… and Non-Believers

Yes, our new Potus has, for the first time in an address by a President, explicitly included in his description of America that faction among us who don't have imaginary friends. Hemant Mehta commented on this, but I saw it live via satellite and felt included. My fellow curly-headed 47 year old with a foreigner for a father took the oath of office, and included me. Not by name, but by my most often ignored demographic categories. In the name of Fair and Balanced, the name of Jesus was also uttered for the first time during an inaugural ceremony during a painfully theistic invocation. Many in the VIP section crowd appeared uncomfortable with it. Ted Kennedy, brother of the first Irish-American and/or Catholic president, was there to see it. Then he was taken to the hospital. Four former presidents dating back to the election of 1976 were there. And I forego naming the other 2,000,000 or so present at the moment. The scene was so overwhelming that the President Elect (a seasoned and elegant public speaker) briefly fumbled during the oath. Quite a day!

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Bless us with discomfort . . .

Now here's a memorable and thoughtful prayer (this link includes the written transcript). It was delivered by Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson as part of the pre-inauguration activities.   As you might recall, Robinson is seen by many as a counter-weight to Obama's selection of Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation.  …

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When Holidays Collide

One might say that this year we have an inordinately appropriate pair of largely ignored January holidays. Today is Martin Luther King day, and tomorrow Barack Obama will be inaugurated as the 44th president. This morning PZ Myers posted excerpts from Kings Letters from a Birminagham Jail, plus links to…

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The Economist says good riddance to George W. Bush

The Economist pulled no punches in saying good riddance to George W. Bush.    Consider the headline to this article:"The frat boy ships out."  The article has relatively few good things to say about the Bush Administration, especially when it comes to lack of fiscal restraint, but also the lack of…

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The hypocrisy of charging that the American flag has been desecrated

You hear many conservatives yelping about "flag desecration," as though the torture of hundreds of prisoners conducted by the U.S. is not flag desecration. Here is a post pointing out further hypocrisy, expecially the cherry-picking done by conservatives.   The  sections of U.S. Code cited by this article suggest that even…

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