White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced the President had decided to reverse himself on the release of 44 pictures of military personnel abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, but will, instead, seek a stay on the June 8, 2009 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled deadline for release of the pictures, and appeal that court’s ruling to the United States Supreme Court. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision
The President spoke about the plight in Sri Lanka from the White House lawn before leaving to give the commencement address at Arizona State University. The President urged Sri Lanka to halt the indiscriminate shelling of civilians, who are trapped between warring government troops and what remains of the country’s Tamil Tiger rebels, and to let humanitarian aid in. Transcript Video
The President gave the commencement address at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. Transcript & Video
The President spent the overnight at the Albuquerque Marriot Hotel, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Day114/May 14th/Thursday: The President attended a town hall at Rio Rancho High School in Rio Rancho, New Mexico to discuss credit card reform and the need for greater consumer protections. After the President’s opening remarks, he took questions from the audience. Transcript YouTube Video Collection
United States Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner announced new steps to help homeowners:
(1) the Treasury Department will encourage short sales to help troubled homeowners remove themselves from unaffordable mortgages. In a short sale, the lender retires the mortgage in return for whatever the homeowner can sell the property for
(2) borrowers who agree to short sales can received up to $1,500 in closing costs.
(3) second lien holders will recieve up to $1,000 to relinquish their claims in these short sale transactions.
The United States Department of theTreasury announced six major insurance companies--Allstate, Ameriprise, Hartford Financial Services Group, Lincoln National, Principal Financial Group and Prudential Financial--have been tentatively approved to receive billions of dollars in bailout money under the government’s financial rescue program and under terms yet to be negotiated. Source: New York TimesThe Obama Administration rejected the request of former Vice President Dick Cheney to declassify two CIA reports on the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation techniques because the documents are already part of litigation in a broader request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Day115/May 15th/Friday: The President reviewed potential candidates to fill the seat of retiring United States Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
The President met with United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office of the White House.
The President welcomed the World Series champions Philadelphia Phillies to the White House. Video
The President reversed his prior position to end Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay and reinstated, instead, trying 20 out of 241 terror suspects in military courts, but with some reforms:
(1) evidence extracted by torture or cruel or degrading interrogation methods will not be permitted to be submitted
(2) some hearsay evidence from sources with second-hand information will be permitted to be submitted if prosecutors prove such evidence is reliable
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
