Dick Cheney Had His Limousines Flown to Jackson Hole, Wyoming >>>

[Stephanie]

How much is this costing us?

Note to Dick: Stop wasting our money on your extravagance. Who do you think you are?

AIR FORCE CARGO PLANE DELIVERS CHENEY LIMOS TO IDAHO FALLS
Dec 28, 2005

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) -- The big Air Force C-17 Globemaster Tactical Transport plane that's sitting on the tarmac of the Idaho Falls airport this week has drawn more than a few curious stares and questions.

It landed Monday night and airport employees say Secret Service agents unloaded several limousines for Vice President Dick Cheney. The vehicles were driven to Jackson, Wyoming, where the plane was originally scheduled to land and where Cheney has a home. The plane was diverted to Idaho Falls because of foggy conditions at the Jackson airport Monday evening.

http://www.kpvi.com/index.cfm?page=nbcheadlines.cfm&ID=30281

[merh]

1. That is not uncommon and these yoyos in office aren't the first.

to have their automobiles flown to the states where they will be needed. The automobiles are designed for safety, to prevent assasinations. And yes, that is a part of national security, a real need.

Though costly, it would seem it is less expensive than having tons of the vehicles made an available in their home states or in every state and/or driving the vehicles to where they will be.

[Stephanie]

4. Maybe they could quit flying off to vacations every five minutes

I would truly like to know what the vacation expenses have been for this misadministration.

[merh]

8. That is true - they do take many, many vacations.

Hey Stephanie! :hi: Happy New Years to you. :hug:

[Stephanie]

9. Happy New Year to YOU, merh!

May it be many, many times better than the last one!

xx
S

[jbonkowski]

10. It seems like...

...Bush and Cheney take more time off, and they do it farther away than previous Presidents. Certainly Clinton and GHW Bush took fewer vacations and closer to DC (Camp David, Kennebunkport, Martha's Vineyard). I don't know where Gore and Quayle went, or if they took so much security.

I'm not saying this just because Cheney is VP now, but are we really obligated to protect the VP to the same level as the President? In theory, the VP is not much more of a target than the Speaker of the House, is he?

Are we spending a lot more to protect Cheney than we did previous VP's? There are even rumors of a tunnel or bunker built under the VP's residence recently.

Why can't the VP just have one vehicle in DC, and another that gets driven (not flown) ahead of time to where he is going on vacation. They could load it up in a semi with some guards, and it would cost 1/10th of flying it. I also think if the VP is going on vacation, he can charter a plane, and not use Air Force Two. Official business is one thing, but why do we pay for vacation flights?

jim

[zaj]

12. Shouldn't be impossible to determine should it?

FOIA

[Stephanie]

13. Every single thing this admin does is top secret

You think they are going to let us FOIA their travel costs? It will be classified due to security reasons, no doubt.

[Stephanie]

14. Yup, he's stonewalling this too >

Critic: Cheney is dodging disclosure
Vice president didn't report travel costs -- even as public paid the tab, watchdog says

By Rebecca Carr
Cox News Service

WASHINGTON -- It's no secret that Vice President Dick Cheney has a penchant for secret undisclosed locations.

Now comes a report from the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan research organization based in Washington, that found that Cheney and his staff have "sidestepped" travel disclosure rules that require executive branch employees to specify who pays for travel and how much it costs when they deliver speeches at universities, think tanks and trade groups.
Cheney is withholding information that should be public under rules passed by Congress as part of the 1989 Ethics Reform Act, said Roberta Baskin, executive director of the center.

Over the past four years, Cheney has made 275 speeches and appearances, including 23 speeches to think tanks and trade organizations and 16 to colleges and universities, according to the center's research. By calling it "official travel," the center said, the public has been footing the bill rather than the group sponsoring his speech.

***

If outside groups -- such as trade associations and schools -- aren't paying the tab for Cheney's appearances, then who is?

The taxpayers, according to the Center for Public Integrity.

"Cheney's office also appears to have stuck taxpayers with untold millions in travel costs rather than accepting trip sponsors' funds that the rules would require to be disclosed," the center's report states.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051225/NEWS02/512250481/1008/NEWS02

[BR_Parkway]

7. Agreed, this is SOP for anyone at that level, not just Darth

Of course, if you look at the polling numbers his SS team probably has more folks to worry about disagreeing with him than someone like Clinton. (28% vs 70% approval rating)

[SoCalDem]

16. Lardass can only ride in one at a time...why does he need more?

I'm pretty sure they don;t really care about the rest of the entourage all that much, and certainly they could ride in a suburban or perhaps a humvee:)

[porphyrian]

2. I know it sound like crap, but it's for security reasons.

His limos are already souped up, armored and regularly inspected. If he were to use someone else's limos, they would have to be inspected, souped up, etc., and that would take a lot of man-hours to do. It would be very costly in time and money. Basically, it makes Cheney safer, and we probably wouldn't begrudge that of any other Vice President.

That said, I hope the criminal fucker gets his last ride in those limos to prison.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

3. If the "Sun Kings" are finally convicted of something . . .

. . . their punishment should be to help poor people fix up their homes, maintain their hobble-ass Fords and Dodges, take the bus to the grocery store, etc, etc.

Oh well . . . it's a nice little daydream.

[ucmike]

5. that's pretty routine for pres and vp

i worked on the runways at newark airport and saw bush, cheney, gore and clinton all get the same treatment. the limos in question are not run-of-the-mill. they are very unique and travel most everywhere with the execs. i welcome any opportunity to bash bush and cheney, but this is not their doing. they probably have no say in it, all security being handled by the secret service.

it was interesting to see the cargo planes load and unload. they would taxi to a clear part of the airfield and sit until the motorcade was scheduled to roll. the rear cargo ramp would open, armed guards would exit, the motorcade would roll out, the guards would get back in the plane and the ramp would be raised. the whole time the pres/vp was in town the planes would sit on the airfield with the crew inside. they never left the plane except when the ramps were down.

when it was time for the execs to leave town the planes would start their engines, the ramps would come down, about 2 minutes later the motorcade drove up, the vehicles would drive in, the ramps would raise and they would taxi to the runway. about 5 minutes from engine start to take off. the other tip off we got was about 30 seconds after the engines started we'd get a visit from secret service agents telling us to stay in our trailer until they cleared us to exit. funny thing was that they never came back, we'd stay inside until the plane taxied away from our area then go about our business.

[Tesla]

6. Why should this be on our tab???

It sounds like it's a Cheney thing....

[Lex]

11. Believe me, if it were CLINTON doing it, they'd be screaming

their heads off.

[area51]

15. (rephrased) "Who do they think they are?"

They are our employees, our servants, but refuse to accept that.

[TheBaldyMan]

17. he flew his Winnebago to Iraq n/t

[merh]

18. Did he really?

They should have given him a fema trailer at best or a tent, like the soldiers sleep in.

:argh:

[Stephanie]

19. They stuffed a trailer inside a cargo jet

So that Cheney could be comfortable while they flew him in secretly. The press had to sit strapped in to jump seats at the side of the plane while he rode in his private trailer in the middle of the hold. Bizarre.

[merh]

20. I really hate these bastards.

:mad: :grr: :mad:

[grateful581]

21. I Second that!

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: