Today Is The Day

From what I've been reading, after today, certain forms of identification are required for domestic flights. Media outlets are reporting the outrage of this requirement every chance they get, and many are irritated they have now have to have this identification, but the law was passed twenty years ago, and there has been plenty of time.  

Right after the attacks in 2001, most industrial facilities required a Transportation Worker Identification Card (TWIC). At the beginning, a driver license was an acceptable form of identification for the card. After 2005, to have it renewed, an original, or certified copy, of a birth certificate was required for most people. There were other acceptable ID's, but I don't remember what they were. Without the card, I was forbidden to enter any dock, which included every petrochemical facility where I worked, even though I'd worked in most for years. Even the guards recognized me, but would turn me away if I didn't have the card, which required over a hundred dollars of my money every few years to update, and my fingerprints.

So, here we are. They're cracking down on those that probably are not dangerous, but it is what it is. I have some sympathy for those that have to jump through hoops to obtain the correct paperwork for their identification, but not much. There was no hoopla when I had to jump through hoops to keep working, and dealing with a bureaucracy to get a certified copy of my birth certificate took more time than I wished to give.