a parade might inspire me to go to work.

I love Obama's sense of humor. It's kinda' Buffista-ish, huh?

Obama takes first actions in office

Shortly after delivering his inaugural address, President Obama took his first official actions in office. First, he signed a document declaring today a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation. Then he signed off on his cabinet nominations.

After signing off on the first document, Obama carefully put down the pen, folded his hands and dead-panned: "I was told not to swipe the pen, which I often do." He stood up to leave, but was reminded he had more documents to sign. The new president said: "That's true, I guess I have to have a Cabinet, don't I? Yeah, I forgot about that."

As Obama wrote his name on the documents, CNN's Wolf Blitzer provided this commentary: "His penmanship, I must say, is excellent."

I have done some work today, but I am not gonna kill myself to get stuff done. I mean, my boss is not here. I would liek to get lunch at some point, but also do not want to miss stuff. Maybe I can ask someone to get me stuff.

I will emphasize what Matt said about the Warren/Graham comparison. Graham may or may not have been more conservative than Warren. (Depends on the issue. I don't remember Graham saying women should stay with men who beat them, but maybe I missed it, not being exactly a Graham fan.) But Warren used language that specifically stirred up hate (not today, in general), something Graham mostly avoided. I'm much more concerned with Warren going out of his way to stir up anti-gay emotions, especially when there is already a real problem with gays being beaten, raped and murdered at a higher rate than the general population.

CNN blurb says Obama to speak at all 10 official inaugural balls and the President and First Lady will dance at all ten. My feet hurt for them.

I just remembered that I have to go in today -- or close the reference desk. My co-worker had to go to a meeting ( boo hiss for her) so there would be times when no one would be available for the desk. Darn

From whitehouse.gov, The Agenda - Civil Rights. Scroll down for the large section "Support for the LGBT Community"....

eta:

Repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell: President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.

I was just reading that! I'm excited he still wants to repeal DOMA.

So far we have random champagne and a guy in a jeep with a giant flag from his truck.

I am also trying some Mexican hot chocolate today. How could I resist a brand name "Abuelita"?

It's full of cinnamon, Cashmere. You are in for a treat!

And Rick Warren said Sasha and Malia's names really...weirdly.

Its like he fangirls the Obama kids.

It sounded like Obama didn't want to split an infinitive.

Oh that just gives me chills. Welcome back, English language! Welcome back, Science! The Constitution! Buddy! Rough couple of years there, Pal. We'll get you patched up right away.

We're out of the woods, we're out of the dark, we're out of the night...

Warren was okay up until he invoked the J-word.

Look, the guy is gonna say "Jesus". You just have to know that. It would make no sense if he didn't.

I'm a Christian. I'm not delighted that we have so much of my faith in our public life -- I think it is deleterious both to my faith and to my country. However, when you're going to have a Christian minister speak as a Christian minsiter that's what he's going to do.

I found myself surprised at being moved by Warren, but you can't go mentioning the cloud of witnesses without me falling apart. It was a big image of my Grandfather's, an important part of his ministry in an integrating south, and a major feature of the architecture in the church his congreagation built [link] (p. 4)

I'm ready to move on. If Obama really does away with DADT, that will be a huge, "See? I'm down with teh gays!" I think it will help many, if not all of us, to forgive and forget this misstep. So, let's get down to business!

Signs are good: [link]