President Obama Signs Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010

The Truth

REPEAT after Thomas Ricks of the Washington Post, as overheard on MSNBC this morning:

"This president has inherited the worst foreign policy situation than any president in American history. And that's not even his biggest problem."

Disagree with his policies. Wish for him to fail, if you must. But every time sometime throws a bullshit criticism at the president for attempting to do too much, just repeat that truth.

No need to even explicate, just say it every time someone goes there.

The truth shall set you free.

Rebuilding America

In its latest attempt to dampen Obama's approval ratings, the corporate media apparatus is pushing the narrative that the president is trying to do too much.

When someone has vision -- actual vision -- he razes the house, rebuilds it, and plans for renovations 10 years down the road when talking to the design and construction team about the project.

President Obama is doing exactly what he was elected to do. And the American people who elected him know it.

People trust the president far more than the shills on TV.

And the corporate media apparatus can't stand it.

That Sound You Hear

IS THE screaming of the executives at CNBC and their parent company General Electric. You see, comedian Jon Stewart just exposed them for the snake oil salesman they all are.

An all because Rick Santelli bailed on the show.

I've never put a penny in Wall Street. I'm sorry for those whose retirement accounts are gambled away by lying, greedy, con artist gambling addicts.

Jon Stewart reveals it all for the casino it is and exposes the shilling cheerleaders for their role in all the corruption.

Give the man a Peabody and an Emmy. Give Joe Nocera, interviewed in the third segment, who breaks down the AIG scam here the Pulitzer. Now.

He has done the job the corporate media anchors can't do. They shill for the beneficiaries of the bullshit you're about to have broken down for you like counting for kindergartners.

This needs to go viral.









This man needs to disappear like a ghost.

Black History Month: The White House Honors Stevie Wonder

An evening of celebration with President and Mrs. Obama at the White House in honor of musician Stevie Wonder's receipt of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song takes place February 25, 2009. The concert will include performances by Wonder with a cavalcade of popular musicians, performing a selection of Wonder's hit songs.

WHAT was it I just wrote about the measure of a culture?

Today's Tidbit

PRESIDENT Obama's speeches are like good jazz. No matter how familiar the riff, I always hear something new.

The Other Red Carpet

THE FIRST formal White House event. The Governors Association comes to dinner.

Portland Mayor Jill Duson Met With President Barack Obama

FIRST meets first. Portland's first Black mayor (who was also this year's Electoral College President) met with the nation's first Black president. So many firsts. So much awe.

Duson, the only mayor from Maine at the White House gathering, met with Obama briefly. She said she voiced her support for his efforts to track how the money is spent.

"I am personally committed to make sure that our senators – who went out on a limb for the package – can demonstrate that it was administered properly and efficiently and created jobs in the Portland region," she said in a telephone interview after the meeting.

U.S Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins were among only three Republicans to support the measure.

Maine could receive an infusion of about $1 billion from the economic stimulus bill, which Obama signed into law Tuesday. The stimulus also includes at least $262 million for education and $133 million for transportation projects in Maine.

Portland's $96 million wish list includes $12 million to eliminate combined sewer outflows, $9.5 million for a deep-water cruise ship berth at the Ocean Gateway terminal and $23 million to expand the Portland International Jetport terminal.

Duson said she learned during the meeting that urban areas are eligible for additional stimulus funding for cities. She said officials in the region and the state will have to learn more about the new program and how to apply for the money.

"The Greater Portland region has a real role to play as partners with the state in terms of how these funds get into our state," she said.

89

89. You woulda been 89. And
you woulda seen last month what I saw.
Sitting amidst those other great Black patriots
from Tuskegee, you woulda seen the

African man, the American man,
the wise family man raise his right hand
and become your Commander-In-Chief.
Oh, I'm sure you were there--

high atop your perch on the other side,
taking in such history. Your other
son fixed your fireplace today.
Lit a raging fire in the room we made your

own. I'm playing Joshua Redman and
Shirley Horn on your stereo.
Just like Mama, your other son
thinks the bass is too loud.

