Is any one else as depressed as I am about this?

[kpih]

Bush is sworn in for second term

George W Bush has been sworn in for a second term as US president.
Mr Bush, 58, took the oath of office outside the Capitol building using a family Bible just before 1700 GMT.

"The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands," Mr Bush said in his acceptance speech.

An estimated 500,000 people have braved the snow and the cold for the $40m (£21m) ceremony and parade - some to protest against Mr Bush's policies.

Vice-President Dick Cheney was sworn in first, in accordance with the US constitution.

"The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world," Mr Bush told the gathering.

It is the policy of the US, he said, to support forces of democracy "with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in the world".

"There is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty," Mr Bush said.

"We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny," he said.

"All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: The United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you."

He said US allies should know that Washington honoured their friendship and respected their advice.

The BBC's Rob Watson in Washington says that, unlike four years ago, the president begins his second term after a comfortable election victory, but he still faces many challenges.

The war in Iraq is increasingly unpopular and opinion polls suggest Mr Bush's overall approval ratings are lower than any other re-elected president in recent years.

That rating currently stands around the 50% mark - the lowest for a returning president since Dwight Eisenhower in 1957.

But in a veiled reference to the splits over Iraq, Mr Bush said: "We have known divisions, which must be healed to move forward in great purposes - and I will strive in good faith to heal them."

Intense security

Security measures for the inauguration were intense.

The entire area around Capitol Hill and the White House has been cordoned off, and more than 100 streets are off-limits to traffic, with the inauguration designated a national special-security event.

About 6,000 police and 7,000 military personnel are on duty for the inauguration, alongside an undisclosed number of secret service personnel.

Snipers have taken up positions on rooftops, bomb-sniffing dogs are on patrol and Patriot anti-missile batteries have been readied.

Manhole covers on Pennsylvania Avenue - the route of the parade - have been welded shut as a precaution.

"This is unprecedented when it comes to the level of security that will be in effect for the inauguration and those events that are surrounding it," Secret Service chief Ralph Basham said.

A number of "counter-inaugural" events have been planned, including an anti-war march through Malcolm X Park.

Protesters have planned to turn their backs on Mr Bush along the parade route.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4190259.stm

Published: 2005/01/20 17:28:03 GMT

© BBC MMV

[hooligan]

I'm more afraid of the nomination and the acceptance of Condileeza Rice (spelling?). I think that Powell was probably the only moderate voice on that cabinet and now things are going to get a little crazy. I'm having flashbacks of November the second.

[Craig]

Perhaps it may be prudent to try to develop the necessary skills and credentials so that employers in other countries may want to hire you ?

[kpih]

Perhaps it may be prudent to try to develop the necessary skills and credentials so that employers in other countries may want to hire you ?

Time to head back to the kitchen and become a chef...

Horrible stereotype, I know...

[nola]

Naw we just don't want to think about it.

[hooligan]

It's my country too, hell no, I'm taking it back!

[Mr.Lum]

That doesn't depress me nearly as much as the fact that it's been getting dark at like 4:30 every fucking day. I hate SAD. The fact that it's getting dark so early as this assmonkey is being sworn in on MY BOOK makes it worse.

[deez nuts]

i'm fine with it.

[Banana]

I don't care.

If this country wants to dig itself deeper into the hole, it's up to them. Just don't blame me when your life sucks.

[kpih]

It is getting more hypocritical every minute...

"The Fourth of July is a celebration of America's freedom," Dan Rather said as cameras captured the pomp and circumstance. "Inauguration day is a celebration of America's democracy."

Democracy only works with an educated and critical citizenry, and accountability...

[sOKaLiBoY]

Depressed? no. Disappointed? yes. This is still IMHO the best country to live in. Even though it is turning to shit right before me eyes.

What is even worse is that there is speculation that California might become a swing state in the near future. Mainly because of the increased population in the desert towns near the Nevada border are mostly Republican. Could you imagine California on the map as a red state?

[tommyhtown]

I am ok with Bush inaguartion shindig. I mean I can't change the election outcome so what I'm gonna do? Plus, I am too busy with work and raising fund for Tsunami victims. There are other things that take precedence over Bush inaguration.

But I am with you who are concerned about Bush's second term. I am worried about his plans for social security, health care, Iraq War, etc. I hope our president prove us wrong with his second chance that he gets from the people who voted for him.

[yuuteya]

I cheat, I just never go to America.

[hooligan]

I am ok with Bush inaguartion shindig. I mean I can't change the election outcome so what I'm gonna do? Plus, I am too busy with work and raising fund for Tsunami victims. There are other things that take precedence over Bush inaguration.

But I am with you who are concerned about Bush's second term. I am worried about his plans for social security, health care, Iraq War, etc. I hope our president prove us wrong with his second chance that he gets from the people who voted for him.

I think it's a bit of wishful thinking, you know, with his mandate and everything...

[sOKaLiBoY]

the real question is how long before Bush gets his way and bans same-sex marriages?

