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  Hempfest: Playing Down Its Tie-Dye Image

Posted by CN Staff on August 16, 2009 at 05:58:39 PT
By Emily Heffter, Seattle Times Staff Reporter 
Source: Seattle Times 

Washington -- To give Seattle's annual marijuana festival a more polished, professional look, Hempfest director Vivian McPeak tamed his dreadlocks Saturday, pulling them into a ponytail and topping them with a hat.McPeak and his hairstyle are responding to a culture shift at Hempfest, in its 18th year in Seattle. At the first Hempfest in 1991, 500 protesters gathered at Volunteer Park to push a fringe political agenda.
But this year, scheduled speakers include Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata and state Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland.As the event — which is expected draw some 100,000 people to Myrtle Edwards Park, Elliott Bay Park and the Olympic Sculpture Park this weekend — enters the mainstream, there is controversy: Is it time for the pro-pot movement to shed its countercultural, hippie image?Among the tie-dyed drifters stereotypically associated with marijuana rallies are tourists, older couples, students, families and mainstream folks who share the belief that marijuana should be legal.McPeak considers the event's diversity one of its strengths.But Dominic Holden, Hempfest's former director, thinks tie-dye and prayer flags on the stages undermine the event's credibility.Two months ago, the Hempfest board voted to ban Holden from speaking at Hempfest. Holden, who writes for The Stranger newspaper, wrote in March that the event is a "patchouli-stained ghetto.""It plays into a stigma that hippies want to legalize marijuana primarily so they can have more access to their own vice," he said in an interview.McPeak disagrees."We do more and more every year to make our event more professional ... but toning down the event and the countercultural vibe here is not something I feel pressured to do."Besides, McPeak says, his event is successful, and so are his political causes.Seattle voted five years ago to make marijuana the lowest priority of its police officers, and medical-marijuana use is legal in Washington. Next session, the state Legislature will again consider downgrading pot possession from a misdemeanor to a civil infraction."More and more people are coming to understand that marijuana is not a bad thing. It's actually far safer than alcohol," said Mason Tvert, the executive director of an advocacy group called SAFER. "The negative stigma around it is fading away."SAFER stands for Safer Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation.John Radonski, a retired worker from the Coca-Cola bottling company, is nobody's hippie. He made his first visit to Hempfest Saturday in dark-rinse jeans and a tucked-in T-shirt. He grew more interested in marijuana legalization when he started using it as medicine for a back problem.Now he considers himself a dabbler in a culture he had little to do with before.Arlene Brown, of Everett, and her friend Kristine Paul, of Seattle, come to Hempfest for the people-watching and the music. They have noticed a change over the years."It's more diversified," said Paul. "It was more hippie before."Whatever its rebellious roots, Hempfest is a carefully patrolled and well-orchestrated event. First-aid workers pass out sunscreen. Security officers search bags. As people streamed in Saturday, a woman with a megaphone boomed: "Reminder: Cops are your friends, but you are in a public park."Hempfest ContinuesWhere: Myrtle Edwards Park, Elliott Bay Park and the Olympic Sculpture ParkWhen: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. todayAdmission: Free, $10 suggested donationMore info: http://www.hempfest.orgSource: Seattle Times (WA)Author: Emily Heffter, Seattle Times Staff ReporterPublished: Sunday, August 16, 2009Copyright: 2009 The Seattle Times CompanyContact: opinion seatimes.comWebsite: http://www.seattletimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/ZDvvQLvZCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml

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Comment #70 posted by FoM on August 20, 2009 at 11:22:34 PT
Hope
I honestly respect the rights of gun owners. I am terrified of guns though. I hope those who value gun ownership try to remember there are many people who don't have one tiny issue with people who want to own guns but please understand they scare many people.
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Comment #69 posted by Hope on August 20, 2009 at 11:03:24 PT
Comment 67
Cheney? That regime? No way would it be happening is what I think. People would be being dragged off and cordoned off two miles deep.I haven't kept up with it, but I can imagine how the Bush bunch would have handled it.I wish they, those that fear for their gun rights, wouldn't do things like they are apparently doing. I don't want to lose my right to own a gun... and people who are flagrant in the face of the fearful and have even the slightest appearance of appearing to behave in a threatening way... even mildly threatening... well I think they hurt more than they help. They help the anti-gunners because "we"... through "them" and their public shows, appear to be a cold, threatening lot. I'm not cold and I'm not threatening. As a woman not constantly surrounded by protecting soldiers or domestic peace officers... and understanding the more unpleasant realities of the world, I appreciate the equalizing value of a weapon, one that I am capable of using reasonably well, in a violent or dangerous confrontation of any sort, especially one in which I or someone else might be easily overwhelmed by something or someone meaning us great harm.
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Comment #68 posted by Hope on August 20, 2009 at 10:35:24 PT
Afterburner... Thank you.
I love that picture of the baby at that link.He's determined to understand. So beautiful. Thank you.
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Comment #67 posted by FoM on August 20, 2009 at 05:53:48 PT
Afterburner
Bless the beasts and the children. The hate we have seen at the town hall meetings just blows me away. I might benefit from a public policy but the way the right is acting they make me feel I should just get sick and die. If it matters to them so much I would rather let them keep it the way it is and move on to something that they might say is ok but I wonder if anything Obama does will ever be ok in their eyes. I thank God I live in the country and don't need to be around people that act that way. What a world.PS: I wonder if Cheney would have been ok with those big guns that freak me out being at a town hall meeting. 
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Comment #66 posted by afterburner on August 20, 2009 at 01:27:10 PT
Oops
#57, not just #59
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Comment #65 posted by afterburner on August 20, 2009 at 01:22:44 PT
FoM #59, Hope & any other parents
What's going on in the brain of a baby? 
Debra Black.  Aug. 16, 2009. 
Can the answers to some of life's biggest questions be found among the neurons and grey matter of a baby, or a child's brain? 
http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/681813
Excerpt:
{
Elaborate on your intriguing subtitle and answer the question you pose: What do children's minds tell us about truth, love and the meaning of life?Take the second one: love. It turns out that the evolutionary strategy is that we have this need for a period of protected immaturity while we exercise learning mechanisms to figure out the world. But while the young children are doing this they need to be protected. Children can learn so much because they are taken care of and loved. And one of the things they learn is about love. Babies under a year old are already learning how love works and how people express love.
} 
This learning "so much" because of love got me thinking about Woodstock and what we learned when "Make love not war" was the motto of the day. In contrast, today we have angry town hall meetings orchestrated by the Media and "angry Whoppers" advertised and sold by Fast Food restaurants promoting angry behavior, interfering with the learning we need to make the Change We Can Believe In. Pot, schizophrenia linked? 
Cannibis smokers have a seven-fold schizophrenia risk 
http://www.thestar.com/HealthZone/Mind&Mood/Mentalhealth/article/682905One man's opinion based on association, not causality. Of course, more youth with schizophrenia have smoked cannabis. Recent news reports indicate that Canadian youth are smoking more cannabis than tobacco. BC is Canada's cannabis capitol. Most young people there have tried cannabis. Reverse causality is not scientific proof. The headline is opinion, not scientific proof of causality. "Show me the bodies." Where is the epidemic of schizophrenia? BTW, most schizophrenics smoke tobacco. Does that mean tobacco causes schizophrenia? By the so-called logic of the "expert" such a conclusion is just as "logical" and just as misreading. 
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Comment #64 posted by FoM on August 19, 2009 at 19:38:05 PT
Hope
He is funny. I'm glad we bought him. We left a door to their room open and he got around a board we have up and walked in and laid down like he had always been there. He won't take the place of Kaptin but he will be good for us since we are dog people. He is going to be as big as Kaptin when he is finished growing. His feet give him away.
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Comment #63 posted by Hope on August 19, 2009 at 19:30:32 PT
Comment 62
*smile* He's so handsome.I think I know that look. "Hmmmm... Bout time to start cooking some supper. Do you drop stuff? I can help with that."
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Comment #62 posted by FoM on August 19, 2009 at 16:46:06 PT
Hope
Mufasa sort of walked into our kitchen from his room and laid down so we took a few pictures. Here's one. I guess soon he will be in the house. LOL!http://www.marybair.com/MufasaV.jpg
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Comment #61 posted by FoM on August 19, 2009 at 10:53:03 PT
I Knew This Was Coming In My Heart
Probes Trace Region's Indoor Pot Farms To Bay Area and Beyond***By Andy Furillo Wednesday, August 19, 2009 Organized crime rings that stretch from Sacramento to San Francisco to China, independent investment groups, connections to legitimate business – they've all come into focus as authorities dig deeper into the mystery behind the region's indoor pot farms.Three years into their probes, state and federal prosecutors have filed seven cases that mostly have targeted the Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants caught tilling the neighborhood marijuana factories.Complete Article: http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2120746.html
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Comment #60 posted by FoM on August 19, 2009 at 10:04:27 PT
Hope
We have to remember that not every person who says they want marijuana laws changed means it. When marijuana can be bought for a very small amount of money many people will lose their income. As long as the price is high they will make big bucks. It's much easier to sort of straddle the fence and complain.
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Comment #59 posted by Hope on August 19, 2009 at 09:59:10 PT
Comment 57
I agree.
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Comment #58 posted by FoM on August 19, 2009 at 09:54:54 PT
Dr. Sanja Gupta is Getting It Now
He was wrong and finally he seems to be getting it. Maybe Dr. Nancy will too.
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Comment #57 posted by FoM on August 19, 2009 at 09:53:09 PT
Hope
The anger definitely will get our issue heard and then the door will be slammed in our face. Civility is vital for change to happen. If people who smoke marijuana display rage that reinforces the opinion that marijuana will make you crazy. 
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Comment #56 posted by Hope on August 19, 2009 at 09:49:09 PT
I think Dr. Nancy got it backwards...
or not backwards... but wrong, about the prostate cancer. A few months back there was one released and reported on by the MSM that purported to find a connection between pot smoking and testicular cancer. A study that wasn't worthy of that much respect.But I understand the most recently released study... about prostate cancer, showed that cannabis might have a preventative effect.I really hate it when doctor's misread or get something completely backwards... or "work on" the wrong organ.
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Comment #55 posted by FoM on August 19, 2009 at 09:48:50 PT
Contact Info For Dr. Nancy
You can contact Dr. Nancy about the study on prostate cancer and marijuana if you would like. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31388323/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31551646/ns/health-dr_nancy/
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Comment #54 posted by Hope on August 19, 2009 at 09:38:40 PT
FoM Comment 49
I do see why you would be concerned, very concerned about that.
 
I want peace. I want an end to unnecessary violence and an end to obvious injustice. I want to have peace and keep it. I don't want people to fight and hit and hate. But, sadly, it can be very difficult to stop those that feel pushed that far. The loud and belligerent. The bullies.People are seeing loud, enraged, hateful people appeased. That's not easy when we are so angry ourselves but try to practice self control and civility. Many of us have felt deep rage over all that happens in the war on drugs and cannabis prohibition. We've hated it. But we calmed ourselves and tried to be reasonable in the face of unreason.Many of us have struggled with this. Many thinking it's time to raise a lot of hell or they aren't going to pay any attention to us and our outrage. Some wanting to "raise more hell" than others.It's hard. And the longer it's dragged out the more likely we will start seeing more angry demonstrations from some, or someone, of us if our concerns, outrage, and disgust are not addressed.We've been a quietly boiling pot for a long time. Maybe they think we'll run out of steam. They'd be wrong about that. I hope they listen soon or the pot is going to boil over and there's going to be some people who will start being loud and obnoxious... because they get paid attention to.I hate that. I pray our issue is addressed before it boils over. We've been thought of as fringe issue people by some. I hope they pay attention before the fringe's fringe starts slipping off center. I've always thought politicians should pay more attention to the fringe. The fringe helps them keep balance and know where the center is and if, made obvious by the fringe, it's hanging too far in one direction, gentle adjustment can be made.
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Comment #53 posted by FoM on August 19, 2009 at 09:35:40 PT
It's Over I Think
Dr. Nancy mentioned the Madrid study but mentioned another study that smoking pot can cause prostate cancer. How did I miss that one?Dr. Nancy said the Woodstock generation ages between 50 to 59 are still using drugs. No kidding! It isn't as much for fun as for medicine anymore but onward and upward we go.
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Comment #52 posted by FoM on August 19, 2009 at 09:28:53 PT
 Dr. Nancy Smoking Pot Could Help Prevent Cancer
On MSNBC coming up soon!Thank you Museman you are a gem! 
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Comment #51 posted by Hope on August 19, 2009 at 09:18:25 PT
Museman ... The Dream
It is, indeed, appropriate.Thank you.A "Happening". That's probably one of my favorite "Old timey" words from those days.A Happening. Promise of something wonderful. Let's go!
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Comment #50 posted by museman on August 19, 2009 at 08:21:20 PT

A Dream
This just seems appropriate.
The Dream
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Comment #49 posted by FoM on August 18, 2009 at 19:46:44 PT

Hope
I have seen some good and smart comments on newspaper articles. We finally are getting to a point where we will see some change. I think we will see sentencing reform and more help then prison for people who are living on the edge with hard drugs. If we keep our cool and stay respectful we can win this thing. If we act mean since we are representing Cannabis which is considered a kind plant it could cause us a major setback. How we handle ourselves is very important and most comments on news articles on newspapers are decent in my opinion and not mean spirited.
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Comment #48 posted by Hope on August 18, 2009 at 19:38:12 PT

It's always possible we'll have a setback,
of course, but it's getting done this time, I believe.People are getting sick of the injustice. More and more all the time are waking up to the truth and the travesty of our war on drugs and especially the war on pot/cannabis.The first wave of us resisting the travesty are getting older... whew... are we ever... but we've got more people speaking up every day, and in case you haven't noticed... and I know you have, we have a huge wave of amazing backup with us. I feel good about it.
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Comment #47 posted by FoM on August 18, 2009 at 19:23:27 PT

Hope
Woodstock went away and it all ended after Altamont with the Stones (never liked them because of it either) and then Kent State in Ohio. We now are at a time of hope and change and I really want us to get this done before it gets destroyed again. If we can't work with this President it will be an eternity in my mind until we will see any reform.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Free_Concert#Death_of_Meredith_Hunter
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Comment #46 posted by Hope on August 18, 2009 at 18:54:36 PT

One thing I don't remember well...
getting lyrics right.I never have. I nearly always get lyrics wrong when I sing along or recall lyrics.It's really irritating, too.Woodstock has come and gone a long, long time ago, and people are still being shackled, fined, and jailed... and worse because of cannabis prohibition.That's so wrong.
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Comment #45 posted by Hope on August 18, 2009 at 18:47:57 PT

Sorry
My quote wasn't exact.I meant, "I ain't no fortunate son."CCR
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Comment #44 posted by Hope on August 18, 2009 at 18:43:04 PT

Not in college.
Off to war.I remember it well."I ain't no privileged son."
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Comment #43 posted by FoM on August 18, 2009 at 16:16:01 PT

Hope
I don't know how it was before Vietnam but we knew that almost every boy in our school would be drafted. Stick arrived in Vietnam in February of 69 for his first tour. Fixin to die rag really did hit the nail on the head with how people were feeling back then. I bet many boys that were at Woodstock were drafted and sent to war and some died. It was the forced draft of non college students that was so hard on our generation. There shouldn't have been discrimination like that but we had it. Stick enlisted because he knew he would be drafted.
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Comment #42 posted by Hope on August 18, 2009 at 15:40:46 PT

"A precious gift "
I never thought of it that way. That's nice.
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Comment #41 posted by FoM on August 18, 2009 at 15:12:01 PT

Hope
It covered things we didn't know that were very interesting. We all know Woodstock was a great success. Nearly a half a million young people lived together, fed each other, got rained on, did lots of LSD and other drugs and it worked. It was a miracle that happened and will never happen again. I think it was a precious gift to help young people get through all the pain that was going on during that time. The Vietnam war, assassinations, riots at the DNC in Chicago in 68. When 1969 came we had Woodstock and we landed on the moon. It was necessary and comforting for so many.
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Comment #40 posted by Hope on August 18, 2009 at 13:49:07 PT

Maybe
I'll get another chance to see it or someone I know has recorded it.Funny, about Janis Joplin... she always seemed older to me... because she was older than me. Sadly, she's way younger than I, now, or her memory is. She's forever young.
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Comment #39 posted by FoM on August 18, 2009 at 12:05:07 PT

Hope
It was great. It was the people from Woodstock who organized it talking about how it all came to be. I am so sorry you missed it.
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Comment #38 posted by Hope on August 18, 2009 at 09:32:47 PT

Comment 37 Documentary
I'd like to have seen that, but circumstances didn't allow it.:0(It would have probably been too heavy for me anyway.:0)
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Comment #37 posted by FoM on August 17, 2009 at 14:21:01 PT

Hope
I'm getting work done around here and we will sit down and watch Woodstock Now and Then one more time. Our neighbor who is in her mid forties watched a Dateline special on Woodstock and she thought it was great. I told her to watch the documentary on the History Channel tonight and she said she would. My sister is going to watch it too.
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Comment #36 posted by Hope on August 17, 2009 at 14:02:06 PT

The Woodstock version of Ball and Chain
doesn't have the "Cat" segment.

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Comment #35 posted by Hope on August 17, 2009 at 13:19:48 PT

Far out!
That's so funny. People have been mentioning often, because of Woodstock, I'm sure, old sixties ways of saying things and popular language and terms of that time.I've been asked "Didn't Bob Dylan coin the expression, "Don't trust anyone over thirty." Of course, I remember people saying that and what it meant... but I don't remember the Bob Dylan connection.I remember things being "Heavy" or "Beautiful" or "Killer" (as in good, good, good). My visitors wanted to hear some Janis Joplin... Ball and Chain in particular. And she says at one point... "When you want a cat... Or you got a cat... you've got that cat for one day..."That's funny. My friend said she was going to try to get the expression going again.Cats.Lol!I'm going to try to search up that version of that recording on the web.Cats.
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Comment #34 posted by FoM on August 17, 2009 at 12:49:35 PT

Museman and Hope
I have learned particularly because of Woodstock being in the news that what we see might only be for us as an individual. Spirituality and being open to it can make life better. When life is better we make other people's life better and on and on.PS: It has nothing to do with our circumstances we are in either. We can be open or closed. To repeat a quote from long ago it can be far out!
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Comment #33 posted by Hope on August 17, 2009 at 12:41:12 PT

Fear of light and love of darkness... ignorance.
I'm guilty of practicing a little "Whistling through the graveyard" type of tactic, occasionally, myself, in certain situations.I guess that intellectual and spiritual "Blindness" so many are prone to is a preferred blindness or ignorance. "There is none so blind as he who will not see."They like it and they don't want us intefering with their preferred blindness. They don't want to see... so they won't. Which is fine with me... as long as they aren't hurting others with their preferred blindness and ignorance. Which is what we are up against with the prohibitionists. They obviously like their blindness... but they're hurting people... so we have to keep trying to make them see... whether they want to or not.
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Comment #32 posted by Hope on August 17, 2009 at 11:59:02 PT

Museman
Well said and so true.Thank you.I love it when there's light!It really shakes people up that like to live in "Darkness", though. They fear light because they fear they might see something they don't want to see... so they prefer ignorance, and not just for themselves, but everyone else... it seems.
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Comment #31 posted by museman on August 17, 2009 at 11:49:32 PT

rancher
"Oregon, on the other hand, where the hempfests are much less successful, decriminalized marijuana 36 years ago. Isn't that an argument that hempfest is a great celebration but is ineffective at actually bringing about social change?"Simply put; 'Any change in consciousness, however minute, that is in the positive direction we wish it to go, is a measured success.'Hempfests, Rainbow Gatherings, Barter Faires, and numerous offshoots of those, have been 'affecting' the level of consciousness that is necessary to bring about real and lasting change in our society, and whatever 'social contract' we can come up with (other than the failed one now in use) for over 3 decades. Those events are more responsible for the Oregon decriminalization than it might appear. (And once upon a time there was the Grateful Dead who 'gathered' some of the same people you might see at other gatherings and alternative events.)The consciousness raising that occurs with those kinds of events, cannot be singularly measured against the wholistic outcome of all of them.Every little light that dawns in someones mind, is a major hurdle of gaining consciousness that is overcome.There certainly is a scarcity of unique events like these, put on by people, and not corporations or 'industry.'Where the people gather for just the purpose of gathering peacefully, and to share their thoughts with others of like minds, there is more going on than 'entertainment.' Its been 'underground' for so long, now that its (the 'enlightened conversation') coming into the light, those who are seeing it for the first time tend to think it just appeared suddenly in the mainstream.Change the consciousness, change the society, one head at a time.FREE CANNABIS FOREVER

