Travel Blog

Whether you support the president or not, there is something about a presidential motorcade that really impresses a person. It makes you proud of your country. This was the first time we had the opportunity to observe a presidential motorcade. It was really quite awe inspiring.

The precision and the organization of the motorcade makes one proud of the people involved. The professionalism of the teams of people who are devoted to making sure that the president gets from one location to another safely and quickly is fantastic. In this case he was traveling from the Sunnylands Estate in Palm Springs to the Palm Springs airport. This was for departure back to Washington. He had spent the weekend in Palm Springs coming here for a meeting and a little R&R time at the golf course.

Presidents Motorcade

There was a lead group of about 30 motorcycles, some occasionally pealing off to block streets or to keep onlookers from crowding the road. They roared past us at about 30 miles an hour. They were followed by several police cars, two black limo’s and a number of support vehicles. Also including ambulances, an emergency fire truck. Finally there was a number of cars filled with secret service men, followed up with more motorcycles. This was a team that was ready for just about anything and they also meant business.

It was a site that impressed us. It made us proud of the country and made us sad that the president must travel in this manner due to the threats against him. All of the presidents have been forced to travel in this manner. This is  due to many incidents over the years and the country certainly does not want to go through what they did with the Kennedy’s. The security surrounding the president is much more intense than it was at that time and for good reason.

The motorcade passed us and in less than 10 minutes the president was on his plane and it was on the taxi way ready to take off. There were no delays and the plane was at full throttle heading down the runway.

Still it makes us proud to be part of America even if we need to have this level of security!

For more posts about US Politics, click here.

We predicted that Hillary Clinton surging at Cristie’s expense and all of the attention to Governor Cristi would basically kick him out of the running for the US presidency. It appears to be holding true. His popularity poles have sunk to the point where he is running dead last. This is due to perceived wrongdoing with the bridge scandal and a number of other suggested negative issues.

Hillary Clinton is surging at Christie Expense.

Clinton, on the other hand, has surged in the poles. Although she has not yet declared her intention to run for election to the highest job in the nation, she is the person for the job as far as the Democrats are concerned unless someone comes along to outpace her.

There is a lot more to come in terms of how Governor Cristi will respond to the allegations concerning the bridge scandal. We also wonder whether they will stick or not. This could all disappear if the investigations clear his name. If this happens, the people who fired these political bullets did so too soon. There could be a strong backlash against the Democrats as well if they are seen to be behind this entire fiasco.

We will have to wait and see if there is more to come. Cruise forward to the 2016 presidential race, and this time, Donald Trump is outrunning Governor Cristi. Trump is behind Hillary in the polls. At the time of this update, there are still five months to the election, and anything could happen.

Hillary Clinton is surging at Christie Expense.

But Hillary is now focused on Trump and beating him to the presidential seat in November. This is an amazing race to watch because of all of the trash talk and the issues that are being brought forward by both parties.

It is anyone’s guess regarding who will win in Nov. For more posts about US Politics, click here.

Just by letting people know that he is thinking about running for the president of United States, the knives have come out. The Democrats are trying to make sure that he never gets to the point of declaring that he’s running for president. They are lining up and trying to pull out all of the bad news they possibly can. They want to reduce his chances of running for president, and to reduce his chances of fund raising.

The Democrats are worried. He has great charisma, is the person of the people and he’s done great things for New Jersey. He has a positive image across the country. The Democrats are concerned that Hillary might have to difficult a battle on her hands if she decides to declare her run for president of United States position.

Christie – Clinton Impact

The Clintons will never be associated with this issue that is plaguing Gov. Christie at the present time. However you can be sure that from a strategy perspective she is in agreement with this approach. Anything that can be done to improve her chances of being elected is and will be done.

Cover Christie is in a lose lose situation. He either did these things that the Democrats are claiming or he has poor management skills and cannot control his people. Specifically the bridge issue was orchestrated by his team. Which he has now fired but it doesn’t clear the air. He should’ve known about this and have done something about it many months ago.

It is too bad, he probably could have made a great president and made a huge contribution to the country. Unfortunately he may be taken down by these rather insignificant paltry issues that the Democrats have brought forward. Of far greater importance and concern is the role that Hillary play while she was at the State Department and controlling the embassies. More will come out about this particular issue in the run-up to the presidential election.

For more posts about US Politics, click here.

It is hard to believe that Chris Christie would make such a stupid mistake and go along with obstructing bridge traffic! It is just as hard to believe that his staff would initiate such a thing without his knowledge! However it did happen and this situation needs to be investigated. Either way it probably spells the end of any potential run he might have been thinking about in terms of running for president. He is running for president, however he is not doing as well as might be expected for another reason. Donald Trump appears to be running away with the nomination,. Although there is a lot of time yet to go before his position is finalized as the republican nominee.

Chris Christie – Looks Bad

However it looks bad for him either way. He either knew about it which is pretty negative for him or he did not know which also means he cannot control his staff. Bad management skills no matter how you look at it. Bad political skills as well, which clearly takes him out of the running for president.

Who is behind this and who brought it to the attention of media? His enemies of course! The Clinton’s will be involved, but you will never prove it. His republican enemies who also want to run etc.

We think he is finished as far as running for a national ticket! He will weather the charges since we are sure nothing can be provided, however in the minds of Americans, there will also be some doubt. These people will not vote for him and his enemies will continue to use this issue against him to make sure he never even decides to runs for president. Comments?

