Guest opinion.

Courtesy Joe Scarborough, MSNBC's "Scarborough Country." How long must we sing this song? America and its allies are attacked. We promise dramatic measures to repulse the enemy. And in the case of the Nazis or the Taliban, we do just that. Then contentment sets in. We stop listening to the warnings of the Churchills and instead focus on the speeches by rock stars and Hollywood actors.

When our world leaders get together, they focus on global warming and the cause of the moment, instead of fighting the war of our lifetime. But while the rock stars preach, our enemies scheme. While movie stars practice politics, suicide bombers plan how to kill the most innocent people with a single blast.

Our leaders may ignore anti-terrorism at G8 conferences these days, but that suddenly changes when the first reports of explosions come in. Then suddenly, that idiot Bush starts looking a bit better next to the likes of the Chiracs and Schroeders of the world. And Blair suddenly seems to have a more realistic grasp on global realities than, say, Bob Geldof.

I am sure many Americans would like to believe that this attack will awaken world leaders. But I doubt it. We live in a silly age. The age of Hilton. The age of Teddy. The age of Chirac. We are not a serious people. Some concern themselves more with terrorists' rights than civilization's future. Reporters work overtime demeaning the very troops who protect our land. And rock stars replace grim Cassandras like Bush and Churchill as the prophets of pop culture.

The results are almost always disastrous.

Today in London they were deadly.