{"id":116,"date":"2009-01-19T13:12:43","date_gmt":"2009-01-19T13:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/01\/awesome-sunday-inaugural-conce.html"},"modified":"2009-01-19T13:12:43","modified_gmt":"2009-01-19T13:12:43","slug":"awesome-sunday-inaugural-conce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/01\/awesome-sunday-inaugural-conce.html","title":{"rendered":"AWESOME SUNDAY INAUGURAL CONCERT"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m not as excited as some of you may be about all the inaugural activities.  Maybe it is because of that tad bit of “realistic cynicism” that hits us here in Washington after a while.  Having said that, yesterday’s concert at the Lincoln Memorial was an overall delight (poor Marisa Tomei having to quote from the fraudulent promise of Ronald Reagan’s first inauguration notwithstanding).<\/p>\n

Two actions though stood out above all others.  The Gay Mens Chorus of Washington <\/a>(although not identified accurately–no “Gay”– by HBO in its broadcast) was a brilliant addition to the singing by Josh Groban and Heather Headly.  And then the capper, was not just having Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen sing “This Land Is Your Land”.  They sang it complete with the rarely performed verse “I came to a sign that said ‘Private Property’, but on the other side it didn’t say nothing.  That side was made for you and me!”  The ideas of fullblown American integration of the GLBT community and an actual redistribution of wealth at an official inaugural event was a priceless reminder of the diversity of opinion and the radical views about economics that have always been a part of the American conversation.  I know that when these ideas are even articulated, some conservatives go ballistic.  It was probably best on Sunday if those folks were just watching football.<\/p>\n

P.S. I loved Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler<\/a><\/u>, and I have nothing against football. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m not as excited as some of you may be about all the inaugural activities.  Maybe it is because of that tad bit of “realistic cynicism” that hits us here in Washington after a while.  Having said that, yesterday’s concert at the Lincoln Memorial was an overall delight (poor Marisa Tomei having to quote from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,36],"tags":[55,54,49,56,51,52,53],"class_list":["post-116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election-08","category-free-speech","tag-bruce-springsteen","tag-hbo","tag-inauguration","tag-marisa-tomai","tag-news","tag-pete-seeger","tag-washington-gay-mens-chorus"],"yoast_head":"\nAWESOME SUNDAY INAUGURAL CONCERT - Lynn v. Sekulow<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/01\/awesome-sunday-inaugural-conce.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AWESOME SUNDAY INAUGURAL CONCERT - Lynn v. 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An accomplished speaker and lecturer, Lynn has appeared frequently on television and radio broadcasts to offer analysis of First Amendment issues. News programs on which Lynn has appeared include PBS's \"NewsHour,\" NBC's \"Today Show,\" Fox News Channel's \"O'Reilly Factor,\" ABC's \"Nightline,\" CNN's \"Crossfire,\" CBS's \"60 Minutes,\" MSNBC's \"Countdown with Keith Olbermann,\" Fox News Channel's \"Hannity & Colmes,\" ABC's \"Good Morning America,\" CNN's \"Larry King Live\" and the national nightly news on NBC, ABC and CBS. On the radio, Lynn serves as host of \"Culture Shocks,\" a daily look at various issues affecting society and the culture. In the 1990s he served for two years as regular co-host of \"Pat Buchanan and Company\" and after that did a weekly syndicated radio program, \"Review of the News,\" with Col. Oliver North. Lynn is a regular guest on nationally broadcast radio programs, including National Public Radio's \"All Things Considered,\" \"Morning Edition\" and \"Talk of the Nation,\" as well as having appeared on national networks such as CBS Radio, CNN Radio, ABC Radio and AP Radio. Lynn began his professional career working at the national office of the United Church of Christ, including a two-year stint as legislative counsel for the Church's Office of Church in Society in Washington, D.C. From 1984 to 1991 he was legislative counsel for the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union. In 2006, Lynn authored Piety & Politics: The Right-Wing Assault On Religious Freedom (Harmony Books). In 2008 he coauthored (with C. Welton Gaddy) First Freedom First: A Citizen's Guide to Protecting Religious Liberty and the Separation of Church and State (Beacon Press). Lynn writes frequently on religious liberty issues, and has had essays published in outlets such as USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Nation. Lynn also has op-eds published frequently by the McClatchy and Scripps-Howard newspaper chains. A member of the Washington, D.C. and U.S. Supreme Court bar, Lynn earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1978. In addition, he received his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology in 1973. Lynn, who was born in Harrisburg, Pa., and raised in Bethlehem, Pa., lives in Chevy Chase, Md., with his family.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/author\/blynn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}