Getting driver's license could take days(weeks, months; 'anti-terror' law)

[Algorem]

New anti-terror law may affect time, cost

Saturday, June 25, 2005

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1119691955225521.xml&coll=2&thispage=1

Washington- Ohioans who think it already takes too long to get a driver's license should brace themselves. Thanks to a new federal law designed to thwart terrorism, getting a license in the future could take days, weeks or even months - not hours.

The legislation, which stirred little discussion in Congress before it was inserted into a broader spending bill and signed into law last month, will require states to electronically scan and verify the validity and completeness of all identification documents that drivers submit to get licenses.

The verification process is expected to be time-consuming, requiring motor-vehicle workers in Ohio and other states to contact offices that issued passports, birth certificates, court orders, marriage certificates and other documents used to apply for licenses.

As a result, Ohio officials expect that once the law takes full effect in May 2008, drivers probably won't be able to leave motor-vehicle bureaus with licenses the same day they apply...

[the other one]

1. This should increase the # of unlicensed & uninsured drivers.

And by extension it should put a damper on car sales in general. Are the idiots-in-charge really trying to destroy our economy, or are they as stupid as they seem?

[Cobalt Violet]

4. They just NEVER consider the consequences of any thing they do.

And no one really holds them accountable.

[primavera]

11. Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!

That's it exactly! In crafting REAL ID, Sensenbrenner never bothered to consult anyone other then the homeland security praetorians, who neither knew nor cared what costs would be associated with achieving their goals of a police state.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. My company has been trying to get one of our drivers a hazmat

endorsement for 2 months. Before the law, it was instantaneous. What these bozos fail to understand is that a terrorist isn't going to get a job to steal hazardous materials...he'll just steal the fucking truck!

[MGKrebs]

3. It's a voter suppression technique.

Here in Georgia too:

"Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin ... said the Department of Motor Vehicle Safety threatened Friday to cancel her recently renewed driver's license because her information didn't match its records.

"I got a letter that said my Social Security number doesn't match the one they have on file, and they've had it for 30 years," Atlanta's well-known mayor said.

Franklin said the letter ordered her to fix the problem or face cancellation of her license on Sept. 6.

Without a license, she noted, under the new Georgia law requiring voter identification, she would be unable to vote in the upcoming November election — even for herself — unless she votes by absentee ballot."

[Algorem]

12. Damn.Dirty Regressives.

[designforce]

5. What if....

Being a yankee from Connecticut who is currently living in Texas, what if when I renew my TX DL that the state can't verify my birth certificate, or SS, after all, I am a yankee. Do I lose my DL? Am I a non-person? WTF, I keep waiting for the old line from all those WWII movies..."Papers Please!" and if they don't like them, off to the lockup, secret court, rendition to some hell hole, and.....

Fighting back the best I can, are you?

[Blaze Diem]

6. Bush's Government IS THE Terrorism

..."Thanks to a new federal law designed to thwart terrorism,"

That should read 'Protect Terrorism' shouldn't it?

[Sven77]

7. national ID card

you'll need the national ID card to buy anything, they will also check for warrants.

[iconoclastic cat]

8. Wow, those Repubs really do love "small government"!

:crazy:

[Paladin]

9. Golly, If It's Going To Be This Tough To Get A Driver's License.....

...just imagine how tough it's going to be to get a pistol!

(heavy sarcasm content)

[LeftCoast]

10. Well, this should get the "World Government" wingnuts up in arms

Looks like a wedge issue to me! :evilgrin:

[marbuc]

13. Getting driver's license could take days(weeks, months; 'anti-terror' law)

You must not live in DC. It already takes weeks to get a driver's license, even without the anti-terror law!

[sidpleasant]

14. The way to fight this is thru Christian fundamentalists

Everyone of us who knows a Christian conservative - the more fundamentalist the better - should tell them about the new national ID card and suggest that it is the "mark of the beast" prophesized in The Book of Revelations. Since the Real ID act received little coverage in the media (and Hastert and Frist allowed no debate) few of them will have heard of it. We've already seen predictions that the national ID will be required for many business transactions, even the most trivial ones, because the card must be easily machine - readable. This gives businesses the "wonderful" opportunity to gather customers' names and personal information. Point out to the Christian conservatives that Revelations does say "no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Maybe the national ID card can be the spark to ignite the dry tinder that is Bush's base against him.

[sam sarrha]

15. they will now require one of these to vote and the poor cant get one..

[Indy Lurker]

16. I don't get it....

My understanding is the states have to do this so that a state driver's license can be used as federal ID, for such things as boarding planes, and getting into federal court houses.

Why don't the states just say "NO THANKS" and only use state driver's licenses for driving, and the the feds worry about issuing their own ID?

[RamboLiberal]

17. About the time this stupid law was passed I read that a lot of states

were threatening to "just say no".

As the states add up the costs they may give just give the finger to the Feds.

Randi Rhodes was the only one I heard who was prescient enough to be ranting about this.