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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...

Grade Barack Obama's Inauguration Address. A 43.0% B 19.6% C 20.6% D 5.8% F 11.1% Total votes: 705

just announced, I guess he did get a do-over after all

It is a great honor to march in an inauguration parade. So when a group I belong to called the World Famous Lawn Rangers of Amazing Arcola was selected to march at Barack Obama's inauguration, our reaction, as Americans, was: "The organizers of this parade must be smoking crack." I say this because we are not a traditional marching unit. We are an extremely random group of middle-age guys who carry brooms and push specially decorated show lawn mowers, which we use to perform synchronized broom-and-lawn mower maneuvers that always get a big crowd reaction (usually: "Huh?"). As you can...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Rush Limbaugh, ladies and gentlemen, resisting the tug of popular sentiment as the Last Man Standing. I have to tell you something. Yesterday afternoon after the program, I got home, I was minding my own business, as usual. In fact, I was already working on today's program. I received an e-mail from the New York office. It was from my trusty and loyal aide-de-camp, H.R., also chief of staff. Apparently we caused quite a hubbub in Green Bay, Wisconsin, yesterday. Let me read the e-mail. This is an e-mail sent by an anal liberal teacher to I...

The inauguration of the first African-American president is an historic affair, one that should be properly celebrated by all. But when the so-called “objective” network anchors begin comparing a routine political ceremony to a spiritual awakening, have they gone too far? “Sacred.” “Majesty.” “Sacrament.” “Pilgrimage.” These are words loaded with religious and spiritual meaning. And they’re words used to describe the inauguration of President Barack Obama by CBS, NBC and ABC anchors on their evening and morning news shows. Perhaps the most blatant conflation of politics and spirituality came from CBS chief national correspondent Byron Pitts when he described the...

I really wanted to put my disgust at Bush Derangement Syndrome behind me in approaching Obama. I was ready to put it all behind me, until the inauguration. The disrespect showed to Bush during the inauguration was too much. I'm just not that big a person to let it go. So should we do unto Obama as Obama did unto Bush? Will the country be better off with a real opposition party? As Sarah Palin would say, "you betcha."

One of the sections of Yesterday's Inauguration Speech that has been widely discussed was the President's discourse on the size of government... ....My friend John is one of the few people I know who shares an interest in the writings of the framers, the Federalist Papers. The Federalist Papers were written to sell the Constitution to American People. They are the most important work of political philosophy and pragmatic government EVER written in the United States. I am sure that John would agree, that based on his speech, it is unlikely that the President ever read the Federalist Papers as...

If skies were cloudy where you were yesterday – Inauguration Day, 2009 – don’t look to climate change for the explanation. Rather, blame it on a bloated, overloaded Cloud Nine that hovered like a Goodyear Blimp over the entirety of the nation, swollen with salivating main-stream media types, blocking out just about all light, objectivity, reason and sanity from the American airwaves and landscape. Had a cure for cancer been discovered, or Jesus’ return to Earth confirmed by two or more sources, one would still have to believe that Barack Obama’s ascendancy into the Messianic Palace would have garnered more...

Michelle Obama was expected to wear either Maria Pinto, Thakoon, or Oscar de la Renta for the Inauguration ceremony, but the First Lady surprised us in a good way, when she chose a striking Isabel Toledo design. The champagne yellow ensemble consisted of a gold-embossed coat and a yellow brocade shift dress with diamanté neckline. The coat was made of wool lace in a silk net, with silk radzimir underneath and a layer of pashmina for warmth. Mrs Obama paired down her outfit with green patent Jimmy Choo ‘Glacier’ pumps and olive green gloves from J. Crew.

I thought this was an impressive display: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07dI-6OO6ho

The presidential oath of office should be re-administered to Barack Obama because of his flub during Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony, legal experts say. Because of a mistake by Chief Justice John Roberts, Obama transposed one of the words in the oath. He should have said he will “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States,” but instead repeated Roberts’ cue and said he will “execute the Office of President of the United States faithfully.” Josh White of the Washington Post noted: “The presidential oath of office is required of a new president before he can execute his power, and...

Reverend Joseph Lowery gave an uplifting inauguration benediction that was marred by a racist snipe at white people: Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right.So the "white" have not yet embraced "right"?...

Close to 1.5 million people poured onto the National Mall Tuesday, and the biggest police action appeared to be reuniting parents with their lost children, law enforcement officials said. “We had a crowd stretching from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial and for the most part it was an orderly and festive,” said U.S. Park Police Sergeant Robert LaChance. “We couldn’t have asked for a better day.” No arrests were made as of Tuesday afternoon, according to D.C., National Park and U.S. Capitol police.

Who litters like this?

Washington, DC -- School children learn the line in civics and government classes -- "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Yet, incoming president Barack Obama, who likes to remind people he is a former Constitutional law professor, disregarded life as the first of the inalienable human rights.

The press was all Obama all the time for the inauguration - with a bash of Bush and Cheney - EVEN AS THEY ARRIVED for the big event.

Secretary of State nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton gestures as she arrives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. In this photo released by Eli and Edythe Broad, Secretary of State designee Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at a dinner hosted by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad to celebrate the inauguration of President Obama, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, in Washington.

