Other states have protested or complained about the Real ID Act, but Montana is the first to Just Say No to its implementation.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer said "no, nope, no way, hell no" Tuesday to national driver's licenses, signing into law a bill supporters say is one of the strongest rejections to the federal plan. The move means the state won't comply with the Real ID Act, a federal law that sets a national standard for driver's licenses and requires states to link their record-keeping systems to national databases.

Here's why:

"We also don't think that bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., ought to tell us that if we're going to get on a plane we have to carry their card, so when it's scanned through they know where you went, when you got there and when you came home," said Schweitzer, a Democrat.

TalkLeft coverage of this awful law is collected here.

Hey, don't miss this one. It's brilliant.

Lawyers for two men charged with illegally ejecting two people from a speech by President Bush in 2005 are arguing that the president’s staff can lawfully remove anyone who expresses points of view different from his.

Those who wonder how an absolute power to squelch dissent squares with the First Amendment are forgetting that while our unitary president makes our laws (remember signing statements?), no laws actually apply to him. Anyone daring to disagree with the president is dispatched with the bum's rush. Free speech? The unitary president doesn't want to be troubled with nonunitary opinions.

CBS reports on the looming April 15 tax deadline. Yes, immigrants who are in the U.S. without proper documentation also pay taxes.

In 2005, the IRS received almost 8 million W-2 forms that didn't match social security numbers. It is believed that the majority of these, coming from Texas, California, Florida and Illinois which have large immigrant populations, represented wages earned by the undocumented.

You don't need a Social Security number to file tax returns. All you need is a TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number.)

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As President Bush turns his attention to immigration reform this week, his plans to overtax the undocumented drew thousands in protest this weekend.

As to his plan:

The White House's draft plan, leaked last week, calls for a new "Z" visa that would allow illegal immigrant workers to apply for three-year work permits. They would be renewable indefinitely, but would cost $3,500 each time.

Then to become legal permanent residents, illegal immigrants would have to return to their home country, apply at a U.S. Embassy or consulate to re-enter legally and pay a $10,000 fine.

In plain English, what's the difference between Bush and a coyote?

"Charging that much, Bush is going to be even more expensive than the coyotes," said Armando Garcia, 50, referring to smugglers who transport people across the Mexican border. "He will become the No. 1 coyote."

Thousands protested President Bush Saturday n L.A. over his immigration plan. While the radical right tries to convince Americans Bush is promoting amnesty for the undocumented, the truth is, despite his calls for a guest worker program, Bush's proposal is unattainable for most undocumented residents:

Immigrant rights advocates say many of the area's illegal immigrants feel betrayed by President Bush, who they had long considered an ally....

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Dick Cheney is scheduled to be the commencement speaker at Brigham Young University in Utah. Brigham Young Democrats had received permission to conduct a three hour protest Wednesday. Only, they were not allowed to speak. The university limited their protest to sitting on the sidewalk and carrying signs.

The protest, attended by hundreds of students, proceeded more or less one would expect, until the end.

NPR left. The local TV news cameras left. The newspaper reporters packed their things and left. And the only people around to document anything were students and our film crew. Our cameras kept rolling to witness what happened next.

As soon as 1:00 hit and the time for free speech expired, after an impromptu performance of the Star Spangled Banner by the BYU Democrats, men from BYU dressed in suits and sunglasses with Secret Service-style earpieces roughly rounded up all of the signage and banners. "You'll be able to use it all again. We're just going to keep it for you. So you don't carry it around campus, we'll take it to a safe place until the next designated protest."

It was like Daddy deciding that the kids had had enough play time and was taking their toys away.

Who knew free speech has a time limit -- or that it prohibits speaking?

Bumped...

A Bloomberg Republican:

For at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention, teams of undercover New York City police officers traveled to cities across the country, Canada and Europe to conduct covert observations of people who planned to protest at the convention, according to police records and interviews.

From Albuquerque to Montreal, San Francisco to Miami, undercover New York police officers attended meetings of political groups, posing as sympathizers or fellow activists, the records show.

From these operations, run by the department’s “R.N.C. Intelligence Squad,” the police identified a handful of groups and individuals who expressed interest in creating havoc during the convention . . . But potential troublemakers were hardly the only ones to end up in the files. In hundreds of reports stamped “N.Y.P.D. Secret,” the Intelligence Division chronicled the views and plans of people who had no apparent intention of breaking the law, the records show.

Yes, that is how police states are operated.

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Is Immigration reform on the horizon?

A bipartisan proposal for comprehensive immigration reform that would allow millions of illegal immigrants to participate in a guest-worker program and possibly gain citizenship was introduced in the House yesterday, the first to be submitted since Democrats took control of Congress this year.

The proposal from Reps. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.) is a far cry from a measure passed by the Republican-controlled House in 2005 that focused on tough enforcement actions to reduce illegal immigration. The House bill died in a conference committee along with a competing Senate bill that was similar to the Flake-Gutierrez proposal.

Of course, Tom Tancredo calls it an amnesty bill. It's anything but. My question is, is it enough? I haven't seen a copy of the bill, but I'll update when it becomes available.

In 1998, Congress enacted the Child Protection Act, which made it a crime for an website operator to permit those under 17 to access sexually explicit material posted on the site.

Today, a federal judge in Philadelphia ruled the law unconstitutional.'

In a detailed decision, Senior U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr. found that the Child Online Protection Act would not be effective in protecting children from online pornography, and that parents could shield their children by using software filters and other, less restrictive means that do not curtail adults' rights to free speech.

You can read the 84 page opinion here (pdf).

The ACLU declares victory.

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Senator Edward Kennedy has a diary up at Daily Kos addressing the nation's need for immigration reform. Best line:

We must find a better solution to our immigration crisis than raids that rip families apart.

His staff will be answering questions in the comments, and he will personally respond to some tomorrow.

In its never-ending battle against the undocumented among us, Congress enacted the Deficit Reduction Act. The goal was to deprive undocumented residents of Medicaid. But, it's also depriving U.S. citizens.

Under a 2006 federal law, the Deficit Reduction Act, most people who say they are United States citizens and want Medicaid must provide “satisfactory documentary evidence of citizenship,” which could include a passport or the combination of a birth certificate and a driver’s license.

Some state officials say the Bush administration went beyond the law in some ways — for example, by requiring people to submit original documents or copies certified by the issuing agency.

“The largest adverse effect of this policy has been on people who are American citizens,” said Kevin W. Concannon, director of the Department of Human Services in Iowa, where the number of Medicaid recipients dropped by 5,700 in the second half of 2006, to 92,880, after rising for five years. “We have not turned up many undocumented immigrants receiving Medicaid in Waterloo, Dubuque or anywhere else in Iowa,” Mr. Concannon said.

Stupid is as stupid does.

There are three million children in the U.S. with at least one parent who is an undocumented resident.

What happens to them when their parents are swept up in an immigration raid?

What is going to happen to the children? These children are American-born," said Helena Marques, executive director of the Immigrant Assistance Center in New Bedford. "There are hundreds of children out there without their moms, in tremendous need. These babies have become the victims of a problem that legislators can't seem to fix."

It's time for these immigration raids to stop. We need a path to citizenship for those who are already in this country.