President Obama isn't wasting any time...
By louisehartmann
Trying to accomplish the long list of goals he set for his second term. Just since his State of the Union speech, less than a week ago, he's already put forward a plan for universal preschool, called on Congress to vote on gun regulations, and now he's tackling immigration. According to USA Today, the White House is circulating a draft immigration bill, which would create a new visa for undocumented immigrants living in our nation, and shorten the path to legal residency down to eight years. The draft bill also includes more security funding, and would require businesses to utilize a new system for verifying the immigration status of new employees.
Despite the bill being very similar to the bipartisan immigration plan that came out last month, Republicans are harshly criticizing the President's plan. Florida Senator Marco Rubio said any legislation that didn't include Republican input would get no support, saying, “If actually proposed, the president's bill would be dead on arrival in Congress.” Kentucky Senator Rand Paul said the draft legislation was proof that “the president doesn't want immigration reform.” These statements are just more evidence that Republicans will vote against any legislation that President Obama puts forward, even when it's made up of their own ideas.
A spokesman for the White House said that the administration has not prepared a final bill to submit. Let's hope that Congress can pass their own version of the bill, so that they won't oppose a commonsense path to citizenship, just because the President supports it.
Comments
#2
U. S. Citizen you are absolutely right. Gun control without reinstating publicly funded Mental Hospitals, and Immigration reform without dissolving Free Trade are more destructive to our way of life than anything else.
As far as priorities are concerned, repealing the Patriot Act, closing Gitmo and ending "enhanced interrogation", bringing our troops home and closing all foreign military bases, pursuing legislation for Single Payer Health Care, investigating the Bush Administration for war crimes, and the legalization of Hemp to be grown for fuel and industrial resources to clean the planet's atmosphere, and the end to the war on drugs to save the fortune we waste on false imprisonment are all issues of greater importance.
You are equally spot on identifying greed as our overall problem. The passage of "move to amend" as well as Campaign Finance Reform are essential to fixing this problem.
I agree, the Administration is chasing wild gooses for our entertainment. Nothing will be accomplished until the true issues facing us are addressed. Thank you, U. S. Citizen
#3
Campaign Finance Reform. Before ANYTHING can get done, this MUST be done. Unless and until elected representatives are free of the yoke of corporate campaign donations, all their efforts will be directed towards corporate profits rather than nation building. Any reforms attempted whilst corporations control how politicians vote, will be watered down or skewed towards corporate benefit rather than the common good of the country. There are a LOT of issues that our nation desperately needs to address. Most of these issues are the fallout from the pro-corporate policies implemented in the past 30-odd years since Reagan.
It's time to rebalance the benefits of our collective efforts. In the past 30 or so years, MOST of the growth in the economy has been sponged up by the upper 1%. It's time for the REAL "takers" to start paying their way, but the only way to implement this and other reforms is for REAL humans (NOT corporation type people) to regain control of the government. And the only way to do that is to end the corruption of campaign donations. Then and only then, can the obscenely misnamed "Citizens United" decision be overturned and other issues such as Anti-trust, Too big to fail, health, education, gun control, abortion, same sex marriage and a host of other issues be dealt with in a sensible manner.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM FIRST.
#4
ScottFromOz says "CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM FIRST." I agree! - Alice I.W.
#5
Your spot on ScotFromOz, until we get Campaign Finance Reform were not going anywhere. Campaign Finance Reform first!!
#6
Do any of you watch the 6:00 local news? Pretty much every single night we get stories of people, young and old, being shot and killed. We also get stories of 4 year olds killed by random bullets, once while they slept in their beds. There was another story of a 5 year old who had the bullet whiz past her head by about three inches while she slept soundly in bed. The reason you don't think it's an important story is because a numb-nut Congressman put language into a budget bill to kill any possibility of real research on gun violence. These are Raleigh stories: Newtown made all of us aware of the daily carnage due to guns.
