Over the past few days there have been endless posts on the unauthorized peek at Obama's passport application and then Clinton's and McCain's. Most of the discussion is over just how vast the conspiracy goes, parsing every statement of the press and the State Department to find some inconsistency that will prove someone was involved in some maliciousness.
So what's missing?
First, motive. If you've ever applied for a passport, you know what information is on there. Let's see, a bad photo, date and place of birth, hair and eye color, etc. And yes, your social security number, which you should probably keep secret, though if anybody had the plan to do identity theft on Barack Obama they've got some pretty large ones.
But what incredibly useful information would the Bush Administration, Republican Party, McCain campaign, etc., get from seeing Barack Obama's passport application? Some of the speculation on this site has ranged from tax records, vacation photos, even CIA reports. Take a look at the passport application, that's all the info that's on there and there ain't no more. Unless you can find some kind of scenario where Obama's birth date is going to cause a major campaign scandal, then you're left without a motive other than curiousity. And let's face it, if you had a boring data entry job you'd probably be tempted to take a look at a great man's info.
The other missing part of this debate, which I find frankly shocking given the supposed progressiveness of this site, is any semblance of sympathy for the people who lost their jobs over this. Two people, probably soon to be three, ended up on the unemployment line because they got a little too curious. Were they wrong? Probably, but was it worth getting fired over? Were they warned not to do so and told of the repurcussions? What shocks me is that no one has stood up for the workers' rights and defended their jobs.
Let's remember, these weren't State Department diplomats or high-level administration officials, they were a couple data entry clerks, i.e. people who work for a living, need their income to support their families and might not have so many other opportunities. On a supposedly pro-labor site I'm surprised I don't see at least one diary or comment that asks whether a working man or woman should get fired for making an error in judgment that ended up hurting absolutely nobody and having no recourse through a union or some other labor association. It's pitiful.