Thursday, January 22, 2009

Bush Kept Us Safe

That's the new spin. Bush kept us safe.

It's true, Bush kept us safe. Except for nearly 3000 dead on 9/11. He kind of slipped up there on the whole anti-terrorist thing for the first eight months, but he kept us safe. And the anthrax. Didn't find the anthrax terrorist. But except for the anthrax and 2966 dead on 9/11, Bush kept us safe.

And Iraq. He kind of led us down the rabbit hole on that one, losing so much in Iraq. But except for the 4119 US dead and tens of thousands maimed in Iraq, the anthrax, and 2966 dead on 9/11, Bush kept us safe.

And Hurricane Katrina. Heckuva job, there. Kind of missed the boat, so to speak, in New Orleans. But except for the 1836 who died in Katrina, the 4119 dead and tens of thousands maimed in Iraq, the anthrax, and 2966 dead on 9/11, Bush kept us safe.

And the financial meltdown. Mortgaged our future for all the poor rich folks, don't you know. But except for the financial meltdown, the 1836 who died in Katrina, the 4119 US dead and tens of thousands maimed in Iraq, the anthrax, and 2966 dead on 9/11, Bush kept us safe.

And the Iraqi people, Bush kind of slipped up there, too. Almost like he had a disintegrator ray, the way things fell apart over there. But except for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead and millions displaced, he kept them safe, too.

Yes, indeed. Except for the hundreds of thousands of dead and millions of displaced Iraqis, the global financial meltdown, the 1836 who died in Katrina, the 4119 US dead and tens of thousands maimed in Iraq, the anthrax, and 2966 dead on 9/11, Bush kept us safe.

Like hell he did.

Just like hell.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

No kidding

We were able to live-stream the inauguration through CNN from about 11:30 until just after Obama took the oath of office. A few moments into his speech, the servers crashed. Looks like we weren't the only ones, according to ABC News website:
While more than a million people gathered on the National Mall to watch the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama, millions more peered at the screens of office computers and personal laptops, breaking records for views of live online video.
Shawn White, director of external operations for San Mateo, Calif.-based Keynote Systems, Inc., said that because of the huge demand for live video and audio, his company noted significant slowdowns on major media sites.
Keynote monitors the performance of Internet and mobile networks and, White said, their data indicated that between 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. ET, the Internet slowed by 60 percent because of the volume of online video viewers.
"It was the most popular and significant online streaming event in the history of the Internet," White told ABCNews.com.

I managed to find an audio stream at WNED-AM, and then watched the speech later at home ... streaming from CNN.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Pete Seeger at Obama-Stock

With Bruce Springsteen and a chorus of thousands, Pete led with something close to the original lyrics.



I'm moved.

Update: Damn you, HBO! Put it back!

Another Update: Found another link. Looks like it's off German TV channel N24.

h/t greendem at DailyKos