So what now....

[duke_of_earl]

[bdlaw]

Dow is down to 6800 at end of February....as predicted...you're welcome!

Anyone sick of "Ob-amateur Hour" yet?

Nope.  Let us know when it gets to zero. 

That joke is older than rok.

[Soshin]

Dow is down to 6800 at end of February....as predicted...you're welcome!

Anyone sick of "Ob-amateur Hour" yet?

Nope.  Let us know when it gets to zero. 

[Groovejet]

Dow is down to 6800 at end of February....as predicted...you're welcome!

Anyone sick of "Ob-amateur Hour" yet?

[TheFang]

Change! Hope! Condoms!

Obama Administration to Reverse Bush Rule on 'Conscience' Regulation

Policy Provides Sweeping Federal Protections to Health-Care Workers Who Refuse to Provide Care That Violates Their Beliefs

By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 27, 2009; 11:41 AM

The Obama administration has begun the process of rescinding sweeping new federal protections that were granted in December to health-care workers who refuse to provide care that violates their personal, moral or religious beliefs.

The Office of Management and Budget announced this morning that it was reviewing a proposal to lift the controversial "conscience" regulation, the first step toward reversing the policy. Once the OMB has reviewed the proposal it will be published in Federal Register for a 30-day public comment period.

"We are proposing rescinding the Bush rule," said an official with the Health and Human Services Department, which drafted the rule change.

The administration took the step because the regulation was so broadly written that it could provide protections to health-care workers who object not only to abortion but also to a wide range of health-care services, said the HHS official, who asked not to be named because the process had just begun.

"We've been concerned that the way the Bush rule is written it could make it harder for women to get the care they need. It is worded so vaguely that some have argued it could limit family planning counseling and even potentially blood transfusions and end-of-life care," the official said.

After the 30-day comment period, the regulation could be lifted entirely or it could be modified to make the protections more specific, the official said.

"We support a tightly written conscience clause. We recognize and understand that some providers have objections about abortion, and we want to make sure that current law protects them," the official said. "We want to be thoughtful about this."

The new rule empowers the federal government to cut off federal funding for any state or local government, hospital, health plan, clinic or other entity that does not accommodate doctors, nurses, pharmacists or other employees who refuse to participate in care they find objectionable. The Bush administration adopted the rule at the urging of conservative groups, abortion opponents and others in order to safeguard workers from being fired, disciplined or penalized in other ways.

Women's health advocates, family planning proponents, abortion rights activists and others condemned the regulation, saying it would create a major obstacle to providing many health services, including family planning, infertility treatment and end-of-life care, as well as possibly a wide range of scientific research.

The move marks the latest challenge to the Obama administration's attempt to find more of middle ground on issues related to abortion. President Obama has said repeatedly he hopes those on both sides of the issue can work to reduce the number of abortions by preventing unwanted pregnancies and by offering support to women who do get pregnant and want to continue their pregnancies.

That approach has already been tested. Obama angered abortion opponents when he lifted restrictions on federal funding for international family planning groups that promote abortion. The next closely watched decision will be whether Obama lifts federal restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research.

[elgoodo]

honkey begone!

[TMN]

meh. Send the crackers home to their own countries. <----please read plenty of sarcasm in my statement. If only it were that easy.

[Darna]

+1, AB.  The point of the Order was not to deny due process but to ensure his receipt of it.

[AmbushBug]

You might want to actually look at that Order before you criticize it (or use it to invalidate the other 3):

"Because he is not held at Guantánamo Bay, al-Marri is not covered by the review mandated in the Review and Disposition Order.  Yet it is equally in the interests of the United States that the executive branch undertake a prompt and thorough review of the factual and legal basis for al-Marri’s continued detention, and identify and thoroughly evaluate alternative dispositions.

Accordingly, I direct that a review of al-Marri’s status (”Review”) commence immediately."

-The Washington Independent (emphasis mine)

[jcpeace]

"Yay! The first step in the return of the Constitution and civil rights!"

Really?

The fourth EO once again post-pones the trial of a man who has been held without charges.

but but it's obama denying the guy due process now...so it's all good

[bdlaw]

"Yay! The first step in the return of the Constitution and civil rights!"

Really?

The fourth EO once again post-pones the trial of a man who has been held without charges.

[TheFang]

Obama repudiates Bush interrogation policies



Thursday, President Obama signed four executive orders that represent a break with Bush administration policies about the treatment of detainees suspected of involvement with terrorism. One order mandates the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay within a year; another lays out rules for interrogation, a third establishes a task force to determine how to deal with those currently held at Guantanamo and the fourth is about the case of detainee Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri.

By the time Obama signed the orders, they weren't a surprise. But some of the wording still stands out, particularly this section from the order regarding interrogations:

   

From this day forward, unless the Attorney General with appropriate consultation provides further guidance, officers, employees, and other agents of the United States Government may, in conducting interrogations, act in reliance upon Army Field Manual 2 22.3, but may not, in conducting interrogations, rely upon any interpretation of the law governing interrogation -- including interpretations of Federal criminal laws, the Convention Against Torture, Common Article 3, Army Field Manual 2 22.3, and its predecessor document, Army Field Manual 34 52 issued by the Department of Justice between September 11, 2001, and January 20, 2009.

Short version: With one stroke of a pen, Obama just erased more than seven years of the Justice Department's legal justifications for the Bush administration's interrogation policies.
― Alex Koppelman

-------------

Yay! The first step in the return of the Constitution and civil rights!

[bdlaw]

Was not related, Bug.

Fang cites one instance.

Has torture occured?  I'm sure it has.  Has it occured regularly, sanctioned, as the rule rather than the exception?  I don't know. Depends on how you define torture and it depends on what you mean by "sanctioned."

My emphasis:

"The techniques they used were all authorized, but the manner in which they applied them[/i] was overly aggressive and too persistent. . . .

[Soshin]

Kinda understandable that people would be a teeny bit anti-American once you've been flown halfway around the world. locked up and tortured.  Another great example of how to create a terrorist brought to you by the Bush administration....

[AmbushBug]

Bede, how does your post support your point about whether or not detaining people without trial —and then torturing them— is legal or illegal?

[bdlaw]

And on the flip side...

Pentagon: Ex-Gitmo detainees resume terror acts

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Dozens of suspected terrorists released by the United States from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are believed to have returned to terrorism activities, according to the Pentagon.

Pentagon officials say 61 former Gitmo detainees have committed or are suspected of returning to terrorism.

Since 2002, 61 former detainees have committed or are suspected to have committed attacks after being released from the detention camp, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said at a briefing Tuesday.

The number is up since the Pentagon's last report in March 2008 when officials said 37 former detainees had been suspected of returning to the battlefield since 2002.

Since 2007, more than 100 detainees were released, significantly more than in previous years, according to Pentagon officials.

According to the statistics, of the 61 former detainees that are believed to have returned to fighting, 18 have been officially confirmed while 43 are suspected, Morrell said.

The 18 were confirmed through intelligence, photographs, fingerprints and other information, Morrell said.

Of the 43 other detainees suspected of taking part in terrorist attacks, only "plausible reporting" on their activities indicated some kind of involvement, according to Morrell.

Officials would only identify one of the confirmed attackers, Adballah Salih al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti man released from U.S. custody at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in 2005. Pentagon officials said Salih al-Ajmi blew himself up in a suicide attack in Iraq in April 2008.

Since 2002, the Pentagon has released about 520 detainees to their home countries or counties that agreed to take them. Some have been released in full by those countries while others are still being held.

"There, clearly, are people who are being held at Guantanamo who are still bent on doing harm to America, Americans and our allies, so there will have to be some solution for the likes of them," Morrell said.

About 250 detainees remain held at Guantanamo and about 60 of those detainees have been cleared for release by the Pentagon, but their home countries will not take them or the U.S. believes they could be harmed by their governments if returned.

President-elect Barack Obama has said he intends to shut down Guantanamo. Earlier this week, two sources close to the Obama transition team said he could issue an order to do so as early as his first week in office, saying that Obama believes "the legal framework at Gitmo has failed to successfully and swiftly prosecute terrorists."

[TheFang]

I don't necessarily think what happened *was* illegal.

Well luckily the Constitution isn't based on what you think.

You really think this was legal?:

Detainee Tortured, Says U.S. Official

The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, interrogating him with techniques that included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, leaving him in a "life-threatening condition."

"We tortured [Mohammed al-]Qahtani," said Susan J. Crawford, in her first interview since being named convening authority of military commissions by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in February 2007. "His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case" for prosecution.

Crawford, a retired judge who served as general counsel for the Army during the Reagan administration and as Pentagon inspector general when Dick Cheney was secretary of defense, is the first senior Bush administration official responsible for reviewing practices at Guantanamo to publicly state that a detainee was tortured.

Crawford, 61, said the combination of the interrogation techniques, their duration and the impact on Qahtani's health led to her conclusion. "The techniques they used were all authorized, but the manner in which they applied them was overly aggressive and too persistent. . . . You think of torture, you think of some horrendous physical act done to an individual. This was not any one particular act; this was just a combination of things that had a medical impact on him, that hurt his health. It was abusive and uncalled for. And coercive. Clearly coercive. It was that medical impact that pushed me over the edge" to call it torture, she said.

more...

[bdlaw]

I don't necessarily think what happened *was* illegal.

[TheFang]

Y'know what bd, you're right, none of those people who actually drew up and enacted those "tactics" should be held responsible first, lets first go after the people who 5 years later funded it.

Besides, don't we have special rules for not prosecuting the mentally handicapped?

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/rToKEnySb7s&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/rToKEnySb7s&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1</a>

[bdlaw]

. . . should be investigated and we should all know who they are and let them be run out on a rail and we should run them out on a rail.

Sigh, the passive voice. I'm sick of iffy lefty speech. No-one's gonna do it for us, Fang. We have to do it ourselves.

But I agree, they all need to go to federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison.

Fine, start with the new Chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee

[AmbushBug]

. . . should be investigated and we should all know who they are and let them be run out on a rail and we should run them out on a rail.

Sigh, the passive voice. I'm sick of iffy lefty speech. No-one's gonna do it for us, Fang. We have to do it ourselves.

But I agree, they all need to go to federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison.

[TheFang]

Psst.. Fang:

Fienstein and company have been briefed on this stuff since what, '05?

Where was the outrage back then?  Why no blocking action in Congress?  They could've simply with held funds yet didn't.  If all this stuff was patently illegal didn't folks like Diane Fienstein have a legal and moral obligation to do something about it?

Oh believe me, there is plenty of outrage on my part. As far as I'm concerned congress and those with access to this information and authorized it should be investigated and prosecuted as well. Everyone who is responsible for war crimes and crimes against the American people (y'know like wiretapping and detaining citizens and the like) should be investigated and we should all know who they are and let them be run out on a rail.

This isn't partisan for me. This is right and wrong.

[bdlaw]

Psst.. Fang:

Fienstein and company have been briefed on this stuff since what, '05?

Where was the outrage back then?  Why no blocking action in Congress?  They could've simply with held funds yet didn't.  If all this stuff was patently illegal didn't folks like Diane Fienstein have a legal and moral obligation to do something about it?

[TheFang]

Hey Mr. Almost President Guy,
As much as I love this. If this isn't enough of a reason to "look to the past", then I don't know what is.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ghMeeXxYbho&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/ghMeeXxYbho&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1</a>

Sunday, 1/11/9 ABC News.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So no 9/11 Commission with independent seeking of power?

OBAMA: Well we have not made any final decisions but my instinct is for us to focus on how do we make sure that moving forward, we are doing the right thing. That doesn't mean that if somebody has blatantly broken the law, that they are above the law. But my orientation's going to be to move forward.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So let me just press that one more time. You're not ruling out prosecution, but will you tell your Justice Department to investigate these cases and follow the evidence where it leads?

OBAMA: What I -- I think my general view when it comes to my attorney general is that he's the people's lawyer. Eric Holder's been nominated. His job is to uphold the Constitution and look after the interests of the American people. Not be swayed by my day-to-day politics. So ultimately, he's going to be making some calls. But my general belief is that when it comes to national security, what we have to focus on is getting things right in the future as opposed to looking at what we got wrong in the past.

