The budget moves forward

The $3.4T (that's trillion) budget moves forward. Universal healthcare is truly on the horizon; something that is already given to senior citizens and children will be guaranteed for all.

Not to mention environmental protections and funding for transit and education; all things that will pay dividends for decades and make America competitive again.

Bush among the worst

Out of 41 ranked presidents, George W. Bush ranked 36th.  The recent CSPAN ranking shows a good consensus view of the effectiveness of president's.  Bush ranked near the bottom in most categories, especially foreign relations.

The top two?  Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.  The man who presided over the country during its greatest crises and the other perhaps our most important founding father.

The Radical President

Thomas Friedman is hoping that President Obama will make radical changes.  

So am I.

The Open Government Begins

Today President Obama issued a memo to all Federal Agencies regarding the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  In the memo (PDF), the President said that "in the face of doubt, openness prevails.  The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears."

I like the "speculative or abstract fears" part of his message.  He is directly speaking against the paranoia that has permeated Washington for the past 8 years under the Bush/Cheney team.

He also directed agencies to use "modern technology" to make information available to the public before they even receive a request.

Highlights from Obama's Speech

The parts of his speech that I found most inspiring (all emphasis added is mine):

"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth."

"To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history..."

"The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end."

"And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that, 'Our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.'"

"To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy."

"This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall. And why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath."

"America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

The first e-president?

Obama plans to keep his Blackberry while President, likely ending the policy in place for the last 2 administrations of not letting the president send email.  

Obama 's leadership approved by most

Barack Obama will be our president within 20 days.  Currently, people believe that he is as strong as a leader as Reagan when he was a president-elect.  

Many more people approve of his leadership now than voted for him.  What this means is that many of his policies should be rapidly approved by congress.  I hope.

Undoing the damage

Barack Obama plans on reviewing all of Bush's executive orders and repealing the ones he does not agree with as quickly as possible.  

Some of the more nasty ones:

• Bush has said that climate change is not a threat to humans, which severely limits the steps agencies will take to reduce or regulate carbon emissions.  
  
• Bush has not allowed California to enact its own environmental policies relating to carbon emissions from vehicles.  Obama will definitely repeal this.  As California is the biggest state, its emissions policies will be forced on the other states.  In this case it is a good thing as their proposal would require an average of 36MPG in cars within a few years.
  
• Repealing the religion based stem cell rules.
  

Expect these and many more to be reviewed and repealed.

McCain Flip Flops on Torture

One of the only principled stances that John McCain has ever taken is against legalized torture by the United States. He has repeatedly said that waterboarding is not legal and should not be used. Today, he changed his mind and voted against banning the practice.

A civilized country should never official condone torture. Torture is something used by tyrants. As McCain has pointed out previously, torture simply does not work. If someone has your testicles in a vice, you will say anything to get that vice removed, the truth may come out, but so could anything else.

Once you open pandora's box of torture, where do you go from there? If the guy won't crack under waterboarding, do you rape his wife and children in front of him? What if that doesn't work?

We as a society must draw a line in the sand. McCain had done this in the past but has proved himself to be quite a waffle on this issue. As I have said in the past, he is the most dangerous candidate out there.