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Where were you where town hall meetings were cancelled? It was big news tea parties shouting everything down causing a huge scene. There were even a few instances of violence. I'll even site a source. There was a lot of scrutiny, there were many many polls performed and lots of the bill was read aloud on tv.

Lots of people read the bill,it was one of the most read out there, and it was over 1,000 pages! There was huge concern for the people who were affected, like my sister who how has healthcare due to the pre-existing condition clause so again I'm not sure where you were when all of this happened.

I'm also confounded how you can say there was no debate. There was so much debate in fact that it took a long time to finally pass.

Google should receive a more-lenient settlement than 20 years.

You must be joking / shilling!

From the summary: 'The 20-year settlement bars Google from misrepresenting how it handles user information and requires the company to follow policies that protect consumer data in new products.' .

You might also want to RTFA: http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/googles-privacy-practices-to-be-monitored-for-the-next-20-years.php

They're talking specifically about 'misrepresenting' user information and 'protect[ing] consumer data' ... by one of the most powerful companies on the planet FFS!

CH

Your analysis is hardly better. What he has really done is to abandon Maker Faire -- a neat thing and definitely not dedicated to destruction of life -- which accepted money from DARPA whose sole purpose is also actually not the destruction of life -- unless you think perhaps they plan to travel space to kill life forms elsewhere. And actually, he is still supporting DARPA because his tax dollars go there.

His outrage, however nobly intended, does nothing to hurt DARPA at all and instead is a blow to Maker Faire, which is sad.

I find it interesting that these two sites assume everyone that is on their forums have FB, etc accounts....are there other sites out there following this assumption?

The political site TPM recently shifted to this policy. They had been allowing OpenID as well, but dropped that because, um, trolls could get accounts there. Shocking, I tell you, who would have thought?

Of course, you'll still have to select which of your FB, twitter, google personas to use.

Correction, the second link was supposed to be:
    http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/this-american-life-on-apple-episode-retracted-due-to-significant-fabrications.php

The major issue here is how Apple's suppliers are treating their employees (execrably), not whether or not Daisey is a saint.

I want a keyboard.

Meh, content creation is sooooo passé. All the cool kids today are consuming content provided by others, such as large media conglomerates desperate to get you to download their app. Don't you want to be cool?

Indeed. Just look at this guy. Sitting there passively consuming information like a cow chewing cud. And he does this every morning of every day!

the reason Evi have been asked to change. Because the UI is too much of a Siri copy.

Another Kubrick-Goes-To-Court in the works?:

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/stanley-kubricks-2001-a-space-odyssey-invalidates-apples-design-patent-on-the-ipad-says-samsung.php

That was stupid when Samsung claimed it, it hasn't become better since. http://obamapacman.com/2011/08/debunked-samsung-2001-space-odyssey-as-ipad-prior-art-analysis/

the reason Evi have been asked to change. Because the UI is too much of a Siri copy.

Another Kubrick-Goes-To-Court in the works?:

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/stanley-kubricks-2001-a-space-odyssey-invalidates-apples-design-patent-on-the-ipad-says-samsung.php

Anon backed off on the Zetas once people started getting strung up

Interesting. Marc Rotenberg, President and Executive Director of EPIC served as counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee to PIPA sponsor Patrick Leahy. The very same unconstitutional PIPA that Google just protested against and helped get shut down with your help and mine.

I don't know about you, but a lawyer at counsel who could advise the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that he could get away with sponsoring a bill that violates not one, but at least two of our human rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights to suit a tiny minority commercial interest might be a wee bit biased.

Odd coincidence, that he's leading the group now suing Google over something or other. How did they expect us to not know that? Do they not have the Google? Are they living in the 1980's still?

In case you don't remember who Senator Leahy is and how he's working against your free speech and due process rights, here's an article with interesting links. Being as how you're reading this though, it's unlikely you don't know this.

And here's former Senator and chairman of the Democratic National Committee Chris Dodd saying if the politicians took the graft they oughtta pass this bill (PIPA and SOPA): link.

I don't think this has been tested in court, and if it were I think it's obvious what the decision at the top would be.

Really? http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/judge-restores-access-to-wisconsin-capitol----but-no-staying-overnight.php

Or were you referring to parks?

