Sunday, November 04, 2018

DEMOCRACY VOTE -- I.D. CARD SAGA -- PHOTO I.D. GLITCHES



The most important U.S. activity in this coming week is election day, Tuesday, for those going to traditional voting sites -- who haven’t voted early or mailed in their ballots.   Please vote – the future of our democracy matters -- will be impacted. 


Fear-Mongering, U.S. Military Politicization in the name of security.....

Attempts to influence voters with fear-mongering by our President that South American migrants  caravanning from their countries are criminals and terrorists is the latest con he’s foisting on the American people.  Those migrants say they simply want to apply for asylum in the United States just as is permitted by the law here and in many countries in the world (contrary to our leader saying that our country is the only country allowing such in his never-ending mendacious pronouncements).

Our President has blatantly used his governing office to politically hype this situation some say.  He has used our U.S. military forces to promote this position under the guise of being necessary for security by ordering troops to our borders – long before these migrants will ever reach there – as he continues this political exploitation just prior to our election.

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I.D. Card Saga Up Date....

Previously I wrote HERE about my travails at our California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) renewing my driver’s license and applying for a new I.D. Card. 

In 2020 this I.D. Card will be necessary to board airlines in the U.S. for our flights, or both a Driver’s License and a Passport will be required.  Wanting to carry only one card for identification domestically I chose to obtain the I.D. Card which will also be my successfully renewed California Driver’s License.  Also, I can well imagine the I.D. Card may begin to become required by more businesses in the future. 

Some have speculated that the closer we come to 2020 our DMV offices will become busier as more people will want this I.D. Card.  As I reported earlier, residents of other U.S. states should investigate their motor vehicle department’s I.D. Card issuance procedures and recommendations.

Because one of my 3 required identification documents was not initially accepted, I had to return to the DMV office another time with a different document, actually bearing much the same information.   

I repeated some of the previously described time standing in line, alternating waiting, sitting between visits to only 4 different lines this time over a 1 ½ hour period.   Again, there was an instance of conflicting information.  Also, I was instructed I’d need to again complete an application though I had done so on the Internet originally before my first visit to expedite this whole process. 

Seems that application went with the original file which resulted in my receiving only the limited regular California driver’s license – the one I had to wait to receive before I would be allowed to re-apply for the I.D. Card I had wanted in the first place. 

I pressed as to why they couldn’t access my original application made only a week or so earlier (no data changed).    What was the efficiency point of putting it on the Internet in the first place if they couldn’t access it again?  I received an explanation about how this paralleled old-fashioned paper files and once a file was closed out, it was done.  Hm-m-m, I said – I still can’t imagine why you couldn’t just make a copy of the application from the old file! 

Suddenly this very pleasant clerk excused herself, told me to sit down and wait, went to another close-by station and after a short time returned – with a print-out copy of my original application. 

Then it was time to have my photo taken once again -- with my right thumb print for I.D. repeated, also.   Each of times I had to submit my thumb print during this visit the process seemed to be problematic as I had to keep re-submitting it multiple times which the clerks seemed surprised was happening, too.

I was pleased to be having another photo taken as the one appearing on the driver’s license had to be my worst i.d. photo I’ve ever had taken.  I haven’t seen this latest one and can only hope it’s better when my I.D. Card finally arrives within the coming week probably.  I hope the expiration date allows me quite a few years before I have to seek a renewal.  

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Photo I.D. Catastrophes.....

So many of our various identification type cards – credit cards, employer, professionals in many medical settings where I’ve been, driver’s licenses, to name a few – carry our photograph head shots.   I’ve not been too displeased with mine through the years, until recently.   

I speculate on how much my negative reaction to my photo i.d. is due to simple face and hair natural aging changes.     How much can be partly attributed to my different hair style in length while my natural hair color keeps gradually changing, too?    On the other hand, some of the people who take these photographs seem to do a better job than others in capturing a warm, more personable facial expression. 

