CHICO BRISBANE

Rush Limbaugh: Health Care "It has to be defeated"

2010-03-20T00:39:00.000-07:00

Throughout the course of the show, Rush would repeatedly say that the vote reportedly scheduled for this weekend is really about getting the Senate bill to Obama, that Democrats aren't really that concerned about passing fixes to that bill through reconciliation, and that Obama won't be concerned about the reconciliation package after he signs the Senate bill.

LISTEN HERE:

Rush brought up a provision in the reconciliation package that would have allowed the Bank of North Dakota to continue making student loans, even though North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad already said he plans to kill it.

Rush noted that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus put out a press release declaring its support for the health care bill. Rush said this didn't matter because members of that caucus were never really going to vote against the bill anyway.

After a break, Limbaugh mentioned that Mark Levin's legal foundation is planning to challenge the health care legislation on the grounds that the "deem and pass" procedure is unconstitutional, even though some experts say that it clearly passes muster and has been used many times in the past by both parties.

Limbaugh then played a clip of Obama speaking at George Mason University and said that health care reform actually is about getting undocumented immigrants "amnesty" and health care, because Obama needs their votes to get re-elected.

After a break, Rush talked a bit more about the Bank of North Dakota, calling it a "socialist bank" because it's owned by the state of North Dakota. Limbaugh then noted that Conrad opposes the provision.

Rush moved on to a report that Caterpillar said that its health care costs would increase by $100 million in the first year alone if health care reform passes. He tied this to a report that Caterpillar was laying off 121 workers -- a move that had already been announced.
Limbaugh then launched into a series of sports metaphors to describe the whip count on the bill. Scintillating stuff.

Rush returned to insisting that the Senate bill will be signed into law on Sunday and that the changes to it in the reconciliation package likely wouldn't go through until Congress' Easter break, if they ever act on it at all. Rush described the health care legislation as getting "the big shaft" and told his listeners that "this is tyranny."

Before the end of the first hour, Rush read from a blog post by CNBC's Larry Kudlow and told a caller that the Obama administration has said that 10 percent unemployment is the new norm and that Americans should get used to it. Furthermore, he said, "That's exactly what they want, too."

Limbaugh On Health Care Bill: "It Has To Be Defeated. It Has To Be Stopped"

Geraldo Criticizes Bret Baier For Obama Interview (AUDIO)

2010-03-19T22:12:00.001-07:00

Geraldo Rivera criticized Fox News host Bret Baier for his interruption-heavy interview of President Obama Wednesday.

Friday morning on radio program "Brian and the Judge," Geraldo — a Fox News host himself — said that Baier should have treated Obama with more respect

Geraldo Criticizes Bret Baier For Obama Interview (AUDIO)

Glenn Beck's Plan To Re-Whiten The White House Fails

2010-03-14T15:12:00.000-07:00

Glenn Beck's dream of making The White House truely white once again fails

- Chico Brisbane

In yet another one of Glenn Beck's daily soliliquies, he leaned way into the strike zone in defense of scandal plagued Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) -

In spite of what the real media was reporting about Massa that very day, or what Massa's own party had to say about his strange behavior. Beck threw all rational judgement to the wind as he gushed over his upcoming exclusive interview with Massa.

"This is a moment that will decide the course of this nation" Beck said in a promo leading up to his interview with former Congressman Eric Massa - "Something is very wrong" - "Please listen to him, someone needs to expose the game and Massa is doing it." Beck pleaded in one of his daily soliliquies.

You could hear the determination in his voice as he instructed his audiance to be sure and watch tomorrows show, which the entire hour was dedicated to Beck's witch hunt against Obama. You could see the glimmer of hope in Beck's eyes that maybe he was finally going to be the hero among like-minded thinkers and get these black folks out of the White House once and for all. That's all this is about for Glenn Beck, plain and simple.

Fox News Sean Hannity Get's Caught Again.

2010-03-13T04:49:00.000-08:00

In a segment with guest Dick Morris, Sean Hannity Plays clip of Congressman Eric Massa harsh words about Rahm Emanuel. However, a few moments later Hannity reviews the comments, but claims that Massa's remarks are about President Obama.

WATCH VIDEO:

The Argument Against Marijuana Is Losing Steam.

2010-03-10T03:46:00.000-08:00

How is it that we have a Federal Law Enforcement Agency dedicated to Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, yet the focus remains on marijuana as if it were the most lethal substance known to man.

Below are the statistics for 2009 in the United Stated for deaths related directly to Alcohol, Tobacco, Fireams, and Marijuana.

Alcohol................................. .85,000

Tobacco ...............................435,000

Incidents Involving Firearms.....29,000

Marijuana ........................................0

There seems to be no logical argument for not legalizing marijuana. I don't mean just for medical proposes. I mean for any adult who cares to use marijuana. There is a shopping center near my home where I can buy a bottle of booze, a carton of smokes, and a God Damn shotgun and box of shells in a matter of minutes. That's perfectly legal and there are folks all over the country where that may seem like a typical day of shopping.

Exactly who is the beneficiary of the war on drugs and particularly the war against marijuana? - What about the more then half a million Americans that will die as a direct result of Alcohol, Tobacco, or Firearms? - Shouldn't we launch a war on those three controlled substances first? - It makes sence if we're trying to save lives. Let's close down all of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearm dispensaries. It's time to make a serious choice. Either Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firarms will have to be outlawed like marijuana, or marijuana will have to be legalized for sales, pruchase, and consumption like alcohol, tobacco, and firearms.

Proponents of an initiative to make California the first state to legalize marijuana have collected about 693,800 signatures, virtually guaranteeing that the measure will appear on a crowded November ballot.

"This is a historic first step toward ending cannabis prohibition," said Richard Lee, the measure's main backer.

Advocates, trailed by television cameras and photographers, dropped off petitions with elections officials in the state's largest counties, including Los Angeles, where organizers said 143,105 voters signed.

Lee, a successful Oakland marijuana entrepreneur, bankrolled a professional signature-gathering effort that circulated the petition in every county except Alpine, which only has about 800 registered voters.

The initiative would make it legal for anyone 21 and older to possess an ounce of marijuana and grow plants in an area no larger than 25 square feet for personal use. It would also allow cities and counties to permit marijuana to be grown and sold, and to impose taxes on it.

Polls have shown growing support nationwide for legalization. In California, a Field Poll taken in April found that 56% of voters in the state and 60% in Los Angeles County want to make pot legal and tax it.

Foes also have started to organize. Paul Chabot, founder of the Coalition for a Drug Free California, said teachers, youth activists, religious leaders, small-business men, law enforcement personnel and elected officials are putting together a coalition. "We're going to fight them head on; we're not going to go away," he said. "We're looking forward to victory in California and spreading that message like a tidal wave across the United States."

On a lighter note: "When it absolutely, positively has to be there tomorrow." don't ship weed to your homegirl via FedEx. I'm just sayin'

- Chico Brisbane

Fox News Blows Thier Wingnut Dog Whistle For An Obama Assassination

2010-03-09T21:45:00.000-08:00

"Fox News Blows Thier Wingnut Dog Whistle For An Obama Assassination."

- Chico Brisbane

Fox Nation takes a humerous comment by President Obama from an Associated Press article and spins it like a top. In the AP artical, Obama joked that the political battle over health care may have contributed to his rising colesterol level and how ironic it would be if health care drove him to an early grave. The Associated Press artical was titled "Obama's health care pitch to Democrats: Trust me."

The headline that FOX NATION ran with for what was nothing more then a link to the Associated Press story read: “Obama Invokes His Death in Health Care Talks.”

Invokes his death? Really? - "Invokes?" \in-vok\ - 1 (a) : to petition for help or support (b) : to appeal to or cite as authority.

The headline alone sent FoxNation commentors into a long thread of assassination fantasies and how good such a thing would be for the country. Obama's comment did not "invoke" his death via health care talks. It was FoxNation's twisted headline that not only invoked, but solicited and incited it's commentors to begin a dialog. A dialog that just might push that one unstable person that much closer to the edge.

The FoxNation comments below are a fine example of the mindset of the typical viewer that consideres Fox News to be a legitimate source for news and information. I mean exactly what is the difference between Fox News and an Al-Qaeda training camp? -

They're both recruiting tools for extreamist. Nothing more, nothing less.

- Chico Brisbane

COMMENTS FROM THE FoxNation Website

This would be the best thing that could happen to the USA.
wow that’s something that we can only dream about
HEY MR. PREZ. PROMISE TO TELEVISE IT ON YOUR LAME STREAM MEDIA STATIONS,,,,, THE RATINGS WOULD GO THRU THE ROOF,,,
Promise?! Whatever it takes. I’m running out of pins for my nobama chia pet.
Many Americans wish we could grant you your wish The progressives are so desperate to shove down our throats that which we DO NOT WANT.
They think they are so close, yet IF they pass it, it very well could be the literal de.ath of Obama, for TREASON.
He KNOWS there is NO Constitutional authority for this take-over of healthcare.
Go ahead, Obama, make America’s day.
OBAMA SHOULD KNOW THAT HIS THREAT WOULD ONLY ANSWER OUR PRAYERS….
So go ahead - do America a favor
Frankly I would call it irony if he went to his grave because of health care! Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!

This isn't the first time that Fox News has fanticized about assassinating Barack Obama. Here's a little tid-bit from the 2008 campaign season.

State Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Ca.) A Life Of Hypocrisy Wrapped In Denial

2010-03-09T05:37:00.000-08:00

State Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Calif) is yet another example of Republican hypocrisy running wild. It's not just your everyday, run-of-the-mill hypocrisy, but the the Mark Foley, Larry Craig, and Ted Haggard type of hypocrisy that's even worse when it's all wrapped up in a think layer of denial.

Come on! - Jesus Christ! - It's 2010, don't tell me there are grown men still afraid to come out of the closet? - Do gay men still believe that getting married and having children will "cure" them of thier homosexuality? It wouldn't be so bad if they just kept their gayness a secret if they so choose, but to get married, have children, join the God Damn Republican Party and then take an anti-gay stance to further thier cover is just plain old fucking nuts.

Sen. Ashburn who is a fierce opponent of gay rights was arrested last week for drunk driving after leaving a gay nightclub. The senator, who avoided reporters in the Senate chamber Monday afternoon, broke his silence in an interview on Bakersfield radio station KERN-AM (1180) in the morning, saying the episode had led to "restless nights" and "soul searching."

Ashburn told radio host Inga Barks that he owed his constituents an explanation. She responded, "Do you want me to ask you . . . the question, or do you want to just tell people?"

"I am gay," Ashburn answered. "Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long. But I am gay. But it is something that is personal and . . . I felt with my heart that being gay didn't affect -- wouldn't affect -- how I did my job.

"Through my own actions," said Ashburn, a divorced father of four, "I made my personal life public."

The arrest, widely discussed on Internet blogs, in newspapers and on TV, brought accusations of hypocrisy against the senator.

In 2005, Ashburn, like all but one other Republican in the Senate, voted against a bill that would have allowed same-sex marriage in California. The bill was later vetoed by the governor.

Ashburn also voted no, along with most of his GOP colleagues, on legislation passed last year that designated May 22 of each year as Harvey Milk Day, in honor of the slain gay-rights leader.

"It is unfortunate he helped spread the bigotry that forced him to stay in the closet," said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, a group supporting gay marriage. "We hope he now takes this opportunity to educate people in his district and throughout the state that his sexual orientation is irrelevant."

Ashburn said his votes "reflect the wishes of the people in my district."

The senator announced months ago that he would not seek reelection this year. He had been under fire from conservative leaders in his district for voting with Democrats a year ago to approve tax increases.

"His recent drunk driving incident certainly adds to the concerns about his personal responsibility and his regard for the taxpayers whose vehicle he was driving," said Martin Bertram, president of the nonprofit Republican Assembly of Kern County.

He said the senator's revelation that he is gay "will not win him favor among conservatives," but he did not see Ashburn's past votes as hypocritical.

Ashburn faces arraignment next month in Sacramento County Superior Court on two misdemeanor counts involving driving under the influence of alcohol. However, he faces an even greater up-hill battle if he truely believes his own rationalizations regarding the conflict between what he says and what he does.

ON HIDING HIS SEXUALITY
Ashburn said "I've always believed I could keep my personal life personal, and my public life public. But through my own actions I have made my personal life public. And I owe explanation to my constituents and to the people who have been so kind to me through the years."

Well, Mr. Ashburn......you're about to find out how unkind your Republican constituents can be when they find out that you tricked them into voting for a card carrying friend of Judy. Savor the flavor sister, they won't be as kind as you recall in future elections.

ON COMING OUT
Ashburn said "I am gay. Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long. But I am gay, but it is something that is personal and I don't believe — I felt with my heart being gay … did not effect, would not effect how I do my job. What happened through my own actions the other night changed all that.

It couldn't have been that difficult. You said "I am gay" twice in row in the previous paragraph. Unfortunately it's something I am sure your wife would've liked to know before she walked down the aisle with a man she only thought that she knew. Obviously Mr. Ashburn still fails to realize that his deception calls into question EVERYTHING that his wife and children believed to be true. It was not! - It was for the most part a self-serving facade, a perpetual three-card monty that he played on those that love, trust, and respected him the most.
ON HIS VOTING RECORD
My votes reflect the wishes of the people in my district. And I have always felt that my faith and allegiance was to the people there in the district, my constituents. So as each of these individual measure came before the legislature, I cast "no" votes. … I cherish the fact that we have a remarkable system of government, and that system of government provides for representatives elected by the people to go to the legislative bodies, whether it be Washington D.C. or Sacramento, and cast votes on behalf of the people, not my own point of view, not my own internal conflict, certainly to use my best judgment, but to vote as my constituents would have me vote. There's never been a doubt in my mind on the position of the vast majority of the people in my district, the 18th senatorial district, on these different issues. I voted as I felt I should on behalf of the people who elected me.

Voting in line with your constituency is admirable, but for a gay man to adopt an across the board anti-gay posture that denies equality for gay folks is hypocrisy plain and simple. Just as Gov. Mark Sanford (R-NC) and Senator John Ensign (R-NV) did, Mr. Ashburn wrapped himself in the GOP's self rightousness cloak of "Family Values" in word, while doing something entirely different in deed. Typical Neo-Con......
ON WHETHER CRITICISM FROM THE GAYS SAYING HE'S A HYPOCRITE WILL CHANGE THE WAY HE VOTES
I believe firmly that my responsibility is to my constituents. On each measure that may come before me, I will take a careful look at it, and apply that standard: How would my constituents vote on this?

I believe that even Mr. Ashburn doesn't believe this.....

WHY DID HE FEEL THE NEED TO COME OUT?
Because my own actions the other night, resulting in a DUI arrest, point to, Where was I?, What was the behavior I was engaged in?, those aspects that I thought was my personal life, obviously that changes the circumstance, so I felt it best to just let people know.

Hey Dipshit! - You didn't come out! - Neither did Mark Foley, Larry Craig, or Ted Haggard. Each of you allowed your reckless behavior to betray your deception. Winona Ryder didn't come out as a shoplifter, she got fucking busted and so did you and those other Three Stooges. Welcome to the club Roy!

NOW WHAT?
I would ask people to pray for me.

Pray for you? - You should be asking people to pray for your wife and children as they come to terms with this or are you still putting yourself before them.

WILL HE LIVE AS AN OPENlY GAY MAN?
I pray to God that I can find peace, and I want to go back to work in the Senate.

Not gonna happen....

WAS ALL THIS PART OF THE REASON HE DECIDED NOT TO RUN FOR CONGRESS?

Yes

Fuckin' A Skippy it was.

TO HIS CONSTITUENTS
I appreciate you. I believe that it's an amazing responsibility and privilege to represent you in Sacramento. Now you know everything about me. I will do the very best job that I can to represent you as faithfully and with as much dignity and honor as I can.

Are you shittin' me with this? - You've lied to the people you represent! - You've lied to your family! - You've put the public in danger by driving while intoxicated! - Now just apologize and resign.

