James Taranto at WSJ's Best of the Web Today writes about the questionnaire for employment in the Obama administration. It sounds like more of that privacy invasion so popular during the dark days under G.W. Bushitler and Darth Cheney:
"Please list and, if readily available, provide a copy of each book, article, column or publication (including but not limited to any posts or comments on blogs or other websites) you have authored, individually or with others. Please list all aliases or "handles" you have used to communicate on the Internet" (page 2, question 10).
"Have you ever had any association with any person, group or business venture that could be used--even unfairly--to impugn or attack your character and qualifications for government service?" (page 7, question 61).
"Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun?" (page 7, question 59).
We wonder if Barack Obama would be able to answer question 61 to the satisfaction of his own vetters. Some questions are so open-ended that, if taken at face value, they strip the applicant of any privacy at all:
"If you have ever sent an electronic communication, including but not limited to an email, text message or instant message, that could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the President-Elect if it were made public, please describe."
Read it all here.
