[pagan-magik] UP! 253// THE LARGEST LARGEST MOVEMENT MOVEMENT IN THE WORLD WORLD// 10 06 07
fraser at parallel-youniversity.com
fraser at parallel-youniversity.com
Sun Jun 10 04:43:56 BST 2007
TURN ON COMPUTER // TUNE IN TO FUNLEASHED SPIRIT OF INTERNET // TAKE OVER!
this could definitely be the Big One!
the Great Coming Together!
the Rooting & Sprouting
of the Post-Dinosaur Era...
_HOW_
the Largest Movement
in the World Came Into Being;
&
_WHY_
_No One Saw It Coming_
In his latest book /Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the
World Came Into Being; And Why No One Saw it Coming//,/ Paul Hawken -
activist, green businessman, eco-philosopher, and author - makes the
case that the disparate movements for _ecological restoration_ and
_social justice_ are merging into _one massive global movement.__ _
*>> the birth of the post dinosaur era. *
Author of two of the seminal works on the green economy: /The Ecology of
Commerc/e and /Natural Capitalism/, Paul Hawken attempts in the new book
to count and classify both the number of organisations in this movement.
He estimates about 1.5 million!
And the diversity of issues they work on at least 400.
WISER Earth (WISER = World Index of Social & Environmental Responsibility)
To help build the connective tissue that ties this movement together,
Hawken's nonprofits /Natural Capital Institute (NCI) / has just launched
a related project called WISER Earth (WISER = World Index of Social and
Environmental Responsibility), which aims to build an _interactive
directory_ of all 1.5 million groups in this global movement.
The institute's staff has seeded the database with profiles of over
140,000 organisations. But, realising they couldn't possibly do all the
research or legwork needed to grow the database to include all the
groups they believe are out there, NCI has opened up the system so that,
like _Wikipedia_, anyone can create or edit an organisation's profile.
And they've added tools that make it easy for organisations to use the
database for their own purposes. SO GET ON THERE! THIS COULD BE THE
NODE POINT FROM WHICH IT ALL FINALLY KIKKS OFF!
www.wiserearth.org
UP! I bought some Armageddon cheese today, and printed on the packet
was: 'BEST BEFORE END' [thanks to john morris]
*
*
*Nu Rave, New Crackdown *
*/"Illegal raves could sweep the nation again this summer/" *
*British local authorities issued a 5 point plan for councils to fight
free parties this week, urging them to monitor Myspace and to pay
particularly close attention to dangerous /'nu rave'/ bands including
the 'Klaxons, New Young Pony Club, Trash Fashion and Hot Chip' (the
Guardian).
/"Illegal raves could sweep the nation again this summer with many
taking place around festival days,"/ the Local Government Association
(LCA) warned in their detailed set of guidelines about the imminent
threat, /"War will be waged against illegal ravers,"/ they declared.
Defining /'nu rave'/ as 'a style of music fusing elements of disco,
electronic and punk' the Association suggested councils should set aside
approved venues though cautioned /'but it depends what partygoers wish
to do there and whether what goes on is acceptable or not.'/
/"If they have nothing to hide, they should talk to their council about
putting on a legitimate event" /said LCA spokesman Councillor Chris
White. /"But if their motives are less honourable then they will be
dealt with by using the full force of the law,"/ he added.
The surprising declaration emerged days after cops in East Anglia used a
helicopter and scores of officers to track suspected ravers - _with
mixed results_, all 400 dancers reportedly got away with it by deviously
managing to avoid upsetting any neighbours by partying in a remote
forest near Swaffham.
Police helicopter game:
http://www.miniclip.com/games/police-chopper/en
[Skrufff.com]
UP! I went into a shop and said, /"Can someone sell me a kettle?"/ This
bloke said /"Kenwood?"/ I said, /"Where's he then?"/ [thanks to john
morris]
*
* (\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)
(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)*
*Get UP! /Stand Up For Your Rights! //(and everybody else's too of
course! :)/*
*///u can't understand the world without innerstanding yourself/*
*//UP! 253 10 06 07*
*/LA- LA- LA- LAP-TOPPLING DA SYSTEM!/*
*///u cant innerstand yourself without understanding the world///*
*// Get UP! /And Don't Give Up The Fight! //(only we don't mean
violence, ok? :)/*
*(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)*
*FEATURING /exclusive re-writes & re-mixes of da freshest deepest hacks
ancient & modern ,and/*
*/SAMPLES// from media & mentalities all over, & all bubbling //up!
// from da public DNA Herself!/*
*(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)*
* *
*
I asked you once who had subscribed me. I still haven't found out.
> > now you'll never know! cos i don't. and can't find out at this late
date.
c me as an angel maybe?
Then I got in trouble from my parents for getting you to send the UP!
to some conservative friends of theirs in the US -
unfortunately they found out I was behind it - my name was on it somehow!
Thanks a lot, fraser!!!
> > c me as a devil praps?
But it was worth it - love your opinions
although I do believe in the historical jeezuz.
> > well, nobody's perfick :)
and nobody write in that that's ambiguous cos i meant it that way :)
Peace love and harmony,
Nicole, somewhere in Canada.
