Technorati Profile

Considering this election year and that events always transpire, Information will soon again have its expiration date. Although always present, it looses impact if stored. Immediately after discovery, it looses purpose if not applied. Managed correctly, it has a lasting effect. Seemingly, according to recent legislative acts, information is also best if stored in a very cool, very remote place. Singularly, information is an all-motivating agent in life leading people into marriages and towards divorces, carefully providing contrust to our decisions. On contact information can destroy a career or guarantee its longevity. It is employed in commerce just as perceptively as in the dismantling of civil liberties. Used sagely, it can create profound awareness and understanding.

However, if woven into threads, it can belie the simplicity of life through staggering complexities and detrimental speculation. For instance, a small disk created by having punched a hole through paper, the understanding of "chad", would have gone no further than its appearance as either round or square. Today, however, the word "chad" harks of scandal while also vouching for the heartbreaking humanitarian crisis in Africa.

It begs the question, had "chad" been evading its footnote in life, providing confetti for happiness or was it waiting for its moment in history to punch a hole eight-years wide.

In 2000, legislators began assembling task forces investigating the potential of online voter registration and ballot casting. They addressed and have been addressing motivation, interest, talent, and the potential for informing our country. In the years that have transpired, events, changes, calamities, and discoveries have produced links upon hyperlinks, filling servers and creating indices for a net worth beyond estimate.

Although roughly three-quarters of the U.S. population has access, a propos relevance, pertinent information is woefully beyond reach. Googling "mustard " or "mustard recipe", for instance provides example of how incumbent tax is on retrieving pertinent information. 176,000 to 17,700,000 pages appearing from such a query, you would have to refine your parameters numerous times. Those concerning WMD's, Iraq, and interior design color palettes along with their metadata, would have to be reviewed and discard in order to find the perfect recipe (to save time, one recipe is provided below). Just as discouragingly, querying "Crimes in my neighborhood" would render 11,7000 pages of which, were you living in the El Sereno, a suburb of Los Angeles, California, none would apply. Similar search engines scenarios illustrate the limitations of reviewing vast volumes of information and the impediments of turning to it for education.

Considering there are groups and enterprises developing universal knowledge-bases, cataloging social, economic, and political resources, it goes without saying empowerment-through-education is upon us, irrespective of access. Approaching internet development via a relevance approach we would have to consider this purpose and the true value of data in our lives. In one sense, similar to "offline" social networks and grass-roots organizations, projecting and channeling interests and perspectives, the web could provide greater effect and resources in our lives by revaluing information for "use" rather than "consumption".

However, legislative act, though having provided higher bandwidths, exposure, greater security, and parental controls, continue along a commercially-driven agenda. A recent proposition in California to tax access and activity clearly exemplifies the degree to which information is misunderstood. Were we to be directly supported by the wealth of information available on the web, we would be better prepared, legislators better chosen, and grey areas of lobbying reduced for a more accountable federal government - reducing its propensity to abscond behind national security loopholes and halting its extinction of an informed democracy.

The benefits to foreign and domestic policy are clear. Turning to the internet to address polarizing topics such as Obscenity, Religion, Individual Rights, World Economy, Censorship, Human Rights, Civil accountability, Healthcare and National Identity would include a greater number of people in the debate, an understanding from which a more inclusive solution would result, particularly as we encroach upon the concept of sovereignty and self-determination.

Furthermore, to provide security of our children with their wonderfully curious minds we must demand their exposure to, guidance through and command of a world-wide web. It would ensure autonomous perspectives and understandings of "The World Entier". It is essential that lawmakers enact policies leading to the calibration of one of our country's resources, intellect, with the demands of the world. This would retain our role as a leader providing assurance, security, and freedom with more in its arsenal than we've shown thus far. Our efforts must drive, mold, and generate an informed culture consistent with our society's history of preparedness and accountability.

Good decisions are made once consideration is given access to information. Without the resources to provide and engage into thoughtful debates we will have fallen short of utilizing an awesome tool in the decision making process. One task force stated to the contrary by closing, "At this time, it would not be legally practical or fiscally feasible to develop a comprehensive remote Internet voting system that would completely replace the current paper process used for voter registration...", circumventing and neglecting to find reason for the entire process which leads us to vote in the first place.

Honey Dijon Salad Dressing
1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
4 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons white-wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper