(AP Photo: Susan Walsh)

Today we could be once again gobsmacked at the idea that a black guy named "Barack Hussein Obama" was elected president....twice.



Today we could look back at the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking to the very mall that was crowded with people today and marvel at how we got here...and affirm that we will never, ever, ever let anyone take us back to those dark days when what Dr. King stood for was regarded as dangerous.



Today we could look at the military marchers in their silly pseudo-military costumes and their Terry Gilliamesque horns and feel, yes, patriotic.

Today we could be giddy that we get four more years of Michelle and Sasha and Malia instead of possibly eight years with Ann "Stop it...this is hard" Romney and Tagg and Trick and Gollum and the other Romney spawn.



Today we could hear a president who a year ago was "evolving" on gay marriage mention Stonewall in his inaugural address.



Today we could listen to a man who has been treated like Charlie Brown by the Lucys of the Republican Party for four years pimp-slap Paul Ryan's "makers vs. takers" meme.

Today we could listen to a Sousa march and get all verklempt at the pomp of it and at the marvelous thing that was built for us two hundred and thirty-three years ago.

Today we felt that the Obamas and the Bidens were part of OUR family.

Today we could once again...just for one day...have hope that maybe...just maybe...things would change.

Tomorrow it's back to the real world...a world of drone strikes and rendition and social Darwinism and insane Tea Party Republicans. But for two and a half more hours, let's just bask in today.

Labels: inauguration, President Barack Obama

Not even Yitzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma can play in 20-degree weather:

The somber, elegiac tones before President Obama’s oath of office at the inauguration on Tuesday came from the instruments of Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and two colleagues. But what the millions on the Mall and watching on television heard was in fact a recording, made two days earlier by the quartet and matched tone for tone by the musicians playing along.

The players and the inauguration organizing committee said the arrangement was necessary because of the extreme cold and wind during Tuesday’s ceremony. The conditions raised the possibility of broken piano strings, cracked instruments and wacky intonation minutes before the president’s swearing in (which had problems of its own).

“Truly, weather just made it impossible,” Carole Florman, a spokeswoman for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, said on Thursday. “No one’s trying to fool anybody. This isn’t a matter of Milli Vanilli,” Ms. Florman added, referring to the pop band that was stripped of a 1989 Grammy because the duo did not sing on their album and lip-synched in concerts.

Ms. Florman said that the use of a recording was not disclosed beforehand but that the NBC producers handling the television pool were told of its likelihood the day before.

The network said it sent a note to pool members saying that the use of recordings in the musical numbers was possible. Inaugural musical performances are routinely recorded ahead of time for just such an eventuality, Ms. Florman said. The Marine Band and choruses, which performed throughout the ceremony, did not use a recording, she said.

“It’s not something we would announce, but it’s not something we would try to hide,” Ms. Florman said. “Frankly, it would never have occurred to me to announce it. The fact they were forced to perform to tape because of the weather did not seem relevant, nor would we want to draw attention away from what we believed the news is, that we were having a peaceful transition of power from one administration to the next.”

That's because you don't listen to Limbaugh and Hannity, Ms. Florman. Because they live in a world where it's OK to take American kids into war based on lies, it's OK to conduct mass surveillance of all Americans' electronic activities, focusing particularly on journalists. It's OK to wreck the economy, it's OK to shovel $700 billion of taxpayer money into the pockets of guys like John Thain. But Yitzhak Perlman not wanting to risk one of his priceless instruments in the cold? THAT, Ms. Florman, is a scandal in Sean Hannity's America.

Wait for it. Watch for it. You know it's coming.

Labels: inauguration, utter horseshit, wingnuttia

Bradblog, which has done yeoman work over the last few years to advance the radical notion that votes should be counted, has a photo montage that says it's all. Go pay a visit.

Labels: bloggers, inauguration

Because there are few things more comical than listening to Keith Olbermann trying to report on an evening gown by Jason Wu.