UP! *My mate is in love with two schoolbags. I reckon he was born a
bisatchel. * [thanks to john morris]
*
*_contents_... *
*p.04 Earth Is Not A 'What'
p.05 If It Feels Good to Be Good, It's Probably Only Natural
p.07 Hey Man, We're All Hippies Now. Far Out! - The Times
p.08 THE JFK "PLOT": ANOTHER GROSSLY INFLATED THREAT?
p.11 MDMA A Brief History /- the facts./
p.14 Marijuana March Activists Brutalised by Moscow Police
p.15 DOGS & Festivals /_FEEDBACK_/.
p.16 the biggest israeli _lie_, /_FEEDBACK_/
*UP! /"Eurostar?" /asked/ /the driver when I asked for a train ticket.
/"Well," /I said modestly:/ "I've been on telly but I'm no Dean
Martin". /[thanks to john morris]// *
*
*Earth Is Not A 'What'*
*In the reality outside our limited conceptions, our planet is something
of which we do not yet have an even vaguely accurate metaphor. Our
current concepts are flatter than our early maps of the world were ---
and in dimensions our knowledge hasn't yet equipped us to locate, let
alone take measure of. *
* *
* We can't yet discuss this flatness problem whose results have
afflicted our species in amplifying waves of confusion and atrocity
since our ancestors' early introduction to symbolic representation. *
* *
*Earth is not a what, or a thing --- or a god --- she is more like
something /'beyond animal'/ that is alive, complex, and self-aware in
ways that put the broken toys of our common models to shame.*
* *
* *
*Our lack of a decent concept-form within which to contain or discuss
her, however, doesn't mean we cannot explore models more alike with
reality than with our 'expectations'. For example, we can understand
that Earth is a transentient hyperstructure. Like our own bodies, she
magnifies the diverse relation of her myriad constituents into seemingly
impossible potentials of awareness.*
* *
*As an animal, she _invests_ her organismal, biocognitive, emotional and
relational complexity in her children --- of which she is _comprised_.
Each organism on Earth i - not merely a participant - but a complete
instance of her.*
* *
*Which means that her offspring are entirely different from another of
our _brokenly flat concepts_: animal. Organisms on Earth are sentient
hyperstructures like Earth --- _first_ --- and only 'animals or plants
or cells' second --- if at all.*
* *
*Earth is not inhabited by animals. Just like you and I, she's
comprised of scalarly relational dimensions of biocognitive organs.*
* *
*She is not a thing, or an object, at all. What Earth is has nothing to
do with inanimacy. She is a cup into which sunlight flows and within
which an endless living library has been learning itself for more
biological time than we could make numbers about. *
* *
*In at least three dimensions, Earth is many times the age of the
physical universe she inhabits... and so are you.*
* ** *
*Earth is a sentience nursery, with powers, transports, and purposes
that are so beyond our expectations that none of our stories have ever
more than hinted at what is actually here, with(in) and around us: *
*a living library billions of factors the age of our Star.*
**
*
> > this next bit is probly wrong :)
*
* *
*As we rediscover the accessible realities of relation here on Earth, we
will cease to long so fervently for contact with other worlds, for we
will find, right here in our own biosphere --- that there is nothing
else going on. I believe that the direct experience of this is going to
change what it means to be human, in a way no one ever imagined.*
* *
*I think it's happening now.*
*>> so do i. but the writer is correct only in the sense that the
dimensions of space interpenetrate each other RIGHT HERE, rather than
across the wilderness desert of inevitably endless space that we
'expect' now :)
http://www.organelle.org/organelle/eaindex2.html [remix]
up!
*
*Science Finally Plods To The '/Discovery'/ That, If It Feels Good to Be
Good, It's Probably Only Natural *
*by Shankar Vedantam / Washington Post *
*The e-mail came from the next room.
/"You gotta see this!"/ Jorge Moll had written. Moll and Jordan
Grafman, neuroscientists at the /National Institutes of Health/, had
been scanning the brains of volunteers as they were asked to think about
a scenario involving either
a) donating a sum of money to charity or
b) keeping it for themselves.
As Grafman read the e-mail, Moll came bursting in. The scientists
stared at each other. Grafman was thinking, /"Whoa -- wait a minute!"/
The results were showing that when the volunteers placed the interests
of others before their own, _the generosity activated a primitive part
of the brain that usually lights up in response to food or sex._
Altruism, the experiment suggested, was not a superior moral faculty
that suppresses basic selfish urges, but rather was _basic to the brain,
hard-wired & pleasurable._
Their 2006 finding that unselfishness can feel good lends scientific
support to the admonitions of spiritual leaders that it's in giving that
we Receive :) But it's also a dramatic example of the way neuroscience
has begun to elbow its way into discussions about morality and has
opened up a new window on what it means to be good.
Grafman and others are using brain imaging and psychological experiments
to study whether the brain has a built-in moral compass. The results -
many published just in recent months - are showing, _unexpectedly_
> > to some :)
that many aspects of morality appear to be hard-wired in the brain, most
likely the result of evolutionary processes that began in other species.
> > don't miss this. altruism and helping the Big Picture is
evolutionary while Dinos who go for power are anti-evolutionary.
