Obama's Coronation

For Obama worshipers, Obama's coronation will be the most exciting moment of their lives.  It's a simple thing really: Obama swears to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, then he promptly sets out to execute his personal agenda.  To me it seems quite bureaucratic and not at all interesting.  But inauguration history is interesting, so for those who need a break from the Obama hype, here are some interesting tidbits:

• In 1793, George Washington gave the shortest inaugural address: 135 words.

• 1801: First inaugural speech to be reported in full in a newspaper was Thomas Jefferson's.  An extra edition of the National Intelligencer was printed minutes after the speech ended.

• In 1829, Andrew Jackson, "the People's President," held an open house. About 20,000 people trampled mud and horse manure into the White House, destroyed rugs, broke satin-covered chairs, smashed crystal and china, and spilled liquor. Fights broke out, women fainted and Jackson had to escape through a window. Order was restored when barrels of whiskey were placed on the South Lawn, drawing the crowd outside.

• In 1841, William Henry Harrison defied a driving ice storm for 90 minutes to deliver the longest inauguration speech in history (8,445 words).  He died one month later of pneumonia, believed to have been brought on by prolonged exposure to the elements on his Inauguration Day.

• 1873: Ulysses S. Grant's inauguration was so cold - a low of 4 degrees and a high of 16 - that trumpet valves froze and violin strings snapped. One hundred and fifty canaries, whose chirping was to amuse guests, froze to death in their cages.

• Theodore Roosevelt's 1901 oath was the only one not sworn in on a Bible.

• 1913: West Point cadet and future President Dwight D. Eisenhower marched at Woodrow Wilson's inauguration.

• President Wilson did not have any parties at his 1917 inaugural, saying that such festivities would be undignified.
  

• President Roosevelt held his 1945 inaugural at the White House, making a short speech and serving guests cold chicken salad and plain pound cake.
  

• Dwight Eisenhower’s 1953 parade was covered by a 24-year-old reporter from the Washington Times-Herald known as the “Inquiring Camera Girl”. Her name was Jacqueline Bouvier, eventually to become Jackie Kennedy.

• In 1961, John F. Kennedy was the last president to wear traditional stovepipe hat to the inauguration.

• January 20, 1969 Richard M. Nixon took the oath of office on two Bibles; both family heirlooms.

• Apropos comments from Reagan's inauguration in 1981: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem." 

• Ronald Reagan's second inaugural had to compete with Super Bowl Sunday.

• Clinton's 1997 inauguration was the first ceremony to be broadcast live on the Internet.
  

• In 2001, George W. Bush's inauguration was the first to be interrupted by naked protesters.

• The oath is taken with a hand upon a Bible, opened to a passage of the president-elect's choice. For his first inauguration, Bill Clintion chose Galatians 5:8. "For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."

• Barack Obama will be using Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural Bible to take his oath of office.
  

More

What Recession? The $170 Million Inauguration.  Obama's Inauguration Has Been Financed by Bailed-Out Wall Street Executives.

William Ayers turned back at Canadian border: To me it seems quite bureaucratic and not at all interesting ... If it were me I would have let me in. I couldn't possibly be a threat to Canada."  Great response by a reader: "Who among us hasn't tried to blow up the Pentagon? Give the guy a break. While he has never expressed regret for his terrorist activities, I'm sure one day he might. Maybe."  Hat tip: American Thinker

Biden tries to shush wife after state-VP slip

We need a timetable for withdrawal from the Obama agenda! Bring my tax dollars back home!  A Times/CBS News Poll, conducted last week, offered at least some guidance for the Obama Expectations Clock. Most respondents said they thought it would take Mr. Obama two years or more to deliver on campaign promises to improve the economy, expand health care coverage and end the war in Iraq. 

Hitler’s Mom Speaks Out, Defies Court Order; father is hospitalized.

To heck with Champagne, break out the Botox. It's inauguration party time.

Every network from BET to Disney Chanel to QVC will have wall-to-wall coverage of the inauguration.  

A Deadly Infection

Imagine an infection that not only represents a challenge to your body's immune system but that specifically targets and destroys disease-fighting cells, rendering your body almost defenseless. Such an infection would have catastrophic effects. You would inevitably begin to acquire other infections, and a whole range of common pathogens would suddenly become life-threatening. Because your immune system would become diminished in its ability to fight malignancy, you would also be susceptible to a host of exotic cancers. Your life expectancy would be measured in months, not decades.

Unfortunately, we don't have to imagine such an infection. We all know that HIV infection leads to AIDS and causes all of the dreadful problems described above. Hence, AIDS has became one of most frightening diseases of our time.

Our American society is suffering from an infection very much like HIV. Like HIV, the influence of radical leftists threatens to destroy our great civilization through an insidious process: weakening our nation's immune system. Our nation's immune system, the military, is responsible for protecting us from deadly threats all over the world. But the radical left isn't happy about that.  When our nation is at war with our enemies, they are at war with our military.  When our nation enjoys peace, they endeavor to dismantle the very entity responsible for the tranquility we enjoy.

Now we have a President who is of this leftist mindset. Of all the people in the world Obama could have chosen to befriend during his quest to acquire power, Obama has chosen to align himself with people who believe that America's might is one of the world's biggest problems. That concerns me greatly. Perhaps even more concerning is the fact that at least 50% of the electorate doesn't seem to care.

If the U.S. is weakened and is unable to continue to provide stability in this world, what nation will fill that void? Will the world descend into chaos?  

Barack Obama, George Soros, Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers: what are your thoughts on these questions?

More

• Paul Jenkins: "Let's be thankful for one thing about Bush's presidency: the white male leadership of the Republican Party showed the world once and for all that its cronyism, corruption and discrimination completely outweighed any shred of competence." (Isn't this statement a little bit bigoted?)

• Study: Teenage 'virginity pledges' are ineffective. Youths who promise abstinence are also less likely to use protection. (Well that settles it. Abstinence education is really stupid. Perhaps 'promiscuity pledges' would work better. While we're at it, let's get real about teen drinking and teen smoking. They're gonna do all this stuff anyway, so let's make sure they do it responsibly. Make sure the sixteen-year-old in your life knows that if he drinks, he needs a designated driver. If he smokes, he should only smoke organic pot.)

• Y2K millennium bug: Nine years later, the catastrophic disaster finally strikes.

• RNC draft rips Bush's bailouts

• In a 'Bad' Year, the Good News of Our Times