Beautiful full moon tonight, March 10th!The Vernal Equinox occurs in 10 days, March 20th. I guess winter is officially over. For me, that means maybe 2 months before the temps shoot past 100 ... even at midnight! Better get my spring gardening done quickly.
Today also marks 50 days since Obama was inaugurated. Tired of hearing about his "failure to control the depression" and "attempting to bring (gasp) socialism to America"?
Well it's true, Obama may not have changed the Oval Office decor, but here are a few reminders of things he has accomplished in his first 50 days:
- Drafted an executive order to close down Gitmo within 1-yr
- Mandated all U.S. interrogators in all agencies adhere to the Army Field Manual
- Called for CIA detention centers around the world to be shut down
- Lifted the ban on photographing the flag-draped caskets of our war dead
- Ordered planned drawdown of combat troops in Iraq ("our combat mission in Iraq will end by August 31, 2010")
- Committed 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan, "the forgotten front" (please let these troops rebuild more than destroy)
- Invited Iran and other muslim nations to participate in a scheduled March conference about Afghanistan
- Rolled back Bush's ban on federal funding of Stem Cell Research
- Removed restrictions on aid to international family planning groups that might include abortion services
- Revoked Bush's "Provider Conscience Rule" so that patients may now obtain health care their doctors have prescribed
- Authorized full scientific reviews of endangered wildlife and plants regulation
- Directed that stricter fuel efficiency standards, tougher regulations on mercury and other toxins, be finalized and implemented
- Asked the EPA to re-allow California and other states the right to set their own stricter automobile emissions and fuel efficiency standards
- Proposed more comprehensive global climate change initiatives requiring companies to adhere to emissions caps
- Signed executive orders designed to make it easier for unions to organize
- Signed the Equal Pay for Equal Work Bill into law
- Announced the govt withdrawal of oil and gas leases offered on 103,225 acres of public land for drilling near national parks in Utah that Bush rammed through in Nov-Dec 2008
- Scrapped leases for oil shale development on federal land in Colorado and Wyoming
- Rejected Bush's plan for coastal oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific shores
- Signaled that presidential signing statements will no longer be used in the Bush manner to ignore portions of legislation
- Signed into law a $787Billion Economic Stimulus Plan that aims to create or save over 3 million jobs
- Proposed a $3.5Trillion budget that funds Democratic priorities for social programs
- Launched an effort to overhaul the U.S. Healthcare system with the goal of reaching bipartisan agreement this year
- Signed final version of SCHIP expansion which requires states to provide health care for about 11 million low-income children, including children of illegal immigrants (thanks to Annette for pointing this out!)
- continues to fulfill his promise to We The People to keep us informed, and in an intelligent and meaningful way to make us part of the governing process
Not bad for 50-days! Even the Moon is inspired ...
10 comments:
Did I miss SChip or was it not on your list...lol Maybe I just overlooked it...I know there is quite a bit there. He has done more in 50 days than shrub did in the last 4 years.. other than bad things for sure.
Thanks for posting this and pointing it out.. I think it helps to put it all in perspective and show us all what has been done. We need the reminder sometimes to wake us up to the real progress that has been made.
Pretty impressive list of accomplishments. Thanks for posting!
Glad your taxes are done so we can look forward to more posts, more often, DK. Congratulations!
Annette:
I will add SCHIP now, thanks for pointing it out! I combined some online lists to come up with the one posted. Seemed like everyone was forgetting something. But that's a good sign, isn't it, LOL?
Dada:
It just goes to show what can be done when you don't wake up every morning thinking, how can I f*ck up the world today!
I'm glad about the taxes, too. I feel kind of like a dog that has just shaken off a bunch of lousy tax fleas. Let 'em go scurrying off & suck someone else's blood now. yuck!
Hey! I saw that moon lat night - sure it was the same one...
Wonderful to see that positive action list. Now you just need to have the tax laws rewritten so they make sense.
Thanks for that list. We are so impatient. Like children, saying, "Are we there yet?" over and over.
I've missed looking at the moon. Must correct that. Every time I see the moon written I think of a model I worked with in Milan in 1965--her name was Danielle Luna. She was black and magnificent. No one remembers her, but she was the first!
Cart:
if it wasn't the same moon, you are no longer on earth!
UT Savage:
I think I remember her! If she's the one I'm thinking of, she was jet black, no cafe au lait. Have you looked for her online?
Overall, I am quite happy with Obama's accomplishments & leanings.
I don;t mean to rain on the parade though....
Lifted the ban on photographing the flag-draped caskets of our war dead
>>>That is going to cause me to write a whole blog piece in & of itself!
Let's just say we can do better.
Ordered planned drawdown of combat troops in Iraq ("our combat mission in Iraq will end by August 31, 2010")
>>>Leaving too many troops still there- 30-50K.
Committed 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan, "the forgotten front"
>>>>>>Not an accomplishment in my book.
But still so many other good to excellent items,
I am all radical/revolutioned up after viewing all those vintage films about peace, and civil uprisings.
And on the cusp of the 6 year anniversary.
No I just can;t put all that stuff in the positive category.
Fran:
I wouldn't call them all "positive" either. You picked out the ones I wasn't too jazzed about myself. But in pointing out all the things Obama's done in 50 days, I didn't want to omit items I wish were different. Unlike Bush, I do think Obama is a president that will respond if there is large public outcry.
These are major things that are that *elephant in the room* items* .
We don't have the money for more wars & the rest of the global community is not joining in on this matter either.
We need to get out of the war business, so we'd better start outcrying NOW & loudly!
I don't have the patience for it & so many people have died at the brutal brunt of our county's actions.
Other than that I really do like all the Obama has done & really understand he has so much to fix & has inherited the biggest historic mess ever.
He needs to stop listening to Bush's war hawk advisors.
They are war mongers & entrenched in the military industrial complex .
Seriously-- Do you think after 8 years in Afghanistan, adding more troops will Fix Afghanistan????
Fran:
I don't think ANYTHING we do will "fix" Afghanistan. I'd like to see the same phased US troop withdrawal there as Iraq will "enjoy". Because of the very real Pakistan Nuke Threat, in Afghanistan's case, I'd like to see the international community, especially the muslim nations, step up and help because they should be interested in a failed state and its neighboring nuclearized failing state both of which are sitting on China's back doorstep. I'd like a lot of things to work out better for the Afghanis, particularly the women and children! I hope we're not doing all this just to feed some war machine. War Hawks should never be in charge of war.
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