Daily Archives: 20 January, 2009

Live Blogging: Inauguration Day!

by daveborland

17:46 - Well that’s it from us here, we thank you if you have paid any attention to our mindless ramblings, until next time. DB & TG

17:25 - The new President of the United States of America – Barack Hussein Obama

17:07 - Obama showing his nerves on the oath. DB

17:03 - Wow, I’m waiting for the first person to say how multi-ethnic the music ensemble is. TG

16:57 - Biden is swearing he will “discharge the duties” of his office faithfully. DB

16:56 - Rick Warren gave a nice sermon, albeit I wish for all his talk of love he would extend this to gay couples. Aretha was great as always. DB

16:55 - Aretha Franlin, got some pipes but she’s mad! TG

16:51 – the pastor giving the opening sermon is actually mad!! sure it will be on youtube soon! TG

16:42 - And here he is, following Feinstein and Pelosi (and others), the one, the only OBAMA!!! the flags go wild, the chants go up, the tissues cum out. DB

16:36 - Biden gets chants of “JOE, JOE, JOE.” DB

16:33 - Bush, Cheney and Republican leaders emerge, a little polite round of applause but i suspect that they are focusing the microphones on the invited guests. DB

16:29 - Anticipation is building. Michelle probably gets the biggest round of applause so far. DB

16:27 - Hillary Clinton looks pretty pissed off. TG

16:27 - The Obama daughters have been led out. Would be so cool to be cheered on by a million people. Youngest in white house since carter family. TG

16:27 Malia and Sasha now emerging to a loud round of applause. DB

16:21 – Apparently there have been severe cases of frostbite. Bill Clinton has been announced. Is this the start of the formal ceremony? The bible is being carried down some stairs – it is BIG! Bush daughters are here, trying to score some drugs. TG

16:13 – The old George Bush and his wife Barbara have arrived, wearing purple scarves, a bad choice in my opinion. According to BBC they had their last dinner last night. Hahaha, a slip of the tongue. TG

16:10 – BBC News now discussing what will be Obamas key line that will stand out in his speech. It will be this line that will put him into canon of inauguration speechs. DB

16:03 - Has there ever been a moment in history when so many people of come together as one? Estimated a million! Huffingtonpost’s liveblog has gone down, this is officially the most reliable liveblog there is available. Are all the lights on the motorcade necessary? TG

15:54 Now Sky News are advertising their HD version of the inauguration. DB

15:50 as the bullet proof Cadillacs emerge from the White House gates the cheers go up, “O-BA-MA.” DB

15:47 OBAMA AND BUSH!!!! DB

15:45 Its Biden and Cheney (in his wheelchair) now! DB

15:44 Michelle Obama and Laura Bush emerge from the White House and are going in the same car. DB

15:41 we have now broken out the mini American flags woooo!! DB

15:37 Some talk about what Obamas speech might concentrate on by BBC News. Generally emphasising the duty of service aspect. While following in the vain of JFK I’m sure we will get hints of Martin Luther King and possibly some FDR.

15:33 We are joined by Daniel Jones and Samantha Jones, brother and sister and notable authorities on past US Inauguarations. Once they’ve got a cuppa they’ll start giving us insights. Me, I’m on pints of beverages. TG

15:25 Spielberg, Dustin Hoffman and Mohammed Ali just some of the notable attendees. DB

15:22 LBJ holds the current record of 1.2m people attending his inauguration, Obama is looking to eclipse that by some way. DB

15:17 Some of the more prestigious looking guests coming to take their seats now. Tom has now turned off the TV by trying to plug in his laptop. We are temporarily in a blackout! DB

15:09 – 45 000 security personnel on duty, that’s like a football crowd!! Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary, is in a secure location which no one knows about (likely to be Aldi in Selly Oak), just incase something should go terribly wrong and the Government can continue. TG

15:07 – SkyNews are reporting that the FBI are investigating numerous intelligence leads from this morning. TG

15:04 - This is Tom, I’ve just got in. Let the drinking blogging commense. We’ve got a pretty balanced series of news services ready and waiting, and special guests will be coming into our live blogging arena as the afternoon proceeds. I would like to say hello to our NUS comrades who are in Wolves, away from the excitement! TG

14:48 Obama leaving Church now…exciting. Tom has joined me so will be able to give his insightful comments. Sky News now getting a little too excited over Obamas bullet proof car.

14:33- Miliband now saying almost the same thing on a different interview with BBC News. Stressing the focus upon Afghanistan that will increase under Obama and his likely call on Europeans having to step up to the plate. It will be interesting to see how countries such as Germany – where Obama drew such large crowds – are going to react when Obama calls for greater help in Afghanistan.

