Nuther #2 Gaff by Biden

As seen on Fox...

Once again, Biden makes a funny about Chief Justice's mess up with the swearing in ceremony of President Obama. You can read President Obama's displeasure on his face and the touching of Biden's elbow, that he was not amused.

I have a feeling Biden's elbow will be black and blue before this administration gets under way, and probably won't have one at the end of four years and understandably, President Obama wants to send the message that we are facing dire times. Any negative commentary, how little it appears to be, detracts from the task at hand.

Update for earlier post...

Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:

President Obama To Sign Executive Order Thursday to Close Gitmo Within a Year.

Oh well...

Firsts of many firsts for President Obama

President Obama has executed many first of firsts on signing Executive Orders which go to his promises on transparency in government.

Below, a statement from the White House on the president's actions.

The President today signed two Executive Orders and three Presidential Memorandum. These five documents represent a bold first step to fulfill his campaign promises to make government more responsible and accountable, to launch sweeping ethics reform, and to begin a new era of transparent and open government.

Across the country, families are tightening their belts in this economic crisis, and so should Washington. That is why in the Presidential Memorandum Regarding Pay Freeze the President has announced that he will freeze his White House senior staff pay at current levels to the full extent allowed by law. This will enable the White House to stretch its budget to get more done for the country. The President and his staff recognize that in these austere times, everyone must do more with less, and the White House is no exception.

The American people also deserve more than simply an assurance that those coming to Washington will serve their interests. They deserve to know that there are rules on the books to keep it that way. In the Executive Order on Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel, the President, first, prohibits executive branch employees from accepting gifts from lobbyists. Second, he closes the revolving door that allows government officials to move to and from private sector jobs in ways that give that sector undue influence over government. Third, he requires that government hiring be based upon qualifications, competence and experience, not political connections. He has ordered every one of his appointees to sign a pledge abiding by these tough new rules as a down payment on the change he has promised to bring to Washington.

In the Presidential Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, and the Presidential Memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act, the President instructs all members of his administration to operate under principles of openness, transparency and of engaging citizens with their government. To implement these principles and make them concrete, the Memorandum on Transparency instructs three senior officials to produce an Open Government Directive within 120 days directing specific actions to implement the principles in the Memorandum. And the Memorandum on FOIA instructs the Attorney General to in that same time period issue new guidelines to the government implementing those same principles of openness and transparency in the FOIA context.

Finally, the Executive Order on Presidential Records brings those principles to presidential records by giving the American people greater access to these historic documents. This order ends the practice of having others besides the President assert executive privilege for records after an administration ends. Now, only the President will have that power, limiting its potential for abuse. And the order also requires the Attorney General and the White House Counsel to review claims of executive privilege about covered records to make sure those claims are fully warranted by the Constitution.

Well, we can certainly see from his action, he is a man of his word. What is interesting is that there are going to be changes in Washington.

Did you notice I spelled Washington correctly instead of Wishingtonia? Maybe, just maybe we will have a better government.

Gitmo questions
However, there are questions I have, from word from Washington, of not continuing prosecutions of Gitmo detainees I have a problem with that especially since 61 of those released, returned to Al-Quida camps. Duh? Why weren't they prosecuted? They have returned to the very criminal actions against our troops that are fighting for our freedoms. Help me out with this one...

Refining this morning's early post
Two words missing from my posts this morning, ethics and integrity...also defines character. Come on Washington, get it together as we don't have that much time to get it right.

The Classless State of Affairs

The rude behavior of the masses spoiled a moment in history, all should remember with pride.

The masses should have taken the cue from President Obama and his transition team who praised President Bush for how smooth their transition was, due to the professionalism of Team Bush; so unlike the last transition and the missing "W"'s on the computer keyboards.

Only Presidents know the difficulties of the highest office in the land. In times past, I don't recall the President's viewing box being empty before the last band passed by. But there stood President Obama and his wife till the very end, showing appreciation to all who came to honor him.

When I began reading reports, and hearing the same, of the disrespect shown President Bush upon being announced for the last time, really spurred my frustration. I am certain their has been disrespect shown in other Inaugurations, but I don't recall them. How can we expect the nation to change until we change.

President Obama has more to conquer than that of a bad economy, two wars and the threats to our country. He has to lead by example and all those folks that will be trained into serving the United States of America, need to learn how to be respectful.

