Government

You have to read through the comments at http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/Business/local/article/DMVV21_20091120... to understand the extent of the problem.

Went to renew my registration at http://www.dmv.state.va.us/ and Firefox says - Firefox can't find the server at www.dmv.state.va.us. Now that could be anybody along the chain and I can get that by:

root@helen:~# tracepath 206.113.143.4
1:  208.94.92.222 (208.94.92.222)                          0.207ms pmtu 1500
1:  208.94.92.221 http://www.radford.edu/(208.94.92.221)                         10.470ms
1:  208.94.92.221 (208.94.92.221)                         10.430ms
2:  ge-7-3-204.car2.Atlanta1.Level3.net (4.71.22.157)     35.340ms
3:  ae-1-51.edge4.Atlanta2.Level3.net (4.68.103.14)       35.267ms asymm  4
4:  4.68.62.18 (4.68.62.18)                               36.081ms asymm  5
5:  0.ge-2-2-0.XT2.ATL4.ALTER.NET (152.63.82.106)         35.580ms asymm  6
6:  0.so-7-0-0.CL2.RIC2.ALTER.NET (152.63.32.30)          59.319ms asymm 10
7:  POS7-0.GW2.RIC2.ALTER.NET (152.63.37.229)             56.793ms asymm 10
8:  gw1-covanetmci-oc12.customer.alter.net (157.130.57.78)  57.567ms asymm 12
9:  206.113.135.22 (206.113.135.22)                       59.640ms !H
     Resume: pmtu 1500

I can ask for the IP address:

root@helen:~# dig www.dmv.state.va.us
;; ANSWER SECTION:
www.dmv.state.va.us. 172800 IN A 206.113.143.4

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
state.va.us.  69173 IN NS cnsa.vita.virginia.gov.
state.va.us.  69173 IN NS cnsb.vita.virginia.gov.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
cnsa.vita.virginia.gov. 69178 IN A 166.67.65.169
cnsb.vita.virginia.gov. 69178 IN A 166.67.65.170

And then "ping":

root@helen:~# ping -c1 www.dmv.state.va.us
PING www.dmv.state.va.us (206.113.143.4) 56(84) bytes of data.

--- www.dmv.state.va.us ping statistics ---
1 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 0ms

The tracepath gets close but the question remains "how close?" To shed more light we head over to http://www.robtex.com/ and enter the domain name "dmv.state.va.us".

Chasing the "as" link to http://www.robtex.com/as/as17373.html#graph we find their sole upstream provider is MCI. Radford University - http://www.radford.edu/ is a "peer" but Radford university is "dual homed" meaning that either route should work.

I suspect there is a way of doing this in Microsoft Windows. I'll come up with some sort of prize if anyone posts a workable comment.

Hope they fix it by Monday or Fred will become an illegal vehicle.

Marriage is an institution between natural people (humans) hopefully without coercion and with mutual consent. People marry each other. A person who performs a marriage ceremony hopefully also does so without coercion and with the intent of solemnifying the event. The relation between the person performing the ceremony and his "Church" is another matter.

Among other things, law is instituted to provide remedy when promises are broken. To do that, law must have an understanding of how promises are made. That is aided by a "civil contract" between people which the government has some limited interest in regulating.

We have understood the first to be a matter of religion and the second, a matter of state. We have further understood that collusion between church and state is contrary to human welfare but beloved by many. Christians especially should understand the danger. Like Jesus at Nazareth, it is time for Mr. Stupak Chuck Colson to close the book, shut up and sit down.