Joke of the Day:

Wisconsin not only demands a DL in order to enter the voting booth; but Walker shuts down ten DMVs! http://onceuponaparadigm.wordpress.com/2011/07/23/the-dmv-big-brother/

All of these state repub legislators in this country are passing laws or attempting to pass laws making a drivers license THE key to the ballot box or one of the few keys available. (In Texas they will accept a gun permit—probably biggest joke of the day.)

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO APPLY FOR A DRIVERS LICENSE?

I have mentioned before that I live in the middle of nowhere, relatively. We have about 8,000 folks residing in Virginia, Minnesota 'proper' as they say. (Small cities and towns many times stretch their geographical reign in order to have access to a larger property tax base including my town—so official figures differ from reality)

In Minnesota you must renew your license every five years or something and it really is the key to everything. I don't even drive and have not driven for over a decade.

But I know enough to renew my DL.

You cannot open an account at a bank, apply for a credit card or vote without a DL. Frankly I think you should be forced to show a picture ID when you use that credit/debit card.

Now my state currently makes approximately 33,000-40,000 DUI arrests every year. And those folks lose their DL's for awhile.

Additionally, there are thousands of other folks who just do not qualify for a DL.

So Minnesota 'makes it easy' to apply for and receive a picture ID which is just like a DL only it does not authorize one to drive a motor vehicle.

Now all this seems to make life and voting easy, but it really gives a lot of power to Big Brother!

I forget but I think the statistics demonstrate that the average stay of a resident American at any one address is about 4 years nationally.

Well every time you move, you must renew that DL because in Minnesota for instance, you have about 30 days or something to renew your DL and 60 days to procure a DL if you move here from another state.

Big Brother will always know where you are at any given moment.

Our banking system, our credit system, our educational system, our electoral system all depend upon the DL.

In Virginia, Minnesota things are rather simple. You go to the Mall at the edge of the real town and find the DMV. On any given day you will find two or three other citizens there attempting to procure a new ID. The line is a series of chairs along a wall. Hahahah

The entire process takes about twelve minutes. You are handed your old license back (duly clipped of course) along with a cheap piece of paper demonstrating renewal.

Within a week or two you receive your special new DL that is scannable and probably contains some computer GPS chip—if you believe some of the more radical web sites.

And here.

In Minneapolis, Minnesota there are several DMV offices and scores of others located at several suburban locations. Some are open on Saturday mornings.

And almost every time you visit one of those offices, be prepared to waste half a day!

If you move out of state, it is even more complicated.

Your current state ID becomes worthless—although you surely will take it with you to your new DMV as fastly as possible in order to receive your new ID.

And if you believe this assessment by the comedians you might see on the comedy channel, the DMVs in other more populated areas do not act so swiftly.

In many regions these offices have lines as long as those queues you experience waiting to enter a musical gala featuring The Boss or Bono!

Take a sandwich and at least a gallon of water if you wish to survive the day.

You see an awful lot of folks must go through hell and back in order to do any business of any kind in this country.

BECAUSE BIG BROTHER NEEDS TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE AT ALL TIMES!

It makes sense. I mean with 30,000 folks dead every year as a result of the automobile and 100,000 folks severely injured (at least if you ask their PI attorneys) and scores of thousands of other folks who simply incurred property damage; society needs a manner in which to deal with problems of insurance and criminal prosecution and civil reimbursement for damages.

How else can a state handle this one area of the law without instituting a proper Drivers License system?

It brings to mind that song: Within You & Without You.

You are either a part of society or you are a member of the Unwashed.

THE UNWASHED

You are either in this society or you are not.

It might be better if you are a drug dealer not to have a DL, but do not drive! One broken headlight and you could find yourself doing a month in stir and the only way to stay out of jail will be to get down to the DMV and get a license.

We have an underground in this country; just like any other country. The unwashed include the poor who have no address or only temp addresses; the criminal class who do not wish to be found for obvious reasons; the undocumented laborer (or illegal alien if you will)...these classes make up a significant number of folks residing in America.

One study estimates that there are as many as 13 million undocumented American citizens. http://www.brennancenter.org/page/-/d/download_file_39242.pdf

I am not referring to undocumented immigrants (illegal aliens for all you repubs). I am referring to Americans who cannot properly prove who they are and where they live at any given time.

