The Commentariat -- Jan. 20, 2013
I think this Senate site is the official inauguration site. It's not all that helpful. Here's the Washington Post's inauguration page. it's not all that helpful. This About.com page on the inauguration includes the schedule of events.
The Washington Post is liveblogging the inauguration.
Brian Knowlton of the New York Times: "President Obama was quietly sworn into office for a second term just before noon in a brief and intimate ceremony, ahead of Monday's far showier public inaugural celebrations. The ceremony satisfied the Constitutional requirement that the president's swearing-in take place by noon on the Jan. 20 after an election.... The chief justice administered the oath faithfully and Mr. Obama repeated it accurately....":
President Obama & Vice President Biden laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery this morning. New York Times photo.Carrie Dann of NBC News: "Joe Biden was sworn in to a second term as the Vice President of the United States on Sunday morning, taking his oath from Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor -- the first Hispanic in American history to administer an oath of office. Biden personally selected Sotomayor, who is also the fourth woman to administer an oath, to conduct the brief ceremony at the vice president's residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.":
Jodi Kantor of the New York Times on how Barack & Michelle Obama have changed over the past four years.
Jeff Black of NBC News: "For the first time since Ronald Reagan’s second term, a president will take the oath of office in a private ceremony at the White House.... Obama's swearing-in Sunday will be a brief private affair at noon in the Blue Room of the White House, an ornate oval room often used to receive official guests. Only Obama's immediate family and a few reporters will attend, according to White House spokesman Jay Carney. The ceremony will be televised live, and streamed live on the Internet." ...
... Oh, God! The oath, as specified in the Constitution, reads, "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." BUT Cathy Grossman of Religion News Service reports, "When President Obama rests his hand on two historic Bibles to take his second-term oath of office Monday (Jan. 21), he'll add a phrase not mentioned in the Constitution: 'So help me God.' ... The first proof [the phrase] was used in a presidential oath of office came with Chester Arthur's inauguration in September 1881. Every president since, including Obama, has followed suit."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: President Obama & Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts -- who will administer the President's oath of office today & tomorrow -- have been at loggerheads since 2005 when Obama not only voted against Roberts' confirmation, he made a Senate floor speech explaining why: "'He has far more often used his formidable skills on behalf of the strong in opposition to the weak,' Mr. Obama said, accusing the nominee of not having done enough to fight race discrimination and what he called the unfair treatment of women in the workplace."
The President & Vice President will take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery at 9:00 am today.
Darlene Superville of the AP: "Monday's inaugural may be President Barack Obama's big day, but Martin Luther King Jr. will loom large over the festivities.... The president has said King is one of two people he admires 'more than anybody in American history.' President Abraham Lincoln is the other. In a nod to that admiration, Obama will take his ceremonial oath of office Monday using Bibles owned by both men. Lincoln's Bible, which Obama also used in 2009, will rest on top of King's, which is larger." ...
... Wil Haygood writes on the same theme for the Washington Post.
Jocelyn Noveck of the AP: "... a ballroom full of lucky kids got to rock out with Sasha and Malia Obama at Saturday's Kids' Inaugural Concert, a star-studded event that honors America's military families." Politico has a photo gallery.
Nick Anderson & Annie Gowan of the Washington Post: "President Obama stained a school bookshelf and Vice President Biden helped assemble care packages for troops, joining volunteers in Washington and elsewhere Saturday in a National Day of Service to start the inauguration weekend and commemorate the life of Martin Luther King Jr." ...
... The Obamas at a National Day of Service event:
The Washington Post has an interactive feature that has details about each president's inauguration ceremony(ies). It includes links to their full inaugural addresses.
Andy Borowitz: "Fox News Channel announced today that it would shut down for what it called 'routine maintenance' Monday morning at 11:30 E.T. Fox News president Roger Ailes explained the timing of the shutdown, which will be the first in the history of the network: 'We wanted to pick a time when we were positive nothing would be happening that our viewers would want to see.'"
Ross Douthat previews President Obama's inaugural address. Not hilarious, but a few high points.
