The politics of cowardice

I think it's a positive sign that the WSJ published this.

On a related note, in the last two days fighter jets have been scrambled twice to "accompany" flights on which passengers became fractious in some unspecified but ultimately non-terroristic way.

Does it really make everybody feel better that the USAF is apparently primed to shoot down commercial airliners at the drop of a hat?

Also, how much does that sort of nonsense cost?