Father of Linux Linus Torvalds Becomes US Citizen

[back_by_demand]

http://web.archive.org/web/20040531172940/http://www.gregpalast.com/bestdemocracymoneycanbuychapter1.pdf

 

[digitalrazoe]

Politics aside... Congrats on your citizenship...

 

[cadder]

Wasn't the majority of the creation done by guys at Bell Labs? Linus rewrote part of it and put his name on it.

Nevertheless, we have many freedoms here in America, including the freedom of leaving and going back to Finland if he thinks it is so great.

 

[Usersname]

You also have a President who bans a British schoolboy from entering the US for life simply because he called Obama a Prick.
Linus Torvalds want to be part of a system which has the same level of maturity as a schoolboy? Shame on him.

 

[jsc]

Several comments (apparently schools either are not teaching high school civics nowadays or students aren't learning)in no particular order:

First, the U. S. is not a democracy. It's a democratic republic. Big difference.

Second, I used to think the electoral college was out of date. I have long since changed my mind. Doing away with the electoral college will accomplish one of the the things our founding fathers were afraid of - reducing even more the influence of the smaller states. Look at a 2008 electoral map that shows the county by county voting pattern.

Of course, if enough of the states disagree about the need for the Electoral College, they can amend the Constitution. What are the odds that the small states will disagree?

Third, as far as democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan is concerned, as long as the clause "... as long as it does not violate Shariah law" is written in their constitutions, they do not have a democracy.

Fourth, a lot of talk periodically comes up about "that's really not what our Founding Fathers intended". Good case in example is the Liberal opposition and constant attempts to redefine the Second Amendment. The public debates were printed in the newspapers and collected as the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers. It makes for a book about 600 pages long. And you can see exactly why they were for or against any particular topic.

 

[hellwig]

I like the old presidential voting system where the person with the second-most votes became vice-president. I mean, now days, the presidential candidate just picks some lackey like Biden, or someone to do the thinking for them, like Cheney.

[citation][nom]jsrudd[/nom]The electoral college isn't just about ease of counting. It also a counter majoritarian device that is meant to ameliorate the effects of our winner take all system.[/citation]
I don't really think you said anything there.

[citation][nom]usersname[/nom]You also have a President who bans a British schoolboy from entering the US for life simply because he called Obama a Prick.Linus Torvalds want to be part of a system which has the same level of maturity as a schoolboy? Shame on him.[/citation]
I doubt Obama had anything to do with banning that kid. You think the FBI and Secret Service bring every one of the thousands of threatening emails he receives daily to his attention?

 

[pale paladin]

The major flaw in our system and most systems is greed and a sense of party loyalty. I believe that many work in politics initially to make a change and do some good. Most end up owing favors to big corporations and lose sight of what their initial intentions were. Also the dramatization in campaigning right now make me want to puke. Anyways congrats to Linus for making a great decision. A newly legalized American citizen not born here is a more rare thing than popular media would lead you to believe. My mom works for U.S. immigration I assure you I'm not talking out of my ass on that.

 

[anonymous_user]

Did anyone else misread the title as "Father of Linus Torvalds"? Some commas would've helped.

 

[slabbo]

HAHA, what a sucker. now he's gonna get jury duty!

 

[Marcus Yam]

[citation][nom]anonymous_user[/nom]Did anyone else misread the title as "Father of Linus Torvalds"? Some commas would've helped.[/citation]
A glitch in our headline system prevented this from happening, but yes, the original title was "Father of Linux, Linus Torvalds, Becomes US Citizen".

 

[tipoo]

Of all the pictures of him out there...

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]jsc[/nom]Several comments (apparently schools either are not teaching high school civics nowadays or students aren't learning)in no particular order:First, the U. S. is not a democracy. It's a democratic republic. Big difference.Second, I used to think the electoral college was out of date. I have long since changed my mind. Doing away with the electoral college will accomplish one of the the things our founding fathers were afraid of - reducing even more the influence of the smaller states. Look at a 2008 electoral map that shows the county by county voting pattern.Of course, if enough of the states disagree about the need for the Electoral College, they can amend the Constitution. What are the odds that the small states will disagree?Third, as far as democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan is concerned, as long as the clause "... as long as it does not violate Shariah law" is written in their constitutions, they do not have a democracy.Fourth, a lot of talk periodically comes up about "that's really not what our Founding Fathers intended". Good case in example is the Liberal opposition and constant attempts to redefine the Second Amendment. The public debates were printed in the newspapers and collected as the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers. It makes for a book about 600 pages long. And you can see exactly why they were for or against any particular topic.[/citation]
Well, the founding fathers could never envisage a private company run by Jeb Bush providing a scrub-list for the Florida voting list that heavily targetted blacks and hispanics, and Democrats - essentially barring them from voting - incorrectly labelling people as felons, including a local Judge - to the tune of over 57,000 voters.

http://web.archive.org/web/20040531172940/http://www.gregpalast.com/bestdemocracymoneycanbuychapter1.pdf

That is your "Democracy". Where Jeb can rig an election for his brother and all his Dad's cronie friends on the Supreme Court can decide who won instead. If this was an election in Africa the US press would be screaming to the heavens about it being a corrupt tin-pot dictatorship.

 

[HavoCnMe]

Linus,
Welcome to the United States of Greed/USG.

 

[warezme]

mmm sexy pic... LOL!!

 

[Dirtman73]

The two-party system, while admirable on paper, is highly flawed in the US. When both sides are owned and controlled by the money-makers, PACs, and corporations, why the hell does it matter who you vote for ultimately? Throw in a corrupt voting system (electronic), and you've got a recipe for tyranny.

 

[akula2]

I lived in the US for 15 years but I never felt the necessity to get the "Naturalized" tag. Anyway, good luck to Linus

 

[sailfish]

First, welcome Linus and I hope you stay a while.

Second, we don't have a two party system, as any ballot will clearly show; although, we do have a winner take all one. The fact that other parties don't garner much in terms of votes has more to do with the US's pragmatic approach to solving problems. Rainbow coalition is akin to decision by committee; the final outcome is usually mediocre and non-challenging of the existing regime. Our system; albeit messy, allows for mini-revolutions to occur that revitalize moribund political establishments. This year's election cycle is a perfect example of this.

 

[mcvf]

Now they will publish if Linus prefers democrats or republicans and half of Linux users from US is gone

 

[husker]

[citation][nom]apoq[/nom]Oh man, where do you get off saying that? There's no greatest country in the world, and even if it were, I'm not sure what your metric for deciding the awesomeness of a country is. Now don't get all pissy and start shooting your gun in the back yard just to show everybody how free your country is.[/citation]
Well, apparently Linus thinks it's the best place to live. Take that for what it's worth.

 

[scrumworks]

[citation][nom]stratplaya[/nom]Well Linus, that system seems to have something to it. It's helped make us the most awesome country to ever exist, and you know it. Else you wouldn't be here.[/citation]

It's funny that US lies in 11th place and Finland in 1st place in country "awesomeness" (Newsweek). Only reason he lives in US is because the big money is there.

 

[wotan31]

[citation][nom]cadder[/nom]Wasn't the majority of the creation done by guys at Bell Labs? Linus rewrote part of it and put his name on it.Nevertheless, we have many freedoms here in America, including the freedom of leaving and going back to Finland if he thinks it is so great.[/citation]
No, he did not copy anything from Bell Labs. He wrote the entire kernel purely from scratch. It was a class project while he was in school, but has evolved to what it is today. The SCO lawsuit *alleged* that he copied from the Bell Labs code, but the results from that attempted suit speak for themselves.

 

[tommysch]

[citation][nom]stratplaya[/nom]Well Linus, that system seems to have something to it. It's helped make us the most awesome country to ever exist, and you know it. Else you wouldn't be here.[/citation]

Those days are long gone. Your system is crap compared to a British style democracy.

[citation][nom]usersname[/nom]You also have a President who bans a British schoolboy from entering the US for life simply because he called Obama a Prick.Linus Torvalds want to be part of a system which has the same level of maturity as a schoolboy? Shame on him.[/citation]

There were threats in the message...

 

[cookoy]

you'll always be embraced as a citizen wherever in the Linux world.

 

[tommysch]

[citation][nom]hellwig[/nom]I like the old presidential voting system where the person with the second-most votes became vice-president. I mean, now days, the presidential candidate just picks some lackey like Biden, or someone to do the thinking for them, like Cheney.I don't really think you said anything there.I doubt Obama had anything to do with banning that kid. You think the FBI and Secret Service bring every one of the thousands of threatening emails he receives daily to his attention?[/citation]

Or worst, Palin...

 

[killerclick]

I think the two party system is serving the US and the UK pretty well. Yes, there are many people who complain but look at the bottom line. The US is the richest, most powerful, most influential country in the World, no civil wars for 140 years, no megalomaniacal dictators and as far as superpowers go, I'd rather have the US than China, India or Russia. Just don't let it go to your head...