Wiki Legislation Mark-Ups?

Now here's a great idea (via the Wikipedia Blog): Congress should start writing legislation with a Wiki model. Excerpt: These are really thought-provoking suggestions. I was particularly struck by Karl's suggestion of a version control system for Congress. They say you don't want to see either laws or sausages being made, but I think they are wrong. Imagine how much more transparency and accountability our government would have if it were possible to see what changes were made by whom, who inserted extraneous riders into various bills, and generally to track the influence of various interests by the new visibility into their actual control over the knobs and levers of government!

Congress Needs to Mind Own Beeswax About Google/Katrina

Apparently Google Earth is for some reason showing images of pre-Katrina New Orleans, even though they had shown Katrina images before. A guy I've never heard of but whom I already don't like named Brad Miller (he's the chairman of the House's Committee on Science and Technology's subcommittee on investigations and oversight) wants to know why they have done this. Excerpt: "Google's use of old imagery appears to be doing the victims of Hurricane Katrina a great injustice by airbrushing history," subcommittee chairman Brad Miller, D-North Carolina, wrote in a letter to [Google CEO Eric] Schmidt.

Airbrushing history?!? It's not like anyone is going to forget that Katrina happened. My brother was just down there a couple of weeks ago for this basketball thing and he said it was like a third-world country in parts of New Orleans. Let me be quite clear about this. Every single person in America who has enough cognitive functioning to tie their own shoes correctly knows that numerous parts of New Orleans were destroyed as a result of Katrina.

A few things to point out about Google Earth: It doesn't update daily, not by a long shot. There are pics of my house and workplace that are clearly out of date. Second (and more to the point) it's a private company! Not only that, but it's a private company that provides services unparalleled by its competitors, and those services are usually free! Nobody is being forced to use these images for anything, and it looks like the post-Katrina images are available on a paid version of Google Earth. I can't find a specific street or neighborhood mentioned as being problematic, so I'm not sure where to even start eyeballing to do my own research.

Here's something that just aggravates the shit out of me: Edith Holleman, staff counsel for the House subcommittee, said it would be useful to understand how Google acquires and manages its imagery because "people see Google and other Internet engines and it's almost like the official word."

You want to know how Google acquires and manages its imagery? Here's how Google acquires and manages its imagery: Go Fuck Yourselves, Nosy Congresspeople! That's how Google acquires and manages its imagery! Holleman's comments make about as much sense as wanting to subpoena Yahoo every time a piece of spam gets through its spamchecker. Google Earth is a free service from a private company! I am quite certain that market forces will fix whatever of this needs fixing, assuming some meddling Democrat doesn't start trying to micro-manage it. Google's value is in the public's perception of its self-correcting overall reliability and breadth, and it will be motivated naturally to keep that perception and confidence strong.

Google Earth Blog comments on this situation here.

Update, 4/1/07: OK, so I'm confused... Are we talking about Google Earth, or the Google Maps application that uses Google Earth images, or something else? Or is the AP writer confused? There is a certain lack of clarity in the article... AP excerpt: Google does provide imagery of New Orleans and the region following Katrina through its more specialized service called Google Earth.

Excellent Wikipedia Article on Use of Koran During House Swearing-In

There's a fantastically comprehensive series of Wikipedia articles on the recent controversy(ies) surrounding Congressman Keith Ellison taking his ceremonial oath (i.e., photo-op) on the Koran, Congressman Virgil Goode's letter to his constituents about why we need more immigration restrictions to avoid this happening in the future (even though Ellison was born and raised in the U.S. of A.), and commentator Dennis Prager's strong opinions on the matter.

My whole take on this? Virgil Goode is an asshole. (And I resent him all the more, because the other day at lunch we were watching the voting in of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker, and I told my lunchmates that as of that moment my blogposts would shift from being pejorative towards G.O.P. congressmen to being pejorative to the bleeding-heart pinkos on the other side of the aisle. But, I just couldn't help myself...)

See, if I have an issue with any of this, it's that they use religious symbols at all. Give them all a framed copy of the Constitution to use for their swearing in, and then make them memorize it so that they don't try and pass a bunch of nonsense into law. Prager and others have said that using the Bible is important because of its symbolism in the context of the Judeo-Christian tradition in America. (This nugget of social conservatism seems like it should be tremendously insulting to those who place their faith in biblical teachings, especially considering that the New Testament itself prohibits oath-taking. Another way of stating this position of certain social conservatives is to say that the unique divinity of Jesus Christ is not the most important aspect of the Bible, but the fact that holding it shows you are on the same ball team as the rest of America is.)

However, assuming the religious texts are still going to be used, let 'em use what they want. Prager asked if a white supremicist got elected, would we permit him to use Mein Kampf as a book on which to take an oath. Answer: YES! If somebody ends up getting elected who thinks Mein Kampf is appropriate for such a ceremony, don't we want to know that that person thinks that way?

But in any event, the xenophobic conformism Prager and Goode displayed really pisses me off.

Ellison used the Koran once owned by Goode's fellow Virginian, Thomas Jefferson. (Jeffersonian quotes on freedom of religion here.) I think it'd be fucking hysterical if two years from now, Goode got re-elected and decided to show off by using Jefferson's Bible.