My first passport pictures years ago were pleasing, including even one taken midlife.   The last photo renewed in more recent years is pretty gruesome in my opinion – snapped before I really had a chance to adopt a smile, or reasonably friendly look on my face.  That woman seemed annoyed that she even had to take the picture.

When my new driver’s license renewal photo taken a couple weeks ago was received, I was horrified.  Fortunately, that card has been voided, to be replaced by the new I.D. Card.   Surely, the new photo on that card can only be better!  

What has been your experience or reaction to i.d. photos on any cards you carry? 


25 comments:

  1. I don't think I've ever been happy with any ID photo in my entire life. Having to sit in a roomful of strangers is an awkward situation. It can only result in a poor photo. But I almost never have to look at my DL or passport, so I don't have to think about it much!

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    1. Mostly at DMV with a line waiting there’s a rush to get us through, I think.

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  2. My DMV will take two photos---and only two---but let you pick one. I have to go next year to get my handicap hang tag renewed. Not looking forward to that.

    I have voted and now I'm holding my breathe until Wednesday to see what direction our country will be going. If those checks and balances don't kick I fear our country is lost for good.

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  3. I have not had to go through this nightmare yet. Now I dread it all.

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    1. If you choose to get the I.D. Card just be sure to take the exact 3 items from among the various alternatives. Check your state DMV. Mine was more involved because my drivers license was also coming up for renewal and taking the written test on the computer was required, too. Some people just get the I.D. Card to be prepared before 2020 regardless of when their drivers license renewal is required.and to avoid any last minute rush.

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  4. I used to like my pictures better also ;).

    On the immigrants, some of what you said is not quite what he said. He said nobody who tries to cross at other than a port of entry can apply for refugee status. They can apply at port of entries. The problem will be how many can be managed when there are such large numbers. It's a potential health nightmare. The military was sent early to evidently put up barbed wire to block rushing the border as the migrants did in Mexico. This is not a simple issue since there are evidently 4 caravans coming up. From what i read in the first one there are some known criminals or gang members but it was a few hundred not the whole caravan.

    Personally, I am avoiding the news until after the mid-terms as it has turned brutal. What we believe is going on often depends on our news source and everybody thinks the other guy's news source is terrible and filled with lies-- everybody.

    Worse, what I dislike on FB is how many are maligning not just the president but anybody who voted for him. It's truly ugly and life is about more than that-- I would hope even for those filled with hate (and yes, they are on both sides)

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    1. Knowing exactly what our leader says, or even means, often is a smoke and mirrors magic game, subject to his later denial despite documented evidence. Respected military officials, others, have questioned the timing, excessive number of troops and politicizing of this latest action. Not all so-called news media reports are viable — true accounts — to be trusted — with one major outlet having documented bias — whose owners history, efforts to obtain media monopoly in Great Britain and U.S., known relationship with our current leader should give any follower pause to question all accounts, seek confirmation elsewhere.

      I think we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that groups, individuals, other nations are dedicated to creating dissension in our country — to undermine, even destroy our democracy. Their using planted hate-filled rhetoric is one such tactic as is violence, like in Charlottesville, for whom they recently arrested some California White Nationalists who traveled to Virginia to cause that mayhem. This will continue in the future as we head toward 2020. Would that our two major political groups would consider this and not be suckered into their hate-filled rhetoric trap — which seems especially seductive to those who spew on social media such as FB.

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  5. Lordy, I hope we never require the photo ID here. What a pain. My drivers licence photos are usually pretty fair. They ask us not to smile which makes me grin big time. Wonder why they want them to look like mug shots?

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    1. Don’t smile? This was just my experience and the unique one in California with several other matters going on as I previously explained. Don’t fear getting the I.D. Card.

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  6. I've never had any problems with acceptance of my ID photos. But that may be because the rules for passport photos in particular are very strict. They have to be a precise size, with your head a precise size, not wearing glasses, a plain background, no shadows, mouth closed, a plain expression, and hair not hiding your eyes. How pedantic is that?

