At what is being reported as the most attended Presidential Inauguration ever, (he beat out LBJ who previously held the title, and beat out Clinton by 1 million), D.C. Mayor is saying that 1.8 million people were on the Mall attending the event, "The National Parks Service estimates Tuesday’s crowd to be the largest ever at the Mall", according to Politico.
There was of course the now famous slip up by Roberts about the placement of the word "faithfully" within the oath. In case you somehow missed it, here's a video:
Later that night Politico is reporting that President Obama retook the oath in the Map Room of the White House. This has spurned what I believe is a spurious debate over the authenticity of the orders Obama signed before retaking the oath. If you want to to read the article go here, but I think they're just looking for hairs to split and SOMETHING to talk about.
One of his first executive orders as President was to put a pay freeze on all White House staff who make more than $100,000/yr, which is roughly 100 people. He is quoted by MSNBC as saying "Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington...". And in an effort to create transparency within the government,
Obama said he would change the way the federal government interprets the Freedom of Information Act. He said he was directing agencies that vet requests for information to err on the side of making information public — not to look for reasons to legally withhold it — an alteration to the traditional standard of evaluation. - once again according to MSNBC
Newsweek is also reporting what I find to be fantastic news:
In the first sign of friction within his new administration, President Obama overruled the pleas of senior U.S. intelligence officials and signed a new executive order that bars the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods beyond those permitted by the U.S. military.
Yay!! The US will no longer be breaking international law, at least on the torture front. This same directive also includes an order to close Guantanamo, something many people have been looking forward to. Though it's a bit up in the air over where all these detainees will go until their cases can be sorted out, it has even been suggested Camp Pendleton here in our own Southern California. In other news the Guardian is reporting that a town in Vermont has indicted Bush and Cheney for "crimes against our Constitution", though it is unlikely this will get much done.
Another exciting turn of events that has international lawyers pleased, though lawyers in general confused about the future of the detainess, Obama has also ordered the closing of Gitmo. You can read the full article here at Al Jazeera.
I know that there have been many more things in the news as of late, but this is just a quick update of things that I think are very important to not just the US, but the world.
And in a last bit of humor, Fox news has a report of an Indonesian man is becoming quite famous because he looks a lot like President Obama. See for yourself:
That's all for now!
