Nope...not sorry in the least.

haha

The porn industry is looking for press anywhere it can get it. Remember not long ago when several porn companies were making offers to the Octomom?

Who ever came up with these "offers" and put them out to the press is doing some great free advertising.

Great post Sojourning_Soul.

Well said.

Okay...let's look at this again.

You can't win if you don't believe?

How about this...

You can't attend if you don't believe?

Ahhh for the old days...when you couldn't enter if you weren't a white girl! (SARCASM not what I think)

The times they are a changin' eh?

It wasn't so long ago that sports, beauty contests, politics, schools and all sorts of institutions were closed to anyone outside the mainstream.

I find it immensely entertaining that those who now claim to be on Christian higher moral ground are outraged because they are not the exclusive holders of that prized territory they carved out and excluded others from whether it be in a beauty contest, a church, a town square, a television screen...where ever.

Guess what? The world is not full of cookie cutter Bible thumped Stepford wives despite Miss California's best attempt to be one.

Funny you all howling about political correctness silencing other voices when for so many years you were the epitome of suppression and politically correct speech.

With slight variation...Mister Cohen's lyric

"Hallelujah"

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

For those of you who mire yourself in hate, prejudice, ignorance, bigotry and beastliness...

A bit of beauty...and my best wish for all...that tomorrow is a better day...despite all my fears that you will damn us all hope springs eternal.

http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?swf=http://s.ytimg.com/yt/swf/cps-vfl90747.swf&video_id=A_VcMTcXj7c&rel=1

She answered badly...she stumbled...

This question could not have been a surprise haha

Additionally...there was every chance she would have selected a different question. What if she answered that one badly too?

I imagine the vast liberal gay conspiracy folks made sure the daft blond heifer selected that question just so they could create a right wing martyr who would be the perfect example of right wing hate! Oh oh...just so the liberals could...

HA HA HA

Give me a break.

On 4/20 NPR asks the question: What if Marijuana Were Legal? Possible Outcomes

by John Burnett

All Things Considered, April 20, 2009 · There's a surge of public interest in legalizing marijuana as a partial answer to a host of problems. Last week, Mexico's congress debated legalizing cannabis as a way to undermine cartel income. And when President Obama held his online town hall last month, he was swamped with the question: Why not legalize pot as a way to help the economy?

NPR came up with a hypothetical scenario and asked experts to play along, commenting on their imagined outcomes. The scenario: Marijuana has been legal for two years throughout the U.S. It is treated, in the eyes of the law, similar to alcohol. It is taxed and regulated, and users must be 21 or older. Pot smokers can buy it by the gram at licensed dispensaries. Predictably, the law change would make some people very happy — and others deeply concerned.

Imagine if you turned on the radio and heard this: "From NPR News in Washington, I'm Carl Kasell. After 70 years of prohibition, marijuana becomes legal today for personal consumption throughout the United States for persons 21 and older …"

How would the world change if cannabis finally came out of the closet, if it were fully legal to possess, sell and cultivate?

Willie Nelson, the 76-year-old iconic balladeer and cannabis connoisseur, says there are pros and cons.

"We don't worry about going to jail anymore for smoking it," he says. But, "a lot of our old friends who dealt it are out of work."

In Austin, Texas, the legal cannabis created a surge in business at head shops such as Oat Willie's.

"There's the most popular one, the Volcano," says Doug Brown, the store's longtime general manager, pointing to a conical device that is supposed to provide a milder smoking experience. "It's very expensive — $575 — and they're hard to get hold of."

In the two years since legalization, Brown has noticed new customers, many of whom are older.

"More affluent people, more fun people — people that have never done it before, but have decided to try it since it's now legalized," he says.

One of the new marijuana epicures is Sarah Bird, a middle-aged novelist in Austin and columnist for Texas Monthly Magazine. She says she hadn't smoked marijuana much since her college days.

"It's been a godsend for the temperamentally tense such as myself," Bird says. "And it's really been a boon to getting me off my addiction to Ambien and Yellowtail Merlot."

"What's not to like?" Bird asks. It's low-calorie, she doesn't wake up hung over, it's great for the libido, and it's popular at dinner parties, baked into Belgian chocolate brownies.

But most of all, she adds: "You know you're not contributing to the Sinaloa Cartel and you're not destabilizing Mexico. And in my case, as a parent, I'm not modeling criminal behavior for my child."

Recreational And Medicinal Uses

At the University of Texas at Austin, Kevin Prince, coordinator of UT's alcohol and drug program, says he's seen a spike in pot smoking since it became legal. This is troubling to him because national studies show that sustained marijuana use directly affects academic achievement.

