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Plans ready to sneak massive Heritage Area land grab through Lame Duck Session Urgent Action Needed

November 31, 2006

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Heritage Areas threaten property rights by:

· Providing federal taxpayer dollars to special interest groups who use those funds to apply pressure on local community governments to comply to their agenda for land lock-aways, even pressuring local government to use its power of eminent domain to take land it wants for “preservation.”

· Heritage Areas create a federal management entity to oversee land use policy in the designated Heritage Area.

· Heritage Areas direct this management entity to create an inventory of all property it wants “preserved,” “managed,” or “acquired.”

· Heritage Areas do not notify property owners of such designations.

· Federal funds created for implementation of the Heritage Area are disbursed for the purpose of land acquisition and restricting land use – creating local zoning as a direct result of the Heritage Area.

Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) is the chief sponsor in the House (H.R. 5195) and Senator George Allen is chief sponsor in the Senate (S.2645) of the “Journey Through Hallowed Ground Heritage Area.” (JTHGHA) This monster would stretch from Thomas Jefferson’s home in Charlottesville, VA to the battlegrounds of Gettysburg, PA.

It is pork barrel politics at its worst, padding the pockets of special interest groups at the expense of property owners.

Representative Wolf couldn’t get this Heritage Area passed through congress in the light of day under honest debate. So now he plans to sneak passage of the JTHGHA next week, in the dark of night, during the current lame duck session – just as APC has predicted he would do.

Typical of his dishonest drive to shove the Heritage Area down the throats of homeowners, Wolf is telling his fellow congressmen that the bill has wide support from property owners in the designated area. That is simply a lie. Please see the article below produced by former APC Executive Director Peyton Knight, the nation’s foremost expert on Heritage Areas.

“Local Support” for Congressman Wolf’s National Heritage Area Bill
Largely Smoke and Mirrors

Sources Say Effort Will Be Made to Get Bill Adopted During Lame Duck Session
By Peyton Knight

Washington, D.C. – The Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area Act does not enjoy the broad local support that its supporters claim, concludes an investigation by the National Center for Public Policy Research.

According to multiple Congressional sources, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) has now made plans to sneak his controversial Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area Act through during the “lame duck” congressional session next week.

During promotional and lobbying efforts, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership has claimed their “campaign to be recognized as the nation’s 28th National Heritage Area continues to move forward as counties and towns along the four-state corridor join their neighbors in passing resolutions of support.”

However, an examination reveals many of these supposed resolutions of support do not endorse the federal legislation, but merely acknowledge the rich history of a region described by the Journey Through Hallowed Ground foundation as a “corridor… from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, through Frederick County, Maryland and ending in Charlottesville, Virginia” and laud the opportunity of local groups to work with and learn from one another.

Resolutions passed by the Virginia General Assembly, the Virginia town of Warrenton and the Albemarle County VA Board of Supervisors and others do not support, nor even mention, the federal legislation.

For example, the resolution passed by the Virginia General Assembly acknowledges “the intrinsic importance to Virginia of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground project,” but defines the project not as a federal National Heritage Area but as a “partnership” among 19 specified non-profit organizations and local government entities. The partnership, the resolution states, is supported by the General Assembly so Virginians can “learn from groups in Maryland and Pennsylvania” and “contribute to the economic development potential of the localities that border the Route 15/20 corridor.”

There is no indication in the resolution that the General Assembly was even made aware of, let alone supported, plans to create a federal “Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area,” which would involve the federal government in Virginia’s local land-use planning, before the resolution was voted on.

The Albemarle County Board resolution is strikingly similar to the Virginia state resolution. It endorses only the “importance” of the 19-member partnership and the opportunity to “learn from groups in Maryland and Pennsylvania.” No federal role is mentioned, let alone endorsed.

According to Kenneth Boyd, vice chairman of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, the Albemarle County Board’s resolution was for “general support of the concept, but not much beyond that.”

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors rejected a resolution in support of the Journey Through Hallowed initiative.

