Blows my mind. It's quite difficult here to get a card that isn't CNP, they're generally only issued to people with disabilities that prevent them using CNP. Out of curiosity, I actually checked with my bank last time we discussed this and my bank will issue them but if you're not disabled, you have to pay £15 for them because they have to be made specially
Not a problem. Just contact your local credit-card fraudster, and they'll set you up with a new mag-stripe card lickety-split.
Plain ol' magnetic stripe cards are so easy to clone, fraudsters set up factories in the trunks of their cars. (You would say "the boots" of their cars.) All they need is a skimmer to read the information off the stripe of a card that's been swiped, and they're set to go. Since the info isn't encrypted, they don't need a PIN to decrypt it -- they can just copy it onto a new card, and boom! You're set.
Or, they can read the information, copy it onto another card, and use it to steal your identity. After all, they'll have your name and all your banking information... and if you use your card in an ATM, they may have a hidden micro-camera to record your PIN, too. Then they can empty your bank account as well as steal your identity. Cool!
Yes, that's the REAL advantage to magnetic-stripe cards: ease of skimming and cloning and identity theft, so you need never worry that you're the only person in the world who has a copy of YOUR card, or the only person who is using YOUR name!
/sarcasm
... Which is why the CnP card is now the standard in all other developed nations, and why credit-card fraudsters from all over the world have been flocking to the US. We've become the only game in town for credit-card skimming, and our fraud costs are going through the roof.
But hey, the banks all carry fraud insurance, and apparently they think it's cheaper than supplying us with "high-tech" (I know, it's old tech to you) CNP cards. Mag-stripe cards only cost 10 cents each or something like that, and CNP cards cost a whole $2!
They claim the switchover will cause the merchants large infrastructure costs, too, but that's bogus. The CNP card is so ubiquitous in all other nations that the companies that make credit card machines no longer manufacture machines that only take "swipe" cards. Nowadays all new machines are equipped with CNP readers, too.
One of our nations biggest retailers, Wal-Mart, has issued several press statements that it is ready and eager to accept CNP cards for all purchases. Wal-Mart is apparently tired of credit card fraud, so it has been vigorously campaigning for the switchover to CNP.
(For Americans who don't know what a CNP reader looks like, check the front of the card readers at Wal-Mart. You'll see a slot just big enough to insert the "chip" end of a credit card, and below the slot will be a little picture of the end of a card with a square to represent the chip.)
What I find difficult to comprehend is that 99.9% of Americans aren't even aware that the CNP card exists, never mind that all the rest of the world is using it.
Ebon, we can't PAY our banks to issue CNP cards to us. I know -- I've looked everywhere for a bank that will issue them to ordinary account holders, even for a fee, and there isn't one.
Not only that, but most American BANKERS don't know about them! The media moghuls don't want us to have them, so they don't tell us about them -- after all, what Americans don't know about, they won't demand, will they?
Blows my mind. It's quite difficult here to get a card that isn't CNP, they're generally only issued to people with disabilities that prevent them using CNP. Out of curiosity, I actually checked with my bank last time we discussed this and my bank will issue them but if you're not disabled, you have to pay £15 for them because they have to be made specially.
There is no stronger example I know of to prove that our media is anything but fair, unbiased, and truthful. It's not -- it's the worst case of a money-controlled, pure propaganda machine that exists in the "free" world.
Basede purely on the media that gets exported here, I'd agree with that. Far from having a "liberal bias", it's the most conservative media in the western world.
We will likely never see anything similar here, because the media sources that might galvanize people to enact such a law are already controlled by the very people who would lose money if such a law were enacted.
Our only hope may be Twitter.
The internet has been the great equaliser in terms of communication. That's why the PtB are now trying to clamp down on it by promoting false "net neutrality".
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. ~ Proverbs 14:31
Moreover, as traveling becomes more difficult due to Americans being denied access to modern bank-card technology (the chip-n-PIN card, on which I posted a month ago), there will be fewer and fewer sources for us to rely on for fact-checking to discover the truth beyond our borders.
Still find it difficult to comprehend that you guys don't have CNP yet.
What I find difficult to comprehend is that 99.9% of Americans aren't even aware that the CNP card exists, never mind that all the rest of the world is using it.
Ebon, we can't PAY our banks to issue CNP cards to us. I know -- I've looked everywhere for a bank that will issue them to ordinary account holders, even for a fee, and there isn't one.
Not only that, but most American BANKERS don't know about them! The media moghuls don't want us to have them, so they don't tell us about them -- after all, what Americans don't know about, they won't demand, will they?
There is no stronger example I know of to prove that our media is anything but fair, unbiased, and truthful. It's not -- it's the worst case of a money-controlled, pure propaganda machine that exists in the "free" world.
Personally, I think anti-lying laws for the media are a GREAT idea that is no more unconstitutional than "truth in advertising" laws. Such laws should be enacted ASAP, because it's very, very obvious that our headlines are being used to "sell" and advertise candidates, and that truthful, unbiased reporting has gone the way of the dinosaur in the US.
We actually have something not dissimilar here. The regulations enforced by Ofcom (Office of Communications which does NOT apply to newspapers or the BBC which has it's own regulatory body) require that news reportage must be factual or, at least, a plausable interpretation of the facts. Editorial opinion has to be kept to a minimum or clearly labelled as opinion.
