Re: OT: Military Ranks/Computers : WAS Re: newbie question

LX-i wrote:
> James J. Gavan wrote:
> 
>
>
<snip> -

Daniel,

Thanks for the very detailed explanation. I wont claim I memorized it,
but get the gist.

> Not related to software screw-ups, but check out my latest blog entry.
> Basically, the Army is having to borrow from the Air Force and Navy's
> money (payroll included) because Congress hasn't passed the emergency
> appropriations bill.  There's a link at the top of the post to the
> original article, if you just want to read the facts instead of my
> right-wing ranting about it.  :)
>

You being right-wing - I never would have guessed :-) Remember 'US
Presidents and Foreign Policy'. Don't have to wait until 2008 - same
answer as the American public is giving in polls.

Jimmy
You being right-wing - I never would have guessed.

In article < NqednWVQANW4bNnbnZ2dnUVZ_uejnZ2d@comcast
.com>,
LX-i  <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote:
>Howard Brazee wrote: 
>
>Yes - increased enforcement makes more people obey the law; not because
>they think it's a good law, but because they want to avoid the penalties
>for breaking it.

Oh... is *that* why the USA has such a high percentage of the population
incarcerated?

(I believe it was Gladstone who said 'Liberalism is trust of the people,
tempered by prudence; Conservatism is distrust of the people, tempered by
fear.')

DD

docdwarf@panix.com wrote:
> In article < NqednWVQANW4bNnbnZ2dnUVZ_uejnZ2d@comcast
.com>,
> LX-i  <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote: 
>
> Oh... is *that* why the USA has such a high percentage of the population
> incarcerated?

Could be - what I find hard to believe is the mantra of "If the crime
rate is down, why are so many people locked up?"  It's kind of like
asking, "If I'm sweating so much, why am I so hot?"

> (I believe it was Gladstone who said 'Liberalism is trust of the people,
> tempered by prudence; Conservatism is distrust of the people, tempered by
> fear.')

I hope Gladstone said some other things too, because he or she is way
off on that one.  :)


--
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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~   /   \  /         ~        Live from Albuquerque, NM!      ~
~  /     \/       o  ~                                        ~
~ /      /\   -   |  ~          daniel@thebelowdomain         ~
~ _____ /  \      |  ~      http://www.djs-consulting.com     ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ GEEKCODE 3.12 GCS/IT d s-:+ a C++ L++ E--- W++ N++ o? K- w$ ~
~ !O M-- V PS+ PE++ Y? !PGP t+ 5? X+ R* tv b+ DI++ D+ G- e    ~
~ h---- r+++ z++++                                            ~
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Who is more irrational?  A man who believes in a God he doesn't see, or
a man who's offended by a God he doesn't believe in?" - Brad Stine

In article < DOGdneB1jp49UNjbnZ2dnUVZ_vrinZ2d@comcast
.com>,
LX-i  <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote:
>docdwarf@panix.com wrote: 
>
>Could be - what I find hard to believe is the mantra of "If the crime
>rate is down, why are so many people locked up?"  It's kind of like
>asking, "If I'm sweating so much, why am I so hot?"

Eh?  Sweating is a neutral response; it can be a sign of either health or
sickness.  It is not readily apparent what you are attempting to
communicate here; you might be saying that the percentage of a country's
population which has been imprisoned is a sign of that country's health...
whether ill or good health is unsure.

> 
>
>I hope Gladstone said some other things too, because he or she is way
>off on that one.  :)

A bit of research into Gladstone might be in order, then... remember, some
say that Away Back When the principles which are now called Republican
were adhered to by what was then called the Democratic party and
vice-versa.

DD

docdwarf@panix.com wrote:
> In article < DOGdneB1jp49UNjbnZ2dnUVZ_vrinZ2d@comcast
.com>,
> LX-i  <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote: 
>
> Eh?  Sweating is a neutral response; it can be a sign of either health or
> sickness.  It is not readily apparent what you are attempting to
> communicate here; you might be saying that the percentage of a country's
> population which has been imprisoned is a sign of that country's health...
> whether ill or good health is unsure.

