LawO’Do can’t keep up, even in this crowd of friendly fireds.
Who’s gonna be on his September trainwreck guestlist?

Keith and Ed?

Although Maria seems to think it’s a charming blip.
Can we please have new Elites?

L-Dawgz = not armed with the facts

the average commenter on here who skims over the justsaynow homepage knows more about this than him.

as I was saying on FB, ol Lawr’s Villagitis was actin’ up perty bad

The plutocrats will likely give the serfs the right to smoke pot and will allow same sex marriage. Other than these, economic justice, jobs, reduced Pentagon bloat, restoration of civil liberties, environmental stewardship etc. forgedaboutit!

“Prominent liberals” take contributions from guards unions and (prison) builders and must pander to that all important “Law and Order” conservative demographic?

Or, may be Matlock…

“alter kockers”?

What’ that? Or do I even I want to know?

I have to agree with most commenters here that Larry O’dunno is incoherently dismissive.

What about “most organized political campaign since prohibition” did you miss?

O’Donnell’s pimping for corporate control of marijuana production is telling. If the market stays in the hands of individual growers he’s against it but if the corporations control it they’ll be honest and pay the taxes. Another fuckin’ neoliberal corporatist asshole.

I don’t know. These victimless “crimes” sure suck the money out of the states for the private prison industry.
And as for the media, they are NOT going to take what they consider a “radical” stance on anything unless it’s more to the right…THAT’S OK.

legalizing pot ( although I don’t smoke it) has made so much sense for so many years. Our last Republican governor was in favor and half the state thought he was a kook…the other half loved him/the idea. But when I saw broke California burn a BILLION bucks of the weed a couple years ago, while screaming for funds, I knew the time had come.

Not to mention how one is risking their life now to simply take hike in our national parks

Rusty Warren?

The ballot initiative is a good idea because the politicians will have to be drug kicking and screaming toward legalization. In other words, they need political cover. But if California legalizes pot and it is still against Federal law, what happens?

Coming soon: Monsanto’s genetically-engineered non-reproducing hemp!

I went back and listened to it again to see if anything he said made sense. You are right, he didn’t say anything that was intelligible, incoherent is a fair characterization. Harsh but fair. I wonder what he was trying to say?

Best excuse for homegrown evah!

I’ve been wishing the ELF would target Monsanto facilities for years.

Free Roger Christie
http://www.thc-ministry.org/

It is a first amendment freedom of religion issue.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Join my church,

Sister Lauren
THC Ministry

At a recent reunion, I had a long lecture from a classmate (a dentist) who explained to me that pot is a “gateway drug” leading to all sorts of degeneration. “I know; I have to work on their teeth.”

It’s a Yiddish phrase:

An alter kocker is a man who can no longer do something that he once could. He’s an old guy, over the hill, past his prime.
In literal terms, an alter kocker is from German and means “old defecator.” It doesn’t sound very nice in translation, but it’s a common expression, and sounds gentler and more humorous in Yiddish conversation. Its sense is usually of someone who is inept at whatever he is trying to do.

So apt!

Fed and State Governments have so far this year spent $32 BILLION “fighting” in this war on drugs. http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm

Other “war” spending: For the 2010 fiscal year, the president’s base budget of the Department of Defense rose to $533.8 billion. Adding spending on “overseas contingency operations” brings the sum to $663.8 billion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States

And the hidden, certainly enormous, “Top Secret America” costs fighting who ‘effin knows. Getting results like:

“Senior intelligence officials, several of whom the Post story follows to work, complain that the intelligence behemoth produces an overload of useless information that prevents them from identifying real threats. Or, more likely, they would miss the threats in the barrage of briefings that go unread every day.”
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/07/19/top-secret-america-washington-post-unmasks-unwieldy-security/

Jobs, jobs, jobs, you know. There might be, shame on me, a Reagan truism here: “In his first inaugural address on January 20, 1981, which Reagan himself wrote, he addressed the country’s economic malaise arguing: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.”

After all that spending of taxpayer treasure the world is in worse shape. Wonder what the Socialist Professional Left would think to do with all that money?

Is that what he was trying to say? I thought he was implying they couldn’t pay taxes for it, etc because it was federally illegal.

Shit SD that was my dad’s favorite comedy album… Great find♂ keep em knocking!!

“Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope.”—Freewheelin’ Franklin.

Do they come in cackles?

That was my read of his comments.

True dat.

