politically correct harassment

It appears our great spies knew about "the Nigerian" (is it just me, or does this sound like a movie title?) well in advance. They even knew his name. His father had gone to the US embassy and told them all about it. How much more of a hint do these James Bond characters need?

The reason why the Nigerian was not on the no-fly list is that his name is harder to spell than Edward Kennedy. Or maybe because, unlike Kennedy, he wasn't a liberal.

Given all that the appropriate response to the incident, as illustrated by news reports from Nigeria and the Netherlands, is to install full body scanners so security personnel can peek at people's privates on the job. Now I can understand the Dutch. They are quite into nakedness as is. The Nigerians probably had no choice, lest we bomb their country back into the stone age.

The appropriate US response is to go out of its way to prevent the impression of profiling. That is why TSA will step up its enforcement of putting liberal US Senators, congressmen and women, and other law abiding citizens on the no-fly list. TSA will also increase its efforts to pat down seniors, toddlers, babies, and expectant mothers. Our guardians will faithfully dump dangerous water bottles, peanut butter jars, and baby formula in an effort to keep us safer.

As part of that same effort our military will increase recruitment among muslims, and the President will no doubt go pray at a mosque pretty soon too.

The good thing is that all these efforts may well cause people to think twice about flying. And in that sense they make it easier for our country to abide by the Kyoto protocol and meet our carbon goals without enraging Republicans.