To answer that, it’s necessary to ask another question. If government won’t do its job, is that a reason for Americans to surrender their liberty? Do you think that is a funny question? Well, it is actually what a number of Conservative activist groups are now advocating in the name of stopping illegal immigration through enforcement of E-Verify.

The fact is, the U.S. government is not doing its job to secure the border and stop the flood of illegal aliens from rushing across it. Even though Congress has passed legislation demanding that a fence be built, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has dragged its feet, deliberately holding up the project. Moreover, DHS is fighting efforts in local communities to allow police to arrest illegals. There is little effort to tighten visa security, or allow law enforcement to track down and deport those who stay here past their allotted time. Those illegals caught committing crimes are still allowed to leave, only to easily and surreptitiously return at their will. The border is a sieve. There is no border control – period.
Rather than work to strengthen the borders and take steps to stop illegals from getting here in the first place, many now seek “internal enforcement” instead of the “rule of law.” In other words, take action while leaving the barn door open.

The answer, say some very powerful anti-immigration forces, is to put the burden of control on American businesses. Jobs, they say, are the draw to illegals, so business should be the first line of defense. The answer, we are told, is simply to get tough with business and stop the ability of illegals to get a job. Such a plan, while appealing to desperate Americans, can have dire consequences if a nation desires to remain free.

Chief among the schemes to “get tough” with business is the universal enforcement of something called the E-Verify System. It is the brainchild of the Department of Homeland Security and is an electronic employment verification (EEV) program. Essentially, E-Verify uses the Social Security databases to check potential employee Social Security Numbers to determine if the job candidate is a US citizen. Employers are to simply enter in the applicants Social Security Number to verify they are an American citizen (of legal status) and therefore eligible for employment.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 made it illegal for employers to “knowingly” employ unauthorized workers, and E-Verify (then known as “Basic Pilot”) grew out of the requirement for work-eligibility verification. Since its inception the program has been voluntary for all businesses. However, if Smith’s bill passes, voluntary will change to mandatory.
In 2007, after the dramatic defeat of the illegal immigration amnesty bills, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced several changes to the E-Verify System. The agency now requires more than 200,000 federal contractors to use E-Verify, an increase of more than 1,076 percent over the 17,000 employers registered in 2007 (with only about half actually using) E-Verify. The system now requires an “enhanced photograph capability” that will allow employers to check photographs in E-Verify databases. DHS is expanding the number of databases E-Verify checks to include visa and passport databases; and the agency now wants direct access to state Department of Motor Vehicle databases. DHS will require employers to fire employees if they are unable to resolve “no match” discrepancies within 90 days. If the employers do not terminate the workers’ employment, the business will fines of $11,000 or more. DHS also will raise fines against employers by 25 percent and increasingly use criminal action against employers, as opposed to administrative action.

With those changes, E-Verify is now being sold as the atom bomb in the war on illegal immigration. Described as “the most effective tool to protect vulnerable American workers from unscrupulous businesses that hire illegal foreign workers to displace American workers or depress wages.” Sounds great – of course all of this confidence in the E-Verify System’s ability to stop illegal immigration is celebrated BEFORE most businesses have even been required to use it.

The fact is, there are major problems with the E-Verify System. It is a hugely flawed system and will have a severe effect on both naturalized U.S. citizens, as well as those who are native born.

Millions of employees could mistakenly fall into legal limbo.

Independent analysis of existing government databases have found unacceptably high error rates. Currently those voluntarily using E-Verify have experienced near double-digit error rates. Forcing more than 7 million employers to verify the legal status of more than 160 million current employees, as well as the millions of future hires, means that potentially, as many as 17 million citizens and legal US residents will be mistakenly found “ineligible” to work.

The fact is, the Social Security Administration (SSA) never purges a Social Security number once it’s assigned. The Numident database (which E-Verify uses) currently contains 435 million records; more than 100 million more than the nation’s total population, legal or otherwise. In December 2006, the SSA Inspector General reported approximately 18 million of these records are not accurate. Yet, DHS wants E-Verify made mandatory for the entire American work force.

“As a matter of simple math,” says Jim Harper at the CATO Institute, “that means that if E-Verify were to go national, on the first day 1 in 25 legal hires would be bounced out of the system and asked to go down to the Social Security office and straighten out the problem.”

Imagine the problems faced by honest, law abiding Americans who are thrown out of the system. In most cases, these are not well-to-do executives who can simply take the afternoon off to fix the problem. They are lower level workers who depend on every dime they earn to pay the rent and feed the kids. Simply taking a day off to go down to the local Social Security office isn’t an easy thing.

From the moment they are found to be a “tentative non-confirmed” they have eight days to contest the claim and to prove they are legal. A day off work is required because the Social Security office is only open from 8:30am to 5:00pm. If the employee fails to make it to the office in the 8 days, the employer is required by threat of fine and criminal charges to fire the employee.

Moreover, as the E-Verify system is forced on all employers and the large numbers of employees (as reported above) are thrown from the system, there will be a massive run on the Social Security office. The SS Administration is simply not equipped to handle such a massive influx of cases. The infrastructure to handle it is not in place.

As anyone who tried to get a passport a few years ago after the government makes significant, mandatory changes in a system, knows how badly managed typical-government inefficiency made for massive lines. New rules concerning passports forced Americans to flood passport offices, but the offices weren’t prepared to receive and process the massive number of applicants. The E-Verify System would force much larger numbers into unprepared Social Security offices.

Now, under E-Verify, employees that do make it to the SS office may be forced to return day after day. Jobs and income will be lost as the Employment Eligibility Verification (EEV) process does not permit employers to hold the jobs or delay start dates. The clock starts to tick the second the tentative non-confirmed notice is issued and runs out in exactly 8 days.
If it’s all been a mistake, the burden of proof is on the employee to prove who they are and that they are legal citizens or residents eligible to continue working. These law-abiding American citizens enter the Social Security Office as criminal suspects with the potential of being deported. Contrary to American law, they are guilty until proven innocent. Incredibly, there is no appeals process in place to challenge the findings of E-Verify.

More Fraud – Not Less

The E-Verify System is promoted as the only foolproof way to stop illegals from obtaining jobs. Advocates say the program has enough safeguards to protect citizens. Not so fast. Once the system is in place there are huge gaps that allow massive fraud.

To work efficiently, an E-Verify System allows employers access to a centralized record of all legal residents and citizens. Given the government’s mixed record on data security, this could become a one-stop-shop for identity theft.

First, illegals and those employers wishing to hire them can simply work under the table, paying cash, hiding the transaction from any official source. Illegals don’t regularly file income taxes, so the hire isn’t hard to hide.

On a larger scale, it must be understood that illegal immigration is big business and it has the money and the means to create false documents and to provide “legal” identification, complete with matching names and Social Security numbers.

Today, many illegals simply make up names and Social Security numbers, hoping not to get caught. Of course, the E-Verify system would catch them. However, in response, an illegal only has to obtain the name and SS number of a legal citizen. While that legal person may already be working a job, it will not create an alert if the information is used by someone else.

Such information can be available through a wide variety of situations, including stolen lists and select employees with access to databases like the Social Security lists. Organized crime can certainly have well placed cohorts. The process would create a massive criminal market for Americans citizens’ personal information. The only way to stop it is for the federal government to create a new database that records every new hire and monitor all employees in the nation. The real losers in this game are the people who now have had their identity stolen in the process. They may be the ones accused of identity theft as they suddenly discover someone else is using their name and SS number.

Of course, the federal government has proven it has no ability to safeguard the records in its current databases. And the more databases established, the more opportunity for theft. Not long ago there was a major scandal as federal employees were caught “sneaking a peek” at the passports of a large number of celebrities and even presidential candidates including Barack Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton.

In August of 2007, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lost a laptop computer which contained the records of 33,000 people who had signed up for its pre-screening program, designed to give travelers quicker access through airport security. The unencrypted information in the database included names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, Social Security numbers, Alien registration numbers, and current credit card numbers.

The laptop was in the possession of employees of a private company contracting with TSA for the project. TSA signup documents for the project promised that the records would be maintained at its headquarters in Arlington, VA and “other authorized TSA or DHA secure facilities, as necessary, and at a digital safe site managed by a government contractor.” In reality, the laptop was stashed in a locked office at the San Francisco Airport. There are a lot of laptops containing personal information of Americans being taking home by government employees these days. Why?

Mission Creep

The greatest threat from the establishment of a system such as E-Verify is the creation of perhaps unintended results. As Cato’s Jim Harper surmises, “The things to make a system like this impervious to forgery and fraud would convert it from an identity system into a cradle-to-grave biometric tracking system.”

“Mission Creep” is the commonly used description for a program designed for a specific purpose, but is later used for much more. A prime example of mission creep is the Social Security System itself. It was designed specifically as a means for people to deposit money into a government program to supplement their retirement years. Today, there are those who want to take its databank of users and transform it into an identity system to prove American citizenship. The excuse – “well, it’s already there!” That’s mission creep.

As reported in the beginning, the Department of Homeland Security intends to increase the E-Verify system to include biometric photographs and extended databases. On numerous occasions DHS spokesmen have expressed the desire to create a national identification card that would include near complete information on its bearer. This would include job, medical, tax, and school records. It would also include biometric and facial recognition, with RFID microchips that could monitor the whereabouts of every American.

E-Verify is the beginning of the creation of such a system. Is it worth it for Americans to endure an existence in a well-controlled matrix of surveillance simply to catch some illegal workers? Communities across the nation are proving that illegals will stop coming here – in fact actually leave – if they are made to feel unwelcome. Arizona’s much derided immigration law has proven that a get tough policy results in illegals avoiding the area. Manassas, Virginia is another locality that had a huge illegal immigration problem, only to see a huge decrease in such activity when it passed tough new laws to arrest and deport them.

And the most dangerous aspect of E-Verify is that it sets the stage for a national workforce management system which gives the government ultimate power to decide who works and who doesn’t. Will Obama appoint a “Jobs Czar” to comply with the new E-Verify law? It is designed to ultimately subject all Americans to an intrusive global surveillance system as the information in DHS databanks is being transferred to international systems through such DHS partners as American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

The federal government has been given the mandate by the people to close the borders and keep them out. It doesn’t require cradle-to-grave biometric tracking of every legal American to accomplish that task. Facts show that such “internal enforcement” would not reduce the illegality, it would promote it. Border security combined with real efforts by the government to keep illegals out of the country will do much more to stop the flood than by chaining American citizens to massive, all-knowing surveillance data banks.

Those who profess a love of freedom must learn quickly that granting government massive new powers to control employment is not freedom, but tyranny beyond any ever experienced in the United States. HR 2164 and E-Verify in any form must be stopped.

Special thanks to extensive reports on the E-Verify issue by Jim Harper at CATO (Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification, Franz Kafka’s Solution to Illegal Immigration), and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), (E-Verify System: DHS Changes Name, But Problems Remain for US Workers).

On September 12, 2001, President George W. Bush invited members of Congress and the media for a meeting in the cabinet room of the White House. The mood was understandably anxious, somber: The World Trade Center lay in rubble, the Pentagon had a hole gouged into it and shock and awe had settled over the United States. One of the most extraordinary periods of American history – what would come to be known as the “Post 9-11 Era” – was beginning.

The president gravely laid out the situation and the steps his administration would take to secure the homeland, but during the course of the meeting he also made this significant declaration: “We will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms.”

Those were heroic words of principle and patriotism in a traumatic time, but history would show that government’s reaction to the terrorist threat was the exact opposite than the protection of freedoms. Instead, government rushed in with a massive plan to create a surveillance society, intending to watch and document every action by the American people as a means of ultimate security.

First, Congress passed the Patriot Act, giving law enforcement powers to circumvent many Constitutional guarantees to personal privacy and home security. Then Congress created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The department immediately became an army of more than 170,000 employees by combining twenty two existing federal agencies, including the

Border Patrol, Coast Guard, Secret Service, FEMA, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Customs Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection, Federal Protective Service, FBI’s Computer Incident Response Center and several more lesser agencies of the same type. In the middle of this rush for security, Congress created the Transportation Security Agency (TSA). Also born in this Post 9/11 era were state fusion centers with the intention of combining federal, state and local law enforcement agencies into instant response teams, intending to eliminate bureaucratic overlap and red tape, in case of another terrorist attack or Hurricane Katrina-type disasters.

Finally, Congress passed the REAL ID Act, promoted as an attempt to standardize the process and format for creation of all state drivers’ licenses to achieve increased security. Proponents argued that, under REAL ID, we will know that anyone carrying a drivers’ license is legal in this country and therefore not a threat.

What most Americans do not know is that the blue print for REAL ID did not originate in the United States, but in the backrooms of a United Nations organization called the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). That organization is tasked with the goal of creating a once-size fits all international identification system using massive data banks that contain individual biometric information on nearly everyone in the world. Biometrics is defined as measurement of the body. One might correctly think of fingerprinting, iris scans and facial recognition as biometrics.

In compliance to this goal, REAL ID mandates a certain picture quality for all drivers’ licenses. Those photos are to comply with the ICAO’s Document 9303 biometric format. Your photo taken by a local DMV is run through special software which measures and analyzes the unique identifiable characteristics of your face. The process results in a unique numeric code which identifies a person according to facial measurements. In other words, under REAL ID, using the adopted standard of the ICAO, your face is reduced to a number code, a number which is read by a computer and be tracked by surveillance cameras worldwide.

Why would the United States agree to implement such a system? What happened to the promise that we would not let the terrorists change our way of life? How did the United States move from a free society, bent on preserving our freedoms in a dangerous terrorist-driven world to one of total surveillance over the actions of every citizen? What was the unseen hand that led to such decisions?

The international focus on drivers’ licenses through REAL ID came as a result of plans for international biometric passports. Passports, of course, are a control device of travelers both coming and going through US borders. Discussion regarding the use of E-Passports started soon after 9/11. It was not until the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 that our federal government put in place the framework for the issuance of E-Passports. E-Passports utilize both biometric technology and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology.

Focusing on passports, however, was about to create an international problem for the US government that would force it to accelerate and expand its surveillance plans, leading to a global surveillance system beyond what most in Congress intended.

Using the excuse that the US government wanted to learn as much about Al- Qaeda as possible, the US began to dictate to foreign governments that they also needed to implement E-Passports. Without them, said the US, their citizens would not be able to enter the US. In addition, the US wanted those nations to provide all information they had on Al-Qaeda members.

Meanwhile, the United Nations set up a committee named simply “Al-Qaeda”. Again, the stated goal was for all nations to cooperate in an Al-Qaeda clearing house of information. Each government was to provide the names of the members of Al-Qaeda that the respective governments were aware of.

What became obvious to many in our government was, if we expected information about citizens of other countries our government was also going to have to “ante up” and provide information about our citizens to the other nations. This is when things started to get out of control. Global information sharing was seen as a necessity. All “chips” were on the table. For the system to work the personal and sensitive information, including the biometrics of all citizens in all countries, had to be made available to intelligence and law enforcement people around the world.

Other nations resented the United States telling them that they must supply information about their citizens if the US wasn’t willing to do the same. The US was forced to comply with its own dictates. And so the drive was on for the creation

of an international surveillance system. REAL ID, while not recommended by the 9/11 Commission, became the center piece for the drive to document each and every American and placed their biometric records in international data bases.

The Real ID Act of 2005 was signed into law in May, 2005. The rulemaking process took roughly 2 1⁄2 years to be completed. During that 2 1⁄2 years over six hundred groups and organizations came out against the law for a variety of reasons. These groups covered a broad political spectrum from the far right to the far left. Religious organizations representing all major religions spoke out against the Real ID Act.

Among the reasons for such overwhelming opposition is that Real ID is an unfunded federal mandate; the federal government intervening in the issuance of state driver’s licenses; the unfettered power Real ID provides the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; a variety of privacy concerns; First Amendment religious concerns of which many were by Christian evangelical ministries; the state driver’s license would become a de facto national identification card; and the requirement that each driver’s license applicant would provide biometric samples.

In order for a state to be in compliance with the law, each state has 18 “benchmarks” they must complete or satisfy the Department of Homeland Security that the state is working towards completing the individual benchmarks. Opposition has been strong as 25 states, either as a result of law or resolution, opposed the Real ID Act. Because of the opposition, the Real ID Act implementation date has been postponed twice. However, proponents are determined to force implementation anyway and DHS demands that states comply by May, 2011.

If enforced, Americans will find what the saying “under government’s thumb” really means. Biometric documents will be required for nearly every action Americans take. A digital/electronic footprint will be the only way to access bank accounts; accessing transportation (at any level); purchase of goods and services; obtaining employment; and so forth. Every one of these actions will be stored in databanks and transferred to international databanks for storage.

Along with REAL ID, more legislation is pending in Congress to create even more control, all sold as just another way to keep us secure. One piece calls for a “National Worker’s Identification Card” and Senator Lieberman wants a new biometric social security card. If these proposals are passed into law and Real ID or anything else similar is in place it will be “game over”. Employers and retailers will have to have biometric readers and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) scanners.

In addition, American law enforcement is being changed and with it, America’s unique justice system is being changed too. Once law enforcements mission was to catch criminals after a crime was committed. And even those captured were protected as“innocent until proven guilty.” That Constitutionally-protected rights made American justice unlike any other in the world. It has been one of the cornerstones of American freedom and security over freedoms and the less-certain future they offer.

We must remember that the stated goal for the total surveillance system has been that the world would be as one, carrying the same documents to assure everyone is equal, everyone is known, and everyone is legitimate. Under the system, say the proponents, security can be guaranteed.

So now the surveillance system is nearly fully in place. What are the results? Are we safer? The fact is, with all of the biometric data bases being established, RFID chips, Closed Circuit TVs, Automatic License Plate Readers, National Security Letters, State Fusion Centers, the Patriot Act, and the establishment of the behemoth Department of Homeland Security, we are not any safer than we were on the day before 9/11.

Why? First, while the government increases surveillance over every individual in he name of protection from terrorists, our borders remain wide open. Anyone wanting to do harm to the United States is able to simply walk into the country and be aided by an entire network providing shelter, money, weapons, and access to American programs for money, schools and jobs. They can illegally purchase counterfeit birth certificates and social security cards and obtain state drivers’ licenses in any state. Only three states have the ability to authenticates birth certificates.

Programs like E-Verify, sold as a way to guarantee that only legal residents get jobs, actually aid those entering illegally. It makes the Social Security Number the most valuable commodity in the nation – a valuable prize. That makes it profitable for underground criminal networks to obtain and produce them. Terrorists networks have the means and the money to lead that effort. In addition, a study commissioned by DHS and performed by Westat reported that E-Verify is wrong more than it is right when dealing with a person in our country illegally is vetted out. In these situations E-Verify is wrong 54% of the time and right only 46% of the time.

And there is one more fact that renders the entire surveillance effort worthless in the fight against terrorism. Back to those E-Passports and the US demand for other nations to comply. The whole

Under REAL ID and the growing surveillance society, however, law enforcements mission is emerging to be one of “crime prevention” before it occurs. The only way such a policy could work is for government to be able to observe our every action, including monitoring phone calls, opening mail, monitor our financial transactions, monitor who we associate with and monitor our travel. The government has programs to achieve each and every one of these things. DHS and National Security Agency (NSA) have both engaged in domestic spying. The Defense Department had a program called “Total Information Awareness” (TIA) that was designed to combine and access all of the video cameras now in place in nearly every store, shopping mall and parking lot to monitor every move we make. Now on the back burner, TIA could be reactivated at any time. All that is missing is the final requirement that all Americans must carry in their pockets the document tying them into the system – the REAL ID drivers’ license.

Once fully implemented, REAL ID means a “one-size fits all” policy, leading to the end of Constitutionally- protected First and Fourth Amendment rights. Proponents believe “safety” trumps “freedom” and any cost. With full implementation of REAL ID, government will finally have the laws, technologies and the ability governments throughout history have always sought to exercise total control over the people. Yet many Americans still refuse to be alarmed, seeking safety program depends on honest, reliable governments producing honest, reliable, secure documents on their own citizens. They don’t.

Many Moslem countries in the Middle East consider the US to be their enemy.Pakistan’s government, for one, while pretending to be our ally, is full of government workers who are either friends or members of Al- Qaeda. They have helped hide Al-Qaeda leaders since the inception of the war on terrorism. It is a known fact by US intelligence agents. Any effort made by the US to coordinate strategy with such governments fails because plans are immediately shared with the enemy by such government workers. The internal politics of these countries put the governments in an untenable position. If the leaders of these countries are perceived to be working with U.S. intelligence officials there is blowback against them for working with the “Infidels” of the United States. As a result, information from these nations, to this day, is at best questionable and unreliable.

To rely on such countries to provide honest documentation for citizens by way of passports or other identification is pure folly. It is easy for government employees to provide Al- Qaeda operatives all the “legitimate” documentation they need to travel freely inside the surveillance bubble that has been established to supposedly catch them.

Any honest observer or government leader dealing with the situation on a daily basis has to know the truth – that REAL ID and its fellow programs are not about protecting us in the war on terror. So what is the real purpose? What are we really doing?

The fact is Real ID is designed to enroll every citizen into a single global system of identification and financial control. Doubt that – then consider these words of Robert Mocny speaking for DHS when he said, “information sharing is appropriate around the world,” and DHS plans to create a “Global Security Envelope of internationally shared biometric data that would permanently link individuals with biometric ID, personal information held by governments and corporations.”

Meanwhile, Julian Ashborn speaking as the Chairman of the International Biometric Agency said, “What information do governments share? With whom is my data shared and why?” All of these questions need to be addressed by an agency with global powers”

These officials are telling openly telling us what they plan – global governance. Americans are just not listening. The truth is we are not safe. And such a system will never make us safe. But what we have done in the name of safety is to create an international surveillance system that destroys the unique American system of liberty and justice, “harmonizing” us into the same totalitarian system that controls so much of the rest of the world.

It can be stopped now- before it is fully implemented.

But once REAL ID is enforced in every state through compliant drivers’ licenses, it will be too late. Every American who cherishes their Constitutionally- guaranteed rights have until May of this year to demand that their state governments stand strong and continue to oppose compliance with this international straight jacket. Our protests postponed it for several years. We must do it again.

Call now or understand that, once in place, there will be no way for this generation to pass freedom to the next. REAL ID is that great a threat.

