Deja Vu at the DMV:
Benjamin Stackler is one of a handful of California motorists whose right to hold photoless driver's licenses issued to them under a religious exemption is now being challenged by a security-minded state Department of Motor Vehicles.
The Berkeley man's objections stem from his religious beliefs, which he says are based on his adherence to the Molokan Church, a sect that follows strict Biblical interpretation and considers photographs a violation of the Second Commandment outlawing any "graven image."
After a seven-year legal battle two decades ago, a Sacramento Superior Court ruled in his favor and he was issued a photoless identification in 1984.
But nearly 20 years later, Stackler's exempt status, along with recent religion-based challenges in other states, is on a collision course with officials at every level of government whose focus is on heightened security measures since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Bell weather local election-- Greens vs. Democrats--SF where the rhetorical Progressive rubber meets the road:
The officially non-partisan race for mayor of San Francisco has become a high-stakes battleground for the Greens and the Democrats, with both sides bringing in help from across the nation.
The hyperbole surrounding the mayor's race often threatens to overshadow the issues driving the campaign. But for the Democrats and the Greens, those issues and principles are only part of the reason the city's mayor's race is getting national attention.
California Democrats are still reeling from last month's recall election, when the state voted overwhelmingly to dump Gov. Gray Davis and replace him with Republican film star Arnold Schwarzenegger. If Gonzalez beats Newsom in one of the nation's most Democratic communities, it would be both a public relations and a political disaster for the party.
"The national press would have a field day with that,'' said Kevin Spillane, a veteran GOP political consultant. "As a partisan Republican, anything that's good for the Greens is good for us.''
That's the political danger the Democrats face. The Greens' 165,722 members make up less than 1 percent of the state's registered voters (it's 14, 698 and 3.2 percent in San Francisco), but every one of them comes right out of the Democrats' liberal base.
Democrats are convinced that Ralph Nader's 2000 campaign as the Green Party candidate for president cost Gore the White House. A strong Green Party could siphon off even more votes that otherwise would go to Democratic candidates, in California and elsewhere.