WTF?

UPDATE: VIDEO - WATCH NEW YORKERS RUNNING LIKE ON 9/11

WTF? A photo- op? What am I missing? For what? And why? And here we are in the middle of so many TERRIBLE! CATASTROPHIC! EARTH ENDING! crises and he is ordering "an iconic shot"? This is what dear leader is worried about? This is what he considers "a mission"?

The mission on Monday, officials said, was set up to create an iconic shot of Air Force One

White House Apologizes for Air Force Flyover

An Air Force One lookalike, the backup plane for the one regularly used by the president, flew low over parts of New York and New Jersey on Monday morning, accompanied by two F-16 fighters, so Air Force photographers could take pictures high above the New York harbor.

But the exercise — conducted without any notification to the public — caused momentary panic in some quarters and led to the evacuation of several buildings in Lower Manhattan and Jersey City. By the afternoon, the situation had turned into a political fuse box, with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg saying that he was “furious” that he had not been told in advance about the flyover.

At 4:39 p.m. Monday, the White House issued an apology for the flyover. Louis E. Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, who served in the Clinton administration as secretary of the Army, said in a statement:

Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision. While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it’s clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused.

The mission on Monday, officials said, was set up to create an iconic shot of Air Force One, similar to one that was taken in recent years over the Grand Canyon.

Terrify New Yorkers. Another brilliant move by dear leader.

UPDATE And it cost $328K.

Malone asks if the fly-over was a photo-op,
1. where are the photos?
2. who was taking the pictures? F-16 jets have one pilot. "look, no hands!"

FAA Memo: Feds Knew NYC Flyover Would Cause Panic - wcbstv.com*

UPDATE: Robert in Germany, long time Atlas reader notes:

I just wanted to say that your "WTF?" posting from 28 Apr had some incorrect information at the bottom. When "Malone" asked who was taking the pictures in the F-16, I think it should be clarified that two-seat F-16s do exist (there are actually plenty of them). In fact, a good friend of mine is an aerial photographer who regularly goes up with a pilot in a two-seater F-16 to photograph other jets. While I am not sure which version(s) were flying for the photo-op, I just want to make sure your readers are not mislead into thinking two-seat F-16s do not exist.

Meanwhile, WHERE ARE THE DAMN PICTURES?

Comments

[winginit49]

So is that "iconic shot" with or without the spinner wheels???

To think that we are being "ruled" by fools! >:(

VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBENTS 2010!!

[Left Coast Rebel]

WTF indeed, I saw this last night and was up late writing. So these people are in charge of our well being? And they have respect for the memory of 9-11? Are you f-ing kidding me? This is the most ourtageously absurd thing I have ever seen.

[Josef K]

Obamateurism at its finest, but I wouldn't panic.

[aprilnovember811]

And of course the media said "Obama is furious", about this. Are they kidding, we are supposed to believe that. This was all planned by Obama and his people. He is a psychopath, he loves seeing people squirm, the same way serial killers like to see their victims squirm. It's all about control. We have a deranged person running this country, but then nobody bothered to look at his background, it's all sealed right?

[Left Coast Rebel]

aprilnov - you are exactly right, the Obamanation knew full well about this, we are being led by more and delusional psychopaths......

[dented]

My heart went out to those people who were affected by this outrageous 'photo op'. Listening and watching the videos circulating the web last night was heart stopping. The fear and panic of those people affected could be heard, it was awful.

People evacuated tall buildings - can't imagine how frightened they must have been. Pregnant women were attended to by ambulance staff. People running for their lives believing another 9/11 was going to occur. People phoning their loved ones in panic and fear, it caused a chain of panic....

Obama you are a irresponsible, self centred frign imbecile.

[DJM]

How much do you want to bet one of those photos will end up as a gift from Obama to some muslim leader?

http://salibiyyah.blogspot.com/2009/04/obama-prepares-for-ramadan.html

[tanstaafl]

"Obama is furious" - it's not good when the Obamahdi is upset.

[Crusty]

From now on, the president's plane shall be known as Air Force 9/10.

[dented]

The New York photo shoot wasn't the only one planned. The White House had scheduled a follow-up session on May 5 or May 6 in Washington, D.C., according to two government officials. The D.C. flyover has now been canceled, a government official said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124084127590859371.html

[DJM]

Maybe some good will come of this. Maybe opening open wounds will jar those who have become too complacent with the last 7 years of relative safety and security. Maybe a good scare will get us on the right track again.

[Rodney]

I don't think it's incompetence. I think the after-the-fact apology was planned.

