Why Fox News Discredits Bloggers. Even The Little Ones.

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We have all seen Glenn Beck reduced to tears while spinning his false narrative about the Obama administrations distroying the country and bringing an end to capitalism as we know it. He has said that "we are not a capitalists country anymore" many time on tee-vee.

What aggrivates me the most is how he uses the term 'hard working Americans" as a generic term for the victims of his many Obama conspiracies. But it was when Beck said that "we don't manufacture anything in the country anymore" that I almost had blood shoot from my eyes. I just happened to be working on this story about Glenn Beck University when I discovered that Beck was selling t-shirts emblazoned with the Beck University Logo for $36 on his website.

I couldn't resist the temptation to order one to see where the t-shirt was manufactured. Guess what? >> MADE IN BANGLADESH. Mr. We Don't Manufacture Anything In This Country Anymore was having his Beck University T-shirts sewn for pennies on the dollar in a Bangladesh sweatshop. I blog this type of stuff because I realize that it's stuff that won't be reported in the mainstream media or even the mainstream blogosphere.

I posted my blog post titled: "Glenn Beck University T-Shirts Made In Bangladesh" on July 22, 2010, which blasted Beck and highlighted how these slave laborers work for pennies on the dollar at the benefit of wealthy American capitalist like Glenn Beck. But

I find it curious that a few days later on July 29, 2010 that Fox News Posted a story at FoxNews.Com titled: "Bangladesh Raises Garment Worker Wages 80 Percent" - Really? That's so fucking awesome. Let's see....I'm not math professor but if you make 10 cents an hour and get an 80% raise, what's that? 18 cents an hour. Wow these people must be dancing in the fucking streets!

Update: Johnnydollar.us has pointed out that the Fox News Story mentioned above orginated from The Associated Press. Actually it was an Associated Press story posted at FoxNews.Com. It is a fact that could have easily been verified rather then lazily wondered about as I did - Shame on me!~. Thank you Johnny Dollar! -

I have forwarded a list of American T-Shirt Manufacturers to the fullfillments center for GlenBeck.Com Online store. Hopefully, it is something that can be taken into consideration in lieu of continuing to importing goods known to be manufactured under the conditions that they are in Bangladesh. We shall see.
http://johnnydollar.us/files/100808fhwir.php

So that this post wasn't a total waist and to entertain the bazillions of JohhnyDollar readers that are "Coming to destroy me!" I've posted a video below for everyone to enjoy. It's a heart felt story about the love that exist between Fox News and Bloggers.

So far today, only one JohnnyDollar reader from Fort Washington, Maryland has clicked the link to get here, but I'm willing to bet they've already seen this clip.

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.

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

Palin Shows Tea Party As Politically Unsophistocated

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Last week on MSNBC, Karl Rove told Chuck Todd and Savannah Guthrey that some Tea Baggers are "politically unsophistocated" and this week Sarah Palin proved it at a Tea Party Express Rally in Searchlight, Nevada.

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It was supposed to be a protest against Majority Leader Harry Reid D-NV, but with the number of motorhomes that showed up, it's obvious that many in attendance would have no voting power in Reid's congressional district or in the entire State of Nevada for that matter.

The Tea Party movement loves to express its affection for the Constitution. The Los Angeles Times writes, "Adherence to what supporters deem to be a strict interpretation of constitutional principles is a key tenet of the tea party movement."

Yesterday’s Tea Party rally in Searchlight, NV, for instance, was filled with imagery of the Constitution. Protesters carried signs that read "I honor the Constitution" and "What about the Constitution don’t you understand?" Rally attendee Norman Halfpenny, a 77-year old retired Marine Corps veteran, said, "We need to get our Constitution back."

In her speech at the rally, Sarah Palin of course paid homage to the Constitution. "Our vision for America is anchored in time-tested truths that the government that governs least governs best, that the Constitution provides the path to a more perfect union — it’s the Constitution," she exclaimed. And so it’s extremely puzzling that Palin introduced this new attack line against President Obama yesterday:

"In these volatile times when we are a nation at war, now more than ever is when we need a commander-in-chief, not a constitutional law professor lecturing us from a lectern."

Just as Karl Rove suggested, the politically unsophistocated crowd cheered wildly at Palin’s line just because of the inflection of her voice.

