Oddly, the last time I _chose_ to use Firefox was several years ago. I occassionally choose to use Intenet Explorer to get MS updates, and to work with corporate sites that insist on "Microsoft only" features. But I discarded Firefox in favor of Chrome some time ago, simply for the better performance and compatibility with more websites.

Because the only one that has a response responsibility is me. The mistake was ever to consider this dialogue.

Well, let's keep in mind that you're the one asking the questions here. Far be it from you to sound anything other than Oz-like.

Oh, and you "know" all of the politics and legalities and intrigues. As though it wasn't ALL charades, from end to end, subsequent to the departure from common sense. Which was my point, after all.

If "illegal" means "likely to result in court action that actually sticks" let's just stipulate that the Obama Administration is just a sea of tea & crumpets.
Having rejected the idea of truth, the rule of law is just a line of coke we seem to snort together.

You understand that there are side deals with the IAEA? Watch the Senator Cotton video at the link. The whole situation is utterly indefensible. We could have just had the Red Hot Chili Peppers go to negotiations and play a concert and had more for our money. Our foreign policy seems to be: "Yeah, we got nothin'."

I believe the polls exist. I also believe that if you don't have access to the questions, methodology, and funding source, you're the sound of one hand with the clap.

As they say in Russian (a rough translation): saving those, who are drowning is up to those who are drowning. They also say: while you can hope that a god will help you, you should help yourself.

Basically there are enough people on the African continent to make it possible for those very people to figure out how to solve their own problems. I don't see African solutions to problems in Indonesia related to Avian Flu as an example.

You get the 12 mile military and 200 mile fishing limits for your land per international law. However, this must be land above the water. You cannot find land under the surface, dump tons of dirt on it, and claim those rights, per same law.

This doesn't mean you can't create the islands, but you can't do the 12 mile/200 mile thing. China thinks it can.

> How much you pay for a service has nothing to do with how much it costs to provide a service

Competition drives prices down. So there is a direct correlative effect in non-regulated/monopolized markets. I don't believe there is a car insurance price regulation in effect in the US.

Of-course people have these rights. You, as a person, have the right (meaning that you cannot be oppressed by government) to move out of a country and do your business in such a way as to minimise your taxes. Not having an entitlement to do that does not mean you do not, as a person, have the right (protection against government oppression).

Not being able to afford something does not mean you don't have a right to do it, having the right to do it does not mean you are also supposed to be given an entitlement to afford doing it.

Your lack of understanding of the concept of rights is not unique, most people don't get it.

If these politicians want the problem solved,

They don't. They want to play for the cameras and if they can also get another excuse to lock down the Internet, all the better for the Lidless Eye.

These people are simply never happy as long as anyone else is.

Unfortunately there has been a trend lately on Slashdot where the editors accept a lot of stories from people linking to their own site. I guess this is acceptable in the Twitter world but doesn't match a meritocracy where users submit interesting stories instead of pumping up their page views.

I don't think the editors have a choice in the matter. Slashdot is corporate, thus it must deliver bigger numbers every quarter or be labeled a failure and discontinued. Finding a niche and delivering a steady stream of eyeballs to advertisers isn't sexy with higher-ups, because they in turn must deliver exponential growth to shareholders. But exponential growth is only possible when you're way below what the environment can support, so the staff implements random changes to be seen doing something, which in turn end up driving existing users away.

People need to understand that the Web is not the frontier anymore. Dotcom bubble came and went, and sites like Slashdot are mature (boring) businesses which simply aren't going to grow significantly anymore. Put them into maintenance mode and use their steady revenue as venture capital to fund developing new, exciting things.

Money, being literally coins of precious metal, had intrinsic worth. Said government or bank could go to hell or lose a war, and you still have the value.

In that way, it started as merely another form of trade, a convenience to hold value from one sale until you found what you wanted to buy.

If the US went belly up, you have numbers on paper. When Kuwait was invaded, they were on a gold standard, but good luck going down to the Kuwaiti government requesting gold for paper, with a Saddam guy there.

- which is an extremely important right of people, the right not to be enslaved and kept in any particular country against their own will, the right to freedom of association, of private property, liberty and life.