Ron Paul: Independence Day may put you on a "list"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eibxKQULwWc

Cybersecurity Plan to Involve NSA, Telecoms

EXTRA: What does surveillance look like?

c/o Telegraph UK:: CCTV, RFID tags and GPS-enabled phones are among the technologies that can

be used to keep track of your movements.

DHS Officials Debating The Privacy Implications

 Obama administration will proceed with a Bush-era plan to use National Security Agency assistance in screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks, with AT&T as the likely test site, according to three current and former government officials.

President Obama said in May that government efforts to protect computer systems from attack would not involve "monitoring private-sector networks or Internet traffic," and Department of Homeland Security officials say the new program will scrutinize only data going to or from government systems.

But the program has provoked debate within DHS, the officials said, because of uncertainty about whether private data can be shielded from unauthorized scrutiny, how much of a role NSA should play and whether the agency's involvement in warrantless wiretapping during George W. Bush's presidency would draw controversy. Each time a private citizen visited a "dot-gov" Web site or sent an e-mail to a civilian government employee, that action would be screened for potential harm to the network.

"We absolutely intend to use the technical resources, the substantial ones, that NSA has. But . . . they will be guided, led and in a sense directed by the people we have at the Department of Homeland Security," the department's secretary, Janet Napolitano, told reporters in a discussion about cybersecurity efforts.

Under a classified pilot program approved during the Bush administration, NSA data and hardware would be used to protect the networks of some civilian government agencies. Part of an initiative known as Einstein 3, the plan called for telecommunications companies to route the Internet traffic of civilian agencies through a monitoring box that would search for and block computer codes designed to penetrate or otherwise compromise networks.  :: MORE HERE::

Anti-Real ID Governors Targets for Corruption

A BTC Exclusive

Something is definitely amiss in the Anti-Real ID political community.

Amid chatter of neo-conservative infiltration in various Republican grassroots groups, 2 of the 5 original Governors in States opposed to the Real ID Act [Maine, Alaska, New Hampshire, South Carolina & Montana] seem to have been serially removed from effectiveness in public office. Anti-Real ID sources in Washington D.C. allege that State level leaders are being targeted, specifically Governors, for complicity in Real ID matters.  Governors, once celebrated for going against Real ID,  have been reeled in for larger offices in Washington.  They are now more formidable players in international political games and some have simply cut and run. 

Since the PASS Act was filed  June 15th, both Governor Mark Sanford[SC] and Governor Sarah Palin[AK] are facing pressures to resign from their posts.  

Governor Mark Sanford, whose detailed Argentinian exploits persist in headlines, had been a stalwart defender of South Carolina's rights against Real ID.  Sanford has lost footing since attending the Bilderberg conference in 2008.  Bilderberg, a semi-annual gathering renown for it's elite puppeteering of the politically ambitious,  sets the standards for New World Order policy.  Many of its members steer the United Nations.   The Council on Foreign Relations and the U.N. have prescribed international biometric identity in the European Union's standard and for a North American Community.  Sanford's concession on biometric identifiers in his "letter of defiance" to DHS over Real ID compliance left room for approbation from Bilderberg's upper echelons.  

Governor Sarah Palin gathered political steam as she included wishes of Alaskans to go against Real ID.  This move is most similar to the concessions of Arizona Governor Napolitano, who is now DHS Secretary.   This added instant popularity with a base of small government Republicans. Palin, chosen as Republican Vice Presidential candidate, later created waves during the 2008 election when she disagreed with Senator McCain's stance on "immigration".  

"Immigration" became the mainstream media's careful binding over the costly and humiliating requirements of State's compliance with the Real ID Act.   Every U.S. Senator running on the 2008 Presidential bid had voted unanimously in favor of an appropriations bill for Tsunami relief and supplemental funding for U.S. troops in Iraq.  The Real ID Act, attached as a rider to the bill, became an embarrassing afterthought to any Senators voting record, due to a  floor debate which never took place. 

The 2008 election itself created a massive distraction over matters concerning Immigration policy. Republicans, Democrats, and corresponding media players obscured Real ID coverage. Third party presidential hopefuls, like Rep. Ron Paul(R-TX),  Rep. Cynthia McKinney (Gr-GA) and Rep. Bob Barr(L-GA), became heralds against the Real ID Act in their stump platforms carrying forward a marginalized national discourse. Governors, such as Mike Huckabee squarely seated, continued to facilitate discussions during the election cycle while dealing with practical demands for compliance.

State Governors are now gatekeepers for an international identity agenda. States opposition to Real ID manifested from a pragmatic place.  A combined consensus of over 25 states inaction towards a centralized data aggregate forced the federal government to reconsider the limits of their demands on identity from State governments. 

 

DHS has moved to repeal the more costly ventures of a centralized identity database in the PASS Act, which may be a slight relief to states.  A compromise was to keep some of the more controversial regulations intact:  RFID tags and the one-to-many uses of biometrics [DNA laminates, 3D facial prints] in ID.   State run and operated fusion centers could reasonably perform  database aggregation for local Intelligence ventures without systemic redundancy. However, some states are still ill equipped to manage, finance and operate a state networked fusion center.  Others States flatly refuse to cooperate with the new demands on identity.  

BIOMETRICS & DEADLINES IN LIGHT OF THE PASS ACT

At the end of 2009, States face a 2nd DHS extension deadline to comply with federal Real ID regulations. Since June 1, 2009,  DHS has been aggressively pushing biometric identifiers in State ID cards, commercial worker cards, and any form of travel ID cards to conform with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.  The use of biometrics in ID cards has been a historic sticking point with privacy and identity security advocates on both sides of the "immigration” debate.

Government technology vendors, like Digimarc and L-1 Biometrics subsidiaries, aggressively clamor to fulfill contracts on the basis of federal law in a stretched economy.  Some vendors have gone as far a threat of legal suit over States non-compliance to fulfill Real ID Act regulations.

Biometrics is one of the most heavily argued matters in State legislatures. Considering the whopping price tag of itemized Real ID regulations, biometric incorporation seem to be within reach with some federal grant funding available.  DHS continues to push for biometrics on the auspices of the Real ID Act and 9-11 Commission recommendations.  State governments have been torn between those who seek out the benefits of a secured drivers license and those who raise issues of privacy and the 4th Amendment.  

HAPPY 4th of July from BeatTheChip

BTC- Humor in Action

There's no slowdown really in Washington to stop the move to keep Real ID in place in their own way.   Even if the Senate IS in recess the Stop Real ID Coalition made sure the work is waiting up for you Monday. [Mark Lerner insists that the folks who want Real ID in D.C. don't sleep. It must be all that great commandeered coke that gets passed out from the DEA raids...]

We HAVE to call all those Senators to say "Ney" on the PASS Act.  ESPECIALLY, Senator JOE LIBERMAN... ESPECIALLY JOE LIBERMAN!!

What else did we miss? Well we missed this explosive musical date in Wisconsin.

FaultLineEmpires (@ Points East Pub Aug. 1st!))

5/10/2009 8:00 PM at THE ANNEX : Madison, Wisconsin 53704

w/ The Cemetery Improvement Society, 

The Real ID Act, Guzzlemug, & The Rogue Dolls

Also not to be overlooked, but what we WISHED we had missed is Governor Sanford's persistence of smarm flying in the face of Real [ID] work. Dude, we tried to bring his points up, but this guy INSISTS on doing more interviews.   

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Shut Up, Mark Sanford
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

KOS POLL: Do you need the PASS Act?

c/o Media Mogul @KOS

I’m leaving this diary up primarily for comments. I figure most people are away on holiday/vacation and to write an extensive diary on this subject around the holiday would be fruitless.

:::::TAKE THE POLL HERE:::::

Real ID Act Resurrected 

Defeated back in 2005, the Real ID Act has new legs. The new name is called "The Pass Act".

The Pass Act currently in the senate [S.1261] is much more pervasive and extensive in scope. This legislation is likely to generate heavy opposition from Christian groups, Gun Activists, Militia organizations, and libertarians. Here is an early example making its rounds on the Internet, this Special Video Report lists its concerns with the Pass Act.

Op/Ed: Florida Asserting Sovereignty?

"The founders and the people who ratified the Constitution wanted the most important decisions, the most difficult ones, handled close to home. So, whether you're a supporter of medical marijuana in California, or gun rights in Tennessee, or gay marriage in Maine, or opposed to Real ID in Missouri, you're a supporter of these principles that the founders so wisely passed on to us."

By Bill Thompson c/o Ocala.com 

Some Florida lawmakers are seeking to hit the reset button on the U.S. Constitution.

On Wednesday nine House Republicans, including two who represent Marion County, added Florida to a long list of state legislatures that are resurrecting a states' rights push to re-establish the balance between the federal government and the governed.

These initiatives against federal encroachment, now filed in more than three dozen states, are rooted in the 10th Amendment, which fences in federal power by mandating that the states and the people control public policy unless the Constitution specifically denies them such jurisdiction, or delegates such authority to the federal government.

The Florida lawmakers in their paperwork, known as a memorial, argue that "many federal laws are in direct violation of the Tenth Amendment," whose limits on Washington "established the foundational principle that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states."

"And yet," they add, "currently the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government." :: MORE::

Phil Booth on The Database State

BTC- Phil Booth of No2ID, who is combatting the database war in the the E.U. has rights too. Even in socialized nations privacy, identity security and freedom to "withdraw consent" matter where the day-to-day becomes the database.

Drinking With Bob on Real ID

BTC- It's like the powers that be don't understand us, The People ( no, not the NAFTA degenerates and corporate welfare snakes).

Here to say what I think all of us couldn't say is ..Bob..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naUv9GZ7r4k

McKinney still held on ship of activists detained by Israel

BTC Comment :  Cynthia McKinney was one of the Presidential candidates who opposed Real ID.

KENT A. MILES

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Israel on Wednesday reportedly sent home two of the 21 people taken aboard a ship that attempted to break through a blockade and deliver supplies to Gaza.

Authorities released an American filmmaker and a Danish human rights activist, according to freegaza.org, the web site of the Free Gaza Movement, which organized the voyage opposing the blockade.

