Mod this guy up!

If you look at most public universities, the number of non-teaching staffs is what is taking off and consuming all the cash. The number of administrators (not instructors) per student is skyrocketing.

How many billions of $$$ in Flip Cameras did they expect sell?

You have it backwards. It forces USPS to not underfund its obligations. The underfunded obligations will have to be made up by US taxpayers in the future. I believe that legislation also transferred a billions of pension/health obligations from USPS to the the regular USGOV. I think that was for USPS retirees who also had military benefits.

Compared to...?

Ivan: "Think of it this way: a patent on practical nuclear fusion will not be denied because the stars came up with it first." This was the most best concise argument I haveever read on Slashdot. Well done sir.

Like I said, "denial and bluster". Re: Oppenheimer...just google around for or read the other books on Soviet Spying in the USA. It is not reasonable to assume I can't replicate the output of books into a Slashdot discussion! It's not like his wife and brother being communists is a secret. This link covers much of what knew: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/Father%20of%20the%20A%20Bomb.htm Here is a link to a discussion that goes much further on Oppenheimer then I was willing to go: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?doc_id=43900&fuseaction=topics.publications&group_id=13349&topic_id=1409 "His own party (the Democrats by the way - did you not even known that much?)" I lost track of who you are refering to with "His" If you mean Oppenheimer...I have no idea if he affiliated with the democrats or republicans. When he was younger (pre-WWII) he certainly identified as a communist for at least some time. For how long and to what degree that affiliation occurred, that is one of the questions at hand. If you mean McCarthy...he was Republican Senator from Wisconsin. "Communism was just the excuse for the populist witch hunt because..." More bluster and denial. The Soviet threat was real. The Soviets were pretty good at espionage and institutional infiltration. Are you denying this? Perhaps, I am just misunderstanding what you are saying. Is it just McCarthy's efforts/effects that were wrong? McCarthy sure does come across as a clown. The American left has used that to try to pretend that real Soviet activity was not going on. I have no idea if McCarthy correctly named any of the following types in USGOV: prior communists, secret communists, Soviet Agents/Spies, Soviet Agents of Influence. I say this because I don't who he named. He does seem clownish, so I imagine he made many mistakes. 100% mistakes? I have no idea. Blanket general assertions by left-leaning journalist, historians and movie makers (remember: "bluster and denial") do not convince me. I also don't have the time to do the research to see who he accused, and then to cross check that with what is known now. Some historian or journalist should. Heck, give me a grant fo r 6 months and I'll do it.

You are assert very specific claims for which I can not provide facts for against. Claims that he was "all bullshit" sounds like wishful thinking to me or just repetition of the leftwing historical script. I guess I will have to look into McCarthy specifically for the next time this issue comes up. I note for completeness that the facts show that the Rosenburgs were guilty, Hollywood was (heh...and still is) filled with communist and communist sympathizing writers, Alger Hiss was a communist and a Soviet Agent, and that the State and Treasury department was riddled with communist and soviet agents (this was a McCarthy claim, correct?) from low to high levels. As afar as Oppenheimer, he had close relatives who where communists and his own bneliefs were not clear. It was only prudent that he be looked into. I am pretty sure that the Soviet Archives show that they attempted to recruit him (how, and through who?) but were unsuccessful. I don't believe he ever reported those recruitment attempts, so it was most likely by somebody close to him but as for who that detail will most likely remain lost to history.

I don't know if McCarthy did or not. I don't Dickstein was in congress during McCartry's time and I havn't read up on who/what McCarty actually accuses of being a soviet agent/sympathizer (I'm not looking to Slash Dot for that info). I think the point here is that McCarthy may have been a clown, but there really was Soviet spying and institutional infiltration taking place. Some of it was known/suspected at the time. Some of its has only been coming out in recent years. There are a lot of anti-Americans and American Leftists who took it as public policy gospel that it was all exaggerated bunk. They are mostly handling the the recent revelations publicly with denial and bluster. I have no idea what is going on inside their heads through.

Besides his dad, I think his brother committed suicide as well as a few others in his immediate family. Something genetic perhaps? Or maybe once a family member commits suicide, the taboo against it starts to crumble.

Rep. Samuel Dickstein for one. I don't recall reading that others were. Staffers, yes. Executive branch staffers (from low to high) yes. The OSS was riddled with Soviet agents during WW2. The Soviets were tipped to Venona vulnerability when a high level CIA/CI person (Engleton?) gave a heads up to the MI6 liaison who was actually a soviet agent (one of the "Cambridge 5"). The decrypts continued on old stored up messages, but not on new ones.

The hard leftist core of the so-called environmentalists (really they are anti-human and anti-civilization) will be the ruin of us all yet. I am for more electrical generation - not less - for everyone. I say refrigeration and air conditioning and 24hour reading lights for all! Bring on next generation nuke power! Speed up Orbital Solar Power! Drill for natural gas and oil! Upgrade the networks of Power Grids so in the marginal sources of electrical power can be utilized where they make economic sense.

Heh...Rep Weiner admitted to it all and more this afternoon.

Well...that is the Congressman's current explanation. Looking at all the facts...it may or not be his. The tweet is most likely from him or from somebody screwing with him who know his secret Yfrog email id. His actions seem more like those of a person covering up an "oh shit ooops" than like a victim who got hacked. He does seem to not want to involve the vendors or law enforcement in investigating.

I have collecting to Intro to Programming links for Kids at my blog and in it comments: https://purpleslog.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/reference-intro-to-programming-for-kids-aka-growing-a-young-computer-geek/