Ever since they burned the White House, the Secret Service has been a little edgy about British veterans carrying gas cans. Maurice Kirk, 63, who is nicknamed the “Flying Vet”, learned this lesson when he tried to pin a thank you note on the gate of Bush’s ranch. He flew to Texas to thank Bush for his rescue by the Coast Guard in February. He ended up in a psychiatric hospital, charged with a criminal acts and facing deportation. It appears that, with President Bush now the most unpopular president in history, it is considered manifest insanity for anyone to be thankful to Bush for any aspect of his service.
Kirk previously had a pretty good feeling about Americans after he was rescued from sharks when his Piper Cub plane went down on the Caribbean during an around-the-world flight.
There is no question that Kirk is eccentric with a controversial background. Click here. However, it was not until he tried to thank Bush that the instability of Kirk became obvious.
I can only imagine how implausible his reason for landing must have appeared to the Secret Service. “Right, you want to thank the President. Nobody wants to the thank the President. Even the First Lady merely tolerates him but never ever thanks him. How stupid do you think we are?”
When he landed, he was faced with drawn guns and told to walk a white line. He is arthritic and had a hard time. They first therefore tried to charge him with being drunk but tests showed that he was inconveniently sober.
He tried to pin a thank-you note to the gate and was immediately put in handcuffs and sent to a psychiatric hospital in Austin. (We appear to be picking up a lesson from China and Russia on the use of psychiatric hospitals).
After being found strangely sane, he was then arrested for “walking around town aimlessly” with a gas can. He would like to have the charges removed from his record before he leaves. He should feel fortunate. The President has claimed the right to declare people enemy combatants and bar them from access to the courts, lawyers, media or family. Besides, he was given a unique tourist insight into life in the United States. I just hope that the Secret Service agreed to a picture for back home.
For the full story, click here.
Actually Saddam invaded Kuwait because Iraq was in deep, deep, financial straits because of constant unending US sanctions.
The big picture with any US President, supposedly all of whom have worked in the best interest of America, isn’t pretty.
Imagine your next door neighbor constantly meddling in your business, making you a neighborhood watch target, inciting a coalition of your neighbors to ruin your income, raising false flag after false flag and finally coming after you Patriotically with a gun because of false allegations that you had WMD’s after you had resisted all his attempts to sell your oil at pennies on the dollar. He saved your Bacon in WWII and you owe it to him.
mespo727272, weren’t we talking about a private aircraft being landed at the Bush residence is Crawford?
Some of your comments I agree with. Most of them, I don’t. The attack against the United States on 9/11 occurred before the second invasion of Iraq. The war that radical Islam is waging against the West is nothing new. There are two ways to deal with that. We could all convert to Islam or we can be perceived as strong and aggressive enough that any attack against us would be counterproductive.
The first war in Iraq shouldn’t have even been necessary. Saddam believed that he could invade Kuwait and be attacked verbally at the United Nations rather than militarily. I blame Bush #1 for that. Saddam perceived weakness and acted based on that perception. It that part of the world, to be viewed as weak is inviting attack. Bush #1 did put together an effective multi-national force. I will give him credit for that. However, he stopped shore of complete military victory which turned out to be a mistake. Does anyone seriously believe that either Gore or Kerry would be perceived as strong leaders by radical Islamic leadership? I believe that our enemies would have been much happier with a Gore or a Kerry administration.
President Bush #2 made mistakes. A huge one was disbanding the Iraqi military. Another was to try to fight a more limited war. But President Bush did nothing that I can think of that was impeachable.
President Carter facilitated the takeover of Iran by the radical Islam. I believe that had President Carter never been elected President, 9/11, the Iran/Iraq War, and the two Gulf Wars probably would not have happened. But being dangerously naive is not an impeachable offense.
