Posted on 05/05/2006 7:21:22 AM PDT by churchillbuff
Is the national ID card the next step toward the imposition of the biblical "mark of the beast" Christians believe will be required to buy and sell during the Last Days?
That's the contention of a growing group of believers who are working to turn back the approval of the Real ID Act by Congress last year. Public Law 109-13 requires the national ID portion of the plan go into effect by May 2008.
"There is a prophecy in the Bible that foretells a time when every person will be required to have a mark or a number, without which he or she will not be able to participate in the economy," states the Christian website NoNationalID.com. "The prophecy is 2,000 years old, but it has been impossible for it to come to pass until now. With the invention of the computer and the Internet, this prophecy of buying and selling, using a number, can now be implemented at any time. Has the time for the fulfillment of this prophecy arrived?"
The site asks visitors to sign an online petition vowing not to vote for any candidate who does not commit to repealing the Real ID Act.
The goal, states the site, which is sponsored by Endtime Ministries, is to get 100,000 signatures on the petition.
On the site is a link to purchase a DVD entitled "666 – How Close? Will the National ID Become the Mark of the Beast?"
Americans choosing not to carry a national ID, the site warns, will be prohibited from driving a car, boarding a plane, train or bus, entering any federal building, opening a bank account, or possibly from holding a job.
"This is probably our last chance to head off the mechanism before it is actually implemented as the mark," states the site in the FAQ section. "It truly may be now or never."
The Real ID Act requires states to participate in a federal data-sharing program when issuing driver's licenses, making those licenses de facto national ID cards.
Touted as a tool of the war on terrorism, the ID card provision of the law, which also includes border-security measures, has attracted the most negative attention.
After May 11, 2008, "a federal agency may not accept, for any official purpose, a driver's license or identification card issued by a State to any person unless the State is meeting the requirements" specified in the Real ID Act. While states can issue non-federal ID cards, they would not be accepted by the Transportation Security Administration for travel purposes, grounding those who don't carry federally approved cards.
The data required to be included in each card are, among other things, the person's full legal name, date of birth, gender, driver's license number, a digital photo, the person's address and machine-readable technology so the information can be ready easily by government or banking personnel.
Each state must agree to share the data on the cards with every other state.
Supporters of the law say it does not require a "national" ID card because each state issues its own cards, not the federal government. But detractors note the cards are virtual national IDs since the federal law has dictated what data must be included and that each state must share its database with the others.
The New Hampshire Senate yesterday voted to reject a bill to rebel against the Real ID system and not participate in a pilot program for which the state had been tapped. The state House of Representatives passed the measure last month, but the Senate instead voted to study the driver's license requirements.
U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., is urging his home state to give Real ID a try, saying it's needed to keep terrorists and illegal aliens from entering the country.
According to the Manchester Union Leader, Gregg argues that New Hampshire residents will find it difficult to get on airplanes or enter federal buildings if New Hampshire doesn't embrace Real ID.
Groups opposed to the Real ID Act are making strange bedfellows, with Christians like those running NoNationalID.com fighting on the same side with the American Civil Liberties Union, which sponsors the website RealNightmare.org.
The ACLU site decries the fact that a motor vehicles department staff person will be required to ask for immigration-status papers from those applying for driver's licenses.
"REAL ID will inevitably cause discrimination against U.S. citizens who may 'look' or 'sound' foreign to a DMV bureaucrat," states the site. "REAL ID requires DMV employees to decide whether someone is a citizen or foreigner before issuing a driver's license. The law demands that DMV bureaucrats distinguish among citizens, permanent resident immigrants and other non-citizens in deciding who is eligible for a license and what type of license may be issued.
"Based on past experience when similar requirements were imposed on employers, widespread discrimination resulted against citizens who 'looked' or 'sounded' foreign."
The civil-liberties group also slams a requirement of the law that some immigrants be issued a temporary "tier-two" license that has a prominent expiration date.
U.S. governors also have come out against the law, saying it is a huge unfunded mandate imposed on the nation's states.
The National Conference of State Legislatures is equally opposed to the Real ID Act, saying, "Federal legislators and rule makers are negating state driver's license security efforts, imposing difficult-to-comply-with mandates and limiting their flexibility to address new concerns as they arise. In other words, decades of state experience is being substituted for a 'command and control regime' from a level of government that has no driver's license regulatory experience."
Endtime Ministries' Irvin Baxter, a radio host, believes the national ID is a precursor to the forced embedding of radio-frequency chips under the skin.
Baxter told the Concord, N.H., Monitor: "That's where we are headed right now. The prophecy states that you will have to receive a mark on your hand or in your forehead."
I consider the constitution to be a guide that had simple outlines for how to move forward. I think our founders were wise enough to know that as this nation progressed things beyond the scope of imagination would take place and the rules of society would have to go along with that progression. I offer to you that they knew there would be things happen that they could not forsee and that common sense would have to take over to lead the way.
Common sense says in todays world that ID is needed for this nation to continue to grow and remain healthy.
Your attempt to box my views in with a label of living document will never hold so I suggest you not go there.
I see nothing in the constitution that prohibits ID. Do you? DAWG? FFS!
The majority of ID's you referred to are state or even company issued, the National ID card is federally issued, taking power away from the states and handing to the fed, do I need to explain how this makes the fed bigger?
As to your how do you prosecute it without an ID question, people are prosecuted for those very crimes every day, so that arguement for a National ID is invalidated.
You are not comfortable with the risks inherent in living in a free society so you will advocate sacrificing liberty for safety. I would rather risk liberty.
You can think that if you like but again you would be off the mark. I voted for W twice and my governor isn't my buddy ( blago) Nor is Dick Turbin a representativeof my politics. Barak? LMAO he is a stooge!
How does one go about prosecuting without reliable ID?
Isn;t that where all the opposition to the death penalty comes from?
WHy is it you wish to hide your ID? Scared of being held accountable for what you do?
Sir I have three kids. If one of my kids was to come up missing and there is a cigerette butt laying in the yard next to where they disappeard from I would absolutely want that DNA ran thru a database of DNA that included everyone here in this country.
Are you telling me that you would not want to participate in that database? Think about what that means if you say no.......
Funny, you sure talk the talk of a leftie nanny stater.
State government gets smaller to the tune of several ID's that are not functioning. Private businesses eliminate losses due to false ID. SS# is no longer a part of the FED and the ID system they go to is actually the same size as the SS# (RIGHT)??? FEDERALL voter rolls no longer need that ID and become more efficient.
Look at the forrest thru the trees my firend. A national ID that replaces other ID's is a net loss in size at the federal AND state levels while offering better funtion for private state AND federal entities. And you actually argue against it.
You act as if I want this in addition to when indeed I advocate instead of!
People are prosecuted thru the various forms of ID today. You just hate to admit that don't you!
I am uncomfortable with the risk of living with people that refuse to be held accountable for their actions. You seek to hinder their prosecutiuon and hamstring any entity that is tasked with that very prosecutiuon. In addition you commence to blaming those that you hamstring for not succeeding at their task....when one reason they fail is because people like you oppose every tool needed to perform the task you seek to be done.
Justice Ginsberg would be proud.
I don't care who's losses or who's inconvenience is there, OK?
You're anti-freedom and anti-liberty. ou're no patriot, and not at all what an American should be.
Accountable to who?......some limpwristed fedgov bureaucrat who never worked an honest day in his life running a business and having to meet a payroll like I have to every week?.....and who's nothing more than a useful idiot for those in power who wish to de-construct our country and Constitution on a daily basis? All I can say is may chains of slavery rest lightly upon you.
LIBERAL?/ I am liberal? bWAAA HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA next you will cal me a troll too BWAAAA HAHAHAHHAHAHA
I am a proud gun owner and I hate the fact that my state has no concealed carry law. My abhorance to that law does not proclude me from following it. That is the differenc between you and I. HA HA again you shot for the mmon and lost because you are dead wron in your claims about me and guns!
The constitution has to bee seen as a guideline that is to be applied to life today. Otherwise we would have a hadith instead of a constitution!~
Our forefathers would have said the solution for the criminal would be the solution for a tyrannical govt.
laughable. I advocate a policy that will facilitate law enforcement accomplishing their tasks and shrink redundant ID structures. These are things that W speaks to so I guess you are calling W leftie nanny stater too huh? FFS man!
First question, we identify and prosecute people everyday without a national ID card.
Second question, I have no idea on that issue.
What exactly in the Constitution cannot be applied to life today?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.