It would truly be a nightmare if my wife disappeared and a great tragedy and source of grief if she was found dead.
But the LAST THING I would agree to do in either situation would be to grant the police free license to roam about my house at will.
All too often the police pick a superficially likely suspect and then simply start building a case against that suspect while ignoring all evidence pointing elsewhere.
And the more wins, er...convictions they score the more points they earn which gain them promotions, benefits, higher salary, status with their peers and so forth.
Never voluntarily give the police access to anything no matter how obviously innocent you believe that you are.
If Professors and Universities actually cared about education they would empower groups of educators to create standardized, freely available digital textbooks.
But, like every other large structurally entrenched institution in America, higher education is now mostly geared toward enriching members of the existing power structure.
It's not so simple as saying that data collection is "legal" under current laws until found to be unconstitutional.
What our despotic federal government is doing more and more is starting from misguided laws of dubious constitutionality and then creating SECRET interpretations of the laws that use truly Orwellian semantics to justify the actions they desire.
Once we are down the rabbit hole of the government interpreting and acting on the laws in secret then we truly no longer have any semblance of democracy.
Sad world where copyright lasts longer than an average lifetime, everything cultural is owned and protected and nobody can build new work on top of previous work which was pretty much how human culture always worked until corporate interests took over and perverted the concept.
A return to rational, constitutional copyright would be something like 16 years only IF registered, with one 16 year extension.
The really amazing thing about Asset Forfeiture is that it is not instantly struck down by the courts. It shows how monolithic the power structure is when it comes to protecting it's power and privilege, even when blatantly unconstitutional.
And what about all the cops that take part in what is essentially theft under cover of authority? Once again demonstrates how pliable police morality becomes when something benefits them and their gang.
The fact that we are outraged or even surprised by things like this is because we don't really want to recognize some of the more unpleasant aspects of human nature.
When people are placed within a power structure and given incentives such as increased status or money or position, they are typically capable of committing the most repugnant of actions and happily accepting the standard rationalization provided within the power structure. Most people have a very weak sense of personal morality that is easily overridden by group dynamics.
Additionally, dominant personality types will work incessantly to build power structures, expand power structures and seek out ties with other power structures in order to increase their personal opportunities for gain.
This is why our government has become so intensely dominant in our lives. The multitude of government power structures have grown to such a degree and become interconnected to such a degree that there is probably no way to reverse course short of a complete collapse and rebuild.
I don't understand the endless stream of photos of "police" pointing their guns at civilians. Isn't it the absolute primary rule of gun safety that you don't point a weapon at a person unless you are going to fire?
What's with all the running around in packs and pointing your guns at everything in sight? Makes them look like a bunch of scared little kids who don't even know how to behave and are all the more dangerous for it.
The police in America are organized into Unions which have massive amounts of local political power. Essentially, local politicians in most areas can NOT be elected if they are opposed by the police union.
This is the core of the problem. It's what makes the police an armed and organized gang. The average cop has far more loyalty to his union, his chain of command and his fellows than he does to the public or to the law. He only feels accountable to other cops, not to civilian officials.
Police know that they will not be held accountable for their actions because local civil authorities are too scared to cross the police union. Until police unions are banned and police become answerable to control by elected civilian officials nothing will change.
People rarely even mention that literally millions of literary and scholarly works reside in a state of copyright limbo where the public has no access to them because they are still under copyright while, at the same time, they are not in print or otherwise available because they are no longer profitable.
The simplest form of copyright reform would allow works that are no longer available for sale in any form to fall into the public domain after the original term of 28 years.
Of course, there will never be any broad public support for copyright reform of any kind, because 90% of the American public only care about what's popular right now and are conditioned to pay without complaint for everything they watch, read or listen to.
The part that bothers me the most is that there exists an entity called "John Wayne Enterprises" that holds a monopoly on and acts to monetize a long dead beloved cultural figure.
Meanwhile fans and the public are legally blocked from making any kind of creative use of this cultural icon. It seems we have absolutely no common, shared culture beyond worship of the dollar.
"Since these authors have given their copyright over to Hachette, they have nothing to complain about. The books they wrote are no longer theirs to do what they want." That is the crux of the matter. These authors have entered into agreements of indentured servitude with legacy publishers. Now they are scared to death that their master's way of business will lose it's dominance and they might have to compete on both price and quality of work.
Every single person who had a hand in authorizing or implementing an officially sanctioned torture program should face criminal charges. But our government officials have recently been doing a LOT of different things that are illegal and SHOULD lead to criminal charges, but don't.
One thing that everybody in government vehemently agrees on is that it would be unwise to open the door to the prosecution option even a crack. The fear being that the prosecution of one group of government wrong-doers would start the ball rolling towards the prosecution of others.
