Remember the Maine!

The state, not the other thing:

Via David (Austin Tx) of Supreme Irony of Life:

Maine's legislature overwhelmingly passed a resolution refusing to implement the REAL ID Act which requires states to standardize their drivers licenses according to federal standards, saying the bill would cost the state $185 milllion, turns the state into an extension of the federal government, and would invade privacy. The resolution also calls on Congress to repeal the rule, which was slid into a defense spending bill in 2005. Though the final standards have yet to be announced, after May 11, 2008, federal agencies won't accept non-compliant identification cards, which if the law weren't changed and Maine opted out would mean that Maine residents would have a very difficult time flying and couldn't enter federal courthouses, among other things.

"This is the beginning of the end of Real ID," said Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Project. "The Real ID national ID scheme is pointless if one or more states refuse to participate, because the whole premise of the program is the creation of a single uniform national identity document and database."

Americablog:

This invasive federal law was the brainchild of Rep. James "Tex" Sensenbrenner who was doing the bidding of the Bush administration. Those Republicans are obsessed with destroying the privacy of Americans. Check out the ACLU's site, www.RealNightmare.org. It is a real nightmare.

Of note, there were no Senate hearings on this critical issue. The chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affair committee at the time was the utterly useless Senator from Maine: Susan Collins. So, Mainers can thank Susan for that extra $185 million it will cost to implement this massive program that will make them more vulnerable to ID theft. Nice work, Susan.