Watch The Video:

Right Wing Road Rage Over Obama Sticker

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Nashville resident Mark Duren was driving home with his 10-year old daughter in the car when he was suddenly and intentionally rammed from behind by Harry Weisiger. Enraged at the sight of Duren’s Obama bumper sticker, Weisiger gave Duren "the bird" and then hit him from behind, leading to a violent series of events. Nashville’s WKRN reports:

Watch a video of the report:

"He pointed at the back of my car," Duren said, "the bumper, flipped me off, one finger salute."
But it didn’t end there.

Duren told News 2 that Weisiger honked his horn at him for awhile, as Duren stopped at a stop sign.

Once he started driving again, down Blair Boulevard, towards his home, he said, "I looked in the rear view mirror again, and this same SUV was speeding, flying up behind me, bumped me."

Duren said he applied his brake and the SUV smashed into the back of his car.
He then put his car in park to deal with the accident, but Weisiger started pushing the car using his SUV.

Duren said, "He pushed my car up towards the sidewalk, almost onto the sidewalk."

Audi Commercial Trashes Christmas & Jesus

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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?

Bush Propaganda Program May Stll Be Running?

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The covert Bush administration program that used retired military analysts to generate favorable wartime news coverage may not have been terminated, Raw Story has found.

In interviews, Pentagon officials in charge of the press and community relations offices — which worked in partnership on the military analyst program — equivocated on the subject of whether the program has ended.

Last May, the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General issued a memorandum rescinding a Bush administration investigative report on the retired military analyst program because it "did not meet accepted quality standards for an Inspector General work product." The now-retracted report had exonerated officials of using propaganda and referred to the program as just "one of many outreach groups."

Yet Donald Horstman, Pentagon Inspector General deputy director, also stated in the memorandum that his office wouldn’t probe further because the "outreach program has been terminated and responsible senior officials are no longer employed by the Department."

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[Read Part I and Part II of this series.]

What Would They Be Saying Had Obama Declined The Prize?

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Can you imagine what the Obama critics would be saying if he had declined to accept the Nobel Peace Prize?

They would be calling him a liberal elitist and a snob who thinks that he's above any prize handed out by mear mortals. No matter what Obama does, it will have been the wrong thing to do. Everything he says will have been the wrong thing to say.

It's a tiresome narrative that must be a daunting task to say the least, particularly when you can look back at history and find examples of previous presidents doing and saying those same things at some point during thier administrations.

The fact of the matter is that these people must be seething with jealousey and disbelief. They have been put in the difficult position of now having to denounce other recipients of the Nobel Prize. Additionally, they'll have to somehow spin a yarn that the Nobel Prize Committee has somehow been duped into bestowing the honor upon a Kenyan born, Muslim, Socialist Radical who not only forged his birth certificate to assume the Office of President of The United States and thereby A World Leader, but also to someone that went to a medrassa as a child and palled around with an unrepentant terrorist as a young adult.

The problem with that narrative is that if it's true and Barack Obama has the managed to forge an amazing path from the playground of an Indonesian Madrassa to the Oval Office in less than 40 years, then he's too powerful not to be our president. He is not only worthy of the God Damn Nobel Prize, he's worthy of a second term in office. Then a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and so on until he has fulfilled the prophacy. I mean, Rome wasn't built an a day, you know? - I'm just saying...

Chico Brisbane
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Foreign Student Slashes Girls Throat In UCLA Chem Lab

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Detectives investigating the case of a UCLA student who allegedly slashed the throat of a classmate have still not discovered what prompted the violence, law enforcement sources told The Times today.

Investigators said they are continuing to examine the background of the suspect, Damon Thompson, 20, but nothing so far points to a motive for what the sources called an unprovoked attack that stunned the UCLA campus.

The sources said police have found one interaction between Thompson and law enforcement, in which he called police to complain about neighbors who were making too much noise.

The source spoke on the condition that they not be named because the investigation is ongoing.

The victim is recovering at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after emergency surgery. UCLA officials said they were awaiting her permission to release her identity and that campus spirits were buoyed this morning by reports that she is out of the most extreme danger.
UCLA released the following statement on behalf of the victim's family:

"The 20-year-old victim of yesterday's stabbing on the UCLA campus is showing signs of improvement, and her surgeons expect a good result as she continues to heal. Her parents wish to express their thanks to everyone for their concern, and also wish to extend their gratitude to the police and emergency responders and appreciation to the UCLA medical team for the excellent medical care she is receiving at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center."]

"She is doing really well, given the extent of her injuries. She continues to improve," said one person familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified because of privacy issues.

