Jimi Hendrix childhood home dismantled in Renton

by The Associated Press

Tuesday March 31, 2009, 12:03 PM

RENTON -- The small house where rock guitarist and singer Jimi Hendrix is said to have first discovered music is being dismantled after preservation efforts failed.

As of Tuesday barely a shell was left of the 900-square-foot home, which had been moved twice from its

original location in the Central Area of Seattle, where Hendrix grew up.

Owner Pete Sikov, a Seattle real estate investor who spent eight years trying to preserve the dilapidated structure, told The Seattle Times that pieces of the house have bee

n saved and may be sold later.

"Can you imagine a guitar made out of wood from Jimi's house? Who wouldn't want that?" he said.

Hendrix, who lived in the house from age 10 to 13 in the 1950s, rocketed to fame in the 1960s with blazing guitar licks in songs such as "Purple Haze" and "Are You Experienced."

He choked to death on his own vomit in 1970 at age 27 in London after taking sleeping pills and alcohol.

The house, purchased by his father, Al Hendrix, for a $10 down payment in 1950, was the first real home the struggling family had. Al and Lucille Hendrix's marriage was collapsing, the electricity was sometimes shut off for nonpayment and on occasion the brothers were fed by neighbors.

Still, said Leon Hendrix, the late musician's younger brother, "I loved that house."

It was there, he said, that Jimi Hendrix picked up a ukulele that had one string and figured out how to strum the theme from the television detective show "Peter Gunn."

Later, said Charles R. Cross, author of the Hendrix biography "Room Full of Mirrors," the budding musician rewired the family's stereo as an amplifier and hooked up a borrowed guitar to fill the house with sound.

"This is where he first discovered music," Cross said.

"It's all a shame. Too bad no city body stepped up to the plate to save the place Jimi lived in," the author said. "Let'

s be blunt: He's the most famous guy to ever be born in the city of Seattle."

Sikov says his deconstruction crew is discarding the roof and additions that were made after the Hendrix family left.

Original parts, including kitchen cabinets, a claw-foot tub, the back door "and literally a ton of other pieces," will be labeled, cataloged and stored in a safe place, Sikov said.

Some pieces may be sold to raise money for First Place, an agency that helps homeless children and has gotten assistance from Sikov in the past.

The house escaped the wrecking ball in 2001 after the site was purchased for condominium development. Sikov, 54, paid more than $30,000 to buy and move it to a city-owned site east of the International District, where he and the James Marshall Hendrix Foundation hoped to renovate it as a music center.

That plan collapsed in an exchange of accusations between Sikov and city officials about broken promises and missed deadlines.

After the city moved to have the house demolished, Sikov paid $1.8 million to buy a three-acre trailer park across the street from the cemetery where Hendrix is buried in Renton, moved the house to the site and negotiated with the suburban municipality for a development plan with the home as a cente

rpiece. In all, Sikov spent more than $100,000 on the house itself.

"We thought it was a worthwhile gamble for the city to try and make it go," said Neil Watts, Renton director of development services. "I mean, the number one question our Chamber of Commerce gets is, 'Where is Jimi Hendrix buried?'"

At the same time, Sikov was required to set aside $5,000 to demolish the house if things didn't work out.

He said he negotiated unsuccessfully with several developers, and finally Renton officials demanded that the house be removed.

"It's an eyesore," Watts said. "We had this fairly u

gly structure on a major arterial."

-- The Associated Press

Marijuana Reform Activist Destroys Former DEA Head

New Radio Free Exile Social Network

I've just started a new Radio Free Exile social network at ning.com. Perfect for following all of the latest happenings and news from exile.

When you join you'll get your own page that you'll be able to customize, keep a blog, and you can upload audio, videos, photos, make friends, and import rss feeds of your sites and blogs. You'll be able to comment on my posts, other members posts, and they'll be able to comment on yours.

Perfect for Shameless Self-Promotion.

Its all pretty cool I think.

You'll find it at http://radiofreeexile.ning.com/
Take a look and see what you think, I think it'll be fun.
And its free.

If you want to join sight unseen, go to: http://radiofreeexile.ning.com/?xgi=f9HZG1r

A Way of Life

by "Emancipated"

I am a 26 year old male living in Ontario, Canada. I am a university graduate with a B.A. in political science and a diploma in human resources management. Currently I am working within the communications industry and am constantly searching for my dream job anywhere else! I have been happily married for just over one year to my high school sweetheart whom I have had the privilege of having in my life for 8 years now. My story details my personal use of marijuana as treatment for chronic anxiety and depression and the psychological as well as (somewhat surprising) physical benefits I have reaped from this truly amazing and natural substance. To me, marijuana is not a “party drug” but more like a daily vitamin and by sharing my own experiences I hope to show others that this is not some harmful illicit substance but rather a natural miracle that has allowed me to take control of myself and start living life.

In the past year I have become extremely interested in the use of marijuana as a daily medication. Based upon my own personal experiences and the experiences of a close associate I have come to formulate a number of theories as to how marijuana can be used not simply as a recreational “party” drug but as what I like to refer to as a way of life. Simply, for me, it has become such and I feel my story helps to bust many of the current marijuana myths while at the same time promoting the many benefits of its use.

This is my story.

In January of 2001 I sought treatment for social anxiety disorder. I was in my third year of university studies (I have since graduate with my B.A. in Political Science) and I was suffering daily from terrible social anxiety. I had been plagued since my early teens with devastating anxiety that caused me to create false illnesses in order to avoid going to school. I simply could not function in society. Unfortunately, I had no idea what was wrong with me. In public situations my muscles would become tense, I would become shy, sweaty, nervous, and I would need to remove myself from the environment. As the years went on, this condition went through various stages but eventually worsened during my university years. Although I had a steady girlfriend (she is now my wife), was doing well in school, had terrific parents, and had jobs to earn money for tuition, I simply could not shake my constant state of anxiety. It got to the point where I stopped going to classes, avoided malls, restaurants, and secluded myself in my room. I could not function in the world. I finally decided to seek treatment and was placed on Paxil. Unfortunately the side-effects forced me off of the drug and I was prescribed Effexor XR at doses of 225mg per day. The drug helped but I still suffered from anxiety, occasional depression, and I still struggled, not as often as before, but still more than I wanted to live a “normal” life.

