He’s british, possibly. He said ‘chavs’. Which there are surprisingly few of in America. Also, he seems to think America funded the majority of the IRA.
Police…
because they’re police.
At least, that’s the most heavily armed section of the NYC population I can think of.
So, now that I have a moment, let me clarify.
Yes, approving the flyover might have been a bad idea.
Why? Because a bunch of morons who evacuated buildings and ran out into the streets screaming and crying about THE BROWN PEOPLE ARE DOING IT AGAIN were likely to get all riled up.
Do none of you remember the anthrax scares? How about the people who dug bunkers for Y2K? Or the morons who called in terrorist reports because they saw a crop duster dusting crops? Or the 9/11 gas hoarders? How about mad cow disease? Or any of hundreds of incidents in the past few years where the confluence of yellow journalism, government manipulation (Terror alert: Fuschia), and plain old irrationality have reigned supreme?
Yes, I know you were like, totally there in New York when the planes hit. But hey, I was less than 2 miles from the OKC bomb (on its way to be delivered, not when it blew up). I don’t panic every time I see a Ryder truck cruising slowly down the street with a white guy peering out of the window giving all the houses a once over. A 9/11 style attack won’t happen again, because the only reason it worked the first time was surprise.
Our species loves to be terrified about remote possibilities like a swine flu pandemic :rolleyes:, but we don’t hesitate to get in cars, or have that second helping of chicken-fried bacon, or eat that tasty spinach, tomato, and chive salad (most common causes of food-borne illness).
So, like I said, if you got panicked because you saw a low-flying plane or saw a strange brown guy on your street or because a bird landed in your yard and looked at you funny, you are probably not the kind of person who should be catered to in our society, because you are irrational and a poor judge of what you should be concerned about, and of what is really not a big deal.
You would have a point if low-flying airliners over a city were a regular occurrence. Even if it’s unlikely that the next terrorist attack will use the same MO as 9/11, it’s not unreasonable to think that the plane’s going to crash. Hudson River? What about that little plane years ago that smashed into a building? This is the first instance I can recall in the last 8 years that a low-flying plane over NYC was not in fact an imminent danger.
If a Jumbo Jet followed closely by a fighter flies out of pattern over Manhattan. I’d consider leaving my building too.
Now, I agree that most of the ‘security’ that is now in place is bullshit. But sending a low flying Jumbo jet out of pattern over any city is cause for concern. Triple it when it’s being followed by a fighter plane. Many of the people in the buildings KNEW that someting was odd. Some people pay attention.
How many Jumbo Jets being followed by fighters to do see over your city ivn1188? When was the last time your city lost two of the largest buildings in the world due to an airliner deliberately crashing into it?
As with the old trope about American beer, this is just flatly, insanely wrong. Just for starters, I point you to Ghirardelli and Vosge’s. Both are fantastic American chocolate companies, on par with the very best in the world.
No one’s talking about seeing strange brown guys on the street or a bird landing in their backyard, or even a Ryder truck driving down the road.
This is an incomparable situation. A low flying jet airliner over lower Manhattan is not an everyday occurrence and is, itself, odd. The fact that this low flying jet airliner was trailed by a jet fighter is even odder. When was the last time this happened? When a jet airliner flew low over the city and into some very tall buildings.
You can’t say for sure what the next terror attack will be; nor can I. Planes may be involved, they may not. And you’re right – far too often, people take ordinary things and blow them up entirely out of proportion into something suspicious. But you know what? This was not an everyday, ordinary thing. New Yorkers are used to jet airliners flying around the city. They know what’s normal and what’s not. This was not normal activity, and I’d get the hell out of my 20th floor office building if I saw a 747 flying towards me followed by a jet fighter.
To suggest that anyone who reacted by fleeing the building is irrational and a poor judge of what they should be concerned about is, well, irrational. I suppose you’d be changing your tune and calling those who stayed behind the irrational idiots if a 747 had actually crashed into their building.
The one I feel sorry for is the mayoral aide. He got reprimanded for not telling Bloomberg what was going on, but he was told he could face federal sanctions if he told!!
I would just like to point out that this is not Bush’s fault.
This message board expects people to back up their assertions. It is by no means the only one to do so, thus I am surprised you are surprised at the requirement. If you do not wish to play by the rules you are free to take your ball and go elsewhere to play.
Well, I was guessing that’s what he meant, but is it unreasonable to ask him to clarify so there would be no possibility of misunderstanding.
As for the IRA - I do believe that they got most of their money from the US although I am unable to provide a cite for that. That is a far cry from saying either that the US funded the IRA (it was private citizens, not the US government) or that most Americans funded/approved of the IRA (mostly, it would have been a minority of those with ties to Ireland. In my opinion, meddlesome and naive dupes, but that part is solely opinion)
Assuming that he meant the IRA - during the Troubles from the 1970’s onwards I was mostly in school pursuing an education and so far as I know not one dime of mine ever went towards the IRA
In fact, you’re the first one to mention him in the thread. Congratulations.
But yes, let us officially recognize that Bush had nothing to do with and is in fact entirely blameless for this bout of stupidity.
I dunno. If he’d modified the Constitution to remove presidential term limits, this never would have happened…
<Snipping various comments about how “this isn’t an everyday thing”, because they are all making the same point>
No, it’s not “ordinary”. Yes, I have lived in places where B-52 bombers and fighter jets flew over at low altitudes. None of them were painted like AF1, though.
Here’s the thing. You can claim it’s fine to panic, and I can claim it’s a silly response because it’s irrational to panic about such a tiny event. I’m not going to change my mind, and I suspect neither are you.
But hey, that’s ok. It’s still a tempest in a teapot, though.
In truth, that’s not what the article says. It says he neglected to tell the mayor. The AP article I read today in the print edition of the Omaha World-Herald says the same thing. He’s a raging putz and an idiot and should quit, but I don’t see where he didn’t tell the mayor because it was top secret. Now, the bigger ass, IMO, is the NYPD Commissioner who said:
Really? Now, did you give such staunch pushback when you were first told? Did you offer options? Did you insist this be taken to higher ups? That’s what I want to know. Or did you not have the courage of your convictions at the time? Seems like it’s pretty easy to say next time… next time…
And as has been made clear, the markings on the 747 were not clear at all to those on the ground.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but for once, I’m glad the media disagrees and has made a big deal. Heads should roll for this.
It did, although Libya provided most of the IRA’s weapons.
The IRA wasn’t placed on the State Department’s foreign terrorist list until 1996- about 30 years too late.
Well, I guess he was due.
I’m flashing on a Far Side cartoon: Two aliens in a spaceship buzzing a city street full of people running in terror, the aliens shouting “YEEEEEHAAAAAW!!!”
That wasn’t a bad idea. Doing it while forbidding the mayor of the city be informed, under threat of federal prosecution… that was a bad idea.
When that mayor happens to be… mmm… more powerful than some senators and most governors… call him the 20-30th most powerful man in America, outside his multi-billion personal fortune and ownership of a news network?
And you insult him like that?
BAD IDEA.