Josh Gerstein at Politico had a prediction that Obama would answer a marijuana question last night based on a conversation with a Google staffer:
Google is signaling that it won’t let any single issue, like marijuana legalization, dominate its online question-and-answer session with President Obama Monday afternoon.
But don’t despair, NORML fans, as it seems you stand a good chance of getting a query before the commander in chief.
“We’re not releasing questions ahead of time, but I should note that a marijuana question was asked and answered in last year’s YouTube interview with the president,†Google staffer Abbi Tatton said in response to a POLITICO inquiry about how the web giant plans to handle the usual proliferation of pot-related questions put forward by the online audience.
In retrospect, it seems clear that the Google staffer was signaling that they considered the question already asked and answered.
Of course, it doesn’t really matter whether the President was asked. Any answer he would have given would have been dismissively vague. It’s child’s play to come up with a non-answer, such as
I understand that these concerns exist, and the fact that a dialogue is happening is a good thing. And yet, on the other hand, surrendering is not the solution to our drug problems. This is why our White House Office on Drug Control Policy is pursuing a balanced approach that is successfully working to reduce the harms caused by drugs. Thank you for your question and your years of service to our country.
In some ways, it’s actually better for us that Obama continues to dodge the question and the Google chose not to answer it. The question and issue are still getting play… Check this out:
President not asked about legalizing pot despite thousands of questions on the subject
TAMPA, Fla. — When the president’s Google Plus meeting got started on Monday, the commander-in-chief had time to answer questions about his dancing and singing abilities, how he’ll spend his anniversary, and even what he thought about comedians making jokes about politicians. But what he didn’t answer were any of the hundreds of questions submitted for the event about legalizing marijuana.
In fact, CBS reported 18 of the 20 most popular questions for his online meeting had to do with cannabis, with the number one ranked YouTube question coming from a retired police officer who asked, “What do you say to (a) growing voter constituency that wants more changes to drug policy than you have delivered in your first term?” […]
Even on the campaign trail the subject is getting attention, with Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul supporting the legalization of marijuana. […]
Last year, the president did say legalization is a legitimate topic but that he does not support the move. Yet, with so many questions on the issue being submitted on Monday, it’s fair to say this is a subject that is not about to burn out anytime soon.
It’s gotten to the point that every time that President Obama decides to “listen” to the people, we get a lot of coverage. Not a bad thing.
i don’t know about anyone else but the answer i hear is: “bend over, bitch, and i’ll sing you a love song.” actions speak louder than words. he loves the drug gangs of mexico more than his fellow citizens.
Not quite. He hears his Masters Voices. The ones belonging to banksters. They don’t want the dirty money gravy train to end.
But things are getting to the point that, as Pete mentioned, it cannot be laughed off anymore. The more press the issue gets, the more it becomes apparent there’s a huge amount of support for ending prohibition…and an increasingly lessened political patience with those who refuse to see that.
Hard times tend to focus people in ways that good times don’t. Hard times make for mean people. Mean people have less patience with government BS. Especially when it comes to survival issues, like money for social safety net programs.
It takes a lot of money to run the DrugWar, money which could have been put to better use, as the LEAP spokesman very pointedly put it…which was part of the reason for the query’s rejection. That was one bug the pols did not want the public to have in their ear, as it’s a very dangerous idea. The kind of dangerous idea where people start asking why the defense budget isn’t cut to allocate more money to social safety net programs. Very dangerous questions for anyone in the Military Industrial Complex to entertain. particularly when so much of the budget has been allocated for ‘anti-drug’ operations that justify the contracts coming in.
But the days of being able to laugh off drug law reform’s obvious fiscal benefits are drawing to a close. More people are doing the math and coming up with more money for the DrugWar = less money for the social side of the equation, and they don’t like it.
back in 1937 the gov was able to spin out any kind of lie and have it be believed now fifty percent of the population is wise to the lie. the occupiers have come to realization that the rich despise the poor. they see through the lies. i’m a little slower than they are, it took me ’til i was 60 to figure that out. sure, i knew the rich look down on the peons, but i never knew the absolute hate they have for folks with dirt under their fingernails. i voted for obama because i thought he could have a little sympathy for the underclass. not so. when you pal around with plutocrats too long the hatred rubs off. that’s why he can put a million dollar missile in to a mud hut in pakaffystan with nary a twinge of conscience. yeah, he used to smoke paka lolo with the boys at punahou school, but that’s where he learned his elitist attitudes from his elitist a’hole friends. am i sounding too bitter? may have something to do with a broken rib i’ve had for a week.
It vexes them truly to discover that for all the effort they put in to manipulating public debate, they can not marginalize this issue any longer. It is coming up everywhere. He has hemorrhaging his base all over the political floor, and this issue is one of the reasons.
