FOR THE SAKE OF ARGUMENT... This report from TwinCities.com has added a few really great ideas to get the solution tank stirring.
"The key to understanding this situation ... is that it isn't necessarily a trade-off as most people assume,'' Rowley said.
"The key to both improving security as well as civil liberties is accuracy. Judiciousness improves accuracy. For instance, it doesn't help to bomb the village in Afghanistan a couple days ago if the village is mostly children (60 were killed) and our allies.
"It doesn't help to confiscate journalists' cameras or even citizen journalists' or tourists' cameras if the cameras are not a clever way of concealing a weapon," Rowley continued. "All you do when you overreact is square the error and make it worse for maintaining security and civil liberties objectives, " said Coleen Rowley, former FBI trainer and RNC protest marcher.
Coleen Rowley appreciates the delicate balance between ensuring public safety and protecting civil liberties, especially at flashpoint events like a political convention and demonstrations.
Rowley was a longtime FBI agent and lawyer who trained agents on search-and-seizure laws as well as First and Fourth amendment rights, the ones guaranteeing free speech and assembly, and protection against unreasonable searches. Now retired, she will be among the throngs of folks marching and taking part in other RNC-related civilian activities.
I ran into anti-Real ID activist Bill Scannell, "the man who helped kill CAPPS II," and asked him what intelligence he can give us about Sarah Palin, governor of the state he's lived in for the past several years. Scannell is a Democrat, a long-time acquaintance of mine, and as such should be taken with a few grains of salt.
He called Palin "a poster child for the Evangelical Right," but said that "frankly most Alaskans don't even care" about that stuff, and at any rate, a McCain/Palin White House wouldn't deliver whatever it is the Religious Right wants. More excerpts from our conversation...
You may know them as Enhanced Driver's Licenses, Speed Passes, Border Cards, Voluntary Transport Worker ID's, CLEAR Airline Cards; these are the practical applied faces of Real ID.
WASHINGTON -- Enrollment for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential nears the half million mark, but card activation still lags, according to data from the Transportation Security Administration.
The TSA's latest TWIC "dashboard" indicates that 496,144 workers have enrolled for the biometric identification card, but just 292,812 have been activated.
The Coast Guard announced it would begin enforcement of the TWIC rules on Oct. 15 in selected captain-of-the-port zones. TWIC becomes mandatory on April 15, 2009, for all workers who need unescorted access to secure areas.
The dashboard may be found at the Coast Guard's Homeport web site, http://homeport.uscg.mil. Follow the TWIC prompts.
Expeditious. With a single word, the literary sleeping pill of Section 102(c) of the Real ID Act has led to a civil-rights nightmare on the southern border.
Designed to mute laws that could hinder Secure Fence Act construction, Section 102 provides that “the Secretary of Homeland Security shall have the authority to waive, and shall waive, all laws such Secretary, in such Secretary’s sole discretion, determines necessary to ensure expeditious construction.”
Does anyone remember when California joined the Real ID rebellion? Just a fad.
California's crime of cosmetic-do-nothing-politics strikes again. Just left of Lou Dobbs- the manual air pump for Real ID Act's plastic inflatable immigration policy - you will find the freshly passed piece of crap also known as California Senate Bill SB60. The Democrats who greenlighted this gem of a bill have cleared the way for DHS to store Californian's identity documents if they want any kind of a license. You have no idea how much this is going to suck.
Which Flavor: Fascist-lite or PrimoFascism?
People who go along with this bill are going to have the option of submitting their documents into a database or not. It is the middle of the road for people who are sorta playing ball with Real ID. It doesn't really help the stave off the development of fascist products for California, it just redirects it. They are still going to dump billions of their tax dollars into developing the databases but at least you have a choice of bypassing identity theft and being sorted with non-citizens OR submitting your social and birth certificate into a database where more than likely you will have your identity stolen. For Californians more concerned with restoring infrastructure and education with taxes, it leaves them holding the bag. For Californian's struggling with identity security it gives them a way out, but they'll more than likely be harassed like an illegitimate citizen. For undocumented workers, nothing will change. They will supply falsified social security numbers and birth certificates and drive away with no rights, still beholden to a greedy jerk paying slave wages and living under the radar. For idiots who crave convenience and security over their civil liberties, by forking over their documents to the DMV they will have their identity sold to the highest bidder and begin their worst nightmare, only to be relived again and again.
