The Birds

Over at James Kunstler's "Clusterfuck Nation," someone posted an item about omens presented by flights of birds in ancient Rome, WRT inaugurations and getting major projects started.

Emerson taught that all words have their roots in nature. I was curious
what the roots, or etymology, are for the word "inauguration".

Here's what one online dictionary says: "1569, from Fr. inauguration
"installation, consecration," from L. inaugurationem (nom. inauguratio)
"consecration, installment under good omens," from inaugurare "take omens from
the flight of birds, consecrate or install when such omens are favorable," from
in- "on, in" + augurare "to act as an augur, predict" (see
augur/browse/augur)."I guess people used to inaugurate when the omens were
favorable from watching bird flights? Funny, last week we had a bird flight take
out an airplane in New York, causing it to crash in the Hudson River. Although
no one was killed, it was a very scarey and traumatic event. An omen?

If it's an omen of anything, it means that Pres. Barack H. Obama is the Gorbachev of the United States -- in other words, our last president as the country collapses.