May 2012
40 posts
A Day In The Life Of An American Displaced Worker - 'Ticket Blitz In Santa Cruz California' Edition
Meanwhile I just got a ticket for “smoking too close to the “The Pacific Garden Mall” (The officer’s words… hasn’t been called that for years) which the officer changed to “smoking too near a bench” off Pacific (Gypsy Switch!) when I informed him that I was standing well back from the street, by 20’ or more, as required.
He also cited me for ‘disobeying a police officer’, most likely (but unstated) for not ‘obeying’ his first illegitimately worded order to move from “smoking too close to the ‘The Pacific Garden Mall’ “.
That make 4 cites in the last three weeks. Two bike tickets that were totally illegitimate (perjured) and now these.
But there IS a bright side. As I went out of the coffee shop a little while later, the officer (Badge# 147) drove by on Pacific saying out his car window as he passed “Are You Following Me?” as if it’s all a joke… just as a yuppie guy on a bike towing a trailer with his son in it rode up on the sidewalk in front of Noah’s.
I hollered back at “Badge #147” in his car: “Are you going to give this “Straight Guy” a ticket for riding on the sidewalk or are you just CORRUPT?” as he drove off with everyone looking at us. I said to the straight guy “Sorry… didn’t mean to drag you into this pre-existing thing”
The guy looked at me and said “That’s ok… I used to be a public defender and I know they’re constantly harassing you for just being here… It sucks.”
AKA the m0therfuck.in 571mul470r
Thanksgiving Poem
William Burroughs
“Thanks for the American dream to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through… Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest human dream.” ~~William Burroughs, From his 1986 Thanksgiving Poem
May 18 2012 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: There Is Only One News Story Today →
archive.org
«o» There is only one news story today.
Chandler Laughlin III, Travus T. Hipp, passed away peacefully in his sleep last night.
The quintessential “Hippie” with a social activist heart of gold…
Rest in Peace Chan…
We never met but it was an absolute pleasure working with you.
From Wikipedia’s entry for the word “Hippie”:
In April 1963, Chandler A. Laughlin III, co-founder of the Cabale Creamery,[29] established a kind of tribal, family identity among approximately fifty people who attended a traditional, all-night Native American peyote ceremony in a rural setting. This ceremony combined a psychedelic experience with traditional Native American spiritual values; these people went on to sponsor a unique genre of musical expression and performance at the Red Dog Saloon in the isolated, old-time mining town of Virginia City, Nevada.[30]
During the summer of 1965, Laughlin recruited much of the original talent that led to a unique amalgam of traditional folk music and the developing psychedelic rock scene.[30] He and his cohorts created what became known as “The Red Dog Experience”, featuring previously unknown musical acts — Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Charlatans, and others — who played in the completely refurbished, intimate setting of Virginia City’s Red Dog Saloon. There was no clear delineation between “performers” and “audience” in “The Red Dog Experience”, during which music, psychedelic experimentation, a unique sense of personal style and Bill Ham’s first primitive light shows combined to create a new sense of community.[31]
Laughlin and George Hunter of the Charlatans were true “proto-hippies”, with their long hair, boots and outrageous clothing of 19th-century American (and Native American) heritage.[30] LSD manufacturer Owsley Stanley lived in Berkeley during 1965 and provided much of the LSD that became a seminal part of the “Red Dog Experience”, the early evolution of psychedelic rock and budding hippie culture. At the Red Dog Saloon, The Charlatans were the first psychedelic rock band to play live (albeit unintentionally) loaded on LSD.[32]
When they returned to San Francisco, Red Dog participants Luria Castell, Ellen Harman and Alton Kelley created a collective called “The Family Dog.”[30] Modeled on their Red Dog experiences, on October 16, 1965, the Family Dog hosted “A Tribute to Dr. Strange” at Longshoreman’s Hall.[33] Attended by approximately 1,000 of the Bay Area’s original “hippies”, this was San Francisco’s first psychedelic rock performance, costumed dance and light show, featuring Jefferson Airplane, The Great Society and The Marbles.[34]
Two other events followed before year’s end, one at California Hall and one at the Matrix.[30] After the first three Family Dog events, a much larger psychedelic event occurred at San Francisco’s Longshoreman’s Hall. Called “The Trips Festival”, it took place on January 21–January 23, 1966, and was organized by Stewart Brand, Ken Kesey, Owsley Stanley and others. Ten thousand people attended this sold-out event, with a thousand more turned away each night.[35] On Saturday January 22, the Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company came on stage, and 6,000 people arrived to imbibe punch spiked with LSD and to witness one of the first fully developed light shows of the era.[36]
It is nothing new. We have a private revolution going on. A revolution of individuality and diversity that can only be private. Upon becoming a group movement, such a revolution ends up with imitators rather than participants…It is essentially a striving for realization of one’s relationship to life and other people… Bob Stubbs, “Unicorn Philosophy”[37]
By February 1966, the Family Dog became Family Dog Productions under organizer Chet Helms, promoting happenings at the Avalon Ballroom and the Fillmore Auditorium in initial cooperation with Bill Graham. The Avalon Ballroom, the Fillmore Auditorium and other venues provided settings where participants could partake of the full psychedelic music experience. Bill Ham, who had pioneered the original Red Dog light shows, perfected his art of liquid light projection, which combined light shows and film projection and became synonymous with the San Francisco ballroom experience.[30][38] The sense of style and costume that began at the Red Dog Saloon flourished when San Francisco’s Fox Theater went out of business and hippies bought up its costume stock, reveling in the freedom to dress up for weekly musical performances at their favorite ballrooms. As San Francisco Chronicle music columnist Ralph J. Gleason put it, “They danced all night long, orgiastic, spontaneous and completely free form.”[30]
Some of the earliest San Francisco hippies were former students at San Francisco State College[39] who became intrigued by the developing psychedelic hippie music scene.[30] These students joined the bands they loved, living communally in the large, inexpensive Victorian apartments in the Haight-Ashbury.[40] Young Americans around the country began moving to San Francisco, and by June 1966, around 15,000 hippies had moved into the Haight.[41] The Charlatans, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and the Grateful Dead all moved to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood during this period. Activity centered around the Diggers, a guerrilla street theatre group that combined spontaneous street theatre, anarchistic action, and art happenings in their agenda to create a “free city”. By late 1966, the Diggers opened free stores which simply gave away their stock, provided free food, distributed free drugs, gave away money, organized free music concerts, and performed works of political art.[42]
On October 6, 1966, the state of California declared LSD a controlled substance, which made the drug illegal.[43]
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There are approximately 1,750 episodes (news/commentary) dating from August 2005 until today available here.
See the spotlight episode at the top of the left sidebar at that link for some words from Travus about his life in the Social Activism arena.
[February 20 2009] Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Six Decades Of What Could Only Be Described As ‘Anti-Americanism’ - The Whats And Whys Of ‘Where Did I Go Wrong?’
May 17 2012 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Afghanistan... The West's 'Protracted War' - Even On The Best Of Days In Peacetime Travel In The Country Is Hostile To Outsiders
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May 16 2012 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: The Violence Against Women Act - It Begs The Question... IF It Expired Would It Be OK To Beat Up Your 'Ol' Lady' Again?
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May 15 2012 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: The Post Office... As Seen Generations Removed From A Bad Decision
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May 14 2012 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: 'Death Of A Salesman' - On The Assassination Of An Afghan Tribal Peace Negotiator
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“The United States celebrates Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May. Julia Ward Howe first issued her Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870 as a call for women to join in support of disarmament, and asked for 2th June 1872 to be established as a “Mother’s Day for Peace”….
…The current holiday was created by Anna Jarvis in Grafton, West Virginia, in 1908 as a day to honor one’s mother. Jarvis wanted to accomplish her mother’s dream of making a celebration for all mothers, although the idea did not take off until she enlisted the services of wealthy Philadelphia merchant, religious leader, civic and political figure John Wanamaker, considered by some to be the father of modern advertising and a pioneer in marketing.” —
In other words, Americans didn’t support a “Mothers Day” until it sold them something….and the rest is marketing history.
