Bungler Bush's Asian tour

Bali

Thousands of troops, police and US Secret Service agents, backed up by warships and helicopters, imposed intense security as Mr Bush travelled in a 20-vehicle convoy from the airport to a hotel a few hundred metres away on the resort island.

Mr Bush, who reportedly overruled Secret Service advice to travel to Indonesia, was being guarded by some 5,000 Indonesian troops and police as well as US security.

Ngurah Rai international airport was closed to all other flights for the duration of Mr Bush's four-hour visit, an Indonesian security official said.

Seven Indonesian navy ships have been deployed off Bali and local reports say US warships are also in the area and a US Navy helicopter flew over the hotel.

How much you think all that's costing us? Wouldn't it have been cheaper to fly Sukarnoputri and whichever Islamic leaders he wanted to meet with to D.C.? Not to mention the disruption of Indonesian air traffic - for four measley hours worth of whatever Dunderhead could get to blunder out of his mouth. If the African journalist interviews are any indication, it wasn't worth listening to anyway.

Canberra

A massive security operation is being cranked up in Canberra for the visit by United States President George W Bush.

RAAF fighter jets will escort the President's plane into the national capital tomorrow night.

A major anti-terrorism effort has been mounted by the Defence Force, police and other government agencies to safeguard the President's brief visit to Canberra.

Brigadier Mike Hannan says FA-18 fighters will escort Airforce One into Canberra and maintain an aerial patrol.

The fighter deployment will be complemented by a range of other measures.

"That includes tactical assault groups, our incident response regiment and of course our various other capabilities by way of aircraft and trained personnel," he said.

Canberra? Are you kidding me? Are they having a lot of terrorist attacks in Canberra? I think I know what's going on. It's precisely because Bush is going that there might be a terrorist attack. Those Aussies are safe as long as Blunderhead stays in his own country.

This trip is costing us an awful lot of money. And he's not staying anywhere long enough to actually do anything. We are getting so fleeced.

Update on Canberra

United States President George W Bush has arrived in Canberra in the ACT for the start of his visit to the nation's capital.

The US President's aircraft was escorted to Canberra just before 10:00pm AEST by two Australian F/A-18 fighter jets.

The President was met at the airport by Prime Minister John Howard and his wife Janette, the US Ambassador, and other dignitaries.

Mr Howard and the official party boarded Air Force One to greet the President, before emerging a short time later.

The President's substantial entourage then got into a convoy of limousines and other vehicles and they drove to the US embassy, where Mr Bush is spending the night.

The motorcade passed a small but noisy group of protesters outside the US embassy.

There is extremely tight security in many parts of Canberra.

The fighter jets will patrol the city during his stay, and navy helicopters will shadow his motorcade.

Hundreds of police, US secret service agents, and sniffer dogs patrolled the area as he arrived.

Mr Bush will be in Australia for less than 24 hours.

The US President has a busy schedule ahead of him.

He will address a joint sitting of Parliament, meet senior ministers and attend a barbecue at the Lodge, before visiting the War Memorial.

Think he managed to say, "Throw another shrimp on the barbie, mate"? Worth every dime of our god-only-knows-how-much money. For the chimp and the whole circus he's taken with him - that we aren't permitted to ask about.

And the people adore him....

About 5,000 people have marched through the streets of Sydney in New South Wales to the United States consulate in a noisy protest against President George W Bush.

The protesters brought city traffic to a standstill as they marched from Sydney Town Hall to Martin Place calling for troops to be pulled out of Iraq and for President Bush to go home. article

They certainly loved him in the Philippines...

Filipinos demanding national freedom today burned one hundred US flags in protest as Air Force One unloaded the world’s No. 1 terrorist leader, George W. Bush, who is now in Manila for an eight-hour visit to the Philippines, infamously known as an American neocolony.

As of press time, 10,000 Filipinos have jammed the main thoroughfare leading to the House of
Representatives, where Bush is set to address a joint session of Congress.

Another highlight of today’s mobilization in Quezon City will be the burning of an effigy of
Bush as he speaks before pro-American legislators. article

Do you think he'll ever know? He doesn't read the papers, remember.

Georgie, perhaps you should come home where you're appreciated.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.