For the government to make such a big deal out of your right to privacy with regards to medical records, they sure as heck seem pretty enthusiastic about throwing that out the window when it suits their needs.

Before you click on that link, I bet you’re wondering what they’re investigating that they feel the need to violate people’s privacy. It’s probably something earth shattering, like terrorism, or murder, right?

Nope. Abortion.

I’m not particularly prone to supporting abortion. I understand the argument that it’s the woman’s body, but I think it’s used too often as a way for people to keep from facing the consequences of their actions. I don’t think it’s a decision most women take lightly (there are obviously some exceptions to everything). I would argue strenuously against any woman having an abortion if she asked me my opinion (barring a serious risk to the woman’s health), but the unborn child whose life she’s deciding would very likely be worse for the fact that hir mother was forced into bringing hir to term.

That’s all completely beside the point, though. Medical records are not any of John Ashcroft’s business. If the doctors want to argue that the new law will prevent medically necessary procedures, I’m sure they’ll produce the evidence to support that, though without the patient-identifying information. Ashcroft has no right to dig around in these records, and it seems to me like a bullying tactic. Patients hear that their records will be made a matter of public record, with their names attached, and they urge the doctors to shut up, to play along with the government.

I thought conservatives wanted less government influence on our lives? Why are these people (who, by the way, are slowly but surely making me more liberal every single day) who are theoretically conservative pushing more Big Brother stuff down our throats?
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Wasn’t it Bush Sr. whose big campaign thing was “Read my lips?”

Obviously, that’s exactly what they expect deaf people to do. Even with cartoons. I can understand that there are budget issues. I can understand, to some weird degree, that the government isn’t really who is responsible for making sure things are accessible to the hearing impaired (they don’t build ramps for those in wheelchairs, private companies pay for that themselves.)

However, if they’d buy the equipment and pay me enough money per year to eat on, I would happily work a 60 hour-per-week job, watch television, and type out everything that’s said or heard. That’s 100 episodes of Scooby-Doo finished within a week (given that I’d have to rewind occasionally to catch exactly what was said. I’d even do the sports, though my subtitles for NASCAR might be a bit sparse.

“Zoom!” “Sound of cars running around in a circle.” “Really, can’t you find something exciting to watch?” “And Gordon is in the lead, doing his best to burn an entire month’s worth of fuel in just a few hours.”

(I’m a NASCAR fan. Can you tell?)

Heck, that would be my dream job. And you can’t tell me the government can’t afford to pay the salary of one employee.

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