oops!

finally

I noticed the "non-believers" line in Obama's speech today and apparently I wasn't the only one. Here is an article from the New Republic web site:

Non-Believers Are Americans, Too.

Using inclusive language about religion is pretty much ritual now. If you're a politician giving a speech and you're going to cite one faith, you have to cite many--i.e., not just Christians, but Jews, Muslims, and Hindus as well. And that's a good thing.

But if the standards of polite political discourse now require accepting people who pray to god in different ways, it doesn't require recognizing those who choose not to pray at all. At least not yet. That made this line in Obama's address significant:

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus--and non-believers.

Perhaps this is another barrier, albeit a rhetorical one, that Obama intends to tear down over the next few years.

--Jonathan Cohn

But while I was very grateful that someone (someone HUGE) acknowledged that very large group of people, I would have preferred different wording. As a "non-believer" myself I dissagree that I don't believe. I just don't believe in any of the gods of those religons. I believe in a lot of stuff. And I have faith in a lot of stuff, so am "faithful". What I am not is religous, so maybe "non-religous" or agnostic or athiest (different groups). But at the end of the day I am just so happy that you don't have to be religous to be an American in our president's eyes.

inauguration sweets

I wanted to celebrate today's festivities but knew I had to be at the
office so I got some Krispy Kreme donuts and wrote on them in icing.
Yea!!!! Happy new dawn of the USofA! GObama!!!

Mr. President

What a great day!!!

what's wrong with me?

On election my friend and I had both said we wanted to go to DC for tomorrow. But then life happens, Omi passed away, Mel & Alex didn't seem too interested. I thought my friend couldn't go because she was going to be out of the country. I'm excited for two of my friends (that I know of) that will be there tomorrow. I wish I was.

Obama at Portos

Sunday morning Obama celebration, Portos-style

bye fred

Tonight we took our tree to the Burbank drop off place. It was a great
tree and very, very healthy! Not many needles fell off when we took
him out. Now there's a big hole in the room upstairs. But... it was
over 80 degrees today so, not very "holiday-ish".

creepy

We spent the weekend sorting, clearing & cleaning my grandmother's house and I uploaded some photos online so my Dad could see the progress. I went to the gallery page to make sure it worked and clicked on a photo. I clicked on the "info" button & it told me when it was taken & that it was taken w/an iPhone but it also gave the coordinates! Eek! I knew this was possible with the new iPhones (& more & more cameras) but Alex has a first gen iPhone so I never thought about it. So, it's kinda creepy. If it was photos of the Grand Canyon or Paris or something it might be cool but I don't know that I want anyone to know where my home is unless I tell them. Right? We figured out how to turn it off & did so. it might be fun to turn on later but off is good for now.

tidy up

Today was a "clean the home" day. We didn't take down the tree yet but
put away all the other holiday stuff and the cards. Alex vacuumed and
I cleared some clutter.

Hey, look! I got on Alex's phone & found this post I had started but
never finished. Oops!

Happy new year 2009!!

Happy New Year everyone! may you have an amazing year!!!

Cheers!!