“One of the big reasons I’m opposed to the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Heritage Area is the inability to get the true facts about the project from the people who are promoting it,” said Jim Clem, a member of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors. “While this project may be well intended, it’s my opinion that it’s just another means of stopping development in this area.”

“Route 15 is a busy State Highway that needs safety improvements,” continued Clem, who chairs the Loudoun County Board’s Public Safety Committee. “It’s my opinion that the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Project will cause delays or stoppage of these critical highway improvements. While I am a strong supporter of preserving our history, people’s rights need to be preserved also.”

Warrenton, Virginia’s supposed resolution of support is entitled “Resolution Nominating Route 15 in the Town of Warrenton for Inclusion in the State’s Scenic Byway System.” No mention of federal Heritage Areas.

Other claims of local support for the federal legislative initiative are weak.

Proponents of the federal heritage area legislation, including its sponsor, U.S. Representative Frank Wolf in his testimony before the House Subcommittee on National Parks in September, cite a poll purporting to show that a significant majority of residents along the Heritage Area’s proposed route support the initiative.

But the Fauquier Times Democrat reported last year that the poll was commissioned by special interest groups pushing for the Heritage Area and used a questionable sampling method. The poll also did not disclose any specific legislative initiatives to the poll’s respondents. In addition, the Times Democrat noted, “96 percent [of respondents] were not familiar with the plan.”

The National Center also questions the claim that the Heritage Area lobbying effort is locally-driven, given the financing of the group leading the effort. The Journey Through Hallowed Ground foundation received a one million dollar earmark in last year’s federal transportation bill. As a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Wolf was well-positioned to play a key role in securing such funding for the group.

On October 10, 2006, the National Center for Public Policy Research issued a press release, “Did Frank Wolf Earmark Funds to Aid His Own Legislative Initiative?,” calling on the Congressman “to fully disclose his role in securing a $1 million earmark to the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Foundation included in last year’s massive transportation bill.” No response was received. Congressman Wolf has reportedly refused other requests to disclose his earmark activity.

“There is a big difference between resolutions that praise the historic significance of the area, and resolutions that support federal legislation to empower a new, unelected ‘management entity’ to help manage the area’s land use policies,” said Peyton Knight, director of environmental and regulatory affairs for the National Center for Public Policy Research. “Anyone who is told that a local government entity has endorsed the Wolf bill should request a copy of the alleged resolution of support, and check the actual text.”

“Local support for this federal Heritage Area must depend on your definition of the word ‘local,’” said David Ridenour, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy Research. “It appears that push polls, earmarks and creative interpretations of county and city resolutions constitute ‘local support’ to the Hallowed Ground lobby. That’s not how things work in the real world.”

ACTION TO TAKE:

1. It is urgent that your call you congressman now to express your opposition to the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Heritage Area (H.R. 5195). Say this is pork barrel politics and should not be passed in the dead of night in a lame duck session.

House switchboard: 202-225-3121 (Ask for your congressman by name and you will be directly connected with his office.)

2. It is equally urgent that you call both of your state’s U.S. Senators. Senator Allen, a lame duck himself, sees passage of this bill to be his finally “legacy.” He desperately wants to pass it and is working hard to convince his fellow Senators to support the bill. Make sure you voice is heard loud and clear as you tell your Senator’s to vote “NO” on S.2645. Be sure to call it by name: the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Heritage Area.”

Senate Switchboard: 202-224-3121. (Ask for your two Senators by name and you will be directly connected with their offices.)

We can stop this massive land grab, but only if we act now with force. Stop this Heritage Area now and it may well be dead forever. Please do it for the property owners in its wake – or your land may be next. We must stop it now.

Please call today and pass this alert on to at least 10 more people. URGENT!

The Global Warming Inquisition and the Suppression of "Skeptic" Heresy

November 14, 2006

By Tom DeWeese

Imagine living in a world where no one is allowed to think independent thoughts or take independent actions. Only pre-approved human response would be acceptable. To break the rule and engage in forbidden thought would result in terrible retribution, perhaps leading literally to ones destruction.

