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From: Pajamasmedia
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  • Thanks Bill. Well said. :0)

  • Live free or Die

    translation: Ron Paul or we're fucked.

  • This was such a powerful video!

  • Magnificent! I'll go along with the OP who said Bill Whittle for President.

  • Clone yourself and send your copy to Canada please.

  • Bob Hannah was 42 not 32 in 1998, born in 1956. Just a slight correction.

  • I'm an Australian, I know nothing of Bill Whittle, until now.

    In my opinion, he's 'up there'.

    He 'cuts the mustard'.

    Intelligent, Informed, Eloquent.

    One cannot ask for more.

  • @twinstu50,

    In that case, my friend from down under, I would encourage you to view more of his stuff and subscribe to his website, PJTV. It's certainly worth it if your into common sense.

  • Did any of you fools watch the entire video? Reading through some of your posts its clear your posting a response with absolutely no insight to his point for even bringing up that horrific accident in the first place.

    WATCH before you post.

    That being said, once again Bill nails it...

  • And if we don't keep warbirds in museums than how will future generations see and touch them. The crowd knows the risk? Just watch over the next few months how this crowd files lawsuits because they didn't realize the risks. No one is more passionate about aviation than I, but I can still rationalize when something is in definite need of repair. Exercising freedoms wrecklessly is not being an adult.

  • This is so reprehensible, I was there I can hear myself on this video, it was shocking and horrible beyond words.Two months later I still have flash backs.This man is a disgrace to the sport.True race fans have compassion,you sir are an embarrassment and do NOT represent the sport ,in the future keep you big mouth shut.

  • @xetor2000 Did you even watch the video? How was anything he said reprehensible?? Watch the video. And before you remind us again, we know, we know-- you were there. The crash was a small part of it!

  • @xetor2000

    I was also there, and although it was very tragic what happened, he does have some very valid points! We all made a choice to go to the air-show, whether or not we realized we put ourselves at risk or not. We put our selves at risk everyday by waking up. I don't know where you get your ideas that he is representing the sport at all.

  • "The initial comment starts off reasonably well; unfortunately this tragedy has been turned into a conservative rant.

    What a shame. No longer can I have respect for Bill Whittle in aviation" I couldn't agree more what an outrage this is. Are all Air Race Fans cranks like this guy? No they are not this guy is making the rest of us look bad. This was an accident that KILLED PEOPLE WOMAN AND CHILDREN ! Show some compassion! Awful

    !

  • shame this fellow is not on mainstream media...

  • They should ban Rachel Madcow and Keith Untermann - and deport any of the useless eaters that actually believe their shit.

  • @ N330AA - the only "morons" who refuse to admit they have a lot in common with Nazis are Ameican socialistas. Guess they forget that Nazi stands for "NATIONAL SOCIALIST". And before they go off into their stultifying tirades off ignorance, posting links that "prove" nazis weren't Socialist, Hitler and the nazis implement or improved scores of socialist programs.

    Why did millions of Germans quit the leftwing parties before WW2  and join the Nazis? It appealled to fucked up national pride.

  • Bill, you do a nice job of discussing Reno and risk vs. reward but I wish you would get your facts correct. There was never a United Flight 191 crash. American Airlines 191 crashed just after take-off at Chicago O'hare on May 25th, 1979. American Airlines 587 crashed November 12th, 2001 just after takeoff from JFK in New York. These are the worst two air disasters in U.S. history.

  • @mudhen817 You missed the point. So what if he got a number wrong. Watch the video again and focus.

  • You really believe max performing a 60 year old P-51 to it's breaking point for a small cash prize is worth it? That's childish in my opinion. I love aviation and even attended the Reno Races in 1999...yes they had a P-51 disentegrate that year as well. When it comes down to it it's a sport. A single event that has a far worse safety record than any other event I know of. Reno seriously needs to consider if trashing historic aircraft and precious lives each year is worth it.

