RE: GPL & commercial software, the critical distinction (fwd)
The Mafia has had two primary characteristics: a) the use of force b) trade in elicit and prohibited goods and services Unless you can claim a reference to a Mafia at some time and place that had neither characteristics and a market which they monopolized which lacked any other intervention, then this all is utterly irrelevant to the discussion at hand. Matt
-----Original Message-----
That's inaccurate. The Mafia pre-dated the US by several hundred years if
-- On Thu, Oct 08, 1998 at 04:14:32PM -0700, Matthew James Gering wrote:
The Mafia has had two primary characteristics: a) the use of force
At 10:24 AM 10/9/98 +0100, Steve Mynott wrote:
wouldn't this characteristic define the mafia as a "state" to some degree?
A state is merely a mafia that has succeeded in crushing its competitors by force. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG PhKk4RhYVNaeZPogdcsq1rhljgRx/8xPW3ERa+RZ 4HqTzfVhadbFtw7OnMn+adlAQibN0JlmTgUmw22Wt ----------------------------------------------------- We have the right to defend ourselves and our property, because of the kind of animals that we are. True law derives from this right, not from the arbitrary power of the omnipotent state. http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ James A. Donald
On Thu, Oct 08, 1998 at 04:14:32PM -0700, Matthew James Gering wrote:
The Mafia has had two primary characteristics:
a) the use of force
wouldn't this characteristic define the mafia as a "state" to some degree? -- 1024/D9C69DF9 steve mynott steve@tightrope.demon.co.uk http://www.pineal.com/ the capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animals. some of their most esteemed inventions have no other apparent purpose, for example, the dinner party of more than two, the epic poem, and the science of metaphysics. -- h. l.
participants (3)
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James A. Donald -
Matthew James Gering -
Steve Mynott