Showing posts with label activists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label activists. Show all posts

Korean Dog News: They Have decided to Stop Eating Dogs... Headline: No more breeding and stealing dogs for meat in South Korea! Animal welfare campaigners hail decision as ‘historic victory’ after years of pressure at home and abroad...

I Eat Meat. Every Day... and If I Was Served Dog, I would eat it.... But here in the USA We don't do that... perhaps because we have the option of not eating dog... Maybe in Korea they face Severe hunger... and eating Dog is a Solution... I voluntarily choose to eat Cows, Pigs, deer, chickens and turkey... and every type of fish... but we don't eat dogs, horses, cats or pretty small birds... and we do not eat humans... how these cultural norms are decided I do not know... and what they do in Korea... is their own business...not mine...

Obituary for a Good Dog in California: LM Said:
Fare-thee-well to Millie the Hound Dog. She was 15, our most long lived canine companion. Came to us as a three year old escape artist from Red Bluff. She continued her wandering ways in Manton and could clear a standard four foot field fence like a blue ribbon high jumper. Also sailed through the air at head height to snag tennis balls. The girl could fly. Eventually she realized she was living in doggy paradise and stopped running away.
She was a pure bred Blue Tick Coon Hound without a lot of the usual speckles or barking. A quiet hound who was good with people, but particular about other dogs. The first time she met the dynamic duo of Artie and Danny (lab crosses who were about her age) she tried to crawl over Liz in the car to attack them. It didn't take her long to figure out they were more useful as her soldiers than enemies. The three of them made up our Best Pack Ever for several years.
Millie was one of the healthiest dogs we've known, rarely needing any vet care beyond annual shots. She aged gracefully, slowing down but always moving - that's a clue, humans. She went on the twice a day field walk every day until last month. At the end she could still climb stairs, eat a full meal, let us know she needed to go outside, and even bark warnings at the new girl Lucky, who quickly learned that Grandma Millie meant business. She was low maintenance, high energy, and a lot of bluster. She tolerated cats, but let them know she wasn't their buddy. She looked like a baby dragon with velociraptor feet when she coiled up to sleep and was stingy with her soft kisses. She could be aloof, but she loved her pack and made us laugh with all her seriousness. We miss you already Sweet Millie. Run, Jump, Fly Good Girl! We'll see you on the Other Side.

Go into the Light - by gvan42


and on a different Subject: SE Said:

I'm in a lot of Gen X groups, and I generally like the content, but it gets so tiring the way people constantly call each other "boomer" as an insult, or say things like "This post has boomer energy" or "This post has boomer vibes." I'm talking practically EVERY post. No matter what it is, usually the very first comment has the word "boomer" in it. I've even been called a "boomer" in some of the Gen X groups, simply for agreeing with a post.
Some of the so-called "boomer" posts are memes which reminisce about the past, and they sometimes say things like, "Those were the best times" or "We grew up in the best times" or "We had the best cars, the best music, etc." For some reason, those types of sentiments have "boomer energy." I realize that every generation probably feels the same way. You reach a certain age, and you look back on your past, and there are certain things which suddenly seem really special. It doesn't matter if you're a boomer or Gen X or a Millennial or Gen Z, when you reach a certain age, you will most likely feel that way about the music, fashions, and cars that were popular when you were young.
So why the endless, ENDLESS references to the boomers? These are Gen X groups. Gen X people are sharing those memes. Millennials are probably sharing similar memes in their groups. Why is there so much focus on the boomers? It's getting really old. People can't help when they were born. The boomers can't help the fact that they're boomers any more than I can help the fact that I'm Gen X. And the older I get, the more I look back on my childhood, teen, and young adult years with nostalgia and a certain sense of wishing certain things were still the way they were then. This is not something only the boomers feel, it's universal.
I hope there comes a day in the not-too-distant future when people tire of using the word "boomer" as an insult.

anti-boomer meme - gen XYZ


JB Said:
Those who love to bash “boomers” are also willingly overlooking the fact that the “boomers” are responsible for things like the EPA and Roe v Wade.

SE Replied:
I've always been fascinated with the things boomers got to experience when they were young. I often wished I'd been born earlier so I could have experienced the Summer of Love and Woodstock. But like I said in my post, nobody chooses when they are born. My generation had cool things too. Every generation does. But the boomers had some REALLY cool stuff in their time.