That's why nobody in government gets in trouble for anything any longer. It's a form of mutually agreed protection - much like the blue wall of silence that governs the police.
Unfortunately this attitude takes us a giant step further along the path to unregulated authoritarian fascism, towards which we are certainly drifting.
The primary problem with using your real name on the internet is that there are entities out there who are actively crawling the internet and attempting to link every use of your name together and create a comprehensive profile on you.
This profile will be used for their profit and your detriment. And it's entirely removed from your knowledge, consent and review.
The next step is that this online profile is linked to your shopping habits through your use of loyalty cards and your cell phone records and your TV viewing habits and so on endlessly. Your entire life becomes an open book to government and business.
This is why you don't want to use your real name on the internet any more than you absolutely have to.
That's about as blatant a "we pay you to buy the legislation we want" statement that I've ever seen. Blatant enough to risk criminal investigation if Mr. Dodd wasn't a golden, highly-connected, Washington insider.
All too many judges these days seem to think that their high and powerful office gives them carte blanche to simply ramble on at length with bizarre personal opinions and then make whatever determination they prefer with scant attention paid to the actual law.
I suppose it's a byproduct of years wearing the black robe and having everybody around you bowing and scraping and hanging on your every word.
Power does corrupt; in many different ways. Perhaps it's time to end the whole judge for life concept.
It's not just copyright. Large corporations working in close collusion with a cronyist US government are using copyright, patents, trademarks and trade secrets to essentially close off all competition and stifle any innovation that they don't own.
We are trending towards a world where a dozen mega-corporations cross license each other's massive portfolio of patents and copyrights and then hammer into oblivion any innovative smaller company.
Nothing the public can do about it, I'm afraid. We have been essentially disenfranchised. The only true citizens of 2013 USA are corporate dollars.
The cops don't care. Maybe their egos are a little bruised for a few moments. But they will just go on doing what cops do - basically anything they want at any time. Because they know they won't be held personally accountable.
Every person I've ever met massively underestimates the degree to which the subconscious mind re-organizes and alters perceptions and memories in order to protect and bolster the self.
People tend to think of the mind as some kind of computing device that calculates things and stores memories. In reality it is an organ that has evolved with one purpose - to protect it's host and make it feel secure, even if it means warping our view of reality.
It doesn't matter what a business enterprise supposedly stood for in it's infancy, once they go full bore corporate the only driving force is profit and screw anybody or anything that stands in the way of maximizing profit.
Corporations are fundamentally psychopathic in that they simply don't care about any harm they do to society as a whole until it impacts their bottom line. That's why corporations need to be VERY tightly regulated, limited and controlled.
Unfortunately, in our influence-for-sale political system the exact opposite has happened.
On the post: Murder Case Prosecutors Claim 'National Security' To Stop Questions About FBI Examination Of Google Maps Search
But the LAST THING I would agree to do in either situation would be to grant the police free license to roam about my house at will.
All too often the police pick a superficially likely suspect and then simply start building a case against that suspect while ignoring all evidence pointing elsewhere.
And the more wins, er...convictions they score the more points they earn which gain them promotions, benefits, higher salary, status with their peers and so forth.
Never voluntarily give the police access to anything no matter how obviously innocent you believe that you are.
On the post: Study Indicates College Textbook Piracy Is On The Rise, But Fails To Call Out Publishers For Skyrocketing Prices
But, like every other large structurally entrenched institution in America, higher education is now mostly geared toward enriching members of the existing power structure.
On the post: NSA Agent Is Oh So Shy About Being Filmed/Questioned In Public
What our despotic federal government is doing more and more is starting from misguided laws of dubious constitutionality and then creating SECRET interpretations of the laws that use truly Orwellian semantics to justify the actions they desire.
Once we are down the rabbit hole of the government interpreting and acting on the laws in secret then we truly no longer have any semblance of democracy.
On the post: Conan Doyle Estate Asks Supreme Court To Put Sherlock Holmes Back Under Copyright
A return to rational, constitutional copyright would be something like 16 years only IF registered, with one 16 year extension.
On the post: Canadian News Outlet Warns Canadians That US Law Enforcement Officers Will Pull Them Over And Seize Their Cash
And what about all the cops that take part in what is essentially theft under cover of authority? Once again demonstrates how pliable police morality becomes when something benefits them and their gang.
On the post: The Miraculous Works Of The Criminal Justice System
When people are placed within a power structure and given incentives such as increased status or money or position, they are typically capable of committing the most repugnant of actions and happily accepting the standard rationalization provided within the power structure. Most people have a very weak sense of personal morality that is easily overridden by group dynamics.
