Inauguration

Four years ago I watched George W. Bush sworn in, then stepped out into my front yard and slipped the black shroud off the furled national colors in my front yard.

The practice of covering or denying standards as a public censure dates back to at least Roman times. I reckoned a country that had demonstrated a gross unwillingness to police itself rated some form of protest, and covering the proud red, white, and blue seemed appropriate enough. I was not surprised by the outcome of the impeachment process - far from it. The monolithic party support for Clinton hastened the recession of Democrat party; there are always silver linings.

The year 1999 saw national holidays and observances come and go marked only by a staff topped by a cased flag, tightly bound beneath a case of black silk, posted in our yard. A perjurious, conspiratorial, derelict chief executive shielded by a corrupt party and the act being tolerated by a citizenry supposedly committed to rule of law will always stand as a low point of my life in this republic.

Here's to four more years, and victory. Good luck, America.

Our neighbors in Ukraine will be celebrating their own inaugural thisSunday. Good luck to them, too.

And in just shy of two weeks, the first democratic elections will establish the first representative government in the history of Iraq. Good luck to them - and I pray we as a nation stay the course and see them become a strong free nation and ally.

I'm off to post colors. Uncased, and free to wave in the growing winds of freedom wrought by the vision and sacrifice of the last four years.


Y'all have a fine day.