Dirty Hippies Blog

Surviving Without Big Brother

bohemian.tc@gmail.com (Mylene) — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 00:22:00 +0000

This little diddy is dedicated to those of us born between 1930-1979. We survived the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's, how ever did we manage without Big Government protecting us from all the evils of our childhood? Maybe it was our sense of humor......

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants & children, we rode in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Koolaid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day.

And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms.......
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't learned to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of; they actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them . . CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

Legend of The Petoskey Stone

bohemian.tc@gmail.com (Mylene) — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 06:28:00 +0000

According to local legend, a descendant of French nobility named Antoine Carre visited what is now the Petoskey, Michigan area and became a fur trader with the John Jacob Astor Fur Company. In time, he met and married an Ottawa (or Odawa) Indian princess. Carre became known to the Indians as Neaatooshing. He was eventually adopted by the tribe and made chief.

In the spring of 1787, after having spent the winter near what is now Chicago, Chief Neaatooshing and his royal family started home. On the way, the party camped on the banks of the Kalamazoo River. During the night, a son was born to the Chief. As the sun rose, its rays fell on the face of the new baby. Seeing the sunshine on his son's face, the Chief proclaimed, "His name shall be Petosegay. He shall become an important person. " The translation of the name is "rising sun," "rays of dawn," or "sunbeams of promise".

In the summer of 1873, just a few years before the death of Petosegay, a city came into being on his land along the bay at Bear Creek. The site was a field overgrown with June grass. Only a few nondescript buildings existed. The population was no more than 50 or 60. The city was named Petoskey, an English adaptation of Petosegay. Thus they honored someone who gave his land, name, and the heritage of "sunbeams of promise".

Petoskey Stones are Michigan's State Stone and can be found throughout the state, but are generally more concentrated near the "tip-of-the-mit." While quite beautiful and distinctive when polished, in their natural, dry state Petoskeys appear to be just another gray rock, making them a challenge to find. When they are wet (or polished) their mottled, sunburst pattern reveals itself making them easier to distinguish from other rocks.

Petoskey Stones are a fossilized coral that thrived in warm Michigan waters 350 million years ago, the lines radiating from the center were once "tentacles that were used for gathering food and drawing it into the mouth", the dark spot in the middle of each segment. They are unique to the Great Lakes region, however similar stones are found in other regions of the world. They are a soft, dense rock made up mainly of Calcite making them easy to polish and carve into various items.

Petoskey Stones can easily be hand-polished using fine sandpaper, water and lots of elbow grease. Artists throughout Michigan fashion Petoskeys into numerous decorative items, most often as stunning jewelery, they are also incorporated into floor tiles, lamps, counter tops and many one-of-a-kind treasures.

Tips for finding Petoskey Stones

Look in shallow bodies of water, along lake shores, creeks, etc. (Michigan waters are quite cold year-round, however, I have discovered that after a few minutes your feet are so cold they become numb and immune to the icy pain:-)
After a rain they can be found anywhere; parking lots, driveways, and roadsides are easy pickin's
When looking in a large area of dry rocks, spray them lightly with water and Petoskey Stones will pop out
Walk the beaches after high-tide or a storm
The best beaches for rock hunting are the ones least populated with people
The best time of year is early Spring, after Winter storms have churned up a fresh mix, and before everyone else starts treasure hunting!

The 2007 Petoskey Stone Festival has been set for May 26, 2007 in Eastport, Michigan.

Celebrating the state stone of Michigan, the Petoskey Festival features beach hunts for stones, vendor booths selling stones and other gemstones that are native to Michigan and much more.
Antrim County Barnes Park Barnes Park Road-Eastport, MI USA 49627

For beautiful jewelry check out: Turtleback Studios

For more information check out: Petoskey Stones

The Way of The Hippy

bohemian.tc@gmail.com (Mylene) — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 20:12:00 +0000

…maybe it’s the time of year. Yes, and maybe it’s the time of
man. And I don’t know who I am. But life is for learning. Joni
Mitchell/CS&N (Woodstock) 1970