"One of the main issues is there's still a mystique when it comes to marijuana use," Prince says. "A lot of people still don't know that marijuana use is addictive. If you're spending more time smoking weed than going to class or going to work, that's a problem."

Not everyone uses it recreationally. The end of cannabis prohibition has been a blessing for Marsha, a medical marijuana user with multiple sclerosis. Sitting in a wheelchair in a friend's backyard in Houston, Marsha says she smokes weed to "escape from my body" and the chronic pain caused by nerve damage.

"Oh, what a relief it is not to be home alone wondering if this minor-league marijuana user, if the cops were gonna come bust me down," she says. "It's nice to feel free."

The Cartels Stay Strong

Free at last to smoke marijuana: Since the prohibition on cannabis ended, has it delivered the results its supporters claimed it would?

With the spiraling drug mayhem in Mexico, some Latin American leaders looked at legalizing marijuana as a way to deny the murderous cartels a portion of their profits. When it was banned, marijuana was the greatest source of income for Mexican traffickers. Now that it's cultivated domestically and sold legally, surely that has crippled the cartels?

"These are crooks. You're not gonna take 'em out of the criminal activity business," says Robert Almonte, who worked narcotics for 25 years with the El Paso Police Department, just across the river from the ruthless Juarez Cartel. "Because drugs are legalized, they're not gonna say, 'Let's go back to school and get an honest job.' "

Almonte, director of the Texas Narcotic Officer's Association, says all cannabis legalization has done is force the drug mafias to improvise.

"As far as marijuana is concerned, they have been selling it less expensive than what it can sell for here in the United States," Almonte says. "But more importantly, we're seeing a more potent marijuana. And with that we're seeing … an increase in the emergency room admissions."

A similar observation comes from William Martin, a drug policy expert and senior fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston.

"Just as after the repeal of prohibition, organized crime got into many other kinds of activities — protection money, control of the laundry business — so the drug cartels are quite flexible," Martin says. "They've diversified into kidnapping, human trafficking, protection other crime. And they're still selling cocaine, heroin and meth, which are highly profitable. So unfortunately, it has not hurt them as much as we'd hoped."

Fewer Criminal Cases, Records

Supporters of legalization say one of the undeniable benefits has been the reduction in criminal cases that have clogged courts.

"I used to represent a lot of marijuana smokers and dope dealers," says Gerry Goldstein, a prominent criminal defense lawyer in San Antonio.

Though he is not billing as many hourly fees these days, he believes that's a good thing for the criminal justice system.

"Back in … 2006 to 2008, 45 percent of all drug arrests in this country for the most part were marijuana offenses," Goldstein says. "That's a staggering waste of resources of our law enforcement."

And it left young people scarred with criminal records for something that is arguably less dangerous than alcohol, Bill Martin says.

"If they were convicted, they could lose employment, child custody, student aid, voting privileges, some welfare benefits. They could even forfeit assets like cars or houses. The new regime has eliminated that. Problem users are now being treated as a public health matter and not as a criminal issue, and that's appropriate," he says.

It Wouldn't Fill Government Coffers

Since marijuana became legal, farmers around the country — illicit and formerly illicit — have scrambled to put Cannabis sativa seeds into the ground. Under the law, they pay $1,000 for a state license, whether their crop is hydroponic or soil-grown.

"The marijuana crop's been going really good. … Just wait till the last frost, just start puttin' the plants in the ground, and add a little nitrogen fertilizer to give you a lotta leaf, and after that it just grows like a weed, which is what it is," says Larry Butler. He stands among the crop rows at his Boggy Creek Farm, a 5-acre certified organic urban farm in Austin, Texas.

His wife, Carol Ann Sayle, says they've been a bit disappointed by their newest cash crop and are nervous about losing the farm's family ambiance.

"The retailer takes a big hit off the bong, so to speak, and then the government comes in with their taxes," Sayle says. "So what's left for the farmer? After all that work and … trying to ease peoples' fears that we're gonna be giving it to children. So, what's left for the farmer? Stems and seeds is about all that's left."

Jeffrey Miron, a Harvard economist who has modeled and written on the economics of the marijuana market, figures state and federal taxes on cannabis sales add up to $6.7 billion annually.

And he calculates the savings from not having to enforce state and federal marijuana laws — in arrests, prosecution and incarceration — at $12.9 billion a year. Excluding additional expenses, such as the public health cost of marijuana, or the cost of administering the new law, Miron figures that legal pot creates almost a $20 billion bonus. Miron adds, however, that the people who thought the taxation of marijuana would create a windfall for government coffers will be disappointed.

