Saturday, January 04, 2003

After a wonderful vacation, I'm back for the New Year. Happy 2003 everybody!   9:27:47 AM

Sect says second cloned baby born. The group which says it has produced the first cloned human being announces that a second such baby has been born. [BBC News] The organization behind this is remarkably irresponsible. Taking an untested technology which has been shown to have considerable negative consequences in other animals and creating humans from it without significant scientific work to refine the process beforehand is immoral. If these children end up with serious problems later in life, the people behind this should be locked in jail and the key should be thrown away. They would be no better than child abusers in my book. It is groups like this, who play God with no consideration to the moral responsibility that entails, who pose the greatest risk to the survival of the human race in the future.   9:26:05 AM

U.S. to Make Airlines Give Data on Americans Going Overseas. The American Civil Liberties Union said the new information storehouse must not be used as the basis for a national identification system. In monitoring foreign visitors, the rights group said, the government must not compromise Americans' privacy rights or harass people who "look foreign" or are members of racial minorities. [New York Times] It's amazing how passive the ACLU has become in the wake of September 11th. Five years ago they would have been screaming bloody murder over this proposal. Now we hear barely a whisper. I personally think it's outrageous that the government feels it has the right to track my movements outside of my own country. It's one more step down the path toward Big Brother (wait, is what I'm doing a thoughtcrime?).   9:18:12 AM