Thus spake James A. Donald (jamesd@echeque.com) [15/10/04 15:19]:
[laws making stupidity mandatory for gov't officials]
I've had more than one comment about my ID photos
--- Damian Gerow <dgerow@afflictions.org> wrote: that amount to basically: "You look like you've just left a terrorist training camp." For whatever reason, pictures of me always come out looking like some crazed religious fanatic. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to bomb anything. And I sure hope that I'm not going to be detained or denied entry because of how I *look*, alone. Way back when phrenology was all the rage they did not have terrorists. Since it is evidently vital to the security of the state for its officials to have the capability of committing arbitrary civil rights violations, I can see a need for the resurrection of phrenology, suitably updated, as a screening tool. The shape of your head; the cadence of your gait; the way your eyes shift according to carefully structured stimulae, and of course your spending patterns -- all these things will help the cause of profiling. Remember: petty inconveniences that make travel on average less pleasant and more onerous are not at all intended to facilitate tightened centralised control of civilian life. That it may actually do so is an unintended side-effect. As for me, I have resigned myself to the current lamentable state of world affairs. Until the world's policeman finishes flushing the terrorists out into the open for the purpose of apprehension, we will all have to make sacrifices for the greater good. Regards, Steve ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca