As a lawyer, I know from experience that
making a case to show IMBRA infringes on the
family and personal rights will carry more weight
than arguing "unfair advantage to special interests".
After all, that is what every regulatory law
is designed to do. READ THE TAX CODE!! Very
tough to overcome a rational-basis test. But
where a fundamental right is affected, the statute
is already presumptively suspect. Read the law
books and cases on Supreme Court Doctrine.
TO ALL CONCERNED:
Here is the body of text I recently sent
to the Senate:
As an attorney, I think, feel and believe that
the IMBRA 2005 is an unconstitutional measure.
At best, it is not rationally related to the
invidious ends it seeks to achieve. More importantly,
it seriously infringes on the basic constitutional
freedoms and privacy of US citizens and puts
Americans in a false light. Americans already
suffer enough from the false light cast by Congressional
action.
As you well know, the measure requires unilateral
disclosure of private information, over the
internet, to unknown foreign nationals, some
with questionable motives, some potential terrorists.
This information includes personal, private
details about the family lives of every American
citizen who may be interested in corresponding
with individuals from outside the United States.
The information includes ages of any children
that such citizens have, their residences, and
the dates of any divorce. When used in combination
with the fact that their parent is corresponding
with foreign nationals, the information could
be used to complile a database to commit identity
theft or blackmail the citizen, by a foreigner,
someone over whom US jurisdiction has no reach.
Terrorism is not just accomplished with suicide
bombings or molotov cocktails.
OR WORSE, information having the sensitive
nature of being about a parent's contact with
a foreign national could be used to harm children
or used to threaten to harm them with the publication
to the children of the information. As a lawyer,
I know of cases in which this has happened.
As an American I am ashamed that the Senate
has lost its head over this matter. As a concerned
citizen, I am ashamed that foreigner's rights
on foreign soils are given preference at the
expense of American citizen's rights AT HOME.
As a parent of two beautiful Caribbean-American
children, who are themselves US Citizens, I
am ashamed and VEXED that the Senate has abandoned
the family in an irrational attempt at trying
to dictate who a citizen should meet, love,
marry and have children with.
This information can be tailored to meet
the needs of the writer, of course, but now
that the law has passed, court challenges are
more appropriate. This is true because Congress
does not "reverse" or overrule itself, it just
repeals after much damage has been done.
My personal response to the feminists' attempt
at oppressing men and the family, is that I
would rather live in a tree alone than continue
to contaminate the genetics of America with
offspring coming from people having nontraditional
values. You can call it a brain drain of sorts,
or a "gene drain", or just a shortage of good,
real men. And yes, I know I'd take a bullet
for my family, because I know what it feels
like , and I know it would be worth the
price...I also get my teeth drilled without
anesthetic , so don't tell me that women
are better as a group than men in any regard,
just be polite and strive for true equality
in law.
Sincerely,
Thomas Barrett
