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[ChairmanPoo]

"The constitution says so" and "Essential freedom" aren't good enough for you?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Pretty sure Leafsnail is saying they need to be using real pro-free speech arguments instead of just getting angry, not that the young shouldn't have free speech.

[RedKing]

Pretty sure kaijyuu was being snarky and implying that the adult response to kids complaining of free speech violations is to tell them to sit down and shut up.

EDIT: The typical kid response isn't "Sit down and shut up", it's "Nuh-uh! You're not the boss of me!" 

[Leafsnail]

It was a joke based on the fact that kaijyuu's phrasing implies it's the kids telling the adults to shut up and sit down.  I know what he means.

[Truean]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/03/same-sex-marriage-amendment-ohio_n_1400714.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

Round Two.... Preparations.

We'll probably lose again, but the jerks in this state come out again and reaffirm their bigotry. Shall ye be remembered as even bigger bigots when the history books cast down the truth? This is playing out just like interracial marriage, which used to be taboo.

[Nilik]

This thread has become a lot less calm and cool than the title suggests. 

[kaijyuu]

We're friggin' CALM!





Sorry if my phrasing was wacky. I did indeed mean that the adults were telling kids to sit down and shut up.

[Leafsnail]

I can't see anything uncalm about where the thread is at the moment.  "Cool" is ambiguous but providing you mean the version that's basically the same as calm (as opposed to fashionable or awesome or low temperature) I don't see the problem with that either.  I mean, noone's insulting anyone else or getting particularly emotional (other than the calm, relaxed progressive rage that is this threads lifeblood of course).

[ChairmanPoo]

Electronic surveillance is growing in Europe and the US :-(

[Truean]

Foreclosure wave two, and after this there will be a third wave:
http://news.yahoo.com/americans-brace-next-foreclosure-wave-210253440.html

"The subprime stuff is long gone," said Michael Redman, founder of 4closurefraud.org. "Now the folks being affected are hardworking, everyday Americans struggling because of the economy."

"Principal reduction involves reducing the amount borrowers owe in order to make a loan modification affordable for struggling homeowners. Republicans and the FHFA oppose principal reduction because of the risk of "moral hazard"- that homeowners who do not need help will seek to abuse largesse and have their mortgages reduced too."

So, given that there WILL NECESSARILY be reductions in the principle because you just aren't getting the money and can't make it appear out of thin air/squeeze blood from a stone, why not reduce the principle beforehand and let people keep their houses? I'm getting sick of looking at vacant houses dragging down property values, attracting copper pipe thieves, and basically having people tossed out on their ear. Heck the City of Cleveland is spending a small fortune demolishing foreclosed homes.... Huh? We're gonna ... tear down houses... rather than let people live in them...? All of this on the taxpayer's dime and not the bank's of course. Though recently, they've been going after the people being foreclosed upon for the demolition costs, or trying to. Yeah.... The demolition costs alone are HUGE and nobody seems to be paying for it.

That said, why not just let the people keep their houses and pay what they can for right now? Seems to me it beats having them in the gutter, having the city pay to demo the house when it rots for two or three years, having property values dive from vacant homes, and let's say ... it has less fat ... for the hell of it. Seems everyone else throws in that last one for some reason lately.

All in all, I'd rather have a sensible solution though.... Really.

[ChairmanPoo]

You know, doing foreclosure defense work, I heard a lot of bullshit about "people borrowing more than they could afford," etc, etc, etc. It's a lovely way to let us engage in our favorite pastime: complaining about others while implicitly glorifying ourselves.

It's also a lovely way for banks to shift the blame of this whole mess. Particularily since they were the ones giving those loans in the first place, and encouraging people to take larger ones.

[Truean]

You know, doing foreclosure defense work, I heard a lot of bullshit about "people borrowing more than they could afford," etc, etc, etc. It's a lovely way to let us engage in our favorite pastime: complaining about others while implicitly glorifying ourselves.

It's also a lovely way for banks to shift the blame of this whole mess. Particularily since they were the ones giving those loans in the first place, and encouraging people to take larger ones.

Yups, cause the lenders work on commission. If the loan is for 100,000 and your commission is 3%, then you make $3000 as a loan officer. If it's for 300,000, then you get $9000! Figure that one out....

Absolutely NONE of the billions this government has tossed into the raging inferno of bad banking practices had touched any of john does' losses. Instead? These bilions went to shore up the bonuses and earnings of the very people that caused all of this. America will never be the same.

Moral Hazard: Bankers screwing up the whole system and getting bonuses for it.... Lenders who get a bigger commission for convincing you to take out a larger loan, knowing you can't afford it. I think these qualify. But, I'll let you [looks at reader cheekily] decide.
______________________________________________________
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/washington-boy-9-writes-apology-girl-shot-221940033--abc-news-topstories.html

This is why we have a juvenile justice system. Though really, I'm glad they're prosecuting the parents on this one. This is why there are trigger locks and gun safes.... Just sad.

[Truean]

http://www.uproxx.com/technology/2012/04/google-would-like-to-introduce-you-to-project-glass-the-eyewear-of-the-future/

....

Every once in a while there is something so smart it becomes stupid. Kinda like how if you drive your car enough the odometer will flip back over to 0 and "reset" or "roll over."

Government: "How do we get everyone to wear a camera so we can arrest them for anything they do?"
Google: "O we can help with that. We'll just make it 'cool'...."

[head desk]

[sluissa]

Ideally it will only record when you tell it to. I don't really see this as any different than what smart phones already do. Yeah, it's somewhat easy to accidentally record your actions/location/whatever with those already and this would make it even more convenient for you to do something silly, if you're careful, then it's really not any worse than what we're already dealing with.

It's not the technology so much that makes it bad, although the companies make it way too easy to do bad things with them. It's just that people need a lesson in what exactly is private information. If social networking has taught us one thing, it's that people tend to be blabber mouths, they want to talk about everything and anything and if you give them an outlet that even presumably is being listened to, then they'll tell everything.

Yeah, it can be kinda scary how much of ourselves we're putting out there, but honestly, this... sort of thing, at least... is what I've been dreaming of for years. Personally, I was hoping for a terminal prompt and a (virtual?*) keyboard, but the times they are a changing in this touch screen world.

*Yeah, I wanted to be one of those idiots that would stand there staring off into space typing on absolutely nothing. To me, at least, it seems a lot less silly than talking to yourself. "Tell me how to get to George's deli." and people looking at you funny when they think you're asking them out of nowhere. Even when they've been around for years now, bluetooth headsets still seem a bit odd and confusing if someone walks by talking and I'm not sure who they're talking to.

[Levi]

I'll rig up my glasses to self destruct. 

I think people will just have to start learning how to protect their privacy.  Governments are demanding more abilities to get this data and there isn't a lot we can do about it, so the only real thing we can do to fight back is adapt or die.