The Next 14 Days

Has only been 14 days since the world celebrated President Obama's 100th day in office? It feels more like 14 years. Here is a list of some of what has occurred in the last 14 days (you can't make this stuff up):

4/30/2009: Chrysler files for bankruptcy and is forced to accept any deal with Fiat. Fiat also decides to buy out GM's Europe plants.

4/30-Supreme Court Justice David Souter announces he will retire from the Supreme Court in June. Obama states that his successor must have "empathy" for the people coming before them.
On a side note, noted Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said when he was told to go perform justice, "I am not here to hand out justice, but to apply the letter of the law."

5/1: Obama says the Gitmo detainees may be tried by a military tribunal, contrary to what he said in the campaign where he condemned the tribunals.

5/1: Fears of Swine Flu (h1N1) rise and Biden says that he would not allow his family to fly or take any other forms of public transportation such as subways.

5/1: Michelle Obama wears $540 French sneakers to a Food Bank to volunteer for a photo op.

5/4:Obama lays out his new tax system for businesses that includes 800 new federal tax agents and that he wants Congress to approve a bill that would force Americans to prove they are innocent of tax violations and not the government prove they did.

5/3: White House says that the stock market will no longer have the importance it has had in the past.

5/4: 100s of schools close across the nation due to H1N1. 32 states have confirmed cases.

5/4: John Edwards is under Federal investigation for payola to mistress

5/4: Wells Fargo stress test as well as KeyCorp, BofA, Citigroup, and others need more capital and must raise it within 30 days. Will convert government preferred stock to common stock which will give the government a vote.

5:4: Lawyer for Perella Weinberg, a financial backer of Chrysler, says that car czar Steven Rattner bullied his clients into accepting the government deal on stock. Said his clients were threatened with the press corps. The press corps are now an arm of the White House?!?!

5/4: ACORN people charged in Nevada with pay for vote fraud called "blackjack"

5/4: 36 states have confirmed Swine Flu

5/1: Harry Reid says in his new book that after making a speech during the campaign, that Reid told Obama how good the speech was. Obama says, "I have the gift."

5/4: Terminology for "Global Warming" will be changed to encourage more outrage from people over what environmentalists deem as the most important issue. In a poll, global warming finished 20 out of 20 of important issues.

5/5: Wells Fargo to lay off 350 workers

5/5: White House will not release pics from photo-op flyover that scared many in Manhattan

5/5: Obama meets with Israel President Shimon Peres ahead of his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Peres is more open to the "2 state" idea of Israel and Palestine than Netanyahu who wants more of a "triple track" system using political, economic, and security issues to resolve the Palestinian conflict

5/5: Somali pirates seize German ship

5/5: U.S. outreach to Iran angers Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and other oil producing nations as well as Israel because they view Iran as a destabilizing force in the region. Arab moderate governments are working to build an alliance with Israel to counter Iranian influence.

5/5: Justice Department investigators say that no one who approved the enhanced interrogation techniques should be prosecuted.

5/5: John Murtha (D-Pa) under investigation for funneling $4 million defense contracts to his nephew without competing bids. Murtha is the chair of House Appropriation Defense Subcommittee. Murtha was also involved in ABSCAM and was determined by a watch group to be 1 of the 20 most corrupt people in Congress.

5/7: bank stress tests are released showing that only some of the banks need more money.

5/7: National Day of Prayer which was designated by Congress in 1952 and signed by President Harry Truman (democrat) was not observed by President Obama or the White House for the first time.

5/1: Obama interrupts a press conference and all media rise and come to attention. When George W. Bush did the same, only 2 press member rose during his first one and none in successive appearances

5/6: Obama says after talking with Afghanistan and Pakistan, " But let me be clear-the United States has made a lasting commitment to defeat Al Qaeda but also to support the democratically elected sovereign governments of both Afghanistan and Pakistan."
Define "but": 1-on the contrary 2-except 3-unless
Is he saying that if Al Qaeda were elected he would support them?

5/6: Colin Powell attacks Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and the Republican party of which he says he still is a Republican.

5/6: U.S. government to condemn land in Pennsylvania for 9-11 memorial because they cannot reach an agreement with the landholders.

5/6: White House says it will release 1 picture from photo-op in Manhattan

May: Congressmen-Dems & Repubs-are not willing to fund the closure of Gitmo without further information on the plans for the detainees

5/7: H1N1 in 41 states

5/5: Mexico cancels Cinco de Mayo due to Swine Flu

5/4: Obama celebrates Cinco de Mayo early with Mexican Ambassador calling it "Cinco de Cuatro" instead of "Cuatro de Mayo"

5/7: Norman Hsu pleads guilty to Ponzi scheme bilking $20 million from people. He is a former Democratic fundraiser who raised $1.2 million for Hillary. He still faces charges of violating federal campaign finance laws.

5/7: Jobless benefits reported for 6.35 million people

5/7: dems give Arlen Specter chair of Judiciary subcommittee

5/7: Robert Groves who is picked to head the U.S. Census says he will run it fairly or resign.

5/7: Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that the Taliban is not strong enough to get nuclear weapons in Pakistan

5/7: Obama budget plans to rescind tax breaks to oil and gas industry. It also shuts down a proposed nuclear waste dump in Yucca Mountain, NV, but allocates more money than would have been spent on the project to develop a waste dump elsewhere. Obama cuts $17 billion from the original budget but adds more than $17 billion to the new.

5/7: GM reports $6 billion first quarter loss

5/7: Severstall (a steel company) announces it will layoff 3100 workers by idling plants in WVa and Ohio

May: a report released said that of the $300 billion set aside in the original stimulus package for troubled home owners has allowed 1 person to complete the requirements and 51 are in the process.

5/7: Obama envoy urges N.Korea to open talks with the U.S.

5/8: Toyota reports $7.7 billion loss in first quarter

5/1: House subcommittee on Energy and Commerce hold hearings on the way the NCAA names a Division I champion.

5/8: A student at Longwood College in VA bought a used computer off of Ebay that contained all U.S. missile defense plans and locations.

5/8: Unemployment at 8.9%

5/8: White House aid Louis Caldera resigned over Air Force One flyover photo-op

5/8: Pope Benedict XVI in Jordan expresses "deep respect for Islam"

5/8: Obama envoy warned N.Korea of "consequences" if it performs atomic testing

5/8: Rhode Island may be lone state in New England that does not allow gay marriage due to heavy Catholic population

5/8: Veteran Administration confirms 5 tested positive for AIDs and 33 with hepatitis after 3 facilities were found not to be cleaning instruments--Murfreesboro, TN; Augusta, GA; Miami, Fl. 11,000 to still be tested.
-Aside: the VA hospitals are socialized medicine in the U.S. Is this what we want for ourselves?

5/8: it is reported that U.S. fighting in Afghanistan between 4-5 May may have killed hundreds of civilians. U.S. blames Taliban for using human shields

5/9: Japan and Australia confirm Swine Flu

5/9: Obama at media party pokes fun at Cheney saying he is working on his book "How to shoot friends and torture enemies. Wanda Sykes at the dinner also blasts Rush, Sarah Palin, and Sean Hannity even calling Rush one the 9-11 terrorists and hoping that his kidneys fail, of which Obama & Michelle are seen laughing.

5/9: a NY Times interview with Hamas leader Khaled Meshal reveals that he will not accept Israel and wants only a 10 year peace plan with Israel.

5/11: Christian Children's Fund which has been around since 1935 will no longer use "Christian" in their name

5/10: Pope calls for Palestinian homeland

5/11: FAA stops flyover over the Hudson River for training purposes

5/11: U.S. soldier in Iraq shoots and kills 5 U.S. soldiers at Camp Liberty

5/11: Obama announces replacement of general overseeing operations in Afghanistan

5/11: top official of MADD withdraws from being appointed to head National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after it is revealed he has accepted money from the automobile companies

May: Obama and Biden go out for photo-op at Ray's Hell-Burger in Arlington where hamburgers can cost up to $17.50 and Obama asks for Grey Poupon

5/11: Muslim cleric took microphone from Pope in Jerusalem and railed against Israel because he was representing Islam and was not supposed to speak but felt he had to

5/12: Lebanese-born Swede, a Muslim convert, was convicted in NY of plotting to help Al-Qaeda by setting up a terror camp in Oregon

5/12: 5 Miami men are convicted in a plot to attack the Sears Tower in Chicago and bombing FBI offices. In a video used at their trial, they are all seen pledging an oath to Al-Qaeda

5/12: Obama seeks new "innovations" to fight the war in Afghanistan after realizing sending more troops, more money, and a new strategy are not working.

5/11: Leonardo DiCaprio & Kate Winslett come to the financial aid of Melvina Dean , the last survivor of the Titanic sinking, who cannot afford the nursing home in which she is living and for which she had to sell off personal items from the Titanic to try to stay. This in UK where socialized medicine is the law.

5/13: Jordan king says it is up to Obama to get Israel to agree to a peace plan in the next 6 months or he will considered just another failure to the Muslim world.

5/11: Swine Flu now in 44 states with 3 deaths in the U.S.

5/13: Swine Flu is confirmed in 6000 people worldwide with 33 countries now infected

5/13: The Senate release info that about 1/4 of the votes submitted by U.S. troops during the 2008 election were not counted. Amounts to more than 100,000 "lost votes"

5/13: Obama announces he will not release the photos from the enhanced interrogations after saying in April that he would. He says he will ask the courts to rule against releasing them.

5/13: Swine Flu is confirmed in crewman on Alaskan cruise ship

5/13: The White House says it will now regulate CEO pay and bonuses of banks that did not take any TARP money.

5/13: NC passes law to ban smoking from all bars and eateries in the state

5/13: Commerce Department released figures in which retail sales unexpectedly fell in April marking 2 months in a row that sales fell

5/13: RealtyTrac, Inc. released figures showing troubling rise of home foreclosures in April, the second straight month in which more than 340,000 homes received foreclosure notices.

5/13: Macy reports quarterly loss of $88 million

5/13: Liz Claiborne reports quarterly loss of $91.4 million

What next?