Supreme Court Hearing Arguments on DC Gun Ban: Bush Justice Dept. vs. the Constitution

It is a fundamental question of 2nd amendment of the Constitution. The Bush Justice Dept is trying to make an exception which cannot stand, unless the 2nd amendment means nothing. The CATO Institute is directly involved in this. Take a look at their sound argument and position of personal right to bear arms.

If a ban like DC's can be harmonized with a personal fundamental right to keep and bear arms, then no gun regulation will be deemed excessive. In effect, the Second Amendment will have been erased from the Constitution. Instead, the Court should hold that Washington, DC's ban on home possession of all functional firearms is both destructive as a matter of public policy and unconstitutional as a matter of law.

-- Robert A Levy, CATO

clipped from www.cato.org Supreme Hears Arguments in Landmark Gun Case The Supreme Court on March 18 heard oral arguments in DC v. Heller, a landmark lawsuit concerning the constitutionality of the District of Columbia's ban on guns. Cato scholar (and co-counsel to the plaintiffs) Robert A. Levy comments: "At root, the Heller case is simple. It's about self-defense: individuals living in a dangerous community who want to protect themselves in their own homes when necessary. The Second Amendment to the Constitution was intended to safeguard that right. Banning handguns outright is unconstitutional." A decision in the case is expected in June. Robert A. Levy Comments on the DC v. Heller Oral Arguments Cato Institute Amicus Brief for DC v. Heller Tom G. Palmer talks about the DC gun ban on Reporter's Roundtable More on Gun Control

Idaho House Shoots Down REAL ID--West Virginia Should Follow Suit

Idaho makes a gesture to the Feds and Homeland Security about REAL ID, similar to what West Virginia's Senate approved recently in SB248. Unlike Governor Manchin, Idaho's governor, who originally supported REAL ID, now repudiates it!

clipped from www.newwest.net Idaho House Shoots Down Real ID The Idaho House passed unanimously yesterday a bill directing the Idaho Department of Transportation not to implement the federal REAL ID Act – a decision that, if passed by the Senate and signed by Governor Butch Otter The so-called Real ID is an unfunded Congressional mandate from 2005 for nationwide specifications for drivers’ licenses that was ostensibly intended to help protect Americans from terrorists, but it has since been opposed by more than 30 states, including Montana. The Idaho Legislature had passed a joint memorial last year opposing REAL ID, but that bill had no force of law, while this one specifically tells ITD not to implement it and to report to the Governor and the Legislature any federal attempts to force the department to do so. Otter was a cosponsor of the bill when he was in Congress but has since repudiated it as too expensive and an attack on civil liberties.

Montana Governor to Feds: "Go to Hell" On REAL ID; Governor Joe Manchin Plays the Puppet

While other governors like our own Gov. Joe Manchin are playing politically-correct puppets like cowards and complying with REAL ID, to kiss up to the federal powers (for political ambitions?), the governor of Montana is standing up boldly like a man (consistent with his oath of office) for the Constitution, State's Rights, 4th amendment privacy of their citizens and challenging what he called the "bluff" of the Federal government with its threats of "special treatment" beginning May 11th for those whose states are rejecting REAL ID (see earlier post).

West Virginia almost joined seventeen other states that have passed measures against REAL ID as well when the Senate passed bipartisan bill 248 with only three dissenting votes until the governor's lobbying got it stalled in House committee without an up or down vote. The governors and legislators of Maine and New Hampshire have made it clear they will not bow to federal threats or coercion against their citizens (by arbitrary and unconstitutional treatment) either that are being used to intimidate to force REAL ID upon the states.

The governor of Montana should be an example to Gov. Manchin, and the government and people of West Virginia. As Ronald Reagan stated once,

"All of us need to be reminded that the federal government did not create the states; the states created the federal government".

Therefore the sovereignty of the states, demonstrated in their creation and limiting of federal powers, is the chief defense in preventing federal despotism, particularly effecting citizens rights and privacy.

This is a short, must-listen NPR interview that every American needs to hear. (Click the link at the top of the clip if the "listen now" does not open the player, to go directly to the story page and audio).

clipped from www.npr.org Nation Montana Governor on 'Real ID' Act Listen Now [4 min 21 sec] add to playlist All Things Considered, March 7, 2008 · Montana is one of several states that have balked at a federal law requiring states to issue tamper-proof identification cards to residents. Gov. Brian Schweitzer discusses his state's opposition.

Biometric Speed Passes Promoted to Ignorant Americans

What is being implemented in Iraq under Martial Law is being sold to the public as "voluntary" (for now) here. Will Americans trade their privacy and freedom for convenience? (Answer: the stupid ones will). REAL ID will employ this eventually too. "Membership has its privileges".

clipped from www.globalresearch.ca The Biometric Cataloging of Americans at Home by Dahr Jamail "Avoid the hassle of airport security every time you fly." This is the rhetoric being used to entice U.S. citizens to voluntarily provide their biometric information to the U.S. government. The program, called "clear," is being installed at airports around the country now. For a little background on this, view a post at this website from September 2005, called Securitizing the Global Norm of Identity: Biometric Technologies in Domestic and Foreign Policy. In Fallujah, the cataloging of human beings has been involuntary since the U.S. siege of that city in November 2004. Having retina scans, fingerprinting and bar-code IDs is mandatory there for Iraqis. But now, in the "homeland" of the United States, you too can join the happy club of those giving their biometric data to the federal government. These kiosks are planned for airports in New York, Denver, Oakland, and many others.

