Lookie!! The pres is going to Sydney in style.....sickening

[snappyturtle]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/stand-by-for-bushs-travelling-circus/2007/08/24/1187462523652.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

"WHEN President George Bush takes off from the White House for the short trip to Andrews Air Force Base in Marine One, not one but three identical helicopters rise into the sky, in an airborne pea-and-thimble trick.

No one knows which helicopter is the President's. It is the same with the motorcades that regularly bring Washington's traffic to a standstill. The smoked windows of the dozen official cars and huge Chevrolet Suburbans that race through the streets with sirens and horns blaring, with a vanguard of motorcycle police frantically waving people out of the way and blocking intersections, make it impossible to know just who is where.

Washingtonians say there are decoy motorcades, too, but who, apart from the Secret Service, would know?

It will be the same in Sydney for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum. Be ready for a show of firepower and big black cars the likes of which we have not seen since, well, the last presidential visit."

More at how opulent *'s cortege is....at above link-the Sydney Morning Herald

[Buzz Clik]

1. Clearly part of *'s war on terror that is working so well. He's so damned confident it's working...

... that he has to hide.

[NYC]

2. I don't think other presidents did this.

...The quarters aboard Air Force One include a personal bathroom as well as an office for Mr Bush to conduct small meetings. It has sleeping quarters in which everything, including sheets and blankets, is imprinted with the Great Seal of the United States...

Did other presidents have sheets with the Great Seal? It sounds not only tacky, but wasteful, and in what way would it be necessary? What does anyone gain?

We kill people for oil because:

...A normal Cadillac DTS sedan consumes 13 litres of petrol per 100 kilometres in the city, and 8.7 litres on the highway. But that is before it is stretched, and fitted with bullet-proof glass and armour plating.

The Chevy Suburbans are even less thrifty, consuming nearly 16 litres per 100 kilometres in the city, and that again is before they are modified. The last Suburban in the line often has its tailgate up and is bristling with machineguns. In front and along the sides it is flanked with motorcycles...

We waste energy.

[rodeodance]

4. yes, and many steal them-esp. the towels as proof they rode in the Big one.

[NYC]

24. Like ashtrays from a hotel.

What a world.

[Captain Hilts]

30. The Roosevelts had to take 'White House' off cutlery because so much was disappearing. nt

[NYC]

33. Cutlery marked "White House" is far more understandable

than socks or sheets with the Great Seal of the U.S. on them.

Many people have monogrammed cutlery. (I can understand that the Roosevelts felt a need to remove it. Those were people taking souvenirs.)

How do we explain boots and socks with the presidential seal on it for GWB? Is this his personal ego?

[snappyturtle]

8. I thought the same about the fuel guzzlers. Why does he get

invited to anything? He's such a pain as a guest!

[Benhurst]

3. The asshole ought to just stay at home in the White House he was so determined to steal.

[Submariner]

5. I agree

Any trip he makes is just a waste of jet fuel and turbine blades, and he always seems to return with more bad news than when he left.

[TwilightGardener]

6. oops, self-delete!

[snappyturtle]

9. I certainly believe you but isn't this a bit over board? This opulence

just feeds his arrogance....imho. If he were a legtimate president with all this parenphanalia I wouldn't care because a president is important; a selected president does not deserve all of this.

[KoKo]

16. Don't think it was always so. Bush has expanded it considerably.

:shrug:

[TwilightGardener]

19. Of course, it would go to Chimpy's head--it reinforces his "Deciderness".

[Captain Hilts]

7. they've done it that way - 3 helicopters - for years. Not new to GWB. nt

[snappyturtle]

14. All I've ever seen in person was the motorcade for GHWB while

campaigning for a second term. This was in Glen Ellyn,Il. He came in to a rally held at the College of DuPage. I lived just a block away. There was much speculation about the real route but it wasn't difficult to figure out. My kids and I walked down to the main street and saw the motorcade. They weren't using more than one motorcade (DuPage County is very red). It's a small town and there would have been reports all over if that were true. Actually I was surprised to see the motorcade at all because the day before the Secret Service,I guess, came in a black helicopter over my house to land at the college and they hit a power line! I figured they would fly him in and out to O'Hare. Maybe after that litte snafu they went to plan B: the motorcade. :shrug:

[NV Whino]

32. When the asshole came to the Napa Valley

uninvited, I might add, helicopters checked out three possible landing sites. One of which was a school yard in town. Yep, they whacked a tree, which sent a limb through a roof. They finally decided on our little local airport. What a concept! Landing airplanes at an airport!