This is obviously absurd. The schools are public spaces, and the courts have ruled in favor of children having all of the constitutional rights of adults.

Yeah? Go hold a rally there why don't you? I'm talking about the government being able to say "yes this is publicly owned, but you still cannot camp|hold a rally|eat your lunch|read your pornography|sleep here."

And no the courts have not held that children have all the constitutional rights of adults. In fact it's very much otherwise. Hell there are numerous clauses of the constitution that explicitly deny rights to children.

Which is comically out of sync with the letter or spirit of 1A.

Says you. The US Supreme Court Justices (and the vast majority of Americans) say otherwise which means that your opinion on this subject is irrelevant.

Yeah, there's nothing worse than a rich whitey

You mean as in sending attorneys to congress to appear before the hearing committee and testifying to how SOPA/PIPA would harm the internet? Oyama was the only anti-SOPA witness allowed to testify

Accepting that politicians are inherently corrupt and there's nothing you can do about it isn't a natural state of humanity. We could use more people with faith in their politicians. That way when that faith is abused there'd be some shock, instead of acceptance mixed with defeat and irritation.

Oh, and if you need some faith restored and live in American, check out Alan Grayson, and if you can spare it please donate. After he pointed out the hypocrisy of our health care system the powers that be came down on him like a ton of bricks and ran him out of office with money...

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/sopa-hearing-will-never-end.php/

From the article:

Polis pointed out that SOPA and Smith's amendment already excluded certain operators of sub-domains, such as GoDaddy.com, from being subject to shutdowns under SOPA.

"If companies like GoDaddy.com are exempt, why aren't non-commercial domain servers exempt?" Polis asked.

Find a post where someone says all taxes should be abolished.

Can't?

OK, then maybe we can start the discussion again.

Easy: http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/michele-bachmann-taxpayers-should-keep-every-dollar-they-earn.php

The way the republican party is going you can't find anything too extreme that one of them hasn't said at some point

And now the stupid fucks have show up comparing what percentage to income taxes is paid to what percentage of people pay them, two completely unrelated things.

Hey, asswipe. We don't tax people, you fucktard, we tax income. The reason the top 1% pay twice as much now is that they are making something like eight times the money, and taxes are lower.

You might also wonder why you appeared to be paying 100% of the property taxes on your house. That is because you are the owner of your house, and other people are not, and thus those others did not have to pay any taxes on it. Likewise, the top 1% are almost the only people making any fucking income above the poverty line, or even any money at all, so are, in fact, almost the only people paying income tax.

I know it's very strange and requires a basic concept of complicated ideas like 'Only people with things are required to pay taxes on those things. People do not have to pay taxes on imaginary things they don't have.', but maybe you can find someone to help you. Perhaps you could go to the library and explain you are one of the very stupid, and ask if they have programs to help you. Like a literacy program, but for your entire brain.

And there is more than enough if we'd put their rates back to where they were under Clinton, and stopped bailouts and war. As everyone knows.

Without the idiotic policies of constant war and constant tax cuts and constant bailouts, we'd have a slightly increasing debt right now, during the recession (Yes, even with the stimulus), and one that went away once the economy got better. (Which means we'd have been much better off going into the economic collapse.)

I'm sure there is some connection between new jobs at WalMart and in the natural gas industry, and government jobs but I don't see it. Well, they are thankless and you work around a lot of explosive gas.

During the period from 2007 through 2010, the years of the so-called "Texas Miracle", Texas lost 178,000 private sector jobs, but added 125,000 public sector jobs (that means government jobs). The bulk of those jobs were paid for with Federal stimulus funds. (google "Texas miracle government jobs").

In fact, during that period, Texas accounted for half of all new government jobs nationwide .

So the so-called "Texas Miracle" is nothing but a confirmation of the effectiveness of Keynesian economics and the importance of government stimulus during a recession.

I see plenty of comments on how reasonable or unreasonable the price is, and they are interesting. I generally agree it doesn't seem that out of whack price wise for a working application supported for some time period.

What I find more interesting is this story is being posted all over the web all of the sudden:

• IT World
• Free Republic
• Human Events
• Business Insider
• Gizmodo
• Big Government
• TPM

And of course here on /.