A nationwide protest began to take shape called “Opt Out,” encouraging travelers to make their feelings known by refusing to enter the full-body scanners, demanding the more time-consuming pat downs. The point was to send a very strong message to an arrogant government agency by clogging airport security areas, forcing the TSA to back off the use of the scanners. Also, the more people forced to endure the invasive pat downs, the greater possibility TSA would back off of those as well.

Why the outrage? Travel has become a very difficult experience for Americans. We understand the need to be cautious because there are those who seek to do us harm in this age of terrorism. But for 10 years now, the government has specifically focused on airline travelers to take the brunt of ever more difficult and invasive security procedures. Any minor or imagined attempt by terrorists to break through the security system results in a massive government response – not to find and stop the terrorists, but rather to force the law-abiding traveling American public to toe an ever tougher line.

Americans have been forced to endure humiliation from scowling TSA agents who seem to not even consider American laws or rights. In fact, just mention your rights and receive the full treatment the agents can muster. Total disregard for the modesty of the elderly, the religious and the sick forced to endure revealing pat downs in full view of other travelers or TSA agents; mothers have been forced to drink their breast milk; cancer survivors forced to remove and hand over their prosthetics; valuable bottles of lotions, perfumes and shampoos tossed in the dumpster; shoes off, jackets off, pockets empty, and much more. Toe the line, show no emotion, smile, just hope to get through without incident. It’s become a way of life – in the name of fighting terrorism.

What the government hasn’t done, in deed refuses to do, is take the necessary action to secure the nation’s borders to stop illegals, including potential or known terrorists from entering the country. Nor has the government stepped up enforcement of visas, allowing those with expired visas to stay in the country well past their expiration date with no repercussions. The no-fly lists, rather than specifically focusing on the names of known terrorists or, heaven forbid, screening those who come from nations friendly to terrorists, instead is stocked full of good, law abiding Americas who become hassled every time they attempt to travel. Wouldn’t it be more useful to make every effort to clear those wrongfully put on the list, so that focus would be sharper on real terrorists?

Above all, the government has allowed itself to become mired in another Viet Nam in Afghanistan, full of politically-correct policies so as to not upset the friends of terrorists in the region’s corrupt governments. As U.S. Soldiers continue to die and Americans are treated as prisoners in their own country, the terrorist’s Mr. Big, Osama Bin Laden goes on, unharmed, free to move about in the region, directing his attacks.

Meanwhile, back in the states, the TSA has engaged in an assault on Americans and their Constitutional rights unprecedented in American history. Essentially, the TSA writes its own laws, in secret, in the form of “Security Directives” to airlines, as they issue “Standard Operating Procedures” to TSA employees and contractors. Yet these directives and procedures are not released or made known to Americans, as TSA refuses to answer Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests, answers which federal requires they provide. In fact, the Department of Homeland Security gave direct orders to TSA to not respond to such requests without express prior permission from DHS.

Americans have endured it all, stoically standing in the lines, facing the scrutiny, allowing the indignities, doing our patriotic duty to help secure us from the terrorist threat, and allowing an arrogance to grow in the government, convinced that Americans would continue to accept anything forced on them.

But, just before the Thanksgiving holiday travel season, TSA suddenly began to heavily enforce the uses of the “naked” scanners in more airports. For some time, Americans had expressed their opposition to the scanners, objecting to the view seen on TSA screens of their literally naked bodies. Moreover, many Americans object to the fact that the scanners use X-ray technology that many fear is a heath hazard. NO matter, the machines were put in place in many airports without warning.

Worse, those who refused to use the scanners were forced to undergo an invasive pat down, enduring the groping of their genitals, with hands inside underwear, to the point of sexual harassment. The TSA showed outright hostility for those who were truly distraught over the invasion of their modesty, let alone their rights as Americans. Enough was enough.

So the Opt Out protest was called, urging holiday travelers to refuse to go into the x-ray scanners, enduring the pat downs, but even then, protesting the sexual groping. The TSA remained determined to carry out the screenings, no matter how long the lines might become. The news media frantically predicted a disastrous travel weekend. The stage was set for the face off between outraged Americas demanding their rights and determined TSA Agents who would not back down.

Came Wednesday, November 24, the day before Thanksgiving. Contrary to the hysterical predictions, the airports were quiet and orderly. Throughout the day on Wednesday, the TSA updated its blog with the happy statistics. “Minneapolis: wait times are currently 5 – 10 mins. No incidents,” went a typical report. “Detroit: 25,000 passengers screened today, and 57 AIT opt-outs. All were screened and continued to their flights.” Across the nation TSA reported that lines at most airports were manageable and relatively small numbers of passengers opted out. The obvious gleeful message was that, other than a noisy, radical few, Americans overwhelmingly accepted the TSA screening program. And the news media obediently followed suit in its reports for the day. Opt Out Day, they reported, was a big dud.

Not so fast. There is strong evidence that the TSA played a shrewd game, cleverly manipulating the media, controlling perception. A closer examination of the facts is necessary. For example, Nate Silver, in an article entitled “What the TSA hasn’t told us,” in the New York Times, revealed a suspicious twist of numbers. For example, reporting on the situation at Los Angeles Airport, the TSA said on its blog, “Los Angeles: 113 AIT opt out across LAX’s 8 terminals, which is less than 1% of the approximately 50,000 travelers screened at LAX today.”

“What we aren’t told,” reports Silver, “ is how many of those 50,000 passengers were actually asked to pass through full-body scanners (AITs).” Reports from airport after airport indicated that the full-body scanners were in many cases, shut down, roped off and not used. Instead, passengers were sent through the simple metal detectors, thereby avoiding the confrontations of the protestors.

In addition, reports of the unusual quiet in airports across the country indicates that a large number of Americans chose to opt out by not flying at all, instead choosing to either drive or stay home. If so, then the Opt Out protest was actually a huge success, proving that Americans are so upset with the TSA’s disregard for their rights and dignity that they would give up being with family before going through the government harassment. Airline passenger numbers, when they are issued in a few months, will confirm or disprove this possibility. But if you have ever had to travel on the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, seeing a quiet airport would certainly seem out of the norm.

In any case, it appears that the TSA, in spite of public denials, did indeed react to the protests, desiring to quiet the rebellion. In short, the tyrants blinked. Americans must take note of that and refuse to back down. The protest for your rights must continue if the arrogance of the government is to be curtailed.

To that end, The Identity Project has listed the following list of demands that Americans should insist the TSA follow:

• No more secret laws. TSA has to publish its rules and procedures like every other agency. Any unpublished rules cannot be enforced against citizens. Then Americans will be warned that their only choices are to either be groped or photographed nude. They would also know that once you enter the security area you have given up all rights and cannot leave the area – or face prosecution and an $11,000 fine.

• No more groping travelers. Assaults on innocent travelers in a way that the law of almost every state defines sexual harassment should not be the new standard for Federally-approved suspicionless searches.
• No more suspicionless searches. The Fourth Amendment guarantees our rights not to be subjected to any of these searches when there is no reason to suspect us of any crime. The Fifth Amendment protects our right to remain silent, that includes when a TSA agent, common carrier or rent-a-cop demands that we identify ourselves or answer their questions when forced into a locked room or private screen area at the airport. The First Amendment protects our right to “peaceably assemble.”
• No more secret black lists or secret “no-fly” orders. TheTSAcan’tbar“certainpeople”from flying in secret, extra-judicial administration orders. If the TSA thinks someone is guilty of something, arrest them and give them their day in court to confront their accusers – or leave them alone.
• No more secret surveillance lists. TSA’s “selectee list” is much larger than the no-fly list. It’s how a lot of people end up being “randomly” searched every time they go through an airport. Again, if the TSA has evidence of a crime, arrest them, and treat every traveler equally.
• No more lying to the public. TSA claims its searches are random when they aren’t. It claims their machines can’t store nude photos when they can. It claims ID is required when it isn’t. The history of the TSA is one of lying. Congress should make it a crime for a TSA employee or contractor to lie to a member of the public.
• No more identity checkpoints. Free countries don’t demand that citizens produce their “papers” in order to move around.
• No more warrantless interrogations (under penalty of denial of travel) or demands for information.
• Restore the right to assemble and the right to travel. Neither the TSA nor any government agency has the right to prevent us from moving around our own country. If they don’t have cause to arrest us, then we’re presumed innocent and we’re free to move around the airports, the planes and the train stations, the trains and the country.

It is the duty of every American to stop cowering in the corner as these government goons tramp on our Constitutionally-guaranteed rights. To do nothing is to grant it.

And one more thing; if you are one of those who truly believe that the TSA actions are necessary, and are actually frightened by the protestors who are standing up for their rights, then maybe you are the ones who need to stay off the planes.

I can provide a number of reasons you should care about L-1 Identity Solutions, the company Viisage Technology transformed into. I will start by mentioning that Louis Freeh (former Director of the FBI), Admiral Loy (former head of the Transportation Security Agency), George Tenet (former Director of the CIA), Frank Moss (former program manager for the State Department’s E-Passport program), and many others who previously held key positions in the federal government all joined Viisage/L-1 as members of the Board of Directors or as paid employees of Viisage/L-1.

It must be really sweet to sign off on contracts worth millions of dollars, tens of millions or more in fact and then turn right around and go on the payroll of the same company that you awarded the contracts to. Sure, Tenet, Freeh and the others may not have had to sign the actual contracts but certainly they are responsible for knowing who the contracts went to when they were in charge of their respective agencies and departments.

L-1 dominates the state driver’s license business. L-1 also produces all passport cards, involved in the production of all passports, provides identification documents for the Department of Defense and has contracts with nearly every intelligence agency in our government. To a large extent it is fair to say that your personal information is L-1’s information. L-1 is the same company that thinks our political party affiliation should be on our driver’s license along with our race. L-1 has a long history starting with its taking over Viisage Technology. It was a great sleight of hand, Viisage morphing into L-1 while Viisage was under investigation by our government.

Viisage settled a class action lawsuit that alleged members of the Board of Directors sold stock in advance of what they knew what be a negative quarterly financial report. Viisage is the same company that had a state driver’s license contract voided by the Georgia State Supreme Court for misrepresentation. Perhaps you attended the Super Bowl in 2001 that was held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The Super Bowl that year is referred to as the “Snooper Bowl” because the fans that went to the game had their facial images captured and compared against facial images stored in law enforcement databases. You know all those cameras we see being put up in cities around our country. Those cameras are not pointed at terrorists, they are pointed at you. Through the use of facial recognition technology, a biometric, your facial image can be captured by a camera and then compared to facial images stored in law enforcement databases and in Department of Motor Vehicle databases. If we hurry as a country we can catch up to where the British are at; the average person in London is captured by CCTV (Closed Circuit Television cameras/surveillance cameras) 300 times a day. Better yet, we can do what the Chinese want to do; we can use CCTV and facial recognition technology to identify dissidents. Chinese citizens can thank L-1 for thinking of them. L-1 is a company that supplied a Chinese citizen with facial recognition technology knowing that citizen was going to offer the technology to the Red Chinese government for testing.

Wait a minute; stop the press! We do not have to worry anymore about Viisage Technology or L-1. You see L-1 is being sold to two European companies. One of the companies is buying the division of L-1 that has contracts with nearly every intelligence agency in the United States government. The biometric and documents credential divisions are being sold to a French company named Safran. Just think about how happy you can feel now knowing that your personal information including your social security number and biometric information (fingerprints, Iris scans and digital facial images) may soon be available to a French company. The federal government must sign off on the deal before the deal can be sealed. All this brings us back to the topic of the revolving door that exists between government and corporations.

