Supplemental war spending...

[NovelGentry]

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c109...emp/~c109csGw9g (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c109:./temp/~c109csGw9g)

This Bill, passed 100-0 on the House floor, moving onto the President (and no doubt will be signed) increases war spending. The 82 billion dollars will be headed for US conquests in the middle east. On the domestic front, a rider in the bill calls for federal ID standards to be implemented by the states, a federal database to hold extensive information on the citizens, and of course, absolute power to the Secretary of Homeland Security. Several provisions destroy judicial power, right down to habeas corpus, stating...


For purposes of this Act, in every provision that limits or eliminates judicial review or jurisdiction to review, the terms `judicial review' and `jurisdiction to review' include habeas corpus review pursuant to section 2241 of title 28, United States Code, or any other habeas corpus provision . . .

[OleMarxco]

The more they use, they more the loose.
Fools :che:

[Anarchist Freedom]

This is what we are in need of. We need to get people pissed.

[Jersey Devil]

The actual text of the Real ID Act (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-418)

This just makes the Secretary of Homeland Security above the judicial branch of government. This whole thing is a joke attached to a military spending bill to get passed and if any legislators were to have tried to do what is right in the next election they would have been attacked for being "anti-military". They might as well build a neo-Berlin Wall around the border, if Bush signs this (which he probably will) then we are nothing more then a capitalist Soviet Union.

What's worse is that the congressman who purposed this blatently anti-judiciary legislation, Sensenbrenner, is also the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Sensenbrenner

Ethics charges
On April 26th, 2005, it was widely reported that Jim Sensenbrenner has had lobbyists pay for his transportation, a violation of congressional laws. His total travel expenses are higher than any other congressman.

The following is an argument that a Libertarian-Republican Congressman from Texas named Ron Paul made against this part of the bill. It's a fine argument that addresses many of the faults of this piece of legislation. I bolded the more important parts.

http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2005/cr020905.htm


Mr. Speaker:

I rise in strong opposition to HR 418, the REAL ID Act. This bill purports to make us safer from terrorists who may sneak into the United States, and from other illegal immigrants. While I agree that these issues are of vital importance, this bill will do very little to make us more secure. It will not address our real vulnerabilities. It will, however, make us much less free. In reality, this bill is a Trojan horse. It pretends to offer desperately needed border control in order to stampede Americans into sacrificing what is uniquely American: our constitutionally protected liberty.

What is wrong with this bill?

The REAL ID Act establishes a national ID card by mandating that states include certain minimum identification standards on driver’s licenses. It contains no limits on the government’s power to impose additional standards. Indeed, it gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to unilaterally add requirements as he sees fit.

Supporters claim it is not a national ID because it is voluntary. However, any state that opts out will automatically make non-persons out of its citizens. The citizens of that state will be unable to have any dealings with the federal government because their ID will not be accepted. They will not be able to fly or to take a train. In essence, in the eyes of the federal government they will cease to exist. It is absurd to call this voluntary.

Republican Party talking points on this bill, which claim that this is not a national ID card, nevertheless endorse the idea that “the federal government should set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification such as driver’s licenses.” So they admit that they want a national ID but at the same time pretend that this is not a national ID.

This bill establishes a massive, centrally-coordinated database of highly personal information about American citizens: at a minimum their name, date of birth, place of residence, Social Security number, and physical and possibly other characteristics. What is even more disturbing is that, by mandating that states participate in the “Drivers License Agreement,” this bill creates a massive database of sensitive information on American citizens that will be shared with Canada and Mexico!

This bill could have a chilling effect on the exercise of our constitutionally guaranteed rights. It re-defines "terrorism" in broad new terms that could well include members of firearms rights and anti-abortion groups, or other such groups as determined by whoever is in power at the time. There are no prohibitions against including such information in the database as information about a person’s exercise of First Amendment rights or about a person’s appearance on a registry of firearms owners.

This legislation gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to expand required information on driver’s licenses, potentially including such biometric information as retina scans, finger prints, DNA information, and even Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) radio tracking technology. Including such technology as RFID would mean that the federal government, as well as the governments of Canada and Mexico, would know where Americans are at all time of the day and night.

There are no limits on what happens to the database of sensitive information on Americans once it leaves the United States for Canada and Mexico - or perhaps other countries. Who is to stop a corrupt foreign government official from selling or giving this information to human traffickers or even terrorists? Will this uncertainty make us feel safer?

What will all of this mean for us? When this new program is implemented, every time we are required to show our driver’s license we will, in fact, be showing a national identification card. We will be handing over a card that includes our personal and likely biometric information, information which is connected to a national and international database.

H.R. 418 does nothing to solve the growing threat to national security posed by people who are already in the U.S. illegally. Instead, H.R. 418 states what we already know: that certain people here illegally are "deportable." But it does nothing to mandate deportation.

Although Congress funded an additional 2,000 border guards last year, the administration has announced that it will only ask for an additional 210 guards. Why are we not pursuing these avenues as a way of safeguarding our country? Why are we punishing Americans by taking away their freedoms instead of making life more difficult for those who would enter our country illegally?

H.R. 418 does what legislation restricting firearm ownership does. It punishes law-abiding citizens. Criminals will ignore it. H.R. 418 offers us a false sense of greater security at the cost of taking a gigantic step toward making America a police state.

I urge my colleagues to vote “NO” on the REAL ID Act of 2005.



Ron Paul, R-TX