Doghouse Riley says Heil and Farewell to the Bush Administration. Good Lord, they are a bunch of ugly people, aren't they? Who says they don't wear their dark, shrivelled, fetid little souls on their sleeves?

Hoffmania on the journalistic brilliance of Chris Wallace, the dumbest fucking talking head on the planet. (Wallace isn't alone; Brian Lehrer had a caller today who seemed to also be clinging to the hope that John Roberts being unable to get the oath right means they get George W. Bush to come back.

Dday compares and contrasts the stylings of a divisive prick like Rick Warren with the inclusive, loving, heartfelt, and yes, funny, benediction of Rev. Joseph Lowry.

Chris Rodda on how members of the military were pressured to applaud Rick Warren't attempt to hijack the inauguration for Jeebus.

Via Skippy: Why they invented Photoshop.

Petulant ponders the space alien that is Chris Matthews.

DougJ on a bunch of seven-figure Washington cocktail party circuit insiders like Tweety and Brooks telling the rest of us what we have to sacrifice. Sort of like Tom Friedman, who's job is not in danger of being outsourced, always talks about how great outsourcing is. Americans are willing to pitch in and sacrifice and do what we need to do -- but not if we're the only ones coughing up the quarters.

Cernig on whether Obama is already wingnut-baiting. We can only hope. Socialist this, bitchez.

And since jurassicpork didn't post it here, go say hello to him at his place, where his description of George Bush looking like he caught Stephen Colbert rear-ending Laura will haunt your dreams for the rest of the week.

Labels: bloggers, inauguration

And as ex-Marine One took off, a cheer arose from the crowd, along with the chorus singing in unison...




The furniture is arranged, the Bushes are out of town (so long...don't let the door hit you on the way out! More on that later....) and Obama's staff is at the White House working already. Its time for the pomp and parties, and celebrations and hopes for the executive orders to come quickly...
We've got Chris Matthews waxing poetic about how interesting Obama is and how un-interesting Bush is; he is sure that Bush will fade into history with the other forgotten presidents. Forgotten for more reasons than the others for sure...and remembered only by prosecutors in the coming months.

It feels like we took back our government today, for better or worse. Its been abused and it may take more than 8 years of a President Obama to start to get better. I do wish that we could do these things without needing to insert god into every other stop on the parade route. I may be one of those "non-believers" that President Obama refers to, but beyond that I find separation of church and state to be a necessity for us to progress. The failed Presidency of Bush, with the failed progress and actual backwards movement, is proof of that. So, if in the course of things, reasonable people stop and tip their hat to the flying big man in the sky, who is assuring their forever life, I will continue to bristle, even if its a brand of this stuff that is a little less heinous than that of the Bushies rapture watch.



Here is the text of Obama's Inaugural Speech. Video to follow, I'm sure.

h/t HuffPo for getting this up so fast (probably because Arianna seems to have her finger on the pulse of everything these days!



Text of President Barack Obama's inaugural address on Tuesday, as prepared for delivery and released by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

OBAMA: My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land _ a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America _ they will be met.
Story continues below

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted _ for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things _ some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions _ that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act _ not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions _ who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them _ that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works _ whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account _ to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day _ because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control _ and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart _ not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort _ even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus _ and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West _ know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment _ a moment that will define a generation _ it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends _ hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism _ these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility _ a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence _ the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed _ why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.


c/p RIPCoco

Labels: inauguration, President Barack Obama, speeches

From the blog of Larry Roibal and his wonderful Sketch of the Day feature.

c/p RIPCoco

Labels: Barack Obama, inauguration

It's rare that a network news broadcast strays beyond the kind of hackery we've seen out of the major networks in the last eight years. But last night, in an interview with Brian Williams, Rep. John Lewis spoke of being at the "I have a Dream" speech forth ultimately short years ago, and said:

Tomorrow I will think about the first time I came to Washington in 1961, 21 years old...back in 1961, blacks and whites could not board a bus together and travel from Virginia to North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi -- without the possibility of being arrested, jailed, or beaten. People could not register to vote, simply because of the color of their skin. I will think about that. We came here the year Barack Obama was born, and to see this unbelievable period that we are now witnessing is like nonviolent revolution. And I must say, it was worth it. It was worth the pain, the suffering, the beatings, the jailings. I just with that some of the people like MLK Jr., Robert Kennedy, President Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and many other people that started on the journey and never made it -- I wish they were here."

