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This is a vast oversimplification. Try telling that to the families of those killed in a certain Israeli pizza shop or in the WTC.

I agree that we should not tolerate the constant creep in executive powers, all of which is being made in the name of national security, but let's not lose our perspective on the nature of terrorism either.

And about the FISA bill, make the effort, call your senators and let them know where you stand.

President Bush didn't lie about anything re:Iraq. If you've got a problem with anything he said, take it up with the intelligence community.

Screaming "he lied! he lied!" doesn't make it so. Much like a fat man wanting to believe the tray of cookies he just ate are calorie free doesn't make it to. ;)

mmm. Cookies....

Furthermore, it's truly quite amazing how Bush manipulated the intelligence to show that Iraq had WMDs, even going so far as to manipulate Russia's, Jordan's, France's et al intelligence to show the same thing. He even went back in time and had the Carnegie Institute write the book Deadly Arsenals which outlined Iraq's WMD program, and of course while he was back in time had the Clinton Administration link Iraq with Al Qaeda just to show off. A truly impressive whitewash that no one has been able to uncover with a 5-second google search.

Considering that it was slipped in by a Democrat (Dodd) and the person blowing the whistle is a Republican (Armey) you might want to warn people about not purchasing the equivalent "Obama Is Evil" book.

You know how you can tell the party affiliations on a Slashdot story? If its negative about a Republican the summary almost always mentions it. If its negative about a Democrat they usually just say "Senator" or 'Congressman" with no party affiliation.

Latest System? Are you daft? Celsius has been the standard for science and, well, everywhere except the US, for a long time. Just because the US has been staunchly ignoring the rest of the world's units and measures doesn't mean that it's this newfangled temperature scale only commies and Jews use.

the actual discussion should be covering calls between an American citizen and someone on a watch list who NEEDS his calls tapped

If someone NEEDS his calls tapped, law enforcement can get a warrant. That's how it's supposed to work here.

Stop fearing the terrorists; they want you to be afraid, but they're toothless. Bush's senseless war in Iraq has killed more Amerricans than all the terrorists this century. Meanwile ten times as many people die every year on American highways. IMO anybody who drives an SUV needs to be on a watch list and have his phone tapped; (s)he's far more of a danger to me than any Muslim terrorist.

And some of that "homeland security" money needs to go to guard rails!

I don't get your point. Are you trying to say that because some people are criminals that we should do away with the second amendment? Because that's really worked out quite well for the armed robbers in Australia since they banned law abiding citizens from owning weapons; armed robberies are up 44%. In Victoria, gun homicides are up 300%! Source: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=15304. Banning guns only disarms the law abiding citizens, the criminals don't care about one more law, never have, never will.

Now, if you are somehow saying that I would think that the Black Panthers should have not been allowed to have guns when they were trying to defend themselves against abusive cops, it all boils down to who was breaking the law. The cops were certainly out of line, but I am not convinced the use of deadly force was the correct response there. The time and place to use deadly force is narrowly defined, read "In the Gravest Extreme" for more information. Now, mark me as over-rated and flame bait.

Close, but the store reads more like this:

Net neutrality:
McCain - let the markets handle it
Lord Obama savior of the univers - legislate it, legislate it, legislate it, legislate it, legislate it, legislate it, legislate it, legislate it, legislate it, legislate it....

Broadband Availability:
McCain - increased access via competition
Obama the magnificent - re-define 'broadband', move toward universal service, increase availability at schools & libraries, re-define 'broadband', move toward universal service, increase availability at schools & libraries, re-define 'broadband', move toward universal service, increase availability at schools & libraries, re-define 'broadband',.........

H1B visas:
McCain - increase the number of them
Obama, whom women swoon over - full immigration overhaul, produce more American-born tech workers, make workers less dependent on their employers, full immigration overhaul, produce more American-born tech workers, make workers less dependent on their employersfull immigration overhaul, produce more American-born tech workers, make workers less dependent on their employersfull immigration overhaul, produce more American-born tech workers, make workers less dependent on their employersfull immigration overhaul, produce more American-born tech workers, make workers less dependent on their emplo....

