The showing of ID does not accomplish anything. As has been pointed out, the losers that carried out the 9/11 attacks had ID. You don't even have to be a legal resident of the U.S. to obtain ID.
The "security" steps being taken at US airports are nothing more than showmanship. The TSA's own inspectors are routinely able to get through screening with weapons. Yet we spend huge amounts of resources searching the shoes of little old ladies from the heartland. Because of one idiot who was a total failure in his attempt to light a "shoe bomb", millions of shoes are screened every day at airports. If that's not an absurd knee-jerk reaction that costs millions of dollars in wasted TSA time, I don't know what is.
The time, money, and effort wasted at airports would be far better spent by beefing up our border patrols and inspection of shipping containers that enter this country. You don't need airplanes to smuggle anything into the US. More than 90 percent of container cargo goes totally uninspected. That's just downright scary.
We are so concerend with political correctness these days that we are willing to waste our efforts to make sure that we don't offend any particular group of people. But by doing so we dillute our resources to the point where our security efforts are meaningless. We need to wake up our representatives of this government and force them to start doing this right.
Mountain Dog
It's not the destination, it's the journey.
As far as the ID is concerned, you are 100% correct. Anyone can get an ID and good fake ones are very easy to aquire online or in any large city.
As far as the security steps, well I am sure it is better than doing nothing, but not much at all. All it really does is act as a deterrent. I am sure the TSA inspectors are able to get through. I personally have taken banned items through the TSA screening without getting caught. I am not going to say exactly what I brought through, but most of you that know me probablly know what it was. This is something I do just about every time I fly, so it is not just a random fluke that I made it through.
Maybe the entire thing is a big scam to make the airlines more money. There is surely some benifit for them. Even if it is just the fact that you can no longer bring a drink and are forced to purchase the drinks sold while in flight. That alone could be many millions of dollars per year in revenue alone. Of course all of the cost for the additional employees needed and equipment goes to the TSA, which of course our taxes pay for. It would not be the first time our government gave our money to the airlines!
Well fakes "should" be harder to get since most states have adopted a new form of ID that will be harder to copy. I read about this at the very end of last year and I think it was if you were born after mid to late 50's you have to get a new ID/ driver's license by 2011 and anyone born before the mid 50's has another five years or so. But that still doesn't help if the government issues the ID to the terrorist or who ever.