[TheFang]

Sincerely,
 
Jello Biafra

I would like to know two things. One, did he actually sign it as "Jello Biafra" and not "Eric Reed Boucher"? And two, do we think Obama knows who the Dead Kennedys are (and 2a) does he like them? Because that would make me even more pleased to have voted for him.

[Soshin]

Jesus by the time I finish reading that Obama's term will be over.

I transcribed that by hand you ungrateful toothless bugger..... 

[bdlaw]

Jesus by the time I finish reading that Obama's term will be over.

[Soshin]

My Friends (couldn't resist, I had to say it),
 
Here, by semi-popular demand, are the suggestions I sent to Obama's Change.gov site for citizen input.  It veers from writing to Obama himself to writing for the people who may actually read this.  A lot of these ideas may be familiar from my albums and spoken word shows.  For the most part I stayed away from the big no-brainers covered by others, and from ideas he would never agree to in a million years.
 
I did not vote for him because of his record in Congress voting for the PATRIOT Act, the anti-immigrant wall, numerous corporate breaks and subsidies, the FISA bill legalizing all the NSA's illegal wiretapping, etc.  Nevertheless I, too, felt moved by his speech in the park that night in Chicago, seeing Jesse Jackson cry and wondering how Martin Luther King, Jr would have felt.  I can only imagine how much this would have meant to Wesley Willis. 
 
And, yes, I am glad that the adult version of the Eraserhead baby and his pitbull pal were not handed the keys to the White House.
 
I guess that's why it hurts so much more when the guy we all wish we could hang out with when we see him on TV turns around and backs the wrong position on something important.  We expect this from the Clintons and Bidens of the world, but it hurts more with Obama because he knows better.  He even said so on the FISA/NSA spying bill that he so eloquently opposed before he changed his vote.  His economic and national security teams so far lack anyone from the "change" side of the Democratic Party.  Not a good sign.
 
If you have ideas or comments, don't just send them to me, send them to Change.gov!  Even I have the audacity to hope that if one of these ideas penetrates up top, it is a chance worth taking.  Tom Hayden is one of many who have pointed out that it is up to this movement to drive Obama, not the other way around.
 
JELLO BIAFRA
 
--------------------------
OPEN LETTER TO BARACK OBAMA
 
PREAMBLE GAMBLE
 
 
Dear Mr. Obama,
 
Congratulations on your recent victory, and for helping build such a strong mandate for change.  In that spirit, please do not forget the other aisle you need to reach across.  All the relief and publicity for the middle class won't do anything for the 40-100 million Americans who are starving, unemployed or just plain poor.
 
You have gone out of your way to build a bridge to those of us fed up with war, pollution, inequality, corporate lawlessness and business as usual.  You have energized a whole new generation who is far ahead of their elders in knowing what urgently needs to be done.  I have never seen such an outpouring of heartfelt emotion, hope and support for an American politician in my life, and I remember Kennedy well.  You are the first president in my lifetime to have a bona fide grassroots movement behind you and ready to rock.  I hope those crowds' hope and urgency has penetrated deeply enough that you won't let that bridge be washed away. 
 
I remember another person who had the audacity to exploit and toss aside people's hope, and his name is Bill Clinton.  Democrats fail time and again when they shirk responsibility and settle for being dealmakers instead of leaders.  As important as it is to find common ground and build consensus for change, our situation is so dire we cannot afford any more dealmakers.  The people voted for a leader.  Anything less risks breaking the hearts of an entire galvanized generation who may then decide it is not worth it to get involved and participate any more.
 
 
Strong medicine is needed.  Here are some ideas:
 
IRAQ - TRY THIS!
 
The closest thing to a solution I have heard was offered clear back in April 2004 by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (www.oic-ico.org).  The OIC is comprised of 57 Islamic countries ranging from West Africa clear over to Southeast Asia.  At their annual meeting they found six member nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Yemen and Morocco) willing to pony up enough of their own troops (approx. 150,000) that our troops could have gone home!  Who slammed the door on that one?  Colin Powell, on the grounds that having the Islamic soldiers under UN command instead of Americans was out of the question.
 
WHY??!?  Wouldn't a neutral force of Muslim peacekeepers make a lot more headway than the disaster we've made?  Wouldn't they at least command a lot more respect, resulting in a huge drop in violence?  Surely the non-stop carnage and Iracketeering we have spawned is Exhibit A that we need to get over this colonialist illusion that other countries' problems can only be solved by Americans.  The OIC's proposal for US withdrawal and peace in Iraq must be revisited immediately, and also considered for Afghanistan.
 
We must end not just our military occupation of Iraq, but our economic occupation NOW.  Iraq is not ours to sell, and neither is its oil.  Your promise not to leave any permanent US military bases in Iraq is a good start.  But you have also backed leaving US troops in Iraq to "protect American assets like the Green Zone."  The Green Zone is not our "asset."  We stole it and we have to give it back.  I hope you don't seriously believe we can get away with that giant feudal fortress of an embassy we are building, ten times the size of any other in history.  We cannot afford to waste any more money on this, or down the black hole of the Bush administration's crony backroom deals with corrupt, incompetent private contractors like Blackwater, KBR and Halliburton.  We need to fire them and they need to leave--NOW.
 
We do owe the Iraqi people help, and we have an obligation to clean up the mess we have made.  That goes double for Afghanistan.  But I can't see this getting done unless someone other than the United States is in charge.  Let us also not forget the 2 million-plus refugees stuck outside Iraq who are draining the economies of Iraq's neighbors, especially Jordan and Syria.
 
 
TERROR - STRATEGY AND DIPLOMACY, NOT WAR
 
Even if we kill off every insurgent and terrorist-sympathizer from sea to shining sea, what will their kids be like?  And theirs?  Wake up.  The major cause of terrorism is not evil, it's poverty.  Michael Moore said it best after 9/11: "Will we ever get to the point that we realize we will be more secure when the rest of the world isn't living in poverty so we can have nice running shoes?"  What do we need an empire for anyway?  Ever notice how much happier the British and Europeans are now that they don't have to worry about policing colonial empires anymore?
 
Many experts and heads of state, in the Middle East and beyond, agree that the best way by far to pull the rug out from under the terrorists and reduce their attacks dramatically is a just and humane resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Israel's right to exist is threatened most by the fact that hardcore zealots are running the show on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides.  If we don't have the courage to stand up to them, who will?  As painful as withdrawal to Israel's pre-1967 borders will be, our future depends on it.  So does Israel's.  As Reagan said to Gorbachev, "Tear down this wall!"
 
Threatening Iran made for great red meat on the campaign trail.  But any attack on Iran--by us or using the Israelis as a proxy--will blow up in our face worse than Iraq and Afghanistan combined.  It will wipe out any good will and benefit of a doubt we have left in the eyes of the rest of the world.  Iran is three times the size of Iraq and much more mountainous.  The people there already hate our guts, thanks to our overthrow of their democratically elected leader Mohammed Mossadegh in 1954, ushering in 25 years of torture under the Shah.  Backing and aiding Saddam Hussein in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war that cost a million lives did not help either.
 
So, alas, we will not be "greeted as liberators."  But we could run straight into a worldwide "Day the Earth Stood Still" if Iran responds by blocking all oil shipments out of the Persian Gulf.  Iran knows full well they wouldn't even have to blockade the narrow Strait of Hormuz.  All they would have to do is sink a tanker or freighter or two and no other ships will move.  Not from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, nothing.  Surely we can do better than this.  Even Robert Gates seems to think so.  Reckless threats against Pakistan will not solve anything, either.
 
 
JUST SAY NO TO TORTURE
 
Closing Guantanamo Bay is not enough.  All torture, detentions without trial, kidnappings ("renditions") and illegal and unnecessary spying must end--and end with transparency now.  Otherwise we are no better than Saddam Hussein or the Nazis.  The whole world knows this and the whole world is watching.  What about the 20,000 people we still have locked up without charge in Iraq, and thousands more in Afghanistan???
 
The USA PATRIOT Act is just about the worst mistake our government has made since FDR threw over 100,000 Japanese-American citizens into concentration camps during World War II.  Even you panicked and voted to make the PATRIOT Act permanent.  It should be repealed and flushed down the toilet immediately--all of it.  Even worse is the Military Commissions Act, in which Senators who should know better, such as Robert Byrd, Sherrod Brown, Ken Salazar and even John McCain voted with the majority to legalize torture, kidnapping and secret trials with secret evidence, wiping out the centuries old human right to habeas corpus.  Again, isn't this what our "greatest generation" fought so bravely in World War II to stop the Nazis from doing to us?
 
What galls me most is that all this iron-fisted trashing of our basic human rights has not caught and convicted one significant terrorist!  Even the FBI admits that torture doesn't work.
 
Meanwhile, if we're serious about preventing another terror attack, why is only 10% of the cargo entering our ports on ships ever inspected?  Sure, no airliners have been hijacked by a terrorist wielding the wrong-sized shampoo bottle.  But those cargo containers are big enough to smuggle in a small arsenal of rocket launchers and shoulder-fired missiles that could actually bring down a plane; dirty bomb material; or even Bin Laden himself.  I sometimes wonder if he's driving a cab in Manhattan right now. 
 
 
RESTORE THE RULE OF LAW
 
This means investigating and prosecuting each and every Bush administration official and their cronies who may have committed crimes while in power.  Otherwise the lesson learned is you can get away with anything you want because the next administration will be too spineless to take action.  For crying out loud, DO NOT make the same mistake Bill Clinton did when he let the rampant corruption, perjury and even terrorist acts of the Reagan and Bush I regimes go unpunished in the interest of moving on from the past. The crime here is this:  Not only does everyone involved assume they have license to break even more laws the next time they hold power, but those who should be in jail for the lying, arms smuggling, assassinations and drug dealing in the Contra-gate scandal (like Elliot Abrams, Colin Powell, Richard Armitage and Robert Gates among others) are instead handed even more powerful positions where they have done even worse damage.  Can you imagine the havoc and hooliganism if we put our heads in the sand after Watergate, let bygones be bygones, and G. Gordon Liddy wound up as director of the FBI?  Secretary of Defense Haldeman?  Attorney General Ehrlichman?  Karl Rove's chair occupied by Colson, Magruder or Segretti?
 
Watergate and even Contra-gate pale in comparison to the wholesale lawlessness this time around. From Jack Abramoff's bribes, to outing Valerie Plame; from lying about weapons of mass destruction and getting thousands of people killed; from wholesale fraud and attacks on the right to vote, to the gutting of the Justice Department, to torture and other possible war crimes--this can't be allowed to go on.
 
Cheney and Rumsfeld were bad enough.  But it is equally critical that lower-echelon culprits lacking household names like John Yoo, David Addington (nicknamed "Cheney's Cheney"), and General Geoffrey Miller be held accountable for their alleged involvement in torture and other serious crimes.  Otherwise, they could one day rise to Attorney General, Secretary of Defense, or even the Supreme Court and pick up right where they left off in their blood-soaked shredding of the Constitution. 
 
Even a South African-style Truth Commission would be an important step in preventing this from ever happening again.  Otherwise, why should I or anyone else obey the law when my own government does not even pretend to?  Even if Bush pardons the most blatant war criminals, all we have to do is fulfill President Clinton's promise to join the rest of the world in the International Criminal Court and they might not get away with it after all.  We must come clean and drain the swamp now or it is just going to get dirtier.  A lot dirtier.
 
Rule of law must also be restored when it comes to the NSA, FISA and domestic spying.  The Internet revolt by your own followers was right.  Your vote for letting the NSA, and even the phone companies, off the hook for massive illegal spying on American citizens was a very bad mistake.  These are the exact same crimes that got Nixon thrown out of office for Watergate.  Now Watergate is legal too?  I have to say it--this doesn't remind me of Nixon as much as Italy's ordeal under Silvio Berlusconi.  In Italy I have heard the joke again and again that "Berlusconi has to stay in power or else he'll go to jail."  Sure enough, every time Berlusconi gets indicted for yet another crime, his majority in Parliament simply changes the law and he goes free.  There should be zero tolerance for Berlusconi disease.
 
