Obama's first 100 days

Judge Suspends 9/11 Trials

Quote:

A judge has suspended for 120 days the Guantanamo Bay trials of five men accused over the 9/11 attacks, as requested by US President Barack Obama.

Among the five is alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who had opposed the suspension saying he wanted to confess to his role in the attacks.

Mr Obama had earlier asked for a four-month halt to all tribunals at Guantanamo to review the process.

The request was one of his first acts as president.

Before the judge's ruling, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three others accused over the 11 September 2001 attacks had said they opposed halting the trials.

Lawyers for a fifth man supported the proposed suspension.

'System dead'

Earlier a judge in a separate case - that of Omar Khadr, a Canadian man accused of killing an American soldier in Afghanistan in 2002 - suspended that trial.

Lieut Cmdr William Kuebler, a lawyer for Omar Khadr, said the practical effect of the ruling was "to pronounce this system dead".

"There will certainly be no more military commissions in Guantanamo Bay," he said.

Already mentioned in the Guantanamo thread, but obviously it's relevant to this thread as well.

Obama Closing Guantanamo

"In one of his first official acts as president, Barack Obama has overturned a controversial executive order in which former President George W. Bush limited public access to presidential records.

The order, No. 13233, was issued by Mr. Bush in 2001. It expanded the power of current and former chief executives - and their heirs - to restrict access to their official records. Last year the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would have gutted the order, but the measure ran into resistance in the Senate. . . . 

Mr. Obama's move will gladden the hearts of historians, who have vigorously protested the Bush order."

http://chronicle.com/news/article/5836/obama-overturns-bush-order-on-presidential-records

I just watched the presser at the State Dept. Hopefully there'll be a link up soon to it as there's was a lot in there including some pretty solid statements on Obama's views on Isreal on Palestine. Not even sure where to start with that as well as their direction of their policy there and in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The one thing that was made totally clear in that presser was the stance on torture, pretty much clear as it gets in political speak.

The news is freaking out right now trying to figure out what it all means and the newscaster keeps saying, "There's so much, there's so much." It's sorta of amusing actually.

To say this admin is hitting the ground running I think would be an understatement.

Two articles on the State Dept. presser.

Obama urges action on Gaza borders

Quote:

Barack Obama, the US president, has called on Israel to open its borders with Gaza to humanitarian aid and commerce in his first public remarks on the crisis there since becoming president.

Obama, who said he was deeply concerned about the loss of life in Gaza, also reiterated the US view that Israel had a right to defend itself from Palestinian rocket attacks

"Now we must extend a hand of opportunity to those who seek peace, as part of a lasting ceasefire, Gaza's border crossings should be open to allow the flow of aid and commerce," Obama said.

The US leader was speaking at the state department as he named George Mitchell, former peace negotiator in Northern Ireland, as US special envoy for the Middle East.

Obama also reiterated the US backing for international demands made of the Hamas movement - that it recognise Israel, end violence and agree to recognise previous peace agreements with Israel.

He said the US would support efforts to end weapons smuggling across the Gaza border from Egypt.

However, he called for a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza following its offensive, and said the US would provide humanitarian and economic assistance to the millions of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.

Osama Hamdan, a Hamas spokesman, told Al Jazeera Obama's remarks seemed to show that the US viewed the situation through "Israeli eyes".

Obama picks George Mitchell as Mideast envoy 'to make Gaza truce last'

Quote:

United States President Barack Obama on Thursday named former Sen. George Mitchell as his Middle East envoy, saying one of his key tasks would be ensuring that the cease-fire in Gaza lasts.

In a news conference at the U.S. State Department, Obama said the outline for a "durable cease-fire" in Gaza was clear.

"Hamas must end its rocket fire, Israel will complete the withdrawal of its forces from Gaza. The United States and our partners will support a credible anti-smuggling and interdiction regime so that Hamas cannot rearm," the new president said in his first major speech on the region as since he took office on Tuesday.

One of Israel's aims in its recent 3-week offensive against Hamas in Gaza was to halt the smuggling of weapons into the coastal territory.

Obama also reaffirmed his commitment to reaching a peace for the Middle East.

"It will be the policy of my administration to actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians as well as Israel and its Arab neighbors," Obama said, adding that he would send Mitchell to the region soon.

