http://www.newsregister.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=238645

yeesh I'm glad my ODL doesn't expire until 2015...gives me enough time to locate my birth certificate (or order a new one most likely).

Just got through mine. Bit of a hassle, but not that bad.

I think this is a good thing. One of the bigger complaints about assistance programs is non citizens getting entitlements to them. This move will go a long way toward fixing that.

Maybe the greater numbers of uninsured drivers will be a negative for a while. If so, minor league bummer. Worst case, add a non-insured rider to your policy and call it good.

I dunno . . . I'm thinking having even more unlicensed and uninsured motorists on the road is the equilivant of leaving scores of loaded guns on street corners throughout the state.

Won't know for a while.

I suspect, not being licensed to drive makes work harder. Also means not getting a subsidy, in the form of access to assistance programs.

So, it could be that nothing changes and we have fewer licensed drivers.

Could be that we find that work really isn't gonna be done at the wages paid. And that's an interesting problem.

I doubt the uninsured being a loaded gun bit. People can either drive, or they can't. Perhaps that's why we always see lots of immigrants packed into cars. That 15 percent registering is hauling the other percent around?

All I know is I really don't like the idea of people coming here and accessing things like Oregon Trail, then working for low wage.

It's the Wal*Mart story, only with farmers! I've heard up to 70 percent of Wal*Mart employees are accessing assistance programs of some kind. That's not right, no matter how I look at it.

Either the work is worth doing, and by worth it, I mean viable where making a minimum living is concerned, or it just isn't.

If it isn't, then we need to figure out how to make it that way, instead of doing what we are doing. Paying people too low of a wage, then letting all of us pick up the slack, while the employer makes a profit isn't cool.

At least it isn't cool, if not done on the up and up.

If we helped that employee pay that wage, in the form of a wage bump, paid directly to the employee, then perhaps that's ok. People can vote on that kind of stuff.

Maybe we really don't need that employer?

Won't know these things until we put some pressure on things to see what happens.

If this ends up bad, it can be addressed easily enough.

I'm gonna watch and see.

Maybe we can make becoming a citizen easier. I'm for that actually. Always can use more Americans.

I have a sneaking suspicion that offering that path might surprise us in a lot of ways. Perhaps some of the work really isn't worth doing, unless the worker is not carrying their part of the social burden.

Then again, maybe it is!

I think we are about to find out some of this stuff.

Down here in vegas, we have a lot of hit and run accidents. because people are either uninsured or no license or both. this could get interesting.

Still, those who want Fake IDs will find a way to get them. The example given about the guy from Illinois is a prime example as to why these types of laws penalize the average guy but don't really stop the abuse they attempt to. He had plenty of documentation and for some reason needed more, but someone who really wanted a false ID probably could make connections to get one. The question is, shouldn't the added bureacracy have some flexibility, rather than just another low level guvmint paper pusher who can make a person miserable just because they can?

What's the end game?

May vee see your papers pleeze? Zis is unacceptable. Come mit uz pleeze.......

Coming soon in your area! RFID chips embedded in your driveres license, car, and insurance. Automated scanners that will scan cars and be able to see who is driving them, if they have insurance, and if the tags are current. OH YAH, almost forgot, the RFID implanted in everyone at birth!

RFID implanted in everyone at birth!
It wouldn't surprise me if it already is.

I think the biggest issue out there isn't documentation, it's how little emphasis is placed on driving ability and how much emphasis is placed on financial ability to pay fees. Some of the worst drivers out there have the greatest ability to pay traffic violation tickets and/or get out of them completely or have them reduced, while at the same time some of the best drivers are deciding if they'll renew their license and/or pay their insurance that month or eat.

I'm all for eatin'!

"I dunno . . . I'm thinking having even more unlicensed and uninsured motorists on the road is the equilivant of leaving scores of loaded guns on street corners throughout the state."

I think that's a flawed way of looking at it. We're not just saying "no license" if you're an illegal alien. We're saying "you shall not drive". Think about the difference. Therefore, if you drive anyway, you'll be punished. We shouldn't simply accept that people will break the law as a way of life. We need to enforce the law.

Off Topic........

One glimpse of the future I am talking about can be seen in the movie "Imposter"! Everyone has a PLD (personal locator device) implanted in them and tracking stations all over the place to keep track of your movements. It stars Gary Sinise and has one hell of a double whammy at the end!!!!!

end-of-line

" RFID chips embedded in your driveres license, car, and insurance...."

What? *shrugs shoulders* Nothing that thirty seconds in the microwave on "HIGH" can't fix!! ;o)

Nothing that thirty seconds in the microwave on "HIGH" can't fix!!

EXACTLY!

That's the first thing I'll do after getting home with a DL with an RFID chip in it!