In his first 100 days, Obama has excused torture, opposed habeas corpus and demanded more secret government. He has kept Bush’s gulag intact and at least 17,000 prisoners beyond the reach of justice. On 24 April, his lawyers won an appeal that ruled Guantanamo Bay prisoners were not “persons”, and therefore had no right not to be tortured. His national intelligence director, Admiral Dennis Blair, says he believes torture works. One of his senior US intelligence officials in Latin America is accused of covering up the torture of an American nun in Guatemala in 1989; another is a Pinochet apologist. As Daniel Ellsberg has pointed out, the US experienced a military coup under Bush, whose secretary of “defence”, Robert Gates, along with the same warmaking officials, has been retained by Obama.

All over the world, America’s violent assault on innocent people, directly or by agents, has been stepped up. During the recent massacre in Gaza, reports Seymour Hersh, “the Obama team let it be known that it would not object to the planned resupply of ‘smart bombs’ and other hi-tech ordnance that was already flowing to Israel” and being used to slaughter mostly women and children. In Pakistan, the number of civilians killed by US missiles called drones has more than doubled since Obama took office.

In Afghanistan, the US “strategy” of killing Pashtun tribespeople (the “Taliban”) has been extended by Obama to give the Pentagon time to build a series of permanent bases right across the devastated country where, says Secretary Gates, the US military will remain indefinitely. Obama’s policy, one unchanged since the Cold War, is to intimidate Russia and China, now an imperial rival. He is proceeding with Bush’s provocation of placing missiles on Russia’s western border, justifying it as a counter to Iran, which he accuses, absurdly, of posing “a real threat” to Europe and the US. On 5 April in Prague, he made a speech reported as “anti-nuclear”. It was nothing of the kind. Under the Pentagon’s Reliable Replacement Warhead programme, the US is building new “tactical” nuclear weapons designed to blur the distinction between nuclear and conventional war.

Perhaps the biggest lie – the equivalent of smoking is good for you – is Obama’s announcement that the US is leaving Iraq, the country it has reduced to a river of blood. According to unabashed US army planners, as many as 70,000 troops will remain “for the next 15 to 20 years”. On 25 April, his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, alluded to this. It is not surprising that the polls are showing that a growing number of Americans believe they have been suckered – especially as the nation’s economy has been entrusted to the same fraudsters who destroyed it. Lawrence Summers, Obama’s principal economic adviser, is throwing $3trn at the same banks that paid him more than $8m last year, including $135,000 for one speech. Change you can believe in.

I think he will be far worse than the Bushbarians. And I didn't hardly think that would be possible.

They ran a fairly clean ship in their first 100 days. Took them 8 years for a really stinky resume. Which...to be fair...Obama inherited.

I do not know of a time in written (or for that matter, unwritten) history that there have not been a power elite ruling the rest. Perhaps in prehistoric small nomadic tribes there was less so of one, but I am almost certain that when you get a group of a little more than 20 together alliances will be made and some will be low on the pole, and some high. My logical mind sees no way out of this. I don't particularly like it. In fact, for the present day, I despise the way the world is run and hate that I can not break away or impact things in a larger way. I feel so futile. A lot of times, caring in general seems futile. But I take heart in knowing that making me feel futile is helpful to the power elite. So I try to not despair and try instead to make my tiny, itty place better.

Constantly pointing out the "rulers" to me doesn't seem to help anything at all. I guess, I am more educated in such areas than the random person, and so maybe that's where my lethargy concerning these things comes from. Perhaps some are educated by having this stuff pointed out to them. To me a lot of this amounts to no more than just plain complaining. Not that I don't get mad and complain myself, because I certainly do. But I know that's probably when I am the least effective of all. So what if him or her is in control of everything. How on earth are you, or me, on any of us peons going to do a damn thing about it? I don't even know that our uniting does much good, not that I can see that actually happen among our peers. Our peers are good, I do believe that on the whole, but we care about so many things its nearly impossible to get a group together that has one, solid common goal. So what do we do? We can't leave. Where do we go? Even in tiny "third world" countries there are larger powers at work. And maybe they are not yet under the yolk of the power elite, but they have their own micro-leaders. Their own micro-agendas that will, more likely than not, sooner or later be merged with the larger agenda which is just plain ole control. There is always going to be the "bad" trying to harness and control the "good". But as soon as the shoe changes, the good changes and the bad changes and rolls are just reversed. We hated the republicans and their goals, so no longer do they hold the power. So now we hate the democrats and their goals. Do you not see the silliness of it all? The cycle is unending. At least it is so in my mind.

