Earlier this week, the Obama administration issued new guidelines to the prosecution of medical marijuana. The new policy says that the government will not pursue or prosecute cases involving low level medical marijuana cases. This is a change in policy from that of the Bush administation,where all cases would be pursued. During the Bush tenure, many medical marijuana shops across California were raided by the Drug Enforment Agency. Medical marijuana was taken very seriously.

Since the new administration has taken office, many changes have taken place. The raids on the marijuana dispensaries have stopped and medical marijuana prosecutions are being halted. So what is the next step?

Obviously, it would be the legalization of marijuana.

Already in the state, petitions for the 2010 elections are being circulated that would legalize marijuana. Even if marijuana was legalized in the state of California, it would still be illegal federally. So in the long run, it would be illegal overall. If we follow the current trends though, once the state legalizes marijuana, the feds will follow.

    Is This America or Iran? (Warning: The following videos contain explicit language.)

I disagree with Glen Beck. Do you?

At the beginning of the first diplomatic mission abroad, President Obama began the trip with a meeting with the Queen. The meeting went well like all the other meetings and the President gave the Queen an ipod full of speeches and videos. There was even affection shown between the Queen and first lady Michelle Obama. It is customary to not touch the queen, but the two had a mini hug fest.

A British newspaper the Guardian has revealed that President Obama and his team are drafting a letter to send to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It is in response to a congratulations letter that Ahmadinejad sent to Obama on November 6.

Guess Obama might really come through with some of those things he talked about when he campaigned. This is the most honest looking one, talking to leaders that the previous administration would not.

Near the end of the Bush's term, U.S.-Russia relations were starting to sour. It mostly began over the missile defense shield that we wanted to put in Eastern Europe. Russia saw this as a threat to them because the missiles would be in their backyard. Then it got uglier after the war between Russia and Georgia over the South Ossetian region.

Luckily things have simmered. Today it was reported that Russian President Dmity Medvedev spoke with President Barack Obama. It was reported to be a fairly short conversation in which Medvedev wished Obama good luck.

It is great to see that both have started off on such good ground. Both Medvedev and Obama seem to be bright young men who can offer each of their countries a bright future. Now lets hope they can. As we can see, Bush and Putin started out to be good pals. It was a rocky relationship though at times and the same can happen with the current two leaders.

In this video, recorded in 2004, Puff Daddy interviews Barack Obama. This was back when he was running for the Senate seat. Before he was even running for President. It is a pretty good classic interview.

After you watch that interview, watch this video.  It is from the night of the inauguration. President Obama sure transformed from just another politician to the omega zion.

With Barack Obama's inauguration only days away, we are going to see what kind of change he plans to implement almost immediately. Throughout the campaign Obama continually called on closing Guantanamo Bay Prison facility that is used to hold terror suspects. The place is also the site where crimes against humanity might have been committed, further urging its closure. Earlier this week it came out that Obama plans to close the prison facility on his first full day in office.

So if Guantanamo is closed, where do we send the prisoners?

There are a couple possibilities. Attorney General nominee Eric Holder says that some of the prisoners should be tried in U.S. courts. Maybe we could send the rest back to those secret CIA prisons abroad. If not, the rest will be sent to prison facilities here in the U.S. It is even being suggested that some be sent to Camp Pendleton.

Wonder how Americans will react. One such American Claudja Van Orden was quoted by MSNBS saying "Yes I would be concerned. I would like them to be in Guantanamo Bay and not here. Leave them there." [Gitmo Detainees Coming to Pendleton?] Looks like Claudja does not want much of Obama's changes.

Here in Ventura County, we have a similar situation. Ours though deals with a hospital for prisoners on the outskirts of Camarillo. Activists are complaining about criminal Americans. Just imagine those same activists if the government were going to hold international terrorist at the facility.

So America, ARE YOU READY FOR SOME CHANGE?

I have important news for all those Hillary Clinton fans. It has been reported that she is planning to accept the job of Secretary of State for the Obama administration. News broke late Monday night that she would accept the job. Apparently the job was first offered at a super secret meeting in Chicago last Thursday. Since then Obama's people have been reviewing the Clinton's history to see who they have ties with.

