Just Plane Dumb

DEMONSTRATING ONCE AGAIN why "military intelligence" is an oxymoron for a very good reason, someone fairly high up the old chain of command thought it would make for a sweet sendoff to allow a retiring fighter pilot from a Naval base in Maine to fly a P-3 patrol plane over New York City today at low altitudes -- 2 weeks to the day parts of the city were "terrorized" back to 9/11 by a low flying plane. This morning's flyover was ultimately canceled, but it's distressing to contemplate that plans for it ever got off the ground, if you will, in the first place. The ill-advised stunt was only abandoned once New York City officials got wind of it and reported it to FAA officials in Washington.

But the fact that it was even initially approved by the FAA is more than mind-boggling, it's bad acid trip, CIA thought control experiment mind-blowing.

Is it out of line to ask: Where the hell were the Navy fighter jets when we needed them 8 years ago? Don't remember them coming anywhere near the City when we needed it most -- you know, at any point along the route those two hijacked jumbo jets took from Boston to Lower Manhattan on that fateful day they managed to crash into the Twin Towers. Remember that little event. We sorta do here in New York. THAT was the time we could have used a military flyover! Yesterday? No so much really.

Instead, coming on the wings of the Air Force One fiasco just two weeks ago, I couldn't believe my ears when I heard the announcement on the radio that another flyover was scheduled in a half-hour, this one over the Hudson, as part of an emergency defense drill. Okay, I reasoned, perhaps there's a good reason for a show of force at this exact time in such a crowded area. Then to learn it would have been little more than a PR stunt... if I'm the Mayor I go nuts, but all Billionayor Bloomberg could muster was a lame:

"It was some Navy guy, I gather, who was retiring after many years of service and they wanted one last flyby from up in Maine down and back, and that's fine. That's their issue."

That's "their issue"?! No, Mike, it's your responsibility to ensure something like this never ever happens again -- to demand to be included in the loop in the future. I guess if you weren't humiliated last time -- allowing your subjects, er New Yorkers, to be scared senseless by an unnecessary stunt, what's another big middle finger to the City on your watch just two weeks later?

Tell Washington that your city is more than a fucking backdrop for someone's retirement. That citizens should count as more than fucking extras in a military ceremony. I know it's all about Manhattan real estate and the tourism industry to you, just as it was to Rudy Giuliani before you, but this is fucking ridiculous.

Well, I see that I've used up my self-imposed quota of 3 uses of the word fuck in the course of a post, so I'll save some precious outrage for another post. Thanks for coming and, as always, Heads up!