It seems that we are in some scary times now, but the worst may be yet to come.
In May of this year, there are very serious talks of a National ID card being issued. This card may replace a drivers license, may be required to board an airplane, enter a Federal building, etc.. Further down the road it could be required to get a job, buy food and other such every day activities.
Not far behind in the creepy factor are radio-frequency ID chips. These are being used in some big retailers nowadays on items. It could be used, combined with the National ID card or a human ID chip, to see everything that someone buys. Some of these RFIs can be as small as a grain of sand, and could someday be found in every item bought it America. Thus, the government could have a list of what you own in your house, and potentially the layout of your house.
On a different note: The Federal Reserve. Which is not part of the government at all. It is a privately owned bank that issue money to the government. And where does this money come from? Thin air, of course. Which is why the American dollar is slowly becoming more and more worthless. Back in the early days, paper money could be traded in for the listed amount of gold backing the bills. So, a twenty-dollar bil would get you twenty-dollars worth of gold. There are even speculations that all the gold in Fort Knox is no longer there.
Talking about money....There is no law requiring American citizens to pay income tax. By filling out the paper work and such, you are volunteering to pay the government for working. The IRS has the power to take all of your belonings and freeze your accounts if they feel the need to. And there is nothing you can do to stop them. People have won in the past by going to courts and stating that there is no actual law requiring them to pay taxes. Some of them even got up to the Supreme Court level which deemed that there is constitutional basis for the taxes. Yet people who have tried in recent years get shut-out, and many courts will not even acknowlede that Supreme Court decision. As a result, some people have lsot everything or sent to prison for thirty years. All for commiting a non-crime.
Personally, I wil refuse the National ID card when it is issued. The full power of it will not be in effect for a few years, so I will still atleast be able to drive. I would not pay income taxes if I was not scared senseless of being losing everything and being thrown in jail. If ten years ago you asked me if all of the fiction that Orwell wrote would come true, I would say that there would not be a snowball's chance in hell. But now..I am not all that sure.
There is no law requiring American citizens to pay income tax.
It is actually a law. From The Internal Revenue Code
There is hereby imposed on the taxable income of every individual . . . who is not a married individual a tax determined in accordance with the following table:...
[quote]G]ross income means all income from whatever source derived, including (but not limited to) the following items: (1) Compensation for services, including fees, commissions, fringe benefits, and similar items; (2) Gross income derived from business; (3) Gains derived from dealings in property; (4) Interest; (5) Rents; (6) Royalties; (7) Dividends;
I think this is all speculation right now, but I would be very wary of those who say they love freedom but won't actually go through with it. It's easy to say such a thing when times are good, but it's not so hard to say when you have, say, the secret police at your door monitoring your every word. People want stability, and they're willing to sacrifice their rights for it and on fear of punishment.
In May of this year, there are very serious talks of a National ID card being issued. This card may replace a drivers license, may be required to board an airplane, enter a Federal building, etc.. Further down the road it could be required to get a job, buy food and other such every day activities.
I already have a Social Security card, a Driver's License, and a Passport. Sounds like a solid space saving measure to me. And I severely doubt you will ever not be able to use cash.
On a different note: The Federal Reserve. Which is not part of the government at all. It is a privately owned bank that issue money to the government. And where does this money come from? Thin air, of course. Which is why the American dollar is slowly becoming more and more worthless. Back in the early days, paper money could be traded in for the listed amount of gold backing the bills. So, a twenty-dollar bil would get you twenty-dollars worth of gold. There are even speculations that all the gold in Fort Knox is no longer there.
There isn't enough gold in the world to support this planet's combined value in currency. Using gold to back money is artifice as well. Gold has no intrinsic value, only the value we asign it though mutual agreement of its worth. I say we back our currency with Uranium. Now thats valuable!
Talking about money....There is no law requiring American citizens to pay income tax. By filling out the paper work and such, you are volunteering to pay the government for working.
Tell that to Wesley Snipes. Not paying taxes is called tax evasion. You go ahead and try it, you'll find out how real the laws requiring you to pay taxes are. It is a necessary upkeep for a national defence, schools, and all our other federal programs. I question the necessity of all of these minus a national defense force, but nonetheless... if you live here, you need to pay the price for it.
Personally, I wil refuse the National ID card when it is issued. The full power of it will not be in effect for a few years, so I will still atleast be able to drive.
But once again, how are they tracking you any more with a national ID than they already are with your driver's license? They've already got tabs on you.
Yes but this ID card would be needed for literaly everything, you need it to buy food, maybe go to school, it's literaly for EVERYTHING.
Not what is being proposed, though the fear of this is definately there. Personally, I would think that your credit cards would always stay seperate since they are branded by the company, and according to the merchant agreement with card companies you cannot be required to show ID when using said cards. Merchants can be fined if they require ID for purchases.
Wow Devoidless, this mirrors my thoughts as of late. I was even going to mention Nazi checkpoints and their similarity to "drunk driving" checkpoints. That is the reason I support gun rights so avidly. With the right to bare arms, all other rights can be preserved.
One could easily state: "I'm moving out of the US." But this is happening every where, with China and the European Union.
Maybe WW3 is what the world needs, so we will once again learn the difference between good and evil.
Anyone who would trade freedom for safety deserves neither.
You're an anarchist then? You don't have the freedom to just go out and kill people, in return, the chances of you being murdered are much lower. That is still trading freedom.
There is talk o this happening over here in Britian too. The government says it is mainly for security purposes. I ask do we really need more security? If you walk through central london there are at least 6 CCTV cameras filming you at any given moment.
As for the civil liberties, the issues there are obvious, the government can get pretty much anything on you already. However my main beef wit this is the cost. It would cost the British govt £5.4 billion to set up and run the id cards for the next 10 years. Bearing in mind that this is a country of 60.8 million, the US being so much larger and with so many more people (300 million) the cost would be much greater than this. It seems to me this money could be put to much better use, especially in times of economic crisis.
samy, you think it is turned off when you set that option. your phone is still making a connection with antennas. they could still have a location on you even if your phone says they don't
your phone is still making a connection with antennas. they could still have a location on you even if your phone says they don't
It's true, phones always have a tiny signal to a sattelite even when off, and when you use it the signal becomes larger. The govt in the UK has several stations that can intercept what your phone signal to see what you are downloading and they use it to catch people who watch child porn off their phones and things like that, but the technology could be used to see what people send each other and keep tabs on people potentially.
As for the civil liberties, the issues there are obvious, the government can get pretty much anything on you already. However my main beef wit this is the cost. It would cost the British govt ã5.4 billion to set up and run the id cards for the next 10 years. Bearing in mind that this is a country of 60.8 million, the US being so much larger and with so many more people (300 million) the cost would be much greater than this. It seems to me this money could be put to much better use, especially in times of economic crisis.
Not that I disagree but: Civil liberties at stake and you're worried about the cost? While money is an issue, the government can just get it from all those interest-free loans to themselves. They will pay any cost for power. I'm not sure whether the English (or American, for that matter,) government is just after more power, or if they honestly believe they are doing good.
I find the latter more likely. They can even fool themselves. Ultimately, their quest for safety will end in tears. Why does no one care about what is happening to the world? People seem to care more about fleeting things like the economy.
Well, the cell phone thing isn't really an accurate GPS, because it could only be used to look at what cell you're in in the network, and the cell could have a radius of up to a mile.
And many think that the DTV switch is part of this trend. Some people are saying that these "converter boxes" have a secret device in them that records everything that you watch and reports it to the government.
