President Obama

The

First

100

Days






President Barack Obama addresses the Joint Session of the United States Congress at the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. 2/24/09
(Official W.H. Photos by Pete Souza)


President Barack Obama is photographed by daughter Malia while Sasha celebrates prior to White House departure for Inaugural Balls 1/20/09.


Early A.M., Jan. 21st, Pres. Barack Obama rides the elevator to the Private Residence of the White House after attending 10 inaugural balls and being sworn in as President at noon on Jan. 20, 2009.


President Barack Obama speaks with a foreign leader in the Oval Office on his first day in office.




President Barack Obama is briefed prior to making phone calls to foreign leaders in the OvalOffice 1/26/09. (left)


President Barack Obama speaks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in the Oval Office 2/2/09. (right)














President Obama reflects during a budget meeting in the Roosevelt Room 1/29/09.

President Barack Obama in the Oval Office 1/30/09.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wear 3-D glasses while watching Super Bowl 43, Arizona Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers, at a Super Bowl Party in the family theater of the White House. Guests included family, friends, staff members and bipartisan members of Congress, 2/1/09.
President Barack Obama is helped by Vermont Governor Jim Douglas to move a couch in the Oval Office 2/2/09. Governor Douglas met with the President about the economic recovery plan. 2/2/09

President Barack Obama wears a AF1 jacket on his first flight aboard Air Force One from Andrews Air Force Base to Newport News, Virginia 2/5/09.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama dance while the band Earth, Wind and Fire performs at the Governors Ball in the State Dining Room of the White House 2/22/09.


House Demo-crats Issues Con-ference

President Barack Obama reads the newspaper in the Outer Oval Office 3/5/09. (above)



President Barack Obama examines the Resolute Desk on March 3, 2009, while visiting with Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg.


President Barack Obama runs down the East Colonnade with family dog "Bo" 3/15/09.


While speaking at the Miguel Contreras Learning Center, Los Angeles, President Barack Obama's gestures 3/19/09. (left)


President Barack Obama walks down the Colonnade with his arms around daughters Malia and Sasha, 3/5/09. (right)


President Obama Meets with Combatant Commanders in the Cabinet Room, 3/24/09. (left)

President Obama lifts up a baby April 4, 2009, during the U.S. Embassy greeting at a Prague hotel. (above)

President Obama is seen on his arrival to Esenboga Airport in Ankara, Turkey. (left)

President Barack Obama looks out the Green Room window prior to the virtual town hall meeting on the economy in the East Room 3/26/09. (right)















President Obama addresses U.S. troops during his visit to Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq 4/7/09.

President Barack Obama and Senator Ted Kennedy walk on the grounds of the White House, before signing of the Kennedy Service Act at the SEED School in Washington D.C. 4/21/09.

President Barack Obama is briefed about the H1N1 flu in the Situation Room 4/24/09.



Pres. Obama and Vice Pres. Biden practice their putting on the White House putting green April 24, 2009.President Barack Obama walks along along the Colonnade toward the Oval Office.










President Barack Obama plays with a football in the Oval Office 4/23/09.

Adam Lambert Performances

'Is Anybody Listening' & 'Feelin' Good'

The first video displayed below is from Ten Commandments the Musical- The musical starred Val Kilmer and of course Adam Lambert as Joshua- Watch as he gives another great performance singing 'Is Anybody Listening'- We're listening Adam-

The second video is a capture of last nights performance from American Idol that I got off of photobucket (high quality)- I don't know how long it will last before it is disabled, but it's here for now-






Just in case the photobucket video becomes disabled-

Oops She Did It Again

Britney's Tampon On The Loose

Apparently a tampon in Brit is like a hot dog in a hallway-

Iowa Gay Marriages Begin

Iowa Judge Waves Three Day Waiting Period

Shelley Wolfe, left, holds hands with Melisa Keeton, as Rev. Peg Esperanza, center, performs their wedding ceremony outside the Polk County administrative building, Monday, April 27, 2009, in Des Moines, Iowa. Iowa became the third state to allow gay marriage when the state Supreme Court ruled April 3 that a ban on same-sex marriage violated the Iowa Constitution. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)









DES MOINES, Iowa - Same-sex couples in Iowa began filing marriage license applications Monday after a state Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay unions took effect, and the first legal gay weddings took place shortly afterward.

Melisa Keeton and Shelley Wolfe were declared "legally married" by pastor Pat Esperanaza during a ceremony in front of Polk County administrative offices in Des Moines. It didn't take long before they were referring to one another as "wife."

"It's not very romantic is it?" Melisa Keeton joked about the location and media attention at the ceremony.

