Licensing Illegal Aliens

This is the kind of opening paragraph we don't get enough of from the Associated Press:

"Lou Dobbs is sorry about calling Gov. Eliot Spitzer an idiot."

It turns out, according to Larry McShane's reporting, that Dobbs more-or-less apologized for calling the Democratic Governor of New York an idiot by saying, "Your policies are idiotic. But I have to apologize for calling you an idiot."

This is my kind of apology: Repeat the charge, defend the reason you said it in the first place, and then apologize by using the exact wording again.

This whole thing started when Spitzer decided that the State of New York would begin issuing driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

A driver's license is as close to a national identity card as exists in America.

Want to open a bank account? Show your driver's license.

Need to check into a hotel? Show the card.

Have to get … on … an … airplane? Try showing the genius at the little desk in the security line anything other than a driver's license.

Under current federal law, called "Real ID", according to the New York Newsday newspaper:

"To get a Real ID-compliant driver's license, you must prove you are in this country legally, that you have a Social Security number and that you are who you say you are."

Under the Spitzer plan, according Newsday, there is "no Social Security requirement, but [an] applicant must present a valid foreign passport and swear that he or she is ineligible for a Social Security number."

The notion of presenting a "valid foreign passport" to the clerk behind the counter at the DMV who will be able to detect whether or not it is a forgery is laughable or, to use Lou Dobbs' word, idiotic.

Which of us would be able to detect the legitimacy of a passport issued to someone who claims to be one of the 13,528 citizens of the Republic of Nauru - a country in the South Pacific which measures a total of 21 square miles (approximately the size of the casino in the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas)?

According to the CIA World Factbook, of those 13,528 citizens, 12,172 of them are unemployed and so it is not out of the question some might sneak into the US looking for work and show up in New York, passport at the ready.

It is true that there are no recorded cases of Nauruians being involved in terrorism, but they are not the issue. The issue is someone from, say, Iran claiming to be from Nauru, being able to get their hands on a New York State driver's license and being able to check into hotels willy-nilly.

Elliot Spitzer made his name as a crusading New York State Attorney General. You would think that a former Attorney General would have some interest in actually enforcing the law.

You would think that the Governor of a State (who, one assumes, did not have his fingers crossed as he took his oath of office) would be even more interested in enforcing the law.

If someone shows up at an official state office and presents themselves as an ILLEGAL alien, they shouldn't be granted a driver's license. They should be arrested and sent home.

And, if they were dumb enough to claim to be from Nauru, they should be put on the first empty phosphate carrier heading back to the South Pacific, no matter where they are really from.

The Department of Homeland Security and the State of New York have reached a deal (which has also been struck by Arizona, Washington State and Vermont) to allow illegal aliens to get licenses so long as it is clear the card is not to be used for Federal ID purposes.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said, "I don't endorse giving licenses to people who are not here legally, but federal law does allow states to make that choice."

Follow me here: Chertoff heads DHS. DHS contains FEMA which, while Chertoff was his boss, was led by your guy Brownie during Katrina. DHS also oversees those highly skilled TSA people who shout at you to take off your shoes and take out your laptop.

This same Michael Chertoff is making deals with states to allow illegal aliens to get drivers licenses.

Idiocy.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to the AP story about Lou Dobbs, the Newsday article, the CIA entry on Nauru, a Mullfoto from this past weekend, and a Catchy Caption of the Day.