Additionally, dominant personality types will work incessantly to build power structures, expand power structures and seek out ties with other power structures in order to increase their personal opportunities for gain.
This is why our government has become so intensely dominant in our lives. The multitude of government power structures have grown to such a degree and become interconnected to such a degree that there is probably no way to reverse course short of a complete collapse and rebuild.
On the post: Police In Ferguson Sign Court Agreement Promising Not To Interfere With Media... Then Go Threaten And Arrest Media
What's with all the running around in packs and pointing your guns at everything in sight? Makes them look like a bunch of scared little kids who don't even know how to behave and are all the more dangerous for it.
On the post: Police In Ferguson Back To Threatening And Arresting Reporters: Tells Them To 'Get The Fuck Out Of Here'
This is the core of the problem. It's what makes the police an armed and organized gang. The average cop has far more loyalty to his union, his chain of command and his fellows than he does to the public or to the law. He only feels accountable to other cops, not to civilian officials.
Police know that they will not be held accountable for their actions because local civil authorities are too scared to cross the police union. Until police unions are banned and police become answerable to control by elected civilian officials nothing will change.
On the post: Defending The Indefensible: Hilarious Talking Points On Ridiculous Copyright Terms
The simplest form of copyright reform would allow works that are no longer available for sale in any form to fall into the public domain after the original term of 28 years.
Of course, there will never be any broad public support for copyright reform of any kind, because 90% of the American public only care about what's popular right now and are conditioned to pay without complaint for everything they watch, read or listen to.
On the post: Duke And The Duke Duke It Out Over Duke Bourbon
Meanwhile fans and the public are legally blocked from making any kind of creative use of this cultural icon. It seems we have absolutely no common, shared culture beyond worship of the dollar.
On the post: One-Percent Authors Want To End Destructive Conflict, Bring Order to the Galaxy
That is the crux of the matter. These authors have entered into agreements of indentured servitude with legacy publishers. Now they are scared to death that their master's way of business will lose it's dominance and they might have to compete on both price and quality of work.
On the post: CIA Finishes Its Torture Report Redactions As Relations With Senate Intelligence Committee Have Become 'Strained'
One thing that everybody in government vehemently agrees on is that it would be unwise to open the door to the prosecution option even a crack. The fear being that the prosecution of one group of government wrong-doers would start the ball rolling towards the prosecution of others.
That's why nobody in government gets in trouble for anything any longer. It's a form of mutually agreed protection - much like the blue wall of silence that governs the police.
Unfortunately this attitude takes us a giant step further along the path to unregulated authoritarian fascism, towards which we are certainly drifting.
On the post: Anne Rice Battles Mean Anonymous Amazon Trolls, Ignores Fact Many Anonymous Users Add Great Value
This profile will be used for their profit and your detriment. And it's entirely removed from your knowledge, consent and review.
The next step is that this online profile is linked to your shopping habits through your use of loyalty cards and your cell phone records and your TV viewing habits and so on endlessly. Your entire life becomes an open book to government and business.
This is why you don't want to use your real name on the internet any more than you absolutely have to.
On the post: MPAA Shifts Its Funding Efforts To Republicans After SOPA Defeat
On the post: 'Innocence Of Muslims' Ruling Violates The First Amendment In Two Separate Ways
I suppose it's a byproduct of years wearing the black robe and having everybody around you bowing and scraping and hanging on your every word.
Power does corrupt; in many different ways. Perhaps it's time to end the whole judge for life concept.
On the post: Why The USTR Is Working So Hard To Kill American Innovation And The Economy
We are trending towards a world where a dozen mega-corporations cross license each other's massive portfolio of patents and copyrights and then hammer into oblivion any innovative smaller company.
Nothing the public can do about it, I'm afraid. We have been essentially disenfranchised. The only true citizens of 2013 USA are corporate dollars.
On the post: Boston PD Drops Ridiculous Felony Charges Against Carlos Miller And Taylor Hardy
On the post: DailyDirt: Memories Are Not As Reliable As They Used To Be
People tend to think of the mind as some kind of computing device that calculates things and stores memories. In reality it is an organ that has evolved with one purpose - to protect it's host and make it feel secure, even if it means warping our view of reality.
On the post: Why Is Red Hat Associated With A Letter That Calls More User Rights In Copyright A Dangerous 'Contagion'?
Corporations are fundamentally psychopathic in that they simply don't care about any harm they do to society as a whole until it impacts their bottom line. That's why corporations need to be VERY tightly regulated, limited and controlled.
Unfortunately, in our influence-for-sale political system the exact opposite has happened.
On the post: Nintendo Shuts Down Recreation Of Original Super Mario Bros. For No Reason Other Than It Can
Media corporations don't want you playing the games of your childhood. The want you buying new $60 games.
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