REAL ID, A Real Threat to Gun Rights

Gun Owners of America has stated the same, but this article shows how. Like the Social Security card, now used as a national identifier for non-related purposes, REAL ID would morf beyond its stated purpose (because the SSN is one of its central components). Homeland 'Security claims absolutely arbitrary power to change its usage requirements without Congressional approval (when in fact REAL ID was only approved by tagging it to a war spending bill, without debate!). Congress therefore has created a monster beyond control.

This is another solid reason that Gov. Manchin and the legislature must pass a bill rejecting it without delay, as have a growing number of other states. The author of this article is in Pennsylvania, which is also under pressure from its citizens to outlaw and nullify REAL ID in their DMV operations.

clipped from rauterkus.blogspot.com Monday, July 21, 2008 REAL ID – A very real threat to gun rights Homeland Security claims far reaching power over your guns The long-term plan for REAL ID is to force its biometric ID functions on federal, state, local and private entities for all transactions. Thus, ID confirmation by a distant bureaucracy becomes permission for essential daily activities including banking, doctor visits, transit, school attendance and purchases -- including guns. According to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) final rule handed down in January, DHS "will continue to consider additional ways in which a Real ID license can or should be used and will implement any changes to the definition of 'official purpose' or determinations regarding additional uses for Real ID consistent with applicable laws and regulatory requirements. DHS does not agree that it must seek the approval of Congress as a prerequisite to changing the definition in the future."

US to House Diplomats in Iran, Oil Prices Drop Immediately

This is the real reason oil prices dropped sharply Thursday, when this news broke overseas, 5 hours ahead of US time. NBC Nightly News last night (Thurs, July 17) had it right in interview with economist who said oil prices have included an "Iran premium" due to war rhetoric from US and Israel. Immediately the price fell when it looks like diplomacy might open up a bit.

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk US plans to station diplomats in Iran for first time since 1979 Washington move signals thaw in relations The US plans to establish a diplomatic presence in Tehran for the first time in 30 years as part of a remarkable turnaround in policy by President George Bush. The Guardian has learned that an announcement will be made in the next month to establish a US interests section - a halfway house to setting up a full embassy. The move will see US diplomats stationed in the country. The news of the shift by Bush who has pursued a hawkish approach to Iran throughout his tenure comes at a critical time in US-Iranian relations. After weeks that have seen tensions rise with Israel conducting war games and Tehran carrying out long-range missile tests, a thaw appears to be under way. The White House announced yesterday that William Burns, a senior state department official, is to be sent to Switzerland on Saturday to hear Tehran's response to a European offer aimed at resolving the nuclear standoff.

NBC NIGHTLY NEWS, OIL PRICE DROP:
Less US Demand, Less War-Mongering Against Iran

Senators Votes on Telecom/Spy Bill--Obama, Clinton, McCain, Byrd, Rockefeller

Clinton, Nay; Obama, Yea; McCain, No Vote. McCain ducked!

As usual, Byrd got this one right, Nay, (Constitution in pocket) and Rockefeller, Yea, got it wrong, again. See more traitors and defenders of the 4th amendment at the linked source.

clipped from senate.gov U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 110th Congress - 2nd Session as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate Vote Summary Question: On Passage of the Bill (H.R. 6304 ) Vote Number: 168 Vote Date: July 9, 2008, 02:47 PM Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Bill Passed Measure Number: H.R. 6304 (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ) Measure Title: A bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence, and for other purposes. Vote Counts: YEAs 69 NAYs 28 Not Voting 3 Vote Summary By Senator Name By Vote Position By Home State Byrd (D-WV), Nay Clinton (D-NY), Nay Leahy (D-VT), Nay McCain (R-AZ), Not Voting Webb (D-VA), Yea Obama (D-IL), Yea Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting

The Senate Votes to Abolish the 4th Amendment, Permit Spying on Americans

Russia Threatens Military Response to US Missile Deal--Cold War Reignited

“We will be forced to react not with diplomatic,
but with military-technical methods.”
--Russian Foreign Ministry

The Bush regime has insanely reignited the Cold War that Reagan ended! If you were Russia (and read the neocon blueprints for global hegemony) you would see this is clearly designed to circle the wagons around NATO against both Russia and Iran, which will force Russia and Iran to ally...which is a recipe for potential world war!

Tell me how this is different than Khrushchev setting up missiles in Cuba which sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis when JFK was president. Putin is right, "Provocatory" isn't it?

