Comments on: Boise Council In Dark Over F-35 Banners

By: dog

dog — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:00:09 +0000

I’m not surprised Boise Council supports the F35 fighter squadron. They support extremely loud Harley Davidson motorcycles anywhere in the city. I suppose it also is the “sound of freedom” when I hear a pack of them roaring past my house in the middle of the night.
Makes me glad I’m American. Think I should run out and salute in my skivvies next time?

Asked a Boise cop why they don’t ticket loud motorcycles and he smiled and said, “because we like them”. Wonder when I like it?

By: Larry Fortensky

Larry Fortensky — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:02:39 +0000

I lived about 10 miles from a naval air station, and it was a 24-hour, noisy operation. Mechanics testing engines at 3 a.m. by running them full bore. When the wind was just so, the distinct odor of jet fuel and emissions wafting over. Jets dumping all their fuel anywhere if any sort of emergency light comes on in the cockpit. Two or four jets taking off together on late night missions, using afterburners that will rattle your house, followed by another two or four jets. It’s a major industrial facility that doesn’t work in Boise. No thanks. Boise, you don’t want this.

By: Porcupine Picayune

Porcupine Picayune — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:33:05 +0000

“…couldn’t recall authorizing any expenditures…”

Plausible Deniabilty…

It’s the fuel that drives the City of Boise and its Political Fiefdoms

By: diane sower

diane sower — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:29:32 +0000

Nobody gets it. The decision to bring these fighter jets was made long before they announced it to us here in Idaho. We can gripe till we are blue in the face, but until you’ve realized the process involved in military decisions, you are all barking up the wrong tree. Find something else to work on.

EDITOR NOTE–Diane, they haven’t even decided to produce the fighters yet let alone decide where to locate them! LAtest wrinkle is a politico pushing for an “alternate engine” manufactured in his state.

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:30:49 +0000

So our tax money did pay for the stuff.

By: Rod in SE Boise

Rod in SE Boise — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:47:39 +0000

If the PR effort “…falls within expense guidelines”, then those guidelines need to be changed. The city government should be neutral on issues such as this.

By: Casey

Casey — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:37:24 +0000

I despise those banners–I most certainly do NOT support the F-35s, and resent the implication that everyone in Boise does.

I’m not sure how all the council has missed them. They’re extremely visible on the concourse. I don’t even travel that often, and I know exactly where they’re at and what they look like.

By: Kappa TA

Kappa TA — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:11:13 +0000

What are the expense guidelines? How much did the city of Boise expend for F35 PR?

I hear from my military friends that I MUST support the F35. I haven’t made up my mind. I would rather see this exorbitant amount of defense money for now being put to better use, i.e. cost of living adjustments (retroactive) for military, veterans and seniors, despite the consumer-price-index tie. Obviously, the price of goods has risen. Our soldiers are fighting too many battles and separations from family. You have no idea of these personal costs for liberty unless you have served in the military or are a veteran or military family member. Same for seniors on fixed incomes; their battles are many too. These PR types need to cruise the grocery stores, food banks, payday loan places, battlefields, etc., instead of sitting on their royal perches and wasting our time and money.

This PR effort is similar to the 2010 Census hoopla. Instead of all the promised jobs, albeit short-term, money was wasted for a bus tour and massive outreach to promote a five-question questionnaire. I’m still seeing ads on TV asking folks to return their census in March. My brother in Florida sent his census in on time and has been the victim of five follow ups. Fortunately, the BP problem has not yet hit northern Florida, but it is the talk of the state. Time to clean up and do what’s right for America!

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:30:19 +0000

So who authorized them and more important who paid for them?? – – there has to be a paper trail somewhere – – or did someone hide it?

By: cyclops

cyclops — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 01:26:10 +0000

I agree Paul. The viability of the F-35 in it’s current platform design, is far from a production “done deal”!
However, with regard to the city council, one has earned the right to be “forgetful”. The rest aren’t ignorant, they are CLUELESS!!

EDITOR NOTE–The council did indeed pass a resolution in support of the F-35, but it said nothing about advertising banners, public relations expenses with public funds, equal time for opponents. We were told it was pretty much a matter of “if there are going to be F-35s we want the jobs.”