Templedragon Times
Stoned or High, is there a difference?
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High vs. Stoned... Is there a difference?
by Vivian McPeak
Historically, in the bastions of "stonerdom" there has always been, as with almost everything on this cosmic dirt-clod we are riding shotgun through the Universe on, a great duality of nature. Everyone has known, well, let's call him the classic stoner. The caricature that we see in the movies and on television... a Cheech and Chongish bleary eyed stumble bum who has attempted (but failed) to cling on to the last remaining brain cells which have not been decimated by dope.
This individual comes in an assortment of flavors. From the zoned out lazy apathetic pothead, to the skin and bones wild eyed jittery coke fiend, to the comatose ashen skinned nodding junkie... there have always been those unable to draw the line between feeling good and killing themselves slowly, one neuron at a time.
But there is an other side to this dichotomy. For every waste case out there are hundreds, perhaps even thousands of responsible users who never appear in hospital emergency rooms and remain uncounted, obscured by the veil of their own ability to "maintain". But they are just the balancing tool by which I wish to make my case. They are in the middle, they are the average stoners...the recreational users who comprise a cross section of the landscape to varying degrees depending on which substance you wish to investigate.
Certainly for the Cannabis community the vast majority of users fall under the responsible consumer label. It may be true for cocaine, heroin and met amphetamine too, but given enough time and access the addictive nature of these drugs will inevitably catch up with a much larger percentage of their users. These other substances deliver the user one or both of these eventualities: death of the soul, or death of the body.
But on the other end of the spectrum there is what Stephen Gaskin, one of America's premier psychedelic saddle tramps, used to describe as the "dope yogis". In these post-Reagan Partnership for a Drug Free Society dark ages, almost nobody is willing to brave the McCarthyism of the day to defend the drug users of the world. But the fact is there have always been, and always will always be, human beings who wish to change their consciousness through the ingestion of chemicals of one sort or another. I am much more concerned with fostering a partnership for a Free Society...something a little more realistic in my opinion, and more important, then striving for some Pollyanna pie in the sky impossibility that we will create a society free from drugs. Especially when we are told on television to ask our doctor about "the little purple pill", without even knowing what it is or what it is for!
These dope Yogis, as we will call them, are among the individuals who wish to alter their consciousness in an attempt to become better human beings. For some it is a spiritual quest they are on, for others, an expansion of their intellectual capacity. For some others it is simply an exploration of the chasms and deeper corners of the mind. They are among the people you will see at the Rainbow Gathering, some dressed in lily white, rising with the sun, doing yoga in front of their teepees with the dawn. They stand out in sharp contrast from some of the "road dogs" and hard luck cases there, who pack 5 pounds of trail dirt in their hair and offer you a line of crank as they roll their American Spirit smokes. They are people too, but their reign on this earth will be shortened.
The dope yogis often choose the classic psychedelic substances like pot, mushrooms, LSD and such. They wish not to numb themselves from emotional and physical pain, or escape the pressures of a healthy and productive life, as the substance abuser inevitably does. Au contraire, they wish to enhance, highlight and compliment their lives by stretching the limits of their understanding.
In the 1950's and 60's, the American military had the idea that LSD was gonna be some form of truth serum, some elixir that would enable them to peer into the mind of the enemy, or better yet, create the ultimate killing machine. They were aghast when they saw the result of giving acid to some soldiers. Suddenly the young fighting man would be ruined for life, expounding spiritualistic anti-war non-violent notions, proclaiming that the enemy was in fact...his brother. The acid had increased their humanity, magnified their compassion, enabled them to identify with "the enemy" as people just like themselves. But LSD is not for the weak of mind, spirit or ego. Acid, as with all mind altering substances, is powerful juju, strong medicine...as the natives said...a "upaya", or method by which to find a higher place in one's self.
That's what I see as the difference between getting "stoned" and getting "high". There is a thin veil, a slippery slope of division between the two states of being. It is even possible, in my opinion and experience, to teeter back and forth between them. The issue is not whether or not it is good for you, or safe and free of danger or not. All exploration in life holds some form of trade off or potential for peril. The issue is whether or not an individual in a free society has the right to decide what they will put in the sanctity and sovereignty of their most sacred possession...themselves.
In America, at the moment, we live in a totalitarian police state when it comes to drugs and herbs. You can actually spend more time in prison, losing any chance of parole, for possessing a coupla hits of acid than for bludgeoning someone in the head with a ball peen hammer. In fact, you can kill several people and get a lesser sentence than for having in your possession a gram of acid, or a pound of cocaine. And as a former D.E.A. field agent recently pointed out at a pro-legalization rally, "you can get over an addiction, but you can never get over a conviction".
The defenders of the Drugwar would point to the potential damage to society that the drugs pose, the people who may injure them selves on the acid, or become addicted to the cocaine. But one look at the industries of tobacco or alcohol, or even prescription drugs, and any rational argument in that direction quickly dissipates. No, they are afraid of fostering individuality and freedom of exploration, for such acts ultimately result in the dissidence of the user from the confines of conformist society. Allowing people to explore the frontiers of consciousness is a big time threat to the status quo.
It is impossible to pose a war on drugs, because drugs are inanimate objects. They are things, not even actions. A war on abuse and addiction, now what a great concept THAT would be. But to wage such a war would entail speaking the simple truths contained within this article. For someone wishing to explore the landscape of irresponsible use must first have a concept of responsible use. Any drug education programs, to be truly effective, would have to admit the possibility of non-destructive, healthy use of mind altering substances to balance the concept of irresponsible, destructive and dangerous use. But we will most likely not see anything close to this any time soon.
We are left on the fringes of society, as the explorers of past generations were. Ridiculed, demonized and relegated by those who fear what they do not understand, or worse, who fear what they DO understand, and seek to profit one way or another by the perpetuation of the societal myth that all drug use lacking the government's stamp of approval is simply immoral and wrong. We will remain convenient scapegoats for an Orwellian level of control by those who wish to retain their power grip on modern society.
In the mean time humans will do that which they have done for thousands of years. They will either get stoned or get high...or both. A society that really cared about its citizenry would make honest attempts at educating its people on the difference by telling both sides of the truth, because the truth has always been as relative and personal as the individual perceiving it. The Darwinian principle will continue to eradicate the most extreme abusers from society one at a time, and propel the highest caliber explorers into the upper stratospheres of consciousness. A place where even the long arm of the law is too short to reach.