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Comment #30 posted by FoM on August 17, 2009 at 11:37:05 PT

Hope
I really pity angry people. What a waste of precious time.Check out this article from the Economist UK on Woodstock from back in 1969.http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14252662
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Comment #29 posted by Hope on August 17, 2009 at 11:32:38 PT

FoM
"How can people be angry when they see the positive behavior of Valerie Corral?"Because they're angry, in general, to begin with, and they are busy nurturing hatred in themselves and others. And they look to see only what they want to see. Something to rile themselves and others. Prayer flags being a very benighn example. They don't see the goodness. They look for things they percieve as "Bad" in everything. Like "Prayer flags!" for instance. "Oh my gosh! Prayer flags!" They're truly blinded by one thing or another is why they are unable to see the good.

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Comment #28 posted by FoM on August 17, 2009 at 11:23:59 PT

Hope
I honestly believe we have made it this far because of people that are good people who care about others like Valerie and Mike Corral. They are an example of how I personally think is a wise approach. How can people be angry when they see the positive behavior of Valerie Corral?
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Comment #27 posted by Hope on August 17, 2009 at 11:20:44 PT

Working with animals and children
all my life, I've known people who use violence and overwhelming force to deal with animals and children and others.I don't like it and never have... but it's a reality of life.It's like, I can't make someone not be a horse's ass... but I do want to try avoiding being one myself if I possibly can. I certainly don't want to give in to thinking I have to be the biggest horse's ass of all in a horse's ass contest... just because someone else is.But it often comes down to that in many situations anyway. I want to change these laws without a horse's ass contest... even though we are up against a big bunch of horse's asses that refuse any semblance of reason.Dang it!
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Comment #26 posted by FoM on August 17, 2009 at 11:20:18 PT

Hope
When I see anger I usually avoid people that display that emotion frequently. I don't want to be around angry people. They just aren't my kind of people. Life is short and we will make it good or bitter. It's all in how we want to live our journey.
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Comment #25 posted by Hope on August 17, 2009 at 11:13:31 PT

I don't believe in forcing people
to be the way I want them to be or forcing them to agree with me or accommodate me in any way. I prefer to be treated with the same respect. I believe in freedom.But a lot of people do believe in overwhelming force and just plain overpowering those who disagree with them about anything. As we know... all too well.
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Comment #24 posted by FoM on August 17, 2009 at 11:08:46 PT

Hope
Oh my the nudity. We have a what do you call it a nudist colony nearby. It's been around here since the 70s. Most people looked good that got naked at Woodstock luckily. LOL!
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Comment #23 posted by Hope on August 17, 2009 at 11:08:21 PT

People
It's usually a good idea when you are meeting people to be aware of signs that a person might be dangerous in some way.Skin heads can set people off that way. Bikers scare some people. Hippie types scare some people. Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy types are scary. Narc types are scary. They want to hurt people. Very angry and belligerent people are a bad sign as to whether they might be dangerous or not.You can't always tell what kind of person a person is by looking at them, their haircuts, or clothing styles or even their tattoos and piercings.We should all be aware of other people's fears, as well as our own and keep them in mind if we find ourselves having to negotiate with others in any way.But that's life. Always has been.
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Comment #22 posted by Hope on August 17, 2009 at 11:01:21 PT

 :0)
Woodstock is on people's minds a lot right now. What with the anniversary and all.Woodstock was a true phenomenon of society. The music was wondrous. Oh the music! But the biggest phenomenon of all had to be so many people temporarily gathered in one place for so long and so little violence. That was a true social phenomenon. Stunningly beautiful and very amazing.In trying to understand the stick in the mud status quo and their fears of everything about any thing new or different and how easily spooked they are... I have concluded that one of the things most shocking and frightening to the status quo about Woodstock wasn't just the new intoxications, "Drugs".... but the spontaneous public nudity that happened at Woodstock. You gotta bear with people on some of this some of the time. We're trying to negotiate a peace with them. Unless you're applying for work as a stripper... public nudity, a "style" some people would like to embrace more often, is one of those things that can "Spook" some people... no doubt.It can be very alarming. Remember the stories of the Viking warriors going into battle?I'm reminded of the title of a book someone wrote several years ago. "Never Stand Next To A Naked Man". So when we're trying to negotiate peace with people who despise us or are afraid of us... it's just good sense to watch our "style"... or lack there of.:0)
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Comment #21 posted by FoM on August 17, 2009 at 10:51:35 PT

