AN INSIGHTFUL COMMENT FROM MARC JOFFE:

On Saturday, April 21st, a Navy Blue Angel F/A-18 Hornet jet crashed into a residential neighborhood during an air show near Beaufort, SC killing the pilot. The crash injured eight people and damaged eight structures on the ground. If a similiar incident were to occur when the Blue Angels next fly over downtown San Francisco this October, hundreds of spectators and bystanders could be hurt or killed.

Including Saturday's crash, 24 Blue Angels Navy flight squadron pilots have been killed during air shows or training since the group was formed in 1946. Clearly, the most recent crash is not an isolated incident, and the risk of a calamity in San Francisco is a real one.

According to the Blue Angels web site, an F/A 18 Hornet cost $28 million back in 1997. That amount could've financed one year of health care for over 11,000 uninsured children under San Francisco's new universal insurance plan. The Blue Angel shows also waste tons of fossil fuels and pointlessly add greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere.

Isn't it time that San Francisco, a city dominated by anti-war sentiment, put an end to these spectacles? As stated on the their web site, the mission of the Blue Angels is to enhance Navy recruiting. At a time when thousands of America's young people are dying in American military adventures, why would we want to encourage our local sons and daughters to risk their lives in overseas conflicts that have failed to contribute to our security?

During the Cold War, Soviet leaders paraded their newest armanents through Red Square each May Day as a public spectacle. With the Soviet Union now a distant memory, isn't it time for us to put an end to our own public displays of killing power?

tim w turner - 2/8/2009

You Know I went and seen the angels fly in mississippi and it was the greatest show i ever seen i mean wow to think no other country in the world can do stuff like this i hope they stay around forever and has for san ferisco i would not want to fly there anyway they are the biggest hipocrats i ever heard

David T. Beito - 4/25/2007

Ending this is probably less likely now than ever before. The Blue Angels fit in perfectly with the current recruiting strategy of finding kids who play military video games or have assorted "kick ass" mentalities. The relatively non-militaristic ideas of "be all you can be" or "an army of one" are now considered old hat.