A shout out! Obama actually recognized, however passing it may have been, us 'non-believers'. That's notable. An African-American may have been elected but I cannot foresee a time when anyone who admits to being an atheist will ever sit in the oval office.

I loved the speech. I've heard some comments that he may have put pragmatism before poetry, but I say hooray. his eloquence may have left him momentarily during the oath but he found it again. Given the pressure of two million visible faces and the countless other faces watching from home, I can't imagine the pressure. Add to that an entire race's turning point pivoting on your head..I would have been a gibbering idiot.

I spoke to my parents after the speech and was very curious as to their reactions. Both of them came from poor, white, rural backgrounds and both of them grew up with racism as a way of life. In my younger days, we butted heads some on what language I wanted to hear in my presence, but to be fair, they always respected that and have come a long way. At any rate, my stepdad said (I'll paraphrase but I assure you it's his language, he's very colorful) "You know, people treat him like he's on a donkey wearing a crown of thorns and they're throwing palm fronds at his feet. They want him to be a messiah but nobody can be that, I'm really afraid of what it's going to be like when everybody turns on him...and I hope nothing happens to him, there are still people down south who wear sheets." I was flabbergasted that my mother, who has no patience for politics or even the news, watched the entire speech. She said "It's going to be really hard in the coming  months, I just hope people listened to what he was saying, that the people from all backgrounds made this country and that we all have to fix it together."

If Obama won my folks over, I think there is a chance to live in a less partisan nation, at least for a little while. That's my personal take on it anyway.

Steve King: Obama Can Say "Hussein," But I Can't
In an interview with Politico, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) criticized Barack Obama for saying he will use his middle name when he is sworn into office. King says it's a double standard that people on the right are attacked for referring to "Barack Hussein Obama," but Obama can do it himself: "Is that reserved just for him, not his critics?"

OK, dipwad, first of all, it's the man's name. I for one am glad he's going to use it. Makes me happy, in fact. Secondly, perhaps you answer yourself, Mental Giant. He is using his middle name as part of a ceremony in which he is required to, you know, give his name whereas the cuckoo conservatives - or critics - as you call yourselves, have used his middle name to try to imply he is something he is not and to try to appeal to the spectres of fear and racism for your own ends. Not that this should surprise me, not after 8 years of Bush pulling that crap. Go back to your office and write another verse of Barack the Magic Negro  you dolt.

5) When testifying before Congress in 2007, L. Paul Bremer, the former head of reconstruction in Iraq, was unable to account for as much as $12 billion—about half of his budget—as the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority between May 2003 and June 2004. According to a report by Rep. Henry Waxman, contractors brought bags to meetings in order to collect shrink-wrapped bundles of money.

((all times are pretty much fudged as I don’t currently have a watch))

1:50 pm – I arrive at the First Presbytarian Church in Coal Valley with my parents. It is my day off and I have agreed to help wrap fifty some odd boxes worth of toys for Christmas baskets. My parents are both very active in the local Lions club, and every year in conjunction with the church, they put together Christmas baskets including food and presents for all the kids in the household for various families in the area going through rough times. It’s quite an undertaking and I’m always happy to help out. Most of the toys are purchased with donated money or come from donation boxes that are set out around town. Sometimes people, like my sister and I, will ‘adopt’ one of the families and buy presents for the kids. This year I bought winter coats, earbuds, art supplies, and computer games for Travis and Sabrina. I hope they like their stuff.

1:51 – My mother remembers she left the pop she meant to bring in the freezer and worries it’s going to explode. I remember I forgot to bring my scissors. My stepdad Chuck remembers he wants a Mountain Dew. I get handed the keys and climb back into the big white van and head back to the homestead.

2:10 – Two Diet Mountain Dews, a Diet Pepsi, and a pair of scissors later I arrive back at the church and go down into the basement hall where several church ladies are already at work. I clear out a space at a table and begin assembling the needed supplies. Everyone’s already taken the pretty wrapping so I end up taking the old stuff they’ve had for years that’s really very ugly. I grab a roll of tape that is nearly gone then grab another figuring I’ll need it. Couple sheets of sticker tags. My first box is drug over to my work space, and I’m off. Toys have already been assigned to each family so it’s just a matter of wrapping what’s in there and getting the right name on each one. Easy peasy.

2:20 – My cousin Amy and her fiancé arrives. She sits at the table behind me and announces her readiness to begin. She notices that I have two rolls of tape and takes one of mine rather than walk down to the supply table, leaving me with the roll that is almost gone. I irrationally bristle at this. I remember a trip I took as a pre-teen with Amy, my aunt, and my mother. We went down to Branson Missouri and stayed at this little highway side motel where Amy and I both got a crush on the motel owner’s son Arno. Ah, Arno. He was as blond as you can be without being an albino and cute as a button. Amy made out with him. And now she’s taken my good tape. I realize I may have some unresolved issues.

2:30 – My nephew arrives. Yay Matthew! It’s a happy, unexpected surprise. Chuck needs the help with the boxes and running and whatnot. I do not comment on the irony that we are in a church and Matthew and I are atheists who enjoy a good conversation or nine about the religious reich. Matthew is wearing a black, Gunsmith Cats T-shirt featuring an alluring anime girl kissing a pistol. I can’t say he didn’t wear it on purpose.

2:46 – My nephew swings by the table and asks “Aren’t you done yet?” I am trying to wrap a nerf football. It looks like crap. I reply “Don’t you berate me for my speed!”