They will share the last name Keeton.

The marriage came less than an hour after the state Supreme Court ruling took effect. The couple was allowed to bypass the state's three-day waiting period before licenses are considered valid.


Lambda Legal attorney Camilla Taylor speaks to the media at a press conference after the Iowa Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, Friday April 3, 2009 in Des Moines, Iowa. The lead architect behind the lawsuit said "today's victory is a testament to the strength of love, hope and courage. Our clients have shown an abundance of all three for many years and now at long last they will be able to marry. This will go down as another proud day in Iowa's long history of protecting individual rights."said (AP Photo/Steve Pope)




Denny Schrock, left, and Patrick Phillips were among those waiting outside the Polk County Recorders office on Monday to apply for a marriage license.






Officials have reported same-sex couples applying for marriage licenses in several counties.

Waiting for building to open
In Des Moines, about a dozen gay and lesbian couples waited in the rain for the Polk County administrative building to open.

Grant Lan, 35, and his partner Andrew Mahoney-Lan, 32, were first in line. The Windsor Heights couple planned to seek a waiver that would let them marry Monday.

"It's huge to be here first," Mahoney-Lan said.

Alicia Zacher, 24, and her 22-year-old fiancee Jessica Roach, both of Des Moines, said they have a 4 p.m. appointment to get married if they can get a waiver. They want to get married immediately after seeing how California voters reinstated a ban on same-sex marriage.

"You just never know when they'll try to take it away," Roach said.

A handful of Iowa's largest counties were seeing a rush right away, but foot traffic from same-sex couples began to slow toward midmorning.

At the Pottawattamie County recorder's office in western Iowa, Marilyn Hebing said about 10 couples filed their applications after the office opened, and more were slowly trickling in.

"It was pretty exciting, they were cheering out there," she said of the early morning crowd.

Many telephone calls
Dubuque County Recorder Kathy Flynn Thurlow said three couples had come into her office within the first few hours of opening. Her county, which borders Wisconsin, had gotten many telephone calls inquiring about the licenses.

"I expected even more (applications), already but we just don't know," she said.

In eastern Iowa, Johnson County Recorder Kim Painter, Iowa's only openly gay recorder, said that when she saw the court's declaration "we rolled open our windows and we've been busy."

She said that within the first half hour they had accepted about a half dozen applications and had about 10 more couples waiting to file. Some waited outside on the street under a tent and sipped coffee in what Painter called a "festive atmosphere."

Painter said she and her partner plan to apply to be married this week.

Rumors surfaced over the past week that some recorders would refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples over conflicts with their personal beliefs. Some conservative groups and lawmakers were accused of trying to recruit recorders to refuse the licenses.

State agencies sent out information to recorders statewide last week saying they could be removed from their positions if they don't follow the law and issue the licenses.

"There's a lot of people fishing around out there, but we'll see," said Painter. "I am quite optimistic that all 99 recorders will follow the rule of law and issue licenses."

No problems with licenses
Marilyn Dopheide, the Carroll County recorder and president of the Iowa County Recorder's Association, said that within about an hour of the recorders' offices opening there had been no problems with licenses being issued.

The Iowa Supreme Court's unanimous and emphatic decision on April 3 made Iowa the third state to allow same-sex marriage, joining Massachusetts and Connecticut. For six months last year, California's high court allowed gay marriage before voters banned it in November. Vermont has passed a law that will take effect in September.

(courtesy AP)

Cosmic Close-Up: Saturn

The Ringed Planet In Incredible Detail

These stunning images of Saturn taken by Nasa's Cassini spacecraft show the ringed planet, its moons and rings in the most incredible detail yet.

Extraordinary glimpses of the planet's atmosphere and surfaces add to our expanding understanding of the sixth planet in the solar system, as the Equinox mission approaches its second year.

The images show the incredible differences within the Saturn system. In one image, serene-looking rings are elegantly stacked up around its equator, making a striking contrast to the cratered appearance of its plethora of moons.

(click on images for high resolution download)
This image was taken by Cassini as it moved above the dark side of the planet. As very little light makes its way through the rings, they appear somewhat dark compared with the reflective surface of Saturn. This view combines 45 images taken over the course of about two hours-

Pan, a 17-mile-wide moon coasts into view from behind Saturn (the small white dot within the black horizontal strip in the centre of the image). This photograph was captured from a distance of 1.1million miles away-













The body of the planet itself cuts an even more striking contrast with its moons, with swirling vortexes revealing a seething cauldron of activity. It also shows its largest moon, Titan, to have intriguing parallels with Earth.

