Has Obama Been A Let Down This Year?

In 2007, Barack Obama was elected as the nation's first black president, who in the future will probably known as the first biracial president. I remember Democrats treated Obama as their Ronald Reagan. People in my liberal town saw him as a savior. Obama had huge goals for this country. However, once Obama found out he could not shut down Guantanamo Bay, it became clear that his promises were a little too grand. He did make progress, but he fell short. In the beginning of his presidency people were blaming George W. Bush for leaving Obama in a tight spot. By the election people were beginning to see his flaws. Fortunately for Obama, he was up against what had to be the worst selection of Republican nominees in history. He was reelected, but this time he is being watched more carefully by the public. Some people have said, "it is like people have finally realized Bush is not in office anymore".

This was the roughest year for Obama. Republicans were bashing him for Benghazi. Then Republicans had him on the IRS scandal. However, that was really just the Republicans bashing him.

The first big scandal was the NSA leaks. I do not think anyone was surprised the NSA was spying on Americans, but Edward Snowden gave an official confirmation. Snowden's story is a classic rebel vs government. Obama came across as a bad guy because people did not see Snowden as a Benedict Arnold. The government was the one lying to us. It was the Benedict Arnold. Now it has been revealed that the government is looking at people's web history and the NSA agents have been using their technology to spy on their crushes. At a recent White House press conference, a reporter asked Obama to name one time the NSA stopped a terrorist attack with their tactics. Obama completely dodged the question. Instead he answered by saying what the NSA is supposed to be doing with people's information. This scandal has made people lose trust in the government. Especially since Obama expanded the NSA program when he had promised to end it during his campaign.

Then Obama threatened to go to war with Syria. That was a stupid move. No one wanted to go to war. The war campaign completely failed. This high lighted how America's mission of democratic peace was becoming more of a military movement in the Middle East. It was Russia's Vladimir Putin that made peace, not America. Syria proved that America should not try to solve conflicts in the Middle East by itself. Problems should be solved in a diplomatic solution, contributed by all parties. The recent talks with Iran are a step in the right direction.

Finally we have the disastrous Obama Care website roll out. The whole scenario seemed comedic like a joke you see in a South Park episode. This was Obama's big mark as a president and he blew it. It is like if Usain Bolt tripped and fell over at the start of an Olympic race. Maybe Obama rushed the website because he wanted to do something good this year.

This year was not a good start for Obama, but he still has three more years ago. I think he has showed signs that he learned from his mistakes, but I will not get my hopes too high up.

Why Is It Bad To Be Naked?

According to the FCC and The Rating Board, seeing a girl's breast is too inappropriate for children, but seeing Mufassa's dead corpse is fine? In real life would you rather see a girl's breast or a dead lion's corpse? Death is way more scarring to children. My uncle died when I was in third grade and that changed me forever. Violence is also apparently less scarring to children than seeing a naked body according to the rating system. Lets expose our children to watching people punch, kick, slash, and even shoot each other. Why does the media always blame video games and not movies when violent acts happen? In movies violence is glorified. So why is it that nakedness is so bad? Everyone already knows what both genders look like naked. We are taught about sex education in elementary school.

It is funny when you think about it. When man was first created, we had no clothes. Everyone walked around naked. No one was ashamed of their nakedness. Humans did where clothes, but the reason they wore them was to stay warm, not because they were embarrassed of their nudity. Over time nakedness became shameful. Maybe it is because people wore clothes more and more, so seeing a naked body became uncommon and uncomfortable. 

The real source comes from the Puritan values that serve as the basis of philosophy for Americans. I am sure the other parts of the world has something similar. Puritans were very strict about sexual behavior. Two books that do a good job of covering Puritanism are The Scarlett Letter and Tess of the D'urbervilles. In those books the women are held to a standard. In Tess of the D'urbervilles, Angel immediately abandons Tess when he finds out she is not a virgin. Point being that reproductive organs are bad to be seen because they imply sex. If everyone walked around naked would sex rates go up? I would not be surprised if they did. I think it is interesting how humans start off carefree and naked, but overtime become strict and embarrassed.  

