My response to Obama's youtube failure (again) from yesterday.

[Soral]

As usual, anytime Obama takes questions from the internet, 1 question trumps all others.... by a lot.

Yesterday, Obama did Youtube Q&A. 77,551 questions were submitted and then voted on which should be asked.

Out of the top 100 vote getters.......... ALL, I repeat, ALL were about marijuana and the war on drugs. (and 198 of top 200)

You can see proof of that here... (moved to bottom of post for easier reading)

So, since the top 100 questions were all about the same thing, for some reason, he got asked only 1 question on the topic... and true to form of almost every single well-known politician, they are dumb as rocks when talking about it....


here is a link to the audio clip
http://stash.norml.org/wp-content/uploads/Obama-responds-to-YouTube-Drug-War-Question-LoQ.mp3


An ex-police office, who spent years on the front lines of the drug war got to ask the question..

The question posed to the president specifically asked him whether all drugs should be legalized and regulated, "thereby doing away with the violent criminal market as well as a major source of funding for international terrorism."

"I am not in favor of legalization," Obama said in response. But he said he thinks Americans should look at drugs more as a public health problem than a legal issue.

"When you think about other damaging activities in our society -- smoking, drunk driving, making sure you're wearing seat belts -- you know, typically we've made huge strides over the last 20, 30 years by changing people's attitudes," he said. "On drugs, I think that a lot of times we have been so focused on arrests, incarceration, interdiction that we don't spend as much time thinking about how do we shrink demand."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-drugs-20110128,0,5921264.story

SHRINK DEMAND????

Mr. President.... in the exact same way that people did not stop drinking alcohol during prohibition... people will NEVER stop smoking marijuana. It has been used since the dawn of time, and will be used forever more.
You can let criminals control that market or you can do the sensible thing and begin regulating it.

[JuniperLea]

1. Oops! Wrong message board...

:eyes:

[countingbluecars]

2. Too bad you couldn't make your point

without the "idiotic".

[Soral]

3. Um, I typed more than the subject of this post... but ill even take it out for you

[Tommy_Carcetti]

4. It's lovely where some people's priorties are. nt

[Forkboy]

5. I think it's a huge issue.

Millions of non-violent offenders in our jails, billions of dollars spent on the WoD...seems important to me. :shrug:

[Soral]

6. it was top 198 of 200 questions asked, obviously important to many

[frylock]

16. yeah, like over-populated prisons

:eyes:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

7. I think it's a little sad that this is the number-one issue for many people.

I fully support legalizing pot and hemp, but to think this ranks above universal health care, the increasing rich/poor gap, fixing foreign policy, etc., is a little mind-blowing.

And it's not like it's difficult to obtain pot, either.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. Lots of people doing hard time, communities destroyed

families ruined. The fact that you think it is about scoring pot is very telling. The arrest rates for minorities are staggeringly higher than for whites? Is that also inconsequential?

[Starbucks Anarchist]

11. Is this another hit-and-run post from you?

I tried to engage you in a conversation over the same topic yesterday, but you just disappeared.

I'm well aware of the havoc and inequalities that the drug war/war on pot has caused, but YouTube is hardly a representation of what Americans truly want. Do you honestly think more people want pot legalized than universal health care, good-paying jobs, etc.? Do you honestly think every one of those YouTubers is truly concerned about the black/white disparity on this issue?

Considering YouTube is most popular with the 30-and-under crowd, I seriously doubt the majority of the questioners have social justice on their mind. And in the chance that they do, and if they're truly concerned about their fellow man, why not ask about universal health care, something that can save millions of lives? People choose to smoke pot (which is easily obtainable even if it's illegal). They don't choose to get life-threatening diseases that they can't afford to treat. Yet some people think pot legalization is more important. That *is* fucked up.

[frylock]

18. an ex-police officer, who spent years on the front lines of the drug war got to ask the question..

is he representative of the dumbshit stoners you perceive to rule youtube?

[Starbucks Anarchist]

20. He was only one example, both in his field and as a questioner.

198 out of the 200 highest-rated YouTube questions were related to drug legalization. That's literally 99%. Doesn't it seem odd to you that this issue doesn't rise remotely to this level in national polls (where jobs, health care, etc. are the main issues), yet it accounts for 99% of the highest-rated questions on YouTube? You don't see the disparity there? Do you think more Americans are concerned with this issue than they are with issues that affect many more people directly, like jobs?

And that cop is unique in his field. Law enforcement as a whole doesn't want pot decriminalized or legalized because it hurts their industry, just like it would hurt drug dealers. Just because one questioner happens to be eloquent and have first-hand experience with this issue hardly makes it a number-one priority for most people. You might as well say DU polls where Kucinich finishes with a commanding lead is representative of real-world elections.

And like I keep saying, I support legalization, but if this is the number-one issue for people, then yes, I would say many of them are likely stoners with a limited worldview. And there's nothing wrong with that per se, but don't try to pass it off as some sort of nationally compelling issue that everyone is most concerned about.

[frylock]

17. legalization of marijuana is a component of all those issues

[Starbucks Anarchist]

19. So the component is a bigger issue than the whole?

[Tsiyu]

8. There is no turning back now

and Obama is playing it safe, sucking up to Old School Greed on the issue.

But Americans are only going to keep up the pressure.

The damage done to this nation in the name of The War on (some) Drugs cannot be undone. Lives have been completely destroyed for pure greed's sake on the part of the Prison Industry and Law enforcement. Cops have more important things to do and we have better ways to spend our money than obsessing over a plant.

Obama is playing a fool on this issue.

Thanks for the info....

[Bluenorthwest]

10. The President is a status quo sort, a man of the past, not of

the new century. His ideas are often based not on reason but on dogma and on belief, he openly says so.

[Soral]

12. agreed

[Starbucks Anarchist]

13. Is that why he repealed DADT? Because he's a man of the past?

Or why he allowed stem-cell research, that "dogmatic" idea?

Or why he demanded hospitals allow GLBT visitation?

Or why he signed Lilly Ledbetter to help women?

Just admit that because of his opinion on gay marriage (which I strongly disagree with, BTW), you are unwilling to view his other actions logically.

[Soral]

14. Um, I am allowed to agree with him on some things, and not others

[Starbucks Anarchist]

15. I wasn't talking to you.