I just watched America's new President give his acceptance speech. I know some of you are probably already thinking "Oh, no, not again" but I'm half a world away so I didn't get a chance until I finished work this evening.
I think it was the best speech since JFK's and that was 48 years ago. Whatever else you think, the very fact that Obama was standing there shows how much America has changed. Perhaps there's even hope that in the same timespan people like most of us will be accepted as part of the wider community. I don't think one of us will ever be voted in as president, but who knows?
This man now has the hardest job in the world and he may fail, but his speech was inspirational and I am sure he'll give it his best shot, and that is not only in America's interests but in the interests of the rest of us out here.
The USA, whatever it's faults, has long been the standard-bearer of high ideals. It has been tragic to see those ideals trodden underfoot over the last several years, at least from where I sit.
I am saying we want that America back, the one without which large parts of Europe would now be Nazi or Fascist and East Asia and Australia would be speaking Japanese,the one that took us (yes, all of us alive at the time) to the Moon, and just maybe this man can lead you to it.
I wish you and President Obama luck. We all need it, and "Yes You Can"
Joanne
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The Inaugural Was Beautiful
I watched the moment on television yesterday and I was blown away at the sea of humanity that was there. He was very eloquent and his words inspired hope for all of us that witnessed it. The Neighborhood Ball was a really touching moment as they danced their first dance. I am hoping that he can help improve life for all of us who are Transgendered. Maybe someone will be brave enough to stand up and reintroduce legislation that will allow us to be protected under the umbrella of civil rights. I will admit that I did not vote for him, but I have hope that things will turn around for our country. The thing that has impressed me more than anything else, is his candor about the problems we face. Many politicians like to paint a rosy picture for the voters and make promises that are unrealistic. He tells it like it is and I admire that.
First one hundred days
I did not vote for Obama, being I am retired military and am actually fond of the Republican party due to how they take care of the military. I was disappointed that the Republican candidate did not get elected;however it does not mean I am closed minded.
So far Obama has seemed to show his ability to surround himself with people who know far more than he does in certain areas.
I don't care for his vice president as he never did anything for me or other combat vets as a senator from Delaware.
In true military fashion I don't have to like the current president but I have to honor his position. I feel that he will most likely show his mettle within the first one hundred days. Maybe he is the change we need to get away from the good ol' boys.
He has made a lot of promises almost like a chicken in every pot and if you don't have a pot the pot will come with the chicken.
As for how he sees the transgendered I think now is the time to creat a coalition to let the president see that we are not any different then the rest of the nation.
Jill Micayla
May you have a wonderful today and a better tomorrow
Jill Micayla
Be kinder than necessary,Because everyone you meet
Is fighting some kind of battle.
Ex-military doesn't necessarily mean conservative.
Jill, you have equated retired military and conservative/republican thought in other posts. I don't think that has to follow. Retired General Wesley Clark is a Democrat. Heck, my Dad was ex-U.S. Army and he was very liberal. Many of my friends are former military, and they are pretty equally divided between Republican and Democrat. I would go as far as to say that the mix of conservatives to liberals in the military isn't any different than in the general populace.
Just because someone was in the military doesn't automatically make them conservatives or Republicans.
Mr. Ram
Oh for goodness sakes.
Give me a break, I doubt the republicans would someone the likes of us to let them wash their feet let alone think we are worth shit. Voting for a man or woman for that matter due to such a narrow minded issue is no better than those folks who vote in those folks because they are pro-life - pro-Christian.
Vote for the good it brings to others too for goodness sakes. In the long run it will benefit the military also. More money going into the government - more budgeting for military - we all win.\\
The lack of support the Bush-head for the troups goes contra to the pro-military delusion about 'pubs - sending in under-armored vehicles - initial disdain for the General that complained there were insufficient troops to have a firm hold on the country. It took far too many deaths before he finally changed direction under Rummy. Where does this urban legend that republicans care more about the military is beyond me.