"Compared to the size of most federal government agencies, compared to the tax revenue from things like alcohol and tobacco, and certainly compared to the size of deficits that we have, this is just not a major issue, it is not a panacea, it is not curing any of our significant ills," he says. "There may be good reasons to do it, but the budgetary part is not a crucial reason to do it."

There Are More People Smoking It

Now that marijuana is legal to possess, use, process, transfer, transport, retail, wholesale and cultivate, has the United States become a nation of potheads?

The Dutch experiment offers an interesting case study. After marijuana was decriminalized there in 1976, pot smoking didn't jump in Holland, and it remained well below U.S. levels. But it rose sharply after coffee shops opened in the 1980s and began openly selling cannabis. The U.S. already has a huge appetite for drugs: It's the largest illegal narcotics market in the world. Half of all high-school seniors have used pot.

Drug policy analysts interviewed for this report believe that now that marijuana is legal and socially acceptable in the U.S., there are more people smoking it. And some of them are kids.

"They'll start using it sooner now because it looks like it's more OK, seems less harmful, because they see their parents doing it," says Rosalie Pacula, co-director of the Drug Policy Research Center at the RAND Corp. "Do we know how to keep kids from drinking alcohol? No, we don't. So why would we expect we'd be any better at it with marijuana?"

And the reason we should care is because of the effect that marijuana can have on the development of adolescent brains, says Dr. Vicki Nejtek, a psychiatrist who works on drug abuse at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth.

"We know that marijuana use and chronic use, as it is now, in an adolescent population can cause extreme developmental delay," Nejtek says. "We know the myelin sheath around our brain cells acts like an insulator to an electric cord. When that's stripped away, it can cause memory loss, it reduces our ability to concentrate, and a reduction in brain cell activity."

In 2007, 14.4 million Americans ages 12 and older admitted to survey-takers that they had used pot in the past month. Rice University's Bill Martin believes, now that it's legal, about one-third more people are using marijuana — maybe 19 million Americans. Martin believes legal pot — which is, after all, an intoxicant — has been good for society but bad for young people.

"I have nine grandchildren," he says. "I would prefer that none of them use marijuana to any significant extent. I have seen students, I've seen friends, become less interesting."

NPR's fictitious scenario of legalized marijuana is not likely to come true anytime soon. Most states are still fighting to legalize medical marijuana and decriminalize marijuana penalties, much less seriously considering legalization. President Obama is on record opposing legalizing pot as a way to boost the economy. For now, whether legal cannabis would cause an outbreak of reefer madness or make more people just mellow out, makes for an interesting parlor game. But it's only a pipe dream.

Texas thread...not taking the bait...

/smirk

Ozzy

Okay....so maybe a little nibble

Ha Ha

Beauty contests...now there's a grand Christian tradition!

Perez Hilton? Fluff...someone who makes a living yapping it seems about other people who do not matter.

The cult of personality haha

He set her up and she answered badly.

Long and short of it is they are both seemingly vapid asses who no more represent the typical American than do Rosie the Riveter and Uncle Sam. (With apologies to the fictional Rosie and Sam)To assert there is some vast conspiracy to forward a political agenda via her loss is as asinine as those who look at the pageant system and assert it should be abolished because it furthers the image of women as nothing more than sex objects.

These views are reactionary and extreme.

From a practical view every contestant answering questions should have been ready for a wide variety of questions. The questions by the way were selected from a fishbowl by the girl. So, to assert she was set up seems silly.

If you decide to enter a cattle call then be ready.

Still, do not despair...the poor little thing has a pre-written ticket to be the darling of the right now. Appearing at rallies and in "oh poor me for standing up for my morals" appearances.

The whole thing is a disgusting and sickening dog and pony show that lessens the real issue.

Keep swallowing that hook!

HA HA HA

Grats on the biggest waste of space posting ever!

So, in a cattle call one of the heifers stumbled and the poor little thing didn't win.

It has to be because she wasn't pc right?

Paranoid much? Like that evangelical persecution fear mongering crap alot?

HA HA HA

Funny....

I can

So...Steele thinks he and others at a pro-life rally were being watched?

I think this is mostly about playing to, reinforcing and creating more fear...a powerful tool in politics...but that's no surprise. Fear is a potent tool in manipulating people but you all know that right?

Still...if the pro-life rally was being watched why do these people find it so alarming? After all if they are acting lawfully why worry?*

*PLEASE READ THE SARCASM IN THAT LAST SENTENCE!!