Here is your salty moment of truth. DO NOT ACCEPT ANY VERSION OF REAL ID ACT COMPLIANCE. Stand on the 10th Amendment. Everyone in this scenario gets a raw deal except the tech contractors and those who benefit from identity trafficking.
In today's Washington Times, The Lord's most conservative newspaper on this special planet we call Earth, there was a report of a RON PAUL SUPPORTER handing out literature to Stop Real IDs. STOP AND LOOK!!
ST. PAUL, Minn. | Rep. Ron Paul's "Rally for the Republic" pledged to bring the Republican Party "back to its roots" on Tuesday, drawing about 10,000 at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis.
Mike McHugh, a Republican activist and Ron Paul supporter from Virginia, handed out information on the pending Real ID Act, asking supports to refer to it simply as the "Dangerous ID."
Mr. McHugh thinks the card would open the door for massive identity theft by creating a federal database that would be vulnerable to hackers.
"I am not a conspiracy theorist," Mr. McHugh said. "But this will allow people's movement and information to be tracked."
An overall optimism was shared by rally attendees as they cheered for their hero. In between speakers and musical entertainment, clips of Mr. Paul flashed across the screen, quoting Hope for America.
Mr. McHugh was undaunted by the meager media coverage, saying, "There is no such thing as a lost cause."
Sarah Palin, did some good work to end the reign of Real ID in Alaska.
"Governor Palin and the Alaska legislature deserve praise from all Alaskans for standing up to the federal government," added Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Alaska. "Officials of both parties came together to pass legislation that will not only protect the privacy of Alaskans, but will protect their pocketbooks as well by rejecting Real ID's massive financial burden."
What happens when Ron Paul's sidekick changes horses to tow the Republican party line? You get VP nominee, Sarah Palin. Here is just one example of how this woman can do-no-right after hitching her train to McCain's straight-to-war express.
Neither one has a favorable report on Palin, amid other press reports Palin is both fat and unattractive and then given too many advantages because she is attractive, has both no control over her children's reproductive morality and is also lauded for standing by her pro-life principles. Voters... YOU DECIDE!!
This election is proving the base stupidity of people who are paid to report the news. One thing is for sure, this state Governor has a tough election ahead of her and the mud slinging has just begun.
The War Party Takes a Pre-Emptive Strike on Protestors.
Upon recieving personal reports that snoopy paratroopers were rooting in Minnesotas moving garbage like racoons in riot gear, I am not convinced over-policing grassroots opposition is the best execution of tax money. I have recently learned of a term called COINTELPRO we should all be aware of when dealing with steroid driven, amped police who may be given extra $$ for arrest quotas.
I wonder how much these Military Police were paid to arrest and attempt to discredit Democracy Now! producer, Amy Goodman.
Grassroots Netroots Alliance will be at this event: Oil Change International- Protest of Delegate Support for Oil Companies WHEN: 8:30pm, Tuesday, September 2nd WHERE: 510 1st Ave N, Minneapolis, MN 55403
If you are not detained or beat up from that event, you can crash this breakfast party.
Join the CEOs of Big Oil in Thanking the Texas Republican Delegates at their Hotel WHEN: 8:00am, Wednesday, September 3rd (Yes, 8:00AM) WHERE: Crowne Plaza Hotel 11 East Kellogg Blvd. ST. Paul, MN
"The CEOs of ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP, Shell and Hess will be hosting a party at the hotel where the Texas Republican Delegates are staying to thank the Republican Party, the Bush Administration and Senator John McCain for the war in Iraq, skyrocketing gas prices at the pump, record breaking corporate profits for Big Oil and their excellent performance in blocking every effort to reduce carbon emissions and our nation's reliance on fossil fuels.
Wear your finest Republican Party clothes and we will provide Republican Party hats, "Oily Dollars", loot bags, "Freedom Flags" (flags with oil company logos) and yellow "Support Our Oil Companies" ribbons.
Be prepared to dance and roll around in the millions of "Oily Dollars" that the industry gives back to Republican candidates (74% of Big Oil contributions go to Republicans) and the $1.2 million Senator John McCain has received from oil companies--three quarters of which came immediately after he reversed his previous opposition to offshore drilling.
CodePink, Courage to Resist, Global Exchange, Oil Change USA, Rainforest Action Network and the Ronald Reagan Home for the Criminally Insane had no part in organizing this Republican Rally. "