Hope
I have found that I can generally figure out how a person feels who posts here regularly on CNews. Some are gruff, some are pleasant, some are frustrated etc. I don't look at a person's appearance but I try to see inside their soul or spirit even if it is just typed not spoken or seen. The Internet is something else. The only thing that scares me is when I see people that are like a skinhead ( I don't know how else to explain what I mean) if that makes sense. Those type people freak me out and I can't help it.
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Comment #20 posted by Hope on August 17, 2009 at 10:18:32 PT

Prayer flags, dreads, funkiness are cool...
The people that are having trouble with it at moments like these are the ones that see that we are trying to petition, engage, talk to or reason with people who are very status quo and who are very scared of us and our cause.It's like when you go to deal with dangerous dog, or horse, or other animal... like prohibitionists. Don't wave things at them that spook them if you want a chance for things to go well.And keep in mind... prohibitionists are a very spooky lot.It shouldn't be about our style or the way we think or act. It's about changing a social wrong and we should put our style on the back burner if it interferes with our conversation and efforts.I think it's poor strategy in a serious matter to let my personal idea of style and looks to interfere with what I'm trying to do. I have very, very long hair. Waist length. Sometimes I have to tie it back and secure to keep it out of the mess I'm trying to clean up or out of the machinery that might hurt me or wreck what I'm trying to do.We love our uniqueness and curiosity and exploring nature. But dealing with this world and the realities of it, there are times to let loose and let go... and there are times to carefully watch what we do and not "spook" the "spooky" among us.Prayer flags spook those that are always looking for a booger in other people and their religions. It's foreign, for heaven's sake! That spooks some of the spooky right there. Then you get religion mentioned... ie... prayer... and the spooky will lose it quickly.I think they're a cool thing. Some people, no doubt, see them as a spell of some sort, and foreign, at that, and that leads them to thinking witchy thoughts and fears... SUPERSTITION... and that leads to implosion or explosion.
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on August 17, 2009 at 07:49:44 PT

rancher
I have never been to Hempfest so I don't know. I thought it was a big event to enjoy more then anything.
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Comment #18 posted by rancher on August 17, 2009 at 07:43:37 PT:

But are protestivals effective at changing laws?
I have attended the Seattle Hempfest. I had a good time and am fine with prayer flags. On the other hand I always felt that getting that many people together should spur some sort of change toward marijuana, specifically help cause the laws to change. The article quotes McPeak as saying his causes are successful and points to Seattle's lowest priority law for marijuana. But marijuana is still a crime in Washington state. Oregon, on the other hand, where the hempfests are much less successful, decriminalized marijuana 36 years ago. Isn't that an argument that hempfest is a great celebration but is ineffective at actually bringing about social change?
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on August 16, 2009 at 19:09:40 PT

John Tyler
Thank you. That sounds very cool.
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Comment #16 posted by John Tyler on August 16, 2009 at 18:40:12 PT

prayer flags II
It is my understanding that the prayer flags mentioned were or are the Tibetan prayer flags. They are brightly colored and have prayers of peace and happiness printed on them in the Tibetan language. As they flutter in the breeze the prayer is carried to heaven. Sounds cool, don’t they?
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on August 16, 2009 at 16:56:34 PT

Pictures: Journey To Woodstock
URL: http://drugsense.org/url/QGjLn2JO
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Comment #14 posted by FoM on August 16, 2009 at 11:58:08 PT

Woodstock Universe on Legalizing Marijuana
http://woodstockuniverse.com/?page=legalize
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on August 16, 2009 at 09:51:06 PT

One More Thought
There are few things in life that will set me off but smearing Woodstock can do just that. I was raised Catholic and saw all the hypocrisy and was confused and unsure of what I believed and then I saw what happened those special three days in time and I knew God was alive and well. I will defend Woodstock for the rest of my life. That's where I draw a line in the sand. The Internet is our creation and our voice and no one can take any credit for it but people who believed in a special but different way. 
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on August 16, 2009 at 09:36:43 PT

