Obama Administration Endorses Voter Intimidation

The political appointees of the Obama Administration have dropped the charges against Black Panthers who intimidated voters at a polling place with weapons. This is inexcusable. This is the type of thing that happens in third world dictatorships. Unless there is a major piece of the puzzle that is not in the article, voters need to demand an answer about this from the administration.

PATRIOT ACT Out Of Control

It's funny and tragic to me that some people actually believe that the Bush Administration actually made them safer. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The massive constitutional damage to the rights of Americans will take years to repair, if ever. How far back you need to go to find a President with a greater disregard for the Constitution and rule of law will not be known for some time, but it will be somewhere between FDR, Lincoln, and Jackson.

A prime example of this is the abomination of using the PATRIOT act, which will likely go down in history as one of the great legal abominations of American history, to indefinitely detain a home schooled tenth grader.

One of the idiotic beliefs of the neo-cons that run the GOP is that the laws they pass will be used only on the people they don't like. This is one of the reasons that they, and the Republican party, are not conservatives, nor are Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity or any of the other talking heads that misappropriate the term. They are right wing fascists to varying degrees. Basic conservatism tells us that any power granted to the government will be used to it's fullest, and stretched as far as possible. This is precisely why the founders strictly limited the powers of government, and warned against expanding them.

Law Enforcement are not bad people, they simply use every tool granted to them by us through politicians to do what we through politicians tell them to do. If we give them a tool they will use it. That's simply logical. So when you allow them to do things to American Citizens, remember that they will not simply do that to the Muslim they find suspicious because you would be ok with that, they will also do it to your pastor if he associates with the wrong antiabortion group, or you if you vent your frustration with politics wrong. They simply do the job we ask them to do with the tools we give them. We are to blame, not them. We asked for it and received it. It is the voters responsibility to not be fooled by politicians, and to hold them accountable for the laws they pass. It is us who re-elect those who disregard the constitution. It is us who fall into the "lesser of two evils" trap. When you look at who to blame for the state of civil liberties in this country, start by looking in the mirror, especially if you vote for one of the main parties.

So what is the solution? Think and share. Don't blindly follow. It may feel good to listen to the guy with an R after his name bash Obama for running a huge deficit, and expanding government, but ask how we fared under his party? Did the size of government increase, or decrease. Did they cut taxes AND spending? Or did they add to the debt by spending money they didn't have. Did they protect your gun rights AND your right to constitutional rights when in detention? When you talk to other people about your beliefs, don't do what President Obama suggested on the campaign trail and "get in their face". Listen to what's important to them. Find common ground and relate. Use nonthreatening examples, and don't be afraid to agree to disagree. The conversation is the victory. When people think though the issues and don't fall into soundbites, we make progress.

Biden Needs To Resign

Joe Biden has long been putting his foot in his mouth. However, his latest irresponsibility is too much. He is spreading panic over the so-called "Swine Flu" in a complete disregard for the economy and public order. It's not that he intends to be malicious, he just simply doesn't think before he speaks, and when you are the Vice President, that is unacceptable. Enough is enough, we need a new Vice President before his unthinking wording cost lives. If he does not realize it, President Obama should request his resignation.

Waste Of Resources

So apparently the precursor to SKYNET is going to be drones to sniff out marijuana. Governments are so terrified of people getting high in way that won't harm them and they don't pay taxes on, instead of ways like alcohol that will harm them but that they pay taxes on, that they are developing robots to spy on them. Doesn't anybody else see how insane this is?

Maybe You Don't Do That Again

I know there is a learning curve with running the country. The Obama Administration has learned the hard way that it's a bad idea to fly an Air Force One and two F-16s 1000 ft above New York, and not warn people. There's gotta be a better way to spend $300k.

Specter's Switch

Sen. Arlen Specter (PA) switched parties today, officially becoming a democrat. He claims that this is a result of changes in his constituency, which has been moving steadily democratic. Skeptics point to conservative challenges looming in the primary. In either case, this just goes to show how little difference there is between the parties. The Republicans are just Democrat Lites. Making a switch requires only a subtle difference. If only there was a viable third party...

Obama Administration Seeking To Strip More Rights

Taking over smoothly from the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration wants to remove an obstacle to police interrogation. It has asked the Supreme Court to allow police to continue to question suspects who have a lawyer or who have asked for one. This opens the door to a variety of interrogation tactics that come closer to Guantanamo Bay than people would imagine. Sure, it's not the Bush Administration pushing for actually torturing American citizens, but it'd likely result in much broader application.