Women, except perhaps for children, are the most intensely advertised at humans on the planet. Even the ads for men are aimed subconsciously at women.
So enjoy your “Hallmark Holiday” America, and remember; Crass Commercial Consumerism and Peace On Earth cannot coexist.
…The current holiday was created by Anna Jarvis in Grafton, West Virginia, in 1908 as a day to honor one’s mother. Jarvis wanted to accomplish her mother’s dream of making a celebration for all mothers, although the idea did not take off until she enlisted the services of wealthy Philadelphia merchant, religious leader, civic and political figure John Wanamaker, considered by some to be the father of modern advertising and a pioneer in marketing.” —
In other words, Americans didn’t support a “Mothers Day” until it sold them something….and the rest is marketing history.
Women, except perhaps for children, are the most intensely advertised at humans on the planet. Even the ads for men are aimed subconsciously at women.
So enjoy your “Hallmark Holiday” America, and remember; Crass Commercial Consumerism and Peace On Earth cannot coexist.
On America's Non-Existent Shale Gas 'Bonanza' - Dimitry Orlov
”...there is no such thing as a global natural gas market…”
Dimitry Orlov with a definitive writeup on “Shale Gas” and why it won’t save America economically through European sales OR in energy usage
Just one example…
While Barnett shale is not particularly radioactive, Marcellus shale, which has recently been the focus of frantic drilling activity, is. Thanks to Marcellus shale gas, radioactive radon gas is being delivered directly to your kitchen, via the burners of your stove, or to a power plant smokestack upwind from where you live. This is expected to result in increased lung cancer rates in the coming years.
More
In FullBut perhaps making money with it is not the point. What if shale gas is just a PR campaign (with horrific environmental side effects)? Going back to what Alexei Miller said, what if the entire point of the exercise was to increase the capitalization of shale gas exploration and production companies? The number one company in shale gas is Chesapeake Energy, the owner of the Barnett basin and a major player in the Marcellus basin.
This company almost went bankrupt in 2009, but then managed to claw its way back to profitability in 2010 and 2011 by drilling, and drilling, and drilling, and then drilling some more. Sixty percent of their revenue is from drilling operations.
And now there is a scandal involving Chesapeake Energy’s (former?) chairman, Aubrey K. McClendon, who apparently awarded himself a stake in each well his company drilled, used them as collateral for billions in loans, and used the loans to bet that natural gas prices will go up (they haven’t). In the meantime, natural gas drilling rig count has dropped to a ten-year low. Given that shale gas wells deplete very quickly, it looks like the shale gas boom is over.
But now that it’s over, what was it, exactly? It appears to have been something like the dot-com bubble: companies with no conceivable way of turning a profit using hype to attract investment and drive up their valuations. Since 2008, various kinds of hype-based market manipulations have become the staple of economic life in the US, and so this is nothing new or different.
One interesting question is, What sort of bubble will the US attempt to blow next, if any? There is the Facebook IPO coming up. Facebook is a ridiculous time-waster and, as such, seems a bit overpriced. Are we going to attempt blowing up another dot-com bubble? Another round of subprime mortgages does not seem to be in the works. What’s a bubble boy to do? If there are no more bubbles to blow, then it’s back to just plain printing money.
So this whole shale gas thing didn’t work out as planned, did it? But could it have? Had it turned out to be much better in every way, could it have swung geopolitical influence away from Russia and Iran and back toward the US? Alas, no.
You see, there is no such thing as a global natural gas market. Yes, there are some LNG tankers sailing about, but that is very much a point-to-point trade. There is a closed North American market, a European market, and another market in the Asia-Pacific region. These markets do not interact…
Libyan LIFG Al-Qaeda Army Re-branded? Alleged AQ Affiliated Group Claims Responsibility For Suicide Bombings In Syria →
npr.org
Funny… No mention of the successful Syrian elections and constitutional referendum. Just not newsworthy I guess.
