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Title: CNN: Americans May Need Passport To Have Picnic in a Park
Source:
PrisonPlanet.com
URL Source: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/august2007/160807_b_picnic.htm
Published: Aug 17, 2007
Author: Eliott C. McLaughlin
Post Date: 2007-08-17 00:48:29 by scrapper2
Keywords: None
Views: 216
Comments: 20
CNN) -- Americans may need passports to board domestic flights or to picnic in a national park next year if they live in one of the states defying the federal Real ID Act. The act, signed in 2005 as part of an emergency military spending and tsunami relief bill, aims to weave driver's licenses and state ID cards into a sort of national identification system by May 2008. The law sets baseline criteria for how driver's licenses will be issued and what information they must contain. The Department of Homeland Security insists Real ID is an essential weapon in the war on terror, but privacy and civil liberties watchdogs are calling the initiative an overly intrusive measure that smacks of Big Brother. More than half the nation's state legislatures have passed symbolic legislation denouncing the plan, and some have penned bills expressly forbidding compliance. Several states have begun making arrangements for the new requirements -- four have passed legislation applauding the measure -- but even they may have trouble meeting the act's deadline. The cards would be mandatory for all "federal purposes," which include boarding an airplane or walking into a federal building, nuclear facility or national park, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the National Conference of State Legislatures last week. Citizens in states that don't comply with the new rules will have to use passports for federal purposes. "For terrorists, travel documents are like weapons," Chertoff said. "We do have a right and an obligation to see that those licenses reflect the identity of the person who's presenting it." Chertoff said the Real ID program is essential to national security because there are presently 8,000 types of identification accepted to enter the United States. "It is simply unreasonable to expect our border inspectors to be able to detect forgeries on documents that range from baptismal certificates from small towns in Texas to cards that purport to reflect citizenship privileges in a province somewhere in Canada," he said. Chertoff attended the conference in Boston, Massachusetts, in part to allay states' concerns, but he had few concrete answers on funding. The Department of Homeland Security, which estimates state and federal costs could reach $23.1 billion over 10 years, is looking for ways to lessen the burden on states, he said. On the recent congressional front, however, Chertoff could point only to an amendment killed in the Senate last month that would've provided $300 million for the program. "There's going to be an irreducible expense that falls on you, and that's part of the shared responsibility," Chertoff told the state legislators. Bill Walsh, senior legal fellow for the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based conservative think tank that supports the Real ID Act, said states shouldn't be pushing for more federal dollars because, ultimately, that will mean more federal oversight -- and many complaints about cost coincide with complaints about the federal government overstepping its bounds. "They are only being asked to do what they should've already done to protect their citizens," Walsh said, blaming arcane software and policies at state motor vehicle departments for what he called "a tremendous trafficking in state driver's licenses." The NCSL is calling Real ID an "unfunded mandate" that could cost states up to $14 billion over the next decade, but for which only $40 million has been federally approved. The group is demanding Congress pony up $1 billion for startup costs by year's end or scrap the proposal altogether. Everyone must visit DMV by 2013 The Real ID Act repealed a provision in the 9/11 Commission Implementation Act calling for state and federal officials to examine security standards for driver's licenses. It called instead for states to begin issuing new federal licenses, lasting no longer than eight years, by May 11, 2008, unless they are granted an extension. It also requires all 245 million license and state ID holders to visit their local departments of motor vehicles and apply for a Real ID by 2013. Applicants must bring a photo ID, birth certificate, proof of Social Security number and proof of residence, and states must maintain and protect massive databases housing the information. NCSL spokesman Bill Wyatt said the requirements are "almost physically impossible." States will have to build new facilities, secure those facilities and shell out for additional equipment and personnel. Those costs are going to fall back on the American taxpayer, he said. It might be in the form of a new transportation, motor vehicle or gasoline tax. Or you might find it tacked on to your next state tax bill. In Texas, Wyatt said, one official told him that without federal funding, the Longhorn State might have to charge its citizens more than $100 for a license. "We kind of feel like the way they went about this is backwards," Wyatt said, explaining that states would have appreciated more input into the process. "Each state has its own unique challenges and these are best addressed at state levels. A one-size-fits-all approach to driver's licenses doesn't necessarily work." Many states have revolted. The governors of Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Washington have signed bills refusing to comply with the act. Six others have passed bills and/or resolutions expressing opposition, and 15 have similar legislation pending. Though the NCSL says most states' opposition stems from the lack of funding, some states cited other reasons for resisting the initiative. New Hampshire passed a House bill opposing the program and calling Real ID "contrary and repugnant" to the state and federal constitutions. A Colorado House resolution dismissed Real ID by expressing support for the war on terror but "not at the expense of essential civil rights and liberties of citizens of this country." Privacy concerns raised Colorado and New Hampshire lawmakers are not alone. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation say the IDs and supporting databases -- which Chertoff said would eventually be federally interconnected -- will infringe on privacy. EFF says on its Web site that the information in the databases will lay the groundwork for "a wide range of surveillance activities" by government and businesses that "will be able to easily read your private information" because of the bar code required on each card. The databases will provide a one-stop shop for identity thieves, adds the ACLU on its Web site, and the U.S. "surveillance society" and private sector will have access to the system "for the routine tracking, monitoring and regulation of individuals' movements and activities." The civil liberties watchdog dubs the IDs "internal passports" and claims it wouldn't be long before office buildings, gas stations, toll booths, subways and buses begin accessing the system. But Chertoff told legislators last week that DHS has no intention of creating a federal database, and Walsh, of the Heritage Foundation, said the ACLU's allegations are disingenuous. States will be permitted to share data only when validating someone's identity, Walsh said. "The federal government wouldn't have any greater access to driver's license information than it does today," Walsh said. States have the right to refuse to comply with the program, he said, and they also have the right to continue issuing IDs and driver's licenses that don't meet Real ID requirements. But, Walsh said, "any state that's refusing to implement this key recommendation by the 9/11 Commission, and whose state driver's licenses are as a result used in another terrorist attack, should be held responsible." State reaction to Real ID has not been all negative. Four states have passed bills or resolutions expressing approval for the program, and 13 states have similar legislation pending (Several states have pending pieces of legislation both applauding and opposing Real ID). Chertoff said there would be repercussions for states choosing not to comply. "This is not a mandate," Chertoff said. "A state doesn't have to do this, but if the state doesn't have -- at the end of the day, at the end of the deadline -- Real ID-compliant licenses then the state cannot expect that those licenses will be accepted for federal purposes."
Poster Comment: I have every confidence in zee goot Comrade Jerkoff - zat man looks out for zee nation of America like no other! Papers, please...
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#1. To: scrapper2, christine, lodwick, ghostdogtxn, TEXANS (#0)
Now we're the Soviet Union and Goodhair Perry is all too willing to comply.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Law Enforcement Against Prohibition This alphabet soup agency idiot might not, but it sure as hell doesn't mean that some other alphabet soup agency idiot doesn't!
I disagree. This particular agency - above all others - would. What person in his right mind would accept a position in an agency called "Homeland Security" like Jerkoff did unless he agreed with what such a department represented and what era it harkened to?
ping
Why settle for the lesser of two evils, vote Cthulhu!
"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)‡
I'm reporting you to Comrade Chertoff. Your papers had better be in order.
Ron Paul for President - Join a Ron Paul Meetup group today!
We're going to drop the last part of the German phrase "Ihre Papieren, bitte." "Bitte" means "please" and the U.S. form of Nazism does not "make nice" like that. This "please" and "thank you" $h!t is for Al-Qaeda-appeasin' wimps! Ours will be more like "Your papers or this crowbar up your a$$!"
“I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man.” - Sam Houston
"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)‡
The right to travel at all without papers is almost dead..within the year, it will be. Is it time for the rope yet? I guess Amerkuns are going to just bend over as they have been. The Founders must be spinning in their graves.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)‡
The order for our papers is just as likely to be given in Spanish. And there will be no "por favor" either! This whole private army, green card mercenary enterprise is very discomforting. I remember reading an article about a study was once done by the Pentagon that determined US troops would have a hard time firing at Americans. But since Katrina, where mercs were used, and the induction of foreigners into our army, I no longer see that "problem". Even on 9/11 there was a slavic sounding soldier with poor English, telling reporters to stay away from WTC7. I posted the video here not long ago.
