SDS....Neil Aspinall...POT HOLIDAY...RADICAL SENT BACK TO PRISON...YIPPIE DANA BEAL ARRESTED IN MATTOON...BEAL RELEASED ON BOND...DICK MARTIN...BO DIDDLEY
...GEORGE CARLIN
Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History
“My own radical journey began with Mad Magazine, so it feels great that SDS should enter the culture of comic folklore thanks to Harvey Pekar and Paul Buhle. May this graphic history be an informing contribution as a new generation of SDS writes its own story.” —Tom Hayden, founding member of the Students for a Democratic Society
Neil Aspinall died in
New York. A family spokesman said the cause of death was lung cancer.
He had been in New York undergoing treatment. He was 66 years old.
neil Aspinall upper right with the Beatles in 1964
Rolling out some facts on pot holiday
April 20, known to marijuana as 420 Day," a counterculture holiday recognizing America's most commonly used drug. Yhe number "420" is code for marijuana, and was most likely invented in the 1970's at San Rafael High School in Marin County, calif., (or my old high school "Newman High"in Newman, Illinois), when a group of students known as the Waldos (or the Freaks at my school) met at 4:20 pm to light up. Since then the number has shown up on t-shirts and on clocks and in such movies as "Lost in Translation." A dime bag's worth of other pot facts: 1. In 19th-century Nepal, the marijuana harvest was performed by naked men who ran wildly through the flowering marijuana fields and then had the sticky resin scraped off their bodies and formed into bricks of hashish.
2. Marijuana is known for it's mellowing effect, but it has fueled many warriors in history. The word "assassin" is said to have come from the hashish taken a millennium ago by Arab killers (called Hashshashin" or "hashish eaters"), though some historians doubt they were under the influence while on their missions. Mexican bandit Pancho Villa's henchmen were pot heads. And some belive Zulu fighters in South Africa were high on dagga-aka: marijuana- when they attacked the Boers at Blood River in 1838. The Zulu's lost 3,ooo fighters, while the Boers had only 4 fighters wounded. Talk about a buzzkill.
3. Louisa May Alcott, author of "Little Women" wrote a short story called "Perilous Play' about marijuana. In it, a charactor declares,"If someone does not propose a new and interesting amusement I shall die of ennui ! Another character produces a box of hashish laced bonbons, and hedonism ensues.
4. Around 1900 the U.S. government briefly grew marijuana along a stretch of the Potomac river to study the plants medicinal values. Today a more potent plant has risin on that site: the Pentagon.
6. Marijuana interferes with short term memory...ah...oh yeah...it interferes with short term memory so that users forget what they just said or did.
7. Before Congress decided to ban marijuana in 1937, the birdseed industry got the bill amended to exempt marijuana seeds known as hemp seeds, as long as they were sterilized and could not be used to grow plants. An industry spokesman denied that the seeds made the birds "high", but an ardent marijuana foe, Dr. Victor Robinson, had previsously written that the seeds caused birds to "dream of a happy birdland where there are no gilded cages, and where the men are gunless, and the women hatless."
8. Billy Carter, the late brother of former President Jimmy Carter, believed the illegality of pot was part of it's attraction. "Marijuana is like Coor's beer,"he said. "If you could buy the damned stuff at a Georgia filling station, you'd decide you wouldn't want it."
9. One of the least typical supporters of the decriminalization or marijuana was conservative icon William F. Buckley, who died in February. Buckley once sailed his yacht into international waters so he could smoked a little reefer without breaking U.S. laws.
10. Bill Clinton said famously that he smoked pot but "didn"t inhale" (yeah..sure). President Bush has never admitted smoking dope, but his drug use was strongly suggested in recorded conversations between him and a friend-interesting named Doug Weed. Only one of the three 2008 contenders is an admitted ex-doper. Hillary Clinton and John McCain denied during the 2000 campaign season that they had ever smoked pot. Barack Obama, on the other hand has said, "When I was a kid, I inhaled frequently. That was the point."
HOPE YA ALL HAD A HAPPY POT DAY
LOS ANGELES- Just days
after her release on parole, a former 70's radical was headed back to
prison after corrections officials said a clerical error resulted in
her early release. Criticism over the early release from prison Monday
of Sara Jane Olson, who lived as a fugitive for years in Minnesota,
spurred a review of her sentence and the timing of her parole, said
Scott Kernan, the chief deputy secretary for the California department
of Corrections. The review revealed that a 2004 miscalculation led to
the former Symbionese Liberation Army member being released a year too
early, he said. "The department is sensitive to the impact such an
error has had on all involved in this case and sincerely regrets the
mistake," Kernan said. He said the review was ordered "after many
concerns raised in the media".The union that represents Los Angeles
police officers and the son of a woman killed in a decades old botched
robbery at a bank near Sacramento opposed Olson's release. Olson, 61,
was detained at Los Angeles Airport on Friday night and told her right
to leave the state had been rescinded. She was sent to stay with family
in Palmdale, where authorities kept watch outside the house overnight,
and was arrested Saturday and imprisoned in Corona, about 50 miles
southeast of Los Angeles, Kernan said.