You will never guess who is on the payroll of the French company. Let’s see, I earlier talked about the former heads of the TSA, FBI and CIA but I left out DHS; shame on me. Our former Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the honorable Michael Chertoff certainly did not take long to walk through the revolving door. Last year, 2009, Mr. Chertoff was the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. This year, 2010, he is a strategic advisor to the French company Safran. Maybe I am not too quick but I do not understand how one year a person goes from heading our lead agency on homeland security and the next year the same person sees no harm in allowing a French company access to our personal information.

Allow me to conclude this learning session with two other tidbits of information. For those of you who refer to the Real ID Act 2005 as an attempt by the federal government to create a “national ID card” please adjust your thinking. On page 68 of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Real ID Act you will find a tiny little footnote that reads as follows: “The relevant ICAO standard is ICAO 9303 Part 1 Vol 2, specifically ISO/IEC 19794-5 – Information technology – Biometric data interchange formats – Part 5: Face image data, which is incorporated into ICAO 9303.” The ICAO is the International Civil Aviation Organization, an agency of the United Nations. That’s right, American citizens are being enrolled into a single global system of identification and financial control over which they have no representation. Please stop calling Real ID national ID; it is international ID. By the way, who stands to gain from the implementation of Real ID starting April 2011? You guessed it, L-1 or should I say Michael Chertoff and his employer, Safran.

Sarcasm alert – The final tidbit of information comes from the International Biometrics Agency. For all of you that keep talking about a New World Order or a One World Government, please stop such ridiculous rumors. Julian Ashbourn speaking as the Chairman of the International Biometrics Agency set our minds to rest when he said the following: “What information do governments share? With whom is my data shared and why? All of these questions need to be addressed by an agency with global powers.”
An agency with global powers? Perhaps I am naive but I always believed we live in a sovereign country. You may have heard of our country, The United States of China. No, that is not right, The United States of the Britain. I will get it right; The United States of France. This country thing is really getting hard to remember. We have the surveillance cameras like Britain; we use facial recognition like China to identify dissidents and we sell L-1 to a French company. Thank goodness for my granddaughter, she just reminded me of what Congress and others have forgotten, this is the United States of America.

Mark Lerner is with the Constitutional Alliance and author of the book “Your Body is Your ID.” His article is distributed by the American Policy Center. americanpolicy.org

Do you feel it? It’s everywhere. On television. In the newspaper. At any public gathering. In any discussion – even among friends. It’s a feeling of mistrust. Nervousness. Suspicion. Even rage. Mostly, it’s just under the surface. But more and more it’s bubbling to the top. Political debate is breaking into outright war. Just say the words, “I don’t believe government should do that…” and the war is on. Take a side. Feel the heat. Tolerance is a thing of the past.

There is an all out, vicious attack on anyone who doesn’t respond properly. Ridicule. Intimidation. Public shunning. Destruction of careers. Removal from public meetings. All await those who express thoughts outside the politically-correct box.

Climate change skeptics are scientists who have gone beyond the hype and conducted their own research, and made their own findings. It’s what scientists do.

For their efforts they have been fired – discarded – blocked from receiving grants – banned from publications – and threatened. They’ve been compared to holocaust deniers – called nuts, crazy, and dangerous. Al Gore himself has called for violence against them. Others have called for Nuremberg-style trials – government show trials – to present them as enemies of humanity – simply because they disagree with official government reports – reports that are proving more and more to be wrong in the first place.

In other examples, property owners seeking to ask questions at city council meetings about a new regulation that may affect their land are denied the microphone – sometimes even bodily removed from meetings by armed guards.

A pickup truck in Shreveport, Louisiana, is pulled over by a cop. When asked why, the cop simply points to the bumper sticker on the back of the truck that says “Member of the NRA.”

And then there is the beauty queen, Miss California, USA, who was asked about her views on gay marriage – by the openly gay blogger and activist Perez Hilton. Her answer – very honest and very middle of the road.

She said, “Well, I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. You know what, in my country, in my family, I do believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offence to anybody out there. But that’s how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman.”

For that answer she was attacked in headlines across the nation, calling her a bigot, a dumb bitch, and sarcastically and mockingly calling her “biblically correct.”

And then, just last week, at a town hall meeting to discuss the health care plan with his congressman, a black man, Kenneth Gladney was beaten by union goons and sent to the hospital for disagreeing with the Obama plan.

Why? Why the hatred? Why the venom? Why the intolerance to what used to be called a “personal opinion” or political debate?

The fact is we are witnessing an all-out drive to impose thought control that seeks to ban the ability – the right- to think or speak for one’s self. Thinking is becoming a crime.

Today, there is one acceptable idea – government is the answer. Stray from that premise – even a little, as did Miss California, — and there will be no mercy for you. Your life will be destroyed.

There are forces in this nation who want total power to dictate their agenda and they will stop at nothing to achieve it. For them there is no compromise or polite discussion or differences of opinion. The wants, needs, desires of your life, your family, your home, are not to be considered.

Some describe their efforts as a conspiracy. If so, it isn’t very secret. The goal has been outlined in detail many times.

In the UN’s report on Global Governance; in Agenda 21; in various programs of UNESCO, like its International Baccalaureate program, which teaches global citizenship in a global village; it was in the Biodiversity Treaty; the Kyoto global warming accord; and it’s in the Cap and Trade initiative. It is most certainly in Obama’s health care bill.

All of these policies are blatant in their intent. Top down control; no sovereign, independent nations; no individual thought; no private property; no self defense; no morality; no personal pride of achievement; no questions. Anything that goes against the plan, anything that would cause anyone to hesitate in moving toward the agenda, must be eliminated or neutralized. .

Educate, indoctrinate, intimidate. Above all, destroy reason and control the ability to think.

The real question for which we must all learn the answer is how they are doing it. How have they taken a nation created on the ideals of individual liberty, limited government, and free markets, and gotten us to accept the opposite?

Globally Acceptable Truth in the Land of Eden

A few years ago, I found the answer and I wrote about it, believing I was now arming our movement with the ammunition we needed to fight back. But that article was met with a resounding thud. Too intellectual, perhaps? Too academic? People want red meat. They want names and numbers of the culprits. They want to keep it simple.

Well, now that we have moved so much closer to fulfillment of their agenda – now that tyranny can be more clearly found in almost every aspect of our lives – perhaps now is the time to try again.

Ask yourselves this question: when did the ability to think rational thought become replaced with Zombie-like programmed responses? Where do these ideas come from?

Believe it or not, there is an organization, part of the UN, of course, whose purpose is to define what we are allowed to think. Its process is called “globally-acceptable truth.”

The organization is called the Eden Foundation and the head of it is a man named Donald Sagar. He is a representative to the United Nations’ Association for World Education.

He is dangerous to you and me because he has written the blue print on thought control and is now enlisting the self-proclaimed leaders of the world to enforce it.

Mr. Sagar sent me an e-mail one quiet Sunday afternoon to disagree with some of my articles dealing with global warming. His first line told me everything I needed to know about Mr. Sagar’s value system. The e-mail began, “Science aside…” Obviously Mr. Sagar didn’t want to be bothered by mere science when he had loftier goals in mind.

But he went on to say, “It is inherently illogical and otherwise irresponsible to suggest that human activity does not posses the potential to alter the Earth’s climate.”

What he’s saying is, no matter what science tells us, I “FEEL” that man is damaging the Earth, therefore I insist that it be true.

Incredibly he then argued, with obvious horror that, “energy usage worldwide is increasing at an alarming rate of speed as 3rd world countries continue to modernize.”

One must not miss the completely astonishing rationale of his statement. My first thought is that he is one of those who advocate that people who live in third world countries are simply animals who should always live in mud huts, walk five miles a day for their filthy water and cook over the quaint campfire in the center of the village. Because, you see, that is good for the environment.

And he certainly does believe that. But his reasoning is astounding. He says, Because of advances in technology, everyone in the world is now at similar risk – rich and poor alike.” He believes that science is only a force for destruction.

And that’s why Mr. Sagar advocates that all technological advances must be first approved by a higher authority – safely out of the hands of individuals.

Too Much Knowledge

But fear not, Sagar’s Eden Project, he says, can define our problems on Earth and fix them. And here is how Donald Sager defines that problem: “Because of the relentless increase in the quantity and complexity of knowledge in the world, we are experiencing a clash between cultures that prevents all but the most capable of surviving with any meaningful identity in tact.”

Did you catch that? The reason we have wars, poverty and misery is because there is too much knowledge. Based on that premise, Sagar then set out to create the blue print to define acceptable ideas and thoughts – those that would bring harmony to the world.

That leaves no room for new ideas or innovation. Because new ideas bring change, causing confusion, shifts in living conditions and unemployment as old industries die to make way for the new.

So, instead, we must set up a system of thought control. Certain ideas are the only ones safe to think. Globallyacceptable truth. And there must be a top-down control to assure bad thoughts are controlled or obliterated.

For it to work, the rest of us must be convinced or forced to stop thinking or using our  own experiences, along with academic and scientific absolutes, to draw our own conclusion.

Once that is established, it is easy to reject morality, and then only a short step to accepting the idea that people of third world nations should live out their days in total poverty – just for the common good. And by way, eventually it would be good for all of us to live that way too.

It is then just as short journey to accepting euthanasia as a means to rid us of the elderly who are no longer useful for the village. And then, it’s an even shorter step to accepting the final solution of forced abortion for population control.

Gathering the Power of the World Elite

Once Sagar put this idea together, he began to contact world leaders to convince them of his plan. For success, he needed them to be the enforcement hammer. You’ll find on his website a series of letters from world leaders, as they praise and endorse the plan.

One is a letter from none other than Robert Muller, former Assistant Secretary General of the UN, and affectionately known as the “philosopher” of the UN.

Said Muller in his letter: I am referring to the need to establish a body of objective, globally acceptable information to serve as a foundation for global education…”

Other supporters include K.B. Mathur, Director General of UNESCO, the man in charge of implementing global education policy in our public schools. There is also Dale Ott, of the World Council of Churches, and many more heads of global and international organizations – the infamous Nongovernmental organizations that are responsible for writing policies and treaties that seep out of the UN and into national law.

Most telling was a quote from a man named Keith Smiley, president of a UN consultant group who said “The planet and its people have been experiencing an information explosion. The uncontrolled expansion of information is dangerous since it tends to diffuse meaning and purpose.”

And then there is this endorsement from Alexander King – the founder of the Club of Rome: King writes to Sagar, “ One aspect of your letter… struck me forcibly – it was when you said, ‘it is actually our thought process that is responsible for the predicament we find ourselves in.’ Concluded King, “I couldn’t agree with you more. Unless we find the means to change our thinking I can see little hope in solving the supreme problem for humanity – its impending extinction.”

These powerful people are telling us that humans, armed with knowledge are dangerous to the new order of peace and harmony they intend to establish for us.

Zombies and the End of Human Progress

No matter what you call it, this is thought control – globally acceptable truth. It is the only way you will be permitted to think. Imagine the consequences such thought control will have on the human race.

Thomas Edison wouldn’t have been allowed to even think about such radical changes as alternatives to candle wax in our well-ordered society. The Wright Brothers would have been hanged as heretics to suggest man could fly.

