Tag: Inauguration

I thought it was just me and Jon Stewart

Jon and I were in agreement that the “inaugural poem” was a pedestrian, mundane bit of instantly-forgettable fluff, suitable for lulling small children (and not a few adults) to sleep, but not good for much else. I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am that Jon and I aren’t alone.

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs…

… it was no surprise to hear Alexander begin her poem today with a cliché (“Each day we go about our business”), before going on to tell the nation “I know there’s something better down the road”; and pose the knotty question, “What if the mightiest word is ‘love’?”; and conclude with a classic instance of elegant variation: “on the brink, on the brim, on the cusp.” The poem’s argument was as hard to remember as its language; it dissolved at once into the circumambient solemnity. Alexander has reminded us of what Angelou’s, Williams’s, and even Robert Frost’s inauguration poems already proved: that the poet’s place is not on the platform but in the crowd …

Poverty wages for day laborers recruited for inauguration

Original article, by Jeff Lassahn, via World Socialist Web Site:

The inauguration festivities for Barack Obama are estimated to cost as much as $150 million. Just under a third of this tab will be covered by the influence-peddling donations of the wealthy. The bulk of the costs will fall on the general tax-paying population, which faces rapidly increasing unemployment and sharp declines in income.

Breaking News – Truth is Stranger than Fiction

This is just a quick one. I saw on the news that Dick Cheney strained his back while humping a moving box. Right! Apparently he strained it so bad that he’ll actually be in a wheelchair for (later today!) the inauguration. I hope he wears black leather gloves just like Peter Sellers did in Dr. Strangelove. This reality thing is getting too weird.

Come to think of it, I hope the Secret Service folks have that wheelchair sniffed for C4. Enjoy the video.

In nine hours Joe Biden will be sworn in. And fifteen minutes later it’ll be President Obama.

Thank you, God.

Veterans of george’s War Want a Bailout

The following is a Twofur of Information:

392,000 Pending Appeals to VA for Help

It’s not easy to get the runaround when you have a traumatic brain injury from george’s war.

Did You Know 200,000 Vets Are Sleeping on the Streets?

America’s promise to “Support the Troops” ends the moment they take off the uniform and try to make the transition to civilian life.

Demand O’Reilly apologize to the “non-existent” homeless vets he attacked ?

Inaugural “Security” Question

Yesterday I opined in an essay called “The Shelf Life of Paranoia” the demeaning and infuriating invasion of privacy that is the consummation of years of paranoia building and the Bush Doctrine that treats us as potential enemies within our own borders was wrong on every level and a result of Paranoia.

Then asqv asked the perfect question bringing everything I had said into the realm of serious doubt.

“Paranoia or Security?”

She was referring, of course, to the Inaugural Event for Barack Obama, and the seemingly highly restrictive precautions being required for those who wished to attend.

I had to ask myself if I had double standards, or a definition so vague as to not be considered a standard at all.