Ron Paul for President - Join a Ron Paul Meetup group today!
It's for your own good comrade, ask the Wurmbrandts and Solzhenitsyn!
Ron Paul for President - Join a Ron Paul Meetup group today!
Now we're the Soviet Union and Goodhair Perry is all too willing to comply. Yep - Helmet Head is on-board with the nwo.
Exactly correct.
I was just remarking to a co-worker that Texas WILL go along with ANYTHING the Fourth Reich mandates because Perry's lips are surgically attached to Dubya's buttocks. He only regrets that he doesn't have another pair to wrap around the other side of El Chimperoni Monica-style. It is truly ironic that Texans are in the vanguard of imposing a tyranny. We are known throughout history for the opposite tendencies. Just ask Santa Anna.
“I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man.” - Sam Houston
I don't know anyone (of the 37%) who voted for Perry - Kinky may have been defeated with the black box machines...
"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)‡
You can't kick that bastard off any ofo the public pig's 12 teats no matter what! LOL........he's like a super dooper vaccuum scooper that gets kicked out of justice, to run to congress, to head up leagal teamwork on Whitewater, to get stuck in some other judicial court, to run homeland. That's at least 5 teats and I haven't bothered to read his bio! When I said the agency 'might not', it was in the context that it isn't written in their mission statement or stuck at the next to last page of some revamping report that is 25,420 pages long. I trust him not an inch, not even a micron. I don't trust government. PERIOD. They have an awful record.
Of course the intent is there. In reality, it probably doesn't appear in the mission statement, so he can boldly sit there and lie thru his teeth. Lying comes so naturally for these bastards. AND, even if it weren't, the stupid gopers never think beyond the end of their frickin noses. THey can be as *choke* honest as the day is long as they write some legislation that treads on the borders of rights, but then the admin changes to say, a Clinton one, with say, a Butch Reno as head of Justice, a Lantos as head of Homeland, blah blah blah. Their motives could be as pure as the driven snow *CHOKE*, but that doesn't mean the next crew's will be! And once the the tamper-proof packaging has been removed, anything can, and generally does, happen. Gopers are too stupid to see that 'incrementalism' does not work for them either. The dems have honed that to a fine art, and the gopers could never catch up. I did an article once upon a time at TOS1 to explain how it backfires every time with the gopers.
Chertoff said there would be repercussions for states choosing not to comply.
"There is no 'legitimate' Corporation by virtue of it's very legal definition and purpose."
-- IndieTx
#2. To: scrapper2, REDPANTHER (#0)
CCCP ping
"There is no 'legitimate' Corporation by virtue of it's very legal definition and purpose."
-- IndieTx
#3. To: scrapper2 (#0)
But Chertoff told legislators last week that DHS has no intention of creating a federal database
#4. To: rowdee (#3)
This alphabet soup agency idiot might not
#5. To: scrapper2, *libertarians* (#0)
#6. To: rowdee (#3)
#7. To: ghostdogtxn (#6)
#8. To: robin (#7)
#9. To: robin (#7)
#10. To: scrapper2 (#0)
at the end of the deadline -- Real ID-compliant licenses then the state cannot expect that those licenses will be accepted for federal purposes."
"There is no 'legitimate' Corporation by virtue of it's very legal definition and purpose."
-- IndieTx
#11. To: IndieTX (#10)
#12. To: Sam Houston (#8)
#13. To: ghostdogtxn (#9)
#14. To: IndieTX (#1)
Chertoff said there would be repercussions for states choosing not to comply.
#15. To: ghostdogtxn (#11)
The founders are wondering why their descendants haven't picked up rifles yet.
#16. To: lodwick (#14)
#17. To: Sam Houston. Texans (#16)
It is truly ironic that Texans are in the vanguard of imposing a tyranny. We are known throughout history for the opposite tendencies.
#18. To: lodwick (#17)
#19. To: scrapper2 (#4)
#20. To: ghostdogtxn (#6)
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