Alaska struck the first legal blow in the fight against a national ID card by refusing to pass legislation to bring the state in line with REAL ID requirements.

The bill, SB-189, breezed through the state’s rubber stamp Senate before being killed by a duo of freedom-loving legislators in the House of Representatives.

Who are these heroes of the Bill of Rights? Front and center is Rep. Paul Seaton of Homer, a commercial fisherman and Chairman of the House State Affairs Committee. Through his leadership and by voting against fellow Republicans, Rep. Seaton killed SB-189 and beat back a last minute attempt to resurrect the bill by his party. The party paid him back by killing most, if not all of his own bills.

Assisting him in fighting-off REAL ID was Rep. Max Gruenberg of Anchorage, the former House majority leader when it was under Democratic control. Rep. Gruenberg worked across party lines to make sure that this piece of un-American legislation died on the vine.

The Identity Project is proud to have been involved in testifying before the State Affairs Committee and providing the information needed to make sure that the oppression of a national ID card never hits the shores of the Last Frontier.

Alaska has said ‘no’ to a national ID card: which other state will love freedom enough to follow in their footsteps?

The Denver Post reports that the RTD bus system is proposing to reroute three bus lines which currently go through the Denver Federal Center. These buses will be routed around the Federal Center so that their passengers will not be harassed by Federal marshals and rent-a-cops to cough up an ID card or be arrested.

Two other routes that terminate in the Federal Center will continue.

“RTD attempted to resolve the dispute in a way that would allow buses to continue passing through the federal campus, but inconsistent enforcement of the ID requirement made the bus service unpredictable for commuters, agency spokesman Scott Reed said.”

Passengers and employees who wanted to ride buses to the Federal Center will have a long walk or an extra transfer to make.

The federal government has never offered a rationale for demanding that people show their papers in order to visit federal property. People who enter are not checked against any kind of list, nor are their names or identities recorded. A mere show of submissiveness, e.g. flashing any plastic card of the right color, usually suffices. There is also no law that requires people to show their papers to enter federal property; in fact, the law states that federal property is open to the public during business hours. This hasn’t stopped the Gestapo from imposing their own made-up rules.

Pennsylvania’s law requiring an SSN before a gun can be purchased or a concealed carry permit can be issued is illegal under the federal Privacy Act, ruled US District Court judge Juan Sánchez. The case was brought in 2004 by US Army Major Michael Stollenwerk, a noted privacy activist. The opinion states:

Pennsylvania’s requirement that an applicant disclose his Social Security number to purchase a handgun or receive a license to carry a handgun is invalid under the federal Privacy Act. On Michael Stollenwerk’s complaint, I will enjoin the enforcement of Pennsylvania’s statute and the State Police from requiring a Social Security number to conduct a background check.

Congratulations, Mike! It’s refreshing to see a federal employee and member of the US military who’s working to uphold civil rights. May we find many more such brave officers.

Prevent Genocide has a nice collection of identity documents from around the world. They’ve focused on how these documents have enabled genocide or racial/religious hatred toward minorities.

Check out the USSR travel permit and compare it to what we have today in the USSA: “A valid propiska was required in order to work, get married or gain access to education or social services. Individuals were required to present their passports and propiska for internal travel or on demand by authorities or employers.”

And read the chilling “Sources” — news stories about how mobs, cops, or soldiers stopped ordinary people, demanded to see their IDs, and then used the ID information to kill or imprison those people — in country after country.