Sara Jane Olson was born in 1947 as Kathleen Ann Soliah, she now uses her old alias (Sara Jane Olson) as her legal name. After graduating from the University of California her and her boyfriend, Jim Kilgore moved to Berkley California where she met Angela Atwood, an active member of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Atwood tried to sponsor Olson into the group, however Olson declined to join the SLA. Later, after Atwood and other SLA members were killed in a standoff with police (after they murdered the Oakland school superintendent) , Olson began to support the group. She provided supplies for their hideout and fake id's. In August 1975 a bomb was discovered under an LAPD patrol car, and another bomb was found in front a police department about a mile away. Sara Jane Olson was accused of planting the bombs to avenge the deaths of her friends. She was arrested, but went underground before the trial started. In 1976 a grand jury indicted Olson. She remained underground, a fugitive for 23 years.
In March and again in May 1999 Olson was profiled on America's Most Wanted tv show. The show generated a tip in June 1999 and Olson was arrested in St. Paul, Minnesota. She had built a life with her husband (who was/is ? a doctor), and three daughters in St. Paul using her alias Sara Jane Olson. She was active in St. Paul community issues, and human rights campaigns, and was a semi-pro stage actress. Her husband described the family as active in progressive social causes.
(CHARLESTON ILLINOIS) A man who's reportedly been a long time advocate in New York City for the legalization of marijuana has a Coles County court appearance today (june 12) to face possible money laundering charges.
Irvin Dana Beal, 61 was arrested in Mattoon on June 3rd after police allegedly found a bag containing $150,000 that a witness said Beal tried to hide from police officers.
The Associated Press reported that Beal is also a veteran of the Youth International Party, whose members are commonly known as YIPPIES, a 1960's - era HIPPIE political movement.
Assistant States Attorney Mick McAvoy, who's prosecuting the case, said no charges have been filed against Beal yet, but he plans to file charges at todays hearing. The hearing before Circuit Judge Mitchell Shick will be for Beal's initial appearance, when he'll likely make arrangements for an attorney and more court dates will be scheduled.
Police documents in the case say Beal was arrested at the "Steak N' Shake" restaurant at 1400 Broadway Avenue East in Mattoon. Police first went to the restaurant because of a report that two women were fighting. Bystanders asked officers to question a man later identified as Beal because they saw him remove two bags from a van and hide them under a nearby car.
Officers then had a police dog investigate the bags, and the dog reacted as if there were drugs present, though no drugs were found. Beal denied any knowledge of the bags.
The two women involved in the fight were traveling with Beal and another man, and they gave differing stories of their reason for being in Mattoon, according to the police report. The other man said they were traveling from New York City to New Mexico and one of the women said they were going to Kansas City, but Beal refused to make a statement.
Mattoon Deputy Police Chief Jeff Branson said the investigation revealed Charlotta D. Lutsche, 52, of New York City, and her mother, Kathradina Lutsche, 85, also of New York City, were involved in the fight at the restaurant.
As the investigation continued, Branson said, officers dealt with the Lutsche's traveling companions, Jesse Balcom, 30, of Silver Springs, MD., and Beal.
Branson said Lutsche was released from custody and her mother was not charged. Balcom has been released on bond.
Beal told police he is a, "marijuana activist."
Police arrested Beal on suspicion of money laundering and obstruction of justice. McAvoy said he wasn't sure yet what charges he'll file against Beal.
A money laundering charge alleges that someone moved money from one location to another with the proceeds coming from drug sales, and it can result in a prison sentence of 4 to 15 years upon conviction. Obstruction of justice alleges someone lied to police to avoid arrest and can result in a 1 to 3 year prison term.
Beal is jailed with bond set at a level where he would have to post $25,000 to be released.
The AP also reported that fellow Yippie A. J. Weberman said Beal was traveling with the cash because he intended to finance a clinic to study "ibogaine" , a chemical that can be used to counter addiction.
by Dave Fopay dfopay@jg-tc.com and Herb Meeker hmeeker@jg-tc.com (staff writers)
This
is a sad day for this Ol Hippie, that Mr. Beal was arrested in my home
town. Is Dana Beal sittin in jail because a dog indicated it smelled
pot on the man's money, or is it because of who he is, what he has done
and what he wants to do ?
New York marijuana activist Dana Beal is free on bail. He paid $7,500 and was released after today's hearing in Coles County Court in Charleston, IL. Beal was being held on $750,000 bail for money laundering. The charge was reduced to obstruction of justice.
Beal was traveling through Illinois with two women and another man last week when an argument between the women at a restuarant alerted the police. Beal's attempt to intervene and the fact that he was carrying $150,000 in cash resulted in his arrest. He may be charged with money laundering at a later date. A preliminary hearing was set for Aug. 4.
The money was reportedly for Ibogaine clinics to be opened in the U.S. Ibogaine is derived from the African iboga plant and is used as an addiction therapy. A major supporter of Ibogaine therapy, Beal also runs the annual Global Marijuana March from the YIPPIE headquarters at 9 Bleecker St. in New York.
LOS ANGELES, May 25, 2008 - Dick Martin, the zany half of the comedy team whose “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” took television by storm in the 1960s, making stars of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin and creating such national catch-phrases as “Sock it to me!” has died. He was 86.
