“Real ID does not create a national ID card.” – Janice Kephart, president of 9/11 Security Solutions
That quote was actually uttered by a person. Yes, that person DOES supposedly have some sort of idea what the act is and what it does create.
Apparently, this woman is the equivalent of a snail on an intellectual level. REAL ID is exactly a national ID card. It requires (among other things) date of birth, social security number, home address, and of course name. This information would then be shared with all states and various federal agencies.
I don’t know about you, but it sounds like a national ID card to me. Some states have passed legislation opposing REAL ID, but it may or may not do any good. At the very least, it shows the communists that came up with it that there is a decent amount of opposition to the act.
Even ignoring obvious privacy issues, this matter will cost billions of dollars. The only people who profit are the people who provide security services. Hmmm, wonder why Janice supports the measure. Can you imagine every state’s DMV re-processing ID cards for EVERYONE?
…even Homeland Security’s own Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee said this week that it could not endorse Real ID. – Cnet
That’s not a good sign. Homeland Security, who is in charge of creating the stipulations and requirements of the REAL ID act won’t even endorse the idea.
There is some news of bloggers possibly receiving more protection (thanks to Arstechnica) like what traditional journalists enjoy now. Generally, this is referred to as “shield law” to shield the press from lawsuits stemming from reporting some information under certain circumstances.
Granted, specific stipulations have to be met, and not everyone will get this protection, but it is good to see lawmakers recognizing blogging as a news medium. Lots of blogs are decent news outlets, covering everything from politics to technology. Some are just opinion, which mine falls under more often than not.
I do hope that the law in some form makes progress and is effective. Even though I am more opinion on here than anything, it would be nice to have some protection should I decide to expose corruption or news. How could I get a hot “whistle-blower” story if my confidential source could be identified? I couldn’t, and that is what this bill is designed to remedy.
The news in this area is dominated by 2 newspapers. One can’t effectively investigate and follow up due to too few reporters and probably budgetary concerns. The other is too new and hasn’t proven itself enough yet (but they are doing a good job so far). Hopefully soon I will be able to devote a significant amount of time to this and develop some reporting skills of my own.
Saturday afternoon Erich and I went to see Spider-man 3 at the theater. It was entertaining, but delved WAY too far into the romance of Peter and Mary-Jane.
The romance and action were good, but neither were well developed. The romance sub-plot was shoved in your face and explained so that a dog could understand it. This angle has to be there since it plays into the development of Peter/Spidey’s character, but it was hammered home a little too hard for my taste.
Then the film-makers remembered to throw in some action. It was almost as if the Spider-man action sequences were sprinkled in as an afterthought. Don’t get me wrong, the action was great and well performed. Unfortunately it was done in short bursts, didn’t give much back-story on the villains, and zipped by so fast it was hard to catch.
Overall, this movie is a decent waste of time if you have nothing else to do. For some reason, it doesn’t have the same flowing storyline that the first two in the series captured so well.
For the past 3 years there has been a little carnival that sets up about 10 blocks from our house along the main street. Of course the kids bounce off the wall as soon as the carnies start setting up and don’t stop until it’s gone.
The past 2 years, for whatever reason (rain, schedule, etc.), we have not been able to get the kids up there to ride some rides. This past weekend we went Sunday and they finally got to ride and have their fun.
Both of them ran around like little hooligans and rode about 4 or 5 different things, then they were done. We got a few snapshots that I’ll try to get loaded later. At least now I don’t feel like the worst dad ever for not getting them up to the carnival to play.
🙂
