As I've mentioned already, my wife and I were struck by the cleanliness of London.  In preparing our children for the visit, we had forewarned them that the subway system (the "tube") would be filled with offensive smells and graffiti.  We were wrong. 

The London Tube is a model of metropolitan transportation.  The stations are free of human smells and the graffiti has been replaced with advertising billboards.  The trains, too, are free of graffiti.

I recall years ago as New York faced the problem of graffiti on their train cars.  Many liberals sought ways to give the graffiti hooligans an "outlet" for their "skill" by having them paint on abandoned cars, or offering them a forum for their work.  In fact, liberals sought to downplay the public offense by terming these miscreants as "graffiti ARTISTS"!  

But along came Mayor Guliani.  He said in part, "we can either live like they want us to, or have them live by our rules".  Luckily he required and enforced the latter.  And New York, like London, regained their streets and their subways and their lives.  

With even greater consequences, London, New York and America face and even more important choice.  The radical Muslims want us to move our societies to conform to their "religious" ideals.  They want us to change our ways so that we are not offensive to them.  Once again, we have to decide if we want to live the way they want us to, or have them live by our rules.  

These radical Muslims are no more religious than the graffiti violators were artists.  The choice seems pretty simple.  "Conviction" will solve this problem much quicker than "Understanding".