The Hollywood Liberal

Boom Times for Pot Growers
The lousy economy has driven some Californians into the marijuana industry, which is doing a lot better than, say, construction. According to this Miller-McCune profile, California will grow an estimated $15 billion worth of weed in 2009, a good portion of it in the backyards and basements of amateurs and newcomers. That’s good news for local governments. Oakland hopes to raise $300,000 next year from a medicinal marijuana sales tax. The Justice Department has instructed U.S. attorneys not to go after users and dispensaries that operate within the laws of the states. That doesn’t mean a more permanent pot economy is just around the corner, but it is doubtless a step in that direction.  —PZS Miller-McCune: As the economy tanked, layoffs rose, retirement savings shriveled and home-equity credit lines fizzled, Sarah and thousands of middle-class folks like her began raising extra cash by following local ordinances that allow the limited growing of Cannabis sativa for personal or medicinal use — while hoping that President Obama will keep federal law enforcers occupied with other things. The economics of pot growing are nice. The amount of space needed to grow a tomato plant will support a cannabis plant that, with a bit of TLC and luck, will produce from one-quarter pound to as much as 2 pounds of marijuana. When wholesaled to a dispensary, each pound will bring around $2,000. Read more READ THE WHOLE ITEM

The lousy economy has driven some Californians into the marijuana industry, which is doing a lot better than, say, construction. According to this Miller-McCune profile, California will grow an estimated $15 billion worth of weed in 2009, a good portion of it in the backyards and basements of amateurs and newcomers.

That’s good news for local governments. Oakland hopes to raise $300,000 next year from a medicinal marijuana sales tax.

The Justice Department has instructed U.S. attorneys not to go after users and dispensaries that operate within the laws of the states. That doesn’t mean a more permanent pot economy is just around the corner, but it is doubtless a step in that direction.? —PZS

Miller-McCune:

As the economy tanked, layoffs rose, retirement savings shriveled and home-equity credit lines fizzled, Sarah and thousands of middle-class folks like her began raising extra cash by following local ordinances that allow the limited growing of Cannabis sativa for personal or medicinal use — while hoping that President Obama will keep federal law enforcers occupied with other things.

The economics of pot growing are nice. The amount of space needed to grow a tomato plant will support a cannabis plant that, with a bit of TLC and luck, will produce from one-quarter pound to as much as 2 pounds of marijuana. When wholesaled to a dispensary, each pound will bring around $2,000.

Read more

READ THE WHOLE ITEM

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Limbaugh advanced IBD editorial’s false claim about NY Times ‘ Revkin, suggested he should “go kill” himself

On the October 20 broadcast of his radio show, Rush Limbaugh advanced the false claim from an Investor’s Business Daily editorial that New York Times environmental writer Andrew Revkin “proposed” instituting carbon credits for having fewer children, and then asked why, if Revkin “really thinks that humanity is destroying the planet,” he doesn’t “just go kill [him]self and help the planet by dying.” In fact, in both the blog post and panel discussion to which the IBD editorial referred, Revkin specifically stated that he was engaging in a “thought experiment, not a proposal.”

IBD cropped Revkin’s comments to falsely suggest he “proposed” carbon credits for having fewer children

IBD editorial asserted Revkin “proposed” carbon credits for having fewer children. From the October 19 IBD editorial:

New York Times environmental writer Andrew Revkin participated in an Oct. 14 panel discussion on climate change with other media pundits titled “Covering Climate: What’s Population Got To Do With It?” People who need people they are not.

Participating via Web cam, Revkin volunteered that in allocating carbon credits as part of any cap-and-trade scheme, “if you can measurably somehow divert fertility rate, say toward accelerating decline in a place with a high fertility rate, shouldn’t there be a carbon value to that?”

He went on to say that “probably the single most concrete and substantive thing an American, young American, could do to lower our carbon footprint is not turning off the light or driving a Prius, it’s having fewer kids, having fewer children.”

“More children equal more carbon dioxide emissions,” Rivkin [sic] has blogged, wondering “whether this means we’ll soon see a market in baby-avoidance carbon credits similar to efforts to sell CO2 credits for avoiding deforestation.” Save the trees, not the children.

Rivkin’s [sic] views are unfortunately shared by people with power and influence. Jonathon Porritt, chairman of Britain’s Sustainable Development Commission, believes that “having more than two children is irresponsible” and that people should “connect up their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint.”

Earlier this year, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi defended federal contraceptive initiatives as an effort to “reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.” For Pelosi, mother of five, the fewer the merrier.

Would this proposed carbon-credit carrot turn someday into a large stick? Would child exemptions disappear after the first child or worse?

Revkin made clear he was simply engaging in a “thought experiment, not a proposal.” In the September 15 Times blog post to which IBD referred, Revkin specifically stated that he was conducting a “thought experiment”: “I recently raised the question of whether this means we’ll soon see a market in baby-avoidance carbon credits similar to efforts to sell CO2 credits for avoiding deforestation. This is purely a thought experiment, not a proposal.” Similarly, in the October 14 panel discussion, Revkin stated of such carbon credits: “And obviously it’s just a thought experiment, but it raises some interesting questions about all this.” Further, IBD stated: “Revkin volunteered that in allocating carbon credits as part of any cap-and-trade scheme, ‘if you can measurably somehow divert fertility rate, say toward accelerating decline in a place with a high fertility rate, shouldn’t there be a carbon value to that?’ ” In fact, the video makes clear that Revkin was actually repeating what “some of the people have recently proposed,” not stating his own policy preference.