  • @Glashawk1 Two words for you pal. FREE COUNTRY!! The airplanes are owned by free people who live in a free country. They aren't breaking any laws. They are racing airplanes. Geesh

  • @gnarlyharley71 Aren't breaking any laws? That guy could have been charged with involuntary manslauter if he lived. It's just not innocent guys racing planes around minding their own business. They are also destroying precious pieces of history everytime they ball up a warbird. Look I'm all about freedoms but sometimes restrictions must be put into place to save ourselves. What would our highway deaths be if the seatbelt law was never inacted? Reno needs a "seatbelt".

  • @Glashawk1 These guys know the risks and the crowd does too. If YOU don't like it, STAY HOME, but don't try and stop something that people enjoy. As far as destroying precious pieces of history, it's going to happen eventually. In your world, you would have the government keep these planes and store them at Davis Monthan, dry rotting, or on some pedestal rusting away. If you don't like it, fine. The point of the video is saying just that. Just don't try and stop it for people who do like it!

  • @gnarlyharley71 Who's says I'm trying to stop it? I'm simply saying if one particular car race track has had a safety record like Reno they'd be shutdown. Stop talking out of passion and think logically. Some sort of restriction must be in place for Reno to go on. Also you know nothing about my world. I own two aircraft and have been to more aviation events (including Reno) than you could possibly imagine. If in your "world" all the warbirds are flown eventually they'd go away.

  • @Glashawk1 A restriction here, then another there. When do you stop? When do we hold people accountable for their own actions? If you show up in a crowd of people at an air show and are unable or unwilling to realize the very real danger it poses, you should be considered a child.

  • @wulfmanUNCP I realize the danger these races pose and accept that. Unfortunately others don't agree. There is already one 25 million dollar suit filed and others are looking to get money from this accident. I don't agree with them but they do have means for a case. This aircraft was modified outside its original design and wasn't mean't to be flown at these speeds. What if you were on a roller coaster that crashed due to some modification. You'd sue as well if you lost a loved one

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  • I'm no lefty, and i agree that we shouldn't ban air races. But comparing the US left to Stalinism, Maoism and Nazism must surely be the biggest and most pathetic straw-man argument ever attempted - this guy must be Reagan reincarnated. And of course, the US has never indulged in a good bit of healthy genocide.

    And what moron thinks that Nazism was socialist?

  • Well said, Bill. Well said.

  • A brilliant essay... thank you

  • Great Video!

  • To answer the moron below who commented on the age topic...if you knew anything about aviation, you would have known that the 32 year old pilot in Voodoo that had the same thing happen to him 20 years ago, woke up at 9,000'! This means his aircraft went straight and didn't roll over on its back immediately...he had time and the "g" forces let up...Galloping Ghost immediately rolled inverted and kept the "g" loads on the pilot and he never had time to recover from the insane "g" forces placed up

  • I've got news for you Bill, tyranny in America is already here. Remember what the police did during Katrina? In the intrest of "public safety" they systematically, wilfully, and forceably disarmed as many law abiding citizens as they came in contact with who were just moving their lawfully obtained weapons to safer confines using their vehicles to do so. They stopped them, searched them, and took their guns away from them. This, in the USA, not some banana republic!

  • Man give this man a PRIZE!!! Couldn't have been said better. The "Newsies" need to get a grip - instead of trying to get a story or cause confusion out of any event. "If it bleeds it leads."

    They are doing the same thing with the fatal Indy crash last week. That's why they call it RACING instead of sitting.

  • Nice, we can agree on something here :)

  • The initial comment starts off reasonably well; unfortunately this tragedy has been turned into a conservative rant.

    What a shame. No longer can I have respect for Bill Whittle in aviation

  • Wow! Reminds me of the Ben Franklin quote about giving up liberties in exchange for security and ending up with NEITHER. Nicely done.

  • This is the first time I have seen Bill Whittle.

    Bravo, good sir. Bravo.

  • Why, I wonder, are common people so utterly incapable of accepting risk?

  • Awesome! Couldn't have said it better myself!

  • I followed this fool until he said the pilot's age was totally irrelevant (32 yr old survived the same event), at which time my bullshit-o-meter pegged and I came to the instant conclusion this fool is a member of the same gaggle of knee-jerk talking heads he attacks at the beginning of the piece. ZZzzzzz....

