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WOW! Took my breath away. Thank you!

OUTSTANDING!!! Thank you.

I have received the following from Dr Raoul’s family:

“Please post that we are so overwhelmed by the response and out pouring of love that everyone had for our father.....it is so nice to see the other side of him that wasn’t shared with us while he was living.”

Also, for those that want to send cards and correspondence to the family, they asked that those items be sent to ASC&P, PO Box 255, Uwchland, PA 19480. Just mark on the envelope Dr. Raoul so that they can be identified.

Taxman, sorry to have called you with the news. You were the first that I thought of after the call from his son. We spent so much time together working with the balloons and our number one conversation was always the good Doctor. We would laugh so hard about the things he would do to the libs, his outfits, etc. Undoubtedly the most powerful conservative protestor I have ever seen. He brought forth the belief that Conservatives MUST protest in order to get attention. He was so right. Otherwise we all agree with what is being stuffed down our throats by our capitulation.

Bravo, my friend, bravo. Your description fits Raoul perfectly!

Now that pic reminds me of CPAC a few years ago when he and I were Saddam and Bush. He was dressed in the typical Saddam garb and I had a flight suit on, like when W landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln.He has a sign on that said, “Save Me, Vote Democrat!”. We were all-stars there as people were coming in. That guy knew how to trip people’s buttons!

ELS, he was truly a person that would do for others and do without for himself. His generosity with his time to a cause or to a person is and was immeasurable.

Abner and I made 50 or more of those Sore/Loserman signs in the signshop and handed them out to the crowd on Massachusetts Ave. Remember the “Get Out of Cheney’s House” chant? That day there were 300-400 of us and 20 on the other side of the street. CNN reported it was about 50 on each side.....

Who can forget the this classic announcement the Doc would say outside the exit of the Clinton Whitehouse with his megaphone?

“Ladies and Gentleman, the Whitehouse has made an announcement. Buddy the Dog is missing. In case you can’t tell the difference between Buddy and Bill Clinton, one will hump your leg, the other is a chocolate lab!”

Always got hysterical laughter from the exiting tourists.

We won't be in Binghamton this year. We will be at the Warren County Farmers Fest in NJ the same weekend. We will miss the Spiedies and the people.

Ahhhhh, on my next tour, I assure you, you will be surprised. So will Teri. And myself. OK, one hint. "RiverDance with Steel-Toed Workboots".

"Hey, I see you and Barry in that photo in #21.
Looks like you both lost some weight."

Nope, stunt double.

Thanks for the pics of the "Rally for America" in Valley Forge. That was a great group of people that day, wasn't it?

What I was doing, by the way, was NOT dancing (it was a "Patriotic Prance")

"possibly stolen by a frenzied balloon fan"

I do not recall being in that neighborhood, Senator.

Somewhere on the web you can find the heraldic description of the flag. Anything conforming to that description is a flag.

Again, stop reading into the definition. Read what the definiton states. Heraldic Description is the blueprint for the design or perhaps better said the exact design through description. That does not make an "official" flag.

That would be a flag used for the purpose of being a flag that follows that blueprint. The US Flag Balloon is not used as a Flag but a rendition of the US Flag. A rendition is not the real thing.

If you want to believe it is a US Flag, that's fine. But that was not the intent nor the use. There aren't even attaching points to put it on a pole, which would look funny because it is truly three dimensional, unlike the 2 dimensional image of a genuine flag.

I have to go now, my head is going to explode....I can't believe I am even arguing this. Best regards to everybody including sparring partner Cacique. Good night!

The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything. For emphasis...

