Tuesday, August 19, 2008

REAL ID RESISTANCE, OR: ACTUNG! VERE ARE YOUR PAPERS?!?!




“Do you want our government to have the ability to track where you went,
how you went, how you got there and when you got home? It would be naive for someone to
think this information will not be abused in the future. Virtually every decade
these kinds of files have been used to violate people’s privacy.”-- Brian
Schweitzer, Governor of Montana
Out on the dusty Mainstreet, Homeland Security Gruppenfuhrer Michael Chertov, resplendent in his monocle and spit shined jackboots, has once again faced down Montana Governor Brian Schwietzer, wearing his bolo tie and with his faithful cow dog at his side.

Governor Schwietzer wrote the Gruppenfuhrer a letter stating that Montana would not comply with the odious Federal REAL ID Act, which would do absolutely nothing to close our porous borders as recommended by the 911 Commission, but, on the other hand, would allow Big Brother to see Winston, or any other citizen, writing in his tiny alcove. It will do nothing against terrorism, but it will sure keep us peasants in line.

Chertov called Schwietzer in response and said, "Vait till I get my chip implanted in YOUR forehead, Enemy-of-the-State! Ve vill see how cocky you are in das cooler!" Or words to that effect. He said Montanans would be ostracized, banned from airline flights, and subject to even more arbitrary and invasive TSA inspections than they are now. Like TSA isn't already enough of a joke and home for wanna-be baby dictators while contributing absolutely nothing to national security.

The Governor countered with his own threat, “How about we both go on 60
Minutes a few days after the DHS starts patting down Montana driver’s
license-holders who are trying to get on the planes and both of us can tell our
side of the story.”

At present, the only "solution" or "compromise" offered has been for Big Brother to grandiosely "extend the deadline" until the peasants decide to toe the line, or someone more easier to browbeat and manipulate gets in office.

In addition to the obvious threats to our free society, the risk of ever more sophisticated ID thieves mining information from the new REAL ID is a serious problem as well. The Fed is not known for their brilliant ability to keep information secure, not when VA, USDA, and even FBI files have all been hacked. Imagine some hacker cracking the into your all-encompassing REAL ID and gaining access to all your personal information in one fell swoop. Might as well kiss your credit rating good bye and go live in a cave while it gets "straightened out".

So far, Montana's DEMOCRATIC governor and two DEMOCRATIC Senators have actively resisted the REAL ID act while our one lone REPUBLICAN Representative has whined for us to play nice with Big Brother.

If you have not contacted your own Congresscritters to protest this piece of...legislation, now's the time. A few more governors around the country are starting to dig their heels in on the issue as well. Let your duly erected reprehensivitives know what you think about this invasion of personal privacy with all its risks of abuse and identity theft.

If not, see you in the gulag!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Bawb,
Jeff here, we met at the RP speech in Missoula.
Some of our RP meet-up group members
are really pushing Brown over Schweitzer.(I feel it is only because of the (R) instead of a (D) after his name)
From what you posted and some other things I have read Scheitzer seems to be on the "Good Guys" (Ours) side...
In your opinion how do the 2 stack up against each other?
Jeff