The Inauguration. At Last.

This is so beautiful.

Will Somebody Please Tell Me What To Think Already.

So, regarding the House vote on the economic stimulus package:

1) Obama pandered to the repubs and adopted some things that reflect the right's complete obsession with tax cuts while not pushing through enough things favored by progress in the Dem caucus like green energy and public transit, and to thank him for that, not a single f-ing Repub voted with him. So, he gave up ground and compromised and got ziltch in return. Round 1 to the Repubs.

2)Obama got the essentials of what he wanted without a single republican vote, which proves that they are totally ineffectual. They can vote against him all they want, but he'll still get what he wants. And next time he won't be nearly so conciliatory. And the public likes him and will increasingly see the Republicans as an afterthought. Eat his dust, suckas.

Some of you reasonable and bright people might try to explain to me the nuanced middle ground. But, why in the world would we try to bring that type of thoughtful discourse to these here internets?

Obama: D.C. Needs "Toughness"

The Prez is bringing a little bit of Chitown to the District. He teased the press today about how wimpy the D.C. area is when it snows. Love it.

John Updike

The 76-year old author died today of lung cancer. I have mixed feelings about his work (not a fan of Rabbit Run, but like some of his others), but no one can deny that he was a big force in contemporary American literature.

Late Morning Update

Obviously, the struggling economy continues to dominate the news, as yesterday saw a staggering number of layoffs. However, the CBO yesterday did release a report indicating that President Obama's stimulus plan will help the economy. Even Krugman's onboard, with qualifications.

Of course, the GOP is being ridiculous in their efforts to block stimulus spending and other moves by Barack. The latest from the Washington Monthly is that Boehner asked the House GOP to vote against the package. Barack's trying to be bipartisan, but the GOP isn't having it.

The Repugs are also doing their best to keep Gitmo from closing. They're actively working to block moving the inmates to prisons in the U.S. They're busily working to scare the public that the prisoners will be "in their backyards" rather than locked up in the beastly Supermax prisons to which we send our "worst" criminals (including other terrorists such as the Unabomber and Ramzi Yousef, the architect of the 1993 WTC bombing). And, the Repugs "fear" that moving the inmates to U.S. prisons will make those prisons potential terrorist targets. Honestly.

There is happy news, though. The Prez directed the EPA to allow CA and other states to set their own emissions standards. And, Rep. Conyers issued a new supoena for Karl Rove. Now, Barack's people will be giving the word whether Rove is protected by executive priviledge.

Happy birthday

Gabe still looks back fondly on his birthday, so he gets pretty excited when he learns that it is someone else's birthday, especially when that person is his beloved Auntie Paula.

Pics from the Lawsaghans

Sassy rooting for the host's team.

What the drive looked like everytime Bridget was behind the wheel.

Penny's Grand Rapids '92 crew reunites at Millie & Al's.

Al Sharpton is in that black SUV, for realz.

The amazing Andrew Bird at the Hideout party in DC.


Ilsa, Bridget and Vin. One of us is really, really cold.

One more gianormous hill to go before we nap.

One of Sassy's hourly Starbucks breaks.

There's only so much caffeine/sugar can do on a 13 hour ride home.

More Great News from Washington

Two great items today:

1. President Barack (I can't get enough of saying/writing that) will be issuing an EO ending the Bush policy of refusing to support international groups that support or perform abortions. This will allow us to fund many groups doing key family planning work around the world.
2. The Senate approved the Lilly Ledbetter Act to make it easier for women who think they've faced pay discrimination to seek legal help. The House has to make some small changes to the version they passed and then it will become law.

Seriously, change has already come to Washington.

Inauguration Day: Before & After

Bundling Up. Circa 6am.
Heading towards Connecticut Ave.
Sitting on the lawn at the Washington Monument. The 4.5 hour wait has begun.
Eating (gorging) at Nanny O'Brien's afterwards.
"Watching" the parade back at the house.

