[00:00.580 --> 00:03.920]  If you or someone you know is in foreclosure, listen carefully.
[00:04.240 --> 00:07.620]  There's a new scam in town targeting homeowners in foreclosure.
[00:07.980 --> 00:08.920]  Here's how it works.
[00:09.140 --> 00:14.900]  Scammers promise to save you from foreclosure, telling you all you have to do is sign over the deed to your home.
[00:15.240 --> 00:19.720]  They say you can lease your home from them and then buy it back once you're on your financial feet.
[00:20.060 --> 00:21.560]  Perhaps they offer you some cash.
[00:21.760 --> 00:27.680]  After you've signed over your title, the scammer quickly gets a new mortgage on the property and evicts you from your home.
[00:27.680 --> 00:31.340]  You lose the equity and everything you've invested in your home.
[00:31.560 --> 00:37.920]  New York has a new law outlined foreclosure rescue scams that went into effect on February 1, 2007.
[00:38.200 --> 00:46.020]  These types of sale-leaseback scams that target people of color, seniors, and women may also violate the Federal Fair Housing Act.
[00:46.340 --> 00:57.220]  If you believe you have been targeted by these scammers, please call New York City's Information Line 311 or NEEDAP at 212-680-5100.
[00:58.360 --> 01:00.000]  Brought to you by NEEDAP.
[01:00.320 --> 01:01.000]  Thank you.
[01:01.120 --> 01:03.980]  And you're listening to WBAI in New York.
[01:03.980 --> 01:06.340]  The time is just about 7 o'clock.
[01:06.560 --> 01:08.120]  Time once again for Off the Hook.
[01:13.270 --> 01:15.260]  The telephone keeps ringing.
[01:15.720 --> 01:17.800]  So I ripped it off the wall.
[01:18.720 --> 01:20.780]  I cut myself while shaving.
[01:21.320 --> 01:23.300]  Now I can't make a call.
[01:23.960 --> 01:26.120]  We couldn't get much worse.
[01:28.480 --> 01:29.660]  But from Diddly Bump.
[01:29.820 --> 01:31.580]  But the best is paid for worst.
[01:32.140 --> 01:34.060]  I hope that's understood.
[01:34.280 --> 01:35.140]  From Diddly Bump.
[01:57.070 --> 01:58.310]  And very good evening to everybody.
[01:58.410 --> 01:59.450]  The program is Off the Hook.
[01:59.710 --> 02:01.370]  Emmanuel Goldstein here with you.
[02:01.630 --> 02:03.510]  Joined tonight by Rob T.
[02:03.610 --> 02:04.030]  Firefly.
[02:04.230 --> 02:04.710]  Good evening.
[02:05.310 --> 02:05.990]  And Jim.
[02:06.310 --> 02:06.530]  Hello.
[02:07.090 --> 02:07.550]  Red Hack.
[02:07.990 --> 02:08.310]  Hi.
[02:08.690 --> 02:09.210]  Voltaire.
[02:09.550 --> 02:09.750]  Hello.
[02:10.090 --> 02:10.730]  And Mike.
[02:11.250 --> 02:11.510]  Hi.
[02:12.050 --> 02:14.990]  And Bernie S.
[02:15.070 --> 02:15.790]  down there in Philadelphia.
[02:16.390 --> 02:17.390]  Greetings from Philadelphia.
[02:17.790 --> 02:21.270]  And we're also joined tonight in the studio by Packrat once again.
[02:21.590 --> 02:21.890]  Hello.
[02:22.090 --> 02:22.450]  How you doing?
[02:22.450 --> 02:23.170]  What's going on?
[02:24.070 --> 02:26.910]  We've had quite a few interesting last couple of days.
[02:27.170 --> 02:28.210]  Quite a few interesting last couple of days.
[02:28.250 --> 02:29.870]  Well, that tells you the kind of mindset I'm in.
[02:30.730 --> 02:31.390]  A little sleep.
[02:31.390 --> 02:32.090]  Could you do me a favor?
[02:32.250 --> 02:34.510]  And start over again, but make sense this time, please.
[02:34.510 --> 02:34.530]  Yeah.
[02:34.670 --> 02:36.850]  We've had some interesting times in the last couple of days.
[02:36.850 --> 02:37.290]  How's that?
[02:37.470 --> 02:37.970]  Much better.
[02:38.090 --> 02:38.230]  Yeah.
[02:38.330 --> 02:38.570]  All right.
[02:38.650 --> 02:41.210]  That's just playing with the English language there.
[02:42.210 --> 02:43.130]  Well, where do we start?
[02:43.410 --> 02:45.010]  I just got back, actually.
[02:45.150 --> 02:46.370]  I just got back to New York City.
[02:46.610 --> 02:48.010]  Voltaire, you just got back to New York City as well.
[02:48.570 --> 02:52.830]  Quite an adventure getting back via Amtrak from Washington, D.C.
[02:53.070 --> 02:56.310]  and getting here via the MTA.
[02:57.410 --> 02:59.670]  I just got to get this off my chest.
[02:59.670 --> 03:04.230]  There is no lower breed of people than rush hour commuters.
[03:04.730 --> 03:07.850]  Specifically the kind that go to Westchester and Long Island.
[03:08.030 --> 03:08.650]  And Connecticut too.
[03:08.770 --> 03:09.270]  Let's not leave them.
[03:09.350 --> 03:09.830]  And New Jersey.
[03:09.890 --> 03:10.210]  Why not?
[03:10.310 --> 03:10.810]  Yeah, all of them.
[03:11.170 --> 03:11.430]  Yeah.
[03:11.650 --> 03:14.030]  All those people because they simply...
[03:14.030 --> 03:15.150]  When you're trying to get someplace...
[03:15.150 --> 03:25.570]  I had the misfortune of trying to get onto the subway platform today at 34th Street, Penn Station, while they were all getting off the subway to rush to their commuter trains to go home to their pathetic lives.
[03:26.370 --> 03:29.770]  And, you know, you're trying to get through the subway turnstile.
[03:30.030 --> 03:33.710]  Except, unlike in other cities, they don't have them marked for exit and entrance.
[03:33.890 --> 03:36.350]  They're all both entrance and exit.
[03:36.410 --> 03:37.210]  So if you don't...
[03:37.790 --> 03:40.550]  If you can't make it through, they'll go through the other direction.
[03:40.630 --> 03:42.690]  And I kept sliding my car through.
[03:43.030 --> 03:43.950]  And it doesn't matter.
[03:44.010 --> 03:45.190]  They kept us pushing through.
[03:45.350 --> 03:48.430]  Pushing through with their briefcases and raincoats and scowls on their faces.
[03:48.890 --> 03:51.370]  And no matter what, no matter what, I could not get past them.
[03:51.430 --> 03:52.750]  And the train is right there on the platform.
[03:52.750 --> 03:53.990]  And I needed to get on that train.
[03:54.250 --> 03:55.070]  And they didn't care.
[03:55.150 --> 03:56.870]  They just kept pushing like a tidal wave.
[03:57.110 --> 03:58.490]  And it was horrible, it was awful.
[03:58.490 --> 03:59.290]  I was shouting at them.
[03:59.370 --> 04:00.870]  I was saying, how can you do this to a human being?
[04:01.170 --> 04:02.930]  And they just kept on...
[04:02.930 --> 04:03.610]  They wouldn't stop.
[04:03.730 --> 04:04.990]  There was no end to them.
[04:05.530 --> 04:07.390]  And I'm so glad I'm not one of those people.
[04:07.450 --> 04:10.610]  And if you're listening now, I don't know what to say to you.
[04:10.730 --> 04:11.110]  I just...
[04:11.110 --> 04:12.690]  How do you live your lives like this?
[04:13.590 --> 04:14.650]  They're always so angry.
[04:14.650 --> 04:15.750]  And they're always pushing.
[04:15.750 --> 04:18.970]  And they always think that, you know, the world owes them something.
[04:19.090 --> 04:20.350]  And they always drive SUVs, too.
[04:20.650 --> 04:21.390]  I'm tired of them.
[04:21.450 --> 04:22.510]  I am tired of them.
[04:22.890 --> 04:23.650]  I feel better.
[04:23.850 --> 04:28.290]  It's possible for them to make it so that, you know, some of the turnstiles go one way only.
[04:28.450 --> 04:28.570]  Yeah.
[04:28.590 --> 04:29.750]  And they do that in Grand Central.
[04:29.910 --> 04:31.730]  They do that in Washington, D.C., where I just came from.
[04:31.810 --> 04:36.290]  I mean, here, you know, they can make them so that you can't use it as an entrance or exit only.
[04:36.630 --> 04:38.510]  Actually, I don't know if you can make it entrance only.
[04:38.650 --> 04:39.450]  I feel like...
[04:39.450 --> 04:44.110]  There should be at least one that's entrance only that, you know, because there was just no way for me to get...
[04:44.110 --> 04:48.590]  The train was right there, except there was just mass of people just heading towards me, and I couldn't do anything about it.
[04:49.570 --> 04:51.130]  And the thing is, I was trying to get here.
[04:51.290 --> 04:53.410]  I was trying to get to the station in time.
[04:53.530 --> 04:59.010]  No matter what, I could be coming from anywhere in the world, and not Kevin, if he was here, he would back me up on this.
[04:59.090 --> 05:06.530]  We flew in once from, I think, Toronto, and we landed at Newark Airport, I believe, and we were late.
[05:06.890 --> 05:13.350]  And somehow, no, we landed at LaGuardia, and somehow we managed to get a cab to take a shortcut during rush hour to get us here five minutes before the show.
[05:13.730 --> 05:16.370]  And no matter what, I always seem to arrive here five minutes before the show.
[05:16.410 --> 05:17.610]  Oh, you still put me on edge.
[05:17.790 --> 05:18.950]  Yeah, well, you were the backup.
[05:19.490 --> 05:20.610]  You know what you could do?
[05:20.710 --> 05:21.010]  What's that?
[05:21.090 --> 05:26.150]  Is plan to arrive extra early so that you have spare time.
[05:26.390 --> 05:26.550]  That's the point.
[05:26.710 --> 05:30.730]  If I plan on arriving extra early, no matter what, I will always arrive at the same time.
[05:31.050 --> 05:36.290]  I took a train at one o'clock in the afternoon to get here from Washington, D.C.
[05:36.310 --> 05:38.310]  It's supposed to get here at around four, a little after four.
[05:38.710 --> 05:39.610]  The show starts at seven.
[05:39.750 --> 05:42.590]  Don't you think that's enough time for me to get to the radio?
[05:42.950 --> 05:44.270]  Yeah, well, that's the thing.
[05:44.750 --> 05:48.250]  If I had taken a nine o'clock in the morning train, that would have been delayed even more.
[05:48.810 --> 05:49.810]  But it works the other way, too.
[05:49.830 --> 05:55.930]  I could have taken a five o'clock train, and somehow that would have achieved light speed, and I would have been here at exactly the same time, five minutes to seven.
[05:55.930 --> 05:56.930]  You should try that next time.
[05:57.110 --> 05:58.050]  Maybe I will.
[05:58.390 --> 05:58.890]  Voltaire, yes.
[05:58.990 --> 06:06.710]  If you really want to be here not so early or not at the same time, you can always take a seven o'clock train, and then definitely you won't be here at seven.
[06:06.710 --> 06:09.910]  You know, sometimes fate will only bend so far.
[06:10.690 --> 06:12.230]  But anyway, yes, Rob?
[06:12.390 --> 06:15.970]  Maybe if you do that thing where you set your own watch 15 minutes fast to try and fool yourself.
[06:16.510 --> 06:17.650]  That never works.
[06:17.770 --> 06:19.050]  How does that work on anybody?
[06:19.370 --> 06:20.490]  How do you fool yourself?
[06:20.770 --> 06:22.870]  Because then you know that your watch is 15 minutes fast.
[06:23.010 --> 06:24.410]  I will always know that.
[06:24.530 --> 06:28.150]  You end up thinking that your watch is 20 minutes fast, and you end up running five minutes behind schedule.
[06:28.930 --> 06:30.510]  And then you just lose track, pack ride.
[06:30.890 --> 06:35.110]  Yeah, I use the trains at Penn Station every day, and it's just a madhouse.
[06:35.290 --> 06:36.950]  I don't understand why people get Stairmasters.
[06:36.990 --> 06:38.450]  Wait, you're not one of those commuters, are you?
[06:38.590 --> 06:39.790]  Yeah, unfortunately I am.
[06:40.410 --> 06:44.710]  Do you wear a raincoat and carry a briefcase and maybe some glasses?
[06:45.250 --> 06:47.210]  Well, no, I don't think you're one of those people.
[06:48.210 --> 06:50.650]  If you see the movie Trust, they all look the same.
[06:50.750 --> 06:51.910]  The commuter's getting off the train.
[06:52.090 --> 06:53.570]  It's the exact same thing.
[06:53.790 --> 06:55.230]  I would have said The Matrix, but either way.
[06:55.710 --> 06:56.750]  Well, yeah, maybe.
[06:56.750 --> 06:59.830]  At Penn Station also, with the LIRR, I always think it's hysterical.
[06:59.870 --> 07:06.330]  And I think maybe with NJ Transit too, they don't have the gate numbers or whatever, the platform numbers ahead of time.
[07:06.490 --> 07:09.350]  So then they announce it, and then there's this mad rush for the train.
[07:09.530 --> 07:10.830]  In Europe, you know, they have...
[07:10.830 --> 07:15.570]  Whereas in Grand Central, it's all calm and fine because they have it on the board.
[07:15.630 --> 07:17.350]  As soon as it's on the board, the number's there.
[07:17.650 --> 07:19.550]  And that train leaves in three hours.
[07:19.770 --> 07:29.790]  They have, and you'll back me up on this, in Europe, in fact, all of you who have been there, they have sheets of paper that tell you train times, destinations, and track numbers.
[07:29.870 --> 07:30.350]  It's permanent.
[07:30.570 --> 07:31.370]  It's always there.
[07:31.490 --> 07:32.250]  It's always the same track.
[07:32.370 --> 07:33.550]  Why can't it always be the same track?
[07:33.870 --> 07:34.210]  It doesn't make it any less confusing, though.
[07:34.510 --> 07:35.050]  What, in Europe?
[07:35.150 --> 07:35.810]  In Europe, it's not confusing.
[07:36.030 --> 07:38.550]  When I was in Finland, I had to take a commuter rail.
[07:38.750 --> 07:40.390]  And they had like A through H.
[07:40.390 --> 07:44.110]  And the map, I swear, it was just different colors.
[07:44.110 --> 07:45.990]  And they were crossing each other.
[07:46.410 --> 07:47.090]  And I...
[07:47.090 --> 07:47.630]  Really?
[07:47.750 --> 07:50.250]  Every time that it was the first time I took a ride...
[07:50.250 --> 07:50.990]  Maybe it was me.
[07:51.170 --> 07:52.090]  Maybe I'm just slow.
[07:52.190 --> 07:54.730]  But I would always take the wrong train the first time.
[07:54.890 --> 07:59.530]  And then I'd know for the next time, okay, if I have to go to that destination, it's not A, it's Z.
[07:59.850 --> 08:02.790]  But the first time, I would always end up two hours in the wrong direction.
[08:02.990 --> 08:03.790]  Well, maybe that's Finland.
[08:03.910 --> 08:05.770]  I do know Russia is very complicated because...
[08:05.770 --> 08:07.910]  There's only eight trains, and I still couldn't get it right.
[08:07.910 --> 08:09.950]  Well, in Russia, what they do is...
[08:09.950 --> 08:11.030]  I don't know why they do this.
[08:11.110 --> 08:12.070]  It's hard enough with Cyrillic.
[08:12.190 --> 08:14.190]  But they announce train tracks.
[08:14.410 --> 08:15.350]  And you've got train...
[08:15.870 --> 08:17.270]  Track number one and track number two.
[08:17.450 --> 08:19.530]  Then, for some reason, they also announce platforms.
[08:20.330 --> 08:23.530]  So track number one, track number two are both on platform one.
[08:24.410 --> 08:26.850]  Track number three, track number four are both on platform two.
[08:27.070 --> 08:28.010]  So when you see...
[08:28.010 --> 08:32.470]  If you don't know the language, you see a two and a four for the same train.
[08:32.650 --> 08:33.250]  So where do you go?
[08:33.330 --> 08:34.450]  Do you go to track two or track four?
[08:34.530 --> 08:36.190]  You have to learn which one is platform, which one is track.
[08:36.370 --> 08:37.670]  I don't know why they announce both.
[08:37.910 --> 08:39.030]  It makes a little sense to me.
[08:40.450 --> 08:41.310]  Sorry, what's that, Bernie?
[08:43.190 --> 08:43.850]  Bernie, you okay?
[08:45.450 --> 08:47.850]  All right, well, I don't know what Bernie's doing down there, but...
[08:48.650 --> 08:53.990]  Yes, so anyway, to get around all this train talk that we're talking about...
[08:53.990 --> 08:55.330]  Yes, this is the train program now.
[08:56.090 --> 08:57.770]  We're just talking about trains all the time.
[08:58.210 --> 09:00.670]  We were in a couple different places.
[09:01.510 --> 09:02.330]  Did you see a train?
[09:02.390 --> 09:09.730]  We're going to go right back to trains because the first thing I want to talk about is a special train that Bernie and I actually had the privilege of seeing.
[09:09.810 --> 09:12.490]  Bernie, if you're okay down there, do you want to talk about this a little bit?
[09:13.270 --> 09:17.710]  Yeah, as a lot of our listeners might know, I was an Obama campaign volunteer.
[09:18.270 --> 09:20.830]  And so I was on a special mailing list.
[09:21.010 --> 09:37.050]  And late Friday night, like 11 o'clock Friday night, I got an email from the Obama inaugural committee saying, hey, you know, we know you've been a volunteer and we want to do this for you.
[09:37.550 --> 09:47.810]  Obama's going to be taking a train from Philadelphia to one week in Delaware, and he's going to make a special stop or like a slowdown through a certain area.
[09:48.110 --> 09:58.170]  If you go here at a certain time, Saturday morning, you'll be able to see Obama and Michelle, and they'll be able to greet them and that sort of thing.
[09:58.170 --> 10:02.030]  When you say he's going to be taking a train, he's not just going to be buying a ticket and getting onto an Amtrak.
[10:02.190 --> 10:04.010]  He was going to be taking a special train?
[10:04.210 --> 10:05.950]  It was a very special train.
[10:06.410 --> 10:15.970]  The Amtrak and probably dozens of law enforcement agencies blocked off all the tracks between Philadelphia and Wilmington for this, actually between Philadelphia and D.C.
[10:16.410 --> 10:17.430]  for this special event.
[10:17.530 --> 10:21.490]  And there was an Amtrak train with a couple of Acela engines on it.
[10:21.770 --> 10:22.950]  I guess one was a backup.
[10:23.230 --> 10:34.050]  And on the back was this really cool old train car made in 1930 in the old style where it was very beautiful inside with mahogany furniture and so forth.
[10:34.050 --> 10:38.690]  It's called the Georgia 300 if people on the listeners want to look up the Georgia 300.
[10:38.870 --> 10:39.330]  It was very cool.
[10:39.490 --> 10:41.890]  Painted blue and it had red, white, and blue banners in the back.
[10:41.990 --> 10:46.550]  It has transported three previous presidents as well, this train car.
[10:47.210 --> 10:56.530]  And this train trip was supposed to somewhat replicate Lincoln's train route from Philadelphia to Washington back in the day.
[10:58.690 --> 11:02.850]  Well, so we found out about this.
[11:02.970 --> 11:06.430]  Well, we knew the train was going to be coming by early Saturday morning, but you found out the specifics.
[11:06.510 --> 11:12.850]  And you found out also that if you went to a particular gathering point, which was where?
[11:13.430 --> 11:22.670]  This was in Claymont, Delaware, a small little town, just probably a quarter mile south of the Pennsylvania-Delaware state line.
[11:22.870 --> 11:28.110]  And if you went there, at a particular time, you would actually be able to see the train go by and slow down?
[11:28.890 --> 11:29.330]  Yes.
[11:29.470 --> 11:31.050]  And it was a prepared event.
[11:31.190 --> 11:38.810]  I mean, this was a secured area specifically for the select group of volunteers to come and greet the president-elect and his wife.
[11:38.810 --> 11:43.110]  So, of course, I'll let you know about it, because I knew you were going down that way anyway.
[11:43.330 --> 11:43.470]  Right.
[11:44.390 --> 11:48.290]  I figured people would be lining the train tracks all the way from Philadelphia to D.C.
[11:48.290 --> 11:51.790]  Of course, I didn't figure it would also be one degree Fahrenheit outside.
[11:52.070 --> 11:56.650]  So, yeah, I guess that sort of made things a little bit harder for a lot of people.
[11:56.830 --> 11:57.010]  Yeah.
[11:57.070 --> 12:02.350]  Also, in this day and age, you can see what the president looks like on TV, and you don't actually have to get a glimpse of him when they pass the train.
[12:02.350 --> 12:02.890]  Right, come on.
[12:02.890 --> 12:07.370]  Yeah, that's... I mean, seeing the president walk by, you know, or drive by...
[12:07.370 --> 12:12.730]  It was a bigger deal back in the day when, like, there was no video, and so people would see the president go by and train.
[12:12.730 --> 12:19.170]  By that logic, you could have, you know, Tom Cruise or some other movie stars they have these days.
[12:19.370 --> 12:24.710]  You know, one of these people, famous people walk by, and you say people don't care because they can see them in movies.
[12:24.830 --> 12:26.030]  No, people still care about this.
[12:26.530 --> 12:26.990]  People do.
[12:32.890 --> 12:36.910]  And all that stuff, and that's not necessary anymore because they can meet people without actually meeting them.
[12:37.250 --> 12:38.050]  Well, that's...
[12:38.050 --> 12:38.750]  Yeah, go ahead, Bernie.
[12:38.930 --> 12:41.930]  This was historical tradition.
[12:42.270 --> 12:57.530]  I think Obama recognized the historical tradition of what we called the whistle-stop train tours, where the candidate would go around the country on a train to greet people and to, you know, campaign.
[12:58.850 --> 13:01.730]  And this was a sort of a throwback thing.
[13:01.870 --> 13:07.070]  And, you know, we're train fans, and this was a 1930 train car that had transported three presidents before.
[13:07.730 --> 13:13.470]  And it was just an unusual event that was unique in history that we wanted to participate in.
[13:13.830 --> 13:14.930]  I want to know, what is it?
[13:15.150 --> 13:22.390]  People, including people in the newspapers and whatever, have been using the word whistle-stop, like we're supposed to have any clue what it means or we've ever used it before.
[13:22.450 --> 13:23.450]  I've wondered what that means.
[13:23.590 --> 13:24.390]  I want someone to clarify.
[13:24.730 --> 13:26.070]  Bernie, do you know what whistle-stop means?
[13:26.490 --> 13:29.010]  I don't know the etymology of the term.
[13:29.110 --> 13:30.410]  Well, it comes from whistle and stop.
[13:30.570 --> 13:33.670]  I know in Europe, when they blow the whistle, that means the train can go.
[13:34.590 --> 13:38.950]  That's how they tell that, you know, and I don't know why people don't bring their own whistles and really mess up the system.
[13:38.990 --> 13:43.210]  I also don't understand why people don't do that at soccer games, where whistles apparently mean a lot of things, too.
[13:44.530 --> 13:48.930]  Maybe when the president's coming, they'll blow the whistle so people know to come out and see the train.
[13:48.930 --> 13:49.950]  But they didn't blow the whistle.
[13:49.990 --> 13:52.050]  Well, I'm not saying they do it now, but maybe that's where it came from.
[13:52.050 --> 13:53.130]  But the train blows the whistle.
[13:53.210 --> 13:53.410]  Right.
[13:53.610 --> 13:53.890]  Okay.
[13:53.890 --> 13:53.970]  Okay.
[13:54.870 --> 13:56.070]  Maybe it's got something to do with that.
[13:56.150 --> 14:00.930]  I'm sure our listeners write to us, OTH at 2600.com and explain all the things we're getting wrong.
[14:02.410 --> 14:15.830]  What I had to do... Now, when we found this out, that Claremont, Delaware was going to be where this train would be slowing down, we basically looked into how to get to Claremont, Delaware, because it's basically a tiny train station.
[14:15.890 --> 14:19.250]  It's a SEPTA station, which is basically the commuter rail for Philadelphia.
[14:19.250 --> 14:21.550]  It goes from Philadelphia to Wilmington and a bunch of other places.
[14:22.450 --> 14:25.990]  But even, what is it, the R2 line, Bernie?
[14:26.210 --> 14:31.110]  Yes, the R2 regional rail line was not running past...
[14:31.110 --> 14:32.010]  Marcus Hook.
[14:32.290 --> 14:35.350]  Yeah, Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, which is over the PA State line.
[14:35.710 --> 14:35.810]  Right.
[14:35.810 --> 14:38.190]  Which is just a little... Describe Marcus Hook, would you imagine?
[14:38.190 --> 14:38.790]  Oh, okay.
[14:38.950 --> 14:40.670]  Well, this is going to be something.
[14:41.050 --> 14:43.350]  Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, unique little place.
