A Letter of Encouragement to Assemblyman Tom Ammiano on his Bill to Legalize and Tax Marijuana

Dear Assemblyman Ammiano:

You have proposed taxing marijuana as a rich source of income for California, a state that is drowning in debt.

Your bill, AB 390 would, "Remove all penalties under California law for the cultivation, transportation, sale, purchase, possession, and use of marijuana, natural THC and paraphernalia by persons over the age of 21," and "prohibit local and state law enforcement officials from enforcing federal marijuana laws"

Good idea. Marijuana, at $14 billion annually, is California's biggest cash crop. Bigger than tomatoes, almonds or grapes. According to the New York Times:

"Betty Yee, chairwoman of the California Board of Equalization, the state’s tax collector, said that legal marijuana could raise nearly $1 billion per year via a $50-per-ounce fee charged to retailers."

Chump change compared to our $441 billion deficit. But the state has already been hit with $12.5 billion in new taxes, so an added $1 billion could be significant.

But there is one thing everyone is forgetting. Marijuana taxes area already being added to the state's coffers. Medical Marijuana cooperatives allow California residents to buy marijuana legally with a doctor's "recommendation." The recommendation itself, renewable annually, can cost anywhere from $75 to $125. And an ounce or so of pot costs from $50 to $85.

All of this is taxable and I would not be surprised to learn that it is a considerable amount of revenue. For all practical purposes, marijuana is legal in California. Legal users can grow it themselves at home if they like, but I would guess, most buy it.

If you don't believe marijuana is big business in California, check out NORML's collective list. And these are just where you can buy pot legally.

I intend to find out just what kind of taxes marijuana adds to state revenues. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, Assemblyman Ammiano, please follow up. It's a good idea.

Regards,


NEWSGUY

Note: Ammiano represents District 13, which includes San Francisco

Congratulations, Bobby Jindal!!

Your speech following Obama's big speech to Congress was magnificent! Most of the country doesn't seem to get it, but I know your game. You pretend to be a Republican, but you are clearly a Democratic mole. How do I know? Because of the speech you gave. It was absolutely devastating to the Republican party. Several pundits commented. Here is a sample from the Associated Press:

David Brooks, a conservative New York Times columnist who has criticized aspects of the stimulus plan, nonetheless called Jindal's arguments "insane" and tone-deaf given the dire economic challenges the country faces.

"To come up in this moment in history with a stale, 'Government is the problem, you can't trust the federal government' is just a disaster for the Republican Party," Brooks said on PBS' "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer." "It's not where the country is, it's not where the future of the country is."

Fox News commentator Juan Williams focused on Jindal's delivery.

"It came off as amateurish, and even the tempo in which he spoke was singsongy," Williams said, adding that the content of the speech was "very simplistic and almost childish."

Penni Pier, a political communication specialist at Iowa's Wartburg College, said Jindal's presentation was overly colloquial and his message of less government and more tax cuts was substantively thin.

"It sounded like the same old rhetoric — we had tax cuts the last eight years, and look where it got us," Pier said. "Jindal was also trying to be so familiar, he lost credibility. Obama is familiar, but at the same time always a statesman."

Bobby Jindal, you are no fool. You know the Republican party's historical bias toward brown and black people. You are obviously posing as a Republican governor in order to help destroy the Republican party. Very clever. But you might want to tamp it down just a little. Your speech was such a blow to the Republican party even the idiots who run the Republican party might begin to get a little suspicious. You gave a speech that was a parody of the Republican party.

Kudos to you, Governor Jindal. Keep up the good work. One or two more speeches like that, and you will bury the Republicans for good. You are a true patriot. Thank you for your service to your country.

Regards,


NEWSGUY

Obama Speech is UNFAIR

Dear President Obama,

I saw and heard your apppearance before Congress tonight. I am sorely disappointed in your speech. You were patently unfair to Republicans.

How are Republicans supposed to respond intelligently to a speech such as that? The Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal tried very hard to repond to it and failed miserably. Instead of responding, he talked about how he pulled himself up by his bootstraps (who has boots with bootstraps?), and then deplored the federal government's disgraceful response to Katrina. This was a very poor response, and perhaps Bobby Jindal is suffering an onset of dementia, forgetting that the Katrina reponse (such as it was) came from a Republican administration. So here is poor Governor Jindal complaining about how ineffectual government is at solving problems and pointing his finger at a Republican president running a Republican administration.

How are Republicans supposed to respond to calls for an end to torture, keeping close track of bailout money given to banks, serious proposals to help out homeowners facing foreclosure, close scrutiny of the spending of bailout money, priortising the economic recovery health care and education? All of this makes way too much sense. I admit, Bush was much better for both parties. The Republicans got to admire him and Bush left plenty of room for Democrats to rightly criticize his incompetence and stupidity.

But Obama:

"We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before," he said. "The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation."

How are Republicans supposed to answer a call to hope and optimism like that? It is UNFAIR to Republicans. It puts the GOP at a tremendous disadvantage. A speech like the one Obama gave tonight rallies the American people to support the Democratic program and reject the Republicans. All they can say is something like, "Obama's program will saddle future generations with debt" and "We have better ideas, the free market system," when, of course it was the free market system unfettered and Bush's expensive war which got us into this mess. Not to mention the $2 billion a week his war has cost us for several years, week after week.

Let's hope President Obama will take pity on the Republicans and give less impressive and less inspirational speeches in the near future. Otherwise he threatens to cripple the Republican party as it dithers and obstructs in its efforts to save its political future.

