cannabisnews.com: CBS' Eye Just Got Blacker





CBS' Eye Just Got Blacker
Posted by CN Staff on January 27, 2004 at 07:53:55 PT
By Paul Campos 
Source: Rocky Mountain News 
This Sunday, the more than 100 million Americans watching the Super Bowl will see advertisements encouraging them to buy no less than three different drugs designed to combat erectile dysfunction. They will see ads paid for by tobacco litigation money - which is to say by smokers - and brought to us by the officious busybodies at the American Legacy Foundation. (The ALF is responsible for those obnoxious ads that assume Americans are such idiots that we need to be bombarded with reminders that cigarette smoking is bad for our health).
The Super Bowl audience will be implored to buy gas-guzzling cars and brain-numbing beer, and more generally to consume mass quantities of stuff. What they will not see is an award-winning ad that criticizes the Bush administration. The advertisement, created by Charlie Fisher of Denver, is, as political ads go, exceptionally understated.The 30-second spot features a montage of several small children, shown working at the sorts of jobs they are likely to be doing decades from now, while guitar music strums peacefully in the background. The screen is then filled with this message: "Guess who's going to pay off President Bush's $1 trillion deficit?"This ad was rejected by CBS, which is broadcasting the Super Bowl, as "too controversial." (My brother, who let me know about this controversy, speculates that the decision is based on the Roman law doctrine that "there is to be no criticism of the Emperor during the Circus.")This egregious bit of censorship is made all the more obnoxious by the fact that CBS will air an advertisement during the game from the White House's own Office of National Drug Control Policy, which, in appropriately Orwellian fashion, will encourage teenagers to rat out their pot-smoking friends to Big Brother.The White House's ad follows on the heels of its memorable 2002 Super Bowl advertisement, which claimed that people who use drugs (not, apparently, including erectile dysfunction drugs) are supporting terrorism. That particularly idiotic moment in the war on drugs wasn't too "controversial" to be unleashed on the public during America's annual pigskin pageant.Some readers might remember that, in the wake of the 2002 ad, a group led by Arianna Huffington sponsored advertisements suggesting that people who drive SUVs are supporting terrorism: a claim that actually isn't quite as absurd as the claim made in the earlier White House ad. Several television stations declined to run these ads, on the grounds that they were - you guessed it - "too controversial."Decisions of this sort are more than monuments to hypocrisy and double standards. Because those who have the right to broadcast have, in effect, a monopoly on the television airwaves, the television networks are regulated closely by the federal government. By law, the networks hold their broadcast rights in trust, and are thus obligated to do business in a way that is mindful of the public interest.CBS doesn't serve the public interest when it rejects an otherwise appropriate advertisement because, in the opinion of the network's managers, the ad's message is too controversial. This is especially the case when the network broadcasts equally controversial advertisements, during the same program for which the rejected ad was intended.Given that CBS is regulated so heavily, and that major legislation has just been enacted that critics argue will unduly enhance the network's market share, is it possible that "too controversial" really means "harmful to CBS' corporate interests?" One need not be a cynic to suspect that, as a great American journalist used to put it, "that's the way it is."Paul Campos is a professor of law at the University of Colorado. Newshawk: The GCWSource: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)Author: Paul CamposPublished: January 27, 2004Copyright: 2004 Denver Publishing Co.Contact: letters denver-rmn.com Website: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/Related Articles & Web Site:MoveOn.orghttp://www.moveon.org/ONDCP Links Drugs, Drinking in New Ads http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18222.shtmlMoveOn Accuses CBS of Bias http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18201.shtmlAd Rejections by CBS Raise Policy Questionshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18179.shtml
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Comment #40 posted by Virgil on January 28, 2004 at 16:51:01 PT
There are 10 types of people in the world
Those that understand binary and those that don't.I want to raise the perspective of combining playing cards suites with a Victory by list theme.Since you can think of many ways the cannabis story can be divided, there could be many suites to divide categories. I can think of good guys and bad guys, past and present. I can think of uses in hemp, medical, and recreational. I can think of suite on laws like possession, cultivation, trafficing, seizure, paraphanalia, conspiracy, jury nullification, and so on.I think of websites having a card. In a virtual world the numbers could easily be changed for an individual's deck. CannabisNews might have the Queen of Hearts with a description of its chosing that could be modified in any configuration into a suite of websites. Now combine that with a Victory by list theme. My suite might chose to rank websites or not and I could present a list as a suite.There could be a suite for commercial websites like Hempola that could serve as a list of top websites for hemp products. There could be a suite for top videos available on the Internet. There could be a suite of the most informative websites, such as the Canadian Senate Report and JackHerer.com's book. Those would be easy to construct if you wanted to actually complete a suite.I am too tired to go on as if it makes any difference. It is all in your guys hands. 
