burn spear

I DON'T TRUST THESE GUYS

WHY I'M DONE DEFENDING THE DEMOCRATS & CAN FINALLY SAY I BELIEVE THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD FOR AMERICA

I campaigned for him, believed his promises and would have voted for him if I was 18 at the time. But now I'm tired of pretending he's so smart and has such good intentions that he really knows whats best for America. We can all judge how good of a person he is and how charismatic an orator he remains, but lets take a real hard look at this country and ask ourselves, after over 640 days with this new democratic administration, are we really that much better off? Economically and fiscally, I do not believe we are. On immigration policy, drug policy, gay rights policy and education policy, I believe things have gotten even worse than they were under George Bush. On the legalization of Marijuana, the War in Afghanistan and the situation in Darfur- I believe the administration has worked against the will of the people to push an outdated agenda that continues to hurt the country and even the world as a whole.
Unemployment has risen to 10%, now leveling out at just over 9.6% with many having given up looking for work. Homelessness has climbed dramatically while the rampant spending in Washington on seven bailouts and another pork-ridden stimulus package after the other has devalued the dollar dramatically. This has left many small businesses unable to foot the bill, laying off more and more employees and filing for bankruptcy at new highs. I was not a supporter of Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, and I recognize the Republican's economic policy of deregulation and the stripping of safety nets got us into this mess in the first place. But, as Obama's Military Budget begins to exceed Bush's and he continues to dig the debt deeper and deeper, I cannot help but ask myself- is our economy improving or is Obama's rhetoric simply getting more optimistic?
Truthfully, I think Obama gotten far more desperate. The New York Times published a striking look into the mistruths Obama himself is perpetuating. His selective and misleading characterization of the Republican Party's education platform have led many to believe they propose cutting education by 20 percent, a reduction that would “eliminate 200,000 children from Head Start programs” and “reduce financial aid for eight million college students"- a proposal that as the Times points out, does not exist. Furthermore, PolitiFact and FactCheck.org, the very non-partisan organizations his campaign used to its advantage to defend against the dishonest attacks of Sarah Palin and John McCain, have now questioned the veracity of some specific claims the president has made. For instance, Barack has claimed that Ninety-eight percent Americans would not get the RNC's proposed federal income tax cut- a figure he seems to have pulled out of the sky. How do we measure the character and honesty of politicians today? I say- we assess if they have been true to their words. Obama took a hard line stance against negative and dishonest campaigning when he fought for office nearly two years ago, and now it seems he has determined that the only way he can win his fellow Dems some senate seats is to become the misleading man he promised us all he would never be.
On immigration policy, the administration has determined that sending federal agents to scour companies’ records for illegal immigrant workers will give jobs back to Americans and deter unemployment to undocumented Mexican-Americans. What the administration fails to recognize is that businesses nationwide depend on immigrant labor and this radically conservative systematic raiding of big business has only contributed to a higher level of discontent from the latino and immigrant community. Over the past year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has conducted audits of employee files at more than 2,900 companies. Customs has levied a record $3.5 million in civil fines so far in 2010 on businesses that hired unauthorized immigrants. Thousands of those workers have been fired, immigrant groups estimate, and this bad policy has led organizations like the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project to stand against the administrations discriminatory policy.
On gay rights, Barack Obama remains a president firmly opposed to marriage equality. As gay fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters are denied equal protection under the law, the president somehow sees justice in determining who is and isn't a second class citizen. Instead of adapting his stance on marriage to meet a more accepting public, he has yet to pressure congress to legislation repealing DOMA- the Defense of Marriage Act. For this, LGBT leaders like Paul Hogarth and perhaps even the new faces of the gay rights movement, Lady Gaga and Jack Black have spoken out against the administration's disappointing policy. DOMA, which has horrible terms comparing gays and lesbians to pedophiles and child molesters, remains law, and Obama remains concerned with more important things.
Things like fighting this war if Afghanistan. The war has become a trademark of the democrats- almost like a hey-we-can-fight-wars-too excuse to be over there. As we come closer to our tenth year in the longest war in American history, professionals everywhere keep telling our government this thing is un-winnable. Noble journalists like Joshua Sanders and Stephen Vizinczey have exposed to the public how impossible the mission is, and even old Jon Stewart has gotten serious and told our president to leave. I'm with the people- stop fighting the Taliban as Al Queda roams free in Pakistan. Stop pretending this war is somehow a response to 9/11, it is no more a response to 9/11 than the war in Iraq was. Stop putting more and more Americans on the front lines just to keep our employment up and our war vigor strong. Stop screwing with taxpayer money in a battle that seems more endless by day, and stop spending more money over there than Bush did. It's bad policy now, more than ever.
