Oregon's Sesquicentennial

Oregon turned 150 years old today!

Visit the Official Oregon Sesquicentennial Website to learn more.

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Tags:  1859-2009,, Oregon,, Oregon Sesquicentennial, & Sesquicentennial

POTUS's BlackBerry & Jon Stewart's Changefest '09

The video clip runs 8:42 and only gets funnier as it goes on. Like Jossip.com, I'm surprised Jon Stewart forgot about Mr. Potter from Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. But Stewart's take on the now ex-VP is not what had me laughing the most. I think I really started to ROTFLOL when "Billary" made a brief appearance. From that point on Stewart gets funnier and funnier and funnier. And Elizabeth Alexander is no Dr. Maya Angelou circa 20 Jan 93, and speaking of Maya Angelou, I disagree with Stewart's take on Michelle Obama's yellow outfit. I liked it and as a friend at the Dallas County Democratic Party celebration on Inauguration night at Trinity Hall Irish Pub said, "Michelle Obama could wear a trash bag and still look beautiful."

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inauguration

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Tip of the hat to Jossip.com, which I found from Pink Is The New Blog, which I found from Marc Ambinder's blog at TheAtlantic.com, and I found Marc's blog when I followed a link from the BBC about how President Obama is getting to keep his BlackBerry. Speaking of which, Richard Koman over at the ZDNet Government Blog talks about the value of Obama's BlackBerry obsession to RIM. [See what it might cost.] The ZDNet Government Blog is also reporting that POTUS #44 is in BlackBerry Heaven, while Tech.Yahoo.com says Obama wins first battle -- to keep BlackBerry.

Oh and one technological sign of Change over at WhiteHouse.gov - the weekly Presidential radio address (which I have never head on the radio) - will now be a Presidential video address. That and the BlackBerry are signs that our new President is very much a "Digital Native" and a member of GenX.

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Tags:  Barack Obama, BlackBerry, Comedy, Comedy Central, Elizabeth Alexander, Fashion, GenX, Inaugural, Inaugural Events, Inauguration, Jon Stewart, Maya Angelou, Michelle Obama, Obama, Obama's BlackBerry, Other Bloggers, Other Blogs, Poetry, President Obama, Technology, Video, & White House

And in case you missed the Regime Change on Tuesday, 20 January 2009:



[Note: Actually, only 43 individual people have taken the Oath - Grover Cleveland was the 22nd President & the 24th President, since he served two non-consecutive terms as President.]

Added 11 February 2009 after I found it via WhiteHouse.gov:


The Inaugural Poem - she still ain't Maya Angelou c. 1993, but the poem in isolation from the other events of the 20th does sound better than it did that day when I first heard it on C-Span. One might note that it rates fewer stars that the video above it, but when you consider who's in the other one . . . ;-)

Inauguration Day 2013

While looking for something else (don't ask), I found the following from the U. S. Gov't's Office of Personnel Management aka the OPM:

NOTE: Inauguration Day, January 20, 2013, falls on a Sunday. Therefore, the next succeeding day selected for the public observance of the inauguration of the President is a legal public holiday for an employee who works in the District of Columbia, Montgomery or Prince George's Counties in Maryland, Arlington or Fairfax Counties in Virginia, or the cities of Alexandria or Fairfax in Virginia, and who is regularly scheduled to perform nonovertime work on Inauguration Day. (See 5 U.S.C. 6103(c).) There is no in-lieu-of holiday for employees who are not regularly scheduled to work on Inauguration Day. In addition, employees for whom January 21, 2013, is the legal public holiday for the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., are not entitled to an in-lieu-of holiday for Inauguration Day if the day selected for the public observance of the inauguration of the President is January 21, 2013.

So should President Obama decide to run for re-election in 2012 and is re-elected [which he would be of course] he will take the oath of office for the second time on the same day as the Federal Holiday in honor of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday.

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Tags:  2012 Presidential Election, 2013, Barack Obama, Holidays, Inauguration, Inauguration Day, Martin Luther King Jr Day, MLK Day, Paid Holidays, President Obama, & Second Term

A Prayer for Barack Obama

O God, we give You thanks for Your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership, FDR’s courageous boldness and vision, and JFK’s ability to enlist the best efforts of our people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain for these times, not a fierce warrior who knee-jerk reacts to every real or perceived threat.

Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, remembering his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on his experience of the pain and rejection of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him patience and perseverance – not to give in to our whining (we love to do it when we don’t get our way), but rather to keep calling us to our better selves.

Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he’s president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking WAY too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore You, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of Your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity, and peace. AMEN.

[Source – The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire via The Boston Globe website]

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Tags:  20 January 2009, Barack Obama, Boston Globe, Episcopal Bishops, Inauguration, Prayers, Presidents, & +V. Gene Robinson

Changing Washington

First let me say I was that kid in U. S. History in the Jr. year of HS that totally killed the curve on the Geography test. I'm the one that labeled every state correct and got an A. Remember the exchange student from what was then West Germany? She came in second with a C, the only C in the class. That said, I know my geography (thank you National Geographic Society and whoever gave me that 50 state puzzle when I was a kid), so I can comment on the lack of Geographical knowledge by others, especially those who really should know better (and I'm not talking about Miss Teen South Carolina 2007 - and while I do have family in SC, I don't think she's any relation).



Nope, it isn't the lack of maps!



They also misspelled Newberg, Oregon as "Newberb" - I'm pretty sure it is N-e-w-b-e-r-g since that is how the State of Oregon spelled it on my official birth certificate.

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Tags:  British Columbia, DC, Geography, Maps, Miss Teen South Carolina 2007, NORAD, Screenshot, Typos, Video, Washington, Washington State, & YouTube