Nothing to Fear: Proponents of the Patriot Act (sic) like to say (piously) that if you haven't done anything illegal, you have nothing to fear from the Patirot Act. (They mean the government, since the act itself is just an "act," not the people who are enforcing it.)

In today's New York Times, Ted Koppel (of Nightline fame) weighs in on the topic of privacy, pointing out that there are already many ways to track our persoanl behavior, from our driving habits to our TV viewing.

Most of the criticism of the Patriot Act so far has focused on groups having access to our private information whom we might not care to know so much about us. With the recent revelation of Deep Throat and the reminder of all things Watergate, it might be wise to focus on some of the worst possible scenarious.

Let's say you decide to run for political office. You've never done anything criminal are even suspicious in your entire life. However, your opponent is a twenty-year office holder. He has access through the government to all of your data. His investigators find nothing incriminating against you. They are told to "look again, more closely this time." They come back with the report that your local ISP reports that you regularly visit porn sites on the Web. It seems that you've been observed chatting on-line about various subjects of a seriously illegal sexual nature. Your opponent leaks this info to the press. You deny it, but your opponent has control of the data through the FBI investigation. They couldn't possibly be wrong.

Think this couldn't happen? Where's the WMD in Iraq? Remember, Tricky Dick's people were doing just this sort of thing thirty years ago. Think a good Christian like George W. wouldn't stoop to this behavior? He doesn't have to. He's got plenty of people around him who are just aching to do it.

As Henry Kissinger pointed out, power is the most powerful aphrodisiac known to mankind. People have sold their souls to the devil for far less than the White House.