Taxpayer ALERT: Chimp to receive massive Secret Service protection post-presidency

[npincus]

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Secret_Service_Retired_Bush_will_be_0621.html

103 fulltime agents to protect that THING and his spawn... I'm guessing their average annual salary is 70K... approximately $9 million per year. Muliply by 10 (former presidents only receive SS protection for 10 years). 90 million dollars to protect that brush-clearing KILLER?



CNN reported Thursday that the Secret Service expects President Bush to be "a high value terrorist target after he leaves office." They then showed the Secret Service practicing to deal with everything from James Bond-style stealth weapons to roadside IED's in order to meet that challenge.

Retired agent Terry Samway told CNN, "We have the mandate to make sure that whatever they did during their presidency, they are still safe from any of those lingering issues after their presidency."

Even before 9/11, the cost of protection for former presidents was estimated as $24 million a year, and Bush will be guarded by an unprecedented 103 full-time agents starting in January 2009. However, a 1997 law limits the duration of Secret Service protection for former presidents to just 10 years.

"But before they can protect a president or former president," concluded CNN, "the new recruits are drilled in the basics, including target practice at 100 yards and then a sprint to load and fire again -- this time much more up close and personal."

[MissWaverly]

1. does he also get Air Force One and the West Wing

[Phredicles]

2. It WOULD be a lot chaeper just to keep him in jail.

[madokie]

11. more appropriate too

[Rosemary2205]

14. ROFL. Good one! :) nt

[Straight Shooter]

3. bush will issue a signing statement extending protection as long as he is alive.

On account of him being in the White House during 9/11 and all that, he'll demand "extree pertection from them terrarists."

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. If he were to be impeached

Would he still get these perks, or would this be part of what he would lose due to having been impeached?

[npincus]

5. excellent question-- anybody know?

[Phredicles]

8. I read on another thread he'd lose them if convicted,

and thus on fiancial grounds alone impeachment would be well worth pursuing even after the little shit stops defiling the office.

[City Lights]

15. Even if he were removed from office, he'd still be a former preznit,

so I imagine he'd still get these perks. I'm only guessing though...:shrug:

[terisan]

6. Impeach, Convict and Imprison. That will keep him safe.

I think he can ask to extend the 10 year limit based on threats.

Is Cheney going to be protected by Blacwater or Halliburton in exchange for the massive amounts of money he has funneled to them ?

[DURHAM D]

7. I thought he was moving to his new home in Paraguay

so he couldn't be extradited. Let that government protect him.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

9. i see agents leaving the service.

it could be an episode on discovery channel's "dirty jobs"

[Hubert Flottz]

10. There are some people in Mexico that will do it, if Americans don't

want the job for minimum wage.

The democrats in congress control the purse now. Make it a minimum wage job.

[kestrel91316]

12. Well, judging from the dwindling size of his fan club, I would guess

he's gonna NEED it.

[rasputin1952]

13. If he is prosecuted and convicted, it's a lot cheaper to keep

him in prison...:D

[npincus]

16. now for a real bargain....

[rasputin1952]

17. "Let them eat cake!"....

:D

[DemBones DemBones]

23. I have read that Marie Antoinette never said "Let them eat cake."

Another one of those myths. . .

[rasputin1952]

24. I have heard that she said, "let them eat shit", but, as old as...

I am, I stil wan't there, so I have no idea if she said anything. I do know the people were starving and in some pretty sad shape, but from most accounts, Marie was actually a pretty decent person all things considered.

There has been a lot written about the French Revolution, I would say most of it was propaganda, as that is the way things work. But the whole thing became pretty brutal, and we know that as fact. From some accounts I've read, Louis was a fop, but a pretty decent king, as far as kings go, but the people around him advising him, were giving him some pretty poor advice. Louis supposedly actually wanted to help, but had no idea what to do...:shrug:

In any case, the French Revolution became a bloodbath, and people were being killed just for the sake of being killed to appease the masses...Madame LaFarge would be proud.

Addendum: Until recently, I didn't know he nazi's used the guillotine as well, apparently several thousand went the way of Louis and Marie under the SS.

[DemBones DemBones]

26. Marie and Louis were married for

five years (or maybe seven) before their marriage was consummated. His fault, not hers, but it was a physiological problem. And all that time she was attacked for not giving France an heir to the throne (never mind that Louis was still the Dauphin, not yet the King.) I think it's no wonder that she distracted herself with clothes and dancing and cards. Supposedly, she really tried to please the French people. The drought and resulting famine were hardly under the control of the government but they got blamed.

