Rick Warren will be the ONLY person speaking at Obama's Inauguration

[Political Tiger]

At least that's the impression one might get by looking at this board.

But actually there are others, including:

Elizabeth Alexander, a prize-winning poet at Yale University who grew up in Washington.

It is the first time that “poetry’s old-fashioned praise,” as Robert Frost called it, will be featured at the ceremony since Bill Clinton's second swearing in back in 1997.

Alexander, 45, would be only the fourth poet to read at a swearing in after Frost, who read at John F. Kennedy’s in 1961; Maya Angelou, who read at Clinton’s in 1993; and Miller Williams, who read in 1997, according to government officials.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/inauguration-watch/2008/12/inaugural_poet_selected_elizab.html?hpid=topnews

Elizabeth Alexander is a poet, essayist, playwright, and teacher. She is the author of four books and was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize. She has received many grants and honors, most recently the Alphonse Fletcher, Sr. Fellowship for work that "contributes to improving race relations in American society and furthers the broad social goals of the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954," and the 2007 Jackson Prize for Poetry. She is a professor at Yale University and was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University this year.

http://inaugural.senate.gov/media/releases/release-12172008-inauguralwebsite.cfm

--------

Outspoken civil rights activist the Reverend Joseph Lowery was born on October 6, 1921, in Huntsville, Alabama. Considered the dean of the civil rights movement, Lowery began his education in Huntsville, spending his middle school years in Chicago before returning to Huntsville to complete high school. From there, he attended Knoxville College, Payne College and Theological Seminary, and the Chicago Ecumenical Institute. Lowery earned his doctorate of divinity as well.

Lowery began his work with civil rights in the early 1950s in Mobile, Alabama, where he headed the Alabama Civic Affairs Association, an organization devoted to the desegregation of buses and public places. During this time, the state of Alabama sued Lowery, along with several other prominent ministers, on charges of libel, seizing his property. The Supreme Court sided with the ministers, and Lowery's seized property was returned. In 1957, Lowery and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and Lowery was named vice president.....Lowery is a co-founder and former president of the Black Leadership Forum, a consortium of black advocacy groups.

http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=455&category=CivicMakers

--------

oh, and Barack Obama.

[IndianaJones]

1. do they pull him up or does he pull them down? nt.

[cboy4]

3. Ouch. nt.

[rockymountaindem]

4. +1

[DRoseDARs]

7. Nicely put. n/t

[Political Tiger]

26. Neither.

[Mojambo]

2. Bigots tend to stand out. n/t

[musette_sf]

5. so, one supporter of civil rights

and one enemy of civil rights, wow, now THAT's the change i wanted to see.

[GarbagemanLB]

9. Yep. Reaching across the aisle to find areas where we can agree, even though we might

vehemently disagree in other areas.

Apparently you haven't listened to anything Obama has said or read his books.

[musette_sf]

14. so it's okay to legitimize bigotry and hatred?

i had higher hopes than this.

[Hansel]

40. Give me a break. This is not a disagreement over whether to drill for oil

This is a person who preaches intolerance against other people and discounts and demeans who they are. If Obama really wants to pull people together, then he should stop stomping on his own message.

There is a time and place for everything. If he wants to send a message of tolerance and inclusion, he should pick a preacher who represents tolerance for everyone at this very special occasion. He can use another forum for finding common ground. This is not the time or the place for elevating people of ignorance and intolerance. Especially when the person so offends the very being of many of the people who worked to put Obama office.

The inclusion argument doesn't work when you give should a large platform to a man who preaches exclusion. It is a contradiction to what Obama claims to stand for.

[Political Tiger]

11. Actually THREE

Elizabeth Alexander, the Reverend Joseph Lowery and Barack Obama.

[musette_sf]

12. okay, so it's numbers to you?

the anti-civil rights bigot is outnumbered? so legitimizing hate in the new administration is okay with you because it's 3 to 1?

so many apologists, so little time.

[Political Tiger]

20. You brought up numbers, not me.

And how is this "legitimizing hate in the new administration?" What cabinet post has Warren been appointed to by Obama? Do you think Obama will be seeking Warren's advice when it comes to civil rights for the LGBT community?

[musette_sf]

27. see my post below re augurs:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4672288&mesg_id=4672288

[gristy]

6. Rick Warren certainly will NOT be the only one speaking

Oh. Never mind. That lie in the subject line was the hook, right?

I get it.

[QC]

8. It's a feeble attempt to be clever in defense of the indefensible. n/t

[Political Tiger]

15. Why is it if someone doesn't throw a tantrum

over Warren it automatically means they are really trying to defend him?

And how did so many people learn to read minds?

[patrice]

10. It's just, if they had to pick someone from the religious RW, isn't there someone less offensive? n

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

13. Rev. Mel White, Rev. Jim Wallace and Bishop Desmond Tutu

Just to name a few.

[musette_sf]

Mel White - that would have been a GREAT choice!

i was trying to think of his name earlier as someone who WOULD be the right person for this moment. ex-fundie and out. a perfect choice.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

19. Mel White is awesome

And he's very active in gay rights, as one of the founders of Soulforce, an excellent organization, btw.

