Run In With Mr. Edwards

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news91Wc.21556$9d6.17529@attbi_s54...
After living in Iowa for the last 7 years, it seemed that we
were the only ones left who had NOT been to the "Great Iowa
State Fair." This year is the 150th anniversary of this grand
old tradition, so last weekend we decided to check it out.

......Much tripe deleted.....

Harry Truman once famously said that the "position of vice-president ain't
worth a bucket of warm spit." Worse, Edwards isn't even THERE yet --
he's
just a wannabee! He is nothing, absolutely NOTHING -- yet we are treating
him like royalty, and my family was treated like criminals when we were
anywhere near him. If this is what we have to look forward to under a
Kerry/Edwards presidency, I fear the worst is yet to come.


Jay, when you become a viable candidate for the position of the 2nd most
powerful man on this planet your opinion on this subject might mean
something. Until then, you should be embarrassed you wrote this immature
dribble. Your self-centered and prejudiced attitude places you square in
the category of CJ Campbell, just another grumpy old man.

Earl G

Jay,

If this is what we have to look forward to under a
Kerry/Edwards presidency, I fear the worst is yet to come.


Jay, Jay, you're hopeless! As you said yourself at the beginning of
your post, had any of the Bush people been visiting, there'd have been
a TFR and you'd have stayed home. The Kerry people are voluntarily
waiving their option of having TFRs!

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Jeremy,

He "was", until the tragic inconvenience of you having to sit in an FBO for
an hour? What narcisistic bull****.


Thanks.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Jim Weir wrote:

Then, Jay, you are a generation behind me. You didn't SWEAT your ass going to
some rice paddy in Vietnam. You didn't LIVE your life hoping against hope that
your draft board wouldn't haul your ass out of college and send you with a rifle
to some country that you couldn't have given a rat's ass less about.

Me? I got lucky. My draft board thought that my work on Apollo was "in the
national interest" and I got a deferment.

No balls at all, Weir.

No doubt your abilities would have been of some use to the nation in
Viet Nam, too. You let "[t]he engineer on the next desk" essentially
take your place and he came back the worse for it.

Maybe your anger is just cover for a guilty conscience.


Jack

I usually lean their way -- but this year has been up for grabs.

The more I hear about Kerry, however, the less I like.

Rather the situation that I'm in as well. I am still 100% undecided, but my
hopes of voting "for" either candidate are quickly evaporating, and the
"lesser of two evils" decision is becoming a reality for me.


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.742 / Virus Database: 495 - Release Date: 8/20/2004

In article , "Peter Duniho"
wrote:

I don't want this to become a "bash Kerry" or "trash Bush" thread.

What a bizarre thing to write. You *started* the thread as a "bash Kerry"
(well, bash his VP candidate) thread.

I saw it as more of a bash the stupid protection post.

--
Bob Noel
Seen on Kerry's campaign airplane: "the real deal"
oh yeah baby.

What in the world makes you think that the Democrats "were saying that
Kerry
and Edwards were 'the Answer' to these problems"?

Well, hell -- an honest Democrat.

Why change horses if there's no problem The Johns can solve?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

and now, Jay, just imagine the prez coming to IOW for a couple of days,
shutting
down your airport, denying access to your plane (so you can't even wash
it) and
everybody (this means: you, Mary, your kids, your employees and your
guests) and
his dog coming to your hotel is bodysearched ... security, you know. don't
like
the idea?

Since so many are having trouble distinguishing the salient point of my
post, let me say it again. This time in super-sloooow-mooootion, for the
reading impaired:

John Edwards isn't the President. He isn't the Vice-President. He is
nobody but a run-of-the-mill Senator.

I have no problem with giving the President of the United States the
tightest possible security. If George Bush had been in Des Moines, I would
have completely understood the treatment I received.

Giving a dime-a-dozen politician this kind of protection, however, is
patently absurd.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Peter Gottlieb" wrote in message et...
"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news91Wc.21556$9d6.17529@attbi_s54...

If this is what we have to look forward to under a
Kerry/Edwards presidency, I fear the worst is yet to come.


I disagree completely with your logic.

Maybe Jay should consider moving away from Iowa (or the US in general)
if he can't tolerate such things.

All of these AHs picture themselves as royalty that the rest of us
ought to bow down to. If just fries my butt. Let them go about
their business and us go about ours. If they're going to close the damn
ramps then they should at least issue a notam so people can chose
not to go there.



"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news91Wc.21556$9d6.17529@attbi_s54...
After living in Iowa for the last 7 years, it seemed that we were the only
ones left who had NOT been to the "Great Iowa State Fair." This year is
the 150th anniversary of this grand old tradition, so last weekend we
decided to check it out.

After the brief, 0.7 hour flight to Des Moines, Mary taxied up to Des
Moines
Flying Service (A.K.A.: "Signature") to park. As we trundled toward the
ramp we noticed an inordinate number of vehicles parked on the airport
side
of the fence. As the prop stopped, I noticed that they were all law
enforcement vehicles, of every type and kind, from marked squads to black
Suburbans.

