for immunity for liability over the hijackings and for the government to take over airport security. I suppose paying poorly trained and screened employees $6 an hour is too much for the airlines. Given all of the reports of lax airport security over the years, perhaps having someone else run it isn't a bad idea.

On a related note, one of my students told me last night about her husband's recent trip through Logan in Boston. He wears steel toed boots that set of the airport metal detectors everywhere he goes. However, when he went through Logan a week before the hijackings, the metal detector never made a sound. Either it wasn't functioning or the sensitivity was set too low. Regardless, until last week, passengers could carry knives with blades up to 4" long on board planes. That surprised the hell out of me and probably a lot of other people as well.