Free Republic

IRISH citizens could soon have to carry identification cards to cross the Border into Northern Ireland or to enter Britain, Justice Minister Michael McDowell has said. The British Government hopes to have legislation agreed before the summer which the opposition there says will make cards mandatory for most citizens. Mr McDowell met British Home Secretary Charles Clarke yesterday during an EU meeting in Vienna and agreed to hold a meeting in Dublin shortly to discuss the implications. Currently, Irish and British citizens can move freely without passports between the countries and into the North. Mr McDowell said the legislation, if...

Congress has come under manifold political pressure to impliment all of the recommendations of the recently completed 9/11 Commission. In response, they've written a bill that enacts these recommendations into law. Perhaps, a more nuanced approach should have been taken. Not all of these 9/11 Commission ideas necessarily make America a better place to live. One measure bans federal agencies from accepting Driver's Licenses as ID's unless the license shows a facial portrait and a Social Security Number. In effect, the State Driver's Licenses become a National ID. A simple database query now allows the governement to track individual citizens...