Via metafilter, I learn of some disturbing privacy/Internet related stuff that came out of Howard Dean’s mouth two years or so ago. Declan McCullagh (a “name” reporter on tech issues, of dubious reliability) writes for ZDNet (whom I loathe) that Dean advocated a national, biometric, smart card ID, and proposed that the use of this ID be mandatory on all computers and internet terminals. Text of speech available at the website of the “trusted” computing company at whose behest he spoke.

Okay, that is a sucky thing to say, Howard. Take it back. You were just talking out loud, right?

The Register has an article which, shall we say, refines some of the points made by McCullagh (who brought us the “Al Gore says he invented the internet meme”). I haven’t found the time to read the actual speech yet (and I doubt many people will), so getting more than one point of view on it seems good.

Looking at Project Vote Smart today, which turns your 9-Digit ZIP code into voting information. (I prefer “ZIP+4″ to “9-Digit ZIP”, personally.)

I’m tempted to donate some money to Al Hamburg, just because of the awesome hat he’s wearing in his photo on the curious amazon.com political contribution page. What does he stand for? Probably a bunch of stuff I find really disgusting.

I’d vote for Mr. Zip, though. Some people love him so much that they’re actually boycotting the use of Zip codes until the Postmaster brings him back. Which seems extreme. On the other hand, I would love to hear his theme song, “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah” (sung by Ethel Merman).

Some, today, point to the recent article on factcheck.org, entitled, “Bush A Military Deserter? Calm Down, Michael”. The relevant quote:

The fact is Bush was honorably discharged without ever being officially accused of desertion or being away without official leave.

So now we’re falling down a rabbit hole of sophistry and semantics. This is what you might call a non-denial denial. I can make them too:

The fact is, Capone died at home in Florida without ever being convicted of murder, bootlegging, extortion or racketeering.

What’s the story on this factcheck.org site? Looks above-board, but CRAZY nit-picky to me. For instance, here’s how they “debunk” a claim by Gephardt, “George Bush has lost more jobs than any president since Herbert Hoover.”

They say:

It now seems likely that Bush will end his term with the economy employing fewer payroll workers than when he took office, according to most projections by private economists. If that happens, Bush’s critics will be able to say correctly that he’s the first since Hoover to have ended an entire term with a net job loss. But it’s premature to say that now. Even Reagans bigger job loss was erased less than two years after growth resumed. And several private economists are projecting job gains in the next 12 months that would leave Bush with a net gain in jobs.

This from a website that’s supposed to be clearing things up for us. Thanks, FactCheck!

Doesn’t John Kerry look like ________? Eric Zorn thinks so.

CNet runs a story earlier this week on the Democratic challengers for President, and their respective stances on various tech issues. Sadly, this article was written mainly from the perspective of tech industry groups, and had very little to say from the perspective of tech industry employees or internet users.

For instance, on the concern over the off-shoring of white-collar tech industry jobs:

“One of the concerns I have is what happens in this situation when, in their eagerness to create a policy issue, some of them have engaged in a lot of antitrade rhetoric and antiglobalization rhetoric,” said Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA). “From the association’s perspective, it will be an ongoing concern if it turns into a hard-and-fast policy concern in the general election.”

I just now scoffed. The article then goes on to extol the virtues (as the suits in Sillicon Valley see them) of Sour Joe Lieberman, who is happy to both help ship American programming jobs overseas and to ban the sale of some violent video games. Thank god he’s almost out of the race.

Near the bottom, they get around to a consumer-advocate from EPIC, who mentions that Edwards is better than the (abysmal) average on privacy. As the capper, they call the Cato Institute “nonpartisan”. I’m scoffing again, because Dr. Lessig totally demolished this conceit this week.