CrankyBuddhist   the learning never ends …

One of the site’s readers, Emily Troutman, created this slide show with photographs that she created during last week’s inauguration celebrations.

This week I made my way around Washington, D.C. and asked hundreds of people to pick words to represent how they feel now, at the dawn of a new beginning for the United States. Participants chose from 26 words:

Alive, Angry, Anxious, Awed, Believe, Curious, Dancer, Excited, Grateful, Happy, Hopeful, Human, Humble, Jealous, Joyful, Love, Obama, Patient, Proud, Ready, Scared, Skeptical, Tired, Together, Wonder, Worried

Children tended to choose the words “Love” and “Obama” because they are easy. But happy was a close third. For the other participants, “Hopeful” and “Proud” won the day. People with family or friends chose “Together” to represent the importance of experiencing the inauguration with the ones they love.

Read more on Emily’s Blog.

MySpace Celebrity and Katalyst present The Presidential Pledge

In less than 24 hours we will have a new President. In all of my years I have never felt the changing of the guard at all, let alone as strongly as this. It’s like we’ve been asleep for eight years. People are starting to wake up and look around. It’s like everyone is holding their breathe waiting for tomorrow, Noon EST, so that we can heave a collective sigh of relief and begin living again.

Here’s another celebrity filled video. I think it’s amazing that throughout the last year, everyone has come around to trying to think and act collectively. I don’t think videos like this would be being made if the other guy had won the election.

Not from YouTube but rather from Funny or Die. Hollywood steps out in questioning the validity of Prop 8.

We are going through tough financial times. And it’s only the beginning. All indications are that the economy is going to suck for the next year or two, so get those survival skills back out of the closet and hunker down.

This is what I hope our government says to the Big Three auto industry CEOs that are currently sitting in front of the bailout committee with their hands out.

There are times when I think the Democrats are really good people and then again there are times when I think they are just a bunch of saps. I’ve had enough boyfriends in my past who tried to play me to know when someone is just trying to take advantage of the system, and these three guys, Rick Wagoner of GM, Alan Mulally of Ford, and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler, definitely are.

For example, these three went to this meeting in three separate private jets with their departure and arrival points all being the same. Only one of the three is willing to cut their personal annual salary to help their company and their employees. They refuse to create new business plans, because, um, the antiquated ones they’ve been using for the last thirty years have worked so well? And they can’t promise that the government will be paid back.

I will be so furious if these companies are given the bailout money that they are asking for. I am already furious that they bailed out the banks and the insurance companies. American Express declared itself a bank this week just so they could profit from the bank bailout agreement.

The folks sitting in Congress have to buckle up and see through the spin these three auto executives are creating. Yes, people will be out of work. But I’d rather see the money go to them in the form of unemployment checks than go into the coffers of three auto companies that refuse to move progressively not only into the future, but into the present.