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NASA's getting more of a budget ($6 billion over 5 years). Also, NASA will be reviving its R&D efforts, which were mostly ended to fund Ares/Constellation when it started going overbudget. Here's my recent slashdot submission below... please up-mod it if you think it's worthwhile!

http://slashdot.org/submission/1163232/New-Path-For-NASA-Revealed
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/factsheet_department_nasa/

New Path For NASA Revealed

"The White House and NASA have revealed in this year's budget proposal their new plans for the agency. The big news is that NASA's budget-consuming Constellation program has been cancelled, as the project was 'over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation due to a failure to invest in critical new technologies,' and would mostly be a repetition of Apollo-era achievements with a handful of astronauts. NASA will also be getting a budget boost of $6 billion over 5 years. Technological development and testing programs will be revived and expanded, in order to develop new capabilities and make exploration activities more cost-effective with key technologies like in-orbit propellant transfer and advanced in-space propulsion. There will be a steady stream of robotic missions to perform science, scout locations, and demonstrate tech needed for future human missions. Research and development will also be done to support future heavy-lift rockets with more capacity and lower operation costs. NASA will be maximizing the return on its investment in the ISS, extending it past 2016 and deploying new reseach facilities (potentially including a long-desired centrifuge to study human physiology in space). NASA will also use commercial contracts for routine human and cargo transportation to the space station, as it already does for most unmanned missions, which will 'help create thousands of new jobs and help reduce the cost of human access to space.' More details will be provided by NASA Administrator (and former astronaut) Charles Bolden over the coming week, and then NASA has to get its plans through a potentially-hostile Congress."

An overview "Fact Sheet" on the proposed FY2011 budget for NASA has been published by the OMB at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/factsheet_department_nasa/ The Constellation program is cancelled, and this could mean thousands of jobs lost in Florida, Alabama and Texas at the major human space flight centers. The savings from the cuts will be reinvested in new R&D for future exploration.

Actually it's failure to report anyone who doesn't like Obamacare, or posts opposing facts about it:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

From: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/facts-are-stubborn-things/

I believe by fishy they mean anything that isn't positive. I can't imagine the uproar if Bush had done anything remotely similar.

I knew we were in for it when he kept Gitmo going.

Within a week of taking office Obama issued an executive order that all of the prisoners cases be reviewed and the detention center be closed within a year. Last month he he issued a presidential memorandum requiring that that all the prisoners be transferred out of Guantanamo immediately. I'm not really sure that sort of behavior qualifies as "keeping Gitmo going".

I'm all for ripping on politicians, but we should also give credit when it's due.

Are you a US citizen? Are your parents old enough to draw social security, and use the medicare benefits? Do they use them? Have you looked at the cost of your parent's prescriptions? Could they afford them without Medicare and Social Security? I'm generally a fiscal conservative and opposed to raising taxes, more government, etc. I didn't vote for Obama. There are some programs that make sense, and these definitely help out people who need them. My mother-in-law would not have had the care she needed for multiple sclerosis had it not been for Medicare and Medicaid. She suffered from multiple sclerosis for 20 years. and was disabled and could not work for nearly a decade of her 20-year struggle with the disease prior to her death from complications related to MS.

By the way, your figures appear to be incorrect. Remember that social security and medicare are "pay as you go" programs where what is paid in by employers and employees gets paid out to current recipients. It isn't a savings account for you to bank on later. According the Obama's budget summary, social security will run $696B (not $14T), medicare will run $452B (not $76T + $18.6T). That website you quote doesn't even provide a reference to their sources of information. I looked at the President's actual budget. Don't believe everything you read on websites that try to convince you they have "the facts". Always look at where their "facts" are sourced. My numbers are from the White House web page on the President's budget at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Summary_Tables/.

There are plenty of places where Congress should chop. Take a look at the pork barrel projects in your own state that your own Senators and Representatives toss in to get funding. Take a look at the numerous failed social programs. Take a look at the Federal procurement guidelines and how much it cost us to make an actual procurement. There are so many ways that the Federal procurement process alone could be simplified that would eliminate an enormous amount of wasted spending. For example, a private sector company can by $100,000 in IT assets and have it delivered in a week or two. It takes six months in the Federal government, and reams of paper. The larger the price tag, the more paperwork and time required to make the acquisition. I've worked in both arenas and speak from first hand experience.

