Medical Marijuana Patient Released From Prison Pending Appeal

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John Wilson was freed from Southern State Prison on $15,000 bail Thursday. Earlier this week, a court ruled he could be released while he appeals his drug conviction.

As he left prison, the 37-year-old was more concerned with getting a shave and a haircut than a joint.
New Jersey lawmakers have adopted a medical marijuana law set to take effect Aug. 1.

"Whenever they open the program, I would register and abide by the law," Wilson said. "You know what I mean."

Wilson, 37, was convicted last year of manufacturing marijuana and possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Last month, he was sentenced to five years in prison. His case is a prime example for medical marijuana advocates of how the system now gets these cases wrong. Even under New Jersey's law, patients will not be allowed to grow their own pot. They'll have to get it through state-authorized treatment centers.

Wilson argues the judge in his trial in Somerset County last December erred by not allowing him to enter evidence about his medical condition or tell jurors that he was using pot to treat it.
He says the pot plants growing in the yard of the home he rented in Franklin Township were only for his own use.

As he emerged from prison around 1:30 p.m. Thursday, his bleach blond hair was shaggier than he'd like and he was bearded — to his mother's consternation. He said the prison razors hurt his face too much to shave. Wilson said prison was "scary" but that aside from some muscle spasms, his health was OK while he was in custody.

He said he was due to begin receiving his traditional MS drugs on Friday, but declined. When he's free on bail, he said, he can't afford to pay the $3,000-a-month cost.

Police Captain Says Legalize All Drugs

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I've heard some in the the Law Enforcement community say that marijuana should be legalized, but never have I heard a cop say fuck it! - Legalize all drugs. In the video below, Retired Police Captain Peter Christ talks to News 13 about the need to legalize and regulate drugs.

He makes a good point about how you can buy many drugs including morphine over the counter in Mexico. Yet the shootouts aren't happening in front of Mexican drug stores, they're happening here in the United States where these drugs are not only sold in the underground black markets, but on street corners by teenagers.


If we take an historic look back on the days of prohibition, those opposed to making alcohol legal said that everyone would become alcoholics. Of course that didn't happen so it makes sense that the legalization of marijuana in the United States won't turn everyone into pot heads. Besides, has anyone ever O.D.'d on marijuana? - Is it even possible. I suppose you could if you really tried, but that's a shit load of weed you'll need to smoke to kill yourself.



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Sarah Palin Shares Her Immigration Policy Experience On Fox News

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Have you ever been to an elementary school talent show and listened to a child sing so badly that you cringe at the noise coming from thier mouth? -- That's what it's like to watch Alaska's half-term former Governor Sarah Palin trying to make a point while sharing her pearls of wisdom on Fox News.

Was there not a single person available more knowledgable on the subject of immigration from a historical, as well as a current day standpoint? I'm sure there must have been, but I suppose you couldn't spin a topic Fox News style if you're discussing the issue with someone that knows what in the hell they are talking about.


Where is Sarah Palin's immigration policy experience? - Is it up there in the thin air where she keeps her foreign policy experience? - Is that it? -- Because she can see the border between Russia from Alaska from land in Alaska she's suddenly an expert on immigration. -- Really? -- I can see Mt. Baldy from my kitchen window, but that doesn't make me a mountian climber! -- So far the only conclusion that I can draw from the conservative talking points on "border security" is that Mexican's are smarter then Russians and Canadians? - Or the issue of "border security" only refers to the Mexican border and not those other borders between us and our fair complected neighbors to the north. Therefore, as far as Fox News is concerned -- "border security" only refers to the border between The United States and Mexico and the term "illegal immigrant" only refers to Mexicans.

As with all of Palin's tee-vee appearances, she tosses out a few buzz words about the topic at hand, but uses the majority of the segment to blast President Obama not for the bullshit she tries to claim, but to retaliate for the electorial bitch slapping he gave to her and John McCain back in 2008 -- This is textbook behavior for Sarah "The Retaliator" Palin. Just ask Trooper Wooten, or former Alaska Safety Comissioner Walter Monaghan, or the libraian back in Wasilla, or Levi Johnston. Ask anyone who has either questioned her authority, caught her in a lie, caused her any embarrassment due to no fault of thier own, or compeated against her and won. That's the sore spot that get's her bi-polar disorder enflamed like a scortching case of genital herpes. It's her strike zone and if your in it, she can't help herself. She has no choice but to attack regardless of how transparent her ture motives are.

Watch her and Sean Hannity try to get somebody to believe that a law that effects only one racial segment of society can be facilitated without racial profiling. That's like telling a dog catcher to go out and round up just the Chihuahua's, but you can't just stop an animal because it looks like a Chihuahua, or because it barks like a Chihuahua. You gotta catch it digging through trash cans first or trying to bite the postman. Then you can do whatever is necessary to determine that it is infact a Chihuahua and not someones licensed pet. If Arizona law enforcement officers are going to investigate citizenship or resident alien status of individuals already "suspected" of criminal activity, they are already mandated to optain valid identification from all persons detained regardless if they are booked into custody, or released with or without a citation.

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Texas Cops searching for Dallas man who decapitated his wife with chain saw.

