New US Law Mandates DNA Collection from All Newborns

It sounds like the setup for the movie Gattaca, but the United States has enacted a Federal law mandating the creation of a national "DNA Warehouse", with the President's signature on April 24, 2008. Described as a "national contingency plan", justification for the new law, S. 1858, known as The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007, is a preparation for any sort of "public health emergency." Twila Brase, president of the Citizens' Council on Health Care gives a detailed analysis (PDF) of the new law. Brase draws attention to provisions in the law that will build surveillance systems for tracking the health status and health outcomes of individuals diagnosed at birth with a genetic defect or trait, and use the newborn screening program as an opportunity for government agencies to identify, list, and study "secondary conditions" of individuals and their families. Given the very controversial nature of this bill and the privacy implications involved, it's remarkable that this could have passed with so little notice in the media.

That's it, I'm getting my rifle.

[JesseL]

It's time for the revolution.

Re:

[spun]

Sad truth about armed revolution: the most brutal almost always end up taking control. You start out with the best intentions and end up with a dictatorship.

Re:

[JesseL]

Unfortunately, by the time a revolution is necessary, only an armed one will be successful.

The bright side is that the last time this country had a successful revolution, it took awhile to slide back into a dictatorship (depends on who you ask though, I suppose. Quite a few people I know believe things went sour with the Whiskey Rebellion, and several more think the War of Northern Aggression was the turning point).

Frankly, I'm hoping that the next revolution dismantles the state and declines to replace it.

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[Captain Splendid]

'd appreciate a rational anarchy for as long as it can last.

Yeah, I really want to spend my nights taking shifts on watch for whichever doped-up greedhead who decides to come knocking.</sarcasm>

Newsflash!

[JesseL]

There are doped up greedheads wandering around right now, and there is nobody in the government with any legal obligation to protect you from them (as a matter of fact, more than a few of them work for the government).

Re:

[Captain Splendid]

Fuck me, I get tired of you pedantic fucktards. Wonderful, you're technically correct. However, right now, in the shithole town with the useless cops and enforcement I do have, I can still call them up and have them show up in a reasonable time. Hell, they're not completely horrible at catching 'em either.

I don't know what hell on earth you live in, but that counts for an awful lot. If I was looking to do some serious raping and pillaging on a house, and I knew nobody was going to show up, I'd take m

Re:

[JesseL]

1. I live in a relatively pleasant town. Prescott, AZ [wikipedia.org]. I don't credit the pleasantness to local law enforcement though. I credit it to people willing to give a shit about protecting themselves and their neighbors, and generally unwilling to put up with vermin.

2. Who says you can't have anyone to call in an anarchy? There should still be plenty of people interested in contracting to provide for your security needs, for reasonable compensation. You could even get the benefit of competition and a guarantee of

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[Captain Splendid]

I credit it to people willing to give a shit about protecting themselves and their neighbors, and generally unwilling to put up with vermin.

Weaponry ain't worth diddly in a siege.

There should still be plenty of people interested in contracting to provide for your security needs, for reasonable compensation.

This is what I hate most about libertarianutopialand, everything's reduced to trading. If that happens, just plug me into the matrix, because I don't want to live in a world that is that borin

Re:

[JesseL]

Weaponry ain't worth diddly in a siege.

This is somewhat true. The lesson is to not allow yourself to become besieged.

"Fixed fortifications are monuments to man's stupidity,"
-George S. Patton

This is what I hate most about libertarianutopialand, everything's reduced to trading. If that happens, just plug me into the matrix, because I don't want to live in a world that is that boring. Mind you, that's just what you think you're getting:

Yeah, a society where human interactions are based on mutual consent sounds awful. Who wants to give up 'legitimate' coercion and violence?

And this where the naivety of the libertarainutopialand groupies shows through. You can't reduce everything to a business deal, we're not machines. You're going to get wobble, and no amount of technology, statistics or legal remedies is going to fix that. Anarcho-capitalism has a half-life of about a nanosecond. Blink, and you'll find yourself staring down the barrels of some pretty fucking big and hostile monopolies. Let me see your guarantee of satisfaction then.

Maybe it's escaped your notice that your staring down the barrels of some pretty fucking big and hostile monopolies right now? They'll gladly rape, rob, and murder you and claim they had every right to do it. They're on

It's for the kids!

[smittyoneeach]

Which makes all manner of strangeness somehow acceptable.
[quaffs kool-aid]

Amusing provision

[giminy]

From the Bill's Text ( http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s110-634 [govtrack.us] )
`(3) GRANTS FOR QUALITY NEWBORN SCREENING FOLLOWUP- An eligible entity that receives a grant under subsection (a)(3) shall use the grant funds to-- ...
`(E) carry out such other activities as the Secretary may determine necessary.

This is a horribly written law if only for this part 3E. It's like a blank check. Part of the screening followup could be, "Store the genetic material and make clones," and so long as the action is

Re:

[tomhudson]

and so long as the action is strictly constitutional, the courts would have to allow it just because the Secretary of Health thought it was a good idea. Ugh...

... and so long as it isn't successfully challenged all the way up to the Supremes (a process that could take a decade or 2), it will be allowed just because the Secretary of Health thought it was a good idea.

There, fixed it for you.