  • yes, this is just to inform..and remind everyone to CRITICALLY THINK.....

    I teach it in schools...and well, many teachers do not...

    Everyone: Heads up, and off your desks...time to actually critically think....make rational, intelligent decisions....Is this a new concept?

  • Big time whiner -- I can accept the thought that people who went to the race accept liability for their actions, and that the races should not be banned, but to then go after "socialism," health care, and the rest is foolish. And to equate the United States with Nazi German and the USSR is demeaning to the United States. As a proud American, I am offended at armchair critics like Whittle....

  • Well said!

  • @RA59. Amen to that. give maddow freedom of speech so she can talk to the rest of the rats in NYC. Don't teach them how to think, teach them to THINK.

  • he had me until the whole thing ends a typical teabagger bullshit rant.

  • @MrRobdot2

    You mean the part about being free?

  • @MrRobdot2 Sounds like someone is missing from the OWStard demonstration. Get there quick, dipshit!!

  • Been at the Reno Air Races every year since '89. Flown my own airplane. Ridden a motorcycle. Kayaked white water. Hiked alone into the mountains. Taken risks, reaped the rewards, still alive. Living life as a responsible adult, I get to make decisions for myself.

    But it is the child in me that wants to take all those risks, that enjoys the excitement, the beauty, the peace. The adult in me says, "Sit still. Watch TV. Be satisfied." All my life, if anyone has ruined my fun, it's been the adults.

  • Bill Whittle.

    A most thought provoking gentleman indeed!.

    What I have heard him say in this instance is rather thought provoking, at least for me. I am compelled to comment on the post by JosephJamesScott.

    This person opines,- (Bill Whittle) Quote. "You tell them how to think". Unquote.

    Not so.

    Mr Whittle is not 'telling us' how to think, (ergo,WHAT to think), he is alerting us to THINK, a vast difference.

    Tirade?, I think not.

  • I think we should ban this guy. It's amazing how he can take some interesting facts and turn them into a condescending tirade about something completely unrelated to the Reno air crash. You know how to treat someone like a child Bill Whittle? You tell them how to think.

  • @JosephJamesScott This is a brilliant video. I'm sorry you're too immature to appreciate your freedoms.

  • For the sake of completeness you should relay all the facts. A normal P-51 has two trim tabs, one on each elevator. To reduce drag the pilot of GG had the aircraft modified so it only had one working trim tab; the other tab was fixed in place. The pilot ignored warnings by knowledgeable mechanics that the change would seriously overload the one working tab at high speed. It failed of course, and sadly instead of just killing himself the reckless pilot killed lots of others too.

  • Bravo Bill......

  • Tyranny? Here now. Search YouTube for: police state tsa vipr

  • Tyranny? It's here now.. Watch news reports of buck ofama's storm troopers in action her

  • Holy crap, that was awesome. Haven't heard much common sense lately as it is not nearly as common as it used to be. Keep talking and pray that others listen.

  • @jtaylor58jt

    Yes!.

    Unfortunately, as the saying goes, 'Common sense is not that common'.

  • Oh...you are just making too too much sense, which isn't really common these days. Hmmmm, risk? Reward? Hard work? Freedom?

  • Bill Whittle for prez!!!!!!!!!

  • Outstanding video. Has nothing to do with the Tea Party or any other party. The lesbo on MSNBC needs to know a little something about what she's talking about before she opens her mouth.

  • One right? Easy. Buck Ofama has taken away his right to NOT be searched (groped, felt-up, etc) by buck Ofama's perverts at tsa checkpoints.

  • Outstanding!

  • He didn't say he has lost any freedoms. He is simply advocating, keeping on guard, against those who promote left wing causes, that will take away, our fought for and paid for, American freedoms. Only those, who swallow those left wing pills, will not understand this video.

  • To equate social programs in the U.S. with the Nazis and the Communists is typical double talk by a uptight Republican mouthpiece. What freedoms has Mr. Whittle lost.? Name one. Typical tea party crap, fear mongering.