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Comment #39 posted by yippierevolutionary on January 28, 2004 at 12:40:38 PT
Cannabis Cards Will Have no Copyright
They will have a copyleft.This isn't a scheme to make myself rich by any means. This is about ending CP and playing a little poker.
Copyleft explained
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Comment #38 posted by Virgil on January 28, 2004 at 11:53:12 PT
The call for cards at HempCity
From http://www.hempcity.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1259#1259I am going to pull Nol's head off and crap down his neck if I do not get some response to this idea. This is really a big deal and I ask that anyone in the reform movement join in this project.In Iraq, the US issued playing cards to the soldiers with pictures of the Iraqis that they wanted dead or alive. There is someone that is going to have cards printed with some of the infamous sub-humans that were cannabis warriors. but there will also be goog guys.This is where I would ask something of Nol and his staff for a certain contribution. We would like Nol to put up a playing card of himself in an effort that morphs the ribbons worn by groups such as the yellow ribbons worn in support of AIDs victims. We would like him to make a card for himself and put up here at hempcity. We would like to see someone put up a card for Biz Ivol at thc4MS.org. I would also like to have one for Colin Davies.I think this is an absolutely huge deal. The cards are going to be made and I will keep you informed of this idea as best I can. We are asking that Nol furnish us with a card that could be printed without any copyright violation. These cards on the Internet could eventually make a virtual deck and be put into the solitaire games that are not protected by copyright. I will be putting up some examples when I can. The commitment to print the cards and some elaboration on the idea can be read at http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread18230.shtml
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Comment #37 posted by Virgil on January 28, 2004 at 10:46:33 PT
I agree with you Jose
Just like in real life people took to wearing ribbons, cannabis friendly websites should have their cards. If Marc Emery would put up his card and Steve Tuck put up his card, we could all eventually make a virtual deck.Cards should display Please distribute widely People could build a set and learn to change conflicting numbers. I will put something up at hempcity asking informing Nol on the project. They have a section for ideas. I think Colin Davies is running for office in a party that says no victim, no crime. Anyway, Colin Davies and Biz Ivol have people that would make a card for them. It would be a big deal if thc5MS put one up of Biz. 
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Comment #36 posted by jose melendez on January 28, 2004 at 10:37:18 PT
white collar crimes exposed as a hand, brilliant!
I figured banner ads would allow more faces and suits, as it were.
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Comment #35 posted by jose melendez on January 28, 2004 at 10:34:48 PT
grin!
None of us would be here if we did not care. I promise I'll try my best to do right by you all. 
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Comment #34 posted by yippierevolutionary on January 28, 2004 at 10:00:59 PT
Not just ads
Sites themselves can be cards - for example Cannabisnews could be the Ace of leaf!
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Comment #33 posted by yippierevolutionary on January 28, 2004 at 09:58:41 PT
The internet will be key
Banner ads on the cards themselves? thats an excellent idea. The one problem I foresee is distribution and getting the word out. If sites promote the cards then that would take care of that problem.
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Comment #32 posted by FoM on January 28, 2004 at 09:58:09 PT
Jose
I really like you believe it or not!
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Comment #31 posted by jose melendez on January 28, 2004 at 09:45:59 PT
blocked?
I'm running to get that money order now.Thank God for cannabisnews.comCould there be little banner ads for relevant sites, yippe? Maybe they'll all choose to promote the cards that way. (pot-tv, marijuana.com, cannabisculture, norml, leap . . . better ask first!)Bless you, FoM. Especially for your patience and dedication. 
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Comment #30 posted by yippierevolutionary on January 28, 2004 at 07:52:33 PT
Operation Cannabis Freedom has begun
This project is a child of Cnews and it will not forget where it came from.Any ideas or anything can be sent to the e-mail address of Operation Cannabis Freedom - endCP hotmail.com.This is activist capitalism of the kind Marc Emery has espoused up in Vancouver. I have visited The Green zone and am very impressed with what he has accompished there. He will be one of the first mailed a deck, I am sure the BC marijuana party book store will sell them.But now it is back to the drawing board. I have to fix my linux install first before I begin. I want this entire project done on a linux machine. Linux goes to the core philosophical outlook of Operation Cannabis Freedom.- endCP hotmail.com
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Comment #29 posted by yippierevolutionary on January 28, 2004 at 07:20:13 PT
That's it it's decided, The Cards Will be Printed
I have been thinking about this very much, and with the enthusiasm I'm seeing here at Cnews I have decided the project has just moved from the hypothetical into the realm of action.Perhaps a trial printing of a smaller number would be good to start, perhaps with a domestic printer. I would like to have them made in the USA. People have to know that we are the true patriots, only the CEO class sends american jobs to India.Hemp cardstock would be nice, but would probably drive up the price. I think at $5 dollars a pack they would sell very quickly. I am going to start assembling the list of prohibs with quotes today. I am going to start a hotmail e-mail address, where you guys can send any ideas - pictures of prohibs - memorable quotes.There will definitely be a free Chong card - that has already been decided. He is a great example of Ashcroft's mixed up priorities.