Unfortunately, you need to read what that says, not to read "into" it. It says "receptacle" which would be a container. This means it would be a carrying device, such as a bag. I have never seen anyone carry groceries on the "outside" of a grocery bag. The term "receptacle" would mean to use the flag as a wrap. Which would not be the use of the US Flag Balloon....If it were an actual US Flag...which it is not. Dimensions are wrong since it is over half as wide as it is tall, which makes it art. It has vents in the top (3 of them), it is hollow, it has a lifting capability, it is self supportive, it is certified as an aircraft, it is blue field left justified on both sides, it has an inner structure, it is mechanically engineered, unlike ANY flag that I know of. Furthermore, art, even in the rendition of a US Flag, is indeed protected by current copyright law. Why? Because it is art, just like the US Flag Balloon.

Hey IT!!

I only have one question. Why is it that YOU can get abner out of bed in the morning so easily and I have to fight with her for an hour? Sure... tell me it's that "star" status you have acquired....

Great job!

Taxman:

You're already the crew chief of the Shuttle. With that kind of response, apparently you're bucking for right seat!

It was a great time and thanks for letting us crash at your place. I'm sure we will be in for next year!

I get a real kick out of the bus thing. When abner and I went down to Massachusetts Ave, we were in a LeBaron Convertible, not a bus. Parking was difficult that day, not because of busses, I never saw one, but individual cars. These weren't extra Embassy cars, this was a weekend. These were private citizens, parking half a mile or more down and walking, bringing hand made signs, scrawled out that morning or the night before. How do I know? I asked them.

As we came up Massachusetts Avenue, a place I had never been, we approached a bend in the road and there were the supporters of Bush/Cheney, 150-200 yards of them. We got there fairly early, around 10 or so and saw no busses coming up the road. I did see Clinton in a prison outfit, does that count?

We also made signs in a sign shop and traded people shiny new signs for the hand made ones. One of the guys from the Norweigen Embassy begged us for a Sore/Loserman one for his office. He wasn't bussed either. Emphatic, excited, but not bussed.

We were there till almost sundown. During the day, my friend held the Cheaties sign for every foriegn camera you can imagine. No, not US. French, German, Japanese. I know because they would introduce themselves to him. He stood the corner the entire day, still no busses dropping off people.

I wandered through the crowd, talking to everybody I could. The kind of small talk that brings people together, since they didn't meet on a bus. "Hi, What brought you here?", "Is this what you expected?", that type of thing. People came from VA, MD, DE, PA. Nobody by bus, all independent singles, couples and families with kids. Is a Voyager or Astro Van a bus?

Here's the reply that really stuck with me. I asked why this one couple came out. They said, of course this is paraphrased "We feel so helpless. We have been watching the fiasco on TV and just don't know what else to do. Nobody hears how we really feel. The news reports the opinion as they think it is, and it isn't ours. We felt so helpless last night, we couldn't take it anymore and then heard about this going on. So we made signs, got in our car at 4:30 this morning (guess busses don't run that early), left PITTSBURG, and here we are. Now we feel like we are at least being heard and we are not alone." THAT'S RIGHT, PITTSBURG!! They told me they had never done anything like this, they were just so frustrated.

Oh, by the way, my friend with the Cheaties sign. He always laughed at abner and what she does. That was his same feeling that same night before and had to come with us, not in a bus.

About 3:30 pm, CNN reported from the news tent on the opposite corner (so they had a really good view) that the masses on both sides of the road were the same, about 50 people. Somebody went over to the press tent and complained. A guy from CNN said, "Sorry". I don't think he was. Gore supporters did number about 30 people, a four fold increase from the morning. The Bush side had now extended to about 400 yards down the road, took a right at the intersection and 50 yards down the side street. Not in single file fashion. The depth at the corner was at points 7-8 people deep. In all fairness, our side only doubled in size to around 400 plus people from when we arrived. So,percentage wise, the Gore side creamed us! And, in fairness, I never saw a bus for the Gore, either. Again, no busses!

As we left, with the sun setting, we put the top down to our non-bus and waved goodbye to the other side for a job well done. They flipped us off. I read later a group of supporters on that same corner assaulted a young boy, like twelve or thirteen years old, walking through the group with his family when he expressed his feelings. You know, it's about the children.....

As we drove away, we passed no busses.