Jonah Seiger wrote:
However, despite our concerns about the criminal provisions, we believe strongly that the SAFE bill, and the bills in the Senate sponsored by Burns and Leahy, are vitally important and should be passed.
When is the last time you saw a Volvo ad that said: "It's the safest car on the road, unless you corner too fast." Or a Chrysler ad that said: "Our air bags will provide you with complete protection, although they may kill your children." When Ford had a problem with Pinto gas tanks exploding on impact, and Richard Pryor set himself on fire, freebasing, I started selling T-shirts in Austin, Texas, saying: "I'd rather freebase than drive a Pinto." Ford Motor Company sent TWO legal eagles down from Ford Country, to exhort me to cease and desist. Car companies have better sense than to broach these subjects, even when they are truthful, because they know that the citizens won't put up with it. If they have a problem, they deny and avoid it--totally. They know that the citizens will *vote* with their wallets. Government, on the other hand, has so totally snowed the citizens that they no longer even bother, in many cases, with the pretension of providing us with a product of superb quality. Instead, we get: "Our product/legislation has a few flaws, but hell, it's better than nothing at all." or, "I'm supporting this legislation because it will get me elected in my district. So what if it fucks a few dirt-farmers halfway across the country?" or, "We already have dozens of laws covering this issue, but its a current hot-topic, so we'll pass another one, and add a few dozen items for special-interests groups which fuck a variety of citizens in the ass, but which we can still justify as being 'for the greater good.'" I mean, let's get real, here. We put up with crap from our government that we wouldn't accept from someone trying to sell us a mouthwash. The reason that we're not all drinking the "New Coke" is that D.C. has siphoned off all of the spin doctors/brainwashers from the corporate advertising industry. I'll lay you even money that, given sufficient funding, I could be elected as the next President of the U.S. using slogans like: "I promise to only fuck you a little bit at a time." and, "As your President, I will move us more slowly towards a total Police State." Why do we put up with blatantly "flawed" legislation, when we wouldn't put up with the same thing in a consumer product? It is because corporations fear the consumers, to a certain extent, but government has no fear of the citizens, for the most part. The government used to fear the Press, at least marginally, but they now have them in their back pocket, so the Press no longer has the power to serve as an element of protection/information for the citizenry. So the government can pass legislation which gives us rights which we already have, without it, and cut off another inch or two of our freedom/privacy at the same time. And, in the process, we will hear, from both the government and the Press, about the virtues of "compromise." THE ONLY THING BEING "COMPROMISED" IS THE CITIZEN, THE BILL OF RIGHTS, FREEDOM & PRIVACY. An inch at a time. Slowly but inexorably. It's called "compromise." It's called "reality." It's called "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." Of course, when its done all at once, then it's called dictatorship, and fascism. That's why we don't do it "all at once" here. Because this is a "free country." So we just do it an inch at a time. And then another inch. And then another... Personal aside, to Mr. T.C. May: "We'll drop the felony charges of 'using encryption in the commission of a crime' if you will plead guilty to the 'jaywalking' charges." (You never should have encrypted that letter to your mom, Tim, and put the floppy in your pocket. Sure, you can fight the jaywalking charges, if you're willing to risk 20 years in prison on the felony encryption charges.) TruthFelon