Nothing says America like flying a B-1 bomber over the All Star Game...

[WCGreen]

That is all...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Hey, if you got it...

Why the hell not?

Only in America!

:patriot:

[ellisonz]

2. B-2

[mix]

3. or this

down with militarism
:hi:

[Cobalt-60]

53. that drone is uglier than home made soap!

Perhaps my Aeronautical training is from another age, but this thing is just misshapen.
I'd rather have the bizarre asymmetry of Blohm and Voss than this lumpy spud.

[LARED]

4. Gotta love it - nt

[lapfog_1]

5. It's about all they were ever good for.

what did they cost, about $1B a plane or something.

Complete wastes of taxpayer money. Not even clear that we needed a new generation of Strategic Bombers.

[Arugula Latte]

25. Good thing we didn't spend that money on something helpful -- like universal healthcare.

:eyes:

[uponit7771]

29. +1

[harun]

32. I tried to pose this question to a freeper a while back. The question that

you know what, we didn't need to ever spend this money did we?

He had to stop and think for a while, being that a freeper brain has never entertained the thought that any military spending could ever be wasteful. But eventually conceded we probably didn't need some of these things.

[Optical.Catalyst]

50. The best thing to come out of the B-1 bomber was the Russians copied it

Our FB-111 and B-1 had swing wings, so the Russians thought the best way to make their new aircraft was also with swing wings.

The Russians were set back a generation in military aircraft technology because they though we knew what we were doing.

[Optical.Catalyst]

51. Dupe

[cherokeeprogressive]

6. Why not? The Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces threw out the first pitch. n/t

[blueclown]

7. I am so tired of the outlandish nationalism at these sporting events.

And this is coming from a huge sports fan!

[depakid]

9. I basically had to turn it off

Started to remind me of something we might have seen in the old Soviet Union.

[WCGreen]

11. Went to PBS and saw Nova Science which is really cool...

[HopeOverFear]

14. It's the big movie music I cannot stand

It's just too over the top.

[Grinchie]

30. I'm glad you see the similarities of the Hype with other regimes.

I watched the movie Chaplin the other night, and it portrays a pretty good rendering of Charlie Chaplins life, and briefly covers the rise of Hitler in Germany. There is one scene in the movie where Dan Akroyd as Mack Sennet says about Hitler, "He stole your act", which I found quite profound.

It's pretty clear that Governments have a well established image that they must maintain if they are to remain viable in the eyes of the masses. Obama is no different, and is presented like a high priced, but inconsequential gourmet tidbit. Presentation supercedes substance or nourishment.

I'm happy to see that "Hollywood" is starting to be recognized for what it is, because the strength it has to trigger irrational, emotional responses is quite large. If people were to approach Obama's performance with a cold hard eye of the businessman performing due diligence, the masses would be in the streets with huge general strikes and shutdowns.

But no, Americans like the theatre before they shut the doors, nail them shut, and then burn down the theatre.

[HopeOverFear]

35. um...what the fuck are you talking about?

:crazy: :wtf: :shrug:

[Grinchie]

47. Nothing apparently.

[Cali_Democrat]

17. I feel the same way

I'm a huge sports fan, but these "patriotic" displays are a little unsettling, especially after what is actually happening in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Arugula Latte]

26. It's ridiculous. And if you question -- why do we have to hear the anthem? -- you are the bad guy.

[ProudDad]

41. I always keep my seat when

that anthem to USAmerikan Imperialism is played...

(Based on the melody from an old British Drinking Song!)...

[Drunken Irishman]

36. You'd blow your head off if you lived over in Europe.

Nationalism in sporting events is far greater and more important over there than it is in the States.

Think 100-foot long country flags. People chanting national songs during 90% of the game.

It's nuts.

[invictus]

37. For international competitions like the World Cup, but not for every little domestic game. n/t

[Drunken Irishman]

38. It's different, though.

Europe is more about pitting countries against one another over there.

Here, it's city/city.

The Euroleague is pretty large (basketball), but again, we're looking at a lot of countries going against one another (as opposed to the NBA, where there is only one non-US team).

So it's the same, but different.

[okieinpain]

54. canada isn't part of the us?

:~)

[boppers]

48. You're a "fan"...

Of people competing against each other, often in groups...

..and surprised that they display moronic "groupthink"?

My apologies if you're a fan of sports that don't mention nation, teams, or other "groupings".

[rockymountaindem]

8. Suits me

I remember going to about 10 years' worth of Air Force Academy football games with my dad (season tix) and I got to see most of the USAF arsenal, current and past, fly a few hundred feet over my head during that time. I'm still amused when I go elsewhere and people oooh and ahhh over one single plane. I think "when they get a B-1, and AC-130, an F-15 and a flight of F-16s all in one place, call me" :)

[agentS]

10. The B-1 does double duty

It was also in Transformers 2 this summer- dropping bombs all over the place.