I am not saying everybody should be naked all the time. By now society has beaten into us that nakedness is bad for so long. It might seem hypocritical, but I would defiantly not strip naked publicly. However, for movies I think it should be different. I can understand not wanting kids to reenact sexual behavior, but flashing a breast for two seconds will not make children perverted. It is human nature to think about sex anyway. Our main priorities as a species is to survive and reproduce. The rating system should either give equally strict ratings to violence or become less strict with nudity, so it balances out.  

How to Fix Congress

Recently John Boehner made a compromise with Democrats. While he did not get what the Republicans wanted, he did keep our government functioning. However, his party refuses to see past what they did not get and insult him. Republicans call him weak. There were similar complaints when Boehner was seeking reelection as Speaker of the House. However, despite their complaints, the Republicans chose to reelect him again.

Recently it was announced that this congress was the worst congress in American History. Some politicians defend themselves by arguing that people should focus on what they have stopped the country from doing. I do not think Congress should just blindly pass legislation, but it seems that they do not plan on passing any legislation.

In order for a democracy to work there has to be compromise. No party is ever going to completely get what they want. In Congress a person is seen as a traitor if they agree with the other side on even just one issue. New comers to Congress must be pressured to not compromise. It is a bad lesson that is being passed down.

The truth is there is no person out there who is 100% liberal or conservative. Human nature is inconsistent. If everyone thought one way then we would not have made the progress which makes America great. We still have a lot of work to do to fix this country and we will not solve anything being stubborn.

What congress needs is a generation of new, younger politicians. People who understand the difficulties of our generation. These current, old congressmen have no idea how people really feel. There are younger politicians out there, but none of them want to enter Congress because they feel like they will not accomplish anything. I understand Congress must be like Hell, but those people need to get in there and fix things.

It is time for the American people to have their voices heard. So have peaceful protests, march on Washington, convince people to contact your representative, or even better, threaten to not reelect your current representative. Politicians care about their power and image more than anything. If you apply enough pressure on them, they will give in. Take a good look at your current representative and ask yourself if they have done what you wanted. If the answer is no, then do not reelect them. Americans need to start a new movement. However, lets not get crazy like the 70s.

I will end this blog with the lyrics from the Bob Dylan song; The Times They Are A-Changin.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Funny Letter to the NSA

Dear NSA,
If you are reading this I would like to thank you for all the effort you guys put into invading people's personal space. It must be so hard listening to other people's phone calls or keeping info on that girl you are stalking. It must be especially rough to play World of War Craft and find terrorists by completing quests. We all know real terrorists set up their evil schemes through video games. You guys should also check out Borderlands 2 and Call of Duty. A lot of people play those games. Maybe even terrorists. I can safely say that I do not have any info that will link me to terrorists. So please call back that drone you have sent to my house.

Whenever I hear your name I am always reminded of that joke in The Simpsons Movie where the people are listening into stupid phone conversations. "The government actually found someone we are looking for!" I love that line. Who can argue with all the successes you guys have had that no one has heard about? I am sure that real terrorists are careless enough to use open media to talk about their secretive plans. You guys should check out movies. There must be some terrorist propaganda in their. There is a new Hobbit movie coming out. Gandalf looks suspiciously like a white, old Bin Laden. Think about it. Gandalf recruits a bunch of dwarves to take back their "home" land. The dragon Smaug clearly must be the symbol of infidels. Disney's Frozen had a song called "Let It Go". "I don't care what they are going to say. Let the storm rage on. The cold never bothered me anyway." That line sounds suspicious in a different context.

Also thank President Obama for me. I am so glad he lied about his promise to not continue the NSA program. No word could possibly express the joy I felt when I heard he actually expanded it even more. He defiantly made the right decision to try to arrest Snowden. How dare Snowden inform the public of government dishonesty. I am sure our founding father's would want him dead. The Bill of Rights clearly supports the government invading our privacy. It says so in the 4th Amendment, I believe. Thomas Jefferson would be proud.

Keep up the good work,
A Man Who Is Not Guilty At All