Sorry, he IS hemorrhaging….damn interruptions…
It is impossible for the President or drug czar to give any answer to facts and science when your entire policy is built on lies and fear mongering.
Off-topic:
I ride a motorcycle cruiser. I wonder which is less risky when picking up a stash from a connection: car or motorcycle?
On the one hand, it seems easier to get away scotch clean if the police were to pull me over. There’s a very small glove compartment underneath the seat for insurance and registration papers, and a saddle bags for my personal belongings, so the two are kept separate; the saddle bags are completely airtight, so there’s no chance of a smell. I’m only talking about travel within a city, going home from a pickup, so highway interdiction seems very unlikely. On the other hand, there is the heightened chance of a crash, involving injury.
Any thoughts?
You shouldn’t be driving if you’re even thinking about an illegal substance. And they’ve been developing legal techniques to get you to disclose your bad thoughts and punish you appropriately.
Barry Cooper’s video. And “Ask Ed; Don’t Get Busted” They will have an answer, deep dish.
Don’t know how up to date his video’s are now,,besides,,he got busted,,kinda blows the image you know.
Deep Dish, kindly get lost and think of knickers: http://www.agentprovocateur.com/
Heh, lol.
So who are you; Kevin Sabet?
No, I’m not him, or any other person of interest. I looked at the commenting guidelines before posting, but if the question was inappropriate, which I can understand, then I’m cool with this question being deleted, and I’ll stick to discussion as normal.
there is just too much herb around here to ever stand completely on protocol DD… heck it’s just a couch. Well, not “just” a couch. Virtually speaking this is a perpetual seating couch, there is always room for another tookus, no matter how broad the beam. A point “Chuck” missed a few posts back.
btw y’all… Pete left some of his vegetarian chili (I hear he used real vegetarians!) in the fridge. And I think Duncan left an open bag of chips under a cushion somewhere…
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Deep Dish, it’s just my humble opinion, but anybody wishing to threaten or bring ill-repute to a blog such as this one could do no better than to initialize proceedings by posing a similar question as yours.
“Aiding and abetting is a theory of criminal liability under federal and most state laws. You can be guilty of a crime either as a principal perpetrator – the “main” actor – or as an aider and abettor.
Aiding and abetting applies to someone who assists or helps one or more other people commit a crime. To be held accountable as an aider and abettor, you must know of the criminal objective and do something to make it succeed. ..
.. The key here is knowledge. While the level of participation of the aider and abettor may be relatively minor, the prosecution must show more than presence in a vehicle carrying drugs or association with conspirators known to be involved in a crime.
In other words, mere presence at the scene of a crime, even with guilty knowledge that a crime is being committed, isn’t enough to make you liable for the crime itself, unless and until you do something to help the crime succeed.
Under federal law, the punishment for someone who aids and abets a crime is the same as the punishment for the person who principally committed the crime. In some states, the punishment may be less.”
http://criminal.lawyers.com/Criminal-Law-Basics/Criminal-Law-Crime-Definition-FAQs.html
Allan, I’ve possibly been subjected to too many years of ‘LTTLDDT’ – Linda Taylor Type Low Down Dirty Tricks ;>)
do you mean less ricky for you. or less risky for future generations?
i got to agree with you malcom, mr. dish has the distinct odor of fish. even if it’s only the odd fart, i take it to mean the governmental defectives don’t like the tone of this forum.
that means they are reading us. even if they can’t refudiate any of what we say. in the ussr they had a habit changing minds with the “nine grams of lead” method. i’m sure if gilbert could imprison and murder every doper in the country with no consequences, he would. if you read the biography of joe arpaio then you get the true essence of a nark. i wouldn’t be surprised if little joe breaks out the old blackjack now and then just for old times sake. and i really like how the rcmp is shocked to hear allegations of abuse by little joe. isn’t the rcmp supposed to have intelligence gathering capabilities. aren’t they the cia of canada? how could they not know what’s going on in little joe’s gulag? war crimes tribunal, anyone?
Deep dish has been around for a while, guys, I don’t think there’s anything nefarious going on, just an ill-posed question. Deep, safer if you’re non specific. When I go into the hydro store, I can talk about my plants all day long, as long as I never mention them by name. I refer to them as “plants”. If I need to be more specific I say “short cycle crop” or I call them “tomatos” or “peppers”. If I say Cannabis, or even mention HighTimes (a cannabis specific publication) I will be asked to leave. Doesn’t matter that I ve known the owner for fifteen years, or that he’s been to my garden and smoked my weed. He could be named as an accomplice if the wrong person overhears.
Why is the Corporate media suppressing this question? (I’m including Google under this banner).
