We cant call anyone idiot without being in their shoes. There has to be some belief, no matter how illogical it seem, that made that person make a decision. Blaming or branding doesnt solve a situation.

i absolutely disagree.

"Only two things are infinite; the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former."- Albert Einstein

and here's something interesting i found...

Tim Partlett (left) is an Enlishman and a game designer. He works for the German developer Crytek, best known for the hit first-person shooter Far Cry. Gamers are also waiting impatiently for Crytek’s next release, Crysis. In a recent post on the Quarter to Three forums, Partlett described his view of how bad the environment in Germany has gotten for game developers: When I tell people in Germany what I do for a living, they usually react with a mixture of pity and disgust, like I had admitted to them I was a male prostitute. For computer games both the press and public are histrionic, and the politicians are keen to tap into every reactionary outrage… At the time of the (2002 Erfurt school) shooting, we were already in development of… Far Cry… We were just across the state border from Erfurt in northern Bavaria. Tensions in the region were high… In 2004 the Bavarian authorities sent in the state troopers… When the small tech team appeared to inspect our computers, they were accompanied by over one hundred flak-jacketed riot police, all armed with Heckler and Koch sub-machine guns. It was a total overreaction… They arrived first thing in the morning, and kicked down our doors. They even raided the nearby private residences… I was caught just outside the office… We were all shepherded into our Mo-Cap room, and there we were forced to remain until questioned, prevented from leaving by dozens of armed guards… (Now,) Dr. Günther Beckstein… Interior Minister for the state of Bavaria, has drafted a new law… (GP: see recent coverage) It seems that the politicians are largely just reacting to hysteria in the public and press. The general consensus is that the government won’t pass this law, and even if they did, they would find themselves in conflict with local state laws, and overarching EU laws. EU laws are designed to protect free trade between nations… we aren’t packing our bags just yet… With a majority of Germans thinking you are evil and the press and politicians baying for you to be thrown in jail, it can make life uncomfortable… I love Frankfurt. I love Germany. I think it’s a great country to live in. I really hope they don’t make me leave.

Its not really facism untill the populous is under full watch of the government, sure its a... ignorant and demostrative action. But, as stated it was more overreaction then anything. I mean what were the video designers supposed to do, throw labtops at them?

And Germany isnt, you can consider some areas of China to be developed to a very good point, yet still their government maintains a large police and secret police presence in the area. Russia(although i regret to say so) also has many restrictive laws on pretty much everything, local policemen wont be even question if they are commiting corruption or abuse.

As for German fascism i dont think it will ever fade. Germany experienced the most gorwth and prosperity under that government, the people relise this and so do their politicians. I dont think it will ever return, the people of Europe were intelligent enough to make the EU and i think that confederation will keep the region stable.

Everywhere i have been in Russia there has been Internet. It is not provided by the government, but by private companies so some of the rates are outrageous. But, all Internet sites are true and up to date and completly unaltered by the government. The companies howevere have been accused of altering download time and uploads. There are rural areas in the country side that dont have Internet, but thats for other reasons not the government.

Nothing is free in this world, if any government feels threatened by the public they will intervene. I am not saying that the government doesnt control some aspect, i am saying that the government usually stays out of it. But, i dont believe that this is because of decensy or laws, Russia buerocracy jus hasnt expanded enough to handle all that info and control.

the difference is that China's government controls the proxies, and Russia for the most part tries to eliminate them

Nothing is free in this world, if any government feels threatened by the public they will intervene

the difference is that our government is constantly threatened by the public, but can only work under those conditions. thats a main reason for why liberty in the U.S. is so well protected.
thank god for philosophers

anyway, point being is that in russia and china very few people period are allowed access to the internet, let alone free range. this is inhibiting their growth (haha) but also makes it much easier for them to exploit their public. (boo)

you know what I cant wait for? when china finally has to make the jump to the digital age and all of her constituants realize how much they've been played the fools.

cultural only accounts for so much. I really cant see people being exposed to the way the world works and STILL living where they are exploited and treated like cattle.

You misjudge the power the government in Russia, it is based of a democracy, YOUR democracy.

hahaha, yeah right.
I'm sorry, but when you sandbag people just because they are expressing doubtful views about your beurocracy then I dont think its remotely based off of our government. mimic, yes; based, no.

take for example china, they have the "Constitution of the People's Republic of China"
in one clause they state that "the people of the Republic of China shall not be stifled in their views thoughts or expressions in any way shape or form." but in the ajoining clause on racial equality they state that "any person within the boundaries of the People's Republic of China who display any recognition between the differences of races is to be jailed indefinately and fined for a determinable sum". Russia isnt much better.
if you dare say that this is based off of our goverment, I shall shun you with internet smilies, just to be demeaning.

I know im am backtracking a bit but heres a video about what could happen to net neutrality and what could happen to our internet rights, as well as how to stop it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWt0XUocViE&eurl=

well, actualy is very hard to put an opinion on other country way of life if you dont live there. cause the sourse of information we get about other country sometimes is bad or changed by someone.
You cant get info from a goverment or any official agency.

True Europe didnt have a free fronteir, but the idea of freedom orginated there, from Greece to England the brightest minds have philophised that rule of the divine is not necessary. That concept was PASSED on and IMPROVED upon here, no one here would have ever worried for freedom if not for the English documents that governed the colonies. These documents promised freedom already, the thing was that the King himself was just a bit too corrupt.