President Obama is smart to respond to external events. It's pretty apparent, to everyone, that the pressure to do something about guns is coming from the American people more than anything. The gun nuts aren't just shouting out crazy stuff unchallenged anymore. The vast majority of Americans have had enough and want something done.
Immigration reform is also very smart. If we granted citizenship to every undocumented immigrant tomorrow, it would be very good for working people. Why? Because the majority of these people are working class people, who send their children to public schools. I've noticed (if you haven't) that these immigrants don't just join unions, they often become leaders. They have suffered at the hands of the private-prison corporations (who love our current system for detentions/deportations). They know that the U.S. lacks affordable housing. In other words, it's safe to say that their interests are OUR interests, because THEY ARE ALREADY A PART OF US!!! In fact, in most communities, they are de facto citizens who have been denied the right to vote. We should be yelling and shouting about this -- not arguing against letting them into our democracy. If our country benefits from the labor of these people without letting them vote, what do you think the 1% will want to do? They will want to move ALL working class people into that category. Rather than giving citizenship to undocumented immigrants, the 1% will want to move the rest of us into the "labor without voting," category. Anyone who isn't in the 1% should think long and hard about that.
#7
U.S. citizen. why just ban keystone. Why don't you ban the other 900,000 barrels a day Canada sends via pipeline from the "tar sands" to the US mid west already. Canada is only responsible for about 1.7% of the worlds green house gases. Seems there is bigger fish to fry. A few come to mind. China, India Maybe.
Stopping Keystone will just force Canada to sell to China Or India. The upgraders are being built right now to take oil sands production from 1.3 million barrels a day to 3.5 by 2025. The oil is going somewhere and you guys are going to need it. I just don't get it.
#8
RaleighMom ~ You are absolutely correct. I can't argue with you. All your fears are well founded. However, we suffer from so many problems I simply suggest that these issues are secondary.
Personally, I can't agree with you more about guns. My neighbors were recently robbed twice in the last month. They are also the only family on our street I am aware of that have guns and a pit bull. Yet they were successfully robbed twice in one month. The first time someone broke into their house through an unlocked window while they were home. He searched their dressers looking for car keys before he was caught. He escaped before any guns were retrieved. Two weeks later, the mother was mugged right in front of their house. Once again the guns were useless. Guns do little good in our society. I couldn't agree more. However, dangerously mentally illl people walking around in society in my opinion is a far greater problem.
We merely suggest narrowing the spectrum of serious problems to those whose resolution will do the most toward remedying our seriously flawed Governmental system. We don't exclude other problems; but, rather put them on a back burner that will more easily be addressed when the larger problems are resolved. Sorry If that rubs you the wrong way. What is important is that we are all fighting for the same thing--a secure, strong and prosperous society. To succeed at that Noble goal we must act in unisom in the proper sequence of reforms to achieve the common goal in the most efficient manner.
#9
I don't know when we'll get it into our heads that Republicans will do anything that has to do with our President. Their campaign against him started the day he was first elected and continues to this day.
Warching Marco Rubio on TV (forgetting the water bottle bit) made me shake my head wondering how stupid can the GOP call him the Savior of their Party? He's a kid, He looked like a deer staring into the high beams of an approaching vehicle. He was sweating and overall he looked like a guy in the tenth grade who was called up to the head of the class to read his homework report and had to wing it because the night before he was getting high with his friends. Oh wait. I think if Rubio had been smoking grass he might have been a lot more relaxed.
All kidding aside everything about today's GOP REALLY turns my stomach. I'm tired of tirades from the right. It never ends.
#10
Obama's tone and many things he said in his SOTU speech sounded right, but that has happened before with his rhetoric. It gets him elected -- and then he meets with oil magnates for golf when protestors arrive on the White House doorstep.
Tar sands technology should be stopped 100%.
