wrote: Do any of these neo-conservative 'thinkers' have a practical, objective grasp of reality? I'm seriously starting to wonder.

They do not. Why would someone assemble this bag of nuts? Who gains?

wrote: that should tell you all you need to know

Not really. McCain has abandoned most of his "beliefs" in order to run for president. But he has not abandoned this foreign policy, something maybe 25% of the people support. Why collect the bag of nuts during the primaries and campaign? There is plenty of time for that after winning the election. Clearly someone is sending a message, even at the risk of handing Obama a target.

I agree completely with the researcher. Getting access to information is hundreds of times faster, and much more is available. There is no "middle of nowhere" anymore as far as obtaining information. On a field trip to Antarctica or Svalbard? No problem, keep on researching for that other paper in your spare time.

There is another aspect to this. Knowledge is more than a collection of facts; it is also the concepts in the minds of the users. Without these concepts, it is useless. Planck's constant means nothing to nearly everyone in the world; very few have constructed the necessary mental framework. Yet it is an essential part of understanding the most significant advance in physics. A knowledge data base must support and encourage the development of concepts. Although a formal education may be essential, education really works best when the individual take over. The internet enables this far better than any other data base.

wrote: Wiki is great for that. But anything related to culture, history, politics, religion or social issues is generally hype and agendized agitprop bullshit.

Much information on those topics is hype from any data base. I do not know what aab is, but it sounds like hype.

has has brought a small increase in the heat on the GOP. But it will take a huge rise in temperature tonight to satisfy me. I do not think it is going to happen.

wrote: You'll notice there's no mention here Laura Miller's synopsis of the printing press.

A book about knowledge that does not emphasize the role of the printing press in creating distributed storage is surely flawed. Your argument uses this weakness as if it were a strength. Wikipedia alone is a revolution (distributed input). How many would have predicted it would work as well as it does? (At least one denies that it does work.)

You must realize that the truth would mean that the speakers would have to talk about their own party's complicity in everything they are critiquing.

But I would be too ashamed to say in public "John McCain has been my friend for...."

It is unnecessary to do so, and it shows that there is a lot more going on than just complicity. Asserting your friendship shows you are part of the Washington establishment. No matter how much you might disapprove of what Bush and McCain stand for, it is still important to point out the importance of the great ruling class.

I like all those graphic designs and color schemes. Change them often; best way to make sitting in an airport interesting.

Glenn, have you attempted to get Obama or his campaign to comment on this? One should at least give him the opportunity to get on the right side of this issue. I have my doubts, based on his FISA vote, but heh, everyone deserves a chance.

You approve of all the illegal things the republican administration has done, but you disapprove of intent to protest these things, all legal so far? How do you justify your position? Hell, how do you sleep at night?

Let's go all the way to an extreme police state before we apply the term. I do not think that would help get people's attention. The "police" are being used to suppress public statement of opinion. That is enough for me.

I read what you wrote the first time; no need to repeat it. Did you bother to understand what I wrote? Said another way: The definition of police state in the US has always been "not what we do here, but what they do over there." It is time to turn that around. We are supposed to be the bastion of freedom and liberty. I would hope our local definition of police state would include more than just the extremes you have lived under.

Who are you to tell me how to define the term? You sound like one of those authoritarian types; is that what you intend?

I am in a bad mood, too. True, our police state looks a little more evolved to me than to you. Heh, we are Americans; we think we are better than everyone else. So we must have the best goddamned police state in the world. None of this dragging folks down the cellar stairs and shooting them in the back of the head. We can achieve so much more with a little modern IT combined with good'ol police-led instigation.

The only bucket of urine I have heard about was somebody's chamber pot. Do you have any evidence to the contrary? And if it is fraudulently displayed as evidence , what makes you think the slingshot is significant? Slingshots are legal, right? Last I checked, guns are legal, and they are a lot more dangerous. But if they found any guns, we would not know about it; we cannot imply that guns are dangerous; that would be unamerican.

do you really think it is OK for the police to bust down your door and arrest you and your chamber pot because they heard you might be going to demonstrate without a permit? Do you really mean that?