Obama while running for president discussed the merits of a single payer system.
Now it's "off the table"
Doctors and advocates are arrested in DC. But all the insurance providers, HMOs, pharmacuetical companies are there..
So why Obama? Why have you lied to us? Why are you selling us out to the money makers?
Maybe because they donate money to your campaign and the campaigns of other democrats?
You let Baukus head this up, who has taken TONS of money from insurance companies.
THIS IS CROOKED.
NO CHANGE, MORE OF THE SAME.
WHY DO YOU LIE OBAMA!? There is NO way to get ALL Americans covered without a single payer!
People wants "choices" - Well with single payer you can still choose your doctor, your place, etc.
With the insurance companies you can choose which insurance company will rip you off and deny you coverage.
60% of people want this!
Demand the truth! Obama has sold us out to the coorporations! As long as there is still HEALTH INSURANCE there will be NO REAL HEALTH CARE.
Plain and simple, Obama sold out to the corporate interests (who probably helped him rise to power in the first place) when he bailed out AIG under the excuse that they're "too big to fail"
They failed. So clearly they're not too big for it. Pumping more money into it? That costs money, just the same as people would suffer from them failing. So.. both have the same outcome, people lose money. Only one includes AIG doing well, the other them failing. So why care? I don't think most Americans care. So why bail them out? Armageddon if we don't? I doubt it.
AIG spent OUR tax money on bonuses, spas, vacation, coke and hookers. They are laughing in our faces, with OUR money. Obama was "shocked". Yeah right.
And now AIG is denying health care to private contractors injured in Iraq / Afghanistan. Because they weren't soldiers. Technically, no. But they were shooting people and being shot at. And they had a coverage plan for it. What does AIG do? Denies them healthcare.
Why do we have a private healthcare industry? Why do we have private insurance? Because if we had universal healthcare like other countries everyone would be waiting in line for months to get health care! Well thats better than being denied!
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/abc-news-aig-systematically-denies-injury-claims-americans
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/11/earlyshow/main4661900.shtml?source=mostpop_story
Gee Obama, you're starting to look a little too much like the republicans you fought so hard to get out of office. They sold out to corporate interests, put them before those of the people.. Hmm.. what do you call this?
Change we can believe in is right, but it seems most of Obama's change seems to be coming from his promises to reality, not from Bush's ruining of our country to fixing it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to tell you everything he has done has been bad. Much praise is deserved. That does not mean much criticism is undeserved.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/13/obama-administration-upholds-terrorist-surveillance-secrecy-rules/comments/
Obama continues the use of warrentless wiretapping and evesdropping, using the same BS excuse that Bush used: State Secrets.
Well, we have to wait and see how this turns out.. but it's a little dissapointing.
If you ask me, the NSA will ALWAYS be spying where they see the need, regardless of how legal it is, if the president officially authorized it, etc. We have black ops, covert operations, world wide survaillance. I have no doubt that they can get all the information they need without having widespread wire-tapping and evesdropping (or looking at our library records, recording all our emails, etc)
The NSA is capable of monitoring, flagging, deciphering all the intel it needs. They don't need any help from Patriot Acts or Presidential "state secrets"
I have no doubt that under both presidents, the 'primary' goal was a reasonable one: find terrorists. But again, they do NOT need blanket searches, putting EVERYONE in the spotlight. People have a right to privacy, it's in our Bill of Rights.
Under Bush, liberal watch groups, peace advocates, community organizers, and such people were closely monitored. How do we have any assurances that Obama wouldn't do the same? Monitor those that dissagree with him? Those that may come out with information that he doesn't want out?
It's not about terrorism. They have other, and plentiful means to combat terrorism abroad and at home (currently he touts the use of peaceful negotiations while continuing the combatant practices of Bush)
It's about our privacy and our rights, and about holding Obama accountable to the campaign promises he made.
Not only has there been too little action done by Obama to stop the use of BlackWater (now XE) and other mercenary firms in Iraq, but now he is supporting HIS OWN MERCENARY FIRM.
