From Congressman John Hall Blog...Colbert Appearences

This story courtesy of the John Hall Blog...Jon Stewart needs to get his act together, and get John Hall on his Daily Show.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Keeping Track...The Colbert Report


For all those who are tracking important numbers on John Hall...he's appeared on the Colbert Report THREE times since being elected...this last one was a brief little flash of him in the audience while at Harvard. Of course, many of us are still waiting for John Hall's appearance on the Daily Show...sure someone out there has already offered to help John Hall write a book that will soar up the charts, so look for that event to come to a Cable TV near you soon. Sure once Jon sees this MAJOR press coverage that The Colbert Report is getting on this and other blogs, that he'll LEAP at the chance to feature John Hall prominently on The Daily Show, and that is truthiness.

Labels: Congressman John Hall, Democrats, Fighting 19th, politics, The Colbert Report, The Hill, Washington

Good News, Bad News...Super POT Found In Mexico

Seems there is a new SUPER POT being grown in Mexico...bigger harvests, herbicides cannot kill it, and it grows year around! Bad news...with Calderon cracking down on drug dealers in the countryside of Mexico, soldiers are burning fields of the stuff...of course, if America would simply legalize pot, the illicit importation of drugs into America (much of which supports terrorism) could be stopped. Another flip side...if America would legalize pot, many of us would simply GROW OUR OWN, which means the dealers are out of business, and corporate America would have a hard time cornering the market, which is probably why it remains illegal.

Hybrid marijuana plant found in Mexico
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061221/ap_on_sc/mexico_drugs

By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer 9 minutes ago

LAZARO CARDENAS, Mexico - Soldiers trying to seize control of one Mexico's top drug-producing regions found the countryside teeming with a new hybrid marijuana plant that can be cultivated year-round and cannot be killed with herbicides.

Soldiers fanned out across some of the new fields Tuesday, pulling up plants by the root and burning them, as helicopter gunships clattered overhead to give them cover from a raging drug war in the western state of Michoacan. The plants' roots survive if they are doused with herbicide, said army Gen. Manuel Garcia.

"These plants have been genetically improved," he told a handful of journalists allowed to accompany soldiers on a daylong raid of some 70 marijuana fields. "Before we could cut the plant and destroy it, but this plant will come back to life unless it's taken out by the roots."

The new plants, known as "Colombians," mature in about two months and can be planted at any time of year, meaning authorities will no longer be able to time raids to coincide with twice-yearly harvests.

The hybrid first appeared in Mexico two years ago but has become the plant of choice for drug traffickers Michoacan, a remote mountainous region that lends to itself to drug production.

Yields are so high that traffickers can now produce as much marijuana on a plot the size of a football field as they used to harvest in 10 to 12 acres. That makes for smaller, harder-to-detect fields, though some discovered Tuesday had sophisticated irrigation systems with sprinklers, pumps and thousands of yards of tubing.

Time To Legalize Pot? It's America's Number One Crop!

Unlike Bill Clinton, this blogger did inhale, and has for years believed that pot should be legalized for personal use, with it's sale and distribution controlled by the government, much in the same fashion as alcohol is, though minus all the sin taxes associated with it. Perhaps the time has come for the government to realize their JUST SAY NO war on drugs is never going to work, just as Prohibition did not work so many decades ago. Despite the attempts to eradicate it's usage, Pot has become America's number one crop, beating out such favorites as Corn, Soy Beans and wheat, with estimated sales TOPPING $13.8 Billion.

Now, before a lot of you go jumping all over me for suggesting we LEGALIZE pot, and perhaps other drugs, consider this...the LARGEST CASH COW FOR TERRORISTS is the movement and sale of ILLEGAL DRUGS. You are not going to stop them from growing, harvesting and selling these illegal drugs, but if our drugs were HOME GROWN, we could CUT THEM OUT OF THE MARKET, wipe out their major source of funds...a few hundred serious fields of poppies and herb plants, and the Taliban is in deep shit as their sources for cash go dry. You cannot deny this reality, as it has been discussed on the news, commercials have been made suggesting we are supporting terrorists when we get high...well, people are going to get high even if the moral majority hates that reality. However, given a choice, they'd buy their bud locally.

