Friday, 3 May 2024
Life, the universe, pies, hot-pink bunnies, world domination, and everything
At least one MBer will be in Washington, D.C., for it, and we’re looking forward to his reports. But even those who are far from the capital are welcome to post their thoughts. What are they saying about it in Europe and New Zealand?
Date: January 19, 2009
Categories: Non-Muse news, The Universe
.I know a few people who are going and I’m pretty envious. If I had known that I just had to be in a silly club and I would get tickets to the Inauguration, I would have joined. Who is the MuseBlogger with tickets?
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I ain’t watching. Neither is my dad. For one thing, he’s angry about the fact that the media was calling Bush’s $40,000 inauguration “excessive,” (something like that) and yet they’re saying how incredible Obama’s $100,000 inauguration will be.
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Yes, just what we need in these horrible economic times, the largest and most expensive presidential inauguration in history. My teachers might turn it on during class since the superintendent won’t cancel school, but I’ll just open the new book of Plato that I bought and read instead.
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(2, 3) As I understand it, the cited figure for Mr. Bush’s inauguration did not include security, whereas the estimate for Mr. Obama’s ceremony does. If you account for security for the 2005 inauguration, the price tags come out close to the same.
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3 – Hey, if it generates cash flow, then I’m all for it.
All the hotels in my area are completely booked up, (I live in Maryland) as are the hotels in Virginia, and I think even some of the ones in Delaware and West Virginia. People have rented out space in their houses, some people have even gone on vacation and rented out their entire houses to people coming in for the inauguration. This is insane! I don’t think there’s ever been this much interest in an inauguration ever! (I believe JFK’s inauguration held the record for the most attendees before this, but I’m not sure. This one dwarfs even JFK’s.)
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1 – Vendaval, I think. I’m envious. Or is it jealous?
I want to see it… badly. IWANTTOGOANDSEETHISPIECEOFHISTORY!!!
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You’re envious. Think of it this way: envy is about wanting something you don’t have; jealousy is about fearing to lose something (or, more usually, someone) you do have.
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I think I was told about a hotel manager who was providing some sort of thing for homeless people so that they could attend the inauguration… (?) it sounded like a wonderful idea.
We are going to be watching it in Farsi and French, strangely enough, but not in any of my other subjects!
I wish I could go.
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.3 – Well prices are always rising. Ask your parents how much a candy bar cost when they were your age and I think you’ll see a difference. Not that candy bars and inaugurations are at all similar, but I think it’s only normal that this inauguration will be more expensive than one eight years ago.
6 – Ooh, nice one, Vendaval. How did you get your tickets? Are they from Mikva?
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I don’t have school tomorrow (YES! Teacher Workshop day!!) and I’m having a bunch of friends over and we’re going to watch it.
But I’m a little worried. I don’t know if anyone else has considered this, but what if some nutcase breaks through the security and shoots Obama? Or his family? 
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they extended our lunch so we could watch it 
and i know a bunch of people who are going. i’m really…envious, apparently (7) i never knew that, thanks GAPA!
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I’m not going. I wanted to, but I’m not. All the bridges are closed.
Nobody’s going anywhere tomarrow because there’s so much traffic.
I’m going to watch it on TV, though.
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I’m going to watch it on TV, especially because the crew of the last space shuttle mission and a lunar rover prototype are going to be part of the parade!
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7 – Okay. *finally comprehends*
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13- I can’t decide what you need more, Kai: a promotion to chief administrator of NASA, or professional psychiatric help. 
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15- I’m not sure myself.
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I have a half-day tomorrow, so after I finally, finally finish that dratted last bio final I’m going to flick on the tube and down the entire thing. Then I’m going shopping for fabric with my friend. We’re making dresses together for the upcoming dance.
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Ergh, I don’t even know if they’re going to let us watch it, seeing as it’s in the middle of LA and my teacher is SO uptight. My friend Michal (the state senator’s daughter) and her family is going, and I am SOOO jealous. But I am excited!
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Hola planet earth. I’m new to the Museblog. My name is Jube and I am from Saturn. The Saturnians are very interested in this “Obama” fellow. We believe that he may have some Saturnian ancestors (note the ice cream cone shaped head, oversized ears and pencil neck) and so the Americans should not only put him down as the fist black president but the first Saturnian president, too.
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19- Zdagzl, Jube. My name is Prarilius Oob Sir Ozlips Canix, or POSOC for short, and let me be among the first to welcome you to MB. 
Those are lingonberry, by the way.
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Thank you, Gh. Canix Do plan on watching the Inauguration, too?
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A neophyte!!!!!!!!! run for your lives!!!!!!!!!!!!. kidding. Welcome to the blog. 
I higly reccomend the neophyte thread for a complete welcome, or you can skip the whole “neopyte” buisness and go about pretending youve been here forever (not reccomended) and don’t take pies as an insult.
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Well, I have a pretty goood idea of how the Museblog works. I had a brief stint here as an extremely annoying and somewhat intelligent 9-year-old on the MB. But I quit later because my mother had problem with me belonging to a blog of a magazine that I didn’t get. I buy the magazine for myself now.
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-has mild disaster with control key- Whoops. Let’s try that again…
¡Hola, Jubelo! It’s lovely to meet someone from Saturn; you’re the first among our ranks. We had a M’Blogger from Titan for a while, but I haven’t seen her around for a while. I’m Alice, and I’m a perfectly normal Terran girl, most of the time… Now you’ve been Welcomed (again). Here’s a towel… [||||||]
I’m mad because we have school tomorrow during the inauguration. Not that I have access to a TV anyways, but it’s not very considerate of them. You’d think that they’d encourage an interest in things like that, but noooooo… We have finals instead. 
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19- Greetings, Jubelo!
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Aloha!
Can we talk politics on this thread?
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26-Ah, no. Redirect to Hot Topics.
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I think I’ve double posted ten times today. I sincerely apologize.
I’m watching it at ten. Who else?
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Okay, so we’ve voted him in and, in a few more hours, he’ll be our president (referring to those of us belonging to the United States). So why won’t he show us his birth certificate? Could it be that he wasn’t born here? Could it be that those rumors of his birth in Kenya are true? Could he be not only our first “African-American” (actually only half black) president, but also our first invalid one as well? My, my, this is historical.
[/sarcasm]
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Umm… Because he did already?
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(29)-He has. He was born in Hawaii. If you going to insult him, do it on legitimate facts, not on petty complaints that have already been proved to be untrue.
And he is “African-American” regardless of where he was born, because his mother was American and his father was African.
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.29 – Actually, I would argue that other presidents have been ‘invalid’ as well. Our current president did not win the popular vote, as I recall…
Also, if he defines himself as African-American, then that’s pretty much settled. It’s not for you (or anyone else) to decide what race people identify with most. I’m not 100% white, but if someone asked me my race, I would tell them I was white because it’s the race I identify with most. I think classifications of race are absurd in general (and getting more absurd by the day) but that’s probably a conversation for another thread.
I would like some sources on his ‘illegitimate’ birth, if you wouldn’t mind. I don’t believe it for an instant, because I’m sure someone would have looked into this long before he announced his candidacy.
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I am in D.C., but I don’t have tickets. I’ll be on the Mall, in the crowd. Tickets are hard to get. The temperature is around 18 right now, sirens are going off, the news shows the Mall already packed, and we haven’t left the house yet. I’ve been staying with my dad in my uncle’s house here in D.C., along with Terry and Kienan, two of my uncle’s friends who helped register voters and campaign in Pittsburgh.
(29 etc.) I’m not sure if Piggy is being belligerent, but it seems that he would know better than to think we haven’t seen Obama’s birth certificate. I think that if he wants to talk about this more, he should head over to Hot Topics.
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Good luck, Vendaval! Stay hydrated and warm.
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AHHH!!!! WE WERE GOING TO GO BUT WE’RE NOT NOW BECAUSE OF MY BROTHER!!!!!!!! NOOOOOEEESSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *jealousy*
29- It doesn’t matter now, though, because he’s prezzy anyway! And professional people have examined his cert and apparently it’s legit!!!! *gloat* (sorry that was mean im jsut so frickin hyped right now i can barely see straight AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
w00tw00tw00t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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My dad got tickets to go, but his dad died, so he can’t hear live music, so I can’t go…Anyone else here? It’s almost time!
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I’m here, Cromwell, but my Treo’s batteries are running dangerously low, so I might disappear at any second. Rosanne, Rebecca — are you on?
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Biden!
