True to his word…Let the Presidency begin..

Already getting started President Obama signed the order to close Guantanamo Bay, the high security prison housed on the shores of Cuba…where thousands of detainees had been stored and warehoused since post-9/11…not to mention where they had been tortured by the Bush Administration.

Obama also ordered a review of all the trials and then placed a banned upon the harsh methods of interrogation used to extract information from detainees within that prison.

http://news.aol.com/?feature=310532

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/us/politics/23GITMOCND.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1232650854-OzqyteNFK2JEY7RNpZO+Jg

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2009/01/22/VI2009012201779.html?sid=ST2009012101583&s_pos=list

The behavior of the Bush Administration concerning enemy combatants and those thought

 to be enemy combatants…or possessing information went against the Geneva Convention concerning the handling and treatment of detainees, combatants and non-combatants.  The time has long been overdue for Bush’s policies regarding such matters to change…and the standards lifted once again as to how America carries herself.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/21/AR2009012102009.html

The problem, however, that arises with the closing of Guantanamo Bay is what to do with all those angry prisoners?

And, yes…I can see them being very angry…particularly those who may have been housed in that high security prison system for years now…who may have been innocent of any wrong doing.  But are now more than ready to blow America to smittereens due to what happened to them.  That is what a bunch of bad policies can do.  It creates long time and hardened hatred…and lasting enemies

Two semesters ago I had to pay a visit to the court house in regards to some family matters.  While before the judge…I was ordered to put my hands behind my back.  I could not imagine what was going on.

They were arresting me…and the charge was…  Well…  ‘Not serving Jury Duty.’

The only problem here was…was that I had served my jury duty.  Not only there but in New York a couple of years earlier. 

I protested before the court.  I called it an ‘outrage.’ 

I called it an ‘injustice.’

I proclaimed my innocence. 

But no one heard me.   In fact, they took my actions for a joke. 

I was outraged.  

I was enraged….I was mad…insulted…and had been made to be embarrassed. 

And I knew while I sat down in that cold jail cell after they un-handcuffed me and bent to remove the shackles…that that day was going to be revisited.  And I knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt.   Because yes…I had already made up in my mind that I was going to sue them.

So, I can understand the outrage and anger of people treated badly or unfairly…and those even treated in such as way…without due cause.  You don’t forget.

http://news.aol.com/article/obama-signs-order-to-close-guantanamo-in/314749?cid=12

Well, Hillary Clinton is looking happier these days…and certainly more confident.  And there is little wonder.   Today she was sworn in as Secretary of State.   

Though Hillary was indeed truly a heated contender in her fight to the White House…it is evident that the President saw something in her.  Perhaps he admired her aggressiveness…or maybe her doggit determination.  I imagine that these type of qualities are much needed when dealing various world leaders and other big time politicans.  If so…then she certainly has all the right credentials.

…and in a vote of 18 to 5 of the Senate Finance Committee Timothy Geithner was approved as consideration as Treasury Secretary of the United States of America.  Now, his confirmation goes up for  a full Senate vote in order for him to take over that position. 

http://news.aol.com/article/clinton-takes-the-reins-at-state/314201?cid=12

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-clinton,1,3732593.story

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090122/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/clinton

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=11658795&ch=4226716&src=news

Caroline Kennedy has withdrawn her name from consideration as the replacement for Hillary Clinton’s old Senate seat, as the Senator from New York.  Though the Governor of New York, David Patterson, had been toying with who his decision would fall upon…he has now allowed too much time to slip by.  What seems to me…should have been a fairly easy decision by way of choice…he now longer has. 

Having spent much of her younger years growing up on 5th Avenue in New York…I am sure that Caroline would have brought much to the State of New York.  Whatever the reason…it is New York’s great lost.  Too bad it was not seized upon earlier…it might have made a difference.

Boy, it is amazing that little Carline Kennedy is now 51 years old.   Seems only like yesterday when she and her brother, John, were the 2 little kids in the White House.

http://news.aol.com/article/kennedy-associate-says-decision-was/287640?cid=12

CLICK on this LINK  BELOW to see how Obama’s team is shaping up and where they currently stand in the process of their confirmations.

http://projects.nytimes.com/44th_president/new_team

IBM set to lay off  800 employees.  

I bought an IBM computer a few years back…but haven’t seen any more of them around since.  So, I knew that IBM had folded her hand in the desktop business.  But who knows what IBM sells any more? 

UNIX…Servers…LINUX…Power Systems…massive digital storage systems… 

So, I guess IBM is still pretty much in the computer industry…and as they have pretty much have been in the past…more corporate use…and less commercial consumer use.  Maybe, IBM needs to get it’s feet back into the everyday consumer market again.

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on” www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009  

1 comment January 22, 2009