From: chris lloyd
Date: Thu Aug 26, 2004 7:17:38 AM America/Montreal
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Subject: Horrified onlookers watch police shoot hostage-taker in downtown Toronto, un preneur d'otage est abattu par la police en pleine heure de pointe

Dear Paul,

The job is slowly getting to me; too repetitive, too dull. Measure, cut, drag drywall up stairs, install, repeat. All day long, and as I wait for the end of the week to arrive it seems as though the days are lasting longer. Worked on my grant stuff, art stuff for a bit last night, then helped Sarah R. tape off more stripes in her room and had supper, then actually went to bed early, before midnight, before eleven! My body is feeling exhausted. But only two more to go and then the week is over and then it's the weekend. I'm driving the 16-foot truck back to B-St-P to collect some of the artist's stuff, and to meet up with Claudine before our trip to NYC. Hey, we're going to be there during the Republican Presidential Nomination, got any tips? The convention is one of a series of historic quadrennial meetings of the Republican Party with a primary focus on officially nominating a candidate for President of the United States and adopting a party platform. Attendance includes 2,509 delegates and 2,344 alternate delegates from every state of the Union inluding the nation's territories and overseas dependencies. The convention marks the formal end of the active primary election season, although the primaries were essentially uncontested; there was no challenge to the incumbent, George W. Bush.

The theme of the convention is "Fulfilling America's Promise by Building a Safer World and a More Hopeful America." What kind of a long-winded title is that? Perhaps it should read "Fulfilling America's Manifest Destiny by Bombing the World into Hapless Subservience."

The Department of Homeland Security officially declared the 2004 Republican National Convention a National Special Security Event. As a National Special Security Event, the United States Secret Service is charged with employing and coordinating all federal and local agencies including the various bureaus of the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation and New York Police Department to secure the venue from terrorist attacks. Expected security expenditures will reach USD $50 million, half of which is funded by the federal government.

The city will employ an active beat of 10,000 police officers deployed as Hercules teams — uniformed in full riot gear and body armor. While Boston police officers wielded batons and body shields for the Democratic convention, Hercules teams will be equipped with machine guns! Commuter and Amtrak trains entering and exiting Penn Station will be scoured by bomb-sniffing(?) dogs as uniformed police officers will be attached to buses carrying delegates. So arriving in NYC next week should be loads of fun!

-chris