When the tar sands goo gets to Texas -- via train tanks used now or the proposed pipeline -- its REFINING STAGE in Texas makes pollution AND LEAVES VASTE QUANTITIES OF TOXIC WASTE BY-PRODUCTS BEHIND FOR US TO DEAL WITH after the refined product is shipped to foreign buyers.
Tar sands technology and tar sands profiteering are a losing proposition in everyway for people and the Earth, and it is just an avenue of further CORRUPTION -- environmental, societal and moral -- for those profiteers who are forcing it on us.
I think it is shameful that the largest concession the most visible activists like McKibben are calling for is no tar sands pipeline. For all we know, the pipeline was the extreme the industry could do without -- as developers often formulate their projects at the extreme end so they can bargain down to what they wanted in the first place, in this case, unfettered access to tar sands and shale 'oil mining' in Canada and the USA.
I guess the feeling I have is that the arguments on the environmental side are wishy-washy and I feel we are forever struggling for scraps of recognition along the fringes of these horrendous pollution-generating profiteering scams.
IT IS TIME TO BE AGAINST PROFITEERING SCAMS from the start -- and that includes all kinds of destruction and pollution.
The position should be taken that If the Mining Profiteers can't clean up the mining damage -- they can't perpetrate the mining damage; if their technology pollutes, they have to create a new technology that controls pollutants or is free of pollution or STOP what they are doing.
The era of petroleum, plastics and other oil by-products has got to come to a close because in a little over one hundred years, IT IS KILLING US AND THE PLANET.
The oil economy and the oil experiment failed. Period.
It is time to move on, not time to just be thrown scraps of acknowledgment by the media on the White House lawn, if that. All that effort in the demonstrations -- yet these wonderful folks are NOT ASKING FOR ENOUGH to make a difference for our kids' and the Planet's future.
How does that cliche go? The Profiteering developers are playing chess and these activists are playing checkers.
#11
Equal Time for thre Green Party
You spent a considerable anount of time with Progressive Democrats of America. You also encourage people to become precinct captains. I would like to hear why the Green party stopped doing those things and decided to form their own party. I would like to hear about how many blue dog democrats have been blocking progressive change and where they are located. I would like to hear how many Democrats are willing to abandon their corporate masters and serve the people. I would like to hear about the treacherous activity the Democrats have engaged in to prevent the Green party from gaining ballot access. They are worse than Republicans are to the Libertarians.
Please contact Scott McLarty 202-518-5624 and arrange an interview. I would appreciate hearing their answer as to why the Green party is a vote we should be making.
#12
I would be all for the Keystone Pipeline - KEND - if the end product was not going to be exported.
The Saudi's, and Venezualans have the right idea...cheap gasoline for their people. Why!?!? You know why!
Not here though, not in the U.S. where speculators drive the price up up up and share holders demand returns that are 10 fold to their investment. Screw the little people.
What is waaaay more important than your overly hyped Pipeline...The U.S. needs to get on the ball with Wind and Solar energy. The '80s are over; the price of oil is never going to be cheap again. True our daily lives depend on it in so many ways and for so many reasons...some of which are legit. However, it is the big oil industry (lobbiest), and greedy short sighted share holders that are hampering our ability to agressively move forward with wind and solar generated power. Here in Fl. where I live we have sunshine 90+% of the time. Every house built over the last 20 years should have been installed with solar PV and solar hot water. A solar hot water system pays for itself in less than a year, and maintanence is very minimal. A solar PV system takes a little longer to pay for itself but that is mainly do to the high cost for materials, but like all new tech. the price decreases when demand drives up supply.
Recently I read an artical that focused on Germanies Solar Energy policy...They blow us out of the water both in technology and in low cost of materials. And this coming from a country that has less than 40% annual sunshine.
The German government has been working on their Solar Energy policy for the past 23 years, and now they are looking to move away from nuclear...Smart peoples das Germans!
As for gasoline they also are on the ball with cars that can use cleaner burning fuels and on average get waaay better gas milage then vehicles here in the U.S.