Hitting that range of sites (and more) with this sort of non-story story trying to push a narrative of the government is wasting your money? Someone behind the scenes is pushing this narrative, I suspect. Not news for nerds, but manufactured political outrage.

What I am wishing is that our system would let the governed people demand and receive accountability from their representatives.

As my dad used to say, "If wishes were horses..." Seriously, it's called the voting booth - and not being a moron. For the latter I refer to the likes of the Tea Party and the stories of them demanding that the Government "keep its hand off their Medicare", from the comfort of their Medicare paid for electric scooters... Or the Tea Party demanding a return to the Constitution, then wanting to amend it... For example, see:

• 5 Constitutional Amendments That Constitution-Loving Tea Partiers Would Change
  http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/top-5-constitutional-amendments-tea-partiers-would-repeal.php
• Tea Party-Backed Repeal Of The 17th Amendment Gets Republicans Into Trouble
  http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/tea-party-call-to-repeal-the-17th-amendment-causing-problems-for-gop-candidates.php

Or my mother who has become a rabid Republican now decrying the very social safety nets she supported when she was a younger and less affluent Democrat.

So sad.

What I am wishing is that our system would let the governed people demand and receive accountability from their representatives.

As my dad used to say, "If wishes were horses..." Seriously, it's called the voting booth - and not being a moron. For the latter I refer to the likes of the Tea Party and the stories of them demanding that the Government "keep its hand off their Medicare", from the comfort of their Medicare paid for electric scooters... Or the Tea Party demanding a return to the Constitution, then wanting to amend it... For example, see:

• 5 Constitutional Amendments That Constitution-Loving Tea Partiers Would Change
  http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/top-5-constitutional-amendments-tea-partiers-would-repeal.php
• Tea Party-Backed Repeal Of The 17th Amendment Gets Republicans Into Trouble
  http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/tea-party-call-to-repeal-the-17th-amendment-causing-problems-for-gop-candidates.php

Or my mother who has become a rabid Republican now decrying the very social safety nets she supported when she was a younger and less affluent Democrat.

So sad.

The majority of the country supports marijuana legalization now. That, along with having both facts and justice on his side would allow Obama to skin the republicans alive.

Obama's just too big of a pussy to stand up for what is right.

Self-filtered information FTW!

I'm sure you can site innumerable examples of the right trying to increase executive power - but note the ones you mentioned do not. They are legislative, and yes, they reduce the power of the judiciary, but do not increase the power of the executive at all. At least the legislators are accountable to the people, unlike many judges.

As far as the left support (or not ) of executive power - consider that the left decried Bush's "Executive signing statements" (as they should), but they're not a problem when Obama decides they are okay after all.

And when no legislative solution was forthcoming for Net Neutrality (probably not a partisan issue, until fairly recently), and reducing carbon emissions, the left pushed for (and got) administrative (controlled by the executive) solutions. Consider Yucca Mountain - nuclear storage facility mandated (and funded) by Congress, upheld (and ordered implemented) by the highest courts, yet the executive (via direct control of the Department of Energy) refused to carry out the necessary work.

Remember the recent "debt ceiling crisis"? What I remember about it was the calls from the left for Obama to unilaterally raise the ceiling through executive order, via some odd interpretation of the 14th amendment.

It's not a false equivalence - it only seems that way to you because you base your trust on the (D) behind politicians' names. I guess to you Rick Perry used to be a good guy but now he's evil? I see him as the same old self-serving statist he has always been.

That's not a priority fight coming, it is old tyme bicycle coming, with a stick figure riding on it, pointing his finger to the future:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/assets_c/2011/09/Fermilab-cropped-proto-custom_28.jpg

A priority fight would like like this:
http://www.tentimesone.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/bar-fight.jpg

Just wanted to set that straight.

There is nothing of greater threat to national security than a HOMELESS hacker.

Homeless doesn't mean "unskilled." It may simply mean "unemployable." Morris County shelters see growing number of white-collar professionals becoming homeless

But are we looking at deep poverty here or a cyberpunk fantasy?

Feds: Homeless Computer Hacker Launched 'Anonymous' Attack Over Anti-Camping Law

After 23 nights, an area near the county courthouse steps is filled with sleeping bags, coolers, food, books, backpacks and other personal belongings campers have brought with them.

