>> ^bobknight33:

Very interesting and worthy of watching. There is more than we don't know than we do know.


More to the point, how do we know what is known is truly known (by knowledge, I might right and true belief). Epistemology is my favorite philosophical topic


@hpqp

Many of the Greek city states pledge to a Patron God: Poseidon at Corinth, Hera at Argos, Zeus at Kos, Athene at Sparta, Tegea and Athens. Different parts of the Nile also had the same type of Patronage. It is debatable how much of a role they played in war, but they surely did a part.

As dumb as the little law is, that's all this video is about. Some people breaking a dumb little law and being arrested for it.

Now if one of the cops had said, "Hey, you know what? This is AMERICA.. F the court's decission.. dance all you want!" that would have been awesome.. but in the end, this is not indicative of massive opression or anything. There is some dumb logic to this law (the keep it a place of tranquility.. as it reads in the court order), and the cops in this video didn't go around tazing everyone or being overtly rude or belligerent.

Infact the guy who pretended like he didn't know he was breaking any law annoys me. If you're going to break the law to make a statement, don't play ignorant when it's obvious you're perfectly aware of what you're doing. Weakens your stance, imo.

It's good to keep one's eyes open for stuff like this on a more broad scale, but as it stands this is a skirmish over one idea of what should be allowed in a specific public area vs another's.. and I can see both sides. I totally side with the dance freedom though myself.

Also this is a city-state, so I would bet federal judges like to flex their muscle here and there amongst DC.

From a PSN email:

Although we are still investigating the details of this incident,
we believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following
information that you provided: name, address (city, state, zip), country,
email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login,
and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data,
including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip),
and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may
have been obtained. If you have authorized a sub-account for your
dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have
been obtained. While there is no evidence at this time that credit
card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility. If you have
provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity,
out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit
card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have
been obtained.

Religious doctrine? Cults? Market research? Corporate policy? Economic policy by banks, hedge funds, Wall St.? Big Pharma? Big Agro? Big Oil?

These are all excellent points, and in my zeal I have to admit that it was rather hyperbolic to say government is the “only” institution that creates the “I was following orders” mentality. In that I stand corrected. However, I stand by the substance of the idea that government is the primary violator, and that history’s most egregious examples are government created.

If you are down on government save us all the time and just denounce humanity and go live in a cave somewhere.

I’m down on big central governments. Limited, small government at the municipal, county, and state level which are held to a high standard of culpability and performance by voters is fine. Big federal government that implements one-size policies on nations for social engineering are lousy. Federal government is for national defense and some intra/inter state trade regulations. That’s it. The constitution was designed to keep federal powers limited. It is no surprise that one of our man-child president’s great irritations with the country he runs is that the constitution doesn’t allow him to do more “TO” the public.

Build your own running water system, police, and fire dept. while you're at it.

Feds don’t do those things. Those are city, state, and county functions.

Maybe instead of bitching about the TSA you could suggest an alternative?

I have. Profile the likely offenders and stop hassling people who are low statistical risks. It will decrease the workload, reduce costs, and speed up the process a hundred-fold.

I'm not going to sit here and scream… even though I don't like them either. … The kid will be just fine. He'll get over it. … It's a brave new world.

Brave New World. Oh, what fools these mortals be. I’d suggest brushing up on your Huxley and Shakespeare. I doubt Huxley would be applauding your, “bend over and take it” sentiment. You might think it is admirable. History suggests that such a docile attitude towards central government is profoundly unwise. Government is meant to be questioned, held to account, challenged, and regarded with suspicion.

The problem, of course, is that the TSA procedures do not work, and using them to only inconvenience a demographic that does not happen to include you, will not make them any more effective.

Well – very true – this is a good point. What the TSA is doing is security theatre. It is not effective at preventing terrorist acts from succeeding. So why are we doing this? If the object is increased SECURITY then the procedure needs to change radically. But if we aren’t willing to do the things that will actually provide security then we’d be better off just abandoning the whole effort as a fruitless exercise.

Allan stole a loaf of bread. Allan is a thief. Allan is black. All blacks are thieves.

Except that’s not what I said or even anything remotely close to it. I’m saying…

“Over 95% of all air travel terrorism has been committed by foreign-born Muslim males between 17-40. The TSA should focus its efforts on this population to increase efficiency.” That isn’t saying “all Muslims are terrorists”. It is only saying, “This population sector is the highest risk”. Correlation does not equal causation but it does tell you where to weight your cases and analysis. Right now, even a basic statistical model would heavily weight the probability of a terrorist act towards foreign-born Muslim males.

I prefer my politicians subtly destroying our cities, states and country from the inside.

So it's an attack on freedom for a Federal Judge to rule that a state amendment violates individual freedoms under the federal constitution? California... Homosexuals... Prayer... Insurance...

Arizona, California, Misouri, Florida... It doesn't matter. There are MANY examples, and the point is Obama's hyocrisy. He selectively chooses to stomp on things he doesn't like, while at the same time he gives free passes to real violations. The Black Panther case was a blatant violation of civil rights - but his administration dismissed it because in thier OPINION black people can't violate the civil rights of others.

