Microsoft Suggests Internet Tax

[Raffaele the Amigan]

And your nation doesn't exactly have the cleanest record on democratics, either...Europe is being sad. ;_;

I beg your pardon???  ;018

[Red-Machine]

I think he's referring to Mussolini.

And I agree, \nej.  When Bush was at the reins, the US was the laughing stock of the international community.  Now it's us.

[Raffaele the Amigan]

And your nation doesn't exactly have the cleanest record on democratics, either...Europe is being sad. ;_;

I think he's referring to Mussolini.

Regarding italy

Mussolini was a dictator parenthesis between two democratic moments in the history of Italy.

He was not even elected by the people as Hitler.

Mussolini in 1922 made some sort of golpe (the fascist marched towards Rome) and the King Vittorio Emanuele III of Savoy saw in Mussolini the perfect man to get rid of communists.

So the Savoy monarch made Mussolini Prime Minister using his king privilges. In less than two years with a politics of terror, Mussolini got the whole power as dictator, got the power in fake elections and get rid of previous democratic parilament of Italy.

It was culprit of italians? No.

Italy was a Kingdom and the King kept various privileges.

But even then, there were italians of the former democracy who fought Mussolini from inside and outside Italy.

When Mussolini and Hitler caused the World War II, these brave men fought against their own country to help the allies, and created a resistence movement.

When in 1943 Italy succumbed the war and fascist government collapsed, the democratic forces in Italy created a Committee of National Liberation including all political parties which were abolished by fascism to rebuild the nation and the lost democracy. This caused an Italian Civil War.

Modern Italy is born from these acts of supreme courage to fought even the mother land, that was unfortunately represented by the fascism.

Seeing whole events from an external point of view, and from a generic school perspective taken just from school-books it is just plain that "allies defeated Italy as just a fascist country". And it is not necessary to know the whole matter as World War II is  a very complex phenomenon with thousand of faces and consequences.

See these articles on Wikipedia just to know more about facts of WWII Italy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Fascism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-fascism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_resistance_movement

Forgive me for this wall of text, but history of contemprary Italy it is often unknown to people who had not studied it, and hetalia is not the correct and complete way to study WWI and WWII  ;hi  ;012

Regarding Europe...

As I made this advocay for my country, I must say I got really perplexed as NejinOniwa said that "either Europe knows anything more Italy about Democracy"...

He seems to forgot that this politic form of government was born in Ancient Greece and precisely in Athens 2500 years ago. And more or less Greece is in Europe.

In medieval age Britains got its first democratic rules with the Magna Charta Libertatum, and again Britain is in Europe too

Sweden is a kingdom, but since Viking age, Viking are used to elect their kings in public Things (assemblies). This consudetude ended in 14th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thing_(assembly)

Iceland Althing was the first real Parliament and Democratic Assembly in Europe, which included all freemen who were free to speech in public to decide for the nation, and this since year 999 AD.

Icelanders are so democratic people that they in the middle age even accepted Crhistian Religion by debating in the Althing if it was a good thing to acccept this new religion or not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Althing

In last Middle Age in Italy it arose the age of Comuni (commune in english) when free municipalities were ruled by commandants elected by the people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_city-states#Communes

Republic of San Marino in italian peninsula is the last comune republic still in life today.

It is the first and more ancient democratic republic in the world.

Its constitution (still valid today) is last from 1600 predating any other Constistution Chart worldwide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_marino

In Swiss, since 1500 people votes in public assembiles, where all citizens decide voting for laws by raising or lowering their swords, an ensable of the fact that all Swiss citizens are ready to defend their land against all enemies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsgemeinde  

Swiss is the only modern state to pratice the Direct Democracy as were used too native peoples of America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_in_Switzerland

In 1700 England (as the state in Great Britain) and then France created the modern philopsophy of Illuminism that then lead and inspired first American Revolution and then even France Revolution and the "Declaration of the Rights of Man".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Rights_of_Man

Speaking of facts, the democracy in United States was born with natural attitude of english people to kept their privileges as freemen and yeoman's, enriched with viking instituitions precedents, tempered with experience of american natives in pow-wow and public assemblies in which Chiefs of the indian nations were elected by the people of the tribe, and also aerican democracy got its laws, rules and precedents by using even rules, political terms, (and so on) from ancient Greece, and european modern age illuminism, that made part of the cultural inheritage of American Patriots.

So please NejinOniwa, first than saying that "either" Europe has not an history of democracy just has it had not Italy too, I think you must got some information first.

[IanDanKilmaster]

Can we please stick to the topic? ><

This is why it's good to avoid the topic of politics... if not for civility... for the sake of being on-topic.

There also appears to be a bit of misunderstanding...

Regardless, the discussion is off-topic and should really be steered more towards the proposed internet tax.

[Sora]

Hate to say this, but...
Microsoft might have the right idea. Just a bad way of going about it.

[xxwolfwoodxx1]

I would kill bill gates... that better never happen

[Sora]

Hey, this is the man who decided that software wouldn't be free.
Before him, pretty much, everyone thought that intangible software would be free: until Bill Gates built a monopoly around charging for software. But freeware did come along, so...

[Alex S]

Don't forget: Steve Ballmer is running the show now.  Gates is only a little bit more involved in MS now than Paul Allen is.

And as I mentioned before, this is the same company that suggested open-sourcing the .NET framework.

Therefore, I propose that Ballmer is bipolar, or something.

[Silentbob]

The guy suggesting that must have had a word with the Norwegian government. They put a tax on everything and then they put another tax on top again just to make sure...