It is a joke. Just look at the Abu Ghraib trials or others where they were not tried for torture, murder and rape (which they did) but for 'dereliction of duty' or 'illegal discharge of a firearm'.
They are good 'ol boys and the military will protect them with such a show trial they would usually get a death sentence or at least life.

But Manning is not a "good 'ol boy", he broke the unwritten rules. And like in some cheap mafia film, he is going down. Preferably with as much publicity as possible. (anyone honestly think he could ever be let go? how long would he survive?)
They are only trying to get him to confess about the connections with Assange because he is their real target.
They will not stop from doing whatever possible to pin the tail on that donkey. Not like the military, nor their government, really is an honest bunch that would never fake stuff and lie to get what they want.

Uhm, wasn't Sen. Kennedy on the No-Fly list at one time? Not to mention people like Robert J. Johnson, John Lewis

or

Walter F. Murphy, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton, reported that the following exchange took place at Newark on 1 March 2007, where he was denied a boarding pass "because I [Professor Murphy] was on the Terrorist Watch list." The airline employee asked, "Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying because of that." "I explained," said professor Murphy, "that I had not so marched but had, in September 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the constitution." To which the airline employee responded, "That'll do it."

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Fly_List

Very true, but they could join up with some of the most bad-ass hackers to fight this scum.
Seriously, if our governments were open minded and not accepting the crap from the Recording Mafia, they perhaps could work together with such groups.

When I look at anon or the CCC, these are some of the elite you would want help from. Make some deals with them.
We look away on this and that action, therefor you get me any information on site xyz.

Instead, to not alienate their donors, they would rather waste time going after pirated films and cds then use the time and resources to go after scum.

I know this is wishful thinking ... but when I think about what Anon is doing and our corrupt politicians are not, does anyone wonder why we celebrate Anon?
At least Anon go after the real scum.

Spot on!
Who watches the watchmen?

Just look at the UK, who has the MOST cameras (at least last time the numbers were posted) in the WORLD. Yet did it stop the terrorist attacks? What about the mob?
No, it just tracks people getting $hitfaced and making out in back alleys.

Even worse, because the assaults, murders and rapes don't happen all to often in front of those cameras (and when the people know about the cameras, they will move to other locations), a justification for continued use and the associated costs will be demanded.
So they will simply broaden their mission and include petty things, but will hype them. Thus every small thing is bloated to an act of public danger.

Yet since the criminals have moved on to different locations, it will simply be a misleading TPM report intended to give the people the illusion of security they so badly need.

We all knew it would come so far, but we did nothing because we let ourselves get blackmailed.

And don't think for a minute a private organization would be any better. Just check the recent report on the MoA where simply looking the wrong way got you into a lot of problems.

Yep, and it was called the Stasi in Eastern Germany!

Sady you are spot on. People want freedom of speach, but only as it offends someone else.

Besides that I find the laws in the UK increasingly a joke.

IMHO the guy is a royal jerk. Was it offensive what he did? Yes! Rude? Yes! Immoral? Yes! But it is his right.
In this case I say it us up to you and I to decide not to listen to him. As long as people like this think there are other people willing to listen to his drivel, they will do it.
It is like a child that cries wolf. As long as it gets attention, it will continue to cry wolf.

If someone were to reply offensively, physical or not, he will win! A$$h0les live on provoking people to the point where they lash back. Let's not give them the satisfaction.
And this laughable jail term is exactly what we should not do.

Sometimes it is the person making the statement that is offensive, sometimes it is the message that is offensive. Sometimes it is even the agenda that is offensive.

I personally draw the line at those who use their freedoms as a goal to restrict the freedoms of others. Maybe I am a hypocrit (and would not shy a discussion about it), but that is just the way I am.

See and that is where it is not realistic, because IRL the military would just define them as 'insurgents' and destroy the evidence.
So instead of 'soldiers raid house and slaughter family' it becomes 'brave soldiers wipe out terrorist stronghold'.
Already the use of the term 'collateral damage' in the article is in itself a joke.