[14:43.750 --> 14:47.630]  Well, first of all, unique for one very interesting thing.
[14:47.630 --> 14:52.910]  As soon as I walked into Marcus Hook, I got out of the train station and walked up to the little overpass.
[14:53.050 --> 14:56.670]  There's a big sign there saying, welcome to Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania.
[14:57.070 --> 14:57.790]  And guess what?
[14:57.870 --> 14:59.410]  They spelled Pennsylvania wrong.
[14:59.970 --> 15:03.150]  They spelled their own state wrong in the welcome to this town.
[15:04.930 --> 15:06.290]  Packard, you're from Pennsylvania, right?
[15:06.450 --> 15:06.950]  Yes, I am.
[15:06.950 --> 15:07.650]  This is typical.
[15:09.010 --> 15:12.210]  Yeah, I've seen some very interesting signage in Pennsylvania.
[15:12.210 --> 15:16.430]  The name of the state, they spelled the second V, or the first V, actually, I'm sorry.
[15:16.790 --> 15:17.810]  They have a second Y.
[15:18.050 --> 15:20.410]  Speaks volumes about our public education system, doesn't it?
[15:20.490 --> 15:21.190]  It's Pennsylvania.
[15:21.710 --> 15:21.830]  Yeah.
[15:22.550 --> 15:23.530]  Yeah, that's not right.
[15:23.590 --> 15:27.350]  Emmanuel, that is typical of southern Delaware County, which is where you were.
[15:28.130 --> 15:29.130]  What, misspelling things?
[15:29.530 --> 15:33.150]  Well, it's just, you know, it's just sort of this backwater area at the very...
[15:33.150 --> 15:46.710]  Okay, you know, Bernie, I'm going to stop you right there, because we have a lot of backwater listeners, and they do write to us, and we are able to interpret what they're saying lots of times, and I know they're not going to like that, so let's lay off the,
[15:46.730 --> 15:48.510]  you know, putting them down for that.
[15:48.590 --> 15:58.310]  There's somebody, and probably the person who made that sign is in the state capitol or something, and they're probably the ones that misspelled it, maybe as a joke to the people of Marcus Hook.
[15:58.930 --> 16:09.390]  So, Emmanuel, you had to walk for miles, because the R2 regional rail line was not going any farther south than Marcus Hook that day, because of a special, special security deal.
[16:09.550 --> 16:12.250]  So you had to get off of Marcus Hook, and you had to walk, how many miles?
[16:12.390 --> 16:13.010]  Pretty far.
[16:13.150 --> 16:20.490]  Well, not only did I have to walk for miles, I had to walk across state lines, which I've never actually done before, walk from one town to the next.
[16:21.530 --> 16:25.950]  And it was also extremely cold that day, and there was nobody else around.
[16:26.210 --> 16:30.990]  There were some people who got off the train, and they immediately went to a diner someplace, and they thought I was crazy.
[16:30.990 --> 16:35.150]  I was wearing my big Chinese rabbit hat that I've had for many years.
[16:35.170 --> 16:40.430]  I was wearing my... I think it's a Russian overcoat, something very long, and I had gloves on.
[16:40.510 --> 16:42.030]  So I was, you know, I was prepared for this.
[16:42.170 --> 16:45.030]  Wait, so after you walked there and you saw Obama...
[16:45.030 --> 16:45.750]  No, no, no, wait, wait.
[16:45.830 --> 16:47.050]  You're jumping way ahead of the story.
[16:47.210 --> 16:49.010]  Let me get to there first before I see him.
[16:49.070 --> 16:49.570]  All right, all right.
[16:49.670 --> 16:49.970]  All right.
[16:50.570 --> 16:54.250]  So, and you don't even know I've seen him yet, so it would be a bit of a surprise.
[16:54.470 --> 16:54.590]  You've missed him.
[16:54.730 --> 16:55.290]  So, yes.
[16:56.390 --> 17:00.570]  So, basically, I got there in plenty of time, so I figured I gave myself enough time.
[17:00.570 --> 17:09.630]  But I had to walk down this very long street, and the only thing on either side of me was a huge oil refinery from Sunoco, specifically.
[17:09.910 --> 17:11.790]  This was a Sunoco town.
[17:11.990 --> 17:13.170]  Everything was Sunoco.
[17:13.590 --> 17:15.010]  Sunoco, do not trespass.
[17:15.150 --> 17:16.350]  Sunoco, private property.
[17:16.510 --> 17:17.450]  Sunoco this, Sunoco that.
[17:17.890 --> 17:24.770]  There was one sign, in fact, that said, in case of emergency, call toll-free, gave this 800 number, and at the bottom, it said Houston.
[17:25.510 --> 17:31.350]  I was just wondering, why would someone want to know where they're calling when they're calling a toll-free number?
[17:31.390 --> 17:32.190]  Why is that important?
[17:33.070 --> 17:34.410]  But that was...
[17:34.410 --> 17:40.830]  Oh, another sign said, this area protected by roving security and video camera.
[17:41.410 --> 17:44.170]  They have one camera, roving security.
[17:44.410 --> 17:47.110]  Well, if it's a roving camera, it could really get around.
[17:47.110 --> 17:50.330]  I think it was a roving security guard, or something like that.
[17:50.330 --> 17:50.770]  He stopped you, didn't he?
[17:51.250 --> 17:51.690]  Well, no.
[17:51.870 --> 17:54.110]  Actually, the person who stopped me, I think, was a bona fide cop.
[17:54.170 --> 17:56.090]  He was a Sunoco cop, all right?
[17:56.090 --> 17:56.790]  And here's the thing.
[17:57.110 --> 17:59.210]  I had already gotten off...
[17:59.210 --> 18:02.370]  I thought I'd gotten off Sunoco property, and I went to a Wawa, in fact.
[18:02.490 --> 18:05.130]  Now, Wawa, maybe you could describe this, Bernie, since you're from the area.
[18:05.650 --> 18:18.450]  Well, there was a dairy near where I used to live down here that's called Wawa Dairy, and it just made milk for the local community, but then it branched out to this multi-billion-dollar corporation with the convenience stores called Wawa.
[18:18.690 --> 18:19.970]  There's a town called Wawa.
[18:20.870 --> 18:24.890]  It comes from the Indian word for Canada goose, but I digress.
[18:25.090 --> 18:30.110]  Well, you certainly did, and that's a lot more information than I thought anybody would have, but wow, okay, Wawa's like a 7-Eleven.
[18:30.170 --> 18:31.330]  I thought that was what you were going to say.
[18:31.830 --> 18:36.750]  And I went there, I got some coffee, and I had hash brown, which was interesting.
[18:36.870 --> 18:37.910]  I never had a Wawa hash brown before.
[18:37.910 --> 18:40.990]  And so there I am, you know, walking down the street.
[18:41.070 --> 18:43.930]  I figured I'd keep warm, because I was getting cold, even dressed up in my attire.
[18:44.250 --> 18:47.330]  And the coffee cup was keeping me warm as I was walking down the street.
[18:47.550 --> 18:53.830]  I still didn't know where the Claymont train station was, and I had to walk towards there in time to see the Obama train go by.
[18:54.130 --> 18:56.990]  And the thing is, I didn't know if I was going to make it in time.
[18:57.010 --> 19:00.070]  I didn't know if there were going to be a thousand people there or a million people there.
[19:00.470 --> 19:01.750]  I was just trying to make it there.
[19:01.750 --> 19:04.470]  And I finally finished my coffee.
[19:04.610 --> 19:08.270]  And I'm basically putting it into a garbage can on the corner.
[19:08.510 --> 19:10.890]  And I see this guy in a cop car across the street.
[19:11.610 --> 19:16.770]  And as I put the thing in the garbage can, he gets out of his car and starts walking towards me.
[19:17.330 --> 19:19.610]  And he had a Sunoco uniform on.
[19:19.830 --> 19:21.590]  He was a Sunoco cop, literally.
[19:22.310 --> 19:24.710]  And he asked me what I was doing.
[19:24.910 --> 19:28.830]  And I'm like, okay, well, I'm walking to Claymont.
[19:29.010 --> 19:30.130]  And he says, where are you going?
[19:30.130 --> 19:33.730]  I said, well, all right, I'm going to Claymont, Claymont, Delaware.
[19:34.710 --> 19:38.370]  And then he asked me what was in my bag, which was a camera bag.
[19:38.370 --> 19:40.310]  And I said, there's a camera in that.
[19:40.450 --> 19:42.270]  And then he asked what I was doing.
[19:44.230 --> 19:46.150]  This is going on ridiculously long.
[19:46.490 --> 19:51.830]  I'm trying to explain to him that I'm walking to the Claymont train station to see the Obama train go by.
[19:51.970 --> 19:54.270]  And then he kept asking me the same questions again.
[19:54.350 --> 19:55.610]  I think he was trying to trip me up.
[19:55.650 --> 19:58.170]  And then he said, you know, you look pretty suspicious.
[19:59.350 --> 20:01.650]  You know, I wanted to say, well, you look pretty stupid.
[20:02.310 --> 20:03.970]  But I'm continuing to talk to you.
[20:04.090 --> 20:04.810]  And let's not try.
[20:04.970 --> 20:07.670]  Let's try not to let our looks like judge each other like this.
[20:08.290 --> 20:10.370]  And, you know, I just could not understand what the issue was.
[20:10.470 --> 20:12.330]  I was just simply walking down a street.
[20:12.350 --> 20:15.030]  I know I had a hat on, but the hat was to keep me warm.
[20:15.330 --> 20:16.990]  And I guess that's unusual there.
[20:17.730 --> 20:23.910]  So finally, he said, well, you can expect to be stopped again, and kind of a warning tone, like he had already told the real cops.
[20:24.510 --> 20:31.730]  And sure enough, later on, when I got to Claymont, I was walking down the street, I literally got pulled over by a cop while I was walking.
[20:32.210 --> 20:32.670]  All right?
[20:32.770 --> 20:33.410]  You can imagine that.
[20:33.450 --> 20:35.530]  You're walking down the street, and you get pulled over by a car.
[20:35.770 --> 20:36.990]  It starts flashing his lights.
[20:37.110 --> 20:38.250]  And he got out of his car.
[20:38.810 --> 20:40.890]  And he asked me basically the same questions.
[20:41.350 --> 20:47.450]  Then he said, could you put down the bag, step away from it, and open it?
[20:49.690 --> 20:50.890]  He literally said that.
[20:51.290 --> 20:55.190]  I said, okay, all right, I'm going to open it and then put it down.
[20:55.410 --> 20:56.770]  Or I'm going to put it down and then open it.
[20:56.770 --> 20:57.430]  I forget which one I said.
[20:57.430 --> 21:01.450]  But, you know, he didn't comment, because I think he knew that there was no way I could step back and then open it.
[21:01.630 --> 21:05.590]  So anyway, I opened it, and he rifled through it and looked and saw my camera and various other things.
[21:05.750 --> 21:09.170]  And then, you know, this was right where the Obama train was going through.
[21:09.230 --> 21:10.550]  So I don't know what he thought I was doing.
[21:11.210 --> 21:18.410]  Anyway, to make this already too long story short, I found the road that led to the viewing platform.
[21:18.550 --> 21:22.430]  And Bernie, I believe at this time, you were frantically driving down to Claymont, right?
[21:22.430 --> 21:32.370]  Yes, I was racing on a car, in a car, down route 95, I-95, which parallels these tracks.
[21:32.530 --> 21:40.050]  And just after I left, I passed 36 station, which is where Obama was, having a small rally for just certain people.
[21:40.290 --> 21:40.990]  It was a closed rally.
[21:41.110 --> 21:42.750]  There were all these protesters walking around.
[21:42.750 --> 21:43.630]  They're protesting already.
[21:43.770 --> 21:45.330]  The guy's not even present, for Christ's sake.
[21:45.330 --> 21:52.150]  Anyway, so as I'm going down 95, just past Philadelphia, there's a big scrapyard.
[21:52.390 --> 21:56.870]  And right next to the scrapyard is all these flatbed railroad cars that I've never seen there before.
[21:56.870 --> 21:59.450]  And they were all piled high with concrete blocks.
[21:59.670 --> 22:05.030]  It's some kind of a... apparently some kind of an explosive barrier, part of the whole security thing.
[22:05.110 --> 22:11.910]  And there were, like, police cars with the flashing lights parked around all these concrete blocks, piled up on flatbed cars.
[22:11.910 --> 22:17.570]  So as I kept going down towards Claymont, I saw more, lots and lots of security.
[22:17.890 --> 22:24.650]  At every overpass, I saw all kinds of police and local, state, federal police, helicopters, all my way down.
[22:24.790 --> 22:31.010]  And then, courtesy of Google Satellite Maps, we were able to find the housing development where this...