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Obama=President!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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(37) I’m here.
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I’M HERE TOO!!!!!!!!! YAYS!!!!!! HE’S PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!! I cried with my dad throughout the whole time, but my mom had to work… she called right after he swore in.
OBAMA=PREZ.
BUSH=FIRED.
*spaz attack*
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YAHOOOOOOOOOO HE’S PRESIDENT NOW YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
33-Awesome, man! How is it down there?!?!?
37-Robert, are you down there?!
41-*Joins celebration* YIPEEEE!!!!!!!!
*Celebratory pies all around*
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THIS IS INSANELY FLAMABLAMABLOUS!!! HE’S PRESDENT!!!
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(41) Retired, not fired. There’s no need to take cheap shots.
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42- w00t!!!!! I am so happy right now I have emotional mascara raccoon rings around my eyes from crying.
43- Oh, I got that idea from a lady in the crowd; she had a sign that said ‘Bush, You’re Fired’. It made me smile, so I put it here.
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YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OBAMA IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Haha, Cheney was lifting boxes. More like shredding boxes.
Well, I watched it. Not bad, except for Arethra Franklin didn’t warm up (both musically and in temperature) enough. And the trumpets sounded like my sixth grade band. But the speech wasn’t bad.
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Well, he’s an eloquent speaker, I’ll give him that. Good show, Mr. Obama. Enjoy office, and please live up to those promise you’ve made. Lord knows we need you to.
Yo Yo Ma played magnificently today. The Sousa march was also very good. That was ‘Stars and Stripes Forever’, wasn’t it?
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(48) Yes, “Simple Gifts” was a good choice and nicely done. Yo Yo Ma was pure joy to watch.
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49- He is my biggest musical role model. I aspire someday to play at least half as well as he does. It was great to see him playing today. But that cold must have been terrible for the cello!
Another thing I enjoyed watching was the prayer/speech given by th Reverend. Very inspirational, very well spoken, as was the poem. I wonder what it’s called….
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49) I know! Yo Yo Ma is so awesome! And he was getting really into it too!
Well, Obama’s speech didn’t blow we away or anything. Nothing really memorable about it. I mean, it was a pretty batch of words, but didn’t have anything that really made it stand out compared to other presidential speeches. *shrug*
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49- There’s a reason Yo Yo Ma is called the world’s greatest cellist!
We all were watching on the big screen in the auditorium, and as he finished the oath, we burst out into spontaneous applause. The speech was awesome and the poem rocked.
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I didn’t like the piece they played, but they played it really well.
I love how the NBC guy was like “Obamas getting in the car with Bush… this is a very important part of the procession…”. Duh, it’s the only reason the rest of the procession is there in the first place.
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53- 
Did you hear Keith Olbermann sneak in that the reason the motorcade was late was because of loading Cheney into the limo? I was laughing so hard at that…
The poem, in my opinion, was ok, but was read terribly.
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54- Agreed. Too much harsh spacing between words. She-sounded-like-this. But the poem was very well written.
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7- I always thought of jealousy as being something that you want for yourself that you don’t want the person who currently has ti to have and envy being something that you want both you and them to have.
I thought the Reverend was great too.
My professor let us out of class early to watch it.
My grandmother was at the mall to watch it, I think.
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I can’t believe it! This is history!!!!!!! I’m sick so I got to see it. Happy pies!
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I’m so sad that I had to take an Italian final while he was being inugurated (is that a word?) so I missed it. I guess I could watch it online but it just wouldn’t be the same.
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Well, we watched it, but we didn’t watch it live… 
but still, it was great and eloquent and happy-making and AWESOME!
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Well we watched it up here. It was in my highschool’s auditorium. They were trying to get it over the internet but that wasn’t working so they weeled in a TV and for a bit it was an auditorium stuffed full of people watching this tiny screen. Then a teacher got a video camera hooked it up to a projector and filmed the screen so it could be projected onto the back wall of the stage. (They had already tried hooking the TV up to the projector). Third period started late because everyone was in the auditorium watching the speech. All I can say is this: anyone who can keep an auditorium full of teenages (in a different country no less) quiet is quite a good speaker. Hurray for Obama!
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I feel HAPPY!
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Two teachers had projectors in their classrooms to show the inauguration all the way up to the Reverend Lowery’s benediction. We got to watch it at recess and at least half the middle school crowded in to watch it. Everyone applauded all over the place.
Like pretty much everyone else, I loved the performance right before the “swearing in” (the piano, clarinet, cello, and violin quartet). Itzhak Perlman (what kind of a spell-check is this, anyway?) is the finest violinist I have ever heard, I’ve learned a lot from him, and he performed greatly (of course). Yo-Yo Ma is supercool, not to mention that he and Itzhak Perlman always sound amazing together. I had never heard of the pianist or the clarinetist, but that’s what you get I guess. I loved the clarinet solo-type-thing, that was fantastic.
Everyone in the classroom clapped their hands for all kinds of things, except for one time that I was appalled that I was one of the few clappers in the room. When President Obama thanked former President Bush, people said nothing. Come on, guys (in the room), you don’t agree with his policies, I don’t agree with his policies, but he did his best and he was a good guy. He was our leader for eight years. He deserved an applause.
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So do I!1 We got to watch live (at school) and it was great!
Especially the music.
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60- unfourtantly I have to say that my auditioriam, with it’s huge screen projection, and what used to be a BIG pro-obama supporters everwhere had no desire to be quiet. there were kids being yelled at to shut up, kids laughing at people on the TV, and *grimaces* people texting/sleeping. I think I was one of ten that stood and clapped at the end.There was one kid who still didn’t understand why we were there after Obama had been sworn in. And he was serrious! I think people veiwed it as more of a way to get out of 5th period. It came to a huge shock to them that we still had it, just one minute shorter. the time was taken out of our Study Hall instead.
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My school showed the inauguration in various locations throughout the school…the main theater, the black box theater, cafeteria, orchestra room, and dance studio. My physics teacher let us miss class to go down and watch it, which was so exciting!
The Inaugural address was great, though not as good as I was expecting. Good overall, though. Chief Justice Roberts misspoke during the oath of office, which caused some stuttering…I think they gave SNL some great material there.
Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma are both among the best in their instruments, and their performance was beautiful. They must have been freezing up there!
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.I may have bombed my calc final, but I think it was worth it. That was a really inspiring speech and I am so proud of my country and the work I (and so many others) did in this election. Good job, America!
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Today of all days.We had to go see “The Miracle Worker”. Its a decent play, but couldn’t they have sent us tomarrow? I mean, how many times is the preseident sworn into office? ggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
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Ugh. I’m getting sick of all this.
Several people today:
*sobs* “It’s just so emotional!” *sobs*
People are talking about how “historical” it is, with our first “African-American” president. The way I see it, this immense focus on race simply shows how much importance we put on it. Our conscious effort to bring about equality is, in truth, only perpetuating separation between races.
In my chemistry class, some girl asked what was on the TV. Someone told her it was the inauguration. After receiving only a blank stare in response, that someone told her, “Y’know, how Obama’s gonna be president?” to which the girl replied, “Ohhh!”
I weep for our nation.
And I like line breaks, apparently.
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January 20, 2009: end of a error.
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Good bye Bush!
Thank god your gone.
Hello Obama!
Thank god your here.
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68 – I think that not being judged or prejudiced against because of race is very different from simply acknowledging the existence of race—or in this case, the apparent triumph over some of said prejudices. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging the fact that we are not all one “race.” How could we not?
67 – About every four to eight years. And yes I did say “to.”
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We ended up watching it in all of my classes, except for global and chem. We weren’t going to watch it in math, except somebody stole the remote and kept turning the TV back on after the teacher shut if off. So finally he (uncharacteristically) gave in. It was kinda funny. XD
I loved Obama’s speech. (I thought) You could tell that he was being really sincere… he wasn’t sugarcoating anything, but he wasn’t too… depressing either. But the “energy from the ground” thing worried me. (Did he mean coal?) I’m hoping geothermal energy instead.
I am not a Bush supporter at all, but I do feel bad for him because most people seem to hate him. And it would be a horrible thing to be remembered only because everybody doesn’t like you. And so they sent him off in the helicopter… (Well, I know it wasn’t like that, but it was kind of amusing.)
