Obama Takes 2nd Oath: Just in Case

It seems that Obama had to take the Oath of Office a 2nd time just to be sure.

After the flub heard around the world, President Barack Obama has taken the oath of office. Again. Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the oath to Obama on Wednesday night at the White House � a rare do-over. The surprise moment came in response to Tuesday's much-noticed stumble, when Roberts got the words of the oath a little off, which prompted Obama to do so, too

I could hear crazy conspiracy theorists like Rev. Wright saying that they flubbed it on purpose in order to be able to impeach Obama later on due to a technicality in the Oath of Office. Good thing Obama took the thing again or who knows what "the Man" would have done.

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Caroline Kennedy Withdraws Senate Bid

Maybe she was just trying to Rickroll the people of New York. I have a feeling that some of the party elders took her aside and told her to start her political career by winning a race instead of being placed into the Senate by genetic fiat.

Kennedy, the daughter of slain President John F. Kennedy, has never held public office but launched an unusual public campaign to replace Clinton, who was sworn in on Wednesday as President Barack Obama's secretary of state and immediately afterward resigned from the Senate.

Once she gets a few good years at City Council or as Attorney General or something she can use that vast Kennedy treasure hoard to run for the Senate. She will probably win too since the Kennedy name might be able to push out any Democratic challengers and the GOP is looking fairly weak in New York. Until then I think she should think about voting in every election and paying better attention to politics.

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Obama Shows Some Fiscal Responsibility and Bars Lobbyists

It seems that the executive branch will be tightening their belts in this time of fiscal hardship.

The pay freeze, first reported by The Associated Press, would hold salaries at their current levels for the roughly 100 White House employees who make over $100,000 a year. "Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington," said the new president, taking office amid startlingly bad economic times that many fear will grow worse.

His lobbyist rules seem pretty strict as well:

Obama's new lobbying rules will not only ban aides from trying to influence the administration when they leave his staff. Those already hired will be banned from working on matters they have previously lobbied on, or to approach agencies that they once targeted.

The rules also ban lobbyists from giving gifts of any size to any member of his administration. It wasn't immediately clear whether the ban would include the traditional "previous relationships" clause, allowing gifts from friends or associates with which an employee comes in with strong ties.

I wonder if Congress will adopt these rules as well. It would be nice to see people like Senator Dodd and his sweetheart Countrywide mortgage be a thing of the past. I hope Obama could set an example that the rest of Washington can follow.

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Obama's First View of the First Day

This is the view that you would have at your first day of work at the toughest job in the world. The job interview lasted nearly 2 years and cost almost a billion dollars. One slip up and thousands of people (or even millions) will be dead. One bad call and we will have the 2nd Great Depression. I bet that manila envelope is full of scary crap that will make Obama's hair even grayer. I wouldn't wish this view on anyone. Good luck Mr. President.

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What they Ate at the Inauguration Luncheon

Now this is an interesting tidbit of history.

1st Course:
Seafood Stew
paired with Duckhorn Vinyards 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley

2nd Course:
A Brace of American Birds (Pheasant and Duck) served with Sour Cherry Chutney and Molassas Sweet Potato
paired with Goldeneye, 2005 Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley

3rd Course:
Apple Cinnamon Sponge Cake and Sweet Cream Glase
paired with Korbel "Special Inaugural Cuvee" California Champagne

Wow 2 wines and a champagne with lunch? I think we might get a drunk Obama hanging from the chandelier before the night is through.

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Al Quida Has Nowhere to Hide in Pakistan

Upon reading this blog post about the situation in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan I think Obama's anti-terror job may be getting easier.

Pakistani officials believe that the multimillion dollar rewards on bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders may now be practical. You can't capture an al Qaeda big shot without the assent of local tribal leaders. For a large chunk of that reward, that assent may now be had from some chiefs, and bin Laden knows it. He also knows that eight senior al Qaeda leaders have been killed by U.S. Hellfire missiles in the last six months. Rumor has it that big money was paid for the information that made some of these attacks possible. It's bad enough that al Qaeda is losing senior people, it's worse that they are now seen, by local tribesmen, as a way to get rich. Al Qaeda leaders now know what it's like to be terrorized.

Who could blame those tribal leaders? I mean they are taking in these Arab and Central Asian terrorists that have no history with the Pashtun people and protecting them pretty much for no shared purpose. Then all they get in return is a chance for Pakistani troops to blow them up.

Most people would have sold Al-Quida down the river in exchange for a chunk of cash and a peaceful existence away from interference from Islamabad. And that may well be what is happening. Too bad we couldn't sway more of these tribal leaders to play ball with us in exchange for financial aid, security guarantees, or whatever they might want.

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Obama Flubs Oath of Office but Gave Great Speech

I saw the Oath of Office this morning and hopefully it won't be a harbinger of bad things for Obama. It sure was a tortured sort of thing. Here it is:



Here is his Inauguration Speech

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The Obama Business: Booming

It seems that the President-Elect is spawning all sorts of value-added industries as his popularity soars.

In the weeks following Obama�s election, the Chicago Sun-Times began selling commemorative copies of their November 5th paper on eBay (EBAY) for $350 a pop. Through the sale of Obama-related merchandise, the New York Times (which has been selling authentic Obama photos and assorted Obamabilia on their website for as much as $1,099] has sold close to $2 million in Obama-related merchandise; the Los Angeles Times has sold close to $1 million.

