The news for the last few days indicates a severe casualty in the war on terror. The latest victim is the collective sanity of an entire society. Without even trying very hard, the terrorists, with a little help from our government (or do I have that backwards?) have driven us all crazy.

I suppose most people are aware of the rampant insanity in air travel. Flying while Muslim has become a serious offense, and having a beard or speaking Arabic is all the evidence one needs to be suspected of this dastardly crime. And the number of flights disrupted just today because someone felt terrorized keeps changing, but the latest count seems to be six.

Meanwhile, back on the ground, closer to home, is an incident that probably didn't make national news, but is just about as stupid. For about 4 hours, part of Lexington was blocked off, homes were evacuated, streets were closed, schools were locked down, bomb squads were called out. Why? Because somebody was seen wandering around in a part of a building where he didn't belong. And later, employees in the building, which housed a fitness center among other businesses, found a stopwatch. There was no positive connection between the suspicious character and the suspicious stopwatch, but obviously a stopwatch lying around near a fitness center couldn't have been just accidentally dropped there by someone working out. It's a damn good thing people were alert enough to realize the potential danger of a stopwatch called for drastic action.

When a town can be paralyzed with just a stopwatch, the terrorists have definitely won.