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Comment #28 posted by OverwhelmSam on January 28, 2004 at 04:37:52 PT:
Cards May Be A Fantastic Initiative
Don't forget Senator Joe Biden and that Istook guy. Of course Bush should be the Ace of Spades. There's no shortage of prohibitionists to put on the cards, and they'll have to be updated yearly.Anyway, sending the decks to the major news outlets would get national attention. I bet CNN would love to do a story about it.
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Comment #27 posted by ekim on January 27, 2004 at 19:54:30 PT
 count on me to Jose iam good for the same
gota have Marc Emery on one to0 and can i get some cards for a MINorml donation.
and Harry Assslinger must be on one too.
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Comment #26 posted by jose melendez on January 27, 2004 at 19:37:48 PT
playing cards
My antitrust law book says on page one that the common law of restraint of trade is based on a case that proved that a monopoly (in this case, of making playing cards) is against common law, because it took away jobs and trades from the people, increases costs, reduces quality, and such an arrangement, purportedly to help the public, demostrably caused harm.I'm in for $100, yippie. Let me know where to mail the money order. I'll donate more if one of the 52 cards says free tommy chong.
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Comment #25 posted by E_Johnson on January 27, 2004 at 17:46:20 PT
Playing cards are Islamic in origin
The first playing cards had suits of scimitars, cups, coins and polo mallets. They were used in Egypt and Turkey.The first mentioned of playing cards in Europe was a law banning thm in Venice in 1376.Tarot cards were first heard of in 1442 and soon afterwards they began to be used as a fortune telling system. That was when mystical meanings were attached to the suits.The mystical meanings attached to the Taror card suits of cups, coins, swords and rods came out of the mysticism and rebellion against the Pope that was brewing in the artistic counterculture that powered the Renaissance. Some of it is alchemical, and alchemy invokes a lot of influences, like Egyptian religion and Kabbalism and Sufism.Cups are connected to emotional well being, coins to money and physical health, rods to passion and artistry, and swords to logic, reason, and survival.
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Comment #24 posted by Virgil on January 27, 2004 at 16:16:56 PT
Yippie and another test of tinyURL.com
Yippie, a long time ago I read where clubs were actually clubs as in the power of war. Hearts were love as in the power of love. Diamonds used to be money as in the power of money and some cards used gold coins. I do not remember what spades used to be.This is really to test if a person can get a long search result in a Google search and take it to tinyURL.com and put that tiny URL in the thing that makes the link with the dot that appears below. This is a Google search looking for the history of cards in Italy.
Google"History of cards"Italy
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Comment #23 posted by i420 on January 27, 2004 at 15:35:48 PT
Ace of Spades
Mark Souder deserves to be the Ace of Spades Jack Herer would have to be the Jack of Hearts...we wear out a deck of cards in less than a month playing uecher at work so I hope you go for the Poker deck. I would definetly order at least 3 decks myself.Sell your car??? Got VISA???
http://de01.net/
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Comment #22 posted by Virgil on January 27, 2004 at 12:59:46 PT
Senator Durbin- IL blast CBS on C-span
Durbin is the Senator that wants prescriptions for vitamins and nutritional supplements. He is a pill company whore, but he did attack CBS for not running the MoveOn.org commercial- http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1060440 Great thread BTW.
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Comment #21 posted by Hope on January 27, 2004 at 12:37:27 PT
Not nearly as off topic as it might appear
http://www.counterpunch.org/martin01032004.htmlTiny excerpt: "If we want to find the followers of Jesus in our day, we need to look in the prisons, to those in shackles, to those being beaten and brutalized." 
