January 7, 2009
Virginia Beach, VA

As a sign of support in opposition of the proposed federal Real ID Act, the Tidewater Libertarian Party at their January 3, 2009 general meeting, voted unanimously to endorse Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall's House Bill 1587 that has been proposed to the General Assembly.

HB 1587, which would prevent Virginia from formally co-operating with the federal government's Real ID card if it would "compromise the economic privacy or biometric data of any resident of the Commonwealth" has been assigned to the House Militia and Police Committee. (http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?091+com+H15)

VA Liberty Defense, along with 11 other organizations have joined forces in a statewide campaign to add Virginia to the growing list of states to enact anti-Real ID legislation.

Twenty-one (21) states have engaged in an all-out revolt against Dangerous ID (the so-called Real ID scam) and have already passed legislation that will nix the federal mandate and more are expected to follow.

There will be a Rally in support of Delegate Bob Marshall's H.B.1587 at the Virginia State Capital Bell Tower on January 21, 2009 at 1:00 pm.

On January 6, 2009, Delegate Clay Athey, Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, addressed the failure of Republican commitment to conservative principles. His letter calls on Republicans to pull out of the nationalized Real ID system saying "No Virginian should be forced to give fingerprints, retina scans, medical information and more to a federal databank in order to drive a car, fly on an airplane or book a motel room. And no Virginia tax money should be spent to force them to do so."

By Robert Longley
Friday January 2, 2009