"Zach Galifianakis Smokes a Joint on Bill Maher's Show" (video)

khormotion, video (01:09).

Howie P.S.: Released today, this video has 149,593 views, just now. More info on Zach here.

Thousands "Rally to Restore Sanity' in the Seattle Rain

photo by Alan Berner / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Lynn Thompson (Seattle Times):

The Seattle and Washington, D.C., rallies opened with "The Star-Spangled Banner" and ended with "America the Beautiful." Local organizer Jim Baum, a Maple Valley building inspector and farmer, said he was offended by tea-party activists asserting they "wanted their country back."

"Wait a minute," he said, "isn't it our country?"

Baum said he'd never organized anything, but when he heard about Stewart and Colbert's rally, he floated the idea of a Seattle satellite event on his Facebook page one Friday morning in mid-September. By the following Monday, he said, so many people had said they wanted to be involved that he started calling the city for permit.

His co-organizer Marjorie Osterhout, a Madrona mother, said she'd never attended a rally before Saturday. But she said she was disturbed by the attack ads on radio and television, and she wanted her 10-year-old son to know there were alternatives. MORE...

Amy Rolph (seattlepi.com):

The Seattle rally was attended mostly by fans of the comedians' Comedy Central shows. And while fandom went a long way to draw people to the early-morning event on a rainy day Saturday, some said there wasn't anything funny about their real reasons for attending.

"The national discourse has become very fractured, very extreme -- and even a little dangerous," said Seattle resident Robert Reeder.

He worried the country is headed for a "dumb place," and that he wanted to be a part of a movement calling for reason, even if he couldn't make the trip to Washington D.C. MORE...

Howie P.S.: David Goldstein went down and did the Twitter. Here are 26 photos by Joshua Trujillo (seattlepi.com).

Arianna and Jon Report from The Rally for Sanity (video)

Huffington Post-Arianna Huffington, video (02:07).


NECN/Comedy Central, with video (12:05):

"The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart took a break from the comedy routines at his "Rally to Restore Sanity" in Washington, D.C. to make a sincere plea to his audience.

He thanked everyone for coming, and cautioned that the event wasn't a counter-protest toward people of faith, people of activism, or people who live in America's "heartland." He blamed the media for creating a certain mania within the American public.

"If we amplify everything, we hear nothing," he told a crowd of cheers, and later said that the back-and-forth name-calling he continually sees on TV needs to stop, saying, "the press is our immune system, if it over-reacts to everything we actually get sicker."

Stewart said, "The country's 24-hour political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems. But its existence makes solving them that much harder."

Howie P.S.: Can't find any video of Colbert. I guess Fear stayed home. C-SPAN has posted video (03:06:04) of the whole damn thing. H/t to Peter Ray.

Arianna Visits Keith and Scolds Obama Before Departing on Her Bus to the Rally for Sanity (video)

HuffPo, video (03:58).

Howie P.S.: Arianna should listen more closely to Obama's words after he told Jon Stewart about the "heckuva job" Larry Summers did. He said the word "pun." This is an example of how humor can get you into trouble with the wrong audience. Some of her other criticisms are on the mark.

Ambinder: "How Wisconsin Got Away From Russ Feingold"

Marc Ambinder (theAtlantic):

Voters this year are in a mood. That mood is reflected in their willingness to take chances on newcomers without political experience. Fortunately for Johnson (and unfortunately for Feingold), this newcomer has a pretty clean background. His "gaffes" have been of the type that drive elites crazy, like opposing global warming science. I think the science is solid, but voters don't really care about that stuff this cycle.

Still, this race SHOULD be closer. But then again, maybe the common denominator is simply that Feingold is unafraid to be the avatar of an argument that Wisconsin residents are just going to reject this cycle. Health care isn't popular. The stimulus is considered wasteful. The economy is tough and jobs aren't coming back. The profile of the electorate is much more conservative. Wisconsin has been run mostly by Democrats for eight years. It's not in very good shape. Feingold represents all of that. He's with the in crowd. Johnson's with the out crowd. Case closed. MORE...

Howie P.S.: This strengthens my resolve to do GOTV for Patty Murray.

"Mad about reefer: City reviews pot policy following raid"

Medical Marijuana for sale in Calif. (Associated Press photo)

Chris Grygiel (seattlepi.com)

Following a controversial raid during which police busted down the door of Army veteran who uses marijuana for medical purposes, Mayor Mike McGinn said Friday the city would review how it deals with pot, which voters have told authorities to make the lowest possible law enforcement priority.

