a lot of bad news
The big thing around here is that UCLA Police tasered a student for refusing to show his ID or leave the library. This was caught on camera and can be found on YouTube, though I should post a WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS VERY DISTRUBING, AND WATCHING IT MADE ME PHYSICALLY SICK. If you are still interested, here is the video. The UCLA administration has ordered an independent investigation into the matter, while the student has hired a civil rights attorney and filed a lawsuit for brutal excessive force.
In other news, the US has decided to trade nuclear technology with India. I think this is an absolutely horrible move on many different fronts. India has not signed the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, and may very well restart its arms race and standoff with Pakistan. Part of the fuel sent to India will be used in civilian reactors, but part is also reserved for military applications that the UN will not be allowed to examine. Finally, this gives the US even less bargaining power to get Iran to stop its neclear programme (which I am given to understand is completely non-weapons oriented; they seem to be pursuing only energy). I got to see Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector in Iraq (who resigned because he was convinced they didn’t have WMDs when the politicians kept saying they did), a couple weeks ago, and he said at the time that as soon as the election was over, Bush was going to start pushing the Iran nuclear weapons thing again (which has already started: the US navy has begun moving troops into the Persian Gulf). Ritter, as a former weapons inspector, has pored over the reports of the current weapons inspectors in Iran, and is confident that they have done a good, solid job but have found absolutely no evidence whatsoever of a nuclear weapons programme in the country. I’ve gone off on a tangent, but the main idea is that the US is trying to lie about Iran, and their actions with India are only undermining their position further.
Finally, the scariest news for today: the Military Commissions Act was signed into law today. Among other things, it allows people, even US citizens, to be detained and tortured (by the definition in the Geneva Conventions) without ever being charged or told why they are being held, at the sole discretion of the president. The scariest part about this is that if there are abuses, there is absolutely no way they will ever be disclosed or appealed. If you are wrongfully imprisoned by this law, you will never be given access to a lawyer, you will never be allowed to challenge the legality of your detainment, and you will never be heard from again. I feel very frustrated that the majority of Congresspeople were in favour of this. Due to laws like this, combined with the Real ID Act of 2005 (which requires a National ID card to be carried by everyone starting in 2008, and which was introduced by civil liberties foe Jim Sensenbrenner), it seems that our country has become alarmingly protofascist. It’s really scary stuff.
I reckon people *should* watch the video, and *should* be disturbed by it. It keeps the debate over the tasering from becoming castratingly abstract. But it’s good to warn people about what they’re getting into, I suppose.
Papers, please!
So, I’m all about security, but will someone please explain to me what on earth is wrong with having to carry ID? This is the case in all civilized countries _except_ the USA – which, I’m beginning to believe, is because we’re _not_ a civilized country. Not with the current administration.
caveat emptor – haven’t watched the video, although I’m generally agaist tasering people.
But I’m with Dan here – I see no problem with requiring ID for a place that is legitimately access-controlled.
This is a bit fuzzier at a public university, but still, verifying that you have permission to be somewhere? Seems like a good thing to me.
That was me – apparently, I wasn’t logged in.
If your comment is in response to the Real ID Act, take a look at the Wikipedia article for a few examples. The one I had in mind when writing this is that they give governments overwhelming authority over their people and can be used to oppress anyone who disagrees with those in power (for examples, see Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, Apartheid-era South Africa, and V for Vendetta). If the government (or a single federal employee with access to this) doesn’t like you, all they need to do is remove you from their system and suddenly you can’t get a bank account, you can’t flee the country, you can’t fly in an airplane, and its possible you can be arrested with no further provocation. If you are robbed, you are suddenly a second-class citizen. If you are immigrating, you are a second-class citizen. If you cannot get one (for instance, you are homeless), you are even more of a second-class citizen than you previously were.
If your comment is in response to the UCLA thing, it’s fine to require an ID if you’re on private property. but if you’re on public property, I honestly don’t think you should need one. I don’t know which kind of property the UCLA library is, but either way, I don’t think that peaceful resistance (even if the cause was not apparent at the time) warrants a taser. We had this problem with firehoses during the Civil Rights movement, and I’d argue that using those was a really poor decision as well.
Yeah, I was talking about the Real ID act.
To be fair, the majority of IDs are only visually, not electronically inspected. And, the electronic inspections I have seen are only additional checksums against fake IDs, not things that actually connect to remote systems.
There’s a lot more wrong with the state of our nation’s homeless than anything caused by the real ID measure. They already are at best 3rd or 4th-class citizens. Also there are measures in place (I’m not defending them or speaking to their effectiveness) that give the homeless addresses; they often register to vote at the shelters or the post office.
Finally in any reasonable system, there would be no way to remove entries from the NID database. (Of course this relies on the technologists behind the scenes, e.g. Diebold *shudder*, but hopefully the democratic process and the prevalence of security experts who analyze these technologies and publish their complaints will fix this problem for us).
Also, did you read the racist comments on the YouTube video… wow. I have to confess to laughing at the ignorant (or just trying to be inflammatory – e.g. Professor Dunn) people who wrote them.
Also, I’m not a fan of current legal measures on the issue, but… really? Illegal immigrants… the key word there is illegal. Legitimate immigrants are given temporary IDs at the gate even now, in the form of visas or whatever else. What point were you trying to make with that example?
Perhaps you’re right about that. I was thinking in particular of people seeking political asylum (who most likely cannot get out of their previous country, and aren’t likely to enter the country through legal means), but I’ve looked closer at how to apply for political asylum and my concerns there have been assuaged.
What’s wrong with having a National ID? I wil tell you!
It appears that you are too young, too have actually had to go to war, and fight for freedom, and the constitution. I am not talkin about Agenda’s of government like in Iraq. I am talking about Nazu’s, Pearl harbor, World War, etc.
Have you ever heard the Statement in movies, saying:
“you papers please?” from the Gestapo Agent, who if you refuse will immediatley take you into custody, for no criminal reason/ Well, that’s what National ID is! Converting Freedom into a “POLICE STATE” where YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS! And the ID is jsut the beginning to have a reason to Stop and Question YOU, for no reason..
It’s about “CONTROL” of everyone.. Civilized? You Say?
Try getting a cluse into what Freedom is REALLY About!
It’s not the I-pod. It’s the U.S. Constitution being stolen from us,
by our own Congress, whitehouse, and “non-questioning” people like yourselves who play right into the hands of “tyranny.”
Your failure to recognize a serious threat to this nation, by implementing National ID cards, is just the beginning to the
“Mark of the Beast” which technology is now capable of implmenting. Then you will truly find out just how NOT FREE you really are, while you preciously carry your NEW ID card in your wallet, being “teacked” at every store, street corner, and Policemen’s moniter, just by the mear use of a simple “RFID” reader in your National ID card. Welcome to reality.
DeanAFOSI
Animals C.L.U.B.-Freedom
Re: What’s wrong with having a National ID? I wil tell you!
If you’re honestly worried about RFID, just put your RFID chips inside a faraday cage (for instance, you could wrap them in tin foil). If you’re worried about the government tracking you, you should probably look more into cell phone triangulation (which is already implemented for 911 calls) and GPS trackers in cars, instead of RFID.
and I’m not sure you realize this, but dhalps knows more about electronic security and government programs than most other people I know. I’m fairly confident he knows what he’s talking about and can back up his point of view with some good arguments.
Glad to see others are noticing this – come talk about it!
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