[/quote]

President Obama 'orders Pakistan drone attacks'

ceti wrote:

President Obama 'orders Pakistan drone attacks'

The strikes come just a day after Mr Obama appointed Richard Holbrooke, a former UN ambassador, as a special envoy for the region.

Eight people died when missiles hit a compound near Mir Ali, an al-Qaeda hub in Pakistan's North Waziristan region. Seven more died when hours later two missiles hit a house in Wana, in South Waziristan. Local officials said the target in Wana was a guest house owned by a pro-Taleban tribesman. One said that as well as three children, the tribesman's relatives were killed in the blast.

  Obama's message to the right wing? "See ... I can kill children too?"

"So Daddy ... what did you do at work today?"

The Taliban gather in Pakistan in the winter, I read, with their families.

'Fair game'?

I think its wonderful news about Obama scrapping that insidious executive order from Bush that meant that no US aid money could ever go to any organization that provides any abortion referrals or family planning info. I think this is just the beginning and that in coming days we will see the "don't ask don't tell policy" for gays in the military dropped as well and lots of other good stuff.

In the end, I think Obama played it well by USING Rick Warren. He tossed a small bone to the evangelical community by letting one of theirs make an inoffensive, platudinous prayer at the inauguration - now they can all think Obama is such a nice inclusive guy and he can kill them with kindness  - but meanwhile he will dismantle the whole socially conservative edifice of policies that Bush brought that those religious crackpots wanted so badly.

Obama is only reseting the global gag order back to the Clinton era. It's been a tug of war between Democrats and Republicans for more than twenty years. Restoration should not be confused with progress, especially when the US really did reach a nadir with the Bush administration.

Dick Cheney and Obama seem to share the notion that Osama bin Laden is no longer a threat to America if he is holed up in a cave somewhere and unable to direct "al Qa'eda" So the heat seems to be off OBL for 9-11. They have the 9-11 king pin and mastermind stashed away at Gitmo. The only problem now is what to do with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the four others whove confessed to just about everything. 

"Obama is only reseting the global gag order back to the Clinton era. It's been a tug of war between Democrats and Republicans for more than twenty years. Restoration should not be confused with progress, especially when the US really did reach a nadir with the Bush administration."

In the Clinton era there was no gag order - don't look a gift horse in the mouth. This is a very important step to be taken within days of being president.

But of course this will never get any credit from the usual suspects who clearly WANT Obama to fail so they can go back to their "America = Evil, everyone else = good" dichotomy.

Daily Kos reminds me of another pending presidential campaign promise. We were promised a First Puppy. Where is it?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/1/25/215645/805/568/688968

Just watch him get a kitten now.

Vatican slams Obama over allowing abortion funding
Saturday, 24 January, 2009
Agence France Presse -- English

VATICAN CITY: Senior Vatican officials weighed into US President Barack Obama Saturday for overturning a ban on state funding for family-planning groups that carry out or facilitate abortions overseas.

It is "the arrogance of someone who believes they are right, in signing a decree which will open the door to abortion and thus to the destruction of human life," Archbishop Rino Fisichella was quoted as saying by the Corriere della Sera daily.

Fisichella is president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, one of a number of so-called pontifical academies which are formed by or under the direction of the Holy See. What is important is to know how to listen... without locking oneself into ideological visions with the arrogance of a person who, having the power, thinks they can decide on life and death," he added.

His predecessor in the office, Elio Sgreccia, told the ANSA news agency, "Instead of all the good things that he might have done, Barack Obama has chosen the worst," allowing "the massacre of innocents."

"The right to life is the first of all rights that must be defended," he said, claiming that 80 percent of Americans were against abortion.

Obama signed the executive order cancelling the eight-year-old restrictions imposed by his predecessor George W. Bush on Friday, the third full day of his presidency.

The so-called "global gag rule" cut off US funding to overseas family planning clinics which provide any abortion services whatsoever, from the operation itself to counselling, referrals or post-abortion services.

"If this is one of the first acts of President Obama, with all due respect, it seems to me that the path towards disappointment will have been very short," Fisichella said.

"I do not believe that those who voted for him took into consideration ethical themes, which were astutely left aside during the election debate. The majority of the American population does not take the same position as the president and his team," he added.

The order won Obama praise from Democratic lawmakers, family planning and women's rights groups but drew angry condemnation from pro-life organisations and Republicans.

