UnReal Problems
CNet reports on another of the many “security” mandates about to take effect: Federal buildings become Real ID zones
…Starting May 11, Americans living in states that don’t comply with new federal regulations could be barred from entering Washington D.C.’s visitor center and collecting the complimentary maps and brochures–unless they happen to bring a U.S. passport or military ID with them.
That not-very-welcoming rule is part of a 2005 law called the Real ID Act, which takes effect in just over three months. It says that driver’s licenses from states that have not agreed to Real ID mandates from the Department of Homeland Security, or which have not requested a deadline extension, can no longer be used to access “federal facilities.”
The Federal government still hasn’t managed to design, much less produce, a reasonable ID card for airports or seaports, but you are going to need a “Real ID” card to report for Federal jury duty…except that you won’t if your state has said that it will produce a “Real ID” at some point, then the unReal drivers’ license you currently have is fine… possibly.
They keep generating these unfunded mandates, like Real ID and NCLB with no regard for the fact that state governments are experiencing major budget problems because of the collapsing housing market and recession. They required everyone get passports to go to Canada and Mexico, but didn’t have a system in place to actually product them. They keep making pronouncements and giving orders with absolutely no real understanding of what is involved.
The people at the top are nutters – just raving lunatics who think that anything they dream up can be accomplished immediately and for free, because they don’t actually know how to do anything and have no real grasp of what things cost.
9 comments
There’s nothing I can add that you haven’t heard me say before. So, in related news (related in the sense of being related to the awesome stupidity of the US Fed Gov.), allow me to give you another example “On this Day”. 🙂
This tragic (and sadly typical) stupidity did much to harm the US intelligence efforts globally, and was a big win for the Soviets. More details can be found in the book Molehunt: The Secret Search for Traitors That Shattered the CIA by David Wise. I found a review here:
The Molehunt – Reviewed by Bill Uttenweiler
Aerospace Corporation
Vandenberg AFB, CA
Paranois & Paralysis – The Molehunt
Karlow wrote about his ordeal in his 2001 memoir, “Targeted by the CIA: An Intelligence Professional Speaks Out on the Scandal That Turned the CIA Upside Down”
More information on Karlow and his death here:
CIA Officer Serge ‘Peter’ Karlow, 84
So, what’s happened under Bushmoron is not new. It’s been happening for some time.
The Reagan speech talking about the reasons we bombed Libya was a prime example of the stupidity. Reagan let the world know that we had bugged the Libyan embassy in East Berlin, but more importantly that we had at least one linguist who spoke the tribal language that the Libyans used for “encryption”.
That would have been the perfect time to hint at a mole in the Libyan inner circle. Let the Colonel kill a few of his loyal followers while we continued to mine their communications.
The CIA is political, they just don’t think in intel terms. We would be a lot better off if we convince them to read John le Carré, instead of Tom Clancy and Ian Fleming.
not to mention the fact that the last time i wandered around dc gawking at all the monuments, i didn’t need any id to do so.
nor did i need even so much as a drivers license to cross into mexico, or come back.
Yes, I saw a lot of that when I worked with various US groups when I was in the game. The thing that really amazed me about Karlow, was that the CIA got rid of a very important asset based on hints and rumors of Soviets! Karlow wasn’t just a civilian employee. He was a decorated veteran of various OSS missions, such as the Italian Operational Group’s Chicago I mission as a Lt. JG. Details of this mission here:
Italian Operational Group – Chicago I mission
I have never understood this penchant of the USA to destroy anyone who would be a hero in any other Nation. We called it the “Tall Poppy Syndrome”.
BTW, I learned about Karlow because it was one of several events that were required reading at spy school here to help us understand how things work in the USA intel “community”. 🙂 We had to treat it seriously, and prepare a report on our findings. Everyone of us who worked on this particular case, found no evidence whatsoever to indicate Karlow was guilty of anything. Maybe being too good at his job. That tends to be a crime these days ( I mean, over the past 30 years or so).
A lot of intel we provided the USA (and the UK also provided) was largely ignored. We even sent sub’s and our equivalent of ‘SEAL’ teams to Libya, and discredited much of the info being touted in the USA at the time.
Same old…
Oops! I left out this little (and very typical) gem:
“A CIA internal investigation opened in 1988 and found that the FBI had cleared Mr. Karlow years earlier but failed to make known its reversal.”
Yup! That would be hysterical if it wasn’t so funny… errrrm… yeah. 😉
Well, from now on you are going to have to prove you are a properly branded and terrorized member of the flock. No doubt after they implant the chips, they’ll move on to ear tags.
We can’t identify diseased livestock or track gun ownership, but well know everything about people who go to Mexico for straw sombreros or to Canada to buy Molson’s Golden Ale.
Actually, if it wasn’t so typical, it might be amusing.
Frankly, Libya was due due for a good pasting, those suckers used to shoot at me over the Med. I take that sort of thing personally when I’m in a clearly marked US Air Force transport. Nixon would never do anything about it, even though there was a carrier within striking distance. The fact that we could outfly the Libyan Mirages with a C-130 is irrelevant, you shouldn’t let people get away with that sort of thing.
You are right about that (Libya). But there were several honest reasons to take care of the bastards. The real reason it went down as it did was that Muammar al-Qaddafi was never the real target. They wanted him to fear the US enough to be put on a leash and do what he was told. That’s why his family was targeted. And please don’t give me that garbage about killing his son in a convoy as an *accident*. I saw the target camera footage. Those LGM’s are one of the few weapon systems the USA have done very well in recent decades. 🙂
Qaddafi was of more use to the USA alive than as a martyr. I think that the truth is that Reagan didn’t like Qaddafi because of his support for Palestinian independence, and for supporting Iran in the 1980-1988 war against Iraq (when Saddam Hussein was the USA bestest friend!) Amongst other Repuglican Agenda issues that Qaddafi was at odds with.
A recent example of Qaddafi’s *change of heart8 (after his daughter and son were killed by the USA), was that Qaddafi was one of the first and strongest denouncers of Al-Qaeda after 9/11 of any Muslim nation. Libya also became a player for Bush to promote his wars. Gaddafi announced that his nation had an active weapons of mass destruction program, but was willing to allow international inspectors into his country to observe and dismantle them. Bush and other supporters of the Iraq War portrayed Gaddafi’s announcement as a direct consequence of the Iraq War by stating that Gaddafi acted out of fear for the future of his own regime if he continued to keep and conceal his weapons. Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, a supporter of the Iraq War, was quoted as saying that Gaddafi had privately phoned him, admitting as much. Amazing huh? LOL
I guess the USA did learn a lot from the Mafia after all.
The Colonel had been trying to be the big frog in a little pond for years, first attempting it through the UAR and trying to be an African leader, but no one was buying because he was such a thug. Oil was the only reason anyone cared about his existence and the Republicans couldn’t find a puppet to take over form him, so they were careful not to take him out.
He was never a WMD threat. The Libyan air force had air-to-air missiles but wouldn’t use them, attempting to close to use cannon fire. They didn’t trust technology, like the collision avoidance systems in their aircraft, which led to several mid-air accidents when we were still in the country trying to train their air force.
Their technical capabilities were probably at 1950s level, so they were never a serious threat. They could fix mechanical problems, but fuses and switches were their limit in electronics. Most of it was self-imposed, part of their vision of themselves as fierce desert warriors or something equally bogus.
They had the money to buy things, but I doubt most of it made it out of the crates. They were isolated and could be safely ignored.