Also take a look at the money the US hands out all over the world, as well as the programs inside the US. There are great causes we should support. There are countries who need help. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of beneficiaries who should not be getting a dime but they have friends in high places.

The Federal income tax revenue, and income from foreign loan interest and import tariffs, is tens of trillions of dollars annually. It isn't that we don't have enough money to fund the things we need. It is that we fund too many things we don't need. That being said, social security, medicare and medicaid are not in the list of programs "we don't need". If your parents are recipients of any of these programs, ask them how they would be impacted without them.

That section doesn't pertain to anything we're discussing here. Congrats for being part of the FUD.

I know it's a little complicated, but basically in 1983 Reagan signed an executive order granting Interpol international organization status, which just means they get certain (mostly tax- and customs-related) protections and privileges. Section 2(b) of the act defining those privileges is what you quoted above, and is what Reagan gave them. Now, Reagan excepted Interpol from certain protections, viz Section 2(c), Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6. These exceptions are what Obama has just withdrawn. Go ahead and read them, they pertain partly to taxes and social security, and also protect the property of international organizations (all of them, not just Interpol) from seizure and search.

So either you don't really understand what's going on or you're just fearmongering. As to the whoever started this, well, that was pure FUD.

....or even better, Real the Documents!

You can find Reagan's 1983 Executive Order on the subject here. In my reading of the text, it puts INTERPOL under the rules of the International Organizations Immunities Act in all areas except for customs duties and tax. Obama's Executive Order (which is here) appears to put INTERPOL under the remaining rules that Reagan didn't do. If one wants to blame Obama for giving INTERPOL unlimited immunity, then Reagan should be blamed as well since he put the organization under this Act to begin with.

>>This summary is flat out WRONG. It's phrased to start a flamewar. Click the news link, and see what it says

I'm the submitter, and I'd recommend not clicking on the news link. Not only is it wrong, but the Slashdot editors added it in to my submission, which just had a link to the Executive Order and to the UN Parking Ticket Scandal.

>>FOIA might be affected, but they are not immune to crimes.

Incorrect. They are immune (technically, they were already immune - this extends their immunities further). ABCNews is further wrong when it says INTERPOL does not have full diplomatic immunity. If you look at all the categories of possible immunities here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_immunity#Diplomatic_immunity_in_the_United_States, INTERPOL agents (and their families to a certain extent) have them all now. There's more kinds of diplomatic immunity than the immunities diplomats have.

They're immune to search, seizure, suit, legal proceedings, taxes, and their families too. Just what I want from a law enforcement agency, eh?

If you don't believe me, read the law yourself. All the source is here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-amending-executive-order-12425
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_12425
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/International_Organizations_Immunities_Act

Nah, this administration doesn't need to even give it to Interpol now ...

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-classified-national-security-information

Section 1.7(d):

(d) Information that has not previously been disclosed to the public under proper authority may be classified or reclassified after an agency has received a request for it under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552), the Presidential Records Act, 44 U.S.C. 2204(c)(1), the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) ...

So, basically if a document is NOT classified, and you request it ... they can THEN classify it since you now brought it to their attention.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-classified-national-security-information

This EO allows various people to classify or reclassify documents.

But most specifically, Section 1.7(d) states:

(d) Information that has not previously been disclosed to the public under proper authority may be classified or reclassified after an agency has received a request for it under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552), the Presidential Records Act, 44 U.S.C. 2204(c)(1), the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a)

Ok, let's take that one at a time.

>>Interpol has no police force. It conducts no investigations. It doesn't arrest anyone. As an international organization it was not subject to FOIA requests anyway, because it's not a department of the federal government.

It has an office, it has employees, it has files. They are now immune to search and seizure by the federal government.

>>As a previous poster noted, this is NOT DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY.

It is diplomatic immunity. Learn to fucking read. There's more kinds of diplomatic immunity than the immunities given to diplomats.

>>This is immunity from attachment of any property that Interpol may have in the USA.

Yes.

>>Any employees of Interpol, if any, stationed in the USA can and would still be arrested for crimes they commit

No, they are immune to suit and legal proceedings for anything they did while acting as an employee of interpol.

>>In summary, both the original submitter and basically every comment I've seen so far are not just wrong, they are comically wrong.

Learn to read. It helps in life.

Some references:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/International_Organizations_Immunities_Act
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_12425
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-amending-executive-order-12425
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_immunity

The problem with anecdotal evidence, is that people arguing the exact opposite point can pull out a dozen examples too. In this article John Derbyshire pulls out a dozen examples of why Obama is trying to kill science in the United States. It's not convincing to anyone who knows about National Lab Day, Educate to Innovate STEM initiative, Computer Science Week, data.gov, and the Policy Forum on Public Access to Federally Funded Research... but this is all anecdotal too, a better resource would be an overview of all the projects being funded by the stimulus package or trends in government funding of scientific research.

However, I do completely agree that Tyson is being unfair to the American government. In fact, this is the same guy who previously argued Republicans were doing a great job of funding American science. The real issue here, and the one we are dealing with most in computer science, is American Culture's antipathy and outright contempt for science and academia. Kids aren't going into Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, etc, because they are afraid of being associated with "geeks." The kids all want to be gangsters, models, and sports stars... not realizing how unrealistic those dreams are and that only a miniscule percentage of people succeed in those arenas.

We need a culture change, we need to be proud geeks and make others envy us. It'll help us out in the long run.

Uhh, not so. You now have the right to habeas corpus, even if you're a terrorism suspect. This is one of the most important individual freedoms that separates democracies from dictatorships. And yes, everyone deserves it, because without this principle, the only thing separating us from fundamentalist religious fanatics is our weaponry. From the order signed by Obama the day he was inaugurated:

The individuals currently detained at Guantánamo have the constitutional privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. Most of those individuals have filed petitions for a writ of habeas corpus in Federal court challenging the lawfulness of their detention.

Thats a technicality and you know it. That doesn't effect the average joe at all. After all the rights that were hindered during the Bush Administration your happy about this being restored? I'm not against it, but its obviously a foreign policy ploy.

You don't have the right to drive without auto insurance in most states. The real fear from the lobbyists generating the massively misinformed hysteria is that we will have the same efficient, mostly socialized systems that they've had in Europe for decades. I know of no country where you are not allowed to pay extra for your own private health insurance, and even on top of the taxes they pay, is probably less per capita than Americans pay.

Follow me on this thought experiment: an uninsured woman, 55 years old, shows up to a hospital dying of kidney failure from diabetes. In a model where you must have have insurance to receive care, the hospital would have to let her die in the parking lot. In our current model where only emergency services are covered, we spend a few hundred thousand on dialysis, various medications, possibly a transplant, and take up space in the ICU. In a model where all care is covered, she has no incentive to wait to see the doctor, and hopefully they'd catch the problem early and we'd all pay far less for her care.

So, unless you are really going to allow uninsured car accident victims and the chronically ill to expire in view of a hospital, no one is serious about the first option. So which of the two left should we move to?

The mandate for buying car insurance is a state mandate not federal. If you against buying car insurance you have the option of not operating a vehicle. Under a federal mandate to buy health insurance you would be forced to buy a health plan or face stiff penalties.

And why does every look to europe like their standard of living is higher than ours? Socialism has brought them stagnant growth as well as high unemployment.

I can bring up isolated incidents just as easily as you can. While our system is not perfect, I do not believe that the problems of a minority , should effect something as large as the American Health Care System. If that 55 year old woman would choose to rather buy a new car or drink Starbucks everyday instead of investing in health insurance that is her problem not mine. Hospitals are already required by law to provide care to those in need, and there are institutions such as Medicaid that are put in place to help the needy.

How many more freedoms do we have now that Obama is president? Zero.

Uhh, not so. You now have the right to habeas corpus, even if you're a terrorism suspect. This is one of the most important individual freedoms that separates democracies from dictatorships. And yes, everyone deserves it, because without this principle, the only thing separating us from fundamentalist religious fanatics is our weaponry. From the order signed by Obama the day he was inaugurated:

The individuals currently detained at Guantánamo have the constitutional privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. Most of those individuals have filed petitions for a writ of habeas corpus in Federal court challenging the lawfulness of their detention.