No one can say whether giraffes and lions experience moral qualms in the
same way people do, but it is known that animals can sacrifice their own
interests: One experiment found that _if each time a rat is given food,
its neighbour receives an electric shock, the first rat will eventually
forego eating._
> > the parallel with today's planetary situation is, well, scary, yet
inspiring.
What the new research is showing is that morality has biological roots -
like the reward centre in the brain that lit up in Grafman's experiment
- that have been around for a very long time.
The more researchers learn, the more it appears that the foundation of
morality is empathy. Being able to recognise - even experience
vicariously - what another creature is going through was an important
leap in the evolution of social behaviour. And it is only a short step
from this awareness to many human notions of right and wrong, says Jean
Decety, a neuroscientist at the /University of Chicago/.
The research enterprise has been viewed with interest by philosophers
and theologians, but already some worry that it raises troubling
questions. Reducing morality and immorality to brain chemistry - rather
than free will - might diminish the importance of personal
responsibility. Even more important, some wonder whether the very idea
of morality is somehow degraded if it turns out to be just another
evolutionary tool that nature uses to help species survive and propagate.
> > will they NEVER innerstand???!!! it's this 'ancient part of the
brain' stuff. it's more likely we LOST contact with an integral part of
our Psyche when we hit our current anti-Nature path around 5000BC. yes,
our Problem is that deep, or did u think we just had to drive a bit less?!
Moral decisions can often feel like abstract intellectual challenges,
> > OH REALLY?! maybe i'm missing something.
but a number of experiments such as the one by Grafman have shown that
emotions are _central_ to moral thinking. In another experiment
published in March, /University// of Southern California/ neuroscientist
Antonio R. Damasio and his colleagues showed that patients with damage
to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex of the brain lack the ability to
feel their way to moral answers. When confronted with moral dilemmas,
the brain-damaged patients coldly came up with
/"end-justifies-the-means"/ answers.
Damasio said the point was not that they reached immoral conclusions,
but that when confronted by a difficult issue - such as whether to shoot
down a passenger plane hijacked by terrorists before it hits a major
city - these patients appear to reach decisions without the anguish that
afflicts those with normally functioning brains.
> > meaning the human is not well made for soldiering. or modern
politics. or, actually, most of so-called post-modern society.
up!
*
*Hey Man, We're All Hippies Now. Far Out! *
*The Times/Mary Ann Sieghart/May 25, 2007 *
*Love isn't quite all you need in life. But it's a whole lot better
than hate. And if that ideal continues to pervade British society, then
we should be profoundly grateful to the /Summer of Love/ which took
place 40 years ago in 1967.
According to a YouGov poll for Readers Digest, _we are all hippies now_.
And it's not just the maxi dresses flooding out of /Topshop/ or the
instant sell-out of Glastonbury tickets. The values of peace, love,
greenery, independence of mind and sexual freedom are no longer
alternative but _mainstream_.
Three quarters of us now agree with sex before marriage, 82% want to
save the planet and 48% believe in questioning authority. Roughly the
same proportion think there are too many rules in society and a similar
percentage -- the same people, perhaps? -- enjoy walking around
barefoot. Nearly half of Britons say they agree with the slogan "MAKE
LOVE NOT WAR" and 35% think there is never any excuse for war.
You may think that some hippy values have been taken too far. Perhaps a
little more deference would be desirable. But you have to remember the
world from which the hippies burst: _the stultified, uptight, rigidly
hierarchical society_ of the 1950s and early 1960s, in which wives were
expected to give up their jobs and wear pinnies. The hippies' rejection
of 1950s values was a great hurricane of fresh air blowing into a stale
room whose windows had been painted shut for decades.
People then felt trapped by social convention. Women in particular had
very little power over their lives. It was the hippies' insight that
everyone should be allowed to break out and be themselves, not be forced
into a persona that had been ordained by others -- real freedom of
expression, in other words.
The hippies were also green long before their time. Many of them tried
to live _a life of self-sufficiency, growing their own food, generating
energy and building homes_. Now 47% of Britons say they would consider
trying to emulate them.
But if in general you prefer gentleness to violence, if you think nature
should be tended not destroyed, if you believe optimism, however
misguided, beats hard-faced cynicism, then you are probably, like me, an
old hippy at heart.
And the great news is that much of the rest of the country is too. We,
as a nation, have become kinder, more open and more broad-minded in the
past 40 years. We should light an incense stick for the hippies of 1967.
> > light a joint as well :)
UP! I said to this man, /"Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't you invent
Tipex?"/ [thanks to john morris]
*
* *
*(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)
(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)*
*TEXT JOCKEY // TJ PHRASER (Fraser Clark) & THE MEDIA EVOLUTION *
*MIXING THE TRACTS LIVE ON THE KEYBOARD*
*@ A MEDIA-MEME RATE OF 160 IPP * * Ideas Per Paragraph*
*_TO SUBSCRIBE SOMEONE_, WRITE I wanna get UP! TO
fraser at parallel-youniversity.com*
*TO UNSUBSCRIBE, HIT REPLY WITH REMOVE IN THE SUBJECT BOX*
*(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)*
*
*
*Conyers Requests Palast's /"Vote Caging"/ Evidence*
*Tim Griffin, formerly right-hand man to Karl Rove, has resigned as US
attorney for Arkansas, hours after BBC /"Newsnight"/ reported that
Congressman John Conyers had requested the network's evidence on
Griffin's involvement in /"caging voters."/
Greg Palast, reporting for both BBC "/Newsnight/" and /"Democracy Now,"/
obtained a series of confidential emails dating from the 2004
presidential election, in which the GOP operative transmitted so-called
/"caging lists"/ of voters to state party leaders for their names to be
struck from the lists.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060407R.shtml
up!
