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If the Jewish community were offended by John Tamihere's (allegedly taken out of context remarks) regarding the genocide performed in WW2, surely the prospect of a return to WW2-type "papers please" mentality must also be at least slightly offensive.

One must ask exactly why the French consider that such a draconian move is justified and exactly what benefits it will bring.

I suspect that the answers to these questions are "because they can" and "none".

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What I also learned from this story is that the use of compulsory ID cards is already widespread throughout Europe.

Germany, Belgium, Finland and probably more than a few others issue their citizens with ID cards and there's little doubt that biometrics will be increasingly integrated into such documents.

The government in Britain has tried to introduce compulsory ID cards and failed -- but I suspect that they will try again, citing the widespread acceptance of such things elsewhere in the world.

The reality of the situation is that it's probably only a matter of time before we too are required to carry an ID card at all times or suffer some kind of penalty if we don't -- just as we now do with photo-ID drivers' licences.

Of course many people will be saying "So what? What's wrong with having to prove who you are when required to by authorities?"

And, on the face of it, these are quite reasonable questions.

The problem is that we all know how open such things are to abuse and how modern technology has made it easier than ever to forge identity documents. If authorities and others become totally reliant on a little piece of plastic to identify people, those who fake or alter those cards can effectively become whoever they want, any time they want.

Then there's the issue of privacy.

There are many times when people in authority should simply have no right to know who you are -- it's called "privacy" and it's a basic human right.

Given that serious criminals/terrorists will have little trouble in stealing other people's ID, is there really any merit to a compulsory ID card, with biometric information or whatever?

Off-topic
And while on the subject of "big brother" governments..

I see that the government has banned the sale of food-grade nitrous oxide (NOS) for "recreational use".

Aardvark's favourite moron -- Jim Anderton, has gone on record as saying that this should be banned because it's so bad for you.

Jim tells us that his government must halt the sale of this stuff because it *could* cause "anesthesia, collapsing and choking on vomit while unconscious".

So tell us Jim, why isn't your government also moving to ban that other substance which can cause exactly the same symptoms? I'm talking about alcohol of course.

Another alleged reason for banning it is because it has been implicated in the road accidents that have caused the death of *two* young men.

Gosh, how many people die in road crashes that are *definitely* caused by alcohol each and every year. Tell us gain Jim, why aren't you banning alcohol?

Let me make it quite clear that I don't use NOS or any other recreational drugs to get my highs -- but I can't abide the kind of hypocrisy that I'm seeing here.

Could the *real* reason that Jimbo and his idiot friends are banning the recreational use of NOS but endorsing the sale of alcohol is that the taxes levied on booze make a very healthy contribution to the nation's coffers and Cullen's bulging surplus?

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