The mosque is simply one note in the sad litany of his hypocrisy. He approves the mosque on the basis of limited involvement in city/state government as well as the bill of rights? This comes off as hypocritical to anyone who hears it given his extensive record of ignoring the rights in order to force feed his agenda at national, state, local, and individual levels.

Arizona wants to enforce legitimate laws & protect citizens? Louisiana wants to build sand berms? BP wants to bring in non-union oil skimmers? Texas want to lift my oil drilling ban? It's against the constitution to force people to buy my Obama brand insurance? Banks are refusing to take my TARP money? The people don't want my financial reform bill? The people don't want my Health Care reform bill? The people don't want my Cap & Tax schemes? The people don't want my plan for illegal amnesty? Bah! I'm Barak Hussain Obama and I disallow such freedoms in MY America!

Oh - but you radial Cordoba freaks can build your mosque at Ground Zero. No, you don't have to disclose where money comes from. No, I don't care this is a documented terrorist tactic. No I don't care Germany just shut down Cordobas because they were terror cells. No, I don't care that by definition a mosque can't possibly be a "community outreach center".

Anyone with eyes, ears, and a brain knows clearly that Obama LOVES to violate the constitution and interfere with state/local policy. But now all of a sudden he changes his mind and state's rights and religious freedom matter? Anyone living through this nightmare dud of a president knows he's being a two-faced slimeball on the issue and that his motivation is his personal bias. That's why he's getting shellaqued in the ratings, the polls, and even (albiet reluctantly) in the press.

I could list lots of decisions Obama has made that I don't agree with, but he got it right on this one and I hope to see more of it.

You won't. This was a biased decision to favor an opinion/ideology that he sympathizes with. As evidenced by just about EVERY other thing he's ever done, Obama will do the exact opposite on any issue he finds politically convenient.

This really isn't an issue beyond partisanship. For better and for worse, conservatives are pro-market, anti-regulation. Liberals, as compared to conservatives, are much more pro-regulation. They won't say so in so many words, but liberals would like to see *more* red tape, and more bureaucracy, just so events like these are less likely to happen, even at the cost of some inefficiency.

You can debate the merits of each position until the end of time, but you need to be honest with yourself: this is the cost of letting business do what it wants, relatively free of oversight. Multinational corporations have no concern for the welfare of a town, city, state, or even country, save for what will cost them actual business. As the Exxon Valdez incident proved, you can cause a horrendous environmental catastrophe and still remain in profitable business, so there clearly isn't enough of a bad PR disincentive to actually put in place the expensive safeguards to better prevent these occurrences.

Given that you can't count on BP, or any corporation, to look out for your best interests, you have to have another body step in and fill that role. That's the role of big government, which liberals support, and conservatives do not (with exceptions, like the military).

Obviously voting won't help *right now,* but a shift in the political map today would very likely reduce the chances of this happening 10 years from now, and so on.

So.....which is more likely. Well paid corporate guy putting out statements to cover the company ass implying that anyone working for BP is allowed to speak to the media. AND/OR, Out of work water/dock-related workers desperate to keep a job being told by a "staffing" firm that hires for BP that if they speak they will be immediately fired and unemployable for the rest of their life?

I'd say it's exactly what I've said above. BP can "truthfully" say their workers can talk to anyone. Workers are kept silent because they are not employed by BP, they are employed by We Love BP Long Time Staffing Co.

Friend of mine when he was in high school was confused by mixed signals from GM back when he was in high school (mid-late 90s) concerning his job duties and what they needed from him for employment purposes. So he doesn't show up on specified day for something because he was told he needed certain paper work or a drug test administered..prior to this...whatever it was..he was told opposing things by the same department. So, he was fired and banned from employment with GM for life for the misunderstanding with no chance to explain or straighten it out. So if GM can do that, I think BP can keep you from talking to the press quite easily in a economically and environmentally devastated location during a world wide depression/recession.

It's not like the Congress is truly trying to "make them pay" for something they caused, and this video just smacks of that being carried over. Hey it's a rich company the US "NEEDS" in this recession from hell. And in good times it's Hey it's a rich company the US "NEEDS" because competition! or jobs! or it'll go overseas! or obviously they learned a valuable lesson and will be the best oil spill handlers till the end of time!

If an individual caused the damage to a coastline equivalent to what BP did in just one city/state...they'd probably already be charged and serving time by this point. And if it was a small corporation, every asset would be gone, all benefits and salaries of employees yet unpaid gone, and there would be a criminal investigation into each and every person who had hands in it. That's if someone didn't go batshit and kill the people for completely ruining their land and livelihoods for themselves that may taint the land long enough to prevent their grand children from taking up the trade.

So, bf, in your ideal America, how would the government get money to function, and who would decide what is appropriate for that money to be spent on? I mean, there's gotta be some sort of government for enforcement of contracts, common defense, and such. Otherwise we'll all end up in little totalitarian city-states at war with each other.

To me, the basic premise of majority rule with a bill of rights to protect minorities is the only logical means of governance. Of course that is being perverted right now by lobbyists and out of control campaign finance donations, but shouldn't we be fighting to return our government to a limited democracy/republic?