I thought this action figure was especially cool. I might even buy it as a keepsake if his stimulus bill props up the economy and I get a chance to reap some of the stock related rewards. I would of course wrap it in a toga and place a golden wreath upon its benighted head.

He has even invaded the comic book realm in the pages of Amazing Spider-man. I am just wondering if Obama saves Spider-man or the other way around? Maybe he can give Peter Parker the White House photographer role. But knowing Spider-man's enemies Obama would probably get crushed by the Rhino or thrown off a bridge by the Hobgoblin or something.

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Jobs seeking a Liver Transplant?

I guess his health is a true moving target.

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs is considering a liver transplant as a result of complications after treatment for pancreatic cancer in 2004, according to people who are monitoring his illness.

I'm pretty sure that legions of Mac lovers would be only too glad to give Jobs their liver after they died. Also he could live up to 20 years with a new liver if he is lucky. At least it is clearing up some of the uncertainty regarding the stock. We could also see if the people that Jobs leaves in charge are up to the task.

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FED to think of Forming a Bad Bank

It seems that the FED is trying to pull out all the stops to get credit moving again. This one sounds nuts but it just might work.

Today�s remarks come days before President-elect Barack Obama takes office, and signal a readiness among regulators to undertake what�s likely to be the most radical effort yet to unfreeze lending. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke earlier this week urged a �comprehensive plan� to address illiquid assets, floating the idea of a �bad bank.�

I guess this bad bank would be one massive ball of crappy assets that the good banks have shed from their balance sheets. It sounds like the financial version of Anti-virus quarantine. It sounds like an interesting idea as long as the government doesn't lose a chunk of money trying to hold onto these things.

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Bank of America Moves Up Quarterly Numbers to 7am Tomorrow

It seems they couldn't wait until Jan. 20 to release these numbers after the stock just about collapsed in the last few weeks.

The switch from Jan. 20 may provide investors with details on what kind of help the U.S. may give to the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank and New York-based Merrill Lynch & Co., the brokerage it acquired earlier this month. The U.S. will offer the bank at least $15 billion in fresh capital, according to The Wall Street Journal and trade publication American Banker.

I almost pulled the trigger on buying this stock because an extra $15 billion in extra government money is peanuts compared to all the money doled out to AIG and other failing banks. I think a lot of the fear is what evil lurked in the portfolio of Merrill. Once they clear this up then the "fear deficit" will be taken off of the stock.

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Obama Says Jump and the Senate Says "How High?" on TARP funds

As if there were any doubt at all the Senate has voted to release the other half of the TARP money with just a few objections. Let's hope Geithner gets through his asinine tax problems and gets confirmed at the quickstep so he can spend some of this money. That $100 billion to stop foreclosures was needed yesterday.

Senators defeated, 52-42, a resolution that would have prevented the release of the second half of the $700 billion in the Troubled Asset Relief Program, enacted last year to boost the sagging U.S. economy.

�It�s money that can be spent, may be spent, by the new president, Barack Obama,� Illinois Democrat Richard Durbin said before the vote. �I want to give President Obama the tools he needs to breathe life back into this economy.�

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Jobs' Health Worse than People Think?

At least according to Jim Goldman at CNBC.

The fact is, late last week I spoke to two well-known tech industry executives, both of whom are very close to Jobs, and one of whom had been speaking to Jobs regularly up until a couple of months ago. Neither has an axe to grind, and neither needs to manipulate Apple stock to make more money. Trust me when I tell you that both have plenty.

What struck me was that both felt compelled to come to me to tell me that they had "serious misgivings" about the state of Jobs' health. One said, based on his contact with Jobs personally, that he was in "serious denial" about just how bad the circumstances had become. The other explained to me that he was "deeply concerned" about Jobs, and the sudden lack of communication, the non-return of emails, ignoring chat requests, unreturned phone calls was a strong indication to him that Jobs was in "dire" shape.

Of course these two executives don't have access to Jobs' medical charts but they do know the guy better then most people do. So when he doesn't return calls they get worried and Apple longs should be worried as well. I mean the Apple board has a fiduciary responsibility to let us know how the CEO is doing. And without a direct word from Apple then all we have to base the health of one of the most important CEO at any tech company on rumors and hearsay.

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New Transparency at Treasury Regarding the Government Banking Stake

This should be an interesting document once it becomes available on the web.

Summers said the Treasury would make public its investments in every company, the �quantity and strike price of warrants received� and the schedule of payments the government would receive. All the information would be posted on the department�s Web site.

You could seriously use this document to figure out what money went where and how bad each of the companies are doing. It would be a nice historical document to see how much the Treasury will make once these stocks start to go back up in the future. It would also be interesting to see how good a sweetheart deal that the Treasury got for investing our money.

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U.S. Joint Forces Command Says Mexico Might Be in for "Sudden Collapse"

How is "bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse," for a scary euphemism? I guess Mexico has just joined Pakistan for the honor of potential chaos and bloodletting that the US will probably get sucked into.

The command's "Joint Operating Environment (JOE 2008)" report, which contains projections of global threats and potential next wars, puts Pakistan on the same level as Mexico. "In terms of worse-case scenarios for the Joint Force and indeed the world, two large and important states bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse: Pakistan and Mexico.

The sound of drug gangs killing off the government of Mexico should have every Governor of every border state waking up in a cold sweat. Imagine how many refugees will cross the border if there was a civil war between the Mexican military and the heavily armed drug gangs (some of which were US trained anti-drug agents turned rogue.) I hope the Pentagon has their Mexican invasion and peace keeping plan up to date.

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