Terrorists Kill 470 In L.A.

The ABC national evening news showed diagrams of the train routes in Bombay (aka Mumbai), India, with little symbols representing each of eight bombs. Estimated number of people killed: 183.

The local news had already showed Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who strives to turn every news story from anywhere in the world into a photo-op. He was standing in front of a bank of video monitors, claiming that MTA subways are safe because there are now little cameras mounted in stations. He didn't explain how these cameras would do anything other than provide a posthumous record of a terrorist attack. He did, however, claim that we became much safer here in L.A. during the past year -- the implication being that we are safter since he took office.

During that year, however, 470 people have been murdered in Los Angeles. That's like having two-and-a-half of the Bombay bombings occur right here.

Whether the gangs committing murder in L.A. are home-grown, or MS-13, or something else, stopping this carnage needs to be the City's first priority -- certainly higher than having two City Councilmen travel to Beirut to make it L.A.'s "sister city."

By virtue of the number of people murdered here each year, L.A.'s sister cities are Bombay, Fallujah, Oklahoma City and Madrid. Let's treat the Bombay bombings as a wake-up call, and get City Hall focused on stopping the terrorism here.

POSTSCRIPT at 11:11 p.m.:
Make that 471. Anna Elizabeth Interiano, 16, a student at Hamilton High was murdered today, just three blocks from school. CBS Channel 2 reports that the murders were apparently gang members, but the victim was not. She was shot at 1:30 p.m., and died at 6:30 p.m.