  • Bill Whittle for President. Or at least "Secretary of Common Sense."

  • @SkywardMedia I second that. However, he should be placed in a more productive place... the FCC.

  • If you GET this video and the message of freedom then you will get Ron Paul. A vote for Ron Paul is a vote for freedom & individual responsibility. Something that only resonates in the heart of those who wish to live free of government and assume the risks and reap the rewards.

  • I was afraid to open the link, i've seen enough, then i saw this

    bravo

  • WOW! Where have you been all my life Bill? Great video, loved your logic and presentation. Right on! Keep them coming.

  • Hell YEA!!!!

  • Well said Bill !! Thank you Sir!

  • I think we otta ban cars since they kill alot more people each year.

  • This guy just hit it out of the park. Live free or die!

  • Bill Whittle is probably one of the most common sense, logically intuitive commentators out there. I absolutely adore your Afterburner show, sir.

  • Were there children in the crowd?

  • Great info. One thing, a huge one, forgotten was that way over 50 million little babies have been killed in this country since roe v wade. Where is the outcry about that? Also, it does nothing for anyone to speak foul language, except make that person, that cause, look bad.

  • This is Tea Party crap. Just keep drinking the right-wing crap and be ignorant. I don't think Mike Moore called for the end of the Air Races. That is bullshit.

    Frank C.

  • @APancho1968 well at least out Kool-Aid isnt government funded

  • @rockinandout Yeah right. I don't get in pissing contests. Also you might want to check your spelling. I have not lost any of my freedoms. Go back to watching Fraud News or listen to Limbaugh, now there is some accurate info.  NOT.

  • @APancho1968 Oh my God! a typo! i must be a total idiot! how about your freedom of speech, against self incrimination, to spend your money as you see fit, religion, to bear arms, to drive without a seat belt, to use substances that you see fit to use, to consume raw or uncooked dairy or meat & freely chose products. and even if none of those have touched you if you let those atrocities against liberty go unchecked eventually your rights will be the only ones left to take, and they will take them

  • @rockinandout F*** off Tea Party asshole

  • @APancho1968 well i guess i do still have that right ;)

  • @APancho1968 Michael Moore hates America's system but sure loves the millions he made, though that system. He makes no sense what so ever.

  • Bill Whittle for President!

  • @N47964  Yea right! Ignorance is bliss

  • EXACTLY!

  • Excellent video! Pass it on. Those of you wanting to end the air races should stay home and off the roads. Thousands die every year in auto accidents. Soon you'll want to ban cars.

  • This dude needs to look up the definition of "socialism". It just makes me laugh when right wing whack jobs like this toss the word around with not a *clue* what it means and how utterly inappropriate it is in the current political narrative in the US.

  • @jrh707 Oh Jennings, just keep gulping the liberal kool-aid. Come Nov. '12, I'm sure you'll be adding some stiff alcohol to your drink.

  • They need to take Reno back to the old days. When planes were just engines.

  • Excellent video. No truer words have been spoken.

  • Excellent video. No truer words have been spoken.

  • Excellent Vid !

  • Execellent video! I am an "adult" and I was in the stands at Reno. I can't wait to return to Reno!

  • 100% correct, regardless of the failure of the part, the planes are too fast for old aluminum (it does weaken with age) the older pilot and spectators being so close they could be killed were all mistakes.

  • @derberg19486 This just shows your lack of knowledge on the subject, which is Whittle's point. The aluminum in the plane was FAR from old, these racers and many other planes have had the stressed members (spars, etc) all replaced, and new aluminum skins. All the moving parts of an airplane are replaced at specified intervals, or when any wear, damage or corrosion is found. BTW, aluminum properly cared for will last indefinitely if no corrosion happens....

  • @derberg19486 The aluminum is brand new on these planes, replaced every few years

  • @derberg19486 And the pilots age is irrelivent in this case

  • I wish I could add some pithy addendum to Whittle's vid... I don't think it can be improved though. Great job.

  • I love this guy!

