National ID Card dropped

[RealGun]

I have received confirmation from my congressman that the conference report for the Homeland Security Act did not include John McCain's national ID card that he snuck through without debate.

******************************
Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns regarding the Conference Report to S. 2845, National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004. I appreciate you taking the time to let me know your thoughts on this important issue.

The 9/11 Commission recommended that standards be set for the “issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses,†as most of the 9/11 hijackers had acquired some form of U.S. identification document. I understand you oppose legislation that creates a national identification card and government database system because you believe it poses a threat to your civil liberties. Please know I share your concerns regarding a national identification system. You will be pleased to know the Conference Report to S. 2845 does not contain provisions that create a national identification card and government database system.

As you know, the Conference Report to S. 2845 passed the House by a vote of 336 to 75 on December 7, 2004, and the Senate passed it on December 8, 2004. President Bush signed S. 2845 into law (P.L. 108-458) on December 17, 2004.

Again, thank you for letting me know of your interest. Please do not hesitate to contact me whenever you have concerns about any issue under consideration in Congress.

Best Wishes,

Representative J. Gresham Barrett

*****************************

 

[jamz]

Man, I hope that's true. What an abomination of a project. Freedom abhors ID cards.

-James

 

[USP45usp]

But, I was looking forward to being stopped at a push up gate and the guard to ask me for my papers, which I forgot at home, and then get processed by the TSA before I'm put into a secret prison to await my tribennal.

Dang, that dream is dashed

Wayne

 

[Standing Wolf]

We need to drop McCain and all his U.S.S.R.-style ideas.

 

[RealGun]

We need to drop McCain and all his U.S.S.R.-style ideas.

He seems to often be in the middle of the more Draconian stuff. I know the intent is to use the card in Arizona to deny public services to illegal immigrants, who wouldn't have cards. He wants the national solution and will talk about other benefits, but it is really about his own Arizona as far as motivation is concerned.

I think he will run for President and don't doubt that immigration will be a big issue in his message.

 

[USP45usp]

If he runs and gets the nomination, I will even vote democrate on that one. McCain is nothing but a RINO and I don't think that he will run, maybe as Hillary's vice but other then that he knows he can't win.

Wayne

 

[beerslurpy]

Um guys (first few posters), I hate to be mean, but you are really wrong and this sort of poor reasoning is part of the reason this country is going down the toilet.

"creating standards for state documentation x y z" is the same as saying "create a national ID card" especially in this case.

Why?

Because if all the systems are tied together (as they actually already are thanks to the FBI) and all state drivers licenses are the same by law, then all you have is the documentation equivalent of the 50 state quarter. Sure, they all have different pretty designs on them, but they are all still quarters arent they?

And these drivers licenses will be just as forgery prone as credit cards and regular drivers licenses. I would remind you that McCain is not doing this because he wants to help us keep mexicans out of the country. He is on Bush's side on teh "guest worker" issue.

Federal standards for ID cards are bad not bad because it suddenly gives the federal government and power it didnt have before. Its bad because it represents another official transfer of power between the states and the washington government. Its just another depressing sign of the times. I really wish the supreme court hadnt sold us out during the New Deal.

 

[cosmos7]

National ID is very far from being dropped. Feds (National Institute of Standards and Technology) are now instituting a government id for all employees and contractors. Seeing as they haven't been able to get it all at once, just chip away bit by bit...

 

[why_me]

We already have a national id card

Its called your social security card. Try applying for something as mundane as your plates and they ask for your SS#. Banking SS#, drivers license SS#,
New apartment SS# Name something of importance that doesnt have your SS#. You buy a gun SS#. And speaking of which . You dont really think your gun purchases are purged ...do ya?
All Mcain is doing here is trying to get standards in place so the database can be smaller and faster. Next stop is implantable chips. It will be marketed as a way to prevent kidnapping. Thats my guess. Then they will demand you have it for goverment work. Eventually i see dna profiling ala gattaca. Its going to happen. And there is nothing you can do about it. We will be eventually cataloged. Our every movement tracked if someone wanted to.
Ever go to the grocery store. Use the store discount card? Yep they know what your buying and they keep it on file. Thats not paranoia thats fact.
Im telling you privacy and freedom and words of yesterday.

 

[buttrap]

Yep thats pretty much it..and there has been a national govt ID for years..used to be called a SN..now is the SSN. All of the govt has had ID for years no they have a picture ID..been aroud for like 30 some years.

 

[RealGun]

National ID is very far from being dropped. Feds (National Institute of Standards and Technology) are now instituting a government id for all employees and contractors. - cosmos7

Quite right there. We have not heard the last of the subject. It is factual that it was "dropped" from the Homeland Security Bill.

Just yesterday there was a Washington Post story about government employee access cards for government facilities describing incorporation of all the technology short of implants. I read that and figured it was the test bed for universal ID.

Beyond that, I wonder if anyone responding so far actually knows much. How about some references along with any lectures to get the subject under control?

 

[rick_reno]

I think McCain is going to run in 2008 - it's part of the deal he made with Bush when he campaigned with and for him in 2004. I'll scratch your back now if you don't smear me (again) when I run with the black baby story.
McCain got something for doing what he did for Bush - that's a given. The only logical thing would be some form of support in 2008.

 

[Sam Adams]

I would really hate to see someone steal the ID for several prominent officeholders, then run wild spending money and generally ruining their reputations (using credit cards at whorehouses, etc.). That would be terrible, really terrible, especially if it happened to such notable heroes of individual liberty as McCain, Schumer, Feinstein, etc.

