New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg apparently is furious that no one in the Obama administration bothered to inform him about an idiotic, classified White House photo op that sent New Yorkers fleeing office buildings in fear of another terrorist attack as a fighter appeared to be chasing a 747 only a thousand feet off the ground.
"We all ran to the window, and I thought, that's it, we're all dead," said Chris Biancamano, 36, who works at a brokerage in Jersey City. "It brought back all the memories of 9/11. I said, 'I have to get out of here now!' "
Notwithstanding the wasteful extravagance of these types of taxpayer-funded exercises in political vanity -- Air Force One apparently costs $40,000 an hour to operate -- this stunt illustrates the complete disregard criminal politicians have for the rest of us. We simply exist for their amusement, as tools to finance their immature exploits and then as pawns to be used for their political experimentation.
As someone who lives and works within close proximity to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Southern Maryland, I'm used to hearing and seeing fighters and helicopters flying overhead. My one-year-old son immediately points to the sky and says "pane" whenever he spots one, something I obviously don't discourage as he builds his vocabulary.
But I can recall at least twice in the past month his grandmother grabbing his little hands and telling him "that's the sound of freedom" as they fly overhead (something even I ignorantly believed not too long ago). I immediately respond by calling these billion-dollar contraptions "Pentagon death machines," signaling to anyone within earshot that they can attempt to indoctrinate my kid with this propagandistic rhetoric if they like, but they're not going to get very far.
But back to New York. I suppose we should be grateful that this gratuitous misuse of taxpayer property at least took place while we enjoy a bustling economy. Imagine how absurd it would be to conduct such a profligate exercise during a depression!
I have to agree with David Kramer's comment on the LRC blog:
Is there any LRC Blog reader out there who doesn't believe that this was a purposeful malicious stunt pulled by the Federal Gunvernment? This is a classic "boy who cried wolf" stunt. The Gunvernment "coincidentally" has this benign photo op over the exact area where 9/11 took place. This way, the sheeple can think "Phew, it wasn't real this time, but maybe the next time it will be. We must always be vigilant against terrorist attacks--for the rest of our lives."
Posted by: Brutus | April 28, 2009 at 01:33 PM
Coming to DC on May 5 or 6.....
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Panic-Inducing-Scene-May-Play-out-in-dc.html
Posted by: mandr410 | April 28, 2009 at 08:31 PM