inauguration

In a (very) few short hours, Donald Trump will take the oath of office and become the 45th President of the United States. I realize that I don't normally blog about politics, at least other than that related to medicine, but I make no bones about it. I'm dreading 12 Noon ET on January 20, 2017. There is more than enough reason for dread given the likely effect on medical science, at the very least. Also, Donald Trump is antivaccine. He's shown it through meetings with Andrew Wakefield and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, the former of whom spoke a year ago on a "Conspira-Sea Cruise" and the latter of…
This is the part of President Obama's 2013 inaugural address that resonated with me the most: We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty, and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn…
My brother, who started his medical career as a pulmonary tech at a naval hospital and is now the medical director for the National Disaster Medical System -- a system that draws heavily on medical personnel normally employed outside government -- sent me this account of his Inauguration Day, which he spent overseeing the NDMS care of the vast crowd on the Mall. Allen's job that day, for which he spent months preparing, was to be ready for anything from stubbed toes and headaches to widespread medical disasters of the sort best not pondered (except by disaster relief people). The day proved…
tags: inauguration, president obama, politics, television, presidential speech, streaming video Oh, joy! President Barack Obama took the oath of office as the 44th president of the United States and delivered an inaugural address focusing on the themes of sacrifice and renewal yesterday afternoon (20 January 2009). This video shows both [21:50] I wept as I watched President Obama be sworn in and deliver his inaugural speech. For the first time in my life, I feel that the United States -- as a nation -- might not be irredeemably greedy, malicious and short-sighted.
Just as I was starting to put together a few posts about my experiences at this weekend's ScienceOnline'09 soirée, I get a Tweet from Pam Spaulding that openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson didn't appear on HBO's inaugural coverage today and, at least for Kenny Yum of Canada's National Post and others in attendance, could not be heard. As Pam says: Remember, this was the supposed salve on the wound to the LGBT community for the upcoming high-profile appearance of Rick Warren at the actual inauguration on Tuesday, which will be seen by millions and will float out there on YouTube in…