Obama has not made an effort to condemn, or prosecute Black Water. Blackwater has been used to KILL CIVILIANS. They have acted on their own, and from commands, to kill. They have not been held accountable. This was one of Bush's biggest crimes against humanity.So surely Obama would condemn this, and never condone such actions?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-scahill/obamas-blackwater-proble_b_89061.html
Obama has stated that he will continue to use private military contractors (AKA MERCENARIES) in addition to leaving LOTS of troops in Iraq AFTER THE "WITHDRAW" (how it is a withdraw when there are 30,000+ troops left behind is beyond me)
Now Obama has retracted, and Clinton is sponsoring legislation to ban the use of private contractors in Iraq. But it seems to me they really only mean that contractors who ARE NOT HELD RESPONSIBLE will not be used. Or maybe he just wants Bush's mercenary firms out, and his own in?
"Beginning May 7th, Triple Canopy will officially take over Xe/Blackwater's mega-contract with the U.S. State Department for guarding occupation officials in Iraq."
Triple Canopy is a mercenary firm based out of Chicago.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/134594/obama's_blackwater_chicago_mercenary_firm_gets_millions_for_private_"security"_in_israel_and_iraq_/
Hypocritical? I think very. Mercenaries are a TERRIBLE idea, regardless of if you claim they will be held accountable. They are a private military. And there are certain things that SHOULD NOT BE PRIVATIZED. Obama has run a campaign on openness and government control over privatization: for health-care, for education, for the military.
Why the contradiction? Why the no-bid government contract, just the same as Bush used for Blackwater and Haliburton?
Watch the REAL NEWS for the REAL INFORMATION
http://www.archive.org/details/dn2009-0402_vid
CHANGE!? OR MORE OF THE SAME!?
Ted Stevens was convicted of criminal misconduct. He almost got reelected anyway (another story)
His case is being dropped, which amounts to a complete pardon. I realize that Obama is not directly responsible.
Obama IS responsible for the continued prosectution of Tim DeCrhistopher, though. Tim is a political environmental activist, who staged a fake bidding on AN ILLEGAL AUCTION under the Bush administration to buy Federal Wildlife Reserve for the use of oil excavation. Tim waited and waited for activists to come forward to stop the illegal auction of the wildlife reserve. Nobody did, so he had to. He made fake bids, putting a stall in the process.
He is an environmental hero. The auction was wrong in the first place. Now he faces up to 10 years in prison.
Many thought that Obama would pardon him, where Bush supported his criminal procecution. However, the prosecution recently went through with no word from Obama.
This is VERY HYPOCRITICAL for a president who states that civil disobedience cannot be punished so punitively, who believes we need a green future, to lesson our dependence on oil, to cherish our wildlife.
See http://www.bidder70.org/
Help his cause, help donate to his defense.
More importantly, tell Obama to give him a pardon! Punishing people for standing up for what is right is terrible! Where are our freedoms to own a stake in our own country? Where is our ability for peaceful civil disobedience?
And where is this in the news? If the news ignores a problem, Obama ignores it, and it ceases to exist in the minds of most Americans. Take back the information!
www.DemocracyNow.org
http://www.archive.org/details/democracy_now_vid
Real news. Listen. Report to your friends. Tell Obama that you know the things the Coroporate Media does not want you to know about.
I had very high faith in Obama to do the right thing with the Online Town hall meeting. It seemed like such a good idea and an easy concept: Ask people what they think, and listen to them.
However, as critics predicted ahead of time, the questions Obama was going to answer were pre-determined. He could guarantee that certain questions would be asked, he just had to wait and see how they were worded. But his responses were all planned, and the questions selected were planned.
This is the opposite of what he stated his intentions were. He did not listen to the people, or take their questions seriously. Instead, he merely read a prepared statement in the guise of an online town hall meeting. Town Hall meetins themselves are usually screened and questions prepared, but he stated that this would be different.
Three questions in particular were completely ignored, but others we ignored in part. For instance, questions regarding how to treat the Auto Industry, how best to spend money on them (or to not) and how best to make them move forward. Many were worded differently, with different emphases. He took a blakent response to these questions, ignoring many comments about smaller companies.
Many asked whether it makes any sense to bail out the companies that are failing. After all, this is the market. They failed for a reason: They had two decades to figure out that using oil is not a permanent solution, and begin to make real progress. They did not. They sold out to the oil industry, killed the electric car in 2000, and continued making gas guzzlers. If we paid for gas as we should, as other parts of the world do, which is unsibsidized, we would ALWAYS be paying double what we pay. Do you think there would have been a bigger push for the elctric car in 2000 if gas was not disproportionately low from government subsidies? This just passes the buck on to our next generations, as we do with many things. So why was gas subsidized? To keep people thinking it was cheap, and that it'd be around forever, and that we don't NEED to have a new solution.
