Dubya evidently doesn’t think being a black-clad gunslinger here on Earth is enough, judging by a couple of juicy quotes lifted from the administration’s still partially-classified space policy docment. Consistent with this policy, the United States will: preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space; dissuade or deter others from either impeding those…
Author: marc
Marc is a software developer, writer, and part-time political know-it-all who currently resides in Texas in the good ol' U.S.A.
Dave Winer, Geek Equivalent of Babs Streisand?
I’ve been reading Scripting News for a good while now because Dave Winer, best known as an evangelist for RSS, is a techno-dilletante extraordinaire and seems to be leading the life every geek (like me) longs for. But that’s not what’s interesting at the moment; DW’s recent political coming out is. Witness this piece, this…
Gay Republicans: To Purge or Not to Purge
The answer clearly is the former. Republicans have, at incredible volume, trumpeted themselves as the defenders of American family values and the champions of the Christian plurality for so long that their betrayal absolutely reeks of the worst kind of hypocracy. Six months ago the idea of voting for a Democrat wouldn’t have entered my…
Congress and Its Dirty Tricks
Declan McCullagh agrees with me that Congress is screwing us by lumping unrelated spending measures and regulations together with other bills. Specifically, McCullah lists the following tech-related measures that may come home to roost soon if Congress isn’t stopped: The Real ID Act, which creates a national ID card starting in 2008, was glommed on…
News from Iraq
The U.S Army is planning to maintain present troop levels for at least 3-4 more years. To me this indicates that they have little confidence in the Iraqis being able to take care of themselves in that timeframe. It also means that the Army is going to have to convince a new batch of recruits…
Illegal Immigration, V
In previous posts I’ve discussed the illegal immigration situation and offered a couple of directed suggestions that might help to reduce the problem. But it’s fair to say that cutting off access to medical facilities and schools won’t solve the problem completely; only a comprehensive strategy can do that. However, as the folks in A.A….
England’s Veil Debate
There’s an interesting row going on in England about Muslim women’s head scarves and their effect on cross-cultural relations. I don’t know beans about Mr. Straw, but I think it’s great for a pol to actually say something bold that he believes in. Can you imagine a U.S. congressman with a voter base that’s 30%…
Robert X. Cringely Rant
Robert X. Cringely tells it like it is re Congress’ recent stupid action. But there have been so many lately! From the essay: Last Saturday the United States Congress passed a port security bill that carried an amendment banning Internet gambling. This was a huge mistake, not because Internet gambling is a good thing (it…
Brazilian Air Crash
Was the crash caused by too much precision? Phil Greenspun seems to think so. It’s an interesting point. What do you think?
Dead Zone
The Internet is the most amazing tool of our time – or any time – for spreading information around. But when it comes to person-to-person relationships it’s an emotional dead zone. The first wired generation is beginning to realize that, while others have known it for some time. Why blog, then? Not to connect emotionally,…