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To: presidio9
President Lincoln was assassinated by a circle of Confederate agents and sympathizers before we had any real security for the chief executive. That was a long time ago. Now we've gone too far the other way. You obviously think that the person of the leader of the USA is so valuable that we should spend billions of our scarce resources to keep him and his family from any harm. I think he should get the same protection as a Fortune 100 CEO, but no more than that. No one is irreplaceable, not you, me or him.
92 posted on 09/10/2012 10:53:02 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
President Lincoln was assassinated by a circle of Confederate agents and sympathizers before we had any real security for the chief executive. That was a long time ago. Now we've gone too far the other way. You obviously think that the person of the leader of the USA is so valuable that we should spend billions of our scarce resources to keep him and his family from any harm. I think he should get the same protection as a Fortune 100 CEO, but no more than that. No one is irreplaceable, not you, me or him.

I can't believe I allowed myself to get drawn into your bizarre little world again, but here I am. Yours is apparently a diseased mind that finds happiness in arguing. I realize that I am never going to fix that.

I will however point out that YOU introduced Lincoln into this conversation on the cost of presidential safety. Now you are describing extenuating circumstances that still end up with a dead president. Next you are strangely suggesting the entire example (which, again, you brought up in the first place) is irrelevant because it happened a long time ago. Current events: There have been twelve credible threats against President Obama since he took office THAT THE SECRET SERVICE IS TELLING US ABOUT. They investigate thousands of other threats they end up deeming less credible annually. So the idea that the president "should get the same protection as a Fortune 100 CEO, but no more than that," is not just irresponsible. It is demonstrably ignorant. AS far as I'm concerned, the majority of Corporate CEOs generally do important work. But not the entire 100 of them combined faces the same level of existential threats as one US President. And you would know that if you really did work on a security detail as you claimed. You would also know that we do not spend "billions of our scarce resources to keep him and his family from any harm." The entire Secret Service budget is roughly $1.5 billion. In addition to protecting the president and his family, the secret services is the law enforcement body responsible for counterfeiting of currency and Treasury Securities, bank fraud, and other major fraud. The secret service also protects foreign embassies, ambassadors, high ranking government officials, presidential candidates, and former presidents. Again you would probably know that if you actually had worked there. My best guess is that you own the DVD to "In the Line od Fire," and you've "seen it, like, a million times!"

Perhaps we need to trim some fat from the Secret Service? Fine, I can agree with that. But any Fortune 100 CEO worth his paycheck will tell you that you don't start restructuring by cutting assets where they are needed most. And that would be between the president and his family and the very real people who want to kill him.

97 posted on 09/11/2012 11:37:39 PM PDT by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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