Stepped-Up Security

Police are said to be stepping up security in the wake of the failed car bomb attempt in NY. I suppose that's a good thing, and it's certainly wonderful that a combination of alert citizens and swift police response thwarted the car bomb in the first place. But really, how can we protect America against car bombs? Terrorism experts say that the Times Square bobmer's use of simple, easily obtained materials made the bombing "relatively easy to execute and nearly impossible to detect."

In our wide-open society, I don't see how simple attacks like these can really be stopped. We can't set things up so that you have to go through security whenever you want to go from anywhere to anywhere else. We can't have police everywhere all the time.

When Iraq was going through three or four big car bombings a week, I wondered why we didn't have them in the U.S. Perhaps part of the answer is social -- there probably aren't many completely solo car bombers; they must be fostered by the kinds of groups that we don't have. Let's hope it stays that way.

And meantime, appreciate the preciousness of life. Enjoy and savor.