Obama Supports Use of Hard Drugs, Heroine, Ecstasy, Marijuana and Psychedelic Mushrooms

Personal Opinion of the Editor for 'Obama in the White House blog' 

In a breaking news story, President Obama now states that "Marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol". This article will be strictly based on my personal opinion, and not of the Obama administration, his allies or his enemies.

I am totally floored to hear that the President of the United States is telling people that marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol in a recent CNN White House article. Finally, I am drawing the line regarding his beliefs and mine, at least on this one topic. For the most part, I did not feel a need to outwardly state my opinion in the past, i.e. when gay men and women were allowed to serve in the military, and the repulsion of 'don't ask, don't tell'. I have a few gay friends, and they are good people, and I look past their sexual preference as I believe that this is a personal decision between two people. I do not condone gay relationships or gay marriages, but again, it is not my business to decide for others.

But now in the present story that just broke out on the CNN blog regarding the support that Obama has for marijuana usage, I feel that I must be honest and try to explain why I am emphatically against President Obama regarding this issue. The article states that marijuana "in the same category as heroin, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms by the federal government, is no more dangerous than alcohol." So what is he trying to say here?

He confuses people who can now say that President Obama is telling them that heroin, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, not said in as many words, should be legalized. There was a time when alcohol was considered dangerous to people who use it extensively, but who is to say that any amount of marijuana that you may consume, including heroin, ecstasy or psychedelic mushrooms would not be harmful to you when compared to alcohol. Is the Presidents idea  proven? I can state that there are hundreds of studies that will say that pot smoking, in tandem to the other mentioned drugs are much more dangerous to your health than alcohol. Moderation is the key here, but what if you get 'hooked' on one of these more dangerous drugs? Is it true that you could be more likely to die from overuse of these more exotic drugs compared to alcohol? Bringing up these beliefs of Obama can only instigate the temptation of the U.S. to legalize other drugs that have already been proven to be dangerous to your health. It has already started with two states now legalizing marijuana. Another dozen or so are looking over the idea to also extend legal use of that drug.

Obama states in the article as he explained "As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chuck of my adult life. I don't think it is more dangerous than alcohol."

The above statement is outrageous. Outwardly stating your beliefs on this issue does not make you a role model for others, especially children. I don't expect others, and I guess the President of the United States Barack Obama to have my values regarding drugs, smoking and alcohol as I believe that he is definitely NOT a role model here.
On a personal note, I only drink alcohol on New Years Eve and very minimally throughout the rest of the year. I don't expect everyone to do the same, but I feel that I can handle control over alcohol much better than the President. Maybe I am the exception, as I have never had a single cigarette in my lifetime. I have NEVER ingested heroin, ecstasy or psychedelic mushrooms. So whose values would you say are better, the President or mine? I guess I now fall into the 'old fashioned' category.
I am very disappointed with my country and the President when it comes to the continued promiscuous use of hard line drugs. It now will only be a matter of time before hardened drugs are legal for consumption. To me, hearing the President of the United States, someone whom I admire, now openly admits his feelings about drugs in public no less then disgusts me.

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Time for a Debt Ceiling Increase

It's a new year and already time to fight again regarding the debt ceiling. The U.S. will go into default by the end of February at the latest, unless the nation avoids a suspension by Feb. 7, 2014. After Feb. 7, special accounting maneuvers will have to be implemented in order to pay the country's bills. On a personal note, I believe for some reason that the U.S. Congress will raise the debt ceiling in time to avoid the issue, mainly because the Republican party has now run out of wiggle room to constantly resist what this country needs in order to preform their agenda. Cutting expenses seems to come up with every bill that is brought up in Congress. The constant restraints to pass bills in Congress affects everyone. To promote their agenda, the conservative base in Congress has again voted against extending unemployment insurance, which now affects at least 1.5 million people, and will affect another 2.5 million by years end if nothing is accomplished.
There seems to be so much work to do in Congress, yet because of political reasons, nothing seems to get done. The 'do nothing' Congress is a failure and continues to fail under the lack of leadership in the House by Republican Speaker John Boehner. This group of U.S. Senators led by him in the house continue to defy the needs of the people, and as stated in a CNN article, "any last-minute drama over the debt ceiling could cut the U.S. economy's potential for growth and undermine confidence." Treasury Secretary Jack Lew also states "any last-minute drama over the debt ceiling could cut the U.S. economy's potential for growth and undermine confidence."
You might ask why Republicans continue to buck the system and not do much of anything. Maybe the sole reason is that they will not act if President Obama supports the issue. One thing that I can say that is good about the Speaker of the House John Boehner at the time, he told reporters on Thursday "we shouldn't even get close" to defaulting. "I would hope that the House and the Senate would act quickly on a bill to increase the debt limit."
Will the Republicans and Tea Party members support the Speaker of the House? If they do not, then maybe it is time for him to step down, but of course that will not happen. Inside the party, their is a civil war going on within the party at the moment. It is for this reason, unless things change, a Republican president would be unlikely to be elected in 2016 because the the lack of organization between the Republicans and the Tea Party, the lack of a solid agenda, and the lack of a good solid candidate. Chris Christie, the man that could have been the party's only hope to match against Hilary Clinton if she decided to run for president, is now embroiled in government corruption in New Jersey. The New Jersey governor most likely would not fair well against other members of the Republican party in the primaries, even though as of a week ago, he could have been considered a candidate. With the scandal going on in full force, and the chance of being convicted of a crime, it would be worthless now to waste money in an attempt to gain the trust from his own party.
In the next article, I will report on what has become 'bridgegate', involving the office of the Governor and others around him.