2:48 - My nephew swings by the table and asks “Aren’t you done yet?” I come up with some tart reply and one of the church ladies announces she needs another box. Matthew proclaims ‘Huzzah!’ and hurries off to take care of it.

2:55 – Pastor Tim eyes the wrapping paper supply and helpfully suggests it’s better to go out early for something you need then have people standing around. My mother immediately dispatches Matthew to make a run to the Dollar Store. Somehow he manages to get money from both of the folks. Slick!

3:01 – I realize that one of the kids in my box has five presents and the other two only have three. I mosey down to the Great Table of Equalization. This is a table full of toys that have not been assigned precisely for this reason, to ensure there is no sibling rivalry. To even things up I grab two matchbox cars, an erasable ‘Cars’ memo board, and a Playdoh pack. I forgo the Bible action figures. I am soon back at my station finishing up.

 
– Pastor Tim and the church ladies discuss moving plans for tomorrow to earlier in the day due to the big ice storm that’s going to hit tomorrow. One lady stubbornly clings to her daily schedule and says she can’t do anything until after Oprah. Somewhere in the room a child’s musical toy is set off and everyone reflexively checks their cell phones.

3:15 – The nephew returns with the wrapping paper and gives me an F+ for not being finished with my box. I finish soon after and begin putting the wrapped gifts back in the box. I reach for one particularly awkward shaped package and the paper rips. I loudly proclaim ‘Oh Christ!’ and immediately begin to glance around furtively.

3:24 – Matthew drags over my second box. On the way over he stops and pulls up a Dora the Explorer sleeping bag out of a box of wrapped gifts and proclaims it the most awesome. It is awkwardly shaped and someone decided it would be too difficult to wrap so they slapped a big gold bow over Dora’s face and stuck a tag on it. I am amused but try not to encourage him. Box 2 is a household with multiple children. It’s gonna be a long one. I decide to take all of the toys out of the box first so I can put the wrapped ones back in as I go.

3:35

 3:50 – I’m trying to use up this roll of god-awful wrapping paper covered in forest green poinsettias with fake gold foil filigree in the background. “This is like ugly old grandma wrapping paper,” I comment to my nephew then belatedly notice my mother standing beside me. “Not YOUR Grandma, MY grandma,” I hastily add. “You mean Grandma Bowles?” Matthew asks and the grandma discussion turns into the ‘Who’s on First’ of ugly wrapping paper.

4:03 – My cousin Amy takes half my sticker tags but I find out she brought sugar cookies from my Uncle’s bakery. Forgiveness may be possible after all.

4:10 – Matthew has discovered the Bible action figures.  He is enamored. They too are awesome and I fear he may sneak one or two out under his coat when we leave. He asks me if I’ve seen ‘Jesus Camp’ yet. I explained that I wasn’t going to watch it because I knew just how yucky it would make me feel. He cajoles me to watch it, ensuring me it would give me countless opportunities to slap my forehead in dismay, something I did many times when we went to see ‘Religulous’. I am unmoved.

4:20 – I count the presents in the box. One of the kids seems to be one present short so I return to the Great Table of Equalization and choose a magic drawing board. I get it wrapped and in the box and only then notice I wasn’t really short. I had missed some of the gifts I had earlier set aside to make room. Matthew is dispensed back to the Great Table under strict instructions to leave Moses and David be. Yay! Extra presents for the box!
 

 4:30 – Box two is finished. While I’m wrapping a karaoke machine at my mother’s request, the last box is assigned to Amy. Of course. I swallow my competitiveness and a sugar cookie as Pastor Tim begins cleaning up the table I’m sitting at. Not to rush me, he assures.

4:35 – The clean-up. Matthew and I talk about how none of the movies we want to see are in wide release yet. We agree on the need to see ‘Frost/Nixon’ and ‘Milk’. Other titles are bandied about like ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, that new Clint Eastwood movie where he plays the old racist, and ‘Valkyrie’, and ‘Doubt’.

4:50 – Matthew kindly offers to drive me home while the folks are finishing up. I talk Matthew into stopping at the folks and hooking up Chuck’s new computer monitor for him. We christen it by showing each other You Tube clips. The end of a great afternoon.

"I've got this thing and it's (expletive) golden, and I'm just not giving it up for (expletive) nothing. I'm not gonna do it," Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich says in a conversation intercepted by the FBI.

"I'm going to keep this Senate option open for me as a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain," he is quoted as saying. "You hear what I'm saying. And if I don't get what I want and I'm not satisfied with it, then I'll just take the Senate seat myself."

You can't make this shit up -- nobody would believe it! So ha ha. Busted. Couldn't have happened to a nicer Rod. Can we start the impeachment proceedings tomorrow,  please? 

This is like the 3rd governor of Illinois in three decades busted on corruption charges. Rod's predecessor was Republican George Ryan who is currently in prison for selling truckers' licenses to people who had no business being on the road, among other things. This led to, among other things, a bus crash in WIsconsin that killed 6 children.  He was always kind of a strange bird though. He was the first sitting US governor to meet with Fidel Castro. And one of his last acts was to commute the death sentences of all prisoners on death row as a result of some high profile cases where condemned inmates were later exonerated, leading him to question if justice was being administered fairly (happy to debate capital punishment another time, but I consider this to be a very good thing).  Don't count old George out yet -- an appeal has been made to Bush to pardon him.

And these two are just the latest...ah, the old home state. Can't wait to see how the next one is going to hang himself.