Beware the ‘Lame Duck’ Congress

MichNews ^ | 11/15/2004 | Peyton Knight

[RepCath]

In the midst of all the election hoopla, one thing remains certain. Congress will return for a final, end-of-the-year session on November 15. This is the most dangerous time of the year—a time when bad bills become bad laws with little fanfare from a distracted media and populace.

Adding to this dangerous mix is a “lame duck” Congress full of soon-to-be-former Representatives and Senators, eager to strike one last legislative blow before they pack their bags and leave. In short, this is the time of year when grassroots activists and champions of liberty must be most vigilant. Their activism is often times all that stands between tragedy and triumph.

[KDubRN]

And beware the 4 legislative nightmares targeted.

National ID Card
“9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act”-Senate bill S. 2845 and House bill H.R. 10.
The national ID program has been put on a fast track to pass during the lame duck session.
1) A national ID will not prevent terrorism in the United States.
2) Furthermore, identity cards tell nothing about an individual’s intentions.
3) Any form of identification can be counterfeited. Despite best efforts and anti-counterfeiting technology, the new $20 bill has been counterfeited.
4) A national ID system would divert resources from more productive counter-terrorism measures. One estimate of the initial cost of such a program goes as high as $25 to $30 billion dollars, with another $3 billion to $6 billion per year to run it.
5) A national ID would depend on a massive bureaucracy that would limit our basic freedoms.
6) A national ID would both contribute to identity fraud and make it more difficult to remedy.
7) A national ID could require all Americans to carry an internal passport at all times, compromising our privacy, limiting our freedom, and exposing us to unfair discrimination based on national origin or religion.
8) Law enforcement, tax collectors, and other government agencies would want use of the data. Employers, landlords, insurers, credit agencies, mortgage brokers, direct mailers, private investigators, civil litigants, would also begin using the ID and even the database, further eroding the privacy that Americans rightly expect in their personal lives

National Heritage Areas
To read more on the dangers of Heritage Areas, go to: www.americanpolicy.org/prop/natl-landgrab.htm.

These disastrous bills have passed the House and are currently awaiting action in the Senate. It is vital that property rights and limited government activists contact both of their Senators and tell them to vote NO on any and all National Heritage Area legislation. Each of the following Heritage Areas would be created in the state of the sponsoring Representative.

- H.R. 280: The National Aviation Heritage Area -- sponsored by Rep. David Hobson (R-OH)

- H.R. 1862: The Oil Region National Heritage Area -- sponsored by Rep. John Peterson (R-PA)

- H.R. 1618: The Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area -- sponsored by Denise Majette (D-GA)

- H.R. 1798: The Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area -- sponsored by Rep. Nancy Johnson

- H.R. 4492: “To extend the authorization for certain national heritage areas.” Proponents of Heritage Areas claim that federal funding and oversight is only temporary. As this bill shows, nothing could be further from the truth. H.R. 4492 would extend federal funding and oversight.

- H.R. 4683: The Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor -- sponsored by Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC)

- H.R. 3257: The Western Reserve Heritage Areas Study Act ? sponsored by Tim Ryan (D-OH)


Rim of the Valley Land Grab
The “Rim of the Valley Corridor Study Act” (S. 347) seeks to expand the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area by adding a corridor of all the mountains surrounding the San Fernando Valley, La Crescenta Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, Simi Valley and Conejo Valley in California.

It has already passed the Senate
You can see a map by going to www.landrights.org. This map was produced by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. They have deliberately tried to hide the full impact of S. 347 by how they have shaded the areas in the map. They call it a corridor but it actually surrounds huge swaths of land.
S. 347 will put a circle of Park Service control around tens of thousands of landowners. Anyone familiar with how the Park Service works knows that is the beginning of ratcheting down the regulatory controls and land acquisition. They want it all eventually.

The Rim of the Valley land grab would cost over $2 billion, making it the most expensive park in American history.

Invasive Species
If you have foreign weeds, grass, trees, or shrubs on your property (and you most certainly do) you’re in trouble. Under “Invasive Species” provisions currently sitting in the Senate’s version of the Federal Transportation Bill (S. 1072), your property could quickly become the target of radical environmentalists and bureaucrats.

This nightmare all began when Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 13112 in 1999, creating an “Invasive Species Council” to monitor and control “alien species.” What are alien species? According to Clinton’s Order, “alien species means, with respect to a particular ecosystem, any species, including seeds, eggs, spores, or other biological material capable of propagating that species, that is not native to that ecosystem.”

Think the Invasive Species monster can’t get any worse? It already has. In 2001, the Invasive Species Council issued a management plan that states: “Council member agencies will work with Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP) and other relevant bodies to expand opportunities to share information, technologies, and technical capacity on the control and management of invasive species with other countries, promoting environmentally sound control and management practices.”

And just what is the Global Invasive Species Programme? A quick trip to the GISP website reveals it is:

- The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
- The United Nations Environmental, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
- The Convention on Biological Diversity
- The Nature Conservancy
- The International Union for the Protection of Nature
- DIVERSITAS: An International Programme of Biodiversity Science (another UNESCO project)

Both the Senate and the House have already passed their respective versions of the Federal Transportation Bill, and are currently conferencing to put forth a single bill. Fortunately, the House version of the Federal Transportation Bill does not include any Invasive Species language. But the Senate version does.

S. 1072 contains provisions that allow for government to control your land using Invasive Species policy. Specifically, it would give the Department of Interior the power to decide which plants, animals, fish, birds and insects are “invasive.” Once it’s discovered your property is home to an invasive species, the feds will have all the justification they need to oversee, manage, and regulate your property.