Month: February 2009

Bill Introduced to Legalize – and Tax – California’s $14 Bil Marijuana Industry

Jon Ponder

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, introduced common-sense legislation this week that could add $1 billion in revenue to the California treasury each year. The bill would de-criminalize the cultivation, distribution and selling of marijuana, and tax sales at $50 per ounce:

The black market for marijuana produces nearly twice the revenue of
California’s next biggest crops, vegetables and grapes — combined.

Ammiano says [taxing pot] save the state money in other ways.

“It would relate to saving a lot of money on law enforcement, on incarceration. It would also help the environment because as you know, rogue plantations of marijuana are not exactly eco-friendly,” said Ammiano Monday.

The federal government might not be inclined to go along if this passes at the state level. That alone is a huge “if.” In the past the feds have said growers and sellers would face prosecution if pot was legalized at the state level.

Ammiano says data indicate that 100 million Americans have smoked pot, which could mean there’s more support for de-criminalizing marijuana than people think.

In 1996, Proposition 215 legalized the use of marijuana for medical use in California, passing by by 1 million votes — 55 percent (5.3 million) to 44 percent (4.3 million).

The black market for marijuana produces nearly twice the revenue of
California’s next biggest crops — combined:

[…]

GOP Gov to Unemployed South Carolinians: Let Them Eat My Prayers

Jon Ponder

It may be apocryphal, but during the 18th century famines that led to the violent overthrow of the monarchy — and mass beheadings of the royalty — in the French Revolution, upon being told that the people were starving and had no bread, a noblewoman replied, “Let them eat cake.”

Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), who is reportedly running for president in 2009, has indicated he may refuse federal stimulus money, including extensions of unemployment insurance, despite the fact that South Carolina, one of the poorest and most backward states, has the fourth highest unemployment rates in the nation.

Sanford channeled his inner aristocrat on a C-SPAN call-in show yesterday, when he took a call from one of his constituents:

CALLER: I hope you all are not playing politics with this. People in South Carolina are hurting. You know how unemployment rates are high right now and going up higher. We are running out of money in the unemployment bank … we need money for that, the people that need help. And I’m one of them, I can’t get no help. […]

SANFORD: Well I’d say hello to Charleston because its home and I’d say hello to this fellow this morning and say that my prayers are going to be with him and his family because it sounds like he is in an awfully tough spot.

Like the rest of his party, Gov. Sanford had no alternative plan to offer the caller — not even cake — just prayers.

Bush Surfaces Still in Presidential Garb And, Like 75% of His Staffers, Still Unemployed

Jon Ponder

George W. Bush made a rare public appearance on Saturday, showing up unexpectedly at a hardware store in Dallas:

But customers arriving for an organic gardening class — and even store employees — were surprised Saturday when the 43rd president of the United States showed up to, um, shop. According to the store, Bush walked in around 11 a.m. wearing a light jacket emblazoned with the presidential seal. Accompanied by a small Secret Service detail, Bush signed autographs and posed for photos…

True, Kyle Walters, president and CEO of Elliott’s, had offered Bush a job as the store’s greeter. “Like you, many of our greeters are retired from the corporate world, so we’re sure you’ll have no trouble making new friends,” Walters said in an open letter to Bush in a newspaper ad, offering him a cut rate on items purchased for Laura Bush’s “honey-do” list.

The pathetic part is that Bush is still wearing his presidentin’ outfit — a bomber jacket with the presidential seal on the left breast and his name on the right. (His “Mission Accomplished” flight suit was probably at the cleaners.) Really, he should stick to civilian clothes from here on out — although he would look good in an orange jump suit.

When Bush was asked a few months ago what he planned to do after he left the White House, he said he thought he’d give a few speeches in order to “replenish the ol’ coffers.” There have apparently been no offers so far. It’s hard to imagine who would pay to hear a speech by the Worst President Ever.

But the Republicans’ former Dear Leader is not the only member of his administration in exile to be otherwise unengaged. According to the report, 75 percent of the 3,000 people who worked for the Bush government are still unemployed.

Among them is former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who left office in disgrace in September 2007, and who has yet to land a job.

