Fukuyama argues that the United States, like Japan and Germany, has been a high-trust society historically but that this status has eroded in recent years. This well-researched book provides a fresh, new perspective on how economic prosperity is grounded in social life.

OOH OOH I read this! :) I enjoyed it, for all the same reasons as the reviewer. I understand he continued this line of thought in The Great Disruption.

Trust: Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order

] Several months ago, my husband and I received two rebate
] checks simply for having children, all part of the Jobs
] and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, an
] economy-stimulating incentive. Congress approved this
] quickie tax cut so we'd all go out and buy Pottery Barn
] lamps and Gap boot-cut trousers and then presumably the
] economy, and we, would be saved. Instead, I cashed the
] checks, paid off some bills, and then tucked my dignity
] under my arm and went to file for food stamps.

We've all ready plenty of stories about how the economy sucks, but this article strikes a chord because the author has such a great command of imagery. I suggest you read it simply because of the clear picture that she is able to paint.

Falling down

] "Diebold"),

Daily Kos: Diebold feels the heat. Sends out attack lawyers

] Patriot Act II would give the government broad powers to
] seize documents and force testimony without a court
] order, expand use of the death penalty and make it harder
] to be released on bail. None of these tools are necessary
] to fight terrorism, and each threatens to infringe on the
] civil liberties of Americans.
]
] The most troubling part of the new plan is the call for
] expanding government access to private data, allowing
] federal agents to issue subpoenas for private medical,
] financial and other records, without a court order. The
] lack of judicial oversight removes an important check on
] government misconduct. Record holders would be required
] to comply, or face prison, and would be barred from
] telling anyone about the subpoena.

Patriot Act, Part II - Fucking Insane

] In the age of the leak and the blog, of evidence
] extraction and link discovery, truths will either out or
] be outed, later if not sooner. This is something I would
] bring to the attention of every diplomat, politician and
] corporate leader: the future, eventually, will find you
] out. The future, wielding unimaginable tools of
] transparency, will have its way with you. In the end, you
] will be seen to have done that which you did.

William Gibson on Orwell.

NY Times | The Road to Oceania

] Hatch on Tuesday surprised a Senate hearing on copyright
] issues with the suggestion that technology should be
] developed to remotely destroy the computers of people who
] illegally download music from the Net.

] The senator's site makes extensive use of a JavaScript
] menu system developed by Milonic Solutions, a software
] company based in the United Kingdom. The
] copyright-protected code has not been licensed for use on
] Hatch's website.
]
] "It's an unlicensed copy," said Andy Woolley, who runs
] Milonic. "It's very unfortunate for him because of those
] comments he made."

] A spokesman in Hatch's office responded, "That's ironic"
] before declining to put Wired News in contact with the
] site's webmaster. He deferred comment on the senator's
] statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which did
] not return calls.

Wired News: Orrin Hatch: Software Pirate?

E2 wrote:
] Right on Rattle, I think this might be a hint at something:
]
] ] ] And creeps gossiping about celebrities in
] ] ] the crudest of ways.
]
] Perhaps ol' billy dosn't like people talking when he can't
] interrupt them/change the subject/commercial break/ etc.

The man is a master of crafting a skewed argument.. Take this snippit for a few examples:

] In truth, The Chronicle's story [is] small stuff compared
] to other Internet sins. The child molestation people have
] now figured out a way to chat about their crimes without
] being charged with obscenity. And the Supreme Court
] actually helped these people by ruling that virtual child
] porn, computerized images of kids being raped, are legal,
] an extension of free speech.

First off, The Chronicle is the newspaper with the largest readership in Northern California.. Yet, this article is an attack on the Internet. This is clearly because the damage to Bill did not come from the Chronicle article, but rather the discussion about the Chronicle article on the net. "So which is the bigger threat to America? The big companies or the criminals at the computer? Interesting question." Indeed. Discussion can be dangerous. But in the context of that quote, I think its Bill's America that is threatened, not mine. Anyway, onward.

Next, he ties in child molesters, and later in the article, NAMBLA. Everyone hates child molesters. He makes it related, not because its particulary relevant, but because it creates an emotion reaction in the reader/listner/watcher which brings them closer to O'Reilly.