Disaster relief? There was a great deal of incompetence demonstrated by the Democrat Governor of Louisiana as well as the Democrat leadership in New Orleans. The levies had been neglected for years. At a time when there was little effective law enforcement in New Orleans because many police officers fled, the police decided to seize privately owned firearms so that citizens would not be able to defend themselves. How stupid was that?
By the way, the confiscation of firearms was possible because the firearms were registered. If anyone ever wonders why folks like me object to registration, New Orleans is a prime excample. If the Bush administration did something like that I would favor impeachment. But I will concede that the Bush administration could have been better organized. I’m not sure that any other administration would have done any better though.
Back to the real subject. If you want to visit the President of the United States make an appointment. If you fly an aircraft to either his residence in Washington DC or Texas, you are likely to be in very serious trouble. If you fly the same sort of aircraft to #10 Downing Street, you are likely to be in just as much trouble.
cbrtxus:
“I am a Texan. I am also very disappointed in President Bush. But I believe that Mr. Gore would have been much worse. And I also believe that Mr. Kerry is unfit for any public office.”
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Well let’s see: The most devastating terrorist attack on our soil in history, after numerous warnings went unheeded. The longest war in our history with no end or exit strategy in sight brought on by a personal grudge or deeply flawed intelligence, take your pick. Gas and food prices at historic highs and on the rise. An economy on the verge of recession. A housing industry in the tank. Banks and airlines teetering on bankruptcy. Alienated longtime allies (remember freedom fries). Vociferous and dangerous enemies who have been whipped up into a religious frenzy by our boasts to “bring it on”. A polarized homeland populace angry with the situation and at the other political side and blaming the other side for all the problems. An unprecedented erosion of our civil liberties and massive government eavesdropping on our private communications. Rampant corruption in the Republican administration. Weakening of environmental laws making our water an air dirtier. A general malaise and contempt of government. Media that is more concerned with how politicians feel, and how much their haircuts cost than in asking about ways to address the problems. Incompetents handling disaster relief, and our war effort. Torture approved as policy at the top levels of our government. An Executive branch seeking conflict with the Legislative branch by frustrating its oversight role and refusing to comply with its subpoenas or even following the laws it passes and it signs with- out promulgating contrary “signing statements,”, etc., etc. Tell me, how do you define “much worse” or “fit” for office? By the way, it appears you folks in Texas are mighty tolerant of people–unless they’re Democrats. In saner times, we would have impeached your ersatz Texas brother and his puppeteer before we reached this nadir.
I am a Texan. I am also very disappointed in President Bush. But I believe that Mr. Gore would have been much worse. And I also believe that Mr. Kerry is unfit for any public office.
I am shocked that the fellow was able to bring a strange aircraft that near the President’s home. I assumed that there was much better security than that. Perhaps the President wasn’t there.
If I did that, I would expect to be on the receiving end of a stinger missile once I was within a certain distance. Remember that a small aircraft was crashed into the White House once before.
The fellow ought to be thankful that his prank didn’t get him killed. Perhaps he really should head back home where landing on the street in front of #10 Downing is apparently considered acceptable and normal behavior.
The “flying vet” apparently induced pilot envy in Mr. Bush, if there wasn’t enough already. Show up a bureaucrat and they will retaliate.
Mucho angst in Mr. Bush’s psyche already that folks from Saudi Arabia, revisionist declared Iraqi, could fly commercial jets into the twin towers with minimal training after actually attending flight school. Surely, he would like to forget that daddy Bush was, reportedly, the youngest navel aviator in American history.
This is just one more example of how bad this country has gotten during the reign of George W. Bush. Can this guy attempt to sue the Secret Service for their mishandling of this situation? Can he recover for the psych ward issues? If George W. gave orders to the Secret Service to take this action, is there any way he could be sued, even though he is still in office??
Not moi!
He ended up in a psychiatric hospital, charged with a criminal acts and facing deportation.
Anyone thinking for a nanosecond that Bush is worthy of anything but our comtempt, disdain and disgust would definitely need psychiatric care.