*The author does not in any way suggest that you or anyone else break the law and take illegal substances. After all, that would be wrong, oh, so wrong.
The Templedragon Times they are a changin'...
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THIS BLOG-ZINE DEDICATED TO NON-VIOLENCE, and in memory of Robert F. (Bobby) Kennedy
Welcome to the Templedragon Times! WEEK Of Dec. 25-Jan. 2 (Updates Daily)
This Blog-Zine contains my thoughts and opinions on current events, pro-peace and anti-Bush resources and information, and the section FoolTownCrier...purely fictional rubbish that has zero bearing in reality. Note the extensive links section on the left. Please send juicy tidbits on Seattle gossip, funky graphic images, hippie pot-hobbit tokelore and feedback of any sort to: templedragons@yahoo.co.uk Thanks, Vivian-
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"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
July 26, 1920, H.L Mencken, "The Sage of Baltimore",
Lord Sprayer
Bush is my shepherd, I shall be in want.
He maketh me lie down on park benches,
He leadeth me beside the still factories.
He restoreth my doubts about the Republican Party.
He leadeth me into the paths of unemployment for his cronies' sake.
Yea, though no weapons of mass destruction have been found, he maketh
me continue to fear Evil.
His tax cuts for the rich and his deficit spending discomfort me.
He anointeth me with never-ending debt:
Verily my days of savings and assets are kaput.
Surely poverty and hard living shall follow me all the days of his
administration,
And my jobless child shall dwell in my basement forever.
Ramen.
Blog Day Afternoon- The Genesis of a new media
This blog is about to go through some major surgery. Only two months old and already going through a mid-life crisis! Now that I have a simple URL that leads to this page, templedragon.net, I have begun the process of a face-lift on the sagging body of my humble pubescent blog-zine. She needs an extreme make-over.
Hopefully I can build an audience of people interested in the mad mumblings of a seasoned Seattle dissident who feels compelled to join in the desperate struggle to salvage society from the depths of a neo-con coup d'etat unparalleled since John F. Kennedy's head dematerialized on America's television screens.
I began this project immediately after what is deceptively called an "election". In fact the outcome was still unknown, but I had predicted all along that Bush would "take" it one way or another. If they could steal the Whitehouse in 2000 when they weren't even in power, what were the odds they were gonna give it back before they had completely rigged the government to serve the needs of the corporate elite and the militaristic economic techno-regime that supports them? The odds were zero to nothing.
This project is both a direct response to the appalling and surreal experience of witnessing the rapid descent of America in the global arena of geo-political humanity, and to a revelation this summer that there was a need for decentralized media. I wanted to do something, anything so I could avoid the crushing helplessness I felt after the 2000 election, and in addition create a vehicle by which I could offer my thoughts and perspective on a variety of local events and national issues.
I must confess I had probably spent a total of 5 minutes looking at blogs when I began the Templedragon Times. Anyone familiar with contemporary blogging would not find that revelation very surprising. I have no illusions of grandeur. I realize that I could never compete with the journalistic efforts of the vast majority of political blogger wonks, and I will not attempt such an endeavor. What I will do is speak my mind on a variety of issues that I feel passionately about.
I am changing the direction of my blog...the content, the tone, the design. The peace news format is being replaced by my writings on local and national topics, particularly the Drugwar, The Iraq War, the Bush Administration, ands in this installment the local media and Hempfest, of which I am a part.
I am infusing some biographical tidbits and attempting to garnish it all with a slice of humor and a heaping helping of satirical panache. 
Requiem for a Nightmare
The events of last summer could most appropriately be summed up with a country and western tune. I was so disheartened and frustrated by August's end. Hempfest got torrentially, no, biblically rained on both days of the event, after preparing for what was sure to be the mother of all Hempfests. A team of over 90 people had met every month all year long in an extensive planning operation, going over each nano-detail with a red eye for the stoner guy, putting in hundreds of hours of careful planning.
We're dirty, we're hippies, we're Hempfest core members!
We detailed the massive undertaking with the love and nurturing a parent gives to a child, and the result was a recipe for a level of greatness we had been striving for the entire 13 previous years of our world renowned "protestival".
We had met several times with Dr. Roger Roffman of the University of Washington's School of Social Work, preparing a survey to see what our constituency felt about our plans to incorporate a marijuana abuse prevention and education component to Hempfest's program. I have felt for some time now that not only does Hempfest have a tremendous responsibility to proactively address the politically uncomfortable but legitimate issues of pot abuse, especially by young people, but that we are also in an inherently unique position to do so.
Who else has the degree of "street cred" required to withstand the scrutiny of those pot purists who are certain to cry afoul as they interpret social responsibility as going soft and selling out to "the man". Just simply treating the issue of marijuana abuse as anything more than a laughable charade is extremely controversial within the legalization movement, as the vast majority of users maintain their lives relatively well. We are the largest and most successful marijuana policy reform rally in history, dwarfing our closest competition in both size and content, so it would be difficult to accuse us of not being Irie enough after annually bringing tens of thousands of people to our resin drenched soirée in the park.
During the last year we had put a lot of gingerbread and icing onto the body of Hempfest, producing a musical line-up that was sure to satiate our audience's desire for quality entertainment. We booked the quintessential pot culture band KottonMouthKings, a platinum selling act that blends metal, hip hop and whatever that Insane Clown Posse music is. The addition of Seattle rap legend Sir Mix-A-Lot put us in a fairly decent position to deliver a world class show, featuring almost 60 additional musical acts.
Also, after years of attempts, we were finally successful at persuading two of the top pot policy reform suits and ties to speak at our massive marijuana rally. Ethan Nadelman, the Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance (formerly known as the Lindesmith Institute), is one of the leading drug policy reformers in America, often seen on network television extolling the virtues of decriminalization from a scientific and academic standpoint. And Rob Kampia, the executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, the only real D.C. lobbyist for pot reform. He is also a mainstream media figure when it comes to cannabis policy issues.