We will likely never see anything similar here, because the media sources that might galvanize people to enact such a law are already controlled by the very people who would lose money if such a law were enacted.
Moreover, as traveling becomes more difficult due to Americans being denied access to modern bank-card technology (the chip-n-PIN card, on which I posted a month ago), there will be fewer and fewer sources for us to rely on for fact-checking to discover the truth beyond our borders.
Still find it difficult to comprehend that you guys don't have CNP yet.
Personally, I think anti-lying laws for the media are a GREAT idea that is no more unconstitutional than "truth in advertising" laws. Such laws should be enacted ASAP, because it's very, very obvious that our headlines are being used to "sell" and advertise candidates, and that truthful, unbiased reporting has gone the way of the dinosaur in the US.
We actually have something not dissimilar here. The regulations enforced by Ofcom (Office of Communications which does NOT apply to newspapers or the BBC which has it's own regulatory body) require that news reportage must be factual or, at least, a plausable interpretation of the facts. Editorial opinion has to be kept to a minimum or clearly labelled as opinion.
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. ~ Proverbs 14:31
Having spent a little bit of time traveling in foreign countries "across the water", I can assure you that America's media moguls do have a lying, deceptive, and complete stranglehold on our sources of information, and it's getting worse.
Moreover, as traveling becomes more difficult due to Americans being denied access to modern bank-card technology (the chip-n-PIN card, on which I posted a month ago), there will be fewer and fewer sources for us to rely on for fact-checking to discover the truth beyond our borders.
How many of you have paid attention to the changes that have been made to our internet search engines? Have you noticed that when you search on a term, it has become harder to find independent, not-for-profit websites with information on your topic?
That's because search results are now ordered by priority for those who pay to have their results come first. In other words, your access to information is being controlled by money.
Personally, I think anti-lying laws for the media are a GREAT idea that is no more unconstitutional than "truth in advertising" laws. Such laws should be enacted ASAP, because it's very, very obvious that our headlines are being used to "sell" and advertise candidates, and that truthful, unbiased reporting has gone the way of the dinosaur in the US.
Actually, "The Gilded Age" for Russia ended when Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate and the Communist Revolution took control of the government. but that wasn't enough for Lenin, since there was always a danger to his power as long as any of the Imperial family was still alive. In fact, Nicholas had asked for political asylum for himself and his family, or for just his family at least. His first cousin and look-alike King George of England wanted to grant his request, but Parliament refused to allow it.
I loved the fact that even such ardent homophobes as the late Jerry Falwell and his crony Pat Robertson were able to control their vitrolic when they were in Canada and subject to the Canadian laws against 'hate speech". I guess the good Lord told them not to waste any of those contributions paying fines or doing time in Canada. Which meant they could have controlled it here just as easily if it happened to impact their incomes.
I'm not going to say it made a difference to their statements as a matter of conscious because anyone who can preach prejudice and hatred so glibly didn't/don't have a whole lot to spare. It's like them praying over the poor woman who had turned to God in prison who they wanted to avoid the death penalty without considering the families of those she had killed with an axe back in her pill induced psychosis. She was a martyr. She was also in Texas, and they don't hand out a lot of commuting sentences there.
Telling the truth and not using hate speech. Here's a fun idea--who would you most like to see do a book tour and a lot of broadcast interviews under those rules?
a. Ann Coulter
b. Rush Limbaugh
c. Dick Cheney
d. George Bush
e.Rev. Sharpton
f. Rev. Jackson
g. write-in #1
h. write-in #2
And best of all, let the topic be voter's choice.
However, I'd settle for just watching the CEOs of the banks, mortgage companies, and health insurance companies being asked about their business practices and justifying their salaries, with a few auto industry sell-outs like Bob Eaton.
You might even bring in some cable companies by telling them it was about pay per view rates...I'd think that once they scented blood like the words "pay for view" it wouldn't occur to them they might be asked to explain where all those fees ended up.
"You are letting your opinion be colored by facts again." 'When I want your opinion, I'll give it to you." these are both from my father.
>>>>>>>> At least Canadians are doing something about it. Check it out....
Canada's level of anti-freedom of speech laws and regulations approaches that of some middle eastern theocracies, so I do not lend their policies much weight.
Complex thought, and ambiguous situations, are not things with which conservatives deal well.
It has to be clear cut, black and white, totally either or for their brains to process it.
Democrats think the glass is half full. Republicans think the glass is theirs. Libertarians want to break the glass, because they think a conspiracy created it.
If you consider the Communists to be right wingers........
This is a little complicated. What the Russians were shooting for was Marxist Communism which, yes, would be the furthest left position on the political scale. What they actually ended up with was Soviet Communism which was a form of totalitarian dictatorship with some Marxist trappings. Academics still debate over exactly where it should be placed on the political scale. Personally, I think it's a demonstration that the ultra-extremes of left and right tend to end up looking very similar even if they have wildly different reasons.
Agree...
"No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible." George Chakiris
“For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible.” Stuart Chase
If you consider the Communists to be right wingers........
This is a little complicated. What the Russians were shooting for was Marxist Communism which, yes, would be the furthest left position on the political scale. What they actually ended up with was Soviet Communism which was a form of totalitarian dictatorship with some Marxist trappings. Academics still debate over exactly where it should be placed on the political scale. Personally, I think it's a demonstration that the ultra-extremes of left and right tend to end up looking very similar even if they have wildly different reasons.
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. ~ Proverbs 14:31
