"Clinton Considering National ID Card"

[nobody@cicada.berkeley.edu]

A forward from libernet -

>From:  ddeming@geohub.gcn.uoknor.edu (David Deming)
>To:  libernet@dartmouth.edu
>
>Subject:  "Clinton Considering National ID Card"
>
>Following appeared in Saturday, August 14, front page
>of Oklahoma City newspaper.
>
>Clinton scares the shit out of me.  His administration
>is turning out to a nightmare -- the secular version of
>the AntiChrist.
>
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>
>LOS ANGELES (Reuter) -- President Clinton said in an interview
>published Friday that his administration is studying the
>feasibility of creating a tamper-proof national identity card
>aimed in part at preventing illegal immigrants from using
>government benefit programs.
>
>Though civil liberties groups have strongly opposed similar
>plans in the past, Clinton told the Los Angeles Times he now
>believes the idea "ought to be examined".
>
>Clinton said he disagreed with a proposal presented earlier
>this week by California Gov. Pete Wilson for constitutional
>changes that would deny citzenship to the U.S.-born children
>of illegal immigrants.  He said he was also against Wilson's
>recommendation that emergency medical treatment should be shut
>off to undocumented residents.
>
>"None of us would tolerate just letting people die on the
>streets if it came to that," Clinton was quoted as saying.
>
>In the midst of a growing anti-immigrant backlash nationwide,
>Wilson on Monday called for sweeping reforms in federal laws
>to help stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the United
>States.
>
>Wilson's package also included a proposed tamper-proof
>identity card.  
>
>Civil libertarians and some conservatives have joined forces
>over the years to block the development of such a card, argueing
>that it would give the government too much control over
>individuals.
>
>Clinton acknowledged that "a lot of immigration groups and
>advocates have said that any kind of identification card like
>that sort of smacks of Big Brotherism".
>
>But he said the idea should be studied and that it is under
>discussion as part of the health care reform effort headed
>by first lady Hillary Clinton.
>
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>