Check out the picture at the top left. This guy is an independent who managed to get elected despite being opposed by both liberal and conservative media in the country. He is very much a product of the internet. He is a Howard Dean who made it. The traditional sources of power in South Korea are nailing this guys ass to the wall because he is an outsider. Of course, he is not without fault. He would have avoided impeachment if he had agreed to apologize over some technical elections issue. He refuse to do so, and so they booted him. Of course, its entirely possible that the call for an apology was literally an attempt to put him in a catch 22 situation where if he agreed to apologize he would be admitting wrongdoing and would be subsequently impeached anyway.

All in all, you can chalk this up next to Dean's implosion as a failure of the new media to challenge the present world order.

President of South Korea impeached

] And let's end the illusion right now that adult voters
] make their decisions based on careful study of the
] candidates and their issues. We all know that's bullshit.
] To pretend that teenagers would vote for the first
] politician who promises to outlaw homework ignores the
] fact that their parents are probably dumb enough to vote
] for a politician who promised to shorten commercial
] breaks and make super-sizing free.

I happen to think that this is a good idea. I find the notion of half and quarter votes a little remeniscient of slavery, but the fact is that half a vote is better then none, and that the political systems, notably local governments, routinely use teenagers as a political pinatta without any consideration of their interests whatsoever. Curfews, loitering laws, unreasonable catch-22 situations where those who comply with a court summons are considered truants, school uniforms, laws against skateboarding, parties, and other recreation, laws which upgrade minors to adult courts arbitrarily, unfair/unequal treatment in traffic courts, school systems which appropriate funds in ways that are most visible to local adults rather then most effective in the school, random search and seizure on school property, metal detectors, phsycological evaluations, surveillance technology... In fact, I don't think I've ever heard of a peice of legislation involving minors which seemed reasonable. I'm not kidding.

"They are easily deceived by political charlatans." So is 90% of the adult population. What planet are you people living on?

Proposal to extend vote to minors in California

] Bad Weather Closings for News 14 Carolina
] Raleigh, NC on Feb 27th, 2004
]
] This was a collaborate effort from the student run
] website (TheWolfWeb).
]
] It shows what happens when a bunch of bored shutin
] college kids find the ONLINE CLOSING SUBMISSION
] FORM. The submissions run from leet to current events
] with a couple thrown in that only State Fans would get.

l33t

Snotmonkey.com - News Closings

ryan is the supernicety wrote:

] This is about assessing risk and an unfortunate side effect of
] the ease of internet publishing. This really is no different
] than what the house insurance people do-- if you put in a
] claim on your homeowner's insurance, they pay it out and then
] cancel your coverage. When you try to get new coverage, you
] discover your name has been put on a list of people who make
] claims.

Or, if you bounce a check you get put in a system which makes it impossible for you to get a bank account. Or, in some cities (notably Vancouver), your ID is scanned when you enter a bar, and if you get kicked out you can't go to a bar again. It is a natural extension of credit reporting, and it is rapidly gaining ground as networking becomes less expensive.

There is a lot of thin logic parlayed about by the people who run these systems. They say that they simply collect data, and they are not responsible for how businesses use the data, or what data gets put into the system. Different businesses have different policies about gets put in, and what they do about it. (Typically in the case of checksystems branches will refuse you at outset but you can negotiate with the branch manager, so even companies don't have consistent policies.) Businesses frequently point you back to the database owner if you express a concern about the system. You are essentially left without recourse because no one will take responsibility for the content of the system.

You can see such diversion in this article. "We don't know anything about this system, but we're mad as hell about frivolous lawsuits." Clearly, the system encompases people who aren't involved in frivolous lawsuits, so what do frivolous lawsuits have to do with it?

I beleive that the government has an interest in regulating these systems, just as they regulate credit reporting databases. There should be clear rules about what sort of data can or must be reported, and on what basis. The data should have a clear meaning. A simple black list is not appropriate. What, When and Why. There should be rules allowing access to the data for those who are reported on. There should be a process for clearing ones name. There should be criminal penalities for inappropriate reporting. These rules will have to be broad enough to encompass any such database, as they are cropping up all over the place now.

This NYT article is a first step. I don't recall such coverage of checksystems. The website in question appears to be history. But this isn't going to get resolved until it becomes a public political issue in elections.

RE: In Texas, Hire a Lawyer, Forget About a Doctor?

An archive of (Mostly) English Television Station Test Cards.

The Test Card Gallery

] I travel a lot and one of my favorite destination lead
] through poisoned with radiation, so called Chernobyl
] "dead zone" It is 130kms from my home. Why favourite?
] because one can ride there for hours and not meet any
] single car and not to see any single soul. People left
] and nature is blooming, there are beautiful places,
] woods, lakes. There is no newly built roads, but those
] which left from 80th in fairly good condition

Ryan -- this is one of the coolest things I have seen in a while. It is a photoblog of a daughter of a nuclear engineer who tours around Chernobyl on her motorcycle.

Photoblogging Chernobyl

] [T]he entertainment industry's pursuit of tough new laws to
] protect copyrighted materials from online piracy is bad
] for business and for the economy, according to a report
] being released today by the Committee for Economic
] Development, a Washington policy group that has its roots
] in the business world.

[ Following on the heels of Greenspan's speech regarding the need to re-assess IP law in the context of an increasing ratio of the GDP being based upon non-physical product -- here's one such re-assessment. Or a little piece of an overall reassessment anyhow. It's nice to see some of the more venerable mainstream organizations picking up this argument... -k]

Report Raises Questions About Fighting Online Piracy

... and many more!

Happy Birthday Nanochick!

] The amendment that Ms. Musgrave and other lawmakers are
] backing in the House says: "Neither this Constitution or
] the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law,
] shall be construed to require that marital status or the
] legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried
] couples or groups." The White House spokesman, Scott
] McClellan, said just before the president's announcement
] that Mr. Bush believed the Musgrave measure "meets his
] principles."
]
] Mr. Bush said the amendment he envisioned "should fully
] protect marriage while leaving the state legislatures
] free to make their own choices in defining legal
] arrangements other than marriage."

If the law says that the legal incidents of marriage cannot be conferred upon unmarried couples, then how can this "leave the state legislatures free to make their own choices in defining legal arrangements other than marriage?" These two statements, presented right next to eachother by the NYT, seem mutually exclusive. Either Scott McClellan is out of line in his statement to the press, or Bush is lieing.

Congress Is Urged to Begin Process to Amend Constitution

] At this weekend's Indiana Pacers-Washington Wizards game,
] a woman's reaction to a man's marriage proposal stuns an
] expectant crowd.
]
] As he began to speak to the woman, she paused, grabbed
] her face in shock, and ran.

ooooooooooooooooooo

Woman Says 'I Don't!!!' At NBA Game