Far more deserving of money and support than HRC. They actually get out there and try to educate, do non-violent protests, etc.

[patrice]

29. BTW, does anyone know if RW is one of those #*%$*!! End-Timers?

You know, those who can't wait for nuclear war, so "Jesus" will come back.

[dflprincess]

16. Perhaps Reverand Lowery will take both Obama and Warren to task

when he speaks, much like he did Bush at Coretta King's funeral.

[TK421]

17. Magic trick: I can make a turd disappear into a toilet bowl and flush it down

and after fifteen minutes, my guests won't know it even existed.......

Some magic trick, huh?

[dbackjon]

18. You are turning into a GAY-HATING TROLL

[QC]

21. Oh well, that never got anyone in any real trouble around here. n/t

[dbackjon]

24. Nope. Probably gonna be poster of the year or something

[TK421]

25. ......

:thumbsup: I am truly seeing a different side to this site more and more every fucking day...

and disgustingly so

[QC]

28. It hasn't always been this bad. Seriously. Things got really ugly

in the fall of 2007, during the McClurkin fiasco. That's when a truly ugly side of DU came out, and it hasn't entirely receded. I've been here since 2001 and I have never seen such thuggishness here as what happened then, and the guilty parties got away with it and are mostly still here.

[TK421]

32. Sorry to hear it, since I didn't follow that particular drama segment

of DU....and here I thought corn flakes on chicken wars and circumcision threads were the worst, here I am proven wrong.

[QC]

35. Oh my, even the Olive Garden threads seemed like Rainbow Brite's Happy Meadow

compared to those! ;-)

[TK421]

38. or how about My Little Pony I Never Got?

:D

[Political Tiger]

23. Really?

Then I must hate myself.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

30. Oh brother

If you're gay, then I'm not married to LiV.

[dbackjon]

31. Then are you sure you are not a Log Cabin Guy?

Since they have no self-respect, and like getting fucked over by their masters.

[Political Tiger]

33. No.

It's rather disturbing watching so may people act like right-wingers.

I remember listening to a local radio station a few weeks ago and the discussion was gay rights. The host was interviewing a local (straight) politic an who supports gay rights. After the interview, the host started taking calls. Every other call was from Reich-wing assholes saying that the politician who supported gay rights must really be gay because he supports gay rights.

In their "mind," if a straight person comes out in support of gay rights, then that person just has to be secertly gay!

It's sad to see people on this board, especially gay people, acting no differently than the same people who hate them. It's sad to see so many people act as if only their view on an issue is valid, and to question the integrity of those who might disagree with them.

I'm an openly, proud gay man, not that I have to justify or explain that to a bunch on names on a message board.

And what about tolerance.? What I find intolerant is those who think they are so important that only they have a right to speak out on something, and if someone dares speak different they are to be ridiculed and insulted.

Seems some people think all gay people think the exact same way, that we are all monolithic robots without minds of our own. Nice. When did stereotyping become acceptable in the gay community???????

[dbackjon]

34. I will not allow anyone to trample on my rights or marginilize me

Which is what you are allowing to happen to yourself.

No GLBT person should be in any way, shape or form happy with this. Or accepting of this.


I accept all people for who they are, unless they are unwilling to accept me as an equal.



sounds like you still have some issues to work out. Try loving yourself first.

[Political Tiger]

36. Listen, I don't need you to tell me about myself!

You sound like the Reich-wingers who tell us we really weren't born gay, as if they know us better than we do ourselves!

You don't know me, you have never met me, shit, you don't even fucking know my name!

How fucking dare you pretend to know me better than I know myself!

Maybe, just maybe, if you fucking stopped lecturing and pretending to be able to read minds you'd know that I have not in any way, shape or form indicated that I was "happy with this. Or accepting of this" as you FALSELY claim!

And while we're at it, just when the hell were you anointed the speaker for the entire GLBT community? What gives YOU the right to tell every single gay person what to think, or say, or do?

[Bluebear]

41. Great, another "gay for a day"

[Political Tiger]

42. Great, another idiot making baseless accusations.

Before making baseless accusations about people, why don't you do a little research first?

For instance, you can type my name in the little search box in the top right hand corner and it will show you a list of all my posts since I've been on DU. By doing so, it would have saved you the embarrassment of making a complete and total fool of yourself because you would then seen that I have been an outspoken supporter of gay rights from day one and I identified myself as gay long ago.

But it's much easier to just think what you want instead of actually finding out the truth, isn't it? Why be bothered with facts?

So you wanna find out the truth? Go ahead, do a search on me. Sure, it might be a little time consuming and take a little effort, but wouldn't you rather know the truth?

Or maybe you'd rather stay ignorant and just go about making speculative and false allegations about people you don't know a thing about?

[EFerrari]

22. I take back my offer.

[TheKentuckian]

37. Criticize away but the giving legitimacy and a platform talk is bull

There is so much to bash this over without spraining logic to do so.

[BlooInBloo]

39. Heh - "spraining logic" - I like it! I'm stealing it. Just so ya know. :)