DENVER — So I’m leaving the Pepsi Center, and walking out through the loading dock I see a chain-link-fenced enclosure marked “SECURITY” containing several hundred green duffle bags each marked “WMD.”

So I stop, look at them for a minute, and then ask the nearest police officer what’s in the bags.

“Tyvek suits,” he says. “Gas masks, you know, that kind of thing.”

“Oh,” I say. “Supplies to use in case someone else uses WMDs, you mean.”

“Yeah,” he says, and then stops for a second. “I guess they could be labeled a little more clearly, couldn’t they.”