How many freedoms have been taken away? Lets see here... Obama wants to eliminate economic freedom of choice in the health care plan (I should have the right to choose my health care plan, be it an expensive plan, or I also have the right to have no health care)

You don't have the right to drive without auto insurance in most states. The real fear from the lobbyists generating the massively misinformed hysteria is that we will have the same efficient, mostly socialized systems that they've had in Europe for decades. I know of no country where you are not allowed to pay extra for your own private health insurance, and even on top of the taxes they pay, is probably less per capita than Americans pay.

Follow me on this thought experiment: an uninsured woman, 55 years old, shows up to a hospital dying of kidney failure from diabetes. In a model where you must have have insurance to receive care, the hospital would have to let her die in the parking lot. In our current model where only emergency services are covered, we spend a few hundred thousand on dialysis, various medications, possibly a transplant, and take up space in the ICU. In a model where all care is covered, she has no incentive to wait to see the doctor, and hopefully they'd catch the problem early and we'd all pay far less for her care.

So, unless you are really going to allow uninsured car accident victims and the chronically ill to expire in view of a hospital, no one is serious about the first option. So which of the two left should we move to?

Yeah, because we all know that democrats aren't hostile at all to a free economy, the second amendment, and freedom of expression...

And this separates them from Republicans in what way?

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, cost per life saved: $544,482 Homeland security budget ~$40billion. That equates to ~73,000 lives. Have twenty four 9/11 scale disasters been prevented this year? And why does equating a death lost through motor accident with one lost through terror get me: "so why not just kill you now?" and "Why are we forbidden to kill people with a low moral compass like you?" C'mon, rational analysis of risk, not fearmongering.

This is an excellent suggestion, but not quite complete. Do not just complain. Ask for instructions on how to change the setting back to what it was. Under no conditions should you accept that it can not be done. You could change it yesterday, so you must be able to change it today, right? Be nice to the poor guy on the other end of the line. He is not at fault. But, when he says you can't change it kindly say that you believe he does not know how, and then demand to talk to a senior technical person so you can get your phone working again. Stay on the phone as long as possible and talk to as many people as possible.

After you call Verizon and complain you *must* then call the FCC. You can find the number at http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm?sid=d1e640&id=d1e697 or just 1-888-225-5322 if you trust me :-) Then, you call the senators and your representative. You find your senator at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm and then your representative at http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/mcapdir.html

Calling Verizon costs Verizon money, but it will not force them to change their actions. Calling the FCC forces the agency that regulates Verison to take notice of what Verizon has done. If the FCC doesn't get complaints they are not forced to "notice" the problem. Calling the Senate and the House of representatives makes sure that the people who make the laws that govern Verizon notice that the people who vote for them are not happy with the laws that govern Verizon. Believe it or not, no matter how large a bribe ... OK "campaign contribution" your elected officials have been paid by Verizon (each and everyone of them has been bribed by Verizon) they will take action if they think it will affect their ability to stay in office. You see, no matter how much money Verizon can give them, Verizon can not vote for them. And the elected bastards know one thing, if they do not get elected they get no more goodies from Verizon and the rest of the megacorps.

And, Ya'know, if you are just feeling mean, call Microsoft support and ask how to turn off Bing on your phone. It is their product, they should know, right?

The idea is to make this policy change as costly for Verizon as possible. That means you make them pay to handle your calls and you make them pay even more by generating bad feelings toward them in the Senate and the House.

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot. If you want to call and leave a comment for at the White House for President Obomo, 202-456-1111 or, if you do not trust me as you should not, you can find the number here http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact. You can also send an email from there.

Stonewolf.

Why isn't this information listed at the top of the page on Slashdot?

From the article:
    http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-education-innovate-campaign
"""
Now, the students from Oakton High School are going to be demonstrating the "Cougar Cannon," designed to scoop up and toss moon rocks. I am eager to see what they do -- for two reasons. As President, I believe that robotics can inspire young people to pursue science and engineering. And I also want to keep an eye on those robots, in case they try anything. (Laughter.)
"""

Interesting, coming from someone who gave an order within three days of taking office to use killer robots in a way that allegedly killed three children.

From:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5575883.ece
"Missiles fired from suspected US drones killed at least 15 people inside Pakistan today, the first such strikes since Barack Obama became president and a clear sign that the controversial military policy begun by George W Bush has not changed. Security officials said the strikes, which saw up to five missiles slam into houses in separate villages, killed seven "foreigners" - a term that usually means al-Qaeda - but locals also said that three children lost their lives.'

Drupal is just not ready for the mainstream.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/
http://www.theonion.com/
http://www.fastcompany.com/
http://www.wfp.org/

ORLY?

*cough*

I'll agree - Drupal does have a steep learning curve. With regards to theming/styling, though, it's no different than any other CMS. Designers will have to fight cross-browser css compatibility issues with whatever CMS or template engine they're using.

Data entry errors. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/11/17/looking-big-picture-recovery-act/

It actually isn't just space the two countries are planning on cooperating on. Not sure how much beef is behind this statement, but here's a snippet of the joint statement by Presidents Obama and Hu during Obama's visit to China:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/joint-press-statement-president-obama-and-president-hu-china
http://nasawatch.com/archives/2009/11/china-and-us-to.html

The complementing departments of China and the United States have already signed a number of cooperation agreements, including the MOU to enhanced cooperation on climate change, energy and environment. The two sides have also officially launched the initiative of developing a China-U.S. clean energy research center.

Both President Obama and I said that we are willing to act on the basis of mutual benefit and reciprocity to deepen our cooperation on counterterrorism, law enforcement, science, technology, outer space, civil aviation, and engage in cooperation in space exploration, high-speed railway infrastructure, in agriculture, health, and other fields. And we also agreed to work together to continue to promote even greater progress in the growth of military-to-military ties.

If you think his ability to make changes is so great that he could have changed everything by now, you are a damn fool.

I don't think he can change everything, but the TSA is part of the Executive Branch.
Obama is the Executive. As Executive, he can issue "Executive Orders" telling them what to do.
Oh wait! He did!

January 21, 2009
...
All agencies should adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure, in order to renew their commitment to the principles embodied in FOIA, and to usher in a new era of open Government. The presumption of disclosure should be applied to all decisions involving FOIA.

The presumption of disclosure also means that agencies should take affirmative steps to make information public. They should not wait for specific requests from the public. All agencies should use modern technology to inform citizens about what is known and done by their Government. Disclosure should be timely.

This isn't a problem with Obama, it's a problem with the TSA and their culture of secrecy.

Didn't you guys get Obama's memo? There is no such thing as terrorism - only human-caused disasters. Please report to the Ministry of Truth (http://www.whitehouse.gov/) for sensitivity reprogramming.

You did not read carefully enough. There is still terrorism. There is no Muslim terrorism.

Didn't you guys get Obama's memo? There is no such thing as terrorism - only human-caused disasters. Please report to the Ministry of Truth (http://www.whitehouse.gov/) for sensitivity reprogramming.

If the Federal tax burden is the lowest level in three decades, how do you explain that projected receipts for 2009 are the highest ever recorded?

Chart on page 26 from the White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/pdf/hist.pdf

That's the tax burden. And no "Per capita" handwaving will cancel out the fact that we're paying more in taxes to the federal government than we ever have. Which is *precisely* what I stated.

Also, you might want to act like people you disagree with have brains and perhaps valid points. Even if you don't believe it.

The White House - http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Oh, did you perhaps mean http://www.whitehouse.gov/index.php?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/index.asp and http://www.whitehouse.gov/index.aspx both return '404 Page Not Found'.

Interesting .Net app, that one. :)

Tip: There's this tech news aggregator site called "Slashdot". Makes it really easy to keep up with stuff like this. You should try reading it sometime.

The White House - http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Oh, did you perhaps mean http://www.whitehouse.gov/index.php?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/index.asp and http://www.whitehouse.gov/index.aspx both return '404 Page Not Found'.

