Well, getting back to the original topic of this thread:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.00418:
A Bill to establish mandatory national ID has been brought up for debate TODAY. As usual, it claims to be an 'anti-terrorism' measure and focuses on immigrants and resident aliens, but it covers all state driver's licenses including those of citizens. By forcing all states to standardize their driver's licenses and giving the data to the federal government this bill will create the centralized national ID system that has so-far been defeated when brought up explicitly. Since the Supreme Court has ruled that police have the right to demand ID any time they choose, this will put the entire population of the country under arbitrary surveillance.
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http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm
Gun Owners of America
8001 Forbes Place Suite 102
Springfield VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
The National ID card is back in the news, as Congress is getting set once again to debate the issue.
You will remember that late last year, Congress passed (and the President signed) legislation which starts us down the road to a National ID card. In the name of preventing alien terrorists from operating in this country, the so-called Intelligence Reform bill gave federal bureaucrats unprecedented new powers to force changes in state-issued driver's licenses -- including, possibly, the addition of computer chip technology that can facilitate the tracking of all U.S. citizens.
Now, the House will be debating new legislation, H.R. 418, that was recently introduced by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI). In considering this bill, the U.S. House will vote on whether to empower the federal government to determine who can get a driver's license -- and under what conditions.
Since you need a driver's license to purchase a gun from a dealer, this will give BATF the expanded ability to impose even greater forms of gun control -- something which it has long coveted. This will become even more apparent if an anti-gun Democrat like Hillary Clinton wins the presidency in 2008.
H.R. 418 is, unfortunately, supported by many Republicans who believe that repealing our liberties will somehow make us "secure." But GOA joined a large coalition of citizen-activist organizations this week in opposition to H.R. 418. In a letter to Congress, the coalition stated:
"Standardization of driver's licenses has long been recognized as a bureaucratic back-door to implementation of a national ID card. With its required linking of databases and ability of the Secretary of Homeland Security to require a prescribed format, HR 418 takes us well along that road. Concerns are further heightened when the bill fails to even provide lip service to privacy concerns, and proposes to share all of our data on the driver's license database with Canada and Mexico."
Realizing government's tendency towards mission creep, no one should be surprised if this database grows to contain far more information than that which is relevant to driving. HR 418 requires that the database shall contain "at a minimum," all information contained on the driver's license as well as driving history. There is no limit to what other information may eventually be contained in the database -- something which should definitely concern gun owners.
H.R. 418 is being touted as a way of cleaning up some of the problems with the law that was enacted last December. But this bill is still an attack on states' rights. It still takes us down the road to a National ID card. And it would still do nothing to keep real terrorists from operating in our country.
ACTION: Please contact your Representative and urge him or her to oppose H.R. 418. You can use the Take Action Now feature to send a pre-written message.
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Subject: BORDC Action Alert: House to vote on REAL ID Act this week
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 15:09:57 -0500
From: Bill of Rights Defense Committee <newsletter@bordc.org>
To: <newsletter@bordc.org>
Dear Friends:
The House of Representatives is scheduled to take up Rep. Sensenbrenner's REAL ID Act (H.R. 418) next WEDNESDAY, with a vote likely THURSDAY, FEB. 10. Sending refugees who have fled torture, rape, and other brutal human rights abusers back to their tormenters and deporting long-term residents for charity contributions they made long ago will not make Americans safer from terrorism. Yet sections of H.R. 418 would do just that. To avoid debate over the bill's controversial provisions, the sponsor plans to attach his bill to a fast-approaching "must pass" bill, such as the the Iraqi supplemental spending bill or the relief bill for tsunami victims.
Summaries of a few troubling sections and a sample phone script follow. Here are links for more information:
* Bill text, list of cosponsors, and status:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquer...:@@@L&summ2=m&
* Contact information for your representative:
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
* Good analysis of the bill by the American Immigration Lawyers Association:
http://www.aila.org/contentViewer.aspx?bc=10,911,5516,8191
* Human Rights First web page where you can send your
representative an instant message:
http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/c...=ga_adv_realid
Summary: You may recognize parts of H.R. 418 as the most troubling sections of H.R. 10, which the conference committee for the Intelligence Reform bills rejected as too extreme, unrelated to intelligence or anti-terrorism, and in conflict with the 9/11 Commission's recommendations. Among the sections of most concern are:
* Section 101, which enables a judge to deny a refugee asylum if she is unable to track down specific documents that corroborate her claims--even if the U.S. State Department confirms that the country from which the refugee has fled never provides the documents--and bars other judges from reversing their determinations because the corroborating evidence is not available.
* Sections 103 and 104 would permit long-term legal U.S. residents to be deported for having given contributions years ago to organizations that later fit the Bush administration's profile of a terrorist organization, even if they are not on a list of named terrorist organizations.
Sample Phone Script: Please contact your Representative by phone and explain why you oppose some of the bill's provisions. For example,
"I urge you to oppose H.R. 418's provisions that will make it much harder for legitimate refugees to gain asylum and place them at greater risk of being deported back into the hands of their persecutors."
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Web:
www.bordc.org
Email:
info@bordc.org
Phone: 413-582-0110
Fax: 413-582-0116
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America the Police State
The context is 'limited' but can quite easily be stretched to include a lot more than it would seem at first glance.
Hybrid Mode