I don't want torture anywhere. I don't want nuclear weapons. I don't want killings. Where is my power? How can I change these things? Show me.

I do not know of a time in written (or for that matter, unwritten) history that there have not been a power elite ruling the rest. Perhaps in prehistoric small nomadic tribes there was less so of one, but I am almost certain that when you get a group of a little more than 20 together alliances will be made and some will be low on the pole, and some high. My logical mind sees no way out of this. I don't particularly like it. In fact, for the present day, I despise the way the world is run and hate that I can not break away or impact things in a larger way. I feel so futile. A lot of times, caring in general seems futile. But I take heart in knowing that making me feel futile is helpful to the power elite. So I try to not despair and try instead to make my tiny, itty place better. Here I am trying to point out the cycle I see throughout history of some sort of elite leading some sort of lower class. This is parallel to what is happening now; what was happening with Bush, Clinton, Reagan, on down the line to infinity. I clearly say that I do things, but feel frustrated because it doesn't seem to change much at all. That's what I mean by the futility of it all. I am not saying that I am apathetic, far from it, but I am saying that its very weary to work against the current and never move one inch forward without first sliding back a mile. Then I clearly state that while I realize I am never going to be able to take the assholes away, I do try to do things to make the world I live in better. They may be small things, but I try. I do things everyday that are harder, because they align with what I believe. If I were apathetic, I wouldn't say I try to do things to help.

Constantly pointing out the "rulers" to me doesn't seem to help anything at all. I guess, I am more educated in such areas than the random person, and so maybe that's where my lethargy concerning these things comes from. Perhaps some are educated by having this stuff pointed out to them. To me a lot of this amounts to no more than just plain complaining. Not that I don't get mad and complain myself, because I certainly do. But I know that's probably when I am the least effective of all. So what if him or her is in control of everything. How on earth are you, or me, on any of us peons going to do a damn thing about it? How are you going to stop all of the large powers you always woe? Quite obviously voting doesn't make a difference. I don't even know that our uniting does much good, not that I can see that actually happen among our peers. Our peers are good, I do believe that on the whole, but we care about so many things its nearly impossible to get a group together that has one, solid common goal. When have you seen any sort of mass appeal for change? Point it out to me, because I haven't seen it. So what do we do? We can't leave. Where do we go? Even in tiny "third world" countries there are larger powers at work. And maybe they are not yet under the yolk of the power elite, but they have their own micro-leaders. Their own micro-agendas that will, more likely than not, sooner or later be merged with the larger agenda which is just plain ole control. There is always going to be the "bad" trying to harness and control the "good". But as soon as the shoe changes, the good changes and the bad changes and rolls are just reversed. We hated the republicans and their goals, so no longer do they hold the power. So now we hate the democrats and their goals. Do you not see the silliness of it all? The cycle is unending. At least it is so in my mind. My saying this about republicans and democrats was merely a relevant example. It wasn't me loving the democrats. If you had actually talked to me a lot, you would know that while I most closely identify with democrats, I am not one. And I'm not in a parade for Obama. My post actually didn't specifically talk about any single person or power structure, I was generalizing the entire concept of the powerful vs the peons. SO try not to just assume things you don't know.

I don't want torture anywhere. I don't want nuclear weapons. I don't want killings. Where is my power? How can I change these things? Show me.

Do courts let defendants go for being world class talkers? I hope they prefer to look at actions.

You almost seem pleased that Obama is a world class talker?

He is world class master of deception as well.