You asked: Where are the law school professors, the top law firms, the ABA? They are the very lawyers working for the detainees. The detainees have assigned military lawyers, and most also have volunteer lawyers, some of them the top legal scholars and top litigators from top law firms. You don't hear much from them because the military commission rules prohibit them from discussing the cases. They would lose their security clearance and be unable to serve their clients. They continue to soldier on, providing pro bono service to these lost souls, and in the process will help save our country's soul.

... that doesn't mean I think he walks on water. What I voted for (and worked the polls for, and fundraised for...) was first and formost his judgment, as well as his maturity and principled consistency. Like any human being, he will make some mistakes, and the people he appoints may not turn out the way he hoped. He picked Holder because, Rich pardon aside, Holder holds similar views about all the most important Constitutional issues of our time. I do not doubt that Obama and Holder will do all they can to restore limits on domestic surveillance and end the horrors of rendition, torture and Guantanamo. Their most fundamental principles and beliefs require it.

...be forced to resign:

"We have become so absorbed in the question of gay rights and the rest that we fail to understand the challenges and threats to marriage itself -- heterosexual marriage. Maybe we need to reevaluate this and look at it a little differently."

As with "pro-life", any hint of moderation or reasonability is hounded out of the movement. What a bunch of troglodytes.

The Bush era and the Paris Hilton era running in tandem is not a coincidence. The same morons who gobble up pictures and stories about Paris, Britney, et al. voted for Bush - twice. The coarsening of our discourse and our politics belong squarely with them. And, of course, they're the same mobs who, at their queen Sarah Palin's bidding, would have happily lynched Obama.

They exhausted me long ago, but apparently the smart people had enough numbers and energy to send them squirming back under their rocks while we take over for awhile. Wish it could be forever, but they reproduce at exponential rates and we don't, so enjoy this reprieve while you can.

I live in metro Chicago, and I've seen what a combination of 30 years of Republican neglect of infrastructure and decades of local political corruption have done. Our entire transportation system here - highways, surface roads, commuter transit and freight transit - is like something out of Eastern Europe.

Republican administrations (+ Clinton) starved states and cities of federal transportation funds for decades, leading to embarrassingly decrepit roads, and bridges falling into rivers. Local corruption led to pay-for-play contractors cutting corners and using poor materials on road and transit projects. Here in Chicago, we have cars falling into sinkholes, subways and elevated trains derailing, freight trains taking 3 days to get through Chicago, transit fares rising as bus lines are cut.

We have to fix this, both for short term stimulus and long term growth. I had great hopes for a transformative plan too, but Obama has to fix the mess that Repuglicans wrought.

... better than these arbitrary and capricious funding swings every time there's a change in power in the U.S. I am very happy that Obama did this, but I would like to see our Democratic Congress do something to prevent these swings in the future - a check on Presidential power to destroy women's lives on a whim.

I understand the need to pick and choose projects, but the mall is embarrassingly decrepit. I was there last fall. The sidewalks were in disrepair, the lawn was full of bare spots. Worst of all, the relecting pool was almost pure scum. It was disgusting to look at and smelled bad. The Republicans have neglected infrastructure for decades, including our national front yard. I remember last fall being embarrassed that this is what foreign visitors see - I'm sure it leaves a lasting impression....

I haven't seen anyone comment on what is really going on here: The media want to report this story as a tragically ironic tale of a man who was dedicated to bridging the divide between Americans and Islam (his network was called "BridgesTV") who then apparently killed his wife in a way we associate with Islamist terrorism. But, the media can't come right out and say "Isn't this ironic that a man who professes to want to demystify Islam for Americans goes and kills his wife the way an Islamist terrorist would", because then they will be accused of stereotyping Islam. So it just hangs in the air...

... when they failed to applaud/standing O for the tax cut for people making less than 250K. Obama said (paraphrasing)"if your family makes less than $250,000... that's a quarter million dollars... you're getting a tax cut!" The crowd goes wild, all except the Rethugs. Then little by little they begin to stand, as they realize they're the party of tax cuts so they should be standing and clapping. But it was too late - they showed their true colors: the only tax cuts they applaud are tax cuts for the rich.

This seems too much like the politicized Bush White House. I think Obama's passing comment about Rush a few weeks ago was fine, but now Gibbs has mentioned it in his daily press briefing and now we hear Rahm talks daily with Carville and Begala? Don't Rahm and Gibbs have more important things to do? I don't want the White House targeting Rush. It goes against the whole bipartisan thing, which, regardless of how it's working is really required, since the President represents all the people, not just his own party. Again, too reminiscent of Bush and Rove. Let the DNC do this, not the White House.