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Comment #20 posted by FoM on January 27, 2004 at 11:36:01 PT
Friendly Reminder: E-Mail Virus
I haven't had any slow downs but did receive something that didn't look right in my one email account. Here's an update.Computer virus experts say latest e-mail worm is vicious and spreading fast http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/a/2004/01/27/national1323EST0629.DTL
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Comment #19 posted by yippierevolutionary on January 27, 2004 at 11:25:10 PT
Virgil Great Ideas
Your ideas are support enough. I never thought of including good guys. That would help with finding 52 very much. Getting creative with the suits is also a must.Hey Virgil about that 20 doses of primo a day, where do I sign up? Lol.
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Comment #18 posted by yippierevolutionary on January 27, 2004 at 11:19:17 PT
Yeah 2,000 card minimum
Thats exactly what I was thinking max, a counterpoint to the Iraq cards. They sell that stupid propoganda crap at the local army navy store for 13 bucks a pack! I asked the owner (hes a friend) how well they sell, he said hes sold over 500 decks. The reason I thought playing cards was that a lot of people use playing cards for a lot of different games. Trading cards is a good idea, im just not sure there would be as big of a market, unless we came up with a game for it, like magic the gathering cards. We could get all prohibitionists throughout the ages like harry anslinger and co. 2900 dollars is a huge amount for me. I want to sell all of my personal property anyway including my car. It would be a risk.PS everyone else is outsourcing to India so why not us? 
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Comment #17 posted by Virgil on January 27, 2004 at 11:17:21 PT
Yippie, You might qualify for amotivational study
You are on the ball there Yippie. They are liable to create an amotivational study with some real primo administered 20 times a day and want you in it, to stop your project.I think that is very cheap and had no idea a person could pull off a big idea with that little money. Of course a lot of the effort would be in the work itself.The playing cards would be the highest ambition and like always, my unemployed self thinks on things like that. I thought of their role in some movie where they would call them prison cards. You know passing a way the years for a joint in the joint.The one game a person plays alone is solitaire. Now for this you only need two colors. So the cards could be black for the bad guys and white for the good guys. I agree that 52 would be a lot of drug warriors, not that there is a shortage. I would consider the idea of good guys too. If Marc Emery were on a card, he would help promote it. If Ed Rosenthall were on a card he might give them as gifts. If Jack Herer is on it, it will show your heart is in the right place. Think of the people that support Valarie Corral and how they would want something that honored them.This would give a person a reason to contact anybody that is anybody in the reform movement. They could furnish you with pictures and history and give you blessing and some word of mouth.I can only give you encouragement, but it would really help if someone could pull it off. There would be another way to go of course and that would be on uses. There could be a hemp suite, and a medical suite with a red cross, maybe. Recreational could be the famous green leaf we see even here at Cnews and give a green and red combination for Christmas.
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on January 27, 2004 at 10:56:32 PT
That's Great EJ!
You did it! 
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Comment #15 posted by Max Flowers on January 27, 2004 at 10:56:00 PT
Trading not playing
Wow yippie you're a mover and a shaker! But $2900... hmm why is that so much? Besides, what I was suggesting was more like trading cards not playing cards. More like those goofy gross comic cards I saw in the late 60s as a kid that had bubble gum in with them. I'm sure they still have something like that today, no? They're on cheap card stock.I'm not sure we can get 52 drug warrior villains together can we? Well I'm sure we could but... I was thinking like a series of 15 or so trading cards I think. Sounds like the Indian company's work is quality, but that's a pretty big cost there. But hey run with it if you can get it done. It would be cool, kind of like a smart ass response to the Hussein crew deck of cards.
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Comment #14 posted by E_Johnson on January 27, 2004 at 10:50:25 PT
By the way
I don't mean that the weight LITERALLY drops off! ;-)It leaves the body through the usual channels.
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Comment #13 posted by E_Johnson on January 27, 2004 at 10:47:00 PT
Me and Jerry, off topic sort of
Jerry Lewis and I have both had to have prednisone treatment. I just finished withdrawing and so did he. He had to go into the hospital for his:http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/01/27/people.lewis.reut/index.htmlIt made him gain 50 pounds. It made me gain about 20. It really isn't pleasant dropping that much weight that fast. It just starts to drop off when the drug is withdrawn. It's a horrible drug. I hope some day some cannabinoid or something safer than prednisone can replace it.
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Comment #12 posted by yippierevolutionary on January 27, 2004 at 10:25:47 PT
I would need $2900 to start
What do you guys think, donate a portion of the proceeds to the MPP and peddle the cards to headshops on e-bay and medical clinics in Oaksterdam??
