Obama inauguration security force larger than number of troops in Afghanistan

[marshlander]

Oh, Thanks Marsh... Not sure if it does have the same feel of change (Blair being a middle aged white man and the USA certainly has had enough of them, LOL) but we got Aretha Franklin singing "My Country Tis of Thee" PRETTY FUCKING COOL if ya ask me

I think that one has to remember that it is not up to Mr. Obama alone but to all Americans (who were told to simply go shopping in the time of Terrorism in the Bushit years) to ch ch ch change

A million dead-end streets and
Every time I thought Id got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet ...

[fredv3b]

Oh, Thanks Marsh... Not sure if it does have the same feel of change (Blair being a middle aged white man and the USA certainly has had enough of them, LOL)

POTUS* is Head of State, therefore he, personally, is a symbol. Whereas, the British PM is only Head of Government so the fact that he was a middle aged white man replacing another middle aged white man was beside the point.

*President of the United States

[BiPenny]

Having seen the size of the crowds I would prefer to watch it on the T.V. as you get a closer up view of the action. Before the T.V. microphones honed in on the sound source you could hear the multiple speakers broadcasting the speech across the crowds and it sounded terrible!!

One of the yard clients is a high flying U.S. lawyer and she was invited to the ceremony. She politely declined for that exact reason - even those invited don't always get a close up view and the getting in and out is like the busiest sports/music event you've ever been to multiplied by thousands.

[fjp999]

Am watching the tape I recorded while sleeping early am. C-SPAN is the way to watch USA gov if anyone is interested with live streaming online... they even have some PM questions when possible...

At 9.15am they announced that the area for the speech was full and was shutting down. They estimated that for just that area was 1.2 million.

My friend called me to say they had made it speech area. It took them 3 hours to walk a short distance. She said that there should have been a lot more large screen tvs as no one could see anything where she was at. For me I would have gone to be part of the celebration not specifically to be at any one event...

*thanks for that Marsh

[marshlander]

I've just been reading the Civil Rights Agenda on the White House website. Mr Obama has stated the following:

Support for the LGBT Community

"While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect." -- Barack Obama, June 1, 2007

The following is a list of measures he intends to pursue. It all sounds pretty amazing if he can manage it.

• Expand Hate Crimes Statutes:
  
• Fight Workplace Discrimination:
  
• Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples:
  
• Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage:
  
• Repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell:
  
• Expand Adoption Rights:
  
• Promote AIDS Prevention:
  
• Empower Women to Prevent HIV/AIDS:

The full text is here. Scroll down till you get to the section "Support for the LGBT Community".

Let's hope the pudding tastes good.