JUST HOW PRO-TERRORIST ARE THE DEMOCRATS?

NBC News obtained last week a bulletin the Transportation Security Administration sent July 20 to airport officials and local law enforcement.

"A surge in recent suspicious incidents at U.S. airports may indicate terrorists are conducting pre-attack security probes and 'dry runs' similar to dress rehearsals," the bulletin said.

TSA intercepted items "resembling improvised explosive device components" at airports in San Diego, Milwaukee, Houston and Baltimore, the bulletin said.

In two of the four incidents, blocks of processed cheese (whose consistency is similar to that of plastic explosive) were connected to wires and an electrical switch, or the cheese was taped to a bag holding a cell phone charger, the TSA bulletin said.

"There is no credible, specific threat here," a TSA spokeswoman told the Associated Press.  "Don't panic."

That's good advice. But in view of the recent National Intelligence Estimate that al Qaeda is more determined than ever to strike the U.S. homeland, and reports of increased "chatter" on terror communications networks, it would be prudent to be on our guard.

Passengers aboard United Air Lines Flight 93 almost certainly prevented either the U.S. Capitol building or the White House from destruction on 9/11.  The suspicions of a teenage clerk in a video store in New Jersey likely prevented a murderous attack on U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix.  Our first line of defense against a terror attack is a vigilant public.

Which is why it is puzzling that Democrats would seek to punish Americans who report suspicious behavior to the authorities.

Last week Democrats sought to remove from a homeland security bill a provision which would protect from lawsuits airline passengers who report suspicious activity.

The measure had been proposed by Rep. Peter King (R-NY) in response to the "flying imams" controversy.  Last November, six imams were kicked off a U.S. Airways flight in Minneapolis after passengers reported suspicious behavior.  

(The six adopted the seating pattern of the 9/11 hijackers: two in front of the passenger compartment; two in the middle; two in the rear.  A passenger who spoke Arabic overheard two praising Osama bin Laden. An imam who obviously didn't need it requested a seat belt extension, which could be used as a weapon.)

Police escorted the imams off the airplane. They were released after being interviewed. In March, they filed a lawsuit against U.S. Airways and against the passengers who had reported their behavior.

Rep. King then proposed his "John Doe" amendment to protect airline passengers who report suspicious activities from lawsuits.  The House approved it by a vote of 304-121.

Because the Senate version of the homeland security bill contained no similar provision, "John Doe" was an issue in the House-Senate conference committee.  Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss), chairman of the Homeland Security committee in the House (with the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) wanted to drop it.

And it was. "Congressional Democrats today failed to include a provision in homeland security legislation that would protect the public from being sued for reporting suspicious behavior," Audrey Hudson of the Washington Times reported July 19.

Two factors forced the Democrats to reconsider that decision this week.  The first was an outraged response from Web loggers that was drawing attention to what Democrats had hoped to hide from public view.  The other was the dismal performance record of the Democratic Congress.

All Democrats have accomplished since they took control of Congress in January is to pass a minimum wage bill and rename some post offices.  Their failure to date to deliver on campaign promises is a big reason why approval ratings for Congress are the lowest ever recorded.

The Homeland Security bill is a major piece of legislation Democrats want badly to add to their sparse record of accomplishments.  But Republican anger over the dropping of the King amendment was putting final passage in jeopardy.  So on Wednesday, Democrats reluctantly agreed to put the John Doe protection back in the bill.

This is a victory for common sense.  But one wonders why Democrats had to be dragged into it kicking and screaming.  Terror-supporting Moslems in the U.S. are not a large voting bloc, and Republicans are not competing with Democrats for their votes.

"Sometimes the curtain is pulled back, and we see how radically far left the Democratic leadership really is," said a GOP aide on Capitol Hill.

Just how pro-terrorist are these guys?