US News
Obama boards inaugural train, calls for 'perfect union' (Roundup)
By Chris Cermak Jan 17, 2009, 15:27 GMT
US President-elect Barack Obama speaks before his whistle stop train tour at the 30th Street Train Station in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, USA, 17 January 2009. Calling for the country to work toward a more \'perfect union\', Barack Obama embarked on a historic train journey, the kick-off leg of four days of celebration leading up to his inauguration as the country‘s first African-American president on 20 January 2009. EPA/PETER FOLEY
Washington/Philadelphia - Calling for the country to work toward a more 'perfect union,' Barack Obama embarked Saturday on a historic train journey, the kick-off leg of four days of celebration leading up to his inauguration as the country's first African- American president on Tuesday.
Obama spoke to his fellow travellers and supporters in Philadelphia's 30th Street train station, recalling how 18th century farmers, lawyers and merchants had gathered in the city to launch the American war for independence despite the 'insurmountable odds' they faced.
'We are here today not simply to pay tribute to our first patriots but to take up the work that they began,' Obama said.
The 'Whistle Stop' train tour follows the last legs of president Abraham Lincoln's own inaugural trip to Washington nearly 150 years ago, and takes place under similarly tight security.
Lincoln was under death threats for his commitment to ending slavery, and had to pass through Baltimore in the dead of night in disguise to avoid attacks.
While Obama's journey takes place in bright sunlight and a deep chill - minus 12 degrees centigrade - similar security against more sophisticated threats was in place for Obama's train route.
The entire inauguration ceremony carries a Lincoln theme - 'A New Birth of Freedom' - taken from Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address that followed an historic 1863 Civil War battle.
Throngs of supporters are expected to line the 220-kilometre train route. Aside from scheduled campaign stops in Wilmington, Delaware, where vice president elect Joe Biden will board, and Baltimore, the train will make a few 'slow rolls' through small towns in Delaware and Maryland to give supporters lining the tracks more time to wave.
In his broadcast departure speech from Philadelphia, Obama noted that the trials faced by the current generation were 'different, but severe in their own right,' compared to the founding fathers of 1776. He was referring to the faltering economy, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the warming planet.
But he was confident that if the country displayed the same 'perseverance and idealism' as the founding fathers, the problems could be mastered.
'The American Revolution was - and remains - an ongoing struggle 'in the minds and hearts of the people' to live up to our founding creed,' Obama said. 'Starting now, let's take up in our own lives the work of perfecting our union.'
In his radio address earlier Saturday, Obama promised to make his inauguration a transparent and inclusive occasion.
'The events of the next several days are not simply about the inauguration of an American president,' Obama said. 'They will be a celebration of the American people.'
A free welcome music concert Sunday night will take place on Washington's National Mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial, with a star-studded caste including Beyonce and Stevie Wonder expected to draw 1 million people.
On Monday, Obama has declared a nationwide 'call to service' in honour of civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, prompting events across the country that highlight volunteerism.
On Tuesday, about 2 million people are expected to crowd the National Mall for the big moment. Obama is to be sworn in at noon on the steps of the US Capitol, placing his hand on the same Bible that Lincoln used at his own swearing in on March 4, 1861
In an unusual step, Obama's inauguration committee said it would open the White House on Wednesday, his first full day at home in his new quarters, to 'first come, first served' people who responded to the e-mail.
For the first time, there will also be an official 'neighbourhood ball' with emphasis on attendance by ordinary Washingtonians.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
'A New Birth of Freedom'
A new type of slavery: debt - The way U.S. citizens are born into bondage. Lets all chant now:
Freedom from debt now!! Freedom from debt now!! Freedom from debt now!!
If Obama decides to go into debt then let him personally pay for the interest on that debt. He needs to take some personal responsibility for his actions!
Good Bye Geo . Fare well . Love Ya . Good Luck Barak . Keep your head up .
Ranting, babbling lance - try to look on the positive, optimistic side for a change. It could do you a world of good - much healthier.
'try to look on the positive, optimistic side for a change'
... OK, Islamic extremists only murdered 3,000 U.S. citizens in 9/11, it could have been much more. Think of all the people they didn't kill. They did you a favor.
How is that for thinking positive?
What is that you say? You only want people to think positively in the way you want them to think?
You are brainwashed and ignore the reality of hard work and good responsible actions.
There seems to be some ongoing resentment of the fact that the American people decided to elect an intelligent adult, instead of Bush the imbecile; along with Wasilla the Hun, Joe the Bumbler, and the rest of these imbeciles and bigots whose egos block their common sense. Cheney is still saying that al Qaeda and Iraq were linked, despite Bush's stating otherwise.
Bush did not keep us 'safe' - that was the job of the NSA, CIA, FBI, Homeland, Customs, and even local police and law enforcement. Bush got morning briefings, but was not in charge of anything - the job was delegated. Bush has no idea of what the precise homeland defence policies were; only that we did not have a 9/11 repeat. Perhaps, airport and aircraft security were the cause of that? Remove the opportunities, and attacks drop. Those 'attempts' at attacks post-9/11 were insignificant; inflated into threats, when in most cases there were zero actual plans - just people yakking, like the idiot in Mississippi just arrested for threatening the President.
