We'll Always Have Paris

Of course we want to show support, sympathy and comradeship with the the Parisians after the harrowing Friday the 13^th terror attacks. Personally, I have never used the term “Freedom Fries,” but beyond that I’ve always had great admiration for the French. Paris is where all the great artists and writers hung out a hundred years ago. While I wasn’t there at the time, it always seemed like it would be really cool.

France was the center of international diplomacy for much of the modern era. French was considered the lingua franca.

French kissing has become one of the rites of passage for young adults.

And, or course, there’s that great bread, toast and fries.

But moreover, the kind of attack that hit Paris could happen anywhere. We’re all vulnerable. It required coordination, but just conventional weapons: bombs, automatic rifles and cars. How can we possibly prevent or defend ourselves against that kind of terror?

We could rely on massive spying programs to keep tabs on everyone, but we certainly don’t want the government looking over our shoulders all the time … reading our emails, listening to our phone calls and tracking our Web surfing. We already have Google for that.

So how can we completely eliminate the threat of global terror without infringing on anyone’s rights? We’ll reveal this in a future post.