Simple - there's various backends (not libraries) in gnome2 and gnome3 which behave differently, are incompatible and are called with the same names. Try installing the most recent gimp on the most recent version of CentOS or RHEL and you'll see an example of what was broken by this decision. You've got to either remove everything that needs gtk2 or give up on anything that needs gtk3. I can see why they did it (they wanted a clean slate and not have support old apps) but it still pisses me off.

One truly astonishing thing is the White House complained to the Irish embassy about that interview. It's as if somebody dared to insult a King and it really confirms the stupid feudal mindset that is supposed to be the opposite of everything the USA stands for.
He really did want to get treated like Royalty.

I'm wondering. If I look at your old posts will I see you blaming Clinton for the way the US economy fell apart under Bush? There were certainly a lot of posters on this site pushing that line.

Simple enough

With the way Obama's order to close GITMO was blocked by Congress maybe it isn't simple, but I have to admit I don't know. I'm fairly sure you don't either.

Did you guys really expect a constitutional lawyer to make major and rapid changes to the status quo? For all we know he may be working on it but we won't see it happen for twenty years.

Dunno. Ask Johnson and Nixon.

The US didn't sign up to the war crimes agreement so international law doesn't apply.

Good point - COINTELPRO was the FBI's job, but maybe the NSA is doing it these days. Not in the same league as the Stasi but still the same sort of thing.

the paranoia is unwarranted, but it still exists.

It may well be there, but there's also a marginalization of Qt/KDE by some of the largest distros (perhaps with that canard). If you look at the companies backing them, you'll see many @bigco addresses on the GNOME-related software teams and many, many fewer working on KDE. So I think some of it is simply NIH, but perhaps with a business strategy aspect of, "Who is Digia and why should BigCo be dependent on them when we have an alternative we control, even if it's not as good?" That question may have even had more merit under Nokia, especially when it was taken over by Microsoft (oh, did I say that out loud?).

Even if it's a false dilemma, it probably keeps many people working on the projects they like inside their comfort zone. Big choices can be made on merit, but there are sometimes humans involved who apply criteria without pure impartiality. Sometimes these bigco's pick a technology horse, and boy do they stick with it until it needs to be brought out back and shot. Qt/KDE is definitely not alone in that regard!

Lobbying? Now it's a euphemism for buying hookers and blow for a member of Congress if you want some free Stinger missiles.

Who used LessTif?

Everybody who didn't want to pay for Motif, for whatever reason

Sadly, by time it get really compatible it was mostly obsolete.

GTK was invented by the GIMP guys (early versions used Motif)

I bet most linux GIMP users were *not* linking against commercial Motif.

The USA got rid of that old fashioned Magna Carta stuff. Nixon, North, Poindexter, Scooter Libby and a pile of others were declared to be above the law, then there's the ones that never went to trial.

He wasn't, but some of the Taliban were.

They are an extralegal group that has shown it is not governed by the US Constitution so why do you persist with the illusion that Congress is in control of them, let alone the Courts that they are openly defying? We also have no clue what instructions they have been given by the Executive branch.
I think you need to give up your illusion and see them for what they are - an apparently better behaved version of what would in another country be the secret police of El Presidente for Life. They only really answer to one man and you can bet they are hiding a lot from him when it's in their own interests.

The CIA guy that had the military pulled out of the area so he could get the glory of catching Bin Laden with the help of some locals that ended up sending a warning could be painted that way - but instead I'd say they are just run by a pile of useless horse judges that just happen to have the right friends. I see them as toy soldiers that are always looking for somebody to fight instead of the real soldiers that are always looking to improve to do their best in a real fight that matters.

No, they take orders from the president and a few people who serve at his pleasure

Are people really that naive about how government departments run or are you being sarcastic? Groups are set up to do tasks and will continue to do them without executive intervention, and sometimes even after such intervention.