This is the process by which your children are being deliberately “dumbed down” in government schools. The premise of “globally-acceptable truth” is the very root of today’s public school curriculum.

And the process is working like a well-oiled machine. Americans have been giving up their liberty and way of life with barely a blink of an eye – for decades.

Misleading sound bites are replacing reasoned thought. Just say “Go Green,” and the eyes of the masses glaze over and the people comply. Or, “it’s for the children,” and we give up control to the state. Or, “it’s just to keep you safe,” and we openly encourage the creation of a total surveillance society.

The process is so all encompassing, so all pervasive, that most people don’t recognize that it’s being employed.

Enemies from Within

And a lot of people who should know better, who should be in the fight to stop it are actually helping them do it.

For example, in the name of stopping illegal immigration, mainstream conservatives, both in congress and in trusted organizations, are embracing and promoting policies like Real ID and E-Verify.

Both of these programs are major tools in creating an international surveillance society, which will make it easier for control of individuals in the global village. But people many of you trust are telling you to accept these policies, actually saying “I would rather give up some freedom to be safer!”

To promote this argument, they actually use the phrase, “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.” What they are really saying with that phrase is that the government always gets it right. That phrase also indicates that the Bill of Rights was actually written to protect the guilty. What do we need guarantees for – if benevolent government is there to protect us?

As for E-Verify, which demands the use of a social security number for every single American at every age, so the government can grant you the ability to get a job—is it really the position of the freedom movement that every baby born in America should be stamped with a number at birth?

Some who proclaim themselves to be freedom advocates also argue that Public/Private Partnerships are free enterprise and that “free trade” policies will actually help to restore the Republic. I’m really trying to understand how the creation of governmentsanctioned monopolies represents a free market. And how does that concept fall in line with the ideas of the Founding Fathers?

Our Founders believed it was government’s job to protect the ability of business to compete – not to guarantee profits. They certainly didn’t mean for government and business to get into bed together.

And then there is the growing defense in conservative circles of the Social Security system as the vital tool necessary to take care of the elderly. When did that shift take place in our movement? Social Security was part of Franklin Roosevelt’s socialist New Deal.

When you start to defend Social Security, it’s much easier to find yourself defending welfare, Medicare and Obama’s health care scheme. It’s all from the same bone.

See how quickly we begin to accept ideas we would not normally support? That’s the power of Globallyacceptable truth. It’s all around us.

New Truths for a New Order

Global Warming is globally-acceptable truth.

The United Nations’ Declaration on Human Rights is globally-acceptable truth.

Universal health care is globally-acceptable truth.

Mandatory purchase of a Prius is globally-acceptable truth

The common good over the individual is globally-acceptable truth.

Independent, sovereign nations as a source of war is a globally-acceptable truth.

Global governance for the future peace of man-kind is a globally-acceptable truth.

Global citizenship is a globally-acceptable truth.

Severe reduction of the population is globally-acceptable truth.

The UN Gets in the Game

And they are steadily putting these “truths” into practice. Just a few weeks ago, the United Nation held the “Conference on the World’s Financial and Economic Crisis.”

UN General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto blatantly moved the conference to denounce the free market system, saying, “Capitalism cannot be reformed…”

He went on to say, “Egotism and greed cannot be corrected …we must go beyond controls and corrections… to create something that strives towards a new paradigm of social coexistence.”

Those words clearly show that the UN is now moving to implement the Eden Project plan of Globally-acceptable truth into the world economy.

The End of Reason

Sagar’s project is the key to understanding what is being done to our society and how it is being implemented – right before our very eyes. We must learn that we are not facing a scattering of issues that are just wrong headed. Instead, it’s being orchestrated with a specific mindset behind it.

Step by step, we have surrendered the ability to reason and to take responsibility for our own lives – and instead are giving our lives to government to be cradled in its warm and safe cocoon from birth to death.

There is an endless supply of examples to show how the process is destroying our once free society. In fact, what was once a slow process – perhaps moving so slowly that most people didn’t even notice – has become a tsunami.

The public school system is a major example. There are now more psychologists on the payroll of public schools than teachers. The result is an abuse of innocent minds beyond description. Today, dumbed-down children emerge from classrooms like zombies – modern children of the corn, unable to question authority, unable to think for themselves. The perfect citizens of the global village.

The imposition of environmental regulations has become the greatest threat to ownership and control of private property. Our Supreme Court has now declared that there is no private property and that any community is free to take any property it desires for private development – all for the common good of the community.

We have accepted the rise of a horde of powerful non-elected government agencies like planning commissions, transportation commissions, homeowners associations, neighborhood development councils, historic preservation councils, and stake holder councils – and we call them a proper role for government.

Yet, the more non-elected councils making the rules – the less power for the elected representatives chosen by  the people – the less say we have about our own lives.

The true purpose of this new government structure is to create and enforce the global village. The policy of choice to make it happen is, of course, Sustainable Development.

Sustainable Development has three components: global land use, global education, and global population control. Sustainable Development is anti-free enterprise; anti- limited government and anti-individual liberty. But most communities and government entities have accepted it as a proper role for government.

Can you name one single elected official – anywhere in the United States – at any level of office – who speaks out against Sustainable Development? Can you name one who has stood up to stop this policy? But there sure are a lot of them who like to get up at political meetings and rouse the faithful about how they are working to restore the Republic and our free society.

A free society protects its property owners and businesses and helps them to go about their lives unencumbered. A free society doesn’t set up spy mechanisms to track the whereabouts of its people through ID cards and biometric databases. A free society doesn’t close down whole industries and towns at the whim of special interest groups using made up excuses like spotted owls. A free society defends its borders and protects its citizens from outside invasion.

But all of these things are being done through the process of Sustainable Development – and the politicians sit on their hands and ignore it.

Like a bad plastic surgery, our society is being transformed into a hideous monster. And it will destroy everything you hold dear in life.

In the name of Sustainable Development, there are now movements to ban over the counter, natural supplements; and fast food; and air conditioning; and recreational vehicles; and the consumption of meat; and cars; and suburban housing; and the family pet; and plastics; and fireplaces, and on and on.The floodgates have been opened. And so many of our fellow Americans don’t even question why. Was it not always so?

Ban it. Ban it. Ban it. Ban it. These are the sounds of the bombs going off in a war for control. The war against freedom. The one statement that should never be uttered in a free society is “ban it.” A free society cannot exist under this weight.

(End of Part 1)

Tom DeWeese is the President of the American Policy Center and the Editor of The DeWeese Report. TThe DeWeese Report is now available online, for more information click here.

By Tom DeWeese

I’ve heard it all- the cries, the pleas, the whines, the double speak and the lies. “We need the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to protect us from terrorists.” “We must have Real ID to protect us from illegal immigration.” “We must have E-Verify to protect American jobs.” “Traffic light cameras are necessary to make the streets safer.” “Security cameras on street corners make our neighborhoods safer.” “I’m glad the TSA is there at the airport – I feel so much safer getting on an airplane.” And my favorite lie of them all – “If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.”

Take note: every single one of these issues results in bigger, more invasive government, and not a single one will do anything to solve the intended problem. Every single one will make you less free, less happy and less safe. Here is my guarantee – put each and every one of these programs fully into place and learn the hard way that it isn’t the final solution – but only the beginning. The government has much more in store for Americans and their privacy and personal security – and you are not going to be happy. Get ready, Americans. Here it comes like a freight train. And if you’ve uttered one of the whines listed above, then you have no one to blame but yourself.

I’ve argued that the Department of Homeland Security is the greatest threat to liberty Americans have ever faced. It began with 170,000 employees by combining 22 existing federal agencies, including Border Patrol, Coast Guard, Secret Service, FEMA, Transportation Security Agency (TSA), Immigration and Naturalization, Customs Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection, Federal Protective Service, FBI’s Domestic Preparedness, Federal Computer Incident Response Center, and several more lesser agencies of the same type.

All of these agencies are under the control of one manager, the Secretary of Homeland Security. As a result of provisions in the Patriot Act (a monstrous law, passed in the panic of 911 and admittedly never read by a single member of Congress before it was passed) the DHS Secretary – one person – 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.

Now, some may argue that all of that is necessary to catch a terrorist and that it is not intended to affect innocent citizens. Again, it’s the -”IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE – YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR” excuse. Before moving forward, let’s get rid of this naive utterance once and for all.

First, that statement really says that government always gets it right. So fear of searches is just nonsense – if you are innocent. Well, have you heard the recording of Campaign for Liberty employee Steve Bierfeldt when he was detained by the TSA simply because he was carrying less than $2,000 in cash from a conference? All young Steve did was ask the TSA agents to show him the law that said they had a right to ask him why he was carrying the money. The checks in the same metal box as the cash were made out to the Campaign for Liberty. Any moron could have figured out where the money came from and what it was for. But the TSA didn’t care – they wanted to show their authority. Biefeldt presented the entire box to TSA agents, not trying to conceal it in any way. TSA tried to bully him and threatened to turn him over to drug enforcement authorities, as an attempt to make it appear he was carrying the cash from drug deals. Steve’s reply was basically, “Fine – will they be able to show me the law?” Innocent Steve had nothing to hide and plenty to fear from TSA thugs.

Second, that statement says that the Bill of Rights was only created to protect the guilty. You see, if you have nothing to hide, then you obviously don’t need to be protected from government. The Constitution was written by men who feared government – even the one they were creating – and they put safeguards in it to force government to recognize and respect our property and our right to be innocent until proven guilty. DHS and the Patriot Act, and those who use the mantra “If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear,” reject and ignore those guarantees. Under the Patriot Act and it’s agents in the DHS and TSA, you are not secure in your home or your person, you are not innocent until proven guilty and you are not allowed to face your accusers. That means tyranny, not the Constitution, is in control.

Supposedly, the DHS mission is to be our frontline against terrorism. An added bonus, say its supporters, is to help reduce illegal immigration. Yet the department has opposed the most obvious element of “homeland security” – securing the nation’s borders. DHS has blocked building the wall. It’s done nothing about enforcing Visa violators. And sometimes it even blocks local law enforcement from arresting and deporting known illegals.

Instead, DHS has been on a rampage to impose rules, regulations and projects, all designed to put legal, law abiding Americans in a massive straight jacket.

Real ID is not a tool to fight illegal immigration

First there was the Real ID Act. Unfortunately, some misguided Conservative leaders, both in the grassroots and in Congress continue to support this terrible Act as a safeguard to stop illegal immigration. They are horribly wrong.

Real ID is argued to be an attempt to standardize the process and format for the creation of all state drivers’ licenses to achieve increased security. Proponents argue that now we will know that anyone carrying a driver’s license is legal in this country and therefore not a threat. What most Americans do not know is that Real ID did not originate in the United States, but in the backrooms of a UN organization called the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Real ID mandates a certain picture quality for all drivers’ licenses that are to be compliant with the ICAO’s Document 9303 biometric format. Your photo taken by a local DMV is run thorough special software which measures and analyzes the unique personally identifiable characteristics of your face. The process results in a unique numeric code which identifies a person according to facial measurements. In other words, under Real ID, your face is reduced to a number code – a number which is read by computer, tracked by surveillance cameras and distributed worldwide by the ICAO. Take a look at your drivers’ license – if it has a blue background, it is ICAO-compliant.

