[geeks] KVM for Sun Sparc Servers with USB keyboards

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Tue, 5 May 2009, Sridhar Ayengar wrote:

> Well, a central government might be able to provide a better defense
> against ships flying under the flags of foreign countries dumping waste.

No, the central government would merely send emissaries and armies on
their behalf.  The absence of the central government is not an inherent
stumbling block to doing those things in the status quo, except that there
exist many people on planet Earth who would refuse to acknowledge the
legitimacy of such a request unless it were sent on letterhead from an
organization calling itself "The Republic/Nation/State of _______".

Perhaps if the pirates keep up their work, they'll scare off enough ships
that maybe their own ecosystem can recover.

> But, much of the problem in Somalia are caused by gangs of men who are
> able to rape, plunder and murder with no fear of reprisal.

Funny, that happens in many of states -with- central governments.  To a
lesser degree it happens in this country.  Rape seems to be an acceptable
form of punishment in prison (even though it doesn't show up in the
sentence anywhere).  Plunder is the inevitable result of not paying the
property taxes levied against you or owning a vehicle without begging
permission, etc.  Murder is what happens when the state puts men to death
even when there is evidence[0] to acquit or when armies set up camp
overseas (in our name) in order to kill enemies who haven't directly
attacked near us.

However, we couch these in terms like "tax sale" or "violation" or
"unfortunate mistake" or "casualty of war", and they don't seem nearly so
bad.


[0] George W. Bush, as governor of the State of Texas pulled this little
     stunt several times because he was "tough on murderers".
-- 
Jonathan Patschke ( "They don't have the right to read a book out loud."
Elgin, TX         (                  --Paul Aiken
USA               (                    Executive Director, Authors Guild