At townhall, Obama says no letup on drug war.

[immoderate]

In response to a question, Obama touted the processes that have not worked for more than forty years to "reduce demand" and said he would not consider decriminalization.

What's that line about the definition of insanity? :shrug:

--imm

[fascisthunter]

1. he's lying

[donheld]

83. Oh is he. So, you believe he intends on letting up on the drug war and is lying about it?

[fascisthunter]

84. no... I misread one sentence

believing he was touting the drug wars effectiveness.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

2. And yet he mocks the left who are -

stuck on "old idealogies". :eyes: There is NOTHIN more tired than the lame War on Drugs.

[Dawson Leery]

3. The DEA and their agents are parasite on society.

Not one of them has EVER done anything to better our world.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[iwishiwas]

5. We need an aggressive PUBLIC HEALTH approach to the use

of drugs--like we have for drunk driving and smoking. NOT a lock them up approach.

[myrna minx]

7. That's not profitable in our prison nation. n/t

[iwishiwas]

29. I know. I am in WI where prisons are big business.

[locahungaria]

43. Bingo! And that's it, in a nutshell. n/t

[Romulox]

6. He believes this on an ideological, almost pseudo-religious level.

Many people say that President Obama doesn't have any strong ideological beliefs, save maybe a faith in the power of "consensus building" and "compromise" with his critics on the far right. They're wrong. You can't really be swayed by what President Obama says--you have to watch what he does.

Based on the past three years, Barack Obama believes in prosecuting medical marijuana and casual marijuana users with an almost religious, Joe Lieberman-esque type zeal. This isn't any issue that he can be persuaded on with logic or policy--this is a matter of blind, moralistic faith for him, and thus not amenable to change through reasonable discussion.

[grasswire]

9. It is so unenlightened a position.

He's a smart man. How can he be so blind to logic and reason?

[RKP5637]

14. Same way some of the smart teabaggers can be so blind to logic and reason. n/t

[grasswire]

19. but we expect more of Democrats!

We expect them to not rigidly support Republican policies. !!

[RKP5637]

54. Ohhhh I know!!! That's been a major disappointment for me. It often seems

the republicans drive a stake in the ground and the new democrats say how can we move toward it ...

[krabigirl]

35. Is he really?

[Romulox]

36. How can he not see how the War on Drugs is a racist foot on the black man's neck?

I don't know. I'm not a psychologist, but much has been written about identifying with one's oppressors.

[grasswire]

64. well if you listen to people like Cornell West and Tavis Smiley...

...Obama is not exactly what they would expect from a "brother."

(I realize that as a white person I have no right to comment on the sentiments of Obama toward people of color. I'm just pointing out what other prominent African Americans have said.)

[immoderate]

70. Whoa! Before you call for equal treatment under the drug laws...

You should point out some laws that are not used to discriminate against minorities. Even good laws.

These are bad laws for everybody.


--imm

[piratefish08]

32. does that make him a hypocrite as he has admittedly smoked pot AND used cocaine?

not that I have a problem with him doing either.

[Romulox]

37. There is NOBODY as zealous as the converted.

I am an ex cigarette smoker myself and I don't include myself in this, but in general, ex smokers are VERY self-righteous, for example.

[Ignis]

73. Yes, it does.

[krabigirl]

34. Yep. It is truly scary, can't believe people still buy into that reefer madness stuff.

[grasswire]

8. prison industrial complex donates big bucks to politicians

Follow the dollar.

[RKP5637]

10. Yep, let's keep doing all of the crap that doesn't work because it works so well. Lame

as usual, same old shit. That is what pisses me about a lot of stuff, it's the same old shit over and over and expecting new results. Nothing innovative, just turning the same old crank.

[anarch]

27. actually it is working very, very well

just not toward the public interest.

[RKP5637]

55. Yep, that's for sure. n/t

[ZombieHorde]

11. I hate the war on drugs, but I feel compelled to point out a pet peeve.

The "definition of insanity" is obviously false. People do get different results from doing something over and over again. We often call it "practice."

Usual rebuttal: With practice, you change slightly in order to improve.

Usual counter rebuttal: Situation X is also different each time. (In this case, X=drug arrests/investigations/etc.)

[immoderate]

28. A good point. It was rhetorical.

In truth, even with the powers vested in me by holding a BA in Psychology I could not give you a definition of insanity that I like.

Consider that some humor is connecting with people's misconceptions. So it is a useful misconception. :)

--imm

[ZombieHorde]

40. It's just a pet peeve of mine. The little saying doesn't really affect much.

Another pet peeve I have is when people use the word "literally," when they mean "figuratively."

[immoderate]

59. OK, I've got some too. (Hijacking my own thread.)

Not as egregious as "literally" but people say "obviously" for things that appear from between their cheeks. As in, "Obama is obviously a socialist." :rofl:

In terms of written errors my absolute number one peeve is "alot." Hate it. Like nails on a blackboard -- except that never bothered me anyway. But you know what I mean.

