[Stoner]

Originally Posted by rextilleon

Sorry Stoner, I have enough to worry about. I dont spend my time worrying about government interference or spying. Rest assured that if Fidelista's aunt is arrested for expressing herself, then I will be there fighting the authorities to gain her freedom. Remember those guys at Ruby Ridge----the extreme left-wing paranoia sounds so similar.

Don't appologise to me .
It's your future too .

"What, me worry" __


Most people only relate to their pocket book,
so here goes, again.................

LINK

Bush presses for electronic medical records
By Thomas C Greene in Washington
Published Wednesday 28th April 2004 22:29 GMT
US President George W. Bush has been on a technology tour lately, promising wonderful things to potential voters and campaign contributors. In addition to his recent broadband promotion scheme, Junior is also promising to unleash the healing power of the database to improve the health of every lucky American who can afford medical care.

And not a minute too soon. The Bush administration is currently fighting to allow employers to drop older retirees from their medical insurance plans, thereby creating an equation of profound Hobbesian elegance that couldn't please the industry more: increased revenue coming from younger, healthier people, and fewer benefits going to older, needier ones.

To take up the slack, Junior is invoking the powerful voodoo of high technology, which, he says, will reduce health care costs for everyone and dramatically improve the quality of medical services. To realize this worthy goal, he has created a new federal office, called the National Information Technology Coordinator, within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Once the project gets off the ground, it should be possible to computerize the medical records of all Americans within about ten years' time, Bush reckoned, and in so doing, make everyone healthier.

Pennies from Heaven
A few companies and lobbyists have already rushed to approve. For example, AuthentiDate Holding Corp., owner of software outfit Trac Medical Solutions, Inc., "applauded President's [sic] Bush's call for electronic medical records, stating that it 'stands ready to lend its expertise in security and tamper proof technology,'" according to a company press release.

The American Medical Informatics Association, a lobbying outfit for the medical IT industry, "believes that the [proposed scheme] will profoundly improve the health of the American people... Seamless and interoperable transmission of health data will increase efficiency, improve quality of care, reduce medical errors, and reduce administrative costs," the group declared in its own press release.

The program may never be realized on a grand scale, of course, because there are enormous obstacles involving patient confidentiality, preventing unauthorized access to, and misuse of, the data, and ensuring system availability and data accuracy.

Misuse of the data could include 'health discrimination' by employers, lenders and insurers, and of course myriad nuisances from the direct marketing and privacy invasion industries.

Additionally, a system of this sort, were it relied upon, would be so mission critical that anything less than 100 per cent availability could be fatal. Similarly, even minor errors could prove fatal as well. It's a fair bet that public support will fizzle as these and other obstacles are encountered in the real world.

But not before a plethora of tech companies will have profited mightily from the big database dream. Which of course is the point: the program is chiefly an election-season shot in the arm for technology sector and insurance industry giants to whom Bush is paying court. ®

[bassetman]

I think the article pretty well sums it up.

The bureau's not talking, but it seems to be all about ease of eavesdropping.

And some people wonder why there were controls on the F B I.

[Stoner]

The secrecy of the US government seems to be at an all time high.
What don't 'they' want the press to have access to?
Secret files here
secret files there
secret secret files every where......



http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040507_1449.html

AP Chief Unveils Plan to Fight Secrecy
AP President Proposes News Industry Lobby to Fight Increased Government Secrecy

The Associated Press



RIVERSIDE, Calif. May 7, 2004 — Denouncing increased official secrecy, Associated Press President and CEO Tom Curley unveiled a plan Friday for a media advocacy center to lobby in Washington for open government.
"The powerful have to be watched, and we are the watchers," Curley said, "and you don't need to have your notebook snatched by a policeman to know that keeping an eye on government activities has lately gotten a lot harder."






At every level of government, records are being sealed and requests for information denied, and courts are imposing gag orders and sealing documents, Curley said, speaking in the Hays Press-Enterprise Lecture series.

In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the news media remained largely silent on important issues, including secret arrests of suspects of Middle Eastern descent and closed deportation hearings, he said.

"That was an extraordinary time for the country," he said. "It's entirely understandable and reasonable that the press and public were willing to step back for a time and give the government room to address an unknown and frightening threat."

But Curley warned that a continued relaxation of vigilance by news organizations "could become a dangerous habit if we allow it to take hold, dangerous for us and the society in which we play such a critical role."

"The government is pushing hard for secrecy," he said. "We must push back equally hard for openness. I think it's time to consider establishment of a focused lobbying effort in Washington."

Curley acknowledged his advocacy proposal is potentially controversial.

"I know that some in the journalism community would strongly disapprove of a project of this kind," he said. "They believe the role of journalists is to remain strictly impartial, and that express backing for even the best intended legislation would compromise that role. I respectfully disagree."

Curley said he was reminded of a story about a man who was "so broadminded that he wouldn't take his own side in a fight."

"A fight is what this is," he said. "A fight is what our system of government intends and expects it to be."

Curley cited recent intrusions on information-gathering ranging. They ranged from an AP reporter's digital recording being erased by a U.S. marshal at a speech by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to a confrontation between a sheriff's deputy and a freelance photographer on assignment for the AP outside a Michael Jackson grand jury hearing. The photographer deleted digital images after being ordered to do so by the deputy.

"The point I want to make with these brief examples is an elemental one: The government's power is overwhelming. Its agents are armed and authorized to use force if they have to," Curley said.

He said a new nightmare for journalists is the Health Information Portability and Privacy Act, which had the goal of protecting sensitive personal medical information but wound up spreading paranoia among health institutions about cooperating with the media.

