Yesterday, I spent the day at the “Bernie Grant” Arts Centre in Tottenham, taking a few snaps with my Canon G7 compact camera of the back a yard massive getting it together with the great and the good. It was all very nice and very upbeat, with everybody just mixing and blending as if it was going out of fashion. By the time Barrack Obama stood up to take the oath of office, the auditorium (where it was being shown on a very large screen) was full to overflowing, with standing room only. I decided to watch the whole thing on a nice 21″ FST, along with about 70 other people on the balcony. I have to say that I’m with Jai on this one. Obama’s speech was workman like and to the point. A lean, mean fighting machine of a speech if you like, which got the job done. I walked and cried all the way home. BTW, did I mention the false fire alarm….

Shame that the muppets from the BBC were too straight laced to get with the programme. I am now convinced more than ever that the BBC is no place for a person of colour with integrity to work in or for. If you’ve got no problem selling yourself short or your community out, then the BBC is in fact the place for you. Gregg Dyke, all is forgiven, come back NOW!

I wish I could post a picture! Any advice, Sunny? It’s just a small jpeg.

It might be a good idea for someone to link to a suitable Youtube clip of Obama’s swearing-in and his subsequent speech on the top-right of the page in the usual way too.

Actually, having just browsed through Obama’s new revamped White House website, it might be a better idea to get the clip straight from the source when they put it up, as follows (from http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/change_has_come_to_whitehouse-gov/ ):

Later today, we’ll put up the video and the full text of President Obama’s Inaugural Address.

As far as I know it’s not up yet, but hopefully one of you guys can keep tabs on that

He’s already issued his first ‘proclamation’ on his website too (from http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/a_national_day_of_renewal_and_reconciliation/ ):

NATIONAL DAY OF RENEWAL AND RECONCILIATION, 2009

- – - – - – -

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

As I take the sacred oath of the highest office in the land, I am humbled by the responsibility placed upon my shoulders, renewed by the courage and decency of the American people, and fortified by my faith in an awesome God.

We are in the midst of a season of trial. Our Nation is being tested, and our people know great uncertainty. Yet the story of America is one of renewal in the face of adversity, reconciliation in a time of discord, and we know that there is a purpose for everything under heaven.

On this Inauguration Day, we are reminded that we are heirs to over two centuries of American democracy, and that this legacy is not simply a birthright — it is a glorious burden. Now it falls to us to come together as a people to carry it forward once more.

So in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, let us remember that: “The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2009, a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation, and call upon all of our citizens to serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

***************

Anyway, I thought Obama’s speech was brilliant. A bit different to what was expected — his speech at the pre-inauguration concert had more of the predicted “soaring rhetoric” — but it was pretty exhaustive and quite hard-hitting. He pointedly socked it to Dubya’s regime and AQ too. Obama is a tougher cookie than many people think.

It raised a smile to see our American desi cousin Kal Penn (whose real name is the very Gujju “Kalpen Modi”) give a great reading at the concert on Sunday too. He spoke really well, very commandingly.

Hopefully Obama will meet (and maybe even surpass) everyone’s expectations. We’ll see. In the meantime, all I can say is “Welcome back, America”

To quote the President, “And this WE CAN do. And this WE WILL do.” The administration promises that the dreams and hope to do the impossible can be done if Americans come together and act on the catchphrase, “YES WE CAN”.

For more, visit http://efm.lk/

I know what you want, and you ain’t getting it…. lol

anyway, yes we can and all that.

Obamaize yourself

Did you hear how he framed the environment/energy issue?
Our use of energy 1)strengthens our adverseries and 2) harms our environment. he used the same format when he started of with his two crises, networked terror and the economy.

Change?

loved the signing papers bit when he went ‘im a lefty, you’ll have to get used to it’.

ooh look, platinum786 likes fit buxom blondes?? Haram aleike..didn’t you know they’re all Jewish Zionists? and been bombing palestinian babies since they were kids or sth.

“A time when brown can stick around”

Please tell me that guy (not Obama) didn’t mean Gordon Brown.

Government gives £1m to ‘anti-extremist’ think-tank Quilliam Foundation

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5549138.ece

One million pounds to a think tank that has limited support and one editor here claimed they were independant and not supported by the government.

Ed and Majid have landed on his feet. One million pounds for hot air and no community support.

The only people allowed to wear T shirts to endorse anything are fit young buxom blondes, and the T shirt has to be white and there must be a lot of water around.

As for Obama, good luck to him, hope he lives up to his own hype.