How many Iraqis do we have to kill fuel all the vans/buses to transport all these bands to all their festivals this year? Just sayin'... you have your festivals, the yokels have their airshows.

sorry, but clever doesn't cover that. it's drivel disguised as anti-war sentiment.

anyone who believes the iraq war was primarily motivated by oil (or that we can link civilian deaths to *jet fuel* when it's primarily car gasoline that's in question) hasn't been paying attention.

i'd love for the military to transition out of iraq as soon as possible, but uninformed pablum only hurts the situation, limiting conversation to the level of the 'terrorist appeasers' crowd.

If our air shows get taken away, then the terrorists win. What's next? Monster truck rallys? NASCAR? WWF? Catfish noodling?!?!

Freedom isn't free, and neither is redneck fun.

(for the record, I wholeheartedly endorse redneck fun in all it's forms :)

If Andrew gets up -- we'll all get up -- it'll be anarchy!

What about bacon salt?

Here's my take on this: At the root, Blue Angels shows are million-dollar demonstrations of our military's ability to kill, destroy, and dominate the weak.

The sound of those jets screaming over our city may be unique and even fun (and I admit that I find the high-decibel roar exciting), but almost anywhere else in the world it's the sound of terror and tragedy. I doubt Iraqi or Afghani civilians smile and marvel when a fighter jet buzzes their village.

Lefties like myself can focus on the imperialist symbolism, conservatives can decry the astounding waste of money - either way, there's so much to question about these shows.

I'm just sayin'.

I sympathize with the original sentiment, but Erik's post nailed it. You can keep going: How many Iraqis did we have to kill so that all our hip Seattle asses could drive to the Gorge for Sasquatch?

But yeah, I hate the flippin' Blue Angels.

I hate shows at the Gorge.

Just to clarify: That was the metaphorical "our." I've actually never been to the Gorge.

Which is not to say I'm not complicit in the whole thing. I own a car, I take part in modern society, I'm just as guilty as the guy flying the plane.

I'm just really bad at dealing with one part of society looking down its nose at another with no foot to stand on. Then again, I live with enough contradictions between my beliefs and lifestyle that I could sink a multimillion dollar F/A-18. It doesn't mean I support the Blue Angels, but it also doesn't mean I think I'm better than the rest of society because I "see through the sham of the Blue Angels."

I'm with Lincolnish -- I find the Blue Angels really distressing when we're already at war. No indie show has made me dive under my desk for cover, thinking I was being attacked (well, maybe that one show at... oh wait, nevermind).

Not to mention the wastefulness of it all. And the fact that it terrifies my cat.

How many times do we get to watch the Blue Angels, (or watch the fireworks) and not think that these things are going to kill us?

Many places in the world, when you hear jets roaring towards you, it means somebody is going to die.

What a stupid luxury we have. What a stupid way to celebrate.

I like shows at the Gorge. Radiohead 2001 with the Beta Band was a good time. Extended third encore with Thom playing "Motion Picture Soundtrack" solo.

I was at that Radiohead show in 2001 and it was glorious for sure.

My two cents in all of this:
I just got a job on the 10th floor of an office building downtown, and it was pretty nervewracking seeing those Blue Angels fly by, thinking about how they crash sometimes, and how they could very easily crash right into the side of the building.

And the whole car/oil thing-we're selling our car. Complete ambulatory and bus dependency, here I come!