Homeless campers plead with Santa Cruz city leaders to change sleeping law

Rather than some Old Testament verse? http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/us_trijicon_rifle_scopes_in_iraq_and_afghanistan_f.php

Stem cells are people.

Corporations are people.

But somehow poor people are racoons.

Apparently she used her witch powers to see into the FUTURE!!!!

The president can order all troops to come home

So could Congress, but they won't because the Democrats don't want to get in their man's way, and the Republicans (McCain) actually stood up and said they didn't want to do anything that might hold back a Republican president, so they aren't doing anything about it either.

The president can investigate every nook and cranny of the Federal Government.

So can Congress, but they're too busy dicking around with guys who play with their balls, and whining about being lied to.

Set the focus of the law enforcement arms

He can only enforce the laws Congress passes... legally, anyway. He could choose not to enforce the laws Congress passes, but then he would be in violation of his oath to uphold the laws faithfully.

Appoint reasonable people to the myriad commissions and czar positions.

Only to those positions created by Congress. If the acts creating the EPA were to be cancelled by Congress (perhaps over a presidential veto) there'd be no clean air czar spot to fill, and if he tried to create one, it wouldn't have any legal power to do anything but stand there and whine (for free, absent a budget).

The so-called all-powerful "unitary executive" is a myth made up by Bush supporters who needed to justify Bush doing whatever he pleased.

Here's the actual trademark image. from the USPTO. "The mark consists of a representation of an actual building interior, namely, a securities exchange trading floor."

Here's the image from the article. It's not an overview of the NYSE trading floor. It''s a single trading post on some exchange. (Of course, at this point, the NYSE is about the only exchange that still has a trading floor. Most of the trading actually happens in the racks of a colocation facility in New Jersey anyway.) If anybody has a right to complain, it's Barclays Capital, because their trading post is being shown in conjunction with a story about fraud, and the story doesn't mention Barclays Capital.

Considering how Amazon has become known for caving to the slightest pressure from law enforcement or even just a nosy senator, to host such an attack from EC2 seems extraordinarily stupid.

It would make much more sense to launch it from somewhere hosted by a company that doesn't have a reputation for giving up their customer's data and shutting down even legitimate stuff that happens to run afoul of their vague guidelines.

Nah, once you do something on the scale of the PSN hack, it doesn't matter if the service provider caves too easily or not, because everyone gives up information when they get served a warrant. And there will be warrants. They just had to make sure Amazon has no way to trace it back to them, and it seems very unlikely the perpetrators accessed Amazon's servers from anything other than a laptop bought at a yard sale with a fake MAC address on a public wi-fi hotspot.

And the cloud services were paid for with a Visa gift card that was bought with cash.

Considering how Amazon has become known for caving to the slightest pressure from law enforcement or even just a nosy senator, to host such an attack from EC2 seems extraordinarily stupid.

It would make much more sense to launch it from somewhere hosted by a company that doesn't have a reputation for giving up their customer's data and shutting down even legitimate stuff that happens to run afoul of their vague guidelines.

?? Huh?

If you're in the business of stealing credentials, why not use some of the Amazon services those credentials allow you to access in order to get even more credentials?

As a benefit this also allows moronic assumpteers to take a distracting trip down "IP + Credentials == People" or "Shoot the Messenger" lane. If UPS delivers you a bomb or an envelope full of anthrax, it's not UPS's fault -- It's the malcontent that sent the package (Well, it's partially your fault too for accepting mail from a company who's name is "Oops!"). Of course the return address is a fake, unless, you assume the identity thieves are careless with their own identities...

Considering how Amazon has become known for caving to the slightest pressure from law enforcement or even just a nosy senator, to host such an attack from EC2 seems extraordinarily stupid.

It would make much more sense to launch it from somewhere hosted by a company that doesn't have a reputation for giving up their customer's data and shutting down even legitimate stuff that happens to run afoul of their vague guidelines.

This isn't the compound, it doesn't match the pictures the SOC has released. I think you're very close, though.

Death threats against Democrats are given the "aw, shucks" treatment.

References, please. When did this happen? Who specifically said it was "aw, shucks" for a Democrat to receive death threats?

