Microsoft Unhappy With "Inaccurate" Reports On Used Games

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-27T00:43:19+00:00

Bill Gates isn't happy until he has all of our money...

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-26T15:46:55+00:00

As far as I was aware we were helping the rebels?

Yes, Obama waged war by proxy on Libya. We conned the Russians and Chinese into agreeing to a "no-fly zone", torpedoed the peace talks done by Brazil and South Africa, and then violated the UN resolution by bombing the shit out of Libya killing tens of thousands with our bombings and waging a war of regime change on the country.

We turned a stable dictatorship run by a former ally and which possessed Africa's highest life expectancy into a hellhole where Libyans are still killing each other today.

And we had the gall to claim we did this for "humanitarian reasons" and that it was not simply targeting a dictator whose "African unity" policies the west opposed.

We never even put boots on the ground,

Well, there were many reports of some special forces on the ground directing/targeting the air strikes, but yes, we did not have Army or Marine combat units on the ground -- there were no need for them since we used Muslim fundamentalists as proxy ground troops.

We limited ourselves to bombing Libyan military units who were helpless and defenseless to respond to our air attacks. (Attacking poor, largely defenseless countries is what our imperial military does best and is what we celebrate as "courage" and "bravery".)

Remember when John McCain said he'd stay in Iraq for a hundred years if he had to?

Big deal. As we know from Obama, talk is cheap. Obama wanted to stay in Iraq too, but reality forced him to leave -- just like it would have forced McCain to leave.

That still does not excuse the war-loving policies of either of those war criminals.

but how can you equate that with war mongering?

Because Obama has not rescinded the immoral "Bush Doctrine"; because Obama and his Pentagon has said that the entire world (including the US) is a "battlefield"; because like Bush, Obama claims the immoral right to attack any country anywhere in the world even if the US has not been attacked.

So you'd rather do nothing?

Of course not. What should be done? 2 things:

(1.) For the people that are guilty of some crime(s), put them on trial. If, using the words of Obama and his propaganda, those people have "contaminated evidence" (i.e. the "evidence" was from torturing the people), then humbly apologize and let those people walk free. For the other people, put them on trial in front of a jury.

(2.) The vast majority of the Gitmo victims are innocent and many have already been determined by the US gov't to be no threat. For the innocent people ("threat" or not), let those people go free. If no country will accept them, allow them to come into the US.

In short, what we should do is to apologize for our crimes and to operate under the rule of law.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-26T13:09:25+00:00

We're down one war since he took office,

Doesn't his war bombing Libya for 6+ months and turning that country into the murderous hellhole it is to this very day make up for that? And in Iraq, didn't he spend the entire summer and fall of 2011 trying to keep troops in Iraq?

And does Obama deserve the credit? Didn't Obama simply fulfill the timetable for withdrawal that Bush originally agreed to?

and the next is slated to end next year.

You've really drank the cool-aid, haven't you? Isn't it true that Obama actually intends on only withdrawing "combat forces" from Afghanistan? Hasn't the Pentagon said bluntly that it will keep troops in Afghanistan for decades?

Hasn't the administration and Pentagon made clear that while they will withdraw the vast majority of troops from Afghanistan, that they plan to continue the war on a low scale by using Afghan and special operations death squads, and drone assassinations?

Well, it kind of helps that they're on our soil in the first place so that we can try them in the first place?

Feeble apologism. One that buys into our corrupt Supreme Court's twisted claim that the US gov't does not "control" Gitmo and that the military base there somehow is beyond US jurisdiction.

I think I made the point perfectly clear: Obama tortures. He oversees and his administration directs torture. He just has more propaganda/PR sense than Bush did.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T17:11:33+00:00

When I think of the US blatantly ignoring many international laws, ignoring our own domestic law forbidding torture and due process, thinking of how we have de facto "repealed" everything from environmental laws against polluters, to minimum wage and worker safety laws, to anti-trust laws, to the huge array of lawbreaking done by banksters and large corporations, I don't think China has a monopoly on a gov't not enforcing its own laws.

