Nicholas Kristof in NYTimes: Putting Torture Behind Us

Putting Torture Behind Us, a column in the New York Times by Nicholas Kristof, is well worth reading. I support both suggestions about harvesting insights through a post-Guantanimo commission and repurposing the facility for health research.

Inaugural Speech of President Barack Obama

Inaugural Speech of President Barack Obama, January 20, 2009, video and text from NYTimes.com .

Eloquent as always, but with enough specifics about how government, business, and personal behavior ought to be changed.

How happy I am with this dramatic improvement in the quality of our national political leadership!

There was also a touching and classy musical performance during the Inauguration ceremony (you can listen here, or watch here) as well as eloquent invocation, benediction, and poem.

An editorial in the New York Times gives a good summary of why this inaugural address was one that spoke to Americans as thoughtful and needed citizens, and not simply as consumers of political rhetorhic.

HBO.com and HBO - 7pm ET, 11:30pm ET January 18, 2009 Inauguration Celebration Concert

See also: New York Times: At Lincoln Memorial, Uplifting Music and a Talk of Challenges

President-elect Barack Obama's remarks, as prepared for delivery to "We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial"

Broadway Show: In The Heights

In the Heights won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical, and I highly recommend it. With dancing, a variety of music, a strong ensemble cast, and story line blending elements of Fiddler on the Roof (Old Country-New Country, Adults-Young People), Rent, and West Side Story, it is a most enjoyable and touching show. The action takes place in Washington Heights in the late 1990s, as Puerto Rican and Dominican Republic Immigrants deal with a hot July and struggles of keeping their small businesses solvent. The music and lyrics were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also plays Usnavi, a Bodego owner, in the show.