elkit in wonderland

Stand Up And Fight For Your Rights

Roger Cohen, from Tehran:

I looked up through the smoke and saw a poster of the stern visage of Khomeini above the words, “Islam is the religion of freedom.”

Speaking of that, here's Monday Music for you: The Tom Robinson Band with what's still one of the finest fighting songs, Power in the Darkness [click that link to listen to the song]. It talks of England, but it works just as well for what's going on with the government crackdown on protesters in Iran:

Power in the darkness
Frightening lies from the other side
Power in the darkness
Stand up and fight for your rights

(Voice from The Other Side:) "Today, institutions fundamental to the British system of Government are under attack: the public schools, the house of Lords, the Church of England, the holy institution of Marriage, even our magnificent police force are no longer safe from those who would undermine our society, and it's about time we said 'enough is enough' and saw a return to the traditional British values of discipline, obedience, morality and FREEDOM.

Freedom from the reds and the blacks and the criminals
Prostitutes, pansies and punks
Football hooligans, juvenile delinquents
Lesbians and left wing scum
Freedom from the niggers and the Pakis and the unions
Freedom from the Gipsies and the Jews
Freedom from leftwing layabouts and liberals
Freedom from the likes of YOU!"

Power in the darkness
Frightening lies from the other side
Power in the darkness
Stand up and fight for your rights

Green

Make My Way Back Home When I Learn To Fly

Military embraces green energy:

The Department of Defense is the single largest energy consumer in the United States. Last year it bought nearly 4 billion gallons of jet fuel, 220 million gallons of diesel and 73 million gallons of gasoline, said Brian Lally, deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment.

Money, Money, Money, Must Be Funny ...

I know this sounds pretty out there, but you know what? It makes sense to me.

Stiglitz is saying something slightly more radical than what I've been saying for some time. You don't need the current banks. If they won't lend, let them go under. If the Fed can lend to banks, why can't it lend directly to banks and consumers.

Give Love, And Keep Blood Between Brothers

Parking this here for posterity. From C-SPAN - President Obama's inauguration and address.

If you'd rather read or listen than watch, skip over to Transcript of Barack Obama's Inaugural Address on NPR.org. (I was looking for it on the newly remodeled http://www.whitehouse.gov/, but I couldn't find it there. Soon, I'm sure.)

PS a day later: Sure enough, here is the inaugural address in text and video on whitehouse.gov.

I'm Comin' Up, So You Better Get The Party Started

The outgoing president often gets little attention, but rarely has it been as obvious as in 1857, when James Buchanan succeeded Franklin Pierce. The swearing-in ceremony had to be delayed for 20 minutes because officials forgot to pick up Pierce at his hotel and had to go fetch him.

Lots more great Inauguration Trivia at Mamacita's "Scheiss Weekly".

Awwww Yes It Will

Monday Music for you: Bob Dylan singing Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come". It's not my favorite version of the song, but the introduction by Ozzie Davis more than makes up for it.

I'll Sit At The Table When Company Comes

Your Seat at the Table | Change.gov: The Obama-Biden Transition Team.

In a memo released today, Obama-Biden Transition Project Co-chair John D. Podesta announced that all policy documents from official meetings with outside organizations will be publicly available for review and discussion on Change.gov.

This means we're inviting the American public to take a seat at the table and engage in a dialogue about these important issues and ideas -- at the same time members of our team review these documents themselves.

That's great news. And it's exactly what I meant when I was talking about Obama being Web 2.0.

Money - It's a Gas!

From Political Punch, via Andrew Sullivan:

President-elect Obama campaign raised roughly $745 million for his 2008 presidential campaign.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., raised roughly $320 million, including the $84 million from entering into the public financing system.

This does NOT include money from the DNC and RNC. When those numbers are taken into account, we expect the Democrats to have raised closer to one billion dollars, compared to roughly $630 million for the Republicans.

Which means the President-elect had, roughly, a $400 million advantage.

ABC News' Tahman Bradley points out that Mr. Obama's total exceeds that of all 2004 candidates combined. They raised $673 million.

The comments on this entry are interesting too - there are several people explaining that they donated to Obama's campaign because they were fed up with the Republicans' policies, that they gave smaller amounts repeatedly, and that Obama's web site made it so easy. (I did too. I was especially glad that I could "vote with my wallet" even though, as an alien, I could not vote with a ballot.)

It Takes Every Kind Of People To Make This World Go Round

I lifted this from the fine photo blog Obama Pics Daily. Isn't it nice to see that Obama's appointees are such a diverse mix of people, and not just all old white men? I am really pleased at the number of women and the range of skin colors on his team.