“I believe privacy is a fundamental right, and that every American should have absolute control over his or her personal information.” – George W. Bush, October 2000
Okay. That’s nice…But, as Arch Conservative Bill Saffire points out in today’s NY Times, last month, John Ashcroft’s Justice Department said – as they were subpoenaing the medical records of about 500 women who had had abortions – that medical patients can “no longer possess a reasonable expectation that their histories will remain completely confidential.”
Okay. That’s not so nice. Not a surprise – from the Ashcroft clan – but not so nice.
Now, I don’t have anything in particular that I feel I need to hide, so I’ve never been one of those folks to get their panties overly bunched about perceived threats of invasions of privacy by the government. But even I can spot hypocrisy a mile away, and I hate it. Even more than foolish government policy.
The hypocrisy I’m talking about here is not Dubya saying one thing before getting elected, and then doing another. We’re all well used to that old trick by now (aren’t we? See his statements against “Nation Building”, standing up to OPEC to keep spiggots open and gas prices down, not using 9/11 for political purposes etc. etc. etc.) – but it’s once again, the Right Wing Echo Chamber of “conservative” talk radio and “news” that’s really irritating.
How often do we have to listen to Rush and friends and read Drudge and listen to Fox about how poor poor Oxycontin Junkie Rush Limbaugh is being abused by Prosecutors who are seeking his medical records in a criminal investigation?
Oh, the Right is beside themselves with outrage about the treatment of poor Rush. But – to paraphrase our good friend – not hypocritical at all – William “Lucky 7’s” Bennet – where’s the outrage when it comes to the 500 anonymous women who are not even suspected of breaking any law at all having their medical records seized?
Has anybody heard Hannity going on about that one?
And today then, we learn that Dubya has had some 270 overnight guests in the Whitehouse and at least that many at Camp David. The bulk of them – you guessed it – Fundraisers.
Now, once again, I don’t give much of a damn about it. But I do suspect you won’t hear a lot about it in the Media. After all, how many years later were they still on about Clinton’s fundraising pals despoiling the Lincoln Bedroom with their very presence?
Apparently it was Dubya himself that said, again, during the 2000 Election Campaign: “I believe they’ve moved that sign, `The buck stops here,’ from the Oval Office desk to `The buck stops here’ on the Lincoln Bedroom. And that’s not good for the country.”
I’m sure Fair & Balanced will be all over it first thing in the morning.
In happier news though, am I the only one who had a flashback while watching Mary Matalin on last Sunday’s Meet the Press, trying desperately to describe how good Bush has been for our country and how bad this Liberal Democrat will be if he’s elected?
It was like 1992 all over again, and we all know how well it turned out the last time Mary Matalin was forced to desperately defend her Bush.
i’m shocked — shocked! — to discover that Ashcroft’s Justice Department would actually ADMIT "that medical patients can ‘no longer possess a reasonable expectation that their histories will remain completely confidential’"!!!!
didn’t they get the talking points? haven’t they learned the Bush Doctrine of Say One Thing, Do The Other?
i must commend the Ashcroft JD for their unprecedented honesty — at least they have admitted the truth: in the defense of one law that statistically covers fewer than 1,000 cases a year in the U.S., they are willing to trample on the rights of anonymous women, with no evidence of wrongdoing, in order to go on a fishing expedition for *potential* law-breakers.
of course, Ashcroft’s minions defended the action by saying that all identifying information would be redacted from the subpoenaed records. if so, then why state that Americans can no longer expect their records to remain confidential?
what, don’t they think anonymous federal employees can be trusted with sensitive info?
whatever happened to probable cause? the constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure? the long-established expectation of doctor/patient confidentiality?
i was worried that maybe our tax dollars would be wasted on prosecuting less important crimes!corporate criminals, identity theives, computer hackers, terrorists, murderers, and rapists are small potatoes compared to the potential widespread devastation caused by one rogue doctor!
that hospital should be ashamed of itself for protecting privacy — it’s for the good of the country!
regarding the "For Sale" sign on the Lincoln Bedroom, it sure doesn’t seem fair to slam Bushy Boy for selling it to the highest bidder for a night, when Clinton did the same thing and nobody said anything about it!
but then again, Bushy obviously needs the money. that must have been why he left that 9/11 memorial groundbreaking ceremony early yesterday — he had to get to that fundraiser!
whew. good thing he has his priorities straight. i don’t know what i’d do if all of his corporate buddies might get left out in the cold Washington winter without a warm place to sleep.