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DALLAS— A manhunt is underway for 49-year old Jose Fernando Corona who disappeared after calling his daughter Carla Corona, 23, and her husband, Freddie Arellano to say he "had done it, he had killed her and was going to drag her body next door," according to the affidavit.

Maria Corona's body was found around 11 a.m. Monday by a postal worker outside the family's one-story brick home in Lewisville, which is located about 25 miles outside Dallas, authorities said.

Police arrived at the home after receiving a frantic 911 call from the mail carrier, and found a trail of blood from the body to the home, according to a search warrant affidavit. Two chain saws with blades covered in blood were found on the tailgate of a pickup truck in the driveway. One of the chain saws was still running, the affidavit said.

Police said an arrest warrant has been issued for Jose Fernando Corona, charging him with the murder of his wife.

"Witnesses in the neighborhood did hear a chain saw running, but that was all they heard," Lewisville police Capt. Kevin Deaver said. "It was an extremely gruesome scene. The method of death was brutal."

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner released autopsy results Wednesday that said Maria Corona was alive when she was decapitated. The cause of death was multiple chain saw injuries "due to assault by another person."

Jose Corona has no prior criminal history, Deaver said. Police, who declined to release the postal worker's 911 call, had never responded before to the home for any type of disturbance.

Police, noting that Jose Corona had friends and family across the state and Mexico, have asked state and federal authorities for help locating him.

He was last seen driving a gold-colored 1991 Ford Ranger pickup truck, which police said he stole from a car dealership after taking it for a test drive about three hours after the killing.

The Toyota SUV police believe Corona left his home in was found Wednesday abandoned in a parking lot in Bedford, a Fort Worth suburb. Police said they were getting a search warrant for the vehicle.

Dear President Obama: Incase I haven't said so lately, Thank You!

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Dear President Obama: Incase I haven't said so lately, Thank You!

Can we just take 10 minutes out of our busy lives to thank President Obama for stabalizing an economy that was in free-fall when he took office? -- Can we be thankfull to still have a thriving auto industry that had already been written off as a lost cause when President Obama took office? --

Can we now appreciate the value of programs like "Cash For Clunkers" that were reported by some in the conservative media as just another liberal handout. At the time, Fox News painted a narrative about the sudden downfall of the American auto industry as being due to poor craftsmanship, while totally ignoring the impact of the credit crisis.

How many folks went out and bought a Toyota due in part to The Fox News spin on the topic? - Perhaps watching Fox News is becomming alot like driving a Toyata....It's kind of fun and amusing at first, but not so much when you realize that you can't make it stop...

Anyway, Thank you President Obama for a job well done under such extraordinary circumstances. I am now more enthusiastic about President Obama being re-elected to a second term than I was in getting him elected in the first place. That is very extraordinary enthusiasm if I say so myself.


- Chico Brisbane

CLASSIC: Fox News Spins False Story, Then Spins Retraction

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Fox News runs a report with chyron test reading REPORT: GOVT BURIED INFO ON HC OVERHAUL INCREASING COST.

Megyn Kelly spins a false narrative about healthcare cost, but then sources an anonymous blog post on The American Spectator's Washington Prowler Blog which claimed that the Department of Health and Human Services had a CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) report a full week before the healthcare vote, but "buried" the info until after the vote.

Megyn Kelly and Brett Baier reported on what was as best a "What If?" scenario as if it were breaking news. The first video sets the scene for the second. In the first video, Kelly and Baier pause as few times to report that what they are reporting is "an unconfirmed report" from an anonymous blogger.

Once that's out of the way, they proceede to speculate on whom knew what and when they knew it. By the end of the "report" the average viewer would be left with the impression that everything they had just speculated upon had already happened and that a trail of bread crumbs seems to be heading in the direction of The White House.

The second video is of Megyn Kelly and Brett Baier reporting that the American Spectator report was incorrect and untrue. However, Megyn Kelly misleads once again by introducing Brett Beir into the segment by saying that he has "just gotten off the phone with the man who wrote that report" leading viewers to believe she is referring to the anonymous blogger. Brett Baier then recounts his conversation with the chief actuary of CMS, Richard S. Foster, who wrote the actual CMS report, not the B.S. blog post that Fox News sourced in it's original story inspite of The Washington Prowler's history of printing dubious, anonymously sourced claims.

It's a classic Fox News M.O. of shaping the news even if they have to latch onto an unsubstantiated source to get the narrative rolling in the minds of Americans. It's just one more example how Fox is as ligitimate of a news source as Joe is a licensed plumber.

VIDEO ONE: "An Uncomfirmed Source Says..."




VIDEO TWO: "Unconfirmed Source Incorrect - Oops, Our Bad!"

Gretchen Carlson Debunks Federal Income Tax Reform

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Gretchen Carlson uses "tax day" to interview Libertarian author Wayne Allyn Root about his plan to abolish Federal Income Tax. The chyrons on the lower 1/3 of the screen are already buzzing with questions marks.

Gretchen:

"Well it's tax day of course but with nearly 47% of households not paying -- ANY! --Federal Income Tax, is it possible to consider abolishing them altogether? Our next guest says he has a realistic, federal plan that would get rid of Federal Income Tax forever. You know, I want to talk to this guy. Wayne Allen Root (sic) how in the heck do you eliminate Federal Income Tax. Tell me how we do it."

Wayne Allyn Root:

Well...first of all, let me start with the definition. It's not greedy to want to keep more of you're own money, it's greedy to ask governmant and the IRS at gunpoint and under the threat of prison to steal it from other who earn it and redistribute it to others. That's the definition of greed. So, my goal is to try to allow people to keep more of thier own money. And the people I am talking about are the tax payers, the small business owners, the people that earn the money in the first place. I am diametrically opposed to my old college classmate Barack Obama who seems to think you take it from the people that work all day to earn it and re-distribute it to those who couldn't care less and sit on the couch and watch Oprah all day."

Root gave a few examples like copying Hong kong with thier 16% flat tax, and eliminating all capital gains tax. He also suggested a "national sales tax" that would completely iliminate federal income tax. Root boasted how tax system emulated his hometown.

"That emulates the State of Nevada where I live, which has been the most sucessful economy and the fastest growing over the last quarter of a century in all the United States."

However, I'm not sure if Mr. Root is aware that Nevada holds the record for the highest rate of bankruptcy filings per capata. What this emulates is a consentrated segment of society where folks got caught up in a falsley percieved notion of thier regionally booming economy. They took extraordinary risk and like Wallstreet, were looking the wrong God Damn way when trouble showed up!

When Root got down to his most dramatic idea, which he called a "States Rights Taxplan" that would eliminate all Federal Taxes. He explained to Gretchen Carlson how taxes are collected at the State level and each state files Federal Taxes and the returns are assign to each state based on population. The concept behind the bright idea was to make the State responsible for collecting those taxes, but doing so in any way they see fit. For example an income tax, a sales tax, or a flat tax. He said that way, people can live in a state that handles taxes in a way that is most beneficial to them.

"How about that? - how simple is that? - Instead of 150 million taxpayers, we only have 50 tax payers in the whole United States, our 50 states. I think that's a constitutional tax plan."

If these federal tax dollars are going to be returned back to the States based on population, someone needs to tell Michelle Bachmann and pretty much everyone over at Fox News to stop talking shit about the God Damn Census. I can already hear Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity telling thier viewers how patriotic it is to fill out your Census in a timely mannor and how not doing so emboldens our enemies.

And as for Glenn Beck...... I can imagine Glenn Beck telling his wackadoodle viewers how he and his family were so God Damn patriotic, they would pile into the family station wagon and go hand-deliver the flippin' Census form directly to Washington. You know? - Just to make sure that the Beck family Census form didn't get lost in the socialist postal system.

You can always count on Gretchen Carlson to purposfully say something untruthful or to accidentally tell the truth. Today she had a little Oopsie-Daisy....

Chico Brisbane

Doctors Come Unhinged Over New Health Care Law

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The benefits of health care reform are already starting to surface by shining a light on the strange behavior of a few doctors. Last month a Florida urologist posted a sign on the front door of his office door saying:


"If you voted for Obama, seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes to your health care begin right now, not in four years."


It came as no surprise that Dr. Jack Cassell is a registered Republican, but it came as a surprise to Dr. Cassell that his irrational note did not garner the support that he expected. I'm not sure what kind of primary care providers the Tea Party people a drawn to, but the rational segment of the voting electorate in this country recognize that skill, compatence, professionalism, and integrity are key factors in selecting a physician. At some point Dr. Cassell realized the ethical tightrope his sign put him in and tried to downplay the event in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel.


"I'm not turning anybody away, that would be unethical," he told the Sentinel "But if they read the sign and turn the other way, so be it."


The fact that Dr. Cassell can't recognize that placing a note on his door telling certain patients to "look elswhere" for medical treatment is in fact turning people away and unethical. Could anyone imagine going to the hospital to find a note on the emergency room doors saying that if you George W. Bush, please try another hospital. What made Dr. Cassell's irrational note cross over into crazytown, was when he was asked specifics about the bill and admitted that he wasn't exactly sure what was or wasn't in the new law.


Now Arizona dermatologist Joseph Scherzer has put a sign in the front door of his office warning his patients that he will be closing his doors because of the new health care law.

"If you voted for Obamacare, be aware these doors will close before it goes into effect," the sign reads.


Scherzer, unsurprisingly another self-described conservative claims that the "stress" the new law will supposedly impose will cause him to shutdown his practice.


"I’m absolutely serious [about stopping practicing] and it’s not just because I’ll be nearing 65," Scherzer said. "The stress is what would push me out the door."


Scherzer said the new health care bill's emphasis on punitive measures for physicians not following government prescribed treatment methods under Medicare would increase his anxiety level to the point he would no longer be able to practice medicine.


"Doctors have actually committed suicide over these things," Scherzer said.


But it’s unclear what punitive measures he is referring to. One possibility is comparative effectiveness research (CER) into which treatments work most effectively. It is a provision in the bill that Republicans have been using to attack health care reform. They use it in lieu of some of the tired and wornout buzzwords such as "rationing" and "death panals" to claim it would impose standards and prevent certain kinds of treatment. But as pointed out by The Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky, "CER is a recommendation, not a mandate."



Scherzer may be referring to Medicare billing fraud. But presumably he had to provide proper documentation for Medicare services provided before the President signed the bill into law. The new law simply strengthens these accountability measures to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.


Not surprisingly, Dr. Schezer also identifies as a conservative. He says that he has avoided politics for the past decade and that he blames the current poor state of the health care system on Democrats and Republicans alike. However, the proof in the pudding as to Dr. Scherzer's nuttiness is by way of attending his first Tea Party in New York City on Thursday night.


I suppose the wise health care consumer going foward had better do a little background work determine the political leanings of potential physicians.The last thing we need are people wearing Medic-Alert bracelets that read:


"If I'm not conscious and you voted republican, leave me be. The outcome would most likely be the same either way."

Sarah Palin Paid Big $$$ For Her Oswald Bates Speaking Style

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When Sarah Palin returned to Alaska after losing her bid for the vice presidency, being Governor of Alaska wasn't the shiney penny that it was before she left to be Sen. John McCains running mate. No matter how stunning the defeat, the excitement of being on the campaign trail made her feel more important then ever before in her life.


Suddenly, being Governor must have seemed as mundane as the Mayors office back in podunk Wisilla. Since resigning as Governor halfway through her term in office last July, Sarah Palin has earned the combined salaries of Alaska Governors for the last 20 years.

The details of Palin's "speaking" contract [PDF] with the California State University, Stanislaus Foundation were contained in five pages of the document retrieved from a campus trash bin by students. It outlines just how lucrative the speaking circuit is for the controversial ex-governor has become. Below are just a few of the highlights for the PDF file above.

SECURITY:
Due to the Speakers professional endeavors and high profile, arrangements of the highest order are necessary.

COMMERCIAL AIR US EVENTS: Customer shall be responsible for round-trip, first class air travel for two between Anchorage Alaska and the event city and full unrestricted round-trip coach airfair for two between event city and the lower 48 US States.


COMMERCIAL AIR INTERNATIONAL EVENTS: Customer shall be responsible for round-trip, first class air travel for two between Anchorage Alaska and the event city and full unrestricted round-trip coach airfair for two between event city and the lower 48 US States. lf. business class airfair is not available, customer is responsible for first class airfair.

DONATED PRIVATE PLANE: The aircraft MUST be a LEAR 60 or larger.

HOTEL ACCOMODATIONS: All hotels must be approved. Customer agrees tp provide Speaker and oarty with accomodations of a pre-regestered one bedroon suit and two single rooms in a delux hotel. Customerrequired to provide in speakers room prior to arrival, a laptop computer and printer (fully stocked with paper) and to provide hi-speed internet access and WiFi. Customer agrees to pay for all meals and incidentals incleded, but not limited to phone, fax, all hotel charges for the speaker and traveling party. Foe security purposes, all hotel accomidations are to be registered under an alias.

Enjoy it Sarah: This capitalist society has been provided to you by President Barack Hussein Obama and all of the many Democrats and Indipendents that voted him into office. Now just pay your taxes bitch!

For those who are considering to shell out their hard earned, or not so hard earned money to ask this nutty broad a question, it won't be much different than a Q&A session with Oswald Bates. If you're not familiar with the verbally challenged Mr. Bates, here's a video reminder below.


P.S. To all of those Republicans out there in Washington and at Fox News, you can stop spinning to possibility of a Sarah Palin 2012 run for the White House. The money is too good for her to give up anytime soon. And also too! - So are the perks, you betcha!


The Sarah Palin - Oswald Bates ToastMasters Series.

- Chico Brisbane

Bill O'Reilly Tries To Punk Sen. Coburn For Negative Comments

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When will Republicans learn that you can't speak negatively, true or not, about Rush Limbaugh or Fox News. Sen. Tom Coburn had the guts to call out Fox News for their inflammatory, sensationalized news when responding to a constituant worried about being but in prison by the IRS for not buying health insurance. WITH VIDEO

As expected, Coburn was summoned to "The Republican Party HQ" aka: Fox News to walkback his “Don’t catch yourself being biased by Fox News” comment.

Sen. Coburn -(R) appeared on The O’Reilly Factor last night (4/13/10) to discuss his remarks at a recent town hall. Coburn also said at the town hall, to a constituent who claimed that she could go to jail for not obtaining health insurance, “That makes for good TV news on Fox but that isn't the intention.”

Without saying so directly, Coburn also made no bones about Fox News’ conservative bias. Bill O’Reilly insisted that, contrary to Coburn’s assessment, nobody on Fox News had ever said that under the new health care legislation, you can go to jail if you don’t buy health insurance. But not only was O’Reilly wrong, one such claim was made by Glenn Beck right on The O’Reilly Factor. Interestingly, O’Reilly never argued that Fox is “fair and balanced” and without bias.

Right off the bat Coburn offered as a given that Fox News is biased. “The constituents that come to my town hall meetings? They routinely and uniformly listen to your network and every network has some bias.” He also said that his constituent who worried about going to jail, “didn’t make that up. She heard that.” Coburn added, “The point is this, Bill… We have to win on the real facts of the issues. And when we change those to where we inflame them, we lose our credibility.”

O’Reilly replied, “And I’ve been saying that more than anybody, that personal attacks are foolish.” That’s true to some extent but O’Reilly has also been touring with Mr. Number One inflamer, Glenn Beck.

Then O’Reilly said, “Can you tell me one person on Fox News, just one, who has told this audience that they’ll go to jail if they don’t buy health insurance?”

Unfortunately, Coburn could not name a person. But here is just a few for starters: Neil Cavuto, Bill Hemmer, Foxnews.com (H/T The Nation) and Glenn Beck. He even said so on The O’Reilly Factor, no less. Rep. John Shadegg also said it on On The Record and was not corrected by host Greta Van Susteren.

O’Reilly claimed he had researched whether “anybody on Fox News had ever said, ‘you’re going to jail if you don’t buy health insurance.’” He concluded, “Nobody’s ever said it.” I think O'Reilly needs a new researcher. Later, O’Reilly revealed what I think really bugged him about Coburn’s remarks: “You know, YOU KNOW, that the far-left cranks that dominate the media took what you said and ran with it all day long.”

Coburn wasn’t buying it.

“Here’s the problem, Bill… First of all, you all are running the media now in Oklahoma. I guarantee it, …and across a larger and larger percentage of this country. But when that becomes the news story, instead of us trying to not add to the debt, when we do take a courageous stand and we say, ‘We’re not gonna pass an unemployment insurance bill that we’re gonna charge to our grandchildren… it’s that the story on the networks is more important than the actual happenings that are going on. And that’s a problem in the media because they don’t want to talk about the real substantive issues. You do. But many do not.”

WATCH VIDEO

Fox New Megyn Kelly: $250,000 A Middle Class Salary

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In a discussion on America Live yesterday (4/12/10) about New York City’s unionized public employees getting pay raises when city finances are in trouble and private-sector employees are getting laid off, Megyn Kelly proved she’s in touch with the little guys in New York earning "only" $250,000 a year. With video.

Kelly facetiously told her guest, NY Post columnist Michael Goodwin, "Let me tell you why you don’t have to worry about (New York City's financial condition). Because the rich in this country are going to pay for it. (Reporter) Jim Angle just tells me that anybody who makes money on their investments now, they’re going to have to pay 24% on their earnings, among the other taxes. So maybe that will cover the shortfall."

Goodwin said that taxes have gotten so high in New York that rich and middle class people are moving out and leaving only lower class people.

Kelly said, "Here in New York, you’re considered rich by President Obama if you make more than $200,000 as an individual or $250,000 (for married couples) – and let me tell you, folks, in Manhattan, and you’ve got a family, with a few kids, and you live in this town? That’s not rich."
Maybe not rich like she thinks it ought to be but considering that in 2007, the median household income in New York City was $48,631, there’s got to be a whole lot of families living on a whole lot less than $250,000. And for the vast majority of Americans who live outside of New York? I guess we just don’t count in her calculations.

WATCH VIDEO

Fox News Ladies Turning Into Stepford Wives.

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While many refer to the ladies at Fox News as "Bimbots", it's thier strikingly similar transformation upon joining Fox News that seems freakishly odd. Like The Stepford Wives of the 1970s' -- they seem to be unphased by an obvious double-standard that does not exist for the men at Fox News or the women at any other network for that matter.

Infact, this freakishness seems to mimmick that lack of individuality that is commonplace in those rural religious cults where multiple women are required to meet the requirements of the same man.

In an organization as big as Fox News, one could easily assume that such a directive must surely be coming down from the top.
I first started to notice it when Kimberly Gylfoil left Court TV to join Fox News. But the before and after photos below leave little doubt that coincidence or happenstance are at play.

Colorado May Be First City To Tax Medical Marijuana

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FRUITA, Colo. — A small western Colorado town that doesn't have a medical marijuana dispensary has become the first in Colorado to levy a city tax on pot.

Voters in Fruita, a town of about 11,000, decided Tuesday to impose a 5 percent sales tax on marijuana.

The town, however, has no dispensaries that sell marijuana, though one application is pending. City leaders said they wanted to be ready with a tax source in case the dispensary opens and requires city resources such as additional police patrol. The tax passed 1,533 to 936. Already dispensaries pay a 2.9 percent state sales tax, though Colorado officials aren't sure exactly how much comes from the sale of pot.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

FRUITA, Colo. (AP) – Voters were deciding Tuesday whether to make this rural western Colorado town the first in the state to tax medical marijuana.
The City Council decided to ask voters whether to impose a 5 percent sales tax on medical marijuana to help Fruita – home to about 11,000 residents – cover the costs of regulating potential dispensaries.

City Manager Clint Kinney has said the town estimates the most it could possibly generate from the tax is $100,000, although even that may be lofty since only one application to open a dispensary is pending.

Colorado pot dispensaries already pay a state sales tax of 2.9 percent, though the state's Department of Revenue can't say how much money they get from medical marijuana or other products sold by the dispensaries.

A voter-approved amendment to the Colorado constitution allows limited marijuana use for certain medical conditions but doesn't regulate dispensaries. Fruita's rules include background checks for dispensary owners.

Last year, Oakland, Calif., became the first city in the country to create a special tax on marijuana sales. Voters approved a measure requiring dispensaries to pay $18 for every $1,000 in gross sales; the rate for other retailers is $1.20 for every $1,000 in gross sales.
The ballot question in Fruita is among dozens of questions posed to voters in at least 134 Colorado cities and towns Tuesday, according to the Colorado Municipal League.
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Medical Marijuana Already Legal In Illinois

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Chicago Reader:

In 1978 the Illinois legislature passed a Cannabis Control Act to try to bring common sense to the state's drug laws. Though the drug causes "physical, psychological and sociological damage," the act asserted, it nevertheless "occupies the unusual position of being widely used and pervasive" in Illinois, and so it was time to establish a "reasonable penalty system" that focused on "commercial traffickers and large-scale purveyors."

Even then cannabis was being championed for its medical benefits, so in the name of "research," the act gave the Illinois Department of Human Services permission to "authorize" licensed physicians to use it to treat "glaucoma, the side effects of chemotherapy or radiation therapy in cancer patients or such other procedure certified to be medically necessary."
But there were two catches.

Read the whole story: Chicago Reader

Pueblo City Council To Outsource Medical Marijuana Oversight

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Like cities across the state, Pueblo City Council has been waiting for the Legislature to make decisions on just how cities are supposed to license...
Pueblo Chieftain:

Like cities across the state, Pueblo City Council has been waiting for the Legislature to make decisions on just how cities are supposed to license and oversee medical marijuana dispensaries.

It's a fast-changing industry and council got another reminder of that Monday night when a fledgling corporation called First American Repository of Medical Marijuana made the city an unexpected proposal " to be the licensing, education and quality control agency for the marijuana growers and dispensaries in the city.

Read the whole story: Pueblo Chieftain

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Dear Sarah Palin: Please Google Before You Speak

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Sarah Palin needs google everything she plans on saying before she says it. Yet again she blast Obama, this time for his "nuclear-free world" comment. Then she throws out Ronald Regan's name to ralley the crowd into thunderous applause. As if Ronald Regan would scoff at such an idea. Then Stewart plays a video of Ronald Regan saying the same God Damn that Obama said! -- If anything, it's proof positive that Sarah Palin and the Tea Party people are politically unsophisticated and historically challanged and Fox News may be responsible for that.

Stewart:
"So here's where we're at: We're at the point now that the by far No. 1-ranked news network in this country no longer feels the need to accurately report what a policy document says in black and white. And once you free yourself from the fetters of fact shackles -- or fackles -- in the present day, you'd be amazed at what you can do to the facts from the past."

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Big Bang Treaty
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Tax Refunds Up 10% Due To Recovery Act

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In his weekly address, President Obama takes on outraged teabaggers' claims about higher taxes and bigger government by pointing out some real statistics and facts, starting with this: tax refunds are 10% higher because of Recovery Act tax breaks aimed at the middle class.
Got that, teabaggers? You're going to go out on April 15th and protest...tax cuts for the middle class?

In anticipation of FOXy liars, the Administration has created a handy tax tool, showing all the different ways the Recovery Act saves money. Truly, for all the whining about bank bailouts and the like, someone ought to rename the Recovery Act the Middle Class and Unemployed Bailout Act of 2009. Maybe then they'd get a clue. Or not.

If you want to see all the different ways your taxes were lowered, or show your favorite Tea Party neighbor how their taxes were lowered, here's the tool for that.
What a country we live in, where a teabagger can cash their refund check and send it all to FreedomWorks to protest the break they just got on their taxes.

Forbes Says Glenn Beck Gets Audience With Outlandish Words

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FORBES.COM : "You may love or hate his outlandish words, but that is how he gets an audience

Glenn Beck insists that he is not political: "I could give a flying crap about the political process." Making money, on the other hand, is to be taken very seriously, and controversy is its own coinage. "We’re an entertainment company," Beck says. He has managed to monetize virtually everything that comes out of his mouth. He gets $13 million a year from print (books plus the ten-issue-a-year magazine Fusion). Radio brings in $10 million. Digital (including a newsletter, the ad-supported Glennbeck.com and merchandise) pulls in $4 million. Speaking and events are good for $3 million and television for $2 million.

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"I don’t necessarily believe that [what Beck says] is reflective of his own personal politics — I don’t even know if he has personal politics," says Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers, a trade magazine devoted to talk radio. "I see him as a performer."

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It’s all about the money for Beck, the entertainer, who made $32 million last year. I guess Beck said it best himself. "If you believe everything that I say, you're an idiot."

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I don't believe much of anything that Glenn Beck says and particularly his portrayal of himself as a true-blue, all-American patriot. Beck is a money-grubbing charlatan who doesn’t give a "flying crap" about the political process and 32 million is a shitload of cash for a man who says that "We are no longer a capitalist society." Glenn Beck makes his money by deceiving the politically unsophistocated, and the plian old ignorant and paranoid.

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Last week he attempted claim that the advertising boycott against him has had little effect and that somehow being featured in Forbes magazine is proof of that. It might not have much of an effect on him financially, but Fox News must be taking a loss now that his commercial breaks are filled with Fox News promos and ads from some of Uncle Ruperts enterprises. ie: Wall Street Journal and Harper Collins. All of the big national advertisers have gone away and been replaced by rightwing political ads, and some wingnut hocking seeds to grow veggies when and all of the super markets shut down as we prepare for the end times.

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Only in America can a man make millions spinning yarns about the impending doom of the very country that provides him with such great wealth. What Beck does take little tallent, zero conscience, and a willingness to spend the rest of your days on earth surrounded by bodygards. There is a price for everything.

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Law Student Uses Twitter To Pressure Advertisers To Drop Glenn Beck.

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FROM Bloggasm.Com

Angelo Carusone says he didn’t start his campaign to pressure advertisers into ditching Glenn Beck’s radio and Fox News show as an opposition to his politics — though he admitted that their views significantly differ — but rather he saw Beck’s rhetoric as distinct from other commentators. “For me, the real motivator was what he had been doing to the political process, which was really feeding it into a frenzy,” Carusone told me, and then he listed off a number of the more outrageous claims that had escaped unfiltered out of Beck’s mouth over the last year — warnings of concentration camps being set up by the Obama administration, calling Obama a racist, and any number of the outrageous, much-parodied conspiracy theories that had debuted on Beck’s famous chalkboard.


So in July of 2009, inspired in part by the success of a civil rights group in getting advertisers to back away from Beck, Carusone launched his Stop Beck campaign. Since then, the University of Wisconsin law student has pressured between 100 and 200 advertisers (depending on the source) from either pulling their advertising from Beck’s program or from Fox News all together.
“The way I sort of looked at it was that appealing to Fox News wasn’t going to cause any results because they’ve already made their support of Glenn Beck very clear by hiring him and paying him,” Carusone said. ” … It’s about getting ad revenue, and part of the reason that he stands up there and says all these outlandish things is so that he can get attention and then try to translate that into advertising dollars. The way I looked at it is that companies, by supporting him through advertising, they’re continuing to support his platform. So I decided that they were the appropriate targets here.”

READ MORE HERE:

How a law student used Twitter to pressure dozens of Glenn Beck’s advertisers into dropping their support

Fox News Fans: We Won't Stop Until We Takedown This Gov't.

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More bread crumbs of hate and radicalism leading right to the dorstep of Fox News and Glenn Beck.

"Radical communists and socialists. Somebody ought to investigate this like Glenn Beck has been doing. I'm telling you right now, this whole Obama administration in unconstitutional. This kind of thing leads to nothing but fascism and socialism and we as Americans are not going to put up with this. I'm telling you right now we are the people ade we have finally awoken and we are not going to stop until we takedown this government."

Listen to how he refers to the constitution as "The USS Constitution"

Mom of man arrested for threatening Pelosi blames Fox News

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As rightwing radicals hit the news for thier thretening phone calls to senators and congressman, they are leaving a trail of bread crumbs leading right back to the Fox News Channel and some of it's most radical on-air personalities. Here is yet another eaxmple that went down yesterday in San Fransisco.

Federal agents arrested 48 year-old Gregory Giusti for allegedly threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Giusti "allegedly made dozens of calls to Pelosi’s homes in California and Washington, D.C., as well as her husband’s business office. He allegedly recited her home address and warned that she should not support the healthcare overhaul bill that was recently signed into law if she wanted to see her home again." Yesterday on San Fransisco’s local ABC affiliate, Giusti’s mother blamed Fox News:

ELEANOR GIUSTI: Greg has — frequently gets in with a group of people that have really radical ideas and that are not consistent with myself or the rest of the family and — which gets him into problems. And apparently I would say this must be another one that somehow he’s gotten onto either by — I’d say Fox News or all of those that are really radical, and he — that’s where he comes from.

Watch Video From MediaMatters

Media Matters has documented numerous instances in which Fox News personalities have launched inflammatory remarks directed at Pelosi and highlights the network’s history of violent rhetoric regarding health care reform.

California Close To Full Legalization of Marijuana

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California has estimated that legalizing marijuana for persons 21 and over could bring in $1.4 billion dollars annually in sales tax revenue alone.

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Marijuana is already legal in the state for medical use, but supporters of full legalization say they hope the federal government takes a close look at what they believe will be a winning issue this fall.

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They say the Obama administration has taken a look-the-other-way approach as more states legalize medicinal marijuana. The narrative behind the "War On Drugs" campaign is losing it's grip on Marijuana and along with it would go State and Federal funds for law enforcement to continue the fight. At least as far as marijuana is concerned.

If you take all of the drug related deaths due to illicit drugs such as cocain, methamphetimine, and heroin combined, they wouldn't come close to the number of drug related deaths attributed to pharmicutical drugs perscribed by a doctor. Either by accident or by design this staggering revelation only comes to light when some celebrity O.D's - Corey Haim and Heath Ledger are a couple examples of prescription addiction fatalaties.

