And therein lies the fundamental problem. In most people's minds, bad things should always happen fast. Few people realize that, in real life, most things develop slowly, over time. Until more people realize that fact, we will continue to take "short, fast, cheap, and easy" over "longer, slower, more expensive, and harder" as a default. Frankly, I worry about the privacy debate not for my own sake, but for my kid's sake. By the time they are born, it is likely that their entire lives will be recorded electronically (with the possible exception of the first few years). Where they live, what they do, etc, etc. I'm not worried someone in power today will do something bad with that, most of them aren't even aware of the possibilies. I'm worried that some politician-to-be from the class of 2009 is going to do something with it when they get into a high-level public office 15 to 20 years from now.

I know, I totally agree. In the neighborhood I live in, houses get broken into all the time. I know this one guy who has a big, fancy "security system", and he's never been robbed. But I think it's just because there's so much other low-hanging fruit.

Besides, most of the people who got robbed were doing stupid things, like assuming that their locked door would actually stop anybody other than them from getting into their house. One guy forgot his key so often, he just never locked his door anymore. They got him real good.

And really if you think about it, the thieves would just learn, evolve, and adapt if we all got security systems. They'd find a way in. Sure, the break-ins would only happen weekly instead of daily, but I don't think that's really a large enough reduction in frequency. And sure, the alarm system would notify the police so they'd be able to get here quicker and maybe apprehend the criminals, but I think the police should just patrol our street 24/7. They should park a police car in front of ever house, then they'd nail these burglars real fast AND we wouldn't even have to call 911.

What I really wish is for that moron on the hill with the fancy security system to just shut up about how beneficial it is. He must be grade "A" stupid to see most of the people who got robbed were asking for it.

Minor quibble: The US did not 'save' by it's intervention in WWII (and before you ask: Yes, I'm an American). None of the Allies won WWII by themselves. Yes, the US provided a large portion of the economic muscle, but all that had to happen for a very different war (and a very different outcome) is for the spirit of the British people to have been broken during the Battle of Britain. The groundwork for that could have been laid at Dunkirk, had the Germany army not pulled up short of the withdrawing British forces. Or, the Soviets could have decided enough was enough and signed a peace treaty in 1942 or 43 (even a temporary one), which would have given Hitler time to consolidate. Let's not oversimplify what was possibly one of the most complex events of the 20th century to "The world was going to hell, the British were seriously contemplating starting German classes in their school, then America stepped in and sent the big, bad fascists to the corner."

See, THIS is why we should teach kids computer programming instead of civics. Because computer programming teaches you civics! I knew LISP would come in handy!

In all honesty, I wish legal documents were written that way. It would make the extraneous statements more obvious and the legalese less dense. Then again, it would also allow for easier refactoring, resulting is shorter and more understandable documents. Putting hundreds of lawyers out on the streets... wait, I'm not sure that's a bad thing.