Thought this could be a good catch-all thread for news about stuff Obama's doing as President.
I'm hearing on the news that he's already on Guantanamo Bay, suspending military tribunals, etc. I think this is great news. Hopefully this is the beginning of good things. I know the guy isn't Jesus Christ or anything, but this is more than would have happened if McCain had won.
President Obama struck down a rule Friday that prohibits U.S. money from funding international family-planning clinics that promote abortion or provide counseling or referrals about abortion services.
Obama said in a statement that family planning aid has been used as a "political wedge issue," adding that he had "no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/23/obama.abortion/
Documents:
[url=EXECUTIVE">http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ClosureOfGuantanamoDetentionF... ORDER -- REVIEW AND DISPOSITION OF INDIVIDUALS DETAINED AT THE GUANTÁNAMO BAY NAVAL BASE AND CLOSURE OF DETENTION FACILITIES[/url]
[url=EXECUTIVE">http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/EnsuringLawfulInterrogations/... ORDER -- ENSURING LAWFUL INTERROGATIONS[/url]
[url=EXECUTIVE">http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ReviewofDetentionPolicyOption... ORDER -- REVIEW OF DETENTION POLICY OPTIONS[/url]
[url=Obama">http://washingtonindependent.com/26832/obama-executive-order-review-of-t... Memo: Review of the Detention of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri[/url]
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.
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.
Hmm ... maybe it would be a good idea to have separate threads? We have Obama and abortion mixed up with Obama killing children in Pakistan here.
Asked about it at his daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "I'm not going to discuss that matter."
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6718124&page=1
Hmm ... very 'transparent' ... yes ... we see the difference from Bush. 
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.
Guantanamo is the same -- in essence, the detainees may be shipped off to far worse places. It's an easy propaganda victory, one that doesn't take too much effort, but has huge dividends in regaining the appearance (but only the appearance) of restoring lawful conduct to the US's internment system.
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.
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.
Someone on here somewhere said that Osama Bin Laden is dead, and Benazir Bhuto let the cat out of the bag and that's why she was assassinated.
He's just a red herring anyway, imo.
"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.
[Someone on here somewhere said that Osama Bin Laden is dead, and Benazir Bhuto let the cat out of the bag and that's why she was assassinated.
He's just a red herring anyway, imo
I think OBL is a bogeyman to replace a "red" herring which ceased to exist after 1991. OBL's most recent communique calls on Muslims to wage holy old jihad against America. And apparently OBL is none too happy that Hamas has decided to pursue a more democratic jihad against Israel and the vicious empire.
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. 
President Barack Obama is poised to let California and other states set their own auto emission standards in their drive to slash greenhouse gases, an official familiar with the decision said Sunday.
The move is significant on two fronts: It could empower states to set tougher standards in targeting emissions, which are blamed for contributing to global climate change; and it would be another swift reversal by Mr. Obama of Bush administration policy, this time on energy.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090125.wobamagreenh...
This is a good decision. States such as California are setting far better standards than have been contemplated at the federal level. It also forces automakers to adopt the best of those state standards.
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...
Every cynical bone in my body is cringing, but I actually felt a little bit of the hope and change fever with Obama's [url=http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/01/27/65087.html] first TV interview [/url]. He chose Al-Arabiya, a 24/7 news station out of Dubai and spoke directly the Muslim world. The content was not much to get excited about, but the symbolism of it is a marked change at least from Bush.
Obama pointed out that he had lived in the world’s largest Muslim nation, Indonesia for several years while growing up, and said his travels through Muslim countries had convinced him that regardless of faith, people had certain common hopes and dreams.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.
He also praised Saudi King Abdulla for putting forward an Arab peace plan and said his administration would adopt a more extensive and regional approach in its relationship with the Muslim world.
“[W]e are ready to initiated a new partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest,” said Obama, noting that only then can progress be achieved.
I am trying to find reaction to this in the Muslim world.
"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.
