Good.

The knucklehead at the White House who authorized the idiotic secret April 27 Air Force One flyover of New York City for a "photo op" has "resigned."

Here, via a link from the New York Times online, is a commendably forthright report from the White House on how this egg got scrambled. The report states that its scope was "limited to White House involvement" in that idiotic stunt, which frightened tens of thousands of New Yorkers who looked up that day to see a great big airplane, flanked by Air Force jets, flying extremely low over the city.

Evidently it did not occur to the people who thought this stunt up -- and insisted for some wholly unknown reason that the public not be notified in advance that a great big 747 was going to be flying at 1,000 feet over the city -- that a great many people in New York would have a ... bad reaction, considering what happened the last time they looked up and saw great big airplanes flying low over the skyline.

Now that the White House official, Louis Caldera, has walked the plank, it's time to pick off the others involved: the Air Force colonel in charge of the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews who helped plan it, the nitwit FAA official or officials who evidently were the ones to argue for secrecy and threaten other agencies if they informed the public in advance,and whichever state and local officials had a hand in this.

{In a report today, the CBS affiliate in New York, WCBS TV {{which weirdly has begun referring to itself as CBS 2 HD}}, described the FAA screw-up: "In a memo obtained by CBS 2 HD, the Federal Aviation Administration's James Johnston said the agency was aware of 'the possibility of public concern regarding DOD (Department of Defense) aircraft flying at low altitudes' in and around New York City. But they demanded total secrecy from the N.Y.P.D., the Secret Service, the FBI and even the mayor's office and threatened federal sanctions if the secret got out."]

There was no excuse for this dumb stunt. No one who had a hand in planning it ought to have a government job.

If these chowderheads hadn't insisted on secrecy, they could have flown that passenger-less Air Force One all over the city with advance notice and wowed the citizens who paid for the "photo op." Thousands would have been in the streets to take pictures. It would have been a splendid event, despite the criticism about however much it cost (evidently around $350,0000 total) for this photo-op that could just as easily and way more cheaply been a "Photoshop."

But nooooo. They had to get out the "Secret" stamp. They just love the "Secret" stamp.

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