Americans are getting soft again: Despite the FBI's efforts to claim credit for the prevention of the shoe bomber's plans, Reid was restrained from blowing flight 63 to kingdom come by a team of courageous flight attendants and concerned passengers. What a blow, however, to discover that most of the heroic passengers turned out to be French. This is not to take any credit away from the presumably American flight crew, but having taken shots at the slovenly security at Charles de Gaulle airport, we were pulled up short by televised images of passengers marvelling at how incroyable the whole experience was. The one fighting passenger who could pass for an American - basketball player Kwame James - turns out to have been born in Toronto. Certainly you can never tell how people will behave in extreme situations, but these days doesn't every US citizen board an airplane looking to kick some terrorist butt?

Perfect Alibi: If experience is any guide, Reid's defense will consist of an incoherent barrage of quotations from the Koran and some equally incoherent evasions. Why doesn't he just claim to be a professional clown, using exploding shoes as part of his act? Can he be forgiven for getting some work done on a long flight? After all, clowns don't carry laptops.

The Clinton Angle: It's never too early to start pointing fingers. We expect the new year won't be too old before some TV pundit or Wall Street Journal opinion writer lambastes the Clinton Administration for having gutted our nation's exploding-shoe defense.