"US heeds states' requests on Real ID plan; Expects to ease some of the new security measures" by Spencer S. Hsu/Washington Post November 5, 2007
WASHINGTON - .... Analysts inside and outside of government say the changes reflect the difficulties facing the Department of Homeland Security, which has less experience in managing identification programs than the states do.
Then let the states do it! Bill of Rights!
Amendment X: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."
The analysts said that the changes also reflect the high cost of Real ID and worries that the program already is opposed from the left and the right as a potential threat to individual privacy.
Timothy Sparapani, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the Department of Homeland Security is weakening the program in a desperate bid to keep it alive. The ACLU and conservative libertarian groups that oppose Real ID view it as a de facto national ID with Orwellian implications.
Who am I in bed with here? Oh, HI!!!
Eight states have passed legislation to opt out of the program, nine others have passed resolutions in opposition, and more will consider doing so this winter. Massachusetts officials are among the state leaders who have urged Congress to overturn the law.
For once they are doing something right!
Sparapani: "DHS is doing back flips in order to get states to say they are complying with Real ID. It was flawed in principle from the beginning, and DHS is attempting a 'Hail Mary' pass to try to coerce and convince states that what they are doing under existing statutes is acceptable."
Brian Zimmer, president of the Coalition for a Secure Driver's License, a nonprofit advocacy group:
"[The department] is doing its very best to manage the trade-offs between security, travel facilitation, cost for states, and practical consideration in implementation."
In 2005, Congress passed legislation mandating Real ID to standardize information that must be included on licenses, including a digital photograph, a signature, and machine-readable features such as a bar code.
Bar code and biometrics? Shudder!
Under the law, states also must verify applicants' citizenship status, check identity documents such as birth certificates, and cross-check information with other states and with Social Security, immigration, and State Department databases.
Your papers, please -- and salute when you hand them over. Sig Heil!
The new licenses must include features to thwart forgery and fraud, and drivers born after 1935 will have to present birth certificates or passports to obtain them.
Supporters pointed out that all but one of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers acquired, legitimately or by fraud, IDs that allowed them to board planes, rent cars, and move through the country.
All because of that damn 9/11 lie!
CUI BONO on that one, huh, fascistas?
Congress approved $40 million in grants to states to cover some of the expenses this year. By comparison, the National Governors Association wants $1 billion next year as a down payment for states' start-up costs."
While the country falls apart with untended needs, but hey, it's the lying wars, stoo-pid!