What’s a hippie? What’s the difference between an old hippie and a new hippie? Once a hippie, always a hippie? These and similar questions are the source of much debate today. New subcategories like web-hippies, cyber-hippies, even zippies have become fashionable. But what is a hippie and are you one? To answer this question, let’s see what defines a hippie. Some say it’s the way people dress, and behave, a lifestyle. Others classify drug users and rock 'n' roll fans or those with certain radical political views as hippies. The dictionary defines a hippie as one who doesn’t conform to society’s standards and advocates a liberal attitude and lifestyle. Can all these definitions be right?
It seems to me that these definitions miss the point. By focusing on the most visible behavioral traits these limited descriptions fail to reveal what lies in the hippie heart that motivates such behavior. To understand The Way of the Hippy, we must look at those circumstances that preceded the birth of the hippy movement, the important events that changed our lives, our resulting frustration with society, and the philosophy that developed from our spiritual maturation.

Hippy is an establishment label for a profound, invisible, underground,
evolutionary process. For every visible hippy, barefoot, beflowered, beaded,
there are a thousand invisible members of the turned-on underground. Persons
whose lives are tuned in to their inner vision, who are dropping out of the TV
comedy of American Life. Timothy Leary (The Politics of Ecstasy) 1967

My view is that being a hippie is a matter of accepting a universal belief system that transcends the social, political, and moral norms of any established structure, be it a class, church, or government. Each of these powerful institutions has it’s own agenda for controlling, even enslaving people. Each has to defend itself when threatened by real or imagined enemies. So we see though history a parade of endless conflicts with country vs. country, religion vs. religion, class vs. class. After millennia of war and strife, in which uncounted millions have suffered, we have yet to rise above our petty differences.
The way of the hippie is antithetical to all repressive hierarchical power structures since these are adverse to the hippie goals of peace, love and freedom. This is why the “Establishment” feared and suppressed the hippie movement of the ’60s, as it was a revolution against the established order. It is also the reason why the hippies were unable to unite and overthrow the system since they refused to build their own power base. Hippies don’t impose their beliefs on others. Instead, hippies seek to change the world through reason and by living what they believe.

Imagine no possesions, I wonder if you can, No need for greed or hunger, A
brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world. John Lennon
(Imagine)

To be a hippie you must believe in peace as the way to resolve differences among peoples, ideologies and religions. The way to peace is through love and tolerance. Loving means accepting others as they are, giving them freedom to express themselves and not judging them based on appearances. This is the core of the hippie philosophy.

…see the whole thing is a world full of rucksack wanderers, Dharma Bums refusing
to subscribe to the general demand that they consume production and therefore
have to work for the privilege of consuming, all that crap they didn’t really
want anyway such as refrigerators, TV sets, cars, …all of them imprisoned in a
system of work, produce, consume, work, produce, consume, I see a vision of a
great rucksack revolution thousands or even millions of young Americans
wandering around with rucksacks, going up to mountains to pray, making children
laugh and old men glad, making young girls happy and old girls happier, all of
‘em Zen Lunatics who go about writing poems that happen to appear in their heads
for no reason and also by being kind and also by strange unexpected acts keep
giving visions of eternal freedom to everybody and to all living creatures. Jack
Kerouac (The Dharma Bums) 1958

The hippy movement erected signposts for all to see. Some warn us of impending danger, others direct us towards richer, more fulfilling lives, but most show us the road to freedom. Freedom is the paramount virtue in this system. Freedom to do as one pleases, go where the flow takes you, and to be open to new experiences. This engenders an attitude that allows for maximum personal growth.

If you want to be free, be free, because there’s a million things to
be. Cat Stevens (If You Want to Sing Out)

Our society only permits you one or two weeks a year of freedom to pursue your own agenda. The rest of the time we are slaves to the system. Hippies reject the 9 to 5 lifestyle and therefore are objects of ridicule by those whose lives run by the clock. Programmed people are jealous and resent the freedom we possess. The unmitigated freedom that hippies represent is the greatest threat to any system in which control equals power.