[url=Liberal">http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/27/obama-white-house-fo... Imperialism[/url]
The first Democratic president in the modern era to be elected on an anti-war ticket is also, to the relief of neocons and the liberal belligerati, a hawk. Committed to escalation in Afghanistan, his foreign policy selections also indicate bellicosity towards Sudan and Iran. During his first week in office he sanctioned two missile attacks in Pakistan, killing 22 people, including women and children. And his stance on Gaza is remarkably close to that of the outgoing administration. The question now is how Obama will convince his supporters to back that stance. Bush could rely on a core constituency whose commitment to peace and human rights is, at the very least, questionable. Obama has no such luxury. In making his case, he will need the support of those "liberal hawks" who gave Bush such vocal support.It is tempting to dismiss the "pro-war left" as a congeries of discredited left-wing apostates and Nato liberals. Their artless euphemisms for bloody conquest seem especially redundant in light of over a million Iraqi deaths. Yet their arguments, ranging from a paternalistic defence of "humanitarian intervention" to the championing of "western values", have their origins in a tradition of liberal imperialism whose durability advises against hasty dismissal. In every country whose rulers have opted for empire, there has developed among the intellectual classes a powerful pro-imperial consensus, with liberals and leftwingers its most vociferous defenders.
I love that term, "the liberal belligerati"!
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.
Ha! I know it is not funny, but thank you for that juxtopositioning FM!
You have also cured me of my Hope and change fever.
Vatican slams Obama over allowing abortion funding
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=Source[/url]">http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2009/01/planet-to-pope-would-you-please-be...
So, the Pope of Hope announced his (purported) objective of closing the military detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba ("Gitmo") within one year and we're expected to herald this announcement as a drastic break from the past. But - as some of the regulars on my blog instantly declared - if President Obama were serious about hope and change, he'd close the prison tomorrow, apologize to the detainees, and offer them financial reparations. That could be promptly followed up with the immediate indictment of all government officials (including those in Obama's administration) responsible for supporting torture, secret prisons, extraordinary rendition, extrajudicial punishment, etc. And why not toss in the immediate closing of the US military base at Guantánamo Bay and the return of that land to Cuba? That, I submit, would be a minuscule first step upon which we could build.Waiting a year to close a single prison is nothing to celebrate. Transferring those illegally detained humans is not change anyone can believe in. Public promises about not torturing have been heard before and even if we could trust such dubious assurances, why are we so goddamned appreciative when a US president merely declares his theoretical intention to think about adhering to fundamental international law?
[url=Mickey">http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2009/01/obama-guantanamo-and-us-hypocrisy/... Z.[/url]
[url=Ruth">http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/01/27/wait_until_after_the_rev... Rosen[/url]
Today, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert asked, why listen to Republicans? Indeed. And yet 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.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 the administration is courting Republican critics 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.
President Obama doesn't need to court Republicans, especially on the back of women's bodies. 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.
But dumber than Lewis is the loser who OK'd paying Bank of America for its losses on Merrill, who traded a pile of turds for a stack of gold -- our gold from the U.S. Treasury. That was Tim Geithner, Obama's pick for Treasury Secretary, who's now answering questions at Senate confirmation hearings about his funky tax filings. Tiny Tim was head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank during the Bush regime. Along with Bush's Secretary of the Treasury, Geithner came up with that $700 billion bail-out that loaded banks with loot on their way to insolvency. Bank of America got $25 billion of it to spend on Thain's company Merrill. That was before the extra $20 billion was weedled by Thain.
So why, President Obama, have you given us Tiny Tim to save our sorry nation's economic behind? What's with that?
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
That's great, but with Obama's appointment to education, how much of those billions will find its way past private, for-profit businesses and into the actual public school classroom?
The record of his appointment, as detailed in other threads, is one of support for private profits over public education.
Barack Obama's selection of Arne Duncan for secretary of education does not bode well either for the political direction of his administration nor for the future of public education. Obama's call for change falls flat with this appointment, not only because Duncan largely defines schools within a market-based and penal model of pedagogy, but also because he does not have the slightest understanding of schools as something other than adjuncts of the corporation at best or the prison at worse.
