Last night I wrote
this diary, which was cross posted at
LSF, about the still shadowy "concessions" worked out over the draconian
"Real ID rider". More is coming to light and the more visible this Act becomes the more frightening the future of democracy in America looks:
"Don't be fooled by rhetoric: the REAL ID Act won't make America any safer, despite a few changes made at the insistence of concerned Senators. It will drive undocumented immigrants further underground, it will turn away legitimate asylum seekers and it will let the Secretary of Homeland Security disregard almost any law on the books - even civil rights or labor protections. This bill is being forced by the House leadership into law, with no hearings and with little serious study of its consequences.
civilrights.org
More below:
I added the emphasis in the preceding paragraph because almost no where in the RWCM major outlets is the fact that this act will affect everyone being conveyed. It is portrayed as an inconvienence to Americans (more paperwork for licenses) and somewhat harsh to refugees, but hey Senator Brownback is a good christian and he worked out a deal that will let christian refugees in (sometimes)...
But the worst provisions for citizens and undocumented migrants remain:
Supporters claim that the REAL ID Act will speed up the completion of a fence at the U.S. border near San Diego. But the language in the final version of the bill goes far beyond that:
it would let the Secretary of Homeland Security ignore any federal or state law in the process, at any border area in the country. Making one person so thoroughly 'above the law' is unprecedented - and not what one expects in a civilized democracy.
The REAL ID Act guts the carefully negotiated requirements that became law only half a year ago as part of the intelligence reform bill last year, before they even had a chance to work," Henderson continued. "The new language under the REAL ID Act will open the door to widespread discrimination, create bureaucratic nightmares, and undermine public safety by increasing the number of unlicensed drivers on our roads.
Compare that to:
NPR
SF Chronicle
Reuters
Even editorials against it are missing the most egregious problem with the bill as far as the "selfish" citizen is concerned (and they are that incredibly important "swing voter", I believe). Do we really want to make one political appointee completely unaccountable to all local, state, and federal law in the name of "9/11"?
I remind all you readers who live near Canada or the Coasts that the "border provisions" will apply to your locales as well, and it isn't clear that they wouldn't apply to places like Kansas or Missouri too.
Real ID is a real threat to democracy that makes even the Patriot Act seem reasonable in comparison.
There still is a chance that this rider can get killed in its present form. Some Repub. Senators are growling about it and the American Gun Owners Association has come out against it.
So dear Kossacks, I humbly beseech you to write LTE's, contact your Senators (heck, even contact your reps, although its first version passed with more than 100 votes (78% of Dems voted for BTW)) we must kill this bill.
Oh to be sure, if it passes nothing noticeable would happen immediately, but by the time it does it will be too late...