Because they are incapable of dealing with anything outside of the “norm”?
Because they don’t want to embarrass Obama?
Because they feel contempt for us?
Because their advertizers would object?
Because they fear federal govt investigations for thought crimes?
All of the above?
It’s just plain weird how cannabis KNOWLEDGE is being suppressed in the mainstream. What do they fear? And why do they fear it so much? I have a hard time suppressing my contempt for these pygmies.
Mainstream media is owned by some of the industries that want hemp kept off the open market. If not directly owned by them they are connected through mergers and such.
F. All of the above.
and is there no place/person at Google to direct our… mmm… frustrations at/to?
They set up a process, say “vote and we’ll present the top questions” and then when 18 of the top 20 questions are about legalization they change the process… wtf? Obviously there are folks at Google totally clueless about what is happening in the political arena and about the WO(s)D. Shame I say.
Allan,they think they’re saving him. Hell, they may have been asked to do this by the WH. These questions are becoming embarrassing.
My hat is off to Obama for being smart enough to avoid answering facts and science with the same bullshit his drug czar does,,but then Obama is not required to lie to America as the drug czar is,,,I don’t believe he will lie and tell America that marijuana is a dangerous drug,,,has anyone ever heard him say those words?
I have listened for him to say that and may have missed it but to my knowledge he hasn’t.
Am I a bad person because when Mr. Obama’s singing and dancing abilities are mentioned I see a mental picture of Al Jolson in blackface and dressed in patriotic garb signing “Mammy“?
A White House spokesperson said the President only answered questions he was posed? 18 of the top 20 questions were about reforming U.S. drug policy! None of them were posed?! Google – Did you pose these questions?! If not – WHY would you have wasted everyone’s time that voted for these?!
Well,if it was a google decision,I just dropped their add ons on my pooter and they can kiss my American made ass. If they lost about 3 billion hits because of it,,do you think they might realize how important it really is to “the people”?
It might be a little easier if the people on the other side of the table weren’t totally ignorant. On the subject of Sativex from The Discovery Channel:
You just can’t make up stuff like that.
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Edit: it appears that the story was pulled while I was writing this post.
I want some Duncan,,at least they have finally made a medicine that a black market will develop for,,and only 5000 years of historical proof of safe use to recommend it.
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For some unknown reason I have it in my head that there’s some sort if timing device attached to the applicator that makes it impossible to take more than the regulated dose. Even while thinking this it seems farfetched. Perhaps I read something like it that was proposed rather than invented.
They can put any kind of timer/seal on the bottle they want,,I have a glass cutter.
I’ve seen the packaging, it is in a standard bottle with a pump atomizer…so standard in fact, that I can go down to my local dispensary and buy an identical bottle of “Higher Dimension Medical Tincture, 80/20 Sativa/Indica”. Available in peppermint or cherry (go for the cherry, trust me *spritz-spritz*). As with marinol, they are not worried about diversion or misuse, because of two factors..the price, and the fact that the black market for pot is so robust. In fact one of their primary concerns is that potential patients will see the price, and opt for illegal herb, or, gasp, even worse, MMJ.
This damn tablet keyboard is so damn hard to use, Iforget what I’m saying while I try to negotiate with it. I meant to say “in an identical bottle”. Ihate this thing, it’s cramping my style.
They can always do what they do with some pain pills to prevent sinful use. You know mix in a chemical that will damage some piddling and unnecessary organ of the evil doer, for their own good of course. I hear the heart or lungs just take up too much space anyways.
My apologies in case somebody has already posted this:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/20097144
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Snoop Dogg enlists in the Ron Paul revolution.
Politics most certainly makes strange bedfellows. There’s Barry Manilow standing right beside Snoop Dogg endorsing Ron Paul. Is a hip hop version of Copacabana imminent?
Gimme Snoop Dog any day over Droopy Dog.
I wish Ron Paul would ask Willie Nelson to be his vice,,,,get a little harmony going in the government.
just in time to make the running for January’s Best Headline (sorry, no link, I just liked the headline):
Welfare Drug Testing Bill Withdrawn After Amended To Include Testing Lawmakers
– Huffington Post
Here’s a stomach turning one, followed by an entirely wrong commment…Duncan, if you want the real DC second personality, it’s the sick,cynical one:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-01/more-anger-over-police-strip-search/3803774/?site=newcastle
What? Was she totally hot?
Did anyone ask the important questions like boxers or briefs, coke or pepsi, Beatles or Rolling Stones? Some freaks asked questions about some British citizen to be extradited for evil music file sharing terrorism.
medicinal alcohol strikes again: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/01/colorado-republican-faces-questions-after-claiming-immunity-during-a-dui-stop/