This is the long slippery slope

It's a Slippery Slope
Originally uploaded by OpenThreads.

Ever see those sci-fi movies that show a bleak future? You know the ones, where totalitarian states rule and citizens are nothing more than cattle. I remember one movie where everyone had an id bar code tattooed on their wrist.

We may be headed that way; we are no longer at the top of the long, slippery slope.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who unveiled final details of the REAL ID Act's rules on Friday, said that if states want their licenses to remain valid for air travel after May 2008, those states must seek a waiver indicating they want more time to comply with the legislation.

After requiring federal ID for air travel, it'll be bus and train travel. Then it will be crossing state boundaries. Then using interstate highways. Pretty soon, we'll have checkpoints like my fictional, alternative history.

I'm waiting for Secretary Chertoff to post on his blog about today's announcement.