Signs of Hatred: Westboro Baptist Hate Group Protest at Oscars

Jon Ponder

In accepting his Oscar for Best Actor last night, “Milk” star Sean Penn said, “For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, and, I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that way of support.”

The “signs of hatred” he referred to were held by protesters from a Kansas-based hate group that calls itself the Westboro Baptist Church, and that is infamous for its “God Hates Fags” signs and for staging ugly protests at the funerals of U.S. military servicemembers.

I found the photo over the protests above at LAist. It was taken on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue (that’s Hollywood High in the background), on the limo route about four blocks south of the Oscar venue. There are more photos of the protests in LAist’s Flickr account.

On a side note, on Feb. 19, the British government refused to allow Fred Phelps, the Westboro hate group’s leader, entry into the country on grounds he worked to incite hatred. Phelps had intended to lead a protest outside a production of “The Laramie Project,” a play about the murder of Matthew Shepard, who was killed because he was gay.

H/t: Trish

Sean Penn on Oscar Telecast: Prop 8 Supporters Will Face Shame

Jon Ponder

Sean Penn accepting the Oscar for his portrayal of Harvey Milk:

You Commie homo-loving sons of guns! I did not expect this, but I — and I want to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me. Often. But I — I am touched by the appreciation and I hoped for it enough that I scribbled down — so I have the names in case you were Commie homo-loving suns of guns. And so I, I wanted you to thank my best friend Sato Masuzawa. My circle of longtime support, Mara, Brian, Barry and Bob. The great Cleve Jones. Our wonderful writer, Lance Black. Producers Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks. And particularly, as all us actors know, our director either has the patience, talent and restraint to grant us a voice, or they don’t, and it goes from the beginning of the meeting to through the cutting room, and there is no finer hands to be in than Gus Van Sant.

Finally, for those — two last finallys — For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, and, I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that way of support. We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone.

Lance Black accepting the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for “Milk” last night:

[…]

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

Well, Governor Sanford says that he does not want to take the money, the federal stimulus package money. And I want to say to him: I’ll take it. I’m more than happy to take his money or any other governor in this country that doesn’t want to take this money.

— California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), interviewed on This Week, about some Republican governors saying they will not take money from the recently passed economic stimulus package.

Bush Nephew Beats Republican Extremist Drum. What’s He Running For?

Trish

The next Bush: George P. and his more famous uncle

Jon told you about the heat his governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is taking from Republicans in attempts to end the California budget crisis. Schwarzenegger threw his lot in with America’s foremost Democrat, Pres. Barack Obama, in the interest of helping his state, and GOP extremists (yes, that’s pretty much all of them) are imploding.

Your uncle just ran up the biggest deficit in the history of about 20 industrialized nations combined, and you’re claiming the fiscal high ground?

Down here in Florida, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist is in the same hot water. And turning up the flame on the burner of Republican scorn is none other than a Bush. The next generation of sneering, arrogant, law-breaking incompetents is calling out Crist for accepting stimulus funds.

George P. Bush… the son of former Gov. Jeb Bush, grandson of former President George H. Bush and nephew of former President George W. Bush, addressed a national conference of young Republicans and told them there is a rift in the party between fiscal conservatives and what he calls “D light” — Republicans who are trying to appeal to the political middle.

“There’s some in our party that want to assume that government is the answer to all of our problems,” Bush said. “I’m not going to name any names.”

…”You know who I’m talking about,” Bush said, as the crowd attending the Young Republican National Federation murmured and laughed a little tensely. “That’s problematic. We as conservatives have to ultimately balance the federal government’s checkbook.”

“We” frickin’ who, Kemosabee? Your uncle just ran up the biggest deficit in the history of about 20 industrialized nations combined, and you’re claiming the fiscal high ground?

Bush made it clear he respects only the most extreme (dare I say “neoconic”) wing of his party.

“There are numerous actions that I have seen legislatively that do not speak to a strong conservative, it speaks more to a moderate,” Bush said. “That’s fine, but when you run as a conservative and then you lead as a moderate, that’s one thing that any leader would have to reconcile.”