*
*THE JFK "PLOT": *
*ANOTHER GROSSLY INFLATED THREAT? *
*by Bill Van Auken
The news in the US was dominated by screaming headlines and
sensationalist broadcast coverage of an _alleged_ plot in New York to
blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport's jet fuel tanks and
supply lines. The attack would have been, according to many accounts,
/"more devastating than September 11."/
The indictment included features that have become almost invariable in
every such /"terror"/ case brought by the government in recent years.
1) the suspects had _carried out no acts of terror_
2) they _lacked any means to realize such an attack._
3) a central figure in the alleged plot was a _paid undercover FBI
informant_.
Broadcast networks spoke of the worst threat since the attacks on New
York and Washington in 2001, while reporters conducted random interviews
with passengers passing through JFK as well as residents living near the
pipelines, asking how they felt about their supposed near brush with death.
Rupert Murdoch's /New York Post/ referred to the alleged plot as an
"INFERNO PLAN" and carried an editorial stating that the purported plan
/"to do calamitous damage to JFK International Airport and surrounding
residential neighbourhoods underscores yet again the overarching threat
Islamist terrorism poses to America."/
> > pardon?
The /New York Daily News/ carried 5 pages on the /"plot,"/ with a
ludicrous front-page headline, "EVIL ATE AT TABLE EIGHT," promoting an
inside interview with the Brooklyn waitress who served a meal to Russell
Defreitas, whom the paper describes as the /"mastermind"/ of the alleged
plot, just before he was picked up by federal agents and police.
Yet the profile of Defreitas, a 63-year-old US citizen who emigrated
from Guyana 25 years ago, hardly suggests a terrorist /"mastermind."/ A
former friend describes him as someone who, before becoming a Muslim,
had declared himself a Rastafarian and grown dreadlocks. He recalled
his involvement in various business schemes to ship air conditioners or
refrigerators to Guyana, none of which ever came to anything.
/"He couldn't even fix brakes,"/ the former friend said/. "He never
built bombs."/
Other accounts described him as a retired worker living in an
impoverished Brooklyn neighbourhood, who on various occasions had been
homeless. /New York Newsday/, for example, reported, /"Since being laid
off from his job as a cargo worker several years ago, Russell Defreitas
has lived a meek existence - at times sleeping in trains and trying to
eke out a living running two-bit scams, selling incense on street
corners and collecting welfare, acquaintances said."/
Also charged in the indictment are Abdul Kadir, a citizen of Guyana and
former member of the Guyanese Parliament, Kareem Ibrahim, a citizen of
Trinidad. A fourth defendant, Abdel Nur, also a citizen of Guyana, has
yet to be arrested.
A key figure in the alleged plot, however, is named in the indictment
only as /"the source."/ He is identified as a convicted drug trafficker
who, in exchange for favourable consideration on a pending jail sentence
as well as cash payments, agreed to infiltrate the supposed terrorist cell.
Much of the evidence contained in the indictment consists of recordings
of conversations between /"the source"/ and the defendants. What
emerges clearly, however, is the leading role this /"informant"/ played
in the alleged plot. Defreitas is quoted as saying that they saw him as
someone /"sent by Allah"/ to lead them.
The indictment also refers to meetings and recorded conversations
between both Defreitas and the source and individuals in Guyana, who are
identified only as /"Individuals A through F."/
These 6 unnamed men are quoted proposing a wide range of terrorist
activity, including smuggling /"mujahideen from Asia into Guyana and
then into the United States,"/ blowing up US helicopters at the Guyanese
airport and the plan to blow up the JFK fuel system. On this last
proposal, these unnamed individuals also suggest the use of dynamite and
chemical explosives and advise on how to obtain these materials. One of
these individuals also proposes that the plotters seek the assistance of
a Trinidadian Islamist group, Jamaat al Muslimeen. In the account of
these conversations, Defreitas is not quoted as saying anything.
The obvious question is why have these 6 unnamed "individuals" not been
charged. One likely explanation is that they too were, in one form or
another, participants in an elaborate effort to ensnare a hapless and
sometimes homeless retiree and others in a plot that was fundamentally
staged by the US government for its own purposes.
The blood-curdling accounts in the media largely reflected the highly
charged language of US prosecutors and police officials in presenting
the indictment. Roslynn Mauskopf, the US attorney in Brooklyn, New
York, in announcing the charges, said, /"Had the plot been carried out,
it could have resulted in unfathomable damage, deaths and destruction."/
She added, /"The devastation that would be caused had this plot
succeeded is just unthinkable."/
The words /"unfathomable"/ and /"unthinkable"/ were undoubtedly chosen
carefully, as the type of chain reaction of explosions described in the
indictment was quite simply _impossible_. Both airport security
officials and pipeline experts dismissed the allegedly catastrophic
disaster that supposedly would have been triggered by blowing up a fuel
pipeline or storage tanks.
