I'm Less of a Threat

UnrealID.com
So why do I keep having to take off my shoes in airports?

Yesterday Michael (Skeletor) Chertoff announced the next federal step towards a national ID (called "Real ID", like my passport isn't a real ID. Please.). States have until May 31 to agree to go along with the federal rules for IDs that would be necessary a) to get into federal buildings, and b) to fly. But there are different compliance dates, based on the age of the person to whom the license is being issued. Why is this?

The schedule released Friday calls for compliant licenses for everyone under 50 by May 11, 2014, and for those 50 and over, by Dec. 1, 2017.

The Homeland Security Department decided this would lower costs, according to Mr. Chertoff. He called it “risk management,” saying older people were less likely to be terrorists.

So, again I ask, if I'm less likely to be a terrorist, why am I taking my shoes off in airports?

This is just spinning their wheels. Nothing gets done before Bush leaves office, and the national ID is deeply unpopular. Hopefully a Democratic president will scuttle this waste of money. It reminds me of Nazi Germany: Papers, please? Or Casablanca and the letters of transit. No one will be able to travel without a Real ID, and the black market for counterfeit IDs will become even more lucrative.