Divinest Sense

My thoughts are with the people of London and the families of the victims of the horrible crime that took place there this morning. This attack serves as grim notice that nothing we’ve done so far has even come close to dampening the threat of terrorism; in fact, our ill-conceived invasion of Iraq has made the situation worse. What we’re doing IS NOT working, and this proves it.
Back over here in the states, the threat level on public transportation systems got bumped up a notch to “orange”. In DC, that means bomb-sniffing dogs and police with big guns patrolling the metro stations. Although there’s been no specific intelligence about a subway attack in the U.S., lots of folks have been wondering why the whole city freaks out when a cropduster enters the restricted air space, but anyone could walk onto any metro train at any time and leave a big-ass bomb under the seat. Eerily enough, an old man who was talking to me on the metro last night said “yep, with all the folks on these trains, it could be just like that 9-11. I tell you whut.” (OK, I added that last part)
So, what gives? A quote from today’s Congressional Quarterly e-mail update:

Many lawmakers have sharply criticized the administration’s focus on aviation security above all other means of transportation. Democrats, in particular, have pushed in vain for increased funding for transit and rail. They vowed to do so again next week.
The president’s fiscal 2006 Transportation Security Administration budget proposed $4.7 billion for aviation security and just $32 million for passenger rail, buses and other modes of surface transportation.
Bush also sought to eliminate dedicated funding streams for rail and bus security. The House rejected that proposal and restored $150 million in funding for rail security grants in its version of the Homeland Security funding bill (HR 2360), which passed in May.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would offer an amendment next week to double proposed funding for rail, bus and subway security.

Chuck Schumer has been pushing for more security on rail systems since 9/11. Perhaps now that we’ve seen two deadly attacks on public transportation in two major cities, he’ll have some success. This is not rocket science. Terrorists will try to blow up trains because it’s easy to blow up trains, and it causes a lot of civilian casualties. Poisoning the milk supply? Unleashing a virus? Cyberattacks? All very creative, but much less likely than some well-placed, low-tech explosives.