While the federal indictment suggested that such an explosion could
travel along the pipelines linking tanks in Linden, New Jersey into
Brooklyn, New York and across the borough of Queens, this is
_impossible_, both because the pipelines are equipped with safety valves
that shut off the flow of fuel in the event of a leak and because there
is inadequate oxygen inside the pipes to sustain a fire.
The /New York Times/ clearly signalled its scepticism about the federal
indictment by placing stories on the JFK /"plot"/ on its /Metro/ pages,
quoting Neal Sonnett, a defence lawyer and former federal prosecutor, as
saying, /"There unfortunately has been a tendency to shout too loudly
about such cases."/
The /Times/ article went on to say that Sonnett, also a former president
of the National Association of /Criminal Defence Lawyers/, /"noted that
there is a broader risk in overstating the sophistication of a terror
plot. At a time when many Americans live in justified fear of an
attack, the risk is that drumbeating creates a climate of fear and
drives public policy."/
> > which, of course, let us remember, is the precise AIM of any terrorist.
There is every reason to believe that the succession of "terror" cases,
each one weaker than the last and virtually all of them driven by
/"informants"/ who seem to play more the role of agents provocateur, are
aimed at achieving precisely this effect. They serve as a means of
intimidating public opinion with fear, justifying attacks on democratic
rights and diverting attention from the ongoing debacle in Iraq.
The problem faced by the government is that the public is growing
increasingly sceptical about these cases, with a sizeable portion of the
population having concluded that they are trumped up for political
purposes.
Under these conditions, the danger is that those who now control the
reins of power in Washington may be concluding that something more
tangible is needed.
On the same day that the alleged JFK /"terror plot"/ broke in the news,
the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette published a revealing interview with that
state's new Republican Party chairman, who described himself as /"150%
for Bush."/
/"At the end of the day,"/ said state party chairman Dennis Milligan,
the owner of a water treatment business, /"I believe fully the president
is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on
American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001 ], and the naysayers will
come around very quickly..."/
The question is whether elements in the Bush administration are reaching
similar conclusions and preparing to engineer or allow another round of
terrorist attacks /"on American soil"/ as a pretext for suppressing the
overwhelming popular opposition to its policies.
www.wsws.org
UP! I just met the bloke who invented crosswords. Can't remember his
name, it's P something T something R. [thanks to john morris]
*
*MDMA A Brief History
*
*MDMA [3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine: 'Ecstasy'] was first
synthesized in 1912 by the German pharmaceutical company Merck. MDMA
was patented in Darmstadt, Germany on May 16th 1914, issue number
274,350; _and promptly forgotten_. Merck's researchers had no idea of
the significance of what they had done. Merck were searching for a good
vasoconstrictor, a styptic to reduce bleeding. In 1912 two of their
chemists, G. Mannish and W. Jacobsohn, created MDMA as a by-product
while attempting to synthesise hydrastinin. MDMA is listed on Merck's
patent-application merely as a chemical intermediate /"for products of
potential pharmaceutical value"./
MDMA surfaced again briefly as one of a number of agents used in
clandestine US military research during the 1950s. The CIA's Project
MK-Ultra was investigating new techniques of brainwashing, espionage and
mind-control. MDMA, code-named EA-1475, was tested at the US Army's
Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland. However, unlike LSD or the ill-named
/"truth drug"/ scopolamine, MDMA was used only on animals: mice, rats,
pigs, monkeys and dogs.
_Thankfully, __MDMA__'s military potential was not realised. For
although __MDMA__ is no infallible truth-serum, its effects on the human
user might indeed be abused for sinister purposes by skilled
interrogators. The heightened emotional responsiveness, lowering of
defensive barriers, openness and sense of closeness to others induced by
__MDMA__ can promote an honesty of self-disclosure that might be
manipulated for malign ends. Fortunately, this hasn't yet happened on
an organised scale._
The identity of the first human being to take MDMA/Ecstasy isn't known.
The drug gained prominence only in the late 1970s. Tipped off by
Merrie Kleinman, a graduate student in the medicinal chemistry group he
advised at San Francisco State University, the legendary Californian
psychedelic chemist Alexander ("Sasha") Shulgin synthesized and
taste-tested MDMA at incrementally ascending doses.
> > his regular method.
Ironically, Dr Shulgin had himself synthesized MDMA in 1965, but hadn't
tried it, an error of omission he later did much to repair. The effects
of a 120mg dose of MDMA are recorded in Dr Shulgin's lab-notes (Sept 1976):
/"I feel absolutely clean inside, and there is nothing but pure
euphoria. I have never felt so great or believed this to be possible.
The cleanliness, clarity, and marvellous feeling of solid inner
strength continued throughout the rest of the day and evening. I am
overcome by the profundity of the experience..." /
In the first published scholarly paper [Shulgin,A.T. & Nichols,D.E.:
Characterisation of three new psychotomimetics. In: Stillman,R.C. &
Willette,R.E. (Eds.) The Pharmacology of hallucinogens. New York:
Pergamon, 1978] on MDMA use in humans, Dr Shulgin and Dr David Nichols
describe the effects of MDMA on the human psyche as /"an easily
controlled altered state of consciousness with emotional and sensual
overtones."/ The well-connected stepfather of MDMA soon introduced the
drug to the wider scientific community. Some of Dr Shulgin's friends,
notably the /"Johnny Appleseed of MDMA",/ Leo Zeff, were professional
therapists. They in turn introduced MDMA to colleagues as a valuable
adjunct to psychotherapy.