When former President Gerald Ford suffered a dizzy spell on a California golf course a year ago and was rushed to a hospital in Rancho Mirage, he said the hospital wouldn't even confirm Ford was there. Curley quoted a senior editor as saying later: "All I could think of was this: One of five living former presidents might no longer be living and we have no idea."

Curley praised the vigorous efforts of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Society of Newspaper Editors and dozens of other groups that work daily to break the information blockade.

"They have raised all the alarms I've mentioned and many more. ... We need to hear them and we need to help them," he said.

Curley said AP would invite these groups and others to develop a plan for a Washington office to seek better statutory guarantees for more accessible government information. A federal reporters' shield law might be sought.

Meanwhile, he said, AP will continue audits to ensure official compliance with FOI laws. State AP bureau chiefs will monitor the status of still and video cameras in state and federal courtrooms, and legal challenges will be mounted when access is denied.

"News is our business. We are the watchers," Curley said. "Open government is the personal interest and constitutional right of every citizen. But we of the fourth estate have by far the greatest means and incentive to speak and fight for it."

The Associated Press, a cooperative of U.S. newspapers and broadcasters, provides global coverage of news, sports, business and entertainment in all media formats to some 15,000 news outlets in more than 120 nations. It reaches more than 1 billion people a day.


Text of speech available on the Net:

The AP:

[Logain721]

Now, honestly you have to ask yourself why these people that we associate with being terrorist hate us with such a passion to do the things they did. Honestly, no one in their right mind would do what they did without a cause and to say old Ben was crazy would be far from the truth. Personally I disagree with what went down on that dreaded day of Sept 11 but I also ask myself, what did we do to them to bring this on to ourselves. Seriously sit back and think about it, Why would any body have so many followers if they didn't truly believe what they where doing was for good, or who knows maybe revenge. Remember, the world is not flat its round you got to see thing from more than one perspective and what I have noticed is that for some reason most people only see it from are point of view. Just remember that for every cause their is an effect, we felt the effect now what was the cause. And as for the Patriot Act II being a good thing to help us fight terror, I fully disagree, if anything it is terror itself.


Become like Rome and You Shall fall like Rome, We are honestly getting to big for are own good, and if we have too many other presidents like Bush I fear the worst. Clinton my not of been the best President but at-least he kept things the way they where, and hell he may not of been able to keep his Snake in his pants but who would with a Wife like Hillary.

[bassetman]

Welcome to the fray Logain721!

[Logain721]

Originally Posted by bassetman

Welcome to the fray Logain721!

Good to be here bassetman.

I just really feel that we are going down hill from here on out, Were a freight train going 120mph that just happened to manage to lose its brakes at the top of the mountain. Its almost as if we are no long much of a democracy and are becoming more and more of an imperialist/capitalist country. I see nothing in our near future slowing down this freight train but I do have my fingers crossed and am hoping for the best, for who knows maybe the tracks wont end before we reach an upward slope ahead. Thats if we don't derail first!

[bassetman]

I agree with your description and your finger crossing behavior!

[plschwartz]

Log:
I can appreciate your fears. But having in my youth experienced McCarthyism and as I have posted elsewhere saw the country rebound.
But I am glad you are scared:
As they used put on Natl Guard Posters:

Eternal Vigilance is the price of Freedom.
Glad to have you with us.

[Logain721]

Originally Posted by plschwartz

Log:
I can appreciate your fears. But having in my youth experienced McCarthyism and as I have posted elsewhere saw the country rebound.
But I am glad you are scared:
As they used put on Natl Guard Posters:

Eternal Vigilance is the price of Freedom.
Glad to have you with us.

I see it as times have changed weapons have changed, their are more threats and problems than most people seem to realize a good example is north korea, they stated they have nukes and will use them, they have them targeted at 3 U.S. major city's. Now what would happen if they aren't fibbing if they actually have what they say they have (which is over 100nukes), what if they do have them aimed out 3 major U.S. city's. I feel that we are ignoring are real problems and only concentrating on the minor things. I dont think Bush seems to realize their are bigger fish in the sea, theirs sharks.

[slickoe]

It won't matter who wins in November. You all know the golden rule right? The ones with the gold make the rules? The last time A US prsident was the most powerful man in the US was in November 1963. Now if a president gets in the way of US based multinational corporations and their global ops he will be assassinated if not literally, then figuratively, like the way Clinton was crucified by the right and the media from almost the first day he took office (all those BS "scandals", 20 yr old land deal investigations somehow turning into voyeuristic investigations of his sex life, etc.). People work for those who sign their checks, and congressmen and senators get far more from corporations than from their salaries.

[Stoner]

Originally Posted by Logain721

Good to be here bassetman.

I just really feel that we are going down hill from here on out, Were a freight train going 120mph that just happened to manage to lose its brakes at the top of the mountain. Its almost as if we are no long much of a democracy and are becoming more and more of an imperialist/capitalist country. I see nothing in our near future slowing down this freight train but I do have my fingers crossed and am hoping for the best, for who knows maybe the tracks wont end before we reach an upward slope ahead. Thats if we don't derail first!

Hello Logain721

And welcome to the 'arena'

[LANMaster]

Originally Posted by slickoe

It won't matter who wins in November. You all know the golden rule right? The ones with the gold make the rules?

Class envy will never win the White House.

People work for those who sign their checks, and congressmen and senators get far more from corporations than from their salaries.

And those who are caught go to jail. Just ask Ex-Congressman Jim Trafficant D-Ohio

[Stoner]

Ex-Congressman Jim Trafficant

Mr. Bad Hair Day?

He's not from my part of the state (whew! )

[LANMaster]

Funny thing is, for a Democrat, I really liked him on some issues. He was relentlessly fighting the IRS.

[Stoner]

He was relentlessly fighting the IRS.

uh huh