Tag Archives: Inauguration 2009

Crocodile Rock

mlk-dream
It’s a Monday, it’s Martin Luther King day and it’s a federal holiday. It’s been a pretty good day overall. A lazy day at that. A festive vibe is in the air, mainly from the inauguration of Barack Obama tomorrow.

I watched the HBO broadcast of the inaugural concert last night and I was entertained. Most everyone was good. Garth Brooks is a major hot dog though. Can’t say I ever liked him. He did appear to hang to the right which was a bit impressive. So that’s one aspect of Garth Brooks that I didn’t mind.

Bruce was great of course and Pete Seeger is a national treasure. A wonderful version of This Land is Your Land with Pete, Bruce and Pete’s son in law.

James Taylor was pretty good too. Renee Fleming singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ hit all the right notes.

U2 rocked it with a two song set. They seemed very happy to be there, except for Larry Mullen who you can never tell if he’s ever happy. Too bad he’s the best looking member of the group.

There was a to-do about the omission of Gene Robinson and the invocation before the concert. HBO said it wasn’t their fault and that it was the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s decision not to include it in the broadcast. It was also reported that the speakers were turned off during the invocation.

Not that I care for the invocation or the magic words but Gene Robinson, the first openly gay, non celibate bishop of the episcopal church was supposed to be a salve for those of us that are STILL rankled by the choice of pRick Warren.

So perhaps there a few people in the inaugural committee who just aren’t down with gay people. I just hope this has no bearing on policy decisions down the line. I am trying to get into the swing of things, I am entitled to it. Especially after the money I donated and the time I spent working on the campaign.

Bill came over this afternoon and we watched the concert together as well as other reports from Washington DC. That’s all that’s been on TV all day today making me wish that I was down there. Of course it’s much too late for that and much too crowded for me and much too cold for Bill.

We’d stay with Billie in any event and probably would watch it from his house in the southwest part of the district. I guess I’ll watch it somehow at work. I’m sure the conservatives with the flat screen TV will be watching it and making snarky comments.

It was good being with Bill for a few hours. He definitely is a whole lot better that he was when I saw him last night. Still he wanted to take a two hour nap in our bed. I decided to take a nap alongside him but only lasted about 10 minutes when I was awoke by the sounds of a buzz saw a few doors down.

I watched Barack and Michelle Obama meeting an auditorium of volunteers at a high school in DC. That was really heartwarming. Heartwarming enough to last since I hadn’t read anything about pRick Warren in a few hours.

Here are some pics of the latest snowfall in Hoboken as well as some shots from the bus stop with Bill.
11909-002

11909a-008

11909-004

11909-009

11909-012

11909-013

11909-014

11909-015

11909-019

11909-016

obama-hope

and with pleasure, a final posting of this…

Positively 4th Street

What a day, again.

Thanks to Rand for upgrading Word Press and enabling me to finally post some pics. But first, last night.

Last night was the first enjoyable night I’ve had in a while, thanks to Juan. It was great having him stop by last night. Just good to have someone here to talk to and laugh with.

He insisted on watching Summer Heights High on HBO which I had written off after watching the first episode. With Juan’s prodding we watched episodes 2 and 3 and it wasn’t as bad as I thought.

A begrudging laugh emanated from my lips which is more than what happened the first time around. I needed the company and I needed a laugh and Juan delivered on both counts.

Bill phoned midway through a story I was telling about Zed which definitely ruined the flow of the story. Still it was good to know that Bill was eating soup. He’s been feeling rather lethargic lately and I told him to eat more fruit, some salads, maybe even have some meat.

It could be the change in temperature, one day it’s in the 60’s, the next day it’s in the 20’s. Or it could just be the change of seasons. Whatever, he was eating soup.

Juan didn’t seem to notice the break in the flow, so entranced he is with his magic phone. Juan left and I was in bed a little after midnight which made waking up this morning a bit of a chore.

Still I was in the office by 8:30. The day was somewhat busy. There was the usual aggravation, of course from Tom Chin. I called him at lunch and asked about some papers that a messenger was picking up, I had them but wasn’t sure if they were all there.

They were there and he asked if anyone had ever called me a Space Cadet before. That’s what I get for making sure things are running correctly and checking in.

As aggravating as that was, what really aggravated me was the fact that the author of the Purpose Driven Life, the resident ‘pastor’ of one of those box store, or mega-churches, someone who equates same sex marriage to pedophilia and incest will be saying those magic words, the invocation, at Barack Obama’s inauguration.

I can’t help but feel disgust and betrayal at this. I had volunteered my time and donated money (that I probably shouldn’t have) to the Obama campaign and his people pick someone like that to say his hocus pocus.

I can tell you that the LGBT community is up in arms on this issue. Whatever idea or plan I may have had for attending the inauguration is over.

Like Clinton, Obama actively courted the gay vote and gay money which he received in kind. And like Clinton, he soon threw the LGBT community under the bus.

Is Rick Warren, truly the only clergy in the United States to deliver the magic words? Could there be no one else? Or are they just going for the marquee name of Rick Warren who has written best sellers?

Clinton waited until he was in office to throw LGBT people under the bus, Obama didn’t even wait for that. The bloom, it is now off the rose.

I think it really is a shame and I did not expect to be feeling such disgust at this charlatan pick of Rick Warren, a real scumbag. I guess betrayal is the ‘proper’ word.

Just spent the past half hour trying to log into Word Press. This almost went out as individual emails.

Thanks to Jeremy at GoodAsYou.com and Jim Burroway at BoxTurtleBulletin.com (both listed in the blogroll on the right side of this blog) for the info on the heinous choice of Rick Warren.

Both of these blogs are worth looking at for more info on this matter.

This is one of those rare occasions where I use a song title that I’ve used previously. It seemed most apt.

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2008/12/mcclurkin-20.html?cid=142975806#comments
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2008/12/17/7428

written an hour or so later:
I can get so fired up. I know, it’s politics. Still the Rev. Peter Gomes from Harvard would have been a MUCH better choice. I saw him on television a while ago and found him to be so intelligent and well spoken and open minded. It would have been a perfect fit! He has done the invocations for Reagan and Bush I, and he’s a celibate gay man.

Everyone wins! But Nooooooooo…..