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MAINE LEGISLATURE APPROVES 

MARK OF THE BEAST STYLE “REAL ID”

“Mark of the Beast” Style Biometric Markings to ultimately be required for Driving and Employment

By: David Deschesne

AUGUSTA - In response to Governor Baldacci’s directive to enact the REAL ID in Maine, the Maine Legislature rammed through LD 2309 on April 17 to implement portions of the Federal REAL ID act as State Law, in spite of a law that was passed with overwhelming opposition to those measures by the Legislature just last year.

The new bill enacts legislation that would require the Secretary of State to participate in the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program and study such technologies as “facial recognition” notwithstanding (in spite of) the existing law prohibiting it. Facial recognition technology has been compared to the Biblical “Mark of the Beast” since eventually nobody will be able to drive their car or gain employment without it - under the guise of cracking down on illegal immigrants. Without a car or job, those who chose not to have the ID will be unable to earn money to buy or sell, unless they do so “illegally.”

The bill was discussed at a work session of the Transportation Committee in Augusta on Thursday, April 10, 2008 in Augusta. Donna Bendiksen, a Republican candidate for the Maine House of Representatives for Portland, was there to represent the opposition to the bill.

“The first people to speak were legislators, department heads, lobbyists and then the rest of us. Most of the legislators and Matt Dunlap, Maine’s Secretary of State, had great speeches against this bill, the SAVE Act and REAL ID,” said Bendikson. “They all said LD 2309 meant implementing REAL ID and cited Public Law 251 which bans the State from implementing the steps towards REAL ID. Mr. Dunlap’s speech was awesome and I had to restrain myself from clapping when he finished.”

Public Law 251 is codified at Maine Revised Statutes (MRS) 29-A, Sec. 1411.

Approximately 90 people packed the meeting room as they waited their turn to comment at a meeting that went into the early evening hours.

“Most of the lobbyists, bureaucrats and administrators wanted LD 2309 to pass,” said Bendiksen, “as you can imagine, we heard all of the most common points of misinformation and lies concerning why tagging us like cattle was necessary. Thank God those people were outnumbered 5 to 1.”

One of the key points debated was the use of SAVE to prohibit illegal aliens from working in Maine.

“Maine already has tough immigration laws, if we would just enforce them, these new measures wouldn’t be necessary,” said Bendiksen.

Bendiksen explains the SAVE program could adversely affect Maine businesses by requiring them to prove their employees are “legal” by having an ID card facial recognition software in a system that is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate.

“I don’t think Maine business owners understand the ramifications this program will have on their ability to hire people,” said Bendiksen, “SAVE puts all the pressure on business owners to ensure employees are legal, and if the State database is in error, the business owners would be fined first, then have to prove the database was at fault.”

Professor Ben Shneiderman, from the University of Maryland explains how such national databases can be prone to error; “A national ID system requires a complex integration of social and technical systems, including humans to enter and verify data, plus hardware, software and networks to store and transmit. Such socio-technical systems are always vulnerable to error, breakdown, sabotage and destruction by natural events or by people with malicious intentions.”

LD 2309 will require all Maine inhabitants who hold a driver’s license or State-issued identification card to ultimately submit to biometric face scanning in order to drive their automobile, verify eligibility for welfare benefits and ultimately gain and keep employment. Since such measures would prohibit the ability of Mainers to work or travel without the digital biometric face scan, some opponents argue this is a key step toward the Biblical “Mark of the Beast” which prohibits those who don’t have the mark on their face, or forehead from buying or selling.

The bill also would require the Secretary of State to participate in the Federal SAVE program, as maintained by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service.

Editorialist, Tom DeWeese notes that REAL ID may have a “global connection” through federal programs by integrating the Department of Homeland Security, American Association of Motor Vehicles and the International Civil Aviation Organization databases in an “international information sharing agreement.”

Despite strong public opposition, the Transportation Committee approved the bill and the legislature passed it in record speed. “Our Representatives caved in to the Feds, who legally have no authority in our state,” said Brian Caouette, State Coordinator for Restore the Republic (RTR). “We are all now slaves and will be tagged like cattle and tracked like someone’s inventory!”

According to the Maine Civil Liberties Union the law turns the BMV into immigration agents, requires licenses to expire with visas, requires the Secretary of State to study facial recognition “biometric” technology and increases license fees by $15.00.