Obama’s security detail has nothing on the one Salman Rushdie had when visiting Widener University. Rushdie didn’t actually want the security–dogs, SWAT teams, &c.–and braved the New York and Philadelphia subways unmolested.

He did ask a good question, though, regarding the outcry over the Danish cartoons:

During his Widener session with an intimate crowd of 125, Rushdie spoke of the Danish cartoons that drew ire from the Muslim world (“What would a respectful political cartoon look like?”) and of his own religious beliefs, saying he’s a scholar of religion but not a believer.
“Whether I’m religious or not is secondary, because the world I write about is pretty religious,” he said.