I like ideas about the breaking away or overthrowing of established order. I am
interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, especially activity that
seems to have no meaning. It seems to me to be the road towards freedom -
external freedom is a way to bring about internal freedom. Jim Morrison

With all this freedom comes a lot of responsibility. The system does not make it easy for us to survive without sacrificing our values. Therefore we must discover alternative ways to make a living without being a drag on our planet’s resources and our fellow humans. Hippies have pioneered numerous lifestyles and alternative businesses including communes, cooperatives, holistic medicine and health food. We focused everyone’s concern on the environment to highlight our responsibilities to our planet and to future generations.

I’ve been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one. And I believe it
could be, someday it’s going to come. Cat Stevens (Peace Train)

Other beliefs that spring from our core philosophy are: an earthy spirituality such as a belief in Gaia (the earth as an organism), the Greens movement (political activism), even shamanism and vegetarianism. These philosophical and political views reflect a respect for nature and the planet as a whole, something lacking in our capitalistic and materialistic societies. The world needs hippies to point out alternatives to the entrenched system and warn of the impending disasters that await us if we don’t change our lifestyles. The goal is not to make everyone a hippie (what would we have to protest?). Rather we can try to influence others by example, through tolerance and love and teaching the virtues of the hippie way.

You create your own reality. Seth (Seth Speaks)

So being a hippie is not a matter of dress, behavior, economic status, or social milieu. It is a philosophical approach to life that emphasizes freedom, peace, love and a respect for others and the earth. The way of the hippie never died. There have always been hippies from the first time society laid down rules, to Jesus, to Henry David Thoreau, to John Lennon, to you and me. I believe there’s a little hippy in all of us. It’s just been repressed by our socialization process. We need to find it and cultivate our hippie within. Only then can we reach our true potential.

I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Robert
Frost (The Road Not Taken)

As hippies age they come to terms with the same situations all humans must face. Wiser than before, let’s help the younger hippies find a way to save the earth and achieve more freedom than exists in our wildest dreams. Let’s find our common ground, build a worldwide community, and once again let our freak flags fly and become all we are destined to be.

Peace and Love, Skip

"The Way of the Hippy"
from "Hippies From A to Z"
By Skip Stone

Original at Hippie.com

Celebrate Diversity!

Hippie Philosophy Of Ambiguity

bohemian.tc@gmail.com (Mylene) — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 08:43:00 +0000

For those who love the philosophy of ambiguity.....

1. Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
2. One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor....
3. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
4. If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?
5. The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.
6. I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
7. What if there were no hypothetical questions?
8. If a deaf person swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap?
9. If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation?
10. Is there another word for synonym?
11. Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all?"
12. What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?
13. If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?
14. Would a fly without wings be called a walk?
15 Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?
16. If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
17. Can vegetarians eat animal crackers?
18. If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?
19. Why do they put Braille on the drive-through bank machines?
20. How do they get deer to cross the road only at those yellow road signs?
21. What was the best thing before sliced bread?
22. One nice thing about egotists: They don`t talk about other people.
23. Does the Little Mermaid wear an algebra?
24. Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?
25. How is it possible to have a civil war?
26. If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest drown too?
27. If you ate both pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry?
28. If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?
29. Whose cruel idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have "S" in it?
30. Why are hemorrhoids called "hemorrhoids" instead of "assteroids"?
31. Why is it called tourist season if we can't shoot at them?
32. Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?
33. If you spin an oriental man in a circle three times does he become disoriented?
34. Can an atheist get insurance against acts of God?

Thanks Maria!

Celebrate Diversity!

