9-11 Truther detained for questioning officer's identity

He was detained in the hall after asking to see the officers’ ID cards before he left the building. They are required according to their own manual to provide ID upon request, but apparently don’t like to be asked for it. When the supervising officer ordered Bruno to turn around and put his hands behind his back, Bruno instantly turned around and put his hands behind his back with absolutely no resistance.

This story was forwarded to me from Tim Biancalana, musician and friend.  9-11 Truthers have long been in the intelligence crosshairs for questioning the events surrounding the September 11th bombings in America.  Everyone has a post 9-11 story.   Some people got more involved in securing our nation.  Others embarked on a seemingly endless quest to uncover esoteric truth in efforts to mitigate individual accountabilities for the direction our country pursued into the Iraq-Afghanistan oil and drug wars.  


This story is about an activist who may have unwisely provoked criminal justice authorities, but it is also an illustration of our freedom to non-violently and legally challenge authority on the basis of our Bill of Rights.  9-11 Truthers have been labeled, among other things, conspiracy theorists.  Obama appointed Cass Sunstein to put together a task force of special emphasis on those who continually question the government sprawl into fascism and human rights violations with their unproven guesswork.  The point is in asking who makes you more uncomfortable: the hystrionic error prone propagandists or the executive government with a task force employed to silence them as noisy targets with your tax dollars?  You can get annoyed and decide to opt out of only one of the two.


Someone asked me yesterday about my history with 9-11 Truth.  I explained: regardless of whether or not the government was "behind 9-11" - the outcomes for our nation are exactly the same: we subsidize torture, rendition, continuous denial of due process, the subversion of Habeas Corpus and sedition,  human rights violations (including experimentation), pre-emptive war, established exceptionalism as the new standard to conserve the erosions of basic civil rights and civil liberty, bankruptcy, and multinational corporate sociopathy emerging as untouchable power over US and International ethics and rule of law.  All of these things were successively exposed from the populist plumblines surrounding the 9-11 Truth movement.  My other point is if you have the intestinal fortitude to explore dystopian theory, then you might have enough to be a serial resister to totalitarian government. 


I don't stand with 9-11 Truth because I love their tinfoil hats.  I stand with them for their right to wear a hat which, however flimsy, has the mettle to defy authoritarian conventions established to dominate their right to question criminal acts of governance.   


-Sheila M. Dean

Delaware DMV unveils new secure ID cards

:: NCard :: MiddleTownTranscript::Dover Post

Dover, Del. —Starting July 1, Delaware’s blue and gold drivers’ licenses will change from simple cards with basic information to high-tech pieces of plastic designed to be more secure and harder to forge than anything that’s come before.

The new identification cards are designed to comply with federal regulations formulated in the wake of the September 11 attacks and crafted to unify procedures and security measures that vary greatly from state to state.

Beginning in 2014, only identification cards designed to the federal standards will be accepted when boarding an airplane or entering a federal building, though no one will be forced to obtain a federally compliant ID.

Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles Director Jennifer Cohan said the First State has been able to move quickly and get a jump on the federal mandates, unlike larger states that remain mired in logistical problems.

“Delaware is in a fortunate spot; we’re a small state,” she said. “We received $1 million from the federal government and we have a whole new computer system.”

To get a new ID, citizens must produce more detailed documentation than before to verify their identities and prove their citizenship.

Before issuing an ID, staff at the DMV will need to see an original birth certificate or valid passport, as well as an original social security card and a recent piece of mail received at a current in-state address.

Even though producing more detailed documentation can mean a bit more hassle for residents, Cohan said the new computer systems would make renewing an ID easier in the future.  :::MORE HERE:::

AZ SB 1070: privacy handling not added to law enforcement training

BTC -  While racial profiling potentials dominate media coverage of Arizona's new law, SB 1070, the privacy concerns of those profiled have been overshadowed.  Tempe Ariz. resident, David Huerta, a privacy code engineer for Haystackproject.org, expressed concerns about massive transfer of citizen data and how the handling of his private information could be insecure.   Huerta is also a speaker this week at the Computing, Freedom and Privacy Conference in San Jose, Calif.