[22:31.690 --> 22:33.430]  next to where the stop was, right?
[22:33.470 --> 22:35.550]  And there's a tent set up by the Secret Service.
[22:37.110 --> 22:38.250]  So, there's a big white tent.
[22:38.330 --> 22:39.950]  You got there before me, and you went through the screening.
[22:40.690 --> 22:42.450]  And I'm frantically trying to call you.
[22:42.510 --> 22:43.130]  I was like, where are you?
[22:43.250 --> 22:45.090]  Trying to find you, because the train's coming through any minute.
[22:45.530 --> 22:47.030]  And I had to stand in line and wait.
[22:47.130 --> 22:49.570]  And finally, the Secret Service just, you know, scanned me.
[22:49.650 --> 22:52.010]  They took my little Swiss Army knife, which is about an inch long.
[22:52.010 --> 22:55.390]  But I guess they thought I was going to leap onto the train and threaten the president with it.
[22:55.770 --> 23:00.990]  So, and then I found I had to walk over this overpass that goes over Route 9, I-95.
[23:01.370 --> 23:04.370]  And then there was a small crowd of probably not even 1,000 people there, right?
[23:04.370 --> 23:05.030]  Not very big.
[23:05.210 --> 23:06.910]  I was very surprised at how few people were there.
[23:06.970 --> 23:08.670]  And that's because I don't think anybody knew about it.
[23:09.110 --> 23:11.390]  No, the email didn't go out to very many people.
[23:11.510 --> 23:12.890]  I was lucky to be on that list.
[23:13.150 --> 23:15.470]  So, finally, I tracked I found you.
[23:15.610 --> 23:18.350]  I saw this big black furry hat and it had to be you.
[23:19.510 --> 23:20.730]  Yeah, it looks suspicious, too.
[23:21.150 --> 23:22.210]  A train went by, right?
[23:22.290 --> 23:22.930]  Blowing its whistle.
[23:23.210 --> 23:25.190]  A train went by, and everybody was jumping.
[23:25.410 --> 23:26.630]  And it just, like, sped by.
[23:26.750 --> 23:28.130]  It honked and waved at us.
[23:28.230 --> 23:29.770]  And we were thinking, is that it?
[23:29.810 --> 23:31.330]  It was only about four cars long.
[23:32.050 --> 23:35.830]  But then we suspected that maybe there was something more to this.
[23:36.490 --> 23:36.930]  Yes.
[23:37.290 --> 23:41.410]  It was confirmed by an acquaintance of mine who's a railroader.
[23:41.590 --> 23:46.090]  He's an engineer for Burlington Northern, Southern Suffolk Railroads.
[23:46.290 --> 23:48.830]  He said that's known as the sacrificial train.
[23:49.130 --> 23:50.190]  Sacrificial train.
[23:50.510 --> 23:51.370]  Sacrificial train.
[23:51.570 --> 23:56.770]  He was on the sacrificial train preceding the President Nixon train back in the day.
[23:56.770 --> 23:58.410]  So he was telling me the story about this.
[23:58.590 --> 24:11.470]  And this train goes through a few minutes before, maybe 10, 15 minutes before the presidential train does, to trigger any IEDs, improvised explosive devices or bombs or, you know, snipers or whatever sort of thing.
[24:11.630 --> 24:15.190]  Yeah, the engineer didn't look particularly happy as he was going through there.
[24:15.490 --> 24:17.510]  Well, my friend who was an engineer, he wasn't very happy.
[24:17.510 --> 24:20.090]  We got assigned to do that job for Nixon either.
[24:20.430 --> 24:22.170]  It's like being a food taster for trains.
[24:22.310 --> 24:23.770]  Yeah, yeah, it is like that, isn't it?
[24:23.770 --> 24:30.570]  All right, so this train went by, and I guess we knew that that was basically sort of, I guess, the prelude to the real train going by.
[24:31.330 --> 24:32.390]  So anyway, let's get to that.
[24:32.470 --> 24:35.250]  The real train eventually did come by.
[24:35.530 --> 24:36.330]  We heard a whistle.
[24:37.310 --> 24:37.670]  Yes.
[24:37.850 --> 24:38.610]  We heard a whistle.
[24:38.930 --> 24:39.830]  And then it stopped.
[24:39.950 --> 24:40.930]  It was a whistle stop.
[24:41.010 --> 24:42.190]  It was a whistle stop.
[24:42.230 --> 24:42.670]  It didn't quite stop.
[24:42.770 --> 24:44.390]  It was a whistle slow.
[24:44.530 --> 24:44.830]  Uh-huh.
[24:44.990 --> 24:48.270]  And we saw these two SL engines, and it was coming very, very slow.
[24:48.370 --> 24:50.870]  You could have run faster than this train, I think.
[24:50.870 --> 24:52.570]  Oh, I don't think, no, I don't think so.
[24:52.990 --> 24:55.230]  Well, maybe if you were a fast runner, you could.
[24:55.310 --> 24:58.870]  But it wasn't going very, probably like by five miles an hour or something like that.
[24:59.530 --> 25:00.650]  And it went by.
[25:00.790 --> 25:02.490]  There were, I don't know, maybe a dozen cars on there.
[25:02.670 --> 25:11.690]  Now, the Obama campaign had about 250 select volunteers from like five different cities around the country who they handpicked.
[25:11.790 --> 25:12.850]  It's like, you helped out a lot.
[25:12.990 --> 25:15.250]  Would you like to take this train ride with us?
[25:15.250 --> 25:20.150]  There were eight passenger cars before the special Obama car that was at the very end.
[25:20.190 --> 25:28.710]  I think if you were on that train, you probably had less chance of seeing Obama than anybody standing watching the train go by because eight cars long, and I doubt they'd let you into the last car.
[25:29.810 --> 25:34.610]  So, yeah, so the last car, the one you mentioned came at the very end.
[25:34.670 --> 25:34.930]  Yes, Mike.
[25:35.070 --> 25:39.370]  Wait, so they flew people in so that they could take this train?
[25:39.990 --> 25:40.390]  I guess.
[25:40.390 --> 25:42.970]  This doesn't bode well for the Obama energy policy.
[25:43.690 --> 25:45.130]  It's a special occasion, you know.
[25:45.230 --> 25:46.290]  It was a bit of fun.
[25:46.450 --> 25:49.010]  You know, he probably walked through the train and said hi to people.
[25:49.010 --> 25:49.390]  You think?
[25:49.610 --> 25:49.730]  Maybe he did.
[25:50.390 --> 25:51.350]  I would hope so.
[25:51.430 --> 25:51.830]  I would hope so.
[25:51.830 --> 25:54.810]  If you were on that train, let us know if Obama did walk through and say hi to you.
[25:54.950 --> 25:58.330]  And if you're the engineer of that train, let us know if you also got a greeting from him.
[25:58.490 --> 26:02.030]  So, anyway, so finally the last car came by.
[26:02.070 --> 26:03.650]  And, you know, I was not expecting this.
[26:03.950 --> 26:14.430]  I thought that we'd see him just waving at us through the window, but he was actually standing at the very end of the train, standing outside, he and Michelle, and they were waving at us.
[26:14.590 --> 26:16.410]  And it was really quite a thrill, I think.
[26:16.470 --> 26:16.970]  Wouldn't you say, Bernie?
[26:17.270 --> 26:18.870]  It seemed rather intimate.
[26:19.130 --> 26:21.970]  And maybe it was just my imagination, but he looked kind of larger than life.
[26:22.110 --> 26:25.930]  He was only about maybe 20 feet away from us, just a couple of train tracks away.
[26:26.650 --> 26:29.290]  And, of course, there was a Secret Service guy standing right in front of us, too.
[26:29.590 --> 26:31.510]  But it was just great.
[26:31.690 --> 26:35.950]  And, you know, there was a lot of eye contact he made with people, and everybody was cheering.
[26:35.950 --> 26:39.330]  It was just kind of neat to see this history being made.
[26:39.410 --> 26:40.150]  It was history.
[26:40.330 --> 26:41.270]  And it was just really...
[26:41.270 --> 26:48.370]  I like seeing trains go by and, you know, seeing a popular president-to-be go by at the same time and witnessing a part of history.
[26:48.810 --> 26:50.250]  It was cool.
[26:50.470 --> 26:51.470]  I'm glad I did it.
[26:51.550 --> 26:54.850]  I'm glad I took the long walk and froze a little bit.
[26:55.570 --> 27:01.310]  And then that led into the next chapter, which basically involved going to Washington, D.C.
[27:01.330 --> 27:02.910]  for the actual inauguration.
[27:03.690 --> 27:04.930]  Now, Packard, this is interesting.
[27:04.930 --> 27:05.470]  We're back at Wilmington.
[27:05.990 --> 27:06.650]  Oh, that's right.
[27:06.690 --> 27:06.870]  Okay.
[27:06.870 --> 27:07.330]  I'm sorry.
[27:07.410 --> 27:07.870]  I'm sorry.
[27:07.970 --> 27:08.830]  We went to Wilmington, too.
[27:09.390 --> 27:11.350]  Tell us about Wilmington quickly, because we're running out of time.
[27:11.550 --> 27:22.410]  We heard there was an Obama-Biden rally, because the idea was Obama was going to go to Wilmington, pick up Joe Biden, who's the senator of Delaware, pick him up there, and then take him down to D.C.
[27:22.570 --> 27:23.670]  along the train ride.
[27:24.150 --> 27:33.150]  So we got to this rally, but the rally had already started, and there wasn't enough room in the little stadium they set up, temporary, you know, bleacher-staying area for us to get in.
[27:33.150 --> 27:34.770]  Well, no, actually, we got there too late.
[27:34.890 --> 27:41.410]  It was over by the time we were walking towards it, because it was so frozen outside that I think they wanted to get over quickly, too.
[27:41.850 --> 27:43.390]  And there were tons of people there.
[27:43.590 --> 27:47.490]  More than possibly could have seen the president-elect there.
[27:47.490 --> 27:52.790]  So we hung around and waited for the train to leave, because we wanted to see Obama again.
[27:52.930 --> 27:55.430]  And we waited, and we waited, and we waited, and then what happened?
[27:56.010 --> 27:57.990]  Well, eventually the train started to move.
[27:58.130 --> 28:00.690]  First of all, there was all kind of merchandising going on out there.
[28:00.730 --> 28:01.990]  I've never seen anything like this.
[28:02.290 --> 28:04.450]  Everybody selling Obama this, Obama that.
[28:04.610 --> 28:14.730]  And I think you told me about a particular rule, that you're not allowed to sell merchandise with the president's name or president's image on it.
[28:14.850 --> 28:15.170]  Is that right?
[28:15.270 --> 28:16.730]  It's actually a federal criminal statute.
[28:16.950 --> 28:21.430]  I don't remember the actual statute number, but Title 18, blah, blah, blah, blah.
[28:21.430 --> 28:32.790]  And it's a criminal offense, I think it's a federal misdemeanor, to sell or to use the president's likeness to sell any product, commercial product, or service.
[28:32.790 --> 28:37.550]  Now, everybody's been seeing these Obama plates and coins for sale and all kinds of nonsense.
[28:37.870 --> 28:45.130]  And come Tuesday of yesterday, they can't legally do this anymore.
[28:45.130 --> 28:50.510]  So I bet you see all these ads will probably stop, unless they want to tread over the legal line.
[28:51.430 --> 28:57.510]  I mean, everything you can imagine, Obama's scarves, Obama shirts, Obama clothing of all sorts.
[28:58.550 --> 29:02.830]  It's just... since I went to D.C., it didn't equal that.
[29:02.990 --> 29:03.910]  There was less in D.C.
[29:03.990 --> 29:04.670]  than in Wilmington.
[29:04.830 --> 29:05.930]  I thought that was incredible.
[29:06.670 --> 29:09.950]  So yeah, they're probably stuck with a lot of merchandise, because they weren't able to sell everything, obviously.
[29:10.450 --> 29:11.290]  So yes, Rob?
[29:11.530 --> 29:12.490]  Well, it looks like you helped.
[29:12.590 --> 29:16.670]  I mean, to tell the listeners, I think you're wearing an Obama t-shirt, you got the badge.
[29:16.930 --> 29:17.290]  I got an Obama t-shirt.
[29:17.290 --> 29:18.430]  Is that a decoder ring I see, too?
[29:18.570 --> 29:21.230]  Well, somebody gave me... no, somebody gave me this button.
[29:21.430 --> 29:25.230]  It says, yes, we can, Pennsylvania, Barack the vote.
[29:25.450 --> 29:27.710]  And someone on the train gave that to me, on the train down there.
[29:28.110 --> 29:38.110]  I took an Amtrak train from New York to Washington, D.C., and it was just packed with happy people of all sorts, just coming down to Washington, D.C.
