Certainly other sites could be doing more complaining, but it’s pretty much no one but bloggers and Rachel Maddow who are raising any objections to Obama’s anti-civil-liberties bent.

Invading & taking over? Like that’s ever worked out for y’all the way you planned it… ;-)

I row row row – I put on the blinders if needed. It keeps everything happy and bright in the Hale family.

If I told you all you had to do was shut down your city and government and businesses would be forced to make sure the middle class survives, wouldnt you do it? Would you even try?

Better to close your eyes and pretend its not happening?

Thats just pathetic, I feel bad for what will happen to you but at the same time you will have deserved it. That wont make it right but if your not even willing to stand up for yourself.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Obama vote for the Patriot Act?

Whatever people may think, I applaud the administration’s conservative approach to unraveling the literal cluster fuck the former administration created.

Whatever people may think, I applaud the administration’s conservative approach to unraveling the literal cluster fuck the former administration created.

Change? Not really, but it will keep the sheeple happy for a a year or two.

Because that was pretty much mine.

Well, I think the puppet on the left speaks the truth.

Hey, who’s that guy in the middle controlling both puppets?—-
– ‘Go back to sleep America — Here’s American Gladiators- here’s 1000 hours of infomercials- shut up! Go to sleep – Oh, and by the way,keep drinking that beer!’ ”

I’m not even being cynical. I think it’s funny!
American govt. is a good old boy network running a giant red herring . It always has been. We all know it. It’s been engineered to keep its citizens distracted and on edge and afraid so we lose focus on the here and now so that we don’t become sovereign onto ourselves.
Don’t worry about it. Let them have their games and dramas and we can just laugh at it and live our lives the best we can while this runs its course.
I do agree that people need to educate themselves though. Blindly eating away on a red herring doesn’t really help. But,hey, if you ordered it– Bon Appetit !

or maybe he yet doesn’t understand the gravity of these policies – can he know everything? maybe we should just keep trying to make as much noise about it as possible and hope at one point he listens.

To be understanding but not complacent seems to be the way forward with this – staying positive about the new administration is very important. The republicans are desperate for us to start losing faith in it as soon as possible. let’s not play their very base game.

Its never too early to point out that we are going in the wrong direction.

Its our duty to point out that the new adm. is not doing what we expect of them.

What are we supposed to do: sit around and wait ?!?!?!

its never to early too point out that its not harder to make the desecion to reverse a policy than it is to make a desicion that is enforcing the old one.
It has already been done in several fields, why should it be more difficult to do it when it comes to civil libs and human rights. Im sorry, but if you get fooled again you are suckers.

Im swedish, that explains the bad language. Now I ask you, please, demand something from the president for once !!

Hugs

Tak, when exactly is it too soon to treat such a cancer?

It seems to me that some people in this thread think that we are discussing the LEGACY of the Obama admin. And obviously its a bit to early for that. But thats not what this is about. This is about DOING SOMETHIN ABOUT OBAMAS POLITICS WHILE WE CAN, ie by not shuting up when we are dissapointed by our politicians.

(Even though, if you want to talk legacy, Obamas legacy will be hurt by his refusal to rectify damage made to your very old and good constitution)

Cheers

Obama is claiming Congress grants him the authority to do the same, to fewer people (Bush just had to say ‘enemy combatant’, Obama has to show participating in hostility – which presumably also opens the door to judicial review). Because Obama’s claimed right is based on acts of Congress, it can be removed by act of Congress. This is something that Bush would never have admitted to.

Here is the actual memo.

This position is limited to the authority upon which the Government is relying to detain the persons now being held at Guantanamo Bay. It is not, at this point, meant to define the contours of authority for military operations generally, or detention in other contexts. A forward-looking multi-agency effort is underway to develop a comprehensive detention policy with respect to individuals captured in connection with armed conflicts and counterterrorism operations, and the views of the Executive Branch may evolve as a result.

This memo is not an expression of the unitary power of the Executive branch. This is a description of the grant of power to the Executive by Congress in the AUMF issued after 9/11, which expressly provides for the president to pursue and detain those who were behind 9/11.

In the past, Bush claimed he could detain these people exclusively under his powers as the Commander-in-Chief.

It is my understanding that Obama has admitted he can only detain them pursuant to the act of Congress, the aforementioned AUMF.

This is a change, and a pretty damn big one, IMHO.

And now I feel foolish.

President Obama is finally sitting in the same position that Bush was in all that time… is there any chance that this has caused an honest change in perspective?

Any chance that now that he has all of the information that Bush had, he thinks this is the best course for all of us?

It’s confusing because I keep thinking to my self, “I want to believe” that Obama has the best intentions for doing this, but then I remember that “I Want To Believe” was also on the poster in Mulders’ office in X-Files.

Can any of you help to remove/reduce the creeping doubt I’m experiencing?

That being said, I kind of liked Bush. He was quite plainly a brutal, cold-blooded murderer. He was an good spokeperson for our foreign policy with those same characteristics.