Real ID is not a national ID card designed to protect us from terrorism and illegal immigration – it is an INTERNATIONAL ID card designed to track the movements of everyone wherever they go – anywhere in the world. As you read on you will find that it will get much worse, for Real ID is only the first step.

The Obama Administration is now talking about repealing Real ID because there is such opposition to it. Do not be fooled. They know they are caught with this monster and so the flimflam is on – repeal Real ID and replace it with something much worse. That’s how they play the game.

E-Verify – Government control of jobs

Second, the E-Verify system has been sold with the same argument – just a tool to stop illegal immigration. And those opposing it have been accused of being either liberals who just want open borders, or greedy businesses who want cheap labor. While it is true that elements of both exist in the opposition to E-Verify, the overwhelming number of opponents do so because of its connection with the creation of an international biometric ID system.

Once again, because the government refuses to do its job, it has decided to make business the scapegoat in the battle against illegal immigration. It’s so easy for these government hypocrites to put the burden of enforcement on the backs of those who simply wanted to start a business. Not only is business now forced to be the national tax collector and healthcare provider, it is also to be our first line of border defense. And we need government – why?

In truth, E-Verify, which uses Social Security numbers to determine if someone is an American citizen is, again, the brain child of the Department of Homeland Security. Are you seeing a pattern here? Under expanded DHS rules, as in Real ID, E-Verify will now use “enhanced photograph capability” that will allow employers to check photographs in E- Verify databases. And, again, those photographs are compliant to the UN’s ICAO international data bases. DHS is now also expanding compliant databases to include visa and passport files.

The main danger in E-Verify is that it sets the stage for a national workforce management system which gives the government ultimate power to decide who works and who doesn’t. It is designed to ultimately help subject all Americans to an intrusive global surveillance system as the information in DHS databanks is being transferred to international systems through DHS partners, including the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) and, of course, the ICAO.

Now, here’s where the terrifying truth about the Department of Homeland Security and the Real ID- E-Verify matrix being created begins to come into focus. (Those Americans who supported these plans just because they wanted a little security are now going to find how wrong they are.)

Cameras on every corner

The world is now full of security cameras called CCTVs. They are in every public building, every airport, and every convenience store. And it’s the same around the world. It is said that one can not travel anywhere in London without being on a camera. The same is quickly becoming true in Washington, DC and many other American cities. Washington DC is now installing cameras on nearly every street corner in every neighborhood to watch for crime. Do you feel safer yet?  Of course, now every city has found the quick- buck benefits of traffic light cameras. Police control by mail. How modern.

Now, what’s the connection between Real ID and CCTV’s?  Your driver’s license or more precisely, your digital facial image/photograph is, and will be used with CCTV to identify you. It will not matter if you are in your hometown or in Berlin, Germany. Government will be able to identify you without your even knowing it. The CCTV camera will be pointed at you, a scan of your face will be taken and the results of the scan will be compared to domestic and international databases to determine your identity. The main purpose of the Real ID Act is to ensure we are enrolled into a global biometric identification system so government can know our whereabouts at all times. It has absolutely nothing to do with stopping illegal immigration – or even terrorists. You must understand most of these plans were at least being discussed long before 911 occurred. The only real barrier was the lack of technology. It’s no longer a problem.

Suspicious Sweat

And so it gets worse. As we are all quietly enrolled in the international databases, there are plans to efficiently use that information. Comes now the Department of Homeland Security’s “Project Hostile Intent” (PHI). Ohh – wait a minute – that’s just too harsh (and revealing) for politically-correct public officials. Please just wait a minute while they rename it to “Future Attribute Screening Technologies” (FAST). That’s better. Now we can all relax. The government just wants to keep us all safer, faster!

What ever the name, the result is the same. FAST is a computer software program that assesses whether or not a person is more or less likely to present a threat based on the way a person behaves, walks, dresses or other factors. In fact the government is now working to obtain sensors that will help them monitor our sweat to decide of you are a threat based on how much you perspire.

That means, if you are walking down the street, perhaps with your children, maybe sightseeing in a foreign town, and a CCTV monitor picks you up, you may be approached by law enforcement to determine if you are a security threat – simply because you matched the profile by the way you dressed or walked – or if you are sweating too much. You will be required to pull out your government-sanctioned ID and justify why you are there and what you are doing, regardless of the activity in which you are engaged.

Do you get it yet? The point is law enforcement will not need actual probable cause to observe or detain you. All it will need to do is claim that you walk, dress or sweat suspiciously.

Control and Intimidation

There are two kinds of control – direct and indirect. Real ID compliance is direct control. Without compliance through the proper drivers’ license you will lose access to public buildings, government services like marriage licenses, gun ownership, or travel by air or soon, even by train or bus.

Indirect control comes from intimidation. Russell Tice, former National Security Agency (NSA) analyst has warned about that agency’s efforts to intercept American’s e-mails and phone calls. He has also discussed the monitoring of cash transactions. Obviously this is the kind of intimidation young Steve Bierfeldt was experiencing when the TSA thought they had him hidden away in a windowless room at the airport as they harassed and attempted to scare him into submission. Luckily that courageous young man was not intimidated and turned the tables on them by recording their tactics. The idea behind it all is to make you afraid to speak out or fight back – “Just let me on my plane and I promise not to make a fuss.”

“Right-wing Extremists” – not illegal immigrants – are the target

So for those of you who may still think this is all just an overstatement – a misunderstanding – for those who still think Real ID and E-Verify are just necessary tools for stopping illegal immigration – - let me bring all of this together.

In the June issue of The DeWeese Report (Volume 15, Issue 6) the lead article entitled “The Department of Homeland Security is a “Man-Caused Disaster,” I reported on the MIAC Report from the State of Missouri and another report from the Department of Homeland Security. Both reports were intended to warn law enforcement to be on the lookout for rightwing extremists. It then went on to clarify what it meant: “Right-wing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly anti-government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority ,or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.”

The MIAC report stated that anyone who voted for Ron Paul, Bob Barr or Chuck Baldwin was a potential security threat, possibly violent and possibly a terrorist. The report was issued by the Missouri Fusion center, a department under the control of the Department of Homeland Security. These reports are so broad in their definition of “rightwing extremist,” that they can only indicate a growing attitude by the government that anyone who opposes its policies is a potential threat to the government and must be controlled or eliminated.

In June, a lone gunman entered the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC and opened fire on two security guards. Of course, gun control advocates haven’t hesitated to use the incident as another excuse to confiscate guns. That’s to be expected.

But the next day, The Washington Times reported in a sidebar article about the incident, saying, “Even before Wednesday’s fatal shooting of a security guard purportedly by a white supremacist at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, right-wing extremists have come under increased scrutiny.” The article went on to discuss the DHS report and quoted a professor from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice who said she worries that local law enforcement agencies do not keep close enough tabs on such groups and that the Internet allows them to put forth an extreme rhetoric that advocates violence. My friends, they are talking about you and me. Not enough surveillance on our “dangerous” ideas? This shooting couldn’t have come at a better time for DHS. How convenient.

Mandatory IDs containing biometric information in international databases that can track our every move through CCTV cameras on every street corner, which monitor our facial expressions and measure our sweat – are not tools to make us safer. They are the weapons of tyranny designed to keep the government safe from apparently “dangerous criminals” who believe in the Constitution of the United States – the very document every single American public official from the President to the police officers swore to protect and defend. Does that connect enough dots for you?

Let me make it clearer. Because you believe in limited government, oppose immigration or abortion, or profess to be a Christian, you are being targeted by government as a threat. Total surveillance through Real ID and biometric data banks will be used to monitor and control your movements. E-Verify will be used to control whether you work or not. You can be shut out of society, unable to open a bank account, travel, or even drive a car because – just like the no-fly list – you will be targeted as an enemy of the state – all because of your political beliefs. You are the target in a nation where the government has gone mad. Do you feel safer yet?

Tom DeWeese is the President of the American Policy Center and the Editor of The DeWeese Report. TThe DeWeese Report is now available online, for more information click here.

Issued by Tom DeWeese – American Policy Center

The Tea Parties have been held. The protests against the threats of a more powerful government have been made. Americans across the nation have made it clear – they fear our own government and they want to stop its headlong plunge toward totalitarianism. The question for all concerned Americans must be “now what do we do?”

What are the issues that are frightening the American people?

Massive growth of government. Outrageous spending. The growing invasion of personal privacy in a surveillance state. The loss of private property rights. The destruction of our schools. The threat of disarmament of American citizens. And, above all, politicians who won’t listen. Of course these are only a sample of the threats we face – but you get the picture.

So what do we do now? Americans have to learn how to fight back before we can effectively tackle these threats. Where to do that? The immediate answer is the Freedom 21 national conference.

Why? Because there you will learn from the best. Former Presidential candidate  Chuck Baldwin (called a potential terrorist by the Missouri State Government); Oklahoma State Senator Randy Brogdon (the man who may be Oklahoma’s next Governor); Larry Pratt (leading the battle to stop gun confiscation); State Rep. Charles Key (the leading force behind the states’ rights sovereignty movement); Marc Morano (the former Senate staffer who has done more to expose the lies behind the global warming swindle than any other American); State Rep. Sam Rohrer (the nation’s leading opponent of Real ID and the creation of an international ID card); and Dr. Jeff Marrongelle (sounding the alarm against government takeover of personal choices in health freedom).

These leaders aren’t just talking heads – they are activists – standing firm and fighting back. All of them will be at Freedom 21 – ready to share their expertise and help train you to fight for your rights.

And they will be joined by the most effective grassroots activists in the nation. Tom DeWeese (one of the nation’s most outspoken property rights advocates); Michael Shaw (the nation’s foremost expert on the dangers of Sustainable Development); Dr. Michael Coffman (global governance expert); Michael Chapman and Allen Quist (two of the nation’s leading experts on the education crisis); Judith McGeary (sounding the alarm on the National Animal Identification System – NAIS); Mark Lerner (the nation’s foremost expert on international ID); Craig Rucker (training students to fight back on college campuses); Dan Byfield (his activism has literally stopped progress on the Trans Texas Corridor); Pat Wood (Editor of The August Review revealing underground efforts to attack and damage freedom groups beyond the Missouri MIAC report and the Department of Homeland Security report) and Amanda Teegarden (her activism on the state level is setting the example for how local activists can fight back).

For ten years Freedom 21 has sounded the alarm, exposing the international agenda that has led to economic meltdown and massive government power. Now the warnings are quickly becoming reality, and Americans want answers. What more can we expect? What can we do? How can we fight back? Again, Freedom 21 will supply the answers.

The 10th Annual Freedom 21 National Conference will be held August 13 – 15, in Oklahoma City, at the Reed Conference Center adjacent to the Sheraton Midwest City hotel. The conference is sponsored by the American Policy Center and Freedom21 Inc. They are joined by 16 co-sponsoring groups, including Eagle Forum, Freedom Advocates, Ed Watch, Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, Sovereignty International, American Land Foundation, Stewards of the Range, OK SAFE, American Heritage Research, Gun Owners of America, Camp American, National Center for Constitutional Studies, Institute for Principled Policy, Liberty Coalition, Constitutional Alliance, and The August Review.  These eighteen organizations form a loose coalition dedicated to advancing the principles of freedom in the 21st Century.

