I'm a 47-year-old writer, editor, ex-musician, dreamer, reality catcher, ex-con, and father of three. I was born in Alabama and spent the first 38 years of my life there and in Mississippi. In the 1970s and 1980s, I was a drummer in various hard rock bar bands in Alabama and Mississippi. Since 1985, I've worked for newspapers, ad agencies and magazines. I've also taken inventory, indulged in independent entrepreneurship, run a newspaper route and served time. I've been on the West Coast, L.A. or Seattle, since 1999.
What I'm Reading
The Cost Of Courage (Cong. Carl Elliott); True Hallucinations (Terence McKenna); Flashbacks (Timothy Leary); Cosmic Trigger: Secrets of the Illuminati (Robert Anton Wilson); On The Road (Jack Kerouac); Howl (Allen Ginsberg); At Play In The Fields of the Lord (Peter Matthiessen); Look Homeward Angel (Thomas Wolfe); Ringworld (Larry Niven); Glory Road (Robert A. Heinlein); Telempath (Spider Robinson); Lord Valentine's Castle (Robert Silverberg); Martian Time Slip (Philip K. Dick); Sheep Look Up (John Brunner); Amazing Dope Tales and Haight Street Flashbacks (Stephen Gaskin)
Subjects I'd Like to Learn More About
Consciousness, freedom, reality
An Interesting Fact
I have three kids, five tattoos, a criminal record, a terminal disease, and an attitude.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfvMeHGyuTM In what may well be his last appearance on the national stage, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) gave an extraordinary speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver tonight. It was quite a moment. I've been watching these conventions for 40 years, and I've never seen anything like it. Sen. Kennedy, who is suffering from a malignant brain tumor, literally came from the hospital to address the convention. Kennedy flew to Denver Sunday night... Read Full Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfvMeHGyuTM In what may well be his last appearance on the national stage, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) gave an extraordinary speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver tonight. It was quite a moment. I've been watching these conventions for 40 years, and I've never seen anything like it. Sen. Kennedy, who is suffering from a malignant brain tumor, literally came from the hospital to address the convention. Kennedy flew to Denver Sunday night... Read Full Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYQD-btqhKg Imagine you just got home from work. You see a package addressed to your wife on the front porch, and bring it inside, putting it on a table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kick you door down and storm in, shooting to death your two dogs and seizing the unopened package. In the package the cops find 32 pounds of marijuana. But you have no idea why the package was delivered to you. Mayor Cheye Calvo, the mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland... Read Full Story
Organizer Vivian McPeak at Seattle Hempfest, 2007 A good marijuana rally is a joyful thing. And Seattle's Hempfest, going strong since 1991, is one of the best and almost certainly the biggest in the world. Free admission, good music, friendly people, and a beautiful setting have always been among the reasons to attend. Now the Hempfest, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 16 and Sunday, Aug. 17 in Myrtle Edwards Park on the lovely Seattle waterfront, is greener than ever... Read Full Story
Martin Martinez at Lifevine's office after the Seattle Police Department searched the premises, knocked a wall down, and took 12 ounces of legal medical marijuana. Photo by Courtney Blethen of the Seattle Times Surprisingly, I actually heard back from the King County Prosecutor's Office after I sent an email July 15 protesting their search earlier that day of Martin Martinez's Lifevine/Cascadia NORML offices and the harassment of medical marijuana patients. While the reply email is... Read Full Story
I've been hearing an awful lot of complaining about a "Digg oligarchy" and how Digg's "power users" tend to monopolize the front page. In my studied opinion, that's not Digg's real problem (if you're already a power user, you may want to go ahead and skip to "Content Should Rule," below); the domination of the front page by a few users is due not so much to any oligarchy or monopoly, but more to the fact that certain Diggers -- go ahead and call 'em "power users" if that works for you... Read Full Story
We may be the last generation that will have ever known privacy. Every day, we are one step closer to the Total Surveillance Society. Every day, we lose a little more of that part of being human that claims the right to be left alone, that knows freedom from the prying eyes of the corporate state, that has the boldness to claim some inner sanctum where the all-seeing eyes of technology cannot penetrate. The dystopian dreams of mid-20th Century writers like George Orwell, Aldous Huxley... Read Full Story
Senator Obama, you've asked of your supporters to believe not just in your ability to bring about change in Washington, but to believe in our ability to do the same, as concerned and caring American citizens who love our country. I hear your clarion call, and I believe. I believe in you as a candidate and as a leader. And I believe that the American people, in this crucial time for the future of our country, are coming together to change it's direction and to stand up for our freedom. The... Read Full Story
Have you heard the one about the Southern politician who wants to arrest women for dildo possession?
Unfortunately, it's not a joke, so there's no punchline. There's a real live attorney general in Alabama who actually wants to enforce the sex toy ban enacted by the fundamentalist-dominated state legislature a few years ago. Troy King is serious about this -- he will bust your ass for a vibrator.
Sure, there are other states, especially in the South, that have some pretty ridiculous... Read Full Story
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