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April 27, 2009

From The Dept of "WTF Were You Thinking?"

Really, guys, we appreciated this this morning:

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL April 27, 2009, 10:27 AM EST By WSJ Staff

A plane circling Lower Manhattan escorted by two fighter jets is part of a "photo op," said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters. The event caused some evacuations of office buildings in Lower Manhattan and Jersey City, N.J., on Monday morning.

Mr. Peters said the Defense Department is conducting a photo op that involves deploying two F-16s and escorting a Boeing 747 in the vicinity of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. He said the maneuver is not an emergency and was coordinated in advance with the FAA and state and local officials.

"They'll do two or three spins... and be done by 10:30," Mr. Peters said.

Who would have thought that maybe it might have been a good idea to let people know this was going to happen. I didn't have to evacuate, but I know several people whose buildings were emptied.

As Insta says, the country's in the very best of hands...

Update: From WCBS

David Frank of Jersey City wrote: "I work in 30 Hudson, which is the largest building in NJ and is right on the water facing the Statue of Liberty. I ran out of the building after a stampede of people began running out of the building as they saw the jumbo jet being followed by two fighter planes veer sharply towards our building and climb right over it. By the time I got outside, it was coming around for its THIRD pass, and I watched it level off below building height over the water and then once again veer sharply towards the building. Several hundred of us began to run away fearing for our lives before it climbed steeply and flew over our building. Whoever thought that this 'photo op' was a good idea should be removed from command...why couldn't this simply be done with Photo Shop? Hollywood can create an entire armageddon on film but the US military can't photo shop a plane by the Statue of Liberty?"

Damn right.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at April 27, 2009 11:17 AM

Comments

MAHROONS.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at April 27, 2009 11:58 AM

Bush's fault. He created such paranoia that now jumbo jets can't even buzz office buildings for photography purposes without everyone assuming the worst.

Posted by: nightfly at April 27, 2009 12:12 PM

And you know what else? I hope every Obama voter who skittered in a panic out of those buildings takes a moment to reflect on why that gut reaction happened.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at April 27, 2009 12:23 PM

"I hope every Obama voter who skittered in a panic out of those buildings takes a moment to reflect on why that gut reaction happened."

They won't. They'll think "The military is bad! They scared us! They flew those planes at us to show off their power! It's all Bush and Cheney's and the Republicans' fault!" Because that is the way these people think. How do I know? That's the way I thought back in the 80s when was I was a Democrat who couldn't stand Reagan and voted for Clinton twice. I and my little circle of friends were sure that the only thing keeping the big, bad military from taking over and forcing all of us to listen to nothing but country music, remove all programs from tv except for Billy Graham specials and repeats of The Lawrence Welk Show, and make all women take off their shoes, get married, pregnant, and go in the kitchen to bake cookies, was the Democratic Party and various alternative rock bands we were into. And from what I've seen and heard, that's the way most people who voted for Obama seem to think. It's like the last twenty-five years never happened. No wonder they're trying to bring 80s fashions like shoulder pads and big hair back.

Posted by: Andrea Harris at April 27, 2009 02:57 PM

Idiots. How can they possibly not think that this would be the reaction? I don't know who was stupider, the military who thought it was a good idea, or the state and local officials who agreed and forgot to tell people.

Posted by: Skyler at April 27, 2009 03:14 PM

You know what? If we are to give B. Hussein the credit for putting holes in the heads of three pirates, can we give him blame for scaring the piss out of New York City?

Posted by: Skyler at April 27, 2009 09:43 PM