Keeping the Faith

A downloaded and printed Muslim prayer schedule sits next to a prayer rug, inside a cell at Guantanamo's Concentration Camp 5 (detention center) at the U.S. Naval Base, on 21 January 2009; in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Guantanamo Bay war crimes court came to an abrupt halt yesterday as military judges granted U.S. President Barack Obama's request to suspend proceedings while he reviews his ‘predecessor's strategy for prosecuting terrorists.’

As it is a known fact that the majority of Muslim’s in Guantanamo's Concentration Camp are innocent and while many have became Martyr’s do to the horror’s of torture and camp life, it is a hope they stay strong in there faith and holding tight to the Quran.

As it is said Obama plans to close Guantanamo Bay within a year, while it is not being published so much in the forefront, that he has planned to move these men to other camps; which has not set well with the whole Islamophobic Concentration Camp system among not just Muslims, but the global community.

As to the heart break of this type of mistreatment towards another human being is ongoing; Nevertheless, the Concentration Camp system has always been an outrage since the Jewish Holocaust.

No one with true humanity within the heart should rest, until the Concentration Camp system is abolished forever and the innocent can smell the sweetness of the fresh air with their freedom. For this type of maltreatment is unacceptable, to subject anyone that is innocent too; for the memories and heartache while it maybe buried it should not be a shroud one must bare.

Finally, as to being brought to one’s attention of the U.S. accusations of saying someone is a known suspect of the Taliban or Al-Qaeda to continue these atrocities, has became a watershed word to create what they consider justification without in the majority of cases; honesty.

Obama's "Yes We Can" Middle East

As the latest US media propaganda projects that the Middle East is for the American’s and for newly elected US President Barack Obama, it is more of a consensus as seen from the above Middle Eastern political cartoon; that the US need’s to rethink before they put into print who is for and who is against them or watch the latest programs on Arab TV or who just stepped on another American flag.

As an example, I happened to see some Arab TV yesterday, one program had a mob with large sticks ready to hit a man because he was working for the American’s. While he talked them out of it, talking like someone’s Dutch Uncle, he still had a difficult time.

Then the American’s as well as Obama, will get the picture of how there foreign policy towards the Middle East; is somewhere out in space.

Is Barack Obama really President of the United States?

21 January 2009

by Philippe Naughton

After all that fuss, is it possible that Barack Obama is not actually President of the United States?

It's a question being asked by constitutional experts - not to mention Fox News pundits and bloggers - after the man generally considered the finest orator of his generation fluffed his lines while reciting the oath of office on Capitol Hill yesterday.


Actually, the blame may well lie with John Roberts, the Chief Justice, whose job it was to guide Mr Obama through the 35-word oath prescribed by the constitution and decided to do it from memory in front of a live crowd of around 2 million people and a further billion or so following via television.

Interrupted by Mr Obama right at the start of the oath, Mr Roberts misplaced a single word so that the former Illinois senator vowed to "execute the Office of President of the United States faithfully" instead of, as he was meant to, "execute faithfully the Office of President of the United States".

According to Jack Beermann, a constitutional law scholar at Boston University, that single slip might be enough to invalidate Mr Obama's oath and he should take it again to be sure.

"It would take him 30 seconds, he can do it in private, it's not a big deal, and he ought to do it just to be safe," Mr Beermann told the San Francisco Chronicle. "It's an open question whether he's president until he takes the proper oath."

Other experts disagreed, pointing out that under the 20th Amendment of the Constitution Mr Obama automatically become president at noon on January 20th, a few minutes before he was sworn in.

Jeffrey Rosen, a constitutional law expert and professor at George Washington University in Washington, said that stumbling over the oath has "no impact".

"News flash: he's President," he said.

"Lots of people have flubbed the oath, perhaps most memorably Chief Justice (William Howard) Taft, who sort of riffed and then made up his own" when he was swearing in Herbert Hoover, Professor Rosen said.

Where the oath calls on the president to "preserve, protect, and defend" the constitution, Chief Justice Taft said "preserve, maintain and defend" - injecting an entirely new word instead of just mangling up the order.

As the San Francisco Chronicle's politics blog noted, however, Mr Obama was one of just 22 senators who voted against confirming Mr Roberts "and now becomes the first president sworn in, or not, by a justice he voted against".

What they said:

Roberts: Are you prepared to take the oath, Senator?

Obama: I am.

Roberts: I, Barack Hussein Obama...

Obama: I, Barack...

Roberts: ... do solemnly swear...

Obama: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear...

Roberts: ... that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully...

Obama: ... that I will execute...

Ropberts: ... faithfully the office of president of the United States...

Obama: ... the office of president of the United States faithfully...

Roberts: ... and will to the best of my ability...

Obama: ... and will to the best of my ability...

Roberts: ... preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Obama: ... preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Roberts: So help you God?

Obama: So help me God.

Roberts: Congratulations, Mr. President.

Update:

Obama is sworn in for second time

"In contrast to the first oath-taking, Mr Obama did not swear on a (Christian) Bible and his wife Michelle was not at his side."

So it is a matter of ethical ideal's if this oath is also illegal, due to the lack of a Christian Bible being used with the right hand in place and the appropriate witnesses present?

23 January 2009

As to the recent article in the Washington Post of forgoing the Christian Bible, as was mentioned that many former president’s had done the same and that it is only a matter of tradition, it is a wonder if the forefather’s that created the US Constitution and Bill of Right’s would agree.

