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April 29, 2010
Government Helicopters are turning my dog into a conspiracy theorist!
Ann Arbor is a college town, and is generally pretty quiet except when there are big football games. That makes this neighborhood a bit of a zoo, but it's not too bad. However, in the year and ten months I have been here, I have never seen anything quite like what's going on right now. I live a block and a half from Michigan Stadium, where the university will be holding the commencement ceremony on Saturday. I understand that such a thing will necessarily make Saturday crazy around here, but it's already crazy -- much crazier than usual, and today is only Thursday. The main street which runs through town has been closed with police roadblocks, and this has diverted car and bus traffic onto the side streets, so I am seeing and hearing (and feeling) city buses and huge trucks lumbering right past the house. And the helicopters! Wow. They are flying low and circling, and they don't look like any I've seen before. I went out just now with my camera and took a few photos. There were at least four flying in formation -- a couple of single-bladed choppers like this: And at least two double-bladed ones like this: Even during the football games (including the manic Big Game against Ohio State), I've never seen any commotion like this -- especially two days before an event. Much as I have tried to get her to listen to reason, poor Coco thinks the neighborhood is being invaded, and she is in a panic state and will not stop incessantly barking at the constant and unusual noises. As to exactly what is going on, if I had to play detective I would speculate that all of this abnormal fussing going on two days before the event has something to do with the fact that the commencement speaker is to be Barack Obama. But how do I explain to Coco that all this commotion which is bothering her is not a conspiracy against her, but is happening only because various agencies are doing their job? How do I tell her that it will be worse tomorrow, and that Saturday will be something again? And -- get this -- the UM students are hoping he'll avoid politics! With graduation just days away, University of Michigan students anticipating President Barack Obama's commencement speech hope he'll inspire them and stay away from politics.I'm with them, because I hate politics. I hope he doesn't try to lecture them about the need to save the environment or be "community activists" or something. Like, I was sitting here minding my own business and avoiding politics while dutifully experimenting with various Linux distributions (including Puppy, my latest love), and worrying about large hard drives in older laptops with BIOSes that don't have 48-bit LBA support, when Coco's barking reminded me that the president would soon be in my neighborhood, and that all politics is local or something. Perhaps I should tell Coco it's time to think globally. Speaking of local politics, a group of Latinos are walking all the way from Detroit in order to rally for "immigration reform": Latinos are planning to rally in Michigan this weekend for immigration reform -- including a group of students who left today from a Detroit high school and are walking to Ann Arbor in advance of President Obama's talk on Saturday, said community activists.What's the matter? Aren't they happy with the immigration reform that's already taking place in Arizona? (Putting on my detective hat again, I would guess not. But wouldn't you think they'd be grateful to have a president who's accused in some circles of being an illegal alien? Sheesh.) posted by Eric on 04.29.10 at 04:27 PM
Comments
Have the homeless people showed up yet? The President (Bush) came to my agency when I worked in DC. A couple of days before the event, homeless people started hanging around out in front of the building. JKB · April 30, 2010 01:04 AM Now if you could just get some of them to play Ride of the Valkyries as they approach the school, that would make it all worthwhile. I live in the greater DC metropolitan area, there are helicopters overhead all the time. The fly over my house at least 4 or 5 times a day. Veeshir · April 30, 2010 10:00 AM Post a comment
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The first picture is the president's chopper, or one made to look like it. It's the right color scheme and the writing on the side looks like it says "United States of America". It could be they're practicing for the big entrance on Sat. The other two are CH-47s and probably carry the President's retinue, Secret Service and Marines. That's my best guess anyway.
If he is coming you better do all your errands before Saturday, more than likely they will shut down the town whle he's there. It is one big hassle.