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    1. Glad your photos were so acceptable. The first two passport photos I had taken were fine for me, too. This last gal didn’t even seem comfortable using a camera, much less positioning my head for lighting etc. as others had done, plus her manner conveyed she resented having to do this.

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  7. The photos requirements here are a nightmare - all about biomrtrics and the sky will fall down should your nose be off center.You end of looking flat and unrecognisable.

    My best id photo was taken for my national identity card of Seychelles, where we lived and worked for several years. It's a small metal card and my picture looks like an engraving. My fingerprints are on it as well and they look like an abstract painting. The card was valid for 15 years - much longer than our time there and I proudly used it wherever I could, not many places accepted it but I tried. I occasionally still do.

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    1. I like the description of the card and photo you received in Seychelles, also the duration. Not so much attracted to what you have now where you are.

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  8. I wrote about my adventures at the DMV too. I had only elected to get a regular DL, but I failed both tests. They were very kind and let me take both tests a second time. My photo in no way looks like me. Then again, my COSTCO photo looks like a younger and vastly thinner version of one of my daughters. Yes, not only am I driving more carefully, I am on a diet. LOL

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    1. Thursday heard Barbra Streisand on karaoke segment with James Corden say she failed driving test 3 times. I thought I recalled reading somewhere they allow several failures. If I wanted to look better in my eyes, I’d need to cut my hair short again as I usually wore it. I do have a few extra pounds, too, but don’t think it shows in my face — more like the hip area.

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  9. Big day tomorrow.ally big and really important. In Georgia a dispute on voter registration is under the purview of the GOP Gubernatorial candidate. how can that be? A candidate here in NC says women should be subservient to her husband. Nobody here seems to be objecting to it. Sigh.

    MyTexas DL indicates Texas has verified my US citizenship but if I move back to Cakifornia do I have to start all over? And how did something as simple as a picture ID become weaponized by both sides in the voter registration camp?

    At least by tomorrow night - late - we will know if the good ship US Democracy will be turned back in the proper direction. Time has come today - as Lester Chambers used to sing,

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    1. Yessiree! Allow that Georgia candidate to decide whose votes are valid. Also, we all know we women need a man to tell us what to do. What century do those people live in?

      Glad to hear Texas confirms your citizenship. Surely that’s good enough for Calif.

      I hate to tell you but our news says in Orange County where voting outcomes could have national implications, they’ve had so many new registrants, mail-in and early voters that may delay count — so many mail-in ballots expected to not be turned in until Election Day, other staffing issues, that the total numbers could be sufficient to have bearing on final tallies — as much as a couple weeks delay one official says.

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  10. I renewed my passport back in 2010 prior to moving abroad. My pic, taken at a UPS shop in Manhattan, made me look a bit like a Lego human. The hair looked like it had been affixed to the top of my head. -very strange. It's almost time to renew again. May the pic look more normal this time. (I still have yet to tackle the new CA ID stuff. -just don't want to deal with it.)

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    1. Ideal way at DMV is make appointment in advance, long before you receive their notice. In doing so you can complete application form in advance on computer at home — not complicated. When you go in take the specific 3 items requested for I.D. Card to confirm you’re you. If your drivers license requires you take written test to renew, then they’ll send you to the station for that. You’ll get thumb print taken a few times, picture taken. Fee you will have paid in the beginning. They’ll give you the paper temporary drivers license and that’s it. The process really is pretty simple and can be efficient. Mine only became more complicated because, first I couldn’t get an appointment before my license expired, then one of the items I took for I.D. Card wasn’t accepted, so had to go back. Plus, I don’t have the endurance if have to stand around that I had a few years ago which may not be an issue for you. Will likely be a pIece of cake for you as the saying goes.

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  11. I have not had any problems so far ever.

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  12. My license expires in 2021 so I will have to go through the process in late 2020 and am not looking forward to it.

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    1. People don’t have to wait until their regular drivers liscense expires tp apply for the I.D. Card in Calif. and think that’s true in other states, too, but everyone should check their state’s motor vehicle licensing department.

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