National IDs
I keep getting e-mails from a Bill Scannell about his apparently single-handed effort to stop the DMV from making driver's licenses national IDs. He's persistent - he called me on Monday and talked my ear off. As a sop, I'm posting what he e-mailed me.
First this:
Did the Alaska DMV illegally begin to implement a national ID scheme without permission from the state legislature? And did DMV chief (and Murkowski appointee) Duane Bannock violate Alaska's own administrative rules to do it?Then this:
We think so.
And that's why a lawsuit was filed in state court today. We're asking the judge to declare Bannock's rules invalid and to bar the DMV from being involved in any national ID card plan unless the legislature agrees to it first.
To learn more about the lawsuit; and what you can do to stop the REAL ID national ID card scheme from becoming reality in Alaska, visit: http://www.myalaskaid.com
Moves are now underway by both the Alaska DMV and the state legislature to force a national ID card into the hands of every Alaskan man, woman, and child.If you can't tell, I'm a bit skeptical of the seriousness of the issue. After all, isn't a Social Security card essentially a form of national ID? I don't feel my civil liberties are hugely compromised if the limited information on my driver's license is shared on a national level.
The DMV continues to implement REAL ID regulations that it has no authority to promote. Meanwhile, a bill called HB 3 is making its way through the legislature. This bill --if passed-- will allow the DMV to turn our Alaska drivers licenses into national ID cards.
The time to stop them is now. Please take a moment to make your voice heard by visiting:
http://www.myalaskaid.com/action.html
Do it now. The freedoms you help save will be your own.
7 comments:
I know Bannock personally. He's evil. Evil as the day is long. Be afraid. Very afraid. He's a sneaky neocon troll (literally, he's only 4' tall) who will do the right-wing's domestic spying bidding without a blink.
Signed,
Afraid.
Hi there,
Bill Scannell here. Thanks for getting the good word out: I've always seen persistance as a virtue.
FYI, the Daily News editorial board seems to take the REAL ID issue quite seriously: they ran an editoral opposing it in today's paper:
http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/v-printer/story/8694108p-8592305c.html
All the best,
Bill (currently on the road in Europe)
I'd like a little more info. Don't know too much about this, but something about it makes me really nervous.
It seems like the nominal justification for this kind of ID is that we have too many of them darn ferriners here in America, especially illegal aliens (no, I don't mean Kang and Odo from the Simpsons). But for one thing, I'm not buying that as the justification, and secondly, is Alaska really overwhelmed by illegal aliens streaming in from Mexico (or, I guess, across the Bering Strait ice)? Also, what's the deal about states having to do this or else having their residents not be able to use driver's licenses as ID to get on airplanes? That seems unconstitutional or something. Don't law-abiding citizens of the United States have the right to travel freely, no matter what their state governments' particular policies are? Let's say the Alaska legislature, or any state legislature, does something that the federal government thinks is stupid, or even the whole rest of the world thinks is stupid (hard to imagine, I know). Is that any justification for taking away that state's residents' rights to travel freely?
So, Bill, if you're reading this, more info, please.
When I think of Bill Scannell and Sally Huntley, I think of privite militia nut jobs in Montana that think the government is out to get them and they are the only one who can stop them. These people are nuts. DMV isn't out to get you. The Real ID act is here to protect the integrity of the identification card / drivers license. The law in 1972 cannot apply the same in 2007. Things change. We can't keep running government the way we were because things change. This is to ensure the safety of many Alaskans and Americans.. to the question "is Alaska really overwhelmed by illegal aliens..." the answer is yes. You don't know it if you're not around it. There are plenty of illegal aliens that come into DMV every day trying to obtain an ID. How do you think the people who crashed into the world trade center got onto the plane? With their Florida driver's licenses. Without these laws, immigration fraud and terrorism will continue to haunt us. Things need to change, and if the legislature wants to sit on their butts and do nothing, at least Duane Bannock can stand up to them and protect us. I'd love to hear from Sally Huntley, I noticed she likes to sue lots of people over stupid stuff, but she never gives any contact info and always hides behind Bill... if you have her email, please let me know, I would like to give her a piece of my mind. bockhorst@yahoo.com
Anonymous said "...Alaska really overwhelmed by illegal aliens streaming in from Mexico."
Which is interesting, because Bannock is Mexican by birth, but adopted by a very nice Kenai couple.
It's apropos to nothing, really, just a random fact.
Missing a KEY word there buddy... "I-L-L-E-G-A-L" Personally I enjoy having the melting pot that is Alaska and USA but if you aren't supposed to be here, I have no sympathy and no ID card for those people. If you're legal to be here, thats fine.
Original nervous Anonymous here.
Could we get this debate a little more fleshed out? Both on the pro and con sides, I mean.
It seems like people on both sides are using this drivers' license thing as a stalking horse for some other larger concern. Is this really about national security, fighting terrorism, identity protection, state sovereignty or . . . just about drivers' licenses?
Is there something wrong with the system we now have? Don't states already share drivers' license information? Are there inadequacies in the current system of sharing information that I don't know about?
Also - about this threat of not recognizing certain state's drivers' licenses as valid ID, is this really a serious threat that could be carried out?
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