Based on the recent terror alert, Metropolitan Transit Authority police have announced that they will begin spot-checking passengers and their baggage on commuter trains heading into Manhattan.
Atrios thinks this is shocking. (Archives are fouled up; scroll down to the item titled "Spot Searches on Trains.") I agree. I'm shocked they didn't do this earlier. It's about time. As a twice-daily Metro North commuter, I've always thought the commuter trains were an ideal place for a terrorist attack - either a bomb or a chemical/biological attack. (The commuter trains go underground and are plunged into darkness as they approach Manhattan, presenting close-to-ideal conditions for such an attack.)
I'm amazed at the unwillingess of some of the people on Atrios' comment board to concede that: 1) there just might be a reason to be concerned about security on the trains, especially given that the reports which spawned the latest alert apparently specified attacks to occur "underground" (see above re: why that could apply to commuter trains and not just subways), or 2) if the threat exists, maybe the authorities should actually do something about it.
Actually, there is an argument for concentrating investigative & enforcement resources in the population sectors most likely to contain suspects. A one-word summary of that policy is "profiling." Somehow, I don't assume Atrios' commenters are endorsing that policy.
I don't want to give the impression that I think profiling is a cure-all or completely unproblematic; is is neither. But that doesn't justify a nihilistic attitude aimed at pointing out all the flaws in all available options, while refusing to engage any questions of cost-benefit balancing that might lead to concrete recommendations - and don't forget, anything bad that happens is Bush's fault.