Court House Assignment

If not for the differently numbered doors on the left or ride sides, the court house would be the same on every floor. Exiting the quick moving and extravagant elevators with lawyers traveling up or down one floor the casual visitor will find the same wooden benches and the same number of spectators on almost every floor.
At roughly 10 AM, on the fourth floor, called by a regular at the courthouse to be a "madhouse" at times, Judge Fabricant was presiding over the case of F Garcia, who was arrested for trafficking cocaine. Other than a seemingly anxious to leave jury (who immediately scuttled out as soon as the session was adjourned) the judge, lawyers and defendant were the only ones present for the hearing. The defendant never spoke.
After a brief presentation by the prosecutor the judge agreed that the case had to go to trial on a larger scale and scheduled a trial for mid June 2009. Once the judge casually smiled and walked away, everyone rose in honor of her exit and followed suit. The defendant and the lawyer seemed to speak for a moment as papers were packed up. The prosecutor went off int the other direction after the judge.
Despite being a court house, the atmosphere was fairly informal and the judge seemed to be jovial despite the severity of the subject matter. There were no other members of the general public sitting in on the case trying to overhear or observe and the jury did not seem particularly interested. It was hard to gauge the reactions of the defendant.

Broadcast story

Thanks to President Obama, Captain Richard Phillips is now free from Somali pirates. Yesterday the President made the decisive but risky decision to use military snipers to kill three of the pirates. A defense specialist and former British Naval Officer said the Obama administration showed its resolve by refusing to pay ransom. While the recovery is recieving lots of praise from the governments of other countries particularly its allies, some worry that this could increase violence related to piracy in the days to come.

Thoughts on the inaguration

When I first heard the words "President Obama" I wasn't very surprised. It had been a long time in coming since Novemeber when we all marched out into the streets and waded through the fountain on that fateful election night. I had gotten used to the idea of Obama as president, and as difficult as it was, I had managed to elevate him past celebrity status into our country's figure head and chief military leader in my mind. I had gotten over my joy that America had finally overcome its racist past (for the most part). What really did hit home for me though, was the image of President Bush that the camera cut to in the midst of Obama's speech upon his inaguration. It was hard to think that after becoming such a household name I was finally looking at FORMER president Bush. But sitting there I didn't see the goofy, public embarassment that Bush has become in the minds of most Americans, I saw a defeated, aging statesman trying to look as dignified as possible in the midst of people all bursting to celebrate his step down from power. I guess for the first time in a long time...I felt a bit sorry for President Bush. As he departed in his helicopter leaving America with a kiss goodbye and fading into obscurity I wondered what sort of lasting legacy he would leave on this country, and what people would think of him as in fifty years.