I tried marijuana for the first time in my life in December 2002 at the age of 23. I had never tried any recreational drugs, hard or soft, before in my life. My first experience was nothing special and I didn’t try it again for a while. However, in 2004 I began to experiment more with marijuana. At first it was typically social and I was using it as a party drug. But as my use increased I began to notice a number of changes, mainly psychological but also physical. However, to appreciate the positive aspects of my experience I must explain why I began using heavily from the summer of 2004, increasing my daily intake until I became a regular (daily) user who smokes a minimum of one joint per day but on average probably smokes between 3 and 6.

In 2004 I became engaged to my girlfriend of 6 years. Her family is very religious and I was always trying to get in their “good books” as I am not religious at all and they felt that I shouldn’t be with their daughter. Combining the stress of my marriage, issues with in-laws, and a number of career related issues that seemed very negative at the time I probably would have cracked under the pressure had I not been using marijuana. However, I began to notice that by simply smoking a minimum of once a day or even just a few times a week I was able to, in a sense, put the brakes on my mind and stop it from snowballing all of the issues in my life. I was able to sit back, relax without anxiety, and simply analyze my life and the events occurring in it and come up with a plan of how to approach any and all issues.

Following my marriage in January of 2005 my in-laws became rather intrusive and were attempting to control aspects of my life. They felt it was their right as parents of my wife. In the past I would have felt fear and guilt and would have altered my personality and beliefs to accommodate those of others. But by using marijuana and taking advantage of the ability to sit, think, and analyze I had learned a lot about my own beliefs and was more comfortable with myself than ever before. This self-acceptance led to an increase in self-esteem and I was and have been able to stand up for what I believe in and approach life with confidence and enthusiasm. To gain these traits after being in a depressed anxiety ridden state for so long was quite liberating. From this experience, I began to examine how else marijuana use had changed my life.

Watching and listening to others as I progress through life I have learned that very few people are happy. Most people seem to be unsatisfied with life in one way or another whether it is their relationships that aren’t right or they aren’t happy with their career choice or they simply just cannot find anything to be happy about. For me, however, I approach everyday with renewed enthusiasm and I can honestly say I am happy every day of my life. Why? I simply do not worry about every little issue that may or may not confront me. I have slowed down my mind (not in a negative way) and I have learned to use what seems like a heightened analytical ability to make sense of daily issues that cause some people to withdraw from life itself. I feel that marijuana has changed my mind for the better and has opened my eyes to the reality that is life. Since I don’t have a better example I will use the Cave Analogy as presented in Plato’s Republic. Simply, through marijuana use it is like I have been allowed to leave the cave and experience reality instead of staring at the shadows on the wall. Simply, marijuana use has allowed me to gain a higher understanding and I have become enlightened.

Marijuana has become a way of life for me and I simply believe that by using it on a regular basis I am psychologically better for it. I love life and simply have an understanding of…well….life itself that seems so advanced that I feel my mind has experienced an evolution of sorts. At first when I used marijuana I felt the side effects pleasurable but I was simply not used to experiencing the world through an altered perception. I honestly believe that in order to achieve truly magnificent results with marijuana one must use it on a regular or at least semi-regular basis in order to become used to the effects. In the beginning the side-effects can be somewhat distracting and it may be difficult to think, remember, and in general act in a manner that one would consider “normal.” However, regular use allows one to adjust to this altered state of mind and you simply get used to it. It is in this state I find that you peak and now have complete control over this altered stated of mind. It is at this time when one can begin to explore all of the creative possibilities because the mind seems to be working at an increased level. I find, at least for me, by smoking one joint I am able to tap into a different part of my mind, and problems which seemed to have no solution before now have endless solutions. It is like turning on the rest of my brain. For me it has become a way of life.

Since I began smoking regularly in late 2004 and have continued to do so up to the present day, I have not experienced any illnesses. I used to suffer from nasty head and/or chest colds every fall, winter, and even into late spring. Sometimes I would get sick and it would take a month to really clear up entirely. However, since I began smoking I have not had a single true illness. I have felt the occasional cold begin to creep into my body, but my physical symptoms have been nothing more than a scratchy throat and maybe a minor cough, which disappears with the rest of the symptoms within a day or two. Simply, the sickness never fully develops.

This information conflicts with supposed marijuana facts that state many users suffer from respiratory illnesses. I simply cannot verify if this is true or not since my close associates and I have not suffered any major illnesses since we began using marijuana on a regular basis. One associate suffered from a bug and had flu symptoms; however, it lasted only one day. Other members of her family suffered from the same symptoms at the same time for a week and did not feel normal for well over a week. We have discussed this case and like the common colds that we have basically avoided the symptoms were not as severe and the duration was quite minimal.

To sum things up, I have simply had nothing but positive experiences with marijuana and I must say that it has become a way of life for me. I don’t do it to get high like people who drink to get drunk, I simply do it because I am amazed that after suffering for years from anxiety and always worrying about how I appeared in the eyes of others I have been able to liberate myself from a life that was really not much joy to live. I wish that people, especially government and law-enforcement officials could overcome their own propaganda and misinformed brainwashing to realize that there is a medication out there that really does work and could probably resolve a number of psychological issues ranging from depression to anxiety to anger without the adverse side-effects that are common with many prescribed anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medications.

Monkeys Talk About Religion

Stop The Slaughter

Evangelical Rejection Letter

religion is bullshit

Penn and Teller: What would happen if all drugs were legal

CNN Edits Out Pot Purchase from D.L. Hughley's Final Show

The final "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News" was taped at CNN's New York studios this afternoon. And it appears CNN higher-ups forced an edit on producers. A TVNewser tipster tells us, "a large section of a segment about marijuana legalization" was edited out of the final broadcast.

Hughley recently visited a marijuana dispensary in Oakland, California after his doctor had written him a prescription for medicinal marijuana. Hughley apparently has chronic back pain.

But that portion will not be shown during the segment on the final show. A CNN spokesperson tells TVNewser, "We always edit pieces to conform to our editorial standards."

