Is Real ID Done?

All day I have had this ugly feeling like someone is trying to save something by appearing to kill it.  But maybe that is just it.  Maybe it's over.  I certainly would like for Real ID to be done...over...toast...legislation headed for the compost or the recycler. 

I think 25 states telling the feds to "go to hell" on the federal ID mandate, choking sticker shock included, has forced them to reconsider.  However, I'm no more comfortable than I was two days ago when I was down at the Texas captiol getting nationalized language amended from bills in a somewhat humiliating immigration hearing.  All the while passing notes to ACLU's folks to try to get them to check out the new Anti-Real ID legislation, HCR 180.

The State of Texas, where I live has been trying to tip-toe around this issue as long as they could and not look like a cretin, politically.  However, even the people who THOUGHT they needed it, know it is pretty much a dying horse now.  Texas, a state that made news recently due to our Governor's constituent-based gaffe over cessession, is now beginning to recognize the limp wristed decline of Real ID's over it's ill gotten position with identity in the U.S.  It also might help that Congressman Ron Paul is a native. He clearly does not stand for this kind of garbage.  He does in fact speak for me, even if my Representative doesn't.

Do I trust DHS now that the white flag with moves to repeal is waving?  Not so much, as I am happy that the people prevailed.   My compatriots, completely engulfed in torture memo rage, know where the origins from whence all this came.   I hope Americans will continue to beat back the political callousness until we are the healthy, liberated, prosperous, morally sane nation the international community has recognized in the past.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY:  JP of NCard, fighting Real ID in North Carolina 

DHS to RENAME Real ID

April 23, 2009
North Carolinains Agianst Real ID
www.ncard.info
info@ncard.info

I know many of you have heard the big news today regarding the Real ID. "Obama, Congress to revisit Real ID" or even better "Napolitano working to repeal Real ID Act."

Now we can all celebrate, victory is ours! Not quite. You see, you have to read beyond headlines and read the entire story. The Real ID is not going to be repealed, if it is it will be in name only and called something else, perhaps Enhanced Drivers License.

Just read one paragraph from the first article mentioned and you will see it plain and clear.

"We've been, over the last weeks, meeting with governors of both parties to look at a way to repeal Real ID and substitute something else that…accomplishes some of the same goals. And we hope to announce something on that soon," Napolitano said. As governor of Arizona, Napolitano signed a bill prohibiting the state from complying with Real ID; she now oversees the program.

They want to substitute it with something else that meets the same goals. It is still going to be just as invasive and most likely just as costly as the Real ID Act in terms of price, privacy, security and in violation of the first, fourth and tenth amendments of the US constitution.

Nearly 30 states have passed resolutions or legislation to not comply with the Real ID while some like New York and Michigan have gone to enhanced drivers Licenses using a Real ID system similar to what the state department uses to create passports. Never mind that on March 13, 2009 it was reported Post-9/11 reforms don't stop passport fakery. I should also add the as Arizona Governor, Napolitano made certain her state rejected the Real ID while being one of the first to accept the Enhanced Drivers License that is Real ID compliant. Fortunately, we have had states like Missouri and Oregon recently pass legislation to prevent c ompliance with the Real ID as well. Missouri's bill introduced by Representative Jim Guest still needs to pass in the Seante but will be one of the strongest anti Real ID bill's introduced to date.

A national id is a national id, no matter what kind of name you give it. When your information flows though data hubs controlled by the Federal Government, it is a national id. If you are unable to enter a federal building or fly on a plane without one, it is a national id.

Please stay focused and know that the fight has just begun.

See Jane. See Rand Corp. See Jane Lobby AIPAC

This Alternet report's what West Los Angeles locals have presumed true already.

Harman was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference,” according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.

In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.

Seemingly wary of what she had just agreed to, according to an official who read the NSA transcript, Harman hung up after saying, “This conversation doesn’t exist."

Oh, what? You didn't know that RAND Corporation has their favorite federal legislators? My god... Jane Harman is just 20 minutes or less from Rand Corp in Santa Monica, CA. And she delivers.

Yeah, we just love the disingenuous greasing from Blue Dog democrat,  Jane Harman; author of the HR 1955 (May it R.I.P.) The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act  2007.  It is now commonly & historically known as the Thought Crime Bill.

There is quite a buzz brimming right now about DHS's Radicalization Branch since cornball commoners got up out of their arm chairs and donned rediculous felt tri-cornered hats and bothered the feds about generations of the reckless fleecing.   BTW... the FED CAN GET AUDITED JUST LIKE WE CAN.