Who will stop this rogue government which is hell-bent on instigating new conflicts toward global upheaval before its term is up? For more on this see the Common Dreams article "Bush in Fantasyland", which states:

So why is the Bush administration imposing this sucker of a weapons system that nobody wants on an already inflamed relationship with Russia? Why risk sparking a renewed nuclear arms race?

“Politics drives this deployment decision,” Cirincione says. “Bush Administration officials are trying to lock in the program before they leave office. They are trying to build bases they hope the next president will find impossible to shut down.”

clipped from www.timesonline.co.uk Russia threatens military response to US missile defense deal July 9, 2008 Russia threatened to retaliate by military means after a deal with the Czech Republic brought the US missile defence system in Europe a step closer. The threat followed quickly on from the announcement that Condoleezza Rice signed a formal agreement with the Czech Republic to host the radar for the controversial project. Moscow argues that the missile shield would severely undermine the balance of European security and regards the proposed missile shield based in two former Communist countries as a hostile move. “We will be forced to react not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "This missile defence agreement is significant as a building block not just for the security of the United States and the Czech Republic, but also for the security of Nato and the security of the international community as a whole," Dr Rice said

Bush's Neoconservative War Agenda is the Chief Cause of High Gas Prices

People must see this oil price chart (linked) and pass it on! This article documents and graphically demonstrates the obvious that no one is saying (on talk radio especially), i.e the wars and war-mongering of Bush government are the main cause of high gas prices. For oil prices to fall the neoconservative-Israeli war agenda must be stopped--period, end of argument.

clipped from www.nsnetwork.org Americans Are Paying at the Pump for the Failed Foreign Policies of the Bush Administration The War in Iraq and Saber-Rattling toward Iran is Hurting Americans at the Pump As Americans take to the road this Fourth of July they are once again in for sticker shock at the pump. Fuel costs have skyrocketed from $20 per barrel in 2002 to $80 last summer to approximately $140 today. AMERICANS PAY AT THE PUMP FOR GLOBAL INSTABILITY Rising oil prices and the world’s insecurity are linked. Rising tensions in the world’s oil producing hotspots contribute to an oil “security premium,” increasing prices by as much as 30 percent. BUSH ADMINISTRATION FOREIGN POLICY HAS RAISED TENSIONS ACROSS THE MIDDLE EAST, IMPERILING THE WORLD’S ENERGY SUPPLY The Bush Administration’s decision to invade Iraq and its failure to manage the security situation has hurt our energy security. Ceaseless confrontation with Iran has raised costly speculation about a future oil shock.

Supreme Court Decision on 2nd Amendment Weak on "Shall Not be Infringed"

"...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Gun Owners of America (the only no-compromise gun rights lobby in Washington; see their position on McCain), while applauding the major aspect of the Supreme Court case (in an extremely close 5-4 ruling), also warns that the government is still "infringing", under the despot's plea of "necessity", and Americans should be vigilant to reclaim all of this trampled amendment. The Supreme Court's ruling could be an opportunity to challenge the Constitutionality of the plethora of gun regulations and laws. They state in an email:

In so doing, the Court's decision -- in dissenting Justice Breyers words --"threatens to throw into doubt the constitutionality of gun laws throughout the United States."

Yes both Tory and Whig parties of our present Parliament, and state and local governments, want to maintain gun regulations and laws, licensing, permits and sales data-bases--i.e. infringement and hurdles by which the government regulates your "rights" in a most hypocritical fashion. The most "conservative" Judge Scalia was careful to keep a lid on the pretended legal government "infringement" laws by adding this in his opinion, as reported in the LA Times:

"Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places, such as schools and government buildings," he wrote. The majority opinion also said that prohibitions on carrying concealed or dangerous and unusual weapons, such as machine guns, were not in doubt.

The weakness of the court's very narrow ruling then is evident, regulation still dominates, but the basis for further appeals is now laid.

THE FORGOTTEN CONTEXT AND PURPOSE OF THE 2ND AMENDMENT

In GOA's own legal brief to the Supreme Court, published in part by USA Today below, they included the following, which includes the legal purpose of the 2nd amendment in its historical context--i.e. a last line of defense against tyrannical government (as ironically former Attorney General Ashcroft was quoted as affirming in his confirmation hearing by Sen. Kennedy), including the right to bear all kinds of arms without government permission or restriction:

Opposing view: An unambiguous right

2nd Amendment bars regulation of people’s ability to bear arms.

By Herbert W. Titus and William J. Olson

Compelled to take up arms to regain their liberties as Englishmen, America's Founders knew that even the constitutional republic they had established could threaten the freedoms for which they had fought. In the First Amendment, they established a first line of defense — the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.

