Obama's lies

[LoAmmi]

BTW - i highly do not recommend - Hunger Games. [last years movie]
Warped.

It's a dystopia. That genre of fiction are pretty much always warped to some degree. 1984 and Brave New World being other examples. I actually liked the Hunger Games.

 

[Antigone]

It's a dystopia. That genre of fiction are pretty much always warped to some degree. 1984 and Brave New World being other examples. I actually liked the Hunger Games.

It was okay. It was too much of a teen movie for me, but within that genre it was quite good. I liked Jennifer Lawrence.

Children of Men is my personal dystopian favourite, in the movies at least.

What movie?

Gravity.

Movies - if you pick the wrong one - what a waste of money.

Thank God for Rotten Tomatoes.

Gravity is getting good reviews.

It was pretty good. Technically stunning, no unnecessary frills and very thrilling.

Children of Men and Gravity are both films by Alfonso Cuaron. I think Cuaron needs to make more films.

 

[Antigone]

The Sands of Iwo Jima, with John Wayne and John Agar.

A classic.

You sure?

Well, maybe The Boys In Company C, then....

Dad, is that you?

 

[Armoured]

Politician lies! In other news, fire still hot, water still wet. Stay tuned for our breaking coverage on the colour of the sky.

 

[Antigone]

Alright, let's hit it.

1) Carried out military interventionism in Libya without Congressional approval

In June 2011, U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said that Obama had violated the Constitution when he launched military operations in Libya without Congressional approval.

This is allowed. Not a great gesture of bipartisan cooperation, but it isn't against the constitution.

If the issue were the environment or Social Security, Congress would enact policy first and the president would faithfully implement it second. But the Constitution does not duplicate this system in war. Instead, our Framers decided that the president would play the leading role in matters of national security.

Source

2) Gave a no-bid contract to Halliburton – just like Bush did

In May 2010, it was reported that the Obama administration had selected KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton, for a no-bid contract worth as much as $568 million through 2011, just hours after the Justice Department had said it would pursue a lawsuit accusing the Houston-based company of using kickbacks to get foreign contracts.

That was not Obama's decision to make. Robert Gates did.

Source

3) Has an administration full of lobbyists, after promising he wouldn’t have any

While running for President, Obama had promised that, unlike Bush, he would not have any lobbyists working in his administration. However, by February 2010, he had more than 40 lobbyists working in his administration.

First of all, February 2010 is a little outdated.

Second of all, lobbyists don't work for the government. What did happen quite a lot was that those who worked on the ACA left afterwards and found jobs with lobbyists. You can't really blame Obama for that, nor can you expect him to demand those people not to use their expertise in another job.

4) Has close ties to Wall St., but pretends to support Occupy Wall St.

Although Obama claims to support the Occupy Wall St. movement, the truth is that he has raised more money from Wall St. than any other candidate during the last 20 years. In early 2012, Obama held a fundraiser where Wall St. investment bankers and hedge fund managers each paid $35,800 to attend. In October 2011, Obama hired Broderick Johnson, a longtime Wall Street lobbyist, to be his new senior campaign adviser. Johnson had worked as a lobbyist for JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Fannie Mae, Comcast, Microsoft, and the oil industry.

Well, as Slate puts it,

The Obama administration is, like most administrations, primarily filled with wonks, academics, politicians, and nerds. Of the top few dozen White House officials, about two in three have no business experience at all, at least not in the past two decades or so.

So one common reason why they hire Wall Street people is to stay in touch with people who have actual experience with running a company. That's not a bad thing, nor does it exclude him from offering tentative support to Occupy Wall Street.

And the only support I could find him offering was a reassurance to people tied to the movement that they are trying to ensure that hard work is rewarded. That doesn't seem like such an unlikely promise.

Source
Source

5) Broke his promise to close Guantanamo Bay

Obama broke his promise to close Guantanamo Bay.

Congress blocked his latest attempt to do so.

6) Supported the $700 billion TARP corporate-welfare bailout just like Bush

While Senator, Obama voted for the $700 billion TARP bank bailout bill. The bailout rewarded irresponsible and illegal behavior. It redirected resources from more productive uses to less productive uses. It punished the hard working taxpayers who had played by the rules and obeyed the law. It created horrible incentives, and sent the wrong message. The bailout was evil because it rewarded the bad people and punished the good people. No society that does this can expect to remain free or prosperous. Instead of bailing out these corrupt corporations, we should have let them cease to exist, like we did with Enron.

TARP has been paid back by all the major banks. Only some small banks that are still struggling have not yet paid back their loans. The government has actually made profit out of TARP.

In total, $204.9 billion in TARP funds were used to help 700 banks. Of those, 226 banks repaid the funds, Treasury sold its stake in 177 banks, 26 banks failed anyway, and 165 were transferred to other government programs. As a result, Treasury has recouped $207.1 billion in principal and interest, so far creating a $2.2 billion profit for taxpayers.

Quote (It's about.com, but this one is backed up with links to proper sources. I'm using this one because it's easier to cite)

7) Waged the biggest war against medical marijuana of any president, which was the opposite of what he had promised

First of all, the links posted there only point to DEA intervention in cases where marijuana growing was illegal. The DEA does not need to ask the presidency for permission to act against people or organisations who break the law, so you cannot hold Obama personally responsible for this one.

Even so, in the end, the government announced they were not going after states for legalising marijuana. (Source; hey, it's Rolling Stone, but they have good researchers and the original article you posted quoted him too). Surely it's the end-result we ought to focus on?

