Send in the Bombers!

W.J. Astore

A B-2, a B-1, and a B-52. And I’m proud to be an American …

It’s Super Bowl Sunday — time to gather together and party responsibly, i.e. don’t turn your party into a Covid super-spreader event.

You can always learn a lot about America by watching the Super Bowl — and I’m not talking about football. Pregame ceremonies are telling, as are the elaborate halftime shows. This year, I noted how the Air Force is selling the story of a female pilot, Captain Sarah Kociuba, who will pilot a B-2 stealth bomber to open the festivities. She’ll be joined by a B-1B Lancer and a B-52 Stratofortress. The message, of course, is “pride” in America.

And I thought only the quarterbacks would be throwing bombs.

Seriously, these bombers are all about mass destruction. Possibly even nuclear mass destruction. Why I should feel “pride” in weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is beyond me.

Look! Up in the sky! It’s American-made WMD. Led by a highly-qualified female pilot. Diversity! America!

Enjoy the game.

32 thoughts on “Send in the Bombers!”

  3. My thought is, when will America stop crowing about “Firsts” that are not really?

    Women were very prominent in the first decades of aviation (Harriet Quimby, Amelia Earhart, etc.) The notion that a woman pilot in 2021 is some kind of progressive milestone is kooky.

    A few weeks ago we celebrated Kamala Harris as the first US woman VP. Instead of celebrating it, we should have hoped nobody noticed how long it took us to catch up to India, England, Germany, Pakistan, the Phillipines and (for cripe’s sake), Liberia.

    Liked by 4 people

  6. We used to dream of bombers turning into butterflies above our nation. Now we prefer bombers …

    And I dreamed I saw the bombers/Riding shotgun in the sky/And they were turning into butterflies/Above our nation

    Liked by 1 person

  7. I cited from General-President Eisenhower’s 1963 Cross of Iron speech in another article. This was not cited then.

    “There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below.
    The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it.” […]
    Having behind us the commercial interests and the labouring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labour this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a “Cross of Gold.”

    Compare this to General-President Eisenhower’s 1953 ‘Cross of Iron” speech, fresh off his WWII Military Experience, entering the Civilian Political realm.

    ”1st: No people on earth can be held, as a people, to be an enemy — for all humanity shares the common hunger for peace and fellowship and justice.
    2nd: No nation’s security and well-being can be lastingly achieved in isolation — but only in effective cooperation with fellow nations.
    3rd: Every nation’s right to a form of government and an economic system of its own choosing is inalienable.
    4th: Any nation’s attempt to dictate to other nations their form of government is indefensible.
    5th: A nation’s hope of lasting peace cannot be firmly based upon any race in armaments — but rather upon just relations and honest understanding with all other nations.
    In the light of these principles, the citizens of the United States defined the way they proposed to follow, through the aftermath of — of war, toward true peace.”

    The US has repudiated all those Principles, using Military and Economic threats in the arrogant and vain attempt to control God’s Earth. Enough is Enough!

    Russian President Putin and Chinese President Xi, speaking at Davos 2021, echoed the 1896 William Jennings Bryan ‘Cross of Gold’ speech, combined with Eisenhower’s 1953 Cross of Iron speech.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Been there done that!!! Saw a B2 Flyover @ the Old So. Weymouth Naval Air Sta. way back now. It was a Air Show on Base. The Harriers impressed me the most… And.., of course “BUFFS” are literally old hat for me being in the Cockpits, and witnessing Full SAC Strategic Air Command Running W/ Take-off Klaxtons @ Grand Forks A.F.B. where its going to be 40 below next Wk.! :/ The Fly Boy’s & Girl Sun-gods will be in their glory today…lol Send in the Recruiters!!!

    Liked by 1 person

    2. Ah! The recruiters….
      It’s the stream that trickles down from the pageantry of flyovers and color guards, bands and anthems; seeping into this countries halls of childhood education and saturating influential young minds with recruiting fantasies that has created a self imposed ban on having anything to do with the football/military connection. I haven’t followed football-baseball since the BushCheneyRumsfeld debacles. I won’t “stand” for the hypocrisy. Anthem aside, I won’t even enter the stadium or turn on the tv…

      Liked by 1 person

    3. The BUFF!! B-52 should’ve been leading the Flyover… Can you think of any other Bomber with any other longevity, intimidation, or dark History… I The North Vietnamese literally feared this weapon. The new Black Scheme truly dominates. In the past the Old D Models with the 50 Cals. in the Tail Gunners obsolete now were my former faves. The B-52 H we had @ Grand Forks. This Blk. incarnation of the current Buff is out of Whiteman A.F.B. Mo.! Ol-SAC & 4****Gen. Curtis LeMay would be impressed…lol

      Like

      1. Oops my bad, the Blk. scheme B-52 was from outa Minot A.F.B. N.D. “Why-not Minot?”–” Freezins the Reason!!!”:/ :o)

        Like

        1. Back in the early 2000s my gliding club put on a display at the Abbotsford Airshow. We took one of the club’s single seat gliders, a Polish built Standard Jantar, some literature and the members took turns hanging out, talking to people, letting their kids have their picture taken in the cockpit and selling some familiarization flights. We were parked under the wing of a B-52. In the three days we were there we made friends with the crew chief and he invited us on board for a tour, two at a time. Two things stick with me: first, just how eerie it felt being on board something that may have poured bombs down on Vietnam and that could have been part of global Armageddon. The other thing is how many Dr. Strangelove flashbacks I got!