The final "Hughley" airs Saturday night at 10pmET.

Take Things From Work - New Radio Free Exile podcast

Hello Everyone,
Here's the latest episode of the Radio Free Exile podcast, "Take Things From Work" A short primer on working your way through the current economic crisis.

Here's the link: http://exileguy.mypodcast.com/index.html

featuring music & spoken word from:

Dan Bern - "2014"
Roger Flensing - "Roger Flensing speaks of Literacy"
Phillipe - "Every Day is Mothers Day"
Pat Condell - "God Bless Atheism"
The Individuals - "Love to smoke"
Rod Smear - "Dream"
____________________________________________________

For unique & cool gifts and things from exile, check out the Radio Free Exile Shoppe, swag for the masses.
NEW! - Do Time With exileguy - check out exileguy's watches - you'll be glad you did!

Everyone is invited to submit to Radio Free Exile. I'm always on the lookout for interesting and cutting edge Indie Music, Spoken Word, and Commentary. What have you got to lose?

To submit your material for consideration, go to:
https://www.sendthisfile.com/f.jsp?id=fskCM6gQzqdvYFD2PWa4SkGM
and use the widget there to upload your mp3 files directly to me.


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"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
- The United States Constitution ©1791. All Rights Reserved




____________________________________________________

Let The Bird Fly

Today a Federal Judge in Chicago ruled that the one finger salute is not illegal, even when used at a police officer. Now, I'm not recommending you flip off the nearest cop, don't be stupid. Actually, I'm more interested in who the regular folks'll be getting the finger from. It'll be interesting. I can't hardly wait.

shameless self-promotion

Hey, I know that this little video has passed by on this blog before, but you've got to look at it from my point of view, and I want everyone who sees this blog to see this video. Pretty shameless, don't you think? Anyway, here it is, it is what it is, whatever.



And as if that isn't enough, well, there's always this:

Albany Reaches Deal to Repeal ’70s Drug Laws

By JEREMY W. PETERS
Published: March 25, 2009

ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson and New York legislative leaders have reached an agreement to dismantle much of what remains of the state’s strict 1970s-era drug laws, once among the toughest in the nation.

The deal would repeal many of the mandatory minimum prison sentences now in place for lower-level drug felons, giving judges the authority to send first-time nonviolent offenders to treatment instead of prison.

The plan would also expand drug treatment programs and widen the reach of drug courts at a cost of at least $50 million.

New York’s drug sentencing laws, imposed during a heroin epidemic that was devastating urban areas nearly four decades ago, helped spur a nationwide trend toward mandatory sentences in drug crimes. But as many other states moved to roll back the mandatory minimum sentences in recent years, New York kept its laws on the books, leaving prosecutors with the sole discretion of whether offenders could be sent to treatment.

“We’re putting judges in the position to determine sentences based on the facts of a case, and not on mandatory minimum sentences,” said Jeffrion L. Aubry, an assemblyman from Queens who has led the effort for repeal.

“To me, that is the restoration of justice.”

The agreement, which requires approval in the Assembly and the Senate, would allow some drug offenders who are currently in prison to apply to have their sentences commuted. It was not clear on Wednesday how many current prisoners would be eligible to apply. Mr. Paterson has pushed to have fewer prisoners than legislative leaders would prefer.

While a few points, like a resentencing provision and the amount the state is willing to spend on the plan, were still being negotiated late Wednesday, lawmakers said they were on track to wipe out the central elements of laws that have been criticized for decades as overly punitive and disproportionately harmful to minorities.

The laws, passed in 1973, are commonly known as the Rockefeller drug laws because they were championed by Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller in what was considered a bold response to the sharp rise in heroin use and property crimes among young people.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Paterson, Marissa Shorenstein, said reaching the deal, which she stressed was still being forged, was a personal victory for the governor, who has made drug law reform a priority of his administration. When he was a state senator, Mr. Paterson was arrested in 2002 at a demonstration outside Gov. George E. Pataki’s Midtown Manhattan office protesting the drug laws.

The reforms, Ms. Shorenstein said, “reflect the governor’s core principle to focus on treatment rather than punishment to end the cycle of addiction.”

Under the plan, judges would have the authority to send first-time nonviolent offenders in all but the most serious drug offenses — known as A-level drug felonies — to treatment. As a condition of being sent to treatment, offenders would have to plead guilty. If they did not successfully complete treatment, their case would go back before a judge, who would again have the option of imposing a prison sentence.

Currently, judges are bound by a sentencing structure that requires minimum sentences of one year for possessing small amounts of cocaine or heroin, for example. Under the agreement reached by the governor and lawmakers, a judge could order treatment for those offenders.

Judges would also have the option of sending some repeat drug offenders to treatment. Repeat offenders accused of more serious drug crimes, however, could only go to treatment if they were found to be drug-dependent in an evaluation.

District attorneys have resisted an overhaul of the state’s drug sentencing laws, arguing that the system in place has led to lower drug crime rates and allowed more drug criminals to enter treatment.

“The prison population is going down and public safety has improved, and I’d hate to do anything that would upset either of those trends,” said Michael C. Green, the district attorney of Monroe County, which includes Rochester. “No one knows for sure, but logic seems to dictate that is certainly one of the possibilities.”

In 2004, the state eliminated the life sentences some drug crimes carried as a maximum punishment and reduced the length of other drug sentences. But advocates said those changes did not go nearly far enough because they left judges bound to mandatory sentencing.

Since then, the Assembly, which is dominated by Democrats, has routinely passed legislation that repealed mandatory minimum sentences for many drug crimes. But the bills always failed to get past the Senate, which was controlled by Republicans until January.

Passing drug law revisions would give Senate Democrats a significant legislative victory at a time when Republicans are hammering them, saying they are disorganized and ineffective.

Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, a Manhattan Democrat who has led the effort in the Senate to overhaul the drug statutes, said he was confident he had support in the Senate to pass the plan.

“It’s no secret the Senate’s old majority was the primary barrier to reforming our drug laws,” he said. “But this is one of the reasons we fought so hard to take the majority. This is what our supporters have expected us to do.”