That’s the kind of world apparently desired by the global warming Chicken Littles. It seems they are prepared to do anything to achieve it. Case in point is an outrageous letter to ExxonMobil Chairman Rex Tillerson on October 27, 2006. The letter was sent by two United States Senators, Olympia Snowe (R-MA), and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).

The letter derides Exxon for helping to fund global warming “deniers,” (a term the global warming crowd is using more and more these days to try to draw a parallel with those who deny the Holocaust). Said the letter, “We are convinced that ExxonMobil’s longstanding support of a small cadre of global climate change skeptics, and those skeptics access to and influence on government policymakers, have made it increasingly difficult for the United States to demonstrate the moral clarity it needs across all facets of its diplomacy.”

The letter goes on to say, “ExxonMobil and its partners in denial have manufactured controversy, sown doubt, and impeded progress with strategies all-too reminiscent of those used by the tobacco industry for so many years.” The mention of the tobacco industry is not just a randomly chosen analogy. It’s a heavy-handed threat that Exxon could face the same massive government attack on its very existence if it doesn’t play ball. Threats of wind fall profits taxes and increased regulations being just a couple of the weapons in the government’s arsenal.

The letter concludes, saying, “We would recommend that ExxonMobil publicly acknowledge both the reality of climate change and the role of humans in causing or exacerbating it. Second, ExxonMobil should repudiate its climate change denial campaign…”

As incredible as the letter may seem to free thinkers and Constitutionalists, one must pause to understand the “new think” being foisted on our society. In the August, 2006 issue of The DeWeese Report, (Vol.12, Issue 7), I reported on the root of the new edicts on thinking, called “globally acceptable truth.” This is not just an Ivory Tower intellectual exercise. Those who practice it believe the only way we can have a well-ordered society is for everyone to think and act in unison. Those who break the rules and think for themselves or take action contrary to the “consensus” are simply causing havoc on all of their well-laid plans.

Again, as I reported in August, this incredible idea is not just the silly ravings of a few lunatics. It is being accepted as the proper focus for major policy matters as they emanate from Congress and are parroted by the news media. The main source of such thinking seems to come from the Eden Institute, operating out of New York and with close ties to the UN.

The official use of globally acceptable truth is best described in a letter to the Eden Institute from Robert Muller, Assistant Secretary General of the UN. He wrote, “I am referring to the need to establish a body of objective, globally acceptable information to serve as a foundation for global education…Its (Eden Project) formula for identifying universally acceptable objective data is truly unique. It achieves this distinction by establishing a global standard for inquiry.” Translation: We will decide what is truth and all new information or scientific discovery will be judged on whether it matches this “globally acceptable” truth.

The last time human kind was strapped into such a mental straight jacket was during the Inquisition of the Dark Ages. The period was called the Dark Ages because it was an era of ignorance, superstition and social chaos and repression. Anyone caught questioning the doctrine or power of the church was labeled a heretic and found his or her way to the rack or into the middle of a fire while tied to a stake. The church, of course, was practicing its own brand of globally acceptable truth.

Today, the new heretics to the religion of global warming are those who question whether scientific facts support the dire warnings that are screaming from the newspaper headlines and from environmental groups’ press releases. In fact, there is no better example for the practice of globally acceptable truth than the global warming crowd.

The letter to ExxonMobile from Rockefeller and Snowe is but one example of the dire tactics being used to stifle any debate on the subject. Just recently, the Attorney General of California filed suit against the world’s three biggest care manufacturers for their complicity in creating CO2 emissions. As part of the discovery for the suit, the Attorney General demanded copies of any correspondence between the automakers and so-called “skeptics” of climate change. Message: you can’t even talk to these people! 2006 has seen the church of global warming go into near panic at any sign of heretical behavior.

It’s absolutely incredible to see such panic, considering the global warming mantra is near universal. There are over 12,000 environmental groups in the country controlling over $20 billion in assets, all unified in spreading the climate change gospel. On top of their vast holdings, many of those same groups receive federal grants for “studies” and “reports” on their climate change findings. More grants, in the billions of dollars, are going to scientists willing to join the church and help substantiate the mantra in their “research.”

