Thursday, January 22, 2009

In Other News...

Hey, Aretha! Queen Elizabeth called. She wants to know where you got that hat, and if there's a matching purse!

-----

Hillary Clinton was sworn in as Secretary of State in a private ceremony last night. This morning, she greeted about 1,000 State Department employees. There will be a renewed emphasis on diplomacy, and she assured the employees that she wants their feedback, which was met with applause and a big sigh of relief.

-----

President Obama signed four Executive Orders this morning, making it official that the detention center at Guantanamo will be closed within a year. One of the orders did away with the torture and abuse of the detainees.

-----

If you want to know what President Obama has planned for other areas of interest, I urge you to go to http://www.whitehouse.gov the official website. I think you might be impressed, as I was, with how user-friendly it is, and the openness with which he sets out his plans.

No mumbo-jumbo on this site, any more. Let the sunshine in!

-----

Caroline Kennedy has taken her name out of consideration for Hillary Clinton's replacement in the Senate. This clears the way for Governor Patterson to appoint Andrew Cuomo to the seat, if he chooses to do so. Of course, there are other names on the short list, but by appointing Cuomo, he effectively rids himself of a powerful gubernatorial candidate in the next New York election. We'll be interested to see what he decides.

-----

I hope everyone is satisfied that President Obama has properly taken the Oath of Office, now. I guess I can always hope, but there will be those who will find little things to nitpick, no doubt. This afternoon, in a press conference, the Press Secretary was asked by Chuck Todd, of NBC, who should know better, if President Obama would now have to re-sign the exuctive orders that he signed before repeating the oath.

ooooh-oooh-oooh (hand in the air) Let me answer to that question. President Obama automatically and officially became the President at high noon on January 20, as set out in the Constitution. The Oath of Office is a formality, the words of which are provided in the Constitution and the do-over was an attempt to satisfy the media and those who were nattering away, mindlessly, about the snafu made by the Chief Justice.

By the way, don't you think it's odd that some people would be such sticklers about the mis-placement of a word, and yet those same people never utter a sound about the addition of four words, "so help me God" that are not present in the Constitution's version? I'm just sayin'.

-----

President Obama will be allowed to keep his precious blackberry, but with some rather stringent restrictions. Another little problem solved.


Stay tuned.

11 comments:

Donna said...

Oh Betty-betty! It's www.whitehouse.gov... you might want to change that quickly, and skip visiting whitehouse.com!

kenju said...

Yes, Betty, change it to gov!!

Kay Dennison said...

Thanks for the updates, Betty!!!!!! We have Sunshime laws for gov't meetings, etc. in Ohio. It's good to see that Obama is bring sunshine to the Presidency.

Mari Meehan said...

I hope Paterson does not pick Cuomo. He does not play well with others!

Sister--Helen said...

that was some hat....I do not care a great deal for the Ellen Show but Ellen had a hat like hers and was wearing it and making fun of it.....You know if Aretha was younger that would be one of those things she looks back at and says 'What was I thinking?' But she is old like me and probably will not have the time left to look back....

Betty said...

Donna and Kenju: Thanks! I knew it was .gov, but sometimes my flying fingers take on a life of their own and there's no telling what I end up typing.

Kay: We have sunshine laws here, too, I think.

Dogwalk musings: I don't know much about Andrew, but I like Mario.

the 4th sister: Judging from the comments made on tv, Aretha may already be looking back.

Dianne said...

the hat was so outrageous that it was fabulous to me!

I love the .gov site, finally a government for the people - been a long time coming

Darlene said...

I remember that awful monstrosity of a hat that Hillary wore at Bill's first confirmation parade. It made Aretha's look downright stylish.

Michelle was wise enough to leave the hat at home (If she has one). I didn't like the green gloves and trim on her outfit, though. I guess I am just not a 'yellow and green together' fan. I did love the yellow outfit and thought the color was very appropriate. It represented the sunshine that has been introduced into our government.

Betty said...

dianne: Aretha can wear anything she likes, as far as I'm concerned. I r-e-s-p-e-c-t her choices.

darlene: I completely forgot that hat Hillary wore. Makes Aretha's look elegant, doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

Actually Dianne it should read "A people for the government". Obviously appropriate don't you think?

Cazzie!!! said...

Yes, we also got ourselves a new head of the country this past year..tides are a turnin'...no stopping the boat now.
I did see our ex Prime Minister shakin' hands with your old Georgie.. old buddies even in the end. I'm sure they'll still enjoy a BBQ at the ranch every now and then.