Daily Topics - Tuesday August 3rd, 2010
By shawnt56
Quote of the Day: Power has only one duty - to secure the social welfare of the People. -- Benjamin Disraeli
Hour One: Should big business get to play big brother by spying on their customers? Newsflash: they already are!! Thom has a rumble with Katherine Mangu-Ward of Reason Magazine www.reason.com
Hour Two: Should anyone born in the United States be a citizen automatically? Thom challenges Benjamin Johnson of the Immigration Policy Center www.immigrationpolicy.org
Hour Three: If you're going to do away with Obamacare, what will you replace it with? Thom mixes it up with Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute www.cato.org
Comments
#2
FOX NEWS Jo McCarthy network is a corporation.
Dr. Tiller, RIP
Reverend Wright
ACORN
Van Jones
Shirley Sherrod
Whose next?!
#3
LOVE Norman Goldman! Welcome!
#4
Why Executives Hate Social Media
http://www.pr101.biz/why-executives-hate-social-media/
...because they are....sociopaths?!
#5
FOX LOST Helen's seat though- per CREDO action of about a half a million signatures in about a day.
#6
Unless of course you are about to commit a crime.....
#7
Did you know that Fox got a front row seat in the White House briefing room?
“Fox's upgrade is an acknowledgment of its "length of service and commitment," the White House Correspondents Association board said in a statement.”
Seriously? Hasn't NPR been serving longer and far more fairly? Why does everyone give in to those thugs?
#8
In California, most of these are so-called 'Sobriety Check Points' and they're supposedly looking for drunk drivers.
#9
I don't even like the free club cards different stores offer. I just reject them outright. The clerks are just amazed that I reject them, assuring me that the cards are free. "We just need your address." What amazes me is that they can say that and not even realize why I don't want the damn thing.
N
#10
See 'Century of the Self' to address are we consumers or are we citizens. You can google and watch on line for free. There is actual footage of Sigmund Freud and his nephew Bearnaise who used his uncle's findings to change Americans from citizens to mindless consumers.
#11
Sometimes there are good reasons for keeping track of purchases. We got a phone message from Walgreens because they said their records indicated that we bought some children's Tylenol, Benedryl, or some other medicine and there's been a recall with a certain lot number, so be sure to check it.
I also did like when I got an email from LaCoste reminding me that a shirt was in my online shopping bag, and did I still want it.
When it's for convenience or to alert you with possible issues, I am all for it. You should have a right to opt out of things, though. I wonder how Walgreens knew I bought over-the-counter medicine, though.
#12
I wonder if people's willingness to talk about anything about themselves thru Facebook or Twitter, for instance, could ever be used against them in a courtroom. How can you complain about someone stealing your ID if you practically give it away, a lawyer might argue. It works for rapists. How can you claim you were raped if you've done X, Y and Z before?
#13
re: #11, stores now computerize and analyize your purchases via cash register receipts. They'll leave little messages on the bottom of your receipt like "how's that bed-wetting problem?"
#14
re: #12: if you do X, don't do it with Y or Z. OK sometimes after C.
#15
correction! Its actually I before E except after C, and on holidays and week ends, etc.
#16
And sometimes Y.
#17
@Jeanie re How did they know you bought over-the-counter medicine? Two possibilities come to mind; 1 Do you have and use one of those store provided discount cards? 2 Did you use a credit or debit card to make the puchase. If so, who you are and what you bought is data they harvested.
re How can you complain about someone stealing your ID if you practically give it away, a lawyer might argue. It works for rapists. How can you claim you were raped if you've done X, Y and Z before? I'm not following this line of thought. I'm pretty sure a victim of rape can claim it if they claim the experience isn't consensual (now what is and isn't considered consensual may be open to debate in some particular cases, and yes lawyers are good at stretching the perception of it). In either case (ID theft or rape) if it is brought to trial, you're going to get lawyers who try all sorts of strange strategies, doesn't mean that the crimes don't happen, nor do they not get successfully prosecuted. Our justice system is far from perfect (and seemingly corrupted), but it is founded in good principals.
N
#18
No, Y not
#19
That's a Deal! -Insert 'Natural' before the word Corporations do destroy corporate personhood.
Great idea! Swap!
#20
@harry and Gene, you kinky nuts, I before E and sometimes Y. Shame on you, shame on you both for discussing such foul things on a public blog. Don't you know there can be children reading this? Disgusting, just disgusting.... though I totally agree on the except after C though, I mean really that's the only way it should be done.
N
#21
re: #20: and don't forget the Greek letters for more fun!
#22
If corporations = persons, and money spent politically = speech, does that mean if a judge issues a gag order on a corporation, they can no longer spend money politically while under that order?
If so, what would happen if politicians started sueing corporations (or labor unions) just prior to their campaign to keep them from spending money against them?
N
#23
Maxrot,
I did use a credit card.