Hempfest during normal summer weather, at 4:20pm
So we had big plans this year, and we gambled everything on the typical weekend of searing summer weather that we had come to expect based upon years of experience. But Mother Nature had other plans. The weeks, even months preceding Hempfest were record breaking hot. Our on site set-up which takes days went like clockwork, and we were ahead of schedule setting up the 6 stages, hundreds of booths and our operational infrastructure.
The Saturday opening of Hempfest went just as smooth, with the stages running on time and our event staff humming with precision after a long 4 days of non-stop preparation. At around 2pm, from my perch on the Mainstage I could see a cloud front approaching. I had had a bad feeling for some time about the fact that there had been no break in the sizzling Death Valley like weather Seattle had been experiencing, and I had winced that morning as I read the dismal, cataclysmic weather report of days of rain. "They are often wrong" I assured myself. Not this time.
Rainy Day Dream Away- "Wetstock"
To say it rained that weekend would be like saying that the Grand Canyon is a ditch. We got pummeled by a torrential downpour. For the first time in the 13 year history of Hempfest the event was brought to a soggy standstill. All stages were down as the skies cried Mary on us, leaving both parks, in the end, a quagmire of mud, water and dashed hopes for the phattie Hempfest we all thought was guaranteed after our year of relentless effort and unprecedented promotion.
The Mainstage incrementally lost its sound system, first limiting us to a single cordless microphone, and then relegating us (which was at this point in all reality me), to a hand held bullhorn. The rain let up a few times, only to come back fiercer each time, until the stage was shut down completely, leaving us with little more than a sea of mud, collapsing tent canopies and the few die hard Seattle supporters who weathered it all admirably, albeit sparingly.
We limped out of Saturday with our event schedule in disarray, the recently refurbished parks saturated by rain and an all volunteer event staff that was wet, cold and tired. But at least we had Sunday to redeem us. Didn't we?
That night Noah must have looked down from Heaven and thought "build an Ark , stoners, build an Ark". It didn't stop raining. I awoke at 6am to the sound of water running off of our rooftop and my heart just sank. "That's it", I thought to myself, "we are ruined".
As I drove into the site I was horrified to see several of our vendor's tent canopies completely caved in by rain, and a staff, borderline hypothermic,
struggling to save some of the damaged goods
. And it was still raining. We held an emergency Steering Committee meeting in what was intended to be the Mainstage backstage hospitality tent. The decision was made that we had no choice but to keep the event open. Vendors had paid money to be there, we had the parks until midway next week and we couldn't tear down in that weather anyway.
Synchronicity
I have RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) in my left shoulder, a terribly painful chronic disease, that makes typing excruciating sometimes. I was going to stop this entry here because of the pain and continue later, but something just happened that is so freaky & profound that I am compelled to continue, so I can relay it to you while it's fresh. 
The Scene of the grime: Mainstage before Noah's Ark arrived.
We had all but abandoned hopes that there would be a Hempfest on Sunday, as it was still belching rain at 9am when we had our "crisis management" Steering Committee meeting. The sound engineers told me that there was no way the Mainstage could even fire up the system at all that day, the rain was too relentless. But our amazing high spirited all volunteer staff had not budged one inch, and was still hustling to cover stuff up and save our vendor's goods and wares.
Drenched, cold and depressed, they maintained their posts, did their jobs, and kept the event alive. Meril, our awesome "Traffic Ogre" later said "man, at 9am you couldn't buy a smile for ten dollars, but by noon on Sunday everyone had a fuckin' permagrin!". That was because, to our amazement, at 10am the rain cleared and people started to stream in by the hundreds, then by the thousands.
The site was a disaster. Large pools of water were everywhere and the sod was not only saturated, there were huge mud pits, and some vendors had even packed up and left before the event opened that day. But the people just kept streaming in and by noon the event was in full swing, except the fact that all 6 stages were down due to water.
Even though they had told me it was an impossibility just hours earlier, the boys from Naf Productions had swept and dried the Mainstage off and had managed to get one cordless microphone going...and we had a rally again.
But our schedule had totally disintegrated, as bands had been told that they wouldn't be able to play and most scheduled speakers were not even on site. We had to reinvent the wheel right there on the spot. And we did, and we were lucky enough to have Pony Boy from Los Marijuanos backstage and between my endless rambling, his hip-hop to a CD he had on him, and the valiant efforts of our stage managers to scrape up some featured speakers...we performed CPR on the stage and got that Hempfest heartbeat pounding again.
Woody Harrelson at Hempfest. He's a hippie and he bathes, why can't we?
That Sunday 4:20 ceremony at the Mainstage had tens of thousands of supporters present, and in the 13 years I have been emceeing that stage I have never seen a cloud of approval billowing past like we had that day. We scrambled to find acts to perform, and Kali's Angels from Marin Co., a blistering female vocal act performed Indian kirtans, Rainbow chants and goddess songs that made the red hairs stand up on the back of your nugs.
The headline act of the event, the KottonMouthKings were stuck in traffic, so Tony B. from Funky Monkey radio came through for us and saved the day with a cadre of uber-talented break dancers & rappers who were scheduled to perform at an entirely different time. Tony B was amazingly graceful, unlike some other performers and managers that day.
After a crushingly difficult weekend, rife with bone snapping stress and disappointment, I can't tell you how elated I was when I saw two black limos cruising into the park carrying the members of our headline act, the KottonMouthKings. After being hoplessly dead in the water at 9am, feeling that we had been defeated entirely, we rose like a fiery phoenix from a wet ashtray to present a molten Mainstage show replete with a mosh pit more ferocious than any we had ever had. The mosh pit rivaled the one at Gasworks back in '94 when 7 Year Bitch erupted onstage and traffic was cluster-fucked throughout all of Wallingford and beyond.
Television Travel Host and writer Rick Steves at Hempfest. Lookin' clean
KottonMouthKings played for a full 45 minutes to a mammoth crowd, we did the closing ceremony and the 2004 Seattle Hempfest was over. And we were victorious.
Elated, we had defied the inclement weather, beat the odds, pulled it out of our gut and made the event happen despite just about the worst weather an outdoor event could receive. How could anyone possibly ignore our achievement under the circumstances?
Dirty Hippies & Pot Hobbits Unite!