Personally speaking - if I had my druthers I would make voting in city, state, and national elections a lot more difficult. Sufferage is a priveledge. Too many voters are no more than bench-filling stooges of the political establishment. They gin up these large blocs of dummies and sucker them into voting for the same rats over and over again. An informed electorate of intelligent, competent, discriminating voters who focus on performance and accountability would not allow these dynasties. A good voting public produces churn. But party politics don't work when there is churn. It doesn't allow politicians to sit back and make a career out of politics. So politicians like these big blocs of bad voters. They keep the 'good voters' from taking away their power.

If I was king for a day, voting would go like this...

REQUIRED
1. Notarized photo ID card
2. Voter cannot have filed for bankruptcy (business or personal) in the past 5 years
3. Voter cannot have been convicted of a misdemeanor in the past 6 months or a felony in thier lifetime.
4. Voter must pass a mandatory class in United States civics (Federalist papers, enumerated powers, Constitution, Bill of Rights, checks & balances, etc...)
6. Voter must pass a class college level economics class (covers supply & demand, capitalism, debts/deficits, etc).
7. Parents with unpaid family obligations (deadbeat parents) cannot vote.

Citizens must additionally present any FOUR (or more) of the following...
1. Current, valid voter registration card
2. Proof of employment (at least 6 months)
3. Proof of residence (at least 1 year renting or owning in a specific location)
4. Social Security card
5. A credit rating of at least 650
6. Proof of having maintained a positive bank or savings account for at least 6 months
7. A valid birth certificate

I don't care if a person is a Democrat, or a Republican, or a one-eyed-one-horned-flying-purple-spaghetti-unicorn. They can vote however they want, but more should be required to vote than simply the ability to stumble through a door.

>> ^NordlichReiter:
We do not have a republic, because a republic protects the minority from the Popular Majority.
So to all you out there for Democracy! There it is in action.
The true evil of Popular Democracy is when a rampant majority runs free.


You have a republic. A republic doesn't protect the minority, a republic requires the minority to fight and gain access on their own through deeds and actions. A democracy(or some variation), however does protect the minority, in order to allow them to continue with their heritage/etc within the social/economic fabric of that nation.

Canada/Most of Europe = Parliamentary democracy or some form of democracy
US = Dissolving republic to democracy.

Popular democracies(democracy of the people) give the people the freedom to do 'whatever' within the bounds of the countries law, short of a few basic things. Don't kill, don't rob, don't rape, don't pillage. In otherwords don't be a jackass and we won't have to kill you, or lock you up for the safety of everyone else.

Republics are the freest form of government you can have, providing that people can maintain it. It's the closest to anarchy, but still maintains laws for the benefit of the people and leaves general protection to city-states/states. Democracies you should be familiar with, and are one step above SDL(social democracies) like northern scandinavian countries(high taxes, moderate freedom), under them are the communist rules and dictatorships in that order.

@gwiz: I said right to free mobility, not a right to drive. It's a right to free movement. Ever heard of it? No? It's a Supreme Court recognized US constitutional right: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_movement#United_States

By restricting it to a licensed driver, you're effectively limiting that right.


@dgandhi: Suffrage? This is more of that "vote if you want to change policy" rhetoric, isn't it? Read my message to gwiz just above this one. We have a "fundamental constitutional right" to freedom of movement as defined by the Supreme Court. The driver's license contract is coercive and nonnegotiable except via way of your democratic process, which is 51% of the people taking the rights away from 49%.

Your analogy is flawed. If you don't buy my house there are plenty of other houses in the town, city, state and even country for you to purchase from other individuals that may be willing to negotiate terms with you without a majority vote. The DMV won't negotiate terms. Try it next time you're in there and tell me how that goes. And if you don't agree to their terms and decide to use your "freedom of movement" right, also let me know how far you get once the cops pull you over for improper tags.

"The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities states and nation. At the head is a small group of banking houses generally referred to as 'international bankers.' This little coterie... run our government for their own selfish ends. It operates under cover of a self-created screen...[and] seizes...our executive officers... legislative bodies... schools... courts... newspapers and every agency created for the public protection."

"The powers of financial capitalism had (a) far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world."

"The few who could understand the system will either be so interested in its profits, or so dependent on its favours, that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of the people mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system, will bear its burdens without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests."

This guy speaks the truth.. I can't blame him for seeming so frustrated.

Great stuff, how is this not top 15?

Except he falls into the standard US centric problem of listing all US places as city/state (assuming that the rest of the world KNOWS it's in the US) while listing the others as city/country... very arrogant.

Other than that though, some superb singers and musicians and, as it always is, a superb song.

This is pure sensationalism.

Detroit is my hometown, and the neighborhoods and downtown districts they show in this piece have been abandoned since I was a wee child.

In fact, there is a growing art community, and gay community in Downtown. You can literally buy a house for $1 USD, as long as you sign a contract with the city stating you will do yearly repairs to the house and property. This has spun a lot of new growth downtown.

That old train station tho.. Lots of memories for me. We raved in the place during the late 80's and early 90's when Detroit Techno began. Wild, wild times!