Plus, does this much spying even make sense?  What are we gaining here besides a bigger avalanche of useless data?  If 9/11 was an inside job, it was not one of conspiracy but colossal, runaway incompetence.  We were already spying on way too many people, collecting way too much data that no one had time to analyze.  Thus finding the real terrorists before they struck was like looking for a needle in a football stadium.
 
I have a feeling you may sign an important bill or two right from the podium during your inauguration speech.  It might be an economic stimulus package or lifting the ban on stem cell research.  How about also signing your first executive order declaring all of Bush's presidential signing statements he added on to bills he signed to be null and void.  These things will go a long way toward restoring the rule of law.
 
 
STAMP OUT ELECTION FRAUD - RESTORE THE RIGHT TO VOTE
 
I never thought that after all these years we would once again find ourselves fighting for our right to vote.  In the United States of America?  It is well-established now that every election at least since 2000, including the midterms, has been marred by widespread vote fraud, especially via the hacking and manipulations of electronic voting machines.  But these widespread crimes have never been fully investigated, let alone prosecuted.  Even the US Civil Rights Commission recommended prosecuting then-Governor Jeb Bush over all the fraud and voter intimidation in Florida during the 2002 election.  But his brother's Justice Department declined.
 
It is obvious the Help America Vote Act has backfired and done the opposite.  Optical scan machines are not the answer at all.  They have now been proven to be just as hackable as the notorious paperless touch-screens.  They should all be junked once and for all.  Digital is not always better, and voting should not be privatized.  Any system where the people's votes are counted in secret behind closed doors has no place in a democracy.  Nor is there room for contracting out the verification of our registration forms to the same corrupt biased companies that manufacture the phony voting machines. 
 
We can't just let this massive, widespread vote stealing go on and pretend it isn't happening.  It may be too late to reverse the wreckage of all the stolen elections.  But again, a Truth Commission to prove how it was done and who did it is essential to the survival of our democracy.  Anyone in Congress with a spine for this?  The people have a right to know.
 
 
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM-THE EASY WAY
 
I am sure you would agree that this election campaign was way WAY too long. Other countries, including one just north of us, limit campaign time to between 30 and 60 days.  Election fever is much more focused so voter participation is higher.  Why can't we do this?  Sure, these other countries use parliamentary systems (another change I hope for) where the party in power calls an election and it takes place a short time later.  But think of what we could save--and what we would gain--if we limited campaign time to 90 days.  There could be 30 days between announcements and the primaries, followed by a 30-day primary season, then a 30-day home stretch to Election Day.  Anyone who jumps the gun by jockeying, soliciting contributions or electioneering too early is automatically disqualified.
 
I hope you would also agree that campaigns for high office have become obscenely expensive.  We now have a full-blown Election Industrial Complex.  Wouldn't it be great if you didn't need $750 million to run for President?  The way our campaign contributions and lobbyists work today has another name in other countries.  It's called bribery.
 
Another way to restore sanity is to go national with a law enacted by popular vote in Nevada.  If you don't like any of the candidates for an office in Nevada, you are allowed to vote None of the Above.  If N.O.T.A. wins, they have to re-run the election with all new candidates. 
 
You say you want more people to get up and get involved?  Lower the voting age!  To get people's attention I have suggested lowering it clear down to age 5.  But more realistically, I suggest showing people they have a stake in our democracy by allowing ages 14 and up to vote on school boards and school bond issues, 16 and up for local offices and ballot measures, and 18 and up for everything else. Overcoming voter apathy is hard, but when young people cast votes and see results, they'll stick with it long term.
 
 
RETHINK AND SHUT DOWN THE WAR ON DRUGS
 
Prohibition is as absurd and fruitless today as it was when Eliot Ness ran around shooting up Chicago trying to stamp out illegal beer.  The world is laughing at us while real people are being robbed, jailed, assaulted and even killed.  We have more people locked in prison than any country in the history of the world.  But our drug use rate has barely dropped at all.  The blood and violence from gangs and narco-traffickers that have left Colombia and Mexico on the verge of becoming failed states is spilling across our borders.  This is no country for old men--or old laws.
 
Could we do worse than to at least try the Harm Reduction programs used most successfully in Holland and other parts of Europe?  As unorthodox as this sounds, decriminalizing (not legalizing) even harder drugs, making them available on prescription from the government for free, along with a safe place to use them, has led to a much lower crime rate--and even addiction rate--than ours.  Why?  The free prescriptions mean the addict does not have to rob and kill people to pay the drug gangs' high prices, and the gangs are put out of business.  Dealers are still treated harshly and rehab is strongly encouraged.  This could also save up to $50 billion a year for rehab and education that is otherwise wasted by throwing people in prison.
 
This also frees up billions and billions of dollars to treat the addicts when they want to get off drugs--which will be sooner rather than later.  Rehab costs 2/3 less than prison.  Our mushrooming prison-industrial complex is draining our money so badly that state after state is slashing funds for education--education!--to pay for throwing more and more people in prison.  In California, a prison guard now makes more money than a teacher.  So much for family values.
 
What is wrong with this picture?!???  As president I suggest the commuting of federal prison sentences of all small-time non-violent drug offenders to time served and releasing them immediately.  Then strongly urge governors to do the same at the state level.  Again, think of all the wasted taxpayer dollars this will free up for more important things like education and rehabilitation.  Estimates run as high as $50 billion nationwide.
 
This does not mean any of these drugs should be legalized, just decriminalized.  That is, strictly regulated like alcohol and tobacco, with big-time dealers and gangs treated as harshly as ever.  For another way to fight the drug lords, consider this.  In 2005 the United States spent $780 million on drug eradication in Afghanistan.  Where on earth did it all go?  It worked so poorly that $600 million of poppies and heroin escaped into the market anyway. 
 
Do the math:  We could have saved a whopping $180 million if we had simply gone to the suppliers and bought the drugs, and then destroyed them so they won't keep making people sick and killing my friends.  As sickening as it is to even think of doing business with drug cartels, can anyone think of a better way to cut off the supply?  A counter-argument is that this will actually force the gangs to drive the street price way up.  But with Harm Reduction programs already in place they will have nothing to sell, no place to sell it, and no suckers willing to buy.
 
And for crying out loud, isn't it time to finally get real and decriminalize marijuana?  If current strains are more potent than the old days, so what?  Study after study still proves that marijuana is less harmful--and less addictive--than alcohol or tobacco.  Nowadays, going overboard against marijuana has not only flooded our prisons to the breaking point, it has driven the price of cannabis so high that young people are going straight into crack cocaine and methamphetamines.  Is this wise?
 
On top of that, it is not just oil we are dangerously low on, we are running out of wood.  If we ever hope to turn the tide on global warming and save what is left of our forests, we must remove all bans on the cultivation of cannabis for its many industrial uses--including the strain of hemp that has no THC in it to get anyone high but is still banned anyway.  Recycling is not enough.  Why chop down millions of trees to make paper when we can use hemp or kanaf and then grow another crop of paper a few months later?  It does not get any greener than this.  It will also help rescue a lot of family farms. 
 
Finally, the Joe Biden-authored Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act (formerly known as the RAVE Act), passed as a rider to the Amber Alert Bill, is as big a disgrace as the PATRIOT Act.  It has no place in a free society and should be repealed immediately.  Long-term rescue of our social fabric and society, not to mention our southern neighbors, depends in major part on enacting humane drug laws.
 
 
RESTORE BALANCE TO THE SUPREME COURT
 
Even George Will complained that Bill Clinton's Supreme Court nominees were too moderate; that the court needs a good progressive or two for the full and thorough consideration of each issue.  Balancing the court means choosing a justice or two with the passion and spirit of a Thurgood Marshall, John Marshall or William O. Douglas, even if you do not fully agree with them.  You may only have a two-year window before a mid-term Congress cramps your style.
 
 
MEDIA REFORM
 
The Federal Communications Commission should get off their high horse about Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" or naughty words that everyone says anyway, and instead focus on the rampant hate speech and outright lies that are falsely broadcast as impartial news.  Sure, celebrity bullies like Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck, and Ann Coulter have a right to say what they want.  But when no one--even the target of a personal attack--is allowed the right to reply, the very idea of an informed democracy goes out the window.  Was that their goal in the first place?
 
Nowadays, mainstream corporate media deliberately dumbing down the news, omitting key facts and sides of the story, or neglecting to report the story altogether is the worst form of censorship going on in America today.  Since the big mergers, most debate that gets aired at all is restricted to right wing versus ultra-right wing, while the rest of us are allowed to laugh along with Stewart and Colbert.  What kind of democracy are we when freedom of speech--or the equally important right to communicate--belongs only to the oligarchs who control the airwaves?
 
There used to be a law called the Fairness Doctrine that guaranteed the right of reply, without Bill O'Reilly yelling at you to shut up every 15 seconds. It was allowed to expire late in the Reagan years, and urgently needs to be renewed.  Your stated opposition to this puzzles me.  What better tool is there for "opening up the airwaves and modern communications to as many diverse viewpoints as possible" than making sure they are allowed to be seen and heard in the first place?  And how about some enforcement of the laws guaranteeing that the public, not corporations, owns the airwaves.  Even the big corporate media barons should again be required to renew their FCC license to broadcast every five years, complete with public hearings.
 
I also do not think anyone should be allowed to graduate from high school until they pass a class on media literacy.  Sadly, we do not yet have the curriculum.  In the meantime we must all pitch in with the teaching--to both adults and children.
 
 
ECONOMIC STIMULUS - START WITH PEOPLE WHO NEED IT MOST
 
I'm glad there seems to be a sense up top that national security, the economy, climate collapse and the environment are all intertwined.  Think about it.  No rogue state or terrorist threatens our national security nearly as much as our collapsing economy.  The growing gap between the rich and poor is what is tearing apart the lives of average Americans and their families.
 
National security means:
 
+   Everyone has a home.
+   Everyone has enough decent food to eat.
+   Everyone can drink the water without having to buy it in a bottle from Coke or Pepsi.
+   No one has to worry about getting their hand cut off at work or having their job outsourced overseas.
+   Everyone can be who they are without fear of being detained and tortured without trial.
+   Everyone can vote without fear, knowing their vote will be counted--accurately.
+   Every woman has the right to choose what to do with her own body.
+   Everyone has enough money for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
+   Everyone, even if they don't have money, has the right to see a doctor if they're sick or hurt.  In so many other countries this is a guaranteed human right by law.
 
Stimulating and reviving the economy will only succeed from the ground up.  This means getting a lot more money quickly to the people on the bottom who need it the most.  When they finally have some cash in their pocket they will be more than eager to spend it.  Stores perk up, jobs are saved, and the train is finally rolling out of the station.  This is why leaders as diverse as Martin Luther King, Milton Friedman and even Richard Nixon have at different times proposed a guaranteed annual income so that everyone can participate and keep our economy humming.  Raise the minimum wage to a living wage: $9.50 an hour helps, but $12 an hour is closer to a true living wage.  Welfare should not be a dirty word, especially after PBS reported last month that if you count all the Americans who have given up looking for work because they can't find any and dropped off the radar screen, unemployment is actually around 12%!  So please remove the time limits on unemployment compensation, welfare benefits and Aid to Families with Dependent Children that were slapped on the least fortunate during the Clinton years.
 
But where will the money come from when we burn it all up shoveling it down the mouths of the dragons on Wall Street?  You are right to point out that trickle-down supply-side economics never trickled down.  It wasn't supposed to.  How will this be any different?  To the average taxpayer this so-called bailout looks more like the last great looting of our treasury before Bush and his cronies get the hell out of dodge.  There is also growing concern about the appearance of self-dealing by officials with connections to Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. 
 
So far your own economic team seems alarmingly slanted toward the robber barons who helped create this mess in the first place.  Where is Joseph Stiglitz?  Where is Robert Reich?  Are we still all in this together?  Your Economic Advisory Council is supposed to be a council, not a choir!  You say you want a support staff that debate and give you diverse ideas.  So even if you do not agree with them, how about adding William Greider or Doug Henwood or even Naomi Klein as well?
 