Crist is rumored to be considering a run to replace Florida Sen. Mel Martinez, a do-nothing Republican who announced he won’t seek re-election following one lackluster term. Jon discussed Schwarzenegger’s prospects (limited, unless we change the Constitution to allow foreign-born candidates) and if he is not Senate material, what with that body’s tradition of give and take, Crist clearly is.

George P. Bush, whose dad already said he won’t run for the seat, might well be considering it. Then again, if Charlie runs for Senate, that leaves a big hole in Tallahassee. What better way, if you’re a Bush, to start your own campaign than by trashing everyone else?

In Nation’s Largest County, 20% – 2.2 Mil – Now Receiving Public Assistance

Jon Ponder

The Bush economy lives on for the 10 million residents of Los Angeles County:

One in five Los Angeles County residents — nearly 2.2 million people — are receiving public assistance payments or benefits, a level county officials say will rise significantly over the coming months as the fallout from the recession continues.

The percentage of people on county aid already equals the figure at the height of the 2001-03 recession and far exceeds the one in seven who needed help during the economic downturn in the early 1990s and the one in nine assisted in the collapse of the early 1980s.

Unemployment stands at 9.5 percent, which means that one in 10 county residents are out of work. This is about the same level the county experienced during the first Bush recession in the early 1990s.

GOP Split with Schwarzenegger over Tax Hikes Headed for Divorce

Jon Ponder

“Arnold Schwarzenegger is like passing a kidney stone, and we’ve got another year to go,” said Jon Fleischman, a vice chairman of the California Republican Party. The GOP has parted ways with the governor because he reneged on his campaign promise never to raise taxes, a pledge he broke in order to resolve the state’s staggering $42 billion budget deficit. If Schwarzenegger and his party were a married couple, his party would be claiming irreconcilable differences and heading to divorce court.

Schwarzenegger could retire — or he could make another Terminator sequel, although it’s hard to game out why SkyNet would build an android that appears to be in its 60s and has hair plugs.

In a bit of fortuitous timing, on Friday, just hours after Schwarzenegger signed a budget bill that included $12.5 billion in tax hikes, he flew to Washington for the National Governors Association’s Winter Meeting. Meanwhile, in Sacramento, the California Republican Party gathered their annual convention. The mood there was dismal:

At a glum gathering of Republican faithful, GOP leaders hewed to the party’s traditional call to scale back government, even as many voters demand just the opposite to stop the economy’s downward slide.

[Fury] among Republicans over the $12.5 billion in tax hikes approved by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature led to fratricidal maneuvers to punish the six GOP lawmakers who voted Friday for the state budget…

The panel also rejected a proposal by a few delegates to extend “a heartfelt and sincere apology” to former Gov. Gray Davis for promoting his 2003 recall. Schwarzenegger, the delegates said, has “proven to govern as a tax-and-spend politician precisely similar to the one he campaigned to replace in the recall election.”

Disapproval of the party’s own governor was a major theme at an event with little of the festive atmospherics usually on display at party confabs, apart from a life-size cutout of Sarah Palin that proved to be a popular photo stop.

Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista, who bankrolled the recall of Davis, put it less colorfully. “Quite frankly, he’s failed to change the fundamental spending in California,” Issa said.

Rep. Issa bankrolled the recall because he hoped to ride it to the governor’s mansion. He famously broke down on camera, sobbing over the lost opportunity (not to mention hundreds of thousands of dollars) when Schwarzenegger became the frontrunner.

It’s doubtful Schwarzenegger is concerned about the wrath of his party. For one thing, he’s a short-timer — term-limited out as of next year. He can retire to Bel Air and do nothing, if he chooses. Or he could make another Terminator sequel, although it’s hard to game out why SkyNet would build an android that appears to be in its 60s and has hair plugs.

Even if Schwarzenegger had additional political ambitions, it’s hard to see how the anger of his party could hurt him. The California GOP is broke and its voter registration is down to 31 percent, a historic low. One GOP analyst recently characterized the California Republican Party as “dead.” “Call the undertaker,” wrote Tony Quinn in December, “haul away the corpse.”