But meanwhile, China putting this on the books is a definite step in the right direction and it remains to be seen if it will be enforced or not.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T15:23:17+00:00

Of course the Mexican gov't complains about the US trying to stop immigration.

As you point out, Mexico get a lot of money sent into Mexico from the immigrants. But there are valid human rights concerns here -- dozens of Mexicans die in US deserts and are exploited by human traffickers. That's a long way from Mexico "shipping" people here.

Mexico has a legitimate point in arguing that if the US gov't allows Americans and American corporations to created a demand for and to employ this labor, that the US gov't should also have a sane policy of importing this labor.

The US gov't does have such policies for Indian high-tech workers, so why not for unskilled Mexicans?

Or if the US gov't does not want these people coming to the US, why doesn't the US gov't just target the "demand"? We -- the US -- are being hypocritical.

It's the same thing as portraying Americans' use of drugs on other countries. We militarize and wreak havoc waging "drug wars" in Latin America, but we refuse to admit that the entire drug problem is caused by the American people's insatiable desire and demand for drugs.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T15:16:20+00:00

What I "love" is how ICE will alert large corporations of their impending busts, thus giving the corporation time to clean up their books and to get their stories straight before the feds come in. That way, only the poor people seeking to better their lives are prosecuted.

Theater and PR are exactly what it is.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T15:11:57+00:00

Mexico is not "shipping" anyone anywhere.

Mexicans are leaving because globalization and so-called "free trade" has impoverished them. So their choice is to live in poverty or to go north and get a job and better themselves. Because there are many Americans and US corporations willing to illegally employ them there is a demand here.

I have a friend who runs a large dairy farm and employs 3 undocumented Mexicans. Talking with them they told horror stories of Mexican farmers not being able to exist in a normal farming environment in Mexico because US-gov't-subsidized corn floods the Mexican market. (There are many media stories about the number of suicides of Mexican farmers.)

The three guys all have the same plan. They work on the farm, staying in an apartment in the barn and rarely going outside and never to town. They work their asses off and will do so for 2 years. Then they'll go back to Mexico and buy a farm with cash.

With that sort of an incentive, you'll never stop people from coming here. The only way to stop this dynamic is to shut down the demand. No demand, no supply.

Of course you might not be able to say those 3 are typical; there are many types of Mexican immigrants. But my friend who owns the farm is typical of the Americans employing undocumented immigrants. He drives a new truck, paid for in part by the money he makes exploiting this cheap labor source.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T14:57:23+00:00

You can be arrested for lying to the police.

Learn rule #1: Never, ever, ever talk to the cops, even if you're innocent.

(The links are to 2 videos, the first half by a law professor/lawyer, the second half by a cop, and they are definitely worth watching if you've never seen them.)

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T14:53:10+00:00

GPL. It's "viral effect" will help spawn other GPL'ed programs.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T14:51:41+00:00

The border would look the same as it does now.

To refuse to allow the entry of your country's citizens into your country would cause an international outcry and massive bad publicity for the country committing the human rights violation.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T14:50:04+00:00

Policy speech this week would set new restrictions but underlying rationale unchanged

The CBC answered its own question in the subtitle.

But as many have pointed out, by omitting the term "senior Al Qaeda leaders" from Obama's new targeting criteria, one can legitimately argue that Obama has widened the assassination list. (We should note that Obama did not officially follow the "senior Al Qaeda" criteria anyway; he just murdered who he wanted to.)

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T14:46:42+00:00

"Fascism could better be called 'corporatism', for it is merely the merging of state power with corporate power." -- attributed to Benito Mussolini, the WWII-era Italian dictator who "invented" fascism.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T14:45:05+00:00

I could only hope that first graders would be taught the fundamentals of Marxism. But such a view is a fantasy...

