About the McLovin ID thing, I don't think it's Google's responsability to police which ids are fake and which are not. As far as I know faking an ID is a misdemeanor or a felony in most US states [1] and some other countries (like Brazil), so if there is any complaint against a reporter and he is found to have submitted a fake ID he is in for a fine and maybe jail time. I'm personally ok with requiring a user to commit a crime to cause antisocial behavior, as this ensures that they can be prosecuted in some way (this is the same principle behind DMCA takedown notices, where the person sending the letter is liable for a number of crimes if they are not who they claim to be or if they do not in fact own the right to the media at hand).
This isn't about liability. They already have common carrier status, which means that they won't be held accountable for what users say. This is about the kind of community they want to have. Unfortunately, by putting restrictions on the kind of community they want, they have also restricted the number of people who will be able to participate. Google+ can never be universal if they limit the interactions people are allowed to have.
[1] http://www.celticfringe.net/teenlife/fakeid.html ) and