Added to that substantial fire power is a willing news media which offers magazine cover photos of melting ice caps; and the efforts of the movie and television industry which lets no opportunity get by without some reference to global warming. Al Gore’s own documentary has been in theaters around the nation for months. He is the guest on talk shows nearly every week.

The global warming message is literally everywhere. It indoctrinates our children in the classroom. It flows from the advertising messages of corporations, in their corporate social responsible ad to sell their environmentally-responsible products (for which research and development was probably paid for with federal tax dollars). Huge numbers of Hollywood stars and international political leaders have endorsed the mantra of the church of global warming. Billions and billions of dollars are being spent to influence literally every corner of the earth to accept global warming as a fact.

Countering this massive onslaught of globally acceptable climate change “truth” is a tiny, dedicated band of scientists, political leaders and non-profits that are seeking the real “truth.” Their assets are literally in the low millions of dollars – simply a drop in the bucket when compared to the war chest of the climate change church. They don’t have the medias attention. They don’t have the ability to issue massive grants. Hollywood certainly isn’t making movies to promote the “skeptics” point of view. And the federal government isn’t allowing the contrary opinions in many classrooms.

So, with so much incredible fire power covering every possible exit, one must ask the logical question: why are the climate change crowd so scared of a few renegade groups and their measly few million dollars? The fact is, the “skeptics” are having such an impact on the debate because they are telling the truth. The Church of Global Warming is wrong!

As George Orwell once wrote: “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” There is no greater hero in the revolution for climate change truth than Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. He has truly demonstrated the power one honest individual can wield.

Earlier this year (2006) Sen. Inhofe gave two explosive speeches on the floor of the Senate in which he attacked and exposed the unfounded claims and scare tactics being employed by the Global Warming crowd. The speeches were literally unprecedented in the decades-long climate change debate. And their effect was like a lightening bolt. Almost immediately some scientists began coming out of hiding to side with the Senator.

On December 6th, just as the Rockefeller/Snowe letter was being exposed across the Internet, Inhofe held a hearing on Capitol Hill exposing the “alarmist media.” Said Inhofe, “Rather than focus on the hard science of global warming, the media has instead become advocates for hyping scientifically unfounded climate alarmism.” His attacks have already forced 60 Minutes, CNN and other major media to at least give lip service to the “skeptic” point of view. More importantly, the Senator’s efforts are putting the Global Warming crowd into near cardiac arrest.

It is important to not that the so-called “Skeptics” include Dr. Daniel Schrag of Harvard; Claude Allegre, one of the most decorated French geophysicists; Dr. Richard Lindzen, professor of Atmospheric Sciences, MIT; Dr. Patrick Michaels, University of Virginia: Dr. Fred Singer; Professor Bob Carter, geologist at James Cook University, Australia; 85 scientists and climate experts who signed the 1995 Leipzeg Declaration which called drastic climate controls “ill-advised, lacking credible support from the underlying science; 17,000 scientists and leaders involved in climate study who signed a petition issued by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine saying there is no evidence green house gasses cause global warming; and the 4,000 scientists and leaders from around the world, including 70 Nobel Prize winners, who signed the Heidelberg Appeal calling greenhouse global warming theories “highly uncertainly scientific theories.”

These are but a few of the highly qualified “skeptics” deride by Jay Rockefeller, Olympia Snowe and Al Gore whom, they say, should not be given a voice on the issue.

There are lots of lies surrounding the Global Warming mantra. The biggest one claims there is “consensus” among scientists that human-caused global warming is a fact. There is no such consensus. Human survival demands that we listen to the “Skeptics” before they are burned at the stake by suppositious brutes like Jay Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe.

The Global Warming Inquisition and the Suppression of "Skeptic" Heresy

November 14, 2006

By Tom DeWeese

These are but a few of the highly qualified “skeptics” deride by Jay Rockefeller, Olympia Snowe and Al Gore whom, they say, should not be given a voice on the issue.

Republicans Deserved to Lose Now the Battle for Freedom Can Be Renewed

November 13, 2006

By Tom DeWeese

The recriminations are flying. Why did the Republicans lose so badly? Who’s at fault? What will it mean in the battle for freedom?

