Yes, all government is evil. A necessary evil. If our only protection from wolves at night were a vicious wild dog, would we keep it? Yes... but we'd keep it tied up good and tight (the constitution) and we certainly wouldn't let it roam the countryside marauding every other village whenever it liked. Best thing for it is to deprive it of its food (taxes) to keep it good and weak.

I don't like Apple, and Steve Jobs was a dick. But... I applaud Apple for not paying into our tax system. What our government does with the money it collects is immoral and often unconstitutional. If Apple had paid their taxes the feds would have likely just used the money to build another domestic spy agency. Fuck the IRS, fuck the government, thank you Apple, even though I'm sure your primary goal was greed, at least your money will get re-invested in some new apple toy and not used to send hellfire missiles into funerals around the world.

As many others have replied, I object to both your propositions. People can and do change. Even a murderer that gets back out should be given their constitutional rights back again. After all, do you really think any law is going to even slightly hinder their ability to get a gun if they want to use it to commit a crime? I'd argue that the law actually creates an black-market that wouldn't otherwise exist and likely aids someone with ill intent.

No, the only advantage of Google+ is: It's not facebook.

People are dicks. Get over it. I've been called a thousand different offensive names in my life. We're all different and it's in our evolutionary behavior to exclude those that seem "Different" in any way we can to keep dominance over the group/tribe whatever... They key is realizing this, and letting the dumb be dumb. Words really can't hurt you, only your own insecurities can.

What's hilarious and ironic is that you here are doing the Exact Same Thing. You've chosen to single out those you feel are insensitive, you've categorized them and you're trying to exclude them. I'm willing to bet that you even have your own pet names for them as well... redneck, teabagger, white trash, bigot. You are as they are, human. If you've found a better way to live your life, then do so. Ridiculing those that don't follow your lead is... well... just as bad as calling them fags. It's just a different made up word meant to make them feel bad and not mate with your wife.

It's a sad that I know for a fact there are people in that facility watching this very thread right now and I can't say what I really think about it. That's where we are today. It's not going to get better, it's going to get worse. We can't even appeal to those that are watching us to do what is right and moral, because they were chosen specifically for their psychological predilection to do what they're told. The government of this country is doomed not just because of it's direction but also because the one thing it's excelled at over the years is squashing dissent without appearing to do so. Governments in the rest of the world have to deal with revolutions every so often, but like the forest that's long overdue for a wildfire, this countries going to go up like a torch when it finally does happen.

If it's such a great idea and no-ones making them, then do it yourself and get rich. I do think, however, that you'll soon realize that most couches are purchased by wives for reasons very different than utility... and the draping of the extension cords is done later by husbands thinking only of utility.

Thanks for that. It's an engineering work of art. Very impressive.

* 10 million violations is 250 billion dollars? Holy fuck.

The only company that I can think of that has that large of a database of health records would be either one of the government agencies... or Epic. Time to buy some stock.

You clearly have no idea how such systems work. My guess is that the IRS served their warrant and then demanded read only ODBC/API access to the companies systems. The company's DBAs likely balked at the idea... I know I would... and said "listen, if you have that sort of access, you could violate Hipaa if you submit the wrong query. We're very stringent on what we allow to be run against our tables" But the IRS being the IRS said "Fuck you, we're the IRS" and went right ahead. Once you have a legit login and password the data is no longer encrypted for you.

Knowing the ramifications of what the IRS were doing, the company likely logged their queries. The IRS's DBAs likely were worried the company in question could potentially get a court injunction to stop their access so their first query was likely "Select * from customers;" and dumped the entire table to a local table. Then company in question likely saw this, freaked out, but realized any lawsuit they filed would likely be quashed by "We have an ongoing investigation" yada yada... so they kept quiet about it until the original case was over.

I'm just guessing but I've been in similar situations and the governments admins are pricks and usually don't have a clue what they are doing. Violating hipaa is VERY easy to do if you don't know what you're doing. So much so that many people don't even want to work in departments that have access to such information. Make a typo in your query and you're getting walked out the door.

It's not reasonable at all. The persons paid their debt to society. Why can they never vote or own a firearm again? Remember, the VAST majority of convicted felons were convicted of things that were non-violent drug offenses and in most cases were years or decades in their past. If they've served their time, why are they punished for the rest of their lives? We're talking about a dude that got busted in his 20s with some coke and now he's 50, has a family, a good job, and can't vote or own a gun. It's ridiculous. All punishments should be finite and have an end.

The prohibition on voting is simply a way to keep people that might have insight into what needs to change about the prison system from having any ability to vote to change it.

Fake Name... Most emails I receive from such sites start with "Hello Gofuckyourself!" etc... if you want to be creative you can tailor the message to be as entertaining as you'd like. As an added benefit, if you give a different name at each site, when you get spam, you can know who sold your private data.

ok, but I don't even know you... you did mention candy right?

Where did you get that hippie bullshit? It's a job, if you were happy doing it they wouldn't pay you. I can code all day at home... or install a toilet (I, in fact, did bother last weekend ironically) I don't need my job to fulfill me, I can do the same work without others involved. This kind of thinking is what gets people trapped in Jobs or "Careers" where they think they can't leave or shouldn't leave. Fuck that, you should go wherever pays the most or you have the most potential to get paid more. No, you shouldn't take a job in an abusive environment. If the people there are jerks or the processes setup crush your soul, move on. But otherwise, if you can tolerate it for 8hrs and it pays the most, take it. Make your money, stick it into a broad index fund (S&P or whatever) and retire early. Retirement is happiness... plan for it.

You presume that college requires talent and desire and plumbing does not. Having done both, and having worked with people that have gone through one or the other, if I needed a complex task done and was give the option of choosing a plumber or a "college graduate" I'd pick the plumber every time. College means you're good at taking tests. That's it. You might be good at other things but really, there's no way to tell based on your degree. You don't get to be a plumber until you do an apprenticeship and someone personally certifies that you're not an idiot. If colleges had such things maybe my building wouldn't have MBA's floating in and out like god damned dust mites all day.

Also, plumbers get paid a lot more than most college graduates.