"That's fine as long as the delay doesn't become a loooooong delay that isn't really a delay but a de-facto non-closing."

Like the recent credit card reform. The banks wanted to delay the change in the provisions (all minor reforms)for three years.

The compromise was to implement them in July, '10.

The credit institutions would not change the onerous practice of raising interest when people default on other creditors and another major predatory practice that has evaded my memory.

Observing the many banking lobby activities and reps seated before many hearings, it seems the credit industry policies become even more flagrantly abusive afterward.

Commissions and delays let anti-reformers work around any new laws or policies, knowing we Americans soon forget their original intent.

"It's still one of the key distinguishing features between blogs/alternative media outlets and establishment media." - Glenn

We trust that the new Administration has due respect for the free-flow, independence/non-interference of the fourth estate. Nothing is more destructive to the peoples' right to know- the (stolen) transparency of these past 8 years- than the government imprisoning investigative reporters or shackling the "internets'" pipeline of information on which we all rely for unfiltered, unpropagandized reporting.

"They have ways of disappearing vocal nuisances that make Republicans look like amateurs."

The clear intent of your proposal is obfuscated by the swirl of smoke circling your peculiar diversions.

Fox's Angle/Hume report illustrates perfectly the enormity of the problem- can Brennan or anyone working for the CIA- a government unto itself (think shadow) affect change even as a director? What would be the consequences of an innovator who would overturn rendition, secret, enhanced interrogation and other nefarious actions by this rogue agency?

Whether Brennan condones or says he rejects many of Bush/Cheney's lawless philosophies, he is a duck out of water and will be rained upon thoroughly by the hawks who call the corporate shots funding the wars and the new police state.

Obama/Biden do want to get along and bring all the Warrenists and Loweryists into the same country- I get it. We, liberty/rights for all crowd, however, believe there are principles at stake here- like fighting religious bigotry, endorsing torture, propagandizing the news, exalting unitary executive methods, perpetuating nondisclosure government and other such radical, dubious positions.

Agonize over (with fainting spells) the dire need to expose and hold responsible the very audacious suspects who would sell/buy a political office. While for eight years this Administration does that very thing repeatedly on a grand scale with ambassadorships, cabinet appointees, many agency personnel, and any well-placed policy adjusters. There are too many key official and non-official rulers of what affects all of us- environment, judicial, military, appropriations, and lifestyle upheavals to enumerate without disgust.

The MSM has obsessed on the Blogo scandal to assuage the defeated right this past term and to further cloud the apparent double standard- that is, that under Bush everything is for sale- privatized to wrench the wealth from the under-represented class. Senate seats are always for sale- see ever increasing multi million dollar funds needed to get in the game while the MSM advertisers leap with glee.

There's the rub, Ricky, boy. Fall upon your knees and repent for that propensity to find waffles, syrup and butter irresistible (it shows). Why are you and so many god-appointed moralists so creeped out about teh gay? I find your self-admitted desire to hump every foxy lady that comes along repulsive- get a grip and a cold shower.

The hormone that controls centers of the brain that necessarily allows both genders to embrace a do or die modus operandi is frequently manifested. The achievement of any ambitious undertaking is fueled thus, then promulgated by an aggressiveness not endorsed or too familiar by those who would rather reason through the complexities of what causes their enemies to hate them so. These higher-ordered seek less-brutal alternatives.

The universal maleness-driven propensity to beat out the other guy with all the dark tools of invasion, torture, and conflagration are all so ancient and frightfully hormonal- the beast within is not exceptionally American, but we are the most hypocritically inclined to implement our preferred exceptionalism.

"...meaning our Constitution, the treaties we sign, and the laws we pass through our Congress -- is the same mentality."- Glenn

The legal connotation that that word used to possess seems quaint, now. Not too long ago (post Desert Storm era) and rather since our Jacksonian Presidency as well, America uses "treaty" to lull the defeated into compliant stupor.

Every time I see an arrogant, snarl from a quivering lip when asked about illegalities and their eventual legacy, I'm reminded of how powerful men are assured of their immunity. This Administration is the first to use the sophisticated, technologically advanced tools and legal contortions to date with a cockiness and swagger that make Attila blush.

The bar has been set. Election rigging, treasury plundering, media propaganda, electronic surveillance intimidation, labor-class badgering and more of the same under a militaristic mind-think.

Americans are ambivalent about all this because they don't see the severity until the bank is dry and the streets are crumbling. The cushion from these bare realities is getting thinner- 2009 will be a bumpy road for the "least of these."

Tortured:

*By endless double speak (accomplices: press conferences/media tools)

*By endless broken promises to follow the law

*By blatant pilfering of surpluses needed to build/repair America

*By replacing Constitutional principals (traditionally understood) with appeal to dismiss or dilute them out of fear

*By new awareness that our unappreciated privacy is gone forever

*By political campaigns that never end and never tell the truth

*By commissions, hearings and testimonies that speak words and leave one hungry for reformation