[kimpossible]

the real question is how long before Bush gets his way and bans same-sex marriages?

pretty much there as of last year. i don't know the exact number but many states have already amended their constitutions defining marriage as one man and one woman, thereby banning same sex marriage.

[VV o n g B a]

the real question is how long before Bush gets his way and bans same-sex marriages?he recently said that he won't ask for a constitutional amendment. rove prolly told him to support the ban to get out the moral vote. and then to dump them cuz he doesn't need them anymore.

[yuuteya]

I heard some Americans are becoming Canadians because of that.

[hooligan]

he recently said that he won't ask for a constitutional amendment. rove prolly told him to support the ban to get out the moral vote. and then to dump them cuz he doesn't need them anymore.

Didn't you mention this in another thread? Yeah, I've noticed this decline in discussion about same-sex marriage. It seemed to be this thing only discussed during the election, but after the election the only thing that have been covered in the media is the war in Iraq and Social Security. : \

It was as though the LGBTIQQ community was the sacrificial lamb for the Republican campaign. Fuck that.

[nola]

Rove's the evil behind the throne.

[Arex]

I was kinda depressed immediately after the election. Now I'm pretty much just annoyed that the American people voted this numbskull into office for a second term knowing full well what kind of "leader" he is. I figure, if the majority of America wants record deficits, wants our troops returning from Iraq in body bags, wants to deprive fellow citizens of marriage rights for no good reason, wants to curtail civil rights, wants America to slip further behind in education, wants to waste money on pointless conflicts abroad instead of on directly improving life domestically, and wants to make the U.S. an even bigger target of world hatred, then let America have those things. I'm not as adversely affected by a lot of those things as many who voted for the half-wit. I'm just counting the days 'til the 2008 presidential election and keeping my fingers crossed that Bush doesn't fuck things up too badly in the meantime. Wishful thinking?

RX

[DragonKnight]

For myself, whatever. He won, we deal with it. How? We deal with it by making sure America doesn't vote in another jackass to lead our country. We got four years to make sure it doesn't happen again. Until then, we plan...and we make sure he doesn't fuck this country up anymore than he has.

[deez nuts]

i do find it in poor taste that with the war going on; bush blew 40-50 million on his inauguration.

[hooligan]

i do find it in poor taste that with the war going on; bush blew 40-50 million on his inauguration.

I agree, "Dude, where's my armor?"

[sOKaLiBoY]

U.S. Tells D.C. to Pay Inaugural Expenses
By Spencer S. Hsu
The Washington Post

Tuesday 11 January 2005
Other Security projects would lose $11.9 million.


D.C. officials said yesterday that the Bush administration is refusing to reimburse the District for most of the costs associated with next week's inauguration, breaking with precedent and forcing the city to divert $11.9 million from homeland security projects.

Federal officials have told the District that it should cover the expenses by using some of the $240 million in federal homeland security grants it has received in the past three years - money awarded to the city because it is among the places at highest risk of a terrorist attack.

But that grant money is earmarked for other security needs, Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) said in a Dec. 27 letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Joshua B. Bolten and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. Williams's office released the letter yesterday.

Williams estimated that the city's costs for the inauguration will total $17.3 million, most of it related to security. City officials said they can use an unspent $5.4 million from an annual federal fund that reimburses the District for costs incurred because of its status as the capital. But that leaves $11.9 million not covered, they said.

"We want to make this the best possible event, but not at the expense of D.C. taxpayers and other homeland security priorities," said Gregory M. McCarthy, the mayor's deputy chief of staff. "This is the first time there hasn't been a direct appropriation for the inauguration."

A spokesman for Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, which oversees the District, agreed with the mayor's stance. He called the Bush administration's position "simply not acceptable."

"It's an unfunded mandate of the most odious kind. How can the District be asked to take funds from important homeland security projects to pay for this instead?" said Davis spokesman David Marin.

The region has earmarked federal homeland security funds for such priorities as increasing hospital capacity, equipping firefighters with protective gear and building transit system command centers.

OMB spokesman Chad Kolton said no additional appropriation is needed for the inauguration.

"We think that an appropriate balance of money from [the annual reimbursement] fund and from homeland security grants is the most effective way to cover the additional cost the city incurs," Kolton said. "We recognize the city has a special burden to bear for many of these events. . . . That's expressly why in the post-9/11 era we are providing additional resources."

The $17.3 million the city expects to spend on this inauguration marks a sharp increase from the $8 million it incurred for Bush's first.

According to Williams's letter, the District anticipates spending $8.8 million in overtime pay for about 2,000 D.C. police officers; $2.7 million to pay 1,000-plus officers being sent by other jurisdictions across the country; $3 million to construct reviewing stands; and $2.5 million to place public works, health, transportation, fire, emergency management and business services on emergency footing.

Congressional aides said the District sought unsuccessfully last year to boost the annual security reimbursement fund from $15 million to $25 million to pay for inauguration expenses. In contrast, New York City and Boston-area lawmakers were able to obtain $50 million from Congress for each of those two jurisdictions to cover local security costs for the national political conventions.