8) Nominated a six-time tax cheater to head the government agency that enforces the tax laws

Obama nominated Timothy Geithner, a repeat tax cheater, to head the government agency that enforces the tax laws.

The article is called '315 lies'. It is not a lie. Neither Obama nor Geithner have ever denied his tax-evasion. It might have been wrong to appoint him but it certainly wasn't a lie.

And it seems a bit silly to argue over a man who is no longer in position within the administration.

9) Gave tax dollars to AIG executives, then pretended to be outraged about it

This part is misrepresenting the truth. Yes, Obama signed a deal to keep banks afloat (rather than bankrupting the country; you'd think that'd be better). AIG paid back what they owed. After that, there is no legal restriction for AIG to spend its money the way it chooses. So Obama did not backtrack, as the article suggests; instead, he chose to keep the bank afloat knowing his hands would be tied afterwards.

10) Expanded Bush’s unconstitutional government faith based programs

Obama expanded the federal government’s faith based programs which had been started by President George W. Bush.

The OFBCI has been sued and challenged many times as being unconstitutional and breaking the Establishment Clause but not a single court has agreed with this position. Therefore, faith-based initiatives are not unconstitutional.

There, that's the first ten done without too much effort. I'm not going to do the other 305 and I'm sure some have a point, but if I can undermine the first ten in under half an hour, surely we can conclude that this list is largely bogus?

 

[WarriorAngel]

I kinda like gravity - holds me down when i feel flighty.

 

[Antigone]

I kinda like gravity - holds me down when i feel flighty.

I hate gravity. It makes me trip over the cat and fall down a lot.

 

[WarriorAngel]

It's a dystopia. That genre of fiction are pretty much always warped to some degree. 1984 and Brave New World being other examples. I actually liked the Hunger Games.

As a parent i found it rather horrifying that the writer would think a parent 'could' watch their children die.
It flies in the face of human nature.

Ppl might be able to watch many things - including death of strangers - but when it comes to their child the serious consequences to that being forever in their mind - would cause the entire village to have risen up against such barbarism the 1st time it happened.
There is no way or room for complacency in such a situation.

The whole movie defies logic - of the psyche. Moreover; no parent could watch - at all. This person knows nothing about the fears and dread a parent has - and their own protectiveness to the offspring.

Even in fantasy - its incomprehensible - because even during the Holocaust parents struggled to keep their children safe and hidden.

Sophie's Choice is more reality - how she 'lost it' when she lost her kids.
Their whole society would have been bonkers if it went on for years.

You would have seen groups at least finding ways to escape. It just seems too compliant and complacent and run of the mill. Movie / book - bad rating. 4 thumbs down.

 

[LoAmmi]

As a parent i found it rather horrifying that the writer would think a parent 'could' watch their children die.
It flies in the face of human nature.

Ppl might be able to watch many things - including death of strangers - but when it comes to their child the serious consequences to that being forever in their mind - would cause the entire village to have risen up against such barbarism the 1st time it happened.
There is no way or room for complacency in such a situation.

The whole movie defies logic - of the psyche. Moreover; no parent could watch - at all. This person knows nothing about the fears and dread a parent has - and their own protectiveness to the offspring.

Even in fantasy - its incomprehensible - because even during the Holocaust parents struggled to keep their children safe and hidden.

Sophie's Choice is more reality - how she 'lost it' when she lost her kids.
Their whole society would have been bonkers if it went on for years.

You would have seen groups at least finding ways to escape. It just seems too compliant and complacent and run of the mill. Movie / book - bad rating. 4 thumbs down.

Did you miss the part where people are forced, absolutely forced, to watch it upon pain of death for them, their family, and perhaps anybody connected to them in anyway? The horror is that the family is forced to watch.

I feel like you didn't understand the basic setup of the world. I had some issues with it taking so long for people to start resisting, your complain was addressed. Keep in mind though that the village you're talking about would be destroyed in about five seconds. The Capitol has immense technology that by leaps and bounds goes above what the districts have and they aren't afraid to use the big guns to suppress revolt.

 

[Wolseley]

Dad, is that you?

Yes, honey, it's me. Yes, you can use the car, as long as you remember to put gas in it, like you forgot to do last time. Make sure that you are back by 11:00 tonight, and I do not want to find out that you were with any of those Olson boys who live down at the end of the street---is that clear? Have a good time, be careful, and no drinking! Your mother and I don't want to see anything bad happen to you. Love you, bye.

 

[Antigone]

Yes, honey, it's me. Yes, you can use the car, as long as you remember to put gas in it, like you forgot to do last time. Make sure that you are back by 11:00 tonight, and I do not want to find out that you were with any of those Olson boys who live down at the end of the street---is that clear? Have a good time, be careful, and no drinking! Your mother and I don't want to see anything bad happen to you. Love you, bye.

Okay, now you sound like my mother.

 

[Wolseley]

 

[Armoured]

The one eyed man is Duke, surely?!

 

[Wolseley]

The one eyed man is Duke, surely?!

Well, yeah, he is; but in this case he's just an illustration for the proverb.

 

[MikeK]

As a parent i found it rather horrifying that the writer would think a parent 'could' watch their children die.

That's what God asked of Abraham...

 

[MKJ]

Children of Men is my personal dystopian favourite, in the movies at least.

I liked Children of Men, but I suppose I hoped it would be closer to the book. I don't generally try and compare books with their movies too closely, but I felt like some of the themes were lost in the film.

As far as dystopian films, I find there are a lot of them with elements I really enjoy. I probably overall like Blade Runner best, which is not very original maybe but it often seems to be the most compete vision.