President. Commander in Chief. Jedi?

I am perplexed.

Hat tip to Sassy reader Brian for this gem.

And he's off!

Obama orders the closing of Gitmo within the year. And other great stuff.

More on the Inauguration later, I promise! For now, Team Sassy is home, exhausted, and all friendships (and marriages) are in tact after 24 hours in a car together, significant exposure to the extended Flanagan family, 9 hours in bitterly cold weather, and bickering over where Bridget left: the keys, her coat, and the ipod.

Hey man, nice shot

Popular Science has put up this amazing satellite (?) image of the inauguration.

I believe Ilsa can be seen middle-right, telling the hot dog vendor to keep the change.

http://www.popsci.com/content/inauguration-day

Sassy is Sleepy

Sassy arrives on the Mall, 7am. Sun was just coming up.

The crowds start amassing.
The sun's up. Sassy is happy.

Sassy is one of millions.

Much much more later, when I'm coherent. I even have video of Sassy singing and dancing!

Unbelievable

Who would have ever believed that the benediction of the U.S. Presidential Inauguration would begin with words from the Negro National Anthem? What a beautiful, redemptive moment for this country. If you're not familiar with the song, check out several versions of it here. (Call me a traditionalist, I like the Choral Arts Society version best.)

A photo

One of many amazing images that capture some of this remarkable day: President Obama's hand on the Lincoln Bible. Wow! [Courtesy of Andrew Sullivan.]

Dave's Taking a Nap

Ilsa and Bridg are sitting in the kitchen eating cheese and gluten-free pretzels.

The excitement is really building in DC. There are people everywhere, even in my Uncle's Cleveland Park neighborhood which is usually kind of sleepy. Everyone is happy and festive, much like Election night in Grant Park. National Cathedral bells have been ringing all day. There is just so much joy here. I've talked to a few people, mostly store owners, and they are just giddy about Obama. When I tell folks I'm from Chicago they mostly thank me for loaning Barack for a few years. But you can tell DC residents already feel very proprietary and proud of their new resident.

This morning we all (Dave, Bridg, Aunt Judy, Mark, Stacy and Vin) sat around arguing about the best route to take tomorrow (metro is out, they've already run out of stations that take cash as payment), so we're either walking down Massachusett's Ave or Connecticut Ave at 6 am in hopes of procuring a spot on either side of the Washington Monument). I'm pretty sure it will already be jammed like it was yesterday for the concert. But as Bridg says, we drove 11 hours we can go the final two blocks to try and get a glimpse of the Capitol. Otherwise, we'll head over to the Lincoln Memorial and watch from the jumbitron.

A few rules for the road: no liquids after midnight tonight (5000 porto-potties for 2 million people), no talking back to the Military Police (learned that lesson yesterday), and once we hit the Mall it's each man for himself.

Off to the Hideout/Big Shoulders Ball at The Black Cat later tonight.

Sassy Out.

Sassy's In DC!

Sassy in Steeler Country

Rosie rolls out the welcome mat for Sassy.

Ilsa and Cassius, checkin each other out, at Uncle Tom's
Subaru's lookin' good. (outside Uncle Tom's in DC)

That's as close as Sassy got to Barack an the Lincoln Monument


Bridg and Cousin Vin on the Mall

Sassy's Final Road Trip

Team Sassy is on its way to DC for the final roadtrip of the 2008 election. We'll be stopping in Steeler country tonight for spaghetti dinner with Aunt Rosie and Uncle Joe. Tomorrow we should be in DC in time for Barack's arrival at the Lincoln Memorial. And a little Flanagan reunion in the nation's capitol. Nothing like booze, a hot tub, and a little Irish dysfunction to make for some interesting blogging.

Stay tuned for pics, video, and live blogging on Tuesday. Until then, here's a little preview of our plans for Monday night.

Sassy's sending the love. Can ya feel it?

Morning Update: Investigations Edition

For those of you with fingers thawed out enough to actually use your computer, here are some updates and much bloviating by me.

