The News Corner

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Sajuuk
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Re: The News Corner

Postby Sajuuk » Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:59 pm

I, for one, am NOT surprised. The government has a long history of doing things under the table and for all we know the decision to make this damn proposed treaty text was done without Obama ever being involved in it.

As for the administration being on 'our side,' remember, that it does not matter whose side the administration is on. What matters is who has the funding to bribe congress and the people who have been appointed by the administration into positions of power. Besides, politicians are filthy stinking liars anyway.

Have a look at the list of people who have been granted access to the documents via the non-disclosure agreements. http://keionline.org/node/660
Take note that the information was restricted under Executive Order 12958 which, to paraphrase said order, "prescribes a uniform system for classifying, safeguarding, and declassifying national security information." And since I don't need to get prosecuted for not citing my sources, heres the source: http://www.fas.org/sgp/clinton/eo12958.html

Will someone please tell me how a document that deals with these things is a "matter of national security." This is just seriously fucked up. Whats also fucked up is the extremely low amount of coverage this is getting from any major news sources (okay, the current crisis at Fort Hood in Texas is kind of overriding everything in the news right now). Hell, Fox should be jumping on this to yell at Obama about where his supposed transparency was! Granted, Fox has a lot to gain from this due to the crazy amount of intellectual properties that they own, but still.

I'm drawing up plans on what will be done should this measure pass in regards to the boards, blog, and so on, as if some of these things pass it could mean very bad news for us.
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Re: The News Corner

Postby TheDude51 » Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:17 am

The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of people simply do not care about this kind of thing. Fox News might mention it in passing, but the economy, the war, healthcare, and various other things will always take precedence.

Same with the progressive vote. Most progressives will never abandon Obama, and the chance of him losing any significant share of the progressive vote over an IP/internet matter is vanishingly small.

Obama has more or less ignored his campaign promises about transparency since day 1, and there has been no big fuss made about it yet.

The only way I could see this becoming a big issue is after it passes. If YouTube and other widely recognized and widely used sites are actually forced to shut down, or high-profile sympathetic victims emerge, people will start to notice and care.
Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?
-Bertolt Brecht

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Re: The News Corner

Postby Sajuuk » Fri Nov 06, 2009 4:21 am

For once, I agree with Judson. This issue will remain under the radar, much like net neutrality itself has for years (much to my annoyance). Its going to take a big and in-the-general-public-spotlight name for this to get recognized. Of course, the MAFIAA wouldn't dare attack a celebrity with IP violations, because they are well aware that doing so would immediately ruin any chance they had of ever getting their way. So what we need is someone outside of the MAFIAA's area of influence. So that immediately rules out the music and film industries. Politicians are out since most of them are on the MAIFAA's payroll anyway. This unfortunately leaves us with the two things that haven't worked in the past - sports stars and corporate overlords, though I could see Steve Jobs coming out against this proposal as it would probably end up crippling iTunes with additional fees and such. Same goes for Google, who a) wouldn't want to have to enforce this treaty from a search-engine level, and b) would suffer greatly due to the loss of Youtube and Google Videos, not to mention Google Books (which is already in legal hell anyway in Europe). Beyond those, you are getting into the realms of people who the majority of the public won't recognize.

As for the progressive vote, it won't make any difference at all. Remember that the average voter, be they democrat, progressive, republican, or green party, makes their decisions with the information they are fed by Fox News, CNN, CBS, and NBC. Three of those four stand to gain big from this (CNN also stands to gain, but not as much as the other three), so don't expect the issue to get anywhere near fair coverage, if any coverage at all. I can count the number of times that net neutrality has shown up on the TV news on one hand, and it was all with an anti-neutrality slant.

And then of course we have the ability of the people who stand to gain the most to buy TV, Internet, and Radio ad space to brainwash the voters into believing that their stance is right. We have seen this with the net neutrality debate lately, with the telecom companies releasing ads saying that they built the internet with their own money (mostly a flat out lie as the government poured money into them to create the infrastructure), they know how to manage the internet the best (debatable), and that the internet would crash forever if they didn't have the right to throttle and block traffic (what a load of bull).

Lastly, we also have to contend with the ill-informed morons governing this country. Thankfully, one of the biggest morons of all, Ted Stevens, is no longer in Washington, so we don't have to worry about saying anything stupid because he was paid by lobbyists to say it. Unfortunately, as some of us well know, the universe is always making bigger and bigger idiots. Not to mention we have lawmakers currently in Washington who have admitted to making decisions about bills without even reading the bill. So much for that 'change that we could believe in.' Thanks a lot Obama, the only big change I've seen in the past year consists of the country going further and further down the proverbial tubes, even as we start to rise out of the economic crisis. I've seen no reform on lobbying, no anti-corruption reform, little reform on campaign contributions, and very little in the way of government transparency improvements.
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Re: The News Corner

Postby Zanaikin » Wed Nov 18, 2009 5:26 pm

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Re: The News Corner

Postby TheDude51 » Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:15 am

I personally don't see China as any sort of threat to America at all. There is no reason whatsoever for America to be the dominant power in East Asia. Our "allies" in the region have done nothing but leech away our money for 50 years, with precious little to show for it. The trade from Asia will not change a bit no matter how few our troops or how small our strike capability in the region.

