Exactly right. But that is not all the information there is to us. Like I said, proclaiming ZERO privacy is an overstatement.
I've seen you complain about the Bush administration lying and exaggerating information to trigger alarmist responses in order to manipulate people into doing what they want (not in those words, but that's what you say).
However, you do the EXACT same thing on different issues. This seems to be one of them.
Banks have the information on our bank accounts, the various governments our tax information, the various utilities their information, the ISP's our surfing information (well, and the websites we visit). Everything that's not in the government's hands, and can be identified to us, the government has to file a court approved request for (for the most part). No one else can ever get access to all the information. So while all that information is indeed logged, most of it is not in a useful format.
And this is quite a bit off topic
The amount of information on anybody held in commercial and govt databases EFFECTIVELY means you have ZERO privacy.
That your thoughts are private is a silly counter-point.
Just where am I exaggerating?
My point is that people who claim a federal photo ID would be a violation of privacy are naive.
Last edited by boutons_; 07-29-2007 at 03:46 PM.
It's not a silly counterpoint, and I did not restrict it to thoughts. You said I have no privacy, yet I do. By definition that makes you wrong. You can say I have almost no privacy, and I won't argue with you because that is a valid argument. If you truly believe that my thoughts and what I do in my house when I shun the outside world (such as reading, cooking, eating, talking with friends and family) are "silly" or unimportant, then I truly feel sorry for you since you have obviously lost sight of what IS important.
Like I said, most of the information that is recorded is done so in a rudimentary fashion, and is divided into so many different databases it's completely useless unless the information is put together under a court order. The information is ineffective in truly violating my privacy under any other cir stances.
I don't trust any administration with the ability to spy on it's own citizens without any oversight. Most of the programs that deal with data mining are a necessary evil however some type of oversight is mandatory. Most of the apologists think that the criticism of this administration's unchecked powers explosion is a 'Bush' problem. It's not. If these same folks would just take Bush out of the equation I would hope they would see it like the majority of America does. My biggest , and there are many, problem with Bush is his need to proceed without any oversight. Someone needs to know what you are doing and making sure that it is done in an ethical and legal manner.
I am for photo IDs, provided that they are free (so no poll tax) and that there are no irrevelant barriers. For example, getting anything done at a license bureau in Bexar County is a major hassle especially compared to any neighboring county. I think Georgia tried to put in an ID requirement in place, but made it much for difficult for urban citizens.
Well, you can blame Congress for the domestic wiretapping program, since it actually was authorized within the PATRIOT Act that was overwhelmingly passed that first time. Oversight is usually a good thing, but the current Democrat congress is witch hunting, not trying to provide oversight.
But yeah, this administration definitely has gone way overboard. I liked a great deal of Bush's first term, and some of his goals for his second term, but this second term has turned into an abyssal disaster. Both Democrats and Republicans in the government have gone extremely overboard with the "I'm right, you're wrong" rhetoric, so I don't really expect it to get any better over the next 6 years. Especially when both parties seem to be on the verge of collapse due to severe infighting.
No doubt that would seriously need to be improved for urban areas if free ID cards were to be issued and required to cast ballots. Especially if they are going to make people show up to take driving tests regularly to keep their DLs.
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