Thom Hartmann in TruthOut: "The real reason the Second Amendment was ratified, and why it says 'State' instead of 'Country' (the Framers knew the difference - see the 10th Amendment), was to preserve the slave patrol militias in the southern states, which was necessary to get Virginia's vote. Founders Patrick Henry, George Mason, and James Madison were totally clear on that ... and we all should be too. In the beginning, there were the militias. In the South, they were also called the 'slave patrols,' and they were regulated by the states." CW: Scalia's claim that the Founders referred to the individual right to own arms is nonsense. Some originalist! And Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to you, Nino. Thanks to Barbarossa for the link. It is appropriate, isn't it, that there is likely tremendous overlap between assault weapons enthusiasts & white racists.
Byron Tau of Politico: "Former President Bill Clinton warned a group of top Democratic donors at a private Saturday meeting not to underestimate the passions that gun control stirs among many Americans. 'Do not patronize the passionate supporters of your opponents by looking down your nose at them,' Clinton said."
Will Weissert of the AP: "Gun advocates -- some with rifles slung across shoulders or pistols holstered at the hip -- have rallied peacefully in state capitals nationwide against President Barack Obama's sweeping federal gun-control proposals. Summoned via social media for the 'Guns Across America' event, participants gathered Saturday for protests large and small against stricter limits sought on firearms. Only a few dozen turned out in South Dakota and a few hundred in Boise, Idaho. Some 2,000 turned out in New York and large crowds also rallied in Connecticut, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Washington state."
Dorothy Wickenden of the New Yorker speaks with Jeff Toobin & Jill Lepore re: Roe v. Wade:
... Jill Lepore writes a (very) brief history of abortion rights. CW: One thing I didn't know -- Richard Nixon, on the advice of Pat Buchanan, was the guy who politicized abortion because he thought his taking a stand against abortion would put Ed Muskie -- a Roman Catholic -- between a rock & a hard place. Remind me never to say again that Barack Obama is to the right of Nixon. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.
CW: House Republicans have said they would pass a bill to raise the debt ceiling for three months with a requirement that both houses passed a budget in that time. I'm not sure how that will work out. Here's why: for those of you who would like to spend your Sunday studying arcane Congressional parliamentary rules (and who wouldn't?!), reader Chris M. found an explanation in the Economist of why the "Democrat-controlled Senate" hasn't passed a budget in three years. The bottom line: "the Senate could pass a budget resolution, but without the cooperation of the house or 60 votes, that resolution would not take effect; it would be an empty gesture." So the only way the Senate to pass a budget that has any meaning is if Republicans in one house or the other cooperates.
Maureen Dowd: Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York is really focussed. So he gets stuff done. ...
... Frank Bruni is interested in Andrew Cuomo's marital status -- not married, living with a celebrity cook -- & Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper's marital status -- married but separated. So he hopes their marital statuses won't hinder their ability to run for president. ...
... CW: it is apparently quite difficult to be a New York Times political columnists when you don't give a fig about politics. ...
... Nicholas Kristof writes about endocrine disruptors -- which are factors in weight gain. He at least knows what his job is: "Why should an op-ed columnist write about scholarship published in scientific journals? One answer is that obesity is an important national problem...."
Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "Richard W. Fisher, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas..., laid out a compelling proposal for shrinking financial giants in order to protect taxpayers. He suggested that megabanks be chopped into pieces, so that no one of them could endanger the financial system if it ran into trouble."
** Douglas Dalby of the New York Times: "A well-known Irish Catholic priest plans to defy Vatican authorities on Sunday by breaking his silence about what he says is a campaign against him by the church over his advocacy of more open discussion on church teachings. The Rev. Tony Flannery, 66, who was suspended by the Vatican last year, said he was told by the Vatican that he would be allowed to return to ministry only if he agreed to write, sign and publish a statement agreeing, among other things, that women should never be ordained as priests and that he would adhere to church orthodoxy on matters like contraception and homosexuality."
