How hard is it...

Police search for naked man
who ran between server and
car to steal fast-food order.

How hard can things be? I don’t know enough about our government and laws to know offhand just what a President can do and what he can’t do, or how easy some things can be done. What I do know is there are lots of people who want President Obama to do certain things, preferably now. For example, there is this Air Force pilot with eighteen years in the service, nine awards, including one for bravery in combat, and who has flown 88 combat missions. He is being kicked out of the service because he announced that he was gay. None of his squadron members want him out, nor, it seems, do most other servicepersons. His fate at the moment is up in the air. Now it seems to me that Obama ought to be able to at least suspend “don’t ask, don’t tell,” until Congress can do away with it, thus sparing this hero from being discharged (two years before he could retire, among other things). Although Obama previously claimed he would actively support gays and lesbians, so far he has done very little along those lines. I believe that a majority of Americans would be in favor of doing away with this gay bashing in the military, and while some might be angry if Obama took action, most probably would not. And you know you can’t please everyone. This would probably even apply if Obama were to actively seek to legalize gay marriages. Of course in this case Obama is not himself in favor of gay marriage, but everyone knows it is just a question of time. He could certainly move it along without damaging himself too much.

Similarly, what about the glaring and ridiculous loophole that allows people to buy guns with no background check at gun shows? Obama could probably eliminate this, perhaps even with a stroke of the pen, or could at least insist that Congress fix this obvious problem now. Granted this would irritate the NRA no end, but their position on this is so glaringly absurd I cannot see how it could cost Obama much in the way of popularity, the NRA can’t stand him anyway. He could probably reinstate the ban on fully automatic guns as well, as the NRA position here is as absurd as their insistence that people should have loaded guns in the National Parks and even in church.

How about legalizing marijuana? There is more and more talk of this now, especially in California where they can no longer afford to fill their prisons with pot smokers. And Barney Frank is working on the legalization of the weed as well. I suspect that here again the American public is way ahead of our Congress on this issue and Obama could probably get away with legalizing it. In fact, he might even gain in popularity by doing so. I don’t know precisely what he can do, but I know that he could do something to bring this about more quickly than it will otherwise happen.
I realize that Obama has an overfull plate already, but the above three things I should think would be so easy to do he could probably accomplish them with a minimum of effort. Obviously Universal Health Care, an Energy Bill, the Economy, two “wars,” Immigration reform, and war criminals are not things he could personally affect as easily, or quickly, and there would be more profound repercussions. I am content to know that he is working on these more important issues (except the war crimes), and in general I support these efforts, but I hate to see much more simpler things have to wait, especially as people continue to be hurt by them in the meantime.

I saw somewhere that the Uyghars were questioning the decision to send them to Palau. This makes me wonder if anyone even asked them if they wanted to go there, probably not. I wonder about the three that were sent to Bermuda. Were they asked? Somewhere I heard it said that they were each given $100,000. I wonder if that is true. And if it is, is there some rule that says they have to stay in Bermuda? With that much money (even less than that) they could easily leave Bermuda and go elsewhere (except, do they have passports?). I’d like to know a lot more about how these relocations work. What do we say to these people whom we have so seriously damaged? "Well, we finally found someplace that has agreed to take you. It’s in the heart of the Belgian Congo but you’ll love it there, especially in the summer." Remember, these are only a few people, think of the millions that were displaced from their homes in Iraq (I suppose you could argue they are lucky to be alive). When I think of the horrible things brought on by Bush/Cheney, all of the killings, tortures, displacements, and so on, I confess I cannot understand why they are not being tried for war crimes. The thought they will not be held accountable troubles me far more than being conned by the banks or losing my IRA. If I were a praying man I would pray every night for justice. Bush/Cheney et al, belong in jail, not blathering on TV.

LKBIQ:
"I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves."
- Ludwig Wittgenstein

TILT:
A group of badgers is called a cete.