Cross posted from Right Truth

  The anti-war crowd are calling the Blue Angels “weapons of mass destruction” and want them banned from fleet Week. They say it’s because the planes could crash into a building and kill or “wound” civilians. Wound??? But when questioned, the truth comes out. The Blue Angels are (1) military; (2) used for recruiting purposes, (3) a symbol of something a young man or woman might strive to be part of. All those reasons are anathema to the anti-war folks.

FRANCISCO- Efforts by several peace groups to stop the Blue Angels air show during Fleet Week in San Francisco have gained the support of Supervisor Chris Daly.After intense lobbying by Veterans for Peace, CodePink, and Global Exchange, Daly is drafting language on a non-binding resolution urging Congress to stop the Navy fighter jets from flying over the city.

“They’re weapons of mass destruction and there’s really nothing, I think, about them that people should think of as being good or desirable,” said Paul Cox with Veterans for Peace. “In a time where we’ve got a war going on in Iraq, it brings images of the kinds of death and destruction these things rain down on people around the world.”

The aerial display has been the center piece of Fleet Week since 1981. The event brings an estimated $4 million into the city economy that weekend, according to the mayor’s office, which opposes the legislation Daly has promised to introduce next Tuesday. (CBS-5)

BlackFive:

Chekov: Where are the nuclear wessels?When Commander Pavel Chekov asked that question in Star Trek IV, San Francisco’s bay area did indeed still have a robust naval presence that wasn’t limited to the aircraft carrier piers across the bay. With the closure of Naval Station Alameda in 1997, however, a big part of the Navy’s presence in the region ended.

Now, some groups are trying to pull the welcome mat out from under Navy tradition, that being the annual navy Blue Angel air show during Fleet Week.

Everyone is free to their own opinions. I’ve been to a few air shows, and they are fantastic. The skill of these pilots is beyond words or description. I hate to think of a generation of youngsters being deprived of seeing what hard work, pride and practice can achieve.