One of the most controversial elements of the war on terror has been the attempt to use it as a justification for establishing a nationwide ID card system called Real ID. Unable to get enough votes to establish a federally issued ID with biometric information, during the height of PATRIOT Act frenzy Congress passed the Real ID Act instead, which was designed to standardize state drivers licenses and require them to include additional biometric information and be accessible through a nationwide database.
Supporters of the act argued that it was an important way to control terrorism by ensuring that citizens could be definitively identified and making it harder for foreigners to enter the country illegally and blend into society. To make this work you would be required to show your ID for any financial transaction, making it theoretically possible to track the activities of every citizen in addition to identifying non-citizens.
Opponents have objected that such an ID is the equivalent of the 'internal passport' used by oppressive regimes like Soviet Russia and Communist China, where police can stop you at any time, ask for your ID and easily monitor the activities of troublesome citizens. It's a system which essentially treats the entire population as if they were criminal suspects and with the addition of modern data technology it becomes a potential massive invasion of privacy. Complaints have also been raised that it's a massive unfunded mandate, putting all the expense for a national ID system originating with the federal government on the backs of the states.
On Thursday the Maine State Legislature showed us why the federalist concept of dividing powers between the state and federal governments was such a great idea when they passed a bill opposing the Real ID Act by an overwhelming majority of 34 to 0 in the state Senate and 137 to 4 in the state House. The act states unequivocally that "the Maine Legislature refuses to implement the Real ID Act of 2005." Copies were sent to Michael Chertoff of the Department of Homeland Security, President Bush and other officials. The act is a non-binding resolution, but an act is already being framed to take concrete action and prohibit the Maine Secretary of State from complying with or supporting the Real ID Act when it goes into effect in 2008.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Lumpy
I hear new hampshire is set to vote on their equivalent bill on monday or tuesday. I wonder how many states will follow suit. I can't see big atates like pennsylvania or virginia doing it.
2 - Clavos
Nice to see a state's legislators take real bipartisan action in resisting Washington on an issue as important to our individual freedom as this is.
Ehyup...
3 - Dave Nalle
BTW, I'm dedicating this article to D'Oh for all the obvious reasons.
Dave
4 - Nancy
Good for the down-Mainers. At this point, anything that Bush/Cheney propose is suspect, considering their cavalier attitude towards civil & constitutional rights.
As usual, good article, Dave. Very enjoyable to read & very informative.
5 - Dave Nalle
Real ID came from Congress and the Department of Homeland Security more than from Bush/Cheney, and it was supported by a majority of both parties at the time. We'll see if that attitude will change as the states begin to be heard in opposition to it.
Dave
6 - moonraven
I think this is the only piece I have seen from Dave that is not openly manipulative and verging on psychosis. Apparently his meds are working.
The only thing is, Dave has shown his real self on this site by extensively searching out info on posters and invading their privacy. I was a target for that behavior and for his subsequent paranoid speculations.
What's going on here?
7 - Nancy
How - where - & when did Dave search for your information & then post it? Unless he's put it in very deep code, I haven't seen any reference to you in this article...?
8 - moonraven
Nancy, It was several months ago. On one of the threads about Chavez, I think. He and his malignant tumor, clavos, were into searching and invading privacy--and they posted my complete name, other info not germane to thread and went into a paranoid dance of how I worked for, take your pick: Venezuela, China, Bolivia, quien sabe quien mas....
9 - Nancy
Oh. Well, personally I don't remember it, altho I take your word for it, but - not to offend - it didn't seem germaine to the argument so I blipped over it & I'll bet everyone else did too, so you probably shouldn't worry. What I remember most about you personally is that you've been to Saudi Arabia, from which you have fascinating stories, & are currently in Mexico where you also know a man who plows with a mule :) At least YOUR life is colorful & interesting; if they posted mine, you'd all be catatonic, probably.
10 - moonraven
Yes, my life IS colorful and interesting.
It didn't happen that way by accident. I decided at 49 that I was not going to turn 50 in the US, that from then on I was going to do what I wanted and where I wanted to do it. I bought a 1965 VW Beetle and headed south.