 
GREEN JOBS THROUGH GREEN AID
 
Let's move even faster on climate collapse.  The clock is ticking...
 
Your proposal to spend $150 billion on our crumbling infrastructure is a good beginning.  But it is only 10% of the $1.5 trillion in urgent repairs the American Society of Civil Engineers says we need right now to avoid more disasters like the freeway bridge collapse in Minnesota.  This does not even account for restocking the Bush-depleted Superfund to clean up toxic waste, or creating affordable housing for everyone.  Your plan states, "We'll put people back to work rebuilding our roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children and building wind farms and solar panels, fuel efficient cars and the alternative energy technology that could free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead."  Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to spend whatever it takes to weather-strip and winterize old homes and buildings now if the owners can't afford it.  It will reduce our swollen carbon footprint dramatically and save tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars over the next few years.  How about aid for solar panels?  Home windmills too?  Not just tax breaks, aid.  Most people just don't have the money for this.  Time magazine reported in 2001 that an American farmer could get $50 for an acre of wheat and $2000 for an acre of wind power.  We either pay to do this now or pay a lot more later.  Europeans are already way ahead of us on this one.
 
Also, look for ways to accomplish two or three things at once with every renewal project.  Replacing the water or sewer lines?  Lay fiber optic cable!  Our not-so-liberal mayor in San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, nixed that idea because there was not enough graft in it for telecom companies.  His own silly plan for wi-fi towers fell on its face, so a smart opportunity was wasted.
 
 
AUTO AID - REQUIRE GREENER CARS
 
Ever seen a documentary film called Who Killed the Electric Car?  They worked so well their owners did not want to give them back.  But when their leases came up, Detroit snatched them away and destroyed them.  Now Detroit wants a great big handout?  Then another?  Then another?  There should be no bailout for carmakers if all they are willing to offer in return is more fuel-hogging clunkers like the Ford Flex.  No aid until they bring back the electric cars!  If the Chevy Volt is so great, why aren't they selling them now?  For almost 30 years, people who go to design schools have told me that the car designers almost always pursue jobs overseas because Detroit is still unable to adapt as quickly to fresh ideas for the future.
 
So far "clean coal" seems to be about as clean as our mountains of "clean nuclear waste."  Again, no aid to big coal companies unless they end their environmentally devastating "mountain top removal" plundering once and for all.
 
 
TRAINS MAKE SENSE - PEOPLE ARE READY
 
Another crucial way to fight global warming and reduce our dependence on foreign oil is to wake up and get serious about a nationwide high-speed rail system and better rapid transit in the cities.  Again, Europe, Japan, and even China are way ahead of us.  When I do my speaking tours in Europe it is so much easier and less expensive than traveling here:  Just take my backpack and go.  Even a normal train is often faster than flying.  No traffic jams getting to the airport, no long security lines, no baggage claim wait, no traffic jams back into the next town.  I just get on the train and get off the train, right downtown.  The scenery is pretty cool too.
 
Amtrak has hemorrhaged money year after year.  But ridership is finally going up, in spite of the decimated service.  People have finally grown so fed up with traffic jams, fuel prices and the arrogance of our bumbling airline industry that a proper train system would now do very well.  Just ask former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson, another intriguing choice for a high position in your administration.  Californians finally passed a bond issue to begin work on a long-overdue bullet train system between San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles.  People I have talked to in random conversation are almost as excited about this as they are about your own election.  A similar initiative passed in Florida in 2000, but Governor Jeb Bush impounded the funds.
 
Surely we can find the money by canceling a few aircraft carriers, tanks and planes we don't need, and by shutting off the faucet for the hundreds of billions wasted on Reagan's star wars fantasy--now known as "missile defense."  Are those new installations in the Czech Republic and Poland really worth all the grief they're stirring up with the Russians?  The Czech and Polish people don't even want them there!
 
Green energy technology should also be shared, even given, to the Chinese ASAP.  Here on the West Coast I have to  wipe a brown sooty film off my windshield every couple of days--and my car is in a garage!  It is coal dust from Chinese factories.  They open a new coal plant ever few days.  According to Mother Jones, sustaining an American lifestyle for a Chinese middle class predicted to reach 600 million will require the resources of several more Earths!
 
 
COMPETE GLOBALLY - TAKE BETTER CARE OF OUR PEOPLE
 
Other countries prefer a healthy workforce and are willing to pay for it.  Here we stick our workforce with fat, greedy insurance companies who serve no purpose but to act as a tollbooth or a gatekeeper and charge exorbitant fees before a person can even see a doctor.  The result, of course, is the most expensive healthcare system with the least benefit for the buck of any in the industrialized world.  You say the big insurance companies "should have a place at the table."  Aren't these companies the problem? 
 
Other counties want their workforce to be as well-educated as possible to better care for themselves and compete in the global economy.  So they are willing to pay to make sure this happens, instead of kicking them in the face with back-breaking student loans and cutting school funding to the bone.
 
Other countries want their children to grow up well-nourished and loved instead of dysfunctional. They are happy to pay welfare for single parents to stay home with their little ones, and for 12-18 months maternity leave with 80-90% pay for either parent to make sure no child is left behind.
 
Traveling overseas it is not hard to notice that many European countries, and not just Scandinavia, have a higher standard of living than we do, and the gap is widening.  The reason is they are willing to pay for it. 
 
 
HUMANE TAX REFORM
 
Please do not break your promise to raise income taxes on the wealthy and close those Titanic-sized loopholes that allowed two-thirds of US and foreign corporations who do business here to pay no tax at all between 1998 and 2005.  We used to have a tiny tax on security speculation and stock transactions.  Britain still does.  If the annual amount of wheeling and dealing in the stock market really amounts to the reported $500 trillion a year, a mere 1% tax could raise $5 trillion per year and Wall Street would not even feel it!  Other ways to raise badly needed revenue without hurting Joe the Plumber would be to tax companies who pollute, divert funds overseas, and ship jobs out of the country, as well as taxing stock windfalls rewarded by Wall Street for balancing the bottom line with employee layoffs. 
 
Last September the Bush administration quietly dynamited Section 382 of the tax code allowing big banks to run off with as much as $140 billion dollars in new tax breaks that many suspect are illegal.  Was this illegal?  Please enforce the law and stop the bleeding now. 
 
We could also follow the lead of Berlin, Moscow, Beijing, and even the state of Maine and encourage cities to start their own municipal or community banks.  Being a non-profit, these banks would provide low-cost loans for homes and small businesses.  They would also save cities millions of dollars apiece that they now waste on private banking fees.
 
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D - IL) proposes generous tax breaks and shareholder advantages to "patriotic corporations" who limit management salaries to 100 times the lowest-paid fulltime worker.  I think 10 times is better.  Shareholders need better legal tools to limit runaway CEO pay and looting by top executives.
 
Schakowsky would also give tax breaks to corporations that:  produce at least 90% of their goods and services in the United States; spend at least 50% of the research and development budgets here at home; stay out of employee organizing drives; are clean with the EPA, OSHA and the NRLB; and provide their employees with generous and portable pension funds and health insurance.  They must also agree not to price-gouge consumers. 
 
So how do we convince Americans that it is in our best interest to help pay for all of this?  It would help if you use your power to inspire and persuade, to get through to people in this country that not all taxes are automatically bad, especially when spent in a way that benefits them directly.  Starting with the Boston Tea Party in kindergarten, it is drilled into us that taxes are this terrible violation of our freedom.  As adults we have had 30 plus years of media sermons from both parties that we are no longer a community, but a marketplace, and that competitiveness is more important than caring about one another.  Isn't it interesting that the people least interested in paying taxes are often the first to complain when a government service they take for granted doesn't work any more?
 
To wise people up and chip away at this I suggest pointing out what happened to California when voters passed Proposition 13 and gutted what was once the number one education system in the country, if not the world.  It is now almost dead last.  According to the ACLU, some schools in Los Angeles are not only short on books and desks, they don't even have toilet paper.  Californians also voted down an initiative guaranteeing universal healthcare after the Disease Industry ran a blitz of TV ads claiming it would raise people's taxes.  They banked on people failing to do the math and see how a slight tax increase would dramatically reduce their own medical bills. 
 
Another example is the tale of two of the Quad Cities on the Mississippi River.  In the 1990s, Rock Island, IL voters were willing to raise taxes to build a floodwall.  Voters in Davenport, IA rejected a wall three times because it would raise taxes.  Guess whose town was devastated the next time the Mississippi flooded?  To raise local money for local and state projects voters have to be shown that it is worth raising taxes to pay for these things.
 
Taxes also wouldn't hurt so much if the people had more say in where their money went.  How about placing 12-15 categories in US income tax forms so people can vote what percentage of their tax money they want spent where?  I'll bet education, the environment, infrastructure, and services would go straight up and our bloated military cash cow would go straight down.
 
 
HELP PEOPLE RESIST FORECLOSURES
 
To fight the plague of foreclosures, I suggest following the lead of the Cook County Sheriff in Chicago by declaring a moratorium on foreclosure evictions.  Debts to predatory lenders should be forgiven at once.  Many families are fleeing their homes because they are so frightened of the cruel Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, they are willing to default on their mortgage just to keep up with their credit card debts. You voted against this law.  Now let's get rid of it.  I am inspired by City Life/Vida Urbana in Boston who have said "Yes We Can" to reviving the Depression-era practice of volunteer rolling brigades who show up to defend people's homes from eviction, and if need be take all the furniture and belongings back from the curb into the house.  In addition, they alert the media to help shame the banks and predatory lenders from coming back.  In many cases it has worked.
 
The most intriguing proposal flying around the Internet is for everyone who files an individual tax return to be given $1 million dollars on the condition that they use it to pay off their mortgage in full (thus bailing out the banks) and buy an American car within the next three years.  Whatever is left over is theirs to keep and invest.  Unfortunately the math does not add up.  Even the staggering estimated total of $8 trillion thrown at our collapsing economy would only bring $57,971.01 for each of the 138 million individual tax returns filed each year.  Too bad, it is an interesting idea.
 
 
"THIS MOVEMENT IS NOT JUST ABOUT ONE PERSON..."
 
I'm glad to hear you say that, but I keep waiting for you to expand and take it further.  To point out how much it also matters who is in the Senate, who is in the House, the Governor, the State legislature, mayors, city councils, school boards, ballot initiatives, county commissioners, you name it.  To say that if a person is not satisfied with what is going on in their community, they should get involved.  If they are not satisfied with how they are being represented, they should consider running for office themselves.  A lot of inspired people would.  What else can we do in the meantime to make things better?  What simple, easy steps can we take in our own lives?  You have two more chances--Inauguration and the State of the Union.  Before people return to the slumber of Soundbite McNews.
 
Bill Clinton could have won back Congress in 1996 if he had used his popularity, convention speech and pulpit for something besides his own shoo-in re-election.  But he didn't.  I was in the room for Al Gore's acceptance speech in 2000.  He didn't bother either.  It was just about one person.
 
I'll be amazed if Mr. Obama or anyone close actually reads this, so this last part is for you folks who have.  To me, if there is an Obama movement, it is more like the Pope-mobile.  You know, that cage of bulletproof glass on wheels that rolls around with the Pope inside, waving at his adoring flock, "Yo!  I'm here!  Look at me, I'm the Pope!"  Then everybody goes home.  But who is driving the Pope-mobile?  Can a crowd organize to block the wrong turns and steer it in a better direction?
 
I did not vote for you, but I dearly want you to succeed at delivering the change you have promised.  We have very little time and may not get another chance.  Recent history shows we have eight years maximum before the pendulum swings back the other way--and hard.  She may lose once or twice, but I fear the Pitbull with Lipstick will one day be bigger than Reagan.
 
In many ways, people seem to be looking to you as their new great-and-powerful Oprah as much as they look at you as their President.  This can be useful too.  To revive people's sense of community and what it entails.  To persuade people that voting for small local tax increases brings much greater benefits for everyone down the road.  To encourage people to not just recycle but look for ways to stop wasting so much.  Those same European countries whose standard of living seems to be higher than ours use a fraction per capita of natural resources we do.  How do they do it?  Think of all the forests we could save just by showing people how much paper they can save just by writing on the other side before they throw it away?  Imagine if lawyers figured this out.
 