--imm

[ZombieHorde]

61. Those are good ones. nt

[Romulox]

44. My pet peeve? The racist War on (brown people who use) Drugs.

:shrug:

[ZombieHorde]

46. That is more than a pet peeve for me. nt

[Octafish]

12. Illegal Drugs are a money maker for the Mafia...

...and its owners in the BFEE.

[blkmusclmachine]

13. The WH never met a "war" it didn't like

[RKP5637]

16. Let me update that just a bit, this country never met a "war" it didn't like. n/t

[Marrah_G]

15. money money money money.....

Follow the money.

[RKP5637]

17. Yep, exactly, that's the bottom line. There are BIG BUCKS in the war on drugs and

big contributions.

[Enrique]

33. the banks

all that money goes through banks.

[polichick]

18. What an asinine position!

[Ichingcarpenter]

20. He iied when he was running for president about Pot

Nobody can dispute that

Nobody...... his words are recorded.

[pitohui]

21. eh delete thte stupid dupe, sorry

obama is doing the right thing

i see that they made a major strike today against a mexican drug cartel & i have to say i'm pleased

we need to break these cartels, THEN we can decriminalize

we could not end prohibition and allow al capone to become a billionaire selling booze, and these guys are cutting off heads, c'mon

if you want a chance of decency in decriminalization/legalization, instead of just handing a bag of gold to mass murderers, we need to support some MAJOR clean-up in this country and in mexico too first

[w4rma]

24. No. You have that backwards. (nt)

[Ichingcarpenter]

30. The Fast and Furious stupidity

No,he is following a failed policy.

You are talking through your hat.

[immoderate]

42. I see, you want to eliminate the symptoms before you'll eliminate the disease...

...that causes those symptoms.

There were many that rose to take Al Capone's place. They disappeared when prohibition ended.

What do you propose to do for a "MAJOR clean-up in this country" that we haven't tried in 40 years? ...And that won't make it more profitable? :shrug:

--imm

[pitohui]

49. sorry about our posts getting out of order -- my service acting up

to my suggestion -- fast, large-scale crushing of major crime families, like the big bust today, would be my suggestion

get the major profiteers off the streets all at once, then put in a legal distribution system, preferably gov't controlled

some of the states could get up to speed pretty fast w. legal marijuana distribution if the stage were set

however i can't support setting the stage to make billionaires out of those who are destroying entire cities, towns, and states in mexico, we will not build peace on a bucket of mexican blood

when the other guy is chopping off heads, waving the white flag of surrender will do nothing in my opinion

don't you think obama has been pretty good at law enforcement, the BIG stuff, he got osama bin laden, he's rounding up a lot of la famiglia (can't spell it, so prob. spelled wrong)

why can't we give the guy credit? bush had years to do this stuff and accomplished fuck-all ZERO

[immoderate]

74. Why go after them with bullets, when legalization will wipe them out?

And the bullets are the raison, d'etre. Legalize, and the destruction stops.

Bush didn't stop it. Lots of people went to jail. Lots of people got killed. Obama might do some things differently, but is after the same results.

Obama gets great creds for taking out OBL. Sorry, but the biggest criminals get to play golf with him.

He's going after pot dispensaries. And after he said he wouldn't.

--imm

[Ichingcarpenter]

47. 'obama is doing the right thing' You still left that in your stupid post

your words not mine.

[pitohui]

50. ok obama is doing the CORRECT thing

sheesh, i would not insult a dog by calling them a right winger, i thought the context was obvious...

i think obama is pretty good on these big busts, why can't we give him credit?

who did bush's administration catch? martha stewart? tommy chong?

[Ichingcarpenter]

53. The Drug Cartels being busted are by the Federalies

Mexico blames the US for the arms they supplied them and the whole drug war going on there.

You don't have any facts on 'what is really going on'

The DEA is one of the stupidest arms of the US government
run by right wing dodo heads that couldn't get into the FBI

[pitohui]

66. this was a multi-agency operation

i won't say i support the DEA, i've heard many thoughts to suggest that they are pretty insupportable, but this operation that just went down involved justice, fbi, border patrol, a whole alphabet soup of federal agencies actually working together for a change

the OP blamed obama for the situation, i promise you that obama in 2006, when the current war in mexico begain, obama was not president of the usa

the usa certainly has contributed to the problem in mexico and we should contribute to its repair

i think obama's folks took a big step forward yesterday, why not give 'em credit where credit is due?

[pitohui]

22. we can't decriminalize and make billionaires of those who are cutting off heads

obama is doing the right thing

i see that they made a major strike today against a mexican drug cartel & i have to say i'm pleased

we need to break these cartels, THEN we can decriminalize

we could not end prohibition and allow al capone to become a billionaire selling booze, and these guys are cutting off heads, c'mon

if you want a chance of decency in decriminalization/legalization, instead of just handing a bag of gold to mass murderers, we need to support some MAJOR clean-up in this country and in mexico too first

[immoderate]

51. This is NOT a proposal to decriminalize "cutting off heads."

Sorry if I gave that impression.