May 11 2012 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: The 'Price Of Politics' And The President's Rubber Chicken Campaign Circuit
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May 10 2012 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: A Large Red Herring In The Political Pool - Gay Rights Just Became A Presidential Campaign Issue But It's Really A State's Right
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May 09 2012 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Defense Spending - Breaking Down The Abstraction Of Our Defense Budget's HUGE Expenditures
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[After the commentary, the Del McCoury Band takes us on a tour of MoneyLand (download and further explanation here). Courtesy of the respective artists and KPIG Radio Freedom California… Earth.]
May 08 2012 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: What Is It That Makes You Afraid? How About 'Terrorism'... A War You Can Never Win And Always Lose?
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May 07 2012 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Examine The Basics If You Want To Solve A Problem - What Do You Want 'Government' To Do For You Or To You?
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[After the commentary, Madeleine Peyroux… “La Vie En Rose” (Life in Rosy Hues… Life Through Rose-Colored Glasses). Courtesy of the respective artists and KPIG Radio Freedom California… Earth.]
Surveilled Yet Sane... A Returning American Veteran's Story: Calm Before The Storm - Free Range International
Free Range International “Outside the wire. Inside the loop.”
An interesting story passed along by babatim @ Free Range International from a returning Afghanistan war vet who finds that the VA doctor he was being treated by informed the local sheriff he had returned and may be a PTSD victim. It sounds as if passing that info along to local authorities is a Pentagon requirement… Returning vets are apparently being treated as a security threat:
I asked if he detected anything that would give him the impression you were a ticking time bomb near the end of his fuse, and he said you seemed normal. But then added that you can’t be normal, but seem normal, and that’s abnormal, so he used the most aggressive state treatment protocol on you and contacted me as required.”
Calm Before the Storm
by babatim on May 6th, 2012
[Dalton Thomas posts the second of I’m still not sure how many posts about coming home.]I didn’t sleep well on my third night home. I gave up trying around 0500, made coffee and sat outside to watch the sunrise. Just after 0800 the county sheriffs prowler climbed up the long gravel driveway and parked behind my rental. The sheriff got out, about 6’3”, around my age, a little on the husky side, thinning blond hair, bigl friendly smile. I liked him immediately.
“I’m from the government and here to help …you got another cup of coffee up there”?
“Sure, come on up “ I stuck my hand out and introduced myself.
“Ron Jackson, county sheriff, damn glad to meet you. Seen any zombies?
“No”
“How about psycho combat vets you seen any of them”?
“Not yet Sheriff, grab a seat and I’ll get us some coffee”.
We sat down on the back porch taking in the spectacular view of Mount Rainer.
“So Dalton, are you aware that physicians are obligated to contact local law enforcement if they think their patients are a threat to themselves or those around them?”
“I’ll take your word for it Sheriff”.
“Yesterday I get an email followed by a phone call from the doctor you saw and he tells me that a guy, who has been Afghanistan for 8 years, and been blown up over 15 times, came to see him for sleeping pills.”
“I haven’t been blown up over 15 times Sheriff, I’ve never been blown up”.
“I can see that Dalton, I’m trying to tell a story here” He gave me a sidelong glance like I was irritating him, I smiled, it was like talking to an old friend. ”so I asked the doctor if he thought you were dangerous, and he sez ‘how can he not be? Over 15 IED’s, eight years of Afghanistan, it is, in my professional opinion, impossible for him not to be severely damaged’. I asked if he detected anything that would give him the impression you were a ticking time bomb near the end of his fuse, and he said you seemed normal. But then added that you can’t be normal, but seem normal, and that’s abnormal, so he used the most aggressive state treatment protocol on you and contacted me as required.”
“Is that really the law Sheriff”?
“Not really Dalton, the doctor wanted to put you into the system as a potential severe PTSD or TBI candidate. If you committed a crime the his notes could be factored into the prosecution,
In Full. The story continues with a glimpse of life as an American soldier outside the wire in Afghanistan
