obama Inauguration

[toiletroller]

that would bring a tear to a stone juice 

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Can't see Obama actually having much impact, I think there will be alot of rhetoric but not much action!
He will end up towing the line like the rest of them.

Also sad to say I can't see him seeiing out 4 years without at least one attempt on his life.

[stephenite]

January 22, 2009 - 12:41PM

In a highly unusual move, US President Barack Obama retook the oath of office on after stumbling during his big moment on Tuesday.

The president retook the oath from Chief Justice John Roberts in the Map Room of the White House one day after his inauguration at the US Capitol.

"Are you ready to take the oath?" Roberts asked him.

"I am, and we're going to do it very slowly," Obama said, reciting the oath flawlessly and taking 25 seconds.

"We believe that the oath of office was administered effectively and that the president was sworn in appropriately yesterday," said White House Counsel Greg Craig.

"But the oath appears in the Constitution itself. And out of an abundance of caution, because there was one word out of sequence, Chief Justice Roberts administered the oath a second time."

Obama was first sworn in by Roberts on Tuesday, but things didn't go exactly as planned for the swearing-in of the country's first African-American commander-in-chief.

Under the gaze of more than two million crowded onto Washington's National Mall and millions more around the world, Obama said: "I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will execute the office of president of the United States faithfully, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States.

"So help me God."

As specified in the US Constitution, the word "faithfully" precedes the phrase "execute the office," but the chief justice, in his first presidential inauguration, read that part of the oath incorrectly.

Obama paused, apparently realising something was wrong, and after an awkward moment, Roberts repeated himself, but the chief justice stumbled again. Obama eventually recited the line as Roberts originally said it.

On Tuesday, Jeffrey Rosen, a US constitutional law expert and professor at George Washington University in Washington, said stumbling over the oath had "no impact. News flash: He's president".

Rosen pointed to the 20th amendment of the US Constitution, which provides that the president and vice president's term begins at noon on January 20th.

"Lots of people have flubbed the oath, perhaps most memorably Chief Justice (William Howard) Taft, who sort of riffed and then made up his own" upon swearing in then-president Herbert Hoover, said Rosen.

Where the oath calls for the president to pledge to "preserve, protect, and defend" the constitution, Taft said "preserve, maintain and defend" - injecting an entirely new word, while Roberts merely got the order wrong.

AFP

[ziggysego]

Did she say what I think she said?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neCIg0BiXbE

[ONeill]

No bible was available I believe. These anti-christ conspiracies are growing. I'm away to dig a big hole under the house.

[pintsofguinness]

Did she say what I think she said?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neCIg0BiXbE

Not as bad as this
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oZYtiKeh2CA&feature=channel_page
Cringe!

[ziggysego]

[muppet]

This had me thinking when did I first encounter President Obama. I was listeninging to the Dr King speech on Youtube about 3 years ago while I was in college. That speech has always been important to me, our school headmaster in the little Cushinstown primary school near Kilmoon cross where I used to go, used to play a cassette recording of that speech and tried to explain the importance of it. The words are still with me to this today;

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

Not then and even not to this day can I ever understand why you would judge a man by his skin colour or ethnicity. Anyway after the speech had ended there was a related video of someone named senator Obama from Illinois. Out of curiosity I clicked on it and listened to him speak. His words were similar to those of Dr. King, talking about judging men by the content of their character.

Nothing that he said was earth shattering, it just made sense. It was something that deep down we all know whats possible we just dont want to face up to. He was just saying things that I had often wondered why political leaders haven't said more often. From that moment on I knew we would be hearing more and more about Barrack Obama and when I heard he was running for President I was certain he was going to win.

Is Feidir Linn.

Fine words,


for a Meathman 

[Tyrones own]

Maybe some one should tell Robert Reich the meaning of those words muppet:

"I am concerned, as I'm sure many of you are, that these jobs not simply go to high skilled people who are already professionals or to white male construction workers" ...
Racist Bastard.
Change, Hope, Progress..... Honestly, are you boy's still buying that  

[5 Sams]

Did she say what I think she said?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neCIg0BiXbE

Not as bad as this
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oZYtiKeh2CA&feature=channel_page
Cringe!

Holy fcuk....what a tool!!

