cjcampbell wrote:
Funny you should mention that. President Bush's recent visit to
Seattle delayed me over an hour while I was on my way to the
pharmacist. What if it had been an emergency and I had died? There
were no alternative routes due to the constrictions of lots of water
and narrow bits of land in the Seattle area.

The Southcenter Mall was virtually shut down for hours. The entire
mall! Because the police had blocked off *every* road that led to it.
You probably could have fired a cannon through there and not hit
anyone. Bush was not anywhere near the mall except for two periods of
less than five minutes as he traveled the freeway nearby.

I was recently blocked from driving out of my home building for six
hours, as was pretty much everyone else in the row of buildings around
me, because they had "sterilized" that street in advance of Shrub's
arrival. Same thing - he was nowhere near us except for the brief time
it took the motorcade to race in and out. At least it gave me the
opportunity to stand in the driveway and flip him off as they drove by...