Radical Transparency

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December 03, 2008

Another Reason to Love China

Please click this link.

It's an article about two pounds of very old marijuana.  Two pounds of very old marijuana found in a tomb in the desert in China.

My favorite quote is from the caption next to a picture of a rubber-gloved scientist tweezing a bit of the weed into a container for him to bring home and "test" over the weekend:

Scientists are unsure if the marijuana was grown for more spiritual or medical purposes, but it's evident that the man was buried with a lot of it.

I only smoked the greens in China a couple of times.  It was not locally sourced.  It was American.  A friend smuggled it back from a medical marijuana farm in Mendocino County, CA. 

And there is a very serious story behind it.  One that involves a lawyer, outsourcing the manufacture of clipping and gardening tools to a factory in Shenzhen, political dilemmas, cash in buried mason jars, socially responsible investors, and a SWAT team. 

It's probably best told when everyone listening is stoned.

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November 05, 2008

Election Day in Montana

It still freaks me out that people in this country are afraid to vote for vegetarians .

Roy Brown ended up losing his election by more than 30 percentage points, so, most likely, he wouldn't have had a chance even if he was a velociraptor.*  His convincing victory in Sweet Grass County, however, was quite incriminating.

*Note: What's the opposite of a vegetarian?  A cannibal?

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November 02, 2008

The Opportunity

I sent this note to my cousin the other day.  Because he's undecided.  Because he's 22.  Because he's creative.  Because he's fundamentally kind and generous and thoughtful.  And because I love him and want him to share my excitement...

I don't like the idea of voting for an old man.  Not unless his eyes sparkle with youthful ideas. 

I want to vote for love and generosity and curiosity and open mindedness.  The stuff of the young and inspired.

Battlescars aren't wisdom unless they teach change.  Attachment to the status quo is despair.  Yearning for a happier yesterday is helplessness.  Conservatism is admitting that we can't be any better than what we are now or what we were then.

And, even if that is true - if there are limits, and we've hit them - I say we bite, smash, and hammer away at them anyway.  Because it's more fun to hope than to hoard and hide and isolate.


Because if we can't do with a smile on our face, if we can't do it with love in our heart, then, children, we ain't got no right to do it at all. 

We're supposed to be some kind of different.

And I think there's a chance that Barack Obama is some kind of different. 

The More Perfect Union speech was beautiful.  The tire gauges were,