‘We're looking at a string of remarkable discoveries - about Saturn's magnificent rings, its amazing moons, its dynamic magnetosphere and about Titan's surface and atmosphere,’ said Dr. Linda Spilker, deputy project scientist.

Rhea, another moon, drifts in front of Saturn. The image was taken at a distance of approximately 358,000 miles away-

The Cassini spacecraft looks through Saturn's translucent inner C ring to capture its yellow-blue atmosphere-












Some of the mission highlights so far include discovering that Titan (Saturn's largest moon) has Earth-like processes and that the small moon Enceladus has a hot-spot at its southern pole - jets on the surface that spew out ice crystals and evidence of liquid water beneath its surface.

The Cassini spacecraft first blasted off from Earth in 1999. In the first five years of its illuminating voyage, it photographed the moon, Mars and Jupiter, only approaching Saturn on June 30, 2004.

The first close-up study of the ringed planet, which ended in June last year, provided such opportunities for exploration and discovery that the space agency extended it for another two years.

One of Saturn's moons, Rhea, passes in front of the planet's largest moon, Titan (lit from behind by the Sun). The Cassini mission found Titan to have parallels with Earth.-

This composite of two images shows Pan, left, and Prometheus, right, in nearby rings. Pan is trailed by a series of edge waves in the outer boundary of the gap. Prometheus just touches the inner edge of Saturn's F ring, and is followed by a series of dark channels-

This image was taken during Cassini's close approach to the moon Iapetus. It was taken with a wide-angle camera at a distance of approximately 2,400 miles-















The extended mission has been called ‘Cassini Equinox’ in anticipation of Saturn’s approaching equinox in August this year, when its equator and planetary rings will align vertically below the sun.

Saturn’s equinox, like that of Earth, is a period of change in the planetary system.

The space agency believes monitoring seasonal shifts in the atmosphere, oceans and land at that time is critical to gain the most insight into the planet’s workings.

Cassini tracks the moon Prometheus as it orbits Saturn. Prometheus is just about to pass behind the planet, and a faint streamer of ring material lies below and to the right of it, in the faint, inner strand of the F ring-

Saturn's high north is a seething cauldron of rolling cloud bands and swirling vortices. This image was taken at a distance of approximately 336,000 miles-















During the extended mission, the spacecraft will orbit Saturn a further 60 times, fly past Saturn's moon Titan 26 more times, Eleceladus seven, and once past each of the moons Dione, Rhea and Helene.

Using a collection of powerful instruments, Cassini scientists will focus on seasonal changes in particular on Titan and Saturn, and unique ring events during the passing of the equinox, including the shadows seen in the rings as the sun passes.

The complex Saturn system has 61 known moons plus hundreds of ‘moonlets’ concealed within its rings.

Small, battered Epimetheus before Saturn's A and F rings, and and smog-enshrouded Titan beyond. The colours here are artificial in order to approximate the scene as it might appear to human eyes-

This bizarre scene shows the cloud-streaked area of Saturn in front of the planet's B ring. The ring's image is warped by the diffuse gas in Saturn's upper atmosphere-















Observations of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, have shed new light on the likely appearance of Earth before life evolved, Nasa believes.

Experts claim the many parallels can be seen in its land formations, which include lakes, rivers, dunes, mountains and possibly volcanoes.

Weather patterns also show striking similarity to those on our own planet, with clouds, rain and snow.

This image shows Saturn's rings and the shadow of nearby Mimas. They are now nearly edge-on toward the Sun, and long moon shadows drape across them. Scientists are now studying the clumpy, disturbed ring material, stretching up to two miles above the ring plane - contrasted with an estimated normal ring thickness of only six feet-

This image shows Saturn through the thick smoggy haze of the upper atmosphere from its largest moon, Titan-

The shadow of Tethys drifts across the face of Saturn. Nearby, shadows of the planet's rings form a darkened band above the equator-

Saturn's northern hemisphere is seen here against its nested rings. The rings have been brightened relative to the planet to enhance visibility-

Stars provide a serene background in this view of Enceladus while it was in eclipse, with Saturn's shadow moving over it. The view shows the moon's south pole-

Cassini looks toward Rhea's cratered, icy landscape with the dark line of Saturn's ringplane and the planet's murky atmosphere as a background. Rhea is Saturn's second-largest moon-

The spacecraft Cassini looks through the fine, smoke-sized ice particles of Saturn's F ring toward the cratered face of Mimas-

Mimas appears to hover above the colourful rings. The large crater seen on the right side of the moon is named after William Herschel, who discovered Mimas in 1789-