A week ago, I was happy that at least he'd announced there'd be no more raids on marijuana clinics. That was something, a pretty liberal something. Being a non-smoker, non-user, it didn't really impact me - but it was a small progressive consolation prize.
Now, I read otherwise. Via Raw:
Federal prosecutor: Medical marijuana raids won’t stopI'm really starting to feel hoodwinked.
'Not a change' in policy 'at all,' US attorney says
Operators of medical marijuana dispensaries in California are quickly learning that, contrary to recent news headlines, federal raids of medical marijuana clubs aren't going to stop -- an assertion the US attorney for northern California is unequivocally making.
I mean Fox News and the Teabaggers are going crazy about the "most liberal President EVER", and yet I can't name a single progressive thing he's actually done. I don't think anyone can.
I should have voted for Jake.
4 comments:
How is saying that they're going to still deal with problems when "laws surrounding medical marijuana clinics are being flouted" somehow bad? They're not raiding the clinics for being clinics; they're focusing on the ones who are violating the law and abusing the medical marijuana system. Liberal doesn't mean letting criminals get away with no penalties.
They ARE saying that they're not going to go after these clinics if they conform to state law. Previously, a clinic could be perfectly legal under state law and the feds could still arrest everybody because they claimed it violated federal law. Now, if they're legal under state law, they're safe. If the clinic is playing fast and loose (as some of them do), then they get targeted.
Marijuana isn't legal, it's just being allowed for prescription use. Kind of like morphine. You wouldn't want them selling that to people without a prescription just because some people can get it with a prescription, now would you?
Marijuana isn't legal, it's just being allowed for prescription use. Kind of like morphine. You wouldn't want them selling that to people without a prescription just because some people can get it with a prescription, now would you?
I would.
To some extent, "my bad". I was in a hurry, and quoted the wrong part of the article. I also didn't include any of the context of recent things I've watched (ACLU Freedom Files) and read about the way the Federal Government under Bush had been using "suspicion of wrongdoing" at various medical marijuana clinics to justify arresting, and then releasing without charging, elderly and terminally ill customers at those clinics. So I'm afraid my little rant didn't do a very good job of addressing why "Not a change in policy" is really bad news.
If the US Attorney's Office say there's been no change in policy, then I can't console myself with the notion that letting the states make their own decisions about pot was the one liberal thing he's done. And that's really what my rant was about.
I'm still damn annoyed that Obama isn't doing anything Liberal at all.
We've still got Gitmo.
We're still in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He's continuing Bush's fight with the ACLU over FISA.
He's putting less Presidential power into trying to get single-payer Health Care than Clinton did 16 years ago.
The title and main complaint of my rant was about that. He's not actually done anything Progressive. Yet despite him being a pretty moderate centrist, the damn wingnuts are burning effigees and claiming he's "dangerously" liberal.
Since the day I posted this, he did actually get off his laurels and appear before the House to get them to pass a health care reform bill. While I'll give him some credit for that, I note that the bill that passed is actually very industry-friendly.
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