The answer to the first two questions is pretty easy. Republicans lost because they acted like Democrats. They betrayed their base of supporters and thought they could get away with it. It’s that simple.

The loss wasn’t about scandals. Not About Jack Abramoff. Not about Congressman Mark Foley. And there certainly hasn’t been a shift toward Democrat policy.

The Republican base left the party because it became the biggest spending government in U.S. history. It became the government most invasive of our private lives in U.S. history. And the Republicans became the poorest defenders of our national sovereignty and independence in U.S. history. That’s why they lost. It’s the reason why they were able to toss out the Democrats twelve years ago, but then they headed down the same road. Americans simply don’t want that kind of government.

For fifty years the Republican believers fought in the trenches, taking defeat after defeat, as they battled against the ever-growing behemoth of Big Government. Year after year the majority Democrats heaped more spending, more regulations, more government intrusion on our heads, threatening to bury the Republic forever.

The Republican faithful became ever more desperate to stop it. They dug in. They fought harder. The battle cry became “Elect a Republican majority, take control of the government, and roll it all back and reestablish the ideas of Jefferson and Madison.”

We believed in the fight and eventually, we won. We had every reason to believe the Republicans would at least begin the process of rolling back the all-intrusive government monster. We even had it in writing under the “Contract with America.”

That document, signed by Republican candidates during the campaign of 1994, was our guarantee. It would restore accountability and fiscal responsibility to Congress. It would end the cycle of scandal and disgrace. The document outlined a plan to put a stop to the frivolous lawsuits; it called for term limits to create a “citizen legislature.” There were promises to get rid of the Department of Education and many more unnecessary federal agencies. None of that happened.

Instead, we witnessed Republicans picking up right where the Democrats left off. The Republicans gave us School to Work, Goals 2000 and the Workforce Development Act. These three Acts completely transformed America’s public schools, away from local control to become federal outlets. Federal curriculums were mandated. Federal textbooks were created. Parents lost control of their children’s education.

The Republicans put the United States back in the UN’s UNESCO. This snake pit of globalism is responsible for anti-American curriculum that promotes global citizenship over American. President Bush’s Secretary of Education Rod Page told a UNESCO gathering that the No Child Left Behind Act is in complete compliance with UNESCO global education policy.

Under Republican control, not one single executive order signed by Bill Clinton to impose UN environmental polices was rescinded or reversed. Bill Clinton used his pen to almost fully implement the UN’s Biodiversity Treaty, even though it was never ratified by the Senate. The Republicans, through the Bush White House, continue to enforce the policy of Sustainable Development from the UN’s Agenda 21 policy. Under the Republicans it continues to be official federal government policy. That policy represents a massive government control of private property and local community decisions.

Republican Senator Richard Lugar has made every possible attempt to ratify the UN’s Law of the Sea Treaty. And, while still not ratified, many of its provisions are quietly being implemented by the government. The Law of the Sea Treaty is nothing less than a scheme to create UN global taxes.

Republican Senator Arlen Specter has single-handedly managed to kill the Property Rights Protection Act by refusing to allow it to pass out of his committee. The bill, passed by a large majority in the House, would block federal money to any community that used the power of Eminent Domain for private development. Not one member of Specter’s committee protested his action.

The Republicans passed the outrageous Patriot Act, allowing the federal government to come into private homes without a warrant. The Republicans have passed the Real ID Act, which by 2008 will establish a National ID card.

The Republicans created the Department of Homeland Security, through which one Czar (the Secretary) oversees 22 combined departments of the federal government, giving this one man unprecedented power to snoop into, spy on and control every action of the American people.

Under the Republicans, our nation’s foreign policy has become a bullying tactic, forcing other nations to comply with our form of government and our brand of economics. We invade and occupy. No wonder such tactics have made us the most hated nation on earth, and that is what fuels the terrorists. Is such nation building really in keeping with the visions of our Founding Fathers who warned us against entangling ourselves in the problems of other nations? Where in Republicans archives is such a policy advocated?

