Sydney is far too unsafe for President Bush

If Sydney is so unsafe that during his visit, the US president has to be followed around by a huge black helicopter that blocks mobile phone signals, I think he should stay at home and use videoconferencing instead.

When George Bush comes to Australia for the APEC summit later this year, US military-owned helicopters will be buzzing around Sydney, roads will be diverted and train stations closed.

The presidential security circus will, no doubt, leave Sydneysiders in shock and awe as they hail the "leader of the free world".

What a joke.

How can someone who can't walk down the road unless they are being followed around by thousands of people and hundreds of millions of dollars of hi-tech equipment, consider themselves to be free?

All that hardware and personnel are supposedly in place to guarantee Bush's safety.

One thing I have learned is that as you increase security, you reduce flexibility -- and freedom. If I wanted to absolutely, completely and utterly guarantee that a laptop would never catch a virus or be hacked, I would lock it in a safe and throw it into the sea. Of course the laptop would be rendered useless but at least it would be safe from hackers and malware.

Wouldn't it be safer for both the president -- and Sydney's residents -- if Bush remained on his Texas ranch and used videoconferencing instead?