Of course, because Death Star's are badass as fuck.

On a more serious note, building a Death Star would probably work fairly well as Keynsian counter-cyclical spending, though I would much prefer it spent fixing the road network, for example, then on increasing the already over-inflated military spending budget.

No, this is why the healtchare.gov WEBSITE is not awesome. Is it really so difficult to unwrap those two very different things in your mind?

Surely a Death Star is the apotheosis of government waste. It's made to destroy planets. What planets are we gonna destroy? Last time I checked there wasn't a missile gap with the Venusians.


"No, this is why the healtchare.gov WEBSITE is not awesome. Is it really so difficult to unwrap those two very different things in your mind?"

It isn't just the website. It's the electronic system behind Obamacare as well. Due to it making so much use of the cloud it's wildly insecure. Half the people on the forum could probably hack in and steal tens of millions of Americans' identities. The very idea of Obamacare is also deeply flawed, since it's leading to millions of people facing the cancellations of their plans (which they were supposedly allowed to keep) and having to buy much more expensive policies. And this is all before employers, which is where most Americans get their insurance, have to even get in the system.

It's far from just being the website. There's really no bottom to how bad this can get for the president, assuming things aren't fixed very quickly. You already hear about Democrats in Congress starting to revolt against the bill. Bill Clinton has even said the Obama should let people keep their existing plans, which is impossible under the current law and may be a trial balloon for Hilary running on repeal. I mean really, dude. You haven't been following things if you think it's just the website.

"Due to it making so much use of the cloud it's wildly insecure."

FINALLY, someone else who understand why cloud hosting of sensitive information before efficient cloud security measures are developed is a bad idea! +1 just for that.

Yes, invictus, I am well aware that there are multiple reasons that you take issue with obamacare, none of which seem to have anything to do with OP, or my response to him.

The Cloud can be plenty secure if you don't go with the lowest bidder...

"..efficient cloud security measures..."

Will never exist...

@krellin

How do you figure?

@abge, he doesn't figure. He just types.

@mendax: this was fucking classic:

" On a more serious note, building a Death Star would probably ..."

Because for every advance in security measures becomes advances in hacking.

But more importantly because humans are involved at some point. You woukd think that banks, for example, would have come up with ways to secure my personal data by now, and yet periodically some asshole makes some mistake and I get the inevitable letter telling me to monitor my accounts, change passwords, etc because the humans fucked up again.

I'm a practical man, Abge, and your dream of perfect security created by imperfect humans is just not a dream I believe in. Perfect security...think about it....it's a pretty tall order...

...and because the government doesn't want you to have perfect security...it would prevent them from accessing the data at will....

Think about it...

No one said anything about perfect. You and others seemed to be saying that cloud storage was inherently less secure than other storage. This isn't really true. If you're just saying no technology is perfect, well, sure, I agree with you there.

"...and because the government doesn't want you to have perfect security...it would prevent them from accessing the data at will...."

What? That isn't even what secure means. When you give your info to healthcare.gov it's so they can use it. You aren't storing your personal files there.

I never said it was inherently less secure. I think it is equally as insecure as any other storage. That being said, I will and do use it. I advocate it's use. Imdon't live my life in fear of data scurity, for the main reason that I have no choice but to participate in technology to conduct business and financial transactions at an ever increasing rate.

I find cloud storage has dramatically increased my access to my data and my "security" in that one failed drive doesn't wipe my data....but I think it is no more or no less secure from theft than anything else, because I have great faith in the wisdom and desire of evil men to corrupt anytying good.

when I give my data to healthcare.gov....it is for WHO to use? The government and any and all health care insurers and providersm they want to have access to it. It includes identifyinginformation, including SS#, and presumably will be tied to your health records in time. Further, since the IRS is involved with Obamacare, it, of necessity, must be tied in to the IRS data somehow.

Yes, and?