More than 250 health and human rights organisations from around the world sent Obama a letter, thanking him for ending a policy "which has contributed to the deaths and injuries of countless women and girls."

The Roman Catholic Church has also criticised the approval of US authorities for the first human trials using embryonic stem cells of a therapy to help paralysed patients regain movement.

The therapy has been developed using cells derived from an existing human embryonic stem cell line, created before August 9, 2001 when Bush banned using new lines of such cells for research.

Friday's announcement by the Food and Drug Administration may mark the start of a shift in the nation's stem cell research policy under Obama, who wants the ban overturned.

Embryonic stem cells are taken from early-stage embryos, which are destroyed in the process, prompting some religious groups to brand the process as unethical.

Fisichella charged Saturday that Obama "gave into pressure from multinationals."

"The problem is not scientific it is ideological," he said.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Emphasis added. Papal infallibility never got a worse rap...

Quoted in full because you have to be subscribed 9free of charge)to the (great) PUSH Journal to access the articles they assemble. PUSH means Periodic Updates on Sexual and Reproductive Health Issues Around the World. Check it out...

"In the interview, Obama called for resumed negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and said his administration wanted to begin by listening and talking to all parties involved in the conflict without prejudging their concerns. "

Yes, and yet is emissary is going to the Mid-East not to speak to the democratically elected representatives of the Palestinian people. And, of course, Obomba says  "if countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us." But then Obomba refuses to unclench his own fist by stating he will not attack Iran.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/world/middleeast/28arabiya.html?ref=world 

And on the Palestinian question we have Clinton providing the ehco of the Bush regime that Israel can do no wrong and Palestinian lives ain't worth a bucket of American spit so Israeli can massacre at will and without reprecussion.

Obomba is all talk on change. The facts speak a different language. 

A Tale of Two Liars

"We support Israel's right to self-defence. The (Palestinian) rocket barrages which are getting closer and closer to populated areas (in Israel) cannot go unanswered," Clinton said in her first news conference at the State Department.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE50Q4QE20090127

" Defense Secretary Robert Gates said missile strikes in Pakistan will continue."

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/27/gates.pakistan.afghanistan/

What do you bet Pakistan hasn't the same right as Israel to defend itself.

martin dufresne wrote:

Vatican slams Obama over allowing abortion funding

Quote:

Apparently Joe Ratzinger’s mom never told him that if you have nothing constructive to say it’s better to hold your tongue. Just this week Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict XVI, criticized the “arrogance” of President Obama’s decision to end the ban on funding to international organizations which provide abortion information. Also this week, the Pope — a member of the Hitler youth as a child in Germany — reinstated to good standing in the Church a formerly excommunicated bishop, who denies the Holocaust. Say it ain’t so, Joe. - [url=http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2009/01/planet-to-pope-would-you-please-be...

[url=http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/01/27/wait_until_after_the_rev... Rosen[/u][/color][/url]

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Today, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert asked, why listen to Republicans? Indeed. And yet [b]this morning came the shocking and startling news that our new president has asked House Democrats to cut a provision that would expand contraceptive family planning for Medicaid patients.[/b]

Why? According to the AP/Austin American-Statesman, "several Democratic officials said that House leaders likely would abandon the provision at Obama's request, which was made 'at a time when [b]the administration is courting Republican critics[/b] of the legislation.' A final decision is expected on Tuesday, when Obama is scheduled to meet separately with House and Senate Republicans. "

I don't know if this will happen, but if it does, President Obama will have denied contraceptive planning--we're not even discussing abortion here--to those women who can least afford it.

For years, reproductive justice activists have argued that the Religious Right has always wanted to eliminate more than abortion and that their real agenda is to limit women's reproductive health and choices, or to put it more bluntly, to end the rupture between sexuality and reproduction.

[b]President Obama doesn't need to court Republicans, especially on the back of women's bodies.[/b] I hope that the outcry of opposition will cause him to reverse this misguided decision, which affects the poorest women and girls in our nation.

The economic stimulus plan that Congress has scheduled for a vote on Wednesday would shower the nation's school districts, child care centers and university campuses with $150 billion in new federal spending, a vast two-year investment that would more than double the Department of Education's current budget.