NSA quietly expands domestic spying program

"The central role the NSA has come to occupy in domestic intelligence gathering has never been publicly disclosed,"... an inquiry reveals that its efforts have evolved to reach more broadly into data about people's communications, travel and finances in the U.S. than the domestic surveillance programs brought to light since the 2001 terrorist attacks.""According to current and former intelligence officials, the spy agency now monitors huge volumes of records of domestic emails and Internet searches as well as bank transfers, credit-card transactions, travel and telephone records.

read more | digg story

Wireless Cell Provider Gave Feds Backdoor Access--Surveillance via Cell Phones

Just another good reason to BOYCOTT VERIZON! This is why Bush wants Telecoms protected instead of free citizens, because of deliberate network of illegal spying on millions of Americans. This was plainly illegal, and probably continues. Congress is being notified and the documentation taken seriously.

A cell phone is a powerful medium for conducting surveillance, even in real time, on any individual.

clipped from blog.wired.com Whistle-Blower: Feds Have a Backdoor Into Wireless Carrier -- Congress Reacts A U.S. government office in Quantico, Virginia, has direct, high-speed access to a major wireless carrier's systems, exposing customers' voice calls, data packets and physical movements to uncontrolled surveillance, according to a computer security consultant who says he worked for the carrier in late 2003. According to his affidavit, Pasdar tumbled to the surveillance superhighway in September 2003, when he led a "Rapid Deployment" team hired to revamp security on the carrier's internal network. He noticed that the carrier's officials got squirrelly when he asked about a mysterious "Quantico Circuit" -- a 45 megabit/second DS-3 line linking its most sensitive network to an unnamed third party. Quantico, Virginia, is home to a Marine base. But perhaps more relevantly, it's also the center of the FBI's electronic surveillance operations. suit names Verizon Wireless as the culprit.

Rutherford Institute on Cell Phones and Increasing Surveillance

FBI Admits Spying on Innocent Americans--Citizens Now Under Surveillance

This was all done using "national intelligence" letters from the so-called USA PATRIOT ACT. You are no longer a free citizen protected by the Constitution, but a criminal or terrorist suspect.

Note how credit reports...phone records...internet traffic are among things admitted to. Your credit report has your entire financial and life history on it.

This is why REAL ID must be resisted entirely, as well as the extra-constitutional Gestapo-patterned Office of Homeland Security.

The founders always warned that necessity is the tyrant's plea, justification for breaking constitutional restraints on government.

clipped from apnews.myway.com More FBI Privacy Violations Confirmed WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI acknowledged Wednesday it improperly accessed Americans' telephone records, credit reports and Internet traffic in 2006, the fourth straight year of privacy abuses resulting from investigations aimed at tracking terrorists and spies. The breach occurred before the FBI enacted broad new reforms in March 2007 to prevent future lapses, FBI Director Robert Mueller said. And it was caused, in part, by banks, telecommunication companies and other private businesses giving the FBI more personal client data than was requested. An audit by the inspector general last year found the FBI demanded personal records without official authorization or otherwise collected more data than allowed in dozens of cases between 2003 and 2005. Additionally, last year's audit found that the FBI had underreported to Congress how many national security letters were requested by more than 4,600. National security letters, as outlined in the USA Patriot Act

Bi-Partisan Opposition in Pennsylvania to REAL ID Seeks to Block Implementation

Pennsylvania also, like West Virginia, presently has bi-partisan legislation pending against REAL ID to prevent its implementation.

As the article points out this unusual bi-partisan coalition is mirrored at the national level where groups as diverse as the ACLU and American Center for Law and Justice (as well as National Rifle Association) are all finding common ground in the Constitution to defend their rights to privacy and state's rights against government intrusion. As in West Virginia, it can be seen that republicans have taken up the cause in their respective legislatures and become among the most vocal in opposition.

Note the name of the Senate bill introduced in Pennsylvania and the detailing of what "biometric" and "economic" measures are to be kept private from government intrusion (bills linked in clip):

This act shall be known and may be cited as the
REAL ID and Biometric and Economic Privacy Act.

Any governor that does not see the strength and broadness of this movement, or is blind to what the Constitution limits government from doing, will probably find bipartisan opposition to their re-election as well.

Note the legislative bills from Pennsylvania are linked in the clip below.

clipped from www.pittsburghlive.com Backlash mounts against REAL ID HARRISBURG -- Republican and Democratic state lawmakers are teaming up to oppose the federal REAL ID program, claiming it creates a national identity card that poses a threat to personal privacy. REAL ID "is a terribly invasive new government tracking system being implemented here in Pennsylvania and across this nation, without legislative approval and certainly without public knowledge," said Rep. Sam Rohrer, a Berks County Republican known as one of the Legislature's most conservative members. Rohrer and Rep. Babette Josephs, a liberal Philadelphia Democrat, are sponsoring a bill that would block REAL ID in Pennsylvania. "The potential for identity theft is gigantic, unbelievable," Rohrer said. The REAL ID program was included in a federal defense spending bill approved in 2005 without public hearings. Senate Bill 1220, by Sen. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon County. View it online. House Bill 1351, by Rep. Sam Rohrer, R-Berks County. View it online.