Both Thompson and the victim were seniors, and some witnesses said they believed they were lab partners. Thompson is an only child who left his mother’s home in Belize two years ago to attend UCLA and frequently stayed at relatives' tidy brown home in Fontana with a basketball hoop in the driveway.

Those relatives were in disbelief today that the mellow young man who raided their refrigerator could commit such a violent act. Thompson's second cousin, Akilah Williams, 17, said she was shocked when she heard the news and couldn't believe he was responsible.

"He cares about what people think about him too much. He gets stressed out but that doesn’t mean he’d do something crazy." Williams said.

Thompson is accused of slashing the neck of a 20-year-old woman Thursday afternoon in a UCLA chemistry lab. The attack on the sixth floor of Young Hall prompted a swift police mobilization. Thompson, who was arrested inside Young Hall minutes after the attack, was booked on suspicion of attempted murder.

Police are searching for a motive. Relatives described Thompson as mellow though sometimes "snooty" about his possessions. Williams said her only complaint about her cousin was that he occasionally raided the fridge.

"He would eat everything," she said. "I mean everything." Thompson had no other family in the United States, so he would spend school breaks, including all of last summer, at the Fontana home of his mother’s cousin.

Relatives said they had never seen their cousin become violent. "He was even nice to my dog, Doc," said Jabari Williams, 16, another cousin.

Thompson is expected to be arraigned next week. It's unclear whether he has retained an attorney.

NOBEL PRIZE: Good Is The New Bad If Connected To Obama

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I was sitting up in bed at 3am when news came that President Barack Obama would be the 2009 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. I am always proud when an American is awarded this prize, but I just as much as the President was surprised by the announcement.

Obama was awakened early this morning with news of the prize in a call from his press secretary, Robert Gibbs. The president later said, "This is not how I expected to wake up this morning. Malia walked in and said, 'Daddy, you won the Nobel Peace Prize and it is [their dog] Bo's birthday, and then Sasha added, 'Plus we have a three-day weekend coming up.' It's good to have kids to keep things in perspective." The President said.

What I wasn't surprised about, was what the reaction would be from the left before any of them had a chance to tweet a single letter or to have their two cents quoted in the media or on the internetS.

Joe Scarborough was the first to basically laugh at the notion while Mika did what she does every morning, which is to deal with Scarborough like a mother deals with a misbehaving child. I have no doubt that The Fox News Channel will be scrubbing previously planned segments to lay waste to the importance of Barack Obama being selected for the honor.

Obama is only the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Prize for Peace -- President Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906, President Woodrow Wilson in 1919.

"To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who have been honored by this prize," Obama said, suggesting that the prize has not always "been awarded just to honor specific achievements," but also to lend some momentum to the cause of peace.

"I will accept this award as a call to action, a call to all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century," Obama said in a White House Rose Garden appearance.

"This award must be shared with everyone who strives for justice and dignity."Professing humility and surprise in the awarding of the prize, the president said, " I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as a recognition of American leadership."

Just as I suspected, the first line of attack by Fox News was to set the narrative over President Obama's rose garden statement that even he didn't feel as he deserves to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who have been honored by this prize.

"Well.....everyone has to say that." Chris Wallace, Bill Hemmer, and Steve Doosey have all asserted in various segments so far.

The Nobel committee had criticized Obama's predecessor, former President George W. Bush, for engaging in largely unilateral military action in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. With the backing of Congress, Bush quickly invaded Afghanistan and ousted the Taliban, and in spring of 2003 launched a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq intent on removing Saddam Hussein from power.

Engaging in a bit of explicit blog-baiting on his radio show today, Glenn Beck declared the naming of President Obama as this year’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient was "the last nail in the coffin" for the credibility of the Nobel committee. Beck conspiratorially claimed that the award revealed that "these progressives are extraordinarily powerful and this campaign of Barack Obama, this global campaign for Barack Obama is done by global interests that have extraordinary power. They’re very well-connected." Beck said that the prize should have instead been given "to the Tea Party goers" who have protested Obama:

GLENN BECK: "Of all things, the Nobel Peace Prize should be turned down by Barack Obama and given — you ready for this, oh this one’s going to make headlines — should be give to the Tea Party goers and the 9-12 Project. … Because of the arrogance of the progressives that thought no one would stand in their way. That he would be able to accomplish everything. Two weeks into his presidency, they nominated him for it and said, "oh this is going to be a slam dunk." Because of the Tea Party goers and the 9-12 Project people that stood in his way and stopped him from accomplishing the things that he thought, "please, I’m the Messiah, I’ll be able to accomplish that."

