Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

The Tea Party Patriots, led by local Mark Meckler, held a rally at the Elk’s Lodge in Grass Valley last night outlining the 40-year plan that has been leaked on the Internet.

The plan is far reaching. “Meckler suggested it would tackle four areas: educational, judicial, political and cultural, infusing them with traditional values by supporting conservative teachers, judges, politicians and musicians,” according to the Internet reports. The Tea Party also will target voter fraud.

“In a weird mix of religious language and Madison Avenue jargon, TPP’s 40-year-plan states that its goal isn’t necessarily to take over Congress or elect any candidates. (It’s a nonprofit and can’t endorse anyway.) Instead, the tea partiers are looking to convert people. They write, ‘Tea Party Patriots plans to convert sixty percent or more of the population to support our core values of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets,’” as Mother Jones writes.

This will cost millions and millions of dollars. “TPP has other ideas for drumming up with funding, too, namely running ads on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show and the Drudge Report, which they’ve already started doing. According to TPP, these ads will help with its ‘brand awareness, donation requests and issue-driven buys,’” as Mother Jones said.

Can we expect it here? You bet. Mark Meckler lives in our county and Tom McClintock and Dan Logue — both tea party supporters — are our elected representatives. One goal is to elect like-minded candidates in local politics, including the supposedly “nonpartisan” posts.

We’ve already had a taste of it here in July and November. We’ve already seen the ballot handling in Truckee questioned in November by tea party supporters.

Why isn’t the local media writing about the tea party’s plans? Our local population needs to be better informed.

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An effort to tell advertisers to drop Fox News is gathering steam.

“Tell advertisers to drop their sponsorship of Fox ‘News,’ which has degenerated into hate-speech and propaganda that has incited violence,” reads the People for the American Way website in a new post.

An online form reads: “Dear Fox Advertiser,

“I agree with Tides Foundation CEO Drummond Pike:

“Businesses that pay to broadcast commercials on Fox News are subsidizing Glenn Beck’s television show by continuing to pump money into the network. It has become clear that the only way to stop supporting Beck is to stop supporting Fox News.

“I respectfully request that you bring this matter of your company’s sponsorship of hate speech leading to violence to the attention of your fellow directors as soon as possible. I believe no responsible company should advertise on Fox News due to its recent and on-going deplorable conduct.”

Pike’s full letter to Fox advertisers reads: “For hours every day on radio and television, Beck pits American against American, telling his audience that our country is under attack by a demonic Nazi-like regime seeking to destroy all that is great about America while insisting it’s up to his viewers to resist and revolt.”

Media Matters also is part of the campaign.

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House Republican leaders John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Eric Cantor (R-Va.) hope to ban all earmarks for the next Congress in a vote next week.

It comes as President Obama has called for earmark reform in his weekly radio address on Saturday. In his State of the Union address earlier this year Obama suggested requiring earmarks to be public.

“Next week the House Republican Conference, including all of our newly elected members, will vote on a measure that would impose an immediate ban on earmarks at the start of the 112th Congress,” the leaders said in a joint statement, reported by TheHill.com.

They called earmarks “a symbol of a dysfunctional Congress” that “serve as a fuel line for the culture of spending that has dominated Washington for too long.”

Our Congressman Tom McClintock is known for his opposition to earmarks. Critics, however, argue that his rigid ideology puts their constituents at a disadvantage.

“It’s already hurt us,” Placer County Supervisor F.C. “Rocky” Rockholm told the Bee earlier this year. The article is here.

Obama showed a willingness to compromise, as he has in the past: “I agree with those Republican and Democratic members of Congress who’ve recently said that in these challenging days, we can’t afford what are called earmarks,” he said in his weekly radio address. “These are items inserted into spending bills by members of Congress without adequate review,” Obama said.

The address is here.

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Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving, traditionally the start of the Christmas shopping season.

The term dates back to the ’60s and refers to a period when retailers go from being in the “red” (posting a loss on their books) to being in the “black” (turning a profit).

Downtown Grass Valley is holding a Holiday Open House from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, which includes sales, music raffles and more, to jump start holiday shopping.

But it’s not alone. “Prelude to Black Friday starts Nov. 14″ read an email I received from Amazon.com. “Check back daily for great video game deals until Black Friday week begins, Nov. 22.” More and more people are shopping on the Internet.

Retailers are hoping this year’s holiday sales will claw their way back from last year.

“Whether you’ve noticed – or tried not to – holiday shopping season is upon us,” writes the S.F. Chronicle. “Bay Area retailers are holding warehouse and factory sales starting today and over the next few weeks. Prices will drop up to 85 percent on luxury linens, art glass, cookware, holiday decor and much more.”

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When Jeff Tedford joined Cal as head coach in 2002, fans had high hopes. He was the offensive coordinator for one of the greatest teams in Oregon history, with Joey Harrington at quarterback and two 1,000-yard rushers.

Under Tedford, Cal was supposed to become like Oregon, a BCS contender. So much for that.

Oregon just got better, and Oregon St. and — now Stanford — have eclipsed Cal during the Tedford era. Once during this period, Tedford beat USC. Tedford earns $2.8 million annually and is the Pac-10s third highest-paid coach.

This weekend Cal plays undefeated Oregon at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, which supposedly should have been a BCS shootout. Instead, Cal is 5-4 and still needs a win to become bowl eligible.

But here’s the punch line (literally): Tickets for the game are still unsold — an indicator of fans’ “ho-hum” interest in what should have been the biggest and best game of Cal’s season. (Cal lost to USC by 48-14, and nemesis Stanford is ranked #7 — its highest ranking in four decades.

Worse, the sales from Cal’s football program were supposed to help fund the other sports. In fact, just the opposite has happened. The school’s athletic program is in a deep financial slump. The background is here, here and here.

Oregon is favored by 19 1/2 points. Can Cal upset Oregon? Can pigs fly?

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