service

President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and their families attended the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service today at the National Cathedral. There, the crowd of 2,200 heard  Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh "voices," all part of the "interfaith service," according to the pool report.

The pool report continues: 

A fair number of Americans would probably tell you that Memorial Day is held to celebrate the Indy 500. And, even those who are aware of why, actually, the day has been set aside tend to honor it in the breech, if at all. On my way, every year, to the service in our town, I am struck by how many more cars are parked near the golf course than in the church parking lot.

But that, of course, is one of the glories of America.

This may be the saddest passage you read about American culture this week. In a story from the New York Times headlined, "Once Stigmatized, Food Stamps Find Acceptance," we learn that the government has been using your tax dollars to market the giving away of your tax dollars in the form of food stamps to more and more people of higher and higher incomes.