Later, in 1991, Dr Shulgin and his wife Ann published /PiHKAL
[Phenethylamines I Have Known And Loved]: A Chemical Love Story./
/PiHKAL/ describes the synthesis and systematic testing on human
subjects of a range of novel or neglected phenethylamine research drugs.
/PiHKAL/ also offers a uniquely sophisticated methodology for human
psychopharmacology and the scientific study of mind as an experimental
discipline.
By the early 1980s, over a thousand private psychotherapists in the USA
were using MDMA in their clinical practice. It was commonly known as
/"Adam",/ an allusion to /"being returned to the natural state of
innocence before guilt, shame and unworthiness arose"./ MDMA was used
discreetly; no one wanted a re-run of the 60s. Dr Shulgin himself
reportedly felt MDMA came closest to fulfilling his ambition of finding
the _perfect psychotherapeutic drug_.
Inevitably word leaked out. MDMA was profiled by the /San Francisco
Chronicle/ as /"The Yuppie Psychedelic"/ (10 June 1984). In /Newsweek/,
J Adler /["High on 'Ecstasy",/ April 15 1985] likened his experience to
/"a year of therapy in two hours"./ /Harpers Bazaar/ described MDMA as
/"the hottest thing in the continuing search for happiness through
chemistry"./ Unsurprisingly, MDMA use soon spread beyond the couch and
clinic to the wider world. Its now universal brand-name, /"Ecstasy",/
was coined in 1981 by a member of a Los Angeles distribution network.
The unnamed distributor, quoted in Bruce Eisner's /Ecstasy:The MDMA
Story/ (1989), apparently chose the name /"Ecstasy" /because /"it would
sell better than calling it 'Empathy'. 'Empathy' would be more
appropriate, but how many people know what it means?"/ Condemned by
purists as a cynical marketing ploy, the brand-name /"Ecstasy"/ isn't
wholly misleading [/ecstasy: "an overpowering emotion or exaltation; a
state of sudden intense feeling. Rapturous delight. The frenzy of poetic
inspiration. Mental transport or rapture from the contemplation of
divine things"/]. Many first-time MDMA users do indeed become ecstatic.
Some people report feeling truly well for the first time in their lives.
In the early 1980s, American production of MDMA beyond the research
laboratory was effectively controlled by chemists known as the /"Boston
Group". / Somewhat incongruously, MDMA was especially popular in Texas,
where the Southwest distributor for the Boston Group launched his own
commercial operation. Mass-production by the so-called /"Texas Group"/
began in 1983; supply (and demand) soon mushroomed. Ecstasy was
distributed openly in bars and nightclubs in Dallas and Fort Worth. It
could be purchased via toll-free 800-numbers by credit card. The drug
was even marketed via pyramid-style selling-schemes. Ecstasy could be
bought in little bottles at convenience stores under the label
/"Sassafras",/ a tongue-in-cheek allusion to the botanical origins of
its precursor.
> > my information is that it started to really first take off in the gay
scene.
The DEA reacted by petitioning to have MDMA banned altogether. In 1985
the drug-warriors succeeded in having it made Schedule One, one is the
most restricted of all drug categories i.e. MDMA had allegedly /"no
legitimate medical use or manufacturer"/ in the USA; it lacked safety
for use even under medical supervision; and it carried a "high potential
for abuse". But by then MDMA's fame had spread across the Atlantic. It
had metamorphosed from /"Adam",/ the psychotherapeutic tool, to
/"Ecstasy",/ the dance drug.
> >dancing being, of course, one of the finest forms of therapy for
Westerners:)
MDMA was first introduced to Europe via the sannyasins, disciples of
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Interestingly, "Sannyasa" is Sanskrit for
complete or perfect renunciation. Cult members slipped MDMA into the
drinks of rich sympathisers to open up their hearts and their wallets.
> > imagine what the CIA would have done with it!
Ecstasy became associated with the birth of Acid House music in the
Spanish tourist resort of Ibiza. By the summer of '86, Ibiza was
popularly known as /"XTC Island"./ Returning tourists and disc-jockeys
took the message back home. _The UK's rave scene was born_. Hundreds
of thousands of tablets were consumed each weekend in the famous
/"Summer of Love"/ (1988). The Conservative Government and its allies
in the British press were aghast. A moral panic set in at the threat to
the nation's youth. MDA, MDEA, MDMA and assorted psychedelic
amphetamines had been outlawed in the UK since 1977. Yet the Criminal
Justice and Public Order Act 1994 sought to criminalise an entire
youth-culture by suppressing music played publicly with "/_sounds wholly
or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of
repetitive beats_//"./
Soon production and distribution of the world's leading
empathogen-entactogen fell into the hands of organised crime. By the
turn of the millennium, perhaps 80-90% of the world's MDMA was
manufactured in Belgium and the Netherlands. Russian-Israeli syndicates
and Eastern European chemists are now increasingly active too. The
expertise needed in MDMA production varies according to the route of
synthesis. Over 20 recipes have been described in the literature. Only
7 are common. Clandestine production is easiest starting with MDP2P.