Watch:


Today Bob Herbert continues that theme:

Dr. King would have been 80 years old now. He came to national prominence not trying to elect an African-American president, but just trying to get us past the depraved practice of blacks being forced to endure the humiliation of standing up and giving their seat on a bus to a white person, some man or woman or child.

Get up, girl. Get up, boy.

Dr. King was just 26 at the time, a national treasure in a stylish, broad-brimmed hat. He was only 39 when he was killed, eight years younger than Mr. Obama is now.

There are so many, like Dr. King, who I wish could have stayed around to see this day. Some were famous. Most were not.

I remember talking several years ago with James Farmer, one of the big four civil rights leaders of the mid-20th century. (The others were Dr. King, Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young.) Farmer enraged authorities in Plaquemine, La., in 1963 by organizing demonstrations demanding that blacks be allowed to vote. Tired of this affront, a mob of state troopers began hunting Farmer door to door.

The southern night trembled once again with the cries of abused blacks. As Farmer described it: “I was meant to die that night. They were kicking open doors, beating up blacks in the streets, interrogating them with electric cattle prods.”

A funeral director saved Farmer by having him “play dead” in the back of a hearse, which carried him along back roads and out of town.

Farmer died in 1999. Imagine if he could somehow be seated in a place of honor at the inauguration alongside Dr. King and Mr. Wilkins and Mr. Young. Imagine the stories and the mutual teasing and the laughter, and the deep emotion that would accompany their attempts to rise above their collective disbelief at the astonishing changes they did so much to bring about.

And then imagine a tall white man being ushered into their presence, and the warm smiles of recognition from the big four — and probably tears — for someone who has been shamefully neglected by his nation and his party, Lyndon Johnson.

Johnson’s contributions to the betterment of American life were nothing short of monumental. For blacks, he opened the door to the American mainstream with a herculean effort that resulted in the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He followed up that bit of mastery with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“Once the black man’s voice could be translated into ballots,” Johnson would say, “many other breakthroughs would follow.”

Without Lyndon Johnson, Barack Obama and so many others would have traveled a much more circumscribed path.

I wish Johnson could be there, his commitment to civil rights so publicly vindicated, his eyes no doubt misting as the oath of office is administered.

It’s so easy, now that the moronic face of racism is so seldom openly displayed, to forget how far we’ve really come. When Dr. King delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech” at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, it was illegal, just a stone’s throw away in Virginia, for whites and blacks to marry. Illegal! Just as it is illegal now for gays to marry.

Less than a month after the speech, members of the Ku Klux Klan bombed a black church in Birmingham, Ala., where children had gathered for a prayer service. Four girls were killed. Three were 14 years old, and one was 11.

My sister, Sandy, and I, growing up in Montclair, N.J., a suburb of New York City, were protected from the harshest rays of racism by a family that would let nothing, least of all some crazy notion of genetic superiority, soil our view of the world or ourselves.

My grandparents, who struggled through the Depression and World War II, and my parents, who worked tirelessly to give Sandy and me a wonderful upbringing in the postwar decades, seemed always to have believed that all good things were possible.

Even if the doors of opportunity were closed, they didn’t believe they were locked. Hard work, in their eyes, was always the key.

Still, the idea of a black president of the United States never came up. Perhaps even for them that was too much to imagine. I wish they could have stayed around long enough to see it.