[WCGreen]

12. Well THAT makes me want to see the movie...

[Neecy]

13. the Stealth bomber is based in Missouri

I'm guessing that's why it was featured.

[cboy4]

19. Yup! You are absolutely right

[okieinpain]

55. well you have to admit, it's pretty amazing that that piece of @#$% gets

off the ground. it would be really funny if somebody does a movie and a little kid ask his daddy what the plane does. he explains to the kid that the plane drops bombs on little kids blowing their arms and legs off, then the kid has nightmares through the rest of the movie.

yeah I know something is wrong with me, oh well.

[ashling]

15. Maybe flying a B-1 Bomber which has

a nuclear weapon on board that was "mistakenly" taken from the super secure nuclear weapons storage locker, but not to worry, because we may be stupid enough to have a nuke on board, but there is no way that it is actually armed, because that process is super secure ... uh ... kind of like the weapons storage place. Yeah, right. :shrug:

[Cali_Democrat]

16. 'murka

fuck ya?

[mopinko]

18. unless it is a flag the size of rhode island

keep thinking about that saying about a flag big enough to cover the stain of killing innocents.

[Xenotime]

20. More pollution in our skies. Great work America!

[Vidar]

21. Stupid is as stupid does.

[lindisfarne]

22. Gotta be able to bomb the stadium to protect the pres.n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

23. Oy.

This is a B-1 bomber.



This is a B-2 bomber.

[SIMPLYB1980]

24. LoL! I don't think that matters to most posters in this OP.

Come on people are we really going to be upset about a fly over.

[brendan120678]

27. My wife and I were tyring to guess what type of plane...

would do the fly-over.

When they showed on TV the B-2 Spirit coming in from the distance, we both turned to each other and commented that it'll certainly be the quietest flyover in a long time. The internally-mounted sub-sonic engines contribute to it's (relative) silence.

Too bad, too - the loud, knock-you-out-of-your-shoes roar of the supersonic fighter jets is what makes fly-overs exciting.

[Occam Bandage]

28. Nothing says DU like faking basic military-tech knowledge incompetently.

[invictus]

31. American "patriotism" is bullshit. Our armed forces do not protect our freedoms. American wars serve

American "patriotism" is bullshit. Our armed forces do not protect our freedoms. American wars serve corporate interests like everything else the government does while the working classes get screwed. Anyone who cheers the bombing of women and children while American jobs are getting shipped off to China and India is an idiot and a traitor, not a patriot.

[harun]

33. I hear ya.

[damonm]

45. Thank you VERY much ...

for the slap in the face to everyone who's ever worn the uniform of this country, AND for the rise of the Right Wing, which feeds voraciously upon the bile you spew to portray us as "America Haters".

[eqfan592]

46. Bingo!

These guys are so full of crap it's not even funny, and they do NOTHING but harm to our cause.

[psychopomp]

57. Try living overseas for a while...especially a place with close proximity to

China, NK or Russia.

You might change your mind about what the US military does once you have to rely on them as a last resort for getting your rear back Stateside.

[MrSlayer]

34. I like the flyovers.

I have no problem with them at all.

[eqfan592]

40. Same here...

...Honestly, bitching about stupid crap like this undermines our causes. I love flyovers, because I'm an aviation nut. If you don't like them, then don't watch them. But sitting here pissing and moaning about something so innocuous just serves to make you all look like arrogant little prigs, who feel they are far too "above" the common American to appreciate such things.

I agree that nationalism is not a great thing at all, but you people take it to the next level where you seem to think that ANYBODY who dares to show pride in their nation at all is somehow misguided and ignorant.

Spend less time crying about flyovers, and more time winning over voters to enact change on REAL issues. Because I can promise you that crap like this does nothing to accomplish this goal.

[olkaz]

43. Same here as well.

It's really wild to see it in person.

And this thread serves as a great example of how silly people are acting lately. Relax folks.

[ProudDad]

39. Piss on ALL Flags!

and dismantle all military nonsense.

They are monuments to human stupidity (and HUGE wastes of treasure)...

Jingoist bullshit!

[eqfan592]

42. Yeah, you roll with that one brother.....*sigh* (nt)

[ProudDad]

44. I loath military flyovers because they remind me that...

WAR is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

------------------------------

It's the reason we have failing schools, no health care, unequal distribution of wealth, etc. etc. etc.

The war business sucks up over 60% of the public treasure and corrodes our collective soul...

[mp9200]

49. Yep

Only in America, like they say.

[Optical.Catalyst]

52. They are our B-1s now

[BeyondGeography]

56. I was at one of those flyover games once

That sound scared the piss out of me. All I could think of was how terrifying it must be to hear that roar accompanied by actual bombs. A bizarrely American notion of "entertainment" if ever there was one.