Also on Monday, Obama met with John McCain in Chicago. I wonder what they might have discussed.

Analysis: On the way out, it's Bush the statesman

By BEN FELLER

WASHINGTON (AP) -- No matter how people remember President Bush's time in office, let there be no doubt about how he wants to end it: gracefully.

Never mind that Democrat Barack Obama spent all that time deriding Bush for "failed policies," or mocking him for hiding in an "undisclosed location" because he was too unpopular to show up with his party's own candidate, John McCain. This is transition time. Outgoing presidents support the new guy.

And on that front, Bush is going well beyond the minimum. He has embraced the role of statesman with such gusto that it has been hard to miss.

The result is that Bush's last image at the White House will be one of a magnanimous leader. Whether it will improve his legacy is much more in doubt.

"This has been a very good moment late in his presidency, and, I think it's fair to say, much appreciated by the nation," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, the home of Bush's planned presidential library.

With just 70 days left as president, Bush is pretty much out of time to alter public perception of his performance. He cannot get a Middle East peace deal, or turn around a failing economy, or rekindle broad support for the war in Iraq. But leaving on good terms? Now that he can control.

So on Monday at the White House, Bush warmly welcomed Obama, whose dominant win last week was largely seen as a referendum on the Bush years.

The two leaders spent more than an hour discussing domestic and foreign policy in the Oval Office. And then Bush gave Obama a personal tour all around.

The world saw video images that were replayed all day and night: Bush and first lady Laura Bush greeting Obama and his wife, Michelle, as if they were old friends; Bush strolling with the president-elect along the famous Colonnade adjacent to the Rose Garden, both men waving and smiling.

Translation: Smooth transition.

The scene was the latest in a flurry of moves by Bush, all designed to show he is serious about making Obama's start a success on Jan. 20.

Mere hours after Obama handily ended eight years of Republican rule, Bush commended Americans for making history. "They chose a president whose journey represents a triumph of the American story -- a testament to hard work, optimism and faith in the enduring promise of our nation," Bush said.

If that effusiveness wasn't enough, he called Obama's win an inspiring moment and said it will be a "stirring sight" when the whole Obama family arrives.

Then Bush called together about 1,000 employees on the South Lawn and told them to embrace the transition earnestly. This could have been handled in a press release, or even an internal memo to staff. Instead, it was a big, showy expression of support for Obama, with Bush's Cabinet standing behind him.

"The peaceful transfer of power is one of the hallmarks of a true democracy," Bush said. "And ensuring that this transition is as smooth as possible is a priority for the rest of my presidency."

In case anyone missed the point, Bush underscored it in his Saturday radio address. He pledged an "unprecedented effort" to help Obama take power.

Obama's team is noticing. "So far, cooperation has been excellent," said transition chief John Podesta, a veteran of Bill Clinton's White House.

It was Bush's father, the 41st president, who bitterly lost to Clinton in 1992. But George H.W. Bush ordered his top aides to cooperate with Clinton's transition team. He was quoted at the time as saying, "Let us all finish the job with the same class with which we served."

Echoes of that comment can be found in nearly ever statement his son has made since Obama won election one week ago.

"I think grace is a very good word for the way Bush is responding. And I'd say there's a little bit of the fact that there's a Bush 41 and a Bush 43," said Stephen Hess, a senior fellow emeritus at The Brookings Institution and the author of a new book about presidential transitions.

"There is now a presidency stamped in their DNA," Hess said. "There is a very exclusive club of people who have been president, and they know they may be called on if there's a crisis. They even somehow bond with other former presidents with whom they were not particularly friendly."

The former President Bush and Clinton, in fact, have become friends and successful humanitarian partners. The two have raised millions of dollars for victims of hurricanes in the United States and an Asian tsunami.

Back in the day when Clinton was president-elect, he deferred to Bush 41 and said, "America has only one president at a time." The line sounds familiar: Obama has been saying the same thing about the current President Bush.

Presidents take transitions seriously because they know the world is watching. The goal is to show that the same petty politics that can define an election will not undermine the transfer of power in a democracy.

