Penguins, polar bears, global warming, Tibet, pawnbrokers and Matricula Consular cards were discussed today in the Assembly. 

The California State Assembly passed two measures of note Thursday morning.  What was approved was less important than what wasn't approved, while also serving as an illustration for what consumes our time in the legislature. 

Assembly Joint Resolution 41 by Assemblymember Ted Lieu (D-El Segundo) memorializes the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to list both polar bears and penguins as needing protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.  Never mind, that aside from a few polar bears and penguins residing in California zoos, the nearest of the furry white former are 2,600 miles to the north while the closest of the feathery black and while latter are almost 8,000 miles to the south. 

The impetuous for Assm. Lieu's action is "...global warming caus(ing) catastrophic environmental change in the Arctic..."  Lieu, a lawyer, discounts that polar bear populations have quintupled in only three decades, citing instead a federal report that asserts greenhouse gas emissions will render "...two-thirds of the world's polar bears extinct by mid-century."  This would leave the world with almost 70 percent more of the ravenous carnivores than it had in the 1970s.  Curiously, scientists believe that polar bears have done quite well in other, warmer times, such as during a warm spell in medieval times as well as during the prehistoric Holocene Climate Optimum that began 9,000 years ago and lasted some 4,000 years.  Perhaps with polar bears, some like it hot - or at least hotter than things are today.  In any event, polar bears and penguins will be delighted to know that the California State Assembly has gone to bat for them, sending copies of the AJR 41 to President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Speaker Pelosi and others.

Of course, the legislature could do something that could at least partially arrest global warming fears by ending California's anachronistic ban on the construction of modern nuclear power plants - the only ultra-low carbon and large scale source of reliable baseload electricity.  But, that would be logical, and logic in Sacramento is scarcer than penguins or polar bears.  By the way, AJR 41 passed 57 to 11. 

Putting things into perspective, Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo) spoke out on the floor, not in opposition to AJR 41, but with the observation that his own resolution, Assembly Concurrent Resolution 119, on the horrific Chinese human rights abuses in Tibet remains bottled up in the Rules Committee over fears that it would be too controversial.  ACR 119 would designate March 10 as "Tibet Day" by "...condemn(ing) the recent activities taken by the People's Republic of China against Tibet..."  We're talking about "people here" Assm. Blakeslee reminded his colleagues (as opposed to animals), people who, according to the United States Department of State, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and international human rights organizations, are subject to "...egregious violations of human rights including the repression of political, civic, and religious groups such as Tibetan Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, Falun Gong practioners, Muslims, democracy advocates, labor organizers, lawyers, journalists, environmental activists, political dissidents, and other innocent people; the illegal harvesting of vital body organs and coercive third-trimester abortions; the perpetuation of slave labor camps; and the deprivation of basic fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly, and religious beliefs..." by the officially atheist and communist People's Republic of China.

Oh, and lest you think that the Blakeslee Tibet measure had as much nexus to California as the Lieu penguin measure, consider this: China's cyber offensive against critics of its human rights abuses in Tibet and elsewhere resulted in the blocking of California-based Google as well as YouTube in China, as well as causing service disruptions outside of China too.  Messing with Californians' Google and YouTube is serious business. 

So, while penguins and polar bears are worthy of protection, the basic human rights of a few million people aren't worth a few words and a ream of paper in Sacramento. 

Now, if Tibet was peopled by penguins and polar bears, that would be cause for swift action in the Assembly!

Meanwhile, the Assembly passed AB 1870 by Assembly Member Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles) on a 47 to 22 vote.  AB 1870 expands the identification that pawnshops and coin dealers may use to include a Matricula Consular card, a purported form of ID only used by our neighbor to the south.  That pawnshops and coin dealers have to ask for ID in the first place would seem a government infringement on the operation of the free market - except that both lines of business have been plagued in the past with being fences for stolen property.  Hence, the requirements in current law for valid ID limited to drivers licenses issued by any state or Canada, or ID issued by any state or the federal government or a passport from any nation, so long as that passport is accompanied by "...another item of identification bearing an address." 

By expanding the law to include the notoriously unreliable and easily forged Mexican Matricula Consular, this bill would have the effect of setting back anti-theft efforts by decades. 

According to testimony by the FBI before the U.S. House of Representatives, the Matricula Consular is mainly used "...by illegal aliens in the United States," while foreign nationals, whether in the U.S. legally or illegally, "...have the ability to obtain a passport from their own country's embassy or consular office."  The FBI testified that the Matricula Consular is not a viable form of identification "...due to the non-existence of any means of verifying the true identity of the card holder."  Because Mexico doesn't have a database to coordinate the issuance of Matricula Consular cards, the cards are often issued to the same person under multiple names.  This allows the person with multiple consular ID cards to better evade law enforcement when they commit crimes.  Further, according to the FBI, "...the Government of Mexico issues the card to anyone who can produce a Mexican birth certificate and one other form of identity, including documents of very low reliability. Mexican birth certificates are easy to forge and they are a major item on the product list of the fraudulent document trade currently flourishing across the country and around the world."  In some cases, a Mexican consulate will even issue a Matricula Consular card to a person who is unable to produce any documents whatsoever.  According to the FBI, the Matricula Consular is easily forged as well.  Banks in Mexico won't even accept a Matricula Consular card as a form of ID!  Other than all that, Matricula Consular cards are fine, majority Democrats evidently suppose.  

I rose to speak in opposition to this bill as did Assemblyman John Benoit (R-Bermuda Dunes), a veteran of the California Highway Patrol.  All 22 "no" votes came from Republicans.   

All the best,

Chuck DeVore
California State Assemblyman, 70th District
www.ChuckDeVore.com