This needs to come from the top down, Nancy Pelosi. Your determination to seek criminal indictments against the former administration shows your lack of class. You, in your great wisdom, should realize that you too, have committed acts that appear criminal. Folks who live in glass houses should not be tossing bricks.

For President Obama's administration to achieve his goals, we urgently need lessons on how to show common respect. We can always agree to disagree, but with decorum, not ill-mannered and rude behavior.

Mr. President, it was rude for your guests to abandon you and Mrs. Obama at your viewing stand, as it was equally improper for your VIP guests to not show the same dignified respect to the past Presidents and then no respect to President Bush.

I am certain Mr. Bush knows, just as you will in the coming days, when you are forced to make tough decisions that will affect every Americans life. Just as I am certain there may not ever be another day in history as was yesterday, the arrogance and clueless nature of the masses reflect how little dignity, loyalty, character and honor we have in our country.

If we could only have had more "character-building" education and less emphasis on the "me,me, me" generation, we might not be in this shape today. Somewhere, somehow, families forgot to pass these ideals along.

May your service to our country be everything you hope it to be and may you demonstrate to our classless and clueless society what true character is.

Nuther Gaff O Biden

Well, leave it to the Bidens, namely Dr. Jill, VP-elect's wife, who, on Oprah today said that the Prez-elect offered either the VP or Sucatary of State to ole Jo before offering it to the Hill.

Can we say oops? And ole Joe tried to shush the doctor, while she was blurting it out.

"Well, he did and I said "wouldn't you rather be at home where all the family could visit rather than gone all the time?""

Ya know, we are going to be privy to a lot of funnies the next four years!

And I don't watch Oprah...hahahahahahaha!

The Coming Plague

Posted in The Sun today...
ANTI-TERROR bosses last night hailed their latest ally in the war on terror — the BLACK DEATH.


At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages.

Epidemic ... in Britain in 1665

The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside.

The victim was a terrorist in AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb), the largest and most powerful al-Qaeda group outside the Middle East.

It trains Muslim fighters to kill British and US troops.

Now al-Qaeda chiefs fear the plague has been passed to other terror cells — or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

One security source said: “This is the deadliest weapon yet in the war against terror. Most of the terrorists do not have the basic medical supplies needed to treat the disease.

“It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda.”

Black Death comes in various forms.

Bubonic Plague is spread by bites from infected rat fleas. Symptoms include boils in the groin, neck and armpits. In Pneumonic Plague, airborn bacteria spread like flu.

It can be in the body for more than a week — highly contagious but not revealing tell-tale symptoms.

Deadly ... the plague bacteria causes horrific symptoms

The al-Qaeda epidemic began in the cave hideouts of AQLIM in Tizi Ouzou province, 150km east of the capital Algiers. The group, led by wanted terror boss Abdelmalek Droudkal, was forced to turn its shelters in the Yakouren forest into mass graves and flee.

The extremists supporting madman Osama bin Laden went to Bejaia and Jijel provinces — hoping the plague did not go with them.

A source said: “The emirs (leaders) fear surviving terrorists will surrender to escape a horrible death.”

AQLIM boss Droudkal claims to command around 1,000 insurgents. Training camps are also based in Morocco, Tunisia and Nigeria.

AQLIM bombed the UN headquarters in Algiers in 2007, killing 41. Attacks across Algeria last year killed at least 70 people.

In an interview last July, Droudkal boasted his cell was in constant contact with other al-Qaeda “brothers”.

New weaponry? How interesting...
Did I say weaponry? Well, bodies that were found had died within hours of contracting the disease. Could it have come from a lab?

Hmmm...that sounds a little too 'hot' in epidemiological terms, unless it's some kind of lab-bred hybrid between one of the hemorrhagic fevers and plague, but even then 'hours'?

In a standard reference manual on communicable diseases...

"Incubation period - From 2 to 6 days in bubonic plague, 2 to 4 days in pneumonic plague; may be shorter, rarely longer.

And then here's the part which got me to wondering about the Sun article:

"Period of communicability - Bubonic plague is not directly transmitted from person to person except through terminal plague pneumonia. Fleas may remain infected for days or weeks or months under suitable conditions of temperature and humidity, or may clear themselves of infection.