Guantanamo Bay is to be closed in 12 months, as directed by President Obama, when he signed an Executive Order to that effect. The act is a symbolic one, as the prison will probably take longer than 12 months to completely close, but the intent is very important. There will be a special commission set up by the President to review the entire situation to decide what to do with the policies that are in place and where to place the people who are in the prison. Europe has shown an interest in helping with the disposiiton of some of the prisoners. The President wants to apply the rules set out in the Army Field Manual regarding the treatment of prisoners. He does not want any waterboarding performed against the prisoners. He wants the standards lifted from where they are today. An Executive Order eliminating torture was also signed by the President.
The President has also ordered the CIA to close all the "black holes" which are located in various countries, where prisoners are sent to be alledged tortured outside the United States.
Another Executive Order restoring funding to overseas family planning groups who are involved with abortions, is expected to be signed by the President.
The new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton was welcomed by about one thousand employees in the State Department's lobby, a tradition for new secretaries by the department. She gave a great speech requesting they share with her and debate those issues that they felt were important, this she said will make the organization and work of the department more effective. She said there were three legs in the situation of governing the country, they were Defense, Diplomacy and Development, the State Department was responible for two of those, Diplomacy and Development and they wanted to do the best job possible.
Today Governor David Paterson selected Representive Kirsten Gillibrand to replace Senator Hillary Clinton. There will be a
special election in November 2010, for the seat.
Secretary of the Treasury nominee Tim Geithner was approved by the Senate committee,to be confirmed, his name will now be submitted to the full Senate for a vote, which reportedly could come today. Eric Holder, nominee for Attorney General will be voted on for confirmation by the committee, sometime in the next few weeks. The Republicans requested more time for review and questioning of Mr. Holder.
The Democratic leaders announced that they may be able to pass the $825 billion dollar stimulus package next week, and should meet the February 16th deadline. Republicans are pushing for more tax cuts and less spending in the package.
The Democrats are trying to seat Senator elect Al Franken, while the court case Norm Coleman is waging winds down. Interesting, fight the law in one case, to keep one Senator out, try to override the law in another, to bring one Senator in. Hmmmm.
Microsoft will be cutting five thousand jobs in the near future, due to lack of demand for their products.
Toyota has replaced GM as the leading auto maker.
It has been reported that the Ukraine will be seeking a change in the natural gas contract they signed with Russia, because it hurts the economy, in some ways.
A bio-tech company will start a study using embryonic stem cells, this summer.
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