 
HONOR AND RESPECT YOUR MOVEMENT
 
Please don't ever forget why so many people who had given up hope are investing so much of their hearts and hope in you.  If that hope is shattered and they feel betrayed, a great deal more will collapse for good. 
 
So to keep your movement alive--and help it grow beyond you--keep those texts and e-mail lists alive!  Keep your Blackberry.  Does it matter if it all becomes public record?  How about a posting a daily log of what you did and who you and your staff met with, including lobbyists.  Why not keep all those campaign offices you opened all over the country alive too?  Convert them to branch offices.  Senators and House members have branch offices all over their districts.  You now represent the whole country.  Keep the branches.
 
Above all, be a leader, not a dealmaker.  There are times when cutting a deal is the same as cutting and running.  To put it mildly, we can't afford that anymore.  There are no sails left to trim.
 
And if this is a movement about change and not just about one person, it is up to the movement to drive the President, not the other way around.  Please do not stand in the way.
 
Sincerely,
 
Jello Biafra

[bdlaw]

I note with some happiness that the spurious "windfall tax" on oil companies has quietly gone away...

[duke_of_earl]

They're not just terrorists now, they're racists!

duke

------------------------------------------------------------

Al-Qaida No. 2 insults Obama with racial epithet

By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF and LEE KEATH

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader used a racial epithet to insult Barack Obama in a message posted Wednesday, describing the president-elect in demeaning terms that imply he does the bidding of whites. The message appeared chiefly aimed at persuading Muslims and Arabs that Obama does not represent a change in U.S. policies.

Ayman al-Zawahri said in the message, which appeared on militant Web sites, that Obama is "the direct opposite of honorable black Americans" like Malcolm X, the 1960s African-American rights leader.

In al-Qaida's first response to Obama's victory, al-Zawahri also called the president-elect - along with secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice - "house Negroes."

Speaking in Arabic, al-Zawahri uses the term "abeed al-beit," which literally translates as "house slaves." But al-Qaida supplied English subtitles of his speech that included the translation as "house Negroes."

...more...

[NON]

You got that right!

The problem with democracy is it allows dumb people to vote.

See: November 2, 2004. And November 7, 2000 (even though, American Idol-wise, the better man actually did win that one, even if he wasn't inaugurated.)

You contradict yourself, yet you're not even bright enough to realize it. Or care.

[jcpeace]

more pearls of investment wisdom from groovyjohnkjet
(thanks ceedub: good work)

You left wingers are so dumb you thought that when Hussein Obama said he was going to tax the rich that the rich would just roll over and accept it. LOL LOL LMAO The money isn't gone. It just moved into non taxable sectors like municipals....

last i checked, municipals were taking a nose dive too. keep it coming, man...post early, post all over the place and post often.

you're sending the conservative movement back to the stone age.

[jennymayla]

It is the Hussein Obama recession. People voted with their money. They took it out and moved it to lower tax investments. We aren't stupid. (Unlike you liberals)

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you on this.  I was busy COUNTING MY MOUNDS OF MONEY.

Love,

A Lib

Oh, and also?  You're getting a bit played out.

[CeeDub]

It is the Hussein Obama recession. People voted with their money. They took it out and moved it to lower tax investments. We aren't stupid. (Unlike you liberals)

Hey CluelessJet:  Are you John K? 

Cuz if you're not, you might want to let him know you copy and paste his posts and try to pass them off as your own.

And if you are, they why is

(your) [The] Blogger Profile you requested cannot be displayed. Many Blogger users have not yet elected to publicly share their Profile.

If you're a Blogger user, we encourage you to enable access to your Profile.

[move]MAN UP!![/move]

I hearby declare you Now and Forever, TROLL

[CeeDub]

You . . .
the top 5% . . .
they . . .
People . . .
They . . .
We  . . .
you liberals . . .
He . . .
Other investors . . .
people . . . 
they . . .
you . . .
we . . .
The top 5%
they . . .
you!

Wtf are you babbling about anyway?

Are you El Magnifico?

Read this and get back to me.  TIA

By the bye, a GrouGrou margin ad on that LATimes page is for IQ testing - Guess who they've listed with an IQ of 130?  (Hint - Not the former CO of VA-174, nor the Governurr of Alyeska . . .)

[jcpeace]

It is the Hussein Obama recession. People voted with their money. They took it out and moved it to lower tax investments. We aren't stupid. (Unlike you liberals)

investment moves  based on mass hysteria are kinda stupid and counter productive. self fulfilling prophecies, no?

Where did you get yr terminal degree, groove?

[Groovejet]

You got that right!

The problem with democracy is it allows dumb people to vote.

It's American Idol. Congrats...YOU"VE JUST ELECTED RUBEN STUDDARD!

Maybe the top 5% would have a chance if we set a minimum IQ requirement of 130?

[NON]

LMAO Like I said you left wingers are so dumb we can fool you every day.

Every day but November 4, 2008, apparently.

[Groovejet]

It is the Hussein Obama recession. People voted with their money. They took it out and moved it to lower tax investments. We aren't stupid. (Unlike you liberals)

But none the less, look at Obama supporter Dan Rooney. Aka Montgomery Burns. He wants to close the sale of the team so he doesn't have to pay those coming capital gains taxes. He said it himself. Other investors are doing the same. Couple that with what Frank and Dodd did to the housing market and people are moving the money to safer places.

And as usual the left is Bawaaa whining that it is not fair they need that tax money to make Hussein Obama's socialism work.

LMAO Like I said you left wingers are so dumb we can fool you every day. LMAO The top 5% got there for a reason baby...they are a lot smarter than you!

[Soshin]

Several senior finance guys are estimating that the Dow will be down to 6000 by February.

The problem with taxing the top 5% is they have decided to pull out of the market and get taxed at 15% versus the 28% proposed by Obama.

He's not helping the situation by hiring a lot of people with a track record in taxing.

To turn this around, Obama needs to issue a statement outlining what he intends to do about capital gains tax and corporate tax. Ideally - reduce both, to stimulate investment.

Problem is, he's probably going to let us all bleed until Inauguration day, and blame it on Bush.

The Wall Street Journal is already referring to this as "The Obama Recession". It's the first time that the prospects of a new president has caused the market to tank.

Wait.  Did I miss a meeting?  Is Obama in charge already or did you just make all that up?  

One president at a time please....

One problem with your posts Groovejet is that you just seem to pull inflammatory factoids out of your meth-addled toothless head and don't provide sources.

As you appear to be putting todays problems on tomorrows president I'd just like to say Nostradamus is not a credible source.  TIA

[NON]

Several senior finance guys are estimating that the Dow will be down to 6000 by February.

Name them.

The problem with taxing the top 5% is they have decided to pull out of the market and get taxed at 15% versus the 28% proposed by Obama.

Any stats on the "they" and on the "pull out", or are you pulling this out of thin air as well? Thought so.

Obama's proposal on Capital Gains tax increases is not 28%. That was the rate under Ronald Reagan. He proposed an increase from 15% to 20% for households earning over $250K/year, the rate during the 1990's. Cite your sources if you have information to the contrary about a proposal.

He's not helping the situation by hiring a lot of people with a track record in taxing.

Like who?

To turn this around, Obama needs to issue a statement outlining what he intends to do about capital gains tax and corporate tax. Ideally - reduce both, to stimulate investment.

Problem is, he's probably going to let us all bleed until Inauguration day, and blame it on Bush.

He's not the president until then. Were he to do what you claim would have a positive effect, you would be the first person whining about his brazen audacity.

The Wall Street Journal is already referring to this as "The Obama Recession". It's the first time that the prospects of a new president has caused the market to tank.

You're such an amateur.

[CeeDub]

Hannity, Limbaugh promote myth of an "Obama recession"
Summary: Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh continue to suggest that President-elect Barack Obama is to blame for the decline in the stock market, referring to the state of the stock market as an "Obama recession." In fact, analysts have refuted the proposition that the market decline has anything to do with anticipation of Obama's presidency.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200811120011

StalledJet, seriously, you've been advised time and time again to provide some back up to your claims, no matter how ridiculous.

Nobody on this site goes by the handle of Chicken Little.

Bring some game, or check out NJ.Com

[Groovejet]

Several senior finance guys are estimating that the Dow will be down to 6000 by February.

The problem with taxing the top 5% is they have decided to pull out of the market and get taxed at 15% versus the 28% proposed by Obama.

He's not helping the situation by hiring a lot of people with a track record in taxing.

To turn this around, Obama needs to issue a statement outlining what he intends to do about capital gains tax and corporate tax. Ideally - reduce both, to stimulate investment.

Problem is, he's probably going to let us all bleed until Inauguration day, and blame it on Bush.

The Wall Street Journal is already referring to this as "The Obama Recession". It's the first time that the prospects of a new president has caused the market to tank.

[beachmaster]

Yay!!!

Obama resigns from Senate

Barack Obama is leaving the Senate. His resignation will be effective Sunday, a spokesman says. The Obama camp released a statement that reads:

    It has been one of the highest honors and privileges of my life to have served the people of Illinois in the United States Senate. In a state that represents the crossroads of a nation, I have met so many men and women who’ve taken different journeys, but hold common hopes for their children’s future. It is these Illinois families and their stories that will stay with me as I leave the United States Senate and begin the hard task of fulfilling the simple hopes and common dreams of all Americans as our nation’s next President.

[TheFang]

Obama resigns from Senate

Barack Obama is leaving the Senate. His resignation will be effective Sunday, a spokesman says. The Obama camp released a statement that reads:

    It has been one of the highest honors and privileges of my life to have served the people of Illinois in the United States Senate. In a state that represents the crossroads of a nation, I have met so many men and women who’ve taken different journeys, but hold common hopes for their children’s future. It is these Illinois families and their stories that will stay with me as I leave the United States Senate and begin the hard task of fulfilling the simple hopes and common dreams of all Americans as our nation’s next President.

[beachmaster]

It's very interesting to know that Obama will be focusing on sustainable urban development-how refreshing. This should be required viewing for all those interested in the subject:

  http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/121

A president who understands cities.

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009023.html

[VV]

A president who understands cities.

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009023.html

[jennymayla]

Voting for or against Obama, in my household at least, had nothing to do with race.

Sad that this is still a issue for some people.

+1 - but the media certainly won't let it go.

And the jokes -- even here, on our own turf -- help keep it alive.  Which saddens me.

Just sayin'. 

[NON]

[jcpeace]

Please go back to jerking off to your copy of the Turner Diaries in private.

now now, comrade soshin..... i personally love the little taste of jclist that groovejet brings to wired....

however, i'm starting to wonder if groovejet is actually a lefty troll who is trying to make conservatives look stupid....if that's the case....yr doin' a hell of a job, brownie

[Soshin]

Sorry to interrupt the big group hug, but I found this kinda interesting.

Obama is 50% white, 42.75% Arabic and only 6.25% Negro. (His great grandmother on his fathers side)

As such he doesn't federally qualify as an African American.

We have had 5 other presidents (Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Coolige, Harding) Who actually were of African decent.

Lincoln's white father was actually castrated and his genetic father was a slave.

DNA tests have proved that he was 50% negro.

http://www.computerhealth.org/ebook/5blkpres.htm

And now, back to the self loathing.......

What... the.. fuck.  Did you grow up in Johanesburg circa 1984 or something?  What's your DNA make-up? 

Groovejet is 50% racist, 42.75% old and only 6.25% dinosaur.

Please go back to jerking off to your copy of the Turner Diaries in private.

[beachmaster]

Groovejet you are so unbelievably hung up on race-you may want to take some time examining your own self-loathing rather than that of others. I think irrespective of his racial or ethnic makeup the point is that Obama considers himself an African American-and the other presidents you mentioned did not.

Also, the fact that as you put it "he doesn't federally qualify as an African-American" is laughable. Do you know anyone that allows the federal government to determine their cultural affinity or racial identity?

And because you obviously didn't or couldn't read the memo... some people find the term "negro" offensive- and have evolved past using it.

Sorry to interrupt the big group hug, but I found this kinda interesting.

