Ruh-Roh.

November 4, 2004 5:56 PM

''My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today I've just signed legislation which outlaws [the Blue States] forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.''
posted by monju_bosatsu (38 comments total)

So you link to a pretty much uninteresting news story in order to make a snarky comment in a FPP-- nay, in order for this snarky comment to be a FPP?

Congratulations!
posted by xmutex at 6:02 PM on November 4, 2004

Surely the training isn't meant to be that realistic.
posted by dhartung at 6:08 PM on November 4, 2004

Maybe the pilot had a beef with the janitor?

By the way, there were 2 inch long bullets, not bombs.
posted by fenriq at 6:11 PM on November 4, 2004

I liked reading about this story and if you made one MeFi reader happy, you are officially granted the opportunity to ignore opportunistic cynics and rantists.

Anyone who posts snarky comments like that, especially with shoddy records should be really proud of themselves--they made a difference in the world today.

Anyway, an honest thanks for your interesting story and funny quote.
posted by omidius at 6:11 PM on November 4, 2004

What movie is that quote from?
posted by bingo at 6:20 PM on November 4, 2004

Well given that quote is the name of the game, let's quote something that looks like a breath of fresh air, if it holds to be true
-------------------------------
Q Mr. President, your victory at the polls came about in part because of strong support from people of faith, in particular, Christian evangelicals and Pentecostals and others. And Senator Kerry drew some of his strongest support from those who do not attend religious services. What do you make of this religious divide, it seems, becoming a political divide in this country? And what do you say to those who are concerned about the role of a faith they do not share in public life and in your policies?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, my answer to people is, I will be your President regardless of your faith, and I don't expect you to agree with me necessarily on religion. As a matter of fact, no President should ever try to impose religion on our society.

A great -- the great tradition of America is one where people can worship the way they want to worship. And if they choose not to worship, they're just as patriotic as your neighbor. That is an essential part of why we are a great nation. And I am glad people of faith voted in this election. I'm glad -- I appreciate all people who voted. I don't think you ought to read anything into the politics, the moment, about whether or not this nation will become a divided nation over religion. I think the great thing that unites is the fact you can worship freely if you choose, and if you -- you don't have to worship. And if you're a Jew or a Christian or a Muslim, you're equally American. That is -- that is such a wonderful aspect of our society; and it is strong today and it will be strong tomorrow.
---------------

As usual for every Prez, we'll see what gives
posted by elpapacito at 6:29 PM on November 4, 2004

What movie is that quote from?

Reagan: The Actual non-movie Years.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 6:29 PM on November 4, 2004

Ops I forgot, emphasis (bold) is mine
posted by elpapacito at 6:30 PM on November 4, 2004

Yeah, it'd be a breath of fresh air if every fucking word out of his god-damned mouth weren't a lie.
posted by interrobang at 6:34 PM on November 4, 2004

interrobang: could be, we'll see. Could be not, we'll see as well.
posted by elpapacito at 6:35 PM on November 4, 2004

The gun, an M61-A1 Vulcan cannon, is located in the plane's left wing. It fires 2-inch-long bullets that are made of lead and do not explode, said Webster.

Any military gun plumbers who've serviced M61s following this thread? I vaguely recall that 20mm ammo is nastier than just solid lead.
posted by alumshubby at 6:38 PM on November 4, 2004

What movie is that quote from?

Sadly, it's from real life. (next-to-last)

Also, I thought the article was very interesting. xmutex has a chip on his/her shoulder.
posted by funkbrain at 6:39 PM on November 4, 2004

20mm ammo is nastier than just solid lead.

Mission load is DU. Training rounds, hopefully not.
posted by adamgreenfield at 6:50 PM on November 4, 2004

Like, isn't NJ just a bit too populated to have such training missions? Wouldn't a desert or ocean be more responsible?
posted by LouReedsSon at 7:27 PM on November 4, 2004

South Jersey, near the Pine Barrens, is pretty sparsely populated, LouReedsSon. For the record, I thought this FPP was pretty stupid even though the underlying article might be interested with a less overtly obnoxious surrounder.
posted by billsaysthis at 7:38 PM on November 4, 2004

elpapacito, you remember where you got that quote from? I wanna print it out.
posted by protocool at 7:50 PM on November 4, 2004

Yeah, it'd be a breath of fresh air if every fucking word out of his god-damned mouth weren't a lie.

Listen, I'm still sad and angry about the election as well. But what will be will be, and what we do know is that Bush has screwed up badly over the past four years. He himself began to realize this during the first debate with Kerry. He's worried about what history books are going to say about him, even if he's been able to stifle criticism during his time in office so far.

We need to be looking forward and thinking about how to mitigate the awful things Bush is prone to doing. Holding him to statements such as the one quoted above is a good place to begin.
posted by kevin-o at 7:53 PM on November 4, 2004

I plan on reminding him of that very quote a few times a week via email.
posted by protocool at 7:54 PM on November 4, 2004

The M55A1 and M55A2 20mm target practice round used in the M61-A1 Vulcan cannon is a hollow steel projectile. Depleted uranium ammunition isn’t used by this gun. The 20mm Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot (APDS) round used to use a depleted uranium sub-caliber penetrator but that was changed to Tungsten in the late 80’s and was never used by F-16s.
posted by Tenuki at 7:58 PM on November 4, 2004

Good grief! I should think rule #1 of nighttime strafing runs is to know where the hell you are!
posted by five fresh fish at 8:07 PM on November 4, 2004

Mission load is DU. Training rounds, hopefully not.

