Yes I lived in Utopia once, it was lovely.  Then the meds wore off.

Other than that, after spending a fair amount of time in various countries, I've come to the conclusion that we all pretty much live in one big glass house.  Met a lot of people I liked, a couple that I still love, and a couple that I'd still like to thump on the head.  Just like in this country.

Anyhow, back on topic, it's good that this initiative is floundering here.  It's quite likely that its success or failure here will have an influence on whether or not other countries pursue it.  Just like if the UK had decided to put it on the table the U.S. would have been watching it.  These things do tend to follow each other to some degree.

Nice anchor....what's the boat like?...

Let me be the first to say, we won't hold it against you, we like you all anyway.

As for the petition, only thing that will come from signing and giving out my email address is more spam in my inbox.

There is that. My usual spam jumped from fifty a day to well over a hundred. Beats me as to where they all come from. I think somewhere out there is a spam generator with no other purpose other than to drive everyone nuts with frustration.

OMG now we got this crap seeping out. Yes, be proud of keeping human beings as slaves! Liberal socialist media vs. what? Hitler Youth? Mindless minions dressed in grey? Please. You listen to FOX too much. Let's put those darkies back in their place. Sound good to you Ace Matrix?

OK. Let's reset this.

It isn't really about Europe or America or anywhere else. I love you all no matter where you come from! How this got into some sort of pissing contest about where you live I don't know.

Fact is Stardock is located in the Midwest of the United States. They control the the picture. They are controlling transmission. If they wish to make it louder, they will bring up the volume. If they wish to make it softer, they will tune it to a whisper. They will control the horizontal. They will control the vertical. They can roll the image, make it flutter. They can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. CHILL OUT. It's coming out of Plymouth Michigan people. It ain't coming out of Poland or England.

People are happy because congress is backing off but in reality all they are doing is pitting one billionaire group against the other. Google Vs. Media Giants (Movies studios, Record companies, TV networks, etc.) The fact is that if Google or Comcast wanted to they could shut down piracy when ever they wanted to. Why don't they? Because this whole controversy is just another way that the Media Giants, the internet Sharks and the politicians can get more cash. They will divvy up the profits. We are being played.

I just want to be able to do what I want when I go online. If I sell my soul to Google that's my choice.

The fact is that most of the movies and music that people crave come from the U.S. The fact is also that how the U.S.A. goes the world goes. Read em' and weep.

So when all is said and done it's just business as usual.

At this point I'd just like to extend my thanks to WebGizmos for teaching me how to deal with these kind of responses. Cheers, Steve!

Here ... here!

       Everyone has an opinion one way or the other. Be it up, down, sideways or removed two ways from Sunday. Believe it or not opinions matter. Why? Simple ... no one person, idea, thought or what have you is right or wrong. There is black, white and all that grayness in between and its what's between those two extremes that really matter because that's where we all live, like it or not. We rant, rave and scream bloody murder at those things that aren't going the way we believe they should. This isn't and never will be a Utopia be it on this side of reality or the other. All we have is what we see in front of our faces and unfortunately most of it doesn't sit well. There is and always will be those who look to turn a dollar or two because the almighty dollar rules. Money is the controlling factor and those who have it are the ones in control. They'll do whatever they damn well please and neither you nor I have any say in the matter. You may say that's wrong, that we have the 'vote' but in all honesty when has that 'vote' ever made a difference? We can and sometimes do vote the greed mongers out of office but they are soon replaced by another one and another one after that ad nauseum. When man, meaning this piss poor excuse of a society that is world-wide, learns to look beyond greed, beyond power and all the perks that go with it, when man can look outside his door and see a world and a society worth something that has nothing to do with materialistic gains then perhaps we'll have a world worth living in and actually be proud of who and what we are as a civilization. As it stands right now I give us maybe another century, maybe less, before we're blasted right back to the stone age to start all over again. Pity that.  

Well spoken, Uvah! Going off what you just said, we see things quite similarly. Which reminds me, I need to take my head meds before I go to bed.