#13
You ain't kidden !!!
I too want to here answers and comments to the statements you make and questions you raise. I'd like to know the names of the Coporatist Puppets that dismiss the voice of the people and pander to their masters on Wall st.
#14
Nachos you have cheap gasoline. Take away the tax and its half price in most states. Although wind and solar are warm fussy thoughts it isn't happening for decades. Take away the government cheese that is funding it and the costs goes through the roof.
#15
DAnneMarc, you may not understand what President Obama is doing, but my intuition is that he is the Commander-in-Chief to beat all Commanders-in-Chief. Why do I say that? Because most of them consider their "soldiers" to be strictly in the military. President Obama's troops live on Main Street, USA. President Obama has called to action multiple Brigades which have been waiting for a call-up for quite some time. Brigade #1: Everyone who is deeply concerned about immigrants who work so hard and have no rights; Brigade #2: Everyone who has lost a child, parent, friend or relative to senseless gun violence; Brigade #3: Everyone who is concerned about the brain development of children, the next generation; Brigade #4: eveyone who is concerned about climate change. He is calling on these people to speak out, march, make their voices heard. He is telling them to stop being afraid and defeated, and begin to realize their own power. He is thinking like a General and I salute him for it. Telling anyone of these groups to "stop" would be foolish. Instead, tell them how their work has been made more difficult by Citizens United, and everyone one of them will have not one objective, but two. Soon enough, everyone will be working towards the same goal.
#16
Kend says "...why just ban keystone. Why don't you ban the other 900,000 barrels a day Canada sends via pipeline from the "tar sands" to the US mid west already." Wow Kend, what a brilliant idea! Then maybe we can start doing what we should have been doing since the automobile was first invented; run 'em on ELECTRICITY, which would make that dirty fossil crap totally WORTHLESS. - Alice I.W.
#17
MMmmNACHOS says "I would be all for the Keystone Pipeline - KEND - if the end product was not going to be exported."
I wouldn't, for two reasons: (1) According to what I've heard on Democracy Now, scientists have claimed the Keystone Pipeline would be a major environmental disaster and the nail in the coffin for us on climate change. (2) We need to switch to more sustainable sources of energy and cut the fossil fuel habit, because the price is simply too high; in lives, not just dollars. - Alice I.W.
#18
Hi, may I switch to an invitation to Thom? Thom has that video about sharing natural values, a la Alaska's oil dividend. We have a bill to do that with land value in general here in Oregon, SJR 16 introduced by St. Sen. Chip Shields, and would love to have Thom's help passing it. Testify. Speak at an event, a press conference, get interviewed, interview somebody, etc. Thanks.
#19
Let me ask you something KEND...Are you retarded? Seriously...Did you at some point suffer from a lack of oxygen to the brain??? We do not have cheap GAS! From about 1981 to 1990/91 we had cheap gas...I remember because I raced motorcycle during that time and use to pay .89-.99 cents a galllon. And that was right here in warm and sunny Florida. Then the first illegal invasion of Iraq occured and prices went above 2.00 per gallon. By 95/96 it settled back a bit; about 1.75 a gallon but increased to over 2.00 by the end of the 90's.
Enter Mr G.W. Bush the prodical son...had to start his war w/ Iraq, and of course there was Hurricane Katrenia...Gas prices (trend) have increased drastically in a short 10 year time period. Today I payed 3.68 per gallon.
Meanwhile wages are equal to that of the late seventies and the value of the dollar is worthless.
Now don't get me wrong; I don't expect gasoline to be 99 cents again - not unless the U.S. could produce at the same level of other oil bearing countries. But that can't happen...we don't have the resources on that level; and even if we did it would all go to exports...Again screw our own people just so some corporate boob can own two Benzes a Bentley, and a whole bunch of crap! And not pay taxes!!