OK - bad example.  I see the high prison population as one of the causes
of the low crime rate.  So, the original statement becomes "If
[symptom], then why [cause]?"
 
>
> A bit of research into Gladstone might be in order, then... remember, some
> say that Away Back When the principles which are now called Republican
> were adhered to by what was then called the Democratic party and
> vice-versa.

True, and I'll look into it.  But I can't imagine the antics of the
current Democrat party being considered conservative *ever*.  :)


--
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~   /   \  /         ~        Live from Albuquerque, NM!      ~
~  /     \/       o  ~                                        ~
~ /      /\   -   |  ~          daniel@thebelowdomain         ~
~ _____ /  \      |  ~      http://www.djs-consulting.com     ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ GEEKCODE 3.12 GCS/IT d s-:+ a C++ L++ E--- W++ N++ o? K- w$ ~
~ !O M-- V PS+ PE++ Y? !PGP t+ 5? X+ R* tv b+ DI++ D+ G- e    ~
~ h---- r+++ z++++                                            ~
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Who is more irrational?  A man who believes in a God he doesn't see, or
a man who's offended by a God he doesn't believe in?" - Brad Stine

In article < 5vGdnWaTr9RD4dvbnZ2dnUVZ_jSdnZ2d@comcast
.com>,
LX-i  <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote:
>docdwarf@panix.com wrote: 

[snip]
 
>
>OK - bad example.  I see the high prison population as one of the causes
>of the low crime rate.  So, the original statement becomes "If
>[symptom], then why [cause]?"

I see... so you see that Americans, per capita, commit more crimes than do
almost any other nationality on the planet and, as such, deserve to have
and benefit from having a larger percentage of their fellow-citizens
living behind bars and kept there by armed guards as a result.

Gladstone: '... Conservatism is distrust of the people, tempered by
fear'... now might you see why this came to mind?

> 
>
>True, and I'll look into it.  But I can't imagine the antics of the
>current Democrat party being considered conservative *ever*.  :)

Members of the current Democratic Party are just that, Mr Summers... they
are members of the current Democratic party, no more, no less.

DD

docdwarf@panix.com wrote:
> I see... so you see that Americans, per capita, commit more crimes than do
> almost any other nationality on the planet and, as such, deserve to have
> and benefit from having a larger percentage of their fellow-citizens
> living behind bars and kept there by armed guards as a result.

Not everyone can handle freedom.  With increased freedom comes increased
incentive to break the law - the whole "give an inch, take a mile"
thing.  Also, capital punishment is used a lot less in this country than
in non-free countries.  You don't have full jails if you execute
criminals instead of incarcerate them.  :)

> Gladstone: '... Conservatism is distrust of the people, tempered by
> fear'... now might you see why this came to mind?

I'd see why it came to mind - but I think that it oversimplifies the
situation to the point where it trends toward inaccuracy.


--
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~   /   \  /         ~        Live from Albuquerque, NM!      ~
~  /     \/       o  ~                                        ~
~ /      /\   -   |  ~          daniel@thebelowdomain         ~
~ _____ /  \      |  ~      http://www.djs-consulting.com     ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ GEEKCODE 3.12 GCS/IT d s-:+ a C++ L++ E--- W++ N++ o? K- w$ ~
~ !O M-- V PS+ PE++ Y? !PGP t+ 5? X+ R* tv b+ DI++ D+ G- e    ~
~ h---- r+++ z++++                                            ~
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Who is more irrational?  A man who believes in a God he doesn't see, or
a man who's offended by a God he doesn't believe in?" - Brad Stine

In article < j8qdnUrM29UTGNrbnZ2dnUVZ_iydnZ2d@comcast
.com>,
LX-i  <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote:
>docdwarf@panix.com wrote: 
>
>Not everyone can handle freedom.