Save it for Iraq.
posted by homunculus at 8:11 PM on November 4, 2004

Makes you wonder - if they can't spot a school in New Jersey, with no enemy fire to worry about, how the fuck are they gonna avoid taking out schools and hospitals in the Middle East?

Oh, right - they aren't planning on avoiding it.
posted by bashos_frog at 8:11 PM on November 4, 2004

Must be one of those bake sales / bombers budget mixups.
posted by grimmelm at 8:26 PM on November 4, 2004

I was once working on a screenplay (pre 9-11) where an Air Force jet accidentally let go of a bomb over a major city. In my research, I found several cases of similar accidental bombings.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 9:52 PM on November 4, 2004

Mission Accomplished!
posted by drezdn at 10:05 PM on November 4, 2004

In my research, I found several cases of similar accidental bombings.

One of the best-known, from a nuclear accidents file. (I visited the area while reseaching a magazine article):
"On March 11, 1958, at 3:52 P.M. (EST), a B-47E departed Hunter AFB, Georgia, as number three aircraft in a flight of four en route to an overseas base. After level off at 15,000 feet, the aircraft accidentally jettisoned an unarmed nuclear weapon which impacted on a sparsely populated area approximately 6 miles from Florence, South Carolina. The Bomb's high explosive material exploded on impact. The explosion caused property damage and several injuries on the ground."

Additionally, "Since 1950, there have been 32 nuclear weapon accidents, known as 'Broken Arrows.' A Broken Arrow is defined as an unexpected event involving nuclear weapons that result in the accidental launching, firing, detonating, theft or loss of the weapon. To date, six nuclear weapons have been lost and never recovered."
posted by LeLiLo at 10:19 PM on November 4, 2004

Makes you wonder - if they can't spot a school in New Jersey, with no enemy fire to worry about, how the fuck are they gonna avoid taking out schools and hospitals in the Middle East?

I suppose that's why the pilot is still, you know, in training, so he doesn't fuck up in actual combat.

Oh, right - they aren't planning on avoiding it.

Sigh...
posted by gyc at 11:31 PM on November 4, 2004

That was no school, that was a terrrist training camp!

Sneaky terrrists, think they can fool us?
posted by cell at 12:10 AM on November 5, 2004

I remember the good old days when national guard pilots wouldn't have shown up for duty and this kind of error would have been avoided.
posted by biffa at 3:21 AM on November 5, 2004

So they finally let Bush fly a plane again, huh?
posted by eustacescrubb at 3:37 AM on November 5, 2004

I agree, billsaysthis, that, presentation aside, the article is interesting and I know NJ well having hailed from there. But I still think shooting big guns from 7000 ft above is reckless even in rural areas. We have far more desolate regions of this large country that might be a tad more appropriate for such excercises, no?
posted by LouReedsSon at 3:58 AM on November 5, 2004

protocool: the quote comes directly from the White House
on this link
posted by elpapacito at 4:14 AM on November 5, 2004

Makes you wonder - if they can't spot a school in New Jersey, with no enemy fire to worry about, how the fuck are they gonna avoid taking out schools and hospitals in the Middle East?

I'm not sure how much has changed, but I know that at one point in the '90s there were serious concerns about the readiness of Air National Guard fighter pilots. They have limited flight time and combat practice, after all, and a fighter isn't the kind of thing you can just hop into and remember.

Now we apparently expect the Air National Guard to be our primary perimeter defense. So why are we training them for ground attack? And also, I'm surprised that you'd use the gun in ground attack -- is that just a way to get target practice, or is that a standard tactic?
posted by lodurr at 5:17 AM on November 5, 2004

Now we apparently expect the Air National Guard to be our primary perimeter defense.

Against who? Idependence day style aliens coming to blow up the white house? (Though that might be interesting just to see if Bush would lead the counterattack.)

So why are we training them for ground attack?

Iran!
posted by biffa at 5:40 AM on November 5, 2004

Oh, c'mon. If you went to that elementary school, being strafed would be the coolest thing evah!

Don't you remember your ten year old fantasies of the school blowing up, burning down, or being covered in a thick layer of ice so you could not do your homework? Fighter jets and machine guns are the bread and peanut butter of many American boys (dinosaurs being the jelly). I bet the next recess sees a score of'em out running around with their arms spread pretending to be jets while others, pretending to be hated teachers or principals, flee.

We can be thankful nobody got hurt and hope that it sparks some better safety measures for training. Best of all, I'm going to imagine work being strafed by Vulcan cannons all freaking day.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:29 AM on November 5, 2004

I remember the good old days when national guard pilots wouldn't have shown up for duty and this kind of error would have been avoided.
posted by biffa at 6:21 AM EST on November 5

Thank you, biffa. I laughed so hard my stomach hurts.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:43 AM on November 5, 2004

Relax. This is just that No Children Left Below Act in action.
posted by trondant at 9:23 AM on November 5, 2004

I suppose that's why the pilot is still, you know, in training, so he doesn't fuck up in actual combat.

Okay, I'll bite: Uh, gyc, I would hope that by the time they get a pilot behind the stick, let alone with live ammo, they're already really damn good at flying and pointing these things with dozens to hundreds of hours of simulator time and supervised flying. There is no excuse for endangering civilians. Period.
posted by Skwirl at 6:49 PM on November 5, 2004