Real ID resistance continues

[Tom Sawyer]

Got this from Jenn Coffey

The Granite State ID Coalition has reactivated due to increasing pressure from DHS to comply with their mandate.  We have many things planned but what we need most from all of you is to take a moment and write a letter to the editor of your local paper and or including Concord Monitor and Union Leader.  In these letters we must praise Governor Lynch for his 2 yrs of work to see our law enacted last year.
We must encourage him in the most positive of ways to join with Governor Switzer of Montana in protecting states rights and the rights of the individual citizens within.

We all knew when we took on this fight we had won a battle but not the war against National ID cards.  Now is the time to show the feds we will not be bullied into changing our law and bowing to their will.  To do this we must encourage Lynch to stay strong and stand with Montana.  In doing so we may help to get other states such as Oklahoma to join us as well.  Now is the time we take what we have done to the national level.

In writing your letters please keep them positive we want Lynch to draw from us his constituents the strength he will need to continue the fight in the face of looming threats by the DHS.

An other thing we can do is send Lynch a thank you card, imagine flooding him with these cards that say nothing more than thank you for preventing Real ID in our state and keep up the good work.  No matter how you feel about other issues we must do this regarding Lynch to let him know we are still paying attention, we will support him, and he needs to support Montana.  The snowball effect that can  be created if just two states join together publicly could be the push we need to get Real ID reversed on the federal level.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns, we will be planning an other GSID meeting in the near future.  Please feel free to post this on forums or forward it to others you know will take interest and action.

Jenn Coffey
Granite State ID Coalition

ravenest at gmail.com

[Jim Johnson]

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, or close the Capital up with our Freedom Loving dead! In peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility; But when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger: Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood.

[Pat K]

Uh yea what Jim said.

[KBCraig]

Ummm, okay, aside from gritty toads...

The Lancaster Herald/Colebrook Chronicle (sister publications with shared content from the same publisher) both had articles this past week about the new border crossing ID requirements, and the impact on the North Country. So did the Berlin Daily Sun. Several (nine, I think) border state senators called for a moratorium on the new requirements. Sununu (despite his faults) signed on, but Gregg did not.

The North Country newspapers only offer online content by .pdf, not always with archives, so grab it while you can:

http://colebrookchronicle.com/cc.pdf
http://colebrookchronicle.com/lh.pdf
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/BerlinPDF/2008/1/29B.pdf
(Change the obvious date variable to see the Berlin Daily Sun editions for different dates.)

[Lloyd Danforth]

Uh yea what Jim said.

I don't know.................sounds a bit icky to me.  Sinew, blood......blah!

[Russell Kanning]

can you imagine the consternation in the DHS offices in NH .... and department of safety and department of emergency management? "Those darn people don't know that there are turrists out there and we need our realID"

[David]

Chertoff wrote an article in I think the Keene Sentinel about the realID.

[hwrnhetcxyc]

Chertoff wrote an article in I think the Keene Sentinel about the realID.

Was it a general PR piece targeted at the whole USA or did it target NH for not going along?

[Dave Ridley]

i'd like to see a copy of the chertoff article

i think he is the greatest after his nimble handling of the katrina crisis

[Russell Kanning]

dada tell funny joke

[Tom Sawyer]

   Showdown: The Final Battle Against REAL ID Has Begun
      by James W. Harris

The national ID battle, brewing for years, is now underway in earnest.

On January 11, the Department of Homeland Security released its final rules on
what states must do to implement REAL ID, the national identification law
Congress passed in 2005.

Homeland Security has taken the gloves off. States have until May to accept the
plan. Beginning May 11, 2008, says Homeland Security, residents of states that
have not agreed to implement REAL ID will not be allowed to use their state
drivers licenses to board airplanes or enter federal buildings. They can use a
U.S. passport or possibly other documents in some circumstances, but they must
expect to "suffer delays due to the requirement for enhanced security
screening." In other words, take your shoes off, pal, and get in that LONG LONG
line over there.

States that agree to comply may be granted extensions of several years to fully
implement REAL ID. But when REAL ID is in place, notes CNET NEWS, in addition
to flying and entering federal buildings, "REAL ID could in theory be required
for traveling on Amtrak, collecting federal welfare benefits, signing up for
Social Security, applying for student loans, interacting with the U.S. Postal
Service, entering national parks" as well as purchasing firearms.

In practice, it may be impossible even to get a job or open a bank account
without REAL ID. REAL ID is widely expected to become the standard ID for the
private sector.