Why - KEND - are you dismissive of expanding on our Wind and Solar Energy usage? Especially when there is over 30 years of evidence that shows it lives up to the standards and expectations of producing clean and sufficiant energy, and in the long run cost pennies compared to conventional energy. If you are 50 and older you may not "reep the benefits" but those younger sure will...And it is our turn to steer the ship.
Solar and wind power are not illogical nor do they have to be economically unattainable. True it does take funding to get things rolling, but what we do today regarding advancing our Solar and Wind Energy abilities will in the long run reduce the over all expense. Both Germany, and China have been proving this since the late '80s.
#20
ALICEINWONDERLAND...If you fully read my post you certainly know that I am 100% for the useof Solar and Wind Energy. We - the U.S. - are 30 years behind when it comes to Solar and Wind generated energy; for residential, commercial, and indusrtial use. The only people standing in the way - as I already mentioned in the previous post - are the oil industry themselves and their narrow minded short sighted greedy stock holders. Most of the country when asked are in favour of Solar and Wind energy. I for one would much rather see 1/2 of the Deffense budget go towards Solar and Wind technologies then more bomds, bullets, and drones.
As I mentioned before...Building codes in the 80's should have required all residential homes to function on Solar or Wind energy.
But to further respond to your reply...I don't for one second believe we humans can function without oil, at least not without throwing ourselves back several hundred years; and as romantic as they may sound...Noooo thank you! You have to weigh more than just pollution reduction. Consider ALL the by-products made because of oil...Consider the Medical Industry, Aviation, Computers, Communication, etc. etc. The sunglasses you wear to shade your eyes, the rubber on your shoes. Yes we ALL in some way live for better or for worse because of oil.
Sooooo yes lets work to reduce...To improve and or correct our ways...To do our part as stewards of mother Earth...Change our way of thinking so people can live healthier and prospering lives.
#21
ALICE, are you the spokes person for the electric car!?!?
Electricity to power cars IS NOT THE ANSWER. Can you imagine the power grid that would take. L.A. already experiences rolling black during the hottest part of the summer when everyone is running their A/C. Also Electric powered cars "may" reduce emmisions, but the source of their power is dirty as are all the batteries used to store energy. We would bennefit more so by increasing our milage per gallon, as well as cleaner burning fuels (NOT ETHINOL).
#22
NACHOS says "I don't for one second believe we humans can function without oil, at least not without throwing ourselves back several hundred years..."
And I respectfully disagree. There are some very clever people within the ranks of science & technology who have already innovated pretty amazing things in my lifetime. I think that with enough incentive, and without the political obstacles, we'd be hard-pressed to think of anything that is beyond reach of these inventors & innovators.
Having read so many of your posts, Nachos, I believe we are on the same page on most issues. But we're just gonna have to disagree on this one. The fossil fuel industry has gotten so out of control as to have become the bane of our existence; not to mention all the innocent victims of the wars this American Empire has fought over it, in Iraq and elsewhere! It simply isn't worth all that strife. We urgently need to find alternatives. - Aliceinwonderland
#23
Nachos says "Electricity to power cars IS NOT THE ANSWER." Well Nachos, they may not be the ultimate answer but it beats oil; and besides, ya gotta start SOMEWHERE. As suggested in my last reply, technology and its limits aren't the problem; it's greed and monopoly, and the politics that serve those interests. Were it not for robber barons who profit off the status quo, and their nasty little habit of stifling innovation, there would be no limit to what could actually be accomplished in solving our energy problems. We would be living in a very different reality today, certainly not getting caught up in these tiresome debates about the merits of fossil fuel. - Alice I.W.
#24
RaleighMom states (stridently): "It's pretty apparent, to everyone, that the pressure to do something about guns is coming from the American people more than anything. The gun nuts aren't just shouting out crazy stuff unchallenged anymore. The vast majority of Americans have had enough and want something done."