Interesting .Net app, that one. :)

Tip: There's this tech news aggregator site called "Slashdot". Makes it really easy to keep up with stuff like this. You should try reading it sometime.

The White House - http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Oh, did you perhaps mean http://www.whitehouse.gov/index.php?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/index.asp and http://www.whitehouse.gov/index.aspx both return '404 Page Not Found'.

Interesting .Net app, that one. :)

Tip: There's this tech news aggregator site called "Slashdot". Makes it really easy to keep up with stuff like this. You should try reading it sometime.

The White House - http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Oh, did you perhaps mean http://www.whitehouse.gov/index.php?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/index.asp and http://www.whitehouse.gov/index.aspx both return '404 Page Not Found'.

Interesting .Net app, that one. :)

Tip: There's this tech news aggregator site called "Slashdot". Makes it really easy to keep up with stuff like this. You should try reading it sometime.

I personally run/have run many huge enterprise apps on .NET. It's actually a pretty good platform if you know what you're doing.

Don't take my word for it, though.

When I googled for what you asked to google, I found this list of sites running ASP.NET.

Costco - http://www.costco.com/
Crate & Barrel - http://www.crateandbarrel.com/
Home Shopping Network - http://www.hsn.com/
Buy.com - http://www.buy.com/
Dell - http://www.dell.com/
Nasdaq - http://www.nasdaq.com/
Virgin - http://www.virgin.com/
7-Eleven - http://www.7-eleven.com/
Carnival Cruise Lines - http://www.carnival.com/
L'Oreal - http://www.loreal.com/
The White House - http://www.whitehouse.gov/
Remax - http://www.remax.com/
Monster Jobs - http://www.monster.com/
USA Today - http://www.usatoday.com/
ComputerJobs.com - http://computerjobs.com/
Match.com - http://www.match.com/
National Health Services (UK) - http://www.nhs.uk/
CarrerBuilder.com - http://www.careerbuilder.com/
Newegg http://newegg.com/
Geico http://geico.com/
Capital One http://capitalone.com/
Zecco http://zecco.com/

Maybe you should tell those sites that .NET is a unproven technology? Or will you try to argue that these are not huge enterprise apps? Just because you want something to be true(or maybe you were just karma whoring) doesn't make it true. C# is a better language than Java, though each one has it's strengths. And even conceding your point(I don't) that Java is faster, speed is not everything. Or we would all be coding in assembly or machine code.

Government parties against neutrality

Who would have ever thought.

Yes and no. The Obama Administration's official policy is strongly in favor of net neutrality.

Government parties against neutrality

Who would have ever thought.

Yes and no. The Obama Administration's official policy is strongly in favor of net neutrality.

It sounds like he was indeed shocked, and I don't envy the awkwardness this places him under:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Building-a-World-that-Gives-Life-to-the-Promise-of-Our-Founding-Documents/

I actually feel sorry for Barack Obama. I'm sure it put him in a very awkward position -- and he actually says this in his official response.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Building-a-World-that-Gives-Life-to-the-Promise-of-Our-Founding-Documents/

I'm not surprised that so many people are out to attack him personally, when this isn't any fault of his at all.

The US has not moved forward, economically, since 1970. The only thing the US has done since then is accumulate debt and manipulate accounting rules so that the debt looks like a product export to strengthen our GDP.

Let me introduce you to my friend, basic economics. Everything in this example will be in 2005 dollars, as that's how the Bureau of Economic Analysis has the data:
Our annual GDP in 1970 was $4.27 Trillion(T). Our 1970 Gross Federal Debt was 37.6%, or $1.6T. That means our non-debt economy in 1970 was $2.66T.
Our 2008 debt was 67.5%, or $8.98T of our $13.3T annual GDP. Which means our non-debt GDP for 2008 was $4.32T. That's a total non-debt inflation-adjusted growth of 270% and an average compound annual growth of 2.65%. It's not stellar, but it's definitely not stagnant like you claimed. Of course, the idea of the debt-to-GDP being the only measure of economic growth is absurd, but even by that metric we've been chugging along at a good pace.

Simply by applying the standards upheld at Nuremberg.