Then there's education policy. Barack Obama has even lost support of the teachers unions. Right when we thought it couldn't get any worse than every child left behind, the president has shoved Pay-for-Performance down our throats. This policy is hurting our education system like a cigarette hurts a lung or a oil spill hurts an ocean. As schools continue to fail, the federal government rewards only those that continue to improve. We now face a wave of education reforms based on the belief that school choice, test-driven accountability and the resulting competition will dramatically improve student achievement. As education historians have pointed out, this just ain't true.
And finally, its time to talk pot. As California and New York continue to spend more money marijuana crack-downs than America does on Education, we continue to miss out on an industry that could help revive America's economy. In Colorado Springs, medical marijuana alone has refueled advertisements in city newspapers and provided a rebirth to a business world that was previously colapsing. In Michigan, it has hundreds of thousands of AIDS, glaucoma, anorexia and cancer patients have received help from pot dispensaries selling green by the ounce. And yet, we remain unable to realize that legal industries like liquor and tobacco are killing people while marijuana continues to help people. It's not a radical position. And I'm disappointed that the administration isn't taking a economically-driven stance on the issue. In fact, Obama has come out against legalizing pot time and time again.
Well I'm taking a stance too. "Change We Can Believe IN" has been instead "Harm We Can Fear". I'm sick and tired of this B.S from the White House. It's time we elect a real liberal to be our president. Do we want a president with, according to CNN on October 20th, 45% approval and 52% disapproval or do we want a president who gets done what the country wants.. He's not what we thought he would be, and just like we pushed for no more Bush, I push for no more Obama. Said and done.
REVISED EDITION OF ARTICLE:
WHY I'M DONE DEFENDING OBAMA I campaigned for him, believed his promises and would have voted for him if I were 18 at the time. But now I'm tired of pretending he's so smart and has such good intentions that he knows better than anyone else what’s best for America. We can all judge how good of a person Barack Obama is and how charismatic an orator he remains, but lets take a real hard look at this country and ask ourselves, after over 640 days with a Democratic administration, are we really that much better off? Economically and fiscally, I do not believe we are. On immigration policy, drug policy, gay rights policy and education policy, I believe things have gotten even worse than they were under George Bush. On the legalization of Marijuana, the War in Afghanistan and the situation in Darfur- I believe the Obama Administration has worked against the will of the people to push an outdated agenda that continues to hurt the country and even the world as a whole. And now, as the Republicans take over the house and make major gains in the Senate, one can only believe, realistically, that history will repeat itself and things will get even worse. Now lets get specific. Our somewhat false unemployment numbers claim 9.6% of Americans are unemployed- a rate that has stayed almost exactly the same over the last four months. This number, however, does not factor in the tremendous amount of prisoners we hold, nor those who have given up looking for work. Homelessness has climbed dramatically in cities nationwide. I’m from New York, where ads on busses revealed that 1 in 45 children in the city are now homeless. In the infamously poor city of Flint, Michigan, children make up 70% of the homeless population according to Metro Community Development. The rampant spending in Washington D.C has provided us with seven bailouts, four of which Obama has signed into law. Stimulus packages remain either too small or ridden with pork that isn’t helping to create enough jobs in the private sector. Back room deals and earmark after earmark from both parties have wasted away the potential for congress to stimulate the economy. Instead, we have devalued the dollar dramatically, leaving many small businesses unable to foot the bill, laying off more and more employees and filing for bankruptcy at new highs. I was not a supporter of Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, and I recognize the Republican's economic policy of deregulation and stripping of safety nets got us into this mess in the first place. But, our current president has spent more money, as a percent of the budget, on defense, and less on education than our last one. And, as Obama's Military Budget begins to exceed Bush's, we have nearly quadrupled the deficit in just two years. More simply put, Barack Obama has already spent more money in the White House than George Bush did, with only a fourth of the time to do it. I cannot help but ask myself- is our economy improving or is Obama's rhetoric simply getting more optimistic? Truthfully, I think Obama gotten far, far more desperate. About a month ago, the New York Times published a striking look into the mistruths Obama himself is perpetuating. His selective and misleading characterization of the Republican Party's education platform have led many to believe they propose cutting education by 20 percent, a reduction that would “eliminate 200,000 children from Head Start programs” and “reduce financial aid for eight million college students"- a proposal that as the Times points out, does not exist. Furthermore, PolitiFact and FactCheck.org, the very non-partisan organizations his campaign used to its advantage to defend against the dishonest attacks of Sarah Palin and John McCain, have now questioned the veracity of some specific claims the president has made. For instance, Barack has claimed that ninety-eight percent Americans would not get the RNC's proposed federal income tax cut- a figure he seems to have pulled out of the sky. How do we measure