Unfortunately for Huerta, and other hispanics, Arizona's law enforcement will not be trained on any additional privacy handling practices specific to SB 1070, according to Executive Director, Lyle Mann, for Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board. No privacy impact assessments were conveyed to AZPOST, the agency who develops training for Arizona's law enforcement practices.   Agencies responsible for policies to implement to the new law are the Arizona's Sherriff's Departments, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and any agency who may recruited as First Responders.

Law enforcement training to implement SB 1070 is expected to commence soon according to DPS Seargant,  Kevin Wood.   Privacy impact assessments for the new law were unkown or unavailable to Seargant Wood. Officers may be responsible for enforcing the law as soon as July, 29th 2010.

CFP Conference coverage - Live Blog

• Press and Live Blog Commentary via Tweet Chat CFP
• Live CFP camera feed 

New policy for changing gender on US passport

c/o Boing Boing >> CNN

The U.S. State Department announced Wednesday a new policy that no longer requires passport applicants seeking a gender change to have undergone sexual reassignment surgery.

The policy, which goes into effect Thursday, allows a gender change with a certification from an attending physician.

The doctor's certification must confirm only that the passport applicant has undergone treatment for gender transition. Limited-validity passports for applicants who are in the process of gender transition also will be available under the policy.

Previously, individuals had to provide documentation from a surgeon that sex reassignment surgery had been performed on them, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.
The announcement was made to coincide with Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month, the State Department said.

TWEET TWEET: Computers Freedom & Privacy

BTC -  Next week BeatTheChip.org will post special coverage of the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference.  We intend to post liveblogging, podcast interviews with speakers and privacy advocates from around the country and possibly the globe.

Coverage starts Tuesday and ends Friday.  We hope you will enjoy our exploratory journey as much as we plan to.

Red tape, immigration and a MACHETE

BTC -  The ALCU of Arizona reports an increase in claims of racial profiling at 2 cases a day trickling in from cities like Peoria, AZ since the passage of SB 1070.  The people being pulled over are not caucasian snowbirds from Ottowa.  They are overwhelmingly people of color with hispanic surnames.

Has the law been enacted?  No. But that hasn't stopped Arizona from firing teachers with accents and looking the other way as city mural art pieces are defaced as if it were open season on anyone hispanic.

Is there a privacy risk where the driver license information of those detained will be funnelled into a federal immigration database where your information is unprotected? Yes.  Will it happen to you if you are a caucasian concealed weapon carrier in transit? Not likely, UNLESS.... Arizona's DMV decides to fold all of that information over to DHS and domestic intelligence agencies. Of course, it won't be about race at that point.

THE ONGOING IMMIGRATION DRAMA

I am so so sick of SB 1070, Arizona, the racists, anti-immigrant people, immigration, the immigrants, the white people "defending" the immigrants, identity theft, database brokering vultures, the 11th grade arrested development and the pitted faces of irresponsible commentators.   Watch the 1st Amendment right to complain unfold in real-time about my Constitutional sea sickness as someone who proudly identifies as both caucasian and Mexican born American.  [WHOOPS!  Sorry 2010 Census - you didn't have a box for both!]

TRUTH:  I don't have to pick a side when I am both. Obama should back me on this one, if necessary.

The 10th Amendment  was developed so States could kick out federal affairs in important issues where their services were not wanted or needed.   The 14th Amendment was instated so that people of color and anyone born in the United States had equal rights as human beings.   If your a racist - sit down, have a coke and a smile:  the 10th Amendment is not around so you can abuse the 14th.  If you are a Federalist totalitarian, your going to lose your right to rule if you don't get moderate and respect a State's right to set boundaries honoring due process establishing States interests.  Arizona should realize even if the Federal government isn't moving at the bit rate you want them to, Immigration law is not a right reserved to the States.

I think we've all had enough of the posturing and race baiting and the heavy handed gun waving.  Go get some libations and something to eat and catch a great Summer show.  "Immigration" is not getting resolved today. 

COMIC RELIEF

Thanks to the people at Twentieth Century FOX we landed an interview with Robert Rodrigugez who plans on releasing the official trailer for MACHETE July 9th. We will be discussing the social commentary component.  No doubt we will probably find intelligent, provacative things to say if you are opposed to interracial marriage.  

Here's the unnofficial version of the trailer.  How seriously can you take it?