Tommy Chong will be on the next 'Freedom Watch"

[purplechoe]

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/


Watch ‘Freedom Watch’
Posted by Lew Rockwell on September 30, 2010 08:41 AM

A fascinating and hard-hitting Judge Napolitano show will air on Fox Business Saturday @ 10am & 8pm and Sunday @ 7 & 11pm EST. I’m on, with Tommy Chong (if not together, drat) and a host of other great guests, even the evil Alberto Gonzales, scrambling ineffectually to defend the Bush police state against the Judge. Topics include gold, banks, traitorous Tea Party types, and Pentagon censorship to chill public debate over their wars and spying (on us).

http://cdn.theurbandaily.com/files/2009/08/cheech-marin-tommy-chong-82395122.jpg

[dannno]

Far out, man!!

[Vessol]

I approve of this.

[phill4paul]

I'm sure he will have a lot to say...

From wiki:


US vs. Chong

In 2003, Chong was targeted by two American investigations code-named Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter, which sought out businesses selling drug paraphernalia, mostly bongs. Operation Pipe Dream was run from Pittsburgh, PA. US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan oversaw the case. The estimated cost of Operation Pipe Dream was over $12 Million and included the resources of 2,000 law enforcement officers.[10]

Chong was charged for his part in financing and promoting Chong Glass/Nice Dreams, a company started by his son Paris. Chong’s case never went to trial; instead Chong accepted a plea agreement with the United States Attorney's Office in which he admitted to distributing 7,500 bongs and water pipes on the Internet through Nice Dreams, a family company that was named for one of his movies. Chong agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute drug paraphernalia in exchange for non-prosecution of his wife, Shelby, and his son, Paris. Chong fully cooperated with the government and was the first of the Operation Pipe Dreams defendants to plead guilty.[10]

At Chong’s sentencing, Assistant US Attorney Mary McKeen Houghton stated in her sentencing arguments that Tommy Chong "used his public image to promote this crime" and marketed his products to children.[11] US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan also was present at the sentencing and released a statement to the press stating, "there are consequences for violating the law, even if the violator is a well-known entertainer like Thomas Chong."[10]

While Chong argued for community service and home detention at his sentencing, the district judge denied his requests and sentenced him to 9 months in federal prison, a fine of $20,000, forfeiture of $103,514, and the loss of all merchandise seized during the raid of his business.[11] Chong served his sentence at the Taft Correctional Institution from October 8, 2003 to July 7, 2004.

The entire episode was chronicled in a/k/a Tommy Chong, the 2006, award-winning documentary by Josh Gilbert. The documentary premiered theatrically at the New York Film Forum in New York City, in 2006.
[edit] Controversy

While government officials denied that Chong was treated any differently from the other defendants, many felt that he was made an example of by the government. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Chong's publicist Brandie Knight as saying the Chong family was shocked by the raid. "We've done everything the right way, and the government is saying there is no right way," Knight said. Soon afterwards, civil rights advocates started the Free Tommy Chong! movement that called for his release. The controversy over Chong’s prosecution centered on the rationale behind focusing on Chong as opposed to his son, Paris, the disparity in sentences that Tommy Chong received compared to other defendants, and the tactics that the DEA utilized in carrying out the investigation.[10]

Paris, Tommy’s son, had started Nice Dreams in 1999. At the time of the allegations in the indictment, Paris was the CEO of the company that was the center of the investigation. Paris was never charged with a crime in relation to the investigation. When asked why the government had focused on Chong as opposed to the company’s CEO, Paris, US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan responded that “Tommy Chong was the more responsible corporate officer because he financed and marketed the product.”[10]

Of the 55 people targeted in the investigation, Chong was the only one without previous convictions who received jail time.[10] When questioned on the disparity between sentences/fines that the other 54 individuals received compared to Chong, US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan stated, "He (Tommy Chong) wasn't the biggest supplier. He was a relatively new player, but he had the ability to market products like no other."[12]