the character and honesty of politicians today? I say- we assess if they have been true to their words. Obama took a hard line stance against negative and dishonest campaigning when he fought for office nearly two years ago, and now it seems he has determined that the only way he keep his approval rating from dipping below 40% is to become the misleading man he promised us all he would never become. |||||||||||| On immigration policy, the administration has decided that sending federal agents to scour companies’ records for undocumented workers is the best way to give jobs back to Americans and deter unemployment to “illegal” Mexican-Americans. What the administration fails to recognize is that businesses nationwide depend on immigrant labor and this radically conservative decision will systematically raid big business only to contribute to the rising level of discontent from the Latino and immigrant community displayed in the midterm elections. Over the past year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has conducted audits of employee files at more than 2,900 companies. Customs has levied a record $3.5 million in civil fines so far in 2010 on businesses that hired unauthorized immigrants. Thousands of those workers have been fired, immigrant groups estimate, and this bad policy has led organizations like the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project to stand against the Ddministration’s discriminatory policy. On gay rights, Barack Obama remains a president firmly opposed to marriage equality. As gay fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters are denied equal protection under the law, the president somehow sees justice in determining who is and isn't a second-class citizen. Instead of adapting his stance on marriage to meet a more accepting public, he has yet to pressure congress to legislation repealing DOMA- the Defense of Marriage Act. For this, leaders in the LGBT community (like Rachel Madow, Huffington Post’s editorial board or even the new faces of the gay rights movement, Lady Gaga and Jack Black) have spoken out against the president’s tremendously disappointing policy. While DOMA, which features horrible language comparing gays and lesbians to pedophiles and child molesters, remains law, Obama remains concerned with more important things. Things like fighting this war if Afghanistan. The war has become a trademark of the Democrats- almost like a “hey-we-can-fight-wars-too” excuse to be over there. As we come closer to our tenth year in the longest war in the history of the United States, professionals everywhere keep telling our government this thing is un-winnable. Noble journalists like Joshua Sanders and Stephen Vizinczey have exposed to the public how impossible the mission is, and even my favorite, Jon Stewart has gotten serious and told our president to leave. I'm with the people- stop fighting the Taliban as Al Queda roams free in Pakistan. Stop pretending this war is somehow a response to 9/11. It is no more a response to 9/11 than the war in Iraq was. Stop putting more and more Americans on the front lines just to keep our employment up and our war vigor strong. Stop screwing with taxpayer money in a battle that seems more endless by day, and stop spending more money over there than Bush did. It's bad policy now, more than ever. Then there's education policy. Barack Obama has even lost support of the teachers unions on this one. Right when we thought it couldn't get any worse than Bush’s ‘Every Child Left Behind’, the president has shoved Pay-for-Performance and Race to the Top down our throats. This policy is hurting our education system like a cigarette hurts a lung or an oil spill hurts an ocean. As schools continue to fail, the federal government rewards only those that continue to improve. We now face a wave of education reforms based on the belief that school choice, test-driven accountability and the resulting competition will dramatically improve student achievement. As any education historian would have pointed out, this just ain't true. As an education minor, I spend lots of time with teachers in Colorado Springs. And both liberal and conservative-minded teachers are offended that the president is using failed policy to assume he knows what’s best for our schools. And finally, its time to talk pot. As California continues to spend more money on Marijuana crack-downs than America does on Education, we continue to miss out on an industry that could help revive America's economy. In Colorado Springs, medical marijuana alone has refueled advertisements in city newspapers and provided a rebirth to the journalism business that was previously collapsing. In Michigan, hundreds of thousands of AIDS, glaucoma, anorexia and cancer patients have received help from pot dispensaries selling green by the ounce. And yet, we remain unable to realize that legal industries like liquor and tobacco are killing people while Marijuana continues to help people. It's not a radical position. And I'm disappointed that the administration isn't taking an economically driven stance on the issue. In fact, Obama has come out against legalizing pot time and time again. Well, I'm taking a stance too. "Change We Can Believe In" has been instead felt more like "Harm We Can Fear". I'm sick and tired of acting like we finally have an Administration looking out for us. Sure, we passed Health Care reform. I get it! But even that went against public opinion and focused more on mandating private plans than creating a public option. If anything, that bill symbolized a “lets do something minor so we don’t have to deal with this problem for another 100 years”. Lets be serious: It's time we elect a real liberal to be our commander in chief. Do we want a president with pathetic approval ratings and even more pathetic policy, or do we want a president who gets done what the country wants. Call me an idealist, but there’s has got be a better way than this. He's not what we thought he would be, and just like we pushed for no more Bush, I push for no more Obama. Said and done.