Yo-Yo Ma looked so happy…
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.68 (Piggy) – Race has been a very big issue in America’s past, so I think the election of President Obama characterizes how far we’ve come as a nation. Also, note that Obama, himself, rarely plays the race-card. I can’t remember him ever describing himself as a black man or an African-American. He talks about civil rights, sure, but without mentioning himself by name. It’s mostly the news stations who are making the fuss, because they know that’s a hot topic with the viewers.
If you don’t like our “conscious effort,” how do you propose we solve racism in the US?
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72-Hi purplefinch! How have you been?
Obama must be ready to go into hibernation by now. Seriously, it’s amazing the man can walk, talk, and smile after what he’s been through recently. And I doubt he got much sleep last night! 
He still gave a great speech. And it’s all the more amazing that he was still so much more coherent and intelligent sounding! It’s astounding.
I wasn’t as productive as I could have been today, but hey, it’s important. I couldn’t stand to miss it!
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I didn’t get to see it. I was in math at the time, and apparently reviewing for our midterm test is more important than watching Obama become president. In social studies (several hours after the inauguration) we discussed it, but apparently second period social studies got to actually watch it. In the discussion, I learned that the president has to be sworn into office while holding a Bible – apparently it somehow signifies that en will do what en says. *coughcoughunderminingoftheseparationofchurchandstatecoughcough*
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Not true! The Constitution doesn’t require a Bible, or any book. One new President, John Quincy Adams, took the oath on a book of laws.
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Yes and you dont have to say so help me god after the oath eithe, but everyone does.
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Still, the separation of church and state is missing in a lot of the ceremony–beforehand, everyone goes to a church and prays, and then there’s the invocation before the inauguration and the benediction after. I’m curious to see what would happen it we had a non-Christian president.
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I couldn’t see the inauguration because my parents had to drive my grandmother to the hospital and… (long and boring story).
A lot of people watched it here, because Obama is very popular. On the day of the inauguration, I wore a shirt with “Yes we can !” written on it in big sparkly letters. At least ten people said “Yes we can !” and grinned/and or made a victory sign. The only people bumming are the media, because they can’t complain about Bush anymore. I think Austria (at least the younger generation) is very pro-Obama. Politics are so boring here. We have several people who could rival Bush as far as policy/intelligence goes.… One thing people notice though is that America is VERY patriotic (by Austrian standards).
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Our school actually gave us the option of leaving our class to go to watch the inauguration at twelve. However, I sadly chose the room that had poor reception. But we listened to the speech and the following festivites. I watched the parade once I got home. It was way fun.
However, I admittedly am not a big fan of our new president, but that’s not to say that I am totally opposed to his views, just mostly opposed….
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I’m home!
That was huge. I’ve never seen so many people all together. And so quiet.
I visited The Committee on Ways & Means! They were eating cake.
I don’t feel sorry for Bush. I used to, I really tried to understand. He had things against him, yes. But I no longer feel sorry for him. His actions, in my view, were irresponsible and while well intentioned, wrong.
78- Representative Keith Ellison was sworn in to the House of Reps. on a Koran.
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68 – No, it’s not. Approximately forty years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot for advocating racial equality. Yesterday the first African-American president was sworn in. It’s marked as a huge milestone in American history. Think about racial conflict in the past before dismissing this as no big deal.
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61- So do I!
And I did clap when he thanked Ex-president Bush. Because that was the right thing to do.
The rover was at the very end of the parade. One of the people got out in a space suit, picked up a flag, walked to the receiving stand and waved it for Mr. Obama, who was clearly very pleased with the gesture.
Supporter of the Program in the White House, WOOO!
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74- In one of my classes (it was a small class of smart kids) we talked a bout americas anti-inteligenceism. It was really interesting. People think it’s uncool to be smart and Obama is changing that with his vocab and the way he speaks to america.
78- Errg you are so right. It annoys me greatly. They say things are suposed to be free of religon and stuff like that comes up. It’s like the god line in the pledge. I mean, come on. You can still make sence of the pledge with out it.
79- That’s cool.
83- I did too. kids afterward asked me if I was a republican I responded the positive and they said I was stupid for likeing bush! I was like: “I don’t like his choices, but YOU try being pres for a day!” Some people are idiots.
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84 – Yes, some people do think it’s uncool to be smart. However, those are the people who won’t succeed. You should just ignore those people and know that, someday, you’re going to be their boss.
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84- You know, capitalization and spelling also add to seeming intelligent.
73- By ignoring the colour of skin. As long as everyone makes a big deal of what colour everyone’s skin is, it will be a big part of our communal opinion.
Everyone else- I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing that a non-white person is now the leader of the United States. Nothing could be further than the truth. And I know people are going to yell at me and call be racist, but minorities have made white people to scared to do anything anymore. Many people are scared of being prejudiced, so they actually treat minorities better than whites. It’s called “affirmative action”, and it was made illegal in my state on November 4th.
And all this “political correctness” mumbo-jumbo as well. If a black person was born in the US, they’re not African-American. One of my friends is extremely white, technically speaking. He has red hair and the lightest skin I’ve ever seen. However, he was born in Sudan, so he is technically African-American. Even the term “Caucasian” is incorrect. It implies that a person is from the Caucasus Mountain region, around the country of Georgia. I am mainly German, Swedish, and Polish, and am in no way Caucasian.
Now bracing for yelling and flaming, I end my rant.
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62- Bush got big boos up here. I did not partake. He is not my favorite man but everyone deserves respect.
67- I have seen that play, although I certainly agree they should have let you watch the inauguration.
68- I believe the proper word is “historic” not “historical”. They are used interchangebly but they mean different things. historical: “of or relating to the study of history” whereas historic is “important in history”. Yeah, everyone gets this wrong. I hope I don’t seen awefoul for haveing pointed it out. *rarely corrects people*
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69-Even my mom thought that was funny. You’re my best friend of the day.
Bush did get boos, but they trumpeted so loud you could barely hear them, which I thought was funny.
I did get a bit mad when he got sworn in on a Bible with a preacher, but I see how that’s still seperation of church and state. Obama’s christian, he wants a christian blessing, I guess. I wouldn’t if I were elected president, but still.
86-I completely agree with you. “African American”s who don’t have african heratige or weren’t born in Africa AREN’T African American. American, yes. African, no. Just because you’re black dosn’t mean you’re African American. Or Hispanic American, or whatever. If you’re an American, you’re American, and I don’t think there needs to be categories.
Some dude a while ago was like “all the immigrants need to go back to their home countries” and my friend was like “I’m half Suix so I can stay, but when are you going back to England?”
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88- On that note: “http: / /xkcd . com /84/” xkcd: National Language
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86- As a proud American Indian, I think you do not recognize Affirmative action for what it is meant to be. Instead of “people trying to not be prejudiced”, as you so eloquently put it, Affirmative action is the only way to return the favor to “the Man” for years of opression, dehumanization, and genocide that you are continuing by not recognizing what is owed to the minorities. Have a nice day.
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85- The only problem is that a lot of people are starting to think that way and dumb up their way of talking and such, just so others think they are cool and not a nerd.
86- Um…uh…yes, very true. *winky thing*
And… wow. Lots of very true things in that statement. *applaudes*
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90- But is it my fault what my ancestors did? I didn’t have any choice in the matter!
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89-Saw it a billion years ago, but still awesome.
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92- You continue to perpetuate cultural genocide against minorities by claiming refuge under the fact that you have not participated. Every single last American is responsible for letting racism happen and not doing anything about it. The government continues to screw opressed minority groups royally, not giving them a chance for self determination and internal sovereignty. Many companies set up with their only goal to scam minorities. Its high time that the government compensates us for over 400 years of slavery, injustice, genocide and war crimes. And if affirmative action dies out, because of the general stupidity and ignorance of non-believers, then the next step is secession from the United states of America, using peaceful means first and then violence if necessary. It is the only way to free ourselves from the vicious cycle. How do we solve this? We need to end governmental prejudice against minorities and mandate that a substantial amount of governmental positions are filled by minorities. After all, for the Natives, this is our country. We are the ones who own this land, and you are all illegal aliens. We must take the land that we rightfully have back from the white man who is the root of all problems in this world. It is because they choose to look down on people who have an iota of difference from them and dehumanize and enslave them that problems such as war, genocide, slavery, terrorism, racism, and colonialism occur.
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90- Affirmative Action??? Why, you little…*calms down*
Blacks and natives weren’t the only ones who were persecuted in the U.S.! What about us Asians? We were mistreated, shouldn’t we be compensated?
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94-Whoa! Who wants to secede if there is no affirmative action?
A) To which minorities are you referring? Do you just mean Native Americans, or other minorities too?
