essential weapon in the war on terror, but privacy and civil liberties watchdogs are calling the initiative an overly intrusive measure that smacks of Big Brother.”

The ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation warn “the IDs and supporting databases” mandated by Real ID legislation “will infringe on privacy.” The EFF “says on its Web site that the information in the databases will lay the groundwork for ‘a wide range of surveillance activities’ by government and businesses that ‘will be able to easily read your private information’ because of the bar code required on each card.” Of course, that would be simply the beginning, as our rulers plan to eventually use biometric technology and not simply a bar code. Moreover, the Real ID scheme will not be limited to the United States. Back in 2005, BlueBear Network International announced “it has extended its exclusive licensing of facial recognition and secure distributed search technology from Ottawa-based VisionSphere Technologies, to offer State motor vehicle agencies the ability to link driver’s license databases between all U.S. states, Canada and Mexico—as proposed by the sweeping REAL ID Act approved by Congress this month,” Prime Newswire reported at the time. “VisionSphere Technology has developed technology to securely search multiple biometric databases…. The unique technology uses secure internet connections to link and biometric databases maintained anywhere in the world. BlueBear, as the exclusive licensee, adapts that technology for law enforcement by building applications for forensic identification, background checks and the fight against child exploitation.”

Naturally, in order to protect the children, fight crime, and remain vigilant against “al-Qaeda,” we will need surrender our DNA at the door. “For terrorists, travel documents are like weapons,” said Ministry apparatchik, Michael Chertoff. “We do have a right and an obligation to see that those licenses reflect the identity of the person who’s presenting it.” In response to the impudence of at least some commoners, who managed to get a handful of states to pass laws opposing Real ID, Chertoff declared identification issued by our rulers will be mandatory for all “federal purposes,” which include boarding an airplane or walking into a federal building, nuclear facility or national park. In the not too distant future, no doubt, such an ID will be mandatory for the purchase of food.

Not mentioned in the CNN article is the fact Chertoff and the Ministry of Fatherland Security plan to merge the Real ID Act with proposals spelled out in documents issued by the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. In October, 2005, John MacDonald, president of the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, wrote to the Ministry: the SPP “provides general direction on a number of security issues, although it does not specifically mention the use of driver licences as part of any security solution. Under the section headed ‘Securing North America from External Threats’ is the following statement. ‘We will develop standards for lower-cost secure proof of status and nationality documents to facilitate cross-border travel, and work to achieve optimal production before January 1, 2008.’” It is hardly coincidental this “optimal production” will be achieved a few months before the Real ID is mandated to take effect.

As representative Ron Paul noted in a speech delivered on the floor of the U.S. House, the “legislation gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to expand required information on driver’s licenses, potentially including such biometric information as retina scans, finger prints, DNA information, and even Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) radio tracking technology. Including such technology as RFID would mean that the federal government, as well as the governments of Canada and Mexico, would know where Americans are at all time of the day and night.”

It has nothing to do with “al-Qaeda” and everything to do with a police state control grid.

Confronted with growing resistance, our rulers decided to trot out Chertoff to deliver a message—subjects of the evolving global order will submit, otherwise they will not be allowed to interact with the federal government, something most citizens are required to do on numerous occasions during their lives. “This is not a mandate,” Chertoff said. “A state doesn’t have to do this, but if the state doesn’t have—at the end of the day, at the end of the deadline—Real ID-compliant licenses then the state cannot expect that those licenses will be accepted for federal purposes.”