Saffire

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/oslo-shooter-profiled-anders-behring-breivik-32-nationalist-hated-islam

Anders Behring Breivik 32 years old Ultra-Nationalist, hates Islam

Well I'm not exactly fighting with you, I don't want to make enemies on here. ;) I just like to say provocative things and I'm trying to be on-record predicting what will happen next. It adds to my Nostradamus-aura! In reality I love Norway and the Scandinavian countries. I think of all the Western nations, they are among the least-authoritarian. That's why this bombing makes me sad... I'm afraid that will change now.

I'm not laughing at the tragedy. I'm laughing at your government. There will be many rousing speeches given by politicians soon, eager to be generous with taxpayer money "in order to stop this sort of thing from ever happening again!" Just wait. I watched a movie recently called Max Manus, maybe you've seen it? Norway has been attacked, but maybe your memory is short. EDIT: http://twitter.com/#!/ketilbstensrud/status/94457520512446464 Here they come, just minutes after the bombing. We must change the laws of Norway to conform with the laws of other Western nations. We need stricter punishments, and this will keep us safe. http://twitter.com/#%21/birgittaj/status/94417304485507073 And here come the heroes to save us - the military police. It's so predictable.

Right, it will be interesting to see the political reaction. Odds are you'll see people calling for an increase in Norway's participation in NATO and % of their GDP that goes to military/police spending. Norway is one of the few Western countries that is actually running a surplus (at least for now), mostly thanks to their oil exports.

I'm reading that the guy who shot up that island youth summer camp thingy was a tall blonde man... hardly jihad material! Hopefully we'll get more info soon, and it's possible these incidents aren't linked.

Oh you don't have to interpret that as a joke. It's a distinct possibility, if you have pattern recognition. And Norway is a member of NATO, so they are a reasonable target. They were conducting bombing raids over Libya. And of course it's a tragedy. That goes without saying. My parents were up the street from the bus bombings in London a few years ago, and I couldn't get in touch with them for a couple hours following it. So I'm not insensitive to the people there. But it's not really "out of the blue". In order for it to be considered that, it would have to be a non-NATO member.

Perhaps the Norwegian government will give the Nobel Peace Prize to the bombers! ;) Anyway, look for the Scandinavian countries to "crack down" on terrorism and institute strict new rules that limit liberty for the people.

It's okay, I've gotten Lindsey Graham and John McCain to co-sponsor my bill, "Nick's Law". It will make it illegal to go outdoors. NEVER FORGET.

We've all learned some valuable lessons from this. Now let's just all gather side-by-side for the closing scene where Scooby Doo does something dorky and we all say "Awww Scoob! Hahaha!"

Well THAT'S more than a little suspicious. Yeesh.

lol this is such a feeding frenzy. I guess it's a great opportunity for politicians to take the pressure off themselves. Too bad BP or Exxon aren't spilling oil right now! ;)

Hmm, I don't think data like that exists. (Anarchist) I don't believe in the concept of "national security". Some individuals might be more-easily harmed by data being leaked, but it's up to them not to put themselves in a position where that could happen. If the goal is security, there are ways to achieve that that aren't so... roundabout (and profitable for certain special interests). EDIT: Don't get me wrong, I'm totally in agreement that this was underhanded and emotionally damaging for the people involved. I'm just saying they should direct their anger at the phone companies, because that's more productive. The government is seeking to use this as a means to reign in media that could be critical of them in the future.

Yes, as long as data isn't destroyed. When data is copied, it's not a loss for the owner, simply an invasion of privacy. In my view privacy is not a right in the same way property is, it is a service.

True Blood, first two episodes. Love it so far!!!

As far as I can tell, most of the government wiretaps occur because they are prosecuting non-violent criminals, which I certainly don't condone. I just think that this scandal really isn't that big of a deal. Sure, it's sleazy. But if anyone should be criticized it's the phone companies for not having the foresight and security measures in place to prevent it. Fines and prison sentences are unnecessary and cruel. Paul McMullan might be a less than admirable guy, but he's absolutely right - any new regulations here will be in place to prosecute people who try to learn what politicians are saying behind closed doors. The government will protect its monopoly on eavesdropping.

