Free Republic

Text-message fanatics will have to practice self-control come New Year's Day, when a new state law prohibiting drivers from texting goes into effect. The Washington State Patrol plans to "vigorously enforce" the law. ... The new law prohibits reading, writing or sending text messages while driving a vehicle. It does not prohibit entering or selecting a phone number to make a phone call. The law specifies that texting infractions will not become part of a driver's record, and won't be made available to insurance companies or employers. ...

KSL News) A Tremonton man accused of causing a fatal car accident while texting has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say Reggie Shaw was texting on September 22 when his car drifted over the center line on State Route 30 west of Logan and slammed into an oncoming car. The driver of that car died instantly. The passenger was also killed. Highway Patrol troopers say Shaw continued to send and receive text messages as he was questioned about the accident.

My wife was flying between 2 cities in the midwest this week and noticed that the arabic man next to her was texting the entire time of the flight. It is my opinion that the guy was testing the limits of cell-phone texting capability during flight. Perhaps a dry-run for another coordinated attack. I urged her to call DHS and let them know what she saw. Anybody else witness this kind of behavior?

The Wall Street Journal says the Republicans' prospects for 2008 are looking "dim," with Americans giving the GOP "their most negative assessment in the two-decade history" of the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. Maybe this will help: As the Politico reports, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has come up with a 39-page playbook to teach GOP candidates how to weather the not-so-new new-media world. "Rapid response and explanation of a position or vote to friendly blogs can ensure center-right solidarity behind your defense," the playbook says. "The paradigmatic example of the failure to do is the 'macaca' moment. Conservative blogs,...

Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has launched a mobile-to-mobile text-message campaign in an effort to reach more of America’s 236,000 cell phone users. Users who text the word "Join” to 77007 will receive regular updates about the Clinton campaign, which will "ask for voters’ input and offer a feature allowing supporters to surf Hillary’s Web site on their mobile phones,” according to a statement from her campaign. "By harnessing the power of text messaging, we can engage voters in the political process using the latest technology and provide personalized, local campaign updates to our supporters nationwide.” The text-message initiative is "a...

Secondary [high] school students will be able to use text speak in written examinations this year, legitimising a language loved by teenagers. The move has divided students and educators amid concerns the move could damage the English language. The second language of thousands of teenagers, text language usually incorporates abbreviated words and phrases such as txt for "text", lol for "laugh out loud" or "lots of love" and CU for "see you". The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) is still strongly discouraging students from using anything other than full English, but says credit will be given if the answer "clearly...

S.F. using text messages to get sex advice to teens SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Call it shorthand sex ed for the text message generation. San Francisco health officials have started using text messaging this week to direct safe sex advice to teenagers. Teens text the phrase "sexinfo" to one of two health department phone numbers. Within seconds, they get a reply asking them to desribe their question. The automated responses include how to handle a condom breaking and responding to peer pressure about sex. Messages are written in the shorthand style teens prefer for texting, and most end with the...