[J70]

Maybe some one should tell Robert Reich the meaning of those words muppet:

"I am concerned, as I'm sure many of you are, that these jobs not simply go to high skilled people who are already professionals or to white male construction workers" ...
Racist b**tard.
Change, Hope, Progress..... Honestly, are you boy's still buying that  

What, is Reich a "self-hating" white man to paraphrase the conserative term for any Jewish person who doesn't unthinkingly back everything Israel does?

Reich's own blog contains a little bit of context:

The Stimulus: How to Create Jobs Without Them All Going to Skilled Professionals and White Male Construction Workers

The stimulus plan will create jobs repairing and upgrading the nation's roads, bridges, ports, levees, water and sewage system, public-transit systems, electricity grid, and schools. And it will kick-start alternative, non-fossil based sources of energy (wind, solar, geothermal, and so on); new health-care information systems; and universal broadband Internet access.

It's a two-fer: lots of new jobs, and investments in the nation's future productivity.

But if there aren't enough skilled professionals to do the jobs involving new technologies, the stimulus will just increase the wages of the professionals who already have the right skills rather than generate many new jobs in these fields. And if construction jobs go mainly to white males who already dominate the construction trades, many people who need jobs the most -- women, minorities, and the poor and long-term unemployed -- will be shut out.

What to do? There's no easy solution to either dilemma. But there's no reason to think about "green jobs" as simply high-tech. Many low-income and low-skilled workers -- women as well as men -- could be put directly to work providing homes and businesses with more efficient and renewable heating, lighting, cooling, and refrigeration systems; installing solar panels and efficient photovoltaic systems; rehabilitating and renovating old properties, and improving recycling systems. "Green Jobs Corps" teams could be trained to evaluate and advise homeowners and businesses on these and other means of conserving energy.

People can be trained relatively quickly for these sorts of jobs, as well as many infrastructure j0bs generated by the stimulus -- installing new pipes for water and sewage systems, repairing and upgrading equipment, basic construction -- but contractors have to be nudged both to provide the training and to do the hiring.

I'd suggest that all contracts entered into with stimulus funds require contractors to provide at least 20 percent of jobs to the long-term unemployed and to people withincomes at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. And at least 2 percent of project funds should be allocated to such training. In addition, advantage should be taken of buildings trades apprenticeships -- which must be fully available to women and minorities.

If you don't agree with affirmative action, whether for minorities or women (or catholics in Northern Ireland) fine, but its nonsense to call Reich racist based on that.

[Declan]

Did she say what I think she said?

Jesus  - Unreal

Thought this was an interesting article from Waters this morning - some valid points especially the one about Lennon and Cash!!!

Last thing we need is a rock'n'roll president

Revolutions end up recreating the very conditions they happened to overthrow, writes John Waters

THE CURRENT edition of my old magazine Hot Press has a cover picture of Barack Obama and the headline, "The First Rock'n'roll President – Obama by Bob Geldof". Actually, the heading oversells Geldof's copy, which in the whole is a reasonably sober assessment of the new president of the US.

Geldof thinks Obama a cool dude and a good thing, but adds only marginally to the burden of hype being heaped upon the frail shoulders of this moderately competent actor by a generation still seeking its messiah after a half-century of false promises.

It goes without saying, I hope, that the last thing we need is a rock'n'roll president – of the US or any place else. In as far as the term has any meaning, we already had one – Bill Clinton – and an unedifying spectacle that proved.

The prefix "rock'n'roll", appended to anything, tends to signify superficiality, pseudo- glamour and a surfeit of emotion.

In its natural and ordinary meaning, the idea of a rock'n'roll president summons up someone big on style, slight on substance, overly conscious of "yoof" issues and selective victimologies, and reluctant to convey bad news about the necessity for postponement or the true nature of freedom.

Rock'n'roll is the expression of permanent rebellion and perennial irresponsibility. By definition, it is incompatible with power because it denies that evil exists, except in the heart of "The Man". Power has a requirement for ambiguous choices, for distinguishing the lesser of evils.

Rock'n'roll, other than in a fistful of songs by a handful of artists, sees only black and white, and most of the authors of these songs seem to lack the ambiguity and complexity they occasionally express in their music.

Springsteen writes better about human weakness than almost any contemporary novelist, but comes out with excruciating rubbish every time he opens his mouth without a tune. Dylan is the exception, having laid false trails across the counter-culture for half a century.

But although the music has largely degenerated into pastiche and pose, the idea of rock'n'roll revolution lives on, albeit on diminishing sustenance.

