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Messages - AHPMB

#16
We entered the war because we wanted to enter the war.  Wilson played at being a pacifist but once he entered the war he immediately used it as an excuse to clamp down on dissidents, nationalize the economy and jail his opponents under sedition laws.  Everyone at the state department knew that the Zimmerman Telegram represented a pipe dream of a particular German politician, not official German policy.  We were shipping weapons to the British on the Lusitania, and by our own laws that made us belligerents in the war.  Not only that, but we continued shipping weapons to the British after the Germans pledged to stop unrestricted submarine warfare.
#17
As some of you may know, Amazon has been in a protracted legal battle to keep the purchase records of its consumers private and out of the hands of state tax collection officials from North Carolina who would use the data to collect sales taxes.  In other words, state officials would have detailed information on every book, song or movie purchase you made from the site, not to mention that it's a flagrant violation of the Constitution for a state to collect sales taxes on inter-state purchases.  Thankfully the judge in the case sided with the ACLU and Amazon and has ruled against N.C.  It will be interesting to see if this goes to a higher court.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/8510642/
#18
QuoteThen they just say "Not enough regulation".

If they argued that Chernobyl as part of a communist state apparatus did not have "enough regulation" then at that point, you're only response is to chuckle and walk away.  Like the religious, they're beyond rational argument.
#19
General Discussion / Re: Abortion and the workforce
October 25, 2010, 11:56:39 PM
So he's a libertarian, except for the parts where he wants to use government coercion to impinge on the rights of women to control their own bodies?  Yeah no, that's just another Conservative posing as a libertarian.
#20
If you're going to mention pollution, I'd be sure to go with Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, both the result of corrupt oversight.  Murder is going to be a long, long, long list.  Everything from state executions, to hiring hitmen and thugs to attack workers during general strikes, to prosecuting unjustified wars, to committing atrocities in the name of the state.  I could go on and on.
#21
General Discussion / Re: Weed! Pot! Whatever!
September 27, 2010, 12:40:05 PM
QuoteWe end up paying for all of that crap. They use the same argument for seat belt and helmet laws. But shouldn't each person be responsible for the consequences of his own mistakes?

The problem is, that people don't end up paying for their own mistakes.  The increased cost of an accident without a seat belt or helmet tends to get defrayed to us through higher insurance costs, hospital costs, etc.  So the seatbelt law is essentially a band-aid on a gaping wound, that is the corporatist, state supported health care apparatus.  But there's really no relevance to the greater argument about marijuana.  Studies have repeatedly shown the medical benefits of the drug.  The downsides of cannibis, the side effects if you will, are NOTHING compared to say Paxil, Imiprimine, Thorazine, or other mind altering medications, or even most prescription allergy medication.

Outlawing Cannibis is about government control of society, specifically, an excuse to persecute counter-culture groups that have persistantly used cannibis in the past.  It's about naked power.
#22
General Discussion / Re: Capitalism ho!
September 11, 2010, 08:43:50 AM
There's nothing capitalist about item shops.  If there were I could use my buying power to negotiate a volume discount on those health potions.
#23
General Discussion / Re: Fav quotes
August 04, 2010, 02:39:26 PM
I try to read Asamov at least once a year.  My favorite quote of his is still: "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."
#24
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/07/apple-loses-big-in-drm-ruling-jailbreaks-are-fair-use.ars

The FCC has actually, against all odds done something useful for the consumer and stripped Apple of its power to threaten to sue consumers over how they choose to use its products.
#25
General Discussion / Re: Least free societies ever
July 23, 2010, 10:18:06 AM
I think North Korea must definitely be in the running for least free society ever.  They're completely cut off from the internet, or any form of outside communication, their outlets for entertainment are completely devoted to praising the dear leader, they live in a militarized police state where they are constantly told they are about to be invaded, and the secret police are constantly watching to ensure they are properly worshiping the Kims.  It's the worst aspects of a Communist dictatorship and theocracy mixed together into a slurry of evil.
#26
I think a major one is failing to address the underlying assumptions behind the belief.  When arguing with socialists or theists, the point they are trying to argue is essentially a mega-belief supported by numerous faulty assumptions.  An example of this in both cases:

