The executive order doesn't cover the fact that the CIA routinely hands so called "terrorist suspects" to countries like Egypt, Syria and Turkey which do use torture as an interrogation technique. Once again Obama looks good until you read the fine print.

The secret CIA prisons are a different issue. Ever since WWII the US has used "torture by proxy" and allowed so called allied countries who routinely use torture. The fact that this isn't mentioned explicitly means the CIA has tacit approval to do so (unless they get caught again). Like I said read the fine print.

I never asked Obama to undo everything Bush did in two days. All I'm asking is why is there a HUGE loophole here and why aren't people concerned. Do any of you remember FISA? This is a classical political behavior, make everyone focus on the big show (Close Gitmo), so they ignore the small but important details (extraordinary rendition is still OK). After 8 years of Clinton and 8 years of Bush, why haven't we learned that we can't trust our leaders and that's how democracy SHOULD work.

Obama has not explicitly stated that the executive branch/military will obey all treaties and domestic laws. The 4 executive orders are.

1. Close Gitmo and CIA "Black sites"

2. All interrogation techniques used by US personnel will be based on the Army Field Manual

3. A taskforce to review all policy and cases (aka bury the issue and hope people forget)

4. A delay in the trial of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri

No mention of "Extraordinary Rendition" or "torture by proxy". Once again why. At best Obama is just reseting things pre-9/11. Why didn't Obama sign a statement stating that the executive branch and the military will obey all domestic law and treaties.

No offense but the public can hold leaders accountable for invasions and bad laws, but by their very nature so called "black ops" (or terrorism if you're not on the same side) are not accountable.

Furthermore, do you really want a politician determining who the true enemies are and what to do with them. Case in point, Israel. over 60 years of successful black ops, no closer to peace.

Just like he has a secret plan to punish wrongdoers for FISA *snark*.

Give it up people. Your messiah is just a regular politician and "HOPE" is a big fat lie.

A bible is only required if one wants to make an oath or promise to God, but the oath of office is between officeholder and the public therefore a bible is not needed. Washington being a devout man wanted to make an oath both to HIS God and the public but swearing on the bible is purely up to the officeholder.

Honestly why are we so obsessed with traditions?!

Why not give up. How are you going to make him accountable. Not vote for him so the GOP nutcase they run against him will win. After six months, I think it would be obvious the Obama is all flash and NO substance. As for doing more good than Bush, please, all we have is grandstanding for the press. Once no one is looking all the old policies will probably be reinstate (that's the whole point about the commission).

Seriously if McCarthy's husband died in a train accident and she demanded that all trains be banned, would we consider her stance rational. But we need trains you say. Well we also need guns for sport, hunting, protection from criminal and the state and unlike trains my right to a firearm is constitutionally protected.

Wouldn't they receive multi-million dollar severence packages. Honestly most of these executive are probably are going to be fired anyway and the American tax payer will still lose millions.

The bright side is alot of hard working mid-level managers will probably be hired and promoted and would love these 500k jobs.

And Churchill was wrong. Democracy is not better than the other options. It's just as bad and good government is based totally on dumb luck. If mankind is going to have any chance in the future, perhaps we need to abandon the whole notion of nation-states and return to small sustainable, independent communities where everybody knows everybody. Sure progress will grind to a stand still but has progress made the world a better place.

BTW, stop looking at Europe with rose colored glasses. Their government is as corrupt as ours and their problems are just as bad.

Chimps ARE NOT monkeys. The are primates like apes and humans. As for the cartoon, Pelosi and Reid and their cohorts wrote the stimulus bill NOT Obama. I agree with the cartoonist, Reid and Pelosi are stupid and need to be shoot.

Do Hannity, Limbaugh, Savage and the other mouth breathers actually make money or is it like the Washington Times and the New York Post, heavily subsidized by wealthy right wing partisans to promote their agenda. Anyway instead of a Fairness Doctrine, we should have a Truth Doctrine. If Limbaugh or Hannity state something factually incorrect, they should be forced to make a correction on air. NPR does it and it doesn't seem to hurt them much. Strangely I feel sympathy for the Right. It was the Left's huge technology advantage that allowed us to win huge victories in 2006 and 2008. As they fight "to save" talk radio, the Left move further ahead with a new generation of applications based on mobile computing.

Just talk sense to their parents and grandparents (the people that actually vote).