Lolita Baldor of the AP: "Sex ... [is] among the chief reasons that senior military officers are fired. At least 30 percent of military commanders fired over the past eight years lost their jobs because of sexually related offenses, including harassment, adultery, and improper relationships...." CW: sex is among the chief reasons for everything.
Right Wing World
Brian Tashman of Right Wing Watch: "The right-wing group Gun Owners of America has for the past few years been pushing the debunked conspiracy theory that the health care reform law will be used to collect information on gun owners, information that will later be used as part of a gun-confiscation scheme. Speaking with Family Research Council president Tony Perkins yesterday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) echoed that theory, claiming that President Obama's new executive actions have 'language in there talking about doctors being required to report on patients and ask patients if they own guns or not.' He warned that President Obama's 'going to use Obamacare apparently to have doctors informing on their patients to whether or not they have guns' and will put the information into 'government databanks.'"
News Ledes
New York Times: "The outcome of a regional election in the state of Lower Saxony remained a neck-and-neck battle between Chancellor Angela Merkel's party and its main rivals that was too close to call Sunday night, according to projections made hours after the polls closed."
AP: "A teenage boy fatally shot two adults and three children at a home near Albuquerque, authorities said Sunday.... Investigators also were seeking to determine who owned several guns that were found at the home, one of which was a semi-automatic military-style rifle."
AP: "Algerian bomb squads scouring a gas plant where Islamist militants took dozens of foreign workers hostage found 'numerous' new bodies on Sunday as they searched for explosive traps left behind by the attackers, a security official said, a day after a bloody raid ended the four-day siege of the remote desert refinery. The official ... said the bodies were badly disfigured and difficult to identify." ...
... AP: "President Barack Obama said Saturday the U.S. stands ready to provide whatever assistance Algerian officials need in the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attack at a natural gas complex in the Sahara." ...
... Reuters: "Three British nationals have been confirmed killed during a hostage crisis at a gas plant in Algeria, and a further three Britons along with a resident of Britain are believed to have died, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Sunday."
AP: "Burned out vehicles and scattered bullets dotted the streets of a central Malian town after radical Islamists retreated following days of French airstrikes, according to video obtained Sunday. The Malian military announced late Saturday that the government was now controlling Diabaly, marking an important accomplishment for the French-led offensive to oust the extremists from northern and central Mali."
Reuters: "More than 10 suspected al Qaeda operatives were killed by an explosion in a house in south Yemen where they were making bombs and at least three others died in a drone strike, tribal and official sources said on Sunday."
Reuters: "The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board ruled out on Sunday excess voltage as the cause of a battery fire on the Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner jet operated by Japan Airlines Co (JAL) at Boston airport this month. Last week, governments across the world grounded the Dreamliner while Boeing halted deliveries after a problem with a lithium-ion battery on a second 787 plane, flown by All Nippon Airways Co (ANA), forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing in western Japan."
Reuters: "Venezuela's government is open to improving troubled ties with Washington and is considering a U.S. proposal for the return of anti-drug agents kicked out of the country eight years ago by President Hugo Chavez, a senior official, [Venezuela's ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) Roy Chaderton,] said."
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Reader Comments (7)
Looks like C-Span 1 will stream the extravaganza beginning at about 10:30 AM (EST).
With that remark Roger Ailes reveals himself to be a nasty, low-class little pissant. "Common as pig tracks," as my mother used to say.
Re Fisher's suggestion about breaking up the bigger banks. Sounds good but not too likely to happen. Who does he think pays the Congresspeople and finances their elections? The small banks?
And located as he is in Texas, while he's in the breaking up business Mr. Fisher is in a perfect position to arrange the sundering of Exxon and maybe Standard Oil to boot into bite sized or at worst small nation sized pieces. Not likely either, but an equally good idea.
When banks and corporations are so large they have their own foreign policy, despite what the Mittster (remember him?) said about them, such large corporate entities are too large to share the planet with real pint sized people, particularly since for profit corporations, regardless of their size, are not created to share anything except their expenses, and those they gladly share with the taxpayer.