Under the Republicans, the federal government spent $2.47 trillion in 2005 – up 49% since 1995. The deficit of $400 billion is the largest in history. In 1995 the public debt limit was $4.9 trillion. Today it’s $8.2 trillion (up 67%). These increases are not a result of war or a bad economy. It’s simply government out of control.

Now, this year, we learn that the Republican Administration is working secretly to implement a North American Union, which will destroy our very national identity and sovereignty by “harmonizing” our borders with Canada and Mexico.

Is this the nation the Republican faithful envisioned as they celebrated the Republican victory in 1994? Of course not. It is a betrayal of unbelievable proportions.

And that’s why the Republicans lost. They deserved it.

The question most often asked now is – “Can we stop it?” We thought we had in 1994. There is reason for great pessimism now. In their 12 years of control of two houses of government and 6 years of the White House, the Republicans have endangered more of our liberties than has been witnessed in any other period of our nation’s history.

So what do we do? The answers certainly aren’t easy. First, it should be obvious that, after 12 years of this Republican onslaught, we should not have a great fear of the Democrats. What will change? For one thing, perhaps now Republicans will begin again to act like Republicans of old. Apparently, if a Republican is taking away our liberty, that is OK. But if a Democrat does it, it’s a threat to the Republic and must be stopped! That’s a victory for our side.

What should the Republican faithful do to get things back on track? First, stop being the Republican faithful. Be true to your beliefs, but not to a party that no longer deserves it. Make them respect you by not so easily giving them your support. Make them earn it. Don’t support the lesser of two evils. After all, that is still evil.

Republicans have kept you in line by using the fear of the specter of Democrat control. Could it be any worse than what the Republicans handed us in their 12 year orgy of spending and Big Brother government?

Stop thinking you wasted a vote if you support a third party candidate who actually expresses your beliefs. The only reason a third party candidate can’t win is because you don’t vote for him. It is much more of a lost vote if you throw it away on a Republican who does not represent your principles.

How many good, principled people have thrown away their votes supporting the likes of Arlen Specter or Richard Lugar. These two men have nothing in common with those who support the old Republican ideas of limited government and individual liberty. They are, in fact, enemies of those concepts. Yet Lugar just won reelection with over 80% of the vote. Astonishing.

Party loyalties are outdated because the parties are simply engines to elect anyone who joins them. Its about power and money. To them, your silly principles of restoring the Republic are outdated and quaint – yet they will exploit your ideas on election day just to get your vote.

Stop supporting the actions of George Bush because he says he’s a Christian. Jimmy Carter made the same claim. Did you support him? What matters is not what they profess, rather what they do. George Bush’s actions do not support his profession of traditional Republican values.

If Americans began to stand for their principles instead of allowing the political parties to define the agenda, elections would once again mean something. They need to fear you — fear that you won’t be there for them if they fail to deliver. We need to make them once again compete for your vote.

Here is one suggestion, if implemented, would change the entire landscape of political campaigns and how parties operate. Currently, election ballots carry the names of the candidates from each party. There should be added an additional category called “None of the Above.” Should a voter not like any of the candidates running, they could then cast their votes for the None of the Above choice. When the votes are counted, if there are more votes for None of the Above than for any single candidate, then a new election would be held and none of the previous candidates would be eligible to run again. New candidates would have to be found.

Would such a provision cause the parties to be more responsive to its supporters? You bet it would. Would it change the quality of candidates offered? Without doubt. It’s just good old fashioned American free enterprise and competition at work. Parties need to feel the threat of rejection.

And finally, what will this election mean in the battle for freedom? Do not fear the outcome. It’s really given us a new opportunity to cleanse our movement and began again without the burden of having to somehow defend a Republican party that is indefensible. We know what the Democrats are. They will act as Democrats. We know how to fight that. We just don’t know how to fight Republicans who act like Democrats.

After the election day debacle, Republican party Chairman Ken Mehlman said the party would study the results and learn from it. Will the party come to the conclusion that it lost because it betrayed its base? Of course not. They will conduct a thorough study which will conclude that the nation is just moving more toward the left and, so too, must the party. They don’t call the Republicans the dumb party for nothing!