Some of the undocumented are simply idiots. There are suburbanites who just never get around to renewing their licenses or getting address changes or whatever and when they are discovered at soccer practice without current DL's they end up paying a couple grand to get out of trouble for something that should have cost $30.00!

CONSEQUENCES OF HAVING A VALID DL

Oh and I should add that each and every DMV would require a SS# on their applications.

So we have the 50 different state DMV's hooking up with the Feds.

I mean use the systems already in place! (Why we cannot get the same requirement in place for the ownership of guns as we do motor vehicles is beyond me!)

Now to the issue.

We mouth some ideal about the anonymous ballot folded after completion and stuffed into a ballot box.

But so many states use electronic voting.

Any 20 year old computer hacker could (someday) have access to that electronic computerized voting machine and discover how you voted in the last election.

You are registered to vote and you sign in at the voting place on a numbered line provided on a sheet provided by some LOWV person.

Voting places must keep adequate records even though we find thousands of ballots from time to time during recounts in some idiot's trunk!

Your bank or your credit company or your mortgage company all have your DL number (along with a copy of that DL) and your SS#.

Okay, so now Big Brother can track down how much beer, cigs, toilet tissue, sex toys and hemorrhoid medicine you consume in a month—unless you purchase these items with cash. (Does one really consume a sex toy? I wonder...)

Almost every crime drama points out this BB system in every single episode.

I don't even have time to get into the issue of video recordings taking place each and every hour of each and every day located on every street corner, mall or porto-potty (really?) demonstrating where either you or your vehicle have been at any given time. Add the wonder of computer software and you might consider heading for the safety of the Unwashed! http://www.openmediaboston.org/node/492

I guess this rant began when I read several articles on this 'illegal immigrant' journalist:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/21/jose-antonio-vargas-drivers-license_n_906306.html

Some DMV can discover some misstep in Oregon and go after this guy.

But evidently we do not have the computer capability to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt how Goldman/Sachs loses 6 billion in one year and yet paid its management 6 billion in bonuses whilst firing ten thousand employees.

So the management class loses not one dime and the company is saved by the government AND NOBODY GOES TO JAIL.

But some guy who did not pay a parking ticket in 2004 loses his DL and cannot vote against George W. hahaha But I digress...

CONCLUSION:

Minnesota has required a picture ID for its elections for some time. The law itself is very lenient on those without ID's, if you pre-register. It is complicated but I know from personal experience that if you have a valid DL, you can vote no matter what! http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=204

To register at your polling place on Election Day, you must bring one of the following with your current name and address to verify your residence in the precinct :

• A valid Minnesota driver’s license, learner’s permit, Minnesota ID card, or receipt for any of these

• A valid student ID card including your photo, if your college has provided a student housing list to election officials

• A Tribal ID card that contains your picture and signature 

• A valid registration in the same precinct under a different name or address 

• A notice of late registration sent to you by your county auditor or city clerk

• A voter registered in the same precinct as you who can confirm your address with a signed oath

• An employee of the residential facility where you live who can confirm your address with a signed oath

• Both 1) a photo ID from the list below, and 2) a current bill from the list below with your current name and address in the precinct

Check out link to see how many other different types of ID work in a Minnesota voting booth.

If you do not have a DL you can procure the same ID without the legal ability to drive in the same manner that you can procure a DL. And the non-drivers ID is cheap.

Governor Dayton vetoed an attempt by our repubs to limit the ability of many to vote.

We do have same day registration to vote. But I advise you bring your DL (even if expired) or Passport.

Now, through the 'welfare system' you can register right on some slot in your application—it is just that this does not always work. But you still need a photo ID even if you preregistered anyway.

We do not have a perfect system—but there is no perfect election system.

When there are only a few hundred votes separating our candidates following that important Tuesday in November....shite happens!

Although a six month wait to see your first Senator sworn-in really is not that bad.

I am stuck with being pro picture ID as far as elections. But it can only be a fair electoral process if a system is in place so that those without DL's can procure a Non-DL picture ID for under thirty bucks.

I mean, how in the hell do you prove who you are without a picture ID?

What can the homeless do?

I do not have an answer for this.

I do know that the repubs in some 16 states are doing everything they can to keep the 'bottom tier' of our society out of the voting booth; for obvious reasons.

http://www.ncsl.org/Default.aspx?TabId=16602

ALL STUDENTS SHOULD VOTE, END OF DISCUSSION assuming they are citizens and have a student ID.

But that is an issue for another day!