The proposed emergency expenditures on nearly every realm of education, including school renovation, special education, Head Start and grants to needy college students, would amount to the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/education/28educ.html?_r=1&hp

"Obama [url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article5600659.ece] leads [/url] US drive to topple Mugabe":

Quote:

President Obama wants a fresh approach to toppling Robert Mugabe and is discussing with aides an unprecedented, US-led diplomatic push to get tough new UN sanctions imposed against the Zimbabwe regime, The Times has learned.

During talks Mr Obama has had with his top Africa advisers in recent weeks, the central idea they focused on was taking the issue of Zimbabwe before the UN Security Council, but for the first time to combine such a move with an intense diplomatic effort to persuade Russia and China not to block the initiative.

According to a senior aide present at the discussions, the goal of taking the issue of Zimbabwe to the Security Council would be to pass a series of "strong" sanctions, including a ban on arms sales and foreign investment. They also want to expand significantly the number of ruling Zanu-PF party officials subject to sanctions.

 Trying to install puppet government in other countries? Same as the old, no hope for change.

I guess South Africa in the 80s was a "non-white nation" in that a majority was Black even if the government the sanctions were create to pressure was 100% white.

There were also sanctions against Serbia and Serbians look very "white" to me!

There are also sanctions against Cuba and the vast majority of Cubans are white as well. In fact, having been to both Cuba and Israel i would say that Israelis have darker skin than Cubans.

"Western Europeans have a long history of viewing Slavs with a deep prejudice."

 They have a much longer and much more intense history of viewing Jews with deep prejudice and yet no sanctions against Israel. 

Obama concedes important women's reproductive rights to Republicans

(Published on RHRealityCheck.org)

Stimulus Finalized Without Medicaid Family Planning Expansion
By Emily Douglas
Created Jan 27 2009

Well, the other shoe has dropped. The economic stimulus package has been finalized, and it does not include the straightforward provision allowing states to extend Medicaid coverage for family planning services to low-income residents without first obtaining a time-consuming waiver from the federal government. That's all the provision would have done -- and yet Republican members of Congress, and soon President Obama, acted like the money would go to showering condoms down upon elementary school children.

Women are losing their jobs; with their jobs, they say goodbye to their health insurance; with that, their ability to afford contraception. As they downsize and plan how to cover costs in the future, doesn't it seem like a good idea for them to know how many kids they're including in the household budget? (...)

I alluded to this development [url=http://rabble.ca/babble/international-news-and-politics/obamas-first-100....

[b]ITEM:[/b] [url=http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/01/obama-sides-wit.html][color=med... to cover up GW Bush's criminality[/u][/color][/url]

Quote:

The Obama administration fell in line with the Bush administration Thursday when it urged a federal judge to set aside a ruling in a closely watched spy case weighing whether a U.S. president may bypass Congress and establish a program of [b]eavesdropping on Americans without warrants.[/b]

In a filing in San Francisco federal court, President Barack Obama adopted the same position as his predecessor. With just hours left in office, President George W. Bush late Monday [url=http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/01/in-final-legal.html][u]asked[/u... U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker to stay enforcement of an important Jan. 5 ruling admitting key evidence into the case.

Thursday's filing by the Obama administration marked the first time it officially lodged a court document in the lawsuit asking the courts to rule on the constitutionality of the Bush administration's warrantless-eavesdropping program. The former president approved the wiretaps in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

[b]"The Government's position remains that this case should be stayed," the Obama administration [url=http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/files/alharamainobama.pdf][u]wrote (.pdf)[/u][/url] in a filing that for the first time made clear the new president was on board with the Bush administration's reasoning in this case.[/b]

[b]ITEM:[/b] [url=http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&... universal health care off the table[/u][/color][/url]

Quote:

In a C-SPAN interview broadcast Sunday, House Democratic Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina declared that [b]even with the biggest majority in a generation, Democrats will not even try to put a universal health care bill on the president's desk this year, or maybe the next either.[/b]

...the Democrat in the White House clearly ran promising the American people a national health care plan. [b]A public repudiation of that promise by a key member of the president's team in the House less than three weeks into the new Congress and two weeks into the new administration should be big news.[/b] But for some reason it's not....

The notion that Clyburn is not privy to the Obama administration's decision of whether or not to push a universal health care plan this year is something you have to be dumber than a fifth grader to believe. There's only one president at a time, and one leader of the Democratic party at a time. [b]When Clyburn's lips move, the Obama administration is talking.[/b]