Because I remember the news media spending weeks chiding Republicans and Tea Party members for an "extreme tone", while the same news media was much less interested in actual death threats made against Republicans.

It was big news that Sarah Palin's campaign used marks to indicate cities on a map, and the news media endlessly discussed how serious it is that Sarah Palin used words like "target" and "reload" when talking about election plans. It wasn't news at all that Democrat ads have used bullseyes, or even put a crosshairs with reticle over a Republican. That crosshairs looks like a rifle scope to me.

I remember that it was big news when a Republican shouted "You lie!" at President Obama, but it was not big news when a Wisconsin Democrat shouted "You're f***king dead!" at a Wisconsin Republican. (Nobody thinks it was a sincere threat of murder, but it still seems like a poor example of the more civil "new tone" talked about in recent months.)

Are you telling me that the same news media that was all over the Republican "extreme tone" downplayed actual death threats against Democrats?

Citation needed.

Disclaimer: I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat; I am a minarchist libertarian. I am not a fan of extremist rhetoric on either side, I am not a fan of death threats, and I am not a fan of double standards.

steveha

I'm not sure what to make of this loon..... the quote that is taken from the video never says he'll have anything to do with bullets. He may be in some mind-altered state where he thinks he's warning people of something, some sick joke, or using hyperbole -- in any of those cases it wouldn't be a crime. I think he needs to get booked into a nice mental hospital, not a jail cell...

"receive my bullets in your office, remember they will be placed in your heads. You and your children are Lucifer's abominations." ... "Leaders you will perish" and " I control your jets your missiles, I control everything."

In yet another video, Leboon seems to threaten Obama. .... "Your punishment is coming, the swine, it will be severe, and you will beg for mercy to your god. It will be severe, you will know god's swine, god has warned you."

Noted he never said anything about the bullets being shot from a gun. Someone actually threatening harm will actually make a statement that they would cause harm to happen.... otherwise, what they're doing is something different than sending a 'threat'

"Let's go pick a fight," proclaimed Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN). "If liberals in the Senate play political games, then shut down government. I say shut it down." http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/04/02/spending-fight-political-calculus

“Listen, there’s no daylight between the tea party and me,” the Ohio Republican [John Boehner] said in an interview with ABC News conducted Wednesday. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52722.html

the [Tea Party Rally] crowd chants: "Shut'er Down! Shut'er Down!" http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/04/shut_er_down_shut_er_down.php

Now, who do think will get the credit for the shutdown, if it occurs?

A quick reminder-- Amazon quickly and voluntarily pulled the plug on Wikileaks after a talking basset hound pressured them to do so.

I have my own little boycott against Amazon going and I invite you to join it. There are plenty of great places to buy things online. Give them a shot.

If a "moderate" Republican wants to spend $223 million on a quarter-mile "bridge to nowhere" then "moderate" has no meaning.

And there's still the mystery of why he inserted an earmark for a contributor in Florida after the bill involved had passed the House and Senate. That bit of extra-Constitutional law-jiggering was hardly the act of a moderate, Republican or not.

Also, having to maintain two houses is living outside your means. Congress members usually have to maintain their home in-state, and also find a place to live inside DC when Congress is in session.

Considering he was already making $150k before being elected, the bump to 175 isn't a whole lot. He's spending more than he needs to, certainly, with a 5-acre house and another vacation home.

Here's the take-away. He probably is struggling, but he also represents the typical American more than any other Congressman out there right now. Spending what he can afford in terms of monthly payments on debt, not paying cash. Adding a place to crash in D.C. probably made this an overall pay cut form him.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/so-how-rich-is-sean-duffy-not-very-for-a-congressman.php

the single biggest thing people forget is that Senators and Representatives have to live in a very expensive city. $174k in Washington, with a family house and a D.C. pad is not a pile of money, although it is generous. I'd rather be generous than risk that every single one of them immediately turn to bribes to get by.

Read this: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/03/taking_stock_3.php

According to reports by the Japanese government and media, the situation is not unstable. Levels are decreasing. Stop listening to US news coverage.