Why? Perhaps Obama wants to desensitize us for late apologies--because he will then be able to complete at least a few big outrageousnesses without being immediately hampered by public outrage.

[Rianun04]

The US is being run by freaks without conscience, soul, ethics or responsibility.

[George]

This looks like he is actually trying to taunt people!
It's a strong hint of who's side he is really on.

[gr8muscles]

This was planned by O for a reason. Does anyone know why? He knew NYer's would be outraged and frightened. It was kept secret for a reason. The mayor and Chuckie didn't know about this flyover!! Is O showing his power of allah to the Muslims, that if he wanted to repeat 9/11 terror act he can do it? O is a true Muslim and is the leader of the U.S. I have the power to destroy this country. Is that his message to the Saudi King?

[Underzog]

This terrorizing of New Yawkers is really quite symbolic.

The "Messiah" went on a grand America Sucks tour, including bowing to the Saudi king and his terrorizing of the New Yawkers is the perfect coda to an America sucks tour. If America sucks so bad, why not give the Amis a little scare for their arrogance?

What B. Hussein Obama did makes perfect sense to me and is perfect symbolism for his partying around with Chavez, Ortega; et. al.

[Thomas Carney]

We have two VERY expensive wars going on, and President Hussein, the Great Finger-Sucker of the Saudi King, the Chum of Chavez, the Rage Outright of Jeremiah Wright, the Nay-Sayer of Bill Ayers, and he's blowing money on a photo op???

The ops costs of either 747 that he uses as AF-1 is staggering!!! Two F-16s to go along??? That isn't cheap either, especially when those planes are at LOW altitudes, they REALLY gobble the fuel like a kid on a chocolate malt.

Even if BHO was not the pathological narcissist that he is, and even if he was not the Marxist President who seeks to destroy the Constitution, it's unbelievably stupid from a financial point of view to do this!!!

Our troops are hurtin' for ops money like you wouldn't believe!!! Secretary Gates, Air Force Chief of Staff General Schwartz, GROW A PAIR OF TESTICLES, WILL YOU?????

[Gideon300]

I don't think Obama was even aware people would be terrified. Obama is a child, he thinks and reasons as a child. It is more like, "hey this is all mine! We won! It is my airplane to do with what I want. So I will pimp my ride and show it off, having F-16's following, just to show I am the biggest pimp in town."

"Fact is I will put a pole and fur inside Air Force One, to pimp my ride." This pathology is even more dangerous than one that is planned. As he can be manipulated, and is, by all the Chicago thugs around him, backed by Soros money. We have a ten year old with delusions of grandeur running this country, actually destroying it faster than anyone could have imagined. We have to hope and pray that God is using this to destroy the Left, as everything that comes now is OWNED by them. That is my belief.

[Moonbeam]

This horrible act ranks right up there with the Swine Flu BS. FEAR!

I got news for the Obastard.. You just woke up the Sleeping Tiger and we are pissed!!

[Revnant Dream]

Thinking a bit on the buzzing of NYC by a plane like the one used on 9/11. It occured to me that if this President is a real Muslim than causing a little terror. Is just the right touch of zeal that gets him in tight with his god allah, (Lucifer) by a little Jihad terror of his own. Just saying.....

[RecycledCG]

Hummm, I work for one of the 22 agencies that make up DHS, and we got the memo from the new Sec of HLS saying we were going to start saving money by the way we buy office supplies and the way we refuel govt vehicles. (clue, we HAVE those systems in place as mandated by GSA)

Anyway, she's concerned about the price of a ball point pen, while her boss is spending this kind of money for a photo shot of an empty plane that any cleaver high schooler could do with photo-shop?

[RISE_UP]

gr8muscles, What you said.

It was done for a reason that most people will never grasp. Obama has a receipe and this is just one part of the whole thing he is cooking and it's not for the good of America.Meanwhile, while all of the other crisis develop, Obama keeps on slipping those things in.
F*** muslim in the oval office.

[Jane]

Folks you have a Muslim in the White House. He shared a sick joke with his Arab pals, and friends like Ayers and Wright, at the expense of New Yorkers. But, he also did something else - he showed your enemies how easy it is to create chaos, and terrorize American citizens. Every action he has taken since he was sworn in has been to hurt the American people and the Constitution. He has also destroyed relationships with long standing allies in favor of our enemies. Surely there is some mechanism in U.S. law that can get this bastard impeached - sooner than later.

[Davod]

"Isn't it fabulous how Obama has reconciled with our enemies and put fear into the hearts of Americans? Does any image illustrate so neatly the wrongheadedness of the Obama administration than Americans scrambling in terror from Air Force One? "

[Ladywolfnl]

The most insulting part was the Television appearance, where he had that arrogant grin on his face while saying "It won't happen again".