B) Why set certain seats aside for members of minorities? Isn’t that segregation?
C) We are not all illegal aliens. There were no laws prohibiting immigration. So how could there be illegal aliens?
D) We must take the land that we rightfully have back from the white man who is the root of all problems in this world. It is because they choose to look down on people who have an iota of difference from them and dehumanize and enslave them that problems such as war, genocide, slavery, terrorism, racism, and colonialism occur.
That’s just not fair. You can’t blame a whole group for something. I’m also sure there have been problems caused by people who aren’t white. Not all white people have done those things, and people who aren’t white have done those things. That’s a majorly inaccurate and prejudiced statement.
E) Every single last American is responsible for letting racism happen and not doing anything about it.
So EVERYONE is responsible?
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That’s all in the past. Whats important now are just the stats. African Americans are generally poorer. So we should help them. Not because we need to compensate for our nation’s past faults. Thats just racism, saying that the reason is that. Its not as bad, but it still is. Should we then take revenge on the nephews of Hitler? Its exactly the same.
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95- i never said you shouldn’t
96- A: All minorities, but i had natives in mind
B: OK. Nothing is ever going to change unless minorities have a significant voice in government, and since the most of the public has pre-existing prejudices about a candidate who is of an oppressed minority group. And the election of a black president is irrelevant, as long as we have a primarily white legislature that doesn’t recognize the needs of minorities, the oppression continues. We need a voice.
C: We define illegal aliens as those who came here without a visa (i.e. express permision to settle in the US). Much like some of your ancestors, who said, “Hey, look at this land. Lets take it even though there are people on it and justify it by claiming that they are of a different species.”
D: Think of how those ideas got started. The whites introduced them to all places that they settled. The people who committed those acts and were not white learned them through some sequence from a white person. Its called history. And although not all white people have done these things, the start of them was basically brought about by the whites.
E. Yes.
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I didn’t expect such a sudden and varied response. People, I mean in no way whatsoever to be insensitive to any group of people. Equality is perhaps the one most inherent right to mankind, and I see that we still have not reached it. Discrimination still runs rampant, and must be abolished.
Cliff Eagle- Native Americans are the most discriminated-against people in the United States, and I am truly and sincerely sorrowful for everything that has happened to you. The “white man”, as you put it, has been taking advantage of you for centuries, with no apparent wish to make amends. However, the radical ideas which you state are simply out of line. Do two wrongs make a right? And please don’t take this the wrong way. The abominations committed against Native Americans throughout history are disgusting. However, that does not mean you have the right to punish people today for what complete strangers did in the past. I have contributed in no way to racism, and do not believe I should pay for things which I have never and would never do.
IBCF- As in my response to Cliff Eagle, why do you want to punish us for crimes which we personally did not commit?
Just so you all don’t start getting mad at me even more, let me put it in perspective. Yes, I am white. My ancestors came to the US in the 1800s. I am also Catholic. Catholicism has been the target of prejudice, hate, and crimes for centuries. In fact, right as we speak, Catholics in India are being murdered for their faith. In China, Africa, the Middle East, and everywhere, Catholics like myself are suffering for simply practicing their faith. I personally have felt this hate in talking to my classmates and teachers. My cousin, also Catholic, was actually sent to the principal’s office for correcting a mistake in his World Religions class about a key Catholic belief, mainly because the teacher hates Catholics. However, though this prejudice has existed for centuries, I feel no need to receive reparation for past offenses. Do I support these things? Of course not. I simply refuse to bring punishment onto innocent people.
My dream is that one day, people will not only not be judged by the colour of their skin, but skin colour will not play any role at all in people’s minds, whether for the better or for the worse.
Good night, everybody.
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30-33- He showed us a copy of a document, not the original.
I apologize for that last post. I didn’t realize how long it was.
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.86 – (Piggy) No, I agree with you completely. In a perfect world, we could ignore the color of everyone’s skin and racism would vanish instantly. However, I don’t think that’s possible in today’s society, given America’s history and the current situation. I believe that the election of a black man to the presidency is a really big step for America and I hope that in the future, your dream will come true.
Re: races. They really are getting ridiculous. ‘black’ and ‘white’ aren’t races either, really, because someone with white skin could come from any number of places, as could someone with black skin. What are they really asking, when they ask for our race? The color of our skin (black/white), our nationalities (Asian-American/African American) or something completely different? So frustrating.
.100 (Piggy, again) – You can’t be serious. Do you really think that someone else who is both higher up and smarter than you hasn’t already thought to check this? The Republicans would never have let him get away with that, and if they had (which they didn’t), well it’s their fault and there’s not much can be done about it now.
.94 (IBCF) – Can we move this to Hot Topics? I don’t think Native American issues are really relevant to the election, but I’d like to discuss it somewhere else.
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There are many minorities out there. Whether they be by heritage or by choice all are valid. Native Americans, Asians, African-Americans, vegetarians, Libertarians, Atheists, Buddhists, the list goes on and on. Everyone is part of some minority. Everyone’s minority is discriminated against. Are we going to give slots for everything, control to make equality. No. Restricting freedoms in order to create fairness is an unsafe, unfair idea. If true equality is to develop, we need to let it grow. While the government can nudge it in the right direction, one of the last things we need is a Forced “equality”. That is not freedom.
Good night.
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94- uh. sending away all people just isn’t practical. For one thing, what do you do with me? Chop off my pinky or something and let that stay because I’m a tiny percent Cherokee but send the rest of me (also chopped up) back to England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Sweden?
I understand though that I can’t understand what it is like to be not white because, well, I’m white. I understand that minorities of any kind have entirely different experiences even if the majority does not acknowledge this. I understand that I grew up differently than a lot of people. Race is not the only issue over which people have conflicts of understanding. There are many different things that have contributed to my background and to yours. Race is one. Class, sexuality, religion, area, culture, national origin, gender identity, the type of family and just a few others.
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er I mean are just a few others in my last post. yeah.
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Why would we want to ignore the color of people’s skin? How is that better than noticing? Isn’t what you look like at least part of who you are? Do you want people to ignore your religion? Your culture? Your heritage?
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99, 101, etc.- Woah, I don’t want affirmative action for asians. I should have made it clear that I was being sarcastic. 
I’m trying to say that if asians can deal without compensation, why can’t blacks or native americans do likewise?
Look, if we really wanted to be equal, it wouldn’t matter if someone is white, brown, black, yellow, or whatever…no person of any skin color would have certain advantages or disadvantages. And that would mean no affirmative action.
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First off: Obama 8D
Second off: so about the Chinese media censoring bits of Obama’s speech talking about America “facing down communism” and the entire paragraph “to those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” Fail or fail? I do appreciate the decision to actually broadcast the speech, but that is not good enough, China. English transcriptions of the speech are available and several Chinese bloggers have already translated the uncensored version. The internet exists, and they can’t block everything, and I wish they would figure that out.
and third off…hoooboy. re: racism:
There are a lot of issues behind race and culture in America (more so than probably any other country,) but the fact I think a lot of people fail to grasp (again, in America this perception is particularly rampant) is that you can’t undo history. Was what Western European Protestant immigrants to the U.S. did to minorities wrong? Definitely. I don’t think anyone on this blog would argue that–at least I sincerely hope not–but that doesn’t mean that the descendants of those people are in any way guilty, or that those descendants can just wave the past away. We aren’t guilty for what our ancestors did, but we have to acknowledge it.
So to acknowledge the problems of racism and discrimination that we still have today, we have to look at the past–there’s no getting around that. And what the United States government allowed was terrible, and the repercussions of four hundred years of these policies are still obvious, and we should certainly do all we can to make amends.
But. Secession? Seriously, secession? If you want to end discrimination, creating a separate state is not the way to go about it, because that only establishes your identity as something Other, and that makes discrimination all the easier. You might as well suggest that no two races can coexist because of past atrocities, but we now have a mixed-race President and our country is still populated by people whose ancestors come from all over the world, despite certain efforts (cough-english-only-movement-cough) to deny it. Clinging to the past and using that as an excuse to cut off those who aren’t of the same background as you won’t solve anything; in fact, it’s only going to exacerbate the differences and thus, the discrimination.
We do have to acknowledge the past, but we also have to move on–if Obama or King had decided to be bitter and refuse to move on, do you think they would have accomplished anything? The system’s not perfect, but it’s there, and if there’s something wrong with it we have to fix it rather than sulking about the issue forever. That is why Obama’s election is a big deal–symbolically, it represents how far we’ve come.
