This Land Is Your Land

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Chat on!

On This Day

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama dance during the 2009 Nobel Banquet in the Hall of Mirrors at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, Norway, Dec. 10, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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President Obama looks at the Nobel Peace Prize medal for the first time at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, Dec. 10, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

….. holding the Nobel Prize medal and diploma following the ceremony at the Oslo City Hall (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama depart Oslo City Hall following the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony (Photo by Pete Souza)

First Lady Michelle Obama looks at pictures of past Nobel Prize recipients at the Norwegian Nobel Institute (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama looks out a window at Slottet Royal Palace of Norway following his meeting with King Harald V and Queen Sonja in Oslo (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wave from a balcony at the Grand Hotel as they greet the Torch Parade in Oslo (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrive at the 2009 Nobel Banquet in the Hall of Mirrors at the Grand Hotel in Oslo (Photo by Samantha Appleton)

President

@petesouza: Nice light in the Oval Office this am as Pres Obama works on correspondence at his desk

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And part of what he’s given to America:

ThisIsObamaCare.com

Chat Away

This is the work

In every nation’s life, there come breaking points.

Breaking points are many. They’re points in the road where the great mass of humanity says “Enough”; things as they were are no longer good enough, no longer just enough, no longer decent—human—enough. A point of disgust is reached, where what went before will no longer suffice. Where, indeed, what went before was exactly the problem. Where what went before was a Gordian knot of injustice, unfairness, veritable evil.

We have reached such a point.

The election of a black president, buoyed by a coalition which didn’t conform to the lineaments of the previous holders of power, have made that old, decrepit, dying coalition erupt in one last blast of fury.

We saw it in Texas, in Ohio, in North Carolina, where legislatures have made it known that women are to be kept down, subservient, subject to the will of their betters.

We saw it in the halls of Congress, where the Republican House doesn’t pretend to care about immigrants, but is doing everything it can to stanch the coming tide, hoping that if it engages in one more bit of obstruction their power will be secure. But the future that is coming is as sure as that tide, and the leaders of that House haven’t the wisdom of King Canute, who displayed before his court that he was merely human, and had no power over nature, or the forces of history.

And we saw it, most heartbreakingly, in the verdict which decreed that one could shoot an unarmed black teenager in the street as nothing more than an animal, less than one, and walk away, freedom intact, rights preserved. (We have to ask how free Mr. Zimmerman will be; if he has any shred of humanity, his remaining life will be one of anguish and regret. But at the moment, I’m not feeling so charitable.)

This land….

Happy Presidents’ Day – This Land is Your Land

We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, January 18, 2009

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Some of you have already had the pleasure of seeing a selection of my epic photos from the concert, but for anyone unlucky enough to have missed them…..

Okay, this isn’t actually one of mine:

But this is: 😎

Photographic proof I wasn’t right at the back, there were some – true, not many – behind me:

Denzil, looking me right in the eye, in a swoony kind of way:

Me and Bono:

Bruce serenading me:

A close-up of President Obama about to speak:

Another Pete Souza-esque photo of President Obama:

If you’re not careful, I’ll post more some time soon.

Happy Presidents’ Day everyone.

Cheerio 2012, Thanks for the Memories

Happy New Year everyone – and a gazillion thanks for the company in 2012, love ya all (even Amk)

How long to sing this song?

This is what November is all about

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Thursday (all times ET)

11:55: President Obama departs the White House

2:35: Arrives in Miami

3:25: Delivers remarks at the University of Miami in Coral Gables

6:55: Delivers remarks at the JW Marriot Marquis, Miami

8:05: Departs Miami

9:0 The Vice Presidential Debate

10:30: PBO arrives at the White House

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Cagle

Cagle