Hippies, liberals, and California business owners rejoice: around 10:52 AM, PST., the California Public Safety Committee passed Assembly Bill 390, the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act, which seeks to regulate and control the production, distribution, and personal use of marijuana for adults age 21 and older. The goal is to tax every ounce of marijuana sold by $50. The vote passed 4-3.

But approach this with cautious optimism: The bill immediately faces a separate vote in the California State Assembly Committee on Health.

On January 8th, 2010, Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York City and former republican candidate for President, spoke with George Stephanopoulos. Around 7:10, he emphasized that Bush kept us safe from terrorists by saying, “We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We’ve had one under Obama.”

So this theme of “ignore 9-11″ seems to not be an accident, but the real way republicans view the Bush administration.

Watch it for yourself here: Rudy Giuliani ignores 9-11 (Interesting bit around -1:00)

Before I continue, it’s important to remind everyone that the only reason we need to focus on Afghanistan today is that Bush became distracted with Iraq, which allowed Al Qaeda to recruit and grow uncontested in the borders villages between Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Source, source)

So today, when Obama wants to increase the troops in Afghanistan, not only is it not comparable to Bush, it is a direct result of Bush’s misguided goals.

The war in Iraq was illegal, and not sanctioned by the UN. It was motivated by greed and the desire to make money, thinly veiled and widely debunked WMD search and anti-terrorism regime change. Afghanistan is very different, there is little to no financial gain for America, and although the war is not an ideal solution to the problems caused by the instability and extremism in the region, it is wholly more moral and acceptably motivated than Iraq was.

More to the point, Bush’s reasoning for sending more troops into Iraq was to “do everything necessary to win, and commit everything and stay as long as possible.” Obama’s justification for increasing troops in Afghanistan is to “get it over with so we can get out as fast as possible.”

These are completely different goals, both of which happen to start off with sending more troops.

Credit in part to joe_archer

A few days ago, John Boehner, the republican minority leader, posted a letter on his website which slammed the Obama administration for stripping workers of their Right to High-Quality, Independent Investment Advice. Just for the record, there is no such thing. Boehner is an idiot and like many of his colegues, is making things up, which leads me to point number two:

Conservative bloggers complained today that the Obama was the most partisan president in history. In what world are the Republicans living? They refuse to work with Obama on important issues, vote as a solid block against everything he proposes, excoriate any Republican who dares to cross the aisle, then they call Obama the “most partisan president in history.”

Thanks RobinOhio1 and JustJim73

The plot is simple: this very charismatic alien shows up, and promises hope and change, and indoctinates all of the youth to spread their message. Meanwhile, there is a resistance of people who’ve heard the truth, that know that all of these messages of hope and change are just fronts for the enslavement of humanity.

Seriously, the script is an hour-long John McCain campaign ad.

The embodiment of these sentiments happens around 25 minutes in. Erica Evens, the mother, freaks out that her son is spending so much time with the V’s. She finds footage of him vandalising in the name of the saviors. When confronted (25:15),  Tyler Evans says, “The V’s…they call it ’spreading hope.’ ” Hope! That’s the evil guise in which the invading alien race is going to brainwash the world. By spreading hope!

The big complaint by the republican party is that people voted for Obama not because of the needs of the country, but because the situation was so dire that America voted for an unexperienced yet charismatic candidate. Or as the anti-V resistance says it…”It worries me that they came when we needed them the most. All they’re really doing is positioning themselves as the saviors of mankind.”

Finally, at 37:12, the method in which the aliens will take over the world is reveiled. Anna is giving a news caster, Chad Decker, an interview. Anna exclaims: ”The intent goes beyond just healing we want to provide complete medical services to all.”

Chad Decker (with an OMGWTF expression) responds, “You’re talking about Universal Healthcare(!!!???)”.

The audience goes crazy. Universal Healthcare is obviouslly the way in which an alien species will take over America.

The plot of the rest of the series is trying to convince other characters that by the time we figure this out…it’ll be too late…they’ll take over…unless we can stop them.

The rest of the pilot episode was a motivational rant about how the fundamentalists that are against the V’s are not crazy, and make the emotional plee that if you want to rescue the world, you have to resist these charismatic beings who want (cue dramatic music)…universal healthcare.

http://officeofstrategicinfluence.com/stickers

(credit to News Hounds for this)

As most of you know, before the election, we made stickers, and gave them away here http://officeofstrategicinfluence.com/stickers (no longer actively giving away).

We want to do another run of stickers for the Health Care initiative. But we need suggestions on what to put on these stickers.

Like before, we’ll be giving them away for free once they’re up.