Comments on Dear God
My friend's fiancee, who was in Beirut when Israel bombed the fuck out of it a while back, does NOT like having the Blue Angels around.
I don't know what God would say, but Mrs. Hagan, my 7th grade English teacher, would say, "Add the word 'have' between Angels and been."
Dear God, why couldn't David Schmader have been sent away with Bradley Steinbacher?
We await Your reply.
Do we really have to have this same debate every single year?
The Blue Angels are not going away. Stop whining.
2: Mrs. Hagan is right. Fixed.
And 3: What does hating the Blue Angels annual sky-rape have to do with "classist bullshit"?
We were buzzed by some seriously loud jet fighters today while crossing the West Seattle Bridge, but they didn't look like the Blue Angels.
@3: What's classist about hating the Blue Angels?
How else are we going to appropriately sing "America, Fuck Yeah!" while nearly getting into car wrecks on the 520?
your taxes pay for it - you might as well get to see it.
Amen, Sistuh, but you're preaching to the choir...except for the douche at #3...
I love having the blue angels, and am quite glad they're still here.
Schmader Prefers the Airforce's F-16 Falcons.
@4 So, we should never re-open any topic for debate, ever.
Particularly not when fuel prices have changed or when an economic slump keeps people from being able to afford to visit family. You're right, we should ALWAYS pay taxes to support stunt pilots to masturbate with millions of dollars of equipment.
@4 So, we should never re-open any topic for debate, ever.
Particularly not when fuel prices have changed or when an economic slump keeps people from being able to afford to visit family. You're right, we should ALWAYS pay taxes to support stunt pilots to masturbate with millions of dollars of equipment.
Since a direct answer from God seems unlikely, might I presume to suggest:
Because the Blue Angels are:
* Fun to watch
* Good at what they do
* Free to watch
Also, the Blue Angels are at least Blue. The Seattle Super Sonics are none of the above.
Hmmm... what reaction would you have if a resident of Fremont were griping about the Solstice Parade, or someone from Belltown was complaining about Pride?
Yeah! The pilots work out at my gym when they are in town and they are Fucking HOT!!!... (They really beef up the locker room.) Yum.
Blue Angels annual sky-rape
Ha ha. I propose that as the new official title of Seafair: KeyBank Blue Angels Annual Sky-Rape, Presented by Boeing.
@18: You're assuming that everybody who falls in a lower social stratum than Schmader et al. hearts the Blue Angels. Fallacious.
The Solstice Parade and Pride Parade seldom cause windows to break, pets to hypervenilate or cause ear drum bleeding.
Nor do they waste tax payers money, or large amounts of jet fuel. They're also fairly eco-friendly, at least compared to the mass consumption of aforementioned jet fuel. They also don't cause massive amounts of gullible youth to sign up for the military expecting that they'll be jet pilots, when in reality they'll probably be working the fry trap in a kitchen or the pointy part of the mop.
The Angels fan base tends to live in South King and Pierce Counties. They can go dive bomb people in that neck of the woods and leave me the fuck alone...
the blue angels are the nascar of the sky.
@23 is right.
But at least this year I won't just hear them and only glimpse them cause I've got front row seats way up in the UW Tower ...
Hope the noise isn't too bad.
@23: you mean people watch because they're hoping for a crash? I thought I was the only one.
I can't believe it hasn't been said: Jet Noise, the Sound of Freedom.
Whidbey Island High School Football Rules!
Personally, I'm indifferent. They're fun to watch if I'm at a beach on the lake, and they're a pain in the ass when they fly overhead and cause the windows to shake while I'm at work. Either way, I have a feeling that it's one of those Seattle traditions that's never going away, love it or hate it.
You can't sky-rape the willing & I am SO willing!
From Wikipedia:
"During its history 26 Blue Angels pilots have been killed in air show or training accidents. Through the 2006 season there have been 262 pilots and squad leaders in the squad's history, giving the job a 10% fatality rate."
@22: I'm one of the people who lives in "that neck of the woods" and would prefer the Angels hover over your house for all eternity, you classist asshole.
Sky rape is the kinda rape I can get behind.
