Over the holidays, one of my relatives (who could no longer stand my righteousness in criticizing Bush as a terrible Republican) adopted an interesting coping strategy: if only the media would lay off Obama, because they have been so cruel to Bush over the last 8 years.
On a side note, Bush deserves far harsher treatment than to merely be “criticized.”
…but back to the story: I was unaffected by these appeals, because it was completely obvious that not a second would be lost before Obama would be scandalized by the same crowd that had previously deified and idolized that golden mule named “W.”
The following video is, by no means, the first example… but Fox has no shame. Absolutely none.
Surreal and scary- those are the two words that best describe my experience at Barack Obama’s inauguration. Surreal for the sheer impact and meaning of the thing- the culmination of so long a wait and so much seeming to ride on the man’s shoulders. Scary for the same reasons- the weight of a nation on one man and the knowledge that he could be snuffed out so easily. There- I said it- I thought about the possibility of Obama being assassinated at least 157 times in the 3 days I spent in the capitol. Mostly it just didn’t seem possible that it could happen- that any of it had happened, despite all the moaning of the cynics and pessimists- that we had a reason to be happy after these long 8 years. You heard it during the campaign over and over again, floating on the mouths and faces of people, he made a good speech, but he’s all talk. OK, he won the primary, but he can’t win the election. He’s too smart, he’ll sell out, he’s too black, not black enough. People say they’ll vote for him, but they’re lying. Everything about Obama’s run for office from the beginning had been plagued by a nagging sense that it was all fairy tale, too good to be true, to crazy to believe in. My fear for his safety stemmed from that feeling that there was still this hurdle to go over, one more big splashy chance for it all to evaporate into thin air. At the same time, the knowledge that I was going to watch him get sworn in was ethereal, just out of reach, like something I could reach for and not quite touch. So I carried both of those emotions with me to Washington, DC, to witness whatever was destined to happen.
I got to Washington the day before the Inauguration in a little over 3 hours- a record time considering the bus was late and I barely got a ticket. I had heard all the hysterical news anchors talk about the 4.5 billion buses or whatever number were supposed to come to DC that day, so I was fully prepared to get in 12 hours after my departure time of 8:30 in the morning. I had packed several meals and was in full survival mode- cooped up in my seat with 3 movies. In fact I was so nervous- reliving in smaller part the emotional breakdown/ sickness that characterized my experience on election day- that I ate all my food within two hours on the bus and promptly passed out from exhaustion. Imagine my surprise when we arrived an hour later, half an hour early. As if you needed another reason not to take cable news too seriously. Another moment of surrealism. I almost wondered if I had gotten the dates wrong.
…not to fan the flames or anything, but the DOW has returned to September 11, 2001 levels. Really, that’s not such a bad thing, given how overvalued everything became during the deregulation of the last 8 years. …but in 52 weeks, the volume of the DOW has been cut in half, and that level of shock is going to … reverberate.
Here’s the upside: there is still actual value in the US economy. Yes, we’re the collective victims of massive pump-and-dump fraud, but it’s hardy like “we” aren’t producing anything. In other words, the market needs to bottom out at some value above zero. That will happen when people start to believe that things are undervalued, so it will make sense to invest again. This very process can be hindered if there is no effective monetary system that functions as a medium for the transmission of value, and that just might happen if the dollar fails.
David Anderson: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!After struggling for days to get OpenOffice to download and work on my Mac Mini, only to find that the official version only works on the Intel model...
Chile: Thanks for your advice Andre. I followed what you suggested and it appears that you were right. Since the IR sensor is deep purple itself I thought the IR filter was present already but no....
Murano Glass: My main browser is Firefox because I like the feature that they offer remembering the username and passwords that you have registered or key in the browser. The second best browser...
