Today is the opening of the Clinton Library in Little Rock. Downtown has been in a mildy nutty state for the past two days. Everybody is downtown in an effort to see and be seen.
People started arriving this morning at 7am. Downtown area is full of tour buses, people on foot, and security. Police and other security forces are everywhere. The majority of people on foot were in a line that looked to be about 1/2 mile long, waiting to gain access to the Library grounds.
Getting to work wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Once I got close to the building, I got waved through with nothing more than a quick glance at my authentic hologram parking pass.
The most interesting thing I have seen so far have been protestors. The one group I ran across were pretty well isolated from the largest part of the throng. Maybe 12-15 people holding various signs. I felt badly for some of the youngest protestors, as they looked to be in the age range of 12-16. They waved and held up their protest signs with determination, so perhaps my pity at their ‘exploitation’ is unfounded. At any rate, sign examples included:
- FAGS DESERVE DEATH
- GOD HATES YOU
- FAG SIN = 9/11
- BUSH: PRO GAY
- HILARY IS A DYKE
In the camera-phone pic above, one can just barely make out “God Hates You”. To the left of that is “God Hates Fag Enablers”. A couple signs to the right is “It’s the Fags, Stupid”, apparently a take on the Clinton soundbite “Its the Economy, stupid”.
Several American presidents are in attendance- Bush & Bush, Carter, and Ford* are all here, from what I understand. I didn’t see any protest signs indicating the any presidents from the elder Bush back were pro-gay. Must be a recent anomaly.
edit: Turns out Ford was not in attendance- I think his health may be in poor shape at 91 years old.
Yeah, all this literacy is ruining our country. There’s too much book lernin’ going on and before you know it the homosechsuals will be running the country! Man, people can be such freaks. I was tempted to write a long column about the outrage over the Monday Night football into from this week in which some woman in a locker room drops a towel and jumps naked into Terrell Owens’ arms. I was listening to the radio this morning and not only were there the standard calls from the “oh my god! My children saw a naked woman’s back!” clan, but there were also some saying everyone at ABC should be fired for approving of an inter-racial couple. We live in the Dark Ages.
But, I digress. The opening of the Clinton Library should be a time of celebration and we shouldn’t let a few people (or 52% of the country, whatever the case may be) rain on this parade. Out of curiousity, in what kind of esteem is Big Bad Bill held by Joe Sixpack in Arkansas? Virtually everyone I know in Georgia hates him with a passion. I suspect a lot of people in Arkansas aren’t too far removed from the Georgia mindset, so do they somehow resolve themselves to liking Clinton, or do a lot of them there hate him too?
I was also reading yesterday that there is a sizable collection of stuff from the whole Lewinsky thing in the library to both acknowledge it as a big part of the presidency, and to expose the witch hunt led by Ken Starr and how it was a waste of time, money and energy.
It is my opinion that Bill Clinton is held in high regard by some and reviled by some. In general, the scale of approval probably tips in his favor.
I was hoping for some better pics at lunchtime, but it has been pissing down rain here, so there wasn’t much to see except water-soaked people. Watched a good portion of the ceremonies on TV. Bono and the Edge did a couple of songs, starting out with what must surely have been an impromtu version of the Beatles ‘Rain’ song.
My lovely wife’s lovely sister is a friend of Chelsea Clinton and is in attendance at the ceremonies. If she got any really good pics/stories, I might add them here later.
I don’t know too much about the library. I do plan on visiting at some time. I heard on my local NPR station that there is a section dedicated to Monica-gate, but I don’t know how it is presented. Interesting, and I wonder how Iran-Contra is represented in the Reagan library.