🚀 go-pugleaf

<poboxdc@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message 
news:4293F8BB.2AB4F203@ix.netcom.com...
> 1) Were any of these planes (in the past two weeks) close enough
> to be considered dangerous enough to shoot down?

Considered by whom?  A Cessna 150 wouldn't be dangerous enough to justify 
shooting down, even if it was at maximum dive speed three inches from its 
target.

Has everyone already forgotten the airplane that the suicidal teenager flew 
into a Florida office building?  A bit of window glass was broken, and a 
desk got rearranged.

I don't doubt there are people out there panicked about all sorts of small 
airplanes.  But they simply aren't a threat, and they aren't worth all the 
attention (and $$$$$) spent on trying to "deal with them".

> 2) Should the instructor of the 1st incident lose his license
> forever?

We'll see.  He will have to get through all of the basic testing 
requirements any new pilot has to do.  It seems unlikely to me that a pilot 
who failed so miserably in the situation in which he did, would ever be able 
to get past those hurdles again.  I think it's entirely possible he's in the 
early stages of some sort of dementia, but in any case, it's clear his deck 
isn't as full as it was when he was original certificated as a pilot (likely 
decades ago).

> 3) If one of these planes were shot down, in the past two weeks,
> would the Democrats go crazy and accuse Bush of being a maniac?

They haven't already?  I personally have lots of complaints about the whole 
post-9/11 thing, and especially Bush's hand in it (but Cheney's even more 
so).  But if a plane gets shot down, I don't see how one would be able to 
put the blame solely on Bush.  It's taken hundreds of so-called leaders, 
mostly people we actually voted for (and I use the term "we" loosely :) ), 
to accomplish the insane loss of freedoms in our country.

No, I don't see how the downing of a private airplane inside the US by our 
military would necessarily reflect more poorly on Bush than any other 
politician working in D.C. these days, Democrat or Republican.  They are all 
nuts, as far as I'm concerned.

Now, everyone who replies, remove their own newsgroup from the follow-ups, 
and maybe we can get this ridiculously cross-posted thread dead.  :)

Pete