F-22 Raptor

I took the family to go see the Jones Beach Airshow this morning, where the F-22 made it's New York debut. The waiting in traffic, swarming gnats and flying umbrellas were all insignificant compared to moments like this:

The F-22 was truly majestic, I wish that I had used an actual video camera to take that rather then the video mode of my Olympus, and much like a Korn concert, recordings do not do the engine of the F-22 justice! For anyone who wants to see more at a better quality, Steve's Airshow World has a YouTube video up of the same routine presented a week ago by the Raptor at the Joint Services Open House at Andrews AFB in Maryland.

Of course the headliners of the show were the Blue Angels, who performed amazingly. It almost makes me laugh that no matter how many times I've seen them do similar acrobatics, I still feel a moment of fear when they wait until the last possible moments to maneuver around each other. A great show, by amazing pilots!

In The United States

An American of Lebanese descent has written a book called "Guilty -- Hollywood's Verdict on Arabs after 9/11" about the portrayal of Arabs in film and television. How much this disgusts me, much like when "Italian American" groups whined about the Sopranos, is besides the point. What made me shake my head was this quote:

"In the United States, you can say anything you want about Islam and Arabs and get away with it. In other words, as someone said, 'You can hit an Arab free'," said Shaheen -- also author of "Reel Bad Arabs -- How Hollywood Vilifies a People".

Some people just don't get it. This is the United States of America, you are supposed to be able to say anything you want, period, and get away with it. Anything other then that is an infringement of your rights. You want people to police your speech? There are plenty of countries in the Middle East that will oblige.