[29:38.230 --> 29:39.350]  to do various things.
[29:39.470 --> 29:41.030]  Some were going to the actual inauguration.
[29:41.250 --> 29:42.630]  Some just wanted to see the parade.
[29:42.850 --> 29:44.090]  Some just wanted to be in D.C.
[29:44.470 --> 29:51.870]  But it was just this incredible, harmonious gathering on the train of people that just had been through it all in one way or another.
[29:52.030 --> 29:53.010]  It was really, really cool.
[29:53.110 --> 29:55.030]  Of course, that extended to Washington, D.C.
[29:55.030 --> 29:55.310]  as well.
[29:55.410 --> 29:55.910]  Yes, Red Hecht.
[29:56.050 --> 29:57.150]  I'm sure people...
[29:57.150 --> 29:58.870]  You know, people who weren't in D.C.
[29:58.930 --> 30:00.930]  also, a lot of people watched it on TV.
[30:00.930 --> 30:04.150]  I know my entire office stopped at 11.30.
[30:04.290 --> 30:08.150]  We pulled up a stream on the net and just watched in the office.
[30:08.270 --> 30:09.470]  I think that happened everywhere.
[30:09.470 --> 30:09.890]  It happened in a lot of places, yeah.
[30:09.890 --> 30:10.590]  I think that happened.
[30:10.650 --> 30:11.850]  I think schools stopped.
[30:12.030 --> 30:13.210]  I think offices stopped.
[30:13.330 --> 30:17.330]  I think people just stood in their tracks all around the world, not just here.
[30:18.150 --> 30:18.830]  Yes, Packrat.
[30:19.310 --> 30:23.910]  One of the things that I thought was the most interesting was the amount of people that were in D.C.
[30:23.910 --> 30:27.850]  It was just intense, and there was no shoving.
[30:28.050 --> 30:29.270]  There was no angry words.
[30:29.510 --> 30:33.650]  The only angry words were yelled at the conservative group that was protesting.
[30:33.970 --> 30:34.750]  What conservative group?
[30:34.850 --> 30:35.850]  Oh, I didn't tell you about this?
[30:35.890 --> 30:40.550]  Well, I saw one guy that was saying, Obama, repent.
[30:41.370 --> 30:43.130]  We saw him, Bernie, in Wilmington.
[30:43.550 --> 30:43.830]  Yeah.
[30:43.990 --> 30:44.430]  And then...
[30:44.430 --> 30:47.150]  I didn't ask him what he was supposed to repent for, but I didn't want to...
[30:47.150 --> 30:48.830]  And then, Voltaire, who was it in D.C.
[30:48.890 --> 30:50.630]  that was saying basically the same thing?
[30:50.850 --> 30:52.670]  I think I missed this person, but I'm very disappointed.
[30:52.670 --> 30:56.950]  Yeah, no, in D.C., though, didn't we see somebody with a loudspeaker telling Obama to repent?
[30:57.550 --> 30:59.230]  I thought afterwards we saw that.
[30:59.390 --> 31:01.390]  People are telling people who kind of line to repent.
[31:01.550 --> 31:02.350]  No, that's something else.
[31:02.870 --> 31:05.590]  There was about six or seven of them as we came across.
[31:05.670 --> 31:10.870]  I think it's 17th and Constitution, right at the corner of the mall there.
[31:11.130 --> 31:14.210]  And there was just probably six or seven of them.
[31:14.270 --> 31:16.990]  They all had different signs, but I do remember that sign in particular.
[31:16.990 --> 31:23.690]  And there was one listing, a really tall sign that was listing all these, like, transgressions, like drink drunks and stuff like that.
[31:24.110 --> 31:24.750]  Drink drunks?
[31:24.930 --> 31:25.250]  Drunks.
[31:25.470 --> 31:27.350]  You know, like, to say, drunks to repent.
[31:27.590 --> 31:27.810]  Uh-huh.
[31:28.570 --> 31:28.790]  Yes.
[31:28.910 --> 31:30.050]  Were these the Jews for Jesus?
[31:30.230 --> 31:30.810]  I don't know.
[31:30.870 --> 31:31.090]  Were they?
[31:31.250 --> 31:31.830]  Is that who it was?
[31:31.830 --> 31:33.750]  Those are the only people I saw, but I think they were on...
[31:33.750 --> 31:35.210]  Were they on 20th?
[31:35.390 --> 31:35.950]  I don't know.
[31:36.370 --> 31:38.110]  I have no idea where I was in D.C.
[31:38.130 --> 31:39.250]  I can never get around that city.
[31:39.250 --> 31:41.710]  So the crowd was, what, like, 20 million people or something?
[31:41.810 --> 31:41.970]  How many people?
[31:41.970 --> 31:43.290]  No, it wasn't 20 million people.
[31:43.290 --> 31:43.990]  I have no idea.
[31:44.190 --> 31:45.010]  Yeah, it was about two million.
[31:45.030 --> 31:50.570]  But how did they, you know, how did they do it so that, like, if you were watching and you weren't all the way up front that you could hear, did they have just speakers everywhere?
[31:50.790 --> 31:54.990]  They had speakers everywhere, but we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves because we have something to talk about before...
[31:54.990 --> 31:56.050]  But first, Rob, you had something?
[31:56.570 --> 32:03.310]  Yeah, just, uh, I don't know if you guys saw this yet, but there's a satellite image going around online of, uh, the top-down view of the crowds.
[32:03.470 --> 32:04.050]  Oh, I haven't seen that.
[32:04.130 --> 32:08.790]  It's a decent chunk of Washington of, you know, you could see them all, you could see The Washington Monument, all the way down to the Capitol.
[32:09.110 --> 32:13.750]  And just the crowds are so immense and so overwhelming that you can see them clearly in the satellite image.
[32:13.850 --> 32:14.810]  It's pretty cool.
[32:14.810 --> 32:16.990]  I just got to say, from the moment I arrived in D.C.
[32:17.210 --> 32:24.510]  until when I left, I've never seen people so courteous, so happy, so just in this harmonious mood.
[32:24.690 --> 32:32.670]  I mean, I've been in happy crowds before, but I saw a lot of smiling faces of people that I think have been waiting for this for such a long time.
[32:32.670 --> 32:42.610]  And no matter where it goes, no matter how things turn out in a few months and a few years, I think I was telling you, Packrat, that you were asking, can I stop being angry now?
[32:42.850 --> 32:43.230]  Yes.
[32:43.390 --> 32:50.030]  And I think what I said was that if things don't work out in six months or a year, you can be angry then.
[32:50.330 --> 32:52.790]  And how is that any different than being happy now?
[32:52.790 --> 32:57.850]  You can be angry in the future no matter what, because let's see what happens.
[32:57.950 --> 32:59.750]  But for now, there's no harm in being happy.
[32:59.750 --> 33:01.190]  And I don't think that the U.S.
[33:01.290 --> 33:07.690]  is the only, you know, the Americans are the only people who are happy because I'm sure around the world, this is kind of a sigh of relief.
[33:07.810 --> 33:10.370]  I know that I follow this one Twitter account.
[33:10.370 --> 33:14.290]  It's these two guys in England who do whiskey tasting.
[33:14.470 --> 33:15.550]  But anyway, so...
[33:15.970 --> 33:17.410]  That's what makes you follow somebody.
[33:17.530 --> 33:19.790]  Well, literally, well, you know, they have good suggestions.
[33:19.970 --> 33:27.310]  But literally five minutes after the inauguration, I saw a message pop up, you know, on Twitter that they had said that was, oh, we're going to raise a glass to Obama tonight.
[33:27.310 --> 33:29.190]  They'd raise a glass to a tree swinging in the wind.
[33:29.190 --> 33:35.890]  Well, but I thought it was cute because they were, you know, obviously watching it even though they're not even in this country.
[33:36.110 --> 33:36.230]  Yeah.
[33:36.570 --> 33:38.850]  Well, I think people all over the world did the same thing.
[33:39.170 --> 33:39.890]  Oh, yes, Pacrat.
[33:40.030 --> 33:40.370]  You had something?
[33:41.430 --> 33:42.070]  I forgot.
[33:42.270 --> 33:42.510]  Okay.
[33:42.990 --> 33:47.290]  Well, yes, there's plenty of reason to do that after what we've been through the last couple of days.
[33:47.290 --> 33:53.810]  But what happened, the interesting part you played in this was you were able to score some tickets to an inaugural ball.
[33:53.990 --> 33:54.330]  Yes.
[33:54.570 --> 33:59.150]  And Voltaire and I were able to get into this thing, which, believe me...
[33:59.150 --> 33:59.950]  It was a zoo.
[33:59.990 --> 34:00.790]  It was a zoo.
[34:00.930 --> 34:04.190]  And it's not the kind of thing I normally take part in.
[34:04.490 --> 34:06.470]  I had to wear a tuxedo, for God's sake.
[34:06.570 --> 34:07.330]  I can only imagine.
[34:07.590 --> 34:07.750]  What?
[34:07.850 --> 34:08.550]  Oh, yes.
[34:08.550 --> 34:09.890]  Believe me, that was something else.
[34:10.190 --> 34:11.630]  How many people went to this thing?
[34:11.710 --> 34:12.970]  It was in the Renaissance Hotel.
[34:13.330 --> 34:14.190]  5,000.
[34:14.350 --> 34:15.450]  5,000 people.
[34:15.450 --> 34:22.550]  And if you remember, when I left, which was like 1 o'clock, there were still people lined up outside trying to get in.
[34:22.670 --> 34:22.990]  Oh, really?
[34:23.030 --> 34:24.150]  People that actually had tickets.
[34:24.670 --> 34:24.750]  Yeah.
[34:24.970 --> 34:25.730]  At 1 o'clock in the morning.
[34:25.810 --> 34:25.930]  Yeah.
[34:25.930 --> 34:26.910]  It opened at 8.30.
[34:28.070 --> 34:28.790]  7, actually.
[34:28.890 --> 34:29.530]  I don't understand.
[34:30.010 --> 34:32.010]  I don't understand what the whole...
[34:32.010 --> 34:34.430]  I mean, it's nice to have free food and free drink.
[34:34.570 --> 34:36.350]  Or before it runs out, at least.
[34:36.550 --> 34:36.870]  Yeah.
[34:37.010 --> 34:38.270]  And things were running out all the time.
[34:38.530 --> 34:42.450]  But other than that, I mean, you're dressing up like a clown, all right?
[34:42.610 --> 34:44.750]  And I'm sorry, all people wearing tuxedos, but for God's sake.
[34:44.750 --> 34:52.930]  And walking around in crowded rooms and all kinds of loud music and people yelling and dancing and things like that.
[34:52.970 --> 34:55.150]  Okay, you know, I just don't see what to draw.
[34:55.170 --> 34:56.850]  I thought maybe Barack Obama would show up.
[34:56.950 --> 34:57.750]  He was supposed to.
[34:57.950 --> 35:04.510]  But actually, what I found out was that because of the crowd that was already building, it was like 7 o'clock when I got there.
[35:04.650 --> 35:07.510]  When I got there, there was about 10 police cars out in front of the hotel.
[35:07.870 --> 35:10.370]  And there were bomb-sniffing dogs wandering around.
[35:10.510 --> 35:15.450]  And I didn't get a good chance to talk to the people in charge.
[35:15.450 --> 35:22.470]  But from what I understood, they could not secure the building enough because there were, I think, three entrances.
[35:22.610 --> 35:28.330]  And there was also an outside path that, you know, when you walk through, you're supposed to go outside to the band and everything else.
[35:28.330 --> 35:30.150]  And they just couldn't lock it down.
[35:30.190 --> 35:32.430]  And the line was already, you know, huge.
[35:32.510 --> 35:33.470]  You stood in it for a while.
[35:33.510 --> 35:34.470]  Yeah, for quite a while.
[35:35.430 --> 35:35.670]  So.
[35:35.890 --> 35:38.850]  In past years, how many people have showed up compared to this year?
[35:40.190 --> 35:42.090]  I don't ever remember it being that packed.
[35:42.470 --> 35:44.890]  Before, you could wander around freely with, you know...
[35:44.890 --> 35:45.890]  This had special significance.
[35:45.890 --> 35:46.930]  It was Illinois, right?
[35:46.930 --> 35:47.090]  Right.
[35:47.090 --> 35:48.130]  It was his home state.
[35:48.450 --> 35:52.790]  And it was, you know, the year that a Democrat won and all kinds of other things like that.
[35:52.890 --> 35:55.670]  So there was, you know, a possibility that he would show up to that.
[35:55.750 --> 35:57.290]  But I couldn't see it with that many people.
[35:57.290 --> 36:04.810]  And even if he did show up, I don't think we'd find out about it for a while because there were three floors and they were all crowded, packed with people.
