Maine flatly refused the implications of the 2005 Real ID Act, which forces citizens to use licenses with digital ID standards, basically asking the federal gov'ment to repeal the law. As it is possibly unconstitional and a generally horribly idea, I'm on the side of my legislature for once (check out the
ACLU's Real Nightmare anti-RealID page for details). They were actually all on the same side of this issue, too:
The votes in Maine on the resolution were nonpartisan. It was approved by a 34-to-0 vote in the state Senate and by a 137-to-4 vote in the House of Representatives.
Other states are debating similar measures. Bills pending in Georgia, Massachusetts, Montana and Washington state express varying degrees of opposition to the Real ID Act.
The beauty (that's sarcasm) of the Real ID Act is that it wasn't even it's own bill. It was one of those tacked-on piggy-backers:
.. it was enacted as part of an $82 billion military spending and tsunami relief bill. (Its backers say it follows the recommendations that the 9/11 Commission made in 2004.)
To put it differently some nerfherded of a congressman slapped it onto a
must pass spending bill, and "we, the people", didn't get a chance to really consider its merits at all.
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the guys: philogynist jaime tony - the gals:raymi raspil
