Real ID

Boy, it sure sounded like a great idea back in 2005. Basically it required people to present identification, like state driver’s licenses, that met certain security and authentication requirements.

Then, someone brought up the ideas of privacy and state sovereignty. It all went to hell after that and 17 states have rejected it, including Montana. Besides privacy and state sovereignty, the feds wanted the states to pay for part of it. The paying part probably had more to do with it than anything.

Of course, those states did not reject the tons of money that came in after 9/11 in the form of Homeland Security funding.

It’s been over six years since the United States was attacked. Somebody has been doing something right.

Earmarks

We’ve heard how some politicians were going to stop or cut earmarks. Heck, some even said they would do away with earmarks, period. It looks like the President is trying to find a way to do away with the earmarks added to 2008 spending bill.

It appears that both Democrats and Republicans are against his idea. That means it must be a pretty good, huh?

Congressional Websites

A recent story in The Hill tells many of us web surfers what we already knew: Congressional websites are terrible. According to the story:

The so-called Gold Mouse Report, released Monday by the non-partisan Congressional Management Foundation (CMF), analyzed and ranked 618 House, Senate, committee, and leadership websites based on five major categories over three months: Clearly defining the site’s audience; tailoring the site’s information to the audience in a timely-fashion; the user-friendliness of the site; the ease and promotion of communication between user and the site; and the sites creative license while still maintaining user ease and interest.

It appears Montana’s three members did not get a Gold, Silver or Bronze mouse award (I guess all that hullabaloo about those stupid schedules did not garner any points).

In a quick check of the Congressional Management Foundation’s website, it appears that former Senator Conrad Burns’s website in 2006 has been the only Medal (Mouse) winner for Montana since the start of this competition. That year Burns’ website received a Bronze Mouse.