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Talk Radio wing-nut Rush Limbaugh went def as a result of his addiction to Oxy-Codin and Hydro-Codone. So while wealty Rush Limbaugh was eating Oxy-Codin like candy from a fucking PEZ dispenser, a war on weed raged at the tax payers expense. It wasn't actually a war against marijuana as much as it was a media campaign to deamonize marijuana in the minds of America so that law enforcement could continue to reap the Sate and Federal dollars they have come to rely upon since the crack epidemic of mid 80s' - Not to mention the property seizures that are often irreversable regardless of the judicial outcome of a criminal trial.

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You see.....nobody really gave a shit until some doctor went and perscribed a leathal dose to the God Damn King of Pop. You kill Micheal Jackson and suddenly the whole frickin' world is glued to the T.V. set. You could get away with killing Rush Limbaugh's fat ass, but the King of Pop -- Oh no you didn't! -- So off to prison Dr. Conrad Murry will go.

If you take into consideration the cost to fund a war on marijuana, prosecute the offenders, and then house them in the county jail for 30 to 90 days, there is simply no return on investment and there never was. Now California is closer then ever before to putting this non-issue to rest once and for all.

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"It may be a signal they could broaden that policy," Ellen Komp, deputy director of California NORML said. -- "We're testing the water to see how this might go. State after state is coming on board with medical marijuana with tax dollars in their eyes." The initiative, which qualified last week with more than 694,000 signatures, would legalize for people over 21 possession of one ounce of marijuana. Californians also could grow a 5-foot x 5-foot plot of marijuana plants for their own use. It would leave to local jurisdictions how they would choose to tax and regulate any commerce around marijuana using a similar structure to California's medicinal law.

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The candidates who will share the ballot with the marijuana initiative haven't taken firm positions. A spokesman for Attorney General Jerry Brown (D), running for governor, has "no position" because in his job he's tasked with preparing the initiative for the statewide ballot. Brown in the past has said that as the state's top law enforcement officer he can't support anything that violates federal law. But at the same time as attorney general Brown worked on crafting guidelines for compliance with California's medicinal marijuana law.

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Recent polls show 56 percent of voters support taxing and regulating marijuana. State Sen. Tom Ammiano (D) has a bill proposed to tax and regulate marijuana that is similar to the ballot initiative. The difference is that voters are being asked to allow local counties to opt into legalization.

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"This isn't as much a culture war as it also is the long overdue rational conversation on public policy for how we're going to treat marijuana," said Ammiano spokesman Quintin Mecke.

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"We can try and pretend that people aren't using marijuana and that the war on drugs is working or we can acknowledge reality. This question is no longer a joke about 'What are you smoking' or 'How high are you,' and the economics of the situation in California and nationally have provided us a window to have this conversation."

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Opponents say privately they think this is the first salvo in a longer national discussion that may ultimately end up in legalization. But they don't think the U.S. is ready. Several other states besides California may have similar initiatives on their 2010 ballot. Advocates in other states have said they might wait until 2012 in hopes of higher turnout for a presidential election helping their cause. Secretary of State confirmed Wednesday that voters will decide in November whether to legalize and tax marijuana use for Californiana 21 and over. We shall see.

Sean Hannity Calls Tea Party Tim McVeigh Wannabe's

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While taping his show at the Ronald Regan Presidential Library, Sean Hannity ended the show by acklowledging The Tea Party Movement and "All of the Tim McVeigh wannabe's" in the crowd. Was it a slip of the tongue or does Sean Hannity only tell the truth by accident?

WATCH VIDEO:

Non-Partisaen Think Tank Played Key Role In Afghanistan Surg

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FROM THE PUBLIC RECORD:


Gen. David Petraeus speaks at CNAS's annual conference on June 11, 2009. Photo/Wikicommons A Washington think tank that bills itself as "independent and nonpartisan" actually "played a key role in selling the escalation of the war in Afghanistan," The Nation magazine reveals.

The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) exemplifies a new influence game, writes Nathan Hodge in the March 29th issue. "Think tanks, once a place for intellectuals outside government to weigh in on important policy issues, are now enlisted by people within government to help sell its policies to the public, as well as to others in government," he writes.


READ MORE: Non-Partisan Think Tank Played Key Role In Afghanistan Surge

Voyeur West Hollywood Squares

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FROM: WriteChicPress

Voyeur West Hollywood Squares

These are real faces of the GOP as advertised at GOP (dot) com.
Okay, not the balding grandma with the sawed-off shot gun. She’s probably still using dial-up and a 236 chip. But I’ll bet she’s a wing nut.

Just when conservatives were getting really scary by spitting on and hurling N-bombs at black congressmen, Republicans bring back the funnies.

…via extraordinary abuse and misuse of donor money. I doubt it’s funny to these folks.
The big, big contributors like the bosses of Home Depot, Carl’s Jr., and Excel Communications snapped their checkbooks shut on the RNC about a year ago.

But now since everyone knows about Republicans romping at the Naked Homosexuals in Handcuffs Club on the dimes of donors, Holy Rollers United as Douchebags for Jesus grand poobah Tony Perkins has seen the light:

"I’ve hinted at this before, but now I am saying it — don’t give money to the RNC."

Too bad Jesus doesn’t like Tony well enough to have apprised him sooner that the Almighty’s money was paying for debauchery and stuff.

Guess ya’ll aren’t as tight as you thought, Tony.