As one of the draconian measuers put in to place as part of the post-9/11 hysteria, commercial drivers now have to be fingerprinted like a common criminal and have a background check done on them. This happens before we can even apply for the HazMat portion of the license. My job requires possession of a hazMat license, so I was forced to undergo this process. This process prevents the terrorists from getting a job driving a tanker truck and driving it in to a building.
A private company, Integrated Biometrics Technology, performs the back ground check, to the tune of $94. They, along with Lockheed Martin who makes the fingerprinting machines, are one of the companies profitting off of this legislation.
I finally got the letter today letting me know if I am determined to be a security threat. Apparently, I am not! :icon_thumright:
Picture of the letter here http://public.fotki.com/LibertyCrew/jeremy/life_in_new_hampshire/tsa/tsa.html
Did you have to get a TWIC card, too?
Wow, I hadn't even heard of a TWIC card, so I found this article http://www.gsnmagazine.com/dec_04/DHS_program.html
To answer your question, no but I imagine it's not long before we'll have to have that as well ::)
Yeah, and you will probably have to pay for it out of pocket, too. I've been covering it for some time. It's really not so much an ID card as a giant mess (http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2007/01/30/transportation-worker-identity-cards-not-secure/).
My step-dad owns a trucking company here in Indiana and he's up all hours of the night battling against government regulations. Sadly, I can't seem to get through to him how moving to new hampshire and starting fresh could help save his sanity...
Quote from: B on March 02, 2007, 09:36 PM NHFT
My step-dad owns a trucking company here in Indiana and he's up all hours of the night battling against government regulations. Sadly, I can't seem to get through to him how moving to new hampshire and starting fresh could help save his sanity...
Sometimes parents don't like to listen to their children, even when they're right. It helps in this case to point to a disinterested third party.
Like me. Consider this (http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2007/01/05/transportation-workers-identity-credential-to-cost-159/):
QuoteThe Transportation Security Administration is requiring port and maritime workers and truckers to purchase a $159 identity document and undergo a "threat assessment" to provide secured access to seaports, airports and other such facilities, but doesn't yet have the technology to read the cards. . . .
Truckers who drive for large trucking companies will absorb the expense fairly easily, but this is going to squeeze a lot of small firms and owner-operators, who already operate on tight budgets, scrounge for their next load at truckstops, live out of their trucks and don't get home enough.
Just send him over here and I'm sure he'll think New Hampshire looks better and better every day. :)
He barely has time to eat, I don't think he'll take the time to come here.
Quote from: B on March 02, 2007, 09:53 PM NHFT
He barely has time to eat, I don't think he'll take the time to come here.
Maybe he enjoys it?
My parents don't listen to what I have to say, either. They think I'm kind of crazy for moving to NH, because they just won't concern themselves with how sinister the people who own this country are.
They would think I'm nuts for complaining about having to be fingerprinted and checked out by the feds to drive a truck--it's for our safety!
Your parents really think you're dangerous? Perhaps you should ask them the question directly.
Then again, I am not on speaking terms with my parents, precisely because they refused to show me any respect -- before AND after reaching the age of 18.
I don't know if they think I am dangerous or not; we just have very different worldviews. I used to be just as ignorant as the next guy but I've been learning on my own for a number of years and like to think that I'm better informed.
Without a solid foundation of how the world really operates, the government lies sound a lot more believable!
Quote from: Insurgent on March 02, 2007, 07:29 PM NHFT
. This process prevents the terrorists from getting a job driving a tanker truck and driving it in to a building.
You state it as if you believed it.
Quote from: B on March 02, 2007, 09:36 PM NHFT
My step-dad owns a trucking company here in Indiana and he's up all hours of the night battling against government regulations. Sadly, I can't seem to get through to him how moving to new hampshire and starting fresh could help save his sanity...
Aren't most trucking regulations national?
My sons don't listen to what I have to say, either. They think I'm kind of crazy for going to move to NH, because they just won't concern themselves with how sinister the people who own this country are.
They would think I'm nuts for complaining about having to be fingerprinted and checked out by the feds to drive a truck--it's for our safety! ;D
Quote from: Lloyd 'Posterboy' Danforth on March 03, 2007, 07:17 AM NHFT
Aren't most trucking regulations national?
Most trucks are involved in "interstate commerce," the crossing of imaginary lines drawn on goddamned pieces of paper.
Trucking regulations are mostly national. I was just referring to the fact that the Free State Project is probably the only chance we have to set an example for the rest of the country. Eventually. Maybe he'll move then.
Quote from: error on March 02, 2007, 09:47 PM NHFT
Quote from: B on March 02, 2007, 09:36 PM NHFT
My step-dad owns a trucking company here in Indiana and he's up all hours of the night battling against government regulations. Sadly, I can't seem to get through to him how moving to new hampshire and starting fresh could help save his sanity...
Sometimes parents don't like to listen to their children, even when they're right. It helps in this case to point to a disinterested third party.
Like me. Consider this (http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2007/01/05/transportation-workers-identity-credential-to-cost-159/):
QuoteThe Transportation Security Administration is requiring port and maritime workers and truckers to purchase a $159 identity document and undergo a "threat assessment" to provide secured access to seaports, airports and other such facilities, but doesn't yet have the technology to read the cards. . . .
Truckers who drive for large trucking companies will absorb the expense fairly easily, but this is going to squeeze a lot of small firms and owner-operators, who already operate on tight budgets, scrounge for their next load at truckstops, live out of their trucks and don't get home enough.
