A Dog to Its Vomit
Fred Reed at Strike the Root - commentary on the Amerikan Sekurity state, DC style. [root]
I figure the whole country must be smoking dope, because they've all got the fears. Or so it appears at first. In stations of Metro, the city's subway, a recording told us over and over that Metro had new secure trash cans and--I think this is verbatim--"You can now put your trash where it belongs without fear." Yes, brethren and cistern, you can throw away that newspaper in a state of calm.
We're afraid of trash cans? What would Davy Crockett think?
...
I don't know. But it is a bureaucratized terror, coated with a sort of Madison Avenue inanity. Terror by Disney. I get the impression that it is a response more to boredom than to peril. Life is pretty tedious going to the cubicle farm every day. Living in an imaginary war zone relieves the ennui. The Homeland Security people, not exactly a scintillating crew, get to feel important, have a sense of mission and maybe even be noticed. In a meaningless life, the chance to go mano a mano with bin Laden, even if only by tilting at trash cans, is better than nothing.