The ongoing shame of Guantanamo

Guantanamo has become a recruiting tool for our enemies. The legal framework behind Guantanamo has failed completely, resulting in only one conviction. President Bush’s own Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, wants to close it. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, wants to close it. The first step to reclaiming America’s standing in the world has to be closing this facility. As president, Barack Obama will close the detention facility at Guantanamo. He will reject the Military Commissions Act, which allowed the U.S. to circumvent Geneva Conventions in the handling of detainees. He will develop a fair and thorough process based on the Uniform Code of Military Justice to distinguish between those prisoners who should be prosecuted for their crimes, those who can’t be prosecuted but who can be held in a manner consistent with the laws of war, and those who should be released or transferred to their home countries. (source- PDF)
That's the campaign trail rhetoric from Candidate Obama. I liked the stance of Candidate Obama on this issue, it's a shame that President Obama sees things so differently.

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Rule of Law

Is this country still under the rule of law? Decreasingly so, even for American citizens. Watch this short discussion about Jose Padilla (on Shepard Smith's show) and you'll see shameful conduct and policies Barack Obama has in common with George W. Bush: The fact that thePatriot Act will be extended is equally incredible. We're trying really hard to keep up with China on violation of basic human rights.

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Feingold v. Citizens United

Former Senator Russ Feingold has taken on Citizen's United by founding Progressives United:

Launching on Wednesday, Progressives United is an attempt to to build a grassroots effort aimed at mitigating the effects of, and eventually overturning, the Supreme Court's infamous Citizens United decision that opened the floodgates to corporate spending in the U.S. electoral system. In addition to online mobilization, the political action committee (PAC) will support progressive candidates at the local, state and national levels, as well as holding the media and elected officials accountable on the group's key priorities.
Here's more on Feingold and his new organization from Huffpo.

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Corporate pushback against supporters of Wikileaks

Glenn Greenwald discusses a recently disclosed corporate plan to sabotage the careers of supporters of Wikileaks such as Greenwald.

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Glenn Greenwald develops this story in detail on his site.

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