The Hobgoblin of Little Minds

... that's how Emerson defined "foolish consistency."

For an example of hobgoblins right here in MI-08, look no further than Mike Rogers' thoughts about privacy.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to vote this week on legislation aimed at creating a nationwide system of electronic health records and protecting patient privacy, but the bill's fate remains unclear, CongressDaily reports.

Some legislators think that patients need more protection, especially in terms of security breaches. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) thinks there should be stronger patient consent provisions, given his concerns about the thousands of complaints about HIPAA violations ignored by the Bush administration. Waxman wants to give state attorneys general the right to sue on behalf of patients whose privacy has been violated.

Mike Rogers, on the other hand, thinks that the bill's patient consent provision is too much of a burden. Funny, that's what he thinks about warrants for wiretaps, electronic surveillance and intel collection without civilian oversight.

Hey, at least he's consistent!

(For a full description of patient privacy bills and their effects, visit PatientPrivacyRights.org)