First, holy crap. Somehow I missed the unbelievable plane in the Hudson story yesterday. That pilot should immediately be offered the job of flying Airforce One.

Second, thank goodness for an AG nominee who flatly calls waterboarding torture. I didn't watch the hearing or read the transcripts, but I found a lot to love in Dahlia Lithwick's summary. She loves that he answered legal questions clearly, showing a clear basis for his decisions. My favorite part, though, is that he refused to acknowledge the whole "but, would you torture someone if you knew they had details of an impending attack?" scenario as plausible. He acknowledged that torture does not yield good information.

I'm not psyched though, that he seriously hedged on the question of investigating abuses by the Bush White House. I understand the fear that it would be divisive, but I think it's too important not to risk that. (Paul Krugman does, too). Yes, Ilsa, I know that they'll all get their karmic payback, but there are also clear Constitutional principles at stake. They should be held accountable.

UPDATE: Looks like Barack will issue an EO limiting approved interrogation techniques for the CIA to those that comply with the Army Field Manual (i.e., no torture) quickly upon taking office. Thank goodness.

Best Dad ever! No, best President ever! no best dad! no best President!

Mr. Obama, you are all right:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090115/ts_alt_afp/uspoliticsobamachildren

Bushy Admits to Torture

This broke this morning, but the WaPo reported today that Susan Crawford, the top Bush official in charge of deciding whether to bring Gitmo detainees to trial admitted that the military tortured the alleged "20th hijacker." It's so out in the open. The Dems must investigate and prosecute.

Remarkable

I love this. Obviously, Tropicana knew what it was doing.

Gotta go and start my evening commute so I can make it home in breakfast tomorrow!

From TMZ
Tropicana denies they used Obama-like Michael Duvert to purposely profit off the president-elect -- but one thing you can't deny ... they do look a lot alike.



UPDATE -- A rep for Tropicana tells us, "While the similarity was unintentional, it's good to hear that the images in our new Tropicana campaign entitled "Squeeze, it's a natural" are resonating with consumers and are reflective of American families - even the first family. We're glad to see they squeeze too."

Wily Dems in Tennessee

Thanks to the Washington Monthly, I learned that there are some tricksy Dems and one ballsy, turncoat Repub. To set the scene, the TN GOP stood poised to control the TN State House of Reps for the first time since Reconstruction and to elect fire-breathing conservative Jason Mumpower as speaker. Well, it didn't work out as planned:

When lawmakers returned from break, now an hour into session, they tackled the Speakers position. Representative Jason Mumpower of Bristol received the first nomination. Republicans hoped to end the nomination process there, but after more political wrangling, allowed Democrats to submit a candidate.

What happened next some may describe as the political play of the decade as all 49 Democrats backed Kent Williams, a Sophomore Republican from Carter County, a district just miles from Mumpower's hometown.

During the voice vote on the Speaker's position, the House clerk called every Democrat first, then every Republican, except Williams. The 49 to 49 split was then decided by Williams.

Williams accepted the position amid cheers and boos, prompting state troopers to enter the House chambers ready to respond to an outburst.

According to the Nashville Tennesseean these legislative shenanigans pretty much derail the TN GOP's legislative agenda. Awesome.

Today in Chicago...

and yesterday, and the day before, and tomorrow.

Finally

the press covers this story. i always thought this made barack the most relevant president for our time.

Afternoon Update

Ilsa, I think our readership has dropped to just you and me. Now I know what it feels like to work for the Trib. Sigh.

Anyhow, here's a roundup of stuff that happened this afternoon.

There's always at least one, right: Treasury nominee Timothy Geithner has some housekeeper and tax-payment issues.

On the upside, in HRC's testimony, she seems to have scored one of the Left's first ever framing victories, calling the complex foreign policy stuff, you know diplomacy, "Smart Power." It seems to be catching on.

