Minnesota is one of those states. You happen to be a Minnesotan your ID would be invalid because your state does not follow Federal guidelines. You wish to fly to, say, New Jersey, you would (so far as I know) need a passport to prove your standing as a citizen. A passport for internal travel, that remind you of any now defunct government?

Sharing information I'm for, but the way Washington is going about it is draconian. Ultimately state IDs are state matters, to be handled by the states. Our Federal government needs to butt out. Washington wants a national ID, then Washington can propose a national ID and stop pussyfooting around.

No country ever prospered that did not trust its people, or gave its people cause to trust it.

But the problem is identifying "its people." Presumably, we wouldn't want to trust al Qaeda operatives who happen to be running around.

We already have to show ID to board planes, buy cigarettes or alcohol, cash a check, and innumerable other routine activities. I don't have any philosophical objection, then, to using advanced technology to make the ID more effective and harder to counterfeit.

It's unnecessary, it's discriminatory, it's an imposition. Never mind the fact it's useless to begin with. Not without a drastic expansion of government resources dedicated to keeping an eye on people, and we all know how that worked out for the Warsaw Pact in the long run.

No country ever prospered that did not trust its people, or gave its people cause to trust it.

The approach that's been taken for fatherland security is patently absurd, but it also didn't start out of the blue at the 9/11 demarcation.

When social security was created-the number was meant to solely be used for purposes of social security, but almost everyone wants your number now.

But I don't really think there is an ID card that can't be duplicated to some degree-there just isn't going to be a foolproof method-there might be a method that makes it more difficult for the less than creative, but there are enterprising criminals that will rise to the occassion.

I recall a DMV employee somewhere getting arrested a year or so back for using the DMV photo liscense equipment to create fake identities for those who wanted them and a very nice fee.

I don't consider a national ID Big Brotherish or anything to get up in arms over, but I am not sure I see a real purpose in having one either.

However, its been my personal experience (mostly from when I was younger and walked/biked everywhere) that a police officer can demand identification without cause.

No serious heartburn, eh? Do you want the government to know what prescriptions you are getting filled? Want the government to know your health care records?

"I'm sorry Mr. Smith, but I cannot sell you this gun because it seems like you had a psychiatric medication filled."

"What?"

"Yeah it says here that you got a prescription for Wellbutrin filled about 5 years ago. We can't sell guns to the mentally ill."

"But I was trying to quit smoking! I'm not crazy."

"Sorry. Tough luck."

Not only could that apply to gun sales, but it could also apply to travel, employment, credit, banking whatever you name it!

The democrats are come in and socialize medicine, all of medical records get stored in the same database. Go to the store and...

"I'm sorry Mr. Smith, but I cannot sell you this bacon, the national database says that your cholesterol is too high."

"I'm sorry Mr. Smith, but I cannot sell you these donuts, database says that you are too fat."

"I'm sorry Mr. Smith I cannot sell you this beer, database says that you are a drunk."

The National ID card is the latest installment, towards a police State. Free People don't show their "papers."

The trick is to find out ASAP that a fraudulent ID is being used, and to track the user down. This requires a national ID database, and quick access by many users, including some commercial outfits such as airlines, bus companies, rail companies, auto rental companies, banks, etc, etc. In addition to causing delays in purchasing tickets, there would be the danger of the database being hacked, broadcast, or used for fraudulent purposes.

This is a technical problem that to date has not been fully solved for massive open access systems, but here again the useful is hostage to the perfect. There will be problems, but there will be adequate solutions sooner or later that admit to a small error.

To say that there is no useful purpose for a national ID seems to me to say that proving one's identity itself is not useful under any circumstances, which is nonsense.

Freedom and Liberty to scuddle around through all of our world, unidentified and unidentifiable by anyone for any reason, must have defined limits and barriers. Illegals using forged papers come to mind--to obtain employment illegally--or simply to roam the nation with terror activities on their minds, such as a new 9/11 act using airplanes.

It was required of me to carry my US passport at all times in Holland for over ten years, along with my driver's license. There was no special problem to do this--it became a habit very quickly. I think libertarians and ACLU types are paranoid about IDs, to the detriment of sane solutions to the identity problems.

Your papers, please!