So now, after all these words, we finally get to the crux of the biscuit, the catalyst that compelled me to create this humble blogjam in the first place. We felt so proud of the fact that we were able to keep our volunteer powered event alive against adversity like we had never seen even though we were exhausted, wet and cold for so long that our brains turned to that stuff that they use for filling in a Beanie Baby. We were on top of the world, a dangerous place if you don't have a tether.
It continued to rain on us throughout the next several days of brutal tear down process, but our morale had never been higher. The sod damage to both parks was extensive. The saturated grass gave way under the heavy wheels of the vendor's vans and equipment trucks and caused damage that cost Hempfest thousands of dollars and has us in the hole for the first time to the tune of about $5,000.
Dom and I at the Fest...the Siegfried and Roy of hemp?.
So when the Stranger and the Seattle Weekly came out, for some reason I expected to see something different from the magazines than what transpired. I realize that you cannot purchase a good review, or a kind word, it doesn't work like that. But we had dropped a chunk of change advertising in these pubs.
I expected perhaps a brief acknowledgement of the sheer determination and sacrifice, the diligence and Herculean effort our staff and crowd put into our collective call for freedom from insane pot laws and for sane medical and drug policy. Or maybe notice of our achievement of drawing national celebrities in the past, like TV travel host Rick Steves, former Dallas Cowboy Mark Stepnoksi or movie star Woody Harrelson, to a pot rally. Surely that accounted for something, since it had never been done before, didn't it?
Instead what we got was "dirty hippies" and "pot hobbits". The Stranger had a faux Associated Press article that read "dirty hippies forced to bathe at Hempfest", rumored to be written by Dan Savage himself. It featured a
picture of an average hippie couple from some Rainbow gathering (that I later stumbled onto after googling "hippie").
It was accompanied by a quasi-constructive article by Davod Schmader that berated Hempfest as an "inherently insufficient event" and went on to say that we sought to be both a party for Washington State cannabis enthusiasts and a political rally, but "accomplished neither goal". The article did touch on some good points, speficially that Hempfest only draws supporters of the pot culture and is not going to legalize pot unless that changes. But it left me wondering what exactly was left for Hempfest to be if we were neither a rally nor a party.
As I type this, a full 4 and a half months after Hempfest, an e-mail just came into my box with the following, taken from this week's issue of the Stranger, by Dan Savage... "My boyfriend and I rate movies we see with our kid on the "HH" scale, which stands for "how high?"--as in, "How high does an adult have to be in order to enjoy this?" A film is awarded a number between 1 and 10, with 1 meaning "completely sober," and 10 meaning "higher than all the dirty hippies at Hempfest rolled into a big, dirty ball."
Oh, so that's it. We are a dirty ball of dirty hippies. Not eactly within our mission statement, but at least we have an identity now. We should throw a masquerade party where straight people and gay-straight people can dress up as dirty hippies and we can call it the "Dirty Ball". Think it will sell? Hey man, we need to raise some moula! Always thinkin'.
I contend that "dirty hippies" is hate speech, equal to "drunken indians" or "lazy niggers". Can you imagine if it said "dirty jew"? Or "dirty Mexican"? Why is it ok diss on hippies? I am a hippie, for Christ's sake, and I own *two* bars of soap (of course they are still in the wrappers). What if I commonly referred to the staff of the Stranger as "dirty faggots"? Would that be funny? If so, a pretty cheap laugh, IMHO.
Even Jesus was a dirty hippie!
The Weekly, an event sponsor, offered little better. Knute Berger took a fashion police approach, complaining how Hempfest was merely a throwback to the sixties, and how it posed a threat to society with the "same old bad hair, bad fashions" and that we were where "quag meets mire". Both the Tacoma News Tribune and the Seattle P.I. found subjects worthy of writing extensive, glowing reviews of Hempfest on, with Joel Connolly of the P.I. even calling us "experts at organizing".
I was outraged, deflated and hurt that both local alt-culture zines chose to ignore the uber-sophisticated infra-structure of Hempfest, replete with on site intranet, staff kitchen equipped with stainless steel refrigeration unit and restaurant caliber washing stations, over 1,000 voters registered on site, the radio dispatch and operations. And what about the vast plethora of additional components that all contribute to Hempfest being the most sophisticated and professional drug policy reform event in the world? But instead they had focused on a stereotype that any honest examination of video or photos of the event will swiftly prove a hollow falsity.
I fired off my annual bitchy boo-hoo letter of outrage, talking about how hard we worked and how important our cause is. And we did - and it is. But once again I allowed my buttons to be pushed as I lashed out publicly, defensive and reactionary. 
KottonMouthKings arriving at Hempfest during torrential, no, biblical downpour.
But after I had time to settle down, I had a great epiphany, a revelation. Why in hell did I expect anything from the Weekly and the Stranger at all? Why did I expect THEM to put OUR message out? I was obviously doing a terrible job promoting our message or I wouldn't be so upset and vulnerable about the name calling and cultural bigotry. I threw a "hemper tantrum", and I'm sure the folks in the Stranger offices had a good belly laugh at how easily they pulled my crank (metaphorically speaking, that is).
You see, I actually AM a hippie. It is something I am inherently proud of, but Hempfest is a diverse mixture of people from all walks of life. I think the dirty hippie characterization is inherently unfair and offensive. And what I am sure the writer's don't understand is that internally Hempfest's organizers have been debating how to mainstream the event more, how to stay true to our counter-culture heritage but transcend the sterotype of a 60's throwback event. We don't think that stereotype is accurate, and we have 13 years of hard work invested in our cause.
Dan Savage's words to me, via e-mail the year before (regarding this subject) were "Vivian, Vivian, where's your sense of humor?". This was not the first time the dirty hippie card had been played. So I surrender. I have had a sense of humorectomy. I have received comedy implants. I had no idea that sense of humors were so cheap on Tee-Hee-Bay.
I have a new found sense of perspective. If there were not tens of thousands of Americans rotting in jails and prisons, hundreds of thousands of cancer and AIDS patients suffering without the legal relief of cannabis and millions of old growth trees being slashed down faster than a republican can steal an election I would have been able to laugh it all off a lot easier a long time ago. If Hippies were not discriminated against, if we did not have to live with bigotry and prejiduce against us, if we were not the subject of humiliation and denigration on a cultural level in society...I would have laughed with everybody at the starting gate. Just be a hippie and try to get an honest job, you'll see why perpetuating an image of the unlcean, filthy hippie is hurtful to all.
Now I've said my piece, and I have begun the process of shifting my focus off of what other publications say about us/me, and onto our/my ability to get our/my own message out. And I'll take a chill pill or a bongtoke and roll with the punches (you know what I'll be rollin'). In fact if you are a dirty hippie pot-hobbit, I'd love to hear from ya!
Felony dirty hippie in progress.
But the fundamental point in it all this is that we need to create our own media. This blog is a small, humble beginning to that end. I am grateful to both the Stranger and the Weekly for the many positive things they have done both for me personally and for Hempfest in the past. I was chosen "Best Organizer" in this year's "Best Of" edition of the weekly. A title that I hardly deserve, but I'm honored anyway. And when I challenged Seattle's old poster ordinance back in '96, the Stranger did a special edition, complete with huge pink pull out poster. Had my back, totally.
I devote all my energy to getting our version of our message out for ourselves. And as far as dirty hippies being forced to bathe at Hempfest...pass me the patchouli, I am soiling again and I'm feeling a crudding coming on. And as far as a sense of humor, well, I have changed. No really, I have.
Vivian McPeak, Templedragon Times.
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so
certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." -Bertrand
Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (1872-1970)
Pink Pantychat...
Templedragon Times Exclusive!
Dan Savage: Closet Hetero?
Seattle's gay bars and night clubs have been buzzing with steamy rumors that Stranger Magazine senior editor Dan Savage has been engaging in a heterosexual love affair with a female staffer of the critically acclaimed weekly alt-culture 'zine.
Savage, notorious for his wanton gayness and unabashed homosexuality, has not commented on his potential socially acceptable behavior (there is no word at this time of whether or not a condom was used...if indeed anything happened at all). The riveting gossip about Savage's possible breeder love tryst was met on Capital Hill with gaping mouths and dismay, as a shockwave rippled through the close-knit Pacific Northwest rainbow community.
Templedragon times has contacted numerous sources, and at this time these vicious and explosive rumors remain totally unsubstantiated. In addition, no phone calls have been returned by Stranger employees, but a young woman waiting for a bus on Broadway who claimed to be the room-mate of a Stranger staffer insisted... "my roomie told me that Dan has popped wood several times in the presence of only girls, I mean, do the math".
Some readers are interpreting Savage's recent high profile marriage to a woman as a desperate attempt to deflect attention away from his hot hetero sexcapades, the apparent rationale being that he would have no reason to engage in straight sex with a woman if he was already having straight sex with a woman, making this not only the world's longest sentence, but in addition a totally meaningles one as well.
Stay tuned, as the story develops. We promise to stay right on top of this story, in a perpetual missionary position.
"Mommy, did you really shag Uncle Savage?"
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"Thank you for liberating my limb, Mr. Bush!"
To see what I am not posting take a visual scan of the wondrous world of casual T's...
You can view the repulsive graphic photos of the liberated albeit mangled bodies at: Requires Registration and Doesn't (These are two different sites). If that just ain't enough people McNuggets for yas: Torture Photos.
Photo Credit: courtesy Capitol Hill Revolver
"There is a split in the church, a lickety split!" proclaims Mary O'Keefe
Capitol Hill: Seattle resident and goth princess "Bloody Mary" O'Keefe has been generating complaints from angry neighbors for her public displays of foreplay on a collection of Jesus figurines she has prominently featured in her front yard.
Police say that the fiery red-headed part-time exotic dancer's sexualistic rituals fall in a gray area within the law, and residents of the usually permissive neighborhood will just have to look the other way as she expresses her freedom of speech, and apparent freedom of religion.
"Worship is worship, and I just have my own way" says Kennedy, who claims to be a witch and a member of the Wiccan religion. She says she intends to incorporate her lewd and lascivious acts of sexual depravity upon the sadhappy savior into her professional strip-tease act in January. "If they can't stand a little Oral Roberts on the prince of Peace, just wait until they see me kneel prostrate before his mighty member as I baptize myself in his sacred holy water" she said to Templedragon Times.
Angry resident Scott Berman says the outraged neighbors have concoted a plan to get even. They have contacted a New Jersey company that manufactures life-sized taffy replicas of film maker Michael Moore. "When she sees us tugging on Moore's massive member, then she'll have gotten a taste of her own medicine" exclaimed the exasperated Berman. Well, we at Templedragon Times just feel that some people just don't know when they've been licked.
The "Baby You Can Buy My Tar, And Baby I Love You" Department...
In other Capital Hill news, a neighborhood newspaper claims that Seattle Narcotics Officers said in a recent report that the purity of street heroin obtained on Capital Hill is so high that the diverse Seattle neighborhood is now being called "Noddingham" by area junkies. A well known drug house off of Broadway, where users of the narcotic substance are alleged to frequently obtain the sinister sap, is reportedly referred to as "Tarbucks", because dealers are apparently opening a new one every 3 days. Another heroin house, this one located somewhere in the Wallingford District is reportedly being referred to as "Junk in the Box" because customers are given hollowed antenna balls that conceal the illicit substance (and look kinda cool on a car).
Seriously, though....Here is a link to the 12 Step groups page from the acclaimed Peace Heathens' Crisis Resource Guide, because dope is for dopes: Life is the best drug
In other related news:
College Fails in Bid to Grow Buds
By Wade Graham, Templedragon Times Correspondant
The University of Massachusetts has had a longstanding request to grow marijuana at so it can be tested for medical uses has been turned down by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The decision was faxed to the university on Friday and made public yesterday by the Marijuana Policy Project, an independent group that favors legalization of marijuana, particularly for medical uses, and has an open contract with local pizza delivery companies.
A spokeswoman for the D.E.A. said the agency would have no comment beyond its order, which gave the university 30 days to appeal.
The dispute is over marijuana in its smoked or vaporized form. Capsules of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, one of the plant's active ingredients, can be prescribed in many states for cancer and AIDS patients suffering nausea and appetite loss. But proponents of medical marijuana argue that the capsules are impossible to keep lit, and look really boring on multi-page centerfold pullouts in magazines such as High Times and cannabis Culture.