Immediately after a crisis, a bubble, an economic downturn, etc. 'everyone' want to fix things for the future, however as most of us realize the reality is what we get are half-assed solutions or worst of all nothing changes.
We nod and agree, Mr. Fisher's right about too many, too big
to fail banks that should be broken up. We nod and agree with Paul Volcker's ideas and proposals. We nod and agree, with yeah, Paul Krugman nailed it. We nod and agree, we click on " you recommended this." But life and big money continue to go on their merry way because as Blinder writes:.
"...people and governments have never learned anything from history.” Actually, I think people do learn. The problem is that they forget — sometimes amazingly quickly." —
Financial Collapse: A 10-Step Recovery Plan
By ALAN S. BLINDER (NY Times).
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/opinion/sunday/financial-collapse-a-10-step-recovery-plan.html?hp
Touching on @Ken Winkes comments on self-serving mega corporations run by capitalist psychopaths, OxFam came out with this report saying that the world's richest earned enough in 2012 to end poverty 4x over.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/19/super-rich-fight-poverty-oxfam
While maybe not 'new' news, it's always good to repeat as often and as loud as possible. It's extremely disconcerting to see the modern evolution of the global economy. One thing that screams in its absence is the forgotten idea of "sustainable" development these days. Sure we talk occasionally about "sustainable energy" which is certainly a step in the right direction. But if we look at the global perspective there's nothing sustainable about it.
I love the argument about how modern capitalism has provided the means to lift half the world's poorest out of absolute poverty. Ok, touché, but that's in a very large part thanks to the rise of China with its 1+billion who were generally very poor just 30 years ago. Different story for South/East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. But the talking suits singing the praises of their economic generosity always fail to mention that the number of people residing daily in relative poverty is constantly growing.
According to the world bank, today, "1.2 billion people still live in extreme poverty—below $1.25 a day—and nearly two and half billion people live on less than $2 a day."
Two and a half billion people today, scraping to get by with little hope of ever improving their plight.
I recommend the highly-informative powerpoint available on this World Bank blog for further info.
http://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/global-poverty-absolute-poverty-relative-poverty-a-fresh-look
The theories trying to explaining these global inequalities are numerous, and all nations should work together in solidarity to confront this situation. But knowing that, if the world's 100 richest people weren't such soulless recreants, billions of people could live in dignity...
..."explanation in the Economist of why the "Democrat-controlled Senate" hasn't passed a budget in three years. The bottom line: "the Senate could pass a budget resolution, but without the cooperation of the house or 60 votes, that resolution would not take effect; it would be an empty gesture." So-o-o-o, the only way the Senate to pass a budget that has any meaning is if Republicans in one house or the other cooperates."
SO––all those times that Boehner chastised the Democrat-controlled Senate for not coming up with a budget ––"They need to get serious" he'd say, was really all a sham? What a crock!
During Reagan's pre-inaugural parties which were the most lavish anyone had seen someone called it "A bacchanalia of the haves," marriage of the New Right with the New Rich.
Re: Tracking the flying pig. Thanks, Doug Connah. I love mom's (and dad's) old expressions; they're so earthy. "Common as pig tracks" covers so much ground, so to squeal. If, for some unfortunate reason, you've lived around pigs you know just how common pig tracks are. Sows are mean to the bone; never turn your back on a sow. Pigs are smart and taste really good. I promised I would stop eating pigs but although the spirit is willing, the flesh is quite tender and juicy.
The food factories of corporate America have ruined the ham that our grandmothers and fathers knew. If there was no other reason to stop eating pigs the conditions that pigs are raised in now days should be enough.
Back in the Seventies I took my bicycle through the north of Spain. Stopping at little towns for lunch I could find a tienda selling a glass of red and a couple of pieces of hard bread with slice or two of jamon between them. The jamon hung from the ceiling rafters with a spiked dish underneath it to catch the grease drippings. The meat was hard and red and as salty as the sea. It took me a while to figure out why I was so damn thirsty during the afternoon rides. Ah, pigs; thanks for the memories and don't turn your back (ribs) to me; I might eat'em.