[36:05.010 --> 36:09.190]  And in fact, Voltaire, you left the ballroom once and then you couldn't find it again.
[36:09.590 --> 36:11.450]  That's how big this place was.
[36:11.570 --> 36:13.790]  Rooms kept changing their positioning.
[36:14.270 --> 36:16.090]  It was very scary and weird.
[36:17.030 --> 36:17.470]  The...
[36:17.710 --> 36:18.270]  Yes, go ahead, Bernie.
[36:18.890 --> 36:29.670]  I heard on NPR, National Public Radio, that Obama did indeed go briefly to the Illinois State Ball and I grew a ball.
[36:29.950 --> 36:31.610]  But I'm wondering if there was more than one.
[36:32.450 --> 36:33.750]  What was...
[36:33.750 --> 36:35.310]  Were you there the whole time or what?
[36:35.610 --> 36:36.010]  The...
[36:36.010 --> 36:37.570]  I think that there's two.
[36:37.630 --> 36:39.210]  Are you talking about the one that went on Monday...
[36:39.210 --> 36:40.270]  Was it Tuesday night?
[36:41.050 --> 36:49.430]  Because there's an Illinois State Ball and then there's the Illinois State Society Ball, which was the Illinois State Society Gala is what we attended on Monday.
[36:49.450 --> 36:50.270]  Oh, the State Society.
[36:50.550 --> 36:50.810]  Yeah.
[36:50.810 --> 36:52.750]  I don't know what the difference is.
[36:53.710 --> 36:54.030]  Okay.
[36:54.210 --> 36:57.390]  Well, the difference for me was one was on Tuesday night, one was on Wednesday...
[36:57.390 --> 36:59.210]  I'm sorry, one was on Monday night, one was on Tuesday night.
[36:59.310 --> 37:00.490]  The one we went to was on Monday night.
[37:00.630 --> 37:00.810]  Right.
[37:01.090 --> 37:01.370]  So...
[37:01.370 --> 37:03.470]  Oh, this is the one Tuesday I was talking about.
[37:03.470 --> 37:03.590]  Yeah.
[37:03.650 --> 37:03.810]  Okay.
[37:03.930 --> 37:04.690]  I can't imagine.
[37:04.690 --> 37:08.270]  If ours was filled with that many people, how many people must have gone to the other one?
[37:08.430 --> 37:11.530]  And there must have been hundreds of balls going on.
[37:11.530 --> 37:16.970]  I mean, you know, the ones we heard about, but then there's also the hip-hop ball, and there were all kinds.
[37:17.070 --> 37:18.790]  The ones I really would have preferred to go to, actually.
[37:19.490 --> 37:20.410]  But anyway, that was fun.
[37:20.490 --> 37:25.650]  It was a great experience, and many thanks for getting us into this, because it's not the kind of thing we usually go to.
[37:26.090 --> 37:30.250]  I'm disappointed in our listeners, though, for not sending us tickets to other balls and the inauguration.
[37:30.990 --> 37:32.310]  But that kind of thing happens.
[37:32.390 --> 37:32.830]  Yes, Voltaire?
[37:32.950 --> 37:36.250]  It turns out, though, that we didn't even need those inauguration tickets.
[37:36.250 --> 37:41.430]  Well, we didn't need inauguration tickets, because we had a lot of fun without...
[37:41.430 --> 37:49.010]  If we had inauguration tickets, we could have gone to the actual ceremony with thousands of other people and seen it from a distance, I guess.
[37:49.210 --> 37:52.790]  But we actually got up early the next morning at...
[37:52.790 --> 37:54.050]  Well, actually, we stayed up all night.
[37:54.230 --> 37:54.950]  We didn't go to sleep.
[37:56.390 --> 37:57.490]  4.30 in the morning.
[37:57.910 --> 38:01.310]  The metro opened up at 4, which is unusual for Washington, D.C.
[38:01.470 --> 38:04.850]  It was packed with people, completely solidly packed with people.
[38:04.850 --> 38:10.290]  And everybody was going to the mall, the mall between the Capitol and the Washington Monument.
[38:10.690 --> 38:12.190]  And we wandered around there.
[38:12.290 --> 38:13.630]  We wandered the length of the mall.
[38:13.750 --> 38:15.650]  And it was just filling up rapidly.
[38:15.870 --> 38:17.590]  It wasn't even 5 o'clock in the morning yet.
[38:17.590 --> 38:18.570]  It was pitch dark outside.
[38:18.730 --> 38:22.410]  Everybody was just running around, trying to get a good position in front of the jumbotrons.
[38:22.590 --> 38:24.770]  There were these huge jumbotrons lined up.
[38:25.150 --> 38:30.130]  And people were literally going to stand there for hours and hours just to see it on a big screen.
[38:30.510 --> 38:32.350]  And everybody was still in a great mood.
[38:32.350 --> 38:34.130]  And it was a bit of fun.
[38:34.130 --> 38:35.670]  But Voltaire and I had other plans.
[38:35.810 --> 38:42.850]  We decided that we were going to go to Pennsylvania Avenue and stand there instead and watch the parade go by afterwards.
[38:42.850 --> 38:44.470]  Because, you know, we could see the speech any time.
[38:44.630 --> 38:51.850]  But to see the actual parade go by and to see Barack Obama, maybe even in the flesh, that was... I mean, I already saw that.
[38:52.030 --> 38:54.090]  But still, it would be cool to see the parade.
[38:54.090 --> 38:58.750]  But boy, what we had to go through to do this, it was so cold outside.
[39:00.290 --> 39:03.710]  And we basically waited in line for a bit.
[39:03.990 --> 39:06.910]  We sort of accidentally cut in front of the entire line.
[39:07.930 --> 39:11.130]  It wasn't our fault because we walked down the street to see what was going on.
[39:11.230 --> 39:12.410]  And then we went in to get coffee.
[39:12.530 --> 39:15.030]  And by that time, the line had extended many blocks back.
[39:15.170 --> 39:19.550]  And we couldn't, in good conscience, walk many blocks back again just to stand at the end of that line.
[39:20.190 --> 39:22.490]  And we wanted to go through security and get it over with.
[39:22.590 --> 39:23.790]  So we did that, right?
[39:23.890 --> 39:25.870]  And got in, got onto the street.
[39:26.030 --> 39:28.310]  And also, we had to go through security just to get coffee.
[39:28.430 --> 39:29.650]  It's like 20-minute security line.
[39:29.750 --> 39:34.050]  Yeah, you know, we had to go through a security gate to get coffee, to go into a coffee shop.
[39:34.130 --> 39:34.670]  That was weird.
[39:34.870 --> 39:36.690]  And then that didn't mean that we were in.
[39:36.810 --> 39:38.890]  We had to go out again and go through the regular security.
[39:39.410 --> 39:47.830]  And I believe once we finally got to Pennsylvania Avenue, Voltaire, you went back into a store or into some kind of storefront thing to get coffee.
[39:47.830 --> 39:51.830]  And you found out that you were on the wrong side of the security gate after you went to get coffee.
[39:51.850 --> 39:53.870]  So you had to go through the whole process all over again.
[39:54.730 --> 39:55.350]  That's brutal.
[39:55.750 --> 39:57.410]  And they didn't tell him that.
[39:57.550 --> 39:58.170]  They didn't tell him that.
[39:58.270 --> 40:03.950]  So he possibly wasn't able to get back in at all because they were going to close it off after a certain point.
[40:04.030 --> 40:04.890]  But luckily he did.
[40:04.950 --> 40:06.030]  In fact, you figured something out.
[40:06.150 --> 40:09.390]  Yeah, there's a side entrance with nobody in line.
[40:09.530 --> 40:13.750]  And the other entrance there was at least 500 people waiting in line.
[40:14.190 --> 40:17.250]  And there's no separate line for ticket holders and non-ticket holders.
[40:17.250 --> 40:19.130]  It was just getting longer and longer.
[40:19.230 --> 40:21.250]  But you went to a different block and there was nobody there.
[40:21.410 --> 40:22.870]  And you would just fly right through.
[40:22.930 --> 40:26.490]  So there were tons of ticket holders that got there like at 10 a.m.
[40:26.490 --> 40:27.250]  or 5 a.m.
[40:27.310 --> 40:27.530]  maybe.
[40:27.870 --> 40:31.210]  And they ended up getting turned away and thinking, oh, we're never going to make it.
[40:31.390 --> 40:33.030]  Ticket holders, they got to sit in the bleachers.
[40:33.370 --> 40:35.570]  So then they probably thought that they'd never make it in time.
[40:35.650 --> 40:36.190]  They just left.
[40:36.390 --> 40:39.230]  And then by the end of the day there were seats available.
[40:39.290 --> 40:40.770]  You see, I almost got tickets.
[40:40.910 --> 40:42.210]  I almost got tickets through...
[40:42.210 --> 40:44.390]  And this is a nightmare story, which I'll make very quick.
[40:44.390 --> 40:54.730]  But Ticketmaster, Ticketmaster had tickets available for a few minutes at, I think, 1 o'clock on a day a couple of weeks ago.
[40:54.870 --> 40:56.710]  So I set up a Ticketmaster account.
[40:56.870 --> 41:04.710]  Ticketmaster.com went there, set up an account, and basically figured, you know, I'm just going to hit go at a particular time and get those tickets.
[41:04.850 --> 41:05.310]  And I did.
[41:05.510 --> 41:09.830]  You know, 1 o'clock came and the event opened up and I hit the button.
[41:09.990 --> 41:10.530]  Everything was cool.
[41:10.590 --> 41:11.230]  I had four tickets.
[41:11.230 --> 41:12.770]  I figured it would be great to have four tickets.
[41:13.790 --> 41:15.430]  And I went through the whole process.
[41:15.710 --> 41:19.170]  It asked, would you like UPS to send you your tickets so you'll get them right away?
[41:19.210 --> 41:20.030]  And I said, sure, go ahead.
[41:20.630 --> 41:24.350]  And then it got to the last page and said, oh, UPS doesn't send to P.O.
[41:24.390 --> 41:26.810]  boxes, which is what my credit card was registered to.
[41:26.990 --> 41:29.130]  You'll have to find another way of paying for this.
[41:29.430 --> 41:32.690]  Didn't give me an option to change my mind about UPS.
[41:32.690 --> 41:34.990]  Didn't give me an option to use a different credit card number.
[41:35.030 --> 41:36.110]  I had to start from scratch.
[41:36.110 --> 41:38.030]  And of course, at that point, the tickets were gone.
[41:38.030 --> 41:44.110]  I was fit to be tied, but it had a happy ending because you didn't really need tickets to get in anyway.
[41:44.350 --> 41:47.090]  And not having tickets was better because you could walk around.
[41:47.210 --> 41:48.350]  You didn't have to sit in the bleachers.
[41:48.870 --> 41:49.210]  Emmanuel.
[41:49.450 --> 41:49.950]  Yes, go ahead, Bernie.
[41:50.450 --> 41:57.990]  At any time when you were in Washington, did you, even from a great distance, see the president-elect or the vice president-elect?
[41:58.150 --> 42:01.090]  Or did you see them after they became the president and vice president?
[42:01.270 --> 42:02.590]  Again, you want to jump ahead.
[42:03.270 --> 42:04.090]  We're getting to that.
[42:04.210 --> 42:04.670]  We're getting to that.
[42:04.670 --> 42:06.230]  Just give me a moment here.
[42:06.430 --> 42:07.430]  You know, this is really lengthy.
[42:07.690 --> 42:08.190]  It is.
[42:08.270 --> 42:08.670]  It's lengthy.
[42:08.850 --> 42:09.730]  It was three days.
[42:09.750 --> 42:14.590]  So basically, so you stood in line and it was cold and there were a lot of people there.
[42:15.130 --> 42:20.390]  Well, yeah, but it was more than just standing on Pennsylvania Avenue, couldn't move.
[42:20.710 --> 42:22.650]  We had all kinds of military people there.
[42:22.810 --> 42:23.670]  There was the army.
[42:23.670 --> 42:28.370]  The army was standing basically facing you a couple of inches away.
[42:28.550 --> 42:37.250]  Would be these various people, looked like they were 12, from the army who had been to Iraq, could come back and, you know, sometimes would engage in conversation with the people standing there.
[42:37.390 --> 42:38.030]  It was interesting.
[42:38.730 --> 42:44.670]  Then you had Maryland state troopers who were also standing looking at you, but they would be in the street.
[42:44.850 --> 42:45.830]  They were in the street watching you.
[42:46.130 --> 42:49.830]  Then you had sailors from the Navy who were beyond them.
[42:49.990 --> 42:56.190]  They would face each other, one line on either side of the street, and they would just be looking at each other.
