by Marvin J. Ramirez
Marvin J. Ramirez
Sometimes during deadline, is hard for an editor who works alone with very little help, to come up with a last-minute idea for writing an editorial.
This was the case of myself at the time or sending this edition to the printer. I just couldn’t think what to write about, I was blocked for a while.
But I started to look around in my thoughts and remember how most people can’t see what’s really happening to our beautiful country.
Perhaps not many people in the United States understand of why many things are not going right for most citizens: the more you work, the more debts you’re in, and afraid of falling to the financial bottom. It seems that we are going nowhere.
The harder you work to buy a house playing by the rules, the more you later find out that those rule weren’t really made to protect you, the hard-working citizen, but to protect some invisible corporation based somewhere in another part of the world, and that your own government can’t do much for you. It just watches you to be thrown on the streets and be stripped of your fundamental rights afforded by our Founding Fathers.
With this intention, I am publishing this piece from author Mark Nestman, that I found sometime ago, which I hope will give you an idea of what could be going on and what could be for our future.
Soon you’ll have to ask permission before you fly
Last year, I wrote here that if Uncle Sam gets its way, we’d all be on no-fly lists, unless the government gives us permission to leave – or re-enter – the United States.
Now, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) proposed a similar system for travel on commercial airlines WITHIN the United States. Both sys- tems will come into effect Feb. 19, 2008.
Under the TSA’s “Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) initiative,” you’ll need to obtain permission from the U.S. government to travel on ANY commercial airliner or ship that goes to or from the United States. You won’t receive your boarding pass until you are cleared by APIS. You’ll also need permission to travel through the United States (e.g., if you’re changing planes at a U.S. airport on a trip between two foreign countries). It doesn’t matter if you’re a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
Everyone will need permission to enter – or leave – the United States.
Then, on Aug. 23, 2007, the TSA issued proposed regulations for its “Secure Flight” program.
The TSA wants commercial airlines to submit passenger information through a single DHS portal for both the Secure Flight and APIS programs. This would result in one DHS system responsible for watch list matching for all aviation passengers. Naturally, the entire process – for both domestic and international travel – will occur in total secrecy. If you’re denied permission to travel, you won’t be able to appeal the decision to any court. Your only recourse will be through the TSA bureaucracy. Essentially, you’ll be reduced to pleading with the TSA to say something like, “pretty please, give me a boarding pass.”
What this amounts to is essentially a reprise of the infamous “internal passport” system in effect in the former Soviet Union. In 1933, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin introduced “internal passports” that prohibited Soviet citizens from leaving their place of residence without permission. Over time, the internal passport became the prime instrument of Soviet oppression over its citizens. It’s bad enough needing to ask Uncle Sam for permission to leave the United States, and to reenter it. But an internal passport is a blueprint for totalitarianism.
Mark Nestman, Privacy Expert & President. The Nestmann Group www.nestmann.com. This article was written in 10 -4 -7.
