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09/04/2003 Archived Entry: "Moebius Strip Foreign Policy"

Tom Tomorrow hits a home run with his latest cartoon entitled Moebius Strip Foreign Policy.

LibertyThink.com LibertyThink first "broke" (June 27) the Victory Act by reproducing a draft of that document, which it received from a "Washington insider." Yet, as LibertyThink (SiaNews) observes, "we were ripped off by ABC News and the Washington Post, amongst other sources, when LibertyThink's research director--on August 8th -- had Part 1 of the "Victory Act" handed to him by a Washington insider; only Knight-Ridder News service was scrupulous enough to acknowledge LibertyThink as the source of this news." Now, LibertyThink is also first to obtain (July 30) another draft, a second draft of "the planned police state legislation" known as The Victory Act. LibertyThink also provides analysis on how this version differs from the original. The Washington Post also offered analysis but did not post the revised draft for people to read for themselves.

It is becoming more important to maintain your privacy and privacy rights in order to protect yourself from the encroaching State. FOX News reports on the latest gambit to invade privacy: "The federal government is seeking to block states from protecting citizens' privacy rights, decreasing protections that could prevent would-be criminals from getting valuable information." In response, an advocate for Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights asks, "How safe is America’s privacy when you can buy the CIA director’s Social Security number for $26?” The Foundation claims "for $26 each it was able to purchase the Social Security numbers and home addresses for Tenet, Ashcroft and other top Bush administration officials, including Karl Rove, the President's chief political adviser." Such advocates approach the need for privacy rights from the perspective of protecting individuals from criminals, such as identity thieves, without identifying the State itself as a criminal band whenever it invades rights in a similar manner.

There is a new "hip" game on privacy that parents might want to check out for their children: Carabella Goes to College. Wired describes it, "Players of Carabella Goes to College experience a college-bound girl's first week of school, when she has to make routine choices that determine whether she will be beset by identity thieves, aggressive marketers and hungry profiling software." Again, I wish there were (at least!) mention of the threat posed by a data-hungry State...but I'll take pro-privacy arguments where and as I can find them.

Best to all,
mac