In investigating the operations of Nice Dreams, federal agents posed as head-shop owners from Pittsburgh’s neighboring Beaver County and pled with Paris to sell them his pipes through the mail to a fictitious shop in Beaver Falls. Paris had set in place a company prohibition against selling to Pittsburgh or anywhere in western Pennsylvania.[10] The prohibition was put in place in response to the successful federal prosecution of Akhil Kumar Mishra and his wife, Rajeshwari, whose two head shops sold drug paraphernalia in the city’s downtown.[10] To date, it is unclear how the prohibition was broken and there exist differing accounts as to who broke the company policy which resulted in the action that brought about the ability of the US Attorney to argue that jurisdiction for the crime rests in Pittsburgh opposed to California, the base of operations for Nice Dreams.[10] Tommy Chong has stated publicly that it was a Federal Agent posing as an employee of his son's company who accepted and processed the order that resulted in the prosecution.
[edit] Aftermath

Since his release, Chong has been an avid critic of the case that has been brought against him. In December 2004, Chong was to appear in an off-Broadway show entitled The Marijuana-Logues, a parody of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. His legal concerns, including members of the audiences smoking marijuana, ultimately caused him to cancel the show.[13] In 2006, Chong wrote a book about his experiences in jail and his interest in meditation, called The I Chong: Meditations from the Joint (ISBN 1-4169-1554-0).

In 2010, Chong appeared at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the United States Attorney who prosecuted him, Mary Beth Buchanan, was running for the United States House of Representatives as a Republican.[14]:confused:

The hits kept coming.


Seizure of a/k/a Tommy Chong DVDs

On May 7, 2008, federal agents raided Spectrum Labs in an investigation related to Spectrum Labs’ "detoxification" products. The raid, one of nine during the day, was part of Operation True Test, an investigation being led by the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Mary Beth Buchanan. The investigation targeted companies that sell so-called "masking products" that are supposed to help drug-users pass employer drug tests. There is, however, no Federal law barring such products; they are regulated on a state-by-state basis. Of the nine search warrants issued, none were for businesses within Buchanan's district.[15]

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, in executing their search warrant, the federal agents seized 8,000-10,000 copies of the yet-to-be released documentary, a/k/a Tommy Chong.[16] It has yet to be determined why the DVDs were seized during the raid. Furthermore, Chong has stated he has not been charged with any crime. In a statement released to the press, Chong stated "[The seizure of the DVDs is] a way to punish the distributor financially. There's no way to get the DVDs back until the investigation is over." Chong also stated that he has no ownership in the film, a/k/a Tommy Chong.

In retraction of its original story, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette stated, "8,000 to 10,000 copies of a Tommy Chong documentary were not seized in the raid. Instead, an "undisclosed number of DVD was taken".

[dannno]

federal agents posed as head-shop owners from Pittsburgh’s neighboring Beaver County and pled with Paris to sell them his pipes through the mail to a fictitious shop in Beaver Falls. Paris had set in place a company prohibition against selling to Pittsburgh or anywhere in western Pennsylvania....Tommy Chong has stated publicly that it was a Federal Agent posing as an employee of his son's company who accepted and processed the order that resulted in the prosecution.


Absolutely insane. Those fucking losers can't even fucking get people to break the law, so they do it themselves.

[phill4paul]

Absolutely insane. Those fucking losers can't even fucking get people to break the law, so they do it themselves.

Well that is their M.O. when dealing with militias and home grown terrorists. I'm sure that it is across the board.
When they want to send a message they are the one that writes it.

[Koz]

Dammit, can someone post up the show here, I will be deer hunting Sat. morn and I don't have TIivo

[HOLLYWOOD]

Bump

live!

[RM918]

These Midas commercials always really rub me the wrong way, dropping the terms 'Ron Paul' and 'financial elite'. If you're already a skeptic of government, I think someone cozying up to you all of a sudden with a fake sales pitch isn't going to fly very well.

And Tommy Chong just gave me my nightmares for the next week. Rachel Maddow? I hope he was kidding!

[jkr]

HEY maaaannnnnnnnnnnnn

i have always wanted to know...where IS dave any way?

[CaseyJones]

HEY maaaannnnnnnnnnnnn

i have always wanted to know...where IS dave any way?

YouTube - Cheech and Chong " Dave's not here" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI7trKKoDSA)

[jkr]

MAN chong is fascist.

[BuddyRey]

It's a shame Cheech won't be on too. That's one smart dude...won Celebrity Jeopardy a few times.

[lester1/2jr]

I saw Cheech and Chongs movie for the 80th time on tv the other night. It's amazing. no plot, completly hilarious.