HATS OFF!!!

Thomas ^

[Askel5]

AMENDMENT NO. 3807

Text of the Bill
(Passed 96:2, 2 abstaining)

Mr. LIEBERMAN. In the meantime, Mr. President, I would like to take this opportunity to say a word about amendment No. 3807 which Senator McCain and I offered yesterday. This is another of the elements of the Ð9/11 Commission report that was part of legislation Senator McCain and I introduced the day after Labor Day as a way to guarantee that all elements of the 9/11 report would be before the Senate.

This one has to do with effective screening to keep terrorists out of America and away from vital infrastructure in America. It is a comment on the age in which we live, something we have taken for granted in America but has been a great asset of ours, and that is the size of our country, the size of our borders, and the welcome mat we generally have put out for people visiting our country.

That openness has been exploited--it certainly was prior to the attacks of September 11--exploited by those who, as someone else has said, hate us more than they love their own lives. They come in here and are prepared to blow themselves up to kill Americans. That demands that we not try to put a wall around America-- we can never do that--but that we be aggressive and smart about raising our guard and requiring some standards of personal identification from people coming into America, something we have not required before.

We can do that without compromising unduly, unnecessarily, the openness of our country and the welcome we put out to both those who want to emigrate here and those who just plain want to visit.

The amendment Senator McCain and I offered has several parts to it. One is to simply help us obtain better information about the way in which terrorists move around, the way in which they intend to exploit our transportation systems, our existing laws, to do damage to us and our people. We want to better screen for terrorists in foreign countries long before they can reach our borders. We want to better train border personnel. We want to use the most sophisticated computer imaging equipment to detect fraudulent travel documents. We want to better screen at the borders and at points of access, as I say, to critical infrastructure, transportation particularly, and we want to do more to protect against identity fraud and identity theft because so often these terrorists will assume new identities as a way to gain access to the country and access to places where they can inflict damage on us.

What it means to defend America has changed. In a different age, the age of serious conflict, it meant having the strongest military we could, having the most sophisticated weapons we could, to deter enemy attack, to be prepared to go to the battlefield, to deploy our forces to meet the enemy and defeat the enemy. Today, it involves homeland security in a way it never has before in our history, and this amendment would enable us to raise our homeland security in the best way possible.

In its analysis of the events leading up to September 11, 2001, the 9/11 Commission concluded that the terrorists are as reliant on travel documents as they ultimately are on weapons. To succeed, they have to travel clandestinely to meet, train, plan, case targets, look at targets, and gain access to sites they want to attack. They rely on networks of people to facilitate their travel, people they place within this country. Commonly, their travel documents have been tampered with.

The 9/11 Commission found that as many as 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers could have been intercepted at the borders. Two of them actually entered the United States even though they were known as terrorists by at least one agency in the intelligence community of the United States. They were on a terrorist watch list. They had been heard at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur, kind of a world conference of terrorists, al-Qaida largely, where we now believe the attacks of 9/11 were planned. Two of them met that standard.

The point is we have to address the multiple opportunities to identify and stop the terrorists at every point along their travel routes long before they reach our entry points, at our border crossings. Once inside the country, we have to find ways to detect them.

The first thing this amendment does is seek to improve our intelligence about how terrorists travel. Before 9/11 and even today, there is no agency within the Federal Government that has the responsibility to consider this question. The Department of Homeland Security, therefore, would be directed by the amendment to work with the appropriate intelligence and law enforcement agencies in a coordinated effort to detect methods and patterns of travel, such as the use of specific routes. They would look for those who assist terrorists, be they human smugglers or corrupt government officials.

There is information--and I can describe it because it was mentioned in a newspaper; I saw it in the Washington Times earlier this week--about terrorist elements, al-Qaida working with certain gangs, drug groups, who customarily smuggle people across our southern border to work with them to smuggle in terrorists. We cannot sit back and let that happen.

This amendment would also expand screening for terrorists long before they reach our borders. Federal agencies would be required to develop a plan for working with foreign countries to share information on terrorists and increase inspection at foreign airports, not just U.S. airports. The amendment would increase investment in new technologies that can detect false travel documents or those with certain indicators that are consistent with terrorist use based on patterns of what we know now, and would require both the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department to provide training about terrorist travel to our front-line border officials so they may better spot forged passports or other subtle clues that warrant further scrutiny.

The best available technology should also be provided to our embassies and consulates to detect doctored passports or other forms of false identification before the applicant is issued a visa, set up a kind of technological wall of identification, most specifically at visa-granting points around the world for visas to come to the United States. To improve screening at our borders, the 9/11 Commission recognized the need for a robust entry and exit system based on the use of biometric information. A system of this sort has been under development for over a year now, but it needs to be improved and accelerated. Our amendment requires the Department of Homeland Security to do just that.