Jokingly I commented on the criminal nature of that last landing (which
netted me a swat to the head :-), but wondered aloud just what the heck
could justify the expense of 30 - 40 vehicles and crew...

...and then we remembered the season, and where we were. It HAD to be a
presidential election-related visit of some sort -- but who?

Mary had quite specifically grilled Flight Service about TFRs, and had
been
told there were none. DSM approach mentioned nothing, either, so we were
fairly certain that it couldn't be the President. The fact that the cops
were eying us warily, but otherwise ignoring us, seemed to reinforce this
notion.

This left the Kerry/Edwards campaign as the primary suspects, and we were
not to be disappointed.

As soon as we were inside the FBO, the Kerry/Edwards "Real Deal" Boeing
727
plane rolled in. John Edwards was making an appearance in Des Moines, and
we were lucky to get in when we did -- cuz the ramp was slammed shut,
tight
as a drum, as soon as he arrived.

Walking to our rental car with my kids, I pushed up closer to the fence to
take a picture. Immediately a uniformed DSM police officer asked if he
could "help me" -- and ordered me to stay behind a painted line in the
parking lot (that he had chosen entirely at random, at that instant) in no
uncertain terms. So, I took my pictures and left, marveling at the
stupidity of it all.

After spending a marvelous day at the fair we returned to the airport --
and
were dumb-founded to see all those police officers rolling up to the ramp
once again! With incredibly bad timing, we had arrived precisely at the
same moment as the advance security detail, meaning that Edwards couldn't
be
far behind.

Now hurriedly paying for gas and the car, hoping against hope to get off
the
ground before the V.P.-wannabee returned to his plane, we grabbed our
stuff
and made a bee-line toward the plane -- only to have a secret service
agent
step between me and the door, asking that I please wait for Mr. Edwards to
depart.

Now you must realize that my plane was MAYBE 40 feet from the door he was
blocking, while Mr. Liability-Attorney's 727 was several hundred yards
farther out. I pointed this fact out to him, and also pointed to my
children, stating that all we wanted to do was get off the ground before
dark, since neither of us were legal to fly at night.

This carried no weight with him, and he quietly told me that we'd just
have
to wait.

So, I resignedly told my family to find comfy chairs, and that it would be
while. For the next ten minutes or so, we observed at least 50 officers
and
agents, all on the tax-dole, making sure that the ramp area was "sterile"
for Mr. Perfect-Hair. Some were just standing around staring into space,
while others were actively scanning the fence line and building tops.

Aggravatingly, two characters -- obviously pilots -- kept freely going in
and out of the same door that the jar-head secret agent had blocked.
This
continued for 15 minutes, until I could no longer stand it. I approached
the door guard and asked him what THEY had that we did NOT have -- to
which
he replied succinctly: "Clearance." Apparently they worked for Signature,
and had been pre-screened to be on the ramp.

By now thoroughly aggravated, I raised my hands over my head and said
"Well,
screen me. Escort me. Tow me. Do whatever you've got to do to make sure
I'm not a threat -- but we've got to get off the ground soon, or we'll be
stuck here overnight!"

Unsmilingly, he simply said "You're not going anywhere until that plane
departs." -- and that was that.

Finally Mr. Ketchup's side-kick taxied out to the active runway -- and
held
for departure. We all immediately grabbed our stuff and started heading
for the door -- which our favorite S.S. officer was STILL blocking!
Dumbfounded, I asked what the problem was -- and he said that Edwards had
to
be OFF THE GROUND before he could clear us onto the ramp!

Now thoroughly ****ed, I just stared at the guy incredulously. He got
the
message, and promised that he would try to "get us clearance onto the
ramp" -- and started talking into his lapel. He then walked out onto the
ramp, where he was animatedly talking with someone when Edwards' plane
finally got clearance to depart, and blasted into the evening sky.

Within minutes, the Signature ramp was empty, with no vestige of the
incredible security presence that had been there only moments before.
They
all headed to the donut shoppe, and we were able to depart normally, as if
nothing at all had just happened.

Harry Truman once famously said that the "position of vice-president ain't
worth a bucket of warm spit." Worse, Edwards isn't even THERE yet --
he's
just a wannabee! He is nothing, absolutely NOTHING -- yet we are treating
him like royalty, and my family was treated like criminals when we were
anywhere near him. If this is what we have to look forward to under a
Kerry/Edwards presidency, I fear the worst is yet to come.

As we climbed out I laughingly told my kids that this was "your
tax-dollars
at work." I then closed my eyes and wished fervently that 9/11 had never
happened...

(BTW: If you've never seen the Iowa State Fair, it's worth the trip. It's
the biggest fair in America, apparently, and it is so chock-full of
traditional Americana that I felt like a kid again. And my kids were
absolutely in awe of the place, with the rides, live entertainment, food,
and animals. Ever seen a 3000 pound bull? Me neither -- but they have
one.
It's as big as a car!)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"