Have you seen these videos? Click to watch:

The back story:

The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles said yesterday it is ordering two men to get their license photos retaken — this time without the red-painted skin, spray-on hair and fake teeth — or lose their driving privileges.

Will Carsola and Dave Stewart posted Internet videos of their pranks, which included scenes of Mr. Carsola spray-painting his face and neck bright red and Mr. Stewart painting the top of his head black and sticking a row of fake buckteeth in his mouth in an Asian caricature. They each enter the DMV office and return with real licenses with photos of their new likenesses.

In another video, a shaved-headed Mr. Carsola comes out of the DMV with a photo of his eyes crossed, and another friend obtains a license after spray-painting on a thick, black beard and a single, continuous eyebrow.

“We have sent letters to the individuals that basically require them to appear at DMV to reapply for their driver’s licenses and surrender any previously issued licenses” within 15 days, DMV spokesman Bill Foy said.

Mr. Stewart and Mr. Carsola, both 27, said yesterday they will get their “real” photos taken, and were surprised at how easy it was to get their driver’s licenses, outlandish getups notwithstanding.

The independent filmmakers did the pranks as part of a new movie, “and it escalated from there,” Mr. Stewart said. “We were like, ‘There’s no way this is going to work,’ ” Mr. Stewart said in a telephone interview. “Even when I did the kung-fu guy, it surprised me how little they laughed. Will had red skin, and they didn’t even tell him to come back when it was normal.”

The videos, which appear on YouTube and Break.com under “DMV Drivers License Prank” and “Getting over on the DMV,” have prompted the state agency to review its current ID-photo policies, and to consider tightening its rules regarding customers suspected of being in disguise or distorting their appearance.

These guys have done the Virginia DMV–and the nation– a big favor. Many of us have tried to argue how much of a joke these agencies and our homeland security remain after 9/11–particularly the issuance of driver’s licenses (it was the Virginia DMV that issued state photo ID to several 9/11 hijackers who were aided by illegal aliens).

But few dissertations and policy analyses drive the message home more effectively than these two damning videos.

Thanks, guys.

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