RUSH LIMBAUGH: was more caustic, telling Newsweek, "The Nobel gang just suicide bombed themselves. Gore, Carter, Obama, soon Bill Clinton. See a pattern here? They are all leftist sell-outs.

MICHELLE MALKIN: "Isn’t it so fitting? From community organizer to Illinois state senator (present!) to U.S. Senator for 143 days before moving into the White House…and now, the recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize — not for anything he’s actually done, but for the symbolism of what he might possibly accomplish sometime way off in the future."

MICHAEL STEEL: was quick to criticize the president's prize. "The real question Americans are asking is, 'What has President Obama actually accomplished?' " Steele said in a statement. "It is unfortunate that the president's star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights."

Accolades flowed from the president's allies.

REP. HOWARD BERMAM (D-Valley Village) "I'm delighted at this recognition of President Obama's work to strengthen international cooperation. It validates the president's approach to tough transnational challenges such as global warming and the spread of nuclear arms. And it celebrates his steady efforts to improve America's standing around the world."

DESMOND TUTU: "It is wonderful," Tutu told reporters in Cape Town. "He has had a very significant impact. It has changed the temperature and almost everybody feels a little more hopeful about the world," he said. "What wonderful recognition of someone who has already made such an impact on our planet with regards to the Muslim world, nuclear disarmament, climate change and, to some extent, the Middle East. He has reached out to the Arab world, including Iran, and North Korea."

NELSON MANDELA: "We trust that this award will strengthen his commitment, as the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, to continue promoting peace and the eradication of poverty."

I ran down my list of favorite destionation out in the blogosphere and both left and right making sure to save the major leagues like HuffPo, TPM, Daily Kos, Politico, and The Daily Beast for last because I like to get a more personal view from individual bloggers first before reading something that has to undergo strick editioral guidelines.

Among my favorites of course are DownWithTyranny, TheJoshuaBlog, WriteChicPress, ProgressiveNation, and believe it or not MichelleMalkin. However, I've never commented on Malkin's blog and I suspect that is due to my mother teaching me very early on in life that if I can't say anything nice, I shouldn't say anything at all. DAMN IT MOM! BUT SHE'S A SKANK HO! (Chico's Mom: You get into that bathroom and wash your mouth out with soap. Get marching little mister and you just wait until your father get's home! - We did not raise you to go around calling crazy bitches "skank ho's! - My goodness garcious!) But I digress......

WriteChicPress: Waaaaah, Obama Won the Nobel Peace Prize… "So, what’s that foul wind on the air in America today? Why it’s no more than the hot, nasty breath of conservatives huffing and puffing over President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize."

TheJoshuaBlog: STUNNER: Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Obama for Diplomacy (UPDATED) "HOLY SHIT. This is going to drive the birthers, deathers, neo-cons, and white supremacists over at Fox News absolutely bonkers!

Michelles Malkin: Story of Obama’s life: "Rather than recognizing concrete achievement…" "Isn’t it so fitting? From community organizer to Illinois state senator (present!) to U.S. Senator for 143 days before moving into the White House…and now, the recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize — not for anything he’s actually done, but for the symbolism of what he might possibly accomplish sometime way off in the future."

In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel required that the peace prize should go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses."

Obama has certainly done that and I beleive that alone, in the privacy of our own minds, most Americans of all political persuasions realize that Obama has restored a civility to the Nation in spite of attempts by some to create a different perception for the eyes of the world.

It's not that they disagree with health care reform or that they wouldn't benefit from it themselves. It's that the political party that promotes their ideology can never regain power if Obama or anything that he does, thinks, or supports is successful.

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Former Sen. Larry Craig Lobbying For Federal Prison

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Taking into consideration the police mug shots of former Sen. Larry "I'm not gay, I've never been gay" Craig - R (Oh) it's ironic that a former senator that almost landed in prison is now lobbying for a federal prison on behalf of Cassia County.

County Commissioners voted monday to hire a consulting from to lobby congress for a $300 million medium security federal prison. The consulting firm New West Strategies founded by former U.S Sen. Larry Craig and partner Micheal O. Ware, would assist the County of Cassia in the initial phase of securing the prison deal.