          The crew chief had many acerbic remarks regarding the two B-1Bs at the show and how much work it required to keep them in the air and their ratio of ground time to air time compared to the B-52.

          Liked by 1 person

          2. The “Bone” B-1,2’s. were after my time I punched out in 77, but when I was Overseas I saw a Bomber inside & out that “Rivaled” the BUFF in the intimidation factor– it was the UK’s “Vulcan Bomber!” It looked like “Rodan” flying into my Overseas Base, Azores, Portugal USAFE 75, 76…lol These RAF Crews I met at our Base NCO Club, and were real partyers. I got a Tour of their Vulcan Bomber when they Departed the following day! I’ll never forget it.

            Like

  9. Free associating with the title of this blog entry reminds me of a little lyric from the old (1973) song by Stephen Sondheim, “Send in the Clowns.”

    “Don’t you love farce?
    My fault I fear.
    I thought that you’d want what I want.
    Sorry, my dear.
    But where are the clowns?
    Quick, send in the clowns.
    Don’t bother, they’re here.”

    Which in turn led to . . .

    Here Come the Frowns

    I love a farce.
    Karl Marx did, too.
    He said we get history twice:
    Farce as Part Two.
    But Tragedy first
    Must slake its foul thirst;
    So, Part One will do.

    Isn’t it grand?
    That Shock and Awe!
    Some looting and then civil war.
    But, for the flaw
    To really sink in,
    We just need to skin
    The last man of straw.

    Argue the case.
    Shoot for the moon.
    Crusades in Lunacy led
    By a buffoon.
    Send in the Marines.
    Police those latrines.
    The Army comes soon.

    Then we stay on.
    Quagmire sets in.
    The years pass and nobody pays
    For the great sin.
    Thus, in one’s career,
    “Advance up the rear!”
    Becomes the true spin.

    So, “Suck on this!”
    “Don’t fuck with Jews!”
    Friedman and Goldberg now spit
    Their jaundiced views.
    Just send in the tanks.
    No need to say “thanks!”
    Then black-out the news.

    War on the poor,
    Trapped refugee.
    We’ll teach those dumb Arabs a thing,
    Since they can’t flee.
    Thus Zionists claim
    Apartheid’s no name
    For theft they decree.

    Christians and Jews
    Love Son, fear Dad.
    Muslims say their Prophet speaks,
    For which they’re glad.
    Yet what they all claim
    To know they defame
    Each time they get mad.

    Here come the frowns.
    Smiles disappear.
    We’ve seen this act so many times
    But still we hear
    That this time the game
    Won’t work out the same —
    At least, till next year.

    Michael Murry, “The Misfortune Teller,” Copyright 2009

    Liked by 2 people

  10. Mike: L.m.a.o…! I actually saw Judy Collins sing it in Concert now you ruined it for me! Ha, ha, ha…!

    Like

  11. Propaganda Weapons Porn
    One has to wonder how such an abundance of intellectual understanding and technological innovation; which one could say was a gift of higher intelligence for humankind from the Artistic Creator of All, could be turned against Creations diverse landscape. Could there be another use for such amazingly powerful thoughts that flow through our receivers of understanding in the laboratories for higher learning ?
    Hiding poison inside of sweet coatings has destroyed many; and that is what I see packaged at professional sporting pageantry. It’s not cool; it’s meant to breed fear and awe, awful outcomes are it’s only results. These are actually very unenlightening displays for bandwagon addicts; which is a disease most home team fans are suffering from. How easy to spread that illness from the home team rooting processes to a National war machine. Take a peace pill twice a day and enjoy the cure. You will be ecstatic falling of the “wagon”.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Breathtakingly astute observations, Utejack! I’d never thought of such a correlation between “home team” fanaticism and worship of the military.

    Speaking of the pervasiveness of all things related to weaponry, I just read a story about the death of a man in Michigan from shrapnel driven by the explosion of a cannon at….a baby shower. Evidently, it was a small, signal-type version. The reporter made a point of distinguishing this incident from the—apparently quite trendy—firing off of colored smoke devices at gender reveal parties (good lord!). Anyway, the police are currently speculating that too much gunpowder was loaded into the cannon. There simply are no words to reconcile cannons and baby showers.

    Like

  13. I have just the image for today, a photo I took of the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times during the early days of the war in Afghanistan. She’s blonde, blue eyed, 100% American and deadly as she sends a message to the Taliban about women…I call her Bomber Girl.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Women with integrity are pearls on the pathway of life.
        Since it’s a “super bowl” football post.
        ‘Member this debacle!
        They tried selling war with Pat Tillman
        also ….that sort of backfired; So to speak, on the marketing majors who got college edumacated and then went after pentagon paychecks….

        Like

  14. Speaking of bombers, the military budget and nuclear war, all a concern here, I found this important read that goes into the detail of our repudiation of nuclear disarmament. I had no idea that there is a “adjustable yield” nuclear bomb under development.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks for the link, Clif. Horrifying. I knew that military spending was beyond obscene, but didn’t realize it comes close to the total Americans remit in income tax every year.

      Like

  15. Pingback: Do We Love the Military Because It's More Diverse? - LA Progressive

Comments are closed.