In an interview with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush, Shanna Moakler, the co-executive director of the Miss California Organization, confirmed that the group paid for Miss California Carrie Prejean‘s breast implants. Prejean sparked a media frenzy when she spoke out against gay marriage during the Miss USA competition a couple weeks ago. While she’s gone on to make several media appearances discussing her stance on same-sex marriage, according to Moakler, Prejean won’t even return calls to her bosses at the Miss California organization.

In her defense, she’s been busy. Prejean has formed a partnership with the anti-gay group National Organization for Marriage. Today they released the following advert:

found via Laughing Squid

Shepard Fairey collaborated with Ernesto Yerena to create two new posters in support of immigration reform. 450 screenprint editions of the posters will go on sale at Cimarrones.org at noon today. The posters are $45 each, and all proceeds go to the May Day marches and immigration reform organizations.

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According to their website, the Newspaper Association of America is a “nonprofit organization representing the $47 billion newspaper industry and more than 2,000 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada.” It can’t bode well for the newspaper industry that yesterday NAA laid off half its staff and announced that they would no longer publish a print edition of their magazine Presstime.

On the upside, NAA President John Sturm said the association hopes to reduce member dues.

Editor & Publisher has more details on the downsizing.

At yesterday evening’s Mediabistro party, your FBLA editors met the charming Ed Padgett, who writes the Los Angeles Times Pressmens 20 Year Club blog. Of course we took pictures. We love to take pictures.

Pandora Young, Ed Padgett and Tina Dupuy

Sadly we don’t have any pictures of the Gavin Newsom fundraiser being held right next door to our little soiree. Mediabistro partygoer George Ducker tried to charm his way in, but was told firmly at the door, “No press!”

The event- held in the luxurious upstairs rooms of Social Hollywood, formerly known as the Hollywood Athletic Club- drew a large and lively crowd.

LAT blogger George Ducker and FBLA editor Tina Dupuy

Laureen Lazarovici, who will be on tonight’s SPJ/LA panel, and freelancer Lori Allen

Journalist Sharan Street and marketing executive Kim Marshall

Billionaire Peter Thiel, hedge fund-manager, early Facebook investor, and co-founder and former CEO of Paypal, has written a little essay about his libertarian views for the libertarian blog Cato Unbound. We should note that Cato Unbound doesn’t identify itself as a blog, but a “state-of-the-art virtual trading floor in the intellectual marketplace, specializing in the exchange of big ideas.” Gosh.

But we digress. Enjoy an excerpt of Thiel’s political insights:

The 1920s were the last decade in American history during which one could be genuinely optimistic about politics. Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women – two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians – have rendered the notion of “capitalist democracy” into an oxymoron.

Read the whole essay here. Or, y’know, don’t.