In its order, drug agency said the lone government-licensed marijuana farm, operated by the University of Mississippi, grew enough for researchers and their friends, but said problams arose after alumni were caught breaking into the college cafeteria after having induced a "kingsized case" of the munchies. It said that 18 medical studies using the drug had been approved since 2000.
But Dr. Lyle E. Craker, the professor of plant biology at the University of Massachusetts who applied for the license three years ago, said researchers complained that the government's marijuana was weak and that it was hard to get permission to use it. "This stuff is bunk, and wouldn't even get an Ashley Simpson fan stoned" he said.
"We wanted to have a source independent from the government and with a known potency so doctors can run clinical trials, " he continued, "and these nugs would have been paid for by taxpayer money, and everyone knows that herb is that much more stoney when it is free". Researchers would still have needed D.E.A. permission to work with the drug.
Alki Beach man ticketed for not having red flag on giant cock.
Photo Credit: Rodney Argent
Seattle -- A 47 year old Alki Beach man was stopped by traffic police for failing to flag his giant inflatable penis as he drove his toilet-cycle multiple times through the well known thoroughfare. "I should have had protection" said Harold Larson, an unemployed roofer who says he just purchased the chopped commode and was enjoying his first ride.
Mr. Larson received a traffic violation for not attaching a red warning flag (pictured above) to alert fellow motorists of a massive protruding inflatable penis attached to his unconventional ride. "I guess if I ran into someone they'd really be fucked" joked the amused Larsen, who says he has learned his lesson and intends to be more responsible on future runs through the beachfront community.
American Hippie, by Vivian, in 500 words.
I am an American Hippie. It is not a choice for me, it is not a fad for me...it is simply what and who I am. I bathe and I work. I vote and I stay informed. I volunteer in my community and I work to know my neighbors. I give to my community, my society and my church.
My church is the Universe. I don't believe in God, in fact I resent the word God. It is so limiting, so presumptuous. I choose to invest my belief in the Spirit that has touched me many times when I was communing with a psychedelic sacrament. For it was this Spirit that whispered to my soul that there is no greater force than love, no aim higher than peace and no attribute greater than compassion.
The Spirit I believe in needs no name. It is above and beyond such trivializations. It cannot be captured in a book, or contained in a prayer. It cannot be bought or sold or wholly represented by any human.
It does not limit it's message to any particular creed or race or class. It is certainly not limited to only those who are high on psychedelics.. It is LOVE, and it touches us all in ways large and small, but too often too subtle for our busy selves to take notice.
The Spirit I embrace tells me that the Earth is living, and all that it contains is part of the Gaia, the living embodiment of creation...whatever creation is. The Spirit I embrace tells me that all life, no matter how large or how small is sacred and should be revered...out of appreciation if not respect.
I believe that there is a single original Universal source of Spirit that humanity has always tapped into intuitively immediately. Spirituality was often developed in advance of language, alphabet, music, etc. in early civilizations, and I feel that all divine inspiration has emanated from the same source, and that all religions are attempts to describe the same original source signal of Spirit.
The exact same force that touched Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Helen Keller is eternal and the same, I believe. I believe all the great orators and sages, leaders and warriors who have laid down their most precious possession, their life, in honor of this truth were touched by the same Spirit. The Spirit of LOVE.
This is not the same kind of love that a parent has for their child, or a lover has for their mate. It is not the same kind of love that is packaged and sold on magazine covers or in adult videos. It is selfless LOVE, compassionate LOVE...unconditional LOVE.
The Spirit I embrace tells me it does not matter what book you read or robe you wear. It's not how you sit or breathe or what you stare at. It makes no difference what building you occupy or what place you pilgrimage to. What matters is not who your prophets are or how many followers they have. For without one component any spiritual teaching is bound to fail.
The Spirit I embrace tells me...."All you need is LOVE", love that transcends all pain and despair, all fear and anger, all hopelessness and misery. For in LOVE can be found hope and healing, nurturing and kindness.
I am an American Hippie and I LOVE.
Templedragon Note: The Drugwar is inextricably linked to the global war machine, so you will see more drugwar stuff in Templedragon Times.
PUGET SOUND ORCA WHALES GET REPRIEVE BY BUSH ADMINISRATION...
In a surprising about face, the Bush administration is responding to a federal lawsuit filed by environmental groups, reversing a decision not to allow the Puget Sound Orca Whale onto the Endangered Species Act protections.
The Killer Whales have been listed as a depleted species under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which protects the individual whales, but not their habitat. Two whales were recently born in the wild¸ bringing the local population to 86 whales.
This is a good sign, as the same federal government just admitted, after years of pathetic denials, that global warming is a real threat, and not just a bunch of hooey created by fanatical environmentalists (oh, like, I dunno...thousands of scientists). "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine".
10% of birds on Earth face exinction within this century: Forgive us Lord! Where is Alfred Hitchcock when you need him? One local feathered friend enthusiast is so stressed out about the potential decline of the species that friends have started referring to him as the "Birdman of Alka-Seltzer".
U.S. Army faces serious "morale problems": Morale Capone
Republicans turning on each other? McCain has "no confidence" in Rumsfeld (neither do we)...
Senator John McCain says that has "no confidence" in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
He cites the way the war in Iraq has been conducted and the failure to add more troops. McCain, however, says that doesn't mean that he's calling for Rumsfeld to step down.
He tells The Associated Press that President Bush, in his words, "can have the team that he wants around him." McCain says he has strenuously argued for larger troop numbers in Iraq, including the right kind of troops, such as linguists, Special Forces, civil affairs, and others, but, he says, there are very strong differences of opinion between himself and Rumsfeld on that issue.
When asked if Rumsfeld was a liability to the Bush administration, McCain responded: "The president can decide that, not me."
As a lifelong leftie, an activist of twenty some odd years, and a person who is categorically committed to principles of peace, love and non-violence, another four years of the neo-con agenda of Bush and his cronies is beyond frustrating. It is petrifying and disturbing to a magnitude almost incalculable. I, along with every other "liberal" find the fact that our nation would reward virtually criminal policies, relentless lies and endless manipulations of the truth with re-election as a practically sci-fi scenario.