The Growing National ID Trap

November 13, 2006

By Tom DeWeese

Technology can be a wonderful thing. From our garage door opening automatically on a rainy day to being able to find a lost pet, to quickly paying for an item by slapping a card over a “Pay Pass” reader, technology can make our lives better, more organized and safer.

There is no question that is would be a marvelous use of technology to be able to carry a copy of all your medical records, in case you fall ill or get hurt. Then the hospital will know all about your health condition including allergies, surgeries, dental problems and medications.

It would be a matter of comfort for parents to know that, if their child was kidnapped or wandered off, a chip could be activated to pinpoint where they are. The same is true in locating a lost pet.

It would be helpful for police and fire departments to have instant access to fingerprints and other personal identifying features of every single American. Then they really could solve cases in about an hour, just like on CSI.

Those are the wonderful visions promoters of the technology are using to sell their wares. The reality may create a world of Big-Brother controls on our ability to move about and live our lives in a free manner. For that reason, today in the age of such marvelous technology, Americans must be more vigilant and protective of their freedom than any time in our history.

As technology develops, data banks of personal information are being collected on everything from medical records, to financial and employment histories, to school records, to buying habits at the super market. The government is building data banks on farm animals. Our cars have little black boxes, which record data on our driving habits. In addition, the uses of video cameras, computer chips and biometric screening to monitor our activities are growing rapidly.

Step by step, using a wide variety of good excuses, Americans are allowing themselves to be fingerprinted, their eyes scanned, computer chips inserted under their skin, providing DNA, and more.

The most important question one must ask before relying completely on available technology is “who’s in control of it?” We can create technology to do literally anything. But should we? The question is important because some of the same technology that will make our lives better can, in the wrong hands, make our lives a living hell.

A short history

In 1996, Congress passed three major bills; The Welfare Reform Act, The Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act and the Medical Care Reform Act. Unknown to most in Congress, each of these bills carried certain identical language called Section 656, which laid the foundation for the creation of a National ID. The laws set a deadline of October, 2000.

In 1998, privacy advocates, including The American Policy Center, began to sound the alarm. In 1999, Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) quietly introduced legislation to rescind Section 656 and effectively kill the National ID.

All of that effort was lost on September 11, 2001. Since then, the government has been energized to action. Not since Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” have the forces of Big Brother been so determined to build the size and power of government.

First came the new Homeland Security Department with 170,000 employees from 22 combined departments, including the U.S. Border Patrol, Coast Guard, Secret Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Transportation Security Administration, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Customs Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Federal Protective Service, FBI’s National Domestic Preparedness Office, Office of Domestic Preparedness, Federal Computer Incident Response Center, plus several lesser agencies of the same type. All of these agencies come under the control of one manager, the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Under the rashly conceived Patriot Act, that one Cabinet Secretary has the power to send federal law enforcement into private homes without a search warrant. Records and materials may be taken from private homes, computer records searched, phones tapped, and e-mails monitored, without the knowledge of the suspect.

As part of the Homeland Security effort, but not part of the Patriot Act, is a new Pentagon program called the Information Awareness Office. It may use military intelligence to spy on domestic citizens. This one program seeks to combine government and business data banks to monitor American’s cash withdrawals from banks, airline ticket purchasing, rental car transactions and purchase of firearms. In addition, it monitors credit card purchases, books purchased, every movie rented or bought, almost ever action undertaken by private American citizens.

Creation of the National ID

In 2005, Congress passed the Real ID Act, a “counter-terrorism” measure recommended by the 9/11 commission. The act sets national standards for driver’s licenses. The bill requires states to link databases containing sensitive personal information such as Social Security numbers. State databases must contain a digital image and a paper copy of each birth certificate and other identifying documents.

Although issued by the states, through the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Real ID is a national identification card system. States must comply with federal guidelines by May, 2008. If states fail to meet that deadline, then driver’s licenses from non-complying states will not qualify as official identification and so cannot be used to get on airplanes or obtain services from the federal government, including medical care.

Without authorized federal identification, access to voting booths may be denied. Many states now use computerized voting machines. In those states, a voter’s name is now issued a bar code and permanent identification numbers on registration lists. Unless everything matches up, one can’t be allowed in the voting booth.