Knowing that words and parchment barriers alone would prove inadequate to restrain those elected as servants from becoming tyrants, they added the Second Amendment to secure "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms" — not to protect deer hunters and skeet shooters, but to guarantee to themselves and their posterity the blessings of "a free State."

Their foremost concern was the precipitating events of the American Revolution, wherein British troops in Massachusetts and Virginia seized American muskets, cannon and powder — actions the Declaration of Independence calls "a design to reduce (the colonists) under absolute Despotism."

Entrusting the nation's sovereignty to the people, the amendment breaks the government's military monopoly, guaranteeing to the people such firearms as would be necessary to defend against the sort of government abuse of their inalienable rights the British had committed.

Thus, the amendment's "well regulated Militia" encompasses all citizens who constitute the polity of the nation with the right to form their own government. The amendment's "keep and bear Arms" secures the right to possess firearms such as fully-automatic rifles, which are both the "lineal descendant(s) of … founding-era weapon(s)" (applying a 2007 court of appeals' test), and "ordinary military equipment" (applying a 1939 Supreme Court standard).

No government deprives its citizens of rights without asserting that its actions are "reasonable" and "necessary" for high-sounding reasons such as "public safety." A right that can be regulated is no right at all, only a temporary privilege dependent upon the good will of the very government officials that such right is designed to constrain.

Herbert W. Titus and William J. Olson are attorneys for Gun Owners of America, which filed a brief in the Second Amendment case the Supreme Court heard Tuesday.

Solution? $2 Gas in 30 Days if Congress Acts

"Record oil prices are inflated by speculation and not justified by market fundamentals...Based on supply and demand fundamentals, crude-oil prices should not be above $60 per barrel."

Tell Congress to act on this now! Legally limiting financial speculation (oil future's trading) by government regulation would send oil prices down to levels based upon physical supply and demand they claim. One only wonders if this would overcome the devalued dollar which also drives prices up. But they should do it immediately!

The argument of these financial analysts says that the propaganda about needing increased supply is wrong and that OPEC (and even Ahmadinejad's analysis) is correct that speculation in the trading market, dollar devaluation, and geopolitical war fears are driving the price.

It would be irresponsible to delay action on this credible analysis from those in the financial markets who have expertise on speculative trading.

clipped from www.marketwatch.com Gas could fall to $2 if Congress acts, analysts say Limiting speculation would push prices to fundamental level, lawmakers told WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The price of retail gasoline could fall by half, to around $2 a gallon, within 30 days of passage of a law to limit speculation in energy-futures markets, four energy analysts told Congress on Monday. Testifying to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management said that the price of oil would quickly drop closer to its marginal cost of around $65 to $75 a barrel, about half the current $135. Krapels said that it wouldn't even take 30 days to drive prices lower, as fund managers quickly liquidated their positions in futures markets. "Record oil prices are inflated by speculation and not justified by market fundamentals," according to Gheit. "Based on supply and demand fundamentals, crude-oil prices should not be above $60 per barrel."

America Becoming Land of Surveillance, West Virginia Too

Charleston surveillance camera

traffic cameras in West Virginia have multiplied

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated

--the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

All this increase in surveillance cameras, including in West Virginia, despite a lack of evidence that it is effective, or even evidence (mentioned in article below) that proves it is ineffective from UK studies. (See our previous "surveillance" tagged articles). But the security merchandisers (see WVDOT contractors here) are making a fortune and state and local governments are impulsively spending faster than a woman with a credit card. The source article states this:

P. Freeman said the domestic market for such systems last year had doubled over five years, to $9.2 billion, and estimated that it would more than double again by 2010, to more than $21 billion.

So you as a taxpayer are paying for your loss of liberty (4th amendment rights), while they profit, which is insult to injury. It is worth wondering how many government officials own stock in security companies (either individual stocks or mutual funds), which would be a conflict of interest (perhaps even insider trading) in that lawmakers and officials (including those heading state DMVs and DOTs) also profit through authorizing this spending.

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com Smile! More and more, you’re on camera Public surveillance video mushrooms despite lack of evidence it works After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, local governments across the country set aside concerns over privacy and installed surveillance cameras in public streets and plazas. Now — even after a damning report by the head of London’s extensive surveillance network and with little evidence that the systems work — police in many cities are trying to add thousands more cameras to their networks. “‘Cameras Everywhere’ continues to be the best description of the trend in the video surveillance market,” security market analysts J.P. Freeman Co. said in a report in 2006 that estimated that a quarter of major U.S. cities were investing in the technology. Officials in many cities are eager to take advantage of money from state and federal security agencies to install the cameras on street corners and intersections