An interesting development...

An interesting development in the process of freedom has been made known to me. As I suspected the price of "freedom" is beginning to grow. A newly passed bill will allow the "nationalization" of ID cards. Think this is good? Wrong. It will divert countless resources towards the tracking of supposedly "free" Americans. Thank you Mr. Bush! I hear that next year we begin building walls that seperate us from Mexico and Canada. Report immediately following.

Congressman Ron Paul Denounces New National ID BillThe U.S. House and Senate have passed a sweeping new intelligence bill that contains provisions for a de facto national ID card. Congress passed the bill despite having only a few hours to read the 3,000-plus pages final version.During the House debate, libertarian U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) rose to the floor to denounce the bill, particularly the national ID provisions.“National ID cards are not proper in a free society,” Paul declared. “This is America, not Soviet Russia. The federal government should never be allowed to demand papers from American citizens, and it certainly has no constitutional authority to do so.“A national identification card, in whatever form it may take, will allow the federal government to inappropriately monitor the movements and transactions of every American,” Paul continued. “History shows that governments inevitably use such power in harmful ways. The 9-11 commission, whose recommendations underlie this bill, has called for *internal* screening points where identification will be demanded. Domestic travel restrictions are the hallmark of authoritarian states, not free nations. It is just a matter of time until those who refuse to carry the new licenses will be denied the ability to drive or board an airplane.“Nationalizing standards for drivers licenses and birth certificates, and linking them together via a national database, creates a national ID system pure and simple. Proponents of the national ID understand that the public remains wary of the scheme, so they attempt to claim they’re merely creating new standards for existing state IDs. Nonsense! This legislation imposes federal standards in a federal bill, and it creates a federalized ID regardless of whether the ID itself is still stamped with the name of your state.“Those who are willing to allow the government to establish a Soviet-style internal passport system because they think it will make us safer are terribly mistaken,” Paul concluded. “Subjecting every citizen to surveillance and screening points actually will make us less safe, not in the least because it will divert resources away from tracking and apprehending terrorists and deploy them against innocent Americans! Every conservative who believes in constitutional restraints on government should reject the authoritarian national ID card and the nonsensical intelligence bill itself.”Unfortunately, Republicans and Democrats alike failed to heed Paul’s warning. The bill was passed by the House 336-75 with 67 of the dissenters Republicans defying strong pressure from President Bush. The bill then passed the Senate 89-2. It could be signed by the president by week's end.Interestingly, just one day before the U.S. House vote, the British government also announced plans to introduce biometric national ID card starting in 2008. According to Prime Minister Tony Blair: "With terrorism, illegal immigration and organized crime operating with so much greater sophistication, identity cards in my judgment are long overdue."Opponents say the battle against a national ID, and the fast-growing national security state that supports such tyranny, will continue.