Chico Brisbane

UPDATE: Here's the audio with host Inga Barks, who is just terrible.

Read more: http://www.queerty.com/ca-sen-roy-ashburn-im-gay-and-stand-by-my-anti-gay-votes-20100308/#ixzz0hgNebjU3

Ken Starr Rebukes Liz Cheney On MSNBC

2010-03-09T04:23:00.000-08:00

Liz Cheney has been under fire from both left and right after her group released a video that tried to paint Department of Justice attorneys as terrorist sympathizers for working on the defense of Guantanamo detainees. The ad refers to the DOJ attornies as "The Al-Qaeda 7"

One of the sternest rebukes comes from special prosecutor Ken Starr and it was especially ironic that Starr appeared on MSNBC's Countdown on Monday night, speaking with guest host Lawrence O'Donnell.

Starr isn't exactly a popular figure on the program, often criticized by and never making an appearance with regular host Keith Olbermann. But on this issue, Olbermann was happy for Starr to appear and refute Cheney. He relayed a message through O'Donnell, "that's how seriously we both take this, that even we agree on it."

Starr explained the role of lawyers in the American justice system and why it's considered appropriate for them to work in defense of an accused criminal. He drew both literary analogies, pointing out the judicial responsibilities felt by Atticus Finch, and historic comparisons, explaining how John Adams was once called upon to defend the British Redcoats in a court of law. As for the specific message being spread by Cheney and her organization, Keep America Safe, Starr did not mince words.

"This was very unwise, and really and out-of-bounds characterization and challenge to good, honorable lawyers."

WATCH:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sean Hannity Goes All In For Palin......Alone!

2010-03-07T23:16:00.000-08:00

Inspite of 75% of America thinking that Sarah Palin not being qualified to be President of The United States, Sean Hannity thinks that Palin would not only make a better president, but that she's smarter......really? -

President Obama is considered by many to be, academically and intellectually, one of the smartest presidents to ever take office -- true or not, it's indisputable that he is well-educated.

Even Fox News contributor Juan Williams couldn't stomach Hannity's gushing over Sarah Palin's appearance on Jay Leno's show. Hannity said: ". . . I think she's gone a long way to opening the door for people to say, all right, maybe she was treated unfairly." as if defending herself from her own stupidity was an accomplishment.

Williams conceded that she was "very human and funny . . . I think she is a superstar, a centerfold for conservative men," but went on to say that she's not likely to convince 75% of the American public who don't think she's qualified to be president. Hannity went all in and said: "I think she's brilliant, I think she's gutsy, I think she's courageous, and I'll tell you what, I think she's smarter than Barack Obama. She wouldn't lead us into this socialist utopia . . . ."

Smarter than Barack Obama? Five colleges in six years to get a bachelors degree? Couldn't explain the office of Vice President of the United States -- the job she was applying to the American public for -- four times? And those "gotcha" interviews with Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson . . . whew, sharp intellect are not the words that instantly spring to mind.

Juan Williams reacted the way many Americans react to this statement, except he didn't keep his composure to a limit as most of Hannity's Great American Panel. "You are so wild on this point," he told Hannity, ". . . Your libido is . . . getting in the way of your thinking."

Hannity insisted that he'd take "Governor Palin as President over Barack Obama, to which Williams incredulously replied, "Come on . . . You would trust her with our national security over Barack Obama . . . you'd rather listen to her explain national policy than Barack Obama?" This earned an emphatic "yes" from Hannity -- which goes to show that thinking with a libido doesn't merely interfere with thinking, it turns men of otherwise average intelligence into blithering idiots. I mean, come on -- it was on Hannity's own show that Palin seemed to not know the difference between Iran and Iraq.

Hannity, accused by Williams of being "self-righteous," protested that Williams was trying to diminish Palin, and claimed, "What if I started commenting on Michelle Obama's looks? . . . We don't go after Barack Obama's wife and what she wears and her clothes . . . nobody does." Wow, then this must have been somebody pretending to be Sean Hannity on Sean Hannity's radio show who ridiculed Michelle Obama's clothes when she went overseas and claimed she was wearing designer clothes so people would call her "Jackie Kennedy." Of course, in his defense, most of his smears have nothing to do with clothing, like when he implied that Michelle was a racist, unpatriotic, and said she was "bitter and angry."

(And as an aside, Williams can't exactly take the high road on this one either. He's slammed Michelle Obama on more than one occasion, at one time saying she has "this Stokely Carmichael-in-a-designer-dress thing going" and that she could be a "liabilit[y]" or an "albatross" for President Obama.)

Hannity protested, "She's smart enough not to dig us into this hole of socialism, she's smart enough not to cut our nukes in half, smart enough not to negotiate with Iran without preconditions, smart enough to understand capitalism works over socialism . . . ."

"She's smart enough not to cut our nukes in half," bleated Hannity. Hannity is, of course, no military expert, and never even served in the military -- but he apparently believes he and little Sarah know more about nuclear weapons than, say, "Retired U.S. generals and admirals [who] have repeatedly advocated junking all nuclear weapons, calling them ruinously expensive and of no military value." And, although Republicans are professing fear at the nuclear threat from North Korea and Iran, and "accuse Obama of near treason for having even considered junking America’s huge nuclear arsenal," the truth is that "North Korea has no long-ranged nuclear capability and wants nukes for defence against a possible U.S. nuclear attack . . . Iran has no nuclear weapons as of now and poses no threat to the distant U.S."

It was Juan Williams who left Hannity with nothing to say but a sarcastic "Okay" when Williams closing comment was that Palin was, "Smart enough to quit on the voters of Alaska before her term was up."

Palin herself during her Tonight Show appearance said that she was glad that she wasn't Vice President because she wouldn't know what to do with all of the free time.....

Tea Party Cup Half Empty?

2010-03-07T21:43:00.000-08:00

FROM POLITICO:

From Texas to Illinois to upstate New York, a string of lackluster showings for tea party-linked candidates have highlighted a central question about the group’s future: Can an organic and fledgling movement that lacks the institutional grounding and top-down organizational strength of either major political party transfer protest-oriented grass-roots energy into tangible success at the polls?

Some observers raise the question of whether the tea party crowd is cut out to achieve electoral success — or whether it is more influential as a more radical, guerrilla movement. “I think they are tremendously influential as a force in the November election,” said Curt Anderson, a veteran GOP strategist and a top adviser to the Republican National Committee. “Except if you see them as an organized political force — in which case, they have been less relevant.”

The early results from tea party candidates, despite their focus on hot-button issues such as opposition to President Barack Obama’s health care reform bill and concern about budget-busting policies of both parties, have not been pretty.

In Tuesday’s Texas GOP primary, tea party-inspired contenders found themselves blown out in races across the state. Gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina, who closely aligned herself with the grass-roots conservative movement, picked up just 19 percent of the vote. And while a host of House GOP incumbents faced challenges from tea party opponents, the only one who faced anything remotely close to a scare was Rep. Ralph Hall — who dispatched his nearest competitor by nearly 30 percentage points.

It wasn’t the first electoral blow for tea party faithful. In last month’s Illinois primary, tea party favorite Patrick Hughes won just 19 percent against GOP Rep. Mark Kirk in the Senate primary, while gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski, who aggressively sought the support of tea party activists and won high praise from conservative outlets like RedState.com, finished a distant fifth place in the Republican contest.

And in November,Doug Hoffman, whose Conservative Party campaign for an upstate New York House seat was the beneficiary of support from grass-roots activists across the country, fell short to Democrat Bill Owens.

The main reason seems to be a predictable growing pain of any new political movement. While tea party partisans have proved effective in organizing rallies and protests, they have yet to show they possess the bread-and-butter on-the-ground campaign skills it takes to win races, said Jerry Ray “Tea” Hall, who won less than 5 percent of the vote in his primary campaign against Ralph Hall in Texas.

READ MORE

Fox News Ties Missle Defense Logo To Obama, Russia, And Islam

2010-02-25T01:55:00.000-08:00

Fox News posted a headline on the homepage of FoxNews.Com that left me with more questions then answers. The headline was about the new red, white, and blue logo for the Missile Defence Angency, but the text directly below the image read:

Missle Defense Angency's Web site features a new red, white and blue logo - described as 'scarily' similar to Obama's campaign logo, as well as the symbol of Islam.

