Congress passes Gestapo ID legislation

[RC]

Comment House and Senate Republicans have rammed through the so-called Real ID Act - a legislative Trojan horse that lets the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) dictate drivers' license standards to the states - by attaching it to a $76 billion military spending package for Iraq that no one in the Senate dared oppose. In addition to keeping the Iraq debacle alive, the bill increases the death benefit for US service members from a paltry $12,000 to a more reasonable $100,000, raises the maximum life insurance benefit to $400,000, and provides $100,000 for those who suffer a severe injury.

So, naturally, the bill passed unanimously in the Senate Tuesday, on the strength of Republican support-the-troops blackmail. House members had approved it by 261-161 back in February as a stand-alone measure, although that was before it became the test of patriotism over which the Senate so eagerly buckled. Last week, the House passed the spending bill to which Real ID had been attached by 368-58.

<SNIP>

Yet the scheme is hopelessly flawed even without the attendant mass privacy invasion. Once these cards become established, they will not be challenged because they're "technologically advanced." They've got anti-counterfeiting technology, and they're all hooked up to a massive government database.

They will become the most valuable fraudulent ID documents available, and the black market supplying them will flourish in unprecedented splendor. Criminals will get them. Terrorists will get them. Illegal aliens will get them. They'll pay a lot more than they do today for identity documents, but these will be worth the expense. They'll be really convincing.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/11/real_id_makes_terrorists_happy/
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How much do you want to bet that the bad guys will be setup and waiting to go by the time the states start complying?

[aquart]

1. Doesn't matter. The IDs aren't to protect us from terrorists.

They are to protect the government from us.

And so it gets one step uglier.

[Tux]

2. One step closer

To a Christian libertarian theocracy.

[indepat]

3. Saying either "give me liberty or death" or "you want to see my papers?"

for the first time will be an moment I will always savor.