As the Real ID Act is fully implemented, the driver’s license will be essential for one to be a full participant in American society. Failure to have it will literally shut one out from opening a bank account, getting a loan, gaining employment, marriage license medical care and purchase of firearms.

Yet, the government continues to deny that the Real ID Act is a National ID. Proponents argue that no national data bank will be established, that it will only use the records created by the state Departments of Motor Vehicles. At a minimum, states must include on their new driver’s license name, birth date, sex, ID number, a digital photo and employ “machine readable technology.” Therein lies the danger.

Under the Act, Homeland Security can mandate additional requirements, including biometric scans such as finger printing, retinal scans, or facial scans. Homeland Security has expressed a strong desire to require Radio Frequency Identification chips (RFID).

Eventually, through the use of smart chips, the driver’s license will be transformed to include not only identification information, but employment, medical, financial and school records. It will serve as an ATM card, credit card, voter ID card, and, in the coming cashless society, access to your bank accounts.

All that is needed to combine such information in a wide variety of data banks now being created, both government and private, is the creation of one central identifying number. In anticipation of such an eventuality, the federal government, through the Pentagon is developing technology called “LifeLog” that would twist all of the information in public and private databanks into “narrative threads” giving government a chance to watch events of your life develop.

Once this is accomplished, consider the consequences. You’re driving in your car. Suddenly you are pulled over for a broken taillight. The officer asks for your driver’s license. You comply and he takes the card back to his cruiser, which has an onboard computer with access to the central data bank.

Suddenly, he gets out of the cruiser, pulls his gun and, hiding behind his car door, demands that you step out of your car with your hands up. What in the world could be wrong? In terror you comply. He steps up to you, holding the gun to your head and demands you lie on the ground as he puts on the cuffs and take you into custody.

At the station, you learn that there is an arrest warrant on your personal databank. It’s not you. How do you prove it? The data bank contains your picture, your fingerprints, your DNA. The official record says it’s you. You now have lost access to your bank accounts. You have lost access to your identification, indeed your identity.

What happened? Perhaps an over-worked, underpaid data entry person put the wrong information into the system. Where is that person? Who do you see to fix it? Government is a massive place. Little departments are scattered everywhere. Imagine what it now takes to get a mistake taken off your credit report, and then imagine it 1,000 times worse.

The backers of such a system tell us that it will never be abused. It will exist solely to protect us. It will keep us safe form terrorists. Fingerprints and biometric scans will make it impossible to counterfeit, they assure us.

Not so. Here are the facts: The Frauhofer Research Institute In Darmstadt, Germany, set out to see whether it could fool fingerprint, facial recognition and retinal scan security technology. Starting with facial recognition, they could fool it by holding up a photo of the authorized person. Further, since the system must store the photos of authorized persons in a database, hackers can break into the computer and steal them. Some systems are more sophisticated and watch to see if the person moves before allowing access. To beat it, simply put a video in from of the scanner.

Fingerprints are even easier to foil. When you put your finger on the reader you actually leave your fingerprint. Investigators found that often they could simply cup their hands around the reader and breathe on the old print, whereupon it would show up and let them in. And retinal scans; simply a high-resolution picture did the trick.

Americans are being fingerprinted at work and school and even Disney World on a routine basis. It goes into a database. Nearly every single super market issues a discount card where shoppers can get incredible discounts off their bill, just by using the card. But to do so, establishes a data bank of your buying habits. Every credit card tracks where you purchase and establishes as database. Every bank profiles your finances and establishes a database. Should you acquire a sudden spike in your usual banking routine, the banks are required to notify the federal government, because you have broken your profile.

Manufactures are implanting radio frequency identification tags (RFID) into everything from clothing to razor blades before shipping to stores. They can now track where each item is after it’s sold and in your home. They can even track the items as you travel with them.

A National ID will not protect us from anything. It will not prevent future terrorist attacks. The 9/11 terrorists were not using false ID. Osama bin Laden will not be stopped by “paperwork.” American freedom, however, will die.