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I have been doing some research analyzing photos and crowd data to try and ascertain the crowd size of the 9/12/09 Tea Party protests (which I blogged on here). It seems the best, most recent reference point is President Obama’s inauguration, which was estimated at 1.8-2.0 million people. If you look at the pictures from last January’s Inauguration it looks at first glance like the Obama crowds dwarfed the Tea Party crowds. The Tea Party Crowds did not extend back the Washington Monument (there were other events on the Mall yesterday). On the flip side, the inauguration is a controlled,...

While Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s inauguration ceremony was taking place inside the Majlis, people in Tehran were shouting in streets surrounding Baharestan Square – where Majlis building is located – “dwarf, come out” and “death to dictator,” in their 53rd day of protests against the election coup. Simultaneous with the inauguration ceremony in the Majlis building, and while Baharestan Street was in complete control of the military, clashes took place between the public and security forces in surrounding streets and other parts of the capital. Security and Basiji forces had occupied the Baharestan Square and surrounding streets from 7 am. Nevertheless, for...

LONDON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama's half brother was refused a visa to enter Britain because he had been accused of a serious crime on a previous visit, it was reported Saturday. Samson Obama was stopped by immigration officials at East Midlands Airport in January on his way to Washington for the president's inauguration, the Sunday newspaper News of the World reported, according to advance excerpts. Biometric tests alerted the authorities that Samson, a Kenyan mobile phone shop manager, had previously been arrested by police in Berkshire. That arrest followed an alleged sex attack on a British girl two...

AMERICAN president Barack Obama's half brother was REFUSED a visa to enter the UK after being accused of an attempted sex attack on a young girl in Berkshire. The News of the World can reveal that Kenya-based Samson Obama tried to get into Britain on his way to Washington for his family's big day, the historic inauguration in January. But eagle-eyed immigration officials at East Midlands Airport, using the latest biometric tests, discovered he was linked to an incident here last November. The hi-tech database revealed that Samson -who manages a mobile phone shop just outside Nairobi-was the same man...

Commentary > Op-eds Dangerous Disrespect By Peg Luksik, For The Bulletin Published: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 Every president establishes priorities. He decides which issues and constituent groups and agendas are important to him and which are not.  Sometimes, he communicates his decisions through speeches.  Sometimes through his policies. And sometimes through his attention.  The negatives in this process are as important to watch as the positives, although the negatives often get overlooked. On inauguration night, President Barack Obama clearly communicated a negative priority. The night of the inauguration of a new president is a busy one for Washington. There...

Since Obama promised transparency, he should have posted a list of the gifts he got when he was inaugurated. I can't find a list anywhere. Can anyone help me?

The Grea Amerikan Orgy

Check out this interactive panoramic view of the U.S. Capitol on Inauguration Day. You can zoom in close enough to see the expressions on the faces of all the VIPs ... Can you spot the bearded fellow wearing a red-and-white checkered keffiyeh? It’s like “Where’s Waldo,” only the Nine-Eleven Edition. Click here to play.

In 1892, the 1/8th black Homer Plessy was convicted of violating Louisiana law by sitting in a “Whites only” railroad car. He took his case all the way to the Supreme Court, where his conviction was upheld by an 8-1 margin. “A statute which implies merely a legal distinction between the white and colored races,” wrote the Court, “ … has no tendency to destroy the legal equality of the two races.” The lone dissenter in that case was Justice John Marshall Harlan, who refused to buy into the majority’s logic. Although it was true that whites and blacks were...

Basking in the adulatory afterglow, our new president savored a cigarette and crossed his Nike high-tops on the Resolute Desk, while crews in coveralls stabbed 130 tons of trash into black plastic bags. Two weeks downstream of the Obamagasm on the Mall, Barack has decided to cut the White House staff some slack: He relaxed the dress code, for starters. According to The New York Times’ Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Obama shows up for work around 9 a.m. — two hours later than Bush — and the Oval Office coat-and-tie rule is history. Who slips into a suit after shooting hoops?...

Michelle Obama’s now-famous Jason Wu gown isn’t the only piece of Inaugural fashion that is headed for the Smithsonian. The museum is also requesting the now-iconic hat that Aretha Franklin wore while singing at the swearing-in. Aretha, however, is still undecided about parting with her Luke Song-designed hat. “I am considering it. It would be hard to part with my chapeau since it was such a crowning moment in history,” says the Queen of Soul. “I would like to smile every time I look back at it and remember what a great moment it was in American and African-American history....

This is impossible!

With the inauguration of President Barack Obama in the past, U.S. officials are reporting information about possible threats on the day of the ceremony by a Minnesota Somali man. U.S. intelligence was reportedly investigating a potential inauguration threat involving a Somali insurgent group. They believed one man to be connected with the missing Somali men from Minnesota. 48 hours before the inauguration, U.S. customs agents arrested the 32-year-old Bile Abdullahi, a resident alien from Minnesota, at the Canadian border near Detroit. According to federal charges, Abdullahi was trying to sneak into Canada using his brother's U.S. passport. Both Bile Abdullahi...

Obama Inauguration Speech Ruined By Incessant JackhammeringJanuary 21, 2009 | Issue 45•04 WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama's Inauguration Day address—a speech that many believed would jumpstart the healing process of an ailing nation, foster hope and goodwill across the world, and serve as the ultimate stamp on the Democrat's historic win—was ruined Tuesday by nearly two hours of nonstop jackhammering. Obama paid tribute to those brave Americans who paved the something for something something faith something history. According to D.C. officials, the jackhammering interrupted the landmark address on 30 separate occasions and came from the nearby U.S. Botanic Garden, where it was...

The estimated 1.8 million people who attended Tuesday's inauguration reduced the Mall to a barren wasteland, and it will likely require some major work from the National Park Service. associated press This photograph by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, captures the scope of the historic inauguration, which attracted an estimated 1.8 million people. Much of the grassy part of the Mall is now off-limits to the public for several months, giving the grass a chance to regrow. The National Park Service, which is in charge of maintaining the area, already has a maintenance team and a natural-resources staff inspecting...

Hilarious video http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=263123

In addition to all of the other hypocrisies practiced by liberals during the B.O. inauguration, here's another one to add to the list...

  In theory, at least, we already knew that the Gigapan Imager was capable of some amazing things. This, friends, is proof. David Bergman strapped the device and his Canon G10 onto a rail at Barack Obama's inauguration and snapped 220 images. After giving his MacBook Pro 6.5 hours to compile a two gigabyte image, he hosted it up on his website for people to zoom around on. We'll caution you -- you can easy kill a few hours checking out faces and such if you end up visiting the read link, but it's totally worth it. [Via Gadling]

I have watched and listened for the past week to the musing of the inauguration, and here is what I have gleaned. This is obviously the first inauguration of a U.S. president ever, as far as many people in this country are concerned. In fact, there have been several before this; these people chose not to notice. The honorable Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is famous for his statement, "Judge me not for the color of my skin, but for the content of my character." This is a great philosophy, I agree with and try to abide by. Yet nowhere...

President Obama continued his effort to reclaim religion for progressive politics in general, and his Democratic Party in particular. In recent decades, the Republicans have become the religion party in the United States. While Obama did make gains among religious voters, religious practice is still one of the most powerful predictors of voting behaviour: The more often you attend religious services, the more likely you are to vote Republican.It is not necessary that this should be the case, for there is a long history of religious movements on the left. The "social gospel" movement in both Canada and the...

These foolish drops do something drown my manly spirit. – Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice” I had neither planned nor expected to cry. If it’s true, as some maintain, that men who cry are pantywaists, then I stand condemned. Not being one of those whose tear-production is either quick or voluminous, I was amazed at how many times, watching the all-day spectacle, I lost it. And it wasn’t just at the easy times like, say, during a sudden close-up of a tear-streaked elderly black face in the crowd, but also at moments that were just plain “for the country.” “Historic”...

