Busses, Fakes and Hurricanes, Oh My!

Busses, Fakes and Hurricanes, Oh My! Image from: abcnews.go.com On Monday, the anticipated Republican National Convention is scheduled to begin in Tampa. Preparation for the event has lasted the better part of a year, and between the city planners, political organizers, and countless staff, the Convention is certain to be a public blowout not seen locally in recent memory. Secret Service, police officers and the brave men and women serving in the United States military have also been busy doing everything in their power to ensure that the Convention goes off without a hitch, but even their thorough efforts may not be enough, and several possible scenarios exist that could rain havoc on Romney’s grandiose parade. Stolen Buses Source: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/22/4747141/search-is-on-for-2-stolen-tampa.html This past Monday, a local elementary school reported two school buses missing and are presumed stolen (the official police report described the buses as an orange-ish yellow). Police claim that the buses were spotted headed north on I-75, and they believe the buses to be in either Pasco or Marion County, but they have been unable to recover them. Every report on these buses to date has ended on one particularly questionable note: that “officials say they dont believe the thefts are related to the upcoming Republican National Convention.” Any official that refuses to consider the possibility that two school bus thefts are unrelated to the Republican National Convention is simply thick headed, so that raises the question: are the officials thickheaded, or is the official statement supposed to deflect a public panic? School buses are built for durability and strength. They are effectively bricks on wheels designed to protect the children inside from any crash, collision or assault. In the wrong hands, school buses could be re-purposed to protect the very type of criminals that the buses were built to protect children from. The sturdy nature of a school bus would allow it to plow through barriers, squad cars, and maybe even concrete roadblocks to carry an assault team of disgruntled activists to the steps of the convention center. Possibly even more explosive is the possibility of using a school bus as a guided missile. The gas tank on a school bus is massive, and can carry large amounts of flammable diesel fuel. That fuel could spark a tragic end to the Convention as the bus is turned into an iron fireball aimed at the heart of downtown Tampa. Such an attack would be so swift that police responders would have little time to prevent the inevitable and catastrophic damage.  This scenario is possible, but is certainly unlikely. If the recovery of the school buses is a priority, our public defenders will find a way to get it done. If the Tampa Police Department and the National Guard are vigilant, it is highly unlikely that those yellow time bombs will make it past the first perimeter. It is something to think about though. Why else would someone steal a school bus, of all vehicles? Fake Military IDs http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-08-07/news/33087191_1_id-card-uniforms-police-station A few weeks ago, a man was arrested after a traffic stop for driving without a license. At the police station, an officer discovered that the man’s military ID card was a fake, which prompted a further investigation and culminated in the seizure of over fifty fake IDs and several boxes of assault rifle ammunition from the man’s home. While the vast majority of the fake IDs were historical replica, and the man did not own an assault rifle, the more recent fakes are eyebrow raisers. The man’s car was outfitted with a coast guard issue license plate, and coast guard uniforms and fake ID badges were found as well. He even had a homeland security sticker on the windshield. All of this begs the question: who was this man? No one keeps a collection like that for no reason. It is possible this man was a historian, and just had a penchant for grafting military memorabilia; however, the assault rifle ammo together with the fake IDs paints a different picture. If this man had wanted to do so, he could have walked in military uniform right through several RNC checkpoints without anyone batting an eye. The fact that he owned several boxes of assault rifle ammo is particularly troubling. Perhaps he was simply a middle man who manufactured IDs and acquired ammunition and had planned to hand everything over to other men with more nefarious purposes. All of this is of course speculation, and a moot point, as the man is in custody, and his fakes have been seized. Hurricane Isaac Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/hurricane-isaac-threatens-swamp-republican-convention/story?id=17057501 If armed militia groups, will not be responsible for putting a dampener on the RNC, a hurricane might. Disaster planners and FEMA have been preparing for a convention hurricane for the past year, and contingency plans are surely in place for massive evacuations, therefore there is likely no immediate danger to anyone planning to attend the convention. Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn also played down the possibility of Isaac drowning out the convention, saying that no one should lose any sleep over the hurricane because Floridians are accustomed to these types of storms, and that the event would be held. While this may be the case, the most recent storm trackers place Tampa right at the head of what could turn into a major hurricane. The Bay of Tampa is such that even a mild storm surge would flood downtown and the Hillsborough and put the convention center several inches deep in water. While Mitt Romney likely wants to get his feet wet as the Republican presidential candidate, he surely has other, less literal plans to do so. There is also the possibility that the convention could be delayed by several days due to the hurricane. This would be a minor speed bump on the Romney campaign’s road to the White House, but it would be potentially embarrassing for the Republican Party to have chosen to hold the RNC in Tampa at the height of hurricane season. And also, with tropical storm Joyce barreling across the Atlantic, a minor delay of a week or two could have the same result as before. Regardless of the outcome, there is surely some finger pointing and perhaps a few “I told you so’s” flying around the Republican Party leaders as they contemplate delays in their schedule, while their Democratic opponent will remain dry in South Carolina.