Why is it, RaleighMom, that anyone that takes a different view on gun ownership than you is instantly transforned into a "gun nut"? What I strongly suggest is that you take a few dozen deep breaths and then find a quiet corner and contemplate whether you might be just a wee bit hysterical on the subject. Then consider the proposition that perhaps the problem (of gun violence) lies in an area completely different from the physical hardware that you like to villify or the great number of people that enjoy sport shooting on a target range, as I do. And, if it isn't too far a reach for you, ask yourself if it isnt just possible that the VAST majority of gun owners in this country are totally law abiding and responsible.
Regarding instant citizenship for illegals, I can't begin to imagine how that would impact the number of people flowing into this country annually.
You, Mom, need to do some serious work on your critical thinking skills!
#25
Mass transit, anyone? That alone would handle at least half of the greenhouse pollution and wasteful energy consumption in this country.
#26
The real solution to climate change and energy is HEMP.
Marijuana Prohibition Harms The Environment! Legalize Hemp! FOR ECOLOGY, PEACE, AND FREEDOM!
HEMP FOR ECOLOGY: Hemp is a soil building plant that is excellent in crop rotation and unlike cotton and corn, does not require heavy fertilization or pesticide use. It grows in any season, in any soil or weather condition, in all fifty states, and its only enemy is the United States Government. In fact, an organic pesticide spray is derived from the plant.
HEMP FOR PAPER: Hemp saves forests. In a 20 year period, one acre of hemp will produce as much paper as 4.1 acres of forest. Paper made from hemp lasts many times longer than that made of wood pulp, without deteriorating. It does not require dangerous chemicals like wood, and has been called the "archivist's perfect paper"
HEMP FOR HEALTH: Hundreds of medical uses of Hemp include treating back pain, asthma, emphysema, glaucoma, epilepsy, cancer, nausea, insomnia, muscle spasms, migraines, tumors, stress, depression, dementia, senility, and anorexia. It is an antibiotic, and expectorant, useful in muscle ointments and to treat arthritis and rheumatism.
HEMP FOR CLOTHING: Fabrics made from hemp are warmer, softer, stronger, more water absorbent and last 26 times longer than cotton.
HEMP FOR HOUSING: Hemp could be pressed into pressed board, particle board, concrete construction molds, paneling, and plywood, with a process developed by Mansion Industries called Environcore. This material is cheap, fire resistant and has excellent thermal and sound insulating properties. Homes can be carpeted with Hemp rot resistant carpet backing (free of poisonous chemicals, plumbed with plastic PVC plumbing pipe, and wired with plastic wire insulation. We could envision a future with no homeless people, and plentiful affordable housing for all.
HEMP FOR FUEL: Hemp is the perfect natural substitute for petroleum. Hemp herds are 77% cellulose and its per-acre output of biomass fuel is about 10 times more than corn, the next best source of fuel on the planet. We could replace nuclear energy and fossil fuel, without any offshore drilling or risk of oil spills, by using Hemp biomass that has been processed with a pyrolytic converter to make charcoal, methanol, methane gas, and gasoline. In turn, any of these can be burned to generate electricity.When fuel burns, it produces CO2 (the cause of the Greenhouse Effect); but, during the growth cycle of a plant, photosynthesis produces oxygen and removes CO2 from the air. Hemp, unlike fossil fuels, actually cleans the atmosphere. Equally important, it does not contain sulfur, the major cause of acid rain.
HEMP INSTEAD OF PLASTIC: The stems of the hemp plant offer a completely biodegradable alternative to plastic and can be made into either regular or "biodegradable" plastic.
