20 JAN 09: Report to Barack's

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Today is Barack Obama's Inauguration Day. So what did the Mildred Terry Branch Library do for a special event Monday afternoon? It held a program on Great Britain. Really. On WHAT?!? Wouldn't this have made more sense when Rhodes Scholar Bill Clinton became President?

Don't ask me what the Mildred Terry Library staff was thinking, with a British program on King Day. But it's not quite on the level of what Columbus High School came close to doing. Richard Hyatt's web site reports there were plans for a field trip to Montgomery today - to see a play about Bear Bryant. As if he was related to school principal Susan Bryant?!

But the plans were changed in plenty of time, so a group of Columbus High School students is in Washington for today's presidential inauguration. In fact, it seems like half the people from our area is in Washington. If MLK Day was a "day on," this is the day off.

Consider the big names from our area who reportedly are in Washington for the inauguration....

+ City Manager Isaiah Hugley. Columbus needs all the base realignment money it can get, you know.

+ Thomas Wiese, this area's best-known Catholic priest. If he calls Barack Obama a "messiah," I might have to give it a second thought.

+ Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue. The rumors of him returning to the Democratic Party will start all over again.

+ Pastor Johnnie Robinson, who runs Phenix City's House of Restoration. If Mr. Obama could speak at that 2005 fund-raiser for the House of Mercy, he can make a return trip.

(Boy, am I embarrassed. I reviewed the 22 Feb 05 blog entry on that appearance Monday night - and not only did I misspell the last name as "Osama" twice, I called him an "immigrant-turned-U.S. Senator." Of course, right-wing conspiracy theorists still consider that last part correct.)

Columbus community activist Karl Douglass also is in Washington, and filing reports on the trip for WRBL. He said Monday the security presence is increasing, as the inauguration draws near. This shows how times have changed - because 40 years ago, someone in the crowd would have thrown rocks to spark a street battle.

Karl Douglass is providing inaugural updates through Facebook and Twitter. And he says his second-grade daughter is keeping a personal journal on the events in Washington. In fact, you may be able to buy her book at Barnes & Noble this summer....

Have you noticed all the books on sale in local stores about the new first family? Add to that all the Barack Obama T-shirts, and the infomercials selling special coins and plates. The people who claim our new President is socialist need to explain all these old-fashioned capitalist sales.

Some churches plan to keep Barack Obama in their prayers over the coming months. In fact, Rivertown Church held a night of "prayer and fasting" for the new President two weeks ago - even though the pastor openly admitted voting for John McCain during a service [2 Nov 08]. Can any members tell me how quickly he repented?

The inauguration wasn't even mentioned this past weekend at the congregation I'm attending. Instead, the pastor summarized a two-week trip to Europe -- where he gave one sermon, made a ministry visit to a widow, and determined the Czech Republic has better beer than the Netherlands.

I mentioned the change of presidents in passing to a man before the worship service, and he took the topic in a surprising direction. He openly wondered how the big crowd in Washington will (ahem) use the restroom today. Come to think of it, you can't spell "inauguration" without "urination."

I noted 5,000 portable bathrooms were set up near the inauguration site. But the man seemed unimpressed by this, and predicted men will be forced to "urinate anyplace they can find." He almost made it sound like another "day of service" should be declared Wednesday to clean everything up.

The man also speculated things in the U.S. might turn so bad in the coming months that Barack Obama could decide to "throw in the towel." Aw, c'mon - the only President who ever did that was Richard Nixon. And he probably would have choked some Democrats with that towel, if he could.

Have you stopped to wonder what Republicans plan to do today, while a Democrat becomes President? After all, they can't all appear on Fox News Channel at the same time offering new accusations....

We asked that question to Muscogee County Republican Chair Josh McKoon the other day. He e-mailed us this response:

Like most Republicans, I will be at work, trying to earn enough money to pay my taxes which I expect will be going up significantly in 2009 to pay for this "stimulus" I keep hearing so much about.

But seriously, I plan on either watching the inaugural address in my office or I will watch the C-SPAN replay after work.

Regards,

Josh

Aha - so he's one of those upper-class wealthy Republicans.

You don't have to be alone in your office to watch the inauguration. Viewing parties are planned at Columbus State University and the Trade Center downtown. And for the Republicans who have the day off - hopefully you know which restaurants have a "Rush room" for Mr. Limbaugh's analysis.

BLOG UPDATE: National Public Radio played a clip Monday of President Franklin Roosevelt's first "fireside chat" from 1933. Do you realize he used the phrase "you people" during that radio address? If Al Sharpton had been around then.... well, voters probably would have ignored him and elected Mr. Roosevelt three more times, anyway.

Now for other interesting items from a four-day holiday weekend:

+ An employee of Loco's Bar and Grill told me her "great-uncle five times removed" was Robert E. Lee. But she had no idea Alabama was celebrating Robert E. Lee Day, along with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Truly there ARE advantages to joining the Daughters of the Confederacy.

+ Former football coach Wallace Davis revealed to WRBL he helped stop a "race riot" at Hardaway High School in 1971. Students were ready to rumble outside the building, but Davis says he persuaded several football players to walk back inside before fighting started. If he mentions this to the Crime Prevention Commission, a mass meeting could be upcoming outside the Civic Center.

+ The Opelika-Auburn News reported the Russell County Red Cross chapter is losing its building, because it can't pay the expenses. Does this organization really need a building, anyway? It's become used to operating out of tents and trailers at disaster sites....

+ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue took out two big loans for farm businesses he owns, and now has 21 million dollars in personal debt. There's no better time for Mark Taylor to remind Perdue about that Florida land he owns, and offer some kind of deal.

+ Georgia Power employees marked a "day of service" by filling boxes of food for the Second Harvest food bank. That's a very selfless thing to do - because they could have handed out electric heaters in mobile home parks, then raked in extra revenue.

+ The Atlanta Hawks topped Toronto 87-84. I wonder if former Raptor coach and Columbus native Sam Mitchell went to this game at Philips Arena - with a resume.

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