CW Said: 
It irritates me too. Not because I'm a boomer (I am) but because it's so bloody unoriginal! It's like the "Karen" thing... People are, seemingly, incapable of producing new tropes or even insults beyond every decade or so. So they trot out "boomer" or "Karen" and enjoy the frisson of thinking they've needled someone to the core... When in fact they're just flagging themselves up as part of the slack-jawed, stumbling herd.

AK Said:
It's a bit odd that Gen X would be making fun of baby boomers. Usually the people that say Boomer are millennials (people who turn 18 around the year 2000) or what they call Gen z (Born after 2000). The whole generation thing is dumb. The reason we were called Gen X is because WW2 arrow was the greatest generation, and then baby boomer generation was after that until 1964. People born from 1965 to 1980 or Gen X and were called that because we were supposed to be the lost generation or the ge
neration without a title. And people misunderstood what that meant, and names the next people Gen y and then Gen z. So people like that calling people Boomer and making fun of them is just another way of showing how clueless they are. Who cares what age somebody is

and I Said: 
as if the insults by a Gen XYZ have any Importance... 

One thing We had the opportunity to do as Boomers... Taking LSD at a Grateful Dead Concert... That was a priceless Experience...

and SE aid: 
I knew a LOT of deadheads in the late 80s and early 90s. These were people my age, so definitely Gen X. There was plenty of LSD at Dead shows then, too. Definitely not just a boomer thing. I worked with Deadheads back in those days. They were awful to work with because they missed a lot of work due to the fact that they were stuck in some far-off place following the Dead. So people like me had to pick up their slack.

and I Replied: 
I guess you are right... I wasn't paying attention to the age of the other people... they WERE much younger than me... but I didn't care... we Were all family...

Mandala Art by gvan42

Mandala Art by gvan42

Mandala Art by gvan42

Mandala Art by gvan42

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.
As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."
"In 1984", Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure."
In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. ~Neil Postman

The Passage of Roe v Wade Led to Fewer Unwanted Babies Being Born... and 20 Years Later, Less Violent Crime... Because Unwanted Babies Grow Up to Become Violent Criminals... SEE? Choice Turned Out To Be A Great Idea!

Lets Make Birth Control and Abortion Free and Legal Worldwide... We Have too Many People On Planet Earth Already... Forcing Women Give Birth to Unwanted Babies is INSANE.


Pro-Choice American Flag meme - Please Share Worldwide - Thank You!


Quite Often I Hear "Anti- Choice" Activists Yelling about "Yadda Yadda Yadda" but... In Fact... Those People are Simply Wrong... and The Majority of Americans are In Favor of Abortion Being Legal... WITH GOOD REASON!



~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

KEEP ABORTION LEGAL. I know a Woman that threw herself out of a speeding car and landed on her belly in order to Cause a Miscarriage... Really... At that time, Abortion was Illegal and She Really Didn't want to have that Baby... tRUMP IS ANTI-CHOICE.

KEEP ABORTION LEGAL... I know another woman whose boyfriend did not want her to have his baby... so he kicked her in the belly and she miscarried... There ARE better surgical methods... Really...

KEEP ABORTION LEGAL... I remember that a friend of mine drove his girlfriend to Tijuana to get an abortion. Was that "Hospital" the highest quality? It is likely that Actual Doctors in the USA give better Health Care than TJ's Finest. In Olden Days abortions were often performed by random lawbreakers... Not a great system... This is important because BOTCHED abortions can leave the woman sterile. Maybe she doesn't want a baby at age 15 but at age 22 she does.. A Botched abortion removes that option. NO Choice. 


MEME - GOP IS ANTI-CHOICE - KEEP ABORTION LEGAL - gvan42
GOP IS ANTI-CHOICE - KEEP ABORTION LEGAL

To Republicans, Right and Wrong JUST DON'T MATTER. It's a Morality Free Life. My Mom taught me to Do Good and Avoid Evil. Well, Republicans don't do that.

 They just ask Do We Win? Will it work? Will it give US an advantage? Total disregard for the Ten Commandments... 

That's the Reason SO MANY REPUBLICANS END UP IN PRISON... 