Ever since you left us, seems like
everybody in the spotlight got
pancreatic cancer. Kinda like
when you buy a new car and suddenly

everybody seems to be driving the one you just
bought. I don't need to name names. Some of them
are already with you across the river. Your other son
gave me a Cupid card today. I had to leave

your room, run upstairs.
In a haze, I changed our bed.
Put on the wedding-white,
fit-for-a-king sheets my sister

gave us for Christmas. Suppose
that's what true marriage is:
a psychic commitment to
its utter unbreakability. Can't

hide. It's bout as bad as it's ever been. I'm
sure you'll show me what to do soon. Maybe even show
him. Till then, your sons soldier on, familiar
strangers across a room crowded with rebuke. Wish

I could hear your old wise voice anyway. African
man. American man. Family man. But I can't yet
play back a single video of you to hear it.
Happy birthday, Daddy. You woulda been 89.

President Barack Obama Celebrates President Abraham Lincoln

BY NOW, virtually everyone knows that Abraham Lincoln is President Obama's favorite president. He might even believe he's channeling the man. Not for nothing is he the first president to be sworn in with his hand on the Bible Lincoln used at his swearing in. According to a local news broadcast I watched last night, Fred Kaplan, the author of Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer, said that the one time he saw the then President-elect Obama, he was carrying his book around.

Today, President Obama takes a break from negotiations on the hill to observe Lincoln's 200th birthday.

While President Obama's focus will still be on the economy today, he will take time to mark the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, beginning this morning when he delivers remarks at the Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration in the Capitol Rotunda.

According to the White House press office, the President will then travel to Peoria, Illinois, where he will visit the Caterpillar Plant with Sen. Dick Durbin and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Then it's on to Springfield, where President Obama will give a speech at the 102nd Abraham Lincoln Association Annual Banquet, before returning to Washington later tonight.

MSNBC reported that the President will be spending the weekend in Chicago (he's got to be jonesing for his favorite Italian restaurant, no?) not returning to Washington.

Yesterday, the AFP reported that he paid tribute to Lincoln by making a pilgrimage to the site of his assassination.

President Barack Obama made a poignant pilgrimage to "hallowed" Ford's Theatre where his political hero, president Abraham Lincoln was cut down by an assassin's bullet.

Obama's historical status as America's first black president is forming a circle-closing undertone to 200th birth anniversary celebrations of Lincoln, the president instrumental in abolishing slavery.

He took a three-minute motorcade from the White House to officiate at the ceremonial reopening of the theatre, after its 18-month, 25 million dollar renovation, a day before Civil War president Lincoln's bicentennial.

"Despite all that divided us, north and south, black and white, (Lincoln) had an unyielding belief that we were, at heart, one nation, and one people," said Obama, who repeatedly invoked the memory of Lincoln in his 2008 campaign.

"And because of Abraham Lincoln, and all who've carried on his work in the generations since, that is what we remain today," said Obama in remarks released by the White House.

View slideshow in full screen mode and click on view info in the upper right to see photo descriptions.

For the record, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is celebrating its 100th birthday today.

Redemption

TIME heals all wounds. Love helps.

Obama Appoints Openly Gay Advisor For Faith-Based Initiatives

FRED DAVIE, the openly gay president of Public/Private Ventures, has been named to serve on President Barack Obama’s Policy Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Davie will work to provide objective, nonpartisan advice to the president on a variety of public policy matters, including strategies to increase the effectiveness of social services delivered by community and faith-based organizations.

Public/Private Ventures is an organization that creates and strengthens programs to improve the lives of residents in low-income communities. P/PV is composed of research, policy and program development experts who specialize in education, employment, prisoner reentry, juvenile justice, public health, youth development and more.

President Obama Takes First Air Force One Flight

President Obama on way to Marine One. He greets his Marine guard to the young man's stunned amazement.



Boarding Air Force One for the first time.



Doing something Bush did only once in eight years -- walking into the press cabin and taking questions.

(Photos and captions found here)

Black History Month: Honoring Eric Holder

JUST TODAY, Eric Holder was confirmed by a Senate vote of 75-21 and has become the first Black Attorney General in the history of the United States. In many ways, his confirmation could be even more impactful than the election of President Obama. A Department of Justice that actually prosecutes civil rights violations against people of color?

Now that's change we can believe in.

