A currency's only "real" value is in its convenience as a medium of exchange. Scrip is easier to carry than heavy metals. Everything else is purely entertainment. The "intrinsic" value of gold and diamonds is that it gets you laid.

We have people that actually defend the IRS and the NSA, in public! What could possibly be more amazing than that? The man, with his tea party helpers (wearing the red nose really did pay off) has completely squashed any civil rights movement as complete lunatics, and Wall Street is doing great. Yep, Obama worship is much more intensive than Reagan Worship ever was. But that's all it is. So, of course you should not single him out. Both simply prove the power of the well groomed charismatic who can follow orders and bring in money. And in 2016 the flashy thingy will make everyone forget, and vote again for a D or an R.

I think you're just jealous that Ronnie didn't get treated like the saint you think he is while he was in office. Sorry man, that's the way the cookie crumbles. You keep on saying that I find this acceptable, but it's people like you and d_r that are voting for it. I believe both of you will find the real cynic in the mirror, not the squeegee guy trying to clean the cultural bird crap off your windshield.

Nonsense. Giving the order means nothing if nobody is there to execute them.

As an example I just googled, brute-forcing AES-128 at 10 Petaflops would take 10 quintillion years (10^18).

Brute-forcing Yahoo's CIO at about 1 lash per second with a rubber hose won't even take 5 minutes. And a single National Security Letter will shut the whole thing down anyway.

Where's the beef?

...I don't quite understand what he's trying to accomplish in enacting a law that can't be enforced...

Provides probable cause.. Cops can knock your door down and detain you on mere suspicion. The more laws we can have the more suspicious you are of committing a crime.

Change will not happen until you demand it. And you are not. You only consider what is being spoon fed. The apathy is on your shoulders.

There was no viable alternative for the presidency... I had to make a choice between two candidates so I chose the one who said they would change things - and hopefully would be less toxic to my career.

Like I said earlier. You are very useful to those in power with your totally defeatist and chickenshit, and actually very selfish attitude about "viability" and "your career". What, are we expected to vote for a guy just to protect "your career"? Sorry, bub, I put human rights above "your career". You're just voting for more trickle down for the rest of us. It is all of you that keep things the way they are. My complaint isn't with the politicians, or even the corporations that finance them. It is you who blindly follow them for a piece of the pie that is the problem. You are good servants. Keep on keepin' on, and you can keep this going indefinitely. The vote for the "lesser evil" is still evil. You are simply part of a more nuanced, only slightly more charismatic tea party.

What you are illustrating is the failure of majority rule. Like Romney, you don't care about the "lesser" 47 percent. It's the epitome of *I got mine - screw the rest*. Don't take it personal. It applies to the entire 98 percent of you that only vote for "viable" candidates. Everything I ever posted to Smitty applies equally to you and pudge and all the rest who don't want to rock the boat for fear of losing their personal little fiefdoms. The real corruption lies with the voters.

*Sucker born every minute*

Keep on believin'

He only said so... He said many things he had no intention of doing. He's no different than anybody else. He wants to win an election. And it worked. He was a better bullshitter than McCain and Romney. Elections are won on bullshit. It means nothing when the opposite happens. If he was against it, he would have fought it. It was always there. The industry demanded it, And there's no way they would let him keep the job if it wasn't put in. The industry would have just financed another candidate to replace him... at the very least. They could have just as easily set him up for a real scandal. No matter who is president, the mandate would have been imposed, or conversely, companies would have a much easier time of reneging on contracts and raising prices even more. The voters have handed the government over to big business. Essentially it is already privatized. DC is a proxy and a conduit for Wall Street. The money the government takes from us goes to them. It is not "conservative" or "liberal". It is strictly business. Pure sociopathic business, by cunning, charismatic sociopaths (as if there is any other kind).

And at that point, the big US vendors are really in trouble.

Not really. They just shift their stock portfolios over to other things like household products and diapers. They all trade with each other enough to stay in business. All that Wall Street money continues to flow right over our heads.

And something else. The film is not entirely false by any means. It is a slightly exaggerated and a bit overly dramatic caricature of how things really do work in this world. Feel free to shed your naivete.

(they don't have monopoly on force, taxation power, or any sort of sovereignty)

Yes, they do. They own the governments they put into place. The are the government, using puppets that sold their souls for a piece of the pie. You're wagging the dog.

Oh damn! I misread. You're right!

What makes you think that ACA is not just another of his methods?

It's not. He's just along for the ride, following the script he was given with his flashy thingy. Shake the trees, and coconuts fall on your head.

You're too cool for me. :-) What is hip!

No, we have prisons for profit. You wouldn't know unless you've been there. If you any tolerance at all for collateral damage in warfare, then you should quit your bellyaching.