"It's not the policy, or the goal, of the city to investigate, arrest and prosecute individuals who possess small amounts of marijuana or...who are growing small amounts for medical use," McGinn said Friday in response to a question during a news conference. "So we are working with the police department, and we will reach out to the City Attorney's office, to address this at a policy level...I don't want to say that we have specific, concrete steps to address this, because we don't...but I expect we're going to have further announcements on how we're going to proceed in the near future." MORE...

"It's Morning In Griftopia: A Q+A With Author Matt Taibbi"

Aaron Lake Smith (GQ):

Matt Taibbi, the profane, provocative reporter for Rolling Stone, is a larger-than-life figure in modern political journalism. That's both literally true (he's a big guy: he once played for the MBA—that's the Mongolian Basketball Association) and figuratively true: he writes in a scorching, contemptuous style that gives the best of his work a cast of fire-breathing grandeur. Known primarily for blaspheming the Pope, labeling Goldman Sachs a "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity", and more recently, slinging a mug of hot coffee in the face of a Vanity Fair reporter, Taibbi is clearly a man of outsized emotions. His new book Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con that Is Breaking America [Spiegel & Grau] is a stinging new history of the financial crisis that heralds a return of Mencken-esque, dirt-under-the-fingernails American journalism. Griftopia delves into the shadowy world of collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps and sovereign wealth funds, but he navigates the turgid money stuff with soaring sentences like "Greenspan's rise is…a tale of a gerbilish mirror-gazer who flattered and bullshitted his way up the Matterhorn of American power, and then, once he got to the top, feverishly jacked himself off to the attentions of Wall Street for twenty consecutive years." No one is spared. GQ caught up with Taibbi in a dark corner of a downtown Manhattan café to discuss the new book, the Great Recession, the upcoming midterm elections and what lies beyond. MORE...

"Rally to Restore Sanity Seattle!"

:Sanity Seattle

Westlake Center

Saturday, Oct 30 at 9 a.m.

To quote Jon Stewart, we’re looking for the people who think shouting is annoying, counterproductive, and terrible for your throat; who feel that the loudest voices shouldn’t be the only ones that get heard; and who believe that the only time it’s appropriate to draw a Hitler mustache on someone is when that person is actually Hitler.

On a more serious note, Change.org says "It might seem like the only voice in politics these days is an angry one ... Political demagogues are pandering to the worst fears of Americans by weaving wild conspiracy theories and accusing entire groups of Americans of being socialists, Nazis, or terrorists."

It's kinda crazy that a call to sanity has to come from a comedy show. But this rally is no joke. Please join us to send a message: That sane, calm discussion is better than shrill, angry shouting.

MoveOn: "1310 Mercer FW: You (AND ME). This weekend.‏"

MoveOn:

If you read one thing about the election today, read this:

The New York Times' chief polling analyst just wrote, "If our forecasts turn out to be biased against Democrats by just 2 points overall, the party becomes about an even-money bet to hold the House." (And then they'd almost certainly keep the Senate, too.)

So a Democratic gain of 2 percentage points is enough to stop the takeover of Congress. And historically, a strong get-out-the-vote push can deliver at least that much on Election Day.

That's why the Patty Murray campaign has spent weeks carefully planning for the final push. But they've told us that they still need more volunteers in Seattle, in order to reach out to every Democratic voter who's at risk of staying home on Tuesday.

This election is still very winnable, and this weekend is the most critical of the entire election season. Can you sign up to volunteer for Patty Murray in Seattle?

Yes, I'll sign up to volunteer.

Sorry, I can't.

Here's a little more about why this race is so important: Karl Rove's shady corporate front group has spent 3.2 million dollars working to replace Senator Patty Murray with a corporate Republican. Patty is holding on to a tiny lead, but a loss here could hand Republicans the Senate, so a massive get-out-the-vote effort is critical.

Thanks for all you do.

–Adam, Laura, Duncan, Ilya, and the rest of the team

"Hi, I'm a Tea-Partier" (video)

ndintenfass, video (06:11):

A Tea Party Patriot tries to explain how our freedoms are in jeopardy.

H/t to Billy Bragg.

"60 Minutes covers I-1098 and the national debate on taxes. Tune in at 7pm on Sunday!"

60 Minutes (CBS News):

Ronald Reagan's budget director, who once championed the positive trickle-down effects of tax cuts, now says Republicans pushing to extend the Bush tax cuts should be ashamed of themselves. David Stockman tells Lesley Stahl that to continue tax cuts as the debt grows by $100 billion a month and not have the will to cut spending is "demagoguery."

Stahl's report on the tax controversy will be broadcast on "60 Minutes" this Sunday, Oct. 31, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
(SNIP)
Does the former budget director have a solution to the budget mess? He has a partial solution, which he says would cut the national debt in half: a one-time 15 percent surtax on the wealthy. Says Stockman, "Today, after serial bubble after serial bubble, the top five percent have a net worth of $40 trillion. The top five percent have gained more wealth than the whole human race had created prior to 1980," says Stockman.