WASHINGTON -- Whether you loved or hated the classical music played at President Barack Obama's inauguration, what you heard was a recording made two days earlier unless you were sitting within earshot of the celebrated performers. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriella Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill made the decision a day before Tuesday's inauguration after a sound check to use a previously recorded audio tape for the broadcast of the ceremonies.

In the first of a series of video cartoons, The Times has asked Brighton-based mashup artist Mike Bollen to work on Barack Obama's Inauguration speech . Mike is half of Cassetteboy, who have been mischeviously editing audio and video since 2000. Some of their previous work (almost all of which is extremely rude and not suitable for young or sensitive ears) can be found on their YouTube channel. Mike and Steve started out editing audio using old tape-to-tape cassette machines, but now work on computers. (VIDEO AT LINK)

What would be the draw of a UFO to Barack Obama's inauguration? I guess that depends on whether the aliens actually understand our language. Maybe they are tuned into “change” or maybe they are encouraging us to look up and get our heads out of the sand. I don't know the answer.

To ensure diversity quotas were met, Obama apparently invited an illegal 'Alien' to the inauguration. As reported by FoxNews, a 'UFO' was caught on video during the inauguration broadcast. And here we were thinking that we would only have to go as far as Kenya to find Obama kin. Maybe they're from out of this world. Maybe this is why he doesn't want to show his birth certificate?

They're calling it the great musical cover-up, news that Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman and the rest of their Inauguration Day ensemble pre-recorded their music for fear that cold temperatures would force their instruments out of tune. The renowned musicians did play live -- but only those closest could hear it, and that probably didn't include President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama or their daughters, Malia and Sasha. The Ticket has to say, they did sound marvelous.

Jan. 23) - Not everyone was happy with President Barack Obama's nod to nonbelievers and non-Christians in his inaugural address. And some of the stiff criticism about Obama’s religious inclusiveness is coming from African-American Christians who maintain that no, all faiths were actually not created equal. "For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness," the new president said. "We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth," he also said. Nothing too controversial, proclaiming that America's strength lies in its diversity. But between those two statements, the new president...

...One-third of the signers of the Constitution, many of the Bill of Rights signers and America's first few presidents (except for Thomas Jefferson) were Freemasons, a fraternal organization that became public in early 18th-century England. ...Still, as the first president, George Washington had to come up with appropriate rituals for the new country. He borrowed many of them from Masonic rites he knew as "worshipful leader" of a lodge in Alexandria. His Masonic gavel is on display at the Capitol Visitor Center. Until this inauguration, Washington's Masonic Bible - on which he swore his obligations as a Freemason - was...

It's not exactly Watergate but Barack Obama's inauguration was back in the dock today after it emerged that the quartet of classical musicians who ushered him on to the steps of the Capitol were faking it. In a report headlined "The Frigid Fingers Were Live, but the Music Wasn't", The New York Times said that the four, including the violinist Itzhak Perlman, had already recorded their contribution two days earlier and played along just for show. A spokeswoman for the congressional committee, which organised the inauguration, the biggest and most costly in history, told the newspaper that the musicians could...

Washington It was like "The Canterbury Tales." That's what it was like last Saturday, in LaGuardia Airport, on the shuttle to Washington packed full of people going to the inauguration of President Obama. A handsome, affluent black woman in first class—fur hat, chic silver jewelry—laughed on a cell phone as a businessman—tall, black, middle aged—hurried down the aisle in black overcoat and Burberry scarf. A young man in slouchy jeans and dark watchman's cap, iPod buds in place, nodded, in coach, to the tune in his head. Two young white men in beige cowboy hats and grey fleece jackets came...

Already the tarnish is gathering on the crown. The Internet is ablaze with the story. The most lavish and expensive inauguration in America's history left tens of thousands of supporters with tickets to the inauguration denied access to the mall. The "little people" who voted for and supported their new President were left in the cold. Security, access, minimum hygiene facilities, and other creature comforts for inauguration attendees holding purple, (and some with blue and silver tickets), were all but non-existent. See a video commentary here.....