There’s a text message that was passed around after the election results came in: “Rosa sat so that Martin could walk. Martin walked so that Barack could run. Barack ran so that our children could fly.”
Are things perfect? No. But that means they have to be changed. We have to acknowledge (yes, I am using this word a lot) the history of every culture in the country, and build something better out of all of them. Progress will be made if we are willing to make it.
Fourth off: 106 (IBCF)- There’s a history of discrimination against Asians in the United States, yes, but there’s a difference between the Asians affected by discrimination during the Gold Rush and the Chinese Exclusion Act, and today’s Asian immigrants (the legal ones, anyway) who tend to be skilled professionals who raise children to value education and work hard to better themselves in society. (do note that I’m mostly speaking about Chinese immigrants here, since that’s what I have the most experience with.) There’s a difference there, both between recent immigrants and between Asian-Americans and other minorities, and you can’t suggest that we are more able to “deal” because we’re, culturally, in completely different circumstances.
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Nowadays people move around so much and everything is so muddled your skin color doesn’t mean as much as it used to. Before transportation, people of different skin colors WERE radically different, and I think the point is now that that is not the case to the same degree as it was, that it shouldn’t be a big deal anymore, if any deal at all.
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72- Bush was all right.
32, 108, everyone- Glad to see I’m not the most politically incorrect Muser on the blog (BTW, I’m white myself). And if I hear one more word from the SBS about Obama’s race I am throwing a tuna sandwich at them.
It should be: What are they saying about it in Europe and New Zealand and Australia?
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In history today, we talked about this quote:
“We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the process of remaking America.” I like that quote.
Mom bought a newspaper and the entire front page was a picture of Obama at the inaguration. So cool.
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SFTDP- I got to watch it at school! My English teacher’s an Obama freak so he let us go to the next room where three teachers who were on break were watching it. The reception wasn’t so good, though….
I hate how historians are bashing him for saying “44 men have taken this oath of office” (At least, my history teacher said historians were bashing him). Technically, there have only been 43 men because Grover Cleveland served two nonconsecutive terms. Give Obama a break. He was obviously nervous. What, with him forgetting what to say when he was sworn in and everything… it was sort of obvious.
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107 – yes. particularly your first two paragraphs on racism. well said.
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100- Piggy, could you clear this up- Are you serious? Really?
106- IBCF, are you saying that Asians have had it as hard as African Americans*? I’d agree with Pentay that their history is mainly just different. I agree that if we were all equal skin color obviously wouldn’t matter, but it still does. Because people are prejudiced, and statistics lead to things like racial profiling. The tool used to create equality is affirmative action.
*86- And I will continue to use that term! It means: one who feels a connection to both Africa and America. If your friend is from Africa and moved to America, they are African America. If a person is born in the US but has African heritage, they are African American. I don’ think we need to be deathly afraid of using non politically correct terms if they’re not demeaning, but they are used for a reason. Labels are never completely accurate, cannot be looked to for much information, and should only be used with approval.
98- Cliff Eagle, you’re acting very high and mighty, accusing us all of being racist, among other things. Your proposal for arbitrary representation in government is unconstitutional. We are living in a representative democracy which represents the people as a whole. If you have an issue you feel needs to be addressed, I urge you to take it up with your local representative.
the election of a black president is irrelevant
What more do you want? There is no higher office.
The people who committed those acts and were not white learned them through some sequence from a white person. Its called history. And although not all white people have done these things, the start of them was basically brought about by the whites.
I take personal offense to this. You have just very strongly insulted all of my family and most of my friends’ heritage. You have just put the blame for the suffering of all people in the world today on one type of person, who you have separated from all of the rest of the world’s people on the basis of skin color. I know history, and it is most emphatically not “White people steal things.” If it were, where would you be today? Certainly not using a computer. I plead you to reconsider rashly accusing, in grand and generalized phrases, so much of the world for doing things so small, in a chronological perspective.
I saw a “Canadians for Obama” group on the Mall, among tons of other groups. Thought Kagy might want to know.
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74-Hi HAWK! I’m pretty good… Insanely busy. XD How are you??
Race is a really touchy issue, and I think the election has made it easier to talk about it.
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107-I think I agree. Nicely Said.
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113- Humph. Affirmative action actually causes racial profiling, because people see that minorities are getting advantages that are unfair. To them, anyways.
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62- The quartet was fantastic. They basically had the best violinist and best cellist in the world. Wow! It was cool to hear them perform together!
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All I hear these days: OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OMG I CAN’T STOP TALKING ABOUT OBAMA OMG HE’S THE MESSIAH OMG HE’S BLACK etc.
Maybe we should remember that he’s the president of the United States, and we shouldn’t judge him until he starts making decisions as our leader.
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I’m so glad Obama is our president.
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118- and what I just posted was /based on his decisions/ and what I think of them. I voted for him. I agree strongly with many of his ideas. I agree with the closing of Guantanamo. I am happy he is my president because I think he has excellent ideas and an excellent outlook on life.
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120- While I agree that he does have some good plans (besides legalizing abortion), I will wait to put my trust in him until aftr they have been put into effect and have proven to be successful.
Did you know that while Obama was being inaugurated, stocks fell more than 330 points? Apparantly, the stock market doesn’t share our new president’s sense of enthusiasm. Just a fun fact.
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I just hope he does what he says he would.
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118–I agree. And just a note: I’m not saying that the people on this thread are not doing that, so please, nobody take it that way. I have nto read all the posts on the thread (I don’t have time), so I have no clue.
I did not vote for Obama, I did not/do not think he is what was best for our country. However, the people have spoken, and I accept that.
I won’t be like several republicans I know and say that the world is now going to end, and that terrorist attacks are eminent. I doubt that. The worst that will happend (in my opinion) is four to eight years of bad leadership. But you know what? I honestly hope that I am wrong, and that Obama does good things for our country.
So, yeah. I’m reserving an official opinion until he actally does somehting.
As far as the inauguration……I didn’t watch it, but my sister did, or at least part, and she said that all the reporters were doing was going on and on and on about how he is the first black president, and acting like taht was the most important thing about him. It’s not. Yes, it’s a historic event that we elected an african american. However, that is far from the most important thing. Just because he is a first does not mean he will be good for our country. It does not mean he will make good decisions. Thus, the color of his skin should not be what “everyone” is saying will make hinm a good president.
It has no bearing on whether his policies will be good, or whether they will be bad.
Will the be good? I don’t know. I have my doubts, but I sincerely hope I”m wrong, and that all the democrats are right, and he will be really good for the ocuntry.
Anyway, I’m rambling, and I apologize, and yeah. I”m going to go eat my “dinner” now……..
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I’m waiting for the change he’s been talking about.
(From JibJab)
OBAMA: Gosh I’m so tired of divisive exchange
And I got one or two things to say about change
Like the change we must change to the change we hold dear
I really like change, do I make myself clear?
CLINTON and MCCAIN: So he’ll talk about change til your deaf in the ear!
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He has ordered for the Closing Gitmo (1 year tops till it’s closed, we have to find something to do with the people we charge.), Ending torture, Starting to get people charged or out of jail, Etc.
about 2 days as president, and he’s working hard.
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121_Go to the Moody or Not world stats page and you will see everyone got happier on Tuesday. Also Interesting-happiness usually goes down on Saturday and Sunday.
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126–“everybody” got happier on Tuesday? uh-uh, I don’t think so. I, for one, did not get happier on Tuesday, although it had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Obama’s inauguration. ’twas the first day of school, and thus a very unpleasant day, and I definitely was much less happy then even the previous day, when I was traveling for at least 12 hours. (it takes over three hours just to get to seattle, how wrong is that????????)
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110- My teacher did that, too.
125- “Let’s get down to business…” (Sorry, I love Mulan.)
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121- It’s very hard for Obama to be successful if America waits to put its trust in him. We all need to help out.
Just pointing that out.
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105- I’m all for keeping our diverse cultures strong, but I see skin colour as just a physical appearance, like hair colour or eye colour. Culture and tradition are two things which are extremely important to me, and I want in no way to ignore them.
113- First, just drop the Obama thing; it obviously doesn’t matter anyway. Second, are you saying the the term “black” is offensive? I don’t think anyone actually does. Certainly none of my black friends do. It’s like me being called “white”. Does it offend me? Of course not! That would be ridiculous.
102- Thank you. That sums up how I feel very well.
