Terrorists and drivers licenses

It’s only taken Ted Kulongoski four years as Attorney General and six years as Governor to tumble to the fact that twenty plus years of Oregon Democrat administrations have been issuing driver’s licenses to just about anyone and without proof of citizenship or legal residency. As a result, Oregon has issued driver’s licenses – the primary proof of identification in this state and every other state in the union – to over 150,000 illegal aliens and probably a goodly number of terrorists, drug smugglers and foreign thugs.

Having awakened from an apparently long nap, the Governor has just now realized,

“There have been a number of investigations going on in which Oregon has become the principle place where people who do not have legal presence come here to get either a commercial or noncommercial license.”

The Governor must be the last person in Oregon to come to that conclusion.

But it isn’t the wave of illegal immigrants holding Oregon licenses that has caused the governor’s concern. If it was, he would have done something about it a long time ago. So what is it that raises this latter day revelation for Oregon’s governor?

Well according to the governor it is a series of investigations by federal law enforcement agencies that have triggered his concern. The governor refuses to identify the specific agencies, so let me try a list of those involved: Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Administration, the Secret Service, the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agency and the Treasury Department. Okay, let’s be honest here – this is about terrorism activities and the fact that every terrorist in the world knows that Oregon, and Portland in particular, is a safe haven.

Oregon has already had the Portland Seven who have each confessed and been imprisoned for terrorist related activities. There is an active investigation of a Medford based Islamic charity and its principal relating the funneling of money to terrorist organizations. And there is the recent deportation of one of the people accused of attempting to set up a terrorist training camp near Bly.

Portland’s far left, which dominates the Oregon Democrat Party, has yet to meet an enemy of the nation that it doesn’t hold in higher regard than our own nation’s leaders. They have refused to participate in the Joint Terrorism Task Force. The have refused to allow their police to even inquire as to a detainee’s legal status in the country. They pass resolution after resolution condemning America’s foreign policy initiatives while at the same time turning a blind eye to some of the worst human rights abuses by our nation’s enemies. They embrace despots such as Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Bashar al-Assad while sneering at decent men like Tony Blair and Ariel Sharon. Their collective leadership reminds one of Vichy France.

It is this consistent, predictable, and persistent pandering that attracts the worst elements of the international criminal enterprises – whether they are terrorists, Russian Mafya, or Central and South American drug smugglers. It’s no wonder that there are so many federal investigations that are uncovering ties to Oregon.

But let’s not be fooled by Gov. Kulongoski’s apparent latter day conversion. It’s not the threat of terrorism or international crime that has Kulongoski nervous. Rather it is the real likelihood that Oregon is about to be the first in the nation to lose federal funds because it has failed to do anything about its porous policies in issuing driver’s licenses without adequate determination of identity. You can’t terrorize an Oregon liberal with the horrors of car bombs or poison gas, but they will quake in their boots at the prospect of losing a tax dollar they want to spend.

So, Gov. Kulongoski has called upon the legislature to enact provisions to tighten the requirements for obtaining an Oregon driver’s license. Well, not really. He still wants to hand out driver’s licenses to everyone regardless of their status as legal residents – he just wants there to be one for legal residents and another for those who fail to prove their resident status. One wonders why a state government would provide a government privilege, any government privilege to someone illegally here.

But hopefully, the Republicans in the legislature will join with those Democrats not beholden to Portland’s far left politicians and ask the same question. Kulongoski’s plan for two driver’s licenses is pandering and pointless. It’s time to get tough on those who are illegally in our country and those in our business and government that aid them.