[extropy-chat] FWD (SK) "Trapped in my office"

[Terry W. Colvin]

[I walked to within 100 feet of President Nixon in 1974 without noticing
any security.  Of course I wore fatigues near the steps to the National
Defense University on Fort McNair in Washington, DC. -twc]


[Forwarded by a friend]

[Sent on January 14, 2004, by someone who works at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena]

My former boss borrowed my binoculars a few minutes ago, but just returned
them.  He figures it's best not to look out the window at Cheney, who is
giving a speech down below us.  There are snipers on the rooftops; a
spotter dressed in black body armor is about even with me 100 meters away.
A couple of them started staring at him through their binoculars when he
appeared at the window.

Cheney may not be drawing a large enough crowd for his media event... the
PA keeps telling employees to "proceed to the Mall at once if you are
intending to attend the speech."  You have to pass through magnetometers
and be searched.

Four years ago when Gore came here, it was clear that JPL was a safe place
and no special steps were needed.  A few secret service people accompanied
him.  Of course that was a simpler time, when political ads could be run
on tv and curious onlookers could use binoculars to get a better view of
VIP.  The Queen of England visited several years back -- we were able to
crowd up along every walkway and see her close up -- and we've had other
heads of state as well.

The members of this administration act as if they're incredibly special.
They've brought their paranoia and their sharpshooters with them to put us
all at some risk.  They've disrupted everyone's day.  The real message of
course is that we should all be fearful and thank god we have such alert
leaders keeping the terrorists from killing us.  They remind me of bad
actors portraying school bullies, or Mafia underlings, letting us know how
safe we are now that we've paid for protection.  Unfortunately their
amateur theater is accompanied by live ammunition.

Here's how it was at lunch.  About 11:30 a secretary stepped off the
elevator and told us that we had to go to the cafeteria right away -- the
elevators would be shut down at twelve sharp!  We wouldn't be allowed to
leave the building between noon and 3:30.  I went down intending to walk
across campus to the better of two cafeterias, but emerged from my
building to find I was the only person on the (wrong) side of a line of
guards who had cordoned off the street.  A crowd of people were up at the
corner looking in my direction, trying to figure out how they were going
to get to the bad cafeteria.  I walked up to the line and asked if I could
get back if I crossed over to the public side -- No.  So I walked all the
way back to my building (I think a tumbleweed rolled past) and went up a
floor to the main hallway.  There were four or five special guards in
black, and two secret service officers.  The one I spoke to actually
seemed a little sheepish; I had the impression he was just window
dressing, the real show was with the guards in body armor.  He said I
could come back in as long as I did it by noon.  I walked past the other
s.s. man and his dog at the door.

The cafeteria was jammed -- everyone was there at once trying to get their
food before the deadline.  I walked back past a gaggle of s.s. men who
were fanning out across the outdoor eating area, telling people "the area
is closed".  I think a group was conducting a bomb sweep in my building,
because several guards stood around the loading dock and watched me get
toffee nuts from a vending machine.  All the nuts around here are very
well protected today.

Seeing all this close up is gross.  No one should be allowed to do this
here, or anywhere else.  We have *got* to defeat Bush in November. 


-- 
"Only a zit on the wart on the heinie of progress." Copyright 1992, Frank Rice


Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1 at mindspring.com >
     Alternate: < fortean1 at msn.com >
Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html >
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