Steve Bannon=Arrested, Roger Stone=Guilty, Paul Manafort=Guilty, Mike Flynn=Guilty, Michael Cohen=Guilty, Rick Gates=Guilty, George Papadopoulos=Guilty, Alexander Vanderzwaan=Guilty, Maria Butina=Guilty, Paul Erickson = Guilty, Duncan Hunter=Guilty, Chris Collins=Guilty, George Nader=Guilty, Elliott Broidy=Arrested
CAN YOU SPOT THE FREAKING TREND?

Mad Magazine Cover - Trump

LINK TO BUY THE "Make America Groovy Again" EMBROIDERED HAT:

"Make America Groovy Again" Embroidered Hat


Links to My Music Videos on Youtube... gregvanderlaan - singing and playing Guitar... Original Protest Songs --- Plus Four Kinetic Sculpture Race Art Bicycle Videos - Arcata, CA

Main Videos Page: Chords and Lyrics Provided so You Can Learn Them and Make a Hit Record!

https://www.youtube.com/user/gregvanderlaan/videos

Selfie - Music Video - Greg Vanderlaan Youtube

Currents of the Sound: https://youtu.be/FFBQMhBJihk

Ted Cruz Abandoned Texas: https://youtu.be/RHHFnBrd2CQ

Kama La La La - La La - La La: https://youtu.be/6DAv1xTCGT4

Jingle Bells: https://youtu.be/cJQBQ4_oE1U

Rudolph The Red Knows Rain Dear: https://youtu.be/cKCNaM7zqyI

We are Coming Into Alignment: https://youtu.be/s7FQGtr-GOE

Everybody's Laughing at Trump: https://youtu.be/fz4Q3CYYHaA

Did You Ever Notice Reality? https://youtu.be/nPthFNI07Qo

The Lock Him Up And Throw Away the Key Blues: https://youtu.be/lS1v90vwlSo

Vote For Joe. He's Not Insane: https://youtu.be/qcUJm5N8Cjw

City of the Future: https://youtu.be/x8nqMq05V8U

I Like Trees, Big Old Trees: https://youtu.be/K40_CrkjLjs

I'm Feeling Optimistic: https://youtu.be/XGomyskdw0k

Trump's Giving Away Free Money: https://youtu.be/qCzDiuNQvG4

Say Their Name and they Live Forever. My Ancestors. https://youtu.be/YzbljIKw1_4

Happy Tune: No words, Just a Positive Emotion. Chords: G, D and C: https://youtu.be/tEQliEZRXKI

What is Bubble Up Economics? Speech: https://youtu.be/3kSBGRM3d2s

California Is Burning: https://youtu.be/HwRgS4i-9qg

Free All The Cannabis Prisoners: https://youtu.be/7Z7C0t31hww

Chernobyl, F*ck You! Shima and Three Mile Island: https://youtu.be/vDInJ3gdwsY

tRUMP'S A Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire: https://youtu.be/GclJBZgxhhU

Support the Troops. Bring 'em Home: https://youtu.be/V7_jZfFElH4

MELT the GUNS: https://youtu.be/ml5ziDRoqcc

Teenage Alien Dance Party: https://youtu.be/YaXgAAl3bAE

Television is a mirror (with a feedback loop): https://youtu.be/--HfGCqCxT8

GLOBAL ECONOMIC COLLAPSE (Genre:Bubble Gum Techno-Pop): https://youtu.be/9sP7wGwfGdw

Mescalita: https://youtu.be/yxOCAbaaVmg

Wilson Bridge: https://youtu.be/cDAE0H0tGhg

Big Medicine Song: https://youtu.be/u7uD_aWmymg

eARThsong: https://youtu.be/tERVWVZUNyw

I'm a Vidiot: https://youtu.be/GY8CmLL5vwU

Simple Treasures: https://youtu.be/CLWIRyF0YnQ

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2014 Shark:https://youtu.be/EMV6_iVsC90

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2014 Wild West Wagon: https://youtu.be/1QWIh98dYs0

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2014 Star Ship Enterprise: https://youtu.be/IquyAQNupWI

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2014 Pirate Ship: https://youtu.be/wP6pCgEw_P8

St Francis song: https://youtu.be/0FUueoT9ym8

Shasta The Cat Running: https://youtu.be/pQUHWAVDTv0

"Lessons Learned" by Gregory Vanderlaan. A Lifetime of Trial and Error Yielded These Words of Wisdom...

 #1. For Maximum Effect, Don't Read This Book. Write Your Own!

