"Intellectuals" and Other Oddities

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Bennett, a former U.S. education secretary and national drug policy director, is under fire from Democrats, civil rights leaders, black conservatives and, as of yesterday, the White House and the Republican Party for saying Wednesday that "you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down."
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Robert Woodson Sr., president of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, said "it was stupid" for Bennett to
even ruminate on such an explosive topic but defended him as a good man. "Sometimes intellectuals become detached
from common sense," he said.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company
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I would hardly call anyone capable of making a statement like this an ‘intellectual’.
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September 30, 2005 5:09 PM PDT

Your DNA or else: Police to collect your genetic material

The Violence Against Women Act may be about to do violence to Americans' right to privacy.

A U.S. Senate committee has adopted an amendment to the VAWA legislation that would add the DNA of anyone detained by the cops to a federal DNA database called "CODIS."

Note that it doesn't require that you're convicted of a crime or even formally arrested on suspicion of committing one. Mere detention -- might a routine traffic stop eventually qualify? -- will be sufficient for CODISification. (Current law only authorizes blood or saliva swabs and entry into CODIS for people convicted of a crime.)

Ethan Ackerman, a Washington attorney and privacy specialist, notes: " The bill grants states carte blanche to write laws allowing (DNA) collection" even "as a condition of getting a drivers license!"

This proposal is the brainchild of two Republican senators, Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas. They say it's necessary to help catch violent criminals -- although the genetic material would remain in the database if the person is detained or arrested but not charged with a crime.
Posted by Declan McCullagh
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This is a hard one, because ultimately it would protect women, or at least that appears to be the intent. As we’re all figuring out now, Bush and Cronies sell us the “intent” and then use the statutes to further their own ends to relieve Americans of more freedoms. Caveat Emptor.
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