[Infowarrior] - DHS: You ¹ ll take a national ID and you ¹ ll like it

[Richard Forno]

DHS: You¹ll take a national ID and you¹ll like it
By Michael Hampton
Posted: May 9, 2007 2:33 am
http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2007/05/09/dhs-youll-take-a-national-id-and-
youll-like-it/

The Department of Homeland Security will move forward with plans to
implement the REAL ID Act despite widespread opposition from citizens and
state legislatures.

But DHS spokesman Russ Knocke said Tuesday that even the states which have
already passed laws or resolutions against the act would eventually come
around and implement the national identification standards, because the
citizens who now oppose it would start demanding it.

A recent poll found that most Americans support a national ID, but only if
it doesn¹t contain biometric data such as fingerprints or retinal scans.

A broad coalition of groups from all across the political spectrum had come
together to urge citizens to tell DHS to shove REAL ID, which they did in
spades. The department said it had received over 12,000 comments during the
60-day comment period on its draft regulations which ended yesterday, and
that the comments were mixed.

    Comments at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday were more
negative. The chairman, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont,
complained that security rules were supposed to be ³smart as well as tough²
and predicted that state motor vehicle departments would not be able to cope
with the requirements, which include verifying all documents presented by
applicants. Even renewals will require birth certificates or other proof of
legal residence. And the change will impose billions of dollars in costs on
states and localities, Mr. Leahy and others said.

    Mr. Leahy, who is a sponsor of a bipartisan bill to repeal the rules
before they take effect, asserts that the department cannot even safeguard
the personal information of its own employees. (Recently the department
acknowledged that it had released the names and Social Security numbers of
thousands of employees, including undercover sky marshals.)

    According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which has a
clock on its Web page counting down the time until the law¹s requirements
take effect (368 days as of Tuesday), Washington and Montana have enacted
laws pledging not to comply. In Idaho, the Legislature passed, and the
governor signed, a budget specifying that expenditures for carrying out the
law next year would be zero. Resolutions opposing the new licenses have been
passed by one or both houses of the legislature, and in some cases signed by
the governor, in Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Michigan, North Dakota
and Utah. ‹ New York Times

States have until next May to begin to comply with the regulations, which of
course haven¹t been finalized yet, but they can file for an extension
through December 31, 2009. Regardless, all driver licenses and ID cards must
be compliant by May 10, 2013, according to the draft regulations.

The unmitigated gall of this bureaucrat. Not only does he say that states
will come around and implement REAL ID, well, just listen to this guy.

    ³Understandably it¹s going to create some burden in terms of cost for
states,² he said. ³But it¹s righteous. And shame on us if we don¹t take the
steps now to address known vulnerabilities because the alternative is
sitting back and hoping you get lucky.² ‹ Washington Post

Righteous? The Third Reich was righteous, too. Or so said its leader.

DHS has previously said that the new system would not amount to a national
ID (it will) and would not be an invasion of people¹s privacy, (it will
also) assertions that are absurd on their face and insulting to all
Americans.

Of course, this isn¹t really about terrorism at all, says the Wall Street
Journal¹s editors: ³Real ID was always more about harassing Mexican illegals
than stopping Islamic terrorists. . . . For unexplained reasons, immigration
restrictionists are convinced that preventing illegal aliens from obtaining
drivers licenses will result in fewer illegal aliens, rather than merely
more unlicensed and uninsured motorists.²

That figures. ³Illegal immigrants² come here to work, and DHS is determined
to put them on the welfare rolls instead.

We need a national ID for this?