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Title: Were You Circumcised? New Passport Questionnaire Baffles Many With Absurd Info Demands
Source:
The Blaze
URL Source: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/wer ... many-with-absurd-info-demands/
Published: Apr 26, 2011
Author: Jonathon M. Seidl
Post Date: 2011-04-26 21:58:24 by CZ82
Keywords: None
Views: 3108
Comments: 6
Were You Circumcised? New Passport Questionnaire Baffles Many With Absurd Info Demands Posted on April 26, 2011 at 10:17am by Jonathon M. Seidl Who was present when you were born? Can you remember every address you’ve ever had? How about every place you’ve ever worked? Were you circumcised? What if I told you that those were some of the queries the State Department is proposing for a new “biographical questionnaire” as part of the passport application? Sounds absurd, doesn’t it? It’s true. Take a look: According to BoingBoing, the form is meant for those who, while applying for a passport, can’t produce a birth certificate. “But as the FA suggests,” the site notes, “the circumstances in which people unable to provide a birth certificate will be given this form (rather than the traditional bureaucratic investigation) are not spelled out; further, the form itself remains a Kafkaesque impossibility for most people to complete.” Consumertraveler.com notes the near impossibility of the proposed application, too: The State Department estimated that the average respondent would be able to compile all this information in just 45 minutes, which is obviously absurd given the amount of research that is likely to be required to even attempt to complete the form. “It’s not clear from the supporting statement, statement of legal authorities, or regulatory assessment submitted by the State Department to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) why declining to discuss one’s siblings or to provide the phone number of your first supervisor when you were a teenager working at McDonalds would be a legitimate basis for denial of a passport to a U.S. citizen,” that site goes on to say. The supporting statement does say the questionnaire will be “used to supplement an application for a U.S. passport when the applicant submits citizenship or identity evidence that is insufficient or of questionable authenticity.” Still, it does not define “insufficient or questionable authenticity.” Libertarian website Reason.org calls the new form “disturbing,“ and in its headline covering the story further describes it as ”impossible to answer“ and ”creepy.“ Author Radley Balko theorizes it could be a ”tool to allow the State Department to turn down a passport when they can’t find a more legitimate reason.” And it’s not just conservative sites that are raising alarm. The uber-liberal Village Voice mocks the form’s question asking if the applicant was circumcised (yes, that’s a real question). According to the document, answering the questionnaire is voluntary, “but failure to provide the information requested may result in processing delays or the denial of your U.S. passport application.” The State Department was taking comments on the new application through yesterday. To read up more on the new form, you can go here and here.
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#1. To: CZ82 (#0)
I was reading that they want to ban circumcision in San Francisco. Weirdo liberal city.
Lloyd Schofield, who is leading the signature effort, tells The Jerusalem Report that his group is “on track” for obtaining the required number of signatures by the April 26 deadline for getting a proposition on the November ballot. If they achieve their objective, during the November 1 mayoral contest, San Francisco voters can vote on the measure, which makes it a “misdemeanor to circumcise, excise, cut or mutilate the foreskin, testicle or penis of another person who has not attained the age of 18.” Many of the leading activists against circumcision around the country are Jewish. But not surprisingly, the established Jewish community in the San Francisco Bay Area is furious about the proposed bill. “It is very alienating to Jews in San Francisco to read this proposed language,” says Abby Michelson Porth, associate director of the Jewish Community Relations Council in the Bay Area. “It appears to be hostile to many Jews. It’s an attempt to infringe upon our rights as individuals and a faith community.” Male circumcision is commanded in Genesis 17:10-14 as an outward sign of a man’s participation in the Jewish covenant with God. The rite of circumcision, or brit mila, is performed on the eighth day of a boy’s life. “This is a tradition as ancient as the very first Hebrew, even before Sinai. It is a mitzva that perpetuates the Jewish people,” says Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, Orthodox spiritual leader of Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood, New Jersey, and first vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America. Schofield is not unaware of the significance of circumcision to the Jewish community. “We considered the wording and possible religious exclusion because we know that circumcision is important to Coptic Christians, Jews and Muslims. But we believe this is harmful to babies,” he says. Opponents of male circumcision believe that circumcision not only inflicts tremendous pain on babies, but also causes psychological damage to men, including feelings of anger, distrust and grief. They believe circumcision hinders full sexual satisfaction since the foreskin that is removed during circumcision includes thousands of sensitive nerve endings. https://members.jpost.com/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=/JerusalemReport/PalestinianAffairs/Article.aspx?id=215800 My son is happy he never had this arcane procedure done on him. If a person can't have the right to determine what is cut off their body, than the practice is wrong. That is the bottom line, Mr not so sublime.
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#5. To: A K A Stone (#1)
AS AN INCREASING NUMBER OF AMERICANS – including a sizable number of American Jews – question the act of male circumcision, a group of San Francisco activists are advocating to ban circumcision, or what they call male genital mutilation. These activists are hoping to acquire 7,168 signatures to get a proposed measure on the November city ballot that would impose a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to one year in jail for someone who performs a circumcision.
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