Why New York City Is Still A Sitting Duck

Just listen to its "Republican" mayor, Michael Bloomberg:

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday that terrorists come "in all sizes and shapes and forms" and it wouldn't be fair for police to profile terrorism suspects on the basis of a Middle Eastern appearance.

Asked about the city's random stop-and-search policy, which Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Thursday would forbid racial profiling, Bloomberg told WABC Radio host John Gambling, "I think if we've learned anything, it is you can't predict what a terrorist looks like."

You can't? Weren't all twenty 9/11 hijackers "of a Middle Eastern appearance"? And the Madrid bombers? And the London bombers? Isn't Europe being overrun with Middle Eastern/Muslim immigrants who are bringing their jihad-haranging imams and madrasses with them? Is it we who are missing something real basic or is it Mayor Bloomberg?

"You want to have restrictions [on police terrorism searches]," Bloomberg explained. "You want to have the police to have the burden of being very careful and never discriminating."

Even if it could save hundreds or/of thousands of lives? Isn't that worth a few hurt feelings or irritated scowls?

Apparently not to the top Gothamite:

When Gambling reminded Bloomberg that "a higher percentage of them come from a certain section of the world," Bloomberg acknowledged: "That is true."

"But John," the mayor shot back, "the essence of our freedom is that you are presumed innocent - you're innocent until proven guilty. The presumption of innocence is the fundamental [value] of our society. And you just can't go and say everybody who has blue eyes - my example - is a terrorist just because most terrorists that you've caught have blue eyes."

Bloomberg acknowledged that his profiling ban would make it easier for terrorists to succeed in their next attack, but still insisted the practice was "unreasonable."

"It is just not a reasonable, not a rational - nothing that we want in our society," he maintained. "That does make it more difficult for the police, yes. But it's been more difficult for 235 years and we've kept the democracy and that's the challenge that we have to meet." [emphasis added]

If you didn't know better, you'd swear you were listening to John Kerry, wouldn't you? Kinda makes me wonder what Rudy Giuliani would have had to say about the topic. Somehow I don't think that he would have concurred that taking every possible precaution to guard against mass murdering Muslim fanatics is "unreasonable."

Personally, I'm not too awfully concerned with "offending" our enemies, and those Muslims who don't reside in that category should understand the reality of the situation and the steps that are necessary to protect civilian lives. That Bloomberg is - and apparently still looks upon terrorism as a law-enforcement matter - ought to be conclusive proof to the NYC electorate that he is unfit for the office he currently holds.

But this is, after all, New York City, maker of mediocre salsa and home of a political culture so hopelessly dysfunctional that it looks increasingly like it's located on the wrong side of the Atlantic. Ground zero of the GWOT is the epicenter of reactionary, delusional liberalism, which all but guarantees that the Big Apple will get sliced and cored again sooner or later.

Unless the city's voters can muster the wisdom to elect city officials who take terrorism seriously - after two major terrorist attacks in eight years - well, it's about to the point of concluding that they'll be deserving of the fate to which they're consigning themselves.

Put another way, if it's "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me," where does that leave Bloomberg?

UPDATE: Victor Davis Hanson takes this microcosm and "writs" it large:

Civilization has only two choices. It can continue appeasing these murderers, looking in vain for "root causes" of the mayhem....Or the United States and its allies can deny suspect Middle Eastern males entry into the West while distancing themselves from all Middle East dictatorships, which neither punish nor even shame thousands of their citizens whose money and psychological support fuel murderers across the globe.

We wait for a Western leader with the intellectual integrity and guts at last to say, "Enough is enough."

S/he won't be found at New York City hall.