The deal comes as the state is facing a $16 billion budget deficit for the coming fiscal year. And finding the money needed to pay for drug addiction programs, which could reach near $80 million, will prove difficult, those involved in the negotiations said.

But in the long run, the changes are expected to save money because sending offenders to treatment is less expensive than spending $45,000 a year to keep them confined.

New York already has one of the most extensive drug-treatment networks in the country. Drug policy experts said that with the proposed changes in the law, the state could have the sentencing policy it needs to fully utilize those treatment programs.

“New York could actually become a national leader,” said Gabriel Sayegh of the Drug Policy Alliance, a national group that urges relaxation of certain drug sentencing laws. “We’re going in a public health direction here. We’re making that turn, and that’s what’s significant.”

aig

Hitler and the 'Cisco Fatty'

The Union: the business behind getting high

Growing marijuana for patients in Hidden Valley, Ca

Lake County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of California, north of the San Francisco Bay Area. Lake County was formed in 1861 from parts of Napa and Mendocino counties. Lake County has long been known as a farming community. Vineyards were planted in the 1870s; by the early 1900’s the area was earning a reputation for producing some of the world's greatest wines. It is also in an area known for producing high quality marijuana. Hidden Valley is part of Lake county.

Growing marijuana for medicinal use will not be banned or policed by the Hidden Valley homeowners association's safety and security division. Last month, during a Hidden Valley Lake Association board meeting, the issue of growing medical marijuana in the community was raised. Board members discussed the legal ramifications if individuals decided to grow it medical marijuana indoors and outside as well.

Chief Charles Russ, head of the association's safety and security department, was asked to bring his recommendations which he did. Chief Russ did just that at the March 12 meeting. Russ, in his memorandum to the board, explained that California voters passed Proposition 215, the California Compassionate Use Act, in November of 1996.

The aceptance of the proposition creates an exception to California laws prohibiting the possession and cultivation of marijuana for patients and primary caregivers with a physician's approval. Its legit for a qualified patient to grow medical marijuana, and they are allowed allowing up to 12 immature marijuana plants per qualified patient. Moreover, a qualified patient is allowed to have up to a half-pound of dried marijuana at their residence, with the proper identification. This raised other issues people getting together to “co-op” their plants, which could itself become a nuisance.

There was also a report from one Hidden Valley Lake resident of marijuana plants stolen from his yard. Another resident, who uses medical marijuana to cope with war inflicted severe post traumatic stress disorder stated that he would take the necessary precautions to insure that would not happen to him. There are risk involved in policing the growing of medical marijuana and the Hidden Valley Lake Association board did not want to have their safety and security division to and control this area of the law because of those risks.

The City Council of Lakeport passed an ordinance in 2007 banning the growth of medical marijuana in the city limits citing the plant's strong smell, and concerns about potential crimes. One option propsed was to require residents with medical marijuana cards to register with the association and obtain a special use permit to cultivate the plants outdoors. Legally, however, this option could be challenged and impact the administrative workload, Russ said. On the other hand, they could use the model of regulation adopted in 2007 in Lakeport and prohibit outdoor marijuana cultivation. This would mean they would need to defer to legal counsel and an advisory committee for “additional review and feedback.” Ultimately, however, Russ' recommendation, was accepted by the board and the association will maintain its existing policy and refer marijuana complaints and issues to the appropriate governmental issue, in this case the Lake County Sheriff's Office, which has legal jurisdiction over Hidden Valley Lake.

"Genius" Chimp Outsmarts Tube

I saw this video and thought it was excellent, then I showed it to a couple of my friends who commented that they would never had come up with the solution that the chimp did. That's when I decided to post it.

See if you out-think the chimp.






Bet you don't...

How it Happened

My brother began to dictate in his best oratorical style, the one which has the tribes hanging on his words.

"In the beginning," he said, "exactly fifteen point two billion years ago, there was a big bang and the Universe--"

But I had stopped writing. "Fifteen billion years ago?" I said incredulously.

"Absolutely," he said. "I'm inspired."

"I don't question your inspiration," I said. (I had better not. He's three years younger than I am, but I don't try questioning his inspiration. Neither does anyone else or there's hell to pay.) "But are you going to tell the story of the Creation over a period of fifteen billion years?"

"I have to," said my brother. "That's how long it took. I have it all in here," he tapped his forehead, "and it's on the very highest authority."

By now I had put down my stylus. "Do you know the price of papyrus?" I said.

"What?" (He may be inspired but I frequently noticed that the inspiration didn't include such sordid matters as the price of papyrus.)

I said, "Suppose you describe one million years of events to each roll of papyrus. That means you'll have to fill fifteen thousand rolls. You'll have to talk long enough to fill them and you know that you begin to stammer after a while. I'll have to write enough to fill them and my fingers will fall off. And even if we can afford all that papyrus and you have the voice and I have the strength, who's going to copy it? We've got to have a guarantee of a hundred copies before we can publish and without that where will we get royalties from?"

My brother thought awhile. He said, "You think I ought to cut it down?"

"Way down," I said, "if you expect to reach the public."

"How about a hundred years?" he said.

"How about six days?" I said.

He said horrified, "You can't squeeze Creation into six days."

I said, "This is all the papyrus I have. What do you think?"

"Oh, well," he said, and began to dictate again, "In the beginning-- Does it have to be six days, Aaron?"

I said, firmly, "Six days, Moses."

WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price -- teaser trailer

Medical pot trial draws activists to Kitsap

By CHARLIE BERMANT
Port Orchard Independent Staff Writer
Mar 19 2009, 3:21 PM ·

The trial of an Olalla man accused of exceeding the allowable limit for medical marijuana is finishing its second week, and is drawing attention from throughout the state.

Bruce Olson, 54, is an approved medical marijuana patient who has four ailments that qualify him for such treatment, according to an expert witness for the defense.

Still, Olson was charged with illegal possession of marijuana with the intent to sell when Kitsap County detectives found 48 plants in a growing operation in May 2007.

Both Olson and his wife are medical marijuana patients, but have faced the same distribution charge. The law about acceptable quantities of medical marijuana has been more strictly defined since Pamela Olson’s trial.