The 9/11 Commission also recommended that we close the gaping hole in our border security created by policies allowing easy passage into the United States from Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean; logical enough in years past, the natural neighborly tendency of the United States of America and Americans generally, but unfortunately it is a policy of openness that has been exploited and continues to be exploited by the terrorists.

Our lenient border policies with our neighbors to the north and south today constitute a vulnerability. Travelers may now cross these borders with no other proof of U.S. citizenship than a verbal statement. Individuals claiming to be Canadians enter our country from Canada without showing a passport. The policies are evidence of our good relations with our neighbors, but in the age of terrorism, that friendship must allow for better security for the benefit of both.

Our amendment would require biometric passports, or an identification document just as secure, for everyone crossing into the United States, even U.S. citizens and our closest neighbors.

As we make our borders more secure, we must not forsake the principles of openness and freedom that define us as a nation. This amendment therefore requires that the Department of Homeland Security consolidate and improve a registered travel program that allows previously screened and trusted travelers to go quickly across our borders so that officials may focus on those who might do us harm.

Finally, this amendment improves the way we issue key identification documents, such as driver's licenses, birth certificates, or personal identification cards that may be required before boarding a commercial airliner or requested by a law enforcement officer who has grounds to be suspicious. It would require minimum security standards for these documents and directs the Federal Government to work with the States to establish minimum standards for both the security features embedded in these documents and for the way in which the documents are issued.

By the way, a similar program is already in effect for issuing commercial driver's licenses. In this regard, I want to thank my cosponsor on this amendment, Senator McCain, and the Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, for their long work together in the interest of establishing not a national identity card but minimum uniform standards for personal identification documents in the United States of America.

We have no intention of usurping the State's role here, their capacity to design their own identification documents. The amendment specifies that the States retain the full authority to decide who qualifies, for example, for a driver's license. We would, in addition, provide grants to the States to help them implement these new standards.

For several decades, study after study has told us how easy it is to obtain a false identity in this country. As recently as 2002, GAO investigators used fraudulent identification made by commercially available computer software to obtain driver's licenses in several States. Of course, the driver's license is an entry card to a personal identification and clearance throughout the system.

We have known about this problem for decades, but after September 11 we can't wait any longer--and we are still waiting, since September 11, to do anything about it. This bill will push us forward.

The 9/11 Commission described a variety of loopholes and flaws and inadequacies in our current border security personal identity system. We must close and repair those; close those loopholes, repair those flaws, and put to an end, as best we can, to the terrorists' ability to continually reinvent themselves and escape detection. We are up to this. We are technologically up to this. The question is whether we have the will and the common sense to do so.

This amendment would help our border and law enforcement officials accomplish exactly that. For the sake of the safety of all Americans, I ask my colleagues to support this amendment.

I note with gratitude the presence on the floor of Senator Levin. I yield the floor to him at this time for the purpose of offering an amendment.

[Askel5]

HATS OFF to the "strict constitutionalists" who -- in the grand tradition of the Schumer Amendment's passage last election -- split their consciences and delivered the McKeating/Lieberman National ID with a vote of 96-2 (2 abstaining)!!

Unless I miss my guess, this latest in the extra-Constitutional powers of the Federal Government will likely be unassailable by veto---please ... oh please, oh please, oh please ... correct me if I'm wrong--and thereby spare Bush any messy furor over the issue to mar the closing weeks of the campaign.

HIP HIP ... HOORAY!!!
HIP HIP ... HOORAY!!!
HIP HIP ... HOORAY!!!

NATIONAL ID'S FOR EVERYONE!!!
WE'RE SAVED!!!

[Askel5]

I'll be damned:

NAYs ---2

Byrd (D-WV)
Hollings (D-SC)

Not Voting - 2

Edwards (D-NC)
Kerry (D-MA)

It's just like McCain's sitting out the GOP ratification of Roe during last election! With Kerry/Edwards off the table, this is definitely the Non-Issue of the season.

For old time's sake, Senator Byrd, you crusty son of a gun: Senate to vote on PNTR today! Byrd: "A virus infects the Senate."

[blogbat]

And avoid Bush's temptation to fall into his personal vice: pandering to illegal non-citizens :p

(Which isn't as bad as Kerry's, but is bad enough)

[Askel5]

What the hell ... Like PNTR, it's old news from the "GOP Senate" days but this post at the top of "News/Activism" makes a nice addition to this thread:

US Senate Gives UN Control Over 70% Of World's Land Mass

I think I'll head home to practice my Esperanto and work on a "No Smile" image for my new National ID.