[42:56.290 --> 42:58.170]  And then occasionally they'd march away and come back.
[42:58.170 --> 43:04.510]  You had police cars and vans and SUVs and all kinds of vehicles going back and forth.
[43:04.790 --> 43:14.170]  Buses, huge buses, greyhound-sized buses, zipping down the street at 60 miles an hour with police escorts, with sirens wailing, all kinds of things like that.
[43:14.330 --> 43:17.370]  And you had hours and hours and hours to watch that all happen.
[43:17.550 --> 43:20.330]  So yes, it was a bit more than just standing in line in the cold.
[43:20.330 --> 43:22.350]  It was something historic.
[43:22.650 --> 43:24.710]  I hear they also had the Girl Scouts on standby.
[43:25.290 --> 43:30.350]  We didn't see them, and you know what, we didn't see much in the way of Girl Scout cookies or anything like that.
[43:30.450 --> 43:32.870]  We had to pretty much stand and suffer for many, many hours.
[43:33.330 --> 43:33.770]  Pat Grodd, yes.
[43:34.090 --> 43:43.310]  One of the things that I thought was really nice was when we were leaving, I was at the concert on Sunday, and when we were leaving the concert, there were thousands and thousands of people funneling out to the streets of D.C.
[43:43.450 --> 43:47.030]  And they were controlled by these guys with Humvees, you know, military.
[43:47.350 --> 43:47.510]  Right.
[43:47.630 --> 43:56.950]  And one of the things that I thought was really neat was that there was, I think, a group of six or seven soldiers standing up in front of one of these, you know, Humvees blocking off a street.
[43:57.270 --> 43:59.930]  And they were, like, taking their pictures with people.
[44:00.150 --> 44:08.310]  Which, you know, it sounds kind of corny, but I think it's kind of nice because, you know, the history of veterans and stuff can get kind of murky depending on the war that you're in.
[44:08.430 --> 44:14.470]  I got into an interesting conversation with one of the army guys that was standing, facing the crowd.
[44:14.470 --> 44:18.830]  And I guess their job was, they were unarmed, but their job was to look for anything suspicious.
[44:18.910 --> 44:21.770]  So if somebody moved, they'd say, ma'am, is that your purse?
[44:21.910 --> 44:24.550]  And, you know, you have to make sure that everything was accounted for.
[44:24.910 --> 44:29.830]  But he basically said to me, you know, this is all silly because if somebody wants to do something, they're just going to do it.
[44:29.890 --> 44:31.710]  They should just let it happen and deal with the consequences.
[44:31.870 --> 44:39.350]  And I thought that was an amazingly refreshing attitude for somebody in the army to take as they're staring you down, trying to look for anything suspicious.
[44:39.350 --> 44:51.230]  And, you know, I also, I volunteer this information saying, you know, when Bush was going by, how hard would it have been for people simply to gather up stones and throw rocks at him as he walked by?
[44:51.350 --> 44:53.430]  And you get like eight or nine people doing that.
[44:53.570 --> 44:56.010]  Someone's going to hit him and that's certainly going to make a difference.
[44:56.070 --> 44:57.190]  But people don't do that.
[44:57.590 --> 44:59.190]  Generally, people don't act like that.
[44:59.370 --> 45:02.190]  You could have had this parade without any of the security.
[45:02.330 --> 45:04.170]  And I'll bet, you know, probably nothing would...
[45:04.170 --> 45:08.130]  It certainly would have been easy for something to happen, but probably nothing would have because everybody was in such a good mood.
[45:08.190 --> 45:08.490]  Yes, Mike?
[45:09.350 --> 45:10.050]  Keep Your Shoes.
[45:10.570 --> 45:11.770]  Nobody touched our shoes.
[45:12.510 --> 45:14.590]  So you could have thrown them at anyone you wish.
[45:15.070 --> 45:15.810]  You know, shoes don't hurt.
[45:15.910 --> 45:18.350]  I've been hit with plenty of shoes in my day and they don't hurt that much.
[45:18.810 --> 45:21.730]  I was not allowed to bring my TV be gone, though, so...
[45:21.730 --> 45:27.570]  Well, you had this massive TV be gone that looks like, you know, some kind of detonator.
[45:28.250 --> 45:29.470]  It's a lot bigger than the usual.
[45:29.590 --> 45:31.350]  Yeah, it looks like an iPhone, but it's a lot thicker than an iPhone.
[45:31.490 --> 45:33.090]  It's about maybe 10 iPhones thick.
[45:33.430 --> 45:35.150]  I'm surprised they even gave it back to you.
[45:35.210 --> 45:35.810]  You got it back.
[45:36.010 --> 45:37.770]  Bernie couldn't even get his Swiss Army knife back.
[45:38.470 --> 45:39.010]  That's great.
[45:39.130 --> 45:41.050]  I mean, I could have chased it down all day.
[45:41.150 --> 45:41.970]  It wasn't worth the trouble.
[45:42.210 --> 45:42.610]  Yes, Rob.
[45:43.050 --> 45:44.070]  I actually read this.
[45:44.130 --> 45:46.990]  This is a third-party story from a blog, so the veracity is suspect.
[45:47.170 --> 45:54.250]  But apparently, according to this, even on the White House lawn, the guards on the White House lawn behind the fence were laughing and joking around with people on the other side.
[45:54.250 --> 45:57.030]  It was such a positive mood everywhere.
[45:57.650 --> 46:01.350]  You know, I have to say, all the cops, all the soldiers, everybody was really polite and nice.
[46:01.430 --> 46:04.110]  I didn't get any of the attitude that sometimes you see from people.
[46:04.690 --> 46:06.050]  I mean, yeah, it was a love fest.
[46:06.050 --> 46:06.730]  It really was.
[46:06.910 --> 46:10.370]  And I don't think anybody was... no matter how inconvenienced they were.
[46:10.550 --> 46:13.250]  I mean, we couldn't even figure out how to get back onto the metro.
[46:13.410 --> 46:14.690]  Various stations were closed.
[46:14.690 --> 46:23.130]  In fact, at L'Enfant Plaza, it was so overcrowded after everything was over that people were camping out in the mall.
[46:23.250 --> 46:24.570]  You could just see they were sleeping there.
[46:24.710 --> 46:26.510]  And it was really kind of bizarre.
[46:26.550 --> 46:28.230]  But everybody was dealing with it.
[46:28.550 --> 46:38.230]  But yes, to make this really long story come to an end, after a long time, and there was a delay because, as many of us heard, Senator Kennedy collapsed.
[46:38.270 --> 46:42.350]  And, of course, that was something that made people stay at the Capitol longer.
[46:42.350 --> 46:45.410]  Eventually, the parade did start going down the street.
[46:45.690 --> 46:54.950]  And thankfully, only a few minutes into it, we saw both Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, walking down the street and waving at the crowd.
[46:55.190 --> 46:56.350]  And it was such a thrill.
[46:56.490 --> 46:58.390]  And everybody was really, really happy just to see that.
[46:58.490 --> 47:00.790]  And then they all took off because everybody was freezing.
[47:01.510 --> 47:07.810]  But, yeah, it was quite a few... quite a lot of interesting moments in those few days.
[47:08.570 --> 47:09.750]  And history being made.
[47:10.450 --> 47:11.830]  Bernie, I'll be talking in a second.
[47:11.950 --> 47:13.970]  But 212-209-2900 is our phone number.
[47:14.110 --> 47:20.390]  If anybody has any other recollections or comments or stories that they'd like to share with us.
[47:20.430 --> 47:21.030]  Yes, Bernie, go ahead.
[47:21.970 --> 47:25.170]  Did you see any interesting uses of technology while you were down there?
[47:25.270 --> 47:26.410]  And did your cell phone...
[47:26.410 --> 47:29.930]  Did you have any trouble using your cell phone with all the millions of people trying to use their phones?
[47:30.010 --> 47:32.350]  I had surprisingly little trouble with my cell phone.
[47:32.350 --> 47:35.690]  And I expected it to be blocked, to be unusable.
[47:36.750 --> 47:38.910]  But, no, I was able to send messages out.
[47:39.030 --> 47:41.290]  I got a few calls coming in and out.
[47:41.410 --> 47:42.590]  And it wasn't that difficult.
[47:42.770 --> 47:43.530]  I sent pictures out.
[47:43.590 --> 47:45.270]  It was not too hard.
[47:45.450 --> 47:47.690]  You had surprisingly good reception in the hotel yet.
[47:47.690 --> 47:50.650]  You were two floors underground and you were still receiving phone calls at one point.
[47:51.170 --> 47:52.570]  Actually, I was not on T-Mobile.
[47:52.690 --> 47:53.770]  Maybe on Verizon I was.
[47:54.030 --> 47:56.830]  And by the way, in Washington, D.C., Verizon works on the Metro.
[47:57.050 --> 47:57.730]  Yes, it does.
[47:58.190 --> 48:02.450]  And the Metro is a lot quieter than the subway here, so people can talk and it's not so hard.
[48:02.850 --> 48:07.490]  Yeah, I think the news reports are that all the mid-carriers did quite well.
[48:07.650 --> 48:13.410]  They had, like, I think T-Mobile and AT&T had small hiccups here and there, but other than that, there were a lot less problems than expected.
[48:13.630 --> 48:16.090]  Yeah, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
[48:16.130 --> 48:16.470]  Yes, Barney?
[48:17.630 --> 48:22.590]  All the wireless carriers brought in several cows.
[48:23.750 --> 48:24.110]  Cows?
[48:24.490 --> 48:25.050]  Cows, yes.
[48:25.050 --> 48:28.750]  These are, it's an acronym for Cell Site on Wheels.
[48:29.130 --> 48:38.750]  It's basically a small truck that has a bunch of equipment in a container and a mast, like hydraulic mast, that goes up with a cell site antenna on it.
[48:38.870 --> 48:42.950]  And then it's connected either to a T-1 line or a microwave link to somewhere or a satellite dish.
[48:43.230 --> 48:44.670]  And it's basically a mobile cell site.
[48:44.750 --> 48:48.490]  You can just plop this down in an emergency situation or in a big crowd.
[48:48.490 --> 48:51.110]  And all the carriers had these cows down there.
[48:51.150 --> 48:54.890]  And that probably helped alleviate all the wireless phone traffic.
[48:55.050 --> 49:00.910]  However, companies like CNN and Microsoft did not help the congestion because they pulled this stunt.
[49:01.110 --> 49:12.270]  CNN and Microsoft pulled this stunt where, at the moment that Obama was sworn in, everybody was supposed to take several photos with their cell phone and then email them to CNN.
[49:12.270 --> 49:18.250]  And they were going to make this big three-dimensional collage of all the photos, some virtual thinking.
[49:19.350 --> 49:25.270]  And, you know, what a huge waste of bandwidth in a place where a lot of people need to use their phones.
[49:25.410 --> 49:25.990]  It was stupid.
[49:26.350 --> 49:29.550]  Well, did it result in the network being bogged down?
[49:30.870 --> 49:31.670]  Apparently not.
[49:31.810 --> 49:40.210]  But I would think that, you know, if there hadn't been extra coverage with all these cows, it just seems like a huge waste of bandwidth for some company to say.
[49:40.350 --> 49:44.530]  Maybe it was a test because, after all, CNN is in there with all those phone companies.
[49:44.650 --> 49:46.710]  So maybe they said, hey, let's try this.
[49:46.790 --> 49:52.430]  Try overloading the network at the most popular moment in history and see if we can make the network crash.
[49:52.590 --> 49:55.670]  And Verizon and T-Mobile and everybody else said, yeah, we're up to that.
[49:55.670 --> 49:58.630]  Let's bring in some cows and see what happens.
[49:59.110 --> 50:04.070]  I think it was irresponsible to send a lot of, you know, high-bandwidth photos.
[50:04.490 --> 50:08.390]  You know, at the moment, people are going to be making phone calls in a big, crowded place.
[50:08.550 --> 50:14.230]  Well, I mean, it's obvious that people making phone calls at that time are just going to be pretty much saying the same thing.
[50:14.310 --> 50:15.330]  Like, wow, I just saw this.
[50:15.730 --> 50:18.870]  And various other kinds of conversations.
[50:19.010 --> 50:19.750]  I can probably wait.
[50:19.930 --> 50:22.110]  But it was data.
[50:22.290 --> 50:24.490]  So data supposedly takes less than voice.
[50:24.490 --> 50:25.870]  But I guess we'll learn.
[50:25.990 --> 50:26.370]  Yes, Packrat.
[50:26.550 --> 50:28.610]  I was actually going to ask you if you had seen one of these things.
[50:28.710 --> 50:30.470]  I didn't know it was called a cow.
[50:30.790 --> 50:36.630]  But I did see what looked like a conversion van with an antenna on it while I was on the way to the mall on Sunday.