Pamela Olson is now serving probation, having pleaded out to avoid jail time. As part of her sentence, she is not using the medical marijuana that she claims is necessary to ease her pain.

The case has become a flashpoint for medical marijuana advocates, or what Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge characterizes as “a well-organized lobby whose purpose is to see the laws changed.”

Approximately two dozen people, mostly advocates or medical marijuana patients, are observing the trial and showing their support.

About 15 of them have taken residency in a local bed-and-breakfast, doubling up on rooms while they attend every minute of the trial.

One attendee, Ellen Van Bockern of Maple Valley, was attending for personal reasons, since she hoped to begin a grow operation for a sick friend.

“I want to grow marijuana legally,” she said. “If they get off, then I can start my own operation and help my friend.”

Attendees maintained the law was wrong, and that Olson was being singled out for special treatment. A common argument is that governments who prosecute these crimes are wasting taxpayer money.

“Kitsap County doesn’t have a lot of money,” said patient Steve Elliott, a Kingston resident. “This prosecution is wasting money left and right. And if they are prosecuting Bruce, then they can come after me.”

Hauge takes issue with the blanket assumption of Olson’s innocence, saying that the prosecutor has enough evidence to convict.

Otherwise, they would not be pursuing the case.

“This is not a special case,” he said. “We have not singled anyone out. If someone meets the medical marijuana criteria, we will not prosecute them. But if someone uses the medical marijuana status to justify recreational use or selling for profit, we will prosecute.”

In response to the activists’ contention that tax money was being unnecessarily wasted, the Port Orchard Independent filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to quantify the cost of the Olsons’ prosecutions.

Hauge said that his office would not be able to supply such detailed information.

“We had no special expenditures for this case,” he said. “We didn’t fly in any expert witnesses, and the prosecutor isn’t getting paid overtime. But we don’t keep records on that level, as to how many hours are spent on a particular case.”

Prosecutor Alexis Foster grilled the witnesses on details, asking yes-or-no questions that the witnesses could not or would not provide.

She attempted to disqualify Dr. Thomas Orvald, who issued Olson’s medicinal marijuana recommendation as an expert witness, a motion Superior Court Judge Leila Mills denied.

In separate questions Foster asked Orvald whether marijuana was habit forming and if it could be abused, requesting a yes or no answers. He eventually affirmed both assertions, but without using the word “yes.”

Foster then pressed Orvald about details of his income, which prompted defense attorney Thomas Balerud to object, “Dr. Orvald is not being prosecuted for tax fraud, so I think we should move on to something more substantial.”

Orvald testified that Olson suffered from four ailments, each of which qualified him for medical marijuana treatment.

Orvald said he sees patients about once a year, at which time he approves or declines another year of treatment. And while many patients initially try to fool him into providing marijuana for recreational use, most current patients are approved for an extension.

Orvald testified throughout Wednesday afternoon. The defense was scheduled to continue on Thursday.

Closing arguments are expected on Monday or Tuesday.

Sunrise man cleared after elevator video shows he did not batter Fort Lauderdale officers

Sunrise man had been accused of attacking officers

By Tonya Alanez |South Florida Sun-Sentinel

After a beat down in an elevator, Joshua Daniel Ortiz ended up with his nose broken and facing a charge of battering a Fort Lauderdale Is your Fort Lauderdale restaurant clean? - Click Here. police officer.

The 22-year-old Sunrise man was surprised and delighted to learn Wednesday that Broward prosecutors were dropping the case against him after reviewing an elevator surveillance video showing three officers aggressively rush and beat Ortiz to the ground.

Once the Dec. 5 video surfaced, it altered the course of the case. It contradicted police reports that Ortiz provoked and attacked Officers Derek Lade, Stefan Silv er and Steve Smith.

"They were just sitting there watching my life go down the drain with those charges," Ortiz said Wednesday. "I've been going crazy thinking my life is over. It's barely started and it's over."

The looming legal charges delaye d Ortiz's enrollment in college classes, he said.

Police first charged Ortiz with felony battery on a law enforcement officer.

But after seeing the video obtained by Ortiz's defense attorney, Stephen Melnick, prosecutors downgraded the charge to a misdemeanor resisting charge. Upon further review, prosecutors dropped the case entirely.

"We thought based on the facts and the evidence, including the videotape, that there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction at trial," said Lee Cohen, assistant state attorney in charge of misdemeanor cases.

Fort Lauderdale police internal affairs investigators reviewed the incident more than a month ago and found no violations of policy or procedures, said Sgt. Frank Sousa, the department's spokesman.

"It was not a beating," Sousa said. "The video clearly shows that [Ortiz] made a movement toward the officer."

The 4:10 a.m. incident unfolded in a bank lobby at 200 SW First Ave. as Ortiz, his girlfriend and friends piled into an elevator, heading to a parking garage after a night out.

Acquaintances of Ortiz's started fighting in th e lobby, he said, drawing police to the scene.

According to Lade's police report, Ortiz yelled at the officers from the elevator when they tried to break up the disturbance.

Ortiz "walked right up to me hitting his nose to my nose," Lade wrote, adding that he pushed Ortiz.

"As I approached Ortiz to take him into custody, Ortiz spun around to face me and assumed a fighting stance (both left and right h and clenched into fists and body bladed)," he wrote.

Ortiz said he exchanged agitated words with the officers, but the rest is fiction.

"They were on a power trip," Ortiz said. "I don't trust them anymore."

Melnick said the officers embellished their reports to justify their aggression without knowing the videotape existed.

"I think the video speaks for itself," he said.

Missouri report on militias, terrorists draws criticism

The Associated Press

COLUMBIA, Mo.

A new document meant to help Missouri law enforcement agencies identify militia members or domestic terrorists has drawn criticism for some of the warning signs mentioned.

The Feb. 20 report called "The Modern Militia Movement" mentions such red flags as political bumper stickers for third-party candidates, such as U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, who ran for president last year; talk of conspiracy theories, such as the plan for a superhighway linking Canada to Mexico; and possession of subversive literature.