Enough, liberty is not just for teabaggers, anymore.  It's not just for people who listen to Brooks & Dunn and eat steak with their hot blonde wives.  It's for broke, unemployed, dumped, semi-homeless people who have LOST THEIR LIVES over the way Wall Street and our government does business.  What kind of world are we living in when we can't get a tax return when we need it and there's no unemployment money for us when we paid it forward when times were better?   

I find it strange that the Homegrown Terrorism act never passes, but somehow is then budgeted and added as a DHS branch which produced a document criminalizing anyone gathering publicly to protest about immigration (for or against current trends) or abortion (for or against) or if you plan on drawing any kind of boundary based on the 10th amendment with the federal government.

I think that had a lot to do with Jane Harman.

Pastor Beaten During Routine Police Stop

Obama Exonerates CIA & Bybee Get's a CA Job

This up from the Courage Campaign:

Hi, Have you heard that one of President Bush's torture advisors is now a federal judge in California? In August 2002, Judge Jay Bybee wrote a horrific memo enabling the torture of detainees -- including waterboarding -- at Guantanamo Bay. In 2003, he was confirmed to a seat on the important Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Instead of sitting on the federal bench, he must be held accountable for his role in the unspeakable crimes that took place at Guantanamo Bay under President Bush. The Courage Campaign is helping a diverse group of California progressive activists who are working to pass a resolution at this Friday's California Democratic Party convention demanding that the U.S. House of Representatives begin impeachment proceedings against Judge Jay Bybee. This resolution is the first step in holding Judge Bybee accountable for what he has done.  Will you join me in signing your name as a supporter of impeaching Judge Jay Bybee and urge your friends to do the same?: http://www.couragecampaign.org/ImpeachBybee

MISSOURI BEATING THE CHIP

Guest’s anti-Real ID bill passes House

c/o Jefferson City Press

by Alyson E. Raletz
Monday, April 20, 2009

A King City legislator last week began to see major opposition to his crusade against the Federal Real ID Act of 2005, but he still clinched support from the Missouri House of Representatives.

The House on Thursday, in a 83-69 vote, endorsed HB 361, which would keep the Missouri Department of Revenue from selling off driver’s license information to outside parties. The bill also in a less direct way rejects Real ID, an effort from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to streamline identification requirements among the states to prevent immigration fraud.

Rep. Jim Guest, R-King City, leads a national coalition of lawmakers who argue that Real ID is a movement toward a national driver’s license, the federal government will abuse the information and that it will open up the country to identity theft.

The bill prohibits the Department of Revenue from changing any of its procedures to comply with Real ID, a much stronger stance than the resolution approved by prior Missouri legislatures that simply called on Congress to repeal the act.

Opponents this year have gained in numbers, saying that Missourians will need access to Real IDs, which the federal government will require for citizens to board airplanes or enter certain federal buildings.

“It seems to me a senseless, huge inconvenience on our citizens,” Rep. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, said during floor debate. “There’s no reason to overreact right now.”

Countered Mr. Guest, “Homeland Security says it’s not a national ID, but they know it’s false.”

In the end, Mr. Guest was successful and the bill moves to the Senate for consideration.

Local representatives voting “yes” were Republicans Mike Thomson of Maryville, Jason Brown of Platte City, Dr. Rob Schaaf of St. Joseph, Mr. Guest and Mike Lair of Chillicothe.

Voting “no” were St. Joseph Democrats Ed Wildberger and Martin Rucker, and a Bethany Republican, Casey Guernsey.

Long schools bill

to grow even more

Legislation that started out as an avenue to expand virtual classrooms and then snowballed into an omnibus education bill may pick up some more layers.

The bill from Sen. Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, also addresses a technical glitch with the Proposition A gaming money, enrollment for foster children, charter schools, school capital improvements and teacher performance, among other proposals.

The chairman of a House education committee that considered SB 291 last week said the group likely would take out some of the Senate provisions and add some of its own. With four weeks remaining in the legislative session, Rep. Maynard Wallace, R-Thornfield, opted to wait on a vote. Already passed in the Senate, the bill needs approval from the House before it can go to the governor’s desk.

“It’s too important of a bill to hurry,” Mr. Wallace said.

Nixon looks

to keep Blunt’s pick

for Western board

Gov. Jay Nixon re-appointed a former Platte County commissioner to the Missouri Western State University Board of Governors last week.