And then with the virtual child pron thing, he again breezes over any free speech implications. The Supreme Cout did not help child pornographers, they protected free speech. That court case would have been a very dangerous precident. Bill is an educated man, he likely sees this. But he also sees his large soccer-mom viewership, and in order to keep them glued to the TV, he needs that emotional reaction. Its in his best interest to be closer to that viewership then to the truth. He wants angry people behind him. If you watch his show enough, it becomes very clear that he panders to his viewship, while keeping them angry at all times about some topic where he can easily keep up the appearence of having the moral high ground. It appears to be his "forumla"..

This all supports the assumption that the root of the problem is an issue with control of the discussion forum. You see, its easy to air feedback when you can pick and choose. You get to narrow it down to the dominate viewpoints, and pick the ones that are small enough to read in 10 seconds and display on the TV.. You can keep it simple, and never address any of the hard parts of the topic.. You can keep it emotional. You can put the comments in an order where they address each other in a way that supports your views. Its funny.. Somehow, the comments that oppose Bill's views always seem to be badly written, and easy to confront. It seems to be Bill's style to pick at least one every day that says "You will never air this".. He likes to appear to be an open forum, yet he spews un-American dribble like this, and manages to do it in a creative enough mannor to get his audience to buy it lock, stock, and barrel..

I say again, this man is really dangerous.

RE: FOXNews.com | Bill O'Reilly still an idiot

] The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee
] said Tuesday he favors developing new
] technology to remotely destroy the computers of people
] who illegally download music from the Internet.

] "I'm interested," Hatch interrupted. He said damaging
] someone's computer "may be the only way you can teach
] somebody about copyrights."

] Kerr predicted it was "extremely unlikely" for Congress
] to approve a hacking exemption for copyright owners,
] partly because of risks of collateral damage when
] innocent users might be wrongly targeted.
]
] "It wouldn't work," Kerr said. "There's no way of
] limiting the damage."

Not too worried about this.. I can't see this happening. Not only for technical reasons, but straight out legal ones. The court system exists to mediate disputes between parties. Aggrieved parties are not allowed to take actions into their own hands, their only option is to take their dispute into the court system. If they do not, they are commiting a crime themselves. Its the basis of our legal system's existance. If congress passes a law allowing our media masters to destroy our computers, it would be admitting failure of the legal system to tackle these problems and set an extrememly dangerous precident. Granted, it is pretty shocking that this has been suggested as an option at all, by someone who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee.

And then there is the whole collateral damage angle. It dose not have the signifigance of the above, but it will likely be the reason this idea gets aborted before it grows arms. It would give consumers what they need to bring the dispute back into the legal system, only with the upper hand and the ability to address the above in the courts, which the courts would most defintally agree with.

I'm not a lawyer, so my understanding of how the law works in this situation may be completely flawed.. But I am pretty sure that this is not something to worry about much.

Yahoo! News - Hatch Takes Aim at Illegal Downloading

] CAPPS II testing has ceased pending the implementation of
] a privacy policy, according to officials at the highest
] levels of the Department of Homeland Security. They've
] even stopped all internal testing of the system until
] changes are made to the Federal Register that tell us,
] the American people, what they're doing and how it will
] impact our constitutional rights and freedoms.

CAPPS II Shutdown pending privacy overhaul

] The reason these net people get away with all kinds of
] stuff is that they work for no one. They put stuff up
] with no restraints. This, of course, is dangerous, but
] it symbolizes what the Internet is becoming.

Becoming?

] The Internet has become a sewer of slander and libel,
] an unpatrolled polluted waterway, where just about
] anything goes. For example, the guy who raped and
] murdered a 10-year old in Massachusetts says he got
] the idea from the NAMBLA Web site that he accessed from
] the Boston public library. The ACLU's defending NAMBLA
] in that civil lawsuit.

Focus on what you will..

] So which is the bigger threat to America? The big
] companies or the criminals at the computer?
] Interesting question.

Just in case you didn't think O'Reilly was an idiot..

FOXNews.com | O'Really??