My great-grandfather started out as a painter -- of carriages. Horse-drawn carriages. He was one of the last ones to do that. He eventually went into painting other things, such as houses.

The TSA's mission public mission is security. Its true mission is to provide the illusion of security. The flying public needs that show of security to continue flying and keep the economy rolling. That's all it really is -- a show.

People seem to have no idea what is really going on sometimes.

I had to laugh a few Christmases ago during one of the panic alerts. Someone commented on live TV news about how comforting it was to have their airliner escorted by F-16s. This idiot had no clue the jets were there not to guard them, but to shoot them down should they be hijacked.

-- Craig