[ 23 February 2005: Message edited by: Hephaestion ]

The last time he went to Britain, most of his appearances had to be severely contained.

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...Police said about 5 000 people turned out for the rally and parade through the streets of Mainz. Riot police in body armour kept a close watch, with a helicopter hovering overhead and officers passing out leaflets asking people to express their views peacefully.

The route kept the protesters well away from the city's Baroque palace where Bush met German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. But it did take them past the home of a supporter who opened a window and began tossing baked pretzels to the marchers as they passed, rock music blaring from the apartment...

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[ 23 February 2005: Message edited by: Contrarian ]

People in the whole area (very densely populated, and many people might live in one of the towns and go to work or school or another) were advised not to use their cars and take public transport - but much public transport (especially inter-town Schnellzugs - that is a commuter train) have been subject to delays or cancellations. It was a mess ... which I suspect annoyed even the more conservative Germans (who do like things to be on time, after all! )

I suspect part of the problem for the news reports were that the main demo didn't start until 5:30 pm - and if people were arriving from Frankfurt, Mannheim, etc, it would take them a while to show up...

Isn't that what the English kings and queens used to do; take their retinue to stay with some noble for a while and bankrupt him?

[ 23 February 2005: Message edited by: Contrarian ]

As skdadl said, Bush isn't REALLY visiting Germany - the visit to Mainz is like the FTAA summit in Québec City - it is the same kind of compact city centre - I'm sure much of it was rebuilt after the war, but not in the grim blocks of other parts of Germany, East and West. Moreover, Mainz is close to Strasbourg - the latter is just a bit further (down? up?) (south but upstream) on the Rhine. But Bush did his EU duty among the bureaucrats in Brussels - he sure as hell wouldn't address the European Parliament!

What a waste ... on top of it a reformed boozer so he won't even be tasting the white wines of the region...

Hope this link works - it is a stupid msn report - the ending is idiotic - but it gives a better background than most of the things I've seen in English. Probably there will be better reports from the Guardian etc tomorrow.

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...But Bush and his backers, American and German, want to play it very safe, and this has become a nightmare for the people of Mainz. All air traffic to the nearby Frankfurt airport is being suspended for part of the day (today, Wednesday). Boat traffic on the Rhine will be suspended despite all economic losses involved. The autobahns surrounding the city and connecting it with the airport will all be closed to traffic.

That is still just not safe enough for this popular statesman and his giant entourage. Every manhole lid along the route has been soldered down tight. No terrorist rats will be tolerated this time. All mail boxes along the route have been carted away. Cars must not only be removed from along the route but also from garages of people living along the route. Windows must be shut and no one is allowed to stand on the balcony to wave. There won’t be much waving anyway...

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"the police have issued severe warnings: Anti-Bush banners or slogans must not be visible anywhere along the route, and no "insulting" banners will be allowed anywhere. There’s a law to take care of that matter".

This is the man who talks about little else but spreading democracy around the globe, and yet he can't go anywhere without an enormous armed retinue and without shutting down the normal lives of the locals entirely.

Skdadl: Pure unrestricted power and hubris. They don't care what ordinary people think anymore. Vassals and serfs. They have the power, what are you going to do about it?

There is a particular columnist in the Grope and Flail, eg, named Michael Gee, who just leaves me shaking my head every time I read him. He keeps repeating and repeating that Dubya is taking democracy to the world, and all his arguments about everything are based on that assumption. He excoriates all critics for not caring about democracy.

(No one is inculpable could also be translated as no one is without guilt).

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On the high street, a short time back, hell’s delegate zoomed by
surrounded by a ra-ra of mobsters; a mystic pit, aflame,
bannering crossed claws, grabbed and gulped him;

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Michael Gee, who just leaves me shaking my head every time I read him

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Although it's not that he's really for democracy abroad. In Germany for instance, a town meeting was canceled by the White House because the German government insisted that questions not be scripted and audience members not be pre-selected by the White House.

And as Bush traveled through Germany, he was careful not to rub shoulders with actual residents of Europe. A BBC report noted that as Bush sped along in his motorcade, it was "the strangest sight. There is nobody here. They've all been cleared away. It's almost totalitarian in its reach and efficiency: the motorways are closed, whole towns we pass on the way from Frankfurt airport have been cleared of people.

"Our German colleagues say everyone on the motorcade route was told to stay indoors. The result may be more secure but it is eerie nonetheless - a political meeting without any public involvement. Freedom on the march but no-one free to see it."

Yes, democracy works so well when there are no people to participate in it!

As for democracy at home, two Chicago Tribune reporters recently dared to break the mainstream media silence on how a male prostitute ended up with White House press credentials even before his so-called news service existed. Clarence Page noted:

"We have grown accustomed to those pre-screened rent-a-crowd 'Ask President Bush' town-hall-style meetings during last year's campaign and during this year's effort by Bush to promote his proposed Social Security changes.

But I thought the last straw was the unprecedented herding of reporters covering this year's inaugural balls into pens from which they could only venture to interview ball guests if they were escorted by 'minders' in the fashion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq."

Meanwhile, Page's long-time honcho Tribune colleague, Charles Madigan, recalled how he attended a Michigan rally for Bush last year and was, as a reporter, denied the right to sit or talk to any attendee without a White House-designated handler present. So Madigan believes that the White House knew about the male hooker seated in the White House press room, the ringer whom they credentialed.

Why, Madigan asks himself? "Because I have dealt with these people. They are the most diligent people on earth when it comes to finding out where genuine reporters are and what they are doing."

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