jim's op/ed

The hypocrisy displayed by the current administration is overwhelming.
It appears the people on "Main Street" are subject to the rule of law and have to be prosecuted, while others are treated like they are special and above the law.

Perhaps I am being naive (sarcasm) to expect a more even handed sense of justice from Obama knowing full well he had voted not to prosecute the telecoms for illegal wiretaps. Again with his campaign promises of transparency and his repetition with the whole "Hope & Change" mantra, I expected better.

Right now in Canada, there is a guy awaiting extradition for selling pot seeds. Marc Emery, aka "the Prince of Pot" has been an activist in the fight for pot legalization. Lives in Canada and has sold seeds online for years. He filed tax returns and donated most of his money to raise awareness in the fight to decriminalize pot. Of all the people, of all the drugs moved through Canada into the US, this is the one the DEA targeted with a vengeance and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to pursue.
This guy who sells seeds.
The war on drugs is just wrong and the DEA needs to go away, stop funding this idiocy and take DEA administrator Karen Tandy with you.
Obama needs a wake up call on this whole prohibition of pot issue and a draconian legal system.

Is this one of the most hypocritical statements Obama has made or what?
"I don't believe that anybody is above the law.
On the other hand I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards."

The crimes of Bush administration are overwhelming. Hell, they perverted the Dept of Justice and it's still broke but Obama said "we need to look forward".
I am looking forward, I'm looking forward to seeing some people in government prosecuted and actually held responsible for their crimes!

Take your pick... lying to Congress to start a war...
... waterboarding, torture, secret prisons and other crimes defined in the Geneva Convention..
... As defined by the UN... Crimes against humanity.. the use of bunker busters..
... using the CIA to spy and an illegal wiretap program on Americans..
... manipulating the balance of power in foreign governments by overthrowing their leaders and stealing elections..
C'mon Obama, arrest somebody!... Nobody is above the law, RIGHT?

What we need is an independent prosecutor. Eliot Spitzer would do nicely.
What we can't have is a partisan dog & pony show put on by Congress or the Senate. First off it takes forever for them to make a decision and most of them aren't qualified to sit in the big chair and make decisions on a committee. Maybe they could pass some regulations; after the prosecutions are completed; that won't let things get out of control again.

We the people elected YOU Mr. Obama and I can't tell you how depressing it was as you appointed your team of Clintonites. In case you didn't get the memo,
WE DIDN'T ELECT THE CLINTONS!
But here we go again, some of your appointees didn't pay their taxes. Slap on the wrist, right?

President Obama is off to bad start with his reach across the aisle and compromise approach. Every time he reaches across the aisle he gets his hand slapped by "the party of NO"! It doesn't matter if you're talking to a defunct group of Republicans or Blue Dog Democrats if neither one will work with you. Stop wasting time being nice when he should come out with guns blazing and a list of demands.

What does it take to get single payer health care?
Apparently you have to live in Iraq, have your country overthrown, your infrastructure carved up and sold off to corporations, then in the rebuilding process the US rewrites your Constitution ...

"Article 31 of the Iraqi Constitution, drafted by your right-wing Bushies in 2005 and ratified by the Iraqi people, includes state-guaranteed (single payer) healthcare for life for every Iraqi citizen."

Article 31:

"First: Every citizen has the right to health care. The State shall maintain public health and provide the means of prevention and treatment by building different types of hospitals and health institutions."

"as of May 15, 2009... we have spent and/or authorized $864 Billion in military operations on Operation Enduring Freedom, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan. The overwhelming majority of those funds have been for the war in Iraq. Additional secret funding has been authorized for intelligence and special operations."

Here we sit, watching and waiting for the Congress & Senate to get their collective shit together and reform healthcare. These Republicans & D.I.N.O.s that look straight into the camera and state that they will oppose any public option are the same people that supported Bush & Cheney as they illegally took this country to war, deconstructed Iraq, outsourced the rebuilding process with no-bid contracts to Halliburton/KBR which illegally funneled billions in profits to these companies as they overcharged for substandard work.

Now they say we the people can't have a public option because 1) they want to protect profits for the insurance companies and big pharma... and 2) because they won't consider adding to the bloated deficit that they created.

Does any of this make sense to anyone on any level?

HEY President Obama and the Democratic Super Majority, where is the leadership we were promised, what about the transparency and how about justice for all?

Hypocrisy not justice...