So what did the car companies do? They delayed the inevitable, they got greedy, they sacrificed long term servivability for short term gains. For this, they deserve to go bankrupt. What about the workers? Well, pay them while they look for another job, just as other people are on welfare.
What about our auto-industry? Well thats easy. There's 30 electric car companies waiting to make a shot at it. see: http://venturebeat.com/2008/01/10/27-electric-cars-companies-ready-to-take-over-the-road/
Other companies are working on other solutions, hydrogen power cells, alternative fuel sources. The free market will sort this out, and it won't take as long as people think. The vacuum left from the failing car companies would be quickly filled.
But Obama did not address these questions. Instead he only addressed those that dealt with how to monitor the EXISTING car companies, while ignoring the questions that regarded focusing on NEW car companies. The message? That he doesn't care about the free market figuring this out, nor what his constituents say on the matter, nor about any REAL GREEN SOLUTIONS. Pushing the car companies (that have failed from greed) to make expensive electric and hybrid cars, and SLOWLY push out new alternatives, WILL NOT HELP. Other companies are offering cheaper, better solutions. But he is ignoring those, pushing them aside, and assuming (wrongly) that the only way forward is to work with, and reward, the existing companies.
The other two questions that Obama ignored he did much more overtly.
One is regarding Industrial Hemp. Hemp has been used for thousands of years for everything from clothes, rope, car parts, fuel, paper, to food. Every country in the world grows it except America. America can import it and use it, but not grow it.
Industrial Hemp is the true green future. It could solve many problems at once: economic, farming, food, fuel.. Many questions were asked regarding Industrial Hemp (which contains less than 1% THC - the active ingredient in smoked marijuana) Many questions regarded seperating the two, removing the myths, and taking Industrial Hemp off the banned drug list. At the very least, many stated that it should be up to states to decide. see http://hemporganic.com/whyhemp.html
http://azhemp.org/Archive/Package/Uses/uses.html
Obama chose not to even MENTION this.
Instead, he made a joke about the SINGLE BIGGEST QUESTION asked.
This question was about decriminalizing marijuana.
There were legitimate questions and statements. Economically, it could save tons of money on the war on drugs, make lots from taxing. Ethically, it would keep people out of prison for a relatively minor crime. Pratically, it would allow the government to CONTROL it, who sells it (cut out the gangs and the cross border drug trafficking) who can smoke it (age limits) what they can do while smoking (test for recent use is available now, and could be used by traffick cops to determine if someone has used before driving, just like alcohol)
So there were many legitimate concerns raised (the most salient being economic, the VAST amount of money that could be generated by the government)
Obama, however, made a crack about "this shows who the internet users are" as if EVERYONE who voted for these questions was currently smoking a bong. Many people stated clearly that they were not users. Regardless, who is asking should not concern him. The fact is that it was asked by the people HE SAID HE WOULD LISTEN TO. The Media claimed that the polls were hijacked. Obama claimed that it was not a real concern of the American people.
Clearly, it was a concern. One that will not go away. And for all the valid reasons offered by many, the most obvious is economic. He asked for economic solutions, and three were provided to him that he BLATANTLY IGNORED.
I say SHAME ON OBAMA. He has done much good since coming into office, but is FALLING FAR SHORT of where he promised. He uses unmanned drones to kill civilians in Pakistan. He continues many policies he said he would end. He has NOT checked bills line by line as he said. He has NOT allowed for 3-4 days for the public to view and critique any bill before signing. He has NOT cut spending on porky projects.
And most importantly: HE HAS NOT LISTENED TO THE PEOPLE!Speak out against this! Next online town hall, remind Obama that we will not be silenced so easily! If he wants to claim to be OUR president, he has to listen to us. And not just us, the people who voted for him, but all Americans who have a valid point.
The people want REAL GREEN CARS. The big companies FAILED to provide them, and giving them money will lead to more of the same, and the change will be SLOW AND EXPENSIVE. There's already better alternatives, give them a chance!
The people want INDUSTRIAL HEMP. It is the real green future crop. It grows fast, has plenty of uses, is less harmful to the environment than cotton, prevents deforestation, and has been used for thousands of years! It can be imported but not grown!
The people want DECRIMINALIZED AND TAXED MARIJUANA. Keeping it as a prohibited drug increases crime and mis-use, just as prohibited alcohol did. It is less harmful and addictive than both alcohol and nicotine. It can be controlled, taxed, and monitored.