[FreedomFarmer]

BLOAT BUMP

[Askel5]

pandering to illegal non-citizens

Hey now ... I'm willing to cut him some slack on that. We're nowhere NEAR spending as much on the welfare and entitlements to illegals as we are the money we're spending on districts in Iraq. Definitely cheap at the price.

Plus, the way Bush is setting up, we get the bodies we need by drafting in an Underclass but they'll remain Sub-Citizens (who get a pass if they accidently vote in an election, per the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 =).

I know, I know ... this hasn't proven terribly successful in the past and was a big part of Rome's downfall. But, when you've experienced such resounding success at instigating the Artificial Reality you feared would have to be "forced" on the citizenry ... whaddya gonna do?

[DC Bound]

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r108:1:./temp/~r108uquBbS:e44714:

SEC. __02. INTEGRATED SCREENING SYSTEM.

(a) IN GENERAL.--The Secretary of Homeland Security shall develop a plan for a comprehensive integrated screening system.

(b) DESIGN.--The system planned under subsection (a) shall be designed to--

(1) encompass an integrated network of screening points that includes the Nation's border security system, transportation system, and critical infrastructure or facilities that the Secretary determines need to be protected against terrorist attack;

(2) build upon existing border enforcement and security activities, and to the extent practicable, private sector security initiatives, in a manner that will enable the utilization of a range of security check points in a continuous and consistent manner throughout the Nation's screening system;

(3) allow access to government databases to detect terrorists; and

(4) utilize biometric identifiers that the Secretary determines to be appropriate, feasible, and if practicable, compatible with the biometric entry and exit data system described in section __03.

***********************************************************

I don't get the sense in this. They have chosen to create a new "biometric" ID that will be used for "an integrated network of screening points that includes the Nation's border security system, transportation system, and critical infrastructure or facilities"...."in a manner that will enable the utilization of a range of security check points in a continuous and consistent manner throughout the Nation's screening system."

Why wouldn't they just vote to build a wall to stop illegals from entering, deport the ones we find here, and take out Iran, Syria, and the rest of the regimes that support terror? This bill (amendment) sounds like the Global Government people just found a good excuse to make a giant leap toward ending American liberty.

[DoughtyOne]

What the government giveth, the government WILL taketh away.

It won't take two years until much of what we are, our rights etc., will be intertwined with such a card. Step out of line and the masters will cut you off faster than BofA.

This is NOT good. I know some of you think this will fix problems. No, it will give the overlords complete control.

Ask yourself, do you really think this is voting or illegal immigration related? Hell no. If our leaders has wanted to stop illegal immigration they would have done so decades ago. And if they did so, they wouldn't have to worry about illegal aliens voting.

When this card is a reality, and it will be some day, look out, bumpy road ahead.

[Askel5]

Good questions.

A nation which has accepted the assigning of social security numbers at birth for some time now is probably a little too lethargic to get in much of a lather over all of this.

Keeeeeeeep smiling ...

[Askel5]

---

To: Deckard Independentmind

Getting warmer ... this one happens to be on point:

---

But I raised it in the context, and I don't want to delay all of this, but I raised it in the context -- I came back from a conference on terrorism back in 1980. I was over in, not Berlin, I was in Bonn, and I went to a conference on terrorism and I spoke there, Henry Kissinger was there, Helmut Schmidt was there, and as I came out of the hotel I saw the hotel was surrounded by APCs, armored personnel carriers. And all the soldiers or policemen had automatic weapons.

I looked at that and I said, I wonder, would any American city allow VIPs to be protected by virtual tanks in the street? And it had been just after a guy named Schleier, a banker, had been assassinated, stuffed in his trunk of a Mercedes car, so there was real tension over there, and there was some real protection underway. I said no, it will never happen in the United States.

Then I said well wait a minute. What happens if the terrorists come to the United States and the bombs start going off, the killing starts here?

Would we as the American people, say protect our liberties or protect our lives? We've never had to have that debate at this point.

And so when you have an Oklahoma City bombing that's taken place, and you have others who may not be domestic but international, what will be the reaction of the American people?

Will they say the government's responsibility is to protect us, and we say absolutely, but how do we do that?

Do we do it through the local police? The National Guard? The Guard and Reserve? Or do we call upon the military in extremists to provide protection and to help with what they call consequence management?

