Subj : Re: How much should I charge for fixed-price software contract? To : comp.programming From : Randy Howard Date : Mon Aug 22 2005 03:18 pm Richard Heathfield wrote (in article ): >> The Supreme Court has decided in the last half century or so, >> perhaps a bit longer, that it will do "interpret" what is good >> for the people, instead of abiding strictly by the Constitution. >> It is called "legislating from the bench" instead of its proper >> name, "treason". > > I have discovered that our own government abolished the death penalty for > treason in 1998. Hardly surprising, given that the ceding of national > sovereignty (which they have been doing hand over fist for some years) is > treason. Our government takes a different tactic. Practically every law enacted nowadays has a little clause in it that exempts Congressman and Senators from it. How cool is that? >> Of course, one way to make the passage by congress of >> unconstitutional laws far less likely, is to require the death >> by hanging of any congressman or senator which votes for a law >> which is later found to be unconstitutional, along with the >> president that signed it into law. That would obviously make >> them far, far more careful about such stretches on reason, > > Cool idea. We could do with the same rule over here. I would pay good money for a front row seat at the massive hanging for the PATRIOT act when a saner supreme court is in session. >> They basically have the entire space >> covered, and you are, simply be existing, guilty of something. >> I wish I was joking, but I suspect it is far more true than I >> like to contemplate. > > I, too, wish you were joking and know that you are not. Whatever happened to > "government for the people by the people"? Television. >> I doubt he was arrested for what he said while speaking at a >> conference. If you can point to a copy of the arrest paperwork, >> let me know. > > If that is so (and you do seem to be correct), then I don't see how the US > could point to any single act he performed whilst under US jurisdiction > that could reasonably construed as criminal (modulo the crime of breathing, > of course - the "everyone's guilty of something" ethos). Conspiracy charges don't require you to even be present at the commission of a crime. If I'm not mistaken, that was what happened in this case. Consider someone hiring a hitman. They didn't commit the crime of murder, but they get filleted anyway if caught. >>> But I think your civil liberties >>> groups might be able to do something to mitigate its effects. I mean, >>> chucking a guy into the clink for writing program code in another >>> country? Weird. >> >> Civil liberties groups don't care about much beside minority >> rights today. The bulk of the Bill of Rights, is completely >> ignored by them, and even worse, by the education system. > > Then get some new civil liberties groups? Here's the kicker. They've actually made serious attempts in recent years to outlaw them, in the guise of "reforming the system" and stopping lobby activities. Meanwhile people walk around practically blind with their headphones on and an mp3 player stuck up their backside and think life is good as long as they have money for the rent. >> Of course, when the government itself controls the educational >> system, what would you expect? > > Education. I know; it's very naive of me. You ought to take a look at an "approved textbook" for American History or US Government sometime. It bears practically zero relation to reality. BTW, you are a Pollyanna. A brief snippet from Wikipedia... "... the term "pollyanna" entered the language to describe someone who is cheerfully optimistic. It then became by extension (and contrary to the spirit of the book) a somewhat derogatory term for a naïve person who always expects people to act decently, despite strong evidence to the contrary." >> But you are >> probably correct. Unless someone decides to come clean, the >> truth will never be known, and almost assuredly not by the >> general population. It might be written down in some little >> notebook somewhere in a file in the British secret service. >> Next time you stop in to file a report on eddie, be sure and >> look it up. :-) > > By a curious coincidence, that was just this morning - and I did pop in to > take a look, but the page had blood all over it, and was completely > illegible. Harumph. They really need to be more careful. -- Randy Howard (2reply remove FOOBAR) .