14:24 – interesting fact about the church service at St Johns that Obama is attending prior to the Inauguration. Apparently Presidents have been going there before their inauguration since FDR. Although Clinton choose to go to another, predominately black, church. Another fact, the 1997 inauguration was the first to be broadcast online. Oh Sky News you do spoil us with these exciting tit bits.

14:18 – On Sky News Miliband is giving his view on the inauguration, talking about his time in High School in Boston. Also highlighting the common policies between the Obama administration and the Government on issues such as Climate Change, the economy and Guantanamo. I think he’s quite excited.

14:16 – Hello people! Well today me and Tom are going to be doing live updates straight from the sofa of our house to wherever you are. We haven’t yet experimented with live blogging so you may have to bear with us slightly and ignore our poor spelling and grammar. Apart from that enjoy!

This moment.

by Tom Guise

This moment has been a long time coming.  We’ve just seen a shot of Obama walking through a corridor on his own, looking poised and ready to make this important speech. 

I am filled with anticipation, emotion and most of all, hope.   Will this be the defining moment of our lifetimes?  I believe it will be!  This is such a unifying movement, one for everyone, not just one politician or party, lets work to achieve for all people!!

 

YES WE CAN!!

Inauaguration Day Blogging

by Tom Guise

At comrade Borland’s insistence, instead of paying attention to the event, we will be blogging our musings and thoughts on this historic occasion.

 

Today, the socialists on campus, along with some greens have decided to launch a major protest about the conflict in Gaza.  Which, sort of ended a day or two ago.

 

Anyway, they intend to disrupt peoples education by sitting in a seminar room all day.  Saw some police around there earlier.  Was wandering what kinda impact they realistically expected to have….

 

Discuss…

Thoughts of comrade Nash – Why our Guild needs the Tories.

by Nash

Last semester, Comrade Guise gallantly came out in favour of the University of Birmingham branch of Conservative Future. While I applauded his decision at the time, and still do, dear Tom has since expressed some mild guilt/regret over the matter. The title of this post is fairly provocative, and rightly so. It is my firm believe that our Dear Leader was right in his decision, and that BUCF are an essential part of our Union.

To me, valid political discourse requires a plurality; a spectrum of ideas if you prefer. Student movements and Unions across the country have gotten a bad reputation in the past because of their political classes – and rightly so in my opinion. I count myself lucky in that our Uni has a reasonably moderate composition within its political class – not quite the loony leftie stereotype I would imagine existing elsewhere. I have many, many reasons for strongly disagreeing with the views of those on the far left, reasons I won’t go into right now, but it is not this which fuels my unease. Far left student politicians are not representative of the student body, and it angers me when they act as if they are. Whether it is the mad “Anti-war (but only if it is a war started by or involving the US; we’ll let the Arabs get on with killing and oppressing each other)” brigade; or the eco-warriors who disagree with coal-fuelled power stationsa – but rather than go through the correct representative process, would rather take matters into their own hands and board a delivery train, committing trespass, piracy, theft and (ironically) make a large mess in the process; the self righteous zeal of these people infuriates me.

Truth be told, the Far Left of student politics are extremists in their own way. They are unrepresentative of the vast majority of the student body, and their ideological agenda as unwelcome to the general populace as [ insert witty analogy ]. They are the true enemy to which my ambiguous title refers.

And this is where BUCF comes in. With them, the political spectrum is balanced. Labour Students on the centre-left, CF on the centre-right, with extremists rightly banished to either end. Take away BUCF, and pretty soon you’ll find you have a spectrum where the “Left” is actually the Socialists, Respect, and other nutjob fringe groups. The “Right” would effectively be Labour Students. Your “Moderates” under this scenario would not really be that moderate at all.

Awaiting the angry shouts of “Tory sympathiser”, or even “Traitor” with glee, I should probably admit that I consider myself to be a moderate and “centre-leaning” (if that is possible). This, I would argue, being a position occupied by the vast majority of students – far more than the combined membership of all the loony-left and eco-warrior groups. I for one wouldn’t be ashamed to admit that I may have views more in common with some in the Conservative Party than with members of my own – In fact, I’d be pretty concerned were that not the case. I should probably stress at this moment that I am definitely not a Conservative (at time of writing), and my acquaintances would hopefully agree. I cannot be alone in recognising the role that BUCF can play in ensuring a healthy and pluralist democracy – at least in the Guild of Students. Conservative Future are not our enemies; when it comes to preserving democracy, they are our friends.

Chris Nash is Satelite Sites Officer in the Guild and writes here in a personal capacity.