Finally, it is by definitions social liberals who has allowed Trans folks a place at the table and not the Social Conservative 'pubs who would rather see us dead or Goddess-forbid 'change us' and have us renounce our 'Sinful lifestyle CHOICE'.
Kim
I am an optimist
And wish Obama the best of success. He has one of the toughest jobs in the world and I don't envy him at all. I sincerely hope that all Americans, and indeed all people, get solidly behind him and do all they can to help him in his endeavours.
As one black person here in the UK said on television last night; "I would not have believed you if you had told me, when I was a child, that America would elect a black president in my lifetime."
There is hope for us, and all minorities; I believe that at least one country has, or had, a transsexual member of parliament. I am a member of at least three minorities and am being recruited by the local police onto their strategic planning committee - a situation which would have been impossible even ten years ago.
Strangely, on reading this post, Jenny Walker's "Chasing Hope" immediately sprang to mind.
If the media would abandon the minutiae of gossip and concentrate on important matters, such as equality, fairness and human rights - and encouraging world leaders to embrace these - I am sure that humanity could make faster and more effective progress towards true friendship and mutual acceptance. This will inevitably take many years but, as I say, I am an optimist.
Susie
transsexual Member of Parliament
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgina_Beyer
Thanks, Hon!
Thanks for the sweet words and the sweeter wishes!
Let's all hope, and work for, a better day and a better world!
Childish Selfishness
Like Kennedy, he laid much of the responsibility for America at our own feel, as it rightly should be. Those taking over from my generation were raised by consumptive irresponsible people who were fed upon by the greedy. No matter who got elected, they deserve the support of the people. The world has such high expecations of the man. It worries me.
Just wondering
In 1970 I moved back to the States and started fourth grade after having lived abroad for three years, having attended a school with teachers mostly from the UK and students largely from all over the former Empire. I remember being bemused at having to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning; even then it struck me as the kind of blatant political indoctrination and call to blind obedience you just don't expect in "the land of the free." But I was even more taken aback that afterward we all sang "God Save the Queen," only with the wrong words ("My Country, 'Tis of Thee"). It seemed terribly ironic that we had a "patriotic" song set to the tune of the national anthem of the country we'd fought a war with over our independence.
I've gotten used to it since then, but I'm just wondering what the rest of the English-speaking world thought of Aretha Franklin singing that at the inauguration. Was it as surreal to you as it was to eight-year-old me, or is it... justme?
I Thought It Was Pretty Good But Her Hat Was A Bit Much!
I thought the song was pretty good and just thinking of the history that brought her to that moment was powerful. I felt that her hat was a bit over the top! She should have asked the First lady who her designer was before she showed up wearing such a ridiculous thing. Michelle looked marvelous!
An understatement
I think the "hat" was supposed to be a Westernized "Gele" which is a Nigerian women's head-dress. They have become quite large and outrageous with comments about them like "satelite dish" and "radio tower" being descriptors. It was her singing though that got to me, the first verse was intelligible, after that I was beginning to think she simultaniously forgot the words and had an altzhiemers(sp?) eppisode but I was definately not following where she was going with it. Love her, she is definately a classic but come on folks this was Obama's day, not the Acadamy Awards, make a personal statement elsewhere. Same went for the poem, the woman may have been recognized as a talented person but her "special written just for this day" poem flat out sucked.
Michelle was stunning and the gown she wore later to one of the balls was regal. It is going to be a pleasure watching these people. Intelligent, articulate and good looking.
As for the head gear, singing and poetry, I'm not a fashion designer, singer or writer so some would say I don't have a vote.
And the American National
And the American National anthem is set to the music of an old English drinking sone... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9lYC0lBfkA
Cautious hope...
Politics being what it is, I have a modicum of hope for the future, although the USA has a powerful lobby favouring an aggressive stance toward the world, or perhaps *against* the world would be more accurate.
I find it interesting, though, to find the party with the most politicians in it who worked very hard to avoid supporting the military by actually *serving* in it, protecting their brothers and sisters with their lives, rather than their mouths, is depicted as supportive overall, with the implication that the "military" supports Republicans.
