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I have a rather cynical friend who has always maintained, as far back as I have known him, that the purpose of a public education system is not to prepare the next generation of citizens by teaching them how to think, but to prepare them by teaching them to sit down, be quiet, observe the rules, be on time, and above all...never ever engage in anything that could be suspected of resembling critical thinking.
I'm beginning to think my friend is not so cynical, after all.
Because what surprises me is not that someone like Al Gore would get up on his hind legs and claim that he supports "smaller government," but that virtually nobody among the vast educated class of "the media" has the mental wherewithal to challenge such a statement.
Gore has taken credit for having reduced the number of people on the federal payroll by 300,000 during the Clinton administration. (Applause.) However, nobody seems to notice that the military has lost about 250,000 members, which raises questions about how well defended the country is right now, but I digress...
According to a note I read from the Libertarian Party, "Gore's claim that he reduced the federal workforce is only true if you count just salaried employees -- and ignore contract workers, people employed by federal grants, and state and local government employees fulfilling federal mandates."
Segue.
A news item this morning says that divers have recovered a letter from a body aboard the Russian submarine Kursk. Apparently, the letter indicates that at least 23 crew members survived for some time after the catastrophe, and the writer - a lieutenant - noted in his letter that he was "writing blind." One wonders whether it could have been possible to save anyone, even if a rescue had been mounted immediately?
Segue.
According to a story on MSNBC, the European Union seems intent on criminalizing all forms of "hacking," including security research (e.g., running a port scanner on your own machine, or perhaps even just owning the port scanning software), and would require more detailed record-keeping by service providers. The story notes that the U.S. contributed to the development of the language in the draft treaty - which could be signed as early as December, if memory serves - and one can only guess that the purpose for Uncle Sam's having done so is to make it easier to try to put restrictions in place in the U.S. so as to conform to "the rest of the world."
The proposed language would, if I understand the story correctly, make posting vulnerability information (such as what is posted to the BugTraq list) illegal, which would amount to a government-mandated implementation of "security by (attempted) obscurity," which then raises all sorts of nasty images in the mind of the truly paranoid privacy-and-free-speech advocate.
Probably enough for a good science fiction novel or three.
Segue.
Time to sign off and get myself ready for departure.
Cheers...
I'm beginning to think my friend is not so cynical, after all.
Because what surprises me is not that someone like Al Gore would get up on his hind legs and claim that he supports "smaller government," but that virtually nobody among the vast educated class of "the media" has the mental wherewithal to challenge such a statement.
Gore has taken credit for having reduced the number of people on the federal payroll by 300,000 during the Clinton administration. (Applause.) However, nobody seems to notice that the military has lost about 250,000 members, which raises questions about how well defended the country is right now, but I digress...
According to a note I read from the Libertarian Party, "Gore's claim that he reduced the federal workforce is only true if you count just salaried employees -- and ignore contract workers, people employed by federal grants, and state and local government employees fulfilling federal mandates."
Segue.
A news item this morning says that divers have recovered a letter from a body aboard the Russian submarine Kursk. Apparently, the letter indicates that at least 23 crew members survived for some time after the catastrophe, and the writer - a lieutenant - noted in his letter that he was "writing blind." One wonders whether it could have been possible to save anyone, even if a rescue had been mounted immediately?
Segue.
According to a story on MSNBC, the European Union seems intent on criminalizing all forms of "hacking," including security research (e.g., running a port scanner on your own machine, or perhaps even just owning the port scanning software), and would require more detailed record-keeping by service providers. The story notes that the U.S. contributed to the development of the language in the draft treaty - which could be signed as early as December, if memory serves - and one can only guess that the purpose for Uncle Sam's having done so is to make it easier to try to put restrictions in place in the U.S. so as to conform to "the rest of the world."
The proposed language would, if I understand the story correctly, make posting vulnerability information (such as what is posted to the BugTraq list) illegal, which would amount to a government-mandated implementation of "security by (attempted) obscurity," which then raises all sorts of nasty images in the mind of the truly paranoid privacy-and-free-speech advocate.
Probably enough for a good science fiction novel or three.
Segue.
Time to sign off and get myself ready for departure.
Cheers...