11 - Nancy
I gotta admire that; it takes 'gumption' & 'moxie' - two of my grandparent's favorite old-timey words I still use. I've gotten to the point that while I love hearing/reading about adventures like yours & people like you, I find myself considering "may you live in interesting times" to be a curse instead of a blessing. Also I never seem to have time & funds simultaneously to allow me to travel seriously. But good for you: rock on!
12 - Christopher Rose
Unless my memory is playing tricks on me, moonraven, you were originally commenting using your own full name and then switched to your current identity without saying anything to anybody. It seems a little excessive to be harshing on people for figuring that out.
Pedanticboy
13 - moonraven
I plan to do just that. Thanks.
14 - Dave Nalle
My god you're delusional, Moonraver. YOU posted your personal info. We just remembered it.
In fact, you posted over 100 comments under your real name, starting with comment #30 on this thread.
And you wonder why we call you crazy.
Dave
15 - moonraven
I NEVER posted my complete name. I posted one first name and one last name. And I certainly did not talk about antiwar poems which had nothing to do with the thread.
You assholes posted my complete name and other personal info such as my age--which was taken from the Poets against the War site.
You are, as usual, a fucking liar.
16 - Christopher Rose
Dave, please indulge me and try for a little more charm. Just because you think moonraven is delusional, you don't actually have to say it and thus open the door to another endless round of retaliatory strikes. There's enough of that going on in the world already!
I'm not saying you're wrong by the way; see my reply to her at #12, publication of which was temporarily delayed by Akismet, which has belatedly decided that I might be a spammer, just that there's enough drivel to debate as it is!
17 - moonraven
Chris,
What you wrote was definitely spam. See my double post above.
18 - Christopher Rose
Really? I fail to see how that was spam. For clarity's sake I removed your dupe, just in case you're wondering.
19 - Dave Nalle
I NEVER posted my complete name. I posted one first name and one last name. And I certainly did not talk about antiwar poems which had nothing to do with the thread.
I don't know of anyone referring to you by any more than your first and last names. I certainly have no idea what other names you have.
And anyone with access to google can find your antiwar poems with your first and last names. If you didn't want people to do that you should not have posted them on the internet.
You assholes posted my complete name and other personal info such as my age--which was taken from the Poets against the War site.
I have no idea what your age is, or at least I didn't until you posted information about when you graduated from college, which gave me a rough idea. If someone posted it then it wasn't me. And again, if you didn't want your age known, why did you post it on a public internet site?
You can't blame people for finding out stuff about you which you yourself made public.
Truthfully, we're not THAT interested in your personal details.
Dave
20 - moonraven
It was spam because it was not true.
I posted under the name Marthe Raymond. That's ONE first name and ONE last name.
Clavos and Dave then did an internet search and posted my first name, my middle name and both of the last names--plus additional personal info such as age that they took from the site I mentioned in my post above.
I suggest you take your clarity and shove it.
21 - moonraven
Right, Dave: That's why you made up the paranoid pap about my working for the Chinese, Venezuelan and Bolivian governments.
22 - Dave Nalle
MR, could you post a link to where I exposed all this vital personal information, because I sure don't remember doing it. I don't even know what those other names are and I only have a guess at your age. Maybe Clavos dug up that info, I'm sure it's all from things you posted on other sites. Again, it's not private information if you posted it yourself on a public website.
I will admit to identifying your Chines IP address while you were in Bahrain. And why would you object to being accused of working for Bolivia or Venezuela. Their leaders are your heroes. Working for them would be an honor, right?
Dave
23 - Clavos
I think it was actually Franco; but he was finding info by Googling, so it WAS publicly posted on the web.
And nobody would ever have found anything if she hadn't (as you and I both pointed out, Dave) posted dozens of comments with her real name.
24 - Dave Nalle
Articles on Google news suggest that New Mexico and New Hampshire will both join Maine in challenging Real ID this week.
25 - moonraven
No matter how you try to paint it, Dave, it's clearly hypocritical to write an article like this when you are obviously VERY big on violating other folks' privacy.