The United State of America
My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now, and we don't know where the hell she is. -- Ellen DeGeneris
L. Neil Smith - Unanimous Consent and the Utopian Vision - an old but still good speech that L. Neil gave in 1987. Thanks to Daniel Weiner for the link on the smith-2004 discussion list.
Garry Reed, The Loose Cannon Libertarian - Freedom Riders - Mr. Reed proposes allowing the free market to create a public transportation system in Arlingon, Texas. All that's necessary is for government to get out of the way, and innovative ideas will grow like weeds.
That's right, banish the monopoly charters and the taxi medallions. Throw the streets open to entrepreneurs large and small. Anyone with a valid drivers license and a street-legal vehicle gets to play. Buses, shuttles, taxis, limos, jitneys, vans, wheeled trolleys. Even Rail Lite if some enterprising gambler wants to build it with private -- repeat, private -- funding. Nobody's entitled to city-guaranteed success. If a taxicab operator can't hack it (yes, that's a pun) he should park it.
J. Orlin Grabbe - DMT - ALTA - LESE - an overview and collection of links to details about The Digtal Monetary Trust, Asset Lodgement Trust Accounts, and Laissez Faire Electronic Stock Exchange. [grabbe]
Lee R. Shelton IV at OpinioNet - Reeducation in America: We're Way Beyond 1984 - a satirical view of the not-too-distant future in the United State of America. Mirrored with commentary at Free Republic and Sierra Times. [sierra]
"What happened to all the different shapes and colors that used to be on the map? I can't tell by looking at it where we live anymore."
"Very observant of you, Jimmy. As you can see, class, there are no longer borders dividing this country into states. Five years ago, Uncle Sam decided that it would be much easier to lead the nation without all those states to worry about. Too often Uncle Sam would decide to do things one way and there would always be one or two states that would want to do things another way. This proved to be very confusing for people so Congress, or the Caretakers as they prefer to be called, decided to just eliminate states altogether. That way, we can all be part of one, big, happy family known as the United State of America. After a few years of extensive research, Uncle Sam came up with a completely new map. Does that answer your question Jimmy?"
Bruce Schneier at Counterpane - Crypto-Gram Newsletter December 15, 2001 - An examination of the security of a mandatory national ID system and lots more.
The way to think about the security of this system is no different from any other security countermeasure. One, what problem are IDs trying to solve? Two, how can IDs fail in practice? Three, given the failure modes, how well do IDs solve the problem? Four, what are the costs associated with IDs? And five, given the effectiveness and costs, are IDs worth it?