[OT] Re: Hitchens: The Cult of ID

[Harmon Seaver]

   I remember my drivers license from WI was just a piece of paper, black with
white printing, no photo at least up to '74 (when we moved to MN) but can't
recall if MN had photo then or not. Not sure when WI changed, but they had the
photo when we moved back in '88. 


On Sat, Jun 07, 2003 at 06:23:10PM -0500, J.A. Terranson wrote:
> Good Evening,
> 	From roughly 1985 to ~1997, I was a resident of Missouri (USA).  Now,
> Missouri may well be a poster child for backwater living, but they had an
> unusual thing to recommend them: they understood that a "Driver's
> License" was somthing you got to prove you knew how to drive a car, rather
> than something you got to drink beer and vote.  Presumable due to this
> revelation, Missouri did not actually *require* either a photo or a social
> security number for the issuance of a driver's license.  
> 
> 	Anyone who had objection to the social security number was given a
> different encoded "license number", and anyone who objected to the photo had
> a red box in the corner with the words "PHOTO NOT REQUIRED" emblazoned across
> it - you needed only to fill out the form which described the basis of your
> objection(s).
> 
> 	Even better was the State of New York, up until ~1983: no photo on
> any license.  Just a piece of paper (no plastic at all) that said you knew
> enough to drive.  Proving that the license belonged to *you*, and not someone
> else, required actual *ID*!
> 
> 	It's time we get back to the reality standard on these... 
> 
> -- 
> Yours, 
> J.A. Terranson
> sysadmin at mfn.org

-- 
Harmon Seaver	
CyberShamanix
http://www.cybershamanix.com