Archive for May 6th, 2009
Abbey's Bunnies and Chickens Scare Me More Than A Little
Dear HillBuzz,
Last night, I caught up on the phone with my dear friend Abbey back in Cleveland and am still trying to process a lot of what she had to say.
Abbey is one of my very best friends, and one of the best people I have ever known. We met about 11 years ago while working for the same company, and I’ve watched her become a mom, start her own internet business, and, for the first time in her life, become VERY politically active. Maybe even more than me, if you can believe that.
Abbey, like me, was always a dyed in the wool Democrat. When we worked together back in Cleveland, I remember us sitting outside together behind the building, where she’d have a smoke on the loading dock and I’d pound back my vice, cans of ice cold terrible for me in every way Coke.
We’d talk about how evil Republicans were, and how they were just out to get the Clintons; how they didn’t stand for anything and were just about money and looking down on people from their private clubs where they obsess over what sorts of pants people wear and how shiny the pennies are in their loafers. Oh, we would laugh and laugh at Republicans, between bouts of irrational hatred of them, and the snootiness we perceived in them.
And if Abbey’s anything, she is 100% anti-snooty. She’s the Buffy the Vampire Slayer of snootiness, in fact, if instead of vampires Buffy slayed snootiness, or the snooty themselves, which might make Buffy a serial killer now that I think about it, so maybe this wasn’t the best analogy after all.
Abbey’s the Bobby Jindal of snootiness, practiced in the arts of snootiness exorcism.
And she’s also become something of a budding, Cleveland-based Sarah Palin. You betcha.
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What's Hillary Clinton Doing Today? May 6th, 2009
915am – Meeting with Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
945am – Meeting with Asif Ali Zardari, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
1030am – US-Pakistan-Afghanistan Trilateral Consultations II
Remainder of the day: being AWESOME
Go, Hillary, Go!
Who was aboard Air Force One as it re-enacted 9/11 to terrorize New Yorkers?
In the furor over the current Administration’s callous buzzing of lower Manhattan for a “photo op” that essentially re-enacted the path of the commandeered jetliners that killed so many 8 years ago (this time with fighter jets racing along in tow, making New Yorkers especially believe they were under attack again), various Freedom of Information Act requests have been filed by private citizens across the country demanding release of the photographs from the current president’s reckless, thoughtless, and deranged $350,000 “practical joke”.
What HASN’T been talked about anywhere that we can see is the question of exactly WHO was on board that plane as it raced through the skies over Manhattan.
It occurred to us a stunt like this would be an EXCELLENT reward for high-level donors to the current president’s campaign.
Dr. Utopia’s most loyal followers would surely love a ride on Air Force One (technically, because Dr. Utopia and his unicorns were not aboard, it would be a Special Air Mission XXXXX-whatever flight, as the call signal AF1 is reserved only for flights the sitting president is on).
They would probably love this trip on a robin’s egg and creamy white 747 even more if it did things regular people can’t do, like fly right by the Statue of Liberty and buzz the skyscrapers of New York so close they can practically see the teeny people down below screaming in terror as they race for hidey-holes wherever they can find them.
Who was on the plane when the photo op happened?
Is there a passenger manifest list?
Where did the flight originate, and who was there when it took off?
We bet that was not an empty plane.
We also would be inclined to bet people like Penny Pritzker or other high-level donors to Dr. Utopia were aboard, as a thank you for their loyal service and millions of dollars.
Perhaps HRH Princess Caroline of Kennedy was on there, with her golden, bejeweled binoculars, straining at the window in her attempt to spot the mythical Jimmy Choos she’s long heard rumored to be SOMEWHERE near Battery Park, where only the most elite of the elite of the elite know the exact address (“Do you know who my father was? Do you know who my, like, you know, uncle is? I’ll find those Choos if I have to scare the Kennedy out of everyone in Manhattan to do it!”).
SOMEONE was on that plane.
There’s a story there. Not that we have a media to report on it or anything.
But maybe some of you out there can do some digging on your own.
UPDATE: Here’s one other theory we saw today that attempts to make sense of doing something to abysmally stupid, and then refusing to release photographs of this stunt that cost taxpayers $350,000 or so.
Here in Chicago, in addition to the donors-joyride theory (which IS common in fundraising circles, where people give big money to places like the Shedd Aquarium and then get to swim in any fishtank they want, regardless of what that will do to the animals, or how much sense it makes. ”Behind the scenes” tours and special treats like that not available to the general public are WHY people give large sums of money to variations efforts), another theory making the rounds is that Air Force One (or, aptly, the plane sometimes known as AF1), was used to test some sort of early warning system that’s been installed around New York.
The airspace AF1 flew in is restricted.
The theory goes that a large plane was needed to fly on a collision course with NYC’s landmarks to test whether or not new detection (or even defensive) equipment could accurately alert authorities or handle the situation on its own. The only plane the government could use to do this was AF1, under the lame “photo op” lie. Using a military transport plane to do this would have raised questions as to WHY that plane was flying so low, and someone would have to be disciplined for the “error”.
So, the theory is that they used AF1 instead, and were willing to accept whatever fallout for a “photo op” because they needed to test the defensive system.
That’s just a theory. An interesting one. We don’t know what to think or say, but as always are curious what you think.
Wednesday Open Thread
What’s on your mind today?