Exactly! Instead of focusing on replacing atomic energy 1:1 with ONE different tech, IMHO we should go all out and deploy what we can.
Solar panels everywhere, wind turbines, ground-based heat-pumps and bio-mass energy plants. That along with better insolation and more energy efficient house designs.

One problem I see in Germany is while people want the switch away from atomic energy, they don't want the replacements in their back yards. Ok, they did not want the atomic plants either, but those were never built next door.
But on the other side I can understand the opposition because such infrasturcture decisions in the past have always been done by politicians and without regard of nature or the populace. Not to mention the industry has always had more power then the populace.

Let's face the music here: the 'good olde days' are gone! The future is here. We must now together find a way to meet both demands.
As much as everyone loves nature, if we keep on going like this and not change, we will indirectly destroy that what we love.

We need not worry about saving earth. Earth will contine long after we have wiped outselves out. Like Carlin said: 'another failed experiment'.
We need to save ourselves and our habitats. And you cannot expect that from people who think only about the bottom line!

> Remember, traffic enforcement is about the safety of the public, not revenue generation.
QFT!
If the state/city can make money off of YOUR (3rd person) errors, then that is an added bonus.
YOU are responsible for YOUR violations, not the state/city.
If you partake in traffic, you MUST obey the laws. Any violations from your side are YOUR fault!

I have been tagged a few times (though never more then 6km/h over the limit) and every time it was MY fault!

@Revenue generation:
If they wanted that, it could be done a LOT simpler! Heck they would even change the laws to make it simpler.
F.i. No more having to serve personally and the holder of the vehicle is responsible if the driver cannot be Id'ed.
Then they just tag you from behind, so you never can really tell where they were. And by the time you get the notice, with the time diff, you will probably not be able to remember it either.
A little box with this could be placed anywhere dynamically.

They are not ment to make money! They are ment as a big flashing warning sign you better not run this red light and an attempt to educate you this way.
If you run a red light, it is your own fault!

Most of the permanent ones we have in Germany are at well known intersections, often such where people would be approaching it at higher speeds and when they saw a yellow light, thought they could make it, and sometimes even drove faster.
Or braked like mad, causing the other idiot behind them to rear-end them.

Traffic rules, like other rules, sadly have to be enforced or they become irrelevant. And if you think it is bad now, imagine if there were no cops-in-the-ditch or cameras on lights.

Though this is slightly OT, IMHO you are correct!
Even if you were to put up 'loading only' or '15 min max' signs (as we have in Germany) they would still not be observed by everyone.
It is always more convenient to just stop in the middle of the friggn road and unload there.

But this does bring up the interesting potential return of autonomous transport. I had read about in an article (I wish I could find) that due to the increase in population and issues arising from this, under-/overground autonomous transport could be a way out of this problem. They were big around 18th - 19th century

I do not agree. Look at all the religious nutters who claim that 'believe in God and he will heal you' and if you do die, it was because you were a bad person.
Also, some religions basically tell you that if you die in this life, you will move on to a better (after)life. So don't try to change anything.

If these people think like this so firmly that they would rather die then get a vaccination or medical help for the smallest of things, what do you think they will do when an epidemic strikes?

Or do you think non religious people think an epidemic is 'gods punishment for being gay'?

Yeah, this DDB character is coming over like the typical nerdy wanna-be. So pissed that Julian get's all the glory and wanting to be better at everything, he pulls a 'night of the long daggers'.

Oh, did anyone mention DDB, as only the 2nd person ever, got kicked out of the Chaos Computer Club?

And he destroyed the data? Why? Some kind of hissy fit because does not get the love he thinks he deserves? Or is he out for media attention?
The guy a glam wh0re.

To be honest, when the news of the split between DDB|OL and JA/WL came out, I was not sure who was good or bad or whatnot. But after reading all the things that DDB has been pulling off, I tends more twards pro JA/WL.