I'm just going to put this here:

Well after taxes I suppose that will amount to about 5 million take-home, and then that should be enough to buy a couple of new wardrobes and a new car.

They should come collect the fines themselves - molon labe.

Sometimes justice is delivered in unexpected ways...

Not surprised. She's a pretty white girl. Jury trials aren't an effective means of rendering accurate judgments. Innocent people are put in prison for decades, all the time. I started a topic recently about a guy who's facing more than 10 years in jail for marking the wrong box on his passport application. These types of injustices occur more and more frequently toward the end of an empire, as the society becomes more sick.

Double post

It's one of a thousand murder trials going on now in a country of 310 million people, but this woman named Nancy Grace (a perpetually outraged idiot who has a TV show on CNN) latched onto this particular trial because the victim was a sweet innocent little white girl. Her ratings exploded and the case is now a national topic of discussion. The girl was likely killed by her mother, a young stupid woman who blamed her parents (grandparents of victim) for the murder. They found the girl's body buried in the same location as her hamsters, and with a heart-sticker on her lips (just like she buried the hamsters when they died). They also discovered "breaking neck" and "chloroform" in the Google search history of the mother's laptop. Very suspicious to say the least.

Yes, the deficit could easily be gotten under control if we cut the size of the military in half, raised taxes, and raised the retirement age - but then the economy would get worse (ie our quality of life would drop and people would flee the country). So it can be done. There are ways to transfer more money from the productive part of the economy to the government. It just can't happen politically... Americans are very anti-tax, and anti-cutting-benefits. So anyone who attempts to pull this off will need to use teargas, tanks, and rubber bullets to make it happen. And even then, once the government gets its hands on the necessary money... what do you think it will do? It will go on spending like nothing happened. What do you do when your kid blows all his allowance money on toys and candy? Do you give him even more? Remember the purpose of money is to communicate scarcity of resources. When governments feel they aren't subject to physical reality (scarcity), things get really dangerous. It's like a kid sticking his fingers in his ears, closing his eyes, and singing. Only it's not a kid, it's your dad. And he's blowing the family's money on alcohol instead of buying food. No I see what you're saying, and it's a great point. Think of the differences between force and voluntary trade. When people can choose which currency to use, or to accept, you'll have a whole collection of different trades going on. Not everyone will be using the same money, but that's not a huge deal - you can always find a place where you can trade your money for an alternative money. It could be done very quickly and simply using internet and smartphone technology. In this scenario, money is fluid. Value flows between currencies effortlessly. But in a scenario with legal tender laws (what we have today) value is trapped in a forced-currency. So the dollar should be worth much less than it is today, but it still holds its value because the government imprisons anyone who refuses to accept dollars as a form of payment. Laws that affect economics are like pressure cookers. You can't really hear the pressure building up inside, but eventually they explode and it's really painful and messy when they do. If you don't have these laws, it's like a steady release of steam and the system never needs to be reset. Right, you're thinking of John Paulson. That was one of the best trades in history, because he got the timing exactly right. The whole school of Austrian economists predicted the housing market would crash, too, but they just couldn't peg down exactly *when* it would happen. There are other markets that are set to crash - for instance, housing still has another 15 to 20% to fall, and the cost of college education is in a bubble, too. The cost of medicine/healthcare is in a bubble also, but that's mostly the result of regulations and insurance - hopefully that bubble will pop when the government allows more people to become doctors.

Right David, but it's not split up in different countries differently - all US bonds are the same, whether Japan owns them or China or the UK. So what happens when the US can't meet its full interest payment is "contagion". These countries (and individuals) who own the bonds will suddenly realize they hold an asset that is depreciating. What do you do when an asset is going down in value? You sell it. So the insiders will sell first, then the value of the bonds will fall (just like a selloff in stocks). This will trigger more people to sell, and as the price falls the interest rate will increase dramatically (to try to keep people from selling). As the interest rate increases, the government will be forced to pay more and more and more to each remaining bondholder. This will necessitate the issuance of even more debt. The root of all this was asking people to pay interest on printed money (when the interest didn't even exist as money in the economy yet). It's a bit tricky to wrap your head around, but once you do it's startlingly obvious.