If it's been done so often before, then you should have no problem answering this simple question:

If terrorism is an existential threat, why is are commuters still permitted a personal automobile?

Not that I seriously expect you to answer. Rootless at least has a structured argument, however much I may disagree with his premise and conclusions. This thread... not so much.

(I note in passing that depriving commuters of their automobile is a considerably smaller restriction on individual, collective and political liberty than - say - the Patriot Act, Baghram/Gitmo/Abu Ghraib, criminal wiretapping and telco immunity or any of a dozen other extralegal activities undertaken in response to the alleged threat of terrorism.)

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

Care to reply to the other comments about the 'existential threat' that ETA does not pose?

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

Yes, boutique terrorism, because

These aren't nice guys, but they're sure as Hell not up to planting ten no-warning bombs set to go off simultaneously in train cars all over Madrid. That's way, way out of ETA's league.

Whereas it's absolutely textbook Al Qaeda tactics. Multiple bombs; simultaneous explosions; maximizing innocent civilian casualties. That's straight out of the bin Laden playbook.

A couple years ago ETA bombed a parking structure at Madrid's airport. Two Latin Americans died in the blast because their failed to be evacuated after ETA's phoned-in bomb warning. ETA pretty much apologized for the deaths. Boutique terrorism sounds about right.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

[ET Moderation Technology™]

Ormond's comment is supposed to be a reply to this, not a top-level comment.

ET 2.0 feature request: the ability to reattach a comment at a different point of the comment tree.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma