Day 26 of the 1461 days - February 15 2009

President Obama to Sign the Stimulus Bill into Law on Tuesday

The President of the United States has made many bold gestures and promises. Some of if not the majority of them have to do with changing the face of the government. Making the government more transparent in the way it does business and involving the citizens of this country in the way our country is run. The open review process is one of those promises.

An open review of pending bills for 5 days prior to them being signed into law. Even this stimulus plan being a "emergency" package should be stuck into the 5 day review. That is not going to happen. However the American Recovery and Revitalisation Act does call for the ability to have the 1100 page document available for download to the public for 48 hours prior to the bill being signed into law.

Now we know why the bill is sitting until Tuesday before being signed into law. The bill will be signed into law in Denver Colorado. Despite Republican opposition, the bill passed both the House and the Senate and Conservatives in the House and Senate both sited wasteful spending and non stimulative budgetary items being littered through out the bill, but in the end Obama's center piece legislation has moved forward.

I still can not find a viable download link for the bill. I would like to post the link here on the site. If any of you have a link please leave it in a comment at the bottom.

"I think it's safe to say that things have not yet bottomed out," press secretary Robert Gibbs said. "They are probably going to get worse before they improve. But this is a big step forward toward making that improvement and putting people back to work."

How much of an improvement and how far down it is to the bottom remains to be seen.


Secretary of State leaves for Asian tour

On her first journey abroad as the Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton will pay visits to Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China. Her first stop will be in Japan. During her visit there she is expected to sign a deal that will remove 8,000 US troops from hew mainland of Japan and move them to Guam. The goal is to ease tension between the US and Japan over troop levels in the island country's mainland.

Clinton's Asian tour will last one week.


The home mortgage foreclosure crisis

We are led to believe this is one of the Three legs of the stool that President Obama talks about in his economic plans. It is at the heart of the current economic crisis that faces the nation.

The symbolism of signing the American Reinvestment and Revitalisation Act into law in Denver can be seen. It is the part of the country at the heart of the Green movement. They are on the forefront of the Green wave. The $787 billion bill is designed to stimulate growth and investment in the Green movement.

What is the role in the mortgage crises for Denver? I don't see a direct roll for the residents of Denver other than aiding President Obama in taking his economic message to the American people. By maintaining a public face in this crisis, the citizens of the United States are giving him high marks for the handling the economic crisis.


Commerce Department About Face

Senator Greg first accepted the nomination and then this past Thursday decided to decline the nomination. The timing was in question and the idea that he had not thought through the position and what it would entail of him begs to question if he had the for site to be in the government in the first place. Some hail him as a hero for making a decision to move away fro the Obama administration while others wonder why he made a decision to join forces and later to distance himself in the manor that he has while still proclaiming Obama to be what this country needs at this crossroad in history. One might think the Senator had something he didn't want aired that was about to come to the front during his confirmation hearing. In the end there is no indication that that is fact, but it does raise questions.