Except, accourding to the Justice Department, the DOD does a very poor job of protecting it's whisle blowers. See section C of the report entitled "Increase of Complaints". (Compaints is in relation to reprisal complaints) Soruce: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/12/defense_dept_not_properly_protecting_whistleblower.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20TPMmuckraker%20(TPMmuckraker)#

According to a report by ABC News, the National Academy of Science just released a report saying he may not have actually done it.. That's after the Feds had accused a previous scientist who didn't cooperatively kill himself.

Also, Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed "Curveball", admits he made up the WMD story so Bush would attack Saddam Hussein, and says he'd do that again (in spite of how well it worked out for everybody..)

Bad enough that I have to watch The Comedy Channel to get TV news, but now I have to read FARK to get the updated stories on the causes of the Iraq war.

Except it's already been done, and relatively recently: telcom companies were given retroactive immunity for participation in the Bush warantless wiretapping program.

Make no mistake: despite what politicians of both sides of the aisle say, no Republican, and far too few Democrats, really know or agree with what's actually in the Constitution.

Technically that's not a law, so much as a pardon or promise not to prosecute. The government can't retroactively create a law, but they are always free to retroactively rescind one or grant immunity.

It would have been more interesting (and perhaps more constitutionally correct) though if Bush, before leaving office, wrote a Presidential Pardon to any corporation participating in the program. After all, corporations are considered to be people now...

Disclaimer: IANAL

The Constitution of the United States of America, Article 1, Section 9, Paragraph 3.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

Except it's already been done, and relatively recently: telcom companies were given retroactive immunity for participation in the Bush warantless wiretapping program.

Make no mistake: despite what politicians of both sides of the aisle say, no Republican, and far too few Democrats, really know or agree with what's actually in the Constitution.

Bill O'Reilly thinks that Jesus makes the tides work http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/02/11/you-cant-explain-bill-oreilly/.

Or the on-going attack on teaching evolution in US public schools http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_and_evolution_in_public_education.

Globally, evolution is taught in science courses with limited controversy, with the exception of a few areas of the United States and several Islamic fundamentalist countries.

So it's not just radical Islamic regimes, it's Christians in the US.

Or the Conservapedia saying that Einstein's Relativity theories are a "liberal plot". http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/conservapedia_founder_takes_on_the_notorious_liber.php

The theory of relativity is a mathematical system that allows no exceptions. It is heavily promoted by liberals who like its encouragement of relativism and its tendency to mislead people in how they view the world.

Don't forget the wanna-be Christians despots here in the USA.

the US Government is considering legislation that will give the President 'kill switch' powers over the internet as well.

No. In point of the fact, the proposal in question would limit a power that the President has had for decades. Under a 1934 law, the President can (under certain circumstances) basically shut off any or all wireless or wired communications.

Please stop the FUD about this. One might argue that the bill should go further in restricting this power, or that the power should never have been granted in the first place, but calling it a new power is either ignorant or a lie.

As TFA states Obama wants a kill switch for our USA Net.

The persistence of FUD over this is amazing. The proposal in question would limit a power that the President has had since 1934. The "OMG Obama wants an internet kill switch!" meme is a lie.

"liar, weak, or naive"

Of course I have no proof of this, but option 4: Shortly after taking the oath, men in black suits from various powerful governmental and non-governmental agencies and business come meet with him:) What they reveal either makes him change his mind, or ties his hands.

But if you compare Obama historically, he hasn't been much better or much worse than most presidents. Two years in, and his promises kept are 26%, and promises broken at 8%.

Every time something happens we don't like, it is blamed on Obama. To be fair, same with Bush when he was in power. But there is one major difference from the last few presidencies and this one: The number of filibusters, blocks of cloture (or threats thereof). See this graph. Republicans intentionally screwed his agenda for the entire 2 years, and then had a ton of legislation pass right at the end of the session (before xmas).

Since we will likely never know his true thinking, I choose to personally believe that he, and most candidates in general, make "promises" not so much as a real promise, but as a declaration saying "If I get my way, this is what will happen". It would make a pretty annoying political speech if every promise/declaration had to be prefaced by "Well, assuming we control congress, and assuming I currently know all the details about X, and and and...":)

It seems that he did go on a rant couple of months ago.
Except, it seems to have been a kind of a rant that would/should have attracted attention of a trained psychologist.

Too bad he just yelled at the emptiness of the internet, instead of at say... other humans.