The Award for Federal employees more careless 'bout the D than Obama goes to...

[FlyingJ]

these guys;
http://jalopnik.com/5313788/fa+18-fi...tment-building

i like how the guy in he comments complains about this & they all pooh-pooh him;
http://www.wxyz.com/mostpopular/stor...spx?p=Comments

[ndavies]

You do know they do this every year for the Boat races. And that plane is not as low as it looks. It's an optical illusion. The Jeffersonian is 30 stories tall.

[EastsideAl]

My folks live in an apartment near the river and this sort of noise and excitement on boat race day is just part of the deal. It isn't like the boat races are some sort of new thing that nobody knows about. They've been part of eastside life for almost 90 years now. Even so, all of the buildings down there send out information to residents ahead of time regarding dates and times, guest and party policies, and parking rules. Some people like the races and some don't, but those who don't generally make plans to clear out for that weekend. After all, it's only one weekend out of the year, and it's generally a good thing for the city and for the eastside.

I love the races [[liked 'em better back in the piston engine days though), and loved the fly by [[which was close, but nowhere near as close as that picture implies). I'm reasonably sure that while some folks may have been a bit startled by the noise, that no one was truly frightened, since everyone in the area knew what day it was. Having said all that though, I would feel just a bit better if the Navy folks kept in mind that there are people whose homes are in those buildings, and flew just a little bit higher up next time.

[Detroitnerd]

Yeah, that photo seems to be taken with an extreme telephoto lens. What those sort of lenses do is flatten the depth of perception, which means that the jet could have been very far away from the actual building. Makes a great photo, but it's not really a clear picture of how it goes down.

That said, I'm so freakin' sick of jet planes, BS jingoism, chest-beating patriotism and military recruiters gladhanding people while trying to fill their meat quotas. Hydroplane racing? Fine, it's been happening there for generations. But all this military crapola? Stow it. I'm sick and tired of all this militaristic nonsense, how at every sporting event of any profile, we need these sick engines of death to be flown over, scaring the piss out of anybody who doesn't know about it. No more jets, please.

[Gistok]

Obama this... and Obama that... I take it that some folks will even blame Obama if their mail is delivered late...

It's all Obama's fault... funny how if people keep repeating stuff... they start to believe it...

[PlymouthRes]

Good thing you live here instead of North Korea or Russia, I guess........

[Detroitnerd]

If you like proud military displays so much, why don't you get into a time machine and crank yourself back into one of the Soviet displays in Red Square. Worked out swimmingly for their country, you'll recall...

[bailey]

If you like proud military displays so much, why don't you get into a time machine and crank yourself back into one of the Soviet displays in Red Square. Worked out swimmingly for their country, you'll recall...

yup. all those May Day Parades brought the Soviet Empire down.

I know you want to be all anti-establishment, rage about the military industrial complex and rant about shallow and vapid jingoism, but but c'mon, it was a single jet doing a flyover and some fly-bys. It wasn't the entire 509th Bomb Wing. Start to finish it was about 5 minutes...maybe 10? It's harmless bread and circuses for the slack jawed yokels to ogle. So, you're not the demographic...get over yourself.

Besides, isnt this sort of event one that enhances the urban fabric everyone is always blathering on about here? Or are art house film festivals and Dally in the Alley the only allowable source of entertainment for the masses?

[Detroitnerd]

Oh, God, Bailey. I don't have one tie-dye or dreadlock, but I'm sick of hearing jets, and I'm sick of the message they send. I'm sick of endless war, I'm sick of our country going down the toilet while we waste hundreds of billions of dollars a year manufacturing enemies we don't have yet.

A single jet makes a shit-ton of noise. I work downtown and I heard it often on Friday, while I was trying to focus on my job. But that's not the main complaint. The main complaint is that it's this dumbass, chest-thumping military recruitment ad, a statement that equates America's strength with its ability to kill.

You know what makes a country strong? Making things people want to buy. Using diplomacy to avoid conflict, not encourage it. Making sure everybody here is taken care of. Not a hunk of death flying through the sky.

As for me "getting over myself," I wonder if you request that of people who have a strong opinion that you agree with. Jets? Good for the urban fabric? Jesus, man. Ask residents of Baghdad what jets do for their urban fabric...

[bailey]

Omg, d-nerd, get off the cross, we need the wood. I am really sorry that a jet ...er um...military recruitment ad...disturbed you for a few minutes at work. you know what pisses me off? roads closed and business stopped for stupid parades to celebrate adults wining a trophy for playing a game. I get pissed that I have to listen to stupid electronic music and deal with smelly euro trash for three damn days every summer. I get pissed that anytime there is more than one event going on downtown it results in gridlock. As for celebrations of military victories---fuck those damn fireworks, it's a weeknight and I'm trying to sleep at that hour.

You know what makes a country strong? Making things people want to buy. Using diplomacy to avoid conflict, not encourage it. Making sure everybody here is taken care of. Not a hunk of death flying through the sky.

amen... but sometimes a loud fast goo gaw hurtling through the sky is just a loud fast goo gaw hurtling through the sky and not propaganda for imperialists.

As for me "getting over myself," I wonder if you request that of people who have a strong opinion that you agree with.

Yup, usually it's when the stridency of their righteous indignation becomes too much to swallow.

[Detroitnerd]

Bailey, Bailey, Bailey. That jet was whipping around town for more than an hour. I don't know how long the fly-by was, but we heard it flying THIS way, then THAT way, and at some points my co-workers were wondering just HOW LONG it was going to go on. I heard several comments from people who live on the east side and the Pointes and they were not pleased with all the noise, seeing their cats and dogs cower and freak out, having their windows rattle. Jesus. At least you can skip the parade or the fireworks [[I do), but you can't escape a jet flying over your home.

Righteous indignation over war? When does that get to outstrip the outrage? As far as I'm concerned, invading two countries on cooked-up pretexts and causing the death or relocation of millions of people sounds pretty bad. Maybe just about the thing to get angry about. In fact, I wonder how angry you'd have to be before it would become too much. Especially if it's done with your tax money.

And that's what those flying hunks of death-shit are to me: Symbols of my money going down the toilet to kill people who've never done me any harm. In addition to being loud, fucking obnoxious and wasteful.

Climb off the cross? Maybe you need to climb up here on the fortress wall and take a look at what's being done with your money. I'm just sayin'.

[bailey]

Oh I'm not pleased. There are a shitload of things I wish my tax dollars didn't pay for... a jet screaming overhead is just the loudest of them. I agree that it is a colossal waste of both treasure and blood to be involved in two wars of choice considering the problems we have here. Getting all upset about it isn't going to change anything. I voted for "change" , I thought Hopey McJesus was supposed to take care of that. So it goes....