On December 5, 2008, we said: "Questions have been raised as to whether Chief Justice John Roberts could administer the oath of office to a man who he believes may not be entitled. Chief Justice John G. Roberts will have to KNOW that Barack Hussein Obama II is eligible to 'enter on the execution of his office,' before he administers the Inaugural Oath of Office.'" The Chief Justice of the United States did not make a mistake when he flubbed the oath of office. He did not want to issue the oath to Obama because of his doubts. By failing...

Hypocrisy, Inc. came to town on Tuesday. The rich hypocrites arrived in their fleet of private jets. From Robert Frank at the Wall Street Journal. Yet it may come as a surprise that at a time of financial crisis and Green correctness, many of the wealthy are choosing to arrive by private jet. According to an article in Bloomberg, as many as 600 private jets were expected to touch down in D.C. for the inauguration. The runway at Washington Dulles was closed Saturday to allow as many as 100 small planes to park. And the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said...

Barack Obama’s inauguration generated unprecedented media coverage around the world. Turns out the event generated an astounding 35,000 stories in the world’s major newspapers, television and radio broadcasts within 24 hours. That’s 35 times more than the 2005 inauguration — enough to cause the clear cutting of several major forests, increase global warming by several degrees, and swamp Washington, D.C. under several feet of globally-warmed glacier water. The inauguration of George W. Bush in January 2005 triggered only about 1,000 stories around the world. Who’d a thunk? Bush was better for the environment than Obama.

<p>Wasn’t Barack Obama supposed to be the president to lead us to a “post-racial” America?</p> <p>Wasn’t Barack Obama supposed to be the president to lead us to a “post-partisan” America?</p> <p>So while we will be held to a standard of judging all by the content of their character, he will continue to judge us by our skin color. While we will be expected to utter no disagreement with his policies, he will openly hammer ours.</p>

What happens when a bunch of supposedly environment-loving Obama-droolers gather together in one spot? I'm sure you've already guessed, but the video below is instructive nonetheless. Liberals are far more likely than conservatives to believe that human activity is a major detriment to a healthy environment. If I often gathered with a group of people who trashed the land around them whenever they got together, I guess my mind might be poisoned too. Strangely, the major conservative events I've attended have never looked anything like the National Mall looked after getting hit by Barack Obama's liberal tsunami. Yet we are...

The inauguration speech was a disappointment, different Polish experts said on Polish Radio. What about the policy of the new administration, will it really bring any change internationally? Joanna Najfeld reports Americans gathered at the inauguration ceremony no to listen to what the new president says, but how he says it, explains political studies expert Wojciech Jabłoński. In his opinion, the widely publicized inaugural speech sounded more like an election campaign speech: 'You can still sense that old Obama - the candidate, like he was right after he won the elections, when he got carried away with the wave of...

Stay classy Obamatons. The New York Times reports: "Over 300 workers with brooms marched alongside vacuum trucks that looked like Zambonis, all plowing through more than 100 tons of paper, plastic water bottles, newspapers, food wrappers and hundreds of tiny American flags left behind." Trampling American flags into the ground during an inauguration is now the highest form of patriotism.

(7) Section 19(d)(1) of the Presidential Succession Act provides: "If, by reason of ... failure to qualify, there is no President pro tempore to act as President under subsection (b) of this section, then the officer of the United States who is highest on the following list, and who is not under disability to discharge the powers and duties of the office of President shall act as President: Secretary of State ...." (8) Notably, Section 19(d)(1) does not condition the Secretary of State's assumption of the powers and duties of the office of President on resignation of her current office,...

In golf, they call it a mulligan. A do-over. There's no formal name for what President Obama and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. did last night. After flubbing his one role on Inauguration Day -- administering the oath of office to Obama -- Roberts traveled to the White House to re-administer the oath. Just to make sure. "We decided it was so much fun . . .," Obama joked while sitting on a couch in the Map Room. Obama stood and walked over to make small talk with pool reporters as Roberts donned his black robe. "Are you ready...

According to TSO who was at the “Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball”, this newly sworn-in President for the first time in 56 years blew off the ball (that’s 14 Inaugurations). TSO is one of the Mil-bloggers at "This Ain't Hell". A tradition for over a half century until "The Loser" with his nose in the air snubbed the Medal of Honor winners.