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Comment #11 posted by yippierevolutionary on January 27, 2004 at 10:17:40 PT
Remember the drug warrior playing cards
I e-mailed this company from India and here is what they sent me.Hello,
Thanks for taking out the time and filling up the submission form. We can do
the custom printed card decks for you. Our minimums are 2000 decks. Price
shall be US $-1.30 per deck and shipping shall be 15 cents per deck by sea
to reach you in 30 days time or 35 cents per deck to reach you in 3 days
time by air. Price includes the custom printed tuck box for the cards. Price
also includes the films for the job. Quotes are for bridge (2.25" x 3.5") or
poker (2.5" x 3.5") size cards. All that is required is the arts, either on
a disc or as an upload to our FTP server. We are comfortable with Adobe
Photoshop, Coral draw, Adobe Illustrator, Quark Xpress files. If providing
.jpeg files, then the minimum resolution required is 300 DPI.
No other hidden charges what so ever.
All cards are manufactured on 14 PT C2S German playing card stock. You can
match our card quality to any casino quality playing card deck available out
there in the states.
Please let me know.
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Comment #10 posted by Virgil on January 27, 2004 at 09:40:34 PT
The GCW - Judge Gray's website
Judge Gray's website- http://www.judgejimgray4senate.comAmplification to Judge Gray- Libertarian Candidate for Senate in California calling for the outright legalization of cannabis. He says it would save California a billion a year and bring in 2 billion a year in revenue.Judge Gray is the real deal. It would be the strongest of messages to the two party system that unite for a WOD and the demonization of laughing grass and people that consume it. He will be running against the incumbent Democratic Senator Boxer. Thank you Judge Gray for running for Senate and talking sense in your campaign. I hope you win. A win for you is a win for us all. If anyone has poll numbers as time goes by on Judge Gray, I hope you let us know how he is being received.
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Comment #9 posted by Sam Adams on January 27, 2004 at 09:20:14 PT
Great article!
Great critical journalism here for sure.Speaking of Mars - think about this: The current Mars rover mission cost $820 million. Bush spent $87 billion this year in Iraq, plus he increased annual defense spending $100 billion (from $300 to $400 billion).To put in perspective, Bush has spent enough $$ on military adventurism to have 456 rovers combing the Martian surface right now! But don't worry, the taxpayers will pay for it. 
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on January 27, 2004 at 09:14:22 PT
The GCW
Here's our copy of the article too.http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread18214.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by The GCW on January 27, 2004 at 09:09:54 PT
CA: Senate Hopeful Eyes Drug Reform
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n174/a05.html?397Orange County Superior Court Judge Jim Gray Wants To Legalize Adult Use Of Marijuana Continued.
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Comment #6 posted by Robbie on January 27, 2004 at 09:03:54 PT
CBS: how low can you go?
First, they won't air a biopic about Ron and Nancy Reagan due to pressure. THEN, they decide to run these Cialis ads in amongst all the beer commercials, THEN comes our glorious "she wouldn't have fallen in the swimming pool and drowned if you hadn't been smoking pot" ads.And they can't run a 30 second spot that more accurately reflects the true state of affairs in this country than any of their other advertising?[sarcasm]OHHHHHHH yeah.....what a LIBERAL media!!! [/sarcasm]
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Comment #5 posted by SystemGoneDown on January 27, 2004 at 08:59:52 PT
Stats
Those 4 statements should be on billboards across the nation. 
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Comment #4 posted by OverwhelmSam on January 27, 2004 at 08:57:46 PT:
I Can't Believe That CBS Will Get Away With This
It's incomprehensible to me that CBS can pick and choose which commercials they air based on their conservative opinions. It's like censorship and an attack on the people's right to free speech. What does the ACLU say about this matter?
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Comment #3 posted by SystemGoneDown on January 27, 2004 at 08:57:28 PT
Stats that deserve more publicity....
730,000 marijuana arrests per year400,000 tobacco related deaths per year0 marijuana deaths per year0 tobacco arrests per year
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Comment #2 posted by yippierevolutionary on January 27, 2004 at 08:46:40 PT
They keep calling Moveon a liberal group
I thought running one trillion dollar deficits were what those damn libruls were all about.
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on January 27, 2004 at 08:12:10 PT
Arrow splitting bulls-eyes...
CBS is bought and paid for by the most powerful evil on earth.Ted Kopel's, ABC (wasn't it) got exposed by Kucinich...We're on a roll... and on a spiritual schedule... 4:20, to expose the truth.These stations are on a mission that directly harms Our planet and its inhabitants.I only like the talk about Mars, if We can send all cannabis prohibitionists there 1st. Go long, boys, go long.Then the Mars rover will be thought of as an American Bush Terrorizer Dog.Let Us send the whole litter.
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