2012-12-09, 18:10 | Link #25021 | |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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AP Exclusive: Georgia details nuke investigations
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...12-09-16-42-56 Quote:
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2012-12-10, 08:26 | Link #25022 | |
Unspecified
Scanlator
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Unspecified
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Syrian rebels build homemade tank out of car chassis, game controller
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2012-12-10, 09:00 | Link #25023 | ||
Moving in circles
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 49
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Quote:
It should be noted that quite a lot of people seem to be jumping to conclusions (not you specifically, but people in general and, hypocritically in my view, the British press, who aren't exactly paragons of good editorial sense when it comes to Royal coverage). All we know for now is that the nurse apparently killed herself, but we don't know why, let alone if her death is linked to the prank call. Quote:
Now, I well understand their point that this is something they've always done, that they couldn't have reasonably expected something like this to happen. Still, it disturbs to me to hear the DJs say that the matter was out of their hands once they handed over the recording. They clearly believed that the responsibility for making the decision to air or not to air lay with someone else, presumably the producer or, as was reported earlier, the station's lawyers. That's the point to debate. Should the DJs have asked whether it was ethically correct to broadcast the call? Is right for them to blithely surrender that personal responsibility? Shouldn't they have at least thought of raising a warning for the decision-maker to consider? At what point does the joke cease to be a joke? That the DJs didn't even stop to consider this question is damning, in my opinion. Granted, none of these are easy questions to answer within the context of a highly competitive media environment where every player has to outdo each other for the sake of vital ratings. In the end, the sad answer is that consumers get the media they deserve. |
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2012-12-10, 09:47 | Link #25024 |
Nyaaan~~
Join Date: Feb 2006
Age: 41
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^ So I was speaking to a lawyer friend of mine over dinner about this topic and reviewing some of the articles that have come up in the past about similar type things ..
From a legal perspective, unless the act of accessing Kate's medical records was itself a crime, the impersonation to get access to such, is itself not likely criminal. The U.K. doesn't appear to have privacy laws that would cover this .. so despite the morality of it all, it doesn't appear to be illegal. Reply hazy, ask again later |
2012-12-10, 09:54 | Link #25025 | |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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Insight: Making France work again
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8B802A20121209 Quote:
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2012-12-10, 09:55 | Link #25026 |
Master of Coin
Join Date: Mar 2008
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I mean, if I recall correctly, British Media is pretty infamous in its ability to do anything it wants in the name of "public interest".
There was a teen-barely-legal model who testified. "It is ok for a gang of men to chase a underage girl down a dark alley as long as they carry cameras" |
2012-12-10, 11:05 | Link #25028 | |
Moving in circles
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 49
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Quote:
Should the media be a slave to ratings? Must media always pander to the lowest-common denominator to survive? At what point should a media worker say enough is enough? It's one thing to say that a decision is out of your hands, but quite another to not even raise an opinion over potentially questionable material. I should clarify that I'm not blaming the DJs per se, but rather the system that allows them to believe that they had no say over the decision-making "process". |
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2012-12-10, 12:05 | Link #25029 | |
AS Oji-kun
Join Date: Nov 2006
Age: 74
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2012-12-10, 14:42 | Link #25030 |
阿賀野型3番艦、矢矧 Lv180
Graphic Designer
Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Belgium, Brussels
Age: 38
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Just giving my 2 cents in the "prank" incident:
Regardless the possible criminal charges for false identity taken here or not, I'm not surprised why the nurse went to such extremes in this case. Few people don't know that, but our profession has a very strict code of deontology, one of which with an enforced importance towards patient privacy, the so called professional secrecy. I have no idea how it works in UK (as per the consequences), but in Belgium and France, should a nurse disclose information regarding a patient to anyone who isn't supposed to have that, it would be considered as a grave offense that would cost your work on the spot, and such thing will not be easely forgiven. In the nurse case, not only she was played for a fool towards the world and her own country, but her work also got endangered by that. And suffice to say, adding the royal family in the equation and you have a major stress source. It isn't just a mere prank, really.
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2012-12-10, 15:51 | Link #25031 |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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"47 Percent" Remark: Quote of the Year
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012...ark-quote-year Romney said the first and second place.
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2012-12-10, 17:38 | Link #25032 | |
Moving in circles
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 49
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This, however: "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." ...is beyond the pale. To me, it's by far the most shocking quote in the list. |
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2012-12-10, 18:47 | Link #25033 | |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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Obama decries right-to-work proposal during trip to Michigan
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2...-michigan?lite Quote:
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2012-12-10, 19:49 | Link #25034 |
AS Oji-kun
Join Date: Nov 2006
Age: 74
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I've been working on a study of how health insurance coverage varies across the states. So far I've isolated four factors that explain about 70% of the variation in state-level coverage rates for adults without dependents, the most difficult group to cover. Given our system of employer-based health care, it's not surprising that factors related to employment matter a lot. Along with the statewide unemployment rate and the proportion of the workforce employed in mining and construction, unionization rates also have a significant effect. (The other significant factor is the proportion of the population who don't speak English.) I was frankly surprised by how powerful unionization rates influence health insurance coverage.
"Right-to-work" laws have a powerful suppressive effect on unionization rates. In my data, states without RTW laws have about 10% of their workforces in unions; in the RTW states the rate is half that. I intend to write up these results on my blog, http://politicsbythenumbers.org/, in the next few days. Stop by if you're curious.
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2012-12-10, 19:54 | Link #25035 | |
Meh
Join Date: Feb 2008
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Perhaps it's just retaliation for the union proposal in the election, but either way I find the way they did this to be rather distasteful, and Snyder probably guaranteed himself to be a one term governor with this move. |
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2012-12-11, 01:05 | Link #25037 | |
Banned
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Philippines backs rearmed Japan to 'balance' China
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2012-12-11, 02:20 | Link #25038 |
Gamilas Falls
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 47
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It has been a long time since WWII. The children born following the war are starting to retire in their 60s. The Veterans of the War are getting less and less every year.
And the situation has changed (reversed prehaps). With China now seen as the possible Imperialist-expansionist power and Japan as the stagnent one. The Western Powers are still in play, but not in the colonial/imperialist sense anymore. The Americans are the closest to that and they (as then) are more interested in free trade than anything else. The locals don't have the firepower nor manpower to hold of China if it ever got the notion to go full on Imperialist. The only edge they might get is if Japan rearms. They still won't have the manpower to hold the Chinese off, but they will probably have the technological advantage to make up for it. Add to this the Americans, and you have enough to keep the Chinese from going Imperialist since it would be too costly (economically first, then in manpower and lands after the war gets going). The Americans are still the main defense force in the region, but I imagine the locals would want to have their defense more local in nature. Japan can provide that extra strength so they don't need the Americans as much. But it will take time to rearm Japan to the levels "needed" to face off against the Chinese without nuclear weapons. Japan is mostly defensive in nature. They lack offensive punches to counter the Chinese if something happens. The simple ones would be fitting out their ships with cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles. Similar with aircraft. It is just need more and that takes construction time and money. The hope of course is that it will not be needed. But I've suggested rearming Japan for years now. If only so we don't need our troops deployed there to defend them in case of invasion. US troops have been there in one fashion of another since 1945. nearly 70 years later, maybe we can allow Japan to defend herself again? I'm not sure if the South Koreans will like this idea. They and Taiwan are generally against anything military involving Japan it seems. Especially if Japan reverts to any nationalistic vibes.
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2012-12-11, 03:37 | Link #25039 | |
NYAAAAHAAANNNNN~
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 35
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2012-12-11, 03:47 | Link #25040 | |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 67
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current affairs, discussion, international |
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