One has some degree of intelligence and appears to be an ok President, if not amazing. Certainly better than the last, though at the same time, could be improved upon. The other....well.....it's a damnig verdict upon America that such a person could rise to lead a nation. Having said that, the same could be said of several places. It's just nice for the rest of the world that you've actually got someone in charge who looks like they have a simple grasp of language and the world around them. You do have access to many, many rockets and we'd rather the person in charge be open to logic. And the ability to reason. And use their brain to some capacity above a monkey. Regardless, wrong place for such a debate! My bad.
Now that's just silly, unless you consider the Affordable Healthcare Act, EPA regulation of carbon emissions, financial reform, the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court and ending the war in Iraq and pulling troops out of Afghanistan to be the same policies Bush had. Admittedly, he's allowed the Bush-era tax cuts to remain (as a bartering chip mostly), and there are some overlaps in terms of foreign policy, but really if you've paid any attention at all over the last 3 years, you'll find plenty of differences.
Is he an evil bastard because he's a socialist (which I dispute, by the way), or is it incidental? And if the former, am I an evil bastard because I'm a socialist? Just wondering... Yup.
But yeah, I don't see this passing easily, the neckbeards at 4chan and Wikipedia will vote for all of us.
There already is a way. If SOPA comes into force, this simply means that you need to type in the IP address of the site you want, rather than the name. Hence it will not stop piracy at all, in any way.
The only way to stop piracy is to give things away for free. Which can't happen, so there's no stopping it. It's also flawed to think once piracy is eradicated (if possible) that sales will go up. There's just as high a chance that because there's less people who have something (possibly acquired via piracy methods) there will be less hype about it therefore less people will know about it therefore less people will buy it. I read a really interesting article a few years ago on how a lot of sales of certain music albums went up when they allowed people to download a few songs for free. I'm not rooting for people to pirate, I personally support the artists and writers I enjoy by purchasing what they've created. Most of the music I listen to though I only learnt about them through someone sharing with me their pirated music. Had it not been for piracy I would not have known about most of the bands I listen to. Same with most of the movies I own, had I not been able to watch them first I would not have known I wanted to purchase them. And I'm not a fan of movie theaters. That's why I'm against SOPA and concepts similar to it.
A Swiss study recently found that people who pirate copyrighted content spend more on average on copyrighted content than those who do not pirate, which is definitely a finding I personally identify with. (illegal) File sharing creates markets, it doesn't destroy them, but it does require entertainment companies to rethink the pricing and distribution models that have allowed them to dominate the past couple of decades.
I agree with what most posters said already. In photography world (I do a bit of that too) we saw every few years American Congress trying to find the way to rip off independent artists. First it was the "Orphan Works" Bill, now this... It is crazy. I can't see how they can legally get away with it, because it is clearly a monopoly-establishing exercise, but also severely limiting the freedom of speech of millions of people innocent of any copyright violation. Imagine, just one post with a copyrighted image (say, a poster for a movie) can get the whole blogspot or wordpress permanently shut down. Including all the independent domains that are hosted through it. This feels to me like dancing on the verge of the Dark Ages, so much so, it's making me want to write a dystopian novel
t's a daimnig verdict upon America that such a person could rise to lead a nation. Yes, I agree with this. Obama had zero experience at running anything when he took office, the man has never even managed a Burger King and has no concept of running a business. Over 90 % of his staff has never worked a real job in the private sector, he was merely a "community organizer" who championed ACORN among many other corrupt. It's just nice for the rest of the world that you've actually got someone in charge who looks like they have a simple grasp of language and the world around them. He does read well, have you ever heard him without his precious teleprompter? I would really love to see him debate Newt live, without it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=QAUZFMHXbD8 OK, he is a combination of a communist, a fascist and a socialist. Socialism is defined as any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods. 55% of Americans believe that he is a socialist. He has made it plain that he wants to redistribute the wealth by taking more and more in taxes from those who work hard and succeed and give it to the poor. Once these taxes are collected however, we have no control over where the money goes other than to the government. An example of his fascism would be his government takeover of health care and an example of his communism would be his leading the charge of confiscation of much of the automobile industry, as well as the federal government’s ownership of much of the mortgage and finance industries. And eventually, most likely, the entire medical industry. It does seem that most of the people who are for him on this forum don't actually live here. He has extended unemployment for the millions who have lost their jobs but eventually they too will get sick of this. Food stamps only go so far and he has put more Americans on food stamps than any other president and spent more money than any other president as well. But, as someone else said, we have hijacked this entire thread.