---

DefenseLink -- Cohen Breakfast Meeting with Reporters in Washington, D.C. (1/11/2001)

50 Posted on 06/15/2001 16:12:27 PDT by Askel5

---

[Askel5]

=== and it will be some day

It's a reality NOW.

(chances are pretty good, don't you think, that production is long past the "LET'S ROLL!" point where these IDs are concerned?)


(P.S. Howdy! Trust all is well with you and yours, guy.)

[mabelkitty]

Well then.
I guess the underground will have a few more travelers.
McCain must be the anti-Christ.

[DC Bound]

So what's the solution? Every freedom we lose is gone forever. We either re-educate our nation about the personal responsibility that comes chained with freedom, or we lose it forever. As long as leftists control our schools and our courts, I don't see how we teach enough people what they are giving up.

[DoughtyOne]

Hi. All is well here and I hope it is for you also. Thanks for the post. I think this is an important issue.

[Willie Green]

HIP HIP ... HOORAY!!!
NATIONAL ID'S FOR EVERYONE!!!
WE'RE SAVED!!!

Cool!
Can I have mine branded onto my forehead so everybody can see it?

[DoughtyOne]

The problem as I see it is this.

Today many of us carry around a number of cards for various credit and banking concerns.  Those cards are a pain in the neck for the businesses to maintain.  Wouldn't it be nice if they could recognize your national ID and extend credit if you have an account with them and more funds available?

Rather than us carrying more and more cards, our cards will be down to one, certainly within ten years, more likely five.  You walk into a Macy's and hand them your national ID.   If you have an account with them, you get the credit.  If you don't, no credit.  The same card, your wonderful national ID card would work at the bank, the fast food restaurant, the car wash, the gas station, the emergency room at the hospital...  I think you begin to get the picture.

The problem is, if the government doesn't like you for some reason, your ability to carry on commerce could be suspended.  Anyone carrying on any business with you would be guilty of underground economy violations.  They could be considered an accessory.  Your abilitity to pay mortgage payments, eat, travel, work, receive healthcare, just about anything you want to do would end at the moment on bureaucrat flpped the switch.

By federal law, if you were to approach someone seeking underground commerce, they would be instructed to notify the feds.  Within moments officials could be on-scene to take you into custody.

National ID cards that are linked by marriage, family ties, business arrangements, could also be restricted.  Within minutes of your card being suspended, a whole list of people could be in the same boat you are, just because they knew you or were related to you.

If you participate on Free Republic and your card is suspended, everyone else who participates on F.R. could be cut-off in minutes.  They only handicap would be if they developed your contacts list in depth.

The abuses this national card will usher in are nearly unfathomable.

[Askel5]

Thanks for the post. I think this is an important issue.

It would be if we had an "evil" Democrat in the White House like Clinton, I suppose. Remember the days when we were vigilant?

I think an EXTREMELY important issue. However, as I was signing off earlier, I couldn't help but notice that the "Edwards & His Pumpkin" article (posted somewhat contemporaneously) had over twice the views as "Hat's Off!!!"

Yes, the title is somewhat obscure but where folks still evidently are neeful of a little humor and a Happy Story (as evidenced below by the numbers of the latest "Caption this Pic" of Kerry thread), you'd think it would have garnered a tad bit more attention.

Frankly, I was kinda surprised there was no thread on the vote posted yet today at quitting time (CST).

---

Title this pre Debate Picture of John Kerry, October 8,2004 ^
Posted by AmericanMade1776
On 10/08/2004 4:06:13 PM PDT · 92 replies · 1,907+ views

Photoshop John Edwards and his pumpkin ^
Posted by swilhelm73
On 10/08/2004 3:00:30 PM PDT · 7 replies · 1,127+ views

HATS OFF!!! ^
Posted by Askel5
On 10/08/2004 2:56:13 PM PDT · 15 replies · 586+ views

---

Moritur et Ridet

[Askel5]

I think the forehead beats the palm hands down, as it were.

My money says iris scans will be a prime consideration for the biometric end.

Did anyone ever see any results of their use of the Super Bowl a few games ago (in Florida, wasn't it?) as proving ground?

[Askel5]

Shwew ... thank goodness this is one aspect of the loss of liberty, abuse of the Constitution and implementation of the "New World Order" (not to mention "Judeo-Christian" prophecy) that the Evil Kerry won't be able to impose on us should he totally screw up his campaign to date and actually win the election.

[Askel5]

Okay ... maybe there aren't any articles posted because there aren't any articles to post: GOOGLE NEWS: "National ID"

National ID card feared in license standards
Washington Times, DC - Oct 6, 2004

---

Proposed federal standards for new driver's licenses contained in the intelligence-reform bill moving through Congress creates a national identification card, according to civil liberties groups on both sides of the aisle.