OIL IS OBSOLETE NO WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST
http://thehempsolution.blogspot.com/
#27
DAnneMarc says "The real solution to climate change and energy is HEMP." and "OIL IS OBSOLETE" And I say YES. I should have made this point myself, having read much on the subject and having collected a small library of information about it. Marijuana and hemp prohibition is a classic example of crony capitalist tyranny; motivated by xenophobia and greed, based on lies lies LIES. This might sound like empty, strident rhetoric to the uninitiated, but I've mountains of evidence to back it up and have written much on the subject, academically as well as otherwise. Thank you DAnneMarc, for bringing this vital point into the discussion! - Aliceinwonderland
#28
Electricity for automobiles - ALICEINWONDERLAND - is not a sound starting point if you are looking for cleaner. Yes the car itself won't be burning fossil fuel but again the idea is just trading tit for tat. I will say that these electric scooters - I own three - are a great mode of transportation for going short distances (less than 10 miles). We use ours to go to the beach, run to the corner store, I even have a small trunk on mine to hold a small bag of groceries...And of course the bag is a reusable one. ;)
Alternative fuels - such as hemp - are the real starting points towards cleaner fuels. Not only does hemp burn clean but it process clean and there is minimal to no waste. Further more hemp crops can be turned 3x's more than corn or wheat and they do not depleat the soil of nutrients.
#29
MMmmNACHOS says "Alternative fuels - such as hemp - are the real starting points towards cleaner fuels." No argument there! Hemp is the answer to many of our problems. Too bad the oligarchs are so determined to suppress it.
As for those electric scooters... I see that as a classic example of arrested development in the context of engineering & technology. The oligarchs are hell-bent on keeping us hooked on their nasty oil, so other technologies that could provide a viable alternative are never fully developed, if at all. But given the choice, I'd pick hemp over anything else. - Alice I.W.
#30
I agree - ALICEINWONDERLAND - with who you hold accountable for aggressivily thwarting efforts to apply alternative energy and clean fuel opptions, but again when it come to "Electric" cars even those in engineering and technology say it isn't a clean alternative, for many reasons; one being disposal of battery cells - simmilar issue to cell phones when they are worn out. But more so is the amount of "power" it would take to draw efficient energy on a day to day bases. It would be like our population doubled and turned on all the lights.
But rather than continue going back and forth...Lets agree that we both understand that there are other clean and efficient alternatives for powering our vehicles, homes, and offices; Solar energy, Wind energy, Wave energy, and Biodiesels derived from hemp, sugarcane, algea, etc. (Not corn or wheat).
And yes we - you, me, and ever tax paying s.o.b. voter must get the message out to enact and fully fund a new Energy Policy that moves us away from oil dependency.
Our children will see the positive effects but it will be our Childrens children who will fully bennefit...That's if we start now.
#31
MMmmNACHOS and AliceInWonderland ~ Amen to that!
#32
NACHOS & DAnneMarc- Just for the record, I'd like to clarify why I didn't mention hemp a lot earlier in this discussion: because for almost a century, it has been thwarted by the Almighty Oligarchs and completely unavailable as an option. And I hate to say it, but frankly, I don't see an end to this in my lifetime. I'd love to be wrong, guys.
Were hemp to become legal, our problem might still be far from resolved, because Monsanto (those oligarchs from HELL) would most likely find a way to hog the entire industry with their bogus patenting racket. This is why the family farm has gone the way of the dinosaur... - Alice I.W.
#33
As for electric cars... If we all had solar panels there would be no grid to worry about.
I have have a roof full of panels, I only wish I could afford the electric car to power with them.
How great it would be to park my car at night and fill up with stored battery power.
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Personally, gun control and immigration are not at the top of my list. And, long drag out fights on these are almost like decoys from the corporatization of America and the climate crisis. I'd rather see him take on meaningful changes on the climate crisis. Cut back on his all of the above policy, stop the Keystone Pipeline, ban the use of tar sands oil and gas and work on getting rid of the exemption from regulation on fracking.
Since the overall problem with all of our policies is the corporate greed that puts corporate interests over the public good, I'd like to see him suspend negotiations on the TPP and direct the DOJ to aggressively enforce The Sherman Anti-Trust Act. I think these are much more important issues than gun control and immigration reform.