Our first encounter with an alien civilization will be the EPA trying to fine them millions of dollars.

Without the FOIA and responsible journalism there is no oversight by the people. If you can't see it, how can you oversee it?. The first amendment is in place, in large part, because freedom of speech is quintessential to the running of a fair process. Journalism is the "fourth branch" of government, and by not responding legally and appropriately to the FOIA requests the DHS is both acknowleging this and circumventing the well established process. So saying "Every single government department that has power over other people needs a watchdog or oversight committee." coupled with "The people are the oversight committee." is just a long winded way of saying that the DHS needs to be eliminated.

Who the fsck do you think you are kidding? The left go silent? I don't see a single post in favour of them. Do you really think only those on "the right" know how to post on Slashdot?

I wasn't ware that Vietnam Soldiers (for example) passed sedition laws.

Learn2english? I guess you need to learn2read. You can start with your own post, where you will see the whining. Then read what I wrote, where you'll see the simple fix.

I have been using Android since the first device ... the T-Mobile G1 ... came out. In fact I pre-ordered it before it was released. It has never been a problem for me either, and I use plenty of apps. This whole thing is much ado about nothing, really. Yes some apps have an ad in them, but I never really even notice them. I pay attention to the UI and don't click on the ads. Thus my reason for not having any sympathy for the winers, who are likely M$ schills or just plain idiots.

There are two inches of white space on the left an text off the screen to the right. Whoever programmed that Scribd site was incompetent as hell.

I think the specs race is basically over. Apple's specs allow them to make a fast phone in a small body with relatively good battery life. Android phones are generally made with the same 'generic' parts, and have comparable battery life by virtue of having a bigger case to cram a battery in. But all told, the phones are pretty close together, no matter what tricks each company is playing. (And I would argue that battery life is becoming a more dominant spec request as time goes on. I'd much rather have a longer lasting battery than a bigger screen, for instance.)

At this point, it comes down to being able to differentiate on things other than specs. The Android space is crowded. At the flagship level, everything is pretty close to everything else. Samsung is being reined in a bit on its Android modifications, so what we're looking at now is a bit of a race to the bottom on price.

So the specs for the Fire may be 'tepid', but they're probably not actually bad in any relevant way. The phone will hold up for at least a couple years. Amazon's only chance for their phone is to provide a compelling ecosystem, and they don't actually need to be the leader of the pack on specs to do that.

I don't disagree that this phone isn't actually that compelling, but it's not the specs that are sinking it. It could have top-of-the-market parts in there and you'd still shrug at it because the OS and Amazon integration just aren't good enough. The device just has too few merits to warrant much attention, in my opinion.

There are many. I'm not your research flunky.

"So you were walking around in the evening and got mugged? Why do you even try to complain, it is your fault."

No, you were walking around in the evening and someone asked politely: "Hey, if you'd like I'll trade you these services for your personl information", and you said yes. You could have said no, but you didn't. You said yes. Just grow the fsck up and stop crying that you shouldn't have to be responsible for the consequences of your decisions.

Loss of privacy isn't "demonstratable harm" because you agreed to said "loss of privacy." For future reference, if you lie face down and let some guy have his way with you, that isn't rape either. It doesn't mean consent laws are "worthless". It just means you don't get to give consent and then have the protections provided by them.

"How come I can turn on and use my computer without having any adware running on it, and I can't do that with a phone?"

Because you made a choice for which you refuse to take responsibility. If you want Android, but don't want Google Apps, you simply get a phone that is configured as such. Stop whining that you bought a product and it is doing what it is designed to do. If you don't like Apple's Walled Garden, don't buy Apple. If you don't like Google apps, buy a phone that doesn't bundle them and then don't install them. You are making a choice, and then crying like a little girl that you made the wrong choice (for you and a small handful of others, that is) and want Googe to eat the cost of your ignorance.

"I strive to write "perfect" code if I have the time. It's not that hard, just double check and try to run the edge cases in your head whenever you do something complicated."

I highly doubt you can write a non-trivial C or C++ program without bugs, or really any language for that matter. I'm not talking about thousands of lines either. 100 or so should do it. The fact that you don't mention any kind of requirements spec, perhaps with the aid of some CASE tools, or at least a testing and feedback method, coupled with the fact that you think that you can do it "in your head" makes it clear that you have no idea how to develop code.

You said "registry". That was enough to freak me right the fuck out, and I am a seasoned developer.