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Comment Re:BBC / other state broadcasters? (Score 1) 132

Let me guess, that's a vague, hand-waving reference to the states that are disinclined to take on the new medicare mandates? Yeah, maybe they weren't charmed by the bald-faced lies that Obama told about that piece of legislation and his counter-constitutional, politically-driven, capricious execution of it? I know, how could anyone not like it, right? After all, if we want to keep our doctors and our previous insurance, we can, period. And our rates are going to go down an average of $2500 per family, right? Yeah. Lies. Exactly the sort of state-in-the-camera-and-lie stuff that DOES make people blame the government for mishandling their trust, their money, and their well being.

Comment Re: BBC / other state broadcasters? (Score 1) 132

It's freer from government influence than other funding mechanisms

What? It can't even work without the direct involvement in the government running the courts that are necessary for the BBC to collect their unavoidable TV tax.

Here's a way that the government could be even less involved: don't DO that. Let people who want to show programs to a large audience find their own way to fund the production and dissemination of that material. Say, by selling ads or attracting sponsors, etc. Remove the court system and penalties under law for not wanting to fund everything that's broadcast from the equation entirely. Why should someone who doesn't want to fund a given program be forced to, under penalty of being dragged through court? I have zero interest in watching our many all-sports programming options (ESPN, etc). You think the "best system we have" is for the government to be the enforcer in an arrangement where I'm forced to give them money anyway?

Comment Re: BBC / other state broadcasters? (Score 1, Informative) 132

The BBC is funded by a tax on the UK citizens, enforced by the criminal code. Your assertion is completely wrong.

Ah, so in Britain the government isn't involved in tax collection and enforcement. They don't do the collecting, they don't penalize people who don't pay, and they don't get involved in picking and choosing who receives those funds, or have any say, whatsoever, over how that money is allocated. That is an interesting system indeed! Who handles all of that, if not the government?

Comment Re:We need better legislation (Score 2) 102

In the US, yes. It makes no difference if it's a 50-pound Octo carrying a Red Epic shooting a Mercedes commercial, or a 15-gram kid's toy. In places like all of the US's national parkland, rivers, and coasts administered by the Park Service, they are all 100% banned. Likewise for 30 miles around Washington DC, without any regard to size or range. And no, it's not about "drones," it's about all RC (or autonomous) flying contraptions of any type or size, period. And they're just getting started.

Submission + - What Happens When Science Enables Aborting Babies With The 'Gay Gene'? (ijreview.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Bruce Carroll writes at the Independent Journal Review, "One gets the sense these days that the once far away, anti-Utopian worlds of George Orwell, ... and Aldous Huxley are actually here. ... The crux of my concern ... is the inevitable intersection of “safe abortions” and genetic selection to weed out “undesirables.” Genetic selection has reared its head already over the past few decades in China — girls are aborted and boys are the favored gender. In the United States ... a steep reduction in the number of Down’s Syndrome babies over the last decade ... So what do the LGBTQ activists — who are mostly left-wing — do when faced with the inevitable collision of “gay rights” and “reproductive rights”? We seem to be on the verge of the science community agreeing that there are genetic underpinnings to being born gay. ... None other than ultra-conservative Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum conceded the point this week in an interview with openly-gay MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow. ... This is quite a dilemma for pro-abortion gay activists ... Donors to gay rights groups and pro-abortion groups are frequently the same individuals, and millions are exchanged between these two causes. ... gay activists frequently cite “abortion rights” as a keystone to achieving overall LGBT equality. I wonder if gay activists realize that their ... devotion to pro-abortion political organizations, and the multi-million dollar abortion industry itself, may ultimately lead to the destruction of LGBT babies before they are born within my lifetime."

Comment Re:The perception of "drone" is powerful (Score 1) 272

Right. Trained and licensed just like the millions of car drivers around you, who area also in their cars, with license plates that can be identified. That explains why we have so many more drone injuries and deaths than we do car-related injuries and deaths. Well, actually, it doesn't. Manufacturers are selling hundreds of thousands of small multirotors every month, and the number of deaths is ... zero. As opposed to thousands killed by licensed, tagged, trained, on-board car drivers. Now that you're re-thinking this, I'm sure you're going to be looking for ways to ban cars from driving past your property ... because any one of those cars could hop the curb and smash right into your house. This MUST be banned.

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