Prayer Flags?
I saw that complaint in the article and I'm not sure what it is but what so wrong about a prayer flag? I am a spiritual person but not a religious person so it seems perfectly appropriate to have a prayer flag at Hempfest.
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on August 16, 2009 at 09:31:48 PT

Graehstone and Museman
I love it.
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Comment #10 posted by museman on August 16, 2009 at 09:30:25 PT

Graehstone
Well, at least somebody got it right...:-)>
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Comment #9 posted by Graehstone on August 16, 2009 at 09:26:58 PT:

Hippie
Highly Intelligent Person Persuing Individual Enlightenment
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on August 16, 2009 at 08:42:44 PT

Woodstock Channel on XM Radio
It was Top Tracks on DirecTV but it is now the Woodstock Channel and it's great.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on August 16, 2009 at 08:25:37 PT

I Just Love This Video
Crosby Stills Nash -- A Long Time Gone -- Woodstock 1969http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PFCgAhZEO8
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on August 16, 2009 at 08:10:56 PT

Sam
You are correct.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on August 16, 2009 at 08:10:17 PT

JiMorrison 
Thank you. I loved seeing Woodstock as a young person on the news back in 69. I knew nothing about what was happening but I liked the kind and smiling faces. I hope everyone watches Woodstock Now and Then if you missed it on VH1. It will air tomorrow night on the History Channel. It was great and I will buy it for my collection when it is released on DVD.http://www.history.com/content/woodstock
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Comment #4 posted by JiMorrison on August 16, 2009 at 07:59:28 PT:

Hippie Chique
Need I remind readers, that on this 40th anniv. WoodStock celebration, that `Death of Hippie' was a parade and a celebration held in SF, the year after the `Summer of Love', in `68. Yet the term `Hippie', defined as people who drop out of society, do drugs full-time, and live on communes, is so archaic as to become dead & ill-undefined.
Today as we long-hairs know, `hippie' is basically a stereotypical `put-down', brandished by reactionary straights, who don't like our appearance, and regard us as transients or unemployed bums.
Succumbing to peer-pressure to conform our appearance to some `norm' to be granted this or that right, is a total cop-out, and one which belongs to the 50's/80's, not the 21rst century. People do not exist to keep barbers in business, a trade which almost went the way of the blacksmith when long hair was in vogue. A clone-like appearance is a far greater threat to American values than any deviation from some 'norm', and we should not compromise individual style to curry political favor.
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Comment #3 posted by Sam Adams on August 16, 2009 at 07:08:37 PT

hippies
As I get older I see that the whole "hippies" thing is just the way the right wing attacks the progressive goals of the social revolution. for instance in today's paper there was a picture of the Woodstock remembrance concert, there were legions of totally normal-looking people there, but the picture they printed focused in on the one guy in the tie-dye shirt flashing a peace sign.They make fun of Woodstock and yet the right wing has co-opted the whole thing by marketing Christian rock bands, yuck!
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on August 16, 2009 at 07:04:28 PT

BIg pharma after the kids again
This is unbelievable, look what they want to do - drug the non-conformists from birth. I remember touring Thomas Edison's estates as a child and they said he repeatedly got kicked out of elementary school for trouble, until finally they refused to take him back. Just imagine, it today's world he would've been a drugged zombie from his first year. These drugs will cut off some of best parts of humanity.Meanwhile adults are forbidden from using safe cannabis, you have to think it's because these govt/corporate elite don't like the way it makes people think. What else can you conclude when you see the decisions that are made on these synthetic drugs? http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/08/16/a_dangerous_label_for_children/The Boston Globe
A dangerous label for children
By Claudia Meininger Gold
August 16, 2009My concern, however, with the study in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry describing preschool depression is that by saddling these young children with a major psychiatric diagnosis, our thinking will stop. Under the pressure of the powerful pharmaceutical industry, a direct line from diagnosis to drug will be the path of least resistance.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on August 16, 2009 at 06:08:33 PT

We Finally Are In Power Why Is That So Bad?
Obama's election was the fulfillment of what Woodstock was all about Arlo Gutherie said in an interview the other day. What's the problem? The colors of the Hippie culture have always been pretty. They are the colors of the rainbow. PS: I do not look or dress like a "Hippie" but I do have a tie dyed heart. We are not going to quit now. Don't confuse being mellow with being a pushover.
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