Now Europe is a lot more socialist then the US government, but they prosper because of it. People there get more rights in other areas then people here. There is very little poverty in the more developed country(Germany, France, England) then here, the people there get the freedom of health, and education(upper education), in Sweeden and Denmark you get payed to go to college, and in most of the members of the EU you get health covaredge from the govenrment, as well as cost of living if you lose your job.

All in all i think their people benifit more from getting their freedoms constrained than fully free. While here the rich control so much more because of the government does not monitor its economy so well. However, as um i forget who said this, "People who give up a little liberty for more security, deserve neither." I agree to this i wouldnt want to give up my liberties or have them constrained, but other people look at it diffrently, we cant say that the Europeans dont care, that they are just letting themselfes be pushed around we havent really seen it through their eyes have we. And anyone who goes pretty much anywhere in the world after living in the US will always consider other people to be giving up liberities without really judging all the points of benifits and consequences.

No no no... in that quote i think he meant that if you give up liberty for security, you dont deserve either of those. And anyways the upper class doesnt get robbed, the EU laws promote capatalism not socialism. And since Europe has the wealthiest families in the world, many of them or on the EU council thing(whatever its called), and make laws to protect their money. Same thing here, the rich have the power in this government(its proven day to day who runs this country). The philsophy of socialism was that the government "gives advice" to you in which way you should spend your money, to benifit the whole and make sure your not the "loser" in any given situation. Now if you ask me thats more protective then here, plus in Europe it is much better managed(mostly due to lower population). Here however people can cheat the government so easily out of money its not even funny. The statistics are horrendous, the rift between rich and poor terrible, this country is letting mopolization and corporation take over once again. BECAUSE, they havent set any limits on the free trade and the world economy. More and more companies cheat the citizens of this country out of proper services and gauge their fees, just because they have the money to lobby the government into submition about anything.

Sure the voice of the people counts more in this country. But, the true question is that what people truely get to speak? The poor, the middle classed, no the rich. Only a few times in the history of this country have people ever gained power without having money from birth. It takes millions of the "avarage" citizens to agree on one thing for the government to take action on it. While with the rich it takes a silver tongue, and a suitcase full of cash.

I think your wrong about the EU, they have more power economically, and scientifically than this country, on a private basis. What i mean by this is that over there many companies conduct research that companies here are stifled to do. Many biological experiments have been conducted there, than here because the "oldfashioned" money-hogs think its "unethical" and lobby the government to keep away what they dont want. There the rich are more constrained and the common people get more of a voice. Though at what price we might never really know.

gah, this board is malfunctioning again, I posted and it gave me a "failed '\' runtime error" message.

ok, here I go, just because I'm a snob who likes to rub things in (or rather, prove my arguement, if you so please)

Using the purchasing power parity method of computing GDP, the preferred comparative measure of economic output, the EU and the US economies are virtually the same size ($12.36 trillion for the US vs. $12.18 trillion for the EU).[2] As the EU has 50% more people than the US, but produces about the same economically the average EU citizen enjoys a per capita share of domestic product of about USD $28,100, while in the US the per person GDP is over USD $40,000.

that, should be conclusive evidence. and considering that the US 40 grand is about equal to the average person in the US, I should think that shoots down your arguement about disparity being a comparitive issue. (i.e. our people may earn less in comparison to our rich, but we earn almost 33% more than their average person. so I'm more than happy)

. And your wrong about stem cells

ohohoho, you dont want to get into this arguement over this with me. I've had many projects geared into the subject, and its not that simple. not at all. the cells are practically useless, they create all sorts of wacky things that noone expects (and as of yet, noone understands), and are in NO way the miracle that they are portrayed to be. there have even been transplanted stem cells that have been completely REJECTED by the donor/recipients body. isnt that wierd, eh?

Countries such as Britain have not done so, and Britain has long remained the central economic power in the world.

no, this is in fact including britain and the other "eurozone countries", first of all. and second of all, no britan isn't the central economic power of the world, hasn't been so for a long time, that title belongs solely to America (and will probably soon be shared with China and India).
do you know what a hyperpower is? theres a reason that America is called one. France and Britan, meh... not so much, perhaps a couple of superpowers, but not a hyper one.

Your wroung about computer technology, a lot of their computers come from the Japanesse and not the US

those companies are in Japan because they provide a highly skilled, but relatively cheaper labor source. the heads of such things as Sony and Microsoft (not nintendo) are based in America, and the actuall technological R&D is in fact, here.

Britain has long remained the central economic power in the world.

actually, Europe is dying out (sniff), they are dealing with a vastly aging, and deminishing populace (classical upside down delta environment). the result is a slow exit stage-left from world power. and Britain, sorry to break your bubble, has left the "head of everything" to us for a while now.
sure, Europe will continue to be a vastly important world market (largest in terms of pure size) and will continue to contribute to the world stage, but not on America or the far East's level.

[ Its clear] that this century will be one of Biology

highly unlikely, I can tell you. Biology is amazing as a subjective analyzer, but beyond that its not very good at much of anything, computation, medical aid, mechanics. all of these are neigh impossible for biology to do. we're going to be sticking to our computers and robots for a while.

now, to be clear I dont mean that America is the central-everything, Europe does run a close second in terms of technological advancement. but generally America tends to be just above everyone on these things. There are really few arenas that America doesnt excell at (healthcare being one of them). people dont like to give credit to a government system based on greed, but in truth its about the only truly functional system as of yet to exist as it's principle expected it to. (hooray for philosophers who accounted for human evils!)