1.  Objective morality comes from God, and therefore the godless are without morality
2.  Capitalism is inherently exploitative, therefore those who support it, support exploitation of workers

Often times, these arguments will put people on the defensive, which is what they are designed to do.  That shifts the burden of proof, and usually always ends in recrimination.  Rather, each time someone brings up an argument like this, it is an opportunity to kick out one of the support struts holding up the mega-belief.  Question the assumption.
#27
Quote from: MrBogosity on July 01, 2010, 10:23:41 AM
You don't think, though, that it alters the kind of crimes that are committed?

I've never seen evidence that backs that up, and even if there were, I'm not sure how much it would matter.  For instance, in Washington DC, where I'm preparing to move, there's has been a significant drop in gun violence over the past two decades.  The city crows about this at every opportunity, especially in conjunction with their idiotic trigger lock laws.  Now, any sane person would look at the statistics and realize that the drop in gun crimes has coincided with the collapse of the boom in the crack cocaine trade.  In other words, the crime wave was caused by a lack of economic freedom that created a violent black market that filled the void.  We've talked about that before.  The collapse of the crack trade ended the worst of the violent crime.  Of course, the dark secret is that violent crime has been replaced by less violent crimes of opportunity: property and auto theft.  These are crimes that, in most cases can not be helped by gun ownership as they take place in the absence of the gun owner.  Treating crime as a holistic problem, as a problem of poverty caused by a lack of economic freedom, and a collapsed social system caused by a lack of economic freedom are far more productive.  Guns, and the gun ownership debate is merely treating the symptom.
#28
So this guy thinks money is the only economic incentive?  Well if that's the case I guess myself and every other person who ever went into an academic or teaching field are certifiably insane.  After all it's not like the freedom to be able to choose your own research topics, to be able to teach people about your passion, to be able to publish original work and expand human knowledge (with academic presses that don't pay squat no less) and the ability to travel the world continually learning and expanding your mind could be in any way considered an incentive could it?

We've known about this for quite some time.  It's not the ecnoomists who should be surprised by this, it's idiot management grads who think that everything in life is about bonuses.
#29
I think the connection between crime and gun possession is fallacious.  If you want to reduce crime, you do two things.  First, you repeal bad economic policy that keeps people in poverty.  See Chicago for examples of how not to handle poverty.  Second you increase freedom and economic access, especially for women.  Crime is a product of poverty, and of homes where single parents can't spend time with their children, either due to drug use, or due to economic conditions that keep them working two to three minimum wage jobs.  Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased about any ruling that increases the freedom of individual citizens and curtails unnecessary government power, but I find this whole discussion about guns with relation to crime to be a waste of time.  You prevent crimes by changing the conditions which make criminals, guns and gun violence are coincidental.
#30
General Discussion / Re: Psychohistory?
June 30, 2010, 09:53:22 AM
I've always considered psycho-history to be complete bunk and speculation.  By its very nature psychoanalysis requires you listening to someone talk, something historian can not do, and are not trained to do.  Psycho-history is essentially an attempt to glean what someone's psychological issues might be based on their writings, and even worse, writings about them.  Now, there are some occassions where psycho-history works.  For instance, when we read about Mary Todd Lincoln's behavior and mood swings, we can be almost certain that she had bipolar disorder, mainly because there were professional doctors who were examining her, whose writings we can examine.  Sure they didn't have a modern name for it, they referred to it as melancholy and hysteria, but its still a medical examination.  More often then not, it's pure speculation disguised with jargon.  Most of the time, there isn't even enough evidence to speculate, and so essentially they're left trying to guess a mental state by deconstructing text.  Post-constructionalist nonsense.