But he acknowledges that such a tax would never be passed. "There's the rub," says Stockman. "We've demonized taxes…We've created almost the idea that they're a metaphysical evil."

A proposal for a similar tax on the richest residents is on the ballot in the state of Washington, which, like most states, faces huge deficits. Stahl goes there to report on it and to talk to the father of the person it will impact the most - Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Does Gates want to pay the many millions such a tax will cost him? "Well, 'wants' to is a little strong,"says his dad, Bill Gates, Sr. "He is for it. He's very willing." MORE...

"The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear Is Tomorrow! Watch it Live On-Air/Online Starting at 9am Pacific"

THE OFFICIAL "RALLY TO RESTORE SANITY" WEBSITE IS HERE!!!
· Get the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear App from iTunes.
· Check in with The Daily Show and Colbert Report on Foursquare.
· Follow along on Twitter @rally4sanity and @stephenathome.
· Donate to the Trust for the National Mall and DonorsChoose.org.
· Order official Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear gear.

Norm Stamper: "Why They Fight" (Legalization)

Norm Stamper:

The nation's drug war warriors (led by current and past DEA chiefs and drug czars) along with sideline apologists (timid politicians, blinkered editorialists), are resorting to a last-minute campaign of hair-afire hysterics in the effort to dissuade California's voters from voting Yes on Proposition 19. The initiative would, finally, sensibly, regulate, control and tax cannabis.

What's all the screeching about? The usual: marijuana is a gateway drug...law enforcement will not be able to detect or arrest people driving under its influence... employers will not be able to discipline or fire under-the-influence employees. Lies and red herrings, all. Also, they know Proposition 19 will pass if young, educated voters turn out.

But, what's the subtext? Why are anti-19 forces battling so frantically to defeat the smartest piece of drug reform legislation to come along since the repeal of alcohol prohibition?

Two words: money and identity. MORE...

"Raid of medical marijuana patient raises questions about law, search"

Casey McNerthney (seattlepi.com):

Earlier this month, Seattle police raided a Leschi residence for a suspected illegal marijuana grow.

They didn't find one.

The case has raised questions of why police took such action when officers' evidence that there might be a grow operation there was a window fan and an odor they thought came from marijuana plants. The case also underscores the difficulties police have telling the difference between an illegal pot grow and a medical marijuana grow.

"There's no way for police to know if someone's a medical marijuana patient or not; there's no registry that exists," Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said.

But Alison Holcolmb, drug policy director of the Washington ACLU chapter, said police didn't follow their own guidelines to address whether the person was a medical marijuana user and failed to do basic investigative steps. MORE...

Mon Nov 1st: "JOIN US FOR A FREE GET OUT THE VOTE RALLY AND CONCERT with US SENATOR PATTY MURRAY"

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

and performances by

PRESIDENTS OF THE USA
JOHN RODERICK
SERA CAHOONE
TOMO NAKUMURA OF GRAND HALLWAY
SAY HI (SOLO SET)
THE YOUNG EVILS (ACOUSTIC SET)
JOSHUA MORRISON
ERIC ANDERSON OF CATALDO
ALEX ROBERT OF BLACK WHALES

All playing your favorite folk songs
and MCed by LUKE BURBANK of Too Beautiful To Live.

FREE!! :: 7 pm doors :: ALL AGES

RSVP at www.pattymurray.com/seattle

HuffPo: "Bill Gates, Sr., Promotes 'Robin Hood' Tax On Washington's Wealthy" (with video)

Laura Bassett (HuffPo) with video:

Bill Gates, Sr., the father of Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, is trumpeting a new state income tax in Washington for individuals who earn more than $200,000 a year or couples who earn more than $400,000 to benefit the state's public education and health systems.

The initiative, I-1098, would impose a personal income tax of up to nine percent on Washington's highest earners, but cut property and business taxes for small firms and homeowners. Washington is currently one of seven states with no personal income tax and the state has a history of strong public opposition to taxes.

Gates, who donated $600,000 in support of the measure, told reporters in a conference call on Wednesday that the tax would provide a "vital investment" of about $2 billion in Washington's underfunded public schools and health care facilities. MORE...

"The Three Billion Dollar Election"

UPDATE: Robert Reich says it's "Only $4.2 Billion To Buy This Election? The number of dollars spent isn’t the issue; it’s the lopsidedness of where the dollars come from."
Charles Kaiser (Hillman Foundation):

If corporate control of the state is a pillar of fascism–and it is–it’s hard to imagine what could have pushed us faster in that direction than last January’s decision by the Supreme Court in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission.