I've read books that took the side of Robespierre, Danton, et al., and others that took the side of the royals, at least to the extent that they were caught in a hopeless situation. Who knows? You tend to distrust royalty but it was hardly their fault that they were bred to be ornamental. As you said, I think Louis tried to help.

The first book I ever read about them was one in my high school library and right after the wedding of Louis and Marie, someone had cut out a bunch of pages. Now that I know how long it was before the marriage was consummated, I'm really curious as to what was being censored!!! I seriously doubt the book went into any details about their problems. Books were so tame then, anyway.

I did not know the Nazis used the guillotine. Not that I'm really surprised, those guys were mean S.O.B.s

[rasputin1952]

31. The whole run up to the French Revolution was a mix of

financial insolvency for France, drought, hunger, a lack of leadership under Louis XVI, an above all, some serious problems between the Three Estates, especially the nobility. Louis received incredibly poor advice from his nobility, and seizing the church property, (First Estate), was not a good idea, this put him up against the Roman Church, where he might have gotten help.

But the real kicker was when he and Marie were caught just short of the Belgian border in an attempt to flee the country, that sealed his fate. Up to that point, people weren't ready to blame everything on him, after his capture, he didn't have a prayer.

The FR was a very complicated event, and as w/most revolutions, turned sour after it took off. We here, were somewhat fortunate in how we dealt w/he post-revolution situation...psrt of that being the incredibly rare group of people w/extraordinary talent, but a l;ot had to do with the nation being spent physically, emotionally and financially. We really kind of lucked out if you look at it objectively. We had serious problems, but didn't go the extremes most post-revolution states go through.

In France, almost every city and town had a guillotine, and the executions became the major form of entertainment, at that point, there was little hope for many, the beast had to be fed. They should have learned from the Roman Games about the acceptance of bloodshed becoming entertainment, but the lesson was lost.

As for the guillotine...oddly, as it happens in so many instances, it was designed to make execution less barbaric, but became one of the most well known symbols of barbarity the world has ever know. The last official execution by guillotine in France was in the early 50's and was actually filmed by a reporter. The film shows the condemned quickly marched out to the machine, strapped to the board, hoisted up, head placed in device and then blade coming down. His headless body is immediately pushed into the coffin. The whole process was over in less than 10 seconds. It was filmed from the rear and above, so no "head to basket" shot is there. This was on the History Channel about the various forms the DP took over the ages. Seeking ways to kill people convicted of high crimes humanely has eluded governments right to the present.

Nazi's saw the potential, but in the end, the guillotine, bullets, CO poisoning were all deemed too expensive compared th how many could be killed by Zyklon B in one quick action, (although it took up to half an hour to gas a full chamber). The whole thing is really depressing, even when one tries to be clinical about the situation. Mass death is beyond comprehension for most of us, and I find it truly reprehensible that such things are so often not looked at in complete horror by people, but we humans are a sordid lot anyway...:(

[proud patriot]

19. Hey Ras

great minds and all that ...

see my post below :hug:

[rasputin1952]

25. LOL...we geniuses have a thing about that...

:D

:hug:

[proud patriot]

18. Will they get the cell next to him or with him

or is it impossible for a president to serve a jail sentence ?

[NastyRiffraff]

20. It's not the terrorists he should worry about...

A lot of people would like to see him dead.

No, Agent Mike, I do not mean me. I wouldn't hurt a hair on his head. I'd rather see him rot in jail than be killed. Unless found guilty in a trial at the Hague.

[Stinky The Clown]

21. Protective Custody in the soon to be emptied (?) tropical paradise at Gitmo would be cheaper

And think of all those big sailors and hunky Marine guards to keep his sorry ass nice and safe.

[napi21]

22. The lifetime protection ended with Clinton. The law was changed

to only 10 years of protection. I can sure understand why Shrub would need 103 FT agents too! Lots of people, both domestic and foreign, would like to see him...turning to dust, so to speak. That's NOT going to change after he leaves office.

103 assumes 4 agents per shift of 40 hrs/wk. I really don't have any idea how many other former Presidents have. I'm wondering if someone isn't going to try to have that law suspended in Shrub's case, because so many people dislike him!

[MiniMe]

27. I think that congress should make him pay Blackwater for the protection

Since they will be unemployed shortly after he leaves office

:sarcasm:

[Eurobabe]

28. Just give Cheney a bird rifle, he can handle the job

Besides, it would be alot cheaper.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

29. A target? Their best recruitment tool EVER? n/t

[baldguy]

30. He'll need it