Tales From the Driver's Side, Wrap-up

Here are some of the pictures I took at the Convention. I'll post more when my new friends forward them to me. Enjoy!

View at the Marina

Convention Center By Day

Convention Center at Night

 With Steve Hays 

 With Joe Trippe

 With Brit Hume

 With Olympic Silver Medal Winner Bill Schuffenhauer

 With Eric Bolling and Other Drivers

All of these folks were very gracious and appreciative of our volunteerism. I also met and/or spoke with Fox News folks Dr. Krauthammer, Megyn Kelly, Neil Cavuto, Carl Cameron, Greta VanSustern, Bill Hemmer, Chris Wallace, and Juan Williams. I also spoke with Herman Cain, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, House Speaker John Bohner, Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, and Former Ambassador John Bolton. Folks I drove around included Former Alabama Democratic Congressman Artur Davis, North Carolina Congressman Tim Scott, Texas Congessman "Quico" Canseco, Republican Operative Joe Burns, the entire delegation from the Virgin Islands, Federated Republican Women  President Rae Lynn Chomensky,  NAACP Director Hilary Shelton and North Carolina GOP Congressional hopeful Richard Hudson.
It was a great experience, and I'm looking forward to volunteering in 2016!

Tales From the Driver's Side, Day Five

As told to Carol...

In our meetings, we were told, once we got busy, we would be busy!

I was on board this morning at 7:30am. I picked up my credentials - for me and for the vehicle - and made it through the layers of security to the parking lot. From some reason, my vehicle wasn't where it was supposed to be, so it took over an hour to find it. But once the walkie talkie crackled to life, it's been non-stop. I've been to the airport, to hotels on the beaches and downtown; I've delivered speakers to the Forum for rehearsals and back to their hotels. I've seen lots of celebs - or at least political celebs. And I've spoken with a few of them. Sorry, I can't use names.

I saw a few protesters today. Someone said there were around 300 (everyone was expecting 1000's) - and probably about that many police types around them. 

I'm waiting right now for my last pickup of the day. Then I'll be going back to St. Pete Beach and the boat. (I'm keeping the vehicle for the night. We'll be back at it at 7:30 again in the morning.)

Speaking of the boat, last night was a real rockin' experience! The bay was rough. I think I got about 10 minutes of sleep! But who's complaining.

It's been raining all day, but the wind has died down considerably.

Tomorrow's my last day of volunteering. Looking forward to what the day brings!

Tales From The Driver's Side, Day 2

From Norm Knighton (as told to Carol)

It's been a quiet day today. I left the boat and went to the site to do some test runs with the SUV. I met five of my fellow drivers. Three are lawyers and two are JAGs.
We made a couple of round trips from the airport to hotel sites and got familiar with our cars.
I went back to the boat, met up with my hosts, and we had a delicious dinner at the marina.
I also received an email giving me some information for Monday. Not sure about Saturday and Sunday. I may just be stuck lounging around here. Darn!

Tales From the Driver's Side

From Norm Knighton (as told to Carol)

Several weeks ago I received an invitation to volunteer at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. Since that is something I have never done, I responded that I was interested. So, after filling out forms, passing a thorough background check, going through orientation and training, I'm in Tampa to start my "official" duties tomorrow or Saturday. I have been chosen as a driver and will be picking up speakers from the airport and taking them to different locations in downtown Tampa. I will be given a new SUV to drive.
There is so much secrecy surrounding this Convention because rumors are swirling that "Trouble's brewing!" And I'm not talkin' about Hurricane Issac.
Today I stopped at (secret location) to get my shirt. Now's there a problem. I was given one shirt and a baseball cap, but I'm working for the next five or six days. They were pretty adamant about not giving me another. But that's fine because we drivers don't necessarily have to wear a "uniform." We can wear our own clothes as long as we conform to the dress code and look clean and neat. (Which Norm has no problem doing-Carol's add.)
After that I headed south to find my digs for the next week: I'll be staying with friends on their 38' boat. (I'd call that a "yacht"!-Carol's add.) We're about 30 minutes away from the Convention Center. (It's beautiful down there. Norm and I had a look at the location on Saturday. In military parlance, tough duty!!!-Carol's add.
I'm settled in for the night. Tomorrow we'll be doing some test runs to the airport. And then .....

Billionaires and Business Jets

According to Forbes, there are 413 billionaires and nearly 3,000,000 millionaires (Millionaires are so yesterday.) living in the United States. According to the National Business Aviation Association (http://www.nbaa.org), there are 15,000 "business" jets registered in the United States.
Additionally, according to the NBAA, "only about 3% are flown by Fortune 500 companies, while the remaining 97% are operated by a broad cross-section of organizations, including governments, universities, charitable organizations and businesses - large, medium and small."
Help me out here--I went to public schools--3% of 15,000 = 450. The POTUS is apparently speaking directly to 450 folks! So fess up, you private jet owners!!!! The gov'mint wants YOU to pay more. I'm guessin' since there are only 450 of you, you need to plan to pay a LOT MORE!
The truth is we're in trouble as a nation, and continuing to espouse class warefare isn't helping. We all need to eat a huge piece of spending-cut pie. We need to pass a balanced budget amendment so, once we get ourselves out of this mess we're in, we don't get ourselves into this much trouble in the future. And, for crying out loud, we don't need another debt commission so we can put the problem off for another day and then not follow their advice anyway!
Get real, Mr. president, Get real Congress. Get serious, get busy!!!