  • Gosh, Bill - I love your "live free or die" idea that adults accept responsibility for the world in which they live, while children want someone else assigned to protect them. But where were you when the idiotic "War on (unpatented) Drugs" wound up, or the equally inappropriate military response to 9/11. I'm with you on the childish responses following the Reno air races, but your argument sputters out when you fail to include all of the reactions of the safety nazis on the right..

  • no more reno air races period.

    if so who will assume liability???

    F.A.A.? I dont think so.

    Who's responsible for the loss of the grand stand people killed?

    F-1

  • Another brilliant video. Love your work, Bill. Keep it up...

  • As a Reno Attendee who was 100 feet from the impact, thanks for that essay Bill. Yes, we all know the risks involved, we (the fans) have been going there for years, and most of us either are involved in Aviation, or once were.

  • I agree....we are losing our personal freedoms daily! People in the United States need to be more aware. Please allow individuals the right to choose!

  • This is like watching the daily show but I'm not laughing.

  • Just New York County, Manhattan, please. Leave the real New Yorkers in the other boroughs alone.

  • Well spoken

    No risk no fun

    

  • Mr Whittle your videos just get better and better.

  • Well said, Bill.

  • There you go again Bill,

    trying to back your argument with facts and reason.

  • I'm having a tough time finding a quarter with "age res proprias tuas" on it. Were they only on certain years? All of mine have this Cold War era garbage scrawled on them: "In God We Trust."

    And again... awesome episode and I have to admit I was expecting the usual snide, flag waving grab ass and was pleasantly disappointed.

  • @ZombieX13 The war of 1812 was part of the Cold War? I assume the rest is sarcastic.

  • @zvi303 Couldn't find anything on 1812 in reference to the coinage using this phrase but it looks like coins had this garbage printed on them around the civil war era but the paper currency has had it since the 50s.

    And no, you assume incorrectly. I liked this episode a lot.

  • Boy, I don't much like Bill but this is great.

  • BRAVO! Great sense!

  • People who don't drive want public tranportation... People who do drive don't want public transportation. Is that your point?

  • @DJSNuva1 No.

  • @ZombieX13 What is then?

  • @DJSNuva1 Cute.

  • @ZombieX13 You're a troll.

  • @DJSNuva1 You're mom's a troll.

  • @ZombieX13 I ask a legitimate question, and you mock me.

  • @DJSNuva1 Your mom's a legitimate question.

    (If you need clarification as to the point of the video, then go watch it again. Ask a half cocked question like a putz and you can expect to be trolled.)

  • @ZombieX13 My question was completely legitimate, and the fact that the entirety of your responses can be summed up in the words "ridicule" and "mockery" proves the asinine nature of your posts. You're acting like an immature thirteen year old girl. You just keep sputtering meaningless phrases, phrases with no substance at all. How about you come out from behind your facade and answer the question like an adult? Or, you can just keep up your asinine obstinacy, with posts like "Cute."

  • Thanks, Bill. This is one of your best efforts ever. I will do my part to spread it far and wide.

  • Brilliant! I have typed before to you....again, my hat goes off to you, Bill.

  • While I don't support the banning of smoking outright. I believe that it does violate one of the natural laws that Bill has mentioned previously. To not "infringe on other persons or their property". By smoking in a building of which both smokers and non-smokers have to be in, such as a classroom, they are infringing on the life of the non-smoker and the owners property. I wish smokers, as a common courtesy, would smoke outside, but without some regulation in place they would rarely do so.

  • @HeisenbergHyopthesis My understanding of anti-smoking laws is that they were intended for the employees of businesses like bars and restaurants. You might only be breathing in second-hand smoke for an hour, but they could be breathing it in for six.

  • @smiledammit24

    They don't have work there, dumbass. If you don't like second hand smoke, find another job.

    BTW, I don't smoke and never have. I hate cigarette smoke. But business owner has the right to make their own decision. If they want a smoking environment, it is their right. You don't have to go there or work there. Given the choice, I will go to the smoke free restaurant or bar. But I sure as hell would not tell anyone else how to run their business.

