Nightmare On Elm Street

"Every town has an Elm Street", so claims infamous horror movie character Freddy Krueger and just as it is in the movies the nightmare of REAL ID is unfolding before the eyes of everyone who cares to look. The Las Vegas Business Press points out in a recent article that getting a Nevada license could well be a nightmare within two years and brings up a number of interesting facts on the matter, such as complete ignorance on REAL ID from the people who will be enforcing it and for whom it was crafted. The threat that a states citizens would not be "allowed" to fly has been held out as a big stick from the get go, but the TSA seems to playing Sgt. Schultz.

TSA spokesman Nico Menendez said Real ID had yet to make it on the radar screen. "I've never heard of it."

The costs alone are going to strain already tight state budgets and, in Nevada's case will force them to bench or abandon programs upon which they have already spent millions of taxpayer dollars. As an unfunded and costly mandate the REAL ID Act is going to be painful.

In at least one case, tho we have an early adopter state which is experiencing crippling of its licensing system because of REAL ID. Alabamastan Alabama is deep into the nightmare already and, given their history they'll just try to ride it out. If this is the future of REAL ID then everyone is in deep kimchee! The Decatur Daily has a decent article on what lies in store for you, should you try to obtain a license in Alabama under REAL ID. Days of lost productivity. Not hours. Days.

Decatur isn't the only office where the lines are long. Athens and Hartselle have problems because of Real I.D. In Athens, people have arrived as early as 5 a.m. to be first in line. The office gives out numbers, and a number above 10 means another day in line.

If 10 customers is the most you can serve in a day, the problem isn't one of staffing (as the report contends), but one of the system being unmanageable at all levels. And if you actually drive for a living your case seems to be a lost cause.

Burnett is a truck driver, and after being processed at Hartselle, he has to go to Huntsville and then to Montgomery for a license to drive his big rig.

Mr. Burnett has to make a 225+ mile trip (one way) in order to obtain the necessary licenses to enable him to work. That equals a great deal of lost time, productivity and money for someone who can likely ill afford any loss.

Another interesting piece of the nightmarish news comes via the Winston-Salem Journal. Given the recent rabid anti-immigrant sentiments in this country, tho this piece isn't surprising to me. Refugee advocates are alerting folks that refugees are being denied access to asylum in the US because of the USA PATRIOT Act and REAL ID. It will likely become much worse as REAL ID comes into full effect, too. "Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses...", not so much, I'm thinking.

Part of the Real ID Act was designed to keep people who had supported terrorist organizations from entering the United States. But the definition used was broad enough to also apply to people in war-torn countries who supplied trivial support to militias and other groups while under threat of injury or death.

Suddenly, you're a terrorist supporter because someone stuck and AK-47 in your face and stole your goats. Of course the author of the REAL ID Act, Herr Sensenbrenner is truly sympathetic to the plight of refugees affected by his bill.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the Wisconsin Republican who wrote the Real ID Act, said in a written statement at the end of March that he was "sensitive to the plight of persons who are forced by threats of violence to make contributions or otherwise provide material support to terrorist organizations."

Still, Sensenbrenner stressed the need to keep firm definitions that don't allow loopholes for those who have supported terrorists to get into the country.

What a kind and loving "patriot" the man is!

There is a small ray of sunshine, tho. All of the candidates for governor in the state of New Hampshire are opposed to the REAL ID Act. Despite the cowardice of that states legislature all three candidates for the top political post in New Hampshire are on the record as being against REAL ID.

Democratic Gov. John Lynch, Republican Jim Coburn and Libertarian Richard Kahn also believe the state's economy may be hurt by new federal rules that will require passports or other high-tech ID cards for people entering the country after short visits to Canada.

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Kahn said the federal law creating a national ID card would "dramatically increasing the power of the central government."

"Nazi Germany and Rwanda have used national ID cards to commit genocide," Kahn said.

At least someone gets it, now if New Hampshire will turn out the cretins who voted down the legislation that would have killed the RID in that state they may have a shot at leading the way for everyone else.

Other stories covering the RID and its effects come from Human Events online, discussing REAL ID and its promotion of globalism. The Casper Star Tribunes report on the headaches it is causing Wyoming and the drive for the use of "Smart Cards" as the standard for REAL ID cards.

Don't just get mad, folks! Get active!

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REAL ID, Libertarian, Politics, Alabama, Immigration, Sensenbrenner