Fascinating news item in the Standard-Examiner today. One of our irate readers sent us this article from today's Std-Ex: "Utah won’t rebuff federal ID act". It seems that another of House Rep. Glenn Donnelson's (R-North Ogden) bills has once again gone down in flames... once again in a sitting house committee, which is the house leadership's "killing floor" for any leadership-unapproved legislation. That's how business is done in the neoCON controlled Utah legislature.Here's the rundown:
We hate to seem paranoid, but it appears to us that we've already given up most of our civil rights already, what with Blessed George Bush's Patriot Act, so we're now wondering why we now need a Federal ID Card, which will be a substitute for our state drivers' licence.SALT LAKE CITY — The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to reject a bill that would have removed Utah from the federal Real Identity Act. The vote was 31-41 against HB 241, sponsored by Rep. Glenn Donnelson, R-North Ogden. Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005. It requires states to adopt a standardized driver license to help ensure proper identification and would enter information from applications into a federal data bank. Last year the House approved a resolution asking Congress to repeal the act. “This year I just want to take it a step further,” Donnelson said. The Real ID Act required states to adopt the standards no later than this year, but that deadline has since been extended to 2010.
Residents of states that do not comply with the requirement will not be able to use driver’s licenses for identification at such places as airport and federal buildings.
“Federal government is not mandating this, but if we don’t do this, your driver’s license won’t be accepted where federal ID is required,” said Rep. David Clark, R-Santa Clara.
Clark said states will be required to do extensive background checks on residents who apply and it is anticipated the cost to states will run between $11 billion and $20 billion. Congress did not appropriate any funds to reimburse states for those costs.
“I would really like to poke Congress in the eye and pass this bill, but I think we would poke ourselves in the eye even further,” Clark said.
Donnelson said the Real ID Act takes away state’s rights, which is against the Fourth Amendment. There are 18 other states that passed similar legislation.
Being the curious type we googled "Real ID" and came up with this:
FAQ on REAL ID Act .
Having read that, we remembered a short video one of our gentle readers sent us a short while ago ago: NORTH AMERICAN UNION & VCHIP TRUTH . (Nine minute YouTube video)
So what do our ever-intelligent readers think about this? Shall we finally don our tin hats, or shall we merely chill, and calmly think about our government's most recent incremental encroachments upon our privacy and civil rights, at least semi-seriously? How many readers would like their commercial dealings recorded on one single government database every time their ID card is "swiped" at the local convenience store? How many readers are good with the concept of "Big Government" tracking their every move, and possibly selling their gathered data commercially? How would you feel about having a "chip" implanted in your head? Did Glenn Donnelson finally get one defeated bill right? Is a government surveillance world really the kind of world we want to live in? Should U.S. citizens submit to carrying a national ID card, as in Hitler's Germany? Are we finding ourselves amiably, contentedly and inexorably sliding down the slippery slope toward the tyranny of Huxley's Brave New World?
A pox on Rep. David Clark (R-Santa Clara) who was the deciding vote to kill Donnelsons' bill in committee, because resistance to this overbearing federal mandate would inconvenience a few people in the short run.
Consider this a heads-up to local political wonks, for those who didn't already know that Glenn Donnelson is a real civil libertarian. (Note the lower-case "l").
Well?
