State Department Tries To Ease Backlog

Why anyone believes that we can rely on the government to protect us, in any way shape or form is beyond me especially when you read a story like this one. When the idiots that run the government don't have the foresight to realize that as soon as they require passports for any destination outside the US that there would be a flood of applications, how can we expect them to have any kind of ability to respond to emergency situations they had no forewarning of?

POSTED: 8:07 am MDT June 8, 2007

WASHINGTON -- There's been a summer's reprieve for people heading to Canada, Mexico the Caribbean or Bermuda. The Bush administration has decided to temporarily suspend its requirement that travelers carry passports to fly to and from those countries, after the State Department was overwhelmed with millions of passport applications. Until the end of September, passengers will be allowed to fly without passports if they present a State Department receipt, showing they have applied for a passport, and a government form of identification, such as a driver's license. The suspension will give the State Department time to deal with the recent massive surge in applications. Between March and May, the department issued more than 4.5 million passports.The backlog has caused three-month delays for travelers and spoiled vacation plans for thousands of Americans.