"...To give a peace prize to the commander-in-chief of a war machine now churning its way through the populations of three countries (Iraq/Af-Pak), with innumerable black ops, lightning raids and drone shots on the side .... to a man who even as we speak is deciding just how he wants to kill even more civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan ... a man who has enthusiastically embraced as "an extraordinary achievement" one of the most heinous and barbaric acts of military aggression since Hitler rolled across the border into Poland ... a man who blusters about leaving "all options on the table," including the use of mass-murdering nuclear weapons, to bully other nations into compliance with American wishes ... to give a peace prize to such a man, while all over the world, there are men and women who have devoted their entire lives to non-violence and reconciliation, many of them suffering imprisonment, torture and ruin for their efforts ... well, like I said, it's beyond words.

But it's good to see that the spirit of arms merchant Alfred Nobel -- purveyor and profiteer of death and destruction -- is being honored so perfectly with today's award..."

http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/1856-well-nobel-was-the-inventor-of-dynamite-after-all.html

"Almost no one will acknowledge the single, fundamental truth about Barack Obama, the truth of greatest and most terrifying consequence:

Barack Obama is a war criminal.

Many facts overwhelmingly and conclusively compel this judgment, and no other. Not because I say so, but because an honest application of the relevant language of international law, as well as of the Nuremberg Principles, necessitates the conclusion."

http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2009/10/depraved-obscene-absurdities.html

Oh! My Surprise! "WAR IS PEACE!"
Barack Obama just used his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech to reiterate his threats against Iran.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Building-a-World-that-Gives-Life-to-the-Promise-of-Our-Founding-Documents/

That's change you can deceive in.

Which accomplishments would those be? Closing Gitmo?

Last I heard he was blocked in his plans to bring them on US soil by the Kansas representatives who didn't like the idea of them being transferred into Kansas. I thought I read yesterday of him winning a legal battle to at least have them tried on US soil but the paper I read that in has no article search feature so I can't look it up now.

quote> Health Care Reform?

Not an international issue. But the fact that his policy was trying to reduce the disparity of coverage between the ultra rich and the working class is admirable. I am not sure that current plans are far reaching enough to actually improve things. Current medical policy in US is a disaster. Having had a family member work in NIH for several years I am of the strong opinion that socialized care would be a large improvement over the current system. Though malpractice reform is a huge driver of costs in US system and needs to be controlled somehow.

Creating a transparent White House?

Definitely - http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/FreedomofInformationAct/ The example you gave was bad. It is very hard to remove classification from already classified documents. And honestly he has higher priorities than going through bad decisions of the previous president. I mean he is trying to get something done.

And from what I see he is being fought every step of the way in each of these areas. Woudl I like more disclosure, more progress, more results? Yeah. But he is working on it and even listening to his critics. Something I can not say about certain past presidents.

While we obviously won't have the real numbers for a while, the Whitehouse's own budget projection has just over 9 trillion being added to the debt over the next 10 years. So I'd say a large increase to the national debt during the Obama years is pretty likely.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/blog/09/08/25/Mid-SessionReview/

Well, here in Virginia we occasionally execute those whom the evidence exonerates, because "they had their day in court, and their lawyer didn't get the evidence in on time." Just to show we're tough on crime, or something.

I'm thinking of Roger Keith Coleman.

Of course, Virginia and Texas are brother states.

Shoot, in Germany they'd put people who were "too retarded to serve the state" up before 3-judge panels (that were themselves pressured to give a thumbs-down, at risk of not seeming loyal to the state.) 3 thumbs down, and the person was executed. Of course, I suppose that raised the average intelligence of the entire German nation, thus raising the intelligence necessary to be above 85% of average. As Hayak pointed out, under such a focus, failure to be useful to the state is viewed as high treason.

Which does apply nowadays, because that is the result of making a person's "usefulness to the state" overly important. I've seen that mentioned in the transcript of Obama's speech.. Not that he was wrong in what he said... but such a focus is terribly dangerous and shortsighted.

