What did we get out of the last big housing crisis? There's a ever loving economic crash every 10 years like clockwork. The Republicans pull back the regulations, the economy crashes when rampant speculation runs out of control, the gov't bails out the rich and well connected and the Democrats get voted in to clean up the mess. It's been like this since the 70s, probably since before that.

Christ, the things that get modded up on /. these days...

The US Constitution was written by a bunch of wealthy land owners. Our representative gov't was specifically designed to ensure they'd keep that land and that the rabble wouldn't get too uppity. They weren't shy about it either. You can read plenty of documents from the time where they talk about it.

Republicans are in favor of Civil Asset forfeiture laws. It fits in well with their tough anti-crime stance. So it's not much of stretch to see them opposing this. Even Rand Paul pretty quickly dropped his bill banning civil asset forfeiture (or at least quietly let it die, which is the same thing). This is the first real step taken towards ending the practice since it began.

The real question is: after 40 years of non-stop tax cuts (especially for top earners) how are we going to fill the gaping hole in local law enforcement budgets this'll leave?

I came here to moderate, but unfortunately slashdot's bug initiation team has made it so I either have to have teeny tiny print or a side scroll. Hey, slashdot, we aren't all using thirty inch monitors! Jesus, even the newspapers (most are the worst sites on the web) don't fuck up this bad.

Really, slashdot, is Dice trying to get rid of you? This is really lame. You really should hang your heads in shame.

See you at Soylent News.

Now, someone else with points please mod me offtopic. Thanks.

ASCII is fine if it's only going to be published at slashdot, but conversion is a pain in the ass I shouldn't put up with.

It seems that slashdot no longer fixes bugs, but are trying to introduce more. Today I have a choice between a tiny font and a side scroll. LAME!

I think the writing was on the wall over a year ago when they tried to shove Beta down our throats.

I miss Taco, the place worked when he was here.

In further news various governments have dropped all attempts at regulating the internet after the 15th successful kicker starter campaign has created yet another global network outside of their control....

because I live in America, and our economic system isn't designed to handle a world of expert systems that replace all but the top and bottom 5% of workers; leaving the remaining 90% without the means to secure food, shelter and health care.

We have a dualapoly because of a lack of regulation. at&t and Verizon have been buying up competitors for years. There's a funny video of one of the guys from The Daily Show showing how AT&T undid their breakup through mergers

to rubber stamp 'em. U of Phoenix got it's start when a guy bought a secretary school so he could use the accreditation.

they're the ruling class. America has one. We just don't like to talk about/acknowledge our social betters.

by definition having them in the country reduces the prevailing wage...

It's using the phrase "offshoring" to mean Americans losing jobs to cheaper foreign workers in general. Probably because by now everyone understands that "offshoring" == "bad".

It doesn't change the fact that the basic point (the death of American IT) is correct. If you can bring anyone in with an "Advanced STEM" degree then India will just open more schools to rubber stamp 'em. Race to the bottom.

No, but he DID speak. This theory is the dumbest theory I've seen coming from someone who should know better for years; it's already been disproven before the dumbass thought of it.

Other apes have language. Prairie dogs have language. Even dogs have language, even though the only three things they say are "I'm hurt", "I'm lonely" and "get off my property before I eat you!" Previous STUDIES have shown this.

Why do these educated morons think vocal cords evolved for in the first place??

Also, the summary is likewise retarded: "If there's one thing that distinguishes humans from other animals, it's our ability to use language."

We may use it better than other species, but this is unproven; whales and dolphins may have more sophisticated language than us, but we can't tell because we can't understand them. It may well be that we're the only species to have abstractions, but that's not proven, either.

Tools aren't even human-only; birds and other animals have been spotted using tools. So what makes us different?

Music, art, and humor. No other species laughs (Hyenas' "laughs" aren't from humor); no other species make art (the elephant doesn't count; do you really think he knows what's going on?), and no other species makes music -- and no, bird "song" isn't music, it's speech (that the idiots coming up with this absurd theory don't understand).