said:

I regularly read the LA Times, the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, Slate and Salon, and I have found an overwhelming bias toward Palestine. All I hear is how much the Gazans are suffering, about the war crimes "neighborhood bully" Israel has committed, about how Israel may or may not have the right to even exist, etc.

It might be nice of you to provide some substantiation for your statement. If it is indeed "overwhelming" that should not be too difficult.

Also, there might be some [maybe congenital] issue with your sense of "hearing". You ought to get that checked out.

I'm supposed to "count my blessings that Obama is NOT George Bush??

My question is- -How difficult can it be to not be George Bush? People do it all the time.

GG said:

"[...] but in much of the world, particularly the Muslim world, perceptions will change (understandably so) only if those pretty words are backed up by actions [...]"

It reminded me of 2002 when Bush and the Cheney Gang withdrew the Unites States from the International Criminal Court...their resaons and the effect of the action...

May 6, 2002-US Department of State informs UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that the US “does not intend to become a party to” the “Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court adopted on July 17, 1998.” The letter is signed by John Bolton. (PP) [See also September 7, 2002]

“Ironically, the hostility has helped in my dealings with countries that might otherwise perceive me to be in the pocket of the Americans. It has been one positive factor in the Arab and African worlds. The U.S. distance from the court seems to have had the very opposite effect of that intended—of strengthening. ”- Luis Moreno-Ocampo, [prosecutor of the International Criminal Court] [7]

September 7, 2002-NYT: “The Bush administration is shifting its emphasis in seeking exemptions for Americans from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, telling European allies that a central reason is to protect the country's top leaders from being indicted, arrested or hauled before the court on war crimes charges, administration officials say.”(QQ)

Sources at sig.

I didn’t say anything about Congress-people. I said there are many people who find it not-difficult to “not be George Bush.”

And as far as those Congress people who “jumped whenever that moron snapped his fingers”, I seem to recall that Obama went against his own word to vote for Bush and the Cheney-gang’s Bill amending the FISA laws.

And I still don't see why I should just be thrilled that we have a President who's not as bad as the last guy...that's a pretty low bar.

Thanks for that "ProPublica" link. They have an interactive listing [The Missing Memos] of "relevant memos, both public and secret" at this link: http://www.propublica.org/special/missing-memos

[and at sig.]

This is an amazing resource!

The very first thing Bush-and-the-Cheney-Gang did after 9/11 was to greatly expand the power of the CIA...and keep on expanding it...and then doing it some more. The first two entries in the Timeline are about this [link at sig.] I find the following very disturbing:

Fall 2001 - “At a classified briefing for senators not long after 9/11, CIA Director George Tenet was asked whether Washington was going to get governments known for their brutality to turn over Qaeda suspects to the United States. Congressional sources told NEWSWEEK that Tenet suggested it might be better sometimes for such suspects to remain in the hands of foreign authorities, who might be able to use more aggressive interrogation methods.” (RR)

And here’s something that will soon be added to the Feb. 7, 2002 entry:

The [Presidential] directive [circumventing Geneva] includes “humane treatment” wording which only applies to the Armed Forces, not to the CIA. In recent months, language which attempts to prohibit the CIA from treating detainees inhumanely has been stripped from several Congressional Bills in Conference. [35, Lederman #3]

And then on December 30, 2004, the Daniel Levin Memo which replaced the notorious 2002 Yoo/Bybee Memo had the same problem:

“[…] despite its admirable and considerable repudiation of the 2002 OLC Opinion, the new OLC Opinion in many important respects does not affect what the CIA has been authorized to do.” [35; Lederman #2, #3]

The CIA is free to kidnap, detain and transport people anywhere around the world. They [with their Italian counterparts] kidnapped an Imam off the streets of Milan. Then there’s the story of German citizen Khaled El-Masri [See June 1, 2004].

And just recently there’s this:

January 22, 2009 - President Obama signs four Executive Orders. […] Among the hard questions that Obama left open, in fact, is whether the C.I.A. will have to follow the same interrogation rules as the military.” [30] [more at sig]

[35] http://balkin.blogspot.com/2005/09/anti-torture-memos-balkinization-posts.html

Two makes four? I guess using those bullet points might be addicting...oh! only one more and I'm done...oh! but...only one more...really...[only kidding with you ;-) ]

March 8, 2006 - the State Department releases its Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices [about 2005]. It condemns Belarus, Burma, China, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nepal, North Korea, Philippines, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe for holding individuals in incommunicado detention and for engaging in “disappearances.” [See April 2006-John Negroponte…] [23]

April 2006 - John Negroponte, Director of National Intelligence, acknowledged to media sources that the Central Intelligence Agency continues to hold approximately three dozen al-Qaeda suspects in secret overseas prisons. He maintained that the United States is likely to keep them in captivity for as long as the “war on terror continues.” Human Rights Watch says these detainees have been “effectively ‘disappeared’”. [See March 8, 2006][23]

Source at: [and at sig]

http://www.webdsi.com/jebbie/tlpage33.html