Inaugurations

Eugene Allen, who worked for more than three decades as a White House butler -- some of those years during an era of brutal segregation when he often had to use back doors despite his employer's rarefied address -- sat in the shadow of the Capitol dome Tuesday and watched Barack Obama become the first African American president of the United States. "I never would have believed it," said Allen, 89, sitting in an invitation-only area.

As the multitudes arrive for the historic inauguration of Barack Obama, the most high-tech security bubble ever created is in place to protect the incoming president from any foreseeable act of God, nature or man. But authorities say they still dread the "X factor" -- intangibles that they cannot control and that could upend their most carefully laid plans by panicking the immense crowd.

President-elect Barack Obama says he does not want to use special interest money to pay for inaugural events, but the lobbyists are coming anyway. The calendar is chock-full of parties and receptions, brunches and breakfasts -- not to mention lunches, dinners and prayer services. Many, and perhaps most, are designed to bring those who need influence into contact with those who wield it.

Just as Barack Obama turned the page on American history in Washington on Tuesday, Michelle Obama turned the page on American fashion and reaffirmed her commitment to being a new kind of style leader. The lemongrass wool lace ensemble she wore for the swearing-in wasn't designed by one of the aging custodians of the Seventh Avenue Establishment -- Donna Karan or Calvin Klein. It was by Isabel Toledo, a Cuban American whom nobody knows but everyone should.

A little-known inaugural tradition calls for presidents to choose a biblical passage upon which to swear. The passages are not read aloud; often the Bible is opened to the page of the chosen verse. According to official records, 28 presidents have sworn on certain passages. Their choices often reflected national sentiment or foreshadowed events in their terms. Some examples (from the King James translation.

Former Roman Catholic Bishop Fernando Lugo, whose election broke a six-decade legacy of dictatorship and one-party rule, was sworn in Friday as president of this poor, landlocked nation in the heart of South America. "Today a new Paraguay is born," Lugo told thousands of supporters and various heads of state assembled outside the congressional palace in the normally sleepy capital. "Today marks the end of an exclusive Paraguay, a secretive, notoriously corrupt Paraguay."

As the price skyrockets for an ostensibly free ticket to Barack Obama's inaugural swearing-in -- and as federal legislation to outlaw their sale looms -- questions remain about how to legally obtain the tickets. Members of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, who host the big swearing-in ceremony, say the only way to obtain a real ticket is by contacting your local congressional representative, each of whom will be given tickets to the Jan.

For auction on EBay: a pair of tickets to the Barack Obama inauguration! Yes you can, for a minimum of $5,000 apiece, be part of history. Unfortunately, government officials said, it might be scam history. Swearing-in ceremony tickets, which are supposed to be free of charge, haven't even been issued, and there's evidence that fraudsters might be trying to sell fakes. "It's buyer beware," said Howard Gantman, staff director for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.

There are Super Bowl tickets, there are front-row tickets for a U2 concert -- and then there are tickets to President-elect Barack Obama's January inauguration. There hasn't been a hotter admission slip since someone started a rumor the Beatles were going back on the road. If anyone ever writes a history of scalping, this will be called the first must-have ticket of the 21st century. And we're not even talking about the post-parties; this is just for the swearing-in ceremony.

When Nasser Baker's mother received a call from his school this month and began jumping and screaming, he thought she had seen a spider. But when he learned that his South Los Angeles charter school had chosen him as one of 12 students headed to Washington, D.C., for the presidential inauguration, 10-year-old Nasser started jumping up and down too.