Category Archives: Preparing for the worst

General, Politics, Preparing for the worst

— C H A P T E R 6 — Privacy

Rights of the People: Individual Freedom and the Bill of Rights

An excellent article on the history and evolution of the the right of privacy in the United States. And it is from our Department of State! There are links to a whole set of articles on other Rights.

I think that the three references they start the article with neatly summarize why we think today that every indivuidual has the right to be free from governmental review of their activities and property without a court warrant.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches
and seizures, shall not be violated…
— Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

The enumeration in the Constitution,
of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the people.
— Ninth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge
the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;
nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty,
or property, without due process of law.
— Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

(I wonder how much longer they will leave this page online?)

Some books that are referenced

For further reading:

Ellen Alderman and Carolyn Kennedy, The Right to Privacy (New York: Knopf, 1995).

David H. Flaherty, Protecting Privacy in Surveillance Societies (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989).

Richard F. Hixson, Privacy in a Public Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987).

Philippa Strum, Privacy: The Debate in the United States since 1945 (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1998).

Alan F. Westin, Privacy and Freedom (New York: Athenaeum, 1968).

General, Preparing for the worst

December 6th, 2005

An interesting, almost historical, day. The day no mail came.

I think that 12/6 was the first day in over 20 years, that Elaine or I have not recieved at least one piece of mail (counting days that we should expect mail delivery. This does preclude Sundays, Holidays and days when there is so much snow on the ground we couldn’t even walk to the mailbox, much less expect a USPS driver to reach it by road. )

What makes it interesting is that yesterday we got a lot of mail and it was in two bundles. And in one of the bundles were several pieces of mail that I was expecting on Tuesday. The other bundle had mail I was expecting yesterday.

So, if I can hypothesize, the USPS driver had bundled up our Tuesday mail, tossed it in the car and then missed it during their round; or, they got sick and didn’t finish their round, went home with the mail in the back of the car, stayed sick on Wednesday, and didn’t show up for work until yesterday.

Who knows what lurks in the minds of USPS drivers?

Tuesday was chilly, but clear most of the day. The snow didn’t start until evening, after the expected mail round. Not that it really snowed. A few flakes, no more than a couple of inches, with drifting. Wednesday was the day that didn’t get above 10 degrees Farenheit. It stayed bright and clear though, and we got mail that day.