Flying Naked Next

It might be time to ditch Pierre Trudeau’s now shopworn description of what it’s like for Canadians living next door to our gigantic U.S. neighbour. Instead of mice sleeping next to elephants, Canadians should be imagining themselves as the cops on Law and Order: we can see and hear everything happening on the other side of the one-way glass but those in the interrogation room—i.e., Americans—cannot see or hear us. And what Canadians have been seeing and hearing through the glass since last Christmas Day has been astounding.

The bumbling bureaucratic behemoth known as the Department of Homeland Security—and its subordinate agency, the Transportation Security Administration—once again reacted in pure panic to the failed attempt by the pathetic Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the underwear bomber, to blow up an America-bound airliner. Over...