Nevertheless, if this is the case, should it also be forgone in the US judicial system or where does the foundation of Christianity start as proclaimed by Americans to its end.

May one wonder what the standard is, whether a double or a single to make one allowed to uprightly hold to what is morally true or right, to just casting it to the crumbling foundation wayside.

Aviation Pioneer Nancy-Bird Walton Laid to Rest in Sydney

Commemorative medals from the Australia Day 1990, The Queen's Birthday 1966, The Order of St John of Jerusalem, Queen Elizabeth 1937, George VI and the 2001 Centenary of Federation are seen on the casket of the late Nancy Bird-Walton AO OBE during her State Funeral at St Andrew's Cathedral on 21 January 2009 in Sydney, Australia. Bird-Walton was the youngest Australian woman ever to gain her pilot's license at the age of 19. She died of natural causes on 13 January at the age of 93.

21 January 2009

Reported by Mark Tobin

ASHLEY HALL: She was a woman who guided her family with the grace of a glider and the determination of a jet fighter.

That's how Nancy-Bird Walton's granddaughter described the aviation pioneer at a state funeral in Sydney today. The 93-year-old died at her Sydney home last week. Among the tributes, a fly-over by a new Airbus A380 named in her honour.

PM's Mark Tobin was among the mourners.

(MUSIC: "Amazing Grace")

MARK TOBIN: Hundreds of mourners at Sydney's St Andrews Cathedral bowed their heads in tribute to the woman who became Australia's first female commercial pilot at the age of 19.

A large picture of Nancy-Bird Walton was projected onto a screen above a casket draped in the Australian flag. The medals she's been awarded through her long life sat on top of the coffin, a reminder of her passion for community service.

It was a passion her granddaughter Anna Holman described as infectious.

ANNA HOLMAN: A dearly loved member of our family who led us with the grace of a glider and the determination of a jet fighter.

MARK TOBIN: Nancy-Bird Walton began flying as a teenager, getting lessons from another aviation great, Charles Kingsford Smith.

Her first job as a commercial pilot was flying nurses and patients around far western New South Wales. She later founded the Australian Women Pilots' Association.

As an inspiration to generations of female pilots, the National Trust named Nancy-Bird Walton as a Living Treasure in 1997. Her long-time friend and fellow aviator Dick Smith told the service while Nancy-Bird Walton was a pioneer, she also had an eye to the future of aviation.

DICK SMITH: Whenever I appeared on television or I was quoted about my frustrations and the lack of reform and the way it was damaging general aviation, Nancy would be on the phone "Dick, what can I do? Who can I write to?".

MARK TOBIN: Before today's church service, the new Qantas A380 bearing Nancy-Bird Walton's name flew low over Sydney Harbour, the CBD and the cathedral as a tribute.

In September Nancy-Bird Walton attended a naming ceremony for the jet.

NANCY-BIRD WALTON: Qantas announced that it would name this magnificent aircraft after me at my 90th birthday nearly three years ago. And I made it my business to stay alive, and not just for today's ceremony, and I've made it. And I've made it.

MARK TOBIN: Elyse Fordham has been a Qantas pilot for 20 years. She says Nancy-Bird Walton was someone she looked up to.

ELYCE FORDHAM: I've met her a few times and I think she was an inspiration to all female pilots actually, with her passion and spirit for flying.

MARK TOBIN: But it's not just those with their head in the clouds who drew inspiration from the first lady of flight. The New South Wales Governor Marie Bashir says she was an inspiration for all Australians.

MARIE BASHIR: She was a soaring spirit in every way and anyone who met her would never forget her. She belongs to Australian history without a doubt.

ASHLEY HALL: The NSW Governor Marie Bashir ending that report from Mark Tobin.

Further Reading:
Nancy-Bird Walton's funeral on Wednesday

Obama Steps into History Amidst Global Outrage

The U.S. Capitol is illuminated the night before the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama in Washington, on 19 January 2009.

Stepping into history, Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th president grasps the reins of power as America's first black president in a high-noon inauguration amid grave economic worries and high expectations for a hopeful change.

Braving temperatures in the teens and threats of snow, hundreds of thousands of people descended on the heavily guarded capital city Tuesday; to view this historic administration change.

As former U.S. President George W. Bush — following tradition — left a note for Obama in the top drawer of his desk in the Oval Office.

Obama on this occasion, also stepped back into history with numerous references of another time in U.S. history; as he made his way towards Washington D.C. and his taking of the oath of office with the assassinated former 16th US. President Abraham Lincoln's inaugurate Christian bible and other references to assassinated civil right’s leader Martin Luther King, who had a dream for equality towards all American’s.

As Obama has said to the media, he plans to roll up his sleeves immediately on the issues at hand for an extremely troubled America, only time will tell what the future holds towards this presidency. While he made had some sour notes on the campaign trail, we can only hope things do improve in office.

Obama takes the Oath of Office amidst unsettling remarks within the inauguration speeches and prayer; that created outrage across the global spectrum, it was reported.

Paddling in the Mist of Snow

A Kashmiri Muslim paddles his boat through the morning mist on Dal Lake in Srinagar, on 19 January 2008. Jammu and Kashmir continue to shiver under intense cold as snow coupled with rains lashed most parts of the state and the higher reaches received a heavy snowfall for the fourth consecutive day.

As to not just the environmental issue which is hoped to become better, but this is a wonderful photograph.