[NewColoradoJew]

In 1966 or 1967 Ann Dunham marries Indonesian Muslim Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo (1936-1987), who she had met at the University of Hawaii. By birth, Soetoro was Malaysian, but he lived in Indonesia most of his life. Soon after his marriage to Dunham, Soetoro returns, alone, to Jakarta, Indonesia. Obama and Dunham later move to Indonesia to join Soetoro, probably in 1967. (Soetoro’s U.S. visa was apparently revoked in 1967 due to political unrest in Indonesia.) Soetoro then adopts Obama, whose name is changed to Barry Soetoro. Elementary school records in Indonesia list Obama’s name as Barry Soetoro, his religion as Islam, and his citizenship as Indonesian. While in Jakarta, Obama attends Franciscus Primary School (1967-1969) and Besuki State Elementary School Menteng 01 (1969-1971). [6,14,172,289,324,329,801,2270]
Interestingly, while in the third grade in Indonesia, Obama writes an essay saying he wants to become president. Perhaps as a foreshadowing of future questions about his status as a natural born citizen of the United States, and the constitutionally relevant issue of divided loyalties, Obama includes in his essay the remark that he is not sure of “what country” he would like to be President. In fact, he wrote, “I want to be a president” rather than, “I want to be the president,” according to his teacher, Fermina Katarina Sinaga. [2039,842, p. 30]
Lolo Soetoro had been an official of the Director General’s office in the TNI Topography division of the Indonesian Army. He later becomes an executive with American Mobil Corporation, where he is a key liaison between the oil company and the Suharto regime. Suharto had been “installed” as the American friendly Indonesian President in 1967, after a CIA-engineered 1965-1967 coup that deposed President Sukarno – who was considered soft on communism and a threat to American oil interests. Strangely, the leftist Ann Dunham, who would have been more politically sympathetic to the deposed Sukarno, marries Soetoro, a man with ties to the bloodthirsty dictator Suharto. [615,842 p. 29]
Obama practices Islam while in Indonesia, irregularly attending prayer services at the mosque. According to one of his Indonesian school principals, Tine Hahiyary, the young Obama studied “Mangaji” (or “Mengagi”), which involves the recitation of the Quran (or Koran). Note that Mangaji, in Indonesian schools, requires learning to recite the Quran in the Arabic language, not the student’s native tongue. Non-Muslims or even moderate Muslims would not send their child to Mangaji classes. Mangaji is much more involved than a Christian child attending “Sunday School” classes. Obama likely was taught to read and write in Arabic, to recite from the Quran, and study the laws of Islam. (In his book, “Dreams From my Father,” Obama relates that “In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Koranic studies.”) Although Obama may insist he was never a Muslim, many Indonesians wonder why Obama is hiding his Muslim past. Former classmate Emirsyah Satar (now CEO of Garuda Indonesia) states that Obama “…was quite religious in Islam but only after marrying Michelle, he changed his religion.” [15,251,332,336,2039]
A former classmate of Obama in Indonesia, Rony Amiris, describes Obama as having enjoyed football, playing marbles, and being a very devout Muslim. Amir states, “Barry was previously quite religious in Islam.” Classmate Emirsyah Satar relates that Obama “was often in the prayer room wearing a sarong.” Obama is frequently observed in the school’s prayer room and at the local mosque for traditional Friday prayers. (Obama’s official campaign web site states that “Obama has never been a Muslim, and is a committed Christian. Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ.”) [332,521,2039]
Publicly, Obama denies he ever was a Muslim and claims he is a devout Christian. (Obama also alleges he was never in church when his pastor of 20 years, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, was spewing anti-white and anti-American rhetoric in one of his many angry sermons.) Many, if not most, of the world’s Muslims feel that “Obama may not want to be counted as a Muslim, but Muslims are eager to count him as one of their own.” If Obama is seen by radical Islamists as someone who denounced the Muslim religion to become a Christian, his background can be exploited to “argue that an apostate is leading the war on terror…” which can then help terrorists “…galvanize (additional) sympathizers into action.” But many Muslims may not care that Obama professes to be a Christian if his policies are pro-Muslim and anti-Israel. (Muslims are permitted, and even encouraged, to lie if it furthers the cause of Islam.) [252]
Obama was purportedly legally adopted by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro, which made Obama an Indonesian citizen, according to Indonesian law. Because Indonesia does not allow dual citizenship, Obama thus lost his U.S. citizenship when he became an Indonesian citizen, in or about 1967. At that point Obama also ceased to be a Kenyan citizen, according to both Indonesian and Kenyan law. Indonesian law would also have required Ann Dunham to renounce her U.S. citizenship for her marriage to Lolo Soetoro to have been considered legal in that country. If, after Obama returned to Hawaii, he applied for and was granted American citizenship, he would be a naturalized citizen (like California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger) and not a natural born citizen, and would therefore be ineligible to serve as President of the U.S. It is possible that Obama did not even bother to become a naturalized citizen of the United States, and remains an Indonesian citizen even today. Appropriate federal records would be on file if Obama made application for naturalization. If they exist, they have not been made public. [258,300,305,492]
Indonesia’s policy of not allowing dual citizenship must be respected by the United States in accordance with the Hague Convention of 1930. Further, Obama, as a child, was not required to personally renounce his U.S. citizenship – that would have been an automatic result of his adoption by Lolo Soetoro. Fair or not, the consequence of Dunham’s marriage to Soetoro and Soetoro’s adoption of Obama was that he became an Indonesian citizen, regardless of whether he understood the situation at age five or six. [492]
According to Indonesian legal experts, it is extremely difficult for non-Indonesian citizens to enroll in public schools in that country. That was especially true during the 1960s, when Indonesia was a police state, and Indonesian immigration officials and the police performed weekly checks on public schools to confirm citizenship compliance. This further supports the assumption that Obama was adopted by Soetoro. (Some argue that he was not officially adopted by Soetoro.) However, Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, has stated that Obama was adopted by their father, Lolo Soetoro. Maya Soetoro-Ng, who was born in Indonesia on August 15, 1970, also has a Hawaiian birth registration, and is a naturalized American citizen. It is therefore illogical to argue that Obama’s short form Hawaiian certificate of live birth proves he was born in the United States when his half-sister has the same document and was born in Indonesia. [329,801,1810,1988]
Indonesia today still does not allow dual citizenship. Under Indonesia law, once Obama became a naturalized citizen by virtue of adoption, he could not lose that status without relinquishing his citizenship in writing, under oath. If he did that, the government of Indonesia would have those records. If he did not do so by age 21, Obama is to this day still considered an Indonesian citizen by that country. His place of birth or the nationality of his mother is irrelevant; Indonesian law takes precedence under “The Master Nationality Rule of Article 4 of the Hague Convention on 1930.” Upon returning to the United States from Indonesia, he eventually satisfied the five-years-after-age-14 residency requirement of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, thus making him a naturalized citizen of the U.S. at age 19. Residing in the U.S. for five or more years after attaining age 14 established the intent of Obama to become a U.S. citizen under the law, which supersedes the Indonesian citizenship over which he had no control because of his age at adoption. Nevertheless, while Obama is a U.S. citizen he is likely not a natural born citizen. [801]