Obama's Betrayal of Public Education? Arne Duncan and the Corporate Model of Schooling
"Obama [url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article5600659.ece] leads [/url] US drive to topple Mugabe":
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.
Sanctions? Sanctions??? I'm sure the hand-wringers will appear any moment to worry over the impact on ordinary Zimbabweans and cultural and academic exchanges.
The black president continues the Western tradition of applying sanctions only against non-white nations. Israel, for example, has a right to defend itself ...
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!
I know you have no interest in history, Stockholm, but a little history helps to keep you looking like an idiot. Neither the US nor Britain applied sanctions against Africa's only "democracy", white South Africa. Both support sanctions against Zimbabwe which overthrew white rule regardless of the impact on civilians (just like Iraqis and Palestinians in Gaza). Hmmmm, who do you think Britain and the US think should run Zimbabwe? An African Abbas?
As for Serbia, yes, the exception that proves the rule although Western Europeans have a long history of viewing Slavs with a deep prejudice.
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.
Not if you ask a Slav. And in the US, you can be white, black or hispanic. Many Americans, and many Brits, don't view Cubans, Mexicans, or other Latin/South Americans as white. You really do live in a bubble don't you?
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? (...)
That would be family planning, Martin. There is no place for planning in a free market economy.
I alluded to this development [url=above[/url]">http://rabble.ca/babble/international-news-and-politics/obamas-first-100....
"Many Americans, and many Brits, don't view Cubans, Mexicans, or other Latin/South Americans as white."
What about people from Barcelona or Madrid?
ITEM: [url=Helping">http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/01/obama-sides-wit.html][=med... to cover up GW Bush's criminality[/][/url]
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 eavesdropping on Americans without warrants.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=asked[/url]">http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/01/in-final-legal.html]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.
"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)[/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.
ITEM: [url=Taking">http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&... universal health care off the table[/url]
In a C-SPAN interview broadcast Sunday, House Democratic Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina declared that 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....the Democrat in the White House clearly ran promising the American people a national health care plan. 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. 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. When Clyburn's lips move, the Obama administration is talking.
It looks like the Obama administration is trying for a somewhat less confrontational position on Iran.
Officials of Barack Obama's administration have drafted a letter to Iran from the president aimed at unfreezing US-Iranian relations and opening the way for face-to-face talks, the Guardian has learned....State department officials have composed at least three drafts of the letter, which gives assurances that Washington does not want to overthrow the Islamic regime, but merely seeks a change in its behaviour. The letter would be addressed to the Iranian people and sent directly to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, or released as an open letter.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/28/barack-obama-letter-to-iran
A little nice might go a long way.
Here's a cbc story on suspending military tribunals for those held in Guantanamo. I find it interesting that there is a statement in here about the differences between the tribunal process and regular trials -- some might take this as a critique in the msm.
It looks like so far Obama has only requested a 120 day continuance in the "trials" and its still up to the judges to decide whether or not to grant them. Weird. Looks like there is a long way to go yet.
Washington Post
Judge Suspends 9/11 Trials
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises
Already mentioned in the Guantanamo thread, but obviously it's relevant to this thread as well.
Obama Closing Guantanamo
For not repatriating Khadr, Canada looks worse all the time. Obama's move puts the ball in our court.
"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've been trying to find a link to the White House release without the blog editorializing but haven't yet. The news articles I've read are picking and choosing and it would probably help to have the summary of all three of them.
Here it is at the end of this blog entry.
White House Press Release via Kos
This part is probably the most significant for Canada and Khadr and I agree it looks like they're firmly putting the ball in our court.
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.
Via "Daily Kos," http://www.dailykos.com
White House press release:
Two articles on the State Dept. presser.
Obama urges action on Gaza borders
Obama picks George Mitchell as Mideast envoy 'to make Gaza truce last'