Obviously this is manufactured news and just as intentional as all of the incorrect information that Fox News places on the chyron along the lower 3rd of the screen. That's where scandal ridden Republican's "mistakenly" get reported as Democrats as in the case of Sen. Mark Foley when news broke about him having a fondness for teenage boys. This didn't happen just once, but at least on three different ocassions during different segments regarding the discrased Republican Senator.

Fox has correctly reported North Carolina Governor Mark Sanford as a Republican, except during a Breaking News Alert when the disgrased Republican admitted spending Father's Day with his long term mistress in Argentina rather then with his wife and children.

I know that the "D" is right below the "R" on the keyboard, but come on! - There's also the famous "?" that Fox News uses when they want to make a statement by phrasing it as a question such as. Is Obama's policies leading America towards Socialism? People don't watch the news to be asked questions, they watch the news to have questions answered.

Jon Stewart recenty called out Fox News on this sort of trickery during an appearance on The O'Reilly Factor. The example that he gave to Billo was that this sort of sillyness was like saying:

"I'm not saying that your mom is a whore, I'm just saying that she sleeps with alot of men for money."

If you look at the text again below that image, it says that the logo is "described" as 'scarily' similar to Obama's campaign logo, as well as the symbol of islam. What it doesn't say is who is describing it that way. That information may have been in the story if you clicked on the link, but we'll never know now since it was taken down so quickly. Even if it did appear in the full story, that it important information even for teasr text below an image. If they're going to emphasize that the logo described as 'scarily' similar to something evil, you should say who is describing it that way.

I'm not saying that Fox News is staged, I'm just saying that it comes across as unbelievable as the Jerry Springer Show. It all seems to be intentionally made to look like a legitamate television news program like Reno 911 is supposed to look like an episode of COPS. That's all I'm saying.

Chico Brisbane

The GOP Highjacks the Tea Party movement.

2010-02-23T21:24:00.000-08:00

The Tea Party Patriots are a national grassroots organization that has no offices, no president, virtually no money, and operates largely on volunteer efforts. Understandably with an advertising budget that ould fit in a coffe can, it must have seemed like pennies from heaven when Fox News took the lead in promoting their uber televised Tax Day Tea Parties last April 15.

But unbeknownst to many, there was another group claiming ownership of this conservative movement. It's called the Tea Party Express, and it has dominated Fox News coverage over the past year with its multistate bus tours and political rallies.

The political action committee behind the Tea Party Express (TPE) — which already has been slammed as inauthentic and corporate-controlled by rival factions in the Tea Party movement — directed almost two thirds of its spending during a recent reporting period back to the Republican consulting firm that created the PAC in the first place.

Our Country Deserves Better (OCDB) spent around $1.33 million from July through November, according to FEC filings examined by TPMmuckraker. Of that sum, a total of $857,122 went to Sacramento-based GOP political consulting firm Russo, Marsh, and Associates, or people associated with it.

WATCH VIDEO:

The political action committee behind the Tea Party Express (TPE) — which already has been slammed as inauthentic and corporate-controlled by rival factions in the Tea Party movement — directed almost two thirds of its spending during a recent reporting period back to the Republican consulting firm that created the PAC in the first place. Our Country Deserves Better (OCDB) spent around $1.33 million from July through November, according to FEC filings examined by TPMmuckraker. Of that sum, a total of $857,122 went to Sacramento-based GOP political consulting firm Russo, Marsh, and Associates, or people associated with it.

OCDB, which built the Tea Party Express, is essentially a Russo, Marsh creation, as we’ve detailed. The PAC’s site was registered in July 2008 by Sal Russo, the firm’s founder. That site also lists Russo as the PAC’s “chief strategist.” Tea Party Express fundraising emails, sent by OCDB and obtained by TPMmuckraker, come from another Russo, Marsh employee, Joe Wierzbicki.

With The Tea Party Express and the Republican Party controlling the movement, there remains to be little hope for anyone looking for a real grassroots movement. Between Fox News, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity, they've managed to attract some unsavory, gun toting charachters to the health care town hall meetings last summer. - Of course while The Tea Party Patriots were looking the wrong way, The Tea Party Express popped up out of knowhere and basically high-jacked the whole kit and caboodle right out from under them.

Overnight the Tea Party Movement went from a grassroots group of people protesting the the size of government to something that is bound to leave just as big of a stain on American history as the the civil rights movement did in the 50s' and 60s' - Suddenly there was a hatefull mob of people with little concern over taxes, but hell bent on reversing the election of the first black President of the United States. It wouldn't have mattered if Obama were born in Kenya or Compton. These folks "don't want no niggers in the White House." That's a quote from my racist, teabagging, next door neighbor who has a Barack Obama statue that holds up his mailbox at the end of the driveway. He's dressed in a Jocky's suit although I'm not sure what the purpose of the horse jocky's uniform is. Are there African American horse jockies? - You can see from some of the signs being held by tea baggers, they and my neighbor Tom are like peas and carrots.

Marijuana Use Among Seniors Citizens Nearly Triples Since 2002

2010-02-22T17:26:00.000-08:00

Usually an activity among young people, use of high quality marijuana is now growing among the AARP set, as the massive generation of baby boomers who came of age in the 1960s and '70s grows older.

The number of people aged 50 and older reporting marijuana use in the prior year went up from 1.9 percent to 2.9 percent from 2002 to 2008, according to surveys from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The rise was most dramatic among 55- to 59-year-olds, whose reported marijuana use more than tripled from 1.6 percent in 2002 to 5.1 percent.

Observers expect further increases as 78 million boomers born between 1945 and 1964 age. For many boomers, the drug never held the stigma it did for previous generations, and they tried it decades ago.

Some have used it ever since, while others are revisiting the habit in retirement, either for recreation or as a way to cope with the aches and pains of aging.

Siegel walks with a cane and has arthritis in her back and legs. She finds marijuana has helped her sleep better than pills ever did. And she can't figure out why everyone her age isn't sharing a joint, too.

"They're missing a lot of fun and a lot of relief," she said.

Politically, advocates for legalizing marijuana say the number of older users could represent an important shift in their decades-long push to change the laws.

"For the longest time, our political opponents were older Americans who were not familiar with marijuana and had lived through the 'Reefer Madness' mentality and they considered marijuana a very dangerous drug," said Keith Stroup, the founder and lawyer of NORML, a marijuana advocacy group.

"Now, whether they resume the habit of smoking or whether they simply understand that it's no big deal and that it shouldn't be a crime, in large numbers they're on our side of the issue."

Each night, 66-year-old Stroup says he sits down to the evening news, pours himself a glass of wine and rolls a joint. He's used the drug since he was a freshman at Georgetown, but many older adults are revisiting marijuana after years away.

"The kids are grown, they're out of school, you've got time on your hands and frankly it's a time when you can really enjoy marijuana," Stroup said. "Food tastes better, music sounds better, sex is more enjoyable."

The drug is credited with relieving many problems of aging: aches and pains, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and so on. Patients in 14 states enjoy medical marijuana laws, but those elsewhere buy or grow the drug illegally to ease their conditions.

Among them is Perry Parks, 67, of Rockingham, N.C., a retired Army pilot who suffered crippling pain from degenerative disc disease and arthritis. He had tried all sorts of drugs, from Vioxx to epidural steroids, but found little success. About two years ago he turned to marijuana, which he first had tried in college, and was amazed how well it worked for the pain.

"I realized I could get by without the narcotics," Parks said, referring to prescription painkillers. "I am essentially pain free."

But there's also the risk that health problems already faced by older people can be exacerbated by regular marijuana use.

Older users could be at risk for falls if they become dizzy, smoking it increases the risk of heart disease and it can cause cognitive impairment, said Dr. William Dale, chief of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

He said he'd caution against using it even if a patient cites benefits.

"There are other better ways to achieve the same effects," he said.

Pete Delany, director of applied studies at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said boomers' drug use defied stereotypes, but is important to address.

"When you think about people who are 50 and older you don't generally think of them as using illicit drugs _ the occasional Hunter Thompson or the kind of hippie dippie guy that gets a lot of press maybe," he said. "As a nation, it's important to us to say, 'It's not just young people using drugs it's older people using drugs.'"

In conversations, older marijuana users often say they smoke in less social settings than when they were younger, frequently preferring to enjoy the drug privately. They say the quality (and price) of the drug has increased substantially since their youth and they aren't as paranoid about using it.

Dennis Day, a 61-year-old attorney in Columbus, Ohio, said when he used to get high, he wore dark glasses to disguise his red eyes, feared talking to people on the street and worried about encountering police. With age, he says, any drawbacks to the drug have disappeared.

"My eyes no longer turn red, I no longer get the munchies," Day said. "The primary drawbacks to me now are legal."

Siegel bucks the trend as someone who was well into her 50s before she tried pot for the first time. She can muster only one frustration with the drug.

"I never learned how to roll a joint," she said. "It's just a big nuisance. It's much easier to fill a pipe."

Is The Tea Party Movement Intentionally Dangerous or Just Misguided?

2010-02-22T00:22:00.000-08:00

I stumbled upon an obscure link in Digg that lead me to this post that really captured my attention. There was a comment by John Gardner whose twitter page is at http://twitter.com/j_gardner

His comments were in regards to the video below, but the first paragraph was about OSHA and it had a real anti-government tone that I believe to be indicitave of the Tea Party people. To be clear, I don't know if Mr.Gardner travels in the Tea Party circles, but I was taken aback by his perception of OSHA. I can only assume that Mr. Gardner either owns a large industrial manufacturing business or if he dosen't, he's just never worked in one. Below is the paragraph that caught my attention.

GARDNER:
"I despise Chris Matthews – he claims that OSHA is there to keep workplaces safe. What Mack should have said is that OSHA isn’t about safety, it’s about control. If a workplace wasn’t safe, NO ONE WOULD WORK THERE. You don’t need a governing body to force businesses to be safe, they’ll do that on their own because they want to attract workers."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I replied to his comment however, it didn't post right away. I can only assume they moderate thier comments which is always annoying. I don't work for OSHA, but I have more then a decade of experience in County Code Inforcement particularly in regards to industrial manufacturing. Below is my reply to Mr. Gardners comment.

J_GARDNER WROTE:

"OSHA isn’t about safety, it’s about control. If a workplace wasn’t safe, NO ONE WOULD WORK THERE. You don’t need a governing body to force businesses to be safe, they’ll do that on their own because they want to attract workers."

MY REPLY:

Oh really? So we should just develop an honor system and hope that company owners and executives will provide a safe work environment for thier employess without any oversight whatsoever? - Really?

Secondly, that fact of the matter is that many people would absolutely work in an unsafe or non-compliant workplace as long as the paychecks keep rolling in, particularly when the job market is lean. It's times just like these where business owners will make up lost revenue by putting off scheduled maintance of machinery, fire supression systems, safety training, turning a blind eye to ISO standards.

You said we don't need a governing body to "force" business to be safe. That is not the purpose of OSHA and more importantly, they shouldn't have to force compliance, but rather enforce compliance. OSHA sets the standard and it's up to the business owner to operate within the standard. The only time a business is forced to comply is when they've been caught operating in violation of health and safety standards.

I'm on my 10th year in County Code Enforcment and you'd be amazed at the level of danger "some" business owners will allow thier employess to operate in. I'm not talking about running out of earplugs or not providing eye protection, or even uncertified forklift operators for that matter. I'm talking about five ton stamping presses with safety guards and fail-safe switches not working or removed entirely.

I don't claim to know what the Tea Party movement is all about, but on the surface, it seems extremely anti-government. I'm all for not being told by the government how many guns I can own, or that my kids have to be taught about sex, morality and other issues at school that really belong at home between children, adolescents and thier parents. But there can never come a day when Government is removed from every aspect of society.

Just what you said in your post is a fine example of what I'm talking about. From my perspective, the Tea Party has a romantic urning for a return to simpiler times back when the constitution was drafted. It's always about or founding fathers and the principils they lived by. While that's a tender notion, it's just not practical. Or founding fathers knew nothing about an industrialized nation or a global economy for that matter. There's a reason why the hands on a clock only travel in one direction. Time moves forward and there is simply no going back.

We are an ever changing society and I suspect that if you could bring back our founding fathers from 1776 to 2010, they would be curled up in the fetal position on the ground from the noise, cars, jet aircraft, not to mention that America now consist of 300,000,000 people of every color, creed, and religion.

Not to be rude or insensitive, but it seems to me that the tea partiers are not afraid of the future, but rather of an overwhelming sense that they are being left behind. Our county has stood strong for over 250 years through bloody revolution, civil war, drought, and at the edge of full scale nuclear war. We have now added bloody terrorism to our national resume. If George Bush couldn't kill it, there's now way some skinny black dude from Chicago is going to kill it either. If our founding fathers have given us anything that has endured the test of time, it's our systems of checks and balances.

In peace time or at war, we are and will always be the greatest country on the planet. We are the land of the free and the home of the brave, not the home of I'm afraid. That seems to be the endless narrative coming from the tea party movement. At least from my perspective it is.

They say "Oh we can't try terrorist in New York, it will make us a target, Obama is making the country unsafe, we have to protect ever square inch of our bordes. For a group of people who invoke religion and tout their christianity every chance they get, I have never seen a group of people so frightened of death.

There are more than 300,000,000 people in the country. Why do you think these terrorist pussies get in air planes and fly them into buildings, or blow up American embassys on the other side of the globe. Do you think they would have the balls to put on a uniform, pick up a rifel and march in formation down mainstreet USA like our soldiers do down the God Damn streets of Bhagdad? - No they don't!

You won't see a wave terrorist invading our country and landing on the shores of our opposit coastlines. They know better! - They'd never make it off the fucking sand along in California coast or even to the boardwalk at Coney Island on the east coast. And it won't be or military alone that they have to worry about. In this country, we have the right to bear arms and guess what Bubba? - I'm armed to the fucking teeth and I'm not the only one and they know it. With our military spread out all over the world and in two wars in the middle east, they still don't come to us in the numbers that we go to them...No Country has and I suspect that no country ever will.

Sadly, we seem to be caught up in our racial, religious, and economic differances that it would take something like a full blown military invasion to cure us of what has been ailing us for decades in this country. I'm telling you if that day ever came where it was us against them right here in our own front yard with our freedom and liberty really hanging in the balance, all of that bullshit would disappear in a second.

It won't matter if you're Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Gay, Straight, Blind, Crippled, or Fucking Crazy! - All that will matter is "are you an American" and if so come on then! - Lock & Load. That's why it drives me nuts when I hear people saying that Obama wants to abolish the 2nd ammendment and confiscate everyones guns. Sooner or later, we're going to have to stop all of this anti-government nonsense. We need to forge ahead as a county, as a society no matter how frightening or uncertian it may seem to some. There is no going back! - Not now, not ever!

That's my two cents.

Chico Brisbane

How Much Longer Before Glenn Beck Has Sponsor His Own Show?

2010-02-21T10:46:00.000-08:00

How Much Longer Before Glenn Beck Will Have To Sponsor His Own Show? - Some People Say.......

Below is a list of sponsors that have pulled their ads from The Glenn Beck Show. Many people are wondering if Beck has had to resort to partally sponsoring his own show out of pocket. While Beck portrays the Tea Party and 9/12 Project membersip to represent mainstream America, if not a majority, you'd think that shear numbers such as that could lobby advertisers on his behalf and encourage them not to pull their sponsership.

Obviously they cannot and it just may be that it's not a matter of numbers, it's a matter of rallying these people to do something other then participating in a flash mob with their hateful picket signs in tow.

The sponsors listed in red are among those that I personally did verifiable business with. There is a big difference between calling up a sponser and saying "Oh please don't drop your ads from The Glenn Beck Show" and calling them up and saying here is my policy number, my credit card number, my bank account number, my store discount number, etc and presenting them with a verifiable loss of revenue for their association with a total fucking loonatic.