I doubt it would surprise anyone here that the media would go to their best lengths to over-estimate the number of people at Obama's inauguration. But just how far? Try a million people. ASU journalism professor Stephen Doig took it to the satellite image to get an accurate count of the crowd. His tally, after even accounting for Baltimore Sun: "Inaugural crowd is estimated at close to 2 million" Boston Globe: " The National Park Service says it will rely on a media report that says 1.8 million people attended President Obama's inauguration." MSNBC: "Oh, and some guy named Barack...

China defends media's Obama speech censorship Thu Jan 22, 3:40 am ET BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Thursday defended the censorship on state television and domestic websites of inauguration speech references by U.S. President Barack Obama to communism and dissent, saying it was an editorial right. Chinese state television abruptly turned away from the broadcast once communism was mentioned, and many websites deleted all mention of it. "I don't understand the situation you've raised. I think Chinese media, like media present here, have their own editorial rights," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a news briefing. Communist China, which...

In his toe-curling Guardian article today (sorry, can’t find a link) fawning over the Obama inauguration, the historian Simon Schama writes: Though Obama referred (without speaking specifically of Martin Luther King) to the dream that had been set before America decades ago on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial having been made reality, it was left to the veteran civil rights campaigner of that older generation, the Rev Joseph Lowery, to pluck the strings of the heart with his fabulously politically incorrect couplets: ‘If you're black don't give it back/if you're yeller, just be meller.’ ‘Fabulously politically incorrect’, eh? This...

As I was watching the proceedings yesterday, I noticed (between sobs/s) that the song immediately preceeding Obama's oath sounded like a rip off of a praise song. Compare: "God of Wonders" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AULdUPmC-s4 with "Air and Simple Gifts" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02Ao9jyq5Vk Is it just me?

It seems as though Barack Obama has not officially been sworn in as President of the United States due to TWO.. yes TWO... screwed up Oaths...

It was nearly gospel for the far-left that Bush would not cede the presidency peacefully. We had this idiot hypothesizing that Bush would cancel the elections; Psycho chicks like Naomi Wolf screamed about "fascist coups"; Some moron named Harvey Wasserman wrote a truly inane piece entitled "Will Bush cancel the 2008 election?", which was picked up and posted by numerous sites; and on and on... Guess what losers, you were all wrong. Cheney didn't barricade the OEOB and declare martial law and Bush didn't mobilize the armed forces to take over DC streets and launch cruise missiles into Chicago and...

An ASU journalism professor using satellite images calculated that 800,000 people attended President Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony. Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication professor Stephen Doig calculated the official inauguration crowd estimate after analyzing a GeoEye-1 satellite image shot at 11:19 a.m. from a height of 423 miles. GeoEye-1 is a military-controlled satellite. Doig said the image was taken 40 minutes before Obama’s swearing-in, but adjusted his estimation to include people who were still coming in before the swearing-in. “The space-based image is fascinating because all the low-level shots make you think the crowd is much larger,” Doig...

An inaugural ball honoring U.S. military veterans ended in a kerfluffle as several veterans walked out when a musical act's attempt at humor backfired. During the Heroes Red, White & Blue Inaugural Ball honoring the nation's veterans, a vocalist with George Clinton and the P. Funk All-Stars held up a white towel with large block letters saying "[Expletive] GEORGE," perturbing many audience members who walked out after the display, interpreting it as a jab at the outgoing commander-in-chief, George W. Bush. A spokeswoman for the ball's organizers said the sign was inappropriate. "Obviously we and the Heroes Ball coordinators were...

"The time has come," he said pointedly, "to set aside childish things." Things, presumably, such as the pandemic indiscipline that has produced a nation of households as overleveraged as is the government from which the householders insistently demand more goods and services than they are willing to pay for. "We remain," the president said, "a young nation." Which, even if true, would be no excuse for childishness. And it is not true. The United States is older, as a national polity, than Germany or Italy, among many others. Obama's first words -- "I stand here today humbled by the task...