And my example was not about what is logical or makes sense, but what could possibly be used against you in court. If you "give it away", regardless of what "it" is, well, you must not mind if someone takes it. Consensual or not. Maybe I'm worried about nothing.
I marvel at how some of you can make jokes about anything. It makes things more pleasant.
#24
@Thom: Many states have legislated that the police and other public employees have "a reasonable expectation of privacy" when operating on behalf of the state in public. Illinois and Massachusetts call audio recording of the police "eavesdropping" or "wiretapping."
In Illinois, recording the audio of YOUR OWN ARREST is a Class 1 Felony, punishable by up to THIRTY YEARS (30) in prison.
See http://www.c-drew.com/blog or write umcac@art-teez.org to get info on Chris Drew's ordeal at the hands of the state.
#25
Street view needs to be improved actually. If I enter my address into it, I get a location that's about 3 - 4 doors down. Which could be a real bad thing, because people using it to determine whatever about certain people (sex offender for instance) might think your house is where they live.
N
#26
Thankfully, living in an apartment complex as I do, there isn't a street view available on Google Earth. Thankfully, they didn't go into apartment parking lots with their 360 degree car.
#27
I googled my house and found my frisbee!
#28
Regarding the South Korean baby scheme and the like, I remember hearing that Al Queda had Muslim moms come here and have their babies so that they'd be automatic American citizens and so not as trackable (like thru Visas) when they planned our doom and destruction 25-30 years in the future. That would suck. If it were true.
#29
@Harry- I keep Frisbees beneath my car seat, always desparate for someone to throw one to me.
#30
@Maxrot #25: One of the towns I lived in had such stupid criminals that they would have needed an escort to get them to the house they wanted to shoot up. It happened a block from where I lived; we moved shortly after.
Really need to improve our educational system so I don't get shot, kidnapped, beaten, etc.
#31
The Frisbertarians say that when you die, your soul gets stuck on the roof.
#32
Hey...new...used to the Steph blog...how does this work here?
#33
re: #32: now, lets not be flip!
#34
I dont want to go 'round and 'round about this frisbee thing.
#35
Dang, Harry, it's hard to flip a Frisbee!
#36
Hysterical, "Hello Mr. Hartmann Higgens has been deemed a threat to society! lol ! Good one Jacob! BTW- what's wrong with Mary?
#37
Corps do! what the F"#&???!!!
#38
@Jeanie, yeah a credit card would be enough for the store to track what you bought with it and when... your bank too.
I'm still not convinced that giving your information on a Social Site, is the same as giving out your intimate information. I doubt one would put their SSN out publicly, or credit card info (at least I hope no one does that). I'll just leave the rape analogy alone, I'm still not seeing the correlation.
N
#39
re; 36: what's wrong with Mary, Typhus, I hear...
#40
@Harry #39: You must be one of those commie pinko Nazi Stalinist Maoist cretins who can read! Stop it!
#41
39: Mary Jane
#42
Everything is "commerce." I'm sure that slave traders would object.
#43
"Achtung! Workers of the World Unite! Hold the MSG!"
#44
I don't know if I give a damn about survelliance video at stores and parking lots. Its private property that I'm entering, and at a certain level I'm entering into an implicit agreement to being watched to limit my ability to commit crime on or against the property. I'm don't like it, but in reality if every person is video taped going through a store, what store has enough time or personnel to watch each person. I doubt that unless there is a specific reason to find out if was at the store, anyone would watch the tape, and if they do, then for all I care, they can watch me scratch my ass or whatever.
N
#45
#38: Maxrot, don't make me spell it out for you! Mostly because I can't. It made sense when I was typing it.
I would like to put an electronic chip in my son, but just for the purposes of tracking him in case someone steals him. As long as it would be removed when he's 18.
#46
@Jeanie, I don't know about chipping my sons. Its seems to be a good idea for its intentional purpose, but what type of abuse of the chip can be made while waiting for the child to grow up. Also why wait til their 18 to remove the chip, why not at a younger age say 15 or 16. I think there is a bit of an atmosphere of fear permeating this country brought to us by corporate interests. Ever watch bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore did some good compare/contrast investigations between Canada and America. Its amazing how well adjusted those crazy Canooks are.
N
#47
Guest is right health care should not be employee based.
#48
I saw people demonstrating (here in Phoenix) right before health care "reform" was passed with signs that said "Stop Obamacare". I gave them a thumbs-down and yelled that they were idiots. I think I struck fear in their hearts.
#49
so, Jeanie, the moral of this story, is get your kid a Canadian chip...
#50
Maxrot, if you can have a device placed in your car so the police can locate it lickety-split if it's stolen, shouldn't we be able to do that with kids? And 15 or 16 would be fine. Of course it's a slippery slope, but sometimes, technology can be our friend. At least, it should be.
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