All they have to offer so far is Bobby Jindal, a GOP presidential hopeful for 2012. President Obama, you have got to give them a chance to do better than THAT. Just in the spirit of FAIR PLAY.

Regards,

NEWSGUY

CONGRATULATIONS, SEAN PENN

Dear Sean Penn,

I was hoping you would win the Oscar as Best Actor. Rarely have I seen an actor turn in such a truly stunning performance. I heard one crew member who knew Harvey Milk say that when he was on set he was floored when he say you walk in wearing that three piece suit. He said it was like seeing a ghost.

I hope your performance and the movie gives hope to all the young, gay people. I am sure they take a lot of crap, some from their parents, some from other kids. And sometimes they just can't take it anymore and take their own lives. It is very sad.

I didn't hear your Oscar speech, but I understand you said something about the people who voted YES on California's Prop 8. You said something like...OK, I looked it up:

"I think it's a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and their shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that support. We've got to have equal rights for everyone."

Someday we will look back on the discrimination against gay people the same way we look back on flat earthers or prosecution for witchcraft.

Congratulations, Sean Penn. I have a copy of MILK and will watch it again, more than once.

By the way, the photo above is not Sean Penn. It is of Harvey Milk.

Regards,


NEWSGUY

To the United States Secret Service

Dear Secret Service,

You guys are supposed to be protecting the President. As if I had to remind you.

So are you going to at least pay a visit to this idiot New York Post cartoonist, the one who penned the violent and racist cartoon featuring two cops, one with a smoking gun standing over a monkey with two holes in his chest? The other cop says, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus Bill.”African Americans have been compared to chimps and monkeys for decades. OF course it is the bigots who share the intellectual level of our less sophisticated primate cousins. It is clear that this is a racist cartoon. And it implicitly calls for the assassination of President Obama.

There are plenty of screwballs out there who might take this cartoon as a form of inspiration.

So doesn't this guy Sean Delonas deserve a visit from some of you guys in the dark suits with the shades and the wires in your ears?

I'm just sayin'

Sinderely,

NEWSGUY

To Congress, CBS, NBC, ABC News and All Cable News Channels

Well, that just about covers everyone. (As if they actually will be reading this. Oh well...)

I don't get it. Millions of Americans are suffering under a system of virtual slavery devised by the big banks and no one is paying attention. The media, including all newspapers and magazines are ignoring this problem. But scratch the average Joe on the street and you'll get an earful.

I am talking about credit card debt. Beginning with Ronald Reagan and the destruction of unions and good paying jobs, decent wages were replaced with easy credit via credit cards. For many, many people, their lifestyles were supported by credit, not a good, middle class paycheck

Now millions of Americans owe billions, perhaps trillions of dollars in credit card debt. Many Americans are crushed by credit card debt. Evidence is the fact that radio ads constantly bombard us with offers from companies promising to fix our credit card debt, make it go away, with secret methods "the credit card companies don't want you to know about."

It amazes me that the media and Washington politicos have managed to ignore this problem. It is huge. It is an elephant in the room, so big there is barely room for the sofa and a table.

And the banks that own the credit cards have been bailed out with our money. The cardholders that are being held hostage are also the taxpayers who are subsidizing the these bloodsucking banks.

It's insane.

We need federal legislation that would at least limit the interest rates on credit cards. In some cases interest has soared to nearly 30%. And the banks are using federal money at zero or 2%. On top of that the credit card companies raise the interest rates whenever they feel like it.

It is more than insane.

It is criminal. And the American people are the victims of this shit. The credit card companies need to be reined in.

To Ignorant Insensitive Parents

I took my 17 year old son to the neighborhood theatre this afternoon to see Friday the 13th, one more in a collection of horror movies starring Jason Voorhees, a murderous serial killer who wears a hockey mask and carries a machete.

Frankly I found it a bit boring. My son is a big Friday the 13th fan along with the Halloween movies, Texas Chain Saw and Nightmare on Elm Street, etc.

Friday the 13th was a bore, in my estimation because it had no discernible plot. It was shot mostly at night and consisted mostly of a series of vicious murders shot via shaky cam edited in with half second clips so that the overall effect was a bit subliminal. Still, the murders were there, with machetes, an ax, a screwdriver and other instruments of destruction.

I noted during the movie that I heard the laughter of children at some of the more gory parts. None of this really registered wtih me until the movie was over and the audience was filing up the aisle toward the exit. Half the audience was children, little children, some as young as five or six. These kids were witnesses to the mayhem on screen with their parents who had brought them to this gorefest. And I have not even addressed that fact that this movie contained a strong sexual component.

I looked at the parents with their kids and wondered who these people were, who would bring their little children to a movie like this. These kids may grow up entirely normal, with no psychological problems, but they have imprinted in their little brains the images of Jason killing people, people screaming in wide-eyed terror, and the jarring, crashing soundtrack engineered to raise the heart rate and engender fear. This can't be good for kids. No one could argue that this kind of experience is a positive thing for child development.

What kind of adults will these people be, those who laughed as little children at the sight of terrified people being murdered?

You parents who take your kids to movies like this should be ashamed of yourselves. You are ignorant and insensitive people. This was an R rated movie. "R" means that children under 17 are supposed to be accompanies by a parent. Well, these were. But frankly, I think bringing little children to a movie of this kind is a form of child abuse.

I'd like to read any opposing view. But frankly I would guess that anyone who actually would bring their little kids to this movie wouldn't be intelligent enough to write an opposing view.