Fighter jets cruising over my house, shaking my windows

[SoCalDem]

I think there's an air show this weekend, and they are only practicing.

Every pass they make only reminds me of how terrified I would be if the screaming, shaking, booming they deliver as they pass over were followed by explosions.

This weekend my town will be crawling with yahoos who will drool over and caress the ones they are allowed close enough to. They will snap pictures of the kids standing next to the sleek shiny one on the runway and slip those pics into the photo albums.

They will watch the aerobatics and applaud & whistle.

the recruiters will be out in full force.. I can hear 'em now.."Son, you wanna FLY one of those things?"...sign here...

And so it goes..

[LiberalPartisan]

1. I admit it - I love air shows....n/t

[Balbus]

4. I'm with you - it's such an adrenaline rush!

[Bridget Burke]

10. The Lone Star Flight Museum has an airshow in Galveston this weekend...

Some oldies will be included.

www.lsfm.org/index.php?pgid=3&subid=1

I think their B-17 is flying again. A few years ago, I heard a low rumble in the sky & rushed outside. The B-17 was flying over, low. With a figher escort of WWII vintage. Well--I don't know my fighters very well. Some may have been "attacking."

[Shilohtd16]

2. Airforce really is not that dangerous.

but i do believe we would make more friends if we spent less money on hundred million dollar fighter jets and more on aide and anti-corruption measures in both ours and africa's governments.

[SeattleVet]

6. Air Force was OK for enlisted folks.

I liked the way we tended to send the OFFICERS up in the airplanes to get shot at, while we enlisted sat behind the lines and fixed the stuff.

[Shilohtd16]

8. yeah

I know more than a few gulf war vets who appreciated that.

[gizmo1979]

3. I loved watching the Jets

when I was in the Military.I thought they were amazing,but that's just me.

[ComerPerro]

5. If the recruiters are there, I hope a lot of Republicans attend

[AngryOldDem]

7. That is scary...

...perhaps because I live near an Air Force base, and often have no idea why all of a sudden fighter jets are streaking back and forth, or why big supply planes are flying so low I can practically see the crew.

The latter has been happening with some frequency, now that I think about it...I always wonder what the hell is up when that happens, especially when it's those fighters.

And yes, air shows are great military recruiting tools, Top Gun and all that.

[kpete]

9. I have been hearing them too

Lots of activity...

[RedEarth]

11. I think air shows are fun to go to.....in fact going to air shows was one

of the things that got my son interested in science....he didn't go the engineering route, instead he's working on his PhD in math.

[ReadTomPaine]

12. Like an unwatched toddler fascinated by a shiny red truck...

they run right into the intersection to touch it.

Only they won't realize what hit them until later, when it's too late.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. Air shows are fine with me. My 8-year-old son loves them.

[SoCalDem]

14. My boys liked them too, but as I get older, I see them for what they are

It gives the taxpayers a chance to see what their money bought, and an opportunity to show off their war toys..

The Russians used MayDay as the time to trot out their missiles & military gear, and we just do it in bits and pieces around the country at air shows.

At the core it's about keeping interest in the military high, and helping people feel ok about they tax money going for "the plane that did the loop at the air show, and it's cute young pilot".

Air shows are advertising ventures.

That said..my husband LOVES them :) and I was raised on air force bases :)

[Karenina]

21. The bottom line is...

THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!!! If any American can FEEL what they are, it is YOU, SoCalDem. I deeply believe that the reason most Amis are so cavalier about airstrikes is that they've never been subjected to their horror. (I COULD make an analogous case about racism, but it's likely you'd be the only one who could grok it. ;-))

My town was BOMBED TO SHIT during WW2 and 60 years later the ravages of aerial bombing are STILL easily recognized. I've seen before and after pictures and have been reduced to tears. No, I didn't LIVE through it but many of my neighbors did. I've heard their accounts and they have quite effectively communicated the easily accessed ANGST which, so many decades later is palpable.

Last year, I attended a concert at a church, vaulted ceilings, HUGE Roman-era pillars... There was ONE severely damaged pillar with a bronze plaque that read: "A warning from the dead to the living." I stood in front of it, suddenly unable to move and simply began to sob...