In spite of it costing me a few bucks here and there, I made it clear that my actions were simply a boycott and wether the loss of revenue being temporary or perminent was up to them. They got the message.

Airmiles.co.uk (added 10/20/09)
Allergan (added 8/17/09)
Allstate Insurance (added 2/16/10) (statement)
Ally Bank/GMAC Financial Services (added 8/17/09)
Alpro Soya (added 01/11/10) (statement)
AmMed Direct (added 10/6/09)
Ancestry.com (added 8/24/09)
Anheuser-Busch (added 2/16/10) (statement)
Applebee’s (added 8/27/09)
Ashley Furniture (added 8/28/09)
AT&T (added 8/24/09)
Bank of America (added 8/25/09)
Bell & Howell (added 8/27/09)
Best Buy (added 8/17/09)
Best Western (added 2/5/10) (statement)
Binder & Binder (added 9/2/09)
Blaine Labs (anti-fungal & scar treatments) (added 8/24/09)
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals (added 2/16/10) (statement)
Brez (anti-snoring strips) by Airware Inc. (added 8/21/09)
British Airways (added 12/14/09)
Broadview Security (added 8/17/09)
Brother International Corp. (added 2/16/10) (statement)
Campbell’s Soup Co. (added 8/24/09)
Capital One (added 9/2/09)
Celsius (added 2/16/10) (statement)
Citrix Online (added 10/6/09)
Clorox (added 8/23/09)
Closing.com (Closing Corp.) (added 8/28/09) (read statement here)
Concord Music Group (Hear Music) (added 10/6/09)
CVS (added 8/17/09)
Dannon Co. (added 9/2/09)
Diageo (Guinness, Cuervo, Baileys’, etc) (added 10/5/09)
DirecTV (added 8/27/09)
Discover (added 9/2/09)
DITECH (added 8/24/09)
EggLands Best (added 9/21/09)
Elations Co. (added 8/24/09)
Equifax (added 10/6/09)
Eulactol USA (maker of Flexitol) (added 10/6/09)
Farmers Insurance Group
FreeCreditReport.com/Experian (added 8/24/09)
GEICO
General Mills (added 8/27/09)
George Foreman Cooking (added 2/20/10) (statement)
GetARoom.com (added 10/6/09)
GlaxoSmithKline (added 1/12/10) (statement)
Healthy Choice (owned by CongAgra)
History Channel (added 11/11/09)
Hoffman La Roche (maker of Boniva) (added 10/6/09)
Honda (added 1/31/10) (statement)
HSBC (added 9/2/09)
Humana (added 9/14/09)
ICAN Benefit Group Insurance (added 9/2/09)
Idaho Potato Commission (added 2/16/10) (statement)
Infiniti (added 9/2/09)
Intersections Inc. (added 2/16/10)
ING DIRECT (added 01/07/09) (statement)
Jack Daniels (added 12/28/09)
Jelmar (CLR cleaner manufacturer) (added 9/2/09)
Johnson & Johnson (added 8/24/09)
Jordan McKenna Debt Counseling Network (added 9/2/09)
KRAFT Foods (added 8/20/09) (read statement here)
KRAFT Foods (UK) (added 11/13/09)
Lawyers.com (owned by LexisNexis)
Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School (added 2/16/10) (statement)
Lowe’s (added 8/24/09)
Luxottica Retail (parent company of Pearle & LensCrafters) (added 9/14/09)
Mars (maker of Snickers, M&Ms, Pedigree, etc..) (added 10/20/09) (read statement here)
Marriott International (added 2/16/10) (statement)
Men’s Wearhouse
Mercedes-Benz (added 9/2/09)
Metropolitan Talent Management (added 10/6/09)***
Natwest (UK) (added 12/11/09)
Nestle (added 11/23/09)
NutriSystem (added 8/24/09)
ooVoo (added 10/6/09)
Overture Films (added 10/6/09)
Premier Foods (UK) (added 11/18/09)
Premier Inn (UK) (added 12/20/09)
Procter & Gamble
Progressive Insurance
PUIG Beauty (added 12/14/09)
Radio Shack
Re-Bath (added 8/17/09)
Reckitt Benckiser (UK) (added 12/04/09)
Regions Financial Corporation (added 8/27/09)
Republic of Macedonia (added 2/16/10) (statement)
Roche *
S.C. Johnson
SAM (Store and Move) (added 8/27/09)
Sanofi-Aventis
Sargento Cheese
Scarguard (added 10/6/09)
Schiff Nutrition (maker of Tiger’s Milk & Fi-Bar) (added 10/6/09)
Seoul Metropolitan Government (added 10/6/09)
Simplex Healthcare (Diabetes Care Club) (added 9/2/09)
Sprint (added 8/23/09)
StarKist (tuna) (added 2/8/10) (statement)
State Farm Insurance
Subaru (added 10/6/09)
Sylvan Learning (added 2/20/10) (statement)
Tesco (added 12/19/09)
Toyota-Lexus USA (added 10/6/09) / Toyota (GB) (added 2/3/10) (statement)
Travelers Insurance (added 8/27/09)
Travelocity
UPS (added 8/23/09)
United Healthcare (added 2/16/10) (statement)
United States Postal Service (added 9/14/09)
US Fidelis (added 2/16/10) (statement)
Verizon Wireless (added 8/21/09)
Virgin Atlantic (added 01/08/10)
Vonage (added 8/24/09)
Volkswagen (added 2/16/10)
Waitrose (added 10/4/09) **
Walmart (added 8/17/09)
Weight Watchers (added 2/20/10) (statement)
Western Union (added 2/16/10)
Woodland Power Products (added 10/6/09)
Wyeth Consumer Healthcare (added 9/14/09)

Here is a list of his 20 remaining sponsers with phone numbers should you like to give some of them a call. You can rest assured that even a loss of all sponsers will not result in the cancellation of Beck's show. It simply proves that the real majority of mainstream Americans do not subscribe to Beck's crazy talk nor do they respond to his wing-nut dog whistle. It's that simple.

American Advisors Group
@aagreverse
info@aagreverse.com
1-800-850-1356

American Petroleum Institute
@janevanryan @EnergyTomorrow
Contact Form
202-682-8000

Carbonite
david.friend@carbonite.com
1-877-665-4466

Chattem Inc.
Contact Form
423-821-4571

Consumer Debt Advocate
1-800-258-0973

Dish Network
@dishnetwork
Ira.Bahr@echostar.comPhil.Klein@echostar.comTammy.Timmons@echostar.com

FreeScore
@creditsquirrel
rob@mediafirstpr.com

Goldline
@goldline
info@goldline.com
1-877-376-2646

IRSTaxAgreements.com
1-888-550-1540

Lifelock
mike@lifelock.commarketing@lifelock.com
480-682-5100

Merit Financial

Rosland Capital

Sokolove Law
@andersekman @SokoloveSuccess
info@sokolovelaw.com

State of Utah
@TravelUtah
travel@utah.gov
1-800-200-1160

Sun Setter Retractable Awnings
jonathan@sunsetter.com
1-800-876-2340

Tax Masters
@GoTaxMasters
info@txmstr.com

Zero Technologies (Zero Water)
customerservice@zerowater.comzeroteam@jbcumberland.com
1-800-503-2939

Stimulus Creates 150,000 Jobs In California

2010-02-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

Obama's Stimulus and Recovery Act created 150,000 jobs for unemployed Californians in addition to thousands of jobs saved that would have otherwise resulted in layoff and eliminated positions. Today on ABC’s This Week, host Terry Moran noted the Republican Party’s staunch opposition to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that Congress passed last year and added that “it was summed up by Mitt Romney at the CPAC convention this week.” “[President Obama] scared employers,” Romney said. “So jobs were scarce.

His nearly trillion dollar stimulus created not one net new job in the private sector.” In response to Romney's disconnect with reality, Republican California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called out the GOP for thier wanton hypocrisy:

SCHWARZENEGGER: I find it interesting that you have a lot of Republicans running around pushing back on the stimulus money and saying this doesn’t create any new jobs. Then they go out and they do the photo ops and they’re posing with the big checks and they say, “Isn’t this great?”