And that's just the start. Homeland Security is already floating additional
uses for the cards, including "reducing unlawful employment, voter fraud, and
underage drinking," and monitoring the purchase of over-the-counter medicines.
The REAL ID Act explicitly says that REAL IDs shall be required for "any other
purposes that the Secretary [of Homeland Security] shall determine." A more
open-ended grant of power could not be written.

REAL ID requires all states to make major changes to their driver's
licenses, turning them into police-state national ID cards that will be loaded
with sensitive personal information, all of which will be tied together in huge
databases. These databases will make it easy to routinely track, monitor, and
regulate the movements and activities of all citizens. The cards would also be
computer-readable, allowing government and private-sector scanners to collect
the personal information on the cards.

The stakes are incredibly high, says former U.S. Congressman and current
Libertarian Party National Committee board member Bob Barr.

"The massive database that would be created by the REAL ID Act, containing all
manner of private information on citizens, is potentially one of the most
privacy-invasive laws in the history of our country," Barr says. "Anything less
than scrapping this offensive national identification card law is
unacceptable."

The ACLU points out that the REAL ID "will become tantamount to a license to
leave your house," since it will be required virtually everywhere you go. "The

end result could be a situation where citizens' movements inside their own
country are monitored and recorded through these 'internal passports.'"

And so the stage is now set for a massive battle right out of the movie "V For
Vendetta": Big Brother at its most evil and intrusive versus outraged citizens
who cherish civil liberties and privacy rights.

A true grassroots rebellion against REAL ID is forming. So far, 17 states have
passed laws or resolutions rejecting REAL ID: Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia,
Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington. 

Twenty-one other states have either introduced legislation or had legislation
pass in one chamber opposing REAL ID. 

But all those states are facing tremendous pressure from the federal
government.

Like so much recent statist legislation, REAL ID was sneaked into law. It was
slipped into a May 2005 emergency-spending bill to fund the wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq and provide tsunami relief. Such bills are almost impossible to
defeat. It passed the House 368-58 and the Senate unanimously. There was not a
single debate on the Act in the Senate, and insufficient discussion in the
House. President Bush, who, his spokespersons once said, "does not support a
national ID card," strongly backed it and quickly signed it into law.

There have been attempts to kill the REAL ID beast in Congress. Legislation has
been introduced in both the House and Senate to repeal the act, but thus far
they have not progressed.

As this battle begins in earnest, state by state, no one should be fooled into
thinking REAL ID has anything to do with fighting terrorism. The federal
government has pushed for a national ID card for years, well before the 9/11
terrorist attacks. Previous justifications have included health care, the War
on Drugs, protecting children, and controlling immigration. Any excuse, it
seems, will do. This is all about massive, Orwellian control of Americans by a
federal government run amok.

As Ron Paul said when the bill was introduced in 2005: "National ID cards will
be used to track the law-abiding masses, not criminals."

REAL ID is a Real Bad Idea: a giant move towards a 1984-ish police state where
the government monitors and controls everything you say and do.

It can still be stopped. But it's now or never.

(Sources: EPIC: http://epic.org/press/011108.html
ACLU: http://www.realnightmare.org/
Libertarian Party: http://www.lp.org/media/article_557.shtml
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-healey22jan22,0,5551102.story )
Homeland Security on REAL ID:
http://www.dhs.gov/xprevprot/programs/gc_1172767635686.shtm

[kola]

95% will comply.

The rest of us will figure out how to live without it.

No fear here. 

Kola

[J’raxis 270145]

95% will comply.

The rest of us will figure out how to live without it.

No fear here. 

No one in New Hampshire will comply.

[kola]

95% will comply.

The rest of us will figure out how to live without it.

No fear here. 

No one in New Hampshire will comply.

How do you know this? Do they honor your constitution? They could easily just rename it and not use "national ID system". And when big gov penalizies and stops handing out fed and state gov grants will people start to squirm?

Sometimes when it comes "down to business," people crumble...or should I say "sheeple."

ie  Brown supporters? where were the hundreds/thousands of people to back them? Look at their donation drive to get 10k. Thay have 0 dollars. The NH primaries did not show support for Ron Paul either.

I do not intend to disrepect any of you NH folks who are trying very hard to create change. I surely hope your hard fought actions prevail but as of late I am quite dsipleased with the mentality of 95% of americans. 

Mostly my displeasure is due to what is happening with Ron Paul and his lack of success. I am losing faith in commonfolk as I was hoping they would begin to awake.

cranky,
Kola

[J’raxis 270145]

The anti–Real ID thing here has been a very big deal. If the DMV, &c., try anything cute to implement Real ID despite the prohibition on doing so, our legislative activists and probably the anti–Real ID legislators themselves will notice and do something about it.