————————————————————————————————————————–
All right, so we’ve figured out that racism is bad and we wish it didn’t exist. I don’t think this discussion is going to go anywhere fast.
What did everyone think of the last part of Reverend Warren’s sermon? That little poem-type thing? We discussed it for a good half hour in my English class.
I agree with some other people in that we shouldn’t say “Oh, we love Obama! He’s the bestest prez evah!” (possibly in different terms) until we actually see how good he is. After closing Gitmo, what’s next? He’s already broken a campaign promise about how he was going to make FOCA the first thing to do as president. 2 days, one big promise broken. [sarcasm] And I’ve noticed the economy isn’t fixed yet. [/sarcasm]
127- How’s life in college again?
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127-Most people. Sorry bout that.
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130–I shall take that question over to the random thread, instead of cluttering up this one…..
131–it’s ok. apology accepted.
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130- So, because he didn’t do one thing he mentioned in one speech first, that automatically negates everything else he’s accomplished in two days?
Um. No.
(this not even counting that it takes time for a new law to be passed, and Obama doesn’t make the laws, Congress does. The Constitution doesn’t bite, I promise!)
I’m thrilled about the Gitmo thing, though. That is the kind of change I was looking forward to when I cursed the fact that I was born two years too late to vote for him.
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Re: Affirmative action: It’s like the opposite of racism: favoritism. And equally as bad. You should work for something, not have it handed to you by the government.
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133- 2012!
130- Torture is more important than the FOCA.
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123- (Luna) I’m just wondering, how would you rate Bush?
130- (Piggy)
First, just drop the Obama thing; it obviously doesn’t matter anyway.
Umm. Why? I asked because I couldn’t tell if you were serious or not. I’m very interested, because if you were serious, you would be thinking against a lot of proof, which is uncharacteristic of you.
Second, are you saying the the term “black†is offensive? I don’t think anyone actually does.
So you can speak for all of the people in this country with dark skin?
Certainly none of my black friends do.
Ok. They are a tiny bit of a population.
It’s like me being called “whiteâ€. Does it offend me? Of course not! That would be ridiculous.
Ridiculous. Really? What if “white” had connotations reaching much farther than a simple color? What if it offends me? If it doesn’t offend you, that’s great, but that statement was a bit self-centered.
134- (Kokonilly)
So what should’ve been used after the Civil War? If freed slaves were expected to just work their way out of generations of poverty, illiteracy, and worse, where would we be today? Certainly not this far.
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136–(Vendaval) I would probably say slightly below average. He wasn’t a great president, he’s made some decisions I’m not sure I agree with, but he could have been a lot worse. The country is still here, not in too bad of shape (yes, the economy isn’t too hot, but we’ve not sunk into a serious depression like we did earlier in our history). So, yeah, not great, but not horrible.
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Luna- “The country is still here, not in too bad of shape (yes, the economy isn’t too hot, but we’ve not sunk into a serious depression like we did earlier in our history). So, yeah, not great, but not horrible.”
That isn’t too high of a bar. I’d like to see my country economicly well, not in the worst recession since the great depression. I’d like to see my country promoting the rights of all. I’d like to see my country without secret prisons for detainees. I’m really glad to see what Obama’s been doing in his presidency so far. Even if you disagree with me on Obama, wouldn’t you rather see your country thrive than just still exist?
Piggy: 113- First, just drop the Obama thing; it obviously doesn’t matter anyway. Second, are you saying the the term “black†is offensive? I don’t think anyone actually does. Certainly none of my black friends do. It’s like me being called “whiteâ€. Does it offend me? Of course not! That would be ridiculous.
…
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man.
…
I’ll try to respond but…
man.
yeah. see. how can you speak for everyone in claiming that no one finds the term ‘black’ to be offensive? And small segments of the population (IE: you. and maybe your friends. How do you know they don’t find that offensive?) do not represent the whole. It is not like you being called white.
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In my capacity as referee, I note that Piggy has at least presented evidence, however partial (as anyone’s must be), that “black” is not a racial slur. As far as I can tell, nobody here has presented evidence that it is. Instead, MBers have suggested that Piggy personally survey the entire population of the United States before expressing an opinion. How reasonable is that?
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138–(oxlin) Yes, I would rather the country thrive. And if Obama does that, I will be happy. And because our country wasn’t particularly thrivig under Bush, he was by no means a great president. But I ranked him as a bit below average, because I honestly think he could’ve done a lot worse.
Also, from things I’ve heard, it’s not entirley Bush’s fault that the economy sucks, instead,a ccording to my dad (I know, a potentially biased source), Clinton made policies that set the economy up for a fall, and then left office, so the fall happened during Bush’s leadership, and he was therefore blamed for it. Is this entirely true? I don’t know. However, I still don’t think Bush can be held solely responsible for the recession.
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139- I was not trying to argue that ‘black’ is a racial slur. Nor was I trying to argue that it wasn’t. My argument was that one cannot base fact on one’s personal opinion. It was that the concept of using ‘well. Me and my friends think it is okay.’ is not a very good argument. I’m sure there are plenty of people, me included, who do not intend the word ‘black’ to be a racial slur. Nevertheless, that does not mean that we are the only ones. That also does not mean that people don’t take it to be a racial slur.
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(141) One can, however, base personal opinion on one’s own experience, and that’s what I think Piggy was doing. He said “I don’t think anybody does…” That sounds like an expression of opinion to me.
Suppose Piggy had said, “I don’t think anybody thinks the past tense of ‘think’ is ‘thoke.’ None of my friends do, and I’ve never heard of anybody who did.” Would that be an unwarranted inference, or an ungrounded opinion? It might be wrong, and if you had better knowledge then you could correct it. But it seems to me a perfectly valid contribution to discussion.
</refereeing>
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129- Ha. Would you say the same for Bush?
Black issue: Maybe we could just forgive each other for our past mistakes and live without fear, anger, or prejudice…
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143- Wouldn’t it be loverly?
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143-Yeah, it’d be great, but it’s not going to happen any time soon.
Re: Black- I don’t think it’s a racial slur. It’s describing one’s skin color. It depends on the context, though. If you’re using black like people use gay, then it’s a racial slur. If you’re using “black” to describe the tone of skin, you’re not racist. I personally don’t get offended when people call me white (again, context), and I don’t know anybody who does. Maybe it’s a small portion of the population, but I’m guessing it’s a minority of people who get offended at being called white.
Re: Affirmative action- Mixed opinions. It’s a good idea, apologizing for the stuff you’ve done in the past and making sure it can’t happen again, but as a white male born into a middle class family, I see it as a bit unfair that a, say, black woman with less skill at something than me can still get the job and I can’t.
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136 – Well, I’m not talking about directly after the Civil War. I’m talking about now, when anyone can get a degree in anything. It’s really not fair if some have an advantage.
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143- How I wish that were true…I personally feel that the election of Mr. Obama as our president only shows how much the nation has grown to accept racial equality, and I hope that this will be a step forward to mending wounds between us.
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133- I never said that. I wouldn’t say that, because he has done a lot, for better or worse.
135- So… torture is worse than murder? *is confused*
140- Well, there are, of course, those “wonderful” choices of Congress the last few years. SNL did a joke about it. It was quite funny, especially because it is true: the Democrats (mainly (don’t yell at me)) in Congress pushed through various bills and whatnot which may have allowed the dangerous loans which have caused our economy to plummet. Bush and his Cabinet, however, advised against it.
139, 142- Thanks. I’m rather outnumbered, and its nice to have some external control.
In any case, I stand by what I said. Now, there may be people who hear the term “black” as a slur, but I’m just saying that I personally have never met anyone with that opinion. I mean, there’s an entire television channel called BET, or Black Entertainment Television. (I have strong opinions about that as well. Ask me sometime.) Of course, it can be used offensively, but it can also be used as a simple term for the colour of a person’s skin. Again, I hope that eventually skin colour will become just a simple physical appearance, i.e. “He’s about 6’2” and has gray hair and black skin. Granted, it wouldn’t be literally accurate, but I don’t think “chocolate skin”, or some term less food-related but more accurate in terms of colour, would catch on.
*becomes hungry for chocolate*
Ah, this is becoming like the MuseBlog of yore. Great discussion, mild flaming, and many opinions being stated. This truly is my Shangri La.
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142- It is in a different context, though.
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As everything I would have said about Obama is pretty much covered, I will rant about favouritism.
