RamblingDyna

After a full day of inaugural celebrations, President Obama didn’t waste time getting down to business. Even during all the partying, he requested a hold on all Guantanamo Bay prison prosecutions. Today he signed the order to close the detention center, shut down CIA overseas military prisons and review war crime trials. As a reflection of his for the people campaign, Obama set the tone with his White Staff yesterday. “The White House is the people’s House”, he said. He laid new ground rules for lobbyists and stricter restrictions such as ban on gifts to administrators. His staff will even sign a contract to abide by these terms. President Obama firmly said that they are to serve people’s interests, “not your own, your business or your connections”. To make government accountable, he said that you have to make it transparent. “Transparency and rule of the law will be the touchstone of my presidency”. President Obama is making his staff and himself accountable as well. “I’m g...

I didn’t catch the beginning of the television news report but San Francisco Mayor, Gavin Newsom, held a press conference in a city store. He stressed how important it is for citizens to support local businesses by buying from city shops. A CBS TV reporter asked him why he bought his Chevrolet SUV hybrid in a Colma car dealership instead of a San Francisco shop. Colma is right next door, south west of San Francisco. Newsom was put off guard by what he appropriately described as the “gotcha question” and said he didn't know why because he didn’t buy the vehicle. Someone else did. Then he attempted to ignore the unrelenting reporter who asked him why he’s promoting buying local when he’s not following his own words. Newsom this time was obviously annoyed and said that since he didn’t buy the car, he can’t answer the question and will find out about it and get back to the reporter. Isn’t that just lovely. The “I didn’t do it” excuse simply absolves Newsom of any accountabili...