Politics

Somehow I figured the first side I read that brought Nazis — or, in this case, Holocaust denial — into the Intelligent Design debate would be the ID proponents, not the opponents. Guess I was naive. Oh well, Godwin’s law wouldn’t exist if Nazi analogies weren’t useful across the political spectrum. And, by the way, darn those “techniques of rhetoric and debate”. If we just didn’t have those, we’d be in a much better…Oh wait, he doesn’t say what those are, does he? ;) ...

Apparently the Justice Department has decided not to enforce the criminal penalties behind HIPAA, which protects the privacy of medical records. Basically, they ruled that criminal prosecution can be brought against medical practices, hospitals, insurance companies, and the like, but not against the employees of those entities. That’s kind of interesting, since the employees who did the stealing would have been the targets of any criminal prosecution anyway. I’m not sure what Justice was thinking on this one, although I don’t entirely buy the theory that it’s a backhanded way of getting rid of HIPAA. To the extent that I do buy it, I think it is likely a result of a larger ongoing Justice Department attempt to downsize its influence over corporate practices. If it was a real attempt to overthrow HIPAA, I would expect it to be even more ham-handed. (Although the person I linked to would have a better idea than I, I would think, having worked to put HIPAA together.) ...

Personally I agree with at least one part of Marybeth Peters’ testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee: It is disturbing that there may be ties between terrorist organizations and copyright violators. I mean, after all, what if the terrorists get their hands on copies of Britney and Kevin: Chaotic and release it to the rest of the world? That will just make people hate America more. ;) Link courtesy of Corante, via Boing Boing ...

Yep, this may be our next Ambassador to the United Nations. If the lack of preparation or basic interest in diplomacy indicated in this article is true, then why is John Bolton even still employed, much less getting promoted? Link courtesy of Obsidian Wings Update: That darned Democrat Voinovich on Bolton. ;)

The loose, global nature of al-Qaeda’s operations offer some advantages, but there are bound to be limitations: AP: Ethnic Rifts Tearing at al-Qaida It would be interesting to know what happens between the Arab, Central Asian, and Southeast Asian groups when resources grow more scarce.

I figured this would be happening sooner or later, but I always thought it would just be more blatant. We’re soon to have uniform standards on driver’s licenses thanks to the REAL ID Act, creating a national ID card out of identification that once was more fractious. The legislation was just passed by the House of Representatives, thanks to it being attached to a “must-pass” Iraq appropriations bill. Anyone remember Reagan being opposed to a national ID card? That was in part due to a libertarian strain in conservative politics, and in part due to evangelicals who believed a national ID card was the first step toward world government. Sure, maybe 9/11 changed “everything,” but I would think fundamental political and religious beliefs would be the last things to change, so expect some fireworks over this one by tomorrow, when it goes to the Senate. ...

I grew up in Baptist churches…and watched them split. We went to a string of churches on four consecutive Sundays where the pastor resigned while we were there. This is pretty typical, and has been so for a long time. The issues may have been politics, divorce, smoking, church funds, the pastor’s wife, pants on women, sports on Sunday, you name it, but what it usually came down to was a control-freak pastor who couldn’t see past his own nose, and it sounds like East Waynesville Baptist got themselves a real winner last October. ...

I hope people aren’t just so complacent as to easily accept unfavorable comparison of our system of government to Al Qaeda…even if that comparison was made by Pat Robertson and the Family Research Council. (And it gets worse, if you scroll down to the links near the end of the article.)

Greensboro’s own Truth & Reconciliation Commission is rolling along on its project of uncovering the truth behind the violence of November 3, 1979. Laudable cause. Greensboro has already had occasional reflexive spasms of guilt over that particular crime, and as you can see, they haven’t seemed to do much good as far as reconciliation. I would love to see this commission actually bring about that reconciliation, but I’m not sure where the reconciliation part is going to come in. What is being reconciled, and with whom? Are we to be reconciled with our own memories of a miscarriage of justice, as Klansmen and Nazis walked free because, as a city at that time, we hated the idea of Communists even more? ...

Jack Hitt in the LA Times: “How quickly it has all happened — that the media, particularly television, has convinced itself that Christianity is little more than a Republican political action committee.” Link courtesy of This Modern World