Ramon Creager 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Why Tribunals Imposing Corporate Sovereignty Are Even More Dangerous Than We Thought

    Ramon Creager ( profile ), 18 Dec, 2013 @ 05:41am

    This is a feature, not a bug.

    At least to the US and its multi-national corporate and financial masters. To the rest of us, the very name Investor State Dispute Settlement is an insult. It places a sovereign state, representing the people of its nation, on the same level as unnamed, unaccountable "investors." Nice.

  • On the post: Unarmed Man Charged With Assault Because NYC Police Shot At Him And Hit Random Pedestrians

    Ramon Creager ( profile ), 06 Dec, 2013 @ 06:32am

    "they had no choice"

    And it's buddy, "time was running out". This is the language used to squelch debate and justify the unjustifiable. Why was there no choice? What does it mean "time was running out"? Who makes such a decision? It is Orwellian (and dangerous) to blame the powerless (a mentally ill man posing no real threat in this case) for the poor decisions of those who hold all the cards.

    But I get it. The police can never be wrong. The police can never be held accountable. And they are sooo misunderstood, such a difficult job.

    And, anyone else disturbed that a grand jury should buy this juvenile argument?

  • On the post: Trade Agreements With Mexico And South Korea Turned Out To Be Disasters For US: So Why Pursue TPP And TAFTA/TTIP?

    Ramon Creager ( profile ), 16 Nov, 2013 @ 08:07am

    Re: Seriously?

    "Protectionist crap"? Nice misdirection. This isn't about "free trade" at all. TTIP & TPP are "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" for multinational corporations. Every thing they could wish for in their most fevered dreams is there, local and sovereign governments and the will of local peoples be damned. You don't want your water to be poisoned by frackers? Too bad, you're interfering with their God given right to present and future profits. You have a dispute with them? You can take it to their kangaroo courts, where the issue will be decided by anonymous corporate lawyers. This is no exaggeration, if you've been paying any attention. And it certainly is not free trade.

  • On the post: Trade Agreements With Mexico And South Korea Turned Out To Be Disasters For US: So Why Pursue TPP And TAFTA/TTIP?

    Ramon Creager ( profile ), 16 Nov, 2013 @ 07:57am

    Hasn't worked out so well for Mexico either

    In fact it has destroyed the Mexican lower classes. And then we get all bent out of shape when drug cartels take over, jobless and landless peasants try to come here for work, etc. etc. etc. ad-nauseum.

    What really gets me about what is happening these days is how the elites, whose ideology and credibility have been totally destroyed by the crash of 2008 and their reaction to it, are able to double down on every evil thing that has brought us to this point.

  • On the post: NSA Apologist Says The NSA's Actions Are Fine Because 'Privacy Is Dead'

    Ramon Creager ( profile ), 24 Sep, 2013 @ 12:57pm

    Further argument against point 3


    3. Recognize that this surveillance is key to national security.


    Even if true this point is invalid because it fails to consider whether some effective tool or another is not only effective, but acceptable in a Constitutional democracy. Lets take, for instance, torture. Even if we grant that torture is effective--or even "key", is this the kind of thing we want for our country? Not I. Not our founding fathers, who by putting in place a Bill of Rights rejected tactics like these while facing perils far greater than we will ever face. So effectiveness alone is no argument.