How in the world does anybody stand watching Mika in the Morning? How many air pumps does she have to stop at on the way to work in the morning?

Is that a reference to the old Freak Brothers from comic book fame?

Yep, and every comic book is still in print.

Rahm, Holder, Biden, and ultimately Obama will oppose legalization.

Oh! That’s a new one for me. Made me laugh.
PS, I even “get” it.

I agree, it’s a Pavlovian response at this point. Sort of like our policy with Cuba. No room for discussion, just blanket opposition.

People from the planet Mongo are different.

Senior intelligence officials, several of whom the Post story follows to work, complain that the intelligence behemoth produces an overload of useless information that prevents them from identifying real threats.

That reminds me of the old Star Trek episode, Norman coordinate,

Star Trek -37 – I, Mudd Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6WSIXxTx4I

Yeah, all of the PTB are going to oppose it.

And they’re going to do everything in their power to ensure it doesn’t pass too.

One might wonder if that includes fudging the election results???

What’s wrong with Lawrence? Isn’t he just a raincloud over a perfectly good parade. He’s like a political Eeyore.

Is this going to turn into a States V. Fed issue? Didn’t Holder tell the Feds to stop busting pot shops, but, they continued anyway?

He pulled the same act with regards to healthcare, he was, from the start, for what we eventually got saddled with. A DLC’er and hippie puncher through and through.

Watching that clip I asked the same question.

WTF???

I got the feeling he was just throwing out stuff that someone, somewhere, told him (paid him?) to.

I mean, wtf? The companies won’t obey the laws and pay the taxes if it becomes legal??? Where the hell is he coming up with that?? Of course there’s some bootlegging going on now with respect to tabacco and alcohol to avoid the taxes, but it’s miniscule in comparison to the overall sales. Where did he pull that one from?

OT does anyone know why FDL, Huffingtonpost and other progressive sites are not promoting this?

http://www.rainbowpush.org/pages/rebuild_america_march_in_detroit

Yeah, I think you’re exactly right that’s what it will turn into if it passes.

DEA is afraid it will lose funds if weed is legalized. I’d rather have unemployed DEA thugs than unemployed blue collar workers. Let ‘em work at something that doesn’t involve intimidation and force.

Ever since this business back in the 2008 election, I’ve been less than impressed with O’Donnell. I seem to be in the minority among progressives, but then I’m used to that.

Amen brother, amen.

He’s a Democrat from an era that has passed. I know there must be some young Dems who can speak for us but they keep dragging out these old fogies.

LOL Like “cackle of rads,” Ms. Word Salad’s term for feminists?
I think alter kocker is a male-only term but I’m guessing.

What else could they do? It’s hard to not go with your strengths. It’s like telling Nolan Ryan “hey, throw the curve!”

I wonder why Morning Joe doesn’t have it on their website?

What a great description!

I can’t answer that but I’ve known the current head of the FL Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, Rev Charles MacKenzie, since the early anti-war rallies here and he’s been pushing it on our local community radio station, WMNF.

After all that spending of taxpayer treasure the world is in worse shape. Wonder what the Socialist Professional Left would think to do with all that money?

Probably something stupid like fix the roads.

Plenty of occupations requiring more brawn than brains. Let ‘em hold the Stop/Slow signs at road construction sites.

I lately heard that the illegal sales of liquor had become about even with the legitimate tax revenues of the federal government by the time prohibition was repealed. Ever wonder if we are already there with illegal drugs? I do.

It would explain a few things, like our justice department that seems to be completely corrupt.

Lots of folks commenting here are around O’Donnell’s age. I think it’s more than just age here – O’Donnell is one of the Serious People, one of the folks who will reliably follow conventional wisdom. TV networks seem to like that.

Hey, that was going to be my next career!

Can you imagine the black market in cigarettes since the huge tax increases over the last few years? There’s always been a black market for cigs but it’s got to be even bigger now.

Read to kids, Drive seniors to where they need to get, pick up tar balls, visit and help ill or returning soldiers from Iraq, wash windows, pick my nose….sorry, I got carried away.

Good to know. All we get here are blanket ads by American’s for Prosperity calling the “stimulus” package as nothing more than pork. It clear the right wing controls the media and the message. It’s no wonder the Republicans are expected to make big gains in 2010.

It’s not age – it a way of thinking. And I’m way older than he is.

What’s changing is you cannot just laugh off legalization anymore. You have to stand and defend prohibition. And there is no way to do that. Obama? Jerry Brown? They look really really stupid. I mean Orly Taitz or Sharron Angle stupid.