The other passengers remain in Israeli custody, among them former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, and 1977 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Mairead Maguire, who co-founded a group that worked for peace in Northern Ireland.

It is the second time that McKinney, a former Green Party candidate for president who twice served in the U.S. House of Representatives, has been aboard a ship that encountered Israeli forces while trying to reach Gaza.

An Israeli naval vessel and a small boat carrying supplies for the Free Gaza Movement collided last December.

Activists vowed Wednesday to continue to defy the blockade around Gaza.

“We are definitely going to go [back] even if we have to paddle across,” Greta Berlin, a Free Gaza Movement spokeswoman, told reporters in Cyprus.

On Wednesday, groups including the Green Party and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, as well as users of social networking tools like Twitter urged the Obama administration and the State Department to press Israel to release the detained passengers.

Spokesman Darby Holladay said the U.S. embassy has been in touch with Israeli authorities. “We understand that the passengers are safe and accounted for,” he said.

Israeli naval forces on Tuesday intercepted the Greek-registered Arion in the Mediterranean Sea 23 miles off the Gaza coast.

The Free Gaza Movement contends the ship was carrying humanitarian aid. The organization had renamed the ship Spirit of Humanity and refers to it by that name on its web site.

Gaza has been under Israeli blockade since 2007, when Hamas gained control of the government. The Free Gaza Movement has breached the blockade five times since August 2008.

Israeli diplomatic officials said the ship was rerouted to the port of Ashdod. Its cargo was to be delivered to Gaza by road after a security inspection.

Material from Reuters is included in this report.

SC Times: DON'T BASH SANFORD

Gov. Mark Sanford has done so much for South Carolina. He managed to block the police-state Real ID program that the feds tried to force upon us. He has saved the taxpayers millions and millions of dollars. He has fought the jaded, vampiric, destructive, irresponsible majority in the Legislature. For these reasons and others, Gov. Sanford should remain in office to serve out the term that the people of South Carolina elected him to serve.

Also, whoever stole Mark Sanford’s personal emails and whoever publishes those emails are scum. I am assuming that there will be investigations into possible criminality in regard to the theft and publishing of these emails, as well as investigations into the political motivations behind these offensive actions. I would also encourage Gov. Sanford to take whatever legal action he so desires regarding these vile and reckless invasions of his privacy.

Mark Syverson
Columbia

Oregon Beats The Chip

OREGON BILL REJECTING REAL ID BECOMES LAW c/o RealNightmare.org

Salem – An Oregon bill that will prohibit the state from taking further action to implement Real ID cleared its final hurdle yesterday when Governor Ted Kulongoski permitted it to become law without his signature.  SB 536, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore Rick Metsger (D-Mt. Hood), had passed the Senate unanimously on April 15th and passed the House on May 29th by a vote of 39-6. 

“This is a tremendous, hard-won victory for Oregonians,” said ACLU of Oregon Legislative Director Andrea Meyer.  

Meyer pointed out that Real ID would require DMV offices to optically scan and store electronic copies of original identification documents of every person with a license or ID card.  Among the types of documents stored would be birth certificates, Social Security cards and U.S. Passports.  Real ID also requires that those electronic records be made available to motor vehicles offices around the country in a 50-state shared database.  

“Such a massive database would be a gold mine for identity thieves,” Meyer said. “The Real ID database would unnecessarily compromise the privacy and security of Oregonians, and all Americans.  Congress needs to revisit the requirements of Real ID and either scrap it altogether or make significant reforms.” 

The new law prevents Oregon from taking those steps unless there are significant improvements made by the federal government to protect privacy and to provide federal funding to the states for implementation.

Since its enactment, Real ID has faced significant pushback in the states. To date, 24 states have passed legislation denouncing the federal initiative. During her January confirmation hearing, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano called for a review of Real ID, saying the states were not consulted enough in its creation and that the initiative is a fiscal burden on the states. Before heading up DHS, Napolitano was Governor of Arizona, where she signed legislation prohibiting her state from complying with the requirements of Real ID.

With the enactment of SB 536, Oregon becomes the 14th state to pass legislation prohibiting the implementation of Real ID.  Those states are: Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington. Ten additional states have passed resolutions in opposition to Real ID. 

Real ID Not an Immigration Tool

This in from Axxiom's Blog c/o  American Policy Center's Tom Deweese

      First there was the Real ID Act. Unfortunately, some misguided Conservative leaders, both in the grassroots and in Congress continue to support this terrible Act as a safeguard to stop illegal immigration. They are horribly wrong.

Real ID is argued to be an attempt to standardize the process and format for the creation of all state drivers’ licenses to achieve increased security. Proponents argue that now we will know that anyone carrying a driver’s license is legal in this country and therefore not a threat. What most Americans do not know is that Real ID did not originate in the United States, but in the backrooms of a UN organization called the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Real ID is not a national ID card designed to protect us from terrorism and illegal immigration – it is an INTERNATIONAL ID card designed to track the movements of everyone wherever they go – anywhere in the world. As you read on you will find that it will get much worse, for Real ID is only the first step.

:: MORE HERE::