December 12, 2004

A LICENCE TO KILL. Note well that this LA Times article on the battle over drivers licence security provides zero background information about how the 9/11 terrorists had valid state drivers licences literally coming out of their ears -- or about how a change in the law would have stopped the killers cold. When it comes down to it biased reporting from the LA Times produces out-right bad journalism. And this article is another example of it.

The article does have this:

driver's licenses [are] a form of identification that has become a de facto passport in the post-Sept. 11 era and is used to pass through security checkpoints .. Currently, 10 states allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses, and a number of others have been considering relaxing their laws to allow illegal immigrants to drive. In Indiana, which has a growing immigrant population, a state commission is studying whether the law should be changed to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. And Tennessee recently began issuing a "certificate of driving" to immigrants who could not prove they were in the country legally but who passed a driving test. The certificates say in red lettering: "For driving purposes only. Not valid for identification." As evidence of the differences among Republicans on the issue, Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, has supported legislation � so far without success � to allow illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses. But California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a fellow Republican, vetoed a bill that would have allowed the state's estimated 2 million illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. The president himself has yet to publicly take a stand on the issue.
Posted by Greg Ransom | TrackBack