Just send him over here and I'm sure he'll think New Hampshire looks better and better every day. :)
I listened to my kid...that's why I'm no longer a Democrat, and why I post at nhfree, and why I'm involved in marijuana decrim, and why I went to Liberty Forum, and...well, I could go on and on.
My advice: Be persistent, but not a pest. Speak articulately and with conviction. Try and back up your talk with statistics/reading material/DVD/radio. If my 17-year-old could "convert" a 30+-year died-in-the-wool Democrat, then you can do it, too!
Good luck.
Missed you at the Liberty Forum! Missed a lot of people, actually.
I think we should have all turned our LF name tags over and written our nhfree screen names.
LF was invigorating. I've been to a number of Democratic gatherings and they are b o r i n g and stale and full of old people (God, to think Dems used to be the cool young hippy types). From what I understand, the GOP gatherings are the same. The freestaters know how to throw a party.
osama bin laden must have stock in the backround check company!
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Quote from: Lloyd 'Posterboy' Danforth on March 03, 2007, 07:16 AM NHFT
Quote from: Insurgent on March 02, 2007, 07:29 PM NHFT
. This process prevents the terrorists from getting a job driving a tanker truck and driving it in to a building.
You state it as if you believed it.
Strictly sarcasm, Lloyd!
Quote from: B on March 02, 2007, 09:36 PM NHFT
My step-dad owns a trucking company here in Indiana and he's up all hours of the night battling against government regulations. Sadly, I can't seem to get through to him how moving to new hampshire and starting fresh could help save his sanity...
It would not change anything at the beginning. He could start fresh where he is at. Starting fresh would be just as painful in either place. :)
Quote from: B on March 03, 2007, 01:30 PM NHFT
Trucking regulations are mostly national.
almost everything is determined by the us dot. .... but even worse ... when your company drives in all 48 states (and canada), then you also tend to bow down to the lowest common denominator and follow all the worst rules because sometime you will be in that state and have their special paperwork and special laws ... usually California is the offending party, but many of them have their own quirks.
The best we can achieve in The Shire would be to have no special rules or be our own country with no border rules. Either way ... trucks that come and go from here will only be as free as the worst country/state they drive through. We could make internal transportation a dream, but can't help the rest of the world in that way. I could see us being the hub of communication for the world. :)
That Keane place could turn from a small city into a major sprawling metropolis. :)
Quote from: Russell Kanning on March 04, 2007, 03:39 AM NHFT
Quote from: B on March 03, 2007, 01:30 PM NHFT
Trucking regulations are mostly national.
almost everything is determined by the us dot. .... but even worse ... when your company drives in all 48 states (and canada), then you also tend to bow down to the lowest common denominator and follow all the worst rules because sometime you will be in that state and have their special paperwork and special laws ... usually California is the offending party, but many of them have their own quirks.
The best we can achieve in The Shire would be to have no special rules or be our own country with no border rules. Either way ... trucks that come and go from here will only be as free as the worst country/state they drive through. We could make internal transportation a dream, but can't help the rest of the world in that way. I could see us being the hub of communication for the world. :)
You hit the nail on the head, there Russell. While it's a national standard, if NH becomes the state with the least amount of enforcement and fewest enforcers...
Quote from: malevil on March 03, 2007, 01:31 PM NHFT
Quote from: error on March 02, 2007, 09:47 PM NHFT
Quote from: B on March 02, 2007, 09:36 PM NHFT
My step-dad owns a trucking company here in Indiana and he's up all hours of the night battling against government regulations. Sadly, I can't seem to get through to him how moving to new hampshire and starting fresh could help save his sanity...
Sometimes parents don't like to listen to their children, even when they're right. It helps in this case to point to a disinterested third party.
Like me. Consider this (http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2007/01/05/transportation-workers-identity-credential-to-cost-159/):
QuoteThe Transportation Security Administration is requiring port and maritime workers and truckers to purchase a $159 identity document and undergo a "threat assessment" to provide secured access to seaports, airports and other such facilities, but doesn't yet have the technology to read the cards. . . .
Truckers who drive for large trucking companies will absorb the expense fairly easily, but this is going to squeeze a lot of small firms and owner-operators, who already operate on tight budgets, scrounge for their next load at truckstops, live out of their trucks and don't get home enough.
Just send him over here and I'm sure he'll think New Hampshire looks better and better every day. :)
I listened to my kid...that's why I'm no longer a Democrat, and why I post at nhfree, and why I'm involved in marijuana decrim, and why I went to Liberty Forum, and...well, I could go on and on.
My advice: Be persistent, but not a pest. Speak articulately and with conviction. Try and back up your talk with statistics/reading material/DVD/radio. If my 17-year-old could "convert" a 30+-year died-in-the-wool Democrat, then you can do it, too!
Good luck.
My parents, diehard Republicans since the 1970s, listened to me, and now they're much more inclined to liberty. (The fact that they're nonreligious and weren't happy with the route the Republican Party was taking, especially in Texas, helped.)
An interesting side-note to this story:
One of my coworkers also applied and was fingerprinted at the same time as me and was told that due to his four felonies (for drug offenses) that he'd likely be denied.
He just got word today that he is, also not deemed a security threat. Another one of my coworkers upon hearing this news, announced that "they don't want to piss anyone off--they just want our money. As long as your name isn't Mohamed, you'll pass!"
When I worked for Concord Steam the guy with a domestic violence conviction couldn't get a pass to the Federal building/courthouse in Concord. Neither could those with DWI's.