Output Stream of Consciousness

Link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-230053234197623165

This video has been showing up in a few places. Sometimes associated with a "Don't Vote For Bush!" theme, sometimes not. It's an old educational video by the 'war department', and you can find it listed as "Don't Be A Sucker".

It's a 17 minute interesting watch, a visual version, in a way, of the Martin Niemöller poem, the First, they came... poem.

Godwin's Law is:

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

Today's trigger was a renewed realization of a Department of Homeland Security proposal, docket USCBP–2005–0003 filed mid-July, which would make airlines and cruise ships have to ask the DHS for permission for each one of their passengers to leave the country within six months after enactment. (Look at the proposal here, p.2, p.3, p.4, p.5 - substitute in the "page=" for further pages.)

One could say that effectively, this doesn't change things, since there's a No Fly List already, but it's far easier to do mass restrictions when you have to ask permission in the first place.

One obvious use of this would be in the case of a draft. Instead of throwing millions on a no-fly list, all you need is a birth date and gender cut-off. It's unlikely that this U.S. administration would institute a draft, though; they don't seem to believe high numbers of troops are required.

Another would be a global cut-off by nationality.

All speculation, of course, but why push for this sort of system in the first place if you don't plan on taking advantage of its features relative to the no-fly list?

The only feature of the entire proposal that seems sensible is making sure passenger manifests are sent 15 minutes before takeoff, instead of up to 15 minutes afterwards.