Former Gov. Matt Blunt in December had appointed Diza Eskridge, a 67-year-old Democrat from Weston, to the post, but her term was subject to confirmation from the Senate. Since the Senate didn’t convene until January, she served in that capacity, but her membership wasn’t official, according to the university.

When Mr. Nixon became governor, as is a tradition of most governors, he withdrew all of the unconfirmed nominations from the prior administration so he could consider them himself. Mr. Nixon last week announced he decided to stick with Ms. Eskridge.

The board sets university rules, bylaws and regulations. Ms. Eskridge also has served on the Mid-America Regional Council’s board of directors. Her term, which is subject to Senate confirmation, would end Oct. 29, 2014.

Alyson E. Raletz covers the state Legislature for the News-Press in Jefferson City. She can be reached at alysonraletz@npgco.com or (573) 636-2307.

Identify Yourself or Go To Jail

A Grits For Breakfast Commentary by Scott Henson 

Finally, the committee approved a bill, SB 1175, that would allow police to give a Class C ticket for "failure to identify" when they detain a suspect. (Discussion of the bill begins at the 1:32:00 mark.) Currently, Texans don't have to identify themselves unless they're actually arrested, and it's not a crime if you don't do so. In practice, of course, police can't write a ticket without the identifying information, so this would give them cause to arrest you and cart you off to jail (under authority affirmed by the US Supreme Court in Atwater v. Lago Vista, a Texas case).

What kind of situations are we talking about? Under what circumstances might you be "detained" when police have no cause to arrest you? The examples given were things like "taking pictures in front of a nuclear power plant," but I think the new power would be used more widely than that, and mostly in non-terrorism related cases.

I wrote about a situation last year where I was detained on the street for, essentially, "babysitting while white." Some busybody called 911 because they saw me walking down the street with a two-year old of a different race. Three police cars were sent to detain and question me over this grave matter. That was a formal "detention" and Sen. Patrick's statute would have applied. More than a few commenters were offended that I wasn't more cooperative with police - though I did give my name and address when asked, I refused to answer detailed or personal questions. I thought a lot afterward about why I reacted the way I did. Mostly it's because the officer precisely didn'task for my name at first, but instead asked a series of questions aimed at determining whether I was some sort of child molester or kidnapper.

Sen. Whitmire asked why any law abiding citizen would refuse to identify themselves, and while I can't speak for others, I know why I wouldn't answer questions that day. As I said in reply to a commenter in that post, "Talking to cops who want to investigate you for false allegations of sex crimes has many potential negatives that simply refusing to speak to them wholly avoids." When the conversation starts out with an accusation, it's wholly justified and probably wise from the perpective of a potential defendant to not give police any information at all.

Whitmire himself identified another reason someone might not want to tell police who they were - if they were having an affair or some other "domestic situation." There are many possible scenarios where someone might not want their spouse, their job, etc., to know their whereabouts, but that wouldn't imply a crime was committed. The point is, in a free society, that person has free will to make bad choices as long as they don't harm others or violate the law. "None of your business" is still a valid response.

To demand, "if you don't have cause to arrest me, let me go" IMO is a reasonable exercise of one's rights and shouldn't require subjecting yourself to a check in the warrants database, which is the main thing this is really about at the end of the day. With more than 10% of adult Texans having outstanding traffic warrants, every time someone walks away without running them through the system, police miss a 10% chance they'll owe money that can be leveraged from them with a trip to the jail.

This is not a slippery slope toward a police state but a straight chute. I've joked before how, during the Cold War, we used to consider it the height of totalitarianism that Communist police might stop an average citizen on the street, demand to see their papers, and arrest them if they didn't comply. But that's exactly the kind of power Sen. Patrick's legislation would give police in Texas: Identify yourself or go to jail. "Can I see your papers, comrade?" That's unnecessary. The law's just fine like it is.

FBI Vastly Expands Databases

NY Times.com

Sixteen states now take DNA from some who have been found guilty of misdemeanors. As more police agencies take DNA for a greater variety of lesser and suspected crimes, civil rights advocates say the government’s power is becoming too broadly applied. “What we object to — and what the Constitution prohibits — is the indiscriminate taking of DNA for things like writing an insufficient funds check, shoplifting, drug convictions,” said Michael Risher, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.

BTC Austin - As it stands there are between 8-10 bills filed with relationship to DNA database staorage in Texas.  For more information or to track these legislations visit : www.capitol.state.tx.us