Day: January 21, 2009

Rush Limbaugh Should Be Labeled Unpatriotic!!

Rush Limbaugh gets paid $38 million per year to make a total fool of himself, and one has to wonder why anyone of intelligence wastes time listening to him three hours a day, 15 hours a week.

However, as outrageous as he is always,  he has now topped himself by publicly expressing hope that Barack Obama is a failure as President.  At a moment when the country has new hope and inspiration, Rush cannot have the decency to WISH good fortune to our new President.  If Barack Obama is successful, then the nation will be more prosperous and have a better world image in four to eight years.  How can anyone wish bad luck, when it does not only affect the President himself, but ALL of us and the future of this country?

Rush Limbaugh has proved his lack of patriotism and should be boycotted by advertisers and listeners.  Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen, but one could wish the American people would use their common sense.  But then again, with the mood in this country now, there COULD be a backlash!

Chris Wallace Should Be Ashamed of Himself!

Chris Wallace of Fox News Channel was just about the only journalist on that excuse of a news cable channel to have dignity and respect in the wider journalistic community.  The son of venerable journalist Mike Wallace, who had sixty years of experience, including forty years with SIXTY MINUTES on CBS until his retirement in the past year,  he seemed to be trying to emulate his father in the sense of promoting quality journalism as the host of FOX NEWS SUNDAY.

He has now lost all credibility and should be ashamed of himself by bringing up the stupid, asinine idea that Barack Obama might not be President because Chief Justice John Roberts botched up the inaugural oath.  How preposterous can one get?  It is a fact that the President becomes the person of power with or without the oath of office at 12 Noon on January 20 every fourth year.  The oath is a formality, not a requirement.  In any case, later today, the President retook the oath at the White House with Chief Justice Roberts, just to nip in the bud any suggestion that he was not the President legally.

I think Chris Wallace owes the President a public apology and needs to avoid commentary if it is going to be totally inane as this ridiculous assertion on his part!

A Once in a Lifetime Experience at the Presidential Inauguration!

I have just returned from the Presidential Inauguration ceremonies on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

This was a once in a lifetime experience!  The excitement in the crowd, estimated at more than 2 million, was very obvious.  Everyone was friendly, optimistic, patient with the horrible weather conditions (temperature in the mid 20s), and one could sense that there was renewed hope that the country’s multiple problems could be solved with a new sense of commitment and nationalism. 

I was never so cold in my life, as I have lived in south Florida for the past 20 years and had never in my earlier life in New York ever been outside in cold weather for eight hours, as I was with my son from 6 am to 2 pm, including walking long distances and standing for a long time. I wore thermal underwear, hat, earmuffs, face cover, scarf, sweater, topcoat, double socks, and toe warmers in an attempt to stay warm, and my feet ached horribly, and I was totally wiped out after the event and took a midday three hour nap!   It turned out that the tickets we had for standing, while quite close, were overcome by the fact that trees on the Capitol lawn blocked the Jumbotron image of what was going on, with only a small bottom portion of the images able to be seen, but we heard all the audio of the historic moments, including the music and poetry.  Despite the fact that of course we could see the details of the historic event better on cable (and all of it was in fact recorded at home), this was still a worthwhile sacrifice and a moment that was one of the most dramatic events in the history of the United States. I am glad I was witness to this moment of history and will treasure the memory and pictures we took for the rest of my life!  🙂