FUD FTL

First, we got Microsoft claiming that Linux infringes on 235 Microsoft patents and saying it expected royalties from distributors and users.  But to the best of my recollection, MS has never once actually come up with a list of those 235 infringed patents so that anyone who wanted to could, like, try to avoid infringing them (or, conversely, verify whether the claim was actually true).

Then we got the promise from Microsoft "not to sue open-source developers for products that connect to Microsoft software".

Well, except for TomTom, that is.  Three of Microsoft's claims against TomTom relate to file management techniques in the Linux kernel.

But that's just a one-off.  Honest! Microsoft isn't going to sue anyone else for using open-source.  Or maybe they will.  Their top IP lawyer "declined to say whether other suits over the open source operating system might follow".

Asked whether that meant that Microsoft would seek compensation from all products that use the Linux kernel, Gutierrez said, "No.  That is really not what we have in mind.  This case is about TomTom's infringement."

He stressed Microsoft's preference for signing licensing deals with companies, including those using Linux.

"Our position is and has been that we believe licensing is the right way to approach and resolve these things," he said.

Sure, you can use all the open source software you want ... as long as you pay Microsoft up-front first.  Nice little open-source product you have there.  Be a shame if anything were to happen to it.

But "he acknowledged the suit could hurt some of the efforts the company has tried to make in recent years to mend fences with the Linux world."

No shit?  What was your first clue?  The open-source world is not going to fully trust Microsoft as long as we can see that the other hand tucked casually behind Microsoft's back is still holding a baseball bat.

NOBODY saw this coming, right?

"I'm not going to take your guns away."

"I respect the Second Amendment."

"Lawful gun owners have nothing to fear."

"As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons," Holder told reporters.

Yeah, so he lied.  But it's for the children ...er, the Mexicans!  Wait ... Mexican children!  That makes it alright, doesn't it?

"Some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades," the [State Department] warning said.  "Large firefights have taken place in many towns and cities across Mexico, but most recently in northern Mexico, including Tijuana, Chihuahua City and Ciudad Juarez."

So, the Mexican government is concerned about their drug cartels using fully-automatic weapons (that's "machineguns" to you) and grenades.  Weapons which you can't legally buy in the US without a Class 3 permit (and, for the grenades, a destructive device permit), and which command astronomical prices because no new ones have been allowed to enter private hands since 1986.  (All the legal full-auto weapons that are in civilian hands in the US are in private collections.  As a matter of fact, about three quarters of them are in the private collection of Reed Knight, president of Knight Armaments Corporation and about the closest person in the US to a real-life Tony Stark.)  And barring law-abiding US gun owners from buying semi-automatic rifles that look like them will stop the drug cartels from getting the real thing, which they're already not getting here.

Yeah.  Right.  The logic of that is crystal clear.

Democratic administrations change, but Democratic party bullshit goes on forever.  For all those of you who trusted Obama's promises, and assured those of us who own guns that Obama wasn't going to be Just Another Democratic Gun Grabber, there's a stack of warm washcloths in the bathroom for you to wipe the egg off your faces with.  We told you Bush's chair would scarcely have cooled before Obama and Biden were pushing a new round of gun control laws.  Well, bend over, because here it comes.

Also see this post.

Q:  How do you tell when a politician is lying?

A:  His lips move.