MIT web site gathers and displays information on government |
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"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."
--James Madison (Fourth President of the United States) |
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--In an attempt to provide American citizens with digital tools for participating in the democratic process, researchers at the MIT Media Lab will unveil the Government Information Awareness web site on July 4.
The site, which utilizes new software and a database developed at the Media Lab, collects information from the general public, as well as from numerous online sources, to provide powerful online resource about our government. |
I have no idea how this is going to work, and I've only copied you with the top paragraph of the announcement, but since the subject is an informed electorate, and a new tool for keeping informed, complete with photo reference and quote from the Father of the Constitution himself, I thought you might like to know what's going on.
The URL is: web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2003/gia.html
And speaking of keeping informed, I understand there's something called the "K Street Project," in which Republican Party leaders in Congress are insisting that new-hires among the numerous lobbying firms in Washington must be Republicans sympathetic to leadership views. It seems the Framers failed to anticipate not only the rise of political parties but of lobbying firms as well. It took a long time before control over political party practices became a subject of constitutional law. Have lobbying firms yet become a subject of Conlaw apart from their fund raising and spending?
Last point: The military and corporate briefs in Gratz and Grutter have received much comment for how good, useful, and influential they were. I thought the Law Professors Brief in Lawrence was outstanding in pointing out the many grounds of criticism of Bowers, among other things. I wonder why this brief, signed by around twenty leading Conlawprofs, hasn't been similarly praised. I handed it out to my class to keep as an example of what a good brief should look like. I particularly liked the succinct manner of using Conlaw cases. Palmore v. Sidoti, for example, where the white Florida mother lost her baby because she married a black, was cited as authority for the proposition that "government must not bow" to the prejudices or stereotypical biases of the majority. That made the principle of Palmore a lot more memorable than it had been for us, even tho' the facts themselves were striking.
Thanks for your patience; I love talking Conlaw.
Robert Sheridan
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