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 ...
