Friday, June 22, 2007

The REAL ID Trojan Horse: Biometric Social Security Cards

This type of legislation needs no introduction.





Caution: the 'article' below is part of a petition drive message sent to
the membership of the Downsize DC website as regards the proposed
"Immigration Reform" bill presently under consideration by the Senate.
As such, the contents have been 'tweaked' to evoke the highest possible
response/reaction from the site's members. Nevertheless, after having
taken a peak at the legislation at issue (search term: "S. 1348") as
well as subsequent amendments to same (e.g., search terms: "S. 1348 real
id" or "S. 1348 amendment 1150"), the threat cited herein is real
enough--i.e., is legitimate. As always, caveat lector.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=73

[See also: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?r110:./temp/~r110ZOBEOm
and http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:s.01348: ]


2007-May-21
REAL ID Trojan Horse

The immigration controversy, and the legislation it has spawned, has
become a Trojan Horse for imposing the REAL ID Act on all Americans, and
entangling all of us in a bureaucratic nightmare of apocalyptic proportions.

Think for a moment about all the problems there have been with the
terrorist watch list. Think about all the innocent Americans who have
been placed on this list for no discernible reason, and the trouble
people have had getting off this list. Now . . .

Imagine this same kind of bureaucratic nightmare expanding to entangle
every job and business in America. This is what the REAL ID provisions
of the new Senate Immigration Bill (S. 1348) will bring about.

The offending section is Title III which will require . . .

Every employer in America to pre-screen every worker for every job
they're ever offered for the rest of their lives, regardless of the size
of the business, or the job.

The cost to the federal government ALONE is estimated by the feds
themselves (so you know it's low) at $11.7 billion per year.

The costs to businesses may be even higher. This will raise the cost of
hiring new people and foster unemployment. But that's only the beginning
of the trouble.

Every American will have to produce a Real ID license to get a job--no
exceptions. I think we can see where this is going . . .

Proving our identity, and proving that we are innocent, is about to
become a requirement for living.

Taking this approach could certainly solve the problem of prison
over-crowding, because under REAL ID deadbeat Moms and Dads, drunk
drivers, jaywalkers, and anybody else who does anything wrong at any
time, can all be punished simply and quickly, without prison, and
perhaps without trial, simply by turning them into a non-person in terms
of the required employment background check.

But let's say you don't ever do anything wrong, but you still end up
with a black mark next to your name anyway, just like what has happened
to people with the terrorist watch list? How long will it take, and how
much will it cost, to get your name cleared?

And what if you can't get your name cleared, simply because of
bureaucratic inefficiency, like with the terrorist watch list?

Will you starve because you can't get a job? And what about your family?
Your kids?

Meanwhile, under these provisions, the black market gets a further
government "price support" for fake IDs. Anything can be faked. If a
thing can be made by government it can be forged by criminals. This
includes birth certificates and other documents required to obtain a
so-called REAL ID.

Politicians who talk about tamper proof ID cards are idiots babbling
nonsense.

But it gets worse. The federal government is trying to box in the states
that have rejected the REAL ID program by making all of the citizens of
those states effectively illegal persons!

Plus, new federal funding for state programs will only be given to
states that comply with REAL ID. The Feds are trying to both bribe and
coerce the states into complying.

What's worse, most of the Senate may not even realize these provisions
are in the immigration bill, or what their impact would be. The bill is
huge, and complicated. As of this writing it hasn't even been printed
yet, and it's very unlikely the Senators will even read the bill before
they pass it into law.

You've been warned. If you want to heed the warning please send a
message to both the House and Senate telling them to strip out all REAL
ID related provisions from any immigration bill they are considering.


"There's no paranoia in politics: if they're out to rule you,
they're out to get you".
~Edward B.~ ><+>


“There ought to be limits to freedom.”
~ George W. Bush ~

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