As am I. It’s an ideological mindset. Not willing to change no matter what occurs in front of their lyin’ eyes.

Actually, I am sorry that L. ODonnell is getting a show. He is smart, but he is inside the beltway mentality and rather arrogant about it. I would like to Uger with a show. We need more people willing to tell the truth regardless of consequences and people that are in touch with the rest of the country, not the DC elite. ODonnell is simply a slight sharper Chris Matthews, which is the last thing the media needs. Uger is more like Schultz and Maddow.

I got so disgusted with O’Donnell that I couldn’t watch the whole clip.

Did the guy for legalization mention the money saved too?

I heard him mention that it was estimated to bring in $1.4 Billion in taxes, but that’s not even the biggest impact on the budget. The biggest impact is going to be the money no longer being spent enforcing, trying, and incarcerating the peeps. At least I’ve heard that part would be bigger than the taxes it would bring in.

That’s a huge double whammy impact on state budgets, and all who favor legalization would do well to drive that point home everytime, IMO.

No, he didn’t. The emphasis was on revenue. As this initiative gains momentum it’s going to be interesting to see how the corporate media covers it. Got a feeling a lot of bubbleheads will be spinnin’ and poppin’.

Air is a gateway drug.

Decoupling pot from criminality will help break the link between pot use and harder drug use (if there is any). Consumers of pot won’t be buying it from drug dealers in other, harder stuff the dealers would like to see users move up to.

Pot isn’t harmless, but it’s less harmful than alcohol by a long stretch.

Discloser: I don’t watch TV, and please don’t make me do it.

Shouldn’t amnesty for non-violent drug prisoners come first, if prohibition of pot will be eliminated? There are two separate arguments for legalization: (1) pot isn’t dangerous or harmful (2) the ‘war on drugs’ is a failure.

Even if some of the states stay ‘dry’, and probably will, there’s no good reason to lock up people for use or possession.

Call your governors and demand they commute the sentences of pot prisoners and grant amnesty to them.

Pot isn’t harmless…

Nothing is harmless, not even our comments.

Especially teevee networks wholly owned by defense contractors.

Your amnesty question is a really good one, and goes to the state expenditure side of the equation: will CA continue to detain prisoners at taxpayer expense for violating laws that no longer exist? I mean, we know state budgets will improve if we’re not detaining NEW ‘criminals’ but what about all the NOT ‘criminals’ still locked up?

Won’t they be let go?

Joe S (the alleged by some murderer of his aide Lori Klausutis – must not forget history now that Joe has banned Kos folks for mentioning Lori) chose to walk on the reply by the Rolling Stone Executive Editor Eric Bates as he told Joe that Joe’s “gateway drug” interruption had been proven a lie by science. I was surprised – and it appeared Mika was surprised by Joe’s reverting to standard GOP debate/discussion manners.

LOL, that made me laugh.

Neither the courts nor the state and federal law enforcement agencies will simply let convicted criminals go free, even if the law won’t apply from time x on into the future. ‘Simply’ is the functional issue. I would think that as each conviction was a separate case, so each redress or appeal would be a separate case. It would seem only wise and economical to grant amnesty or to commute all those sentences. And if amnesty and commutation would in fact happen, it’s better to do it first, before prohibition ends in one state, then another, and another, and so on.

Only clemency from an elected executive can accomplish that, leap-frogging the usual judicial system.

Aside from the philosophical banter I’ve provided, what’s really needed is a campaign to persuade and convince the governors to grant clemency/amnesty/commutation.

Yes, every day’s a new day for Mika: she’s regularly startled to hear Joe blather like a GOP.

Or have lots of parole hearing requiring the attendance of the arresting officers, since they’ll be not so busy arresting others for the same crimes…

The ballot initiative is a good idea because the politicians will have to be drug kicking and screaming toward legalization. In other words, they need political cover. But if California legalizes pot and it is still against Federal law, what happens?

Well, what should happen is the President unilaterally orders it legalized under federal law. The Secretary of Health & Human Services has authority to do that now–
“[I]f the Secretary recommends that a drug or other substance not be controlled, the Attorney General shall not control the drug or other substance.” 21 U.S.C. § 811b.

What WILL happen is that Obama will fiddle while Rome burns. I’m sure he’ll come up with a judicious compromise that involves Big Pharma suddenly getting the patent rights. :o)