Obama is 50% white, 42.75% Arabic and only 6.25% Negro. (His great grandmother on his fathers side)

As such he doesn't federally qualify as an African American.

We have had 5 other presidents (Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Coolige, Harding) Who actually were of African decent.

Lincoln's white father was actually castrated and his genetic father was a slave.

DNA tests have proved that he was 50% negro.

http://www.computerhealth.org/ebook/5blkpres.htm

And now, back to the self loathing.......

[skwirrlking]

Voting for or against Obama, in my household at least, had nothing to do with race.

Sad that this is still a issue for some people.

+1 - but the media certainly won't let it go.

[bdlaw]

Voting for or against Obama, in my household at least, had nothing to do with race.

Sad that this is still a issue for some people.

[TMN]

Sorry to interrupt the big group hug, but I found this kinda interesting.

Obama is 50% white, 42.75% Arabic and only 6.25% Negro. (His great grandmother on his fathers side)

As such he doesn't federally qualify as an African American.

We have had 5 other presidents (Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Coolige, Harding) Who actually were of African decent.

Lincoln's white father was actually castrated and his genetic father was a slave.

DNA tests have proved that he was 50% negro.

http://www.computerhealth.org/ebook/5blkpres.htm

And now, back to the self loathing.......

Ugh. I don't care if Obama is pink with purple stripes. Instead of being concerned about his heritage/ethnicity lets focus on what he'll do to dig us out of this awful mess our country is in.

[Groovejet]

Sorry to interrupt the big group hug, but I found this kinda interesting.

Obama is 50% white, 42.75% Arabic and only 6.25% Negro. (His great grandmother on his fathers side)

As such he doesn't federally qualify as an African American.

We have had 5 other presidents (Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Coolige, Harding) Who actually were of African decent.

Lincoln's white father was actually castrated and his genetic father was a slave.

DNA tests have proved that he was 50% negro.

http://www.computerhealth.org/ebook/5blkpres.htm

And now, back to the self loathing.......

[VV]

When what has been done internationally?

duke

http://www.upenn.edu/pnc/politicalapologies.html

That other governments have issued formal apologies to aggrieved groups for past atrocities.  Your link notes that this is the "first time a branch of the federal government has issued an apology" and indicates that the sponsor comes from a black district.  As Darna says, it's interesting that some can speak in absolutes as to whether or not an apology is merited.  The reason why I don't think reparations are feasible is because you cannot put a pricetag on purportedly 10 million people dying during the middle passage and while being "seasoned" in slave camps  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p277.html or on the untold and unimaginable wealth that a slave economy created and which is part of the very fabric of modern day capitalism (Brooks Brothers, Aetna, Bank of America, the defunct Lehman Brothers, etc.) over 200+ years of forced servitude, never mind jim crow that followed.  Accordingly, I think an apology (not just something spouted from a podium in the House) but something tangible as inscribed on a monument would be some level of atonement of acknowledging a calamitous wrong when juxtaposed with the reality that you have people in NJ like Congressman Carroll who have the audacity to say that blacks should be grateful they were once slaves. And to mitigate your concerns Duke about $$$, the appropriate disclaimers could be included in any legislation passed.       

[VV]

What I would like to see is a program that helps people pay for higher education. I think it would be great if once you graduate college, a percentage of the income tax you normally would be paying, went towards paying off your school loans. Nothing pisses me off more than watching the balance of my student loan NOT MOVING as I make more than the minimum payment month after month!

And, while on the topic, I think that EDUCATION is key to being successful on all levels. Educated people tend to be richer and healthier than uneducated people. It is the great equalizer. The biggest obstacle for most people is paying for it.

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/18/free_lunch_how_the_wealthiest_americans

So true.  I saw this gentleman on TV over the weekend and he mentioned that Sallie Mae's profits were 57% last year.  Mmmm. I finished college in 1992 and paid off my loans in 2005.  I am still paying off my law school loans and will be for some time and as you state, I don't see the balance moving although I try to pay extra.  It's to have us all mired in debt to some extent.     

[kitten]

Lastly, what are you thinking with modernity?  I don't have any big problem with copper and prefer a hard infrastructure.  Curiously, one of my pet ideas is that along with electricity and other essentials, broadband should be supplied by the government.

Specifically, I was thinking fiber optics and WiFi. I don't have any problem with copper, other than the low bandwidth — as many of you know, I'm a sucker for old technology that still works, and copper's got great staying power.

That said, I had a conversation with a Verizon tech a while back when we moved into our new place. Even though our apartment had jacks, he added a new copper line rather than using the one that was already there.

When I asked him why, he told me that, by this point, many of the wires you see hanging off of poles in JC (and throughout the country, especially on the East Coast) aren't actually connected to anything. Since the rat's nest of cables is so tangled and confused, rather than decommissioning the old lines, or even bothering to figure out which lines are the old ones, they just keep adding new ones. I think this is just one of many great opportunities for the government (or, hell, independent contractors, so long as they're subject to heavy oversight and regulation) to rip and replace.

Yeah, I totally agree with this too. My Father-in-law, while visiting from Stockholm, said, "I know why you think Sweden is cleaner than here. It's all of these wires... we don't have that. All of our wires are underground. We have just as much litter."

It's been bugging me for a while, especially in the Heights where I feel it is wire overload.

I remember being a little kid, laying in the back seat of my parents car looking up at the sky and watching the telephone poles and wires go by. It's a nice memory, one I'm perfectly content to have attached to my childhood.

[jennymayla]

Not only rip and replace but recycle.  The Chinese are devouring commodity metals like crazy.

Slight OT but worth checking out:

http://www.addressthemess.com/

[bdlaw]

Not only rip and replace but recycle.  The Chinese are devouring commodity metals like crazy.

[AmbushBug]

Lastly, what are you thinking with modernity?  I don't have any big problem with copper and prefer a hard infrastructure.  Curiously, one of my pet ideas is that along with electricity and other essentials, broadband should be supplied by the government.

Specifically, I was thinking fiber optics and WiFi. I don't have any problem with copper, other than the low bandwidth — as many of you know, I'm a sucker for old technology that still works, and copper's got great staying power.

That said, I had a conversation with a Verizon tech a while back when we moved into our new place. Even though our apartment had jacks, he added a new copper line rather than using the one that was already there.

When I asked him why, he told me that, by this point, many of the wires you see hanging off of poles in JC (and throughout the country, especially on the East Coast) aren't actually connected to anything. Since the rat's nest of cables is so tangled and confused, rather than decommissioning the old lines, or even bothering to figure out which lines are the old ones, they just keep adding new ones. I think this is just one of many great opportunities for the government (or, hell, independent contractors, so long as they're subject to heavy oversight and regulation) to rip and replace.

Other infrastructure besides connectivity? I was mostly thinking about revitalizing urban transport, (the PATH sure could use an overhaul) and highways & tollbooths, and fixing our electrical grid (no more region-wide blackouts caused by a single over-allocated line). America's very existence relies on a vast array of complex technological systems, and we ought to be training and employing people improve them, rather than letting them rot and farming out the work to foreign companies. Hell, we could start here in JC by updating our pathetic excuse for a sewer system.

If Obama really wants to create "green collar" jobs, he could start with a national program to help everyday Americans install solar panels onto their homes. It's effective, relatively cheap in the short-term (and very cheap in the long-term), and fosters the sense of community he so loves talking about. I don't want to sound too albesque, but that's the kind of vast undertaking that I think is completely within our means.

[duke_of_earl]

Second, I want to see a defense of marriage amendment to the constitution, claiming that two consenting adults, regardless of their genes, must be treated equally in the eyes of the law. This is a separation of church and state issue (since marriage is a religious matter, not a governmental one), and should be treated as such.
...
Most importantly, though, I want to see a FDR-style push to revitalize American infrastructure, which is currently crumbling, in order to create jobs, improve morale among American workers, and bring some much-needed modernity to American homes. We fucking invented the internet—why are we still using copper to access it?

Nice wish list, I agree completely with the exception of FDR-style.  More of a detail to your overall point, but I would prefer the groundwork be laid and private industry filling the gap rather than the government doing it.

With regard to marriage, I agree too.  I would like to see it taken a step further and have the government retire the word "marriage" from their vocabulary.  As you say, marriage is a religious matter.  The government should use the word "union" or some such and make clear the separation.

Lastly, what are you thinking with modernity?  I don't have any big problem with copper and prefer a hard infrastructure.  Curiously, one of my pet ideas is that along with electricity and other essentials, broadband should be supplied by the government.  It's now crucial for communication, education, entertainment, and safety.

Again, excellent and thoughtful post.

duke

[Darna]

Regarding an apology for slavery, it seems to me that the only persons who truly have a right to weigh in on this subject are African-Americans, since they bear the costs of slavery's legacy.  Only someone who understands that experience can truly say whether an apology is warranted or not.  It seems absurd to me that someone who hasn't experienced a heritage resulting from slavery can say that an apology is trivial or unwarranted.

[AmbushBug]

w/r/t a formal apology, I agree with Frank; I think it would only trivialize the horror of slavery. The very idea that you could mitigate such a tragedy with a speech or a monument seems absurd to me. The proper way for a nation to apologize for past misdeeds lies in how we teach our children about them. Speaking of which:

Not sure how slavery is taught today in schools but when I was growing up, it was very white washed to the point it seemed like it was a "peculiar yet benevolent institution" glossing over the horrors and warped complexities (torture/violence, rape/sexual slavery, breaking up of families, enslaving your own children, e.g. Jefferson's)  And I think that applies to many others (my contemporaries) as some white people I come across seem to have a propensity for making analogies concerning their ancestors coming over from Europe as more or less no different from the black experience (opportunity here in America but not back in country of origin)

My experience, as a child of the Reagan era in NJ, could not have been more different (thankfully). We were taught in no uncertain terms that our early country was built on the backs of slaves (first European whites, then entirely African), and that the Civil War was fought entirely to rid our Union of human bondage—to a fault, in fact, as it was only in college and in my own reading that I learned about things like the preservation of the Union. Still, I think that's progress. And it has a far more lasting effect than a speech.

All that said, I'm a big fan of monuments, and I think a Liberty monument in the nation's capitol would be a great addition, especailly now, 143 years after reconstruction, when the promise of the emancipation has finally been realized.

But all that's far, far down on my list of what I want Barack Obama to do as president. Before we focus on the problems from two centuries ago, let's fix the problems of this one. First term stuff, if you will.

Ambush Bug's Christmas Inaugeration List:

What I want from the president now is, first, to repeal the Patriot Act, and a complete overhaul of the TSA and OHS, which I believe currently do far more harm than good.

I also want Obama to close the prisons and Guantanamo and any Black Sites and offer fair, open trials to the detainees there, so we can discover who actually intends the country harm and who is simply a victim of chance and an over-aggressive, undiscerning government.

Second, I want to see a defense of marriage amendment to the constitution, claiming that two consenting adults, regardless of their genes, must be treated equally in the eyes of the law. This is a separation of church and state issue (since marriage is a religious matter, not a governmental one), and should be treated as such. Regardless of what the church says, all committed couples should be equal in the eyes of the law. Also, I'd like that phrase, "Defense of marriage," to be used specifically, because my opinion of what needs to be defended is very different than that of the culture warriors, and it's culturally important to use their own rhetoric against them. California's Prop 8 does not defend marriage, it debases it, and it's time for America to move on from our pettiness about this.

Third, I'd like to see a net neutrality law that forces ISPs to keep the internet free and fair.

Finally, I'd like to see marijuana decriminalized, and, far more importantly, an end to Reagan-era mandatory minimum sentencing.

Most importantly, though, I want to see a FDR-style push to revitalize American infrastructure, which is currently crumbling, in order to create jobs, improve morale among American workers, and bring some much-needed modernity to American homes. We fucking invented the internet—why are we still using copper to access it?

I'm sure I'll come up with more as I think more about it, but those are my big issues: Ethics in how we gather intelligence and act on it, fairness in marriage and family life, fairness in online communication, freedom of choice (both in terms of what we can put in and what we can take out of our bodies), and, most importantly, a rebuilding of the Union itself.

If President Obama can accomplish even two of these, I will be very happy to have voted for him.

