Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Are they looking for a hill to die on?

As Frank James points out, biometric National Identification cards are about as sure a way to flip out a plurality of the population as I can think of. From privacy advocates to Left Behind fans, this would just pour kerosene on the opposition fire.

Go 'head, y'all! I think you should push for this one really, really hard.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

You forgot we are playing Chicago rules.

What the minority thinks does not matter.

Shootin' Buddy

Anonymous said...

Ummmm bad idea!! May cause someone to get hurt in ways they will not like!!

Joanna said...

Oh, God, Left Behind. Don't get me started.

You forgot we are playing Chicago rules.

Gotta love the ol' "Heads I win, tails you lose." Which, if prolonged, leads to "Heads I win, tails you punch me in the face and take my wallet 'cause you're tired of putting up with my crap." Not that I would ever do such a thing, of course ... *looks over shoulder, covers ass*

Mark B. said...

For career politicians, these people sure do have tin ears for public-policy opinion, don't they?

Tam, I don't think " . . . a plurality . . . " covers it -- unless the Kollective deranged Left still can manage to find ways to excuse every utterance of Teh Won. If there's anyone on the Right who thinks it's a good idea I'd certainly question their ideology, and the Wookie Suiters will be positively rabid.

'Berg

staghounds said...

Even the BRITISH rejected this one.

Unknown said...

Forget Left Behind, it's absurdist fiction for Biblical illiterates. Just compare this proposal at face value with the actual Biblical text -- it isn't an exact match, but it shares the functional theme. Hard to buy and sell without an income.

The problem with biometric ID cards is that they can be forged. Without strong encryption, this is folly. With strong encryption this is tyranny.

Fits said...

If Barry is first in line to get one, and it contains the sort of personal information heretofore thought to be unimportant to HIS employers, then I'll see if it changes my mind.

Hunsdon said...

I'm no Reaganaut, but isn't there an old anecdote about Reagan and national ID? Something about, "Just tattoo it on their wrists?"

Hunsdon said...

Err, arms, whatever.

wv: pharcher if the pharaoh is an archer . . .

Comrade Misfit said...

I am as against it now as I was when the other side was pushing biometric driver's licenses ("REAL ID").

jbrock said...

There's probably a good bit of 'screw the bible thumpers, they don't vote for us anyway' in play here.

One obvious problem being that one needn't be an Evangelical anything to be creeped out by this.

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

One obvious problem being that one needn't be an Evangelical anything to be creeped out by this.

That's for sure. And I'm living proof.

The only "strong encryption" that ought to be going on around here is taking the people pushing this and burying them alive.

staghounds said...

Of course we all carry a bunch of biometric ID cards already.

Joanna said...

absurdist fiction for Biblical illiterates

Nailed it.

My mom tells the story of how she was in line somewhere (may have been the post office) the morning of 9/11; the woman behind her was all excited and babbling about how "It's just like the Left Behind books!" And then they wonder why the secular world doesn't take them seriously. *massages temples*

Rabbit said...

Who is going to play Sam Lowry and who will be Harry tuttle?

Ken said...

Ya know, "immanentize the Eschaton" is not a dance craze, nor a cutesy-poo reference to some transgressive sex act.

...well, I suppose it could come to mean the latter, if these clowns keep going the way they're going.

JimB said...

National ID... The fastest way to get an all new congress

Weer'd Beard said...

Hey, I'm a Left Behind fan! All the Urban Wasteland of Mad Max, plus the spawn of Satan as the head of the UN! That's fucking PORN to me!

And just like real porn, I in no way believe that if I get pulled over for running a red light on my way to work, I'll be detained by a busty Officer in an ill-fitting uniform who might just let me off if I full-fill a certain need of hers....oh and her equally buxom partner.

heh.

Weer'd Beard said...

Oh and in one of the later ones Lou Gosset Jr. had an honest-to-god Glock 7!

Jenny said...

... but even if we get a new Congress out of it, odds are we keep the cards.

Ken said...

... but even if we get a new Congress out of it, odds are we keep the cards.

Now, Jenny, ye of little faith, remember the glory days when Ronaldus Magnus eliminated the departments of Education and Energy...

...uh...

Perzackly. That's why they figure to ram it through, even if it's a suicide mission.

Will said...

Yep, they figure to be back in power right quick.