Any fears of China's military actually harming the US are hysterically overblown. America has more and better submarines, destroyers, and aircraft. We have a dozen aircraft carriers where China has yet to construct a single one. Our nuclear arsenal is more than five times the size of China's, and each missile has more range, accuracy, and power. Various commentators have began panicking about the buildup of the PLA because it means we can no longer seize China's principle cities on the same day that war is declared. It has even gotten to the point where we might be unable to completely conquer China at all. Horrors.

It is sheer folly to believe that America needs to have the capacity to conquer anyone at any time in order to be safe and prosperous. It is not even necessary to be able to conquer our neighbors, much less a country that is literally on the other side of the earth.

The only danger we face from China is that it will provoke our over-eager leaders to rush into an unnecessary conflict over an unimportant nation of foreigners on the far side of the world.
Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?
-Bertolt Brecht

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Re: The News Corner

Postby Zanaikin » Thu Nov 19, 2009 6:47 pm

Spoken like an American

but I do agree on parts, America doesn't need to feel threatened MILITARILY from China. China's military buildup, IMO, is more aimed towards Japan, ROC, Vietnam, and India rather than other major powers half a world away. Yes, the PLA still spends like less than 1/5th DOD's budget and their equipment are still going to be rather outdated for a few years, but I don't think the military leadership cares as much: (1) the Chinese people themselves have no ambition for global military power projection - which has been the trend since, pretty much forever, as Admiral Zheng's trip to Africa proved centuries ago. (2) Nuclear non-first-strike policy. (3) they're much more interested in space programs anyways, as putting men into space and shooting down satellites have proven.

I also love how the US keeps pointing its fingers towards the Chinese army's size. In the west, Army = professionals whose primary training is to wage war. In China, Army = Government controlled labor battalions who don't even have guns most of the year. Something very noticeable whenever film credits roll - instead of computer generated or temporary standins for orcs, CCTV simply mobilize a few army divisions to fill those 200,000.

China's "global conquest" strategy in building a hedgemony, if you're looking at it from a long-range perspective, is economic (and slightly cultural). The govn't is busy gobbling up bonds from all over the world, using it to purchase large ownerships in major companies and civil infrastructure, not to mention the construction of entire foreign cities and ports in poor countries built solely to supply the chinese trade fleet / resource intake. This is also matching with historical trends, as China usually relies on subtle forms of assimilation to grow rather than outright conquest (which usually fail to achieve long-term gains).

besides Judson, how many times have I told you by now, military buildup isn't for war.
It's for another to realize how costly it'll be to simply war you...
yeah, I'll lose, but you're going to get hurt too. Now, do you still want to push that red button?
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Re: The News Corner

Postby Zanaikin » Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:02 pm

Not actually news, but I want attention :p

Since we have plenty of discussions on morality and governance amongst us, I figure I'd drop this blog post of mine in to tickle your thoughts. If you don't know anything about Fate/stay night universe, scroll down to "Comparing to Fate/zero", which one should be able to follow even if you don't know the universe at all.

Post:
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Re: The News Corner

Postby TheDude51 » Mon Nov 30, 2009 6:14 am

Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?
-Bertolt Brecht

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Re: The News Corner

Postby Mr_Praetorian » Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:53 am

That's pretty damn funny.
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Re: The News Corner

Postby Laharl » Mon Nov 30, 2009 3:44 pm

ALL HAIL BARACK!


Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pron surfed, weak and weary,
Over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore',
While I clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour,
"'Tis not possible!", I muttered, "Give me back my free hardcore!
...quoth the server, 404.-Bash.org

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Re: The News Corner

Postby Mr_Praetorian » Mon Nov 30, 2009 8:05 pm

All thats missing is Sarah Palin's face on Leluch and one of McCain's classic angry grandpa faces on Nunally.
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Re: The News Corner

Postby Zanaikin » Tue Dec 01, 2009 5:28 pm

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikes ... hael-moore

Great letter to the prez

EDIT: I don't care if he's Michael Moore, his reasons on this are quite legit - a Military solution to Afganistan will lead only to Vietnam II
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Re: The News Corner

Postby Mr_Praetorian » Fri Dec 11, 2009 5:19 pm

You! Your character's build displeases me! Come to the boards for nerfing!

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Re: The News Corner

Postby TheDude51 » Sat Dec 12, 2009 4:17 am

I agree mostly with the major point, that Wall Street influence on the Obama White House and Congress is ridiculously corrupt, and Obama's actions since his election are a complete betrayal of what he campaigned for.

However, what is really puzzling to me is how people like Taibbi always see anything that benefits large corporations as "free market capitalism". Taibbi goes so far as to say that the health care bill is certainly not socialist because Big Pharma lobbied for it. I am mystified.
Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?
-Bertolt Brecht

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Re: The News Corner

Postby Mr_Praetorian » Sat Dec 12, 2009 6:04 pm

That point was a bit strange.
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