A Pilgrim’s Digression

Today I attended Emergency Preparedness Training and received my $150.00 Quickmask 2000� respirator. Your tax dollars at work, as the signs say. For $150.00, it’s a little better than a baggy and a rubber band, but only a little. It has an external Hepa filter that hangs from the front of the mask; it looks a little like one of those charcoal filter packets for an aquarium filter. It only protects the head and lungs, and of course many chemicals that a terrorist might use also attack the skin. Even tear gas stings when it comes into contact with the skin. Publicly, everyone is cynical and rather contemptuous of the whole thing, myself included. These training sessions are always well-attended, though. Privately, I think people are more wary. I can go to the other side of the building and look out a window and see the Capitol dome across the street. A terrorist would never be able to strike here with all the security on Capitol Hill. Would he?