Posted on 12/08/2004 8:54:11 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
AS A CARD-CARRYING member of the American Civil Liberties Union, I'd like to have one more card in my wallet. The card I want, contrary to the views of most civil liberties activists, is a national ID card.
Privacy advocates have always resisted this idea, for fear of government snooping on citizens. But that cat is out of the bag. Nearly all of us have driver's licenses, Social Security cards, passports. And corporations, credit agencies, and HMOs keep dossiers, too -- often more extensive than what government maintains.
For civil libertarians, the real issue is not whether government and business collect databases on citizens, but whether there are adequate protections against abuses.
Those protections have come under particular assault in the era of George W. Bush and the USA Patriot Act. But we will not solve the privacy problem by pretending that we are back in a pre-computer era. For that matter, Hitler did not need computers to abuse citizens.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Translation: As a probable card-carrying member of the American Communist Party, I want YOU to put a GIS-enabled positioning device in your wallet. And one in your car, so I can track your whereabouts. And of course one embedded in your right hand or forehead....
Just wondering, why do you fear people knowing where you are? Go to places you'd be embarrassed to have discovered?
No thanks...and the fool that ever tries to force one on us will rue that day.
Gun store? church?
You've never been a target of political persecution by a Communist regime in America or anywhere else, have you?
I'm not embarrassed to be in either of those places. : )
No, and neither have you. Unless you haven't noticed, the Communist Party USA really isn't that strong and has no elected officials.
Why do people need to know where you are at all times? Are you chattle that belongs to the elite in Washington? They sure have played the public. You'll be safer if you carry our new internal passport card. I guess that's why Yvgeny Primakov is working for Homeland Security now.
bump
I have no need for fear. I'm just standing up for some of my original Civil Rights, including freedom to peaceably assemble, protection from unreasonable search and seizure, protection of private property, protection of free speech....
These are quaint, old-fashioned concepts I know, but I'm vehemently Quixotic that way.... warning to all windmills.
BTW I am indeed for systematic for profiling and identifying terrorists. And executing them here and abroad. Outlaws don't have--or at least don't DESERVE--the same privileges citizens have.
You think fellow travelers in America run around in 2004 saying "I'm a Communist!"??!!
IN light of what Mr. Kuttner and his ACLU ilk has
been doing to freedoms in this nation, MY vote
would be to deport any ACLU card-carrying "American!"
The social security card every baby is given at
birth should be good enough for every individual
living in the States. The fact that an individual
doesn't HAVE one is an indication he is NOT natural
born. Ergo, presenting a mere drivers' license is
indicative that he cannot prove citizenship. NEW
citizens can be given a NEW card to facilitate their
job qualifications. Save the ORIGINAL U.S. Social
Security Card and identifying number for the ORIGINAL
citizens! Discrimination? You bet!
And don't tell me about my personal experiences, thank you...
I don't see where the cards will help. Not sure they would harm either though.
And, just out of curiousity, where did you hear that Primakov was working for Homeland Security? I googled his name and Homeland Security. Came up with two references. One was a letter to the editor upset about it and the other was a dead link. Are you sure that's the case?
Once again, I'm not advocating the implementation of this program. But, if it were implemented, how would it infringe upon those rights?
I think that there aren't Communists in the United States (well, some, but damn few and far between). Liberals may have bad ideas, but they are not communists.
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