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Politics
BuSab
An SI Board Since February 2009
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Emcee:  Jorj X Mckie Type:  Moderated


From Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org

The Bureau of Sabotage is a fictional government entity set in two of Frank Herbert's science fiction novels, Whipping Star and The Dosadi Experiment, and first introduced in his 1964 short story "The Tactful Saboteur". It is colloquially known as BuSab. Jorj X. McKie, the protagonist of all the works listed below, is a saboteur extraordinary first appeared in the story "A Matter of Traces" in 1958

Background
In Herbert's fiction, sometime in the far future, government becomes terrifyingly efficient. Red tape no longer exists: laws are conceived of, passed, funded, and executed within hours, rather than months. The bureaucratic machinery becomes a juggernaut, rolling over human concerns and welfare with terrible speed, jerking the universe of sentients one way, then another, threatening to destroy everything in a fit of spastic reactions. In short, the speed of government goes beyond sentient control (in this fictional universe, many alien species co-exist, with a common definition of sentience marking their status as equals).

History
Founded by the mysterious "Five Ears" of unknown species, BuSab began as a terrorist organization whose sole purpose was to frustrate the workings of government in order to give sentients a chance to reflect upon changes and deal with them. Having saved sentiency from its government, BuSab was officially recognized as a necessary check on the power of government. It provides a natural (and lucrative) outlet for society's regular crop of troublemakers, who must be countered by society's regular crop of "do-gooders".

First a corps, then a bureau, BuSab gained legally recognized powers to interfere in the workings of any world, of any species, of any government or corporation, answerable only to themselves. Their motto is, "In Lieu of Red Tape."

Limitations
Forbidden from committing acts of sabotage against private citizens, BuSab acts as a monitor of, and a conscience for, the collective sentiency, watching for signs of anti-sentient behaviour by corporate or government entities and preserving the dignity of individuals. Some essential functions of government are immune from BuSab by statute. BuSab is opposed by such organizations as the "Tax Watchers" who have successfully lobbied to grant themselves the same immunity from BuSab enjoyed by agencies such as public utilities.

BuSab monitors even itself and employs sabotage to prevent the agency from slipping into hidebound stasis. Agents are promoted to the head of the organization by successfully sabotaging the Secretary. By the same token, there is no term limit imposed on the Secretary of the Bureau of Sabotage. As long as he is alert enough to avoid being sabotaged, he remains qualified to lead BuSab.
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I can see a place for an organization like BuSab.

I will be talking about trading, investing, analysis, politics and any other general bullshit that interests me at the moment.
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23934Did California Just Kill the Gig Economy? The gig economy was never meant to be TimF-9/11/2019
23933Time to get out of California? foxnews.com California’s uncanny “earthquake paAlan Smithee17/9/2019
23932You are correctPogeu Mahone-7/7/2019
23931That kind of sticks in my mind as well.Carolyn-6/17/2019
23930Not really positive, but believe I recall tales of bad behavior, maybe running Joe Btfsplk16/17/2019
23929Whatever happened to Tastes Like Chicken? Didn't he have a column on SI yearCarolyn-6/16/2019
23928Millennial dads have pathetic DIY skills I have a (ex) SIL who can do almost aJoe Btfsplk-6/7/2019
23927Millennial dads have pathetic DIY skills compared to baby boomers Are dads’ essAlan Smithee-6/7/2019
23926Best therapy for you?SmoothSail-3/27/2019
23925I paid a visit to my counselor today. [graphic]Alan Smithee23/27/2019
23924LOL! Love it. Post it to Kumar.Carolyn-3/25/2019
23923facebook.com Best Indian announcer ever.SmoothSail23/25/2019
23922What happens in LA after all the rain. [graphic][graphic][graphic]SmoothSail13/19/2019
23921Interesting.SmoothSail-3/15/2019
23920Didn't know until this week that pi day is the day Hawking died and EinsteinStan-3/15/2019
23919Where are all the nerds to remind us that It’s pi day?SmoothSail-3/15/2019
23918I get periodic mailings from Neptune Society, which I promptly transfer to the cAlan Smithee-3/6/2019
23917“Free Lunch and Informational Seminar on the Benefits of Preplanning Your CremaJoe Btfsplk13/6/2019
23916Well, thank goodness I’m not going to be turning 70 anytime soon.SmoothSail-3/5/2019
23915‘Old’ the Phone, Another Scammer Is Calling As soon as I turned 70, offerAlan Smithee23/5/2019
23914Can you even imagine the logistics involved in getting all the equipment, luggagSmoothSail-2/28/2019
23913[graphic]SmoothSail12/28/2019
23912They're having the same problem along Lake Erie. They're calling it &quoNeeka-2/25/2019
23911Annual precipitation in Nome is very light. Ferocious zephyrs tear ice particlesJoe Btfsplk-2/24/2019
23910The feeling of being buried alive must have produced a lot of cases of claustropStan-2/24/2019
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