"It seems like they want to stifle political thought," said Roger Webb, president of the University of Missouri campus Libertarians. "There are a lot of third parties out there, and none of them express any violence. In fact, if you join the Libertarian Party, one of the things you sign in your membership application is that you don't support violence as a means to any ends."

But state law enforcement officials said the report is being misinterpreted.

Lt. John Hotz of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said the report comes from publicly available, trend data on militias. It was compiled by the Missouri Information Analysis Center, a "fusion center" in Jefferson City that combines resources from the federal Department of Homeland Security and other agencies. The center, which opened in 2005, was set up to collect local intelligence to better combat terrorism and other criminal activity, he said.

"All this is an educational thing," Hotz said of the report. "Troopers have been shot by members of groups, so it's our job to let law enforcement officers know what the trends are in the modern militia movement."

But Tim Neal, a military veteran and delegate to last year's state GOP convention, was shocked by the report's contents.

"I was going down the list and thinking, 'Check, that's me,'" he said. "I'm a Ron Paul supporter, check. I talk about the North American union, check. I've got the 'America: Freedom to Fascism' video loaned out to somebody right now. So that means I'm a domestic terrorist? Because I've got a video about the Federal Reserve?"

Neal, who has a Ron Paul bumper sticker on his car, said the next time he is pulled over by a police officer, he won't know whether it's because he was speeding or because of his political views.

"If a police officer is pulling me over with my family in the car and he sees a bumper sticker on my vehicle that has been specifically identified as one that an extremist would have in their vehicle, the guy is probably going to be pretty apprehensive and not thinking in a rational manner," Neal said. "And this guy's walking up to my vehicle with a gun."

But Hotz said using factors in the report to determine whether someone could be a terrorist is not profiling. He said people who display signs or bumper stickers from third-party groups are not in danger of harassment from police.

"It's giving the makeup of militia members and their political beliefs," Hotz said of the report. "It's not saying that everybody who supports these candidates is involved in a militia. It's not even saying that all militias are bad."

Language Of Music Really Is Universal, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Mar. 20, 2009) — Native African people who have never even listened to the radio before can nonetheless pick up on happy, sad, and fearful emotions in Western music, according to a new report published online on March 19th in Current Biology. The result shows that the expression of those three basic emotions in music can be universally recognized, the researchers said.

"These findings could explain why Western music has been so successful in global music distribution, even in music cultures that do not as strongly emphasize the role of emotional expression in their music," said Thomas Fritz of the Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences.

The expression of emotions is a basic feature of Western music, and the capacity of music to convey emotional expressions is often regarded as a prerequisite to its appreciation in Western cultures, the researchers explained. In other musical traditions, however, music is often appreciated for other qualities, such as group coordination in rituals.

In the new study, Fritz, Stefan Koelsch, and their colleagues wanted to find out whether the emotional aspects of Western music could be appreciated by people who had no prior exposure to it. Previous studies had asked similar questions about people with little experience with a particular musical form, for instance Westerners listening to Hindustani music, they said. But to really get at musical universals requires participants who are completely naïve to Western music.

Fritz enlisted members of the Mafa, one of about 250 ethnic groups in Cameroon. He traveled to the extreme north of the Mandara mountain ranges, where they live, with a laptop and sun collector to supply electricity in his backpack.

Their studies showed that both Western and Mafa listeners, who had never before heard Western music, could recognize emotional expressions of happiness, sadness, and fear in the music more often than would be expected by chance. However, they report that the Mafa showed considerable variability in their performance, with two of twenty-one study participants performing at chance level.

Both groups relied on similar characteristics of music to make those calls; both Mafas and Westerners relied on temporal cues and on mode for their judgment of emotional expressions, although this pattern was more marked in Western listeners.

By manipulating music, the researchers also found that both Western listeners and African listeners find original music more pleasant than altered versions. That preference is probably explained in part by the increased sensory dissonance of the manipulated tunes.

"In conclusion," the researchers wrote, "both Mafa and Western listeners showed an ability to recognize the three basic emotional expressions tested in this study from Western music above chance level. This indicates that these emotional expressions conveyed by the Western musical excerpts can be universally recognized, similar to the largely universal recognition of human emotional facial expression and emotional prosody." Prosody refers to the rhythm, stress, and intonation of connected speech.

The authors include Thomas Fritz, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Sebastian Jentschke, UCL Institute of Child Health, London, UK; Nathalie Gosselin, Universite´ de Montreal, Montreal, Canada; Daniela Sammler, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Isabelle Peretz, Universite´ de Montreal, Montreal, Canada; Robert Turner, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Angela D. Friederici, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; and Stefan Koelsch, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany, University of Sussex, Falmer, UK.

The Pope’s Immoral Message on AIDS in Africa

By Matthew Rothschild, March 17, 2009

The Pope is in Africa, and in his infinite wisdom, he showed the utmost ignorance on the urgent subject of the AIDS epidemic.

On the plane ride over, the Pontiff declared that “you can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms.” He added, appallingly, “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”

Anyone who’s been dealing with the AIDS crisis in Africa understands that the mass distribution of condoms is one of the only effective ways of stemming the spread of this hideous plague.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the epicenter of the plague. 22 million people there are infected with HIV, and three out of every four AIDS deaths in the world occur there.

And that’s where the Pontiff is headed, delivering a message of denial and a bouquet of poison flowers to the people who are suffering needlessly from this catastrophic disease.

The Pope can prattle on all he wants about the wonders of abstinence, but it’s a fact that people are going to have sex.

And it’s a fact that if they have unprotected sex in sub-Saharan Africa, their odds of getting AIDS are astronomical.

A condom can prevent that.

But the Pope doesn’t believe it, and doesn’t want the people of Africa to believe it.

His sermon boils down to this: If you can’t be abstinent, die.