Cash value of pot crops is highlighted in report
By Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer
6:21 PM PST, December 17, 2006



SACRAMENTO -- For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop. Now they're citing government statistics to prove it.

A report to be released Monday by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the United States exceeds $35 billion -- far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay.

California is responsible for more than one-third of the cannabis harvest, with an estimated production of $13.8 billion that exceeds the value of the state's grapes, vegetables and hay combined -- and marijuana is the top cash crop in a dozen states, the report states.

Big Fat DUBBIES At London Olympics?

Seems the sports Minister has said Cannibis should NOT be on the banned substance list for the athletes in the London Olympics! Can see the torch now! Big old three foot fattie smoldering up to light the torch! Cheech and Chong could run it into the stadium.

ALLOW ATHLETES TO USE CANNABIS, SAYS SPORTS MINISTER

December 13th, 2006


Athletes at the London Olympics should be not banned for taking recreational drugs, the Sports Minister said today.

Richard Caborn stunned MPs by suggesting cannabis should be removed from the list of banned substances for competitors.

Colbert SCORES BIG With Truthiness

Colbert's campaign to make Truthiness the WORD OF THE YEAR has paid some seriously big dividends...it happened! Merriam Webster's has stated that truthiness, based on an online survey best sums up the year 2006. Yet another feather in the bonnet of Colbert who some are pushing as the next President of the United States of America...who knows, it could happen.

'Truthiness' is the word of the year
POSTED: 10:48 a.m. EST, December 9, 2006
SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts (AP) -- After 12 months of naked partisanship on Capitol Hill, on cable TV and in the blogosphere, the word of the year for 2006 is ... "truthiness."

The word -- if one can call it that -- best summed up 2006, according to an online survey by dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster.

"Truthiness" was credited to Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert, who defined it as "truth that comes from the gut, not books."

Other Top 10 finishers included "war," "insurgent," "sectarian" and "corruption." But "truthiness" won 5-to-1, Morse said.

Colbert -- who once derided the folks at Springfield-based Merriam-Webster as the "word police" and a bunch of "wordinistas" -- was pleased.

"Though I'm no fan of reference books and their fact-based agendas, I am a fan of anyone who chooses to honor me," he said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

New Blog Launched-The Washington Clitorial

This one is GREAT folks...The Washington Clitorial is all about being in the pink in Washington, DC.

http://washingtonclitorial.blogspot.com/

Ann Coulter Move Over, The Washington Clitorial Is Here




As we prepare for the 110th Congress, and the coronation of Nancy (my husband shops for me) Pelosi, as Speakeress of The House it seems appropriate to create a tongue in cheek blog about and for women in Washington politics and the title Washington Rag sheet just seemed to much of a red state title, and we all know, Bush is out (or is that Cheney?) and Hilliary is in, so welcome to, "The Washington Clitorial" where the news and views are hopefully all in the pink.

Bush GETS TOUGH On North Korea...Takes Away IPod!

Bush to Kim of North Korea...give up your NUKES or WE GET TOUGH ON YOU! I'm not kidding here, it's time for you to give up your entire Nuclear Program, or I'm going to hit you where it REALLY HURTS! That's right, either give up your nukes, or I am taking away your IPod! OMG, talk about getting tough! You go George, smack that little Mini Me down, show him you are ALL BUSINESS this time around.

If this were not so funny, I'd cry. It is pretty pathetic when American Diplomacy has been reduced to threatening a leader of a foreign country with the loss of his IPod and upper shelf alcohol! What's next, cutting off M TV? Maybe take away his Game Boy? It's time to fire Condi Rice, and bring back Colin Powell, except he would not even consider returning to work for this administration short of the impeachment of both Bush and Cheney.