Legal Note: I cut and pasted this from colony14.com. Any non-profit re-posting or re-printing of this timeline without crediting the author (Don Fredrick at www.colony14.net) and without the consent of the author is prohibited. Any for-profit re-posting or re-printing of this timeline is prohibited.

[RecycledCG]

Headline news just estimated $328,000 for that stunt. Golly, like I said, that would have paid for some really, REALLY good Photoshop work, and saved a lot of people dumping out into the streets of NYC.

Um, who pays for that lost revenue?

[Mongol gone jamin, adios!]

There are several pilots in my family who would tell you that "buzzing" a person, place, or vehicle is like flipping them the bird.
But to do this in New York after 9-11 is an outrage!

Air Forces Of Darkness One.

Our tax dollars at "work" ???

[DJM]

If there aren't any photos, one would have to question why it was even done. I don't think even Obama would have done it to scare NYers alone. (Though, if he thought he had a legitimate reason in the first place, he was probably indifferent, if not amused, by the reaction.)

I wonder if any admirers of the "magnificent 19" were in town that day, and Obama decided to comply with an "aerial tour" of NY...

[abinitioadinfinitum]

Fausta discovered (reading the WSJ) there was to be http://faustasblog.com/?p=11948 target=_blank/>a second flight over DC on May 5th and 6th. Also, http://www.counton2.com/cbd/news/national/article/panicked_new_jersey_residents_call_911_to_report_mondays_nyc_plane_scare/24180/ target=_blank/>here are some NJPD 911 calls of terrified people.
.
Fausta - http://faustasblog.com/?p=11948
NJPD 911 calls - http://www.counton2.com/cbd/news/national/article/panicked_new_jersey_residents_call_911_to_report_mondays_nyc_plane_scare/24180/