For many years I heard neocons blather on, supporting Bush spying on womans groups, anti-war groups and many other political organizations. Funny to hear them whine now haha

One more time...I told ya so...don't love those policies and powers you so loved when Shrub was in office....HA HA HA

From http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/sean-hannity-and-michael-steele-are

Well, we knew that the fake controversy over the Department of Homeland Security's domestic-terrorism report was really all about whipping up paranoia among the Republicans' right-wing-populist footsoldiers.

But we really didn't expect their leading officials and pundits, like Michael Steele and Sean Hannity, to be hearing the black helicopters whupping overhead already:

Steele: You know, they've got their eye on the 3,000 Americans who assembled in Indiana last night, in Evansville, Indiana, to profess their continued effort to save the life of the unborn. Sarah Palin and myself and 3,000 other Americans who're concerned about the life issue were gathered there. And I'm sure there was somebody in the room with a notepad and a camera taking snapshots and writing down names.

Of course, Steele is just doing his part. The more paranoiac, the merrier.

I'm realizing why so many people at the Seattle Tea Tantrum were looking at me so suspiciously. It wasn't that they thought I might be liberal; it was that they thought I was a DHS agent.
Still...pro-lifers are proven domestic terrorists. They have engaged in assignation and bombings and advocated on pro-life websites even more violence like the killing of doctors who perform abortions.

Personally I might enjoy watching it happen.

A peaceful split?

Texas as a nation? Good luck...swagger all you'd like but without the federal government and the resources afford by it you all will find yourself in a jam. Might be fun to watch though.

An armed rebellion?

If the feds were forced to respond with force...well might be a great chance to clean house eh?

Perry's talk is political grandstanding at it's finest. Talk secession while asking the feds for help with border enforcement, disaster relief funding along with material support...what a joke.

North Korea is a mess this much we know but...how serious a threat to it's neighbors and the world do you all think North Korea is?

CNN) -- North Korea said Saturday any sanctions or pressure applied against it following its rocket launch earlier this month will be considered a "declaration of war."

In an announcement on state-run television, the country said it was ready to step up efforts to develop nuclear weapons and poised for a military response to any moves against it.

"The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK are always keeping themselves fully ready to go into action any moment to mercilessly punish anyone who encroaches upon the sovereignty and dignity of the DPRK even a bit," it said.

On Monday the United Nations condemned North Korea -- which refers to itself as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK -- for launching a rocket.

The United States called the launch a "provocative act" that violated a 2006 Security Council resolution prohibiting Pyongyang from conducting ballistic missile launches.

Pyongyang insists the April 5 launch was a successful mission to place a communications satellite into orbit. The United States says the rocket's payload did not reach orbit.

The U.N. statement says the rocket launch was "in contravention" to a 2006 Security Council resolution that demanded that North Korea not launch any ballistic missiles.

The 15-member council also voted unanimously for a statement by the council's president demanding the country make no more launches.

"The Korean People's Army will consider sanctions to be applied against the DPRK under various names over its satellite launch or any pressure to be put upon it through 'total participation' in the PSI (Proliferation Security Initiative) as a declaration of undisguised confrontation and a declaration of a war against the DPRK," the announcement on state TV said.

"Now that the group officially declared confrontation and war against the DPRK, its revolutionary armed forces will opt for increasing the nation's defense capability including nuclear deterrent in every way, without being bound to the agreement adopted at the six-party talks," it continued, apparently referring to the Security Council.

Referring to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, the statement added, "The Lee group of traitors should never forget that Seoul is just 50 kilometers (31 miles) away from the Military Demarcation Line."

That line was established by the 1953 Armistice Agreement between the two Koreas -- which are still technically at war.

A Friday report North Korea's official KCNA news agency, seemed to blame the "war hysteria" on the United States and South Korea after the two countries carried out a combined air force operation in South Korea.
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The "'South Korea-U.S. military alliance' oft-repeated by them is, in essence, nothing but a 'war alliance' and 'alliance for aggression' aimed at invading the DPRK," the report said.

"When a nuclear war will break out due to the war chariot of the 'South Korea-U.S. military alliance' is a matter of time," it said. "The U.S. and South Korean warmongers would be well advised to stop acting rashly, properly understanding who their rival is."

The responsibility lies with the commander in chief.

Perry is playing you all like a fiddle.

Ugly is skin deep...stupid...well that's all inclusive.

Oh yeah...missionaries are swell...

Brilliant?

Nah..