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Unemployment Insurance vs. Job Creation

Instead of talking about the latest media talk about Chris Christie and 'BridgeGate', I have decided to keep on a topic that is important to the American people, and that would be 'unemployment insurance' and 'job creation' and not discuss 'watergate' on this blog, at least not until more details regarding it are uncovered. 

All of the quotes I've actually come across during the last couple of days from members of the hill just seem to disgust me. Starting with Mr. Mitch O'Connell who says "It's only when you believe that government is the answer to all of your problems (for example) when you talk about unemployment insurance instead of job creation". Even President Ronald Reagan stated " Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem". The Republicans are saying that we must keep the big picture in mind, that finding jobs for people are more important than helping people with unemployment insurance that still do not have that job, and at no fault of their own. Rush Limbaugh said on his talk show program, " What is unemployment insurance? It is paying people not to work" Are you kidding me?!?!?! Talk about people out of touch with society.
These guys will be the first to tell you that there shouldn't be anyone out of work, and proof of this is the fact of the success of the stock market, now at record highs. So who does the stock market actually help? Does it help the poor or does it help the rich? Without question, the stock markets help the rich, as the poor have no means to contribute to the economy other than to put back into it for living expenses what unemployment provides, and that would be money for food, money for gasoline, money to heat their homes, money for clothes, and money to survive.
Mr. Rush Limbaugh and others with this type of thinking, and the one Senator that comes to the top of my mind is Senator Rand Paul. These guys actually believe that people who are unemployed are using the system to get free money, and do not want to work. First, I'd like to see one instance of proof of this statement that people would rather collect unemployment than provide for their family with a good-paying job. That's the other issue. The minimum wage of this country has been stagnant, and is proof that the "rich get richer, and the poor are getting poorer". Income for the poor has been the same for years, regardless of the rise in cost of living, and the income for the rich continues to climb, along with paying incificient taxes that also contribute to a slower recovering economy.
At the moment, we are in a cross-roads in time, at the point where people with jobs and have money to live and enjoy life, and the people who do not have money, who now have to support the additional fact that their own country is letting them down, leaving them to hang out to dry not only without a job, but without any substinance to survive.
The bill that was co-sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans is only a stop-gap bill, meaning that it would fund unemployment insurance for only the next 3 months. In this amount of time, Washington needs to come up with a better plan for support for the unemployed, and not just believe that the only place for someone to be in the United States without a job is to live under a bridge or in a cardboard box. The statistics are that by the end of 2014 if something permanent can be done to help the unemployed, there will be over 4 million people without any form of income to live on.
The longer the unemployed are not being helped with necessary funding to survive, the more our economy will sink. It is now estimated that all of the economic growth that has happened under President Barack Obama's two terms in office call all be for nothing if Congress doesn't get this done, to provide unemployment insurance to 1.3 million people, as soon as possible.
The bottom line here is that the Republican party does not want to help the poor, only help the rich. They believe that if you cannot find a job, then it is your fault. They believe that this country is known to be "the land of opportunity" and that you should be able to find a job. "Any job" is not what many want, but they want a job that they qualify for. Someone with a college education should not have to resort to driving a garbage truck, or become a blue collar worker fixing streets. But many of these people, the same ones with an education, just can't seem to find the right job or any job for that matter in their field of expertise. Another fact is that for every job now available to be filled by someone, even the ones who are qualified for them, there are at least three times as many people looking to fill those jobs, which mathmatically states that there just is not enough jobs for the unemployed.
So what is the answer? According to the Republican thinking, the reason why many people do not have jobs is because they do not want a job and want to stay unemployed. Again, who can live on just unemployment benefits? So the Republican thinking is so far out of touch with the working class of this nation.

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