the los angeles times is a little late to the party with its article about the use of shoulder-mounted missiles against commercial aircraft, but it's a good one. interesting info: the black-market price of a stinger rocket is $200,000, which is up from $30,000—a government program to buy the rockets off the black market is credited for the increase.

the comment from the boeing spokesman is that the government should focus on any underlying causes of the attacks instead of forcing the commercial airlines to install defense systems (which are expensive, and of dubious value). isn't that the sort of comment that causes much raising of hackles when said by a liberal?