[ExI] insanity plea

[spike]

>...On Behalf Of Mike Dougherty
Subject: Re: [ExI] insanity plea

On Sun, Feb 24, 2013 at 10:29 PM, spike <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:
>>... As with the anonymous psychology patient, it seems like we could set 
> up anonymous optometrist and an anonymous neurologist...

>...Keep describing this dystopian future with a positive outlook.  It
doesn't make it any less dystopian, but it's good to be positive about it...

Ja.  Irrational exuberance is better than no exuberance at all.

>...I thought we were getting rid of cash due to the pesky untrackability of
cash...

Hmmm, getting rid of cash has its difficulties.  There is a constant demand
for untraceable currency of some sort.

>...  Then why do you keep advocating public mental health database?

Actually it is just the opposite.  What I am doing is pointing out that
expanding the categories of those forbidden from having firearms will come
with a severe cost.  What I suspect is that when everyone thinks it over
carefully, those who advocated for background checks on weapons purchases
will be the ones who will end up fighting against it.  The first clue should
have been when it was proposed, the NRA immediately agreed it would be a
good idea.  That took a lot of people by surprise.

I don't think anyone's mental health records should be public domain.  The
mere act of talking about the possibility of forcing those into public
domain has done damage to collective mental health.  

Consider the recent case where a newspaper published the names and addresses
of local gun owners.  That information was collected by the government at
taxpayer expense, so it falls under FOIA requirements to hand it over to
anyone who wants it.  The published list was a guide for criminals.  It
shows which homes to break into while the owner is not home if the goal is
to steal guns, and which homes to break into when the homeowner is home, if
their main interest is to rape and murder the occupants safely.  There is a
perfect example of a database which should never have been collected.  It
risks the gun owners guns and the non-gun-owners lives.

This example also had the exact opposite effect than was intended, for the
newspaper publisher is a gun-control advocate.  The outcome however was to
create a poster-child example of why all proposals to register firearms must
be resisted: the information leaks, placing at risk both the armed and the
unarmed.

spike