The Senate passed its intelligence-reform bill yesterday by a 96-2 vote, and the House is expected to vote on its version by the end of the week.

Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican and one of the amendment's sponsors, defended the legislation that was quietly added Friday. However, he said the provision still needs work, which could be completed when both bills are hammered out in conference committee.

Campaign Finance, anyone?
Did that ever get "fixed" once passed and signed?

"I think it's a good amendment, and it deserves a lot of discussion, but it needs the administration's input," Mr. McCain said.

Asked if the bill would create a national identification card, Mr. McCain said, "I don't think so, that's not really what I was trying to do, but I thought it was a good amendment."

Opponents say, however, the House provision goes a step further and creates a tri-national identification card by requiring states to create and share databases among themselves and with Mexico and Canada.

"A lot of conservatives are concerned about this idea," said James Plummer, policy director for Consumer Alert, a free-market advocacy group.

The American Civil Liberties Union is also lobbying against the House and Senate measures, and agrees the lower body's attempt to share information across borders is a dangerous precedent.

"They are setting the gold standard for what is an acceptable identification document," said Marv Johnson, legislative counsel for the ACLU. "By sharing and putting all of this data together, essentially what you are going to end up with is a national identification card."

The ACLU's agin' a National ID?!?!?
Why, we best be for 'em!!!!

The section pertaining to driver's licenses forbids federal agencies from recognizing current licenses that do not meet the new standards two years after the law takes effect.

The new standards would be set by the Homeland Security and Transportation departments, and would include what proof of identity applicants will be required to show to obtain a license. The federal standards are a "back door" for licenses to become the de facto national identification cards, Mr. Johnson said.

Licenses must meet the new standards or face rejection by federal officials, who require that licenses be shown to fly on commercial aircraft.

More than 30 advocacy, civil liberties and conservative groups sent letters to every senator Sept. 20 predicting that the September 11 commission report would lead to a national ID card and asked that it be rejected.

Opponents say such a card would not prevent terrorism, and would instead be an expensive program that directs resources away from more effective counterterrorism measures. The estimated costs for the program range widely, with one at $4 billion and another at between $25 billion and $30 billion.

"The creation of a national ID card or system is a misplaced, superficial quick fix to the terrorist threat," the letter says. "A national ID system would not effectively deter terrorists and, instead, would pose serious threats to the rights of freedom and equality of everyone in the U.S."

---

Conspiracy Planet

9/11 House Bill (HR10) Mandates National ID Card Conspiracy Planet - Oct 6, 2004 ... members of the party that supposedly favors "limited government" -- are pushing an Orwellian nightmare in Congress in the name of "national security.". ...

RP urged to use national ID system
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines - Oct 6, 2004
MEMBERS of the French embassy and some French businessmen are urging the Philippines to implement a national ID system, though only after resolving concerns ...

House 9/11 Commission Bill Includes Patriot II, National ID Card ...
ACLU (press release), United States - Sep 27, 2004
... bill in the House of Representatives to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission would likely create what amounts to a national identification card ...

Bangladesh to introduce national ID cards next July
Webindia123.com, India - Sep 27, 2004
Bangladesh has initiated a move to introduce multi-purpose identity (ID) cards for all of its citizen by next year. A cabinet committee ...

National ID cards to be issued next year
The Daily Star, Bangladesh - Sep 28, 2004
... The national ID card system was designed after careful analysis of the existing voter ID system and shares some similarities. Renad ...

National ID card a terrible idea
Harlingen Valley Morning Star, TX - Sep 24, 2004
... Dreier says his proposal wouldn’t impose a national identification card. ... "I’ve always been concerned about a universal ID card or system, somewhat like in ...

Unrelenting pressure to win when national id is on the line
The Globe and Mail (subscription), Canada - Sep 9, 2004
... Morley Callaghan called hockey "the national drama." Today, using slightly more modern language, Calgary poet Richard Harrison calls it "the national id.". ...

09/21/2004 National ID Cards: Let's just get it over with
BTC News, United States - Sep 21, 2004
... National ID cards are anathema to civil libertarians of all political persuasions. If we suffer another significant domestic terror ...

Reject the National ID Card
TruthNews.com - Sep 8, 2004
Washington politicians are once again seriously considering imposing a national identification card - and it may well become law before the end of the 108th ...

Hey ... if the Phillipines and Bangledesh (and Ghana ...)
are doing it ... can't be all that bad.