What an appropriate beginning to Black History Month.

The Ball

For best results, view slide show in full screen mode by clicking on the icon on the bottom right of the photo screen.

WE ARRIVED at the Biden Home States Ball in plenty of time to see our beautiful new dignitaries. Hubby was providing minute-by-minute coverage of the President and First Lady's whereabouts from back home via cell phone, so James and I thought we had to rush to the ball in order not to miss them, but we didn't.

The atmosphere was joyous and electric. The food was horrible. Pasta. Crudite. Room temperature chicken pinwheels. Where were the crabcakes?

The drinks were expensive but we had too many anyway.

The Vice President and his wife showed up first. Jill Biden worked her red gown. I couldn't stop taking pictures. Half hour or so later, the President and First Lady arrived. To hear "Hail to The Chief" played by the band before he walked onto the stage set my skin on fire. I'd have taken more snapshots, but I was busy shooting video on a digital camera that malfunctioned. Oh, well. The memory of it all is burned into my mind.

We were about 20 feet from the President and First Lady and I can say that Michelle Obama's dress looked much better in person than it does in any photographs. I wasn't a fan of the one-sided top, but she was regal and elegant as always.

President Obama was so close his voice resonated in my body when he spoke a few words to us. A woman behind me kept gasping as though she was going to faint. Cameras flashed like fireworks.

After more drinks, the band Maroon 5 came out to perform. I didn't know it at the time, but hubby informed me that it are one of the favorite bands of my favorite tennis player Andy Roddick.

Without warning, I stopped feeling my legs. I never took the nap I planned after the inauguration because I watched the parade on TV at Marianne's house. Now my body was crashing faster than surf.

How many places a day can go.

I took a few pictures with Jay Carney, the former Time Magazine reporter who'd just been tapped as the new communications director for the Vice President. He was the closest thing to a celebrity I recognized all night.

But I didn't care.

I got to feel President Barack Hussein Obama's voice resonate in my bones.

Previous: The Inauguration - Inaguration Eve

Kiberia Neighborhood, Nairobi, Kenya

(Thanks, rikyrah)

NOTICE the American flag.

At full stretch.

Just Because He's Black

(Thanks, Jack)

THIS essay, "Oh, the Possibilities...Obama and Black Men" is a must-read.

The Inauguration

View slide show in full screen mode. Click on the icon on the bottom right. If you want a soundtrack for this entry, click on Aretha.

I WOKE UP as charged up as a kid on Christmas morning. And just about as early. The 4:45 alarm was snoozed till 5:15 and then I was up and out.

James, my road-trip escort and magic maker, was equally excited. We choose not to have anything to do with the Metro, so Marianne, our host in Takoma Park, drove us as far down the city as she could before the roads were closed, and then we walked down North Capitol toward the Christmas tree.

"Good morning," most everyone said to anybody walking by.

In my head, I hear the song "Hear Comes The Sun."

Yes. I'm walking into a new and brighter day.

We arrived at the Purple Gate about 6:00 and even though I want to skip right to the front of it it, we followed the long line around a few corners and into the 395 Senate Exit at the 3rd Street tunnel. Police check our tickets and we enter the off ramp.

I can't see the end of the line.

And here I thought we were early.

We bonded with a couple from Kentucky, a couple from Atlanta, two friends from Ohio, and two friends from Los Angeles and New York.

The line isn't moving all that much, but a continuous stream of people keeps crawling down the tunnel like ants.

James had seen the purple area two days ago. It was not big enough to hold all the people in the tunnel.

Four-and-a-half hours later, we could finally see the light at the end of it. But something was amiss. You see, folks with silver tickets and blue tickets and yellow tickets were also among us.

I was not going to be stuck in some tunnel while President Obama was raising his right hand. Hell no.

I walked back out and around the corner just in time to hear some woman telling the line that there was a dense gridlock on D and 1st. No movement whatsoever. I found out later Jesse Jackson was the attraction. I bet he regretted saying Obama should have his balls cut off for talking down to Black people during the campaign, especially since he was mixed in with the purple ticket holders and not seated up close in the VIP sections. Oh well.

But I digress.