As for the motorcade, there wasn't much choice of routes. This is a one way in, one way out sort of valley. They did have two Suburbans in the motorcade, however.

[alfredo]

10. Here's what is in some of those Suburbans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPlwQWDZYf4

[snappyturtle]

11. Oh I feel so much better now!

:sarcasm: Thanks for the link...I had NO idea! whoa....bigtime stuff.

[alfredo]

12. Think of that when you hurl those rotten eggs.

[snappyturtle]

17. ok.

:hide:

[alfredo]

25. Duck and cover.

[monmouth]

13. Can you imagine the threats GWB has either received or the CIA has

heard about? Any man this hated globally needs all the protection he can get I guess.

[snappyturtle]

20. No I really can't imagine. I wish they'd show us just a month's worth! n/t

[bbgrunt]

35. just like the protection he got in Florida on 9-11--they

sure took their time whisking him to safety.

[KoKo]

15. HA! Bush is now traveling like SADDAM who used decoys and

dummies so that no one would know if it was real or Fake Saddam. "Beware your enemies lest you become like them" or some such saying comes to mind. :rofl:

Mussolini also comes to mind as far as puffed up dictators thinking they are hot stuff.

[treestar]

26. Maybe a few chimps have been drafted

to be the fake Bushies!

:rofl:

[tammywammy]

18. I think presidents have traveled this way for a while now

It's not just GWB.

[snappyturtle]

21. Wouldn't it make sense to have the meetings, summits, conferences,

et al. in Washington,D.C.? Everytime I turn around it seems he's in Air Force One....again!

[tammywammy]

22. Well, then you'd have the same problem with the other heads of state coming here

They have security details too. :shrug: Here or there it doesn't seem to matter anyways. And imagine a president saying he'd only meet with people in D.C. that would be pretty rude. I can't imagine another head of state saying they'll only do meetings at their places.

[leftchick]

28. don't you think if bill clinton had traveled this way

we would have had hearings in congress over it at the very least?

[Captain Hilts]

29. He did travel like that. But it IS tighter for other officials after 9/11. nt

[leftchick]

36. yeah

right. I saw bill in St Pete Fl in 1993 and he had NOTHING like this. After 9/11 is a BS excuse to protect the king.

[NYC Liberal]

37. Bill is regularly seen around Chappaqua at the deli, etc.

and my friend saw him once jogging in Central Park.

Yes he has he detail of however many agents but you think King George will be able to walk around as freely when he leaves office? HAH! There was a story not too long ago about how His Chimpyness has already assigned himself 100+ SS agents for when he leaves office.

But he only gets protection for 10 years. Wonder who will do the job after? *cough*Blackwater*cough*

[Captain Hilts]

38. I lived in DC and the three helicopters, etc. were standard. nt

[katmondoo]

23. It wasn't like this before 9/11

I was at a Fund raiser in Orlando, Fl just to protest and even though I couldn't do the protest I was able to get close to him at the hotel without that much of a problem, the same with Dick Cheney.He was also at a Disney resort and again I could get close as long as I was seen as a supporter not a protester. There were not that many people around and no one checked me out. I was carrying a beach bag with some homemade protest signs so it could have been a problem. I think I was perceived as a tourist staying in the hotel.

[Solly Mack]

27. I'm just so proud my country finances a war criminal wanna-be tyrant

(but...but..we do it for every President!)

snort...

[Contrary1]

31. You gotta love the headline:

"Stand by for Bush's travelling circus"

They could just toss garbage at all the vehicles in the king's entourage...unfortunately; they are setting up "free-speech zones", so the Chimp won't be able to see the throngs of Aussie citizens who detest him as much as we do.

[bbgrunt]

34. wow. that sounds like the way our troops charge through Bagdad.

[malaise]

39. I hope the horse's ass catches

equine flu.