Jamaica Me Crazy

My mother-in-law hates to fly. She calls planes ‘tubes of death.’ Well, I, my wife, my mother-in-law, and my father-in-law will be entering one of those ‘tubes of death’ in a little over 12 hours. We will be flying to the Carribean for a week of sun and relaxation. But, of course, as I was blog-rolling I had to come across this at rightwingnuthouse:

‘NEWARK, Dec. 30 - In the past week, laser beams of unknown origins have been shined into the cockpits of seven airplanes as they were about to land at various airports around the country, including Teterboro Airport. Federal officials announced on Thursday that they were initiating a major investigation to determine whether the episodes were related to terrorism.
(NY Times 12/31/04)
But the recent spate of incidents could presage some kind of terrorist attack on commercial aviation using relatively cheap and readily available hand-held anti-aircraft missiles. What are they using the lasers for?
Lasers are not being used to blind pilots. Lasers are being used to measure straight line distance from the ground to an aircraft at its most vulnerable state - landing. An aircraft on takeoff would be a more difficult target - maximum power and maximum climb. But a landing ship slows down to a speed just short of a stall and follows a prescribed path of flight .
The information regarding an aircraft’s peak vulnerability would be invaluable. Documenting landing approaches and straight line distances would be highly useful in target acquisition. That information is critical regarding available weapons systems .
Here's the nightmare scenario: Several teams of terrorists positioned at let's say 6 major airports around the country armed with shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles and using lasers to get an exact range from weapon to target fire off their missiles, all within less than 10 minutes of each other and bring down 6 jetliners carrying an average of 250 passengers. You not only have 1500 dead passengers you have scores, maybe hundreds of dead on the ground as the planes crash into suburban neighborhoods that surround most major airports and start huge fires initiating widespread panic.’

Interesting. Well, I’m pretty certain my mother-in-law is not aware of the above. Actually, as my phone has not rang, I am absolutely certain she isn’t. And that’s good. Except for one thing. I love to mess with people’s neuroses. The evil creature that dwells in my head tells me that in order to cure a fear a person must face it. Or so I tell myself. Me thinks I just enjoy stirring the waters.
So, what should I do? Just keep my mouth shut? Yes. That is what I should do. Yes, that is what I will do. Exactly that. And nothing else. But, of course, if it just happens to come up in normal conversation.....