Consider these 7 Items...
Item 1:
REAL ID Act
THOMAS (The Library Of Congress)
May 11, 2005
The REAL ID Act of 2005 is Division B of an act of the United States Congress titled Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005, Pub.L. 109-13, 119 Stat. 231, enacted 2005-05-11).
This legislation was intended to deter terrorism by implementing the following:
*Establishing national standards for state-issued driver's licenses and non-driver's identification cards;
*Waiving laws that interfere with construction of physical barriers at the borders;
*Updating and tightening the laws on application for asylum and deportation of aliens for terrorist activity;
*Introducing rules covering "delivery bonds" (rather like bail bonds but for aliens who have been released pending hearings);
*Funding some reports and pilot projects related to border security; and
*Changing visa limits for temporary workers, nurses, and Australian citizens.
Data requirements
Each card must include, at a minimum, the person's full legal name, signature, date of birth, gender, driver's license or identification card number. It also includes a photograph of the person's face and the address of principal residence. It is required to have physical security features designed to prevent tampering, counterfeiting, or duplication of the document for fraudulent purposes. It will use common machine-readable technology, with defined minimum data elements (the details of which are not spelled out, but left to the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation and the states, to regulate.)
Documentation required before issuing a license or ID card
Before a card can be issued, the applicant must provide the following documentation:
*A photo ID, or a non-photo ID that includes full legal name and birthdate.
*Documentation of birthdate.
*Documentation of legal status and Social Security number
*Documentation showing name and principal residence address.
*Digital images of each identity document will be stored in each state DMV database.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.00418:
Item 2:
PRESIDENT SIGNS USA PATRIOT ACT
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 9, 2006
Improvement and Reauthorization Act
"The law allows our intelligence and law enforcement officials to continue to share information. It allows them to continue to use tools against terrorists that they used against -- that they use against drug dealers and other criminals. It will improve our nation's security while we safeguard the civil liberties of our people. The legislation strengthens the Justice Department so it can better detect and disrupt terrorist threats. And the bill gives law enforcement new tools to combat threats to our citizens from international terrorists to local drug dealers."
-- President George W. Bush
March 9, 2006
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/patriotact/
Item 3:
DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT
H.R. 5122, also known as the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 was a bill passed in the United States Congress on September 30, 2006 and signed by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006. Among other things, it includes:
$500 billion allocated to the military and defense related activities for fiscal year 2007 expansion of the President's power to declare martial law under revisions to the Insurrection Act, and take charge of United States National Guard troops without state governor authorization when public order has been lost and the state and its constituted authorities cannot enforce the law.
Item 4
MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT of 2006
THOMAS (The Library Of Congress)
September 22, 2006
The United States Military Commissions Act of 2006, Pub. L. No. 109-366, 120 Stat. 2600 (Oct. 17, 2006), enacting Chapter 47A of title 10 of the United States Code, is an Act of Congress (Senate Bill 3930 signed by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006.
The Act's stated purpose is to "facilitate bringing to justice terrorists and other unlawful enemy combatants through full and fair trials by military commissions, and for other purposes.
The Act has also been denounced by critics who assert that its wording makes possible the permanent detention and torture (as defined by the Geneva Conventions) of anyone - including American citizens - based solely on the decision of the President.
In the House debate, Representative David Wu of Oregon offered this scenario:
"Let us say that my wife, who is here in the gallery with us tonight, a sixth generation Oregonian, is walking by the friendly, local military base and is picked up as an unlawful enemy combatant. What is her recourse? She says, I am a U.S. citizen. That is a jurisdictional fact under this statute, and she will not have recourse to the courts? She can take it to Donald Rumsfeld, but she cannot take it across the street to an article 3 court."
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:S.3930:
Item 4:
INSURRECTION ACT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Insurrection_Act
Feburary 7, 2007
The Insurrection Act of 1807 is the set of laws that govern the President of the United States of America's ability to deploy troops within the United States to put down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion. The laws are chiefly contained in 10 U.S.C. § 331 - 10 U.S.C. § 335. The general aim is to limit Presidential power as much as possible, relying on state and local governments for initial response in the event of insurrection.
On September 30, 2006, the Congress modified the Insurrection Act as part of the 2007 Defense Authorization Bill. Section 1076 of the new law changes Sec. 333 of the "Insurrection Act," and widens the President's ability to deploy troops within the United States to enforce the laws. Under this act, the President may also deploy troops as a police force during a natural disaster, epidemic, serious public health emergency, terrorist attack, or other condition, when the President determines that the authorities of the state are incapable of maintaining public order. The bill also modified Sec. 334 of the Insurrection Act, giving the President authority to order the dispersal of either insurgents or "those obstructing the enforcement of the laws." The new law changed the name of the chapter from "Insurrection" to "Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order."
The 2007 Defense Authorization Bill, with over $500 billion allocated to the military, and which also contained the changes to the Insurrection Act of 1807, was passed by a bipartisan majority of both houses of Congress: 398-23 in the House and by unanimous consent in the Senate.
On February 7, 2007, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) introduced legislation that would revert the Insurrection Act to its previous state. Sen. Leahy argues that the modifications to the law make it unnecessarily easy to assert federal authority over national guard elements without the consent of governors, and that the changes removed a "useful friction" that existed between the Insurrection Act and the Posse Comitatus Act.
Senator Leahy remarked on September 19th, 2006, "we certainly do not need to make it easier for Presidents to declare martial law. Invoking the Insurrection Act and using the military for law enforcement activities goes against some of the central tenets of our democracy. It creates needless tension among the various levels of government – one can easily envision governors and mayors in charge of an emergency having to constantly look over their shoulders while someone who has never visited their communities gives the orders."
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1251/MR1251.AppD.pdf
Item 5:
BUSH GRANTS PRESIDENCY EXTRAORDINARY POWERS
Directive for emergencies apparently gives authority without congressional oversight
World Net Daily
May 23, 2007
President Bush has signed a directive granting extraordinary powers to the office of the president in the event of a declared national emergency, apparently without congressional approval or oversight.
The "National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive" was signed May 9, 2007
It was issued with the dual designation of NSPD-51, as a National Security Presidential Directive, and HSPD-20, as a Homeland Security Presidential Directive.
The directive establishes under the office of the president a new national continuity coordinator whose job is to make plans for "National Essential Functions" of all federal, state, local, territorial and tribal governments, as well as private sector organizations to continue functioning under the president's directives in the event of a national emergency.
"Catastrophic emergency" is loosely defined as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html
COMMENT: Did he set this up for President Hillary Clinton?
Item 6:
SPECIAL OPERATIONS PREPARED FOR DOMESTIC MISSIONS
Washington Post
June 22, 2007
The U.S. Northern Command, the military command responsible for "homeland defense," has asked the Pentagon if it can establish its own special operations command for domestic missions. The request, reported in the Washington Examiner, would establish a permanent sub-command for responses to incidents of domestic terrorism as well as other occasions where special operators may be necessary on American soil.
The establishment of a domestic special operations mission, and the preparation of contingency plans to employ commandos in the United States, would upend decades of tradition. Military actions within the United States are the responsibility of state militias (the National Guard), and federal law enforcement is a function of the FBI.
When NORTHCOM was established after 9/11 to be the military counterpart to the Department of Homeland Security, within its headquarters staff it established a Compartmented Planning and Operations Cell (CPOC) responsible for planning and directing a set of "compartmented" and "sensitive" operations on U.S., Canadian and Mexican soil. In other words, these are the very special operations that NORTHCOM is now formally asking the Pentagon to beef up into a public and acknowledged sub-command.
NORTHCOM's compartmented and sensitive operations fall under the Joint Chiefs of Staff "Focal Point" program, a separate communications and planning network used to hide special operations undertaken by the Joint Special Operations Command, headquartered in North Carolina, and by CIA and other domestic compartmented activities.
Since 2003, the CPOC has had a small core of permanent members drawn from the operations, intelligence and planning directorates. In an emergency, the staff can be expanded. According to NORTHCOM documents, CPOC is involved in planning for a number of domestic missions, including:
-- Non-conventional assisted recovery
-- Integrated survey programs
-- Information operations/"special technical operations"
-- "Special activities"
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/06/special_operations_prepared_fo.html
COMMENT: Checkmate.
Pray for your nation
Professor Taylor
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