The Real ID act has already passed the House (Chet Edwards voted for it). States will have to, by 2008, redesign drivers licences to comply with federal anti-terrorist standards. Anyone that doesn't have one of these "real id"'s may find access limited to areas such as national parks.
"Supporters claim it is not a national ID because it is voluntary," Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, one of the eight Republicans to object to the measure, said during the floor debate this week. "However, any state that opts out will automatically make nonpersons out of its citizens. They will not be able to fly or to take a train."
Paul warned that the legislation, called the Real ID Act, gives unfettered authority to the Department of Homeland Security to design state ID cards and driver's licenses. Among the possibilities: biometric information such as retinal scans, fingerprints, DNA data and RFID tracking technology.
We remember when people used to believe National Identity Cards were spoken of in Revelations as the Mark of the Beast. Republican fundamentalists are not concerned about this anymore?
The Real ID Act also gives over control to Homeland Security, doesn't mention privacy at all, and allows driver's records linking of state department of motor vehicles.
The Republicans are determined to push this through, by sliding it on a Senate bill as part of military appropriations.
Reid and most Democrats had fought for months against the Real ID measure and succeeded in keeping it out of the Senate version of the spending bill. But Reid said Democrats have decided they would not hold up passage of the Iraq war spending bill solely because it includes the Real ID Act.
Republicans "are going to keep the Real ID (Act) on the supplemental," said Reid, who opposes the measure. "They did it on purpose. They put it on the supplemental, which we couldn't stop" because both parties support the additional funds for U.S. troops.
We thought movies in which everyone's actions were tracked were unrealistic before we read about the Real ID act.