Seventy-five percent of the troops who gave money to a political party gave money to the Democrats, and the largest support for Republicans is actually amongst the officers, who tend to reflect upper-class values. So if the troops are viewed honestly, they're actually more Democratic than the country as a whole.
And I think it might be more accurate to say that there has always been *huge* support amongst the Party leadership for the *manufacturers* of military equipment, and *huge* amounts of money thrown at them, even when that money could have been better spent on the welfare of the troops on the ground.
Their response to the actual needs of servicemen and women, as opposed to the arms industry, has always been less generous, and their stance toward lesbians, gay men, and transsexuals who wish to serve in the military is grotesquely hateful.
When it came time to choose between military families and the bankers, the Republicans voted squarely in favour of the bankers, overturning a Democratic amendment to exempt military personnel from the draconian new bankruptcy rules, adding language instead to allow "asset protection trusts" so that rich people who file for bankruptcy can exempt most of their wealth by setting it aside, which is awfully handy for them. Too bad ordinary wage-earners and military personnel can't take advantage of it.
When it came time to provide funding for disabled veterans and the needs of military families, they cut funding for military hospitals and instituted horrific rules to ensure that whatever help they did receive came late, in niggardly amounts, and in squalid conditions.
When it came time to protect soldiers, they cut funding for armoured vehicles and personal armour, freeing up more money for their corporate sponsors. There's just not enough profit to be made in personal armour, or small armoured vehicles, so they collectively didn't give a damn. Star Wars missile defence systems, on the other hand, about as useful as rabbit's foots but *very* expensive as a protection against missiles, are perennially popular, as are aircraft and missile systems with per unit costs exceeding the national products of most nations in the world.
So part of my hope, is that we may now have a president who thinks of our soldiers as something more than window dressing for shows of macho bluster and specific acts of commercial piracy.
Puddin'
---------------------
The world has achieved brilliance without
wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is
a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
We know more about war that we know about
peace, more about killing that we know
about living.
--- Omar Bradley, General of the Army
-
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Republicans != Military Support !
Well Said !!!! You present a far better case for the hypocrisy of the Republican attitude towards the military. There are still folks who are still living in the Vietnam era and still for some reason think Republicans support the troops that much more.
Kim
Inauguration Satellite Image
If you want to see an amazing high-resolution satellite image of the crowd follow this link to an Inauguration Image. It is almost 10 Meg so you may want to look at a (180Kb) low-res image instead.
Another Inauguration picture
I know this is a bit late (four days), but I just got this gigapan link and thought some might enjoy it. You can zoom in and make out the faces.
If you go past Grant (the statue of the guy on the horse) and toward the Smithsonian Castle, see the person in the red parka near the tent? That's not me. My neighbor claims it's her, but it's better on the people up front. W looks bored, or something. Everyone behind the podium looks bored actually (Except Michelle O, and Clarance Thomas has gone to sleep) - I guess those aren't people who sit around a lot; Not people to go to a movie or concert with.
I was on Wisconsin and listened to the speech on the radio. I don't do crowds much, and it was cold out there! There was no traffic at all during the inauguration. None, and no one in the shops. (John, where I live Wisconsin is stuck in between Massachusetts and Connecticut, and since that doesn't give it much room, it usually has tons of traffic on it.) I wasn't out when people were coming and leaving though, and went no where near the Metro.
Maybe it is all silliness. I mean, when Blair was elected PM (wrong word... became PM), he had tea with the Queen the next morning and was grilled during Question time that afternoon - none of this ten week limbo and huge cerimony. But there are some advantages to doing it this was (with the legislators and head of government totally separated). and this is the fifth inauguration since I have lived in Washington, and none have been at all like this one. Maybe there is something to this hope thing; maybe a lot of people are tired of the old government. And there have been some conciliatory sounds on both sides. A lot less rancor than four, eight or twelve years ago. Maybe that is just silliness too, but I hope not.
Joy; Jan