Revkin to CNS: “I wasn’t endorsing any of this.” On October 19, the conservative CNSNews.com reported that in a statement, Revkin denied “endorsing” such credits:

“I wasn’t endorsing any of this, simply laying out the math and noting the reality that if one were serious about the population-climate intersection, it’d be hard to avoid asking hard questions about USA population growth,” wrote Revkin.

“By raising the notion of carbon credits for, say, single-child American families,” he continued, “I was aiming to provoke some thinking about where the brunt of emissions are still coming from on a per-capita basis.”

Limbaugh used IBD editorial to attack Revkin

Limbaugh reads from the IBD editorial, asks why Revkin doesn’t “just go kill” himself. After reading the IBD editorial, Limbaugh stated: “This guy from The New York Times, if he really thinks that humanity is destroying the planet, humanity is destroying the climate, that human beings in their natural existence are going to cause the extinction of life on Earth — Andrew Revkin. Mr. Revkin, why don’t you just go kill yourself and help the planet by dying?”

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Sound and Fury From the Chamber, Signifying Nothing?
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DU: A poisonous legacy
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13 Innocent Uighurs Still Detained at Guantánamo After Being Cleared for Release Since 2004 Get Their Day in Court
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Rubio Cuts Crist Lead in Half
A new Quinnipiac poll finds Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s (R) lead over Marco Rubio (R) in the 2010 Republican U.S. Senate primary now stands at 15 points, 50% to 35%.

In general election match ups, Crist tops Rep. Kendrick Meek (D), 51% to 31% among all voters, while Rubio trails Meek 36% to 33%.

Said pollster Peter Brown: “Gov. Charlie Crist’s lead, which had been 29 points August 19, has come back down to earth. His margin is still formidable, but obviously Marco Rubio’s focus on convincing Republican conservatives that he, not Crist, is their kind of guy is bearing fruit.”

No Improvement for Paterson
New York Gov. David Paterson?s (D) “ratings with voters — favorable/unfavorable and job performance ratings, as well as hypothetical electoral contests — remain near record low levels,” according to a new Siena poll of registered voters.

In a Democratic primary, Paterson loses to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo 70% to 20%. In general election match-ups, he loses to Rudy Giuliani (R) 56% to 33% but beats Rick Lazio 39% to 37%.

Said pollster Steven Greenberg: “By every measure, voters continue to keep Governor Paterson in the electoral cellar, and by every measure, Paterson?s numbers are within a handful of points or less of his all time record lows. It is now nine consecutive months of a favorable rating below 40% and eight consecutive months of a job approval rating below 25%.”

Interestingly, a new Quinnipiac poll finds Cuomo crushing Paterson, 51% to 24%, even among black voters in a Democratic primary.

Clear Majority Now Backs the Public Option, and the Numbers Are Growing

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Media Enabled Bush 1’s Savage Attacks on Maddow and Olbermann, Yet Continue to Ignore Bush Family’s Sordid Past

George HW Bush gets a free pass for attacks without evidence, meanwhile his CIA ties remain largely ignored and his son's lies about Iraq remain unprosecuted.

The Untouchables: Right-Wingers Put Themselves in an Uncompromising ‘World Apart’

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The Truth About Iran and The Bomb
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Sponsored Topics: Iran – Middle East – Washington Post – Joseph Cirincione – Warfare and Conflict

Yet Another Israeli Spy Case
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Does Citigroup Need China?
Most of the economists and pundits who could not see an $8 trillion housing bubble are telling us that the United States desperately needs for the Chinese government to keep buying its debt. This crew of failed analysts argues that…


Sponsored Topics: United States – Citigroup – China – U.S. government – Chinese government

Where did this divisiveness start?

American politics is always been a contact sport. Heck, even the founding fathers didn’t agree on many things and that’s what caused the original founding party to break up but what we’re seeing today is a little bit different. It started with Richard Nixon. He learned the art of divide and conquer. He used in California politics in the late 40s and again in the 60s. He used it to get elected to Congress in the early 50s. He was able to use the Vietnam war and patriotism to get elected president in 1968. So, I can think of no better expert to talk to than Rick Perlstein, author of the book, Nixonland. It was Nixon who taught Ronald Reagan. More correctly, Ronald Reagan learned from Richard Nixon.

Click here for interview!

I decided to post my interview with Rick Perlstein, again. It seems we needed the perspective after the elder former President Bush decided to personally attack Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. This wouldn’t be any big deal if the President wasn’t calling for civility not five minutes before attacking them. What I find most reprehensible is not that he questioned the reporting or their delivery of their commentaries or even their shows but instead it was a personal attack. “There are a couple of sick puppies.”

I think you’ll find this interview informative and enlightening. Enjoy!

For more go to my blog.