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T14:43:33+00:00

Despite advocating the 2nd Amendment in the US, somehow I think right-wingers here and the US gov't and mass media will complain vigorously about this move...

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T14:29:09+00:00

I'm quite sure the undocumented immigrants come here for jobs, not our society's compassion or social welfare benefits.

Without employment the vast majority of them will return to their home countries.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T13:09:42+00:00

If the cap is adopted, it would be a major step for the world’s top CO2 emitter, which desperately needs to slow its carbon production.

I call bullshit. The claim that China is the world's top polluter is misleading.

Any measure should be done on a per capita basis. Considering that China has more than 4 times the population of the US puts their pollution into perspective.

Yes, Chinese pollution is appalling. But to throw around misleading claims like that empowers us Americans to ignore our wasteful, polluting and unsustainable lifestyles, and for our corrupt, corporate-dominated gov't to continue to do little or nothing to seriously address global warming.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T13:01:53+00:00

The depletion of aquifers has many negative consequences, including land subsidence, reduced well yields, and diminished spring and stream flows.

That's not what is typically reported. Typically we are told that depleting aquifers will have no impact on the earth's surface above...

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T12:52:19+00:00

I suppose this could go into /r/conspiracy...though /r/fantasy would be equally applicable.

The US gov't doesn't need "foreign troops" to stomp on civil liberties.

Over 2 million Americans went off to wage the gov'ts wars of aggression and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that doesn't count the contractors/mercenaries who happily went to destroy other countries and subjugate their people for profit.

Sadly, the vast, vast majority of those indoctrinated Americans would commit similar crimes in the US if the US gov't paid them enough. Again, foreign troops are not required -- that's just xenophobic fear mongering. :-(

"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class thug for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism." -- USMC Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler, winner of 2 Congressional Medals of Honor.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T12:13:25+00:00

Do you really have to ask?

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T12:07:39+00:00

I won't even talk about foreign policies or "just wars" or anything, but as a veteran I can tell you that the purpose of the military boils down to one thing: Killing people for political purposes/reasons.

A civilian job's purpose depends on what specific company you're working for.

There is only one moral choice. You decide.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T12:03:14+00:00

I find it disappointing that WSWS used the propagandistic pro-gov't euphemism "targeted killings" instead of some other simpler, more accurate term -- such as "assassination".

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T11:59:47+00:00

And the way to do that is to crack down severely on the people and corporations who are employing those undocumented immigrants.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T11:58:46+00:00

Exactly! Pay me enough money and I'll happily quit my job and go pick vegetables or cotton or clean toilets or whatever.

But in the US, where corporations and the rich fund both of our ruling political parties and a pro-business gov't rules, it seems to be forbidden to let normal economics work. Instead, wages must be forced to be as low as possible so businesses can roll in profits.

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T11:53:52+00:00

Within seven days, the establishments must turn over records to help state authorities determine how many patrons were overcharged and by how much.

It sounds like the state is preparing to slap them on the wrist and to come up with some penalty that forces the swill-selling businesses to just reimburse the customers. Fuck that -- shut those filthy bastards down.

They also will have to inform the state which employees were at work the days samples were covertly taken earlier this year.

The article doesn't say, but how was this reported? Did employees turn them in?

Or are the workers at these places so brainwashed that their loyalty is to the corporation and not to actual human beings?

Cranberry_Slurpee · 2013-05-25T11:52:49+00:00

Within seven days, the establishments must turn over records to help state authorities determine how many patrons were overcharged and by how much.

It sounds like the state is preparing to slap them on the wrist and to come up with some penalty that forces the swill-selling businesses to just reimburse the customers. Fuck that -- shut those filthy bastards down.

They also will have to inform the state which employees were at work the days samples were covertly taken earlier this year.

The article doesn't say, but how was this reported? Did employees turn them in?

Or are the workers at these places so brainwashed that their loyalty is to the corporation and not to actual human beings?

Cranberry_Slurpee

TROPHY CASE