Wednesday, May 11, 2005

For those that wondered if it were merely a coincidence that every time Bush fell in the polls the Homeland Security status changed, here is an interesting interview: Ridge reveals clashes on alerts. The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief ... [USATODAY.com News - Top Stories] 5:51:48 AM

	Thursday, April 14, 2005

A word to al those budding Republican wannabe Congress people -- you can't behave like its DC until you get there. Ethics Panel Reprimands Fla. State Senator. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- A legislator serving on the state Senate's ethics committee was formally reprimanded Thursday for soliciting money from lobbyists to help pay for an overseas trip for her and a friend.... [AP Top Political News At 11:50 a.m. EDT] 6:32:09 PM

	Saturday, March 19, 2005

Cadenhead presents food for thought this Saturday AM... John Scalzi believes that the real dividing line in this polarized country is not liberal vs. conservative, but rational vs. irrational: I'm far more comfortable with some conservatives than I am with some liberals, even though my own positions tend more liberal than not. I'm rather more comfortable dealing with someone whose politics I disagree with, but I can see how they got to where they are, than someone who politics are in line with mine but who appear to have arrived at those politics without an intermediary step of, you know, thinking about those politics. [Workbench] Can you imagine the vitrol that would be created if some enterprising folk(s) started categorizing pundits, politicos, hacks (the political kind -- a term which predates the Internet), and the politically religious (or is it religiously political?), among others.  Scary thought -- this reminds me of some of the history lessons concerning the extremism found in Europe from the early 1800's til the end of Communism (with Nazism probably being the peak).  Large masses of the philosophically ungrounded following extreme, irrational thought leaders hoping to be delivered to a heaven on earth... Hmm... 7:05:20 AM

	Saturday, August 02, 2003

More e-voting. Gillmor is sure fired up -- can't tell if its ignorance or bona fide fear. A Vote for Safer E-Machine Voting. Slate: Hack the Vote - How to stop someone from stealing the 2004 election. The only sure check against an... [Dan Gillmor's eJournal] 8:56:47 AM

	Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Interactive Budgeting... Maine has an interesting tool encouraging citizens to provide their ideas on balancing the budget.  Article found in Federal Computer Week. 12:31:49 PM

	Saturday, March 08, 2003

Jeffersonian Internet? Doc Searls' latest post pulls this from the past... From the mailbag... A 1995 letter from Al Gore calling for a versatile, general purpose infastructure with a "Jeffersonian" architecture that allows individuals to be producers as well as consumers of information, that enables "many to many" communication, and that provides a "general purpose" infrastructure capable of supporting a wide range of services, rather than one that is capable of providing one-way video delivery but not a broader range of services Right arm, Al. Funny, had a conversation with a middle school teacher in a local bar on Jeffersonian Democracy (no, kidding, at 1:00 am -- on a Friday night).  We concluded, until voters educate themselves, that concept won't become reality.  But, the tools (e.g. blogging) are definitely here to support the concept.   12:00:48 PM

	Thursday, March 06, 2003

Impact! NY Times: Online News Shakes Up Korean Politics. "Only 20 percent of the paper each day is written by staff journalists. So far, a computer check shows, there have been more than 10,000 other bylines." [Scripting News] Heh, de Toqueville would be impressed.  This guy blows away the established media and probably had a great affect on electing the South Korean president.  Course, wouldn't happen unless folks paid attention to what he and the 10,000 other authors were saying.    9:04:18 AM

A Tech Extension Agent could help... Congress has created a cybersecurity committee...  This quote shows we need a lot more coordination across all fronts on this issue: Robert Holleyman, president and CEO of the BSA, noted that a July 2002, poll by his group of technology professionals shows a belief that the U.S. has made little progress in the previous year toward closing the gap between the risk of a major cyberattack and the nation's ability to respond. Sixty-eight percent of those responding to that poll said they believe that gap hasn't shrunk since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. "It is very encouraging that this newly created panel of lawmakers is dedicated to helping develop the tools we need to close the gap between the threats to our country's critical networks and our power to defend against them," Holleyman said in a statement. US House adds cybersecurity subcommittee [InfoWorld: Top News] 7:14:50 AM

What we really need is a Technology Extension Service -- for us. The White House wants to send folks to Senegal to help with technology.  I am not denying their need, but there are so many US taxpayers and small businesses that need assistance with access, security, and process change (an important component to realizing the net benefits of technology) that I think our efforts should first be focused at home. Why can't we support an extension service that helps folks with tech issues -- just like the cooperative extension agents helped farmers in the middle of the last century? White House launches technological Peace Corps [InfoWorld: Top News] 7:12:46 AM

The myth of technology We have a state version of CIPA making its way through the legislative process.  It is identical to the federal bill and did not make the cut last year.  One of the problems is that the proponents believe that filters do just as advertised.  And, when you ask them if they would approved tax dollars buying software that only works 75-80% of the time, they respond by claiming protecting children deserves some effort.  Course, they don't have a good answer when you point out that the parents complaining of seeing porn sites (and the definition of porn ranges from victoria secret ads to the real stuff) are parents who go to libraries with filter (see, they don't work).  Funny, when you try to get funding for a sound info tech project -- they all say the stuff never works as advertised so why fund it.  Sides Debate Web Access in Libraries. WASHINGTON, March 5 Two visions of the Internet competed today at the Supreme Court in an argument on whether the government can require public libraries to install antipornography filters as the price for receiving federal financing for Internet access. By Linda Greenhouse. [New York Times: Politics] 7:09:09 AM