September 18, 2006
Capitol Lockdown...Again
Not twelve hours after the Redskins got the smack-down in Texas, the U.S. Capitol was placed in an all-too-familiar lockdown.
Early this morning an unidentified man with obviously stellar driving skills crashed through a barricade (no, it wasn't Rep. Patrick Kennedy as we initially assumed) before taking out a fountain in what we are hoping was just a botched doughnut delivery. He then ran into the Capitol and was apprehended without incident.
At least this incident was handled with more discretion than the now infamous instance where a report of shots fired in a Capitol office building provoked District officials to lock down every public school in the city. The "shots" were eventually found to be an air hammer.
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You would think that they have a perimeter set up so that you have a buffer zone of people who have been checked for weapons........apparently not....Don't you feel safe America??????
They do have a perimeter set up. Are you suggesting that they should put a big fence around an area several blocks from the Capitol in all directions and actually frisk everyone who walks into that area? I know the country's paranoid and all, and I realize that there really are bad men out there who want to blow us up, but let's hope things don't ever go quite this far.
Doesn't seem all that far fetched considering the measures that have already been taken. They pretty much stop and search any truck that dares to roll by the perimeter street. It's just a matter of time before pedestrians will have to take off their shoes and toss their lipstick before walking within a block of the capitol.
Also, anybody else wonder how the heck this guy get all the way from the courtyard, through the rotunda and into the basement on foot without being tackled by the police. Nobody could stop this guy? Not to mention that this guy technically didn't `crash through a barricade.' he followed a work truck inside the perimeter when a police car moved out of the way to let the truck in, according to news channel 8. these security measures are only as effective as the people enforcing them.
I'm with shelley--those of us who live and work on the Hill have to deal with road blocks, security guards, and x-ray machines every day, yet an armed man can get all the way to the Capitol's basement without being stopped? Are all the security measures just for show?
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Not at all, as a matter of fact such measures are an effective and proven method of influencing elections at taxpayer expense.
Security on the Hill is a joke. I can't even count how many times I've rolled right past the Senate office building whilst roasting a joint.