in the browser can now give you access to all the computer's memory, and along with it, ring 0. I can't wait to see the first whitepaper on the subject :)

Excuse me, how does deregulation have anything to do with SEC incompetency? The financial services industry in America is one of the most regulated industries in the world.

I should amend that to refer to the 20th and 19th century. We haven't yet had enough time in the 21st to make it 3.

Yeah, that's a good thing, but that free speech we all value is constantly being eroded by the government we elect to defend it. I wonder how the founding fathers would have felt about free speech zones, having to get a permit to hold a protest, or enormous government spy agencies monitoring the communications of Americans en masse, categorizing them as "threats" based on political views or affiliations.

Don't forget that presidents in this century and the last jailed people merely for opposing their wars.

Yeah, the booers aren't getting mowed down by tanks. But my pride as an American comes from the fact that we still have a few citizens left that realize even that freedom is under assault.

When you operate with a government-granted monopoly, you get to do all the crazy things government does and get away with it. Especially when your phony ratings extend to things like government bonds which the government absolutely wants good ratings on, no matter how miserable their real financial picture is.

It was the government that created all those distorted incentives in the first place... what with a fiat currency, interest rates at 1%, government regulations requiring banks to lend to people who couldn't afford it, government pushing Fannie and Freddie (corporations created by FDR in the New Deal) to extend their implicit government guarantee to sub-prime mortgages...

And you still think we should trust the bastards to watch our back? They didn't just miss all of this stuff, they lit the fire and then poured gasoline all over it!

Don't forget that it was an individual from the private sector that independently investigated Madoff's fund and tried repeatedly to warn the government, which continued to tell investors that Madoff was a-ok.

Bernie Madoff stole 50 billion dollars right under the SEC and FINRA's noses. Unlike private agencies like the UL that face the threat of extinction if they ruin their brand, government agencies routinely screw up, screw the people they're supposed to protect and get more money for their failures.

So the papers for two jurisdictions who have astronomically fucked themselves with their rampant fiscal incompetence want to steal more money from the private sector.

*Shocker*

I've always thought a remake of Rise of the Triad would be fantastic.

I know there are lots of left-leaning people here on slashdot, and understand the moral calling they feel. But it pains me every time I see an issue like net neutrality come up and people are demanding that the politicians intervene and regulate. We beg the politicians to enslave us and to take power they shouldn't (and don't) legally have. In the end, everything we give them is abused. It's expansive government regulation that helps cartels like the RIAA to remain in operation. Instead of fostering economic development, unleashing creativity and all the other arguments tossed around in favor of the IP regime, it seems to be doing exactly the opposite. And in the realm of IP legislation, it seems like all that is happening worldwide is either (a) ground is being lost; or (b) valiant efforts are barely keeping nasty legislation at bay. Unfortunately, until we stop clamoring for the government to further intervene in the markets, things are probably going to get a lot worse before they get better. Those of you who support net neutrality legislation... watch out. If we do end up getting such a law, it will probably be the "evil" telcos that end up writing the rules and having the last laugh, all on our tax dime.