[Frank M]

The often extraordinary cost of higher education is a significant problem in the first place.  Maybe I'm pulling this number out of my ass, but I don't think tuition fees that are the equivalent of $100/hour are terribly uncommon.  That's not unfair for private instruction, but given the efficiency of teaching a number of people simultaneously, it seems absurd.  There's either some very wasteful spending going on, or somebody is getting filthy rich.  Either way, we're being taken advantage of.

What I would like to see is a program that helps people pay for higher education. I think it would be great if once you graduate college, a percentage of the income tax you normally would be paying, went towards paying off your school loans. Nothing pisses me off more than watching the balance of my student loan NOT MOVING as I make more than the minimum payment month after month!

And, while on the topic, I think that EDUCATION is key to being successful on all levels. Educated people tend to be richer and healthier than uneducated people. It is the great equalizer. The biggest obstacle for most people is paying for it.

[duke_of_earl]

What I would like to see is a program that helps people pay for higher education. I think it would be great if once you graduate college, a percentage of the income tax you normally would be paying, went towards paying off your school loans. Nothing pisses me off more than watching the balance of my student loan NOT MOVING as I make more than the minimum payment month after month!

And, while on the topic, I think that EDUCATION is key to being successful on all levels. Educated people tend to be richer and healthier than uneducated people. It is the great equalizer. The biggest obstacle for most people is paying for it.

Both candidates were talking about this.  Better education before and after the normal school route.  What I'd like to see is more quality time spent when people are in the classroom for primary education.  Many people I talk to recall being so bored by classes and not challenged through high school.  I think if more effort were put into primary education then there would be less of a demand for higher education.

As to the great equalizer, the reverse it true.  Richer and healthier people tend to be better educated.  Which follows which?

duke

[duke_of_earl]

Beachmaster raises a great point.  In the U.S, the two groups who endured unspeakable horror were Native Americans and blacks.  I find it curious that some always raise the specter of unquantifiable reparations at the mere mention of an apology when this has been done internationally vis-a-vis other groups who've undergone atrocities.  As a black person, I don't know anyone in my social circles that either wants reparations or think it's a viable option.

When what has been done internationally?

I was only asking beachmaster what her intent was and opened the door to reparations as a curiosity.  I give almost no value to an apology whereas beachmaster gives it the power of healing.  If that will make some people happy, so be it, I endorse the apology.  In fact, one has already been given this year by the House of Representatives so, happily, the healing has already begun.

As for separation of the apology and reparations.  I accept your anecdotal evidence as true, however, others don't separate the two issues.  The NAACP and other organizations as well as African nations believe in reparations (even if Obama does not).

duke

[bdlaw]

Kitten, I whole-heartedly agree that higher education should be more readily obtainable and affordable.  How, I don't know.

I just recently passed the ten year mark (missed my reunion but whatev's) and am this month making my final payment on my BA.  Something not right about taking ten years to pay off a degree.

[bdlaw]

This election has affected you. You're full of self loathing and you need a good cold shower.

Why not apologize to the families of the 50,000 white people who died at Gettysburg for the sake of equality?

Right, I'm off to watch more black people crying on CNN...This is pathetic.

Hi.  We try not to make personal attacks here, unless they are in person, over mutliple beer, and there are witnesses. 

In other words, your post is a bit uncalled for.

(DISCLAIMER:  I'm not in charge and don't officially represent the feelings of Management...but I think they would agree.)

Speaking as part of , but not on behalf of, Management- I agree.

[beachmaster]

Kinde, don't get any ideas about the power of apology! i'll stick Groovejet on you...

Hi Frank M,
 
I didn't say giant hallmark card. Thats a giant trivialization.

I think there is always room for an apology even if it the act was calculated and intentional. Accidents aren't the only time you should apologize. If I were cheated on, for example, you best believe i would want an apology. It doesn't diminish the severity, but it opens the door to the healing process-and evokes a profound understanding and empathy for the assault.

And i think Barack would be far more eloquent then "Gee, we're really sorry"

Great Analogy!

[Kindelan]

Hi Frank M,
 
I didn't say giant hallmark card. Thats a giant trivialization.

I think there is always room for an apology even if it the act was calculated and intentional. Accidents aren't the only time you should apologize. If I were cheated on, for example, you best believe i would want an apology. It doesn't diminish the severity, but it opens the door to the healing process-and evokes a profound understanding and empathy for the assault.

And i think Barack would be far more eloquent then "Gee, we're really sorry"

Great Analogy!

[jennymayla]

What I would like to see is a program that helps people pay for higher education. I think it would be great if once you graduate college, a percentage of the income tax you normally would be paying, went towards paying off your school loans. Nothing pisses me off more than watching the balance of my student loan NOT MOVING as I make more than the minimum payment month after month!

And, while on the topic, I think that EDUCATION is key to being successful on all levels. Educated people tend to be richer and healthier than uneducated people. It is the great equalizer. The biggest obstacle for most people is paying for it.

This is a huge point and I agree wholeheartedly. 

Check out my friends' website to see how they are dealing with student loan debt.  It's a love story/financial story and it's fun to check in on now and again.

operationnightbrace.blogspot.com

[jennymayla]

This election has affected you. You're full of self loathing and you need a good cold shower.

Why not apologize to the families of the 50,000 white people who died at Gettysburg for the sake of equality?

Right, I'm off to watch more black people crying on CNN...This is pathetic.

Hi.  We try not to make personal attacks here, unless they are in person, over mutliple beer, and there are witnesses. 

In other words, your post is a bit uncalled for.

(DISCLAIMER:  I'm not in charge and don't officially represent the feelings of Management...but I think they would agree.)

[kitten]

What I would like to see is a program that helps people pay for higher education. I think it would be great if once you graduate college, a percentage of the income tax you normally would be paying, went towards paying off your school loans. Nothing pisses me off more than watching the balance of my student loan NOT MOVING as I make more than the minimum payment month after month!

And, while on the topic, I think that EDUCATION is key to being successful on all levels. Educated people tend to be richer and healthier than uneducated people. It is the great equalizer. The biggest obstacle for most people is paying for it.

[beachmaster]

That speech gives me chills!

and maybe the cheating analogy wasn't a good one. An apology from you Mr. Beachmaster, would be made using less teeth.

Great reply VV! you're a learnED young fellow aren't you...

[TMN]

Beachmaster, while I can't apologize for all the crimes and horrors committed by humans against their fellow humans here is a snippet of one of the best speeches ever given in my humble opinion. This says it all for me.

May we never forget the words of Martin Luther King.


Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

[Frank M]

Hi Frank M,
 
I didn't say giant hallmark card. Thats a giant trivialization.

I think there is always room for an apology even if it the act was calculated and intentional. Accidents aren't the only time you should apologize. If I were cheated on, for example, you best believe i would want an apology. It doesn't diminish the severity, but it opens the door to the healing process-and evokes a profound understanding and empathy for the assault.

And i think Barack would be far more eloquent then "Gee, we're really sorry"

Saying "I'm sorry" after committing an intentionally malicious or irresponsible act often makes me feel like I'm trying to get away with something, but I can see that may not be the case for other individuals and certainly entire countries.  I'm stubborn--what can I say?  On the other hand, I apologize for non-malicious errors and failures all the time.  (My girlfriend would just shoot me if I cheated, though.)

I use the example of World War II only because it applies to my family, but I would find an apology outrageous.  I can't say I know what it's like to be part of a group that has truly been historically marginalized. 

My point was that we should concentrate on addressing the underlying issues, which can be difficult.  It's nearly impossible to maturely discuss racial issues in large groups, for example.

[Groovejet]

This election has affected you. You're full of self loathing and you need a good cold shower.

Why not apologize to the families of the 50,000 white people who died at Gettysburg for the sake of equality?

Right, I'm off to watch more black people crying on CNN...This is pathetic.

[beachmaster]

 Hi Frank M,
 
I didn't say giant hallmark card. Thats a giant trivialization.

I think there is always room for an apology even if it the act was calculated and intentional. Accidents aren't the only time you should apologize. If I were cheated on, for example, you best believe i would want an apology. It doesn't diminish the severity, but it opens the door to the healing process-and evokes a profound understanding and empathy for the assault.

And i think Barack would be far more eloquent then "Gee, we're really sorry"


[/quote]

[VV]

I would like to see progress in seeing our image repaired in the international arena, more emphasis on diplomacy and not foisting our will on others sheerly out of self-interest or ulterior motive, efforts toward improving our public schools/American education especially in science and technology, investing in our nation's infrastructure and cities, harnessing and deploying renewable energy/green initiatives, protecting the environment seriously, mitigating poverty to the greatest extent possible, quelling the concentration of wealth where 1% of population controls 40% of wealth, paying attention to the most marginalized among us, assisting them with some of their needs to enable better quality of life (senior citizens, low income children, veterans with mental/physical problems, non-violent offenders etc.) and distancing ourselves from social cultural wars, unnecessary distractions (gay marriage, etc.).

Beachmaster raises a great point.  In the U.S, the two groups who endured unspeakable horror were Native Americans and blacks.  I find it curious that some always raise the specter of unquantifiable reparations at the mere mention of an apology when this has been done internationally vis-a-vis other groups who've undergone atrocities.  As a black person, I don't know anyone in my social circles that either wants reparations or think it's a viable option. Yes, the rationale has been posited (Randall Robinson's book) but many realize the funds are neither there (and will never be) nor how to deal with such a byzantine morass of complex issues.  A museum on the mall reflecting the black Holocaust http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2008-03-18-national-slavery-museum_N.htm along with the due inscription on the facade would be an appropriate measure toward the black sacrifice in the founding and making of this country.  Not sure how slavery is taught today in schools but when I was growing up, it was very white washed to the point it seemed like it was a "peculiar yet benevolent institution" glossing over the horrors and warped complexities (torture/violence, rape/sexual slavery, breaking up of families, enslaving your own children, e.g. Jefferson's)  And I think that applies to many others (my contemporaries) as some white people I come across seem to have a propensity for making analogies concerning their ancestors coming over from Europe as more or less no different from the black experience (opportunity here in America but not back in country of origin).  One of them, Congressman Carroll (Morris County) even had the audacity to claim that blacks should be GRATEFUL that they were slaves and rescued from Africa (sophomoric argument when there's no way to ascertain to what extent how the precipitating events of slavery, colonialism and rapacious scramble for Africa's resources underdeveloped and pillaged it outside of some of its despots).  Much has been studied and theorized about the impacts of slavery on the black psyche and what pathological depredations it may have caused in some blacks (culture of low expectations, self-destruction, nihilism, etc.) but little has seemingly been analyzed as to its corresponding impacts on white people and whatever thoughts slavery or race may have indelibly instilled into the white psyche (3/5th of a human being; www.withoutsanctuary.org; Rosewood, FL; Tulsa, OK "Black Wall Street").  I think an apology inscribed on the walls of a museum/monument for posterity would acknowledge what grievous error was committed and give many blacks solace and succor when some whites engage them with the usual tableaux of banal Brian-Em Cankicker et al talking points that makes one's eyes glaze over: "(1) my ancestors made it, so can blacks; (2) we never owned slaves or had any part in it so what gives; (3) your ancestors sold you, so don't blame us."  I am heartened by Barack's ascendancy as it is a testament that younger generations don't necessarily see race as overarching matter and that (pardon as heartless as it sounds) the older generation harboring certain views will pass with the passage of time.

[Frank M]

I'm not a fan of formal apologies.  There's no apology for slavery and genocide.  It's not like somebody accidentally threw a baseball through a window.  Apologies also diminish the severity of the original, purposeful act which is somewhat insulting.  There's also the complication that many, if not most of our ancestors weren't living in America during that period.  (Italy and Ireland for my part.)

Germany has never issued a formal apology for the Holocaust as far as I know.  My late grandmother spent five years in a concentration camp until it was liberated by American troops, but I don't think she nor anybody else in our family was ever looking for an official "gee, we're really sorry."  There is simply no apology, but still, I bear no grudge toward modern day Germany.  It's only "their fault" if we insist on looking at in a completely abstract sense.

