Feeling Safer Lately?

If so, it may be due to a bold but move by the Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Sen. Joe Lieberman.

Instead of the customary seating of Democrats and Republicans on opposite sides of the table, they will now be alternating, like the boy-girl arrangement at dinner parties.

“We want the American people to see us sitting side by side as our Committee members work together to make our nation more secure,” Lieberman, the Independent from Connecticut, announced jointly with Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the ranking Republican member.

As always, Lieberman is the low-rent examplar of what the late William Sloane Coffin said of George W. Bush, “Deep down, he’s shallow.”

Then again, Chairman Joe might be worrying about what the Democrats would be whispering to each other about him if they were still sitting next to one another.

Still, when it comes to Homeland Security, a little paranoia may be a good thing.