If you ever lived in a Communist, Fascist or Socialist country then you honestly wouldn't be saying this. To say Obama is either a Communist or a Fascist is silly, and to say he is a Socialist is just incorrect. Now maybe he's a Lefty, or has Leftist leanings, not a Socialist he is not. Besides, what is inherently wrong/evil about Socialism? Now, there are certain things about Obama, and people's reactions to him, that you can criticize (like his being award the Nobel Peace Prize for doing absolutely bloody nothing) but you have to remember: the guy does not have the Midas touch, he's human, and thereby fallible. To call him 'an evil socialist bastard' is just rash.
What some people believe and what is are two very different things. Wow, are you serious? You can't possibly be this ignorant! Can you? In case you are, are you telling us that in your opinion UK is a fascist country? Because we have free, government-owned health care and we are tremendously happy with it. Sorry Felipe but I think that it is inappropriate to take such an ignorant point of view when discussing politics in international company, especially if you are going to evoke horrific terms like nazism and fascism. Many members of my family fell victim to both those regimes and it offends me deeply when people throw those terms around without understanding what they mean. I get it, Americans in general don't have good education in politics, and that is sad and hilarious at the same time, but statements like these make so many people cringe. Fascism is free health care? Wtf? Do you even know what communism is? I mean, I can tell you staight away that you have no clue whatsoever, but do you know that you have no clue? Even now, in the deepest recession, Americans enjoy by far the highest standard of living when compared with the rest of the world. So don't be surprised if nobody feels too sorry for you. Get used to it, world doesn't owe you a living.
Alright, this is heading down dangerous avenue (and yes, I may have somewhat encouraged that), so I'm going to shut this down now. Discussion of SOPA is fine. Discussion of US politics, or political theory, in general is not.
I think we have to be right now. This is why everyone wants to come here to be free, because we actually know how to fight our government
I wouldn't be so sure about that SOPA might get stopped because it's do with entertainment; and if there's one thing about Americans they love their movies and music Will we go to war? hmmm ok Will we stop the free sharing of music and videos? HELL NO
That is a very strange comment. People go to America because you have alot of oppurtunities for earning cash, I would presume.
That is my experience as well. I do *cough* download movies and TV-series more than anyone else I know, but I also own more movies and DVD box-sets than anyone else I know. I simply have to test it before I spend a lot of money on it. If I really like a series or a movie, I will buy it legally. Games I don't download though, after a bad virus experience that wiped out absolutely everything on my comp.
It could be argued that coming across a band and illegally downloading a song to find that you like it, could also lead to that person perhaps coming across the bands album while out shopping and picking it up. Not all illegal downloading is done through lack of cash, some you just don't want to risk good money on. I don't download anything in such terms, i've had one Audiobook because they were charging ridiculous prices and I wanted to know if buying the second would be worth it. As it happens it is worth it, and if they have a sale on the other then i'll buy it out-right. A good way to watch films without technically it being illegal is to watch a site that is simply streaming it as you would a YouTube vid. Many sites do it, i've bought a few DVD's after watching the film through online.
I may have procured eBooks via less-than-honest means, but I also own over 250 hardcopy books! Regarding SOPA, it was invented by an old huffy politician named Lamar Smith that probably still has AOL.
Felipe, you're a cool guy, but you seriously need to educate yourself on what those terms actually mean.
This part of the conversation was canned, and I do know what they mean, he gave the examples himself. I'm beginning to think that a writer's forum should stick to writing, debates seem to always get personal and off topic.
^ says the guy who starts gun ownership debates lol. Anyway, I doubt SOPA will succeed with all the popular sites going against it.
I reported a news finding, I wasn't debating the facts, others were. Just as I reported a news story about Facebook being named in divorces. I've learned this in my years.... How to start an argument online... State your opinion..... Wait. Debates are fine as long as people can stick to facts and not get personally insulting which obviously some can't.
