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*Almost* everyone is entitled to privacy:nopity:
The exceptions are those who set themselves up as moral censors for the rest of us, and then cry "Foul! This is a *private* matter!" when they're revealed to have broken the rules that they themselves have publically espoused.
I live in Florida (duh!) and Jeb Bush and his family have provided many delightful examples of this double standard. The Bush's daughter has a serious substance-abuse problem: first she was caught forging a prescription for downers. After being committed to a pricey detox program (think Betty Ford with designer linen) she was found breaking into the pharmacy and stealing narcotics. Then she was caught with crack cocaine concealed in her shoes...
The Bushes decried the publicity given to this, with "this is a family problem". While I have nothing but sympathy for the Bushes as parents of an addict, the draconian measures they proposed for other young people caught possessing controlled substances mean this is no longer a just private matter. If this kid had been poor and black, she'd have been condemned to a life sentence on the "three strikes" law her father embraces. Don't get me started on Mrs. Bush's trying to sneak $15,000 of clothes and jewelry through customs without paying taxes after a weekend's shopping trip to Paris, just after Jeb laid off thousands of child abuse investigators.
I also was struck by enormous giggles when William Bennett - Mr. "Moral Values" himself - was revealed as a compulsive gambler.
There's an old saying about people who live in glass houses. Republicans and fundamentalists would be wise to heed it.
And don't even think about asking me about the Pope condemning adults in consentual same-sex relationships. What is that Biblical quote about the mote in your neighbor's eye?
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