We have a responsibility

Go on!! stroke my ego.

The prevailing responses to important issues on the forums can pretty

much be summed up in just that way. I'm never certain which is the most

intended effect - to bump the post and keep it on top or to discourage

most anyone from posting intelligent thought. The attitude sucks but it

certainly works.

One further point I'd like to make is that when things get bad, they tend

to snowball. Because of US Federal Securities laws, we may see some "qui

tam" litigation as the result. This would certainly bring on a US DOJ

investigation and possibly tie up any resources LL might have to defend

itself.

Qui tam lawsuits are quite unique. They are basically filed by

individuals on behalf of the government. They are also sometimes called

"whistleblower" lawsuits.

This type of lawsuit is particularly attractive in our litigious and

greedy times because the government is required to do all the work

basically and the person filing the suit is entitled to 15-30 percent of

the total recovery. Additionally they receive protection from

retaliation.

In 2005 alone, a record $3.1 billion was reclaimed from corrupt

businesses from qui tam actions. My math sucks, but isn't 15% of 3.1

billion something like 450 million. That's quite an incentive.


"In qui tam provisions the government gives private citizens the right

and the financial incentive to retain a private lawyer to file a lawsuit

to act in the place of law enforcement."


Lawyers will take these on in a heartbeat without even a consultation

fee. It would not surprise me to learn that one has already been filed,

but I seriously doubt anyone on this forum would bother since the posts

aren't read or taken seriously to begin with.


Just my two cents.



You can read more about these here.
http://www.whistleblowerfirm.com/faq.html#1

omg file a lawsuit or go whine elsewhere sorry but i do not miss casinos i prefer many other things in sl the closest i got to gambling was slingo and i dont consider that gambling if all of you whiners want to complain go to congress and get the laws changed or go to law school or something

and yes im grumpy from the heat

/need more snow cones

even if it were not illegal, I applaud LL for getting rid of casinos. Nasty ugly unsightly scars on the landscape that they are.

Double spacing to change things up a bit... interesting approach.

Refusing to take certain posts seriously is not done to discourage intelligent thought. It's done to discourage the physical abuse of equine carcasses, which is not at all an intelligent thing to do.


OMG, we have so much in common!

11, right?

I have fingers too!

Now I must ask you all not to say anything humourous in the next 2 hours as I am watching a movie.

"Sharpe's Legend", starring Sean Bean if you must know.

hmm new glass of lemon juice, just what the doc orderd

My best friend is in love with Sean Bean and she made me watch all the Sharpe's movies. It was a good thing she gave me martinis all night...

Yes, but only if I'm using base9.


Hey, I'm watching a movie too! But I think I'm gonna break your no-humor rule, because surely everyone will laugh heartily when I tell them I'm watching Battlefield Earth.

To paraphrase the immortal words of Butthead, this movie sucks in ways nothing has ever sucked before!

You realize that the book Battlefield Earth (that the movie was based on) was by L. Ron Hubbard the founder of scientology and in this avatar's humble opinion one of the nuttiest people this side of Mr. Peanut right? That's why the movie sucked.

I read that book

It was better than the movie.

Though it had the typical Big novel problem of going very very slow at the begining then rushing at the end.

Nutty isnt necessarily a bad quality in an Author.

Look at Poe. (not that Hubbard is in Poe's league , or even sport)


Though nutty is probably a bad quality in a cult founder.

is Hubbard even a Scientologist?

paints anns toes rainbow colors... diversity is also good for the economy ^_^....serves up icees n pie!! gets in that new ice crusher for snow cones , and sets up a bigger shop

*moves*

I don't actually care, personally, about gambling in Second Life any more than I cared about ageplay. However, the above-quoted excerpt interests me because I think that the sentiment expressed is at the true heart of most people's reactions to both of these things, and said sentiment reminds me of a certain oft-quoted poem attributed to one Martin Niemöller, a pastor in Nazi Germany:

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

(end)

I don't mean to imply that anything at that happens in SL carries anywhere NEAR the same gravity as what happened in Germany with the Nazis, but I'm nevertheless struck by (what I perceive as) the similarity in how people react: to wit, "I wasn't affected, so I'm not worried." I'm guilty of it myself -- even as I write this, I'm fighting my own apathy about the issue just to do so, and it's extremely unlikely that I'll ever do more about it than this.

Still, some part of me keeps nagging me, asking, "What if the next target is D/s and M/s lifestylers? Outside of SL's unusual culture, you're not exactly mainstream. It's not inconceivable."

I can't help wondering if, by the time that day comes, should it come ... maybe there won't be anyone left to speak out.

If anything, the economy's on the mend, people are actually tipping teaches & dancers again \

I agree with the general thought you placed here.... but as you self already said, online gambling is complete different matter as the examples you mentioned. It is decide so by the US government... and that is the place you should be, not LL.

Even I do not like it at times, I do understand fully that LL has to follow US laws (although the matter of gambling I don't care to much about). How future US laws will change SL, is written in the future...

But as said, banning gambling is of complete different priority for me as banning the lifestyles you mentioned (meaning the latter is a lot more important).

Morwen.

Like your posts. Brilliant observation.

Ooooh...Sean Bean!


@Alex: NOT the Nazis again! Sheesh, don't some of you have any idea about relevance and/or the importance/proportion of things? SOD the bloody c/kasinos! Talking about lifestyles is a completely different subject!

I was just a tringo and slingo hostess in the gaming industry. I didn't consider it gambling either. It was harmless really and lots of fun. Everyone always had such a great time. I miss it and I know it was a primary source of fun for lots of others as well.

I just do research on these issues. Filing a lawsuit would be completely out of character for me. Changing the laws in the US requires multi-million dollar lobbying and takes years to accomplish. Law school? Now that would be worthwhile if the profession didn't require you to compromise your principles. I know lawyers who prosecuted criminals while working for the county Districts Attorney office and then turned around and defended the same people after they went into private practice.

Nope, yer stuck with me =)

I was just a tringo and slingo hostess in the gaming industry. I didn't consider it gambling either. It was harmless really and lots of fun. Everyone always had such a great time. I miss it and I know it was a primary source of fun for lots of others as well.

I just do research on these issues. Filing a lawsuit would be completely out of character for me. Changing the laws in the US requires multi-million dollar lobbying and takes years to accomplish. Law school? Now that would be worthwhile if the profession didn't require you to compromise your principles. I know lawyers who prosecute criminals while working for the county Districts Attorney office and then turn around and defend the same people after they go into private practice. I guess it's all about the money for some people and unfortunately they later run for office. I think I'd prefer to defend something I feel strongly about in an honest way. At least principles and character are something to stand on when you get the slice and dice treatment from these forums. I don't feel bad about me while doing it either.

I appreciate your misguided advice and for at least making an effort to reply, no matter how little thought went into it.

But . . .
nope, yer stuck with me =)

YaY! Another reader! =)

I appreciate your taking the time Raynor, although I wasn't the first to make the observation, I did look into it further. Ramo Benedek discussed it with me and I researched and posted the information only.

I drink less beer than he does

You misunderstand.

I just counted how often that one post showed up in the various subforums.

I take it back then

God, that was one of the worst movies I've ever seen, and I generally love bad si fi movies. On a side note the Scientology Episode of South Park was on the other night, one of my personal favorites