Think of the 1000s of people who die every year from dihydrogen monoxide and nothing is done about it. The shame of it.

This is why simple tax codes are the best. The problem is not only how onerous the tax rate is but the complexity in complying with it.

So, what you're saying is that the world would be better off if there was no R&D in crops. New crop types are bad (as you have to pay for them, and worse yet buy them from a big-bad-corporation).

Yeah. No wonder your faith in humanity is quickly diminishing.

What is so wrong about a yacht? If he was looking at the design for a garden would you still spew such venom? He was designing something he found beautiful. Maybe he was keeping hope alive that he might sail it around the world; imagining the sunrises and the ocean sky. Is that so much different than you and I?

Oh. I got it. He's got money. Therefore he's evil.

I'm not saying realpolitik is good. I don't think we should have propped up any dictator. I don't think we should be giving foreign aid. But to call the US the most "oppressive" nation on earth for doing what every other power does smacks of bias to me. Again this does not mean that I approve of realpolitik.

Dude!!! Falling behind in technology? And you're on slashdot!?!

The US is not the only country in the world. Europe and Japan had to rebuild after WWII. China went through it's horrors under Mao; rejected communism in deed, if not in name and is now rising to where it *should* be. Obviously the US share of world technological progress is becoming smaller. But, falling behind in technology. No.

We're leaders in biotech, at the forefront of nanotechnology and 3D printing. No. We're not falling behind.

Stalin murders 10s of millions of his own people. Mao. Murders even more than Stalin.

US "invades" Vietnamese ostensibly (according to its detractors) to prevent Communism from spreading (the domino theory), and the inevitable massacre of civilians which would occur. The later argument was laughed at until the "Killing Fields" became known. (Yes the Khmer Rouge were Cambodian and were put down by the Vietnamese. Good for them!!)

The US props up dictators for all sort of Realpolitik reasons: the same as did/do the PRC (China), the USSR, France, England and all other political powers before (and those that will come). Some dictators (the Shah of Iran were far better than their successors).

And this makes the US the "most violent oppressive nation on earth." Iran, Turkey, Syria (even before the civil war), Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Myanmar are less oppressive than the US? What!?!

Fuck Bush, Fuck Obama. I say that without fear without the slightest concern that the US government will care in the slightest.

The US isn't perfect, but "the most oppressive?" Are you saying that because you disagree with the Iraq war? Yes, we should have acted differently but what about the mistakes of the UN, Saddam Hussein and Russia in the build up. (The UN by not giving a damn about it's sanctions and lines-in-the-sand being ignored , Saddam bluffing and acting like a blow-hard, and Russia giving Saddam aid and *apparently* moral support, indicating the US was bluffing and wouldn't invade.

OK. But that shows that there was bipartisan opposition to civilian trials. Therefore it wasn't due to Republican intransigence. Not that it matters but I'm not in favor of civilian trials but I do feel that the detainees should have their day in court.

True. But on this issue they didn't bring anything up to a vote. There was no proposal in the works. If there was a proposal and it passed the House and failed in the Senate (say 57-43) then ... I would agree with you.

But they (Obama, Reid, Pelosi) didn't bring up anything that, AFAIK, even got of committee.

By all this I'm not saying that Republicans are all sunshine and flowers - only that, as far as GITMO is concerned, the blame, if it exists, rests on Obama, Reid and Pelosi.

Re Health Care: There were numerous proposals - ALL were rejected out of hand. There were proposals such as increasing Medical Savings Accounts and many more. All rejected.

Re GITMO: Obama had control of the Senate and House for 2 years, plus he can submit an Executive Order. Don't blame anybody but Obama and the Dems if you think GITMO should be closed. In addition to those 2 years of unchecked ability to make a change Obama and his advisors had 5+ years to come up with policies to replace GITMO before Obama was inaugurated. All they came up with was try them in Civil Courts. Guess what. NY is a deep-blue state and there isn't consensus here about that. Add to the fact that most those in GITMO are prisoners of war captured in battle and it becomes even more difficult.

Should there be trials? Yes. Should these people be kept indefinitely without trial? No. But don't blame Republican intransigence. Have the courage to put the blame on Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi the political leaders of the party in power for two years.

"Crazy, genocidal brain." Come-on now.

Re the use of the word pepper - it applied to foods that were peppery. He wasn't a botanist. He was an explorer. He used the commonly used vernacular of his time

Are you know going to call the pilgrims "crazy and genocidal" because they called maize "corn." To the 17th C English "corn" was any cereal crop.

PS. Please nobody say anything as dumb as "he was lost." He was a f**king explorer. And if you look at a globe you'll see that he got his latitude correct. He miscalculated the circumference of the earth.

well, in that case you could add gym memberships. They would love to sell memberships to people who never come. (And that does happen.)

I think this is an excellent idea. I've been using versions of this for years and it's come in useful.

This is an early warning system in case things go wrong. And things do go wrong even when competent and paying attention to best practices.

I don't know if you consider me to be the original poster but even in places where business is driven by RFQ there is more involved than the quotes. Rarely do businesses solely make decisions based upon a simple quote. There are a lot of intangibles even when it comes to widgets (thread, button, zippers) for clothing companies or sand and gravel for construction companies.

I've been involved in numerous business and sales and marketing are everywhere even for interchangeable widgits (sand, gravel, thread, zippers).

I don't think people are sheep. Marketing isn't there to fleece the sheep. When I was in the market for a phone I looked at different options. Ads and corporate websites are important. When looking to refinance my mortgage I had people calling me trying to get my business. Clothing stores, restaurants market to us via their storefronts, ads, flyers, websites etc... I've worked for software companies and agencies. Someone, NOT ME, has to find the customer and land the sale. Without their work I would be out of work.

B2B marketers rely less on TV and magazine ads, that means their sales staff is even more important.