In other words, statesmanship is expected.

What's more, Bush has indicated he takes this transition particularly seriously because the nation is in such precarious times. Obama does not inherit a decision about how to spend a budget surplus. Instead, his government will face red ink, an economy in shambles and wars ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"In calmer times, presidents incoming and outgoing have allowed their emotions to run more freely, to show some displeasure and tension," Jillson said. "Bush is aware enough to know that the times don't permit that."

All this doesn't just help Obama. Bush's cooperative approach could serve him well, too. It puts him on the right side of public sentiment.

Ending a tumultuous second term on a positive note certainly can't hurt his standing as he returns to private life.

But it won't be enough to alter Bush's legacy, said Hess, who worked in the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations and advised presidents Ford and Carter.

"The encyclopedia is still going to read: `George W. Bush, 43rd president of the United States, who created a war in Iraq' or `who let the country be flooded by Katrina,'" Hess said. "It's not going to be, `George W. Bush, who left the office gracefully.'"

On Tuesday our nation undertook a new mission. We elected Barack Obama our next President. We showed the world that the American dream still exists. America is still the most dynamic country and deserves to continue to be the guiding light in the world.

One of the first objectives for our next president should be to travel the world and repair the image of our great country. The last eight years has really dragged our name through the mud. This will take more than just getting out there and shaking hands. We must repair our economy leading the way for the rest of the world to follow, leading to repairing the global economy.

Just as important as repairing our global image, Barack Obama must work to unite the country. Over the last several months the election and the economy have dragged the people through the mud and divided us along party lines. Obama needs to show true bipartisanship that he speaks of and work with Congress to help everyone get back on their feet.

As well a duty lies with the American people themselves. Through the election, hate speech appeared on both sides of the campaign. For America to heal its wounds we the people must come together. Working together with your neighbors and family, we can become one strong united country. Something we all can imagine in our eyes. Remember just not that long ago racism was part of everyday life. Now that has changed and racism should have no part in any of our lives.

This is a time to truly come together and be a united country. If not now then we might never have a chance like this again.

Obviously my boss thinks experience matters, thats why I haven't recieved that promotion I've been asking for. Having the know how is important. A company would not hire a recently graduated college student to be CEO of their company. Well unless it's the movie the Hudsucker Proxy, which by the way is a great movie. And in that movie, Tim Robbins,the recent college graduate with no experience goes on the create the hula hoop which leads to an insane amount of profits, ultimately saving the company.

Everyone should know where I'm going with this. Senator Barack Obama has been a Senator since 2005. Thats just over three years now. Before that he was an Illinois state senator for seven years. Thats only ten years of actual experience in government.

Lets compare that record to past Presidents. George W. Bush was Governor of Texas for six years. Looks like Barack beat him with years of experience.

Bill Clinton was elected Governor of Arkansas in 1978. He was there for two terms which led to him eventually running for president in 1992. That was about eight years of experience before he became president. Barack has Clinton too.

We'll skip Bush senior and get to the real stud, Ronald Reagan.  He was Governor of California for eight years. Before becoming governor, he was an ACTOR. Not a lawyer, not a community organizer, not a business owner, an actor.

And now lets go way back. Way back to 1860 and Abraham Lincoln. Before being elected president, Abraham Lincoln held no political office and was involved in politics in a limited way. He sure changed America. 

So what does all this mean? If elected, Barack Obama will able to make it through his presidency just fine, like all those others listed. And heck, he might be better than all of them. What does everyone think? Is experience needed?

So with so much talk about change in this election, even John McCain has stated he will bring about some. Now we must ask ourselves, what kind of change do we really want?

Yes, Barack Obama presents change in the form of being the first African American elected to president. Yet John McCain presents change in the form of bipartisanship, something that hasn't been seen in Washington in a long time. Which do you think is more important?

When I first heard that Senator Joe Biden was picked to be Senator Barack Obama's running mate, I really was not too impressed. Maybe it was a let down from the so called "dream ticket" of Senator Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton. Either way, it'll be an interesting final couple of months to the election.

Read here for a great analysis of the pic.