Look what happened to New Zealand! At least you can actually tell blacks/Asians/whatever are ethnic. *rants*
113 (Vendeval)- Hear, hear.*rants, then goes to random thread*
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Re: “Black”
The original post I responded to called political correctness “mumbo-jumbo”- I was trying to show that it exists for a reason. Piggy’s “proof” didn’t really prove much, but it was fine to use; just not to declare the use of correct names “mumbo-jumbo.”
140- I think there’s a pattern that follows presidents with respect to their party, I can’t remember how it goes though. Basically it shows how loosening and tightening control over the market affects the economy, but a natural rhythm might not be bad. Also, you should look at a chart of the US National Debt as a percent of the GDP.
146- Can anyone really get a degree in anything? I suppose it’s constantly possible for a luck few to, but what about all of the others who don’t make it? I agree that it’s not fair if some have an advantage, but the majority doesn’t have equality, much less advantages.
150- Favouritism: What happened?
“mild flaming”
I like my political/religious conversations lightly toasted. 
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150- could you please elaborate on “Look what happened to New Zealand! At least you can actually tell blacks/Asians/whatever are ethnic. *rants*” ? I’m not certain of what you mean by that.
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Politically correct is such an annoying topic. It changes every now and then, and you never know what to say.
150) What happened in New Zealand ???
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150- What do you mean? Plenty of stuff has happened to New Zealand, but I don’t think racial differentiation is part of it. You can walk down any street and see people of different races sharing gelato or something, and sometimes you can’t tell races apart. Why do you rant about that? Racial equality is a good thing *Trails off into long-winded righteous speech*.
Obama! They finally have a president with brains! My mom called me when I was walking home from school, and I was so excited I nearly dropped the phone. I’m not in America, but after what Bush has done to everyone, I’m glad to have moved.
I cried when I saw the inauguration, it just made me so happy. If Obama can undo 50% of what Bush has done in four years, it’ll be a miracle. But I think he’s capable of it.
But I’m worried about his children, and I feel sorry for them, because they’ll be separated from everyone at school and they’ll probably have to have security and all that. Imagine going to school with bodyguards and gunmen.
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Okay, so I was just re-watching the video of the parade, and Ms. Obama gave the thumbs-up signal to the rover people, which I didn’t watch when I was watching it live. Awesomeness.
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151- It gives it a nice, smoky flavour, doesn’t it? And I never intended what I said to be any sort of proof. It’s just my personal experience and opinion, just as everyone’s posts have been.
*starts singing “Shangri La” by the Kinks*
Why does everyone hate Bush so much? He seems to have become just a scapegoat on whom for everyone to blame the world’s problems. I can already read the responses to this post: “But he is the cause! He was such an idiot! I hate him!” Bush did what he thought was right, no matter how many people hated him for it. Furthermore, what he did actually worked. We’ve stopped numerous terror plots, overthrown a dictator, and done spectacular humanitarian work in the poorest nations on Earth in Africa. The liberal media try to cover up these accomplishments in an attempt to gain more viewers, and have thus clouded the public’s opinions. Was Bush perfect? Of course not. Did he make mistakes? A plethora. But, in the long run, was he a “bad” president? Not in my opinion. Let’s discuss this thirty years from now and see how people’s opinions have changed.
I’ve been wondering. Is Obama using our tax dollars to buy his daughters a dog? If so, I think we should vote on the breed. Wouldn’t that be fun?
154- Are you new? You fit in quite nicely. Welcome! If you’re not, well… have some pie anyway.
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155- Did you see Willard Scott? I almost died laughing when they replayed that clip on the Soup.
156- I want to buy them a golden doodle. They’re the most hyperactively adorable dogs on the planet, even if it is our money.
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157- Isn’t someone there allergic? I thought that’s why they were having such a tough time deciding. You watch the Soup? Sweet! “Let’s take some E!”
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156-
He lied to American people about Iraq.
He destroyed the American peoples civil liberties.
He said “Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning?”
He said “I’m the decider!”
He destroyed the economy (That started back with President Regan)
He started Gitmo and Abu Grav.
And you like him?
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158- The Soup and SNL are my favorite TV shows ever! Did you see the clip of the dog and the cupcakes last night? I almost died laughing, even if it was probably doctored. Come to think of it, that dog would do nicey in the Obama household.
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“In any case, I stand by what I said. Now, there may be people who hear the term “black†as a slur, but I’m just saying that I personally have never met anyone with that opinion. I mean, there’s an entire television channel called BET, or Black Entertainment Television. (I have strong opinions about that as well. Ask me sometime.) Of course, it can be used offensively, but it can also be used as a simple term for the colour of a person’s skin. Again, I hope that eventually skin colour will become just a simple physical appearance, i.e. “He’s about 6′2″ and has gray hair and black skin. Granted, it wouldn’t be literally accurate, but I don’t think “chocolate skinâ€, or some term less food-related but more accurate in terms of colour, would catch on.”
Piggy, I like this argument a lot better than your other one. It was the phrasing that I was talking about. Personally I do not think of black as a derrogatory term either. That is given through context. I do think that others might find it to be derrogatory.
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.I agree that black can hold some negative connotations, but I also think it’s the best term out there. Defining race strikes me as something that’s going to become increasingly pointless over our lifetimes, but I think that’s another argument. The term African-American is also problematic because many black people do not, in fact, come from Africa, but from Jamaica or Martinique. They aren’t African-Americans at all, but they are black. I suppose you could argue that they originally came from Africa, but if they don’t identify with African culture and don’t consider themselves Africans, why should they be called African-Americans at all?
But I suppose if we’re using black/white as terms for race, we should also start using yellow/red/brown as well because it’s odd to have some races defined by the color of one’s skin (black/white), and others defined by location of geographic origin (Asian), still more defined by spoken languages (Hispanic).
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159- When did he lie?
When did he do that, and how is abortion not destroying human rights?
So he misspoke. So what?
No, Congress, risky loans, and greedy investors destroyed the economy.
He didn’t want the US to house terrorists.
And yes, I still like him.
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163-
There are no WMDs in iraq!
The goverment can now listen to your conversations.
No comment
No comment
Yes, But he could have had them charged with a crime, and detained with out being tortured!
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Hey guys, this is totally off the topic that you’re talking about, but it is about the inauguration… I don’t know if someone’s already talked about this but I haven’t been here, so forgive me.
Did you SEE Aretha Franklin’s hat? I’m still not sure whether I think it was extremely cool or the weirdest hat I ever saw. Haha, in English on Tuesday Mr. Preston read us an email from Elizabeth. Yes, THE Elizabeth Preston, who is my English teacher’s oldest daughter. Mr. Preston is so obviously a Muser So anyway, at the Muse offices they couldn’t get it on TV, but they finally managed to get it because someone held the ends of two wires together the entire time. The email said something about the hat, that’s why I mentioned it. LOL I totally know I’m Muse– obsessed because everyone else was like yeah, it’s an email from his daughter, so what? and I was like OMG it’s an email from the Muse editor SQUEE!!!!
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Yes, Isn’t it weird how you can find Muse connections everywhere? One of my camp councilors this summer was Larry Gonick’s daughter!
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He’s that old (or young?)
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166 – REALLY??? Flamablamablous!
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167- Yep!
168- It was! I built sculptures of Kokopelli and a bust of Mimi!
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Sorry about that…I guess I should elaborate. What I meant was all the over-the-top political correctness there, and how it’s silly that some people are part-Maori and still look white.
I never do manage to make sense. Maybe i should just shut up and go and play Age of Empires.
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170- i don’t think anyone meant offense, I was just confused as to what you meant. I still don’t get what you mean about the last bit? sorry I don’t mean to sound accusing…I’m just confused lol
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164- That wasn’t a lie. It was misinformation not due to any action of Bush.
So, having someone listen to me talk on the phone is worse than killing babies? Make sense, you!
*skip*
*skip*
But what does that have to do with Gitmo, specifically? Gitmo itself isn’t bad. It’s just a facility in Cuba.
Hm. This conversation is beginning to wheeze. We need something new to discuss. Actually, this conversation didn’t specifically fit this thread. Wow, I got this thread off topic.
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166- I have SO many Muse connections, it’s not even funny. My English teacher is Elizabeth Preston’s dad, and her youngest sister is at my school in the 7th grade. I don’t know her that well, but her boyfriend (? I’m not really sure whether they’re still going out or not) is in my theater group. Aaaand, I’m planning to write a Muserology about the production we just finished. Haha, crazy, isn’t it?