Quite right... increased freedom means fewer legal constraints, it only
makes sense that decreasing legal constraints will result in... more
activities which exceed legal constraints; the logical conclusion, then,
is that the most free society is the one with the most crime.

> With increased freedom comes increased
>incentive to break the law - the whole "give an inch, take a mile"
>thing.

'More freedom makes for a greater incentive to commit crimes'... so a
society of slaves, which has less freedom, should have less crime... but
one of the few countries with a higher per-capita imprisonment rate than
the United States is the former Soviet Union... so it can be concluded
that there was just too much freedom there.

>Also, capital punishment is used a lot less in this country than
>in non-free countries.  You don't have full jails if you execute
>criminals instead of incarcerate them.  :)

So... less freedom and more capital punishment makes for a smaller
per-capita prison population; no wonder someone noticed that 'the only
place to find maximimum security is in jail'.

> 
>
>I'd see why it came to mind - but I think that it oversimplifies the
>situation to the point where it trends toward inaccuracy.

That's right... accuracy comes in saying 'the fewer legal constraints
people have the more likely they are to commit crimes... except, of
course, for the former Soviet Union because they were Just Plain Bad.'

... and I, of course, am the King of England.  God Save the Me!

DD

docdwarf@panix.com wrote:
> In article < j8qdnUrM29UTGNrbnZ2dnUVZ_iydnZ2d@comcast
.com>,
> LX-i  <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote: 
>
> Quite right... increased freedom means fewer legal constraints, it only
> makes sense that decreasing legal constraints will result in... more
> activities which exceed legal constraints; the logical conclusion, then,
> is that the most free society is the one with the most crime.

Sounds like anarchy to me...  :)

However, issues dealing with people can seldom be broken down to "if (x)
then not (y)".  The fact that a larger percentage than most of the
population is jailed, by itself, cannot be used to make concrete
statements on the freedom of a society.  As you pointed out, the USSR
had a high prison population as well, even higher than ours.

Governments aren't like computer programs or mathematical problems,
because they have an extra unknown variable - humans.  Communism was
great - on paper.  But it failed to recognize the innate needs of
humans, and as such, had to be enforced with a heavy hand and eventually
collapsed.  (It's on its way out - even in China.)

--
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~   /   \  /         ~        Live from Albuquerque, NM!      ~
~  /     \/       o  ~                                        ~
~ /      /\   -   |  ~          daniel@thebelowdomain         ~
~ _____ /  \      |  ~      http://www.djs-consulting.com     ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ GEEKCODE 3.12 GCS/IT d s-:+ a C++ L++ E--- W++ N++ o? K- w$ ~
~ !O M-- V PS+ PE++ Y? !PGP t+ 5? X+ R* tv b+ DI++ D+ G- e    ~
~ h---- r+++ z++++                                            ~
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Who is more irrational?  A man who believes in a God he doesn't see, or
a man who's offended by a God he doesn't believe in?" - Brad Stine

In article <3-mdnWFhmK9fwdXbnZ2dnUVZ_rylnZ2d@comcast.com>,
LX-i  <lxi0007@netscape.net> wrote:
>docdwarf@panix.com wrote: 
>
>Sounds like anarchy to me...  :)

What something 'sounds like', Mr Summers, could have more to do with the
ear perceiving it than anything else.

>
>However, issues dealing with people can seldom be broken down to "if (x)
>then not (y)".

Hmmmmm... 'if healthy then not sick'... 'if having longevity then not
dying young'... 'if free market then not many legal restraints on
trade'... 'if believing in deities then not atheistic'.

>The fact that a larger percentage than most of the
>population is jailed, by itself, cannot be used to make concrete
>statements on the freedom of a society.

The fact that a society chooses to hold a larger percentage than most
behind concrete cannot be used to make statements on the freedom of a
society... all right, I'll bite: what, Mr Summers, in your opinion, *can*
be used to make such statements?

>As you pointed out, the USSR
>had a high prison population as well, even higher than ours.

Quite right, Mr Summers... but nothing of interest can be concluded from
that, I'm sure.

DD