The most important lesson we should to take from our species' most horrible acts is that we are all capable of committing them.  I'd like to see education address the often painful reality of ourselves instead of just teaching who did what to whom.  That's a lot more challenging on a personal level than for a governments to send out the equivalent of giant Hallmark cards.

I appreciate what you'd like to accomplish, though. 

I was talking particularly about the black and native american experience in this country, but i think it applies across ethnic racial lines across the world. I think the reason people are so hesitant about apologizing is because they dread the responsibility and accountability it implies. But that's one dimensional.

[beachmaster]

 I was talking particularly about the black and native american experience in this country, but i think it applies across ethnic racial lines across the world. I think the reason people are so hesitant about apologizing is because they dread the responsibility and accountability it implies. But that's one dimensional.

So now people must look at the social circumstances surrounding inequality not just the racial ones. WE CAN FINALLY look at CLASS as the source of inequality. but anyway, i digress.

Doesn't this statement obviate the rest of your argument?  There's plenty of (insert ethnic group here) who could theoretically wind up on your list for apologies.

Platitudes.

[bdlaw]

So now people must look at the social circumstances surrounding inequality not just the racial ones. WE CAN FINALLY look at CLASS as the source of inequality. but anyway, i digress.

Doesn't this statement obviate the rest of your argument?  There's plenty of (insert ethnic group here) who could theoretically wind up on your list for apologies.

Platitudes.

[beachmaster]

Because i don't think you can just talk about Change without looking deeper as to what transformation really means. I think issuing an apology for slavery and the genocide against Native Americans would go a long way on building understanding among all americans about how wealth was built in this country and how we continue to benefit from previous crimes.

How can you really change a country when wounds from the past have not been healed? Transformational justice is an idea that says that countries can only move forward collectively when the individual has moved forward internally. If not you have a collective consciousness based on anger and resentment-and stagnation insues. Transformational justice in this country would start from a place of healing and healing starts from apology...

 Obama truly proves that anything is possible and that the color of your skin does not mean that you can not succeed and flourish. This huge step forward was taken on Tuesday and now the next step is addressing why this isn't the case for many americans. What historical facts persist that diminish this hope for many and how we can move forward as a more united country that eliminates disparities based on race. Through Obama, a renewed sense of hope and pride was instilled in people of color across the country but also a new sense of responsibility. In many ways, we can no longer blame race. THIS IS HUGE.

So now people must look at the social circumstances surrounding inequality not just the racial ones. WE CAN FINALLY look at CLASS as the source of inequality. but anyway, i digress.

And in terms of the reparations. They won't work. Handouts and Aid never does. That being said there are other ways to ensure that people of color are part of the transformation process in this country and that will come from a sense of ownership of this country- and i think that ownership will start from a formal apology.

I would like to see a formal apology for slavery and for the atrocities against native americans. I think an apology would go a long way towards the start of a new america.

Okay, beachmaster, I've been thinking about this comment for a bit and have to get more details.  I'm genuinely curious about what you are thinking.  I can't see any use of an apology without an ulterior motive.  I certainly think if the US pushes Turkey to issue a formal apology to the Armenians then the US should be willing to take its own medicine first.  Especially since the US's atrocities are on a much greater scale.

The apology itself by Obama would take about 4 minutes.  I can't really see how this would satisfy anyone.  The aftermath of lawsuits and reparations would never end....

duke

[duke_of_earl]

I would like to see a formal apology for slavery and for the atrocities against native americans. I think an apology would go a long way towards the start of a new america.

Okay, beachmaster, I've been thinking about this comment for a bit and have to get more details.  I'm genuinely curious about what you are thinking.  I can't see any use of an apology without an ulterior motive.  I certainly think if the US pushes Turkey to issue a formal apology to the Armenians then the US should be willing to take its own medicine first.  Especially since the US's atrocities are on a much greater scale.

The apology itself by Obama would take about 4 minutes.  I can't really see how this would satisfy anyone.  The aftermath of lawsuits and reparations would never end....

duke

[duke_of_earl]

Two more things to add to my list...I would like to see the successful implementation of a voting machines.  It's ridiculous that the government can't manage such a simple task. I would also like an amendment to the constitution eliminating the electoral college.

duke

[beachmaster]

Oh Man... poor lost soul.

[Soshin]

I would like to see a formal apology for slavery and for the atrocities against native americans. I think an apology would go a long way towards the start of a new america.

I agree with you but someone needs to tell Soulja Boy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/nov/04/soulja-boy-slavery

[beachmaster]

I would like to see a formal apology for slavery and for the atrocities against native americans. I think an apology would go a long way towards the start of a new america.

[bdlaw]

Additionally, I would like to see the President and Congress fix the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT); every year more and more people that were never supposed to pay this get nailed by it because the way the law is written it's never been adjusted for inflation.

[TheBadGuyWins]

IF we are going to enact new regulatory regimes for the insurance carriers (which I don't think is a terrible idea), I would like to see it at the Federal level. The current state by state melange of regulatory bodies is confusing, complex, cryptic, and not good for the consumer.

Federal Regulation is exactly what I had in mind, specifically recalling local gal Christine Whitman's application of a Tier System to an already exasperatingly frustrating NJ automotive insurance mess. I guess heavy restrictions on corporate lobbying in Washington couldn't hurt the cause, either. Especially considering how much campaign money is generated by "owing favors". Or, am I being paranoid at this point?

[bdlaw]

IF we are going to enact new regulatory regimes for the insurance carriers (which I don't think is a terrible idea), I would like to see it at the Federal level. The current state by state melange of regulatory bodies is confusing, complex, cryptic, and not good for the consumer.

[TheBadGuyWins]

Obama has had his transition team working for quite some time now, luckily not in vain. Hopefully, we'll be able to see the new administration hit the ground running.

I hope this doesn't sound too trivial next to the financial woes of late, but I'd like to see some focused consumer protection with regards to insurance. Health insurance, car insurance, home owners insurance.........many of these companies get away with murder.
 
Home owners insurance.....how carriers can legally cancel policies on home owners just prior to projected catastrophic events is beyond me. "Oh, we're expecting a pretty bad hurricane in your area, and you're in the flood zone...soooo, we've withdrawn your coverage. Thanks for always paying on time, though!"  It's fucking criminal.

Health insurance.......where do I even start? Have any of you gone to the emergency room before only to have your health insurance provider later tell you that you won't be covered....because your trip to the ER wasn't an emergency? This has happened to people who sought medical help because they were having difficulty breathing. BREATHING. I'd say that ranks fairly high on the "Don't Take Any Fucking Chances" list.

Car insurance providers have done a masterful job of drawing direct correlations between credit scores, education levels and car accidents. So, if you are in fear of forclosure, job loss, and rising living cost, look at the bright side......I just saved a bunch of money on MY car insurance. You? You're screwed (that is, if you are one of the many groups of people this type of policy targets....specifically the less educated, less dollarwise masses who have, in many ways, every right to blame a failed education system for their Geico rate hikes. "Perfect driving record? Fuck you, pay me")

Oh, and I'd like to see free health care for children in the US. Not insurance related, and it means a tax hike, but its damned necessary. If I had a daughter who couldn't get proper care for an easily treatable, but painfully expensive, health problem (possibly terminal if not taken care of soon), I'd be knocking over banks rather than organizing spaghetti dinners while watching her slowly perish because the removal of an operable tumor costs the equivelant of 10,000 plates of pasta w/ meatballs.

Hey, a guy can dream, right?

[TMN]

Okay, what do you guys want to see?

Now that the republicans are out, I'd like to see a thorough purging of Intelligent Design begin taught in classrooms. 

Yeah, that too!

[duke_of_earl]

Okay, what do you guys want to see?

Now that the republicans are out, I'd like to see a thorough purging of Intelligent Design begin taught in classrooms.  A complete restocking of the Supreme court with liberal judges.  A shrinking of the racial divide, both real and perceived.

I'd like to see the Republicans fall back and sort out why they lost libertarians and independents in droves and cleanse their party and go back to their roots.  I'd like to see Obama pursue and catch Bin Laden and get us out of Afghanistan (or at least minimize the force).

I want to see Obama succeed and succeed well.  I think he has a very difficult job ahead and will have to break a lot of his promises, but I'm perfectly fine with a lack of extra programs.

That's my quick list before I have to run out the door.

duke

[Soshin]

Criminalizing policy differences is for banana republics, not a nation that purports to lead the free world. If you think that American politics is nasty now, just wait until the consequence of an election loss is a criminal show trial. We've already gone too far in that direction, with Scooter Libby carrying a felony conviction for remembering a conversation differently than a reporter. An administration that wants to heal the country and move towards a more bi-partisan politics would not engage in such witch hunts.

mr.t

No offense but starting a war under false pretenses is not a "policy difference".  I would want them to apply this across the board to the people who manufactured this war... from the neo-cons of the Bush administration to the "socialists" of the Blair administration in the UK (an administration I actually voted for first time out) and any CEO's in between.

[mr.t]

The horror..... The horror.......

And I was so in need of a flying flip, too.

mr.t

What would you people out there like to see take priority? 

Me, I would like to see Obama work on our problems/issues first. Then focus on the rest of the world. I, too, would like to see us out of the two wars. Bring our troops home. I don't give a flying flip (much to mr.t's horror) about settling other countries issues. We have enough issues here in the U.S. of A to worry about.

[mr.t]

Criminalizing policy differences is for banana republics, not a nation that purports to lead the free world. If you think that American politics is nasty now, just wait until the consequence of an election loss is a criminal show trial. We've already gone too far in that direction, with Scooter Libby carrying a felony conviction for remembering a conversation differently than a reporter. An administration that wants to heal the country and move towards a more bi-partisan politics would not engage in such witch hunts.

mr.t

The election is over, Obama won, where do we go from here?  If his concession speech is to be believed then this has the possibility of being the most bi-partisan administration ever.  What would you people out there like to see take priority? 

Me, I want to see him end the two wars and work to restore some prestige to the United Nations.  On top of that I want to see some justice administered to the people who start preemptive wars under false circumstances. 

I know Obama already said that he has no desire to get bogged down in something that many will see as a partisan witch-hunt, perhaps this is something that the war crimes tribunal in the Hague can deal with. 

Invite the subpoenas, open the vaults and let the world courts sort it out.  As we know with convicted war criminal Henry Kissinger, these courts do not always manage to lock people up, but I think the symbolism of a guilty conviction would be immense.

Okay, what do you guys want to see?

[jennymayla]

The election is over, Obama won, where do we go from here?  If his concession speech is to be believed then this has the possibility of being the most bi-partisan administration ever.  What would you people out there like to see take priority? 

Me, I want to see him end the two wars and work to restore some prestige to the United Nations.  On top of that I want to see some justice administered to the people who start preemptive wars under false circumstances. 

I know Obama already said that he has no desire to get bogged down in something that many will see as a partisan witch-hunt, perhaps this is something that the war crimes tribunal in the Hague can deal with. 

Invite the subpoenas, open the vaults and let the world courts sort it out.  As we know with convicted war criminal Henry Kissinger, these courts do not always manage to lock people up, but I think the symbolism of a guilty conviction would be immense.

Okay, what do you guys want to see?

American Idol.

[TMN]

What would you people out there like to see take priority? 

Me, I would like to see Obama work on our problems/issues first. Then focus on the rest of the world. I, too, would like to see us out of the two wars. Bring our troops home. I don't give a flying flip (much to mr.t's horror) about settling other countries issues. We have enough issues here in the U.S. of A to worry about.

[Soshin]

The election is over, Obama won, where do we go from here?  If his concession speech is to be believed then this has the possibility of being the most bi-partisan administration ever.  What would you people out there like to see take priority? 

Me, I want to see him end the two wars and work to restore some prestige to the United Nations.  On top of that I want to see some justice administered to the people who start preemptive wars under false circumstances. 

I know Obama already said that he has no desire to get bogged down in something that many will see as a partisan witch-hunt, perhaps this is something that the war crimes tribunal in the Hague can deal with. 

Invite the subpoenas, open the vaults and let the world courts sort it out.  As we know with convicted war criminal Henry Kissinger, these courts do not always manage to lock people up, but I think the symbolism of a guilty conviction would be immense.

Okay, what do you guys want to see?

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