Did you enjoy The Man in the Irony Mask?

Stephen Colbert's new book (which ships tomorrow) earns a starred review from Publishers Weekly:

Realizing that it takes more than thirty minutes a night to fix everything that's destroying America, Colbert bravely takes on the forces aligned to destroy our country—whether they be terrorists, environmentalists, or Kashi brand breakfast cereals. His various targets include nature (I've never trusted the sea. What's it hiding under there?), the Hollywood Blacklist (I would have named enough names to fill the Moscow phone book), and atheists (Imagine going through life completely duped into thinking that there's no invisible, omniscient higher power guiding every action on Earth. It's just so arbitrary!). Colbert also provides helpful illustrations and charts (Things That Are Trying to Turn Me Gay), a complete transcript of his infamous speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner, and a special Holiday DVD, all of which add up to a book that is sure to be a bestseller and match the success of Colbert's former Daily Show boss Jon Stewart's America (The Book).

As explained on the book jacket:

You may not agree with everything Stephen says, but at the very least, you'll understand that your differing opinion is wrong.

I Am America (And So Can You!)

The world freedom atlas is a geovisualization tool for world statistics. It was designed for social scientists, journalists, NGO/IGO workers, and others who wish to have a better understanding of issues of freedom, democracy, human rights, and good governance. It covers the years 1990 to 2006.

World Freedom Atlas

Although many have studied various incarnations of Internet–based reputation systems, past analyses have mostly been piecemeal in method and have focused only on market applications. I propose a general “reputation–based governance” framework that has interesting properties and implications. The concept also provides useful insights on the issues of openness (as in “open source” software) and of participative forms of design and production.

Reputation-based governance

Christopher Hitchens in Vanity Fair.

Having volunteered for Iraq, Mark Daily was killed in January by an I.E.D. Dismayed to learn that his pro-war articles helped persuade Daily to enlist, the author measures his words against a family's grief and a young man's sacrifice.

A Death in the Family

Like Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat, Stephen Colbert so completely inhabits his creation—the arch-conservative blowhard host of The Colbert Report, his Daily Show spin-off hit—that he rarely breaks character. As Colbert's new book, I Am America (And So Can You!), is published, Vanity Fair gets a revealing interview with the real thing: a master comedian, forever altered by family tragedy.

The Man in the Irony Mask

Prohibition has failed—again. Instead of treating the demand for illegal drugs as a market, and addicts as patients, policymakers the world over have boosted the profits of drug lords and fostered narcostates that would frighten Al Capone. Finally, a smarter drug control regime that values reality over rhetoric is rising to replace the “war” on drugs.

Think Again

It isn’t easy to convey the intricacies of class warfare, housecleaning, immigration, a sci-fi classic, and the lottery in a couple of index cards. But Jessica Hagy, the proprietor of Indexed, has done it.

What Do Close Encounters of the Third Kind and a Border Fence Have in Common?

"You're talking about creating (something) that knows no fatigue, no boredom and is absolutely focused."

"The eventual goal is to have elaborate video surveillance well in advance of the 2016 Olympics."

ACLU says: "It is incumbent on the city to ensure that there are practices and procedures in place to sort of watch the watchers."

For "elaborate" as an adjective, OAD offers this: "(of an action) lengthy or exaggerated : he made an elaborate pretense of yawning."

That sounds about right.

Chicago Video Surveillance Gets Smarter

Public servant is alleged digital stalker.

United States Attorney Scott N. Schools announced that a federal grand jury in San Jose indicted Benjamin Robinson, age 40, of Oakland, on September 19, 2007, with making a false statement to a government agency, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, and unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1030(a)(2) and (c)(2)(B)(ii).

According to the indictment, Mr. Robinson was sworn in as a Special Agent for the Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement, Bureau of Industry and Security, on March 31, 1997. In November 2002, Mr. Robinson began a romantic relationship with a person identified in the indictment by her initials, S.S. The relationship lasted approximately seven months and ended acrimoniously. The indictment alleges that, during the course of their relationship and after S.S. tried to end it, Mr. Robinson made numerous threats to S.S., including threatening to have her deported and to kill her and her family.

The indictment further alleges that from approximately May 2003 through March 2004, Mr. Robinson accessed a government database known as the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS) at least 163 times to track the travel patterns of S.S. and her family. Federal agents are authorized to use that database only in the performance of their official duties and not for personal reasons. In addition, law enforcement agents receive training in TECS security and privacy, and are issued unique passwords to access TECS so that their use of the system can be monitored.

The indictment further alleges that on June 1, 2004, agents from the Department of Commerce interviewed Mr. Robinson, and he admitted that he had accessed the TECS database approximately ten to fifteen times to track S.S.’s travel in and out of the United States. In fact, at the time Mr. Robinson made that statement, he was well aware that he had accessed the system at least 163 times between May 1, 2003 and March 22, 2004.

United States Attorney Scott N. Schools stated: "Those of us who are sworn to public service must continually strive to uphold the highest standards of professional conduct. Federal officers who violate the public trust by abusing their official positions to pursue a private vendetta must be held accountable for those actions."

Mr. Robinson is scheduled to make his initial appearance before Magistrate Judge Richard Seeborg on October 11, 2007, at 9:30 a.m. in San Jose.

So what is TECS?

The TECS is a computerized information system designed to identify individuals and businesses suspected of, or involved in violation of federal law. The TECS is also a communications system permitting message transmittal between Treasury law enforcement offices and other Federal, national, state, and local law enforcement agencies. The TECS provides access to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the National Law Enforcement Telecommunication Systems (NLETS) with the capability of communicating directly with state and local enforcement agencies. The NLETS provides direct access to state motor vehicle departments.

Ex-Dept of Commerce Agent Indicted for Unauthorized Use of Government Database

On Saturday John Coatsworth, acting dean of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, made the remark that "if Hitler were in the United States and . . . if he were willing to engage in a debate and a discussion to be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly invite him." This was by way of defending the university's decision to host a speech yesterday by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

An old rule of thumb in debate tournaments is that the first one to say "Hitler" loses. But say what you will about Mr. Coatsworth's comment, it is, at bottom, a philosophical claim: about the purposes of education; about the uses of dialogue; about the obligations of academia; about the boundaries (or absence of boundaries) of modern liberalism and about its conceits. So rather than dismiss the claim out of hand, let's address it in the same philosophical spirit in which it was offered.

Columbia's Conceit