Personal patches

[Brad Knowles]

At 6:56 PM -0800 2004/01/06, Allan Bowhill wrote:

>  It has worked not only in a single case, but in many cases, tourists,
>  terrorists, serial killers, and freeing innocent people who were wrongfully
>  convicted.
>
>  The area of genetic testing has signifcant merit, although you appear
>  not to accept this.

	When there is sufficient other evidence to indicate that a person 
has committed a crime, then DNA should be used to help prove or 
disprove those claims.

	It should not be used as a fishing expedition upon the entire populace.

>  I heard that Brits are exempt from fingerprinting. I hope this changes.
>  Simply out of fairness to everyone else.

	When you're willing to publicly post your fingerprints, retina 
scans, DNA, and all other personal identifying information, for you 
and every single living person that you are related to by blood or 
marriage (going back at least three to six generations), then I might 
be willing to consider your thoughts.

>  The U.S. economy, when healthy, relies on %75 internal spending.
>  If EU businessmen have a problem with this, they can go fish.

	The world is far more connected than you seem to realize.  Or 
would you be perfectly happy to use a chainsaw to cut off one of your 
limbs, just to prove that 75% of something is just as good as 100%?

>  I doubt the EU will impose trade sanctions, or sacrifice good business
>  for the sake of a few irate travelers.

	Like hell it wouldn't.

>  We are not new to this, as you seem to believe. Terrorism, Piracy and
>  Organized Crime are all intertwined. We have dealt with all of them in
>  our history. Addressing problems related to international piracy and
>  felonies is part of the responsibility of government, and is coded into
>  our constitution.

	Okay, now I know you're a lunatic.  *plonk*

>  I'm sorry to hear you were almost killed. I don't know much about the
>  particulars of your domestic terrorism problems, but I am under the
>  impression that Britain's handling of it is somewhat less than
>  exemplary.

	... And now we know that you're ignorant, too.


	The truth of the matter is that the UK has successfully fought 
terrorism better than any other country on the face of the planet, 
and their methods are being used elsewhere as a model on how to deal 
with the Palestinian problem and other terrorist hot spots around the 
world.

	Why else do you think that the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 
1998 to John Hume and David Trimble for their work in Northern 
Ireland and in the Good Friday agreement?

>  Not trivial, but possible. All the more reason to go with genetic
>  sampling.

	Riiiiiiiight.  So, the US government already has on file all the 
genetic samples of all the terrorists in the world.

	Jeez, just how stupid are you?

>  As far as national defense is concerned, it comes at a price. If it's
>  money rather than lives, let it be money.

	The price is liberty, specifically liberty that is lost.  See my .sig.

-- 
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles at skynet.be>

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
     -Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.

GCS/IT d+(-) s:+(++)>: a C++(+++)$ UMBSHI++++$ P+>++ L+ !E-(---) W+++(--) N+
!w--- O- M++ V PS++(+++) PE- Y+(++) PGP>+++ t+(+++) 5++(+++) X++(+++) R+(+++)
tv+(+++) b+(++++) DI+(++++) D+(++) G+(++++) e++>++++ h--- r---(+++)* z(+++)