Meanwhile, we still no RELIABLE unified terrorist watch list - just a pile of 900,000 names, with many ill-defined. From 2004; 3 years after the fact:
articles.latimes.com/2004/oct/02/nation/na-watchlists2
'Three years after the lack of coordination among federal security agencies contributed to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Department of Homeland Security has failed in its effort to create a single, comprehensive “watch list” of suspected terrorists, according to a government report released Friday. “DHS is not fulfilling its responsibility under the Homeland Security Act,” said Clark Kent Ervin, inspector general of the Homeland Security Department, whose office conducted the study.'
==================================
(From 2007)
blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/09/700000-name-ter.html#previouspost
'The nation's centralized terrorist watch list that is used to screen 270 million individuals every month now contains more than 700,000 entries, but remains marred by duplication, erroneous information, incorrect tracking codes and poor coordination between the watch list and the agencies that use the list, according to an audit released Thursday by the Justice Department's inspector general.
The auditors looked at 105 records that Terrorist Screening Center employees had given 'routine quality assurance reviews' and found that 38 percent still contained inaccuracies.'
8 years of thwarted terror attacks, facilitated by no-knock warrants, warrantless searches, and a President not afraid of lawyers has him a pretty laudible record. 911, was an attack that would have been thwarted, were Bill Clinton to have the gonads to accept Bin Laden into custoday years before when he was offered up on a platter. Bush never pardoned terrorists like Clinton, or pardoned anyone for money, nor was he impeached, no matter how many dem libnazis jerk themselves on that one. Yep, Ol GW did OK on security. Now, we'll see what the Dark Knight has to offer.
Lets see:
'8 years of thwarted terror attacks, facilitated by no-knock warrants, warrantless searches, and a President not afraid of lawyers has him a pretty laudible record.'
Its good to see you neo-con idiots love to stamp on the constitution. In reality GW has accomplished no more in 8 years than Clinton did in the 8 years following the 1st WTC attack.
'911, was an attack that would have been thwarted, were Bill Clinton to have the gonads to accept Bin Laden into custoday years before when he was offered up on a platter.'
Psyco babble from the idiots on the right. This stupid summation has been disproved numerous times and the finger really points to your gap-toothed Secretary of State---if Ms. Rice had done her job 9-11 have been prevented---maybe not. The Texas village idiot (GW) was to busy trying to pass some religious right-wing crap and not paying attention to what was going on.
'Bush never pardoned terrorists like Clinton, or pardoned anyone for money, nor was he impeached, no matter how many dem libnazis jerk themselves on that one. Yep, Ol GW did OK on security.'
Not yet, lets see the final list before you beat on your chest In the end investigators could end up charging Bush and his band of terriorists with war crimes. GW did not do more or less than anyone else for our security.
'Now, we'll see what the Dark Knight has to offer.'
Yea, lets see. Nice to have real educated people in office so a brain can help the situation. The US has been brain dead for 8 years.
'an intelligent adult'
An intelligent adult would not put the farm (the country) in (further) hock.
(That's without Lance and Hidden Dum-Dum)
www.usnews.com/articles/news/politics/2008/04/11/the-first-draft-of-his tory-looks-a-bit-rough-on-bush.html
'President Bush often argues that history will vindicate him. So he can't be pleased with an informal survey of 109 professional historians conducted by the History News Network. It found that 98 percent of them believe that Bush's presidency has been a failure, while only about 2 percent see it as a success. Not only that, more than 61 percent of the historians say the current presidency is the worst in American history. In 2004, only 11.6 percent of the historians rated Bush's presidency in last place. Among the reasons given for his low ratings: invading Iraq, 'tax breaks for the rich,' and alienating many nations around the world.'
www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/02/bush-oral-history200902
(A 14 page catalog of Bush disasters)
The threat of 9/11 ignored. The threat of Iraq hyped and manipulated. Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib. Hurricane Katrina. The shredding of civil liberties. The rise of Iran. Global warming. Economic disaster. How did one two-term presidency go so wrong? A sweeping draft of history—distilled from scores of interviews—offers fresh insight into the roles of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and other key players.
Lawrence Wilkerson, top aide and later chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell: We had this confluence of characters—and I use that term very carefully—that included people like Powell, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, and so forth, which allowed one perception to be “the dream team.” It allowed everybody to believe that this Sarah Palin–like president—because, let’s face it, that’s what he was—was going to be protected by this national-security elite, tested in the cauldrons of fire. What in effect happened was that a very astute, probably the most astute, bureaucratic entrepreneur I’ve ever run into in my life became the vice president of the United States.