Martin, who went on to become one of television’s busiest directors after splitting with Dan Rowan in the late 1970s, died Saturday night of respiratory complications at a hospital in Santa Monica, family spokesman Barry Greenberg said.
“He had had some pretty severe respiratory problems for many years, and he had pretty much stopped breathing a week ago,” Greenberg said.
Martin had lost the use of one of his lungs as a teenager, and needed supplemental oxygen for most of the day in his later years.
He was surrounded by family and friends when he died just after 6 p.m., Greenberg said.
"Laugh-In" astounded audiences and critics alike. For two years the show topped the Nielsen ratings, and its catchphrases- "Sock it to me," "You bet your sweet bippy" and "Look that up in your Funk and Wagnall's" - were recited across the country.
The title Laugh In came out of the 60's hippie culture, "be-ins" or "love-ins" (expressions derived from "sit-ins" which were common in protests associated with anti-war and civil rights demonstrations of the time).
From a recently declassified FBI memo concerning a March 8, 1971, episode of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, a television show broadcast by NBC. At director J. Edgar Hoover’s request, a recording of the show was filed in the FBI’s Crime Research Section. Hoover’s Counter Intelligence Program, designed to “disrupt” groups and “neutralize” individuals deemed to be threats to domestic security, conducted more than 2,000 operations between 1956 and 1971, when it was officially discontinued after being exposed in the press.
A skit concerning the FBI was performed. It was introduced by a shorter skit representing a President and First Lady sitting in the White House chatting. Between them was a large vase of flowers. When their conversation turned to the Director, it was made obvious that one of the flowers was actually a bugging device and the President spoke directly to Mr. Hoover by means of this device.
The longer skit was unified by means of a production-type number consisting of cheerleaders, complete with sweaters emblazoned with “fbi,” who sang a “fight song” pertaining to the FBI. This “song,” satirical in nature, was interrupted by various minor skits and short gag situations, all bearing on the FBI.
A great deal of what purported to be humor related to the Director and his age. For example, the statement, “I don’t believe that just because the Director of the FBI is named Hoover that there has been a vacuum in that Department for years.” A particularly vicious attack was made by means of a knock-knock joke in which the answer to “Who is there?” is “Hoover.” In reply to the question “Hoover who?” a play on words is made in the statement: “Hoover heard of a seventy-six-year-old policeman?” Another sick-type joke pertaining to the Director was an announcement that “J. Edgar Hoover retired one half-hour ago but will be back at his desk first thing in the morning.”
Although jokes and sight gags were made in rapid fashion, emphasis was placed on surveillance-type activities and clandestine-type operations. In one minor skit, two Agents were portrayed meeting and being extremely guarded in their conversation with each other, with each trying to elicit information from the other.
All in all, this skit pertaining to the FBI was rather typical of the poor fare that is served on this so-called laugh show, a show that has gained some considerable notoriety by its risqué jokes and irreverent satirical attacks. Tasteless, sometimes downright vicious jokes and a great deal of forced humor add up to a more telling commentary on this low-grade show itself than on the FBI.
BO DIDDLEY December 30th 1928 - June 2nd 2008
The Real King Of Rock & Roll
On November 20, 1955, he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, a popular television variety show, where he infuriated the host. "I did two songs and he got mad," Bo Diddley later recalled. "Ed Sullivan said that I was one of the first colored boys to ever double-cross him. Said that I wouldn't last six months". The show had requested that he sing Tennessee Ernie Ford's hit "Sixteen Tons", but, when he appeared on stage, he sang "Bo Diddley" instead. This substitution resulted in his being banned from further appearances.....This happened one year before ELVIS is said to have introduced Rock & Roll on the Ed Sullivan Show.
GEORGE CARLIN MAY 12, 1937 - JUNE 22, 2008 RIP
A counterculture hero
A publicist for George Carlin says the legendary comedian has died of heart failure at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., Sunday June 22, 2008.
More about George and his 7 Words video HERE
George Carlin gets in one last laugh on death
Just months before he died George was looking into the face of death - and making it the butt of his jokes.
"You know what I've been doing? Going through my address book crossing out the dead people. It gives you a feeling of power, of superiority, to have outlasted another old friend," Carlin says on what turned out to be his final album. The recording, "It's Bad For Ya," came out July 29th on Eardrum Records.
In an interview four months before his death, he told the Associated Press he was particuarly pleased with the material and the HBO show that aired last March.
"Definitely some people who are close to me who have seen this show, and have seen a lot of the others, feel this is my best stuff yet," he said.
Among them was his daughter, Kelly Carlin McCall, who said she was delighted to see the album mark a return to what she called her father's "playful goofiness," In recent years, she noted, his routines had seemed to get darker and angrier.
Not so this time, with Carlin waxing on - with four letter words in abundance - about the advantages of getting older.
"It's a great time of life, you get to take advantage of people and you're not responsible for anything," he says on the album,
He adds that he discovered a popular pastime could be had gathering family members around and pretending to have Alzheimer's. :You say,'Who are you people and where's my horse?'"
