Oops. Meant to put that in politix.

Wow am I late to this conversation. Don't read the forums for one bloody weekend...

I rather agree what maak so ineloquently stated -- most protestors I've seen are just out there protesting because they're too lazy, apathetic, or stupid to actually DO anything. It's easy to grab a sign and show up somewhere. Then they go home and get baked.

This is why, unlike the integration protests in the 50's and 60's, pretty much no one cares when protests happen now. They're more like social events. And what "freeing" "Palestine" has anything to do with Iraqi occupation is beyond me.

A lot like the Palestinian state. >>>duck<<<

This is a pet peeve of mine. People like to segregate themselves into tinier and tinier little groups until it pretty much means nothing and just sort of serves as a social club. I first noticed it in college when I saw the "Asian Christian Association." What the hell does being Christian have to do with being Asain? What does being Asian have to do with being Christian? Can't these idiot northern Manhattan neighbors find an actual group to join? Hell...

How very un-politically-correct of you.

This is just insipid. The only reason rich white men are responsible for anything is because they kept everyone else from having rights for so long. Very, very soon -- and now, to a large extent -- you can start blaming the bureaucracy and "horrendous capitalism" (which brought you the Internet, by the way) on rich Latino women, or rich black Jews, if it makes you happy.

Sorry, hippies, like bell bottoms, are abominations from the past which are here to stay. I doubt we'll ever be rid of them in some form. And as long as they're around the causes they support (probably without really understanding them) will be subject to annoying straw man arguments like mAAk made with that picture.

In that, at least, you can take comfort.

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peddling the funny around since 09/24/2002

Having posted that, I also wish to acknowledge that there is going to be no way I can keep up with the inevitable growth this thread will have, and I reserve the right to stop replying when there are several pages between where my last post was and where my next one would be.

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peddling the funny around since 09/24/2002

How very un-politically-correct of you.

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How so?

This is just insipid. The only reason rich white men are responsible for anything is because they kept everyone else from having rights for so long. Very, very soon -- and now, to a large extent -- you can start blaming the bureaucracy and "horrendous capitalism" (which brought you the Internet, by the way) on rich Latino women, or rich black Jews, if it makes you happy.

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How is that insipid? You're agreeing with me by being more specific.

The captialism you're claiming brought me to the internet is something we've all got to deal with. There is a little capitalist in all of us because humans adapt. In order to survive, we've had to accept a certain amount of capitalism into our personalities. It's still horrendous, even though as of now it's necessary. What brought me to the internet is a need for information, which is largely controlled and censored commodity in capitalist circles.

Saying capitalism brought me to the internet is like saying George W. Bush was a good thing because he gave people a common enemy to loathe.

Blaming anyone other than rich white men for the state of things in America is moot. Blame the initiators, not the stoolies who've been forced to become what initally oppressed them in order to 'thrive'.

Sorry, hippies, like bell bottoms, are abominations from the past which are here to stay. I doubt we'll ever be rid of them in some form. And as long as they're around the causes they support (probably without really understanding them) will be subject to annoying straw man arguments like mAAk made with that picture.

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I wouldn't go as far as to call them abominations, but they come close. Has anyone else noticed that most hippies are actually children of affluent families?

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The giant three-phallused phallus of Uzbekistan will one day squirt the cosmic jizz of revenge all over Canada.

No, the internet was brought to you by Washington and American tax dollars, specifically by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Hooray for government spending!

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What others say about boorite!

Nuh-uh. It was brought to us by Al Gore.

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The giant three-phallused phallus of Uzbekistan will one day squirt the cosmic jizz of revenge all over Canada.

No, the commercial internet that we know and love was brought to you by Al Gore.

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What others say about boorite!

Are you saying I don't have eloquence...FAG???

Yes I agree protests are just fun social time for people with a pretend-conscience. Let's all have a whining contest the most pathetic person wins.

Anyhoo this is totally already out of the news cycle, it didn't even make it to Sunday so once again truth and justice wins forever amen.

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Vote Jeb Bush 2008

How very un-politically-correct of you.

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How so?

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Don't get me started.

makes you happy.

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How is that insipid? You're agreeing with me by being more specific.

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It's my anti-Michael Moore reflex. However, it's pretty obvious that you can't really disagree with a tautology like "the people in charge of the government are the source of all the problems caused by the government."

Er, he just recently fell below a 50% approval rating in the US for the first time. But it's not quite an apt analogy -- the Internet is fun and useful, whereas loathing is generally unpleasant and counterproductive.

My sister is the epitome of that exact situation.

I figured one of you people would jump on that one. DARPA may have invented the technology necessary for building the Internet, but its ubiquity and scale would never, ever have been possible without capitalism.

Does the government provide Internet access to your house? How many packets going to and from your house do you think skip privately owned routers entirely?

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peddling the funny around since 09/24/2002

How very un-politically-correct of you.

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How so?

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Don't get me started.

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Well, I apologize for pulling your ripcord, but I really want to know what is so politically incorrect about wanting people to stop breaking themselves off into splinter groups so our collective differences can intertwine to become strengths?

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The giant three-phallused phallus of Uzbekistan will one day squirt the cosmic jizz of revenge all over Canada.

I figured one of you people would jump on that one. DARPA may have invented the technology necessary for building the Internet, but its ubiquity and scale would never, ever have been possible without capitalism.

Does the government provide Internet access to your house? How many packets going to and from your house do you think skip privately owned routers entirely?

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I'm not sure the private sector's hijacking of a publicly-created technology counts as them "bringing us" the internet.

It does count as "bringing you the Internet" when the only way to "use" the "Internet" before was to have critical civil defense data you needed backed up on off-site locations using government super-computers.

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Vote Jeb Bush 2008

Or be a college student.

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What others say about boorite!

College students were allowed to use ARPA net for personal interchanges?

The U.S. government has implemented a lot of technology before the market made the technology affordable, but unless it's something that the market cannot sustain but is a dire public need (like the Postal Service) you have to wait until commerce brings it to you. Asking how many data packets are made possible by the government is, however, misleading; I think the phone lines are public property in some respect, cable companies are franchised by local governments, wireless tranmissions are regulated by the federal government and etc. The ARPA net aside in at least this respect the Internet is a hybrid of the open market and government facilitation.

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Vote Jeb Bush 2008