He became vice president well before George Bush picked him. And he began to manipulate things from that point on, knowing that he was going to be able to convince this guy to pick him, knowing that he was then going to be able to wade into the vacuums that existed around George Bush—personality vacuum, character vacuum, details vacuum, experience vacuum.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Berntsen
'In December 2001, Berntsen served as the Commander of all CIA forces in Eastern Afghanistan and led the agency’s Jawbreaker team in Tora Bora. In his 2005 book, Jawbreaker, he alleges that Osama bin Laden could have been captured at Tora Bora if the US military (specifically United States Central Command) had devoted more resources to the operation.'
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tora_Bora
'According to Berntsen, a number of al-Qaeda detainees later confirmed that bin Laden had escaped Tora Bora into Pakistan via an easterly route through snow covered mountains in the area of Parachinar, Pakistan. He also claims that bin Laden could have been captured if United States Central Command had committed the troops that Berntsen had requested. Former CIA officer Gary Schroen concurs with this view. Pentagon documents seem to confirm this account.'
22 million Google hits on 'Bush failures'
'obama failures' gives 9,740,000 hits ... and he isn't even president yet!
credit-addiction is a mental illness that both Obama and Bush have.
who don't have a life - SP & lance
Everyone was agog that America's fabled 'wide open spaces' were to be exported. Soon they could be found in all the World's tourist areas - 'surrounded by teeth'
Yahoo!! The mentally ill credit holic addicts just can not stop spending money:
www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/14/cadillac-unveils-photos-new-preside ntial-limo
Every day they jeopardize your children's future with debt.
And what does the typical U.S. Citizen do? : NOTHING. They are a bunch of dribbling wimps that want their own welfare checks and shake at the knees at the prospects of being touched by the need to think and do hard work.
Imagine buying fancy cars while running up record debt.
Not only does it prove that the people in charge, namely the congress and president, are mentally ill credit holics addicts;
It also proves that the typical U.S. citizen is a moron.
Next they will be proposing to bail out billionaire tycoons who buy fancy cars, jets, houses and yachts. Oh, wait! They already did that! What a bunch of shit heads.
If you are a typical U.S. citizen then you are definitely a moron and complicit in the destruction of your children's financial future.
This lance person has to be either on the poorest of poor ditch weed or recently escaped from a padded cell.....unbelievable! But, if nothing else, always good for a laugh!
Last days of the idiot Bush -
Hey Mr President, some Canada Geese have brought down a plane in the Hudson.
OK - bomb Ottawa !
Barack Obama as next President of The United States of America
The die is cast and for reasons that only a privileged few know, you Sir, will be the next President of the United States of America. Your next 4 years will be a turning point in US history and planet earth. CHANGE, your advisors and high stake investors offer the nation will undoubtedly be the same rhetoric and empty promises that make up a political campaign, that campaigns for appointment for any public office in America.
The White House will be the Black House to some, the Aryan Brothers of America will not be so happy, but yet will blame you and your staff if you fail, which will reinforce their belief that the Aryan Nation is the true leader for America. The religious zealots will be busy bees making nests to survive the onslaught of lies, corruption and deceit. Business enterprises and other competing nations will capitalize off of your inexperience in the art of corruption and murder. The organized crime organizations from different nations including our own will benefit from the lack of control over national crime.
Military governments including our own will test your tolerance to pain and deception and trick you into needless and profitable domestic and international conflict. You will no doubt attempt to colorize your staff to soften the race conflict once in office.
As President you will be President. Nations will respect you only for your title of office. Americans will soon see after your appointment as President that your intentions were manipulated by those that make the rules. You will fill the spot in history as planned, and nothing more.
You will never while in office be able to pull the troops from conflict in any land we are engaged in. As a matter of fact we as a nation will be engaged in a new conflict of war, which will galvanize Americans to seek a different form of government and a different and honest Congress.
You will attempt to shore up Americas problems with false promise and lies, because you cannot directly affect the CHANGE you promised.
Your frustration will be your downfall while in office, and your co-dependence on those that you trust will also add to your demise.
Our Armed Forces in rank will respect you as good soldiers they are, but those under them will not, and for good reasons, that only a good soldier knows.
America will not be America until its government respects the People, and tells the truth. America is a Republic, not a Democracy or Fascist Government or is it?
Until you can walk thru the streets and neighborhoods of America unaided by Secret Service or any other law enforcement agency you will not be respected by the many, only by the fearful and selfish few. Americans can protect their leaders if they are honest and respectful of the people they were elected to serve. Our Government has forsaken us for many hundreds of years, and now we will wait until your 4 years are finished for us to come to fruition.
CHANGE FOR AMERICA FOR AMERICANS!
The American Republic
A Sovereign Republic
'As a matter of fact we as a nation will be....'
Try to think a bit more clearly - a future event cannot be a 'fact' until it has happened. Until then the event is simply a forecast, a conjecture, a possibility or whatever - but not a fact !
page: 1
lanceJan 17th, 2009 - 17:54:50
Yahoo!!
He shall start the 'perfect union' on a foundation of a trillion dollars of more debt.
And he shall call naysayers 'defective', which is akin to communist, terrorists, atheist, etc.
More McCarthyism here we come.
I simply do not want to unite with his debt, he can have it all.
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