Orange Rose at Home
Intentionally Seek Beauty

"Live Your Life as If Every Action Was Going to Be Published on the Front Page of the Newspaper." - J. D. Vanderlaan

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

The Main Lesson Learned is Don't Smoke Tobacco. It Doesn't Really Get Me Very High and It Makes me Cough and Wheeze... I Smoked for 40 Years and Quit 5 Years ago. Glad I Shook That Addiction. I Started at Age 19 When I Found out That a Half and Half Blend of Marijuana and Tobacco got me Higher using less Weed. The Same Idea as "Hamburger Helper." - So I Always preferred Roll Your Own Cigarettes. Bugler or Top. and Then Later, when I Had Money... American Spirit... a Can cost $34 Dollars... 200+ Cigarettes... and I Often Stopped smoking after Half a Cigarette and saved the "Roach" for later... Unrolling it and Putting the Enhanced Tobacco Back in the Can. VERY STRONG TOBACCO near the Bottom of the Can... and I Did Experience Paranoid Schizophrenia... or as I Like to Call It: "Channeling My Inner Chewbacca." - Just a General Background Rage... and a Belief that The Government Was Spying on Me... Of Course, The Government IS Spying n Me But... They Just Don't Care... I'm Not That Much of a Threat... All That Faded Away After I Quit...

I Used FEAR to Help Me Quit. My Brother Got Lung Cancer and I Believe That Cancer Runs in Families. He Recovered. I was Afraid that I Had a High Risk of Getting Cancer Myself So... I Just Stopped... and Experienced the Pain of Withdrawal Symptoms for a Month... and Experienced the Desire for a Smoke for a Year...

On a Related Note: I Did Use Tobacco to Perform a Ceremony at Significant Locations. Just Like the Native Americans, I Have Always Smoked the Holy Places. To Certify Their Wisdom. For Example: The Park Bench overlooking the Mouth of the Mad River Where it Enters The Pacific Ocean. THAT'S A Worthy Place...

and Then I Posted on Facebook: I really want other people to Submit Their Own Lessons... Either Comment Here, on the Bottom of the Blog or Email me gregvan (at) yahoo (dot) com
 
DSW Said:
I was trying to do that a few years ago...spent several months really enjoying just letting the memories flow and actually finding some answers to things once I started writing....and then my computer DIED with no warning and I give up. Sad.

I Replied:  The Health of My Computer doesn't matter since I Write Everything on Facebook, Wordpress and Google Blogger... If This individual Laptop Fails... all my words are online...
 
DSW Said:
Anyway Greg, I do Understand. Ended up in the hospital last year for 2 months and had to go to a nursing home for a month before they would let me go home. they didn't want to. I had to beg. So during that process I ended up QUitting a 48 year smoking habit. Not much choice when you are hooked up to oxygen in the ICU.... It's been awful....My husband who I have been with since September of 1972 still smokes a bit and goes outside to do it and I can't go out there with him like we always did because I am afraid I will smoke again. I hate this.

I Replied:  I felt the Craving fade away after a year of not smoking... and YES... a Year is a Long Time... Maybe two years... but I Don't have it NOW.

KD Said:  I quit smoking 33 years ago and still have cravings. Giving up tobacco is tough.

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Secret Trick To Life: "Stop Believing Lies."
GUNS DO NOT SAVE LIVES - reality - meme - gvan42


Owning a Gun Makes Your Own Family Less Safe
and Puts the Rest of Us in Danger.
https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2021/03/lessons-learned-by-gregory-vanderlaan.html
~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~


Often it Has Been to My Advantage to Listen to The Women in My Life and Act on Their Advice.

My First Ex-Wife Recommended That I Go To College and Study Electronics Drafting. After One Year I Was Able to Get a Great Job.

Then She Recommended That We Move from California to Washington DC So She Could Take a Government Job at The NSA... I Lived there for Twelve Years and Had Many Amazing Adventures...

My Brother's Wife Took Me to My First Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting and Eventually I Quit Drinking.

My Second Ex-Wife Recommended That I Go To College in Arcata, California. We Left Chico and Relocated. Four Years Later I Graduated With a BS Degree in Computers and Immediately Got a Great Job.

