"Begin Intellectual Property Reform: rather than just the usual extension of copyright terms, Obama's staff recognizes the "need to update and reform our copyright and patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation and investment while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated." That includes "opening up the patent process to citizen review [to] reduce the uncertainty and wasteful litigation that is currently a significant drag on innovation."

"Obama's running mate has been criticized for supporting current policy on copyright, but an exposure of government policy to sources of light outside of the lobbyists currently illuminating the dark caves of Washington is likely to change things dramatically."

What an Obama Presidency Means for Technology

GW Bush probably didn't personally torture anyone either. The problem is that his administration's policies allowed torture camps and supported torture as an ineffectual "intelligence gathering" method, just as Bush's administration promoted the idea that the markets would do better without the rule of law.

Bush furthered the deregulation policies of Phil Gramm and Alan Greenspan, particularly in the area of derivatives, first with Enron and then in the housing market.

While banks were giving suspect loans, they were driven to do so by the insatiable, unregulated derivatives market, which expected that layers of wealth could be extracted from a bubble that would never burst, because it involved real estate. That was disastrously wrong, and has now pulled the pin on the entire credit market.

Don't revise history to blame the poor trying to get a house; it was deregulation: an attempt to have markets without the rule of law.

What Prop 8 Means to America