The cold blooded murder of Londoners is no more horrifying than the murder or New Yorkers or Madrilenos -- or Baghdadis. But today's target still has a special hold over my emotions. If your mother tongue is English, and you loved stories as much as I did as a child, then London is the city of your imagination, of Mary Poppins and David Copperfield, of London-bridge-is-falling-down and the prince and the pauper. And if you've been there, and visited the places you dreamed about as a boy, and ridden the tube to Picadilly Circus, and climbed the stairs of the Tower of London, and strolled through Hyde Park in the morning fog, then what happened today hurts more than maybe it should, logically.

We are all New Yorkers, we are all Madrilenos, we are all Baghdadis. But I was a Londoner from the time I learned how to read. I know it shouldn't make any difference, but it does.

This afternoon, I walked into the hotel that the family I’m staying with manages — we have lunch here every day. When I came in, the grandpa of the family — “Nonno” — walked up to me, and said, “Jill, come.” We walked to the lobby, where the TV was turned to CNN, and we watched footage of a destroyed bus and terrified people. When a visibly shaken Tony Blair came on the screen, Nonno, in slow, broken English said, “He talks to the people… the families…” and I turned around to see this always-smiling, always-proud Sardinian man crying, without shame, in the lobby of his hotel.

If you pray, say one for the people in London today. If you don’t pray, send them your best wishes.

I'm watching CNN and a panel of police taking questions. DAC Brian Paddick is one of them -- he's the most senior out gay officer in the UK police force and a hero to many in the GLBT community. Someone asked a question about "Islamic terrorists" and Paddick actually took a moment to denounce the very idea. He said that anyone who is a terrorist can hardly claim to be a Muslim, since attacking innocent people is counter to the very beliefs of Islam. (I'd say the same about "Christian terrorists" like Eric Rudolph et al.) This right after dozens are killed and hundreds are injured. He's not just being politic -- words like that can keep angry people from taking revenge on the innocent UK citizens who are Islamic.

What happened on September 11th in the U.S., today in London, and attacks that await us are all examples of the worst of humanity. The scum that represents the terrorists of the world, killing innocents in the name of a god that has nothing to do with God, is only a piece of the story. The fools and self-motivated leaders that promise to protect us have blood on their hands in equal measure.