Intellectual Property Protection:
McCain - gov't handles blatant abuses, works against protectionism
Obama for a change, in ANY direction, so long as it's change! - increase cooperation on international standards, increase cooperation on international standards, increase cooperation on international standards, increase cooperation on international standards, increase cooperation on international standards, increase cooperation on ....
Privacy:
McCain - immunity for companies that cooperated with warrentless wiretapping
Obama, oh, my preacher said what for the last 20 years? I was sleeping. Oh, my wife said WHAT last month? You took it out of context. And btw, don't talk smack about my wife... But that jackass my opponent is married to is fair game - expand the FTC to cooperate with international agencies to track cyber-criminals, expand the FTC to cooperate with international agencies to track cyber-criminals, expand the FTC to cooperate with international agencies to track cyber-criminals, expand the FTC to cooperate with international agencies to track cyber-criminals, expand the FTC to cooperate with international agencies to track cyber-criminals, expand the ....

I don't know why shit like this is considered insightful on slashdot.

Here are his income tax returns for the last two years. Maybe you can do the analysis yourself and see if there's something that would support your wild and baseless accusation. You know, because claiming McCain is just trading votes for cash and being corrupt does require a bit of evidence and proof.

I'm waiting...

Actually, it's about $12.99/month... Some people just like to whine without exploring their legal options first because the criminal options are marginally cheaper and they like to play the part of a martyr whose piracy rights are being violated. If you want copywritten material, buy a copy. Otherwise, live without it (or boycott it if you feel the need to protest.)

Here come the (-1 Troll) mods... Sig embarrassingly related.

That arguments ridiculous. There's nothing inherent in being black that makes them more likely to commit crimes, the root cause is in society and culture. Also, they don't actively seek out being black, whereas you're not born with a thumb drive full of kiddie porn. This is closer to speeding laws, where a certain behavior hasn't harmed someone else yet, but it's increasing the probability of you hurting someone in the future.

Besides, these people aren't just being put into prison because they might abuse children, they're actively supporting and distributing these acts to other people. Putting someone in jail for kiddie porn is completely reasonable to me, although I do think the process is emotionally charged to the point that it's hard for justice to be done in these cases. It ends up smelling like more of a witch hunt than anything, but, as CS Lewis said, witch hunts are completely reasonable if witches exist.

You know that feeling you got when Walter Bender left the project over a disagreement with Nicholas? That "Wozniak has left the building" feeling? Turns out we were right.

I think we can safely say that this has nothing to education of the third world or software idealism or even free market economics but is simply a nasty little case of cronyism and under the table deals. Nicholas is a board member and OLPC is a nonprofit. Last time I checked board members of nonprofits don't draw a salary.

This is the thing I hate about our current system. See, it would be one thing if they just flat out stated what they were doing, "It's in our corporate best interests to make sure that everyone learns to use our software, so we're going to make this cheap laptop and put Windows on it and sell it to third world kids." I would actually have a little grudging respect for that.

But no, once again the system has eaten up idealism and spat out lies and manipulation. Most people involved in this project were idealists who thought they were bringing something good and pure into the world. Many of them were devoted to open source. And they just got fucked, and the motherfuckers who did it to them are laughing all the way to the bank.

Last month a US court ruled that border agents can search your laptop, or any other electronic device, when you're entering the country.

As they should be able to. Any sovereign nation has the right to control who and what enters the country.

They can ... keep it for several days.

No, that would be seizing it. They need a reason to seize it. Customs can search without cause, but they cannot seize things without cause.

The border agent is likely to start this whole process with a 'please type in your password.' Of course you can refuse, but the agent can search you further, detain you longer, refuse you entry into the country and otherwise ruin your day."

Not entering your password is not grounds to refuse you entry into the country. On the other hand, lying to US customs IS grounds to ban you from entering the USA for five years.

PontifexPrimus writes "The current Blu-ray players won't be able to access content on disks released later on; the current generation (profile 1.0) won't be able to access the extras on newer disks (profile 1.1, "Bonus View"); the only exception being the Sony PS3. Further down the road we find profile 2.0 ("BD live") which requires internet connection capability for the player hardware. How will the owners of current players react when bonus features and other content will be denied to them on newer releases? Why would a standalone movie player require internet capability? And when will this generation be superseded by profile 3.0, profile 95 and profile XP?"
http://consumerist.com/344116/buyers-beware-current-blu+ray-dvd-players-wont-correctly-play-future-discs

cyberfunk2 writes "It seems the RIAA has finally decided to drink their own koolaid. It seems the aforementioned entity is attacking the what most people believe to be holy ground in a case against Jeffrey Howell. The Washington Post reports In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer. For his part, RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy said in a statement that the industry "will continue to bring lawsuits" against those who "ignore years of warnings,". "It's not our first choice, but it's a necessary part of the equation. There are consequences for breaking the law." Fair use anyone ?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122800693.html