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Lip Syncing Beyonce – WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 21: Beyonc? performs the national anthem as U.S. President Barack Obama looks on during the presidential inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol January 21, 2013 in Washington, DC. Barack Obama was re-elected for a second term as President of the United States. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Did Beyonce lip-sync the “Star-Spangled Banner? Who really cares? Lip Syncing Beyonce is just one more fake movie star that earns too much for what the do. The important thing is that she did not flub the song which would have been the talk of all the networks the next day. Instead, they focused on the inauguration and the important stuff. It only came out later that she may have lip sync’d and really who cares if she did or not.

Her career would have suffered if she had flubbed the anthem or if her voice gave out in the cold. Her career right now is red hot, so why risk damaging that. She can always come back later in better conditions and sing the anthem for real, which she apparently did just to prove that it can be done and she can do it.! I am sure the president did not care if she lip sync’d or not. He would prefer everything to go smoothly we assume, which it did

Lip Syncing Beyonce

They are still talking about how he flubbed his lines the previous time when he was sworn into office. Besides, it was really cold and although we do not sing in our family, we understand that singing in cold weather is difficult. The throat can be dry and the sound does not carry the same among other issues.

Dance and Sing at the Same Time

So who really cares. We want the best performance and we got it. So that brings me to the videos were they dance and sing at the same time.

There is no way these performers can be active and sing perfectly. They would have to be in outstanding shape and even then they would have to be a little bit out of breath to be able to dance and sing! Just try it yourself to see how far you get without your breath beginning to rasp a bit. So get used to it, lip-syncing has been going on for a long time and will continue to do so.

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When this post was written the US was about to go over a fiscal cliff, and many people are thinking what a bunch of incompetents. They all should be fired! Can you imagine if any private company manager ran their company in this manner. They would be bankrupt in a hurry.  I guess that is why the US is headed in that direction.

What about Your Personal Fiscal cliff

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It is the classic conundrum. Everyone wants to conserve energy and become less dependent on oil from other countries. Our own country is the same with all of the pollution etc that goes along with oil, as long as it is not in my backyard. No one wants an oil refinery or a coal fired electrical generation plant too close to them . Now it is going to be those magnificent windmills that are receiving a negative vote.

You can pretty much locate a coal fired plant almost anywhere, so most of the time they locate them a long way from concentrations of the population. Not so with wind farms. You have to find a location that has a lot of wind, preferably stable and located on a higher hill or across the flat plains were the wind blows.  You can see them for miles and they really are something to watch. Those majestic wings or propellers sweeping around with little noise and interference.
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U.S. President Barack Obama, plans to spend $300 billion on a jobs package. Apparently he’ll announce tonight that this will be part of his stimulus plan, according to most media outlets in the U.S. Bounce ahead 2 years and it seems that he followed the right strategy. Were is our economy headed? It seems to be going the right direction. We avoided major bank failures and several major car company failures.

Millions of people are out of work, but millions more would have been out of work as well. With all of these people the economy would have suffered catastrophic failure and slow downs. That we are recovering and headed in the right direction says a lot about how it has improved and how we avoided a major melt down. So were is our economy headed?

Were is Our Economy Headed

Meantime,  Europe struggles to contain its government debt crisis, and their greatest fear is that one of the Continent’s major banks may fail.

With this kind of news and concerns being expressed every day by various people it is no wonder that consumers are holding back and conserving cash.  As soon as consumers begin saving money and not spending, it has a ripple effect that is hard to stop. Companies receive less revenue and produce less goods. They lay people off to reduce their expenses and these people who are looking for a job also spends less. Pretty soon you are within what is called the death spiral and that is what everyone is worried about.
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Apparently 8 out of 10 Americans think we are already in a recession. Are we headed for another recession and is it going to be serious. For a recession to be official, you must have two or more quarters of negative growth in the economy. Canada has already reported that there economy shrank in the 2nd quarter. Indicators are that the 3rd will be no better.

When we originally wrote this post, the indicators seemed to point in that direction. However two years later, the recession has never arrived and the stock market is booming. So much for the financial gurus knowing what they are talking about.

Headed for Another Recession

Whether we are officially in a recession or not according to the economic gurus, it really does not matter. What matters is what people think and how they spend their money. If the general population believe we are in a recession and are worried about more job losses, then they are going to reduce their spending plans and that alone will push us into a recession. Let’s face it if you are working now and worried about losing your job, you are not going to go out and buy that new car, the white goods etc. You are going to reduce spending and save your money in case you get laid off. This can translate quickly into the result that we are headed for another recession!
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I saw Mark Cuban being interviewed on Pierce Morgan the other night. What a smart guy, up beat, positive and seems to know what he is all about. He is obviously very successful as a business man having succeeded in turning the Mavericks around as well as being successful in a number of other ventures.

What caught my attention was the discussion they had concerning politics and whether he would run for president some day or not. He emphatically indicated that he would not run for president. However he is young and there is lots of time to change his mind and make a contribution to the history books as a business president rather than a political one.

Political Dogma

The conversation centered around making things happen in US politics and by extension in Canadian politics as well. His emphasis if I caught it properly is that there are lots of political dogma being spewed by the politicians. But not sufficient action. Once you state a plan or direction, it must be followed up with action in defined steps so that you actually achieve what you set out to achieve.
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