I went back and told our group that we weren't getting anywhere near the gate entrance anytime soon.

"Every tub stands on its own bottom," I heard my mother say with my mouth. "We need to get outta here."

They all stayed put but James and I pushed through the wall of people on D and 1st all the way to the purple entrance.

Somewhere along the way, a woman told us that the committee had given out two or three times as many tickets as the standing sections could hold. Nope. All of the 8,000 or so people in the tunnel were definitely not getting in.

10:45. We stood at the gate with folks who had just arrived, and by the looks of the movement into the gate 50 yards in front of us, we were going to get into the ceremonies at exactly the same time.

So much for getting up early.

::

I'm in awe of the Capitol's facade and the river of people that seems to flow down the National Mall for miles.

The District of Columbia ain't never been so integrated.

This is it.

It's 18 degrees but I feel hot. I stand on a wall just behind the bush we crawled through to get here. The wind gusts at my back as though trying to propel me toward the inaugural stand. Up to where the Tuskegee Airmen, who I can't see from here, sit.

I feel Daddy's presence. He is the main reason I am here, on this meaningful day, at this place in awe of the Capitol's facade, grateful for the blessed opportunity to bear witness to President Obama raise his right hand.

When Bush is announced, the crowd boos. The man from New York standing next to me cringes. For a man who has destroyed international prestige, killed our citizens in an unjust war, trampled our civil liberties, and raped and raped and raped the middle class, a man who has been on the networks lately lying and trying to rewrite history, I thought the booing was tame and oh, so appropriate.

It's called dissent. Remember what that feels like?

I hardly hear Diane Feinstein's introduction, Rick Warren's invocation, Joe Biden's swearing in. Hardly hear the Queen of Soul's "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" aka "America", but can clearly see her big old bowed hat sitting up on her head like a crown. Besides a bad sound system, I'm mostly distracted by the people shouting at those climbing atop the porta potties to snap a picture or two of history.

The people shouting are those from the Purple Tunnel of Doom lucky enough to get in. Yup. Right after the ceremonies began, security ditched their checkpoints, opened the gates, and let the multitude flow into the no-man's land between the Mall and the back of our area, right in front of the pond. I understand their frustration. I do. But I find it offensive that they would shout like a mob at those simply trying to catch a glimpse.

"Shut up. You can't see shit anyway." A male voice from the bush we crawled through to get here takes the thought right out of my head.

Later, I'll see Adrian, one from our tunnel group, walking out. So glad they got in.

There he is. Robed in bullet-proof clothes. His right hand raised. His left palm pressing the same Bible Lincoln pressed, held up by the green-gloved hands of his regal wife.

At the outset, she said her husband was special. Now we all know for certain what she was talking about.

Can this be? Can it?

After the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court botches the oath: Yes, it can. The 21-gun salute shakes me to the core. The crowd erupts as though its favorite artist has just returned to the stage for an encore.

But this is no encore. This is a debut. A brilliant, unimaginable, unfathomable debut by a young and gifted and wise Black man named Barack Hussein Obama who becomes the first African-American President of the United States of America. And in his inaugural address, he demonstrates the wisdom and the gifts that allowed him to get here so young.

He kicks Bush's ass. Over and over and over. He reminds us that the time to set aside childish things is upon us. He extends an olive branch to the Muslim world, an open hand to a fist unclenched. He lets those who would attack us know that we will outlast them, that they will be defeated, his tone a threat and a promise. He acknowledges that we are a nation of people of many faiths, and non-believers, too. He pays tribute to old truths and preaches about a new era of responsibility. My favorite movement in this most remarkable symphony:

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 -- honesty and hard work, 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 60 years ago might not have been served in a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

Oratory at once soaring and rooted.

The best part? He clenches. His. Fists.

A Black man with clenched fists is President of the United States.

Ancestors rejoice.

My water breaks.

Just like his.



And hers.






Next up: The Ball

Previous: Inauguration Eve

Giddy

I CAN'T feel my body from the waist down. I have few words.

I was 20 feet away from the President and First Lady when they danced at Biden Home States Ball.

I should have pics and video and more words posted on Thursday.

I'm so giddy I can't see.

Ecstasy

MORE on my unbelievable experience later.