The One time I Was Took Advice That Was a Disaster Was My First Ex Wife Recommended That We Buy a Condominium in the Washington DC Suburbs as a "Starter Home." Her Plan Was to Live There and Sell it in a Couple Years and Then Use that Profit for a Down Payment on a Real House... That Plan Backfired and I was Unable to Sell the Condo after Paying on the Mortgage for Twelve Years. What Happened Was The Location Changed from a Middle Class Black Neighborhood into a Crack Crazy Ghetto... Everyone Lost Money on those Condos...

I went to Humboldt State University. I RECOMMEND IT To All Californians... First of all, You May take out Student Loans and Live WORK FREE for Four Years... FAFSA - The Loans paid enough to Pay rent and Tuition and Food and Gas for my little white truck... ZERO EMPLOYMENT - FREEDOM FROM WAGE SLAVERY

and Then I was Instantly Hired at a Government Job Working for the County of Humboldt.  At The Highest Rate of Pay I Ever Earned. I Put my Student Loans on Automatic Pay from my Paychecks and Was All Paid Off in Six Years... Yep... I Got a Clean Safe Job working in the Welfare Department Determining IF People Should be Paid Welfare, Food Stamps and Medical Benefits... 

Of Course, This Entire System Depends on Graduating in a Practical Major... I Studied Computer Information Systems and There is Plenty of Work for US... I Made Sure that I Didn't Smoke any Marijuana because Doing Homework and Attending Class is Impossible While Stoned. 

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2021/03/i-went-to-humboldt-state-university-i.html

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

On a Different Subject... American History: Diggers in San Francisco 1967...

In 1967 the Diggers — a loosely knit group of artists and anarchists in Haight Ashbury who opened a free store and gave out free food in San Francisco’s Panhandle neighborhood — arrived at Morning Star to pick apples for their food program. Soon they asked to create a garden.



In 1967 the Diggers — a loosely knit group of artists and anarchists in Haight Ashbury who opened a free store and gave out free food in San Francisco’s Panhandle neighborhood — arrived at Morning Star to pick apples for their food program. Soon they asked to create a garden.
“They brought in leaf mulch and mixed it with old chicken shit. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Victoria says. “You had to jump back because the vegetables grew so fast — they were like outer space aliens. Even when 80 people were living there, we couldn’t eat all of them.” In San Francisco, Morning Star became known as “The Digger Farm.”
“Early in 1967 that back-to-the-country thing became a prominent theme in hippie culture,” said Joel Selvin, author of “The Summer of Love” (1994), in a recent interview. Selvin noted that soon after the Human Be-In took place in Golden Gate Park in January of that year, followers of the movement came in droves to Haight Ashbury, “thinking they’d discovered a panacea.”
“What had been manageable and a complete delight began to disintegrate,” Selvin continued. “It’s the mentality the utopian ideal attracts: instead of responsible members you’re looking at people wanting something for free. Utopias are undermined by human nature.”
In the Haight, the Diggers posted information about the commune, and a “Digger Free Bus” ran from their free store to Morning Star. Soon a procession of hippies, flower children, dropouts, outlaws, draft resisters, runaways, dilettantes and serious back-to-the-landers was making its way north. Everyone was welcomed with no questions asked. There was no governing body, no written rules. Once Sender had to eject four troublemakers, and the decision tormented Gottlieb, who never willingly asked anyone to leave.
Time magazine published a cover story about Morning Star that year, which led to more growth. The commune swelled to nearly 150 residents. “Do your own thing,” the hippie mantra, defined behavior, and Gottlieb’s conviction that no one should be denied residency caused problems. Many of the new arrivals were young people who’d never had to take responsibility for themselves or their living spaces.
“We were experimenting with how to come together and create an environment you want to be in,” Rain reflects. “The older people wanted to be in a more structured environment, focused on creativity and art. The new people were focused on finding out what life was about.” Her personal breaking point came after newcomers moved into her living quarters while she was away visiting family in Idaho. No one told them not to; that would have meant curtailing freedom. Disenchanted, the Jacopettis soon moved back to Berkeley, and later changed their names to Alexandra and Roland as part of their Subud practice. (Today Rain is a prominent textile artist known as Alexandra Jacopetti Hart.)
Cindy Read, a political activist and Digger, came to Morning Star in 1967. Originally from Massachusetts, she had joined the peace movement, supported draft resisters and worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. After moving to San Francisco, she and her roommates cooked cauldrons of soup daily in their apartment for the Diggers’ free food program.
Read was along for the ride the day after the Diggers “liberated” a load of lumber from San Francisco’s Goodman Lumber and drove it to Morning Star as a gift. At supper she talked with Gottlieb and discovered a political kindred spirit. Upon return to the city, she suffered a sexual assault. Her attacker was a “straight” — a mainstream acquaintance — and, afraid he would return to hurt her but mistrustful of the police, she abandoned the Haight for Morning Star.
In Rain Jacopetti’s absence, Read soon took charge of the kitchen. There was one communal meal a day when everyone would hold hands and share a moment of silence before sitting down to eat. She and some helpers prepared vats of brown rice, soup and fresh vegetable salad with Gottlieb’s special sour cream dressing. She was fine with the work until one evening when the diners decamped, leaving her with dozens of unwashed plates. This marked Read’s breaking point, and she punctuated it by methodically smashing each dish into pieces and dumping them into the garbage can.
Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique,” published in 1963, had urged women to create an identity beyond marriage and children — but that concept took years to embed itself in the counterculture. Hippies practiced their own kind of feminism, which Gretchen Lemke Santangelo describes in “Daughters of Aquarius: Women of the Counterculture” (2009) as one “that affirmed … ‘natural’ or ‘essential’ female characteristics” like nurturing, creating beauty, and nest-building. Tasks at Morning Star were often divided by gender: the men built dwellings, did arduous physical work and discussed philosophy while the women, enjoying camaraderie, gardened, cooked and took care of the children. They all endured cold, wet winters and intrusions from Graton Road. “People would come through to gawk because they were interested or because they hated us,” Read says. “Some would spend a night, then go back to their day job. This one man planted a garden like a mandala of beautiful growing things. He planted it, and went away.”
Morning Star could be magical for its residents, but not necessarily for its closest neighbor, Edward Hochuli. He was a retired Navy officer and assistant to Ambrose Nichols, the first president of Sonoma State — and, Sonoma County historian Gaye LeBaron says, “certainly not of the social or intellectual mode to understand or appreciate what Gottlieb was doing at Morning Star.”
Hochuli wrote to Sonoma County’s Board of Supervisors that he believed Morning Star presented a fire hazard. He complained about the remains of campfires that weren’t in compliance with the 15-foot clearance in Gottlieb’s fire permit. The fire inspectors pointed out that such things happened all over the county, but fire wasn’t Hochuli’s only concern. He was incensed over nudity and explicit sexual activity within view of his property line.
“Ed Hochuli was beside himself about Morning Star,” LeBaron remembers, “but I would have been concerned if they had been my neighbors. They were peeing in the creek that ran through both properties and using the outdoors for toilets. They scared people who couldn’t imagine where it was all going. It was not healthy.”
Concerned citizens including County Supervisor Robert Rath pressured the county to declare Morning Star an “organized camp,” which called for strict regulations. Gottlieb had a witty retort at the ready (“Have you ever tried to organize a bunch of hippies?”), but he cautioned his guests that a threat existed. Some paid attention and set about clearing trash. Residents pitched in to remedy a septic field problem, which led to a hepatitis outbreak. Eventually, Gottlieb acceded to the “organized camp” charge and had the communal bathhouse rebuilt to code, but a county health inspector condemned the building.
Despite the subsequent injunctions, arrests, fines and court appearances Gottlieb was faced with, certain judges and law enforcement officers were sympathetic to the hippies and wanted to work with them. A few neighbors went to bat for Gottlieb as well in letters to The Press Democrat, and public opinion outside the county was more positive than negative. Gottlieb was active addressing civic groups, but there was an odd detached quality to his efforts, and some of his appearances were pure showmanship. Gaye LeBaron was present when, wearing nothing but a loincloth and an anklet of bells, he addressed a group of junior college students, mesmerizing them.
