F The Blue Angels

Warning, political rant below!

When it's Seafair time in Seattle, that means a few things:

• Hydroplane racing on Lake Washington
• People will get drunk on their boats and injure and/or kill somebody, it seems to happen every year
• The Blue Angels roar over town (just saw one go by apt at probably 500 mph and 500 feet away - I always forget how friggin loud those things are!)

But I've got a little problem with the Blue Angels - can you say propaganda? Everyone seems to forget that we're paying the fuel bills for those military jets as they entertain us. Not to mention there are pilots doing real bombing runs over Iraq, maybe even at the same time as the Angels fly over Seattle, upside-down to the roar of thousands of spectators..

America is one of the few places where citizens hear fighter-jet engines roaring and run outside to cheer - in most other places civilians have to run and hide from American-made bombers..

What's this got to do with cycling? Not much, except the I-90 bridge is closed (including the bike path) during their runs! They made me late to work last year... dammit. Hopefully they can't stop me from doing the Lake Wa Loop today.

So when you see the Blue Angels, think twice about cheering. I'm just as impressed with jets as anyone else, but this is more than politically charged entertainment - it's military-approved entertainment, and that just seems wrong to me.