Don't DREAM, Don't Tell

While "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is being formally repealed (the only thing left is for Obama to sign the bill), the policy will not end until the military studies the matter further and implements measures to ensure that lifting the ban is not "disruptive". This has been a common thread since Obama took office - the policy is unjust, but the country can't afford to overhaul the military in a time of war. This very sentiment reeks of the discrimination that Obama supposedly stands against. It implies that non-heterosexuals are somehow different when it comes to serving our country. In the end it illustrates a common theme of Obama's Presidency thus far: his actions (or inactions) speak louder than his words.

The DREAM Act failed to gain the "filibuster-proof" 60 votes without Republicans having to break a sweat. I don't believe that Republicans have had to use the filibuster since the Democrats achieved a majority, but that's because Democrats have spared them the burden. If Republicans want to stand in the way of bills, they should have to stand there as long as it takes. Let's see how much they really care about the issues when they have to occupy the floor for hours on end like Senator Sanders did a week ago (Watch Here), when he was speaking out against Obama's tax "compromise" with the Republicans.

I also wanted to share a photography exhibition by Edward Burtynsky on the subject of oil. He shows pictures of oil fields, our motor culture, and the environmental and human cost of it all. The pictures of mountains of discarded tires and people wading through oil at some kind of recycling facility in Bangladesh are especially powerful. See it here.