Papers, Please!

DHS–the Gestapo–is a scary organization. Read the article. Take some action. We can’t let this happen.

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DHS proposes to require both ID papers and passes for all air travel

August 12th, 2007

In a series of recent publications in the Federal Register, the Department of Homeland Security is proposing a comprehensive new system of surveillance and, perhaps more important, control of both domestic and international travelers.

The proposed new rules, which are currently open for public comments, would require that:

1. All would be international travellers to or from the USA (even US citizens crossing the U.S.-Canada border on foot) would have to have government-issued ID credentials
2. All would-be passengers on international or domestic flights to, from, over, via, or within the U.S. would have to have both government-issued ID credentials and explicit case-by-case prior permission from the DHS to the airline to allow each passenger to board a plane.

The proposed rules would enforce the requirements for papers and permits through default provisions that would:

1. Require all air travellers to show their papers (”government-issued photo ID”) to airline staff on request of the DHS, under penalty of denial of transportation.
2. Forbid any airline from issuing a boarding pass to anyone, or allowing them to baord a plane, unless and until the airline received individual permission (a “cleared message”) authorizing that airline to allow that specific person on that specific flight.

Papers, Please!

UnRealID.com

This is very scary stuff. Read the article. 

Time To Bury REAL ID

Fund it?  Kill it.

The Senate will be voting this week on funding Homeland Security this week, and one national ID card-loving politician is trying to slip-in a little REAL ID funding: he needs to be stopped.

States have strongly resisted this unfunded federal mandate – one that the Department of Homeland Security expects to cost more that $23 billion or almost $100 per license holder.  Seventeen states have said ‘no’ to REAL ID – labeling it invasive, un-American, costly and an invitation to identity theft.  They know it will force citizens to stand in long lines for licenses and endure numerous hassles looking for documents like birth certificates.

Now instead of listening to the states, Senator Lamar Alexander plans to offer an amendment to this year’s Homeland Security funding bill that will take hundreds of millions of dollars away from important things like port security, the Coast Guard, and disaster preparedness.  He wants to give a little cash to the states to fund REAL ID – 300 million dollars-worth – and expects the states to gratefully pay the remaining 22.7 billion dollar tab.

UnRealID.com