The message of Freedom 21 is unique to every other conference in the nation. While many try to explain the reasons for the economic crisis and the strife and pain many of us are experiencing, Freedom 21 goes to the very root of the problem. Each of these issues can be traced back to international policy, specifically Agenda 21 and its policy of Sustainable Development – a top down government control operating through non-elected regional governments and planning boards. The entire agenda is based on enforcing climate change policy.

Freedom 21 connects the dots from Agenda 21 to federal policies, like energy, air and water. And the dots connect further to state legislatures and policies like the Trans Texas Corridor and immigration. And they go further to local policies affecting city councils and county commissions as they deal with Smart Growth and development. And there’s more to the agenda, including the radical changes in our public education system and the growing threat of a big brother surveillance society. Americans know something is very wrong in our society, but most don’t understand what it is. No other conference explains it like Freedom 21.

Theme for this year’s conference is “The Growing American Tyranny and How to Stop It.” You will not hear this message at any other conference in the nation. Every concerned American needs to understand the threat we face and to learn how to fight back.

Sign up today to get the $50 early bird savings. Simply go to www.freedom21.org to see the full conference schedule and to register. Or call the American Policy Center at 540-341-8911. If you want to help preserve our nation’s liberty, then Freedom 21 is not only the most important event this year – it’s the critical next step.

Tom DeWeese is the President of the American Policy Center and the Editor of The DeWeese Report. TThe DeWeese Report is now available online, for more information click here.

By Tom DeWeese and Mark Lerner

Across the nation, state legislatures are struggling to take back their Constitutional rights as they also seek ways to protect us from outside threats. This has led to some near schizophrenic legislative sessions with laws swinging widely from left to right.

Making it more difficult to get a handle on the situation is the fact that there has been an outgrowth of near “rabid” anti-immigration groups that have sprung up demanding near-Hitler-style tactics to “fix” the problem. While the situation is certainly serious and demands action, these groups openly admit that they are willing to surrender their liberties if that is what it takes to end illegal immigration. They may deeply regret that cavalier dismissal of liberty. Once lost, it is rarely regained.

To address these issues, three very distinct, but widely variant legislative actions have appeared in the states.

First, legislation dealing with protecting the integrity of the Tenth Amendment and state sovereignty has been introduced across the nation, passing in at least 21 states. The states are reacting to the frightening growth of the federal government through anti-terrorist legislation such as the Patriot Act and Real ID, as well as the outrageous spending included in the bailout and stimulus bills.

Second, to address the illegal immigration issue, legislation in many states would provide state law enforcement with the ability to share information through direct electronic access. Many law-enforcement agencies are eagerly supporting such legislation. Yet, this type of legislation clearly contradicts the intent of the states sovereignty effort.

Third, again racing back to the other side to protect personal privacy from federal surveillance, there is legislation introduced to prohibit the collection of biometric samples/data, social security numbers and the use of RFID chips in state driver’s licenses.

One might ask, what do these pieces of legislation have to do with one another? They each go to the heart of a battle being waged across our country to decide how much Constitutional power the federal government has to collect, retain and share the personal information of each citizen, and how much power it has to force states to provide it?

Tenth Amendment legislation is exactly what the name implies – that states have Constitutionally-guaranteed rights and powers. It puts the federal government on notice that states will not act as its surrogates. The legislation unequivocally tells the federal government that its power comes from the citizens and the states and that federal powers are limited and defined rather than unlimited and arbitrary.

Fusion Centers

As for those patriots who believe the illegal immigration is so dire that liberty should be thrown on the bonfire, perhaps they need to better understand what they are demanding.

Legislation introduced in several state legislatures, and currently in debate, allows state and local law-enforcement agencies to have direct access to one another’s databases. Some of the anti-immigration patriots might see it is as prudent legislation until one takes a closer look.

Most states now have Fusion Centers. Fusion Centers were originally intended to allow local and state law-enforcement to work alongside federal officers so that activity suspected of being terrorist related could be identified and responded to by all three law enforcement entities in a coordinated manner. Fusion Centers have representatives of all three working side-by-side in one office.

Fusion Centers are funded primarily by the federal government. Some believe them to be an effective tool to fight terrorism with little that one could find objectionable. The problem is, Fusion Centers have overstepped their intended purpose. This is typical when dealing with the issue of technology and invasive databases. Mission creep is just too easy.

In state after state we see Fusion Centers focusing on all suspected criminal activity, including misdemeanors. Some would ask you to believe that the mountain of information about citizens being accumulated actually stays within the borders of a state unless a citizen is suspected of terrorist activity. However, the Fusion Center in Oklahoma has been directed to develop procedures for the sharing of information with the FBI and DHS.

This means that direct electronic access is not limited to just state law enforcement agencies and departments. Since local, state and federal authorities are working together, there is no plausible reason to believe federal law enforcement will not gain access to all information a state law enforcement or local law enforcement authority would have.

The Missouri Outrage

All citizens should take note of a document produced in Missouri by that state’s Fusion Center. That document targeted activists, including supporters of Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr. It directed Missouri law enforcement to give special attention to those holding such political beliefs and consider them to be a security risk and potential domestic terrorists. According to the same document, members of militias should also be singled out. According to the Missouri report, anyone advocating limited government and objecting to the massive growth of the federal government is to be considered a security risk.

Whether a citizen is a Democrat, Republican or Independent, the idea that citizens supporting their candidate of choice should be categorized as domestic terrorists is outrageous. The document is so inflammatory that the Lt. Governor of Missouri suspended the head state law enforcement officer in the Fusion Center. It is also worth noting that the Oklahoma Fusion Center will develop privacy protocols. One might reasonably ask why the privacy issues were not fully addressed before the Fusion Center became operational?

However, the issue of the collecting, retaining and sharing of citizen’s personal information is not unique to Fusion Centers. Law enforcement in each state has information sharing agreements, not only with federal agencies/departments, but also with foreign entities and international organizations.

There is a literal web of Memorandums of Agreements, laws and other mechanisms such as participation in international organizations that has entrapped all Americans. The most personal and sensitive information of Americans is being shared globally.

Oklahoma’s SB 483

A prime example of such dangerous legislation that could lead to an international surveillance state is Oklahoma’s SB 483, which will authorize the Commissioner of Public Safety (DPS) the authority to enter into “agreements” with other state agencies and allow these other agencies “direct electronic access” to the DPS database of computerized photos.

Moreover, the Federal Department of Homeland Security is targeting such state databanks and clearly has stated it wants full access to them. It then intends to share them with international databanks. That is why every state must carefully consider the dangerous side-effects of such legislation being promoted as simply an answer to illegal immigration and terrorism.

As Oklahoma State Representative Charles Key says, such legislation is “incrementally putting into place systems that could, 1) violate citizens constitutional rights, 2) unintentionally harm innocent citizens, 3) allow for the continual effective dissolution of our rights enumerated in the Constitution.”

Biometric data and Social Security numbers

The final piece of the puzzle is the third tier of legislation making rounds in several state legislatures that would prohibit state governments from collecting biometric samples/data and social security numbers of citizens who apply for driver’s licenses. In direct opposition to bills such as SB 483, Oklahoma is considering such legislation which calls for the removal of existing biometric information and social security numbers from the state motor vehicle database. Such legislation is intended to protect our personal privacy.

Under the provisions of the Real ID Act of 2005, states that comply with that law are required to collect the digital facial biometric samples of all citizens who apply for a state driver’s license. In layman’s terms, this means you can be identified while walking down the street by a CCTV/surveillance camera. Your facial image would be scanned and the image would be converted to biometric data and compared to images stored in state or federal databases, including your motor vehicle database.

Again, in Oklahoma, some lawmakers have figured out the only way to stop the federal government and international organizations from getting their hands on citizens personal information is to stop collecting the information and putting it in state databases.

It is important to note that the legislation does not impede Oklahoma law enforcement from collecting the information either through a search warrant or as a result of a person being charged with a crime. One lawmaker stated it should not be a “novel” idea that the presumption of innocence is protected or that privacy means something. A Pennsylvania lawmaker stated that we have been told many times since 9/11/2001 what privacy does not mean but we do not hear what it does mean.

Abuse of power by the federal government is and has always been a concern. Our forefathers addressed the potential for abuse in our Constitution. Since the 1950′s we have witnessed many abuses of power including revelations about what the FBI, NSA and DHS have been doing since 9/11/2001, invading personal privacy, monitoring phone calls, home invasion without notice or warrants, etc.

The abuses have become a pattern of complete disregard for our Constitution. Russell Tice, a former NSA analyst who previously worked for Naval Intelligence and the Department of Defense came forward and stated American citizens were having their phone calls intercepted, emails read and financial transactions monitored. He came forward because he said he did not want to live in a police state.

The Inspector General of the Justice Department stated the FBI had abused National Security Letters and obtained information improperly. The Inspector further stated the FBI was not forthright in disclosing all the National Security Letters it had issued. In one three year period alone, the FBI was issuing an average of over 100 of the letters a day. National Security Letters, by their very nature, avoid the need for search warrants. Some in the U.S. Senate have accused DHS of “bullying” states to comply with the Real ID Act 2005. DHS has been asked to adhere to what is known as FIPP (Fair Information Practice Principles) and yet has failed to do so. FIPP requires, among other things, that there be transparency when information is being collected.

Our driver’s licenses are the link between everything we buy and sell. You need a driver’s license for just about everything these days. The vendor who produces 95% of all drivers’ licenses has proposed a Real ID Solutions driver’s license in which a citizens “political party affiliation” would be on the face of the driver’s license. The same vendor, who happens to be the largest biometric company, made their biometric facial recognition technology available to the Red Chinese government. The Communist Chinese did exactly what one would expect from a totalitarian state. They used the technology to identify dissidents — people who were opposed to the policies of the government. Does that sound like the Missouri situation?

Most Americans have never heard of Enhanced Driver’s Licenses. These licenses contain RFID chips that can allow for the tracking of people and also for “bad” guys to obtain your personal information by stealing your unique identification number contained on the chip and linking that number to your identity. The current Secretary of Homeland Security is on record saying she believes that Enhanced Driver’s Licenses should be issued by all states.

Consider DHS’s pilot program that relies on a computer software program to help determine if you present a threat to our government. This pilot computer program, called “Project Hostile Intent,” makes assessments about the way we walk and dress, as well as other behavioral characteristics. The computer program will make a judgment as to whether or not you present a threat. That means when you are walking down the street keep in mind that a camera lens could be pointed at you. Make sure you are dressed “right” and do not walk in a funny manner. What are the chances of you, or someone you care about, being picked out by the camera? Considering the hundred’s of millions of taxpayer dollars that DHS has released for CCTV/surveillance cameras the chances are getting better everyday that you won’t be left out. Cameras are going up so fast that they remind me of the postal mailboxes that used to be placed on about every block. The cameras are everywhere.

America is at a crossroads. States have finally awakened to rediscover their Constitutional powers in the Tenth Amendment, yet as they do so, they are also being pressured to surrender the liberty and privacy of every American in the name of security. Americans are concerned, listening, and are ready to take action. State lawmakers are also ready to listen. All citizens have to do is take a few minutes of their time to contact their state and national lawmakers and say enough is enough.

Terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and other groups such as Hamas have trained hundred’s of thousands of terrorists. Our intelligence community only knows the names of a very small percentage of these people. The fact is that terrorists do not need driver’s licenses to carry out acts of terrorism. They can use passports and international driver’s licenses while in our country to facilitate their goals. Criminalizing all Americans into a surveillance state is not the answer.