In September of 1967, Gottlieb was ordered to empty the commune. Bill Wheeler, a frequent visitor to Morning Star, offered to help, and the following summer some 50 Morning Star residents relocated to Wheeler Ranch. Wheeler’s property was vast and isolated, reachable by a deeply rutted road that knocked out more than a few cars. In part because of the isolation, the residents developed a strong sense of community. Many played instruments and sang, and the nights were filled with music.
Salli Rasberry (née Harrison),who lived in nearby Freestone with her partner, Robert Greenway, became a regular Sunday visitor at Wheeler Ranch in its heyday, taking saunas, walking the land, enjoying the company. When Bill and Gay Wheeler’s daughter was born and named Raspberry Sundown Hummingbird, Salli decided to adopt the last name “Rasberry,” after the baby. “Bill was sharing his large inheritance with people that he didn’t even know,” says Rasberry. “He saved a lot of people who didn’t have a home.” She also recalls that he was good-looking and strong, an alpha male with a touch of arrogance. “He loved the ladies,” she says, “and they loved him back.”
Meanwhile, Gottlieb’s legal battles continued. Because residents refused to leave, he was held in contempt of court. In order to avoid excessive fines, he had to place under citizen’s arrest all on his land who refused to leave, and he did so painfully. It was a dramatic moment, but by no means final; many moved back, and new residents continued to move in. By the summer of 1968, the Morning Star population rebounded to 120, and Gottlieb paid dearly — slapped with fines that eventually totaled nearly $18,500.
In an effort to get out from under, Gottlieb offered to donate Morning Star to the county, and was refused. Then in May 1969, in a move seen as a ploy by some and an ingenious strategy by others, he went to the county clerk’s office and deeded his land to God. Public defender Rex Sater of Santa Rosa argued Gottlieb’s case before Judge Kenneth Eymann, who ruled that God was not proven to be a person, place or thing and therefore couldn’t take possession. By 1971, bulldozers were sent in to level nearly every building on the ranch.
That same fate was still some two years away for Wheeler Ranch. Like Gottlieb, Bill Wheeler had difficulties with a neighbor, James G. Kelly. The access road to the ranch ran through Kelly’s land, and the Kelly family tried to close it off, once padlocking the gate. Wheeler was an adroit negotiator, but he was sorely tested by Kelly — and by the FBI agents, health and building inspectors and sheriff’s deputies who began to show up at the ranch looking for criminals, underage runaways, draft resisters, drugs and health and building violations. Members of the Hell’s Angels began to visit as well, looking for trouble.
Ramón Sender believes that Wheeler’s commune, given time, could have grown into a sustainable community. He borrows a concept put forth by Wired magazine cofounder Kevin Kelly about organizations and why they work — that a mix of 15 percent structure and 85 percent chaos is the most creative. “Morning Star was 99 percent chaos and 1 percent structure; it never would have worked as a community,” says Sender. “However, Wheeler’s ranch was gradually forming a group head. It was close to an 85 to 15 percent mix when the county bulldozed it.”
At 6:30 in the morning on May 18, 1973 — a morning when Bill Wheeler himself happened to be away — three bulldozers sent by county officials roared onto his land. The 50some residents awakened by the ominous rumblings scrambled from their shelters and watched as the big machines — having gained access through a specially graded road on James Kelly’s land — smashed and crunched Wheeler’s house and studio. The bulldozers turned next to more vulnerable structures: a treehouse built around an old oak was broken up, the tree destroyed in the process. Throughout the day the machines shoved and scraped, but by day’s end their work, for which Wheeler would be ordered to pay, was not yet done.
When Wheeler arrived home two days later, there was no home to come to. His guests, still in shock, were dismantling their houses to save them from the next wave, but the work proved difficult by hand, and with Wheeler’s go-ahead they decided to clear by fire. That night they burned 50 homes in what felt like a sacred ritual, their last on the land, to save trees under which they had sheltered. The next day the bulldozers returned to finish the job.
“I don’t remember many citizens’ voices rising up to say don’t bulldoze,” historian Gaye LeBaron says. “Some of us wished they wouldn’t, but we were quiet about it because we weren’t sure what was going on. It was a troubled time.”
“It’s hard where you draw the line between pretext and legitimate concern,” says Eric Koenigshofer, a former Sonoma County supervisor. “It’s like I say about almost anything I deal with politically and legally: It’s complicated, and mistakes were made.”
After his commune was dismantled, Wheeler moved to Bolinas for a year and a half. He returned north after a friend bought out his adversary, James Kelly, and took up art once again, enjoying success as a landscape painter. These days he teaches drawing once a week in Occidental and lives on his land. Wheeler has been in poor health and was not interviewed for this article. He has been quoted as saying he’s blocked out a lot of what came down in the 1970s. Fortunately for posterity, it’s on the record in Sender’s book “Home Free Home,” an oral history of the communes that weaves together many voices from the time.
Lou Gottlieb returned to the reconstituted Limeliters in 1972. During the last years of his life he moved back to Morning Star, where friends built him a shed to sleep in and play his piano. He spent most days at his friend Steve Fowler’s home in Sebastopol working on his computer; there was no electricity on his own land.
“A lot of people came and sat at Lou’s feet,” Fowler recalls fondly. “He was always on 24/7.” Gottlieb never made a Carnegie Hall debut. He died at Palm Drive Hospital in Sebastopol in July 1996. His heirs, including a son born at Morning Star to his thenpartner, Rena Blumberg, have yet to make a decision about the future of the land.
Historically, Sonoma has had numerous utopian communities, starting in the 19th century. “Once, someone asked me in a class why I thought there were so many,” LeBaron said recently. “I suggested that it was kind of a sheltering place; the hills and valleys make you think you’re protected. The man said, ‘No, it’s because Sonoma County is a Mother County — if you look at a map it’s shaped like a uterus.’ I don’t buy it, but I remember it.”
This year, the hippie era is being celebrated across the nation with exhibits and programs — not because it was sensational, though it was, and not because it was unprecedented, though it was. It’s being celebrated because of the profound changes the counterculture made in America in the way we see ourselves, our environment and the world of possibilities.
There are still communes in the county, but they keep a low profile. Sonoma is a different place today; it’s traded the “Redwood Empire” moniker for “Wine Country,” and there are even stricter environmental regulations. The Board of Supervisors has been dominated by liberals for years, and registered Democrats far outnumber Republicans. And it would take weeks to hit all the yoga studios, organic groceries, vegetarian cafes and shops selling tie-dye shirts, Buddhist books and crystals.
Writer and actor Peter Coyote, who was a member of the Diggers, puts it this way: “Anyone who is eating organic food, being treated by acupuncture, homeopathy, or naturopathy; anyone who is in a women’s movement, environmental movement, or practicing an alternative religion to Judeo-Christian beliefs, owes some respect to the counterculture who retrieved all these disciplines and thought from the great collective warehouse of human history and the great underground.”
Wheeler’s and Morning Star may have lost the battle, but there is evidence that culturally at least, the hippies won the war.
The Dynamic Duo Wheeler and Gottlieb.

