Subj : Re: How much should I charge for fixed-price software contract? To : comp.programming From : Richard Heathfield Date : Sat Aug 27 2005 11:39 pm Randy Howard said: > Richard Heathfield wrote > (in article > ): > >> gswork@mailcity.com said: >> >>> Irrespective of the morality of the above case (which is what should be >>> in question) i support the notion that different nations cooperate >>> where their laws are different and that they all endevour to follow a >>> well founded minimal set of ethics regarding human rights to freedom, >>> and that those who transgress are recognised as having an effect on >>> people in other nations (and their own of course!) and can and should >>> be challenged. >> >> So when are we going to sort out human rights abuses in North Korea, >> Zimbabwe, and the like? > > More importantly, how do 'we' have jurisdiction over those > countries? My point exactly. "We" don't. And neither do "we" have jurisdiction in Russia. QED. > It is tantamount to admitting that their are no > borders anymore to entertain the notion of policing somebody > else's country, even for a good cause. Nations could and should compete on their human rights records. If the concept of nationhood is lost, with one world government for all, there is no alternative. And a monopoly situation is always bad for the customer. >> And how are we going to "challenge" them? A strongly worded note? >> A bombing campaign? > > Of course. The military loves to practice. Note that if they > are too well equipped, we'll stay away and focus on other less > dangerous locations, we can't be seen losing battles. (Which > explains North Korea not being attacked while Iraq was taken > down). I don't think for a second that North Korea could win a war against "the West", if only the West could sustain the political will to win. DPRK might inflict a lot of damage, but it would surely lose in the long run. The winning strategy for the West is, of course, not to land any troops on the mainland (except in NBCs, for the mop-up operation). >> And how about human rights abuses in Britain? The USA? Let's not pretend >> they don't happen. > > Of course they do. But they seem to be far less extreme in some > places than others. I'm not aware of any beheadings, or > wholesale slaughter of villages in the UK. I would say the same > thing about the US, but the specter of Waco rises up and smites > me down. There was the Brazilian guy recently. And a year or three ago, a guy was shot dead whilst walking home from the pub. He was carrying a table leg home (to repair it for a friend, I believe). The police claim to have mistaken it for a gun. Be warned, should you pop over for a visit. Don't be Brazilian, don't wear a nice warm coat, don't pack a rucksack, and don't carry furniture down the street. These are all de facto capital offences in the UK. -- Richard Heathfield "Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999 http://www.cpax.org.uk Email rjh at the above domain .