Hope For Global Warming In Bismarck

bohemian.tc@gmail.com (Mylene) — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 18:41:00 +0000

North Dakota Farmer is First to Apply for State License to Grow Industrial Hemp

BISMARCK, ND — North Dakota's Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson has accepted the first application from a farmer for a state Industrial Hemp license. The license, which is expected to be granted, will go to farmer and North Dakota Assistant House Majority Leader David Monson, ten years after the first hemp bill was passed in the state. Farmers will make history as North Dakota is the first state to grant commercial hemp farming licenses in the United States in fifty years. It is unclear what the Drug Enforcement Administration will do when they receive requests for the licenses to be effective.
"I submitted my application for an industrial hemp license with the state Department of Agriculture earlier today," said Representative David Monson, R-Osnabrock. "I expect that the state will grant me a hemp farming license, but I'm not sure that the $3,440 non-refundable registration fee I will send to DEA with my application for manufacturing and importing will get me anything. Burton Johnson, an agronomist and professor at North Dakota State University (NDSU), has submitted at least 2 applications with DEA since 1999, but has never received a license in those seven years," says Monson. "I'm prepared to take this to court if DEA refuses to grant a permit in a reasonable amount of time or places onerous restrictions on it." Representative Monson operates his farm in Osnabrock, ND and is only 25 miles from the Canadian border and 110 miles from the nearest hemp seed processing facility, Hemp Oil Canada in Ste. Agathe, Manitoba.
Commissioner Johnson cautioned that farmers who hold state industrial hemp licenses must also obtain permission from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and that a state license is not effective until the licensee receives a registration from DEA to import, produce, or process industrial hemp. Last month Commissioner Johnson sent a letter to DEA administrator Karen Tandy asking that DEA waive individual registration fees for newly-licensed industrial hemp producers in North Dakota and that DEA work with the Agriculture Department so farmers can plant the historic first industrial hemp crop this spring.
North Dakota was one of the first states to pass industrial hemp legislation and has done so five times. North Dakota's first hemp law, passed in 1997, directed that the State University Agriculture Experiment Station to do a study of industrial hemp production. In 1999 a pair of bills were passed, one a resolution urging Congress to acknowledge the difference between the agricultural crop known as industrial hemp and its drug-type relative, the second a bill was to authorize the production of industrial hemp and remove it from the noxious weed list. In 2001 another resolution was passed similar to the 1999 resolution and in 2005 a bill was passed allowing for feral hemp seed collection and breeding at NDSU.
"DEA could easily grant licenses to farmers and work with North Dakota under existing regulations, but we're not planning on re-writing our mission statement just yet," says Vote Hemp President Eric Steenstra. "It has been thirty seven years since the ill-considered Controlled Substance Act was passed, mistakenly making industrial hemp a Schedule 1 substance. The time is ripe for hemp to be grown here in the U.S. again. Farmers in North Dakota, and all across the U.S., should be able to grow industrial hemp just like their Canadian counterparts," says Steenstra.
Health Canada statistics show that 24,021 acres of industrial hemp were produced in Canada in 2005 and 48,060 acres in 2006. Vote Hemp estimates that the total value of hemp products sold in the US is now $270 million while the seed has been shown to have tremendous nutritional benefits in food.

For Immediate Release

Monday, January 15, 2007
CONTACT:Adam Eidinger 202-744-2671adam@votehemp.com

Tom Murphy 207-542-4998tom@votehemp.com

Original: http://www.votehemp.com/PR/01-15-07_nd_farmer.html

Dirty Hippies Detain Cat!

bohemian.tc@gmail.com (Mylene) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:50:00 +0000

The Bush administration is checking the accuracy of a watch list of suspected terrorists banned from traveling on airliners in the U.S. and will probably cut the list in half, the head of the Transportation Security Administration said Wednesday.

So what prompted this review? Might it have been the grossly unfair nature of it, or the incredible violation of civil liberties it engendered?
No, as a matter of fact it appears what it took was the wife of an influential Senator to be confused with a dirty hippy Muslim singer-songwriter.

Cat Stevens or Cat Stevens

At a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee, Hawley ran into inquiries from lawmakers with family members or friends who had encountered problems at airport checkpoints.
Among them was Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who complained that his wife, Catherine, was being identified as "Cat" Stevens and frequently stopped due to confusion with the former name of the folk singer now known as Yusuf Islam, whose name is on the list. In 2004 he was denied entry into the U.S., but officials declined to explain why.

Original here: DailyKos