[50:36.830 --> 50:38.330]  I saw a lot of weird things.
[50:38.670 --> 50:40.610]  One of the things, maybe somebody can explain this to me too.
[50:40.890 --> 50:44.050]  The soldiers walking around with antennas sticking up out of their backs.
[50:44.370 --> 50:45.670]  I don't know what that's all about.
[50:45.930 --> 50:53.130]  But occasionally, it just, you know, these people dressed in camouflage, about one in five of them has a big antenna sticking up from them.
[50:53.510 --> 50:53.630]  It's for communications.
[50:53.630 --> 50:54.870]  It's for communications.
[50:55.310 --> 50:56.990]  Is that the only way they can communicate?
[50:57.150 --> 50:57.950]  Everybody else carries radios.
[50:58.050 --> 50:59.970]  They don't have the antennas sticking up over their heads like that.
[51:00.150 --> 51:01.190]  It just looks really weird.
[51:01.370 --> 51:02.050]  Long distance, probably.
[51:02.310 --> 51:03.630]  Who are they communicating with?
[51:03.870 --> 51:05.270]  They're talking only to the people around them.
[51:05.490 --> 51:05.710]  Mission Control.
[51:06.390 --> 51:07.270]  Everybody was there.
[51:07.350 --> 51:08.210]  Mission Control was there too.
[51:08.430 --> 51:09.490]  We want to take some phone calls.
[51:09.590 --> 51:10.490]  We only have a couple of minutes left.
[51:10.670 --> 51:12.310]  212-209-2900.
[51:12.450 --> 51:14.210]  Let's see who's out there.
[51:14.370 --> 51:14.770]  Good evening.
[51:14.930 --> 51:15.850]  You're on Off the Hook.
[51:16.890 --> 51:17.590]  Pick up, please.
[51:17.810 --> 51:18.190]  Hi, yes.
[51:19.030 --> 51:22.810]  My name is Saipaka, and I'd like to mention two quick things.
[51:23.030 --> 51:24.130]  One is that...
[51:24.130 --> 51:25.310]  Turn down your radio, please.
[51:25.670 --> 51:25.950]  Okay.
[51:26.190 --> 51:26.270]  Sorry.
[51:26.490 --> 51:26.630]  Yes.
[51:26.730 --> 51:36.990]  I would first like to regretfully inform that one of the common meeting places for the New York City 2600, which is the Around the Clock restaurant, had sadly shut down.
[51:37.150 --> 51:38.170]  Yes, we heard about that.
[51:38.230 --> 51:41.970]  We heard about that last meeting, in fact, that, yeah, Around the Clock is a place we've been going since the 1980s.
[51:42.850 --> 51:50.150]  And, yeah, it had cheap food and was kind of big and open and welcoming to a bunch of hackers, which not many places are.
[51:50.290 --> 51:51.310]  We lost all coffee.
[51:51.490 --> 51:52.870]  Now we lost Around the Clock.
[51:52.870 --> 51:58.150]  And we are planning a new place, which we'll tell people, I guess, at the next meeting.
[51:58.170 --> 52:03.290]  Personally, to me, it doesn't really make sense, you know, the current economic situation where, you know, we don't...
[52:03.290 --> 52:07.490]  We need, you know, cheaper, affordable things rather than, you know, very high-priced things.
[52:07.670 --> 52:12.210]  You know, obviously, they could survive, possibly because they have so much money, but whatever.
[52:12.210 --> 52:20.470]  I just want to mention a quick political thing I've been reading about, which is that I remember back in 2006, supposedly Chinese hackers hacked the Congress computers.
[52:21.150 --> 52:37.450]  And what I find very interesting is an article recently came out from one of the security commissions asking for these cyber matters to be looked over by President Barack, current now President Barack Obama, and to make a new organization, unlike the old organization,
[52:37.690 --> 52:38.650]  to monitor the internet.
[52:38.870 --> 52:47.510]  And my personal question is that, do you think Barack Obama should be given that sort of power to look over the United States communications?
[52:47.590 --> 52:49.430]  No, obviously, nobody should be given that kind of power.
[52:49.430 --> 52:52.310]  The question is, is he interested in taking that kind of power?
[52:52.850 --> 52:54.170]  And I guess we'll find out.
[52:54.550 --> 53:04.390]  The only good thing I've heard is that he's apparently looking into open source OSs and tools and stuff, as opposed to the Microsoft-dominated one we've had for quite a long time.
[53:04.650 --> 53:05.650]  Let's hope that happens.
[53:05.890 --> 53:07.670]  So, other than that, I don't know how he'd react.
[53:07.790 --> 53:12.250]  You know, what if, like, most of the defense security systems get hacked through?
[53:12.630 --> 53:13.330]  You know, would he...
[53:13.870 --> 53:18.470]  I don't know if he'd declare war, but would he increase surveillance on our own people?
[53:18.470 --> 53:19.870]  I don't know, so I was just curious.
[53:20.290 --> 53:20.450]  All right.
[53:20.510 --> 53:21.450]  Well, we're going to find out.
[53:21.810 --> 53:25.450]  And we'll be watching this very carefully over the next few years, I'm sure.
[53:26.050 --> 53:27.090]  Thanks for your call.
[53:27.390 --> 53:28.290]  And, Voltaire, you had something?
[53:28.530 --> 53:40.550]  No, you could say about the open source software advisory that he actually asked one of his advisors to make a special report just about open source software in the government, which is very encouraging.
[53:40.650 --> 53:41.190]  That is encouraging.
[53:41.350 --> 53:42.250]  Well, we'll see where that goes.
[53:42.610 --> 53:43.770]  Let's take another phone call.
[53:44.170 --> 53:45.970]  And good evening, you're on Off the Hook.
[53:46.470 --> 53:48.270]  Oh, hey guys, let me turn off my radio.
[53:48.450 --> 53:51.650]  I just want to say I love the show, listen all the time, whenever I catch it.
[53:52.710 --> 53:53.510]  You guys rock.
[53:53.670 --> 53:54.390]  And where are you calling from?
[53:55.070 --> 53:56.150]  Ossining, New York.
[53:56.950 --> 53:58.170]  Ossining, home of Sing Sing.
[53:59.110 --> 53:59.470]  Yes.
[53:59.810 --> 54:00.030]  Okay.
[54:00.630 --> 54:00.950]  Sadly.
[54:00.950 --> 54:03.230]  So, what's on your mind tonight?
[54:04.790 --> 54:27.450]  Well, I don't know if anybody commented on it already, but those antennas sticking up out of bags of soldiers were, like each squad has a comm officer or a soldier that has the radio so that their commanding officer can radio into command and get specific orders.
[54:27.450 --> 54:32.550]  And I do believe it's like a completely encrypted radio signal.
[54:32.830 --> 54:36.610]  It just seems like such a big antenna for going a fairly short distance.
[54:36.830 --> 54:38.030]  Aren't they going a fairly short distance?
[54:38.970 --> 54:40.230]  Well, it depends, you know.
[54:40.410 --> 54:45.870]  I mean, especially in this is the age of, you know, information warfare and generals are never on the battlefield.
[54:46.150 --> 54:55.270]  They are, you know, in a secure, fortified location looking at satellite images, you know, like seeing everything on the battlefield almost like it were a video game.
[54:55.470 --> 54:57.230]  I guess we were on the battlefield.
[54:58.110 --> 54:59.230]  Interesting way of looking at it.
[54:59.230 --> 55:01.810]  That's a little prophetic, but yeah.
[55:02.110 --> 55:02.310]  Okay.
[55:02.530 --> 55:03.470]  Well, thanks for that information.
[55:03.730 --> 55:04.310]  Wait, one more.
[55:04.430 --> 55:04.770]  Yes, go ahead.
[55:04.990 --> 55:11.910]  Did you guys, when you were down there, see any LRADs, long range acoustical devices, usually mounted on like the backs of Humvees or something?
[55:12.030 --> 55:13.190]  I did not myself.
[55:13.770 --> 55:14.610]  Pac-Rat, did you?
[55:14.770 --> 55:19.210]  Those satellite looking things, it almost kind of looks like a plastic dish.
[55:19.550 --> 55:24.230]  Yeah, it's kind of octagonal and flat, almost looks like a solar panel or something.
[55:24.390 --> 55:26.130]  I didn't know what that was when I saw it.
[55:27.190 --> 55:28.290]  But there are all kinds of information.
[55:28.450 --> 55:28.730]  Yes, Redhack.
[55:28.750 --> 55:38.990]  I was just going to comment quickly on the radio that you have to take into account that, especially with the army radios, they're probably the same thing that they would use in warfare, in which case the distance may be long or far.
[55:39.110 --> 55:41.950]  But in their training, these comm officers are taught to use them.
[55:42.270 --> 55:48.370]  When I was in Finland, we had similar radios and, you know, for long distance or short distance, but they get the job done.
[55:48.370 --> 55:49.690]  Okay, let's quickly take one more.
[55:50.170 --> 55:50.930]  And good evening.
[55:51.210 --> 55:52.010]  You're on off the hook.
[55:52.750 --> 55:53.650]  Hey, this is you guys.
[55:53.810 --> 55:54.690]  Thanks for taking my call.
[55:55.030 --> 55:55.210]  Sure.
[55:55.350 --> 55:55.910]  Nice to hear you, Emmanuel.
[55:56.190 --> 55:56.890]  I have a question.
[55:56.990 --> 55:58.710]  I hope your information addicts can answer for me.
[55:58.790 --> 55:59.310]  Go ahead, quickly.
[55:59.430 --> 56:08.350]  Are any actions taken to secure the personal information that permeates databases around the country of an incoming president, like to prevent foreign intelligence services from adding to a dossier at all?
[56:09.510 --> 56:10.830]  Well, that's interesting.
[56:10.830 --> 56:13.830]  I guess we'd have to know a lot of specific information as to just how that's done.
[56:14.790 --> 56:15.150]  Bernie?
[56:15.150 --> 56:24.270]  I wonder if the secret services go back to, like, his high schools of any president or his credit records or anything like that, just to prevent any foreign government from gaining the edge on us in the intelligence war.
[56:24.590 --> 56:25.690]  So, basically...
[56:25.690 --> 56:26.190]  Go ahead, Bernie.
[56:27.410 --> 56:28.210]  You know, it's funny.
[56:29.590 --> 56:36.110]  Everybody the president-elect selects to be on their White House staff, they can have to go through all kinds of background screenings and so forth.
[56:36.210 --> 56:38.050]  But I don't really know about the president-elect.
[56:38.230 --> 56:41.050]  I would think somebody checks them out, but it's a really good question.
[56:42.250 --> 56:42.690]  All right.
[56:42.770 --> 56:42.930]  Thanks.
[56:42.970 --> 56:43.350]  Have a good night.
[56:43.350 --> 56:43.830]  All right.
[56:43.970 --> 56:45.270]  And thanks for calling.
[56:45.550 --> 56:46.550]  We're out of time.
[56:46.750 --> 56:47.330]  We're out of here.
[56:47.670 --> 56:50.910]  And I want to thank people for being a part of the show.
[56:52.350 --> 56:54.910]  We're going to go out with another phone-related song.
[56:55.090 --> 56:58.150]  Write to us, OTH at 2600.com for Off the Hook, Emmanuel Goldstein.
[56:58.290 --> 56:59.590]  We'll see you again next week.
[56:59.750 --> 56:59.990]  Good night.
[57:32.350 --> 57:36.450]  I'm sorry that you felt so disconnected.
[57:37.290 --> 57:37.490]  I'm sorry that you felt so disconnected.
[57:39.280 --> 57:56.690]  It's not the way I wanted our lives to be, but can you understand my frustration when you're love alive?
[57:57.270 --> 58:01.330]  Well, it's always busy.
[58:01.330 --> 58:14.190]  I think that we would stop debating if your emotions had called waiting.
[58:16.050 --> 58:30.790]  Now I sit here alone and crying, knowing there's somebody else that you're sweet, darling.
[58:59.420 --> 59:00.820]  You
[59:06.600 --> 59:09.520]  have chosen option three.
[59:16.260 --> 59:52.380]  I promise I can answer these Roman charges Cause now I finally know what a calling card is Why you always give me the static and resistance Don't you know this relationship, it's long distance Keep my number in your book Please don't let me off the hook Before this gets any scarier Please don't drive me as your long-distance carrier Distance carrier Distance carrier Distance carrier Distance
[59:52.380 --> 59:56.800]  carrier Distance carrier Distance carrier
[01:00:01.470 --> 01:00:12.130]  Press 1 if you still love me Press 2 if you never want to see me again Press 3 if you think we can work it out Press 4 to hear these options again
[01:00:18.920 --> 01:00:21.380]  You have chosen Option 1