More stuff from the Obama weekend

Here's a couple shots I meant to include in a previous post but overlooked.

These are the last pictures of the Obama drama in Springfield I'll subject you to, I promise. (unless I find something great from the video, or someone else sends some in, but I'm pretty sure this is all you'll have to endure.)

This was the granddaddy of all satellite trucks, with two gigantic dishes on top and almost dwarfing all the other trucks parked double deep near the Old Capitol.



And if you look closely at the external control board of the truck you can see that the monitor is playing the SuperBowl.



The writing on the control board cover informs us of "The advantages of a 4.6 meter C-Band antenna vs. a 2.4 meter C-Band antenna", as if anyone doesn't already know that!

Obviously it's because the 4.6 meter antenna can operate at 450 watts maximum flange power, 3 dB more than the 2.4, and it has the ability to monitor a foldback without adjacent satellite Co-Polorization interference. DUH!!!

And here's some more random shots from the weekend that got lost in the shuffle.

Here's CNNs Candy Crowley doing her live stand up from the CNN setup in front of the Capitol. (pictured in another post)



Here's a view of beautiful downtown Springfield and the State Capitol. I had to use a really big ladder for this one.



Of course, the fetus brigade showed up and repeatedly started chants to try to drown out Obama's speech. Nice bunch. But rather lemming-like and a bit creepy. They went to a lot of time, trouble, and expense, not to mention freezing themselves, all to accomplish nothing whatsoever for their cause, except of course to piss a few thousand people off and prompt many of them to tell them to shut up. Nice work. But maybe they satisfied their sense of martyrdom for the cause somehow.

And of course, they had stacks of blown up pictures of dead fetus' (or is that feti?)

Speaking of lemmings...

A professional photographer saw this guy and quickly took some shots himself and then went to talk to the guy. The guy looked like he quite possibly had a good case of a messiah complex and lived in a cave. I think on alternate weekends he walks around with "The End is Near" sandwich board. Evidently he was an anti-choice zealot as well.

And here's a shot of the crush on one of the press risers. Perhaps compare that to the shot in another post of the risers when they were empty to get an idea of just how much press was there.



And of course, the obligatory shot of the gargantuan flag drapped over a downtown building.


And after the speech, I observed this news bunny going through her paces. It was rather fascinating. She'd back up to about 12 feet behind the podium, say, "3, 2, 1." and then begin to slowly walk forward giving a little spiel about Obama's historic announcement and ending as she arrived at the podium with, "... and this is the very spot where he delivered it."

OK, no big deal. But at the direction of a producer off stage, she did this about 9 times in a row. I got it on video and it makes interesting, and a bit odd, viewing.



While she was doing this robotic repetition of her performance, one of the Obama Superman guys got up on the riser. From the Sun-Times:

Not far away was another costumed character, Carl Gieringer, who drove 18 hours from Boston and wore a Superman outfit made from bedsheets. "Obama is a super man himself. He's got super political powers."

He was complete with a bedsheet cape and the Superman logo, and he wasn't the only one. I saw at least four guys in the Superman get-up. I think they got the idea from the famous photo of Obama taken during a campaign swing in Metropolis, IL, the supposedly "home" of Superman some time ago. He posed next to a superman statue and struck the same pose.



Anyway, the news bunny yieded the podium for a moment while Superman struck suitibly heroic poses behind the podium. It was hilarious and those watching got a kick out of it. (and of course the cameraman who was shooting the newsbunny got shots of him as well.)







And then the reason for everyone being in Springfield to begin with..... Abe himself.

This guy bore a stunning likeness to Lincoln. Again from the Sun-Times:

As Obama conjured up images of Lincoln during his speech, Lonn Pressnall paraded through the streets of Springfield dressed as the nation's 16th president.

There are "legitimate, genuine comparisons" between the two Illinois politicians, who both came from humble backgrounds and fought for equality, Pressnall said.

"God gave me the mole and the nose, so I decided to go ahead and do this," said Pressnall, an impersonator from Forsyth, Ill.

People in the crowd clamored for photos with Pressnall.