Inaugural Special

Falls Creek Falls
Gifford Pinchot Nat'l Forest

There's nothing like starting the week a day late and a dollar short,now is there? For this I must apologize. Many things contributed to my absence from the blog yesterday, among them the Sunday from hell that projected itself into Monday. I will spare you the gory details but suffice it to say it was totally disconcerting. By the time I got all my ducks sorted into one row, it was too late to post anything. However, I will try to make it up to you somewhat with extra content today.

Today is the day we have waited upon for so long, George Bush will no longer be President and he can climb back under his rock in Crawford for all I care. I hear he is coming to Dallas, I hope he stays on that side of town and nowhere near me. Anyway, this is a day to celebrate the Historical Inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African American to be elected to the Presidency. It has been a long time coming and was a hard fought battle. Our work and his has just begun and will take lots of effort on all our parts to make sure America lives up to its noblest ideas as embodied by our Constitution and Bill of Rights. It is time to get America moving in the correct direction once again and to heal the wounds the last eight years have inflicted on America and the world at large. To kick of the Inaugural events the President-elect had a helluva party on the National Mall on Sunday with an estimate million in attendance. The most important attending other than Mr Obama was the Bishop Gene Robinson who gave the Invocation, becoming the first openly GLBT person to participate in any Inauguration or Presidential Event.

Following is the text of the invocation given by Bishop V. Gene Robinson at the opening ceremonies of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration. Robinson delivered the prayer at the base of the Lincoln Memorial facing a crowd said to be in the millions that filled the stretch of the National Mall all the way to the base of the Washington Monument.

Good afternoon,

Before this celebration begins, please join me in pausing for a moment to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.

Oh God of our many understandings, we pray that you will bless us with tears, tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die a day from malnutrition, malaria and AIDS.

Bless this nation with anger – anger at discrimination at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants; women, people of color; gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort at the easy simplistic answers we prefer to hear from our politicians instead of the truth about ourselves and our world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be fixed any time soon and the understanding that our next president is a human being, not a messiah. Bless us with humility, open to understanding that our own needs as a nation must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences.

Bless us with compassion and generosity, remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the ways we care for the most vulnerable. And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of the president of the United States. Give him wisdom beyond his years, inspire him with President Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for all people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our ship of state needs a steady calm captain. Give him stirring words, 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 reminding him of his own words that under his leadership there will be neither red nor blue states but a United States. Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him strength to find family time and privacy and help him remember that even though he is 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 far too much of this one, we implore you oh good and great God to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand that he might do the work that 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.

(Advocate.com)

With all the serious events coming up today before the real parties get started tonight, I thought you might enjoy a little humour to brighten the day. The first video is a spoof on Harmony.com called Broharmony.com celebrating Bromances. Then there is the excellent video I say on Towleroad which I know you will enjoy, Tanks in my Memory, "Fuck You George Bush". This video recaps the low lights of the Bush maladministration and is followed by a cute video featuring Obama and Obama Girl in a Duet. Forthwith, here are the videos:

BroHarmony.Com - A Place for Dudes to Meet Other Dudes @ Yahoo! Video


Tanks In My Memory - "Fuck You, George Bush"



Obama and Obama Girl Duet

I will have to catch the CNN or You Tube version of the Inaugural Speech but I will try to have it for you here tomorrow. In the mean time, enjoy the events of the day as the Inaugural Festivities will be almost all that is on the TV. Or you could spend some time choosing which of the following hotties would be the best candidate for a post in your Cabinet and which position you would place them in . I expanded the selections, so look them all over before making your choices, then let me know what they are by comment or email. Until next time as always, Enjoy!