MDP2P (3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl-2-propanone) is a commercial product
used by the flavouring and fragrance industry. Groups with access to
MDP2P can make MDMA via a simple conversion process. Otherwise, MDMA
must be synthesized from piperonal, isosafrole, or safrole. These
primary precursor chemicals of MDMA are produced in India, China,
Poland, Germany, and increasingly elsewhere. Typically, safrole or
isosafrole are first converted to MDP2P. The essential oil safrole
occurs naturally as the primary constituent of oil of sassafras. Oil of
sassafras is found in the root-bark of US East Coast tree Sassafras
albidum and from the above-ground woody parts of the South American tree
Ocotea pretiosa. Safrole is also present in nutmeg (Myristica
fragrans), dill, parsley seed, crocus, saffron, vanilla beans, and
calamus.
Early in the 3^rd millennium, an estimated several million people
worldwide were taking Ecstasy and allied research chemicals each month
on college campuses, in high schools and on dance-floors. Purity
varies; perhaps 10%-15% of tablets consumed contain MDMA as the sole
active ingredient. Illicit knowledge of the /"penicillin of the soul"/
is spreading rapidly around the world, but in corrupt and contaminated
form.
http://www.mdma.net/#ecstasy
*
*[NEXT UP! - MDMA The Experience]
*
*UP! This policeman came up to me with a pencil and a piece of very thin
paper and said, /"I want you to trace someone for me."/ [thanks to john
morris]
/ /
*
* (\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o
the UP! is a global edutainment round-up, broadcast weekly to =[13,035]=
Alternative// Activist// Zippy// Trance// New Age// Peace folks
recommended to the Parallel YOUniversity// Megatripolis Dance Dept as
/"showing signs of life"./ Since recipients forward it widely to their
own lists & sites
we conservatively estimate _50,000+_ direct recipients.
A further 40,000 read it on the YOUniversity's site.
And, because of its 'mix' of 'specialist' & 'general' content,
it's increasingly being posted on a variety of sites worldwide,
making an estimated total weekly readership of _=[275,000]=_
(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o/)(\o
*
*
*
***Double, Double, Toil and _Trouble_
*
*William Rivers Pitt
*
*June 14 is going to be a big day, it's the date that Lewis "Scooter"
Libby will hear the outcome of his appeals process. Bush's decision on
whether to pardon Libby presents, /"_perhaps the most dangerous tipping
point facing the Bush administration_."/ Does Bush pardon Libby to
avoid /"the kind of terminal public backlash Nixon absorbed after the
firing of Archibald Cox during the Watergate scandal,"/ or should he
avoid pardoning Libby and risk Libby's decision to /"escape prison by
telling Fitzgerald what he knows?"/
> > as well as scaring the other lying thugs around him to make their own
'arrangements'. that's the biggest.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060707R.shtml
up!
*
*Bush Envisions US Presence in Iraq for 50 Years *
*Bush would like to see a lengthy US troop presence in Iraq like the one
in South Korea where the US has had thousands of US troops for 50 years
to guard against a North Korean invasion. Iraq's neighbours have raised
concerns about the possibility of the US maintaining permanent bases in
Iraq, and some US lawmakers think the Iraqi insurgency may have been
fuelled by perceptions that the United States wants a permanent presence
in the country.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/053107J.shtml
UP!
*
*Marijuana March Activists Brutalised by Moscow Police
*
*Eugene Kazachenko, Moscow, May 6, 2007
*
*>> didn't read about it anywhere among all the gay parade news?
Today my friends from the annual Marijuana March were arrested as they
were trying to unfurl a banner calling for marijuana legalisation. The
goal of the march was for medical marijuana legalisation. Now there are
people arrested. The police were very cruel, and have _arrested_ about
20 marijuana activists.
With fear for life of our brothers and sisters, my friends and I are
receiving periodical news on the radio station /Ekcho Moskvy ("The Echo
of Moscow")./ This is _the only free_ radio channel which really
informs on social and political life in Russia. It reports that police
have placed people face on the ground, have dragged girls onto the
ground and have beaten young men. Policemen have banged young mens'
faces against parked cars, and in the police department one young
activist was beaten so badly they had to call an ambulance.
Federal Service of drug control representatives have charged all
activists on the Marijuana March of making _propaganda for narcotics_.
Some policemen are trying to plant drugs on activists, and no attorney
was allowed to visit his clients. Indeed a policeman with a
sub-machine-gun did not allow attorneys to even enter the police
department.
The Marijuana March was organised by the /Cannabis Legalisation League/.
At this moment all the marijuana activists are being held in
/Presnentsky /administrative (misdemeanour) court of Moscow (phone
number of this court: +7 495 254-53-59). They are accused of
_undertaking unsanctioned meetings_. This government position breaks 31
articles of The Constitutions of Russian Federation and Public
International law.
Though many religions concern themselves with rehabilitation and
spiritual counselling for drug abusers, they never call attention to the
/actual/ position of medical cannabis. Regrettably Christians and other
Russian religions do not raise a voice on rights protection for drugs
consumers from unjustified state repression.