UW Tower my ass. Once the Safeco Building, always the Safeco Building.
@1 -- I don't blame him for the bad memories. Though I think we'd all be a little more connected to the effects of our current Head-Shithead-In-Charge's War-on/of-Terror with military hardware buzzing around all the time. At least they're not strafing us.
@33 -
At least they're not strafing us.
Maybe they should be. Or, maybe they should send in some AC-130's instead of the Blue Angels so we can really get a taste of "spreading democracy".
@22, sure, but do these parades travel past the speed of sound? Are they in the sky? Do they kick so much ass it's hard to even comprehend? No offense to these parades and their fans, but no, they do not.
Signed,
Seattle native who wishes the Blue Angels were here year-round
@32 ... but we put up such nice signs ...
Why do you hate America/God/Our Troops?
It must be Seafair. At least I know there won't be much to Slog about because for the next couple weeks I can skip over all the anti/pro Blue Angels posts bullshit.
Ah, I was wondering when we would have Our Annual Discussion about the blue angels.
I really have nothing to say about it. I live on north Beacon Hill, right in the flight path, and have four little dogs that have big spazzy attacks, but it is only for one weekend, and there are those who love it, so why not?
Oh, and for the person who said...
"when in reality (soldiers will) probably be working the fry trap in a kitchen or the pointy part of the mop."
Don't be ridiculous dear. We now contract that out. Where once it only cost us the salary of a few GI's, we now pay mercenary collaborationists hundreds of thousand of dollars. It's called progress!!!
I'm not eskeered. I think they're impressive. I wish I had that kind of ride. But my quandary, really, is that I'm torn. Hmmm: Bule Angels, Seafair Pirates. Blue Angels, Seafair Pirates.
@18: You're assuming that everybody who falls in a lower social stratum than Schmader et al. hearts the Blue Angels. Fallacious.
Nope... but with comments like...
The Angels fan base tends to live in South King and Pierce Counties. They can go dive bomb people in that neck of the woods and leave me the fuck alone...
...I'm guessing that it doesn't fit your delicate sensibilities. Just fine by me, but don't get all holier-than-thou in response.
I love comments about how the commenter is sick of the debate about X and looks forward to skipping it.
Blue Angels weekend: perfect time to visit Vancouver. It's become an annual tradition for me.
Annual sky-rape! Thank you, Schmader! I live and work downtown, and they practice over us for a week every damn year. Not only are they murderers (I understand the "Blue Angels" helped bomb Afghanistan), but American air show pilots make mistakes and occasionally crash, dealing firey death unto the crowds watching them. It's an agonizing week for me, every year, as they loop around Seattle's skyscrapers practicing for city bombing raids.
The Blue Angels are symbolic of the decline and fall of the American Empire. Like the Romans, we need our bread and our circuses and - with any luck - a fatal ground crash or mid-air collision will encourage strangers to speak to one another - Cirque de Morte. An Urban Myth, but one hears the pilots fly nude. Frankly, I'd rather have my favorite Blue Angel back - Marlene Dietrich - tho' her going down never caused fatality.
@44
If you are going to make wild accusations, you need to cite sources. A quick visit to the Blue Angels page on Wikipedia shows that no civilians have ever been killed by a Blue Angels crash at an airshow. Also the bit about them bombing Afghanistan makes no sense, they aren't a combat unit. Neither Wikipedia nor a Google mention anything about that.
Late response, but:
"No civilians have ever been killed by a Blue Angels crash at an airshow." Lot of qualifiers there. The recent Blue Angels crash at Hiltonhead injured 8 people in a residential area in addition to killing the pilot. And when the U.S. offers to put on a wasteful, dangerous air show in Germany, Germans think of firey death: see Wikipedia's Ramstein_airshow_disaster entry.
I finally found the report I was remembering that featured the interview with the pilots bombing Afghanistan.
http://thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=913
It was my mistake--these assholes were called the "Blue Diamonds," not the "Blue Angels." However, as you can see from the many "Blue Angels" pilot obituaries on the Web, Blue Angels pilots were involved in the bombing of Afghanistan, a.k.a. "Operation Enduring Freedom."
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