APEC? OPEC? Australia? Austria? What's the difference???

My buddy George W. had a bit of a bad day yesterday at the APEC summit in Sydney. He started by thanking Australian Prime Minister John Howard for being such a fine host for the "OPEC summit"...oops...wait a minute...neither Australia nor the US are members of the cartel of 12 major oil producers. But to George W., who cares? Same difference...right??? He went on to talk about the Australian Prime Minister's visit to Iraq last year to thank the "Austrian troops". Hmmmmm...nice of the Australian Prime Minister to go all the way to Iraq to thank Austrian troops...does Austria even have troops there??? Oh well, what the heck...Australia? Austria? Same thing...right? Besides, Miss Teen South Carolina has already taught us about the state of education in the US and how difficult it is for "US Americans" to read maps...especially since some of them don't have any...

Apparently, Sydney has put in place the tightest security measures in the history of the APEC summit...or "OPEC summit" as George W. likes to call it.

I say "apparently" because, despite those measures, and an eye-popping spend of $24 million dollars per day on security, it was a little disturbing to hear that 11 members of an Australian comedy show were arrested Thursday after duping APEC officials with a fake Canadian motorcade, and getting through 2 security check points carrying an actor dressed up as Osama bin Laden.

The motorcade got within metres of the InterContinental Hotel where George W. was staying. It was only stopped because they had gotten so much further than expected (they thought that they would be stopped at the first security check point) and were about to enter the restricted zone so they decided on their own to turn around. This suspicious move prompted police to stop them.

The show, "The Chaser's War on Everything" is an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) program. The stunt was obviously meant as a joke, but David Campbell, the New South Wales police chief, was less than amused. "I don't see a funny side to what's happened today at all," he told reporters as he wiped the egg off his face. Obviously he's upset and will probably make sure charges are pressed against the comedy troop because they made him look like an incompetent moron (which he probably is) and will feel the need to seek retribution to try to preserve whatever shreds of non-existent self-respect he thinks he may still have.

On the other hand, Alexander Downer, the Australian Foreign Minister, acknowledged that the show's prank caused no harm...some of the police at the scene were seen laughing, even as they arrested the Australian comedians...

2 thumbs up to the incredible team of insecurity unprofessionals protecting George W. at the OPEC, oops, APEC summit in Austria...or Australia...or somewhere...