So, there you have it. This is what has been taught in our institutions for years by the liberal educators ,and touted in the lame stream media. Did you know it was actually the Democrats that fought for retaining slavery ? Didn't think so. The civil war was not about slavery. That was just an excuse by a progressive leftist Federal Government to seize power from the States and confiscate their firearms as well as many other God given rights protected by the Constitution. But the people of the South were going to have none of that. The South was fighting to protect the Constitution of the United States. Even General Grant in later years after having been the President of the United States, admitted that he felt he had faought for the wrong side in the war and deeply regretted it. But you won't hear that taught in our school systems today which are controlled by the Feds. None of this is speculation on my part. I do have an advanced education and I've done more than my share of research as well as having been a College instructor in the mid 1980's. It's all documented fact. You merely need to seek and you will find the truth, as I always encouraged  my students to do.

Chasbo...yes...but you did not ask "Stardock...did you sign the petition?" 

Instead you asked PEOPLE... and MANY of them will be suitably incensed...but have no political or physical connection and thus no relevance to the US Congress.

So...you will get responses saying 'no'... not because they do not CARE ... but simply because they have no VOICE.

And the best way to qualify the 'NO' is by saying "I am not American and thus have no voting rights."

Re the pissing match between 'North' and 'South' [what-ever] take it elsewhere...preferably off-site.

..and definitely off this thread.

Thankyou.

Jafo, I regret where this went.

First off I didn't start that crap about North vs. South. Nor did I start slinging stuff about leftists etc., evidently a certain person that was posting was looking for trouble. You don't want that issue debated. I wanted to present my view but that isn't permitted. That speaks for itself.

You are right I did not ask Stardock but you and Snowman both brought this stuff about being non-U.S. and you represent Stardock or at least Wincustomize.

What difference does it make if you are in the U.S. or not? Stardock being more and more non-U.S. is a good thing? Who cares? Why is that so damned important?

ok so you couldn't sign that petition but that doesn't mean you or anyone else posting here couldn't be nice about. I got the feeling that I was being talked down to by a lot of these comments. I thought that censoring the internet was what the post was going to be about and not if you are from America or not. Not if you are a leftist or not.

I've come to the conclusion that I am not ever going to be accepted around here by certain persons. If that is because of things I've said in the past then so be it. You don't care for me Jafo and I know it. That's your choice and you have the power but I have my own opinions and I express them. If you don't want me to open my mouth about what I think then there really isn't any where else to go with this. There is also no reason  for me to post anything here anymore. Thank you.

Yes, someone should.

I fail to see what anything about petitions to US Congress has to do with whether the 'North or South' got it right [or not] in a civil war.

No-one is being censured.  No-one's opinion is being diminished.

The reality is that there will be times when the MOST EMOTIVE issue affecting one elective body has no bearing what-so -ever on others even WHEN those others are equally affected.

I can't help that. No-one can.  The Internet is a GLOBAL Community of disparate individuals with disparate and often conflicting ideologies.

That's life.

People NEED to accept that.

I simply stepped in to remind EVERYONE that this topic...YOUR topic was about a petition, not about US Civil history.

I guess a lot of the politicians have kids - who use the interwebz - and gave daddy/mommy a hard time when half their fave sites blacked out on Wednesday....

It would help some discussions is the US meaning of 'liberal' meant the same as it does everywhere else

In fact, I still have no idea what 'liberal' means in US. Other than it being used to describe just about anything

In the meantime, it's been shelved. The parties are wary of creating more and more issues in an election year, but be aware.

This will return in the future in a different form.

This doesn't mean it will be a well crafted, thoroughly thought out piece of legislation or the opposite, but chances and history favor the former.

Stay alert and informed... your only hope for not getting run over... and resisting this kind of poor legislation protects not only us, but our wonderful friends abroad as well.

Now that's the kind of response I was hoping for. Thank you.

Recently I learned that in Iceland conservative had an entirely different meaning then it does in the U.S. In Iceland conservative means to conserve what they have, liberal social programs. Universal health care and the like. Interesting.

You and me both fuzzy! They use these terms so liberally that it actually starts to mean nothing.

I live in the US and the meaning of the word is very broad. To use something liberally is to use a lot of that something. To spread something liberally is to spread it all over the place. I guess its up to individual interpretation.