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45 Hours to Inauguration

It’s 45 hours to Inauguration.

And I’m standing with some of my friends and more than half a million of my fellow Americans.

We’ve arrived too late to get anywhere near the Lincoln Memorial or the Reflecting Pool. The sea of humanity is just too large. But we’ve arrived in time to hear the concert. I’m standing near the Washington Monument which rises on a big hill on the other side of the Mall. I can see the Lincoln Memorial with a sea of people in front but can’t catch what’s going on on stage. That’s OK for me at least. I can hear and watch the entire thing on Jumbotrons, although the people under about 5’4 can’t see a single thing. Lots of muttering about benefits of being tall.

The crowd is having a good time. Lots of African-American faces. Lots of young faces. But there are people white, black, latino, and asian. Young and old. Babies and people in their 80’s and everyone inbetween. We are dancing and singing and laughing and telling jokes. We are all struggling to see but there is little jostling. “Where are you from?” everyone asks. California, New York, Tennessee, Texas, Massachusetts, Chicago, Washington State, and “round here,” are just some of the answers I remember. The crowd chants “O-BA-MA” from time to time but it feels more like July 4th than any political rally. Lots of flags and children hoisted on shoulders for better views. Young couples. Murmurs from the crowd, “Who’s that? Who’s that?” Those of us that can see the Jumbotrons with the names underneath the artists announce. “That’s Jennifer Nettles or Josh Groban.” I take pictures and show them to some of the shorter women in the crowd. For some folks, no one needs to ask: Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Garth Brooks. The Obamas are certainly having a good time.

I’ve lived in the Washington Metropolitan Area for 8 years now. I’ve never seen a crowd this large. Hope for change was palpable. I saw little animosity towards the Bush Administration, no angry crowds, and not a single protest sign. Just hope — fervent hope — you could touch it. People were happy but there was a touch of melancholy too. Just a bare whisp. Almost as if people were thinking, but not saying:

“We’ve put our last best hopes in you, Obama. Our hopes, fears, and lives rest on your shoulders. We trust you. We love you. But for God’s sake, don’t let us down.”

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Does Anybody Give a Damn About Arab Civilians…Murdered and Beaten by Hamas?

Sorry.
Stupid question.
A dead Palestinian Arab is a meaningless statistic.
Unless he/she is killed by Jews.

Here are some disturbing images of Hamas mistreatment of Palestinians (narrated by a Christian Arab Israeli):

Note how the Los Angeles Times buried the lead in its recent story. This interesting nugget is found in middle of paragraph 7:

Days and nights are spent attempting to outmaneuver Israeli forces and to control Fatah sympathizers or alleged collaborators, scores of whom are under house arrest or have been systematically shot in the legs.

Systematically shot in the legs? Funny. I didn’t hear that on CNN. But ya know what? It’s not near the worst of it.

Read The New York Times.

There’s a lot more:

Executing at least 35 Palestinian opponents of Hamas

Shooting at least 75 of them in the legs. Breaking their hands. (Hamas officially confirmed this!)

Commandeering Shifa Hospital as its central meeting place, paying salaries of its terrorists there and practically daring Israel to bomb it. They wear doctors’ robes and kick medical teams out of rooms so they can hold meetings. Since Israel can’t bomb a hospital for moral reasons, it is the safest place for Hamas to meet to plan its executions, torture, and military strikes. The United Nations has refused to deny that Hamas meets in its hospitals and underneath them in a huge underground bunker in the center of Gaza City.

“Palestinians being held at gunpoint in order to put them at the front, in order to increase the number of Palestinian casualties on the Gaza side.”
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“Nuke Israel!” “Go Back to the Ovens!”

Just your cries of your typical pro-Hamas crowd on December 30, 2008
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The Children of Gaza

More photographs you are unlikely to see in the mainstream media:
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Pictures of Israel and Israeli Soldiers

This video was produced from Sderot BEFORE Israel responded to the missile attacks. It accurately predicted that as soon as the cease-fire ended on December 19, 2008, Hamas would rain missiles down on Sderot:

Here are some photographs you are unlikely to find in the mainstream media:

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