Sure, some lawyers twist the meaning of words... so let's call them on it. But the U.S. government (USG) already has an official definition of "open source software", and it is NOT "you can read it". Office of Management and Budget (OMB) M-04-16 defines the term "open source software", saying that "Open Source Softwareâ(TM)s source code is widely available so it may be used, copied, modified, and redistributed". It's really the "Free Software Definition", but the OSI definition and the Free Software Definition are very, very, very close in practice. And that OMB memo is an official document.

IBM makes piles of money from patents, so no one should be surprised that IBM is for getting more money. But that does not mean it is good for the country. What's more, the Supreme Court has NEVER held that software algorithms are patentable, and the U.S. experiment into software patents has shown that the Supremes were wiser than the patent lawyers. Whether they're willing to make that stick now or not is the big question.

It's not clear that the odds are great, but it would be great if someday the U.S. eliminated the madness of software patents.

Now, when the most technologically-advanced Presidency â" remember all the endearing stories about his Blackberry, and the ridiculing of McCain's reluctance to use e-mail? â" can't put a web-site together, "having never done this before" is an excuse...

Pretty sure he's still the most technically advanced president.
He didn't put the website together himself obviously, unless you think he spends his afternoons in the basement of the whitehouse installing Linux and playing X-Box?
Odds are not.

It's more of a failure of the "Office of E-Government & Information Technology" than a failure of the man himself.
And I can pretty much guarantee you that since the site hit slashdot's news, he probably knows about it, and somebody at e-gov is going to get smacked.

Seriously though, do you really think McCain would have done better at this?

Seriously??

So if we slashdotted the White House, could we cause them to declare an emergency and shutdown the Whitehouse? How long could we maintain such an emergency?

How long can we afford to pay our Internet bills?

So if we slashdotted the White House, could we cause them to declare an emergency and shutdown the Whitehouse? How long could we maintain such an emergency?

President Obama's Weekly Address comes in a theft-able MP3 format, for all of your larcenous needs! Stealing from the government is a crime. Anonymous Coward is not responsible for any legal action taken against you for.

Most contractors merely charge the govt $150 - 250 an hour for the same people the govt uses already, while at the same time, carrying little risk. Compare this to a GS-14 at less than a $100 an hour, inclusive of all costs.

You'll see a move to contract types* ** like cost plus, or cost plus fixed fee, where the government pays out the nose for cost overruns on the part of contractors. Fixed price contracts will only be made with massively inflated rates in order to protect contracting firms from risk.

This leads to massive poaching of govt personnel to the private sector, and vastly inflated rates to the govt.

The privatization of the US government is an abject failure. A-76*** is an abomination, because it does not consider the long term efficiency by private vs public sector.

* http://www.dtc.dla.mil/dsbusiness/Info/contracts1.htm
** http://www.dau.mil/pubs/misc/toolkit.asp
*** http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/Circulars_a076_a76_incl_tech_correction/

I'm sure that the Obama administration has his info on file already through the http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/ website.

Isn't anyone else bothered ONE LITTLE BIT by the administration asking people to forward email rumors, etc., critical of the Obama or "the health care plan"? The site says "please don't forward names, etc." but they publicly ask that those things be forwarded. So if you have a slightly conspiracy minded friend, and you are one of the many recipients of his email, guess what - the Administration likely has your email address.

I find it ironic that a contract for a transparency website that is "part of President Obama's promise to make government more transparent through the Internet" is so lacking in transparency.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Appendix/

and then use both men as a political prop for your self-created "teachable moment," you might at least want to give the appearance that you care about the alleged "victim" of racism at least as much as the man does who you slandered as being a racist. A surprisingly candid photo of Obama just being himself, striding arrogantly ahead for the cameras, oblivious to the progress of his guests. Worship him, folks. WORSHIP HIM!!!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Over-Beers/

Umm... No we weren't maintaining a surplus.

In 1999 and 2000 were the only two years the budget wasn't seeing a deficit. You can add off budget surpluses to the mix to take 1998 and 2001 into the mix for the total surplus. But that fact is that we were budgeting deficits into 1998 and 2001

Now, Iraq didn't happen until 2003- two years after we started deficit spending with the budget and one year after everything in total.

If you don't like flash here's another view of the Federal IT Budget:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/vue-it/index.html
I'm not sure if it's the same data but it let you have the raw data too.