  • @666sigma Okay, I suggest there's a little merit to a policy that has been shown to save tens of thousands of lives and somehow I'm a dumbass. If the people who work in bars had the economic mobility (that you presumably have) to just pick up and go somewhere else, smoking in bars and restaurants would have never have been an issue. I like Bill a lot, but the thing he ignores here is that very often the people that benefit from these policies support them too.

  • @smiledammit24 Tens of thousands of lives? That's a mighty huge statistic. It must have hurt like hell when you pulled it out of your butt. Proving that people didn't die from second hand smoke is a lot like Obama's stats for jobs "Saved".

    Of course, perhaps our mechanic friend further downthread could benefit from that kind of math, counting the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of spectators who didn't die at Reno, proving that the races are safe.

  • @Mauser712 The statistic has been corroborated by a number of periodicals and medical journals. Not doing the research is your problem, not mine. By your logic, I guess we should also let people drink while they drive. It's my car after all, right? And think about how many people who drink and drive end up getting home safely!

  • @smiledammit24 Much like those thousands of scientists who tell us about Global Warming (As long as the Grant checks keep coming in).

  • @Mauser712 are you implying that climate change is a myth? if so, youre wrong. climate change happens, whether we (humans) are here or not. We are just making it a tiiiiinnny bit worse with the pollutants that we put into the atmosphere.

  • @TheOnlyAttrition

    Climate change is what the Planet we exist on, ..just does.

    Sadly, as the Dinosaurs, and whatever went before them, did not keep any accurate records, we humans can only, at best, speculate what it was like back then, using pitifully minimal evidence to arrive at our conclusions.

    The easiest way Humans could 'cause ' Climate change would be by total Planetary Nuclear War, and after, the cockroaches would say to each other, "They were right".

    

  • @HeisenbergHyopthesis I don't want to derail this thread into an argument between smokers and non-smokers, but I think it is an issue of private property rights. The government has the right to ban smoking in government-owned buildings, but private bar and restaurant owners should have the right to set smoking policy on their own property. If I own a restaurant, then it should be my decision alone. Non-smokers are not in any way forced to patronize my business.

  • Well said, Bill! Live free or die!

  • Defenders and enablers of the nanny state have no shame. There is no tragedy too big or too small that they won’t use to shackle the population “for their own good.”

  • aeronautrical engineers have to study fluid dynamics - same as ocean engineers - because air begins to act more like water at high speeds (supporting your trim tab argument)

  • I typically agree with you Bill, but don't litter your videos with photoshopped quarters... I have yet to find a quarter that says AGE RES PROPIAS TUAS. The early 1990's design have no insignia, and the 2000 and on design says IN GOD WE TRUST. However, I do like Franklin's motto. 

  • Can't we blow the bridges and plug the tunnels before they leave?

  • @RA59 Yeah, really. If we let them leave, they'll migrate elsewhere and bring their voting habits with them.

  • Class act Bill, keep them coming.

    Thank you.

  • Wait, that means people who want to ban toilet paper means they haven't...oh GROSS.

  • Shit happens... Now if only we could get the nanny marxist control freaks to see it that way.

  • Bill I am so impressed. Glad your on my side.

  • People who wanna ban guns, have never fired a gun!

  • @rehwr Arm yourselves, because the enemy is anyone who says you shouldn't

  • Thank you, Bill!

  • I actually had to look and see if that really was on the quarter

  • @rockinandout I did the same thing..lmao

  • Wow, I had no idea that Bob Hannah the old Team Yamaha legend flew airplanes.

  • Whittle...you are brilliant.

  • Whittle...you are brilliant.

  • As always, brilliant.

  • I couldn't have said it better. Terrific video, Bill.

  • I'm so sick of the safety nazis. They'll enslave us all if they could. All for our own good or the greater good...'for the children'.

  • You guys keep right on believing in the two-party system that has made America what it is today..... 100 trillion in debt, 1.5 quadrillion owed in derivative loans, invading sovereign countries in the name of "national security".

    STUPID IS 4EVER

  • @mcap52 Invading sovereign countries for national security is a new and ineffective practice? News to me genius.

  • @mcap52 Invading sovereign countries for national security is a new and ineffective practice? News to me genius.