That decision made it possible for every corporation and fat cat from Boeing to David Koch to spend without limit to destroy any candidate they wish to destroy. If that strikes you as hyperbole, listen to what Rob Collins, the president of American Action Network, one of the leading Republican groups in this campaign season, said to Jim Rutenberg a couple of days ago in a great story in The New York Times:

“We carpet-bombed for two months in 82 races, now it’s sniper time. You’re looking at the battle field and saying, ‘Where can we marginally push — where can we close a few places out?’” MORE...

"Submachine Guns Drawn, Seattle Police Break Down Door of Medical Marijuana Patient, Push Him to the Floor, and Raid His Home—for Two Tiny Pot Plants"

UPDATE: Kirk Prindle tried to leave the following comment:

“How much public-endangering malfeasance and unnecessary violence must the people of Seattle endure before we see real change at SPD signalled with a change of leadership?

Under Diaz the people of Seattle have been terrorized with daily stories of police brutality and the murder of innocent civilians. The police did everything possible to endanger an innocent patient, an apartment complex, and an entire neighborhood with the wanton use of submachine guns. It is only shear luck that we do not have yet another Seattle resident dead or injured as a result SPD incompetency.

Mr. Mayor, the people of Seattle should not feel threatened by their police force: Get a new police chief that understands and respects the values of our Seattle communities.

What an absolute embarrassment.”

Dominic Holden (SLOG):

The Seattle Police Department and the mayor's office have repeatedly insisted that marijuana possession, per city law, is the lowest law enforcement priority. They also adhere, they say, to a state law that makes it legal for authorized patients to use and grow marijuana.

But last night provided evidence that Seattle police are willing to invest tremendous resources in the smallest of pot cases—even cases where the pot is legal—and the mayor’s office will remain silent.

Just before 9:00 p.m., officers at SPD’s East Precinct held a briefing about the complaint of marijuana at a four-unit apartment building in the Leschi neighborhood. One week earlier, officers applied for a search warrant from King County Superior Court, sent an officer with a K9 to sniff at the door, confirmed the scent of marijuana, and were in the process last night of planning a raid. “Once the briefing was completed, officers donned their raid equipment clearly marked ‘Police’ on all sides,” according to a draft incident report filed by police.

A cadre of between six and nine officers ran up the stairs; some carried MP5 submachine guns, others held pistols, and at least one held the battering ram. They pounded on the apartment door and said it was the police. MORE...

Harvey Wasserman: "George Washington ORDERS All Californians to Legalize Pot"

Harvey Wasserman:

A MESSAGE FROM THE FATHER OF YOUR COUNTRY:

Hello Californians.

What a lovely name. I only wish I had seen your countryside in my lifetime.

I am talking to you through Tom Paine to say that it is time to end this silly ban on smoking hemp, or, as you now call it for some reason, marijuana.

In my lifetime, there was no plant for which I had a greater fondness. It was the easiest to grow of all my crops, and the most profitable. We used it for clothing, rope, sails, textiles, feed, food, fuel and much more.

Certainly there was no crop for which our brave American farmers had greater enthusiasm. It was the number one cash crop on virtually all farms in America, and probably the top money earner for all the states taken together.

My good friend Tom Jefferson vastly preferred it to tobacco, or to any other crop he grew. He wrote his wonderful Declaration on paper made from it. Ben Franklin built an entire mill that used hemp as its primary stock.

And though we wrote about it rarely, we all enjoyed smoking a good pipeful at the end of the day. Knowledge of this came to us through the Greeks and Romans, and before that the Chinese and Indians, whose seeds I greatly treasured, and widely recommended. Of course our friends among the native tribes often provided us with the very best of their smoking matter.

Though it is somewhat difficult to retain decorum about this issue, I must tell you that if anyone had walked into our Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and told us that someday, in this great nation we were founding, citizens would be put in jail for possessing this great herb, we would have laughed them out of the room. Now that I see what is being done to innocent citizens who raise and smoke this herb as we did, I am tempted to demand that the authorities responsible for this foolishness THEMSELVES be incarcerated. MORE...

"Washington Man Arrested For Allegedly Assaulting Anti-Rossi Protester"

TPMDC:

A 72-year-old man was arrested for allegedly assaulting a 23-year-old activist protesting Dino Rossi's Republican campaign for Senate in Washington state yesterday, according to local reports.

The incident occured outside GOP headquarters in Walla Walla County where the demonstrator, Christie Stordeur, was "one of five protesters standing about 40 feet from the entrance of the office," according to the Tri-City Herald. MORE...