U.S. President Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill, and former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton sing the national anthem during the Presidential inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington January 21, 2009

Frankly I expected Barack Obama to play the race card at some point. I was even thinking of taking predictions on the radio show. It was a persistent theme in the campaign, and it's been ever-present during the media's post-coital bliss/pre-inauguration buildup. So I'm not surprised that Barack Obama has decided to keep the race card on the table for his presidency. What surprised me is the swiftness with which the issue presented itself, and the moral certainty with which the excoriation of all things "white" was delivered. I didn't expect it to happen during the inauguration. And I certainly...

It is the curse of the journalist always to be present, but never really There. The job requires that we stand slightly apart, seeing but not believing; hearing without being seduced. We jot down the words, careful not to let them get under our skin. Like surgeons in the operating room, we can't afford to become emotionally involved lest we notice the blood and let the scalpel slip. Then comes the rare instance that penetrates the armor, when something causes you to put down the pad, turn off the camera in your head, and become part of the moment. The...

Well, isn’t this special? After overstaying her visa, ignoring a federal deportation order for years, escaping apprehension in Boston, and taking refuge in Cleveland, the destitute illegal alien aunt of Barack Obama somehow found her way to Washington, D.C., for her nephew’s inauguration. Federal immigration officials couldn’t find her, but she was spotted by several media outlets and partygoers around the Beltway. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported: Ohio Democrats put aside the state’s financial troubles and cold weather Sunday night to celebrate its part in electing Barack Obama to the White House. Just a few blocks from Obama’s soon-to-be residence,...

This will end in tears. The Obama hysteria is not merely embarrassing to witness, it is itself contributory to the scale of the disaster that is coming. What we are experiencing, in the deepening days of a global depression, is the desperate suspension of disbelief by people of intelligence - la trahison des clercs - in a pathetic effort to hypnotise themselves into the delusion that it will be all right on the night. It will not be all right. We have been here before. In the spring of 1997, to be precise, when a charismatic, young prime minister entered...

WASHINGTON -- He called them "gathering clouds and raging storms," "icy currents" in a "winter of hardship." But as Barack Obama spoke to the country for the first time as president, the world beyond Washington was filling in details of the hardships that he alluded to in his inaugural address. Even as he finished the oath of office, the crisis in the financial services industry sent banking stocks plummeting, and the Dow Jones industrial average turned in its worst Inauguration Day performance in its century-plus history, losing 4 percent of its value.

Danger! Danger! Oh, wait, Bush isn't in office. All clear.Washington D.C.-area police are reporting that the nation's capital has been under siege by a large group of semi-autonomous beings. As of this morning, police report the influx of the devices has receded back beyond the capital's city limits."They were like Roombas," said Police Sargeant Denny Nantario. "No, that's not a good analogy, roombas are for cleaning, aren't they? They seemed like they had an aversion to cleanliness."Nantario and his fellow officers were out in force to monitor the mass gathering and while, from all accounts, the Robamabots were peaceful, they...

An Ohio school district may be violating the constitutional rights of its students. Mason, Ohio, school officials sent an email to parents in advance of the presidential inauguration saying, "Inappropriate comments that may make other students, staff or families feel unwelcome or uncomfortable in school or on the bus will not be tolerated." The story by DaytonDailyNews.com featured examples of negative comments and actions made about the Obama administration after he was elected. The school's superintendent Kevin Bright added that even in a competitive election process, "our nation's greatness is displayed when all sides come together for a united country."...

Reporting from Washington -- More than 1 million spectators convened on the National Mall to watch Barack Obama take the oath of office Tuesday, but it was unclear if the crowd surpassed the record thought to have been set at Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 inauguration. Though early estimates ranged as high as 2 million people, satellite images of Obama's swearing-in suggested the crowd was probably about half that, said Clark McPhail, who has been analyzing crowds on the National Mall since the 1960s.

Elite Obama Donors Receive Early Gifts and Privileges from Obama While Under Senate Investigation and After Accepting Millions in Taxpayer Paid Bailout So many of the Elite Obama Donors arrived at Dulles International Airport in their personal private jets that an active runway at Dulles International Airport had to be shut down and then converted into a make-do parking lot. * * * * * Surprisingly no PETA, Global Warming, nor Code Pink protesters are seen as the Elite Obama Donors arrive in chauffeur driven stretch limousines dressed in their finest furs. * * * * * Their gilded...

Obama Chooses Gay Bishop for Big Inaugural Event And now the latest installment in “As Obama’s Faith World Turns” President-Elect Barack Obama has chosen a controversial gay bishop to give the invocation this Sunday at the big inaugural event at the Lincoln Memorial. Obama will be in attendance. More from the Politico below and then get my analysis. The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who became the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop in 2003 and last year entered into a civil union with his gay partner, will deliver the invocation for Sunday's kickoff inaugural event on...

President Obama's inauguration became a dream come true for the media, which often are all dressed up with nowhere to go. Not so on Tuesday. Journalists and news organizations went through their paces from dawn to dusk, some late into the night. The inauguration was dramatically framed as "The Moment" on CNN, "The Hour of Change" on Fox News. Only C-SPAN presented the historic event with unembellished live sound, free from the patter of pundits and anchors or the distraction of gaudy, on-screen graphics. Even the most complex packaging of "the moment" could not hide the imperfect oath of office,...