Thinking in one-liners

Since I started attempting to come up with 'witty' ideas for bumper stickers & t-shirts for my zazzle store, it seems that I can't form a thought beyond eight or ten words. You know, just enough for a bumper sticker. This wouldn't be so bad around the house, but unfortunately doesn't work in public, not that I'm interested in being in public much. I mean, who wants to spend time in a beehive, which is what it seems like to me most of the time. Just crowds of people zipping around, pumping gas, buying groceries, or whatever. Everyone in their own little self-centered bubble, thinking that because THEY are there, that THEY are entitled to some sort of special treatment. At the expense of everyone else, and all fighting to be first in line, so they can finish where they're at, and buzz over to the next hive and start all over again. Everyone trying to win (whatever that might mean) but nobody does. Anyway, so I spend all of my time thinking in one-liners, which only implies thought, because there is no depth, just electro-organic images, that pass by quickly, because there's another three word epic coming up, don't want to lose it, cause it'll be gone, and the momentum will be disrupted, and I'll be back to the beginning. What is this all about? Don't know really, its already too many words for my over-taxed thought process, just a bit of mental feces turned into words.

Rocking SEAHORSE On The TreeShore

shameless self-promotion

A New Foundation for Growth

President Obama submitted a budget to Congress that challenges the status quo and directly confronts the long-term threats to our prosperity.

But it's up to you to make sure Washington knows that Americans across the country stand by the President's plan to invest in energy, health care, and education.

Watch President Obama's message and get involved in the effort to make this plan a reality by calling your elected representatives and by joining a canvass this weekend.

Socialism You Can Believe In

finally - everything is where it belongs, well, at least Radio Free Exile, that is.

It's been a rough couple of weeks, since my obsessive compulsive self has been freaking out because I couldn't upload my podcast to the web. And, finally, the server is back up and the podcast is uploaded and I can calm down and go roll a fatty and listen to it myself. I hope you'll be doing the same.


Here it is....


Hello Everyone, This episode of the Radio Free Exile podcast, and is titled "Sacred Cows Make The Best Hamburgers" A short primer on being a curmudgeon.
Here's the link: http://exileguy.mypodcast.com/index.html

featuring music & spoken word from:

Chris Chandler - "The Ballad of Rush Limbaugh"
Roger Flensing - "Speaks of Life"
Atheist Flo - "Atheist Anthem"
John Prine - "Flag Decal"
The Individuals - "100 Pounds of Weed"
Charlie Chaplin Speaks
Solomon Burke - "None of Us Are Free" ____________________________________________________

For unique & cool gifts and things from exile, check out the Radio Free Exile Shoppe, swag for the masses.
NEW! - Do Time With exileguy - check out exileguy's watches - you'll be glad you did!

Everyone is invited to submit to Radio Free Exile. I'm always on the lookout for interesting and cutting edge Indie Music, Spoken Word, and Commentary. What have you got to lose? To submit your material for consideration, go to: https://www.sendthisfile.com/f.jsp?id=fskCM6gQzqdvYFD2PWa4SkGM and use the widget there to upload your mp3 files directly to me.

exileguy @ myspace
exileguy's blog
exileguy's twitter

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." - The United States Constitution ©1791. All Rights Reserved ____________________________________________________

Greenpeace - You Are My Sunshine

Joe the Plumber

The Airplane Song - Matthew Mars

New Radio Free Exile podcast

You know, I've been waiting for 9 days for the server that I use for hosting my podcast to come back online after updating their software. This is kind of a drag because they have all of my podcast episodes archived on their site, so not only can't I upload the new (now almost old) episode, but nobody can listen to the archived ones. That's a little fucked, and I'm a little pissed, but there's nothing to do but wait for them, and seek a temporary alternative.
So, I've set up an account at another server and have uploaded "Sacred Cows Make The Best Hamburgers."
This is only temporary, because the new host does not allow archiving. And I'm cautiously optimistic about everything working out soon. So, in the meantime you can check out the new show, and I'll post when the fixes are in.
Here's the link, in case you missed it: http://exileguy.podcastpeople.com

There you have it.

California due to release 1970s radical Olson

Sara Jane Olson was part of the Symbionese Liberation Army

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A saga that began in the violent cauldron of California's 1970s radical counterculture and took a dramatic turn into a quiet middle-class neighborhood in Minnesota is about to come to an end.

Sara Jane Olson, who was a fugitive for a quarter-century after attempting to kill Los Angeles police officers and participating in a deadly bank robbery near Sacramento as a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, is scheduled to be released from a California prison next week.

Her bid for freedom after serving seven years is not ending quietly.

Police objecting to terms of parole
Police leagues in Los Angeles and Minnesota are objecting to the terms of her parole, her attorneys are nervous after Olson was mistakenly released and sent back to prison a year ago, and people in her home state have conflicting views about the return of a woman with two identities — a quiet, caring community volunteer and a domestic terrorist.

Olson was freed by California corrections officials a year ago when they miscalculated her parole date. She was re-arrested five days later as she was about to board a flight to Minnesota, the state she adopted as her home during her life on the run.

"After what happened last year, I think she won't feel comfortable until she's back in Minnesota," said David Nickerson, one of her lawyers. "She is just anxious about getting out ... until she's home, until she knows it's real. She wants to be with her family."

Olson, 62, her red hair turned long ago to gray, is scheduled to be released Tuesday from the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, about 150 miles southeast of San Francisco.

Where she goes next is a point of contention. Police leagues in Los Angeles and Minnesota object to having her paroled to Minnesota. Both have written to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, urging him to have Olson serve her parole in California, where her crimes were committed.

Former Los Angeles police officer John Hall was a target of one of two 1975 attempted bombings by the Symbionese Liberation Army, the urban guerrilla group most notorious for its kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst. The pipe bombs were placed beneath two police cars.

'It just brings up a lot of anger'
One bomb, packed with nails, failed to explode as Hall and his partner drove away from a restaurant in Los Angeles' Hollywood Division on an August night. A similar unexploded device was found under another police car miles away.

"That bomb should have gone off that night," Hall said. "I would have been just one of many people that would have been dead. It just brings up a lot of anger knowing that she's going to be released."

Hall recalls that a girl about 8 years old was watching from the restaurant.

"That little girl was waving at us as we drove off. If that bomb would have gone off, she would have been killed along with her family," said Hall, who served 31 years with the department. "I haven't forgiven her (Olson) in the least for what she's done and what she could have done to many more innocent people."

