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January 22nd, 2009
 | 04:06 pm - sun, sun, sun, here we come!
Obama must have come into the White House with an entire suitcase of executive orders, legislation and proposals -- either that or he and his staff work *damn* fast. Today's changes:
-- Ordering Guantanamo Bay detention area and the secret overseas CIA prisons closed within a year; review military war crimes trials and ban harsh interrogation methods. More from NYTimes.
-- Issuing new rules for lobbyists and recordkeepers. White House appointees may not seek lobbying jobs during his presidency and nobody in the Administration may receive gifts from lobbyists. Agencies are to presume that records should be publicly released unless there are compelling reasons not to. More on the policy reviews and other changes here from the Post.
-- Revoking the Bush family's authority over presidential records and replacing that with an order that allows greater access and no veto power to former presidents. One of George W. Bush's first orders was to give himself veto power over access to the presidential records of both his father and himself.
-- More meetings, hitting the ground running.
-- More orders and memoranda, including White House senior staff pay freezes.
Meanwhile:
-- Former Sen. George Mitchell has been asked to be special envoy to the Middle East.
-- The West Wing must contend with eight-year-old Microsoft computers, poor phone connections and moving-in difficulties. One ringy-dingy, anyone?
-- The Obama Administration [how good it feels to type that!] asked for a 120-day continuance to halt trials at Guantanamo so they can be reviewed. This was granted by judges yesterday. More here.
-- Senate Democrats are moving toward seating Al Franken, despite his desperate antagonist's frustrated efforts to overthrow the election.
-- Caroline Kennedy withdrew her name from consideration for Hillary's Senate seat in New York.
And, not satisfied with overhauling government and lobbying and recordkeeping and starting to end the horror of Guantanamo, our President has become an action figure (who really needs a better suit) complete with katana and wakazashi, as well as other accoutrements. I'm really not sure I understand all of the photos on this page, but then it's in Japanese so I don't understand the text, either. When did he feel the need to battle Darth Vader? Isn't Vader already dealt with, now that his helmet adorns National Cathedral?
And: In the First Family, a nation's many faces (NYTimes) has some wonderful photos as well as good writing. And Obama's People (photographs, NYTimes), a who's who of the new crowd.
By the way -- it was Chief Justice Roberts' flub. Not Obama's. And it got fixed. And, historically, this isn't the first time it has happened.
And, for your reference, whorunsgov.com, a new government directory.
Bush spied on all US journalists -- illegally. Elsewhere in the world, journalists are being killed.
Circuit City, Linens 'n Things and Sharper Image are gone. What's next?
Harper's: One good man goes to Gitmo.
Roger Ebert reviews Inkheart and The Secret of the Grain.
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 | 04:51 pm
Minor literary note: ( for the hell of it )
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InsaneJournal |