The geo-political landscape in the world right now is so potentially catastrophic as a result of the previous four years of republican right wing madness that a lame duck term of these folks constitutes a doomsday scenario. The mantras of the right such as "they hate us for our freedom" and the clever fallacy of a "liberal media bias" are so preposterous, so inane that it is baffling that they have been able to perpetuate these myths to the point that they have become fact to millions of Americans.
The false division and polarizing effect that the "red state vs. blue state" concept has on the U.S. is a criminal shame, and the American media is very complicit in the dubious outcome of this last election. The corporatization of the Democratic Party has effectively neutered the entire bunch and rendered them a spineless apologetic chorus of ineffectual puppy dogs against the pit-bull republicans and their militant evangelical base.
The notion that anyone who opposes the war is flatly un-American, the insistence that the republicans have some kind of moral superiority would be laughable if it wasn't celebrated as truth by roughly half of the people walking our slice of the North American continent.
So here we are, at my blog. Do I think that I can in any way compete with the literary academic bloggers who predominate the cyber-landscape? Well, why the fuck not? I am doing something entirely different here anyway. I am a radical hippie, since when was I welcome in the typified liberal elite caste system anyhoo? I am doing this for me first, and if I can assist anyone out there in staying on top of the news tidbits who has not the time to scan the search engines for graphics and stories and factoids... well that's great.
But I entertain no visions of grandeur. I will say however, that I have been surprised that there are people who actually look at this thing (I wish they would leave some damned comments or sign my guest-book...hint hint.). But what I am actually proud of is the links section. I have worked really hard on providing not only an exhaustive list of alternative information sources, but I've also endeavored to give links to the sites of the morally repugnant arrogant hateful and bigoted racist right wing, so that readers can come to their own conclusions without any bias from me!
America is in a major crisis of untold proportions & historical significance. The ship is sinking, and it is only a matter of time before the lies and shenanigans of the Bush administration become so massive and numerous that it will be impossible to build a curtain large enough for the wizard to hide behind anymore. Let's hope that the time is soon, and we can begin to do something other than just survive (and hope we don't get caught in the cross fire, like the broken bodies of the dead and injured Iraqi children I have displayed on some of the pages of this blog).
Ok, so now that I have outlined what a negative scenario the neo-con Bush coup is, let me put some sugar frosting on this holiday fruit-cake. The Universe that we cohabitate on appears to produce dualities in almost every instance, and it is often up to the perceiver to make a conscious choice on whether or not to focus on the full or empty half of the cup of life.
Therefore it is a foregone conclusion that there has to be good coming from the current turn of events, some redeeming aspects to what otherwise would be noted as a dire consequence of a grossly ill informed electorate and a corrupt system. So what good can possible come out of an anti-gay environ-destructive war machine pro-corporate money driven political mafia scenario? Well, resistance only comes out of oppression, therefore resistance is fertile!
As the democrats and American left grope around in the darkness in an attempt to get their sea-legs on this turbulent ocean of chaos we can hopefully anticipate a backlash as we lash back against what can only be characterized as one of the worst geo-political landscapes we have witnessed in our lifetimes. This Haliburtonic period of corporate gotcha will undoubtedly produce a new breed of militant-activos, a new wave of earth loving pro-peace activists dedicated to advocating for the planet's interests above the interests of a hand-full of CEO's and board-rooms who could give a rat's ass about the implications of their actions on the rest of humanity.
It is challenging to imagine a scenario where there is a positive large enough to offset the outrage that the entire Arab world embraces after the unprovoked invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq. Saddam was a murderous bastard, granted, but the world is littered with pond scum such as him, and it is the selective nature of America's world policing that destroys its street-cred when it comes to such policies.
There are several scenarios that we can virtually count on as a result of the perilous policies of the Bush administration. There are already homeless vets cropping up, socially crippled emotionally disturbed soldiers who have come home from battle wounded in both their soul and their psyche after seeing people Mc Nuggets sprawled out across the tarmac. They are trained while screaming out phrases like "Huha, I want to kill somebody!", but there is a difference between yelling out the words and actually spraying someone's brains against a wall.
The financial outcome of the Bush "tax-break and spend" policies are going to be cataclysmic. There is no other scenario that can possibly result from the spending spree that Heir Bush has been enjoying...an orgiastic penny party constructed to line the pockets of the 1 percentile that the Bushites belong to. The middle class is getting raped, and for the first time since possibly the great depression the poor are feeling the crunch. Normally, if you are living on the bottom of the food chain it doesn't make much of a difference how the economy is doing... it doesn't affect you. But that's not what's happening right now in America. The poor are beginning to feel the crunch.
I have maintained for some time now that there will be little change in America until the economic rug gets pulled out from underneath this nation. I predict that time is a matter of a few years away, and no one can fully predict the magnitude of the shockwave that the fiscal irresponsibility of this administration is creating. Rome didn't burn in a day, and we can anticipate a sudden decline in the global prestige of America if the direction of American policy remains on a course dictated by corporate profits, Christian nation building and the ego-stroking of the evangelical right wing. Hmm... wasn't I gonna examine something positive? Perhaps in the next installment. Peace and love, Dragonfly-
NEW PEOPLE MC NUGGETS!
A fired CIA operative has filed a lawsuit claiming that he was punished after refusing requests by senior agency managers to falsify reporting on prewar Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, the Washington Post reported Thursday. CIA SOL
One-time radical drops teaching plans: Radical Fanatical
After you scroll all the way down, you can click to look at back pages. There are numerous hilarious Bush links, lots of good graphics, and pertinent news items on the preceding pages.
Check out the way these right wing folks (Free Republic dot com) make fun of liberals by cheap insults about their appearance: Childish Name Calling
You won't see me using individual's pictures and making fun of their weight, their ethnicity, & their appearance (especially those fat, ugly...oops!). It may make you feel good about yourself to denigrate others, but it's a pretty cheap shot if you ask me, and promotes the division that creates an atmosphere that hate thrives in. I'll just report their actions, and ask questions. Like...
