WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, JOE DIMAGGIO? :

Freedom vs. Security : Delicate balance: The case for `smart profiling' as a weapon in the war on terror (Fareed Zakaria, 7/08/02, NEWSWEEK)

I will always remember July 4, 2001, because a week earlier I became an American citizen. It was a different America one year ago. The country was bathed in peace and plenty, calmly contemplating a mild recession and a sinking stock market.

BUT UNDERNEATH THE SURFACE, Americans were searching for purpose.

The rest of this essay is a reasonable exploration of how far we should be willing to go in trading liberties for security. This opening bit though taps into a too little remarked upon phenomenon. When the Reverends Falwell and Robertson spoke of 9-11 as a kind of judgment upon a people who'd lost their way they were shouted down so vociferously that other, less tendentious, folks seem reluctant to broach the topic. It's interesting that Mr. Zakaria touches on it, however lightly. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 2, 2002 7:53 AM