The fact that it would show that anyone can be victimized by a smart crook, and that a single national ID would only exacerbate that fact, would be small consolation.

 

[Jmurman]

Govt workers will have a ID.

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20041231/1023327.asp



WASHINGTON - Federal officials are developing governmentwide identification card standards for federal employees and contractors to prevent terrorists, criminals and other unauthorized people from getting into government buildings and computer systems.
The effort, known as the Personal Identity Verification Project, stems from a homeland security-related presidential directive and is being managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

In his Aug. 27 directive, President Bush said, "Wide variations in the quality and security of forms of identification used to gain access to secure federal and other facilities where there is potential for terrorist attacks need to be eliminated." Bush called for development of "secure and reliable forms of identification" for federal workers and contract employees.

To that end, federal officials want to replace the existing piecemeal system of agency-level ID cards with "smart cards" that are hard to counterfeit, resistant to tampering and difficult to use by anyone other than the rightful card-holder if lost or stolen.

The new generation of ID cards must be able to digitally store biometric data such as facial photographs and fingerprint images, bear contact and contactless interfaces and allow the encryption of data that can be used to electronically verify the user's identity, according to draft standards.

Such cards will be required for all federal employees, including members of the military, as well as for employees of private organizations and state and local governments who regularly require access to federally controlled facilities and computer systems. That's a universe of more than 2 million people, said Curt Barker, the project manager.

Barker said the new standards will include tougher background check requirements before many recipients can get their agency ID card. Access to particularly sensitive offices or systems still will require higher clearance, he said.

"There's wide variations in the quality and security of the forms of identification that people use to get access to federal facilities," he said. " . . . To be completely foolproof will be extraordinarily difficult, but we can raise the risk for the terrorist or other person who wants to fraudulently enter a facility and make it a little bit more difficult for them to get in."

 

[Ian]

One element not dropped from the bill (I checked) is the plan to require biometric ID from anyone entering or leaving the country, US citizen or not. Once digital photos, fingerprints, and/or retinal scans (DNA samples sooner or later) are standard requirements for US passports, it'll be a very small hop to requiring them on drivers' licenses.

 

[why_me]

Program name was changed

The effort, known as the Personal Identity Verification Project, stems from a homeland security-related presidential directive and is being managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Was originally Personal Identity Monitoring Project
The acronym was P.I.M.P. Making all goverment employees Whores.
Jus tkidding

 

[publius]

whyme:
We already have a national id card

But...but...but....Mine says right on it that it is not to be used for identification!

 

[Lone_Gunman]

I agree that we already have a de facto national ID... Social Security Cards and Driver's Liscences.

The National ID card is just more bureaucratic rearrangement, that ultimately will have no net impact on us. I don't think it will make our lives any worse or more regulated, nor do I think it will make us any safer.

The issue is much like Bush's rearrangement of government bureacracies with the creation of the Dept of Homeland Security. It didnt really do anything that wasn't already being done, it just made a lot of people feel better.

Finally, I have always been confused by people who support Bush yet despise McCain. McCain's worst cause, Campaign Finance Reform, was signed into law by Bush. McCain has had some other bad ideas, but none as bad as Campaign Finance Reform. There is nothing that McCain could propose that, if it made it through the House and Senate, Bush would not sign.

 

[RealGun]

There is nothing that McCain could propose that, if it made it through the House and Senate, Bush would not sign.

Yep. Everything is Bush's fault.

 

[Big Gay Al]

Yep. Everything is Bush's fault.

Yup, according to the Dems it's Bush's fault the AWB was not re-instituted too.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

Yep. Everything is Bush's fault.

Your comment is pithy, but not a denial.

 

[RealGun]

Yep. Everything is Bush's fault.

Your comment is pithy, but not a denial.

When Bush's term is over, it will be comical to observe so many in severe withdrawal from Bush bashing. They will have no more easy answers for every political topic. Suddenly they will have to actually make sense, pretending to be objective. If it is only because Bush is Republican, then the blame will easily be transferred to the next poor slob, should the GOP candidate win the election. Should it subside merely because the next guy is publicly more slick, then that would be an admission that, when it comes to the POTUS, form is more important than substance.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

Let me say I want to be first in line for a nice healthy dose of Bush withdrawal!

Bush bashing won't end though in 2008... we are going to get to bash him indefinitely due to the messes he's got us into, the debt he's sinking us into, and the totally crappy laws he has signed into effect while in office.

I would enumerate examples, but we all know what they are, whether we voted for him or not.

 

[RealGun]

the messes he's got us into, the debt he's sinking us into, and the totally crappy laws he has signed into effect while in office.

Congress had nothing to do with it, and there was no chance that a veto would be overridden, with the relationship with Congress undermined and resistance built toward other priority WH initiatives. There was never any choice of picking battles worth fighting. Presidential signature assumes total responsibility for all legislation. Congress is then no longer accountable. Constitutional questions are always obvious, since we all agree on the what the Constitution intends.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

Real Gun,

No, I don't believe a veto of campaign finance reform or medicare reform would have stood a chance of being overturned.

Congress is just as culpable as Bush... but as Harry Truman said, the buck stops in the Oval Office.

I've voted Republican in every election since 1980, and I voted for GWB twice now. He is a poor choice, one of the worst the Republicans could have come up with. He got my vote only because Kerry would have been much worse. The neo-conservatives have hi-jacked the Republican party and have moved it to the left. The GOP is now as much for big-government intrusion into our lives as the Democrats were 20 years ago. They are not the same party as when Reagan was in office, and people who don't see the change are like frogs slowly boiling to death as the water temperature in the pot gradually rises.