Re: [OT] The record industry, RIAA and US law
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Celejar wrote:
> On Thu, 10 May 2007 19:50:53 +0200
> Joe Hart <j.hart@orange.nl> wrote:
>
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>> Joe wrote:
>>> Joe Hart wrote:
>>>> So you're saying we're going to be the UESSR and not the USE? Oh no,
>>>> people will start calling us the commies. ;)
>>>>
>>> No, I didn't mean to say that's what it will be called, just that the
>>> EU has very much more in common with the USSR than with the USA, and
>>> that it could be seen as quite offensive to use the term 'United States'
>>> in relation to Europe. The EU Constitution is about as far away from the
>>> US Constitution as it is possible to get.
>>>
>>> There's been a few murmurs from some old USSR satellite countries now
>>> in the EU that they thought they'd got away from that kind of thing...
>>>
>>>
>> Well, the EU constitution has not been ratified, and I agree with you
>> that it is a bad thing. That's why I (and the majority of the Dutch and
>> French people) voted against it. Some European countries have not had a
>
> I understood that much of the French opposition to it was due to their
> wanting to *preserve* certain aspects of their current socialistic
> system and the EU rules would have forced them to add more freedom to
> their economy. Am I mistaken?
>
I cannot say why the French voted against it. I just know they did.
>> referendum specifically because they are afraid their populous will vote
>> against it.
>>
>> However, going so far as to say that it is closer to the USSR than to
>> the USA is going quite overboard. As for freedoms, can you go anywhere
>> in the world you want to? Oh, that's right. You cannot enjoy legally a
>> Cuban cigar, nor can you legally visit the pristine beaches in that country.
>
> Lovely. When we slapped the USSR with the Jackson-Vanik sanctions
> because of its civil rights offenses, did that upset you because your
> freedoms were thereby restricted?
The USSR ceased to exist before I left the USA, so I have no idea how
those sanctions *would* have affected me.
>> Really, I have seen both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, I lived 30 years
>> in the USA, and I know the laws, and I thought I was free when I was
>> there. It is just in the last few years I have come to realize that the
>> American propaganda machine was in full swing. It still is. Tell me,
>> why is the World News dominated by American news when it comes on the
>> television? Why is CNN International different in the US than it is in
>> Europe?
>
> What does the news coverage have to do with freedom? Are you alleging
> government control of the media here? And you *still* haven't really
> explained why you feel so much freer there than here, other than your
> ability to ask your doctor to kill you, and before that, to download
> libdvdcss. [I'm not convinced the McCarthyism situation here is as bad
> as you think it is.]
>
No, I don't this it is, but it has been. Good example of the "escorts"
during the Iraq invasion. The US did not want to have war showing up in
the living rooms of the American public like it did during Vietnam.
They learned a good lesson in that respect, still there are more people
that do not support the war than those that do.
As for the McCarthyism, perhaps you are correct. I have not been in the
United State (except for vacations) for several years, and my only
source of information is my mother, who is not a typical example of one
living on the front lines of conflict.
However, I see a big gang problem happening in some urban areas, and I
certainly wouldn't want to be hit by a stray bullet. Which brings us
back to the gun laws.
Since I am American, I say this: Make guns mandatory. If everyone has
one, when a criminal brandishes one, a large number of citizens can
draw. The problem is that the ordinary citizens do not have guns and
have no defense against the criminals that do. Here (and in most of
Europe) guns are much more difficult to obtain, but the hard criminals
can still find them, therefore the police carry guns.
However, there are a small number of hard criminals. One is much more
likely to get stabbed than shot by a would be attacker here. Neither is
of course desirable, but I don't see any government outlawing a steak knife.
Joe
>> Joe
>
> Celejar
> --
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>
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