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Presidential Inauguration Hardware and Other Challenges
holy_calamity writes "The FBI has released images of some of the kit that will be deployed to safeguard Obama's inauguration, including mine-proof armored trucks like those used in Iraq to protect against IEDs, and a large armored chamber that any bombs will be shoved inside to be transported away and perhaps detonated inside. Interesting, even though the really good stuff is presumably being kept under wraps." Relatedly, necro81 writes "The Inauguration of Barack Obama tomorrow is expected to put considerable stress on the cellphone network around Washington, DC. The expected crowd could top two million people, and many of them are expected to call, text, tweet, photo, and blog their way through the event. In response, the major wireless carriers in the area have spent millions of dollars upgrading their local networks and will bring in extra 'cells on wheels' (COWs) and 'cells on light trucks' (COLTs). They are also requesting that attendees limit their usage during the event, and avoid bandwidth-heavy activities — like uploading photos — until afterward."
Good luck with asking people not to upload photos during the event.
Twitter's service is likely to be as screwed as the cell network with millions of people around the country tweeting about how they just saw (on TV, Internet or in person) Obama swear in, etc. Expect the service to be down most of the day imo.
He is not actually in charge until after the ceremony. I don't think he has as much say in this as you imply he does, not that I see him complaining.
There's certainly been a vast advancement in technology [especially communications] since early 2001.
So that's technology like social networking, blogging, microblogging, webcasting, etc etc.
It'll be a memorable event.
If each mistake being made is a new one, then progress is being made.
Surely there is no need for two new buzzwords. The light trucks have wheels so they are also COWs. Or do COLTs only work for OMG Pink Pony calls.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
But I'm going to try to use up some bandwidth anyway, you know, just to make visitors' lives a little less fun.
Oh please, this cost myth is just your average right wind Drudge myth garbage. Check this article out. They are claiming the Obama inauguration will be 160 million. Well the 2005 Bush inauguration was 157 million. Not much difference folks.
Yes! I listen to NYC Speedcore and do math at 3AM. I suggest you try it too.
Every time a controversial vote came up, he passed unless he had a carefully-polled stance already prepared. His entire campaign was based on taking the most popular position on everything.
Not true. He voted to give the telecoms retroactive immunity which everyone was against. He voted for and was a major cheerleader for the banker bailout bill. Both bills were extremely unpopular.
He has also mentioned "sacrifice" and national service over and over again, which I doubt is very popular. Biden and Obama have both said their policies are not going to be popular but we should just trust them! I seem to remember the last administration saying the same thing. Except now if you don't like their policies you'll be both unpatriotic and racist.
It always seemed like people refused to look at what Obama says rationally because they are so blindsided by hatred for Bush and the repitition of "change" and "hope."
If you have something that you dont want anyone to know, maybe you shouldnt be doing it in the first place -Eric Schmidt
So Bill Clinton was a traitor, but not the guys who outed a CIA agent? I hate to point it out but your bias is showing. How embarrassing.
We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
I wish there was some sacrifice. All I see is two trillion in bailout/stimulus pork.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
You can't stop a determined assassin.
Prepare for one thing and they'll use another, and never, ever underestimate the effectiveness of someone willing to trade their own life for the life of the target.
I'm not saying this to brew fear, i'm saying this to point out there is a reasonable point at which marginal returns to extra security diminish, and a point at which flexibility (hence my example) is more important than durability.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
It's so nice that the picture inside the mobile command center has a split screen monitor with the food network, themselves, days of our lives, and The Care Bears.
How cute.
If you do what you always did, you get what you always got.
Note the Care Bears on the monitor in the mobile command center in photo 8. Gives me the chuckles. :)
Ed R.Zahurak
You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.
Clinton got a blow job from someone who wasn't his wife, and he is a traitor, yet Bush lied to the american public about every reason for invading Iraq and he isn't?
Al queda hated saddam as much as we did, and didn't move into Iraq until after we did.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
This coronation-like ceremony is getting out of hand. A quiet ceremony in the Capitol, broadcast on TV, would be sufficient. That's what was done during WWII, when there were concerns about an attack on FDR.
This is the first time an inauguration has shut down Washington, DC for two days. All the Potomac River bridges out to the Beltway are closed Monday and Tuesday. That's well beyond the impact of previous inaugurations.
My concern is what if something bad were to happen during the inauguration, and suddenly a million people whip out their cellphones all start calling 911, their family, news organizations, and generally broadcast an emergency to the world all at the same time.
Anyone want to watch one of those expensive cell-towers on a truck burst into flames?
I wish there was some sacrifice. All I see is two trillion in bailout/stimulus pork.
No, see, the average person is the one expected to make a sacrifice so that the higher-ups can continue to afford their expensive lifestyles.
The point of all this security isn't to stop a serious, well funded attempt to assasinate this man. As many people have pointed out, unless they kept the person in a bunker or in a series of undisclosed locations, a well funded team could probably harm him or her.
Except...any sane organization has nothing to gain by killing this leader. Unlike a dictator, the president can be easily replaced with someone else, and routinely is swapped out ever 4-8 years. In fact, a reasonable person would expect a backlash. The real reason the U.S. government doesn't give two shits about the Palestinians is because they kind of seem like the same kind of guys who committed the 9/11 terrorist attacks. That's backlash.
Any group that killed the American president would be crushed, and would never get anything they wanted.
However, lone nuts and other poorly equipped people get mad at the President all the time. The secret service can probably stop such morons in almost all situations.
Also, a lot of the security is reactive. Presidents who were killed in the past were usually killed by some kind of small arms attack. Hence the bulletproof limo and the ring of armed guards. If some other form of attack ever succeeded, god forbid, then security precautions might change. Such as eliminating public appearances entirely and doing everything via teleconference and holograms.
Its because of the NRA. As of lately they have been circulating propaganda saying Obama WILL make handguns illegal. Ask anyone who is a member or reads Guns 'N Ammo. I am all for private ownership of firearms and the second amendment but the NRA is overreacting here.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Setting aside the obvious fact that the investigation was a multi-million dollar partisan witch-hunt, Clinton was in the end found to be not guilty.
We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
You know that being impeached is not the same as being found guilty, right? You do realise Clinton was acquitted, right? It's like comparing two people who the public believe did something wrong: one has been ordered to stand trial, and acquitted; the other has not even been ordered to stand trial.
Now, I'm a pretty young whippersnapper (almost 30) but I cannot even recall reading about another presidential election that's generated this much hoopla. From the primaries, to the election, to the inauguration, it's all been full-throttle excitement. And not just from the press, but people on the street as well. Even my bigoted father and step-mother think he's just great.
Is it because:
A) He's the first halfway intelligent president our generation has seen?
B) He has the most fucking fantastic marketing department ever?
C) He's the first not-exclusively-white guy to take office?
D) The Internet is enabling average people to express their opinions and reach out to each other more easily than ever before?
E) Pretty much everyone wants Bush out of the White House, even the most right-leaning republicans?
So are we witnessing history here (and not just because of the race thing) or has there been another presidential election with this much carnival atmosphere to the whole thing? This is a serious question. Ya know, for old people. (And historians.)
You don't follow politics much do you? Clinton got impeached for perjury, not for diddling the unattractive intern.
Wrong. He was impeached because after the Republican Congress couldn't nail him for fraud (Whitewater) or murder (Vince Foster), or a parking ticket, they settled on a manufactured perjury charge.
And Clinton didn't even lie, much less commit perjury.
What I would give to be able to mod this +1, Crotchety
The future ain't what it used to be.
Oh, yeah b/c he lied under oath.
Read the link, bitch. The only way to prove he lied is to have literally read his mind.
Then pray tell why was Clinton disbarred?
Because after Whitewater didn't turn out, Vince Foster didn't turn out, and their bogus witch hunt didn't turn out, Republicans had to settle for something. Real justice would have been throwing Starr and the Republicans in Congress in jail for malicious prosecution.
So try your revisionist history somewhere else please.
That is the history. Clinton didn't lie, deal with it. In fact, if he had said he had "sexual relations" with Monica, that would have been a lie under the courts definition, as he didn't put his cock in her. Deal with it.
Finally, just to prove how full of shit Republicans were and continue to be on this issue, just look at Scooter Libby's perjury conviction next to Clinton's perjury acquittal . You had the exact same cocksucking Republicans who argued for Clinton's removal from office arguing for a pardon for Scooter Libby. Hell, Fred Thompson - who voted to convict Clinton in the Senate - gave a hilarious speech where he passionately called for the rule of law and passionately called for a pardon for Libby.
Seriously, Republican party membership should come with free visits to a proctologist, so you poor bastards can get some help pulling your heads out of your asses.