Palpatine’s Progress

A while back there was a lot of fuss in Australia about Dick Cheney’s entourage of imperial stormtroopers and the military clampdown that they imposed on Sydney citizen’ during his visit:

For three days and nights before Cheney arrived, army Black Hawk helicopters buzzed the Sydney CBD, ostensibly for counter-terrorism training. Several residents contacted newspapers to complain of unbearable noise. One reader told the Sydney Morning Herald: “We are … being buzzed by huge noisy helicopters flying probably only about 20 storeys up. [Five] times in an hour—we can’t hear TV, we can’t talk on the phone.”

Last night, the airspace over Sydney was closed for US Air Force Two to land, and sections of the airport were virtually “locked down”. No members of the public were permitted to enter the vicinity. Dozens of police, security officers and snipers were on the tarmac, as well as inside and outside the airport. A grey Air Force plane arrived first, carrying Cheney’s cavalcade of bulletproof black limousines and an armoured van, while at least three state police helicopters hovered above.

Cheney even pressured the .au government into changing the law so his henchmen could carry guns openly in public, which is bad enough – but a story from Sifu Tweety at The Poor Man makes it horribly clear just how obscene the VP’s arrogance is getting. Apparently Cheney is so completely paranoid that he travels in a plane inside another plane.

Airstream’s appeal seems to have few limits, and indeed a powerful world traveler recently provided proof of its persistent appeal. On a trip to Asia in February, Vice President Dick Cheney traveled in an Airstream — inside an airplane.

Mark Silva, chief of the Washington bureau of The Chicago Tribune, accompanied the vice president as the press corps’ pool print reporter. The group flew on a huge gray C-17 cargo plane that the Air Force calls the Spirit of Strom Thurmond,in honor of the late senator.

!?! Strom Thurmond?. That says so damned much…

Mr. Silva said that when he boarded he noted the familiar outline of the Airstream roof inside the vast fuselage.

What? That’s how he travels? Seriously, is Cheney trying to make himself into a cartoon supervillian? He’s like a white trash Dr. No; would it be surprising at this point if his team of doctors turned out to be sexy martial artists or dwarfs?

Pelosi gets shit for following the common sense recommendations of security professionals, and meanwhile Cheney’s rocking the turducken of air travel. When does this crappy-ass Bruckheimer movie of imperial sunset end, again? Because it’s really stupid.

By the way, I’m sure he uses the C-17 for security purposes. But seriously, the fact that he needs to travel with a small army anywhere he goes in the world doesn’t make it any easier not to see him as, well, what he is.

“The turducken of aviation”. Heh. There’s only one thing missing to make that comparison absolutely perfect.