National identity card? Where?

"Mr. #73099, you can Google 'national ID/May 2008' or 'Real ID' to learn more about this topic. The Orwellian nightmare is just beginning."

That's a riot!!!!  Booh!  Did you jump?  Do you hear things go bump in the night?

Real ID is a federal requirement for STATE issued driver's licenses and personal identification!!  It is not a "national ID" - it is a local, state driver's license.  If it goes into a national data base, so what?  Actually, I'm in favor of a national ID (which we don't have, and which isn't on the books to come, and which we won't have for decades) that includes not only what the states are required to have, but also a DNA profile.  But we are light years from that.

It is the ultra-right wing nuts who are trying to get everyone on the terrorist watch list (and doing a damn good job of it).  It is not the liberals.

As for having to have a driver's license to get into a courthouse, I doubt it.  How about right now?  I have to have a passport to travel 90 miles from my home (I live near the Canadian border).  This requirement was implemented by the Bushie right-wing administration.

Learn to read.

from  a googled site: http://www.epic.org/privacy/id_cards/

How will the REAL ID Act affect state driver's licenses and identification cards (DL/ID)?

If the Department of Homeland Security Secretary doesn't grant a state an extension to meet the certification requirements, then by May 11, 2008 (three years after passage of the REAL ID Act), states must meet the following standards to be accepted for federal use (entrance into a courthouse, onto a plane; receiving federal benefits, such as Social Security or Medicare). After more than two years, the Department of Homeland Security issued draft regulations on March 1, 2007, explaining how the states can meet these standards. The EPIC analysis of the potential privacy implications follows the enumeration of the each set of standards.

Minimum document requirements, §202(b):

"To meet the requirements of this section, a State shall include, at a minimum, the following information and features on each driver's license and identification card issued to a person by the State:

      (1) The person's full legal name.

      (2) The person's date of birth.

      (3) The person's gender.

      (4) The person's driver's license or identification card number.

      (5) A digital photograph of the person.

      (6) The person's address of principle residence.

      (7) The person's signature.

      (8) Physical security features designed to prevent tampering, counterfeiting, or duplication of the document for fraudulent purposes.

      (9) A common machine-readable technology, with defined minimum data elements."