Homeland Security Scam

Using Pennsylvania as an example, before 911 to get a drivers license exchanged from another state you only had to turn in your out-of-state license, show proof of residency, take a brief test and you were issued a new PA license. Another state's license serving as an obvious form of identification that can easily be verified with the issuing state.

Since 911 you now have to show a birth certificate or passport, Soc. Sec. card, 2 forms of proof of residency, along with your out of state license. AS IF NONE OF THIS CAN'T BE OBTAINED BY TERRORISTS! They don't even check these items for validity, other than a raised seal. Do personnel at PENN DOT know what a bogus birth certificate looks like? No. There is no "standard" for a birth certificate, neither would they recognize a bogus raised seal. The problem isn't for the terrorists - it's our problem when we lack one of these items. A copy of a birth certificate isn't acceptable. Lost your original 20 years ago? Tough. Wait 12 -16 weeks to have a new one issued if you live out of your birth state.

Requirements for those under 18 are even more stringent in proof needed.

The inconvenience doesn't end there. Neither does the stupidity.

Look at your birth certificate. Let's say it reads "John Quincy Adams" as your name.

Now look at your Social Security card. If it is like mine, issued long ago, when the middle name was shortened to a letter, it may say "John Q Adams."

PENNDOT will not accept these documents as supporting each other because they are "different," in that the "Q" on the S.S. card is not spelled "Quincy" in its' entirety. Because your birth certificate and SS card don't match, go home after waiting 2 hours in line.

You may think I'm making this up. It is a fact! Like Ripley's Believe it or Not, such stupidity was enacted by legislation after 911 and supported by Gov. Tom Ridge, who became head of Homeland Security. Many states follow these guidelines to the letter.

How do you correct this problem? Now spend hours finding and waiting at your local Social Security Office to obtain a TWO page letter from them explaining that you (John Q) and John Quincy are the same person. The two-page letter is a requirement by PENN DOT - also something I'm not making up. Why the Social Security Office needs to provide you with two pages is beyond me.

I would think a few lines saying the following, should suffice:

Dear PENNDOT!

Common sense should tell you that John Q is who he says he is. Stop busting people's balls.

Sincerely,

SS Admin.

You see people, this type of "security" is nothing more than a false sense of safety. Most ignorant citizens believe that because they are finding it damn near impossible to get something as simple as a drivers license, that it must be totally impossible for a terrorist to perform any illegal act.

Hardly. No terrorist worth his 72 virgins would go through the bullshit honest citizens have to endure. They would get certificate style paper, print something on it using a computer, press a raised seal onto it, and do what they wanted to get done.

Our inconvenience and frustration from useless bureaucratic legislation does not equal safety, or security.

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