All the President's Men & the Teleprompter

I know there has been much controversy about President Obama and his use of a teleprompter.  I've seen the equipment several times when covering the President's visits.  Once in Kansas and then again in Iowa.  For what it's worth, I don't think there is anything wrong to with using a teleprompter.  Considering that I used to travel so much that it was hard to remember exactly where you were staying for the night and once tried to use a hotel key to enter the room I'd stayed in the week previous, I can certainly understand the need to use a teleprompter when you are scheduled to be in two or three locations a day. 

When you cover an event where the President is going to attend, the process for getting in place to do your job generally means you have an hour or so of time with little or nothing to do before he arrives. You can walk around in your designated press area and maybe photograph or interview members of the public that are streaming in to find their places.  With so much structure and being corralled like an animal, it's hard to do anything much but wait.

Well, while standing around in Cedar Rapids I see the teleprompter equipment with no one at the controls. There is always a Secret Service agent close or sitting at the controls, but this time the chairs were empty. So I, and another photographer, took the opportunity the grab a few shots of the equipment. Within seconds, a White House staff person descended on us and said that we could not photograph the equipment. Well... He was too late! Directly below is the super secret teleprompter that can't be photographed.

(Cedar Rapids, IA USA) Teleprompter equipment used by President Obama scrolls Lincoln's Gettysburg Address immediately before the President is due to speak before an audience at Conveyor Engineering.  The image was taken immediately before someone with the President's advance party informed the photographer that the equipment was not to be photographed.

So, what we see here is teleprompter equipment in travel case, three (3) laptop computers, a folding table, one (1) empty folding chair, one (1) empty Gatorade bottle and headphones.  Other than the sensitivity factor about using a teleprompter, I'm not sure there is any reason not to photograph this table.

Upon the President's arrival, but before he walked to the podium, a three ring binder was removed from the lectern and brought to the table where the teleprompter equipment was located.  The Secret Service agent provided the person with the binder some updated pages that were inserted and then the folder was placed back on the lectern.

(Cedar Rapids, IA USA) A US Secret Service agent sits typing on a laptop computer while another person inserts updated pages into a binder that will be placed on the lectern where President Barack Obama will be speaking.  The agent is sitting at the table where the President's teleprompter equipment is managed.

It would appear we have a President that embraces technology and uses it.  So now you have seen what allows the President to speak in multiple cities a day and still maintain some idea of where he is and who he is talking to.  Yes, I'm sure that the White House would rather you not see the equipment, but it's how business is being done today.

The Eagle has Landed!

(Grafton, IL USA) People inside the Pere Marquette State Park Visitor Center watch the video screen as a remote camera located high in a tree shows the first American Bald Eagle returning to the nest for the 2012 season.  The nest is located approximately 100 feet above the bank of  the Illinois River in Jersey County Illinois.

It's that time of year again when you need to be really careful.  Careful of the person in the car driving in front of you as they slam on the brakes because they see an American Bald Eagle in a tree.  Every year the eagles come south because of ice that generally covers the rivers where they normally catch fish.  The area close to the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers is prime eagle watching territory.  Thousands of people travel to the area every season to see the eagles.

The eagles are opportunists and the photo below is of an eagle that was feasting on a road kill Whitetail Deer near a cornfield.

(Calhoun County, IL USA) An American Bald Eagle takes to flight after feasting on a Whitetail Deer carcass.  While eagles are thought by most people to be fish eaters, eagles are opportunistic and will feed on most any type of meat or fish that it may find.  Eagles have also been known to take small dogs, cats and squirrels.

Rolling in the New Year

The local hospital didn't know if they would have any new babies anytime soon (According to them it might well be Tuesday for a new baby.), so I headed off to the local bowling alley.  When I arrived, I soon realized that the place was packed as families and friends bowled in the new year.

(Jerseyville, IL USA)  Young bowlers take their turns on the lanes at the Tri County Bowl.  The lights are turned down and disco type colored lighting illuminates the lanes for the New Year Eve "cosmic" bowl.