Perhaps this is why humans invented religions that have an afterlife as part of their theology -- because when people like these do so much to try to change the injustices of the world around them, and they do not live long enough to see the fruits of their labor come to fruition, the pain that they cannot see a day like today is almost more than we can bear.

Labels: civil rights, inauguration, President Barack Obama

You'll be lying, and so would I if I said that.

You know, I almost always feel cynical about this country. I have for as long as I can remember, even back when I was a thirteen-year-old stuffing envelopes for a Congressional candidate who ended up losing. I don't think you can grow up when I did without being a cynic.

I've been watching the We are One concert at the Lincoln Memorial, with its smiling gospel choirs and its Geezers of Lefty Rock and Queen Latifah looking like, well, a queen. I've been watching the hoopla and the imagery and smiling faces standing in the cold to share a moment that's like nothing we've seen in my lifetime. And for at least one moment, it feels like we -- the people with whom I've identified my entire life -- are finally, FINALLY taking back our country from the people who have done everything in their power to ruin everything these symbols have stood for.

For over three decades, we've allowed wingnuts to appropriate patriotism, turning it from recognition that the vision, the dream of America is not a destination but a process -- one that needs constant tending, vigilance, and participation. It is a vision that is so easily corrupted to serve the greed of the few instead of the dreams of the many. And so it has been ever since Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew essentially declared a large segment of the population its enemy. It continued with Ronald Reagan waving the flag while talking about welfare queens and George H.W. Bush talking about a thousand points of light, because God knows he wasn't about to help anyone. It continued, albeit at a slower pace, with Bill Clinton, who compromised and triangulated his way welfare "reform" that did nothing for the poor, and was rewarded for his efforts with an attempt at impeachment. And the son of President Thousand Points of Light did all he could to finish the job.

I wonder what it must have been like to be Pete Seeger up there today. Born in 1919, Seeger has been at the forefront of progressive activism for over sixty years. Imagine being Pete Seeger, about to celebrate your ninetieth birthday this year, and being able to be there for the inauguration for the first black president. And how cool was it that Seeger decided to restore the angry verses of "This Land is Your Land":

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;
Sign was painted, it said private property;
But on the back side it didn't say nothing;
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

If that didn't make you go all blubbery, you just ain't human.

But after Tuesday, the real work starts -- the work of making sure this president lives up to the hopes and expectations of those of us who put him in office to not just undo the horrific damage done to this country by George Walker Bush and Dick Cheney, but to uphold the rule of law by holding them accountable for their crimes.

Labels: inauguration, patriotism, President Barack Obama

Now this is awesome, and something you never would have seen had John McCain won this election:

The Stafford Foundation, a private foundation committed to helping underserved, marginalized and distressed individuals, has announced its unprecedented inauguration celebration plans at The JW Marriott Washington, D.C. hotel, located between the Capitol and the White House.

"Our foundation is thrilled about the unprecedented opportunity to bring Americans of every walk of life together for a momentous celebration," said Earl W. Stafford, Sr., who founded the Stafford Foundation in 2002. "We are committed to giving the underserved a chance to prosper and thrive, and these events will offer them a front-row seat to our nation's historic celebration in downtown Washington."
Thanks to the foundation's $1 million investment, participants will attend the events and stay at the JW Marriott free of charge. A third of the tickets for all the Stafford Foundation events will be distributed to hundreds of marginalized Americans who have demonstrated a positive example by embodying hope and facilitating change in their communities. The Marriott will serve as the central point to welcome the group of diverse people who come to celebrate America's new president.

Mr. Stafford added, "The People's Inaugural Project offers the underprivileged in our society a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come to our nation's capital and join in the watershed inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. It's a historic investment for our foundation."

I wish they weren't giving this money to Marriott, whose owner is a Mormon who donated heavily to the Prop. 8 efforts in California. But in this Season of Utter Hopelessness, it's nice to see a little hope being put into the lives who haven't known any for a long time.

Labels: inauguration