U.S. Aims to Ban iPod Sales to North Korea



WASHINGTON (Nov. 29) - The Bush administration wants North Korea's attention, so like a scolding parent it's trying to make it tougher for that country's eccentric leader to buy iPods, plasma televisions and Segway electric scooters.

The U.S. government's first-ever effort to use trade sanctions to personally aggravate a foreign president expressly targets items believed to be favored by Kim Jong Il or presented by him as gifts to the roughly 600 loyalist families who run the communist government.

Kim, who engineered a secret nuclear weapons program, has other options for obtaining the high-end consumer electronics and other items he wants.

But the list of proposed luxury sanctions, obtained by The Associated Press, aims to make Kim's swanky life harder: No more cognac, Rolex watches, cigarettes, artwork, expensive cars, Harley Davidson motorcycles or even personal watercraft, such as Jet Skis.

The new ban would extend even to music and sports equipment. The 5-foot-3 Kim is an enthusiastic basketball fan; then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright presented him with a ball signed by Michael Jordan during a rare diplomatic trip in 2000.

The Grinch That STOLE Christmas-Loma Linda Homeowners Association

Imagine putting a wreath shaped like a peace sign outside, perhaps hanging off the front door, or hanging on the side of the house, a part of the assorted Christmas decorations placed around for the seaon, only to have a few SNOOTY folks, and a WAY OFF BASE Home Owners Association order you to take it down, or face a daily fine of $25. Worse, when the board refused to support the action, they were FIRED! Well, "Almost The News" give you your chance to call this Home Owners Association, and give them a serious piece of your mind.

Loma Linda Homeowners Association

2493 Loma Linda Dr.

P.O. box 1139

Pagosa Springs, CO 81147

Phone: 970-264-6966

THE NEWS ARTICLE:

Updated: 10:59 PM EST

Subdivision Bans Wreath With Peace Sign
Homeowner Defies Board, Faces About $1000 in Fines
By ROBERT WELLER, AP

DENVER (Nov. 26) - A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

Some residents who have complained have children serving in Iraq, said Bob Kearns, president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs. He said some residents have also believed it was a symbol of Satan. Three or four residents complained, he said.

"Somebody could put up signs that say drop bombs on Iraq. If you let one go up you have to let them all go up," he said in a telephone interview Sunday.

Lisa Jensen said she wasn't thinking of the war when she hung the wreath. She said, "Peace is way bigger than not being at war. This is a spiritual thing."

Jensen, a past association president, calculates the fines will cost her about $1,000, and doubts they will be able to make her pay. But she said she's not going to take it down until after Christmas.

"Now that it has come to this I feel I can't get bullied," she said. "What if they don't like my Santa Claus."

The association in this 200-home subdivision 270 miles southwest of Denver has sent a letter to her saying that residents were offended by the sign and the board "will not allow signs, flags etc. that can be considered divisive."

The subdivision's rules say no signs, billboards or advertising are permitted without the consent of the architectural control committee.

Kearns ordered the committee to require Jensen to remove the wreath, but members refused after concluding that it was merely a seasonal symbol that didn't say anything. Kearns fired all five committee members.

11/26/06 20:50 EST

Ticky Tacky Award GOES TO...Talking Points Blog

Cruising through my links looking for Ticky Tacky, came across a whole new low in blogging, compliments of Joshua Micah Marshall over at the Talking Points Memo. Granted, we all hope to earn a living blogging, hope advertisers will beat a path to our blogs with FISTS full of dollars. We have our side bars set up, looking attractive, and we hope...that's fine, but Joshua Micah Marshall has taken advertising and the hunt for DOLLARS to a new low by forcing us to put up with advertising placed right into the blog area itself...in short, you cannot scroll through his musings and overly self important posturing without having to look at ads for ridiculous products...serious, these are ads for low end TICKY TACKY, which is why I am awarding Joshua Micah Marshall our "Almost The News" Ticky Tacky Award.

Sorry Joshua, no trophy, but maybe you can use the link back in this article as a means to generate a few more ad sense points for yourself.