Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Hail to the Chief!

CNN asked people watching the inauguration from the National Mall to send their pictures of "the moment" so they could create an interactive graphic of the moment Barack Obama took the oath of office.... here's the moment Barack Obama raised his hand from my point of view....ok, ok, I had to settle for watching it on t.v..... I was planning to schedule an interview in Baltimore to coincide with the inauguration, so I could be there in person... but obviously that didn't turn out.... even back in September when I was looking into it and Obama was still just candidate Obama, it was already hard to find an affordable hotel room in D.C.... oh well, at least I had a front row seat.... I can't believe that after all the anticipation for "the moment", it didn't go so smoothly with Obama jumping the gun, and the Chief Justice screwing up the words...

haha... oh well, it was a momentous enough event to not be overshadowed by some minor imperfections.... I didn't hear the usual soaring rhetoric that I was hoping for in his inaugural address though..... you know, the kind of speech that parts the clouds and ushers in the sparkling rays of the shining sun that he usually delivers?.... I did hear angels sing "aaaaaaaahhh" a couple of times during the speech though.... if you missed it here it is....
In classic Obama style, the new president will restore the tradition of making the first foreign trip of the new president to Canada, in a gesture to re-establish the Canadian-American bff relationship which Bush wrote off... so you better believe I will be there to see him in person that time around....

Congratulations President Obama, Congratulations People of America, Congratulations People of Earth!

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Monday, January 19, 2009

A Night for Dreams

Hi folks, sorry I disappeared for a while there.... I have been in a bit of a funk since the new year and at the same time I've been trying to focus on my Step 3.... It's been a bit difficult to get back on track.... I even considered taking some SSRI's, at least in a mild form just to help me get over this last hump.... luckily I got a dose of Barack Obama this weekend.... his oratory and the symbolism which surrounds him has injected a little bit of hope and optimism back into my funkadelic existence.... how amazingly fitting, that today, dedicated to the great martyr of civil rights; the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., is also the eve of the inauguration of the first black president of the free world.... whether it's coincidence or Providence, I still can't get over the fact that I can watch this happen so soon in my lifetime.... young enough to look forward to what the next 40 years has in store, but old enough to truly appreciate how momentus this occasion really is.... tomorrow afternoon, PRESIDENT Barack Obama will add to the scripture of American history with his inaugural address.... but tonight, let us reflect on some old words, from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as we watch his dream unfolding before our eyes.... A happy 2009, happy MLK Day, happy Inauguration eve....

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

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.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

from "Normalcy Never Again" a.k.a "I Have a Dream"
by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
on August 28, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

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