Is the Bush administration certifiable? Are they nuts? Great article by Craig Roberts: Bush admin loopy on war fumes
Iraq War veterans are not waiting for the war to end to show up at homeless shelters: Brother can you spare a limb?
Group Promoting Enduring Peace forced to downsize after losing tax exempt status: Homeless Peace Group
Don't give your $ to RED Staters this Christmas...shop BLUE, read about it here: Blue Xmas
How do you measure peace? Does it come in the number of photographs of IRA guns, the number of jobs created since the ceasefires or something vaguer still, such as physical change?
Tis the season to stop buying wartoys: Boycott
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Maathai Answers Critics:Kenya Dig It?
Despite public unease and questions of legitimacy under Japan's constitution, the Japanese cabinet agreed on Thursday the country's troops will stay in Iraq for another year. This comes Japan puts the final touches on a sweeping overhaul of its defense policy: Japan Backs Bush
U.S. troops find 32 more dead Iraqis:Death Inc. How many?: How many ya need?
Read a searing apology to the people of Iraq from a hospital medic: Don't Miss This Article!
And perhaps a reason to apologize.Read an Iraqi girl's account of her relative being shot by U.S. soldiers mistakenly (below some cute school jokes:
some one asked me: How can you be sure that Aya's grandfather got killed by bullets of an American soldier's gun?
"...when Aya's grandfather was killed, he with one of his neighbors were coming back home walking because at that time there were a lot of fire shooting in the area and the americans closed the roads leading to their house. The place in which he got shot in was an opened area and there were no shelters to protect them from fire, there was a shop near by, the shop owner asked them to enter his place till the fire stop but he refused probably because he was worried about his family, he continue to walk, infront of him about 100 m away there was an american stryker, it was in his way home . the American soldiers who were in that stryker shot him in his thigh: Iraqigirl Blog
Should we count Iraqi civilian casualties?: 
Read what Kuro5hin has to say about Free Republic website (the same one above that rips on liberals). What can a liberal expect after posting a comment there for honest discussion? Read about it here...Free Republican
A quote from Free Republic:
"Liberals are without a doubt the most bigoted people on earth. Because of this huge myth they perpetuate about themselves that their support of "affirmative action" and race quotas and reparations makes them the exact opposite of bigoted, they are the last people on earth who would ever be able to look in a mirror and recognize a bigot staring back. Their belief in this myth is so strong that it allows them to slip deeper and deeper into the nastiest forms of bigotry without the slightest chance that they will ever clearly see themselves for what they really are." Hmm... the most "bigoted people on earth"...yeh? Well... all those right wingers generalize! 
"You liberals are always so angry!"
Rumsfeld under fire from Iraq bound troops: Under fire
Rummy responds a day later: Fire Under It apears rather obvious that the entire invasion of Iraq was poorly planned, & poorly equipped. Our brave troops and the Iraqi people have paid a price. Saddam is not missed by anyone, byt it could have been accomplished another way. But hey...it worked...Bush is still president!
At a minimum, Bush is responsible for between 14,619 and 16,804 Iraqi civilian deaths during the 21 months since the invasion. Compiled from hospital, morgue, and media reports, these figures understate civilian deaths. In keeping with Islam's quick burial requirement, many Iraqis were buried in sports fields and in back gardens during protracted U.S. assaults on urban areas. A recent report in the British medical journal, The Lancet, estimates that 100,000 Iraqis have been killed since March 20, 2003. This figure does not include the large number of Iraqi deaths from the embargo and U.S. bombing for more than a decade prior to the U.S. invasion.
Projecting the reported Iraqi civilian deaths for four more years of U.S. occupation produces a figure of 51,621 civilians killed as "collateral damage." Projecting The Lancet's figure produces a figure of 328,571 civilian deaths by the end of Bush's second term.
Read More: Catastrophe Calculator
War destroying Iraq children's future: Innocents pay the price of War
This was all planned a long time ago. They were just waiting for the opportunity. September 11th was just that. This is the organization of the planners of the Iraq invasion: New American Century
"The kid and I were chatting happily last week about really really important things such as this country's top movie, Spongebob Squarepants, when, suddenly, she pointed at the TV screen behind me. Then, her face contorted in anger, she said ominously -- "He's e-e-e-e-v-u-l..."
Startled by the look on her face, I turned to the TV, expecting to see the Red Skull with his boot on the neck of Captain America -- but it was only George Bush, smirking and chortling and kissing members of his cabinet on the lips. "No, honey," I said, "that's only the president. That's George Bush..." Read the article: Sheila Samples
Am I loopy on toner fumes, or is it fucking surreal that America gets its national panties all bunched up and camel toed over a mild violent melee during a basketball game but is relatively complacent about the torture and even murder of Iraqi prisoners in U.S. military custody? Which one is the outrageous scandal, and which one is the relative blemish on the face of America's geo-political honor? Ream me up Scotty, I can't stand to watch Bush and his neocon job catapult America deeper into the moral latrine.
THIS IS A DIRTY HIPPIE, OBSERVE...
I know it is a dirty hippie, because it is me. See me, hear me, touch me,smell me. I sing in Crispy, Pills, Stash and Bong. U heard of us. I played in the Nitty gritty Dirt-hippie Band. But that's another post in another blog.
Red State vs Blue State IQ? Ha ha ha ha...check it out: I got the red state blues
Medal of Freedom dishonored by Bush:Freedom to Die
Insurgents getting "very sophisticated" and have been disguising themselves as Iraqi children!
Mideast Democracy? You're dreamin'...: America is Hated
Iraqis being abused by U.S. personell: What a disgrace to us
Torture and Abuse a pattern by U.S. Military, website claims. Read about it here: Justice of Just Us?
Read how the Right Wing uses revisionism to try to cover up these atrocities: Wrong Wing
Al Gore's Mom Dies: Rest in Peace
What's New in the Legal World? A Growing Campaign to Undo the New Deal, and how medical marijuana may play a role: Raw Deal for New Deal
check out "sorryeverybody.com", seattle birthed website for Kerry Lovin' Libs
Video of Bush flipping us all the bird: Half a Peace Sign!
Video of Bush drunk: Oval Orofice
You know it's bad when Canadians are offering to marry Americans so they can emigrate to a sane country: Marry An American Dot Com