Inauguration officials said they plan to spend $40 million on the four-day celebration, which will include fireworks, the swearing-in, a parade and nine balls. Those expenses - which do not include security and other public services - are being funded by private donors.

OMB and DHS spokesmen said they could not provide an estimate of what the inauguration will cost the federal government.

Federal employees who work in the District, Montgomery, Prince George's, Fairfax and Arlington counties, Alexandria and Falls Church are entitled to a holiday on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, the Office of Personnel Management has announced. As of June, the cost of giving federal workers in the capital area a day off was about $66 million.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) asked OPM chief Kay Coles James yesterday to dismiss federal employees at noon or 1 p.m. Jan. 19 to avoid gridlock. The Secret Service plans to close an area bordered by Constitution Avenue and E, 15th and 17th streets NW at 3:45 p.m. that day to accommodate a ceremony at the White House Ellipse, Norton's office said.

[kitty]

It was as though the LGBTIQQ community was the sacrificial lamb for the Republican campaign.

calling them a sacrificial lamb would imply that republicans care at all about the LGBTQ community.

i'm not depressed. i'm resolute about 2008. and resigned to the fact that a good portion of americans are too afraid of terrorists to vote for domestic change, in light of the fact that most people went into bush's second term dissatisfied with the way he was handling most affairs outside of the war on terror.

[deez nuts]

personally, whether or not gays had the right to marry wasn't important at all for me. i could care less if gays did or did not have the right to marry. i wouldn't champion against gay marriage nor would i champion for gay marriage.

whether gays were or were not allowed to get married was an insignificant issue in my mind.

to a certain extent, i also have the same stance in regards to abortion.

[Martino]

I heard some Americans are becoming Canadians because of that.

A few weeks ago Advocate had a cover story about Americans who want to emigrate as a result of the election.

Perhaps it may be prudent to try to develop the necessary skills and credentials so that employers in other countries may want to hire you ?


The first question foreign employers may ask could be: are you American?

Global poll slams Bush leadership

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4185205.stm

More than half of people surveyed in a BBC World Service poll say the re-election of US President George W Bush has made the world more dangerous. Only three countries - India, Poland and the Philippines - out of 21 polled believed the world was now safer.

The survey found that 47% of the 21,953 people questioned now see US influence in the world as largely negative, and view Americans negatively as well.

None of the countries polled supported contributing their troops to Iraq.

"This is quite a grim picture for the US," said Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), which carried out the poll with GlobeScan.

"Negative feelings about Bush are high and are generalising to the American people who re-elected him."

On average across all countries, 58% of people - and 16 out of 21 countries polled - said they believed Mr Bush's re-election to the White House made the world more dangerous.

Most negative feelings were found in Western European, Latin American and Muslim countries.

They include traditional US allies such as Germany, France, Britain and Italy as well as neighbours Canada and Mexico.

The only European country to buck the trend was Poland, one of the new members of the European Union, which gave the thumbs up to both President Bush and the US.

Turkey topped the anti-Bush list, with 82% believing his re-election would be negative for global security.

The result is bad news for the president as Turkey is a US ally and the only Muslim member of Nato, says the BBC's Chris Morris in Brussels.

Other predominantly Muslim countries - Indonesia and Lebanon - were also high up the list.

But, any warmer feelings in Indonesia towards the US following its tsunami relief operations would not show up as the poll was carried out before the disaster struck, says the BBC's Dan Isaacs.

Anti-Bush sentiments also appeared to be strong in Latin America. Argentina, with 79%, and Brazil, with 78%, follow Turkey in the list.

This seems surprising given that the region has had less direct involvement in US foreign policy issues, says our correspondent.

Another surprise was India's support for Mr Bush. The poll found 62% believed his administration was positive for global security.

The BBC's Nick Bryant says the reason for this may be because the poll was carried out in cities where people have benefited economically from closer trade ties with the US.

Doug Miller, President of Globescan, said the findings "supports the view of some Americans that unless his administration changes its approach to world affairs in its second term, it will continue to erode America's good name, and hence its ability to effectively influence world affairs".

But Mr Kull says the results do not constitute a definitive world-wide majority, "suggesting there may be some underlying openness to repairing relations with the US".

PIPA interviewed between 500 and 1,800 people in each of the 21 countries surveyed, plus 1,000 Americans, in face-to-face or telephone interviews.

The interviews took place between 15 November 2004 and 5 January 2005.

The margin of error is between 2.5 and 4 points, depending on the country.

[Craig]

The first question foreign employers may ask could be: are you American?
Obviously you haven't seen me. I've used to work in Europe and have been to several countries there (including England). East Asian men like me wouldn't be considered American (by 99% of the Europeans) even if I told people that I was. After spending more than my fair share of time in East Asia also, I think I would have an easier time convincing people there (certainly more so in some locales than others) that I was American than convincing people in Europe.