Legislation to protect us from the surveillance state is being considered in state legislatures across the country. Many states are rising up against implementation of Real ID. Others are passing resolutions to take a stand for state sovereignty. But others are going in the opposite direction with legislation to allow massive databanks of our most personal information to be shared internationally.

In Oklahoma there is still time. The same is true in other states. Oklahoma residents should call their elected leaders in the state’s House of Representatives and say they oppose SB 483.

Every American should now call their state representatives and tell them to support Tenth Amendment legislation and any bills that would end the orgy of collecting and sharing of information, starting with citizens’ biometric information and social security numbers.

These new efforts to create a surveillance society represent a threat to almost everything guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, from freedom of speech to freedom to be secure in our homes, to the freedom of being innocent until proven guilty. The time to stop it is now.

Tom DeWeese, President of the American Policy Center and Editor of The DeWeese Report. Mark Lerner, Director of the Stop Real ID Coalition.

September 24, 2008

By Tom DeWeese

If government won’t do its job, is that a reason for Americans to surrender their liberty? Do you think that is a funny question? Well, it is actually what a number of activist groups are now advocating in the name of stopping illegal immigration.

The fact is, the U.S. government is not doing its job to secure the border and stop the flood of illegal aliens from rushing across it. Even though Congress has passed legislation demanding that a fence be built, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is dragging its feet, holding up the project. Moreover, DHS is fighting efforts in local communities to allow police to arrest illegals. There is little effort to tighten visa security, or allow law enforcement to track down and deport those who stay here past their allotted time. Those illegals caught committing crimes are still allowed to leave, only to easily and surreptitiously return at their will. The border is a sieve. There is no border control – period.

Rather than work to strengthen the borders and take steps to stop illegals from getting here in the first place, many now seek “internal enforcement” rather than the “rule of law.” In other words, take action after leaving the barn door open.

The answer, say some very powerful anti-immigration forces, is to put the burden of control on American businesses. Jobs, they say, are the draw to illegals, so business should be the first line of defense. The answer, we are told, is simply to get tough with business and stop the ability of illegals to get a job. Such a plan, while appealing to desperate Americans, can have dire consequences if a nation desires to remain free.

Chief among the schemes to “get tough” with business is the universal enforcement of something called the E-Verify System. It is the brainchild of the Department of Homeland Security and is an electronic employment verification (EEV) program. Essentially, E-Verify uses the Social Security databases to verify Social Security Numbers to determine if someone is a US citizen. Employers are to simply enter in the applicants Social Security Number to verify they are an American citizen (of legal status) and therefore eligible for employment.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 made it illegal for employers to “knowingly” employ unauthorized workers, and E-Verify (then known as “Basic Pilot”) grew out of the requirement for work-eligibility verification. Since its inception the program has been voluntary for all businesses. However, that’s about to change.

In 2007, after the dramatic defeat of the illegal immigration amnesty bills, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced several changes to the E-Verify System. The agency will now require more than 200,000 federal contractors to use E-Verify, an increase of more than 1,076 percent over the 17,000 employers registered in 2007 (with only about half actually using) E-Verify. The system will use an “enhanced photograph capability” that will allow employers to check photographs in E-Verify databases. DHS will expand the number of databases E-Verify checks to include visa and passport databases; and the agency is asking states to “voluntarily” allow DHS access to their motor vehicle databases. DHS will require employers to fire employees if they were unable to resolve “no match” discrepancies within 90 days. If the employers do not terminate the workers’ employment, the business would face fines of $11,000 or more. DHS also will raise fines against employers by 25 percent and increasingly use criminal action against employers, as opposed to administrative action.

With those changes, E-Verify is now being sold as the atom bomb in the war on illegal immigration. Described as “the most effective tool to protect vulnerable American workers from unscrupulous businesses that hire illegal foreign workers to displace American workers or depress wages.” Sounds great – of course all of this confidence in the E-Verify System’s ability to stop illegal immigration is celebrated BEFORE most businesses have even been required to use it.

The fact is, there are major problems with the E-Verify System. It is a hugely flawed system and will have a severe effect on both naturalized U.S. citizens, as well as those who are native born.

Millions of employees could mistakenly fall into
legal limbo.

Independent analysis of existing government databases have found unacceptably high error rates. Currently those voluntarily using E-Verify have experienced near double-digit error rates. Forcing more than 7 million employers to verify the legal status of more than 160 million current employees, as well as the millions of future hires, means that potentially, as many as 17 million citizens and legal US residents will be mistakenly found “ineligible” to work.

The fact is, the Social Security Administration (SSA) never purges a Social Security number once it’s assigned. The Numident database (which E-Verify uses) currently contains 435 million records; more than 100 million more than the nation’s total population, legal or otherwise. In December 2006, the SSA Inspector General reported approximately 18 million of these records are not accurate. Yet, DHS wants E-Verify made mandatory for the entire American work force.

“As a matter of simple math,” says Jim Harper at the CATO Institute, “that means that if E-Verify were to go national, on the first day 1 in 25 legal hires would be bounced out of the system and asked to go down to the Social Security office and straighten out the problem.”

Imagine the problems faced by honest, law abiding Americans who are thrown out of the system. In most cases, these are not well-to-do executives who can simply take the afternoon off to fix the problem. They are lower level workers who depend on every dime they earn to pay the rent and feed the kids. Simply taking a day off to go down to the local Social Security office isn’t an easy thing.

From the moment they are found to be a “tentative non-confirmed” they have eight days to contest the claim and to prove they are legal. A day off work is required because the Social Security office is only open from 8:30am to 5:00pm. If the employer fails to make it to the office in the 8 days, the employer is required by threat of fine and criminal charges to fire the employee.

Moreover, as the E-Verify system is forced on all employers and the large numbers of employees (as reported above) are thrown from the system, there will be a massive run on the Social Security office. The SS Administration is simply not equipped to handle such a massive influx of cases. The infrastructure to handle it is not in place.

As anyone who tried to get a passport last year knows, when the government makes significant, mandatory changes in a system, typically government inefficiency rules. New rules concerning passports forced Americans to flood passport offices, but the offices weren’t prepared to receive and process the massive number of applicants. The E-Verify System would force much larger numbers into unprepared Social Security offices.

Now, under E-Verify, employees that do make it to the SS office may be forced to return day after day. Jobs and income will be lost as the Employment Eligibility Verification (EEV) process does not permit employers to hold the jobs or delay start dates. The clock starts to tick the second the tentative non-confirmed notice is issued and runs out in exactly 8 days.

If it’s all been a mistake, the burden of proof is on the employee to prove who they are and that they are legal citizens or residents eligible to continue working. These law-abiding American citizens enter the Social Security Office as criminal suspects with the potential of being deported. Contrary to American law, they are guilty until proven innocent. Incredibly, there is no appeals process in place to challenge the findings of E-Verify.
MORE FRAUD – NOT LESS

The E-Verify System is promoted as the only foolproof way to stop illegals from obtaining jobs. Advocates say the program has enough safeguards to protect citizens. Not so fast. Once the system is in place there are huge gaps that allow massive fraud.

To work efficiently, an E-Verify System allows employers access to a centralized record of all legal residents and citizens. Given the government’s mixed record on data security, this could become a one-stop-shop for identity theft.

First, illegals and those employers wishing to hire them can simply work under the table, paying cash, hiding the transaction from any official source. Illegals don’t regularly file income taxes, so the hire isn’t hard to hide.

On a larger scale, it must be understood that illegal immigration is big business and it has the money and the means to create false documents and to provide “legal” identification, complete with matching names and Social Security numbers.

Today, many illegals simply make up names and Social Security numbers, hoping not to get caught. Of course, the E-Verify system would catch them. However, in response, an illegal only has to obtain the name and SS number of a legal citizen. While that legal person may already be working a job, it will not create an alert if the information is used by someone else.

Such information can be available through a wide variety of situations, including stolen lists and select employees with access to databases like the Social Security lists. Organized crime can certainly have well placed cohorts. The process would create a massive criminal market for Americans citizens’ personal information.

The only way to stop it is for the federal government to create a new database that records every new hire and monitor all employees in the nation.

The real losers in this game are the people who have now had their identity stolen in the process. They may be the ones accused of identity theft as they suddenly discover someone else is using their name and SS number.

Of course, the federal government has proven it has no ability to safeguard the records in its current databases. And the more databases established, the more opportunity for theft.

Recently, federal employees have been caught “sneaking a peek” at the passports of a large number of celebrities and even presidential candidates including Barack Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton.

In August of this year, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lost a laptop computer which contained the records of 33,000 people who had signed up for its pre-screening program, designed to give travelers quicker access through airport security. The unencrypted information in the database included names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, Social Security numbers, Alien registration numbers, and current credit card numbers.

The laptop was in the possession of employees of a private company contracting with TSA for the project. TSA signup documents for the project promise that the records will be maintained at its headquarters in Arlington, VA and “other authorized TSA or DHA secure facilities, as necessary, and at a digital safe site managed by a government contractor.” In reality, the laptop was stashed in a locked office at the San Francisco Airport. There are a lot of laptops containing personal information of Americans being taking home by government employees these days. Why?

MISSION CREEP

The greatest threat from establishment of a system such as E-Verify is the creation of perhaps unintended results. As Cato’s Jim Harper surmises, “The things to make a system like this impervious to forgery and fraud would convert it from an identity system into a cradle-to-grave biometric tracking system.”

“Mission Creep” is the commonly used description for a program designed for a specific purpose, but is later used for much more. A prime example of mission creep is the Social Security System itself. It was designed specifically as a means for people to deposit money into a government program to provide for their retirement years. Today, there are those who want to take its databank of users and transform it into an identity system to prove American citizenship. “Well, it’s already there!” That’s mission creep.

As reported in the beginning, DHS Secretary Chertoff intends to increase the E-Verify system to include biometric photographs and extended databases. On numerous occasions Secretary Chertoff has expressed his desire to create a national identification card that would include near complete information on its bearer. This would include job, medical, tax, and school records. It would also include biometric and facial recognition, with RFID microchips that could monitor the whereabouts of every American.

E-Verify is the beginning of the creation of such a system. Is it worth it for Americans to endure an existence in a well-controlled matrix of surveillance simply to catch some illegal workers? Communities across the nation are proving that illegals will stop coming here – in fact actually leave – if they are made to feel unwelcome.

E-Verify sets the stage for a national workforce management system which gives the government ultimate power to decide who works and who doesn’t. It is designed to ultimately subject all Americans to an intrusive global surveillance system as the information in DHS databanks is being transferred to international systems through such DHS partners as American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

The federal government has been given the mandate by the people to close the borders and keep them out. It doesn’t require cradle-to-grave biometric tracking of every legal American to accomplish that task. Facts show that such “internal enforcement” would not reduce the illegality, it would promote it. Border security combined with real efforts by the government to keep illegals out of the country will do much more to stop the flood than by chaining American citizens to massive, all knowing surveillance data banks.

Special thanks to extensive reports on the E-Verify issue by Jim Harper at CATO (Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification, Franz Kafka’s Solution to Illegal Immigration), and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), (E-Verify System: DHS Changes Name, But Problems Remain for US Workers).