Not Always So Blunt
Fred Barnes's profile of Missouri governor Matt Blunt was intriguing, but Barnes makes a common error when he claims that Blunt supports a planned initiative to "allow stem cell research in Missouri" ("Taking a Blunt Approach," May 22). Actually, the initiative Blunt supports would create a right in Missouri's constitution to engage in human cloning for biomedical research (i.e., somatic cell nuclear transfer). SCNT is not a synonym for stem cell research, although proponents of human research cloning like Blunt pretend that it is, for political purposes. To state the matter accurately, Blunt supports creating human embryos asexually for destruction and use in stem cell research, which is why he has gotten in trouble with Missouri's pro-life community.
Wesley J. Smith
Castro Valley, Calif.
Blair's Irish Blare
Notably, Gerard Baker's "Tony Blair's Musical Chairs" (May 22) omits any mention of the issue that was reputed to have consumed much of Blair's time as prime minister: Northern Ireland. Could it be that another British PM has failed in this respect? That Blair has so little to show for such an investment of time speaks volumes.
Thomas G. Mitchell
Madison, Wisc.
They Have Your Number
I would like to offer two additional points to Heather Mac Donald's excellent "Information Please" (May 22). First, in 1979's Smith v. Maryland, the Supreme Court held that the warrantless disclosure to the government of dialed numbers already known to the phone company did not violate the Fourth Amendment. The author of that opinion was Justice Harry Blackmun, who--according to critics of the NSA program--should have known a thing or two about privacy.
Second, public relations matter. In the mid-1990s, associates of Colombian drug dealers were using shopping mall phone kiosks and telephone cards to make business calls. The DEA could not obtain a warrant to listen because it could not identify exactly which phone would be used. I worked with the DEA and staff from both parties to draft a revision to the wiretapping laws to enable the DEA to follow a suspect on whatever phone he used. The prospects for the bill to become law were good until the FBI characterized the proposal as authorizing "roving wiretaps." (The revision ultimately became law in the Patriot Act.) This was not an isolated incident--remember the FBI's "Carnivore" Internet search protocol and the DOD "information market" to gauge terrorist attacks supervised by former admiral John Poindexter? How a program is characterized matters greatly, especially in a soundbite age.
Paul J. Larkin Jr.
Alexandria, Va.
It is amusing to note how docilely we submit to the IRS every possible bit of financial information that we have, while we descend into hysterics over "data mining" for purposes of national security.
Ramon V. Martinez
Coral Gables, Fla.
Really Time to Rally
Regarding Jeffrey Bell and Frank Cannon's "Bush's Bad Polls" (May 8): If only we could hold on a national scale what we in the South refer to as a "come to Jesus meeting," with every single man, woman, and child, uniformed and civilian, urged to get involved somehow in the war effort. Either we fight with a unified dedication al Qaeda doesn't believe is possible or we pull up the stakes and come home. War is hell, and I believe we have spared the insurgents from hell for much too long (besides, the Iranians might take note).
Richard R. Pierce Jr.
Huntersville, N.C.