Pin It  Conscientious objections   Barr bashes military's Big
Brother plans  A few jaws probably dropped when word got out
that Rep. Bob Barr would be gigging for the American Civil
Liberties Union once his tour of duty with Congress expires in
January. But while Barr may be best known as a conservative
firebrand and Clinton antagonist, he's shown an admirable
ideological consistency when it comes to privacy issues and
civil liberties. So the marriage with the ACLU, where Barr will
work as a consultant developing a strategy to move forward a
privacy agenda, makes sense.  Indeed, during the battle over the
USA PATRIOT Act, the ACLU singled out Barr for praise for his
work to mitigate the more sinister aspects of the bill. And as
he was preparing to leave office, the 7th District congressman
passed a bill through the House that would require the
government to issue a "privacy impact statement" on any new
regulations and certify that it had taken steps to minimize
their impact on the private lives of Americans.