Eugene Kazachenko, MDiv of Moscow Theological Seminary.
http://www.hempevolution.org/media/stopthedrugwar/s070506.htm
UP!* I visited the offices of the RSPCA today. It's so tiny, you
couldn't swing a cat in there! *[thanks to john morris]
July 1 ~ 7
*
*2007 Annual Rainbow Gathering
*
*The /2007 Annual Rainbow Gathering of Living Light/ will be celebrated
July 1st through July 7th. Consensus at the 2006 /Annual Vision
Counsel/ was that the 2007 Annual Rainbow Gathering of Living Light will
be held in either Arkansas, Oklahoma or Texas.
Currently there are folks in Arkansas focalising scouting efforts along
the Buffalo River. Word at this time is there will be several Holding
camps in that area as well as other locations as soon as the Ozarks
Spring Regional is over. Look for more information on the holding camps
and a call for Vision Counsel soon.
For local potlucks, regional gatherings, campouts and other good news
please surf to the /Community Calendar/, The /Rainbow Guide/ or look in
the /Forum/ under the state you are looking for information about.
http://welcomehere.org/2007/news.php
UP! **I phoned the local ramblers club today and this bloke just went on
and on and on.* [thanks to john morris]
/_FEEDBACK_/.
*>> oh why in goddess' name do i STILL fall for this lying self-serving
shit!? *
*
Some would ask this question in connection with the lies of the official
story of 9/11.... *
Ken Jenkins, LA.
*>> fair comment :) tho it doesn't prove anything. *
UP! I phoned the local gym and I asked if they could teach me how to do
the splits. He said, /"How flexible are you?" /I said/, "I can't make
Tuesdays or Thursdays."/ [thanks to john morris]
*DOGS & Festivals */_FEEDBACK_/.
> >> i loathe the idea that festivals can only spread by
self-emasculating along the way. we MUST find the right way forward or
we shall end up with yuppie jamborees, whether it's by insisting all
dogs wear muzzles or they get licensed at 24 hour test camps before
being allowed in.
*So do I, this stuff gives me the right hump. I will boycott any
'event' that does not allow dogs to be freely with masters (oh and
mistresses). They'll be making us chip children next, and imposing
inspections on the food - inspectors 'sponsored by Monsanto'.
> > a very correct point :)
And while they are at it the lighting will zap all big insects, and the
odd tiny hand. Special chip bootee overshoes for adults - padlocked on
of course since we are all submersible under the influence of
appearances by celebs and disney much-larger-than-decent Mickey Mice....
with guitars.
any more for any more?
Jackie, West Hampstead, London.
up!
actually fraser its the police that bans dogs from festivals, and on
several grounds, its likely that the agreement to hold the festival
would have included a specification that a no dogs policy would be
enforced before they issued the license - i.e. no dogs or no festival.
i work in festivals and i know i signed an agreement with the police to
this effect quite recently.
Bernadette Valelly, Liverpool
> > well i've been pretty involved in festivals over the years and i
never came across such in my time. what motive would the police have?
hygiene? chasing sheep? i can see the farmer landlord taking an
attitude - and quite rightly so, up to a point - but... ? *
UP! When I told my girlfriend I had a job in a bowling alley, she said
/"Tenpin?"/
/"No, it's a permanent job" /I told her. [thanks to john morris]//
the single biggest israeli _lie_, /_FEEDBACK_/
> >> parroted for decades by every israel-supporter, is that the
surrounding arab states attacked first.
Hey fraser, don't forget the Israeli attack on Egypt (almost certainly
with the Backing of France and probably UK) that acted as an excuse for
the Suez war.
Jeff Lewis, Brighton, UK.
UP! So this lorry full of tortoises collided with a van full of
terrapins. A turtle disaster. [thanks to john morris]
*Fraser, could you resend UP! 252?
Enjoy your writing, but my server "filtered it" and put it in another
format. I have received your newsletter for years w/out any problems.
I look forward to it and linked to it on my educational website on
sustainable culture w/ around 1,000 links. unifiedcommunity.info Keep
up your fine work.
From the left coast republic of Santa Cruz. *
Paul Gaylon, Santa Cruz, California.
UP! This blond Swedish bloke with a didgeridoo was playing Dancing
Queen. Abbariginal, right? [thanks to john morris]
a l l g o o d t h i n g s c o m e t o a n e n d
which don't justify nuttin'
U U U U U U U U U U U U U U UP! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! !
YOUR PLANET NEEDS //YOU! This HipList grows purely by recommendation.
SO RECOMMEND SOMEONE 2DAY!!!!!!!!!!
YES, YES, SEND US EDUTAINING NEWS'N VIEWS no need to ask! :-)
FOR MORE FRASER ON RAVE CULTURE & THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, VISIT
WWW.PARALLEL-YOUNIVERSITY.COM/fraser
<http://www.parallel-youniversity.com/fraser>
TO UNSUBSCRIBE, HIT REPLY WITH REMOVE IN THE SUBJECT BOX
U U U U U U U U U U U U U U UP! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
! ! ! !
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://lists.aktivix.org/pipermail/pagan-magik/attachments/20070610/ce37bd19/attachment-0001.htm
More information about the pagan-magik
mailing list