Schwarzenegger then railed against his GOP colleagues for playing politics with the stimulus bill and attacked them for claiming it didn’t create jobs:

SCHWARZENEGGER: Anyone that says it hasn’t created a job, they should talk to the 150,000 people that have been getting jobs in California.
MORAN: In the private sector?

SCHWARZENEGGER: In the private sector and from the public sector. … So I’m happy that we got this money. I’m happy that we have put 150,000 people to work and there will be more people that are put to work because of it.
Watch it:

Throughout the past year, many GOP members of Congress who voted against the stimulus have been touting the money that it has delivered to their states or districts. From one side of thier mouth, they paint the stimulus as a failure and from the other side of their mouth they offer a few ambigous words while delivering large cardboard checks to municipalities at home as if they somehow took part in the process that made the much needed funds a reality.

A new research report released last week found that over half of the Republican caucus — 110 lawmakers from the House and Senate — are guilty of this stimulus hypocrisy.

DEA Raids Marijuana Lab

2010-02-21T02:50:00.000-08:00

DEA Raids Marijuana Lab

Last week's DEA raid of Genovations, a Colorado Springs medical marijuana laboratory, was the second time in recent weeks that the agency had swooped in on a lab that had applied for a license in an attempt to prove its forthrightness and responsibility; the same scenario played out in January at Full Spectrum Laboratories.

But these searches and seizures were mere prelude to the Friday arrest of Chris Bartkowicz, who had created a marijuana grow in the basement of his Highlands Ranch home. His invitation to the DEA? A story on 9News that appears to have embarrassed authorities so much that they decided to punish Bartkowicz for his willingness to bring his story up from the underground.

Medical marijuana advocates have denounced these arrests, arguing that they violate the spirit of an October memorandum from Deputy U.S. Attorney General David Ogden stating that the Justice Department should defer to states that have legalized medical marijuana -- a policy decried by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, among others.

Just over a week ago, a man named Chris Bartkowicz in Highlands Ranch, Colorado made a questionable (at best) PR move. He agreed to be interviewed by a local television station about his medical marijuana grow operation. Granted, he believed he was in compliance with state law and had no reason to fear prosecution. But, come on, dude. It’s one thing to make six figures growing marijuana in your home for patients; it’s quite another to advertise it on television. It’s like putting a "Home Invasions Encouraged" sign on your door.

What Bartkowicz wasn’t expecting – if he was really thinking things through at all – was that the DEA would show up the next day at his house, take all of his plants, and forward his case to the U.S. Attorney, who subsequently filed charges carrying a 5- to 40-year prison sentence. This, despite the fact that the Obama administration has instructed U.S. Attorneys not to prosecute individuals who comply with state medical marijuana laws.

Was Bartkowicz in compliance with state law? Maybe yes, maybe no. By the DEA’s admission, he was a caregiver for at least 12 patients, which would allow him to have 72 marijuana plants. The complaint – available on this page as a pdf – alleges that he had 224 plants, more than 100 of which were "clones" or "starter" plants; the others were "in various stages with root systems." So what we are talking about here is a matter of degree. If someone can legally grow marijuana for patients, but exceeds the allowable number – perhaps for fear that some plants would not mature or perhaps because they felt more patients would need help before the plants matured – is it an intelligent use of taxpayer dollars to raid, prosecute and imprison this person for 40 years?

The truth is, as discussed in my last column, the DEA is not concerned with using taxpayer dollars intelligently. They are merely focused on using taxpayer dollars. Cases like this demonstrate that they are no better than ambulance-chasing lawyers. They see an "accident" on television and they run like two-dollar hookers to keep themselves busy and make a couple bucks. Why waste your time investigating people manufacturing meth when you can look up a medical marijuana grower on the Internet (which the DEA acknowledges in their complaint was a major part of their "investigation") and raid his house?

And now the media is even helping the DEA advertise for clients. Inciting fears of possible house fires from marijuana growing, the DEA has launched a new campaign to fight this "menace." In addition to dutifully reporting on this "danger," the media helped steer business to the DEA by publishing this advice from George Morkovin, of the Denver Fire Department:

Morkovin said additional regulations are needed to protect residents from these marijuana fires, but until that happens, he recommends notifying authorities if someone believes a grow is taking place next door.

How convenient. With this information, the DEA won’t even need to waste time looking up an address. They can just use Google Maps and they’re on their way. They no longer deserve to be called the Drug Enforcement Administration. They are simply the Drug Employment Administration, keeping themselves busy by raiding people who are not raising the ire of state authorities, but are merely trying to cultivate marijuana so that there is an adequate supply for the tens of thousands of registered patients in the state.

Fortunately, we have rock star advocates like Brian Vincente of Sensible Colorado calling out the DEA and the U.S. Attorney on their true motivations. (This is just one quote from Vicente in an interview in which he simply shreds law enforcement):

"I think the U.S. Attorney and the DEA view marijuana laws as a continuing employment act. It gives them something to do, and they’re afraid that if they were to recognize the will of the voters, they’d be out of work. So I question the motivation for prosecuting these kinds of individuals. I think it’s driven by their own need for job security."

Rachel Maddow goes to CPAC

2010-02-21T02:24:00.000-08:00

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow at CPAC this week — heck, just saying that much tells you this is going to be a good one. But here’s a teaser — Rachel and Liz Cheney, in the flesh, in the same frame.
Next up: Jonathan Turley appeared on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann to discuss the U.S. Department of Justice OPR report. The Office of Professional Responsibility found that Bush Administration attorneys John Yoo and Jay Bybee were not guilty of misconduct, only bad judgment in their legal work supporting the use of torture on detainees as part of euphemistically labeled "enhanced interrogation techniques."

Read More »

Down Syndrome Actress Andrea Fay Friedman Rebukes Palin

2010-02-21T02:18:00.000-08:00

Part of the importance of Palin's facebook writer lashing out in the names of Palin and one of her daughters this past week being countered by the real actress behind a voice on a cartoon show, is that once again, Palin's treatment of Trig, before and after he was born, needs to be far more closely scrutinized than has been the case.

Read More »

Democrats Will Pass Health Care Within 60 Days

2010-02-21T02:16:00.000-08:00

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Democrats will finish their health reform efforts within the next two months, The Hill reports.

Reid also confirmed that Democrats "would likely opt for a procedural tactic in the Senate allowing the upper chamber to make final changes to its healthcare bill with only a simple majority of senators, instead of the 60 it takes to normally end a filibuster."

Said Reid: "I've had many conversations this week with the president, his chief of staff, and Speaker Pelosi. And we're really trying to move forward on this."

Fox News' Gag Order Re: O'Keefe Wiretap Case Pending Federal Indictment

2010-01-28T04:27:00.000-08:00

As this political espionage case unfolds, the prime mover is James O’Keefe — the young conservative activist with a history for this type of illegal activity. Last year O'Keefe and a female accomplice posed as pimp and prostitute and secretly recorded videotape of conversations between themselves and employees at an ACORN office in Pennsylvania.

State Law prohibits recording or videotaping a person without thier concent. Nevertheless, immediately following O'Keefe's previous undercover calamity at ACORN, Fox News nearly pulled a groin muscle circling the wagons around O'Keefe and his female accomplice. Beck and fellow Fox host Sean Hannity promoted O'Keefe's videos and openly scolded the media for ignoring them.

Now it's Fox News that's doing the ignoring. Now that O'Keefe has graduated from violating state law to violating federal law, Fox is not so quick to circle the wagons this time around. During thier shows last night, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Bill O'Reilly didn't utter a peep about this up and coming "G. Gordon Liddy" wannbe.

Now to be "Fair & Balanced" - On his radio show today, Fox News host Glenn Beck condemned James O’Keefe's actions and I have to say, he didn't hold back. It just leaves me wondering why Beck wouldn't use his highly rated cable show at Fox News to opine in the same manner that he did on his radio program. I suspect that it wasn't Beck's decision to make.

BECK: If they were doing that — that’s Watergate. Insanely stupid and illegal. … I haven’t heard his side, but you don’t do anything illegal, that’s Watergate territory. You just don’t do that. And besides that I don’t think you go dressed up —I mean it’s a senator. For the love of Pete, it’s a senator.
CO-HOST: First of all, it’s different than an ACORN office. Because you’re talking about a U.S. senator here! [...]

BECK: It’s exactly the same thing I said for the state dinner. You must not allow — the Secret Service must come down on these peoples in the White House like a box of rocks. You don’t do anything to hurt security for the president or for a senator or anybody else. You don’t mess around with it. Ever, ever, ever, ever. … We have enough [evidence] to, I believe, condemn.

Listen here:

Fox reporter Tim Gaughan tried to downplay the news yesterday, saying, “[It's a] very weird story that probably needs a lot of context and a lot of looking into.” I think that when anyone walks into a federal building posing as someone else, particularly posing a public utility worker or some other profession for the purpose of validating their presence, there is not alot of looking into or context required to conclude that there is a news story here.

Regardless of what they hoped to do to or learn about the phone system in Sen. Landrieu's office, these men do not understand the seriousness of what they have already admitted to the FBI. It is against the law to enter a federal building under false pretenses and O'Keefe has already admitted that to the FBI without having ever read Sections 1036 and 1362 of Title 18:

Whoever willfully or maliciously injures or destroys any of the works, property, or material of any radio, telegraph, telephone or cable, line, station, or system, or other means of communication, operated or controlled by the United States, or used or intended to be used for military or civil defense functions of the United States, whether constructed or in process of construction, or willfully or maliciously interferes in any way with the working or use of any such line, or system, or willfully or maliciously obstructs, hinders, or delays the transmission of any communication over any such line, or system, or attempts or conspires to do such an act, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

If Beck, Hannity, and O'Reilly worked at The Food Channel and hosted cooking shows, that would be one thing. But when you host political cable programs for a cable news network, covering a story about wiretapping the offices of a United States Senator cannot be overlooked. Well.....is suppose it can be overlooked since this is a free country. But please don't get all defensive and stomp your feet when people question the ligitimacy of your network as a reliable source for news and information.

CORRECTION: "But please don't get all defensive and stomp your feet when people discover that you network is not a reliable source for news and information." ANY QUESTIONS?

- Chico Brisbane

State Rep. Proposes Marijuana Sales In Liquor Stores

2009-12-30T07:18:00.001-08:00

Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, a Seattle Democrat who is sponsoring the legalization bill in Washington state, said that she "wanted to start a strong conversation about the pros and cons of legalizing marijuana."

Under her bill, marijuana would be sold in Washington state's 160 state-run liquor stores, and customers, 21 and older, would pay a tax of 15 percent per gram. The measure would dedicate most of the money raised for substance abuse prevention and treatment, which is facing potential cuts in the state budget. Dickerson said the measure could eventually bring in as much to state coffers as alcohol does, more than $300 million a year.

Fox News Karl Rove Criticize Obama's Response

2009-12-30T06:41:00.000-08:00

Once again The Fox News Channel calls upon former Bush White House adviser Karl Rove to offer a selective memory analsys about President Barack Obama's response to the failed bombing abord an airliner bound for Detroit on Christmas Day. Most laughable was that Rove's outrage that Obama waited 72 hours before making his first public statement regarding the incident. Rove's spin might garner high-fives around the trailer parks where Fox Viewers gather around their bootleg satallite hookups, he seems to have forgotten that on December 22, 2001 during Bush's watch, Richard Reid who is infamously known as the show bomber - failed in his attempt to blow up a Miama bound jet with explosives hidden in his shoe. This was just 4 months after the Bush Administration ignored credible intelligance that became a gree light for the September 11th Trade Center attact. Nevertheless, President Bush did not directly address the foiled plot for 6 days and you can't help wondering that if Rove thinks that 72 hours was too long for Obama to respond. What in the hell were Rove and Bush doing all God Damn day that it took nearly a frickin' week before Bush got around to making a public statment on the foiled shoe bomber incident.

With Fox News trying to high-jack Time-Warner Cable by seeking an increace in fees of up to 300% - The lack of other cable networks asking for anything close to that, it's obvious that these fee increases are a direct result of the damage that Glenn Beck has done by driving advertisers away from his bi-polar, racist, hate speech. I've written Time Warner a letter authorizing them to increase my single cable bill by 300% if they'll just drop Fox Cable Network and their local affiliets. I would gladly pay
$267 per month to see that happen. Hopefully I'm not alone.

Audi Commercial Trashes Christmas & Jesus

2009-11-25T03:32:00.000-08:00

I sent the following e-mail off to Audi a week after seeing this commercial. I'm not sure what they were thinking, but I'm sure that many were offended .

I still have not recieved a response. I'm sure one will be along sooner or later. Maybe I should have attached the video too.

Audi of America, Inc.
2200 Ferdinand Porche Drive
Herndon, VA. 20171
USA

1-800-822-2834 (AUDI)

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to you in regards to the most offensive television commercial that I have ever seen. Many companies spend more advertising dollars during Christmas to produce television ads specifically for the holiday season. I am not one of those who is opposed to the commercialization of the Christmas and New Year holiday season because after all, we are a capitalist society.

I get it, I understand that. Some commercials are funny, charming, serious, and thought provoking, yet all are designed to promote the product or service of the advertiser. Coca-Cola, Campbell's Soup, McDonalds, and Hallmark Cards are just a few examples of corporate advertisers that do a good job of producing funny, charming, serious, and though provoking holiday commercials that celebrate Christmas first while similtaniously promoting thier products as an afterthought.

So, your commercial plays upon the timeless compitition between neighbors to have a better Christmas light display and that's funny and charming! - You where off to a good start up to that point. However, where your commercial took a shocking, sudden, and hateful turn when one neighbor decided not to put up a single Christmas light. In lieu of taking part in the celebration of the birth of baby Jesus by displaying Christmas lights, you suggest buying an Audi and simply turning on the headlights in your driveway.

At the conclusion of the commercial, a robotic monotone voice asserts that the best lights in the neighborhood are not those that families spend hours together decorationg their homes, but rather the headlights of an Audi vehicle.

Really? - If you really love Jesus, you won't waste time decorating your house with your family. You can just go and buy an Audi and park it in your driveway with the headlights turned on. Afterall, according to your commercial, this is what it will take to "Have the best lights in the neighborhood."

I hope you will understand where your commercial went terribly wrong. I'm not sure what the intent of your commercial was, but it was not funny or charming. If anything, it was thought provoking and not in a good way.

GOOD JOB! - If your advertising agency has any other bright ideas, it might behoove you to review them for hidden messages before they hit the airwaves.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Years

Chico Brisbane.

P.S. What Would Jesus Drive?

Fox News Chris Wallace Spins CBO Report Like A Top

2009-11-23T03:06:00.000-08:00

This morning on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace selectively quoted the Congressional Budget Office analysis of the merged Senate legislation to suggest that the Senate health legislation would increase government outlays on health care over 20 years and bend the cost-cure upward:

WALLACE: According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, federal outlays for health care would increase during the 2010-2019 period and the government-run health insurance plan would typically have premiums that were somewhat higher than the average premiums for the private plan.

So here’s the question. The Democratic plan by the CBO’s own scoring fails to bend the famous health care cost curve at all over the course of these 10 years, and could you name a single Congress that has ever cut Medicare by half a trillion dollars as this legislation would?

Page 16 of the CBO report does predict that “federal outlays for health care would increase during the 2010-2019 period,” but the last paragraph of that same page adds that “during the decade following the 10-year budget window, the increases and decreases in the federal budgetary commitment to health care stemming for this legislation would roughly balance out, so that there would be no significant change in the commitment.”

As Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) pointed out, the $848 billion bill would actually “save $130 billion in the first 10 years” and $650 billion in the next decade. Over on the Wonk Room, Igor Volsky debunks Wallace’s other claims about the bill failing to “bend the famous health care cost curve” and whether previous sessions of Congress ever cut Medicare.