[SoCalDem]

22. Amen.. I think we should not clean everything up after a war

It's too easy to "forget" what a horrendous mess they make of everything, people's psyches included.

There should always be some damage left untouched , so people who didn't live it could at least SEE some of it.

The racism is always there too, just below the surface.. It's always "easy" to kill the "other".. Who is the other? Why he/she's anyone who's not ME/US. "Others" are usually easy to identify because they "look different/speak different languages"..and more often than not they come in "a variety of colors and facial structures"..:cry:

What's missing from the above is the fact that people are just people and they all really want the same things. They want shelter, work, financial security, food, and happy healthy children.

Sometimes they are ruled by evil (usually) men who make bad decisions in their names and the commoners are the ones who suffer the most..either by "offering" up their young to fight , or by having bombs raining down on them.

and the military is also often a convenient "career" choice for young people who have been shut out of any other career. Flipping burgers and selling tee shirts at the mall are not "career paths" that most young people want to follow.

[wtmusic]

15. I used to love air shows

but patriotism takes a whole new twist after you see the awesome power of these weapons misused.

[Jara sang]

16. Virginia Beach, NAS Oceana

I grew up there and lived with those flyboys wasting all that jet fuel.(Really was a waste, a friend of mine had a friend visit from Israel who commented on how wasting so much fuel was the sign of an ineffective military as they would never do such a thing in Israel) Anyway, we recently went back to visit my girlfriends sister who lives right below the flight path at Oceana. I for got how loud those things were and commented "Aren't you sick of this jet noise" being the freeper ass that she is she didn't miss a beat and responded "Sounds like freedom"

[MadHound]

17. LOL, oh I feel for you

I used to live right under the flight path taken by the air show planes when they were coming into town, leaving town, flying over the parade, and doing shows at the airport. Always made for a lovely Memorial Day weekend:eyes:

Also, one time I was out working on my car, and hear this distant rumble. It kept getting louder and louder, to the point of being deafening. Lo and behold, it was a B-52 bomber coming over, at about 200 ft, close enough that I could clearly make out the features of the co-pilot's face. We waved at each other, and they headed north, did a slow circle over downtown, and then headed back south, flying low and slow all the way. Read in the paper the next day it was a new crew out on a training run, and they had gotten lost. Home base was in Louisiana, boy howdy, lost indeed.

Perhaps you could go someplace else for the weekend? Or buy some earplugs?:shrug:

Good news though for our local Memorial Day airshow. The court ruled in our favor and we're going to be able to protest and counter demonstrate against the recruiters this year:bounce: On the airport grounds:bounce::bounce::bounce:

[tjwash]

18. Screw air shows. They are a worthless wastes of resources.

And while we are at is screw nascar, thunder boat races and monster truck rallies. Haven't people noticed that we are running out of oil yet?

Unbelievable.

I live right by Miramar, and it's bad enough they have to fly their fucking jets over my house all the time. Every October we get subjected to the exact same thing you are talking about. Guys with tiny little wee-wees flooding the streets looking at the shiny little airplanes, and wondering if they have "the right stuff" to fly them. :puke:

[Hubert Flottz]

19. Prolly Arnold making another GOP thriller.

[Xenotime]

20. That's just * flexing his 'muscle'

[zulchzulu]

23. I always hated the Blue Angels when they flew over San Francisco

I had a cat that died of a heart attack from them one year. The bastards would fly less than 100 feet over my apartment and shake the place up..and the sound came out of nowhere. It was so loud you could scream at the top of your lungs and it would do no good...

[smirkymonkey]

24. I hated that too - one pilot flew under the Golden Gate Bridge

endangering the lives of many. There is too much that can go wrong and I don't think it should be done over a densely populated metropolitan area. Not to mention the noise - I always thought it was an earthquake when they first started.

I now live in NY, and fortunately there haven't been any airshows - I think after 9/11 people would really freak out at loud, low-flying jets over Manhattan.

[sweetheart]

25. at least they're not murdering somebody

I am always thankful to hear them thundering my roof slates,
as it means they are not killing people senselessly for the
glory and ego of men like blairush.

[Taxloss]

26. The Israeli air force has used low-altitude sonic boom flights

over Gaza as a weapon. I'm a friend of Israel, but I deplore that tactic.