.. maybe there should be a focused, dedicated project trying to drown all the information in misinformation...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/cispa-vote-house-approves_n_3109504.html

We need something more than a non-profit. Unfortunately, or fortunately dependent on your worldview, we need an organization that is able to financially at least make the congresscritters consider that going against this particular organization, might cost them future seat in a position of power.

SOPA failed partly because Google got involved. CISPA faced challenges only from normal peons like me or you, non-profits and few companies (FB and MS ).

And some recent speeches from people in power prove that they simply do not care. The attitude of "I IS A SENATOR, I OWN YOU LIL MAN" starts becoming a norm and not a stigmatized exception.

Sheet, Rogers simply dismissed us as lil ppl who don't know shit.

Words are what they users of the language think they are and/or mean. Besides, I do not think most people understand the distinction anyway.

I actually agree. Unfortunately, most people cannot get past nuance.

Given that France is the place where yahoo has lost its perceived power of teh interwebz precisely over the same crap ( only then people were bidding on nazi memorabilia - forbidden in France ), it will be very interesting to see if twitter folds on that one. I do not see why it should, but France, along Germany, is the country that gives orders in the EU now.

And yahoo caved in...I certainly do hope does not repeat itself; antisemitic content or not.

period... or absolute lack of humor

and George Carlin saw it comin'

pc culture makes me shiver now... how bad will it be in 10 years?

.. I do not know about you, but I am done pirating.

    On a more serious note, do the people making those decisions recognize the amount of ill will created by their actions? If I was not so old and did not care the new shiny everyone and their mother needs to have, I would probably start pirating out of spite...I am certain teenagers don't do things they are expressly forbidden from doing..
  But maybe I am ageist; I do teach the old folk basic computer skills for my volunteer work. Last week the first question was how do I get the free music on the interwebz..
  So mpaa and their equivalents listen up: Tempus fugit... adapt or perish

Pretty much this. Own up to the mistake you make.

  Someone hit my car & run away on NYE. I assume he/she was drunk, but they could have left a note if they did not want to be caught drunk at the time...and do the right thing.

Albeit I still hope, I do not think, that whoever hit my toy will be fessing up on FB. I think people are slowly adjusting to the fact that FB posts are not private and are acting accordingly.

You know what? Stop. I will attempt to give you some perspective.

Every single year, the US becomes a home to countless immigrants. Those are the people who often come here with nothing or very little and yet manage to arrive at a certain level of living comfort. Those are the people with modest means representing all possible races, religions and backgrounds. They manage. And some of them are not even, gasp, white.

I am a Pollack, and I have to deal with stereotypes of my group on a regular basis too. But I roll with the punches and do what I can to change the perception of my group. I do not whine like a little PC bitch; not to the point where gvmt has to create Affirmative Action For Pollacks anyway.

This is the part that amuses me. You do not want to be treated differently? Then try to get down and dirty with the rest of us peons.

...and I am as surprised as you, but I am almost completely serious now. We need NRA for gamers. We need:

No. Because. Fuck You. Association.

Only then we can have some peace. For the record, as a kid, I played most of the violent games of the day. I am hardly a violent person; in fact, I am mildly derided for not being aggressive. Maybe I had a proper outlet..

But what do I know. I am just a mass of inluences in the culture that propagates violence at every turn.

I know. Maybe we could ban wars. Wait, I know. People cause wars. Maybe we could ban people. That would prevent wars and violence. No people. No violence. No problem...

.. but it is a little scary. My first thought was that he was essentially to carry out a simple mission. Few people would go out of their way to be on a jury. I don't know if he was paid off ( if so, good job ), had an axe gring ( if so, great job) or simply wanted some fame (mostly meh then ) from being a part of the jury on one of the relatively big cases.

  Unfortunately, we won't know any time soon and anything else, at this point, is nothing but speculation. It is a shame, because I am starting the enjoy the ride. Pass the popcorn plz

I am always amused when I discuss freedom of speech in America. People have this beaten into their heads that they are free. When you tell them all the ways they are not they look like a kicked puppy.

On a not entirely unrelated note, my GF once told me that she does not want to read Mein Kampf because she is afraid she is going to be flagged... and she was a history major strongly interested in WW2. How can you possibly claim any expertise on the subject if you do not read sources? Even if they are forbidden knowledge:P

The anecdote with GF is to show that I think most people know something is wrong on a deep, unconscious level; they just do not want to rock the boat.

"For one thing, how exactly is it stealing when many nations worth of companies invested in their oil extraction infrastructure but some how not worth mentioning when the Iranians Nationalized assets that belonged to foreign corporations?"

I am not putting anything in your mouth^^; Merely extrapolated dear Watson.