Several folk in the P&B did that today when Mark Steyn came by with a mate for a couple of jars. He jarred a few of our American cousins a bit, I can tell you.
It was his mate Mike Shull who set the balloon up for the pins. He said:
Prince Charles was in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky today.
About an hour ago, he stopped by our downtown Cathedral, where I occasionally attend Mass, to give a brief speech. This is only 2 blocks from my office, so after a late lunch I walked over to see his arrival.As a reader of your work, I had in mind your past comparisons between the British Royal Family's entourage and that of the president and other politicians. I nonetheless still amazed at the modesty of Charles' cohort.The attached picture shows the moment he stepped from the car. And the car was not even a limousine. The entire motorcade consisted of only two police cars, Charles' towncar, and one additional vehicle. The other (empty) police cars visible across the street are not there for the prince. They are parked there every day because City Hall is just down the block.As you can see from the picture:1. they did not even close the street off for his arrival, not even for a few seconds. Motorists are still going by on the left.His car stopping there made no more disruption to traffic that a pizza delivery guy or UPS driver parking on the curb for 30 seconds to make a delivery.2. the sidewalk is not roped off at all.3. there were no "advance guard" or phalanx of other cop cars that preceded him that simply are off camera. What you see is really all there was.And the men who look like Secret Service there are actually just church parishioners who were helping direct what little traffic was there. I attended the Vice Presidential debate between Biden and Ryan in 2012 at Center College here in Kentucky. There were at least 50 police cars, maybe 100, and several "decoy" type black Chevy Suburbans for Joe Biden.You are correct that the monarchy America rejected years ago is now practically Joe Lunchbox compared with the grandiose, prima donna treatment demanded by our elected "public servants".
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Putting aside the fact that the President's 40-car motorcade is nothing to do with security - as we see everywhere from the Secret Service hookers in Cartagena to the vast entourage required to get Obama to Mandela's funeral only to stand him three feet away from a violent schizophrenic convicted of "necklacking";
and putting aside the ever more absurd impositions on the citizenry, such as maintaining the street's closure for hours after the Presidential procession has passed so that pregnant women and injured persons are not allowed to cross the thoroughfare to get to the hospital on the other side;
and putting aside that I strongly dislike the Prince of Wales and regard his Grand Thoughts on "climate change" as witless and inappropriate;
putting all that to one side for the moment:One of the advantages of monarchy in a democratic age is that it comes with a built-in grievance factor: There's always a certain percentage of the people that is chippily resentful of even the most footling expenditure on the Royal Family's so-called pampered parasites - as a casual glance at the papers in Her Majesty's realms will reveal. So a prince or royal duchess can't go around closing streets and draining police manpower because some republican pol on the make will be all over the news whinging about it.
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| And putting aside that the President doesn't even wear a friggin seat-belt. |
Kill Obama?
Why on earth would his huge security detail think that?
He is beloved, shirley?
That's very healthy, and one consequence of it is the entourage you saw in Louisville this week.
HRH The Prince of Wales is the heir to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Barbados, Tuvalu, Belize, Papua New Guinea, etc, etc, but when he travels to Kentucky he takes only what he needs.
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| This is how Royalty visits. |
By the way, that's also way cooler - as my daughter pointed out when she and I saw the Queen in Glasgow in her Diamond Jubilee year. HM and the Duke upfront, and one car behind. And that handful of guys are on their game. Whereas, with a 40-car motorcade, only the Cartagena hookers are on the game.But the bigger point is that a 40-car motorcade leads to a 40-car motorcade political culture -
- with a ruling class on the inside of the perimeter, and the rest of the schlubs on the outside. They don't live where you live. They drive through it, and you glimpse them through the glass darkly as you wait for the royal procession to pass and daily life to resume.Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been entouraged to the hilt for almost a quarter-century, is a near parodic example of the entitlement this breeds. What length do you think the motorcade's going to be by the end of her reign?
So, one has to ask.
How is that revolution going for you?
From here it looks like it has revolved right around.
I just hope that future Presidents take a good look at the farce they present and cut the motorcade down to reasonable size.
Although.... my friend Joyanna points to a worrying trend and there may be a need to add a few cars to stop all the 'self abuse' hurled the President's way.
By the way, do you think my opening remark was a tad unfair? Half the American population would not know? Hmmmm
Let's try another.
These are the best educated kids in the world (or so they claim).
By the way, both the younger Royal Princes are 'Warriors' who have seen active service as Officers in their military branches. Their dad, Prince Chuck has an honourary military role now as he is getting on in years. English Princes do as they have always done.
How many Presidential sons are soldiers defending their country?
Drive carefully.
Pax
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