You'd Been Warned

We knew this was coming ever since the bag search policy was first announced.

The New York Civil Liberties Union is suing the city over the bag searches on mass transit systems. Do those civil liberties types consider freedom from being murdered by a suicide bomber to be a civil right, or just optional?

The NYCLU claims that the bag searches are unconstitutional, do nothing to prevent terrorism, and are overly intrusive.

I can think of nothing more intrusive than a bag of high explosive going off in a backpack, sending hundreds of nails, ball bearings, and other assorted pieces of shrapnel at high speed through whoever happens to be standing nearby.

Most people understand the seriousness of the threat facing us. They know that the police are tasked with the nearly impossible task of stopping suicide bombers who may be targeting mass transit in this country. However, there are some, like the NYCLU, who thinks that even common sense measures are not only imprudent, but violate someone's civil rights.

The ACLU and NYCLU have complained for years over the use of cameras in public spaces as being somehow intrusive, yet they fail to realize that those same cameras are snapshots of public spaces - meaning that anyone could see what was going on, but this is a record. It is those kind of cameras that have aided investigators in Europe track down the London bombers.

Meanwhile, the MTA in NYC has not undertaken a program to install more cameras throughout the system, despite having the funding available to do so. I find that highly imprudent. Dangerous even. However, it's understandable that the MTA is slow to make that move given the itchy trigger fingers over at the NYCLU and ACLU to sue anyone who might actually give a damn about the security of the public and act in a reasonable manner to address those security needs.