LINKS TO MORE BLOG POSTS!

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How to fix the Waiting for Edge Chat error in the Farmville Game. DELETE COOKIES, RESTART GAME. and tips for playing Farmville.

In Google Chrome: Delete History/Clear Browsing Data prevents the error message from appearing... I keep the Passwords only...

Be aware that you will have to sign in again to all the websites you like... but the passwords will be stored, so that's easy to do... be aware that this is a temporary fix... I have to do it every time I want to play Farmville... and I have read that this infection happens on all games.

I Check EVERYTHING except passwords... 

A simple way to avoid annoying error messages on the computer is to put a piece of paper over the location of the message... often while I play Farmville, it says "waiting for edge chat facebook com" ... because the game is failing to connect with something I don't care about... the message is always in the lower left hand corner of the screen... so, a piece of paper folded in half removes that message from my sight...

Optional: Run Disk Cleanup... Good to do Occasionally... 
When I run Disk Cleanup... I select My Files Only, 
Drive C: OK... OK... Are You Sure? Delete Files.
deleting unnecessary files from my computer. 



Sometimes the error message will re-appear days later... so once again I delete history in Google Chrome... everything except passwords and the message stops appearing...


 https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?hl=en


Clear cache and cookies

Cookies, which are files created by websites you’ve visited, and your browser’s cache, which helps pages load faster, make it easier for you to browse the web.

Clearing your browser’s cache and cookies means that website settings (like usernames and passwords) will be deleted and some sites might appear to be a little slower because all of the images have to be loaded again.

How to clear cache and cookies in Google Chrome.
Open Chrome.
On your browser toolbar, click the Chrome menu Chrome menu.
Click More tools > Clear browsing data.
In the box that appears, click the checkboxes for "Cookies and other site and plug-in data" and "Cached images and files."
Use the menu at the top to select the amount of data that you want to delete. Choose beginning of time to delete everything.
Click Clear browsing data.

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Waiting for:
0-edge-chat.facebook.com
1-edge-chat.facebook.com
2-edge-chat.facebook.com
3-edge-chat.facebook.com
4-edge-chat.facebook.com
5-edge-chat.facebook.com
6-edge-chat.facebook.com

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