However, the cutting off of heads occurs for a reason. You want to stop the behavior, as a prerequisite to eliminating the reason for the behavior. That is not logical. (The beatings will continue as long as somebody complains about them. :shrug: )

--imm

[pitohui]

69. well let's try it this way

the current crop of folks who are running the big drug industry are not the kind of folks who need to be rewarded with the legalization of their industry

remove them, execute them, jail them, i don't care what...but don't make bazillionaires out of creeps who are destroying decent life for every decent person in northern mexico

i think it's fair and reasonable to round up and arrest/jail/execute the mass murderers FIRST, then we can deal with the sane business people

i also think obama is entitled to savor, just for one day, his administration's succss in this operation

we want to crap on him when he does something wrong, when he does something right all i'm hearing are crickets

[immoderate]

75. These murders are for greed. Why not wipe that out first?

So let's make greed illegal, and pot legal. That way everybody gets what they want.

I really don't understand why restoring people's personal rights should depend on apprehending mass murderers that were created by that prohibition.

Besides an emotional appeal to punish the most obviously violent criminals, while ignoring the causes of crime, your argument does not persuade me.

Personally, I'd rather smoke a joint than go to jail. You find something wrong with that. I don't think you get it.


--imm

[PurityOfEssence]

23. and conservatives will still hate you

Whatever.

[QC]

25. It's what Blessed St. Ronald would do, you know. n/t

[Safetykitten]

26. Well, there goes the doper vote.

[bullwinkle428]

31. Well, at least we have plenty of money to continue this charade.

Do I even have to use the :sarcasm: at this point?

[dbonds]

38. Here is a program that can be cut to save money.

[felix_numinous]

39. If he said this on the campaign trail

would things have turned out the same? If he said he would be funding drones or cutting SS would he have been elected, or would we have voted differently?

Just feeling very betrayed. I know politics is full of PR, but he is actually made an 180 on this issue, and others.

[Doctor_J]

41. When will he give up the ruse and change his party affiliation?

:shrug:

[spanone]

45. where's the link. what townhall. i want to see his words.

[immoderate]

62. I was listening to it on C-SPAN, it was about the third or fourth question.

He was speaking at U of Maryland.

The question was roughly, "When will we end the wasteful and failed drug war?"

He said things that could be summed up as a "redoubling our efforts" on interdiction, education, reducing demand, etc.

He paused.

And then he made a short declarative statement that had "not" and "decriminalizing" together.

It should be up on C-SPAN soon.

--imm

[spanone]

63. thanks, i'll try to find it

[Harry J Asslinger]

71. Found a clip here

http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/07/obama-says-hes-not-willing-to-end-the-drug-war/

It's just about the same response he gave when he was asked about the drug war on the last Youtube town hall.

[immoderate]

76. Harry J....

:rofl:

Great screen name!

Quiz: Among some of my friends, we have a coded behavior, consisting of a frothing acting-out of the desire, "I WANNA SEE JACK! I GOTTA SEE JACK!"

Can you supply the context for that line? :think:

:hi:--imm

[Harry J Asslinger]

79. None other than the infamous..

Bring me some reefers!

:hi:

[immoderate]

82. Brother!

:fistbump:

--imm

[FlyByNight]

48. The prison-industrial complex needs prisoners

Although, with due fairness, I'm sure this has much to do with '12 election posturing.

Then again, I do think he actually believes, to a great degree, the shit he's shoveling.

[Dr Fate]

52. The Justice Department needs to focus on pot, not Murdoch or BP.

n/t

[Doctor_J]

81. And all of the voter suppression

a much bigger problem than this shit

[meow mix]

56. LOTS of SPINE! when it comes to oppressing the pot smokers...

well at least rightwing and the mormons are getting their representation.
:rofl:

[Fumesucker]

58. Afflicting the afflicted..

And comforting the comfortable..

Aren't these things what politicians are supposed to do?

:shrug:

[Ganja Ninja]

57. OK Now it's personal. n/t

[Fumesucker]

60. And Obama locks up the drug dealer vote...

Any letup in the drug war would be bad for business, prices would fall.

[immoderate]

65. Do they contribute that much?

It can't translate into net votes... :P

--imm

[Fumesucker]

72. I was thinking more in terms of the symbolism involved..

You know, The American Drug Dealers Association endorses Barack Obama for president, that sort of thing.

;)

:hi:

[immoderate]

80. Sorry, I was just being way too cool...

And I have spoken to people "in the growth business," and they really don't want the laws changed.

Others, like myself, question whether the quality and purity will suffer if it becomes legalized and commercialized.

Even now, dispensary prices seem to correlate with black market boutique pot prices.

My treating your sarcasm as data was my way of "out-sarcasmatizing" you. It's deep.:headbang:

:hi:--imm

[hatrack]

67. Another little piece of "Give A Shit" which I am now snipping off and tossing away

I have some left, but not a huge amount, re. President Obama.

[Hotler]

68. Jail for pot users. My Wall St. friends walk free. n/t

[DainBramaged]

77. Yup, blindly follow where many men have failed before....

prosecute the pot smokers, let the war criminals go free.

[JoePhilly]

78. Obama Bad Obama Bad Obama Bad nt

[eilen]

85. What is his obsession with war anyway? Sounds like a fetish. nt