The approved contract includes a $5,000 monthly fee along with an additional $500 monthly travel budget.

Steve Carpinelli, media manager at the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C., said neither Craig nor his business partner and former senate staffer, Micheal Ware can lobby any member of congress until January, 2011. Other employess of Craig's frim can lobby congress now.

L.A. County D.A. To Prosecute "ALL" Marijuana Dispensaries

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Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said today that all the medical marijuana dispensaries in the county are operating illegally, and that "they are going to be prosecuted."

There are hundreds of dispensaries throughout the county, including as many as 800 in the city of Los Angeles, according to the city attorney's office. They operate under a 1996 voter initiative that allowed marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes, and a subsequent state law that provided for collective cultivation.

Based on a state Supreme Court decision last year, Cooley and City Attorney Carmen Trutanich have concluded that over-the-counter sales are illegal. Most if not all of the dispensaries in the state operate on that basis.

Cooley said his office had already begun preparing to prosecute a Culver City dispensary called Organica.

Widespread criminal prosecutions could deal a sharp blow to the medical marijuana movement in California, where advocates have argued that access to the drug has helped many cancer patients and others manage pain, nausea and other health issues.

Cooley and Trutanich announced their plans after a training session for narcotics officers at the Montebello Country Club. Outside about 100 medical marijuana advocates protested, saying that not allowing over-the-counter sales threatens the distribution of a product that many sick people have come to rely on.

Barry Kramer, operator of the California Patient Alliance, a dispensary on Melrose Avenue, said, "If this is the way it goes, we'll go underground again. There will be a lot more crime."

L.A. Times Writer Tim Rutten Outrages Illegal Immigrant Supporters

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Los Angeles Times writer Tim Rutten is no shrinking violet when it comes to pissing people off. I mostly agree with Rutten's opinions and understand exactly where he's coming from. What I don't understand is his lack of restraint or perhaps a fondness for taking a well written opinion piece and making it come across as hyperbolic with unfounded asumptions that usually have little to do with the piece.

In an especially ugly and vitriolic piece, Rutten didn't even wait a sentance or two before getting snarky and just started with the title: Obama's pink slips for garment workers. In this piece about the firing of 1,800 immigrant workers at American Apperal, Rutten blasts the Obama Administration for the firings because laws imposed under the Bush are being enforced under Obama.

Don't get me wrong! - It would be great if Obama could just ignore federal law written under Bush like the Patriot Act. However, the law is the law and you'd think that someone who has been working for the God Damn L.A. Times for 30 years would know that. Now, am I trying to imply that Tim Rutten thinks that the Obama Administration should just turn a blind eye to violations of federal law? - ABSOLUTELY! I'm not trying to do that. I am doing that.

Rutten begins his piece by saying that unemployment among American workers climbed to its highest level in a quarter of a century to hype national outrage I can only assume. Then he brings the issue closer to home by saying that in Los Angeles, joblessness has reached levels unmatched since the Depression. Then he plays the race card by mentioning that in many predominantly African American and Latino neighborhoods, nearly one in four people is out of work.

"Yet the Obama administration has chosen this moment to deprive more than 1,800 Angelenos, nearly all Latino immigrants, of thier jobs." according to Rutten

Oh, okay! - So it's just that the Obama administration has chosen "this moment" to make sure that federal law is enforced. Is there ever a good time to enforce the law. I suppose the better question is should there ever be moments when violations of federal law can be overlooked or put on a back burner for enforcement at a later date?

This is no different than those two college students that took a hidden camera into an ACORN office and recored two ACORN workers telling them how they could make their illegal brothel more profitable by listing prostitutes as entertainers. Because Maryland law makes it illegal to videotape anyone without their consent, charges were filed against the pair that recorded the video. Sean Hannity and everyone over at Fox just about shit a cat. They thought that it was outrageous that these two civic minded Americans should be charged for exposing evil ACORN. They didn't want to talk about that fact that these two broke the law while trying to expose larger violations of the law. Once again, the law is the law and either you follow it or you do not.

I've worked in a large million sq. ft. wearhouse in Las Vegas with 70% non-english speaking immigrant workers and we had to keep a trailer out in the parking lot to hire 75 to 100 new workers a every month to make up for the ones we'd have to fire each month when we were notified that their documantation was already being used by another worker or that it was fraudulent and the numbers didn't even exist.

