ONCE AGAIN - WITH FEELING!

Federalize airport security. Immediately. Not that it would have helped Flight 587 one way or another -- but the fact that we legitimately feared, for an entire news cycle, that it was brought down by a terrorist bomb is proof enough that we can't afford Tom DeLay's political posturing on this issue.

In an eerily prescient moment of clarity, let's reconsider what Mind Over What Matters had to say only eight days earlier (with bold italic underscores added):

The oft-stated reason for federalizing airport security is simple and fundamentally true: Government must intervene wherever ordinary market forces work against the public interest. This is precisely the dynamic at work here. Left to their own devices, our private-sector airlines -- most of which are now battling for their very survival -- will continue to pay minimum-wage or low-bid rates for untrained, unchecked, unmotivated rent-a-cops. If Congress simply passes unfunded mandates to dictate improved quality control for security checks, the airlines will cut corners elsewhere. (Fewer safety inspections, anyone?)