Travelling Light, Obama-Style: 20-Vehicle Convoy, SWAT Team, Ambulance, Air Force One And Nuclear Codes Accompany Him On Holiday (PHOTOS)

If you've ever witnessed a Presidential motorcade, then you remember images such as this.  In 2001, while in DC, I was stopped first in line while George Bush's motorcade passed through Dupont Circle.  As the first SUV passed, there were 3 assault rifles held in firing position by 3 agents out the back 3 windows.  It's not an image that's easy to forget.  And I'm not attacking Obama for his entourage.  It's a post 9/11 requirement for all Presidential travel.

Story, link and more photos inside.

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Just popping to the shops for some light reading in the Massachusetts town proved a logistical headache for minders who made up part of a 20-vehicle motorcade.

The attention-grabbing column was headed by a titanium-plated Cadillac One dubbed The Beast for its five-inch thick bulletproof glass.

Other security measures in the Presidential limousine include unbreakable tyres, an air filtration system to protect against biological attack and a tear gas cannon.

The rest of the motorcade was made up of four bullet-proof vans filled with secret service agents, two buses for journalists and TV crews and an ambulance with six medics on board.

Additional security was provided in the shape of SWAT team van and a radar-jamming vehicle.

Another member of the entourage is a military officer who carries the codes needed to initiate a nuclear attack.

Continue reading (many more photos) at the Daily Mail

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Also, 2 new weekend stories you might wish to read:

• A lucky escape: How David Cameron was almost shot down by a Taliban rocket

• Pentagon computer networks attacked by foreign hacker in 'most significant breach ever'

Comments

[DailyBail]

Pentagon computer networks attacked by foreign hacker in 'most significant breach ever'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1306594/William-J-Lynn-Pentagon-networks-attacked-foreign-hacker-significant-breach-ever.html#ixzz0xwJEYgMF

[DailyBail]

The last refuge of a liberal

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/26/AR2010082605233.html

By Charles Krauthammer

[DailyBail]

California insurance regulators cleared the way Wednesday for Anthem Blue Cross to implement scaled-back rate hikes after a previous increase was canceled amid an uproar over its size.

Anthem said it intends to put the new rates — averaging 14% and as high as 20% — into effect Oct. 1 for nearly 800,000 individual California policyholders.

Regulators also allowed one of Anthem's nonprofit competitors, Blue Shield of California, to move ahead with rate increases — averaging 19% and as high as 29% — for 250,000 individual policyholders.

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-fi-insure-rates-20100826,0,842637.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fmostviewed+%28L.A.+Times+-+Most+Viewed+Stories%29

[DailyBail]

A Roman Catholic priest allegedly seduced a 17-year-old girl while she was a senior at a Catholic high school in Reading into a sexual relationship that resulted in her giving birth at age 19, according to a civil lawsuit filed by her parents in Berks County Court.

According to the lawsuit, the Rev. Luis A. Bonilla Margarito was removed as chaplain of Reading Central Catholic High School and pastor of St. Joseph Church in Reading after the parents secretly video-taped him having sexual intercourse with their daughter in the basement of their home in November.

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-reading-priest-pregnant-diocese-la20100827,0,3276836.story

[DailyBail]

Manhattan Judge James Gibbons quits after massive porn cache is found on work computer

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/26/2010-08-26_courthouse_mystery_criminal_court_judge_james_d_gibbons_abruptly_resigns_without.html#ixzz0xwLE1XAG

[DailyBail]

The US warned Lebanon that if it did not prevent any recurrence of the border-fire incident that occurred earlier this month, the IDF would destroy the Lebanese Armed Forces within four hours, Israel Radio cited a report by Lebanese newspaper A-Liwaa on Friday.

According to the report, Frederick Hoff, assistant to US Middle East Peace Envoy George Mitchell, told Lebanese Army chief of staff Jean Kahwaji that Israel was ready to implement a plan to destroy within four hours all Lebanese military infrastructure, including army bases and offices, should a similar confrontation occur in the future.

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=186197

[PWT]

Bet they go through a load of used tyres!