Long list of high-profile crimes
In addition to the attempting bombings and the Hearst kidnapping, the SLA had a long list of high-profile crimes during the mid-1970s, including the assassination of an Oakland schools superintendent and the shotgun slaying of Myrna Opsahl, a 42-year-old mother of four who was depositing a church collection at a bank near Sacramento when the group robbed it.

Olson was in the bank during that 1975 heist, which netted the SLA $15,000.

After her 1999 arrest, she pleaded guilty to the attempted bombings of the police cars and the death of Opsahl.

Olson, was born Kathleen Ann Soliah in North Dakota and grew up in Palmdale, in the high desert north of Los Angeles.

'We're very happy to reunite'
If her release goes as planned, her attorneys say she will be paroled to her mother's house in Palmdale and will have 24 hours to report to her California parole agent. Unless there is a change, she then will be allowed to return to St. Paul, Minn., where she changed her name and married Dr. Gerald "Fred" Peterson.

"Her release of course is a great relief," Peterson said in an e-mail to The Associated Press, declining a request for an interview. "We need to regroup in our home, and preserve our privacy as much as possible, and get our lives coordinated again. We're very happy to reunite."

Many of Olson's friends and former associates in Minnesota declined to comment about her release, fearing any statements might hurt her chances of getting out on schedule.

Others said they couldn't wait to see her again.

"I'm planning on giving her a big hug when she gets back and am going to count on her to do what she did before, which was read the New York Times to the blind and volunteer in all sorts of activities to help the less fortunate," said Andy Dawkins, a longtime family friend from St. Paul.

Not everyone will be happy to have her back. After Olson's arrest in 1999, Minneapolis gun store owner Mark Koscielski (koh-SHEL'-skee) countered supporters with bumper stickers that said "Fight Terrorism — Jail Kathleen."

"She's a ... terrorist and she shouldn't be out of jail," Koscielski said.

Arrested in June 1999 on a tip
Olson, then Soliah, was in her late 20s when she joined the SLA. The small band of mostly white, college-educated children of middle-class families was started in 1973 by an ex-convict named Donald DeFreeze. He died with five members of the group in a 1974 shootout with police at their Los Angeles hideout.

After the attempted bombings of the LAPD police cars, Olson fled to St. Paul, 1,900 miles away, where she acted in community theater, joined a church, taught English to immigrants, worked with senior citizens and raised the couple's three daughters.

She was arrested in June 1999 on a tip from the "America's Most Wanted" television show.

Opsahl's son, Jon Opsahl, said he is glad the saga is coming to an end.

"She did her minimal time and has paid her debt to society after all these years," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, she can leave the state as soon as possible and get back to her life."

New Video from Radio Free Exile

Well, I'm still waiting for my podcast server to come back online so I can upload the new Radio Free Exile episode. So, in the meantime (well, if you see this after the podcast is back up, well just ignore all this crap), I've put together a video primer with a bit of advice on how to survive the current economic situation. Take a minute or two to check it out. Thanks from the land of exile.



Well, if you liked the video, maybe you'd like to own the bumper sticker as well. Just click on the image below...




Some people might say that this is shameless self-promotion, some might be right.

Penn Says: Legalize Marijuana

Casting Call for Murderers - Gets Real

A judge locked up killer Clifton Bloomfield for 195 years, but now the multiple murderer is out–on video–in a movie role he filmed between homicides.

Bloomfield described himself as trustworthy and reliable a year and a half ago when casting director David Córdova was auditioning extras for the Sony Pictures movie ” Felon ” starring Steven Dorff and New Mexico resident Val Kilmer.

And he got the movie role he was seeking playing a convict in a violent prison drama. He already had killed two people, and a month after “Felon” wrapped he resumed his real-life killing spree.

“We’re expecting actors to come to our casting calls,” Córdova told KRQE News 13. “I’m not expecting the real thing to come through. I don’t think anybody else was actually aware that we had cast a mass murderer on the film.”

Córdova says he can’t afford to background check the thousands of background actors he uses but he wishes he could.

Now serving five life sentences Bloomfield won’t be auditioning for any more movies after being cast in the permanent role of a prison inmate.

Pothead Paradise

We Came an Inch from Martial Law, Bush Justice Department Memos Reveal

By Matthew Rothschild, March 3, 2009

It turns out that some of our most paranoid fears about the Bush Administration had a basis in reality.

The Bush Justice Department, if you can call it that, issued legal opinions in late 2001 asserting that the President had the authority to use the military within the US against suspected terrorists, and that he could use the military to barge into your home without a warrant.

“The warrant and probable cause requirements . . . are unsuited to the demands of wartime and the military necessity to successfully prosecute a war against an enemy,” said an October 23, 2001, memo.

The authors were John Yoo, who was then deputy assistant attorney general, and Robert Delahunty, who was special counsel at the Justice Department. And they sent the memo to Alberto Gonzales, then the counsel to the President.

Domestic eavesdropping without a warrant was also OK, according to Bush lawyers at Justice.

They also said the President could unilaterally abrogate treaties, and that Congress had no say-so over the treatment of detainees.

Yoo and Delahunty clearly contemplated waging war here at home.

“Efforts to fight terrorism may require not only the usual wartime regulations of domestic affairs, but also military actions that have normally occurred abroad,” said the Yoo-Delahunty memo.

It contemplated using the U.S. military in the United States for “attacking civilian targets, such as apartment buildings, offices, or ships where suspected terrorists were thought to be; and employing electronic surveillance methods more powerful and sophisticated than those available to law enforcement agencies.” And it recognized that these actions could be “involving as they might American citizens.”

It said the decision to use the military this way lies entirely in the President’s hands. “It also bears emphasizing again that it rests within the President’s discretion to determine when certain circumstances . . . justify using the military to intervene.”

Yoo and Delahunty also proposed shelving the First Amendment.

“First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully,” they wrote.

This was an “Everything Must Go” fire sale from the Bill of Rights.

And we’re just lucky we somehow managed to escape without getting too singed.

Now Senator Leahy is proposing a Truth Commission.

We need that—and prosecutions—if we are to find out not only just how close we came to a fascist government over the last eight years but also how to prevent that slide in the future.