The rock'n'roll generations, which now control pretty much everything, have impressed upon our culture the idea that their revolution must have a happy ending, whereas history tells us that revolutions end up recreating the conditions they happened to overthrow.

There is no revolution. All that ever existed was a bunch of fads, slogans and puerile notions about reality, including the ideas of power without compromise and freedom without consequences.

There will be no rock'n'roll redeemer. Already it is obvious that history will not purchase the obsessions and delusions of the generations now watching their pensions dissolve like clouds of dope smoke.

Last weekend, myself and my 12-year-old daughter, on a trip west, picked up the London Independent which had a free CD of the Watergate module of the 1977 Frost-Nixon interviews, the subject of the eponymous, soon- to- be-released movie. I roughly outlined the history and we viewed the interview together.

It being more than 30 years since I'd seen them, I had the flimsiest sense of what I was expecting. Coming to it with my counter-culture prejudices, I anticipated that Nixon would be shifty and evasive.

Wrong. The interview is riveting and deeply moving, but mainly because of Nixon's demeanour, which is open and frank. I was struck mainly by the sense of Nixon's emotional honesty. What emerges is that his flaws were those of a decent man – mostly an unwillingness to shaft those who have shown him some misguided loyalty.

Afterwards, I asked Róisín what she thought. "I think he was innocent," she said. I was blown away, because this is what I had been thinking myself.

Nixon is the sole scalp of the rock'n'roll generations who promised to tear away the past and replace it with pure freedom, peace and love. Now it emerges that Nixon, when his whole record is evaluated, was perhaps the greatest US president of the 20th century. The counter- culture's one claim to fame is that it pulled down a great man because of a triviality.

On the way home, I decided to give Róisín the educational benefit of another media freebie throwback, this time a CD of John Lennon songs.

Having emerged from those counter-culture generations, I tend to vacillate between self- interrogation and uncritical nostalgia, so, by way of introduction, delivered a portentous speech about the cultural significance of John Lennon and the fact that he was, in many ways, the cultural antidote to Nixon.

The CD had most of the best known songs, including Imagine and the anti-war anthems, Power to the People and Give Peace a Chance . As we listened, I found myself wishing the anthems a little less simplistic and the ballads less mawkish. After a while, Róisín said: "John Lennon was shot, wasn't he?" I said he was, yes. "I'm not surprised," she declared, and she put on Johnny Cash.

[Tyrones own]

What, is Reich a "self-hating" white man to paraphrase the conserative term for any Jewish person who doesn't unthinkingly back everything Israel does?

You can put lipstick and perfume on it all day long, in the age of bridging the gap of racism which is what
the Liberals are screaming and with Obama being voted in to the highest office along with the fact
that i happen to be a white professional who happens to be in a high tax bracket I feel it was completely
uncalled for and in bad taste.
I suppose The Rev Joseph Lowery's little poem didn't hinge on the verge of racism either?
It's only racism when it comes from a conservative..... right?

If you don't agree with affirmative action,

No I don't agree with it as it is actually discrimination in and of itself... Surely a liberal like yourself
Could never be in favor of discrimination in any way shape or form

[J70]

What, is Reich a "self-hating" white man to paraphrase the conserative term for any Jewish person who doesn't unthinkingly back everything Israel does?

You can put lipstick and perfume on it all day long, in the age of bridging the gap of racism which is what
the Liberals are screaming and with Obama being voted in to the highest office along with the fact
that i happen to be a white professional who happens to be in a high tax bracket I feel it was completely
uncalled for and in bad taste.
I suppose The Rev Joseph Lowery's little poem didn't hinge on the verge of racism either?
It's only racism when it comes from a conservative..... right?

Can't defend Lowery - his words were poorly chosen, particularly for such an occasion, but I completely understand why a man of his background might have such issues.

I think you're making an issue where there just isn't one in relation to Reich though. If he's proceeding from a false premise i.e. minorities and women are not in fact under-represented in the professions he's referring to, then make that case. Racism it is not however.

If you don't agree with affirmative action,

No I don't agree with it as it is actually discrimination in and of itself... Surely a liberal like yourself
Could never be in favor of discrimination in any way shape or form

In an attempt to make up for past discrimination and/or repression that has left a group under-represented, I am in favour of it.

Do you think it is inappropriate in relation to Northern Irish catholics?

[J70]

For the second time.......

Can you leave us out of your long drawn out pish? Thank you.

How long did it take you to dig that out?