Honor thy enemies

And spit in the face of thy base.

A right-wing megachurch preacher who's huckstered his way into the political system as a supposed "new, moderate" evangelical will deliver the invocation at Obama's inauguration.

I was going to watch, but think I'll keep the sound off until Aretha steps to the mike. Rev. Joseph Lowery, representing actual religious progressives, will deliver the benediction. Bringing up the rear as so often.

Speaking of that, still no nominee for Secretary of Labor. Update: 2:15 pm, 18 Dec - New rumors on candidates: Harley Shaiken, Rosa DeLauro. With a brawl on the Employee Free Choice Act certain, corporate point man Rick Berman's track record of personal smears probably makes Mary Beth Maxwell less appealing to union presidents, not to mention Obama political advisers. But the Rick Warren choice, the role of the Obama campaign and voters in the Prop. H8 vote in California, and passing over Maxwell all reinforce the message that lesbian and gay Americans are an inconvenience that can safely be ignored.
Update 2: 12:45 pm, 19 Dec - Now it's said to be Hilda Solis, whose name hadn't even come up before. No questions about her sympathies, but I wonder what she has over other candidates in experience, grasp of the NLRB overhaul needed, auto industry expertise...? If she's got the trust of the internationals and the fire to back EFCA effectively, good enough for me; she can appoint the expertise.
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