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So my friend just told me that Obama wasn’t president exactly at noon and that Biden was president for about 15 minutes before Obama was inaugurated. I told him he doesn’t know what hes talking about. Please tell me hes wrong!!!
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I have no Muse connections. Probably because Muse is made in Chicago, and I live in California.
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174- It’s a wacko republican ploy.
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174- It’s true, sorry.
175- I live in Central New York, Rainbowstar. That’s 13 hours away from Chicago. But my grandparents live in a suburb.
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SFTDP…
176- Really? I thought it was true. When I saw it at school I was looking at the clock the whole time, and it was definitely like 12:15 at least when Obama was sworn in.
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Actually, Obama was President at 12:00 noon because of the Twentieth Amendment. The President-Elect becomes President, oath or no Oath!
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I heard he had to take the oath twice, cuz he flubbed it the first time. Of course, I overheard this in the caf, and the boys talking also said somethign about biden temporarily being president for some short period of time (probably the same 15 minutes someone else mentioned), so if that was wrong, I s’pose this could be wrong…..
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174: yes, he is wrong. the swearing in is just a tradition, without any legal obligations of its use. Obama could have torn up the bible, and threw it off the podium area, and he still would be president. Biden was never president, and knock on wood, he won’t be any time in the next 4 to 8 years.
164: oh, and don’t forget the “by far the vast majority of the tax cuts will go to the bottom end of the spectrum” quote. The bottom 60% received only 14.7% of the tax cuts. More of an out and out lie, than a misspeaking. He later repeated this, many times, which makes it seem a bit less misspeaky.
Piggy, please elaborate on your Gitmo comment. before I comment on it, I want to be sure I understand it correctly. It sounds kind of torture endorsey, and that doesn’t go well in my book.
I don’t hate Bush, I just think that he’s bad at his job, and shouldn’t have been elected. And, about the “you try being president for a day.” comment, you hire someone because you think that en is qualified for the job. However, if someone was bad at en’s job, they would be fired, right? And the shooting wolves in national parks, and drilling wherever en sees fit, and pulling a reverse Robin Hood seem like the kind of thing that gets en fired.
Speaking of which, did anyone see the Daily show afterwards? I thought it was so funny! the part about the poetry was so good! Sorry about the length, and I’ve gotta get back to homework.
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Luna (180): Yes, Obama did take the oath twice, but Biden wasn’t president (as far as I know). When Roberts was reading the words of the oath for Obama to repeat, he messed up. Obama waited for him to fix it, and then they both stumbled over the words and Obama ended up saying it wrong anyway. It wasn’t a huge mistake–just one word in the wrong place. However, he took it again either later that evening or the next day, just in case.
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Yeah, it’s true, both he and Roberts kind of messed it up. First Obama interrupted Roberts in the middle of the first line. Then Roberts said the second line wrong, so Obama said the first bit he got right and waited for Roberts to repeat it correctly… but after that it went fine.
It was awesome on Inauguration Day. My Spanish teacher let us go and watch it on live TV. My Drama teacher was crying. My History teacher said the last time she’d felt this way was at JFK’s inauguration. And no, none of them are related to Elizabeth Preston.
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He did, just to be on the safe side.
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180 – Actually, it was not Obama who “flubbed it,” but Roberts—he messed up the thing Obama was supposed to repeat. But yeah, he did take it again to be safe.
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182, 183, 185–gotcha.
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183 – Actually, it’s not known whether Obama jumped the gun a bit or whether Roberts paused needlessly. And then Roberts messed up.
We watched it on live TV with Spanish subtitles in Spanish class.
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181- I am in no way suggesting torture is hunky-dory. I’m saying that Gitmo is just a facility. What they actually did inside Gitmo is what’s causing controversy.
187- I think Roberts paused for a breath and Obama, nervous as he must have been, took it as his cue and started talking. In any case, though, it doesn’t matter.
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ROBERTS: (working without a text, and also without an overcoat): Are you prepared to take the oath, Senator?
OBAMA: I am.
ROBERTS: I Barack Hussein Obama …
OBAMA: (interrupting) I Barack …
ROBERTS: Do solemnly swear …
OBAMA: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear …
ROBERTS: That I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully…
OBAMA: That I will execute … (pauses, smiles, waits for Roberts to put “faithfully” in correct spot)
ROBERTS: … The off … faithfully the pres … the office of president of the United States…
OBAMA: The office of president of the United States, faithfully … (if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em)
ROBERTS: And will to the best of my ability …
OBAMA: And will to [the] best of my ability …
ROBERTS: Preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
OBAMA: Preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
ROBERTS: So help you God?
OBAMA: So help me God.
ROBERTS: Congratulations, Mr. President.
…clear it up? (dialogue from Slate Magazine)
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I’d say it’s clear that Justice Roberts was thinking “I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear [pause, repeat]” while Obama was thinking “I, Barack Hussein Obama, [pause, repeat] do solemnly swear [pause, repeat].” The collision flustered Roberts so much that he misplaced “faithfully.”
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190 – Oh, okay. That makes sense.
But, really, what does it matter now? He’s President.
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179/181 – I didn’t know that. In that case, why did he have to retake the oath?
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(192) He retook the oath just to be sure there would be no question. According to the 20th amendment, the presidential term begins at noon, oath or not, so there is no break between the outgoing and incoming presidents. Disagreement remains, however, as to whether the president can exercise executive powers without taking the oath.
Incidentally, in response to some earlier comments, neither bibles nor the phrase “so help me God” is required. Here is what the U.S. Constitution actually says:
Article II, Section 1
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:
“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.”
Amendment 20, Section 1 (ratified 1933)
The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin. [My emphasis.]
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When did he do that, and how is abortion not destroying human rights?
How is keeping a women who wants to from having an abortion not destroying human rights?
I’m really happy with the Guantanamo closing. It’s showing the world that the U.S. is a moral nation once again.
I have decided that Bush is not intelligent enough to hate. Remember, the American People elected him, at least the second time.
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What I find interesting about the abortion issue is how each side is oh-so-convinced they’re right they never look at the other side. They might think they do, but really, no. I mean, look at the NAMES of each side, for pie’s sake. Pro-life. Pro-choice. Each side is so pro, because of the stigma attached to anti. And then the pro-lifers call the pro-choice people anti-life, and the pro-choice people call the pro-lifers anti-choice. And the pro-life side yaks about how the others are killing babies and have no souls. And the pro-choice side blabs about how the others are oppressing pregnant women and don’t like freedom. I am on the pro-choice side, but I’m so tired of all the fighting I just have one question:
Why can’t we all just get along???
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Cats Eye: I really don’t know, I guess that there has been a swirling pattern of anger, despair, and nasty name calling since the beginning of politics.
Oh, I was wondering, what is the Geneva Convention, and what are its rules?
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I just wanted to say that, on the topic of racism, we nowadays should not be punished for what others in years past have done. I say this for several reasons:
1) We had no control over their actions, they died before we were born, remember?
Now, you might say that we should be punished because we allow racism now. My answer: WE DO NOT. Most people are not racist, and if they do meet a racist, most won’t stand for it. I am not racist, nor have I ever been, though I do know a few people who are. It is unjust and rather stupid, but so is anti-semetism, and fear of invalids. There will always be stupid, prejudiced people in the world, and should the whole be punished for the stupidity of a few.
2) Many people in this country’s ancestors came over after slavery had ended, TO ESCAPE FROM PERSECUTION THEMSELVES. They never kept slaves, never forced Indians onto reservations, and never grew fat while others labored for them.
I am not ‘white’ or Caucasian, I am Jewish. I am Russian/possibly German in descent, I am a 3rd generation American, and I believe that yes, when it comes to jobs, colleges and the like, Americans are one race, and should be treated accordingly. When it comes to genetics, well, I’m an Ashkenazai Jew, so that makes me more prone to, what is it, Tay-Sachs (sp?)? Is that racist? And women have a maternal instinct that means it makes sense that they raise the kids and men support them. Get it? MATERNAL? We have to be careful about what we define as ‘racism’, because sometimes, race does make a difference.
I will now finish off this rather long and vaguely nonsensical post with an apology to the myriads I have no doubt offended. Not for saying it, but for the fact that I have offended you, because I meant every word I said.
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There was this guy who was a patient of my ortho’s…apparently he was at the inauguration. His school’s band got chosen to be in the parade. Something like that. Also, apparently his teacher didn’t like Obama, so…awkward. It was kind of interesting to listen to this all while a wire in my mouth was being replaced.
…that was odd.
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