Obama does not talk about terror as much and try to stoke the fear, and that is a welcome change IMO. Personally I appreciate the less emotional style. I know others differ.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from opponents of same-sex marriage who want to overturn the District of Columbia's gay marriage law.

The court did not comment Tuesday in turning away a challenge from a Maryland pastor and others who are trying to get a measure on the ballot to allow Washingtonians to vote on a measure that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. link

It's really, really hard to find a difference that's meaningful and not atmospheric.

There are some things that Obama has done that has codified our fight against terrorism into law, that is true.  What is also true, even though we often do not want to admit it, is that we have a terrorism problem and to ignore that will spell a certain political death for any leader who refuses to deal with that reality.  When there are laws in use to visit there is a framework to work within and to criticize and change.  The very worst things that happened under Bush happened in the fuzzy lawlessness that was perpetuated because it was useful to them when they wanted to do horrible things to human beings.

I'd be interested in knowing about population movements in both Iraq and Afghanistan since Obama took office.
In the early Bush years, I read that large numbers of ex-pats were moving back to Afghanistans, some after decades away.
Conversely, the exodus from Iraq was in the millions. Hard to imagine that people want to stay in Afghanistan now. As to Iraq: are people returning?

Also, the Prez who says he's itching for a fight at home on taxes (IN TWO YEARS), laugh laugh, has to come off as strong somewhere else. IMO, this is why his similarities to Bush in war policy (let's be honest here and say what it is) are still as wretched and immoral and, thanks to WikiLeaks, we KNOW they are a massive failure that is making the U.S. infinitely less safe.  

"Julian Assange... pledged to make public the confidential tax details of 2,000 wealthy and prominent individuals, after being passed the data by a Swiss banker who claims the information potentially reveals instances of money-laundering and large-scale illegal tax evasion."

""As banker, I have the right to stand up if something is wrong," he said. "I am against the system. I know how the system works and I know the day-to-day business. I wanted to let society know how this system works because it's damaging society," he said.

Elmer will appear in a Swiss court on Wednesday charged with breaking Swiss banking secrecy laws, forging documents and sending threatening messages to two officials at his former employer.

He denies the charges."

Last week, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) posted a lecture on his YouTube channel where he explains in great detail his views on the Constitution. As part of the lecture, which is essentially a lengthy defense of his radical tenther interpretation of the Constitution, Lee claims that federal child labor laws are unconstitutional:

While he is being detained in Yemen, and allegedly tortured, U.S. puts him on no-fly list.  

The commom theme seems to be the state making it more difficult than it need be to make a living...like seizing a food cart because ya don't have a stupid permit.  As well as the all too common high unemployment and soaring food prices.

I would imagine that the detainees in Gitmo who have no hope of charge or trial might think that Obama's policies have a familiar ring.

I would imagine that those "suspects" who have been "rendered" might think so as well.

Forget about the unemployed.
Forget about our trampled civil rights and our poor old shredded constitution.
Forget about assault weapons.

The NYTImes just broke a story and put it on their front page:

"Chihuahua Survives Owl Attack in Suburban Chicago".

In a speech billed as a discussion of the Bush and Obama eras, New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh delivered a rambling, conspiracy-laden diatribe here Monday expressing his disappointment with President Barack Obama and his dissatisfaction with the direction of U.S. foreign policy.

"Just when we needed an angry black man," he began, his arm perched jauntily on the podium, "we didn't get one."

It quickly went downhill from there.

Hersh, whose exposés of gross abuses by members of the U.S. military in Vietnam and Iraq have earned him worldwide fame and high journalistic honors, said he was writing a book on what he called the "Cheney-Bush years" and saw little difference between that period and the Obama administration.

MONTGOMERY -- Gov.-elect Robert Bentley in a speech at a Baptist church this afternoon said he plans to be the governor of all Alabamians and be color-blind, but he also said people who aren't ''saved" Christians aren't his brothers and sisters.

In Jordan earlier this week, Twitterers showed a surprising amount of nerve when they openly criticized Queen Rania over her Tweet that she was "watching developments in Tunisia and praying for stability and calm for its people."

Responses included "lol Jordan is next!" and "start palace hunting in Jedda [Saudi Arabia, where Tunisia's ruler Zine Abidine Ben Ali fled]." The LA Times described the Tweets as "ominous."

Yet, far-too-many misinformed and uneducated Americans who cannot see past their own ignorance, think all Arabs and Muslims are enemies and terrorists.  

Anti-Muslim bigots seek to whip up hatred against Arabs in the midst of our current economic crisis.  They need scapegoats to blame.  They want to divert anger away from the banks and corporations, the real culprits, who have robbed millions of their jobs and homes.  

These ugly, right-wing campaigns are given coverage by media outlets that have allowed bigotry to seep into mainstream discourse.  For example, it was widely reported that Attorney General Eric Holder said he stays “awake at night” because so many young Muslim-American men are becoming so radicalized that they are taking up arms against our country.

What the media failed to mention is: The Investigative Project on Terrorism reported only 21 militant Muslims were convicted on or pleaded guilty to federal terrorism charges in 2010.  During the same time, over 100,000 Americans died or were injured by firearms, and over a million domestic violence cases were reported.  These and other important stories seemingly go unnoticed in the media.  Millions of Muslims practice their faith in peace while Islamic extremists get disproportional attention.