If this investigation into these 1,800 workers at American Apperal has been going on since 2007, you'd think that those that have problems with their documentation would have fixed it by now. But here's the problem! - When you are here illegally and bought bullshit documentation so that you don't have to sell oranges at the freeway offramp, you can't fix problems with your documentation. All you can do is buy more bullshit documentation and get another job. Either you are a legal immigrant with the right to work in the United States or you are not.

The L.A. Times should take a closer look at the "paperwork" of some of their own employess. You know? the ones that work the hardest, but get paid the least. Oy! I'm sure they would be plotzing.

I'm not oblivious to the plight of these people and particularly those who now have American children. If you deport mom and dad, then anlong with them goes an American child into a country not fit for my dog much less an American child.

If Washington wants to pass a law, it should be the law that any illegal immigrant found to have American born children will lose parental rights and then be deported immediately upon completion of a manditory 5 year prison sentance. Under no circumstance should an illegal immigrant be allowed to raise an American child much less take them out of the country.

Or.......Washington can come to terms with the fact that there are simply too many illegal immigrants in the counrty and the connections they have forged are too deep and now multi generational. The only course of action now is to give them legal immigrant status, a legitimate social security card, a slice of apple pie, maybe a few tickets to the Dodger game, one of those little American flags, and then tell them to pay their God Damn taxes!

Problem solved!

If I wasn't such an asshole, I'd run for the senate myself.

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AMERICAN CULTURE: Difficult To Define

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American Culture: Difficult To Define

Perhaps it is time to define American Culture once and for all. If the French can be French and the Koreans Korean, or the Germans German and so on, Americans need to stop putting a national oragin of choice before the word American. The term Latin-American has slowly shifted to apply to Americans that just happen to have Latin ancestory and the same applies to Asian-Americans. Yet "Caucasian or White" Americans don't seem to be subjected to this labeling.

Ironically, they tend to do it themselves, but only when it suits a perticular purpose. We've all heard the expression "as American as apple pie" when in fact apple pie has origins that no one nation can claim absolutely. In the grand scheme of things, our 250 plus years as a nation is but a blink of the eye compared to nations that pre-date the fall of the Roman Empire.

I find it ironic, particularly among those seeking political office, claim to be the personification of American patriotism on their way to Washington, yet they're first to disect them selves into illogical percentages of their ansestors. One day they're red blooded, flag waving, apple pie eating, 4th of July celebrating Americans, but when the campaign season is over, they're suddenly half German, half Dutch or some other combination even if their ancestors immigrated to America several generations ago.

I, Chico Brisbane was born in Northern California in the late 1960's to a pair of teenage college students who came to America from Spain and Scotland. On my 13th birthday, becoming an official teenager took a back seat to my parents becoming American citizens with all of the rights and priviliges that their own son has had from the second that he took in his first breath of air on this earth and on this American soil. I've never seen my parents so humbled as they were the day that the held a small American flag in thier left hand while they raised their right hand to take an oath to pledge their allegance to this great nation.

Inspite of the birthplace of my parents, it has never been nor will it ever be that I am somehow 50% Spanish and 50% Scotish. When you are turely 100% American as I consider myself to be, it is mathmatically impossible to be anything else. To try to convince me otherwise, would be like trying to teach a cat to chase a dog up a tree.

If we can all embrace the fact for cultural purposes, that the Native Americans are the cornerstone for what has become The United States of America, it should be fairly simple to assemble an American culture. I once asked my friend Bobby Killsplenty, a Native American, if they celebrated Thanksgiving on the reservation and his response made me sorry that I asked.

"Well........just the first time I suppose, but things got really fucked up after that, you know?" He said through clinched teeth.

Bobby and I were only 11 when I asked that question and I should have known better because I was not oblivious to the difference in his living conditions on the reservation to mine in the San Diego suburbs just a few miles away. His family made a living crafting jewelry and leathergoods and selling it to "white men" at the roadside where the edge of the asphault and the dirt shoulder creates the dividing line between the Soverign Nation and The United States. Fast forward 35 years and it's amazing to contemplate the reversal of fortune between Bobby and myself.

I couldn't be more pleased and happy for my friend. Where tee-pee's once stood in Bobby's grandparents era, and roadside displays of handcrafted jewelry stood in Bobby's parents era, now stand multi-million dollar casinos, hotels, and luxery resorts where the "white men" hand over their money to Bobby and his band of American Indians hand over fist, 24 hours a day, and sometimes result in single gun shot wounds to the head in parks cars when some out of control "paleface" has lost his very last dollar to the "red man". - Payback is a bitch, I suppose.

It wasn't suprising to me when the movie star became California's Governor and went right after the Native Americans for a piece of their casino action. Being an immigrant - turned American citizen like my parents, Arnold seemed to posess a lack of American History that my parents studied hard, not just to understand, but to embrace. Nor did he seem to have a grasp of the terms and conditions that was forced upon the Indians when they were confined to thier reservations.

When they were trading goods over the century while America industrialized itself, Indians where out of sight and out of mind. However, in the 1980s and through the 1990's when quansit hut casinos trurned into glamerous locals that rivel those in Las Vegas, the white man returned once again to rape and pillage the land of the Indians. Sad, but true.

I don't care if the Indians assemble a fortune greater then America's GNP - They sould not have any tax liability whatsoever and that includes Americans who work on the reservation, but live elswhere. They'll pay taxes in plenty of other ways when they go to the grocery store, pay their cell phone bill, register their vehicles, not to mention California's outrageous property tax. But income tax both state and federal should be hands off since this money was earned in the Soverign Nation and not the United States regardless of the fact that the dividing line between to two is still nothing more then where the edge of the asphault meets the dirt at the side of the road.

I told Bobby recently that I am happy that his people wised up enough to see the true potential of thier land, but that I also hope that they never wise up enough to want the rest of it back. He smiled and said that I didn't need to worry about that.

"Consider it a gift paleface." He said as he drove away.

When the back driver side tire of his silver Mercedes kicked up a puff of dust when it crossed over from the dirt shoulder onto the asphault road, it brought back the significance of that dividing line that has been with me since we were kids. We had spent hour as boys jumping back and forth from the dirt to the asphault, when there was much less traffic of course. But we used to play this silly game that started off as "GET OFF MY LAND!" but then would always turn into something more peaceful along the lines of "Welcome to America" and "Welcome to The Soverign Nation." that resulted in ceremonial handshakes and the exchange of marbles, Cracker Jack toys and other trinkets. It is silly the games that boys will play, isn't it?

Chico Brisbane

Ivy League Student Infiltrates Falwell's Liberty University

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from: the joshua blog April 22, 2009

Release the Hound! Ivy League Student 'Infiltrates' Falwell's Liberty University To Write Book

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Good for him. Good for society in general. Expose these lunatics.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Kevin Roose managed to blend in during his single semester at Liberty University, attending lectures on the myth of evolution and the sin of homosexuality, and joining fellow students on a mission trip to evangelize partyers on spring break.
Roose had transferred to the Virginia campus from Brown University in Providence, a famously liberal member of the Ivy League. His Liberty classmates knew about the switch, but he kept something more important hidden: He planned to write a book about his experience at the school founded by fundamentalist preacher Jerry Falwell.
Each conversation about salvation or hand-wringing debate about premarital sex was unwitting fodder for Roose's recently published book: "The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University."
"As a responsible American citizen, I couldn't just ignore the fact that there are a lot of Christian college students out there," said Roose, 21, now a Brown senior. "If I wanted my education to be well-rounded, I had to branch out and include these people that I just really had no exposure to."

Cable News War: MSNBC vs. FOX

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Next year will be an interesting time for the cable news networks with a new President assuming office. Particularly for The Fox News Channel who hasn't had a democrat to go after since Bill Clinton. They've now got the Grand Puba of democrats in Barack Obama, who Sean Hannity continues to reported at nausium that Barack Obama is a radical with ties to a domestic terrorist. We'll see if that idealogical bias will serve Fox News as well as it did during the Bush years. If I were a gambling man, I'd bet against it. In fact, during the 2008 primary and general election, the cliam that Fox News is the most watched program in cable news lost it's factualness when MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann unseated Fox News Channel's TheFactor with Bill O'Reilly several time in the ratings.

With the tanking ecomony and cable subscribers cancelling service to cut expenses wherever possible, Fox, MSNBC, and CNN will have to work even harder to keep viewers interested. Even befor the FCC mandate for television broadcast to switch from analog to digital, cable subsribers are finding out that with the picture quality of DTV and increased channel options, dumping pay cable service is becoming easier to give up. That extra $60 to $100 can be better allocated elsewhere. Since local broadcasters can split there single analog signals into multiple DTV signals, MSNBC would be well served to simalcast the MSNBC feed through their local NBC affiliates for free nationwide. In turn, FOX could do the same thing. I think that Fox is going to have a much bigger adversary in MSNBC in 2009 with the addition of Rachel Maddow following Countdown with Keith Olberman. I watch MSNBC and FOX exclusively, but for very different reasons. I was drawn to MSNBC by Tim Russert and stayed a loyal viewer because of Keith Olbermann. I was drawn to FOX by Bill O'Reilly because I remembered him from A Current Affair which was a program I liked when it was on. However, I was shocked after just one episode of The Factor.

I grew up on local news with news caster like Jess Marlow and Jerry Dunphy with his standard opening of "From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California, good evening." I see alot of what made Jerry Dunphy so widely respected by his viewers in Keith Olbermann and I'm telling you, they are the last of a dying breed. Fox news has become the not only the Jerry Springer version of cable news, but the Shady Acres for washed up has-beens like Brit Hume and Chris Wallace.

As for Bill O'Reilly who I liked from his A Current Affair program, he was a huge disappointment after watching just a few episodes on Fox. It was as if a light went on and now I could see thing more clearly. Sort of like when I found out that the green Kool-Aid that my Nana used to make to quite me down was actually an 80/20 mix of water and NyQuil. She had me half in the bag from the ages of 6 and 10 and I didn't even find out about it until I was 20, but I digress.

In a sick and twisted way, Bill O'Reilly has become my Carson because he makes me laugh when I really shouldn't. Like the way that Archie Bunker made millions laugh with his blind biggotry in the 1970's television show, All In The Family. It's not as if Archie Bunker and Bill O'Reilly go out of their way to be biggot's, they just know any better. For example, O'Reilly was once talking about having dinner at an "African American" owned restruant that had a "Predominately African American patronage" and he said that he was pleased when everyone was dressed nicely, not being loud or saying mother F this, and mother F that. I mean, come on! - Are you shittin' me with this? - My friends, you can't put lipstick on a comment like that and try to pretty it up after it leaves your mouth. If Bill O'Reilly was surprised that he could go to a black restraunt, see well dressed black people who weren't using foul language, what does that say about his general perception of African Americans? - Someone once posted a this riddle on another blog of mine. It went something like -

What's green, a mile long and has hundereds of asshole from one end to the other?

ANSWER: Bill O'Reilly and the O'Reilly clan marching in a St. Patricks Day Parade.

I was offended by it spacifically because of the word "clan" after O'Reilly's name. The person who posted it claimed that that wasn't what he meant and if it was, he would have spelled clan with a K. It made sence so in the spirit of being truely fair & balance, I left it unedited. Between Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, President Obama is a going to be tag teamed. I just think it will backfire like the relentless Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright ranting. We are headed in a new direction in this country and the outcome of the election is proof of that. Let the games begin!

CFMA - Counrty First My Ass!

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It is amazing just how little has been made of Sen. McCain going on CBS news with his running mate so that he could try to explain what Palin meant while answering a voters question regarding Pakistan. Can you just imagine the field-day that Fox
News would be having if Sen. Obama had to go on CBS with Sen. Biden to spin a gaff in the parties favor when it is already quite clear what Governor Palin said and what she meant when she said it. Not only is Sen. McCain out of touch with the average American voter, he is out of touch with his own running mate. McCain has no standing whatsoever to utter the words “What Sen. Obama doesn’t understand”

What Sen. McCain doesn’t understand is that the very people that he has chosen to speak on his behalf are the very people who have robbed him of the presidency and that his choice of Gov. Palin as his running mate was the beginning of what will become the gold standard, the cliff-notes on what not to do when running for President of The United States of America.

I was standing next to Chico Brisbane when Gov. Palin was announced as the vice presidential candidate. “Now she’s a bridge nowhere!” Brisbane said referring to Sarah Palin and at the time I didn’t subscribe to that theory. I thought that Chico was seriously underestimating the method to McCain’s madness, but he wasn’t. There is no method to McCain’s madness, there is no rhyme to his reason and quite simply “The lights are on, but nobody’s home.”

What I would give to have been a fly on the wall when John McCain learned that the “walls street rescue bill” crashed and burned after his campaign staff was in the process of taking credit for the bailout on his behalf. Below are the assumptive comments of McCain surrogates counting Sen. McCain’s chickens before they hatched. CFMA! John McCain, CFMA!

Source: Chico Brisbane, HuffPo, Think Progress, Jerry Sifuentes