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Mike Gravel on TechnologyLibertarian for President; Former Democratic Senator (AK) |
The film that was flown in from Vietnamese jungles had shown the horrors of battle and suffering Americans. It had roused Americans. Militarists and their media allies had learned; there would be no more of that.
CNN obliged, with music & graphics to match each stage of the conflict. The “war news” amounted to advertisements for weapons systems, especially Raytheon’s Patriot missiles.
There was no end to Patriot missile cheerleading, but long after the war the record showed the Patriots had been ineffective. It didn’t matter. Bush visited Raytheon headquarters to address its employees in a victory speech. Can you imagine a victory speech in an armaments factory? They knew no shame. Raytheon’s stock soared. Those who knew cashed out in time.
[Incumbents] assess what the Internet offers for the delivery of government information. Much greater benefits however lie in moving the processing of the interface between citizens and government onto the Internet. My recent online driver’s license renewal with the Virginia DMV was unexpectedly convenient and efficient. With little attention or effort, filing of income taxes online is on the rise. Clearly intra-governmental operations are increasingly going online. It makes sense that the entire government-citizen interface and interaction should begin to be vectored toward Internet facilitation, digital divide aside, which will shortly be marginalized.
Congress has no scientists at its own command and is, therefore, at a disadvantage whenever it attempts to question the administration’s scientific advice. Congressional committees do hear testimony from so-called “scientific witnesses,” but often these experts’ “private” scientific research is funded by government grants administered by executive agencies. Obviously, these scientists do not fail to notice which side their bread is buttered on.