In an Esquire piece, Huckabee came out swinging against both Palin (on the Couric interview: "I can't explain it. It was not a good interview. I'm being charitable.") and Romney. Salon thinks he's already gearing up for 2012.

Then there's this on our countries shifting demographics. Bottom line: unless the GOP becomes more attractive to a broader base, shifting demographics will make them obsolete.

Revamping Our Rails

The Washington Monthly, the magazine this time, has a fascinating article arguing for pouring public money into railroad infrastructure. In short, it could: save the country a ton of money in a lot of ways; provide an immediate source of public works jobs; reduce highway congestion and the many fatal accidents involving semis; and really cut down on our emissions. I highly recommend it.

Tuesday Update

Today Barack's really warming my bleeding liberal heart. First, I saw that he's invited an openly gay Episcopal bishop to say a prayer at a pre-Inauguration event on Sunday. Earlier, he tapped a female Evangelical pastor to lead the National Day of Prayer the day after the Inauguration. This makes me feel better about the fact that Rick Warren will be doing the invocation at the Inauguration proper. I'm hoping that Warren's a part of his message of bringing a divided populace back together, while the other two pastors reveal his commitment to pushing the progressive agenda. I'm still a little uncomfortable with all this official sanctioned prayer, though.

Second, there's tons in the news about Barack trying to right some of Bush's worst wrongs. The NYT leads with a story about how he'll release an EO on his first day calling for the closing of Guantanamo. The same story talks about how the new administration plans to immediately halt the military commission system. And, the WSJ includes a line in their story about Guantanamo saying that Barack will also soon issue an EO about interrogation methods. Good stuff all-around.

In administration news, both HRC and that physicist tapped for Energy, Steven Chu, have their confirmation hearings today.

Morning Roundup

It's been a while, but we're back at it today with a morning roundup.

Of course, the big news in the world continues to be the fighting in Gaza. CNN's reporting a break in the fighting to allow in relief supplies and notes that the death toll is just about 900. I'm just not sure what exactly Israel is going to accomplish. The last time they tried an invasion, Hezbollah came out battered but stronger.

Speaking of Israel, the NYT featured a story yesterday about how the U.S. had denied support for an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. Apparently, we've got some covert (well, they were covert) efforts in the works.

WaPo says today that Bush's term made up the worst 8-year stretch for the economy in decades. Any gains were because of unstable bubbles, which meant that the economy really was in rough shape even before the housing/banking collapse. 8 more days, people.

As for our boy, Barack, he's using pretty wishy-washy language on whether he'll investigate W.'s most aggregious moves, torture and wire-tapping. But, he did say that prosecutions will proceed if DOJ finds evidence that laws were broken. I read that to mean that the whole W. Administration will skate.

Of course, Barack's chief concern is the economy. To that end, Krugman offers some bits of advice today.

Finally, for those of us who like to try to see the Oscar-nominated movies and performances each year, the Golden Globes basically let us know that we need to see: Slumdog Millionaire; Revolutionary Road; and maybe the Wrestler.

Impeached

Not that it's any surprise, but the IL House officially impeached Blago.

Official Inauguration Poster

Designed by famed street artist Shepard Fairey, the print, created especially for the 2009 Inauguration, boldly declares "BE THE CHANGE."

Barack needs to get down to bizness

The Franken/Burris/Kennedy dramas seem pretty mild compared to this. From Papa Paul:

Here’s my nightmare scenario: It takes Congress months to pass a stimulus plan, and the legislation that actually emerges is too cautious. As a result, the economy plunges for most of 2009, and when the plan finally starts to kick in, it’s only enough to slow the descent, not stop it. Meanwhile, deflation is setting in, while businesses and consumers start to base their spending plans on the expectation of a permanently depressed economy — well, you can see where this is going.

So this is our moment of truth. Will we in fact do what’s necessary to prevent Great Depression II?

New Year's Eve

a few pics from the perfect ending to a most amazing year.
please share your own thoughts on 2008 and looking forward to 2009!