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March 2008The SDS ( Students for a Democratic Society ) is re-formed and strong as ever. Their voices will be heard.Chapters of Students for a democratic Society and other student and youth organizations from around the country, will be participating in a call to hold rallies, marches, walkouts and direct actions on campuses during the week of March 17th to 21st, marking the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war.More information may be obtained from their website.STUDENTS for a DEMOCRATIC SOCIETYMarch 17-20 Days of Action to End the Iraq War

Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History

“My own radical journey began with Mad Magazine, so it feels great that SDS should enter the culture of comic folklore thanks to Harvey Pekar and Paul Buhle. May this graphic history be an informing contribution as a new generation of SDS writes its own story.” —Tom Hayden, founding member of the Students for a Democratic Society

NEIL ASPINALL DIES

Neil Aspinall died in New York. A family spokesman said the cause of death was lung cancer. He had been in New York undergoing treatment. He was 66 years old.

A childhood friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Aspinall was to become the Beatles road manager when they were just a dance band, and drove the band in his van to and from shows. Later after the Beatles hired Mal Evans, Neil Aspinall became the Beatles personal assistant, and later would be the chief executive of their company APPLE CORPS. which he retired from in 2007. In an Apple Corp. statement, Sir Paul, Ringo Starr, and the widows of John Lennon, and George Harrison paid tribute to "Neil's trusting stewardship and guidance",and "All his friends and loved ones will greatly miss him but will always retain the fondest memories of a great man". in a separate statement Ringo said "I've known Neil many years and he was a good friend. We were blessed to have him in our lives and he will be missed."
neil Aspinall upper right with the Beatles in 1964
In 1988 when the Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, George Harrison made a point of saying that Mr. Aspinall should be considered the fifth Beatle.

The Beatles would never had became the band they were without the work this man did for them. He was a huge part of the Beatles. I suggest you do a Google search for Neil Aspinall and read more about him.

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Rolling out some facts on pot holiday

99% BY MARK JACOB - McCLATCHY- TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE WRITER COPIED UNDER THE FAIR USE CLAUSE

April 20, known to marijuana as 420 Day," a counterculture holiday recognizing America's most commonly used drug. Yhe number "420" is code for marijuana, and was most likely invented in the 1970's at San Rafael High School in Marin County, calif., (or my old high school "Newman High"in Newman, Illinois), when a group of students known as the Waldos (or the Freaks at my school) met at 4:20 pm to light up. Since then the number has shown up on t-shirts and on clocks and in such movies as "Lost in Translation." A dime bag's worth of other pot facts: 1. In 19th-century Nepal, the marijuana harvest was performed by naked men who ran wildly through the flowering marijuana fields and then had the sticky resin scraped off their bodies and formed into bricks of hashish.

2. Marijuana is known for it's mellowing effect, but it has fueled many warriors in history. The word "assassin" is said to have come from the hashish taken a millennium ago by Arab killers (called Hashshashin" or "hashish eaters"), though some historians doubt they were under the influence while on their missions. Mexican bandit Pancho Villa's henchmen were pot heads. And some belive Zulu fighters in South Africa were high on dagga-aka: marijuana- when they attacked the Boers at Blood River in 1838. The Zulu's lost 3,ooo fighters, while the Boers had only 4 fighters wounded. Talk about a buzzkill.

3. Louisa May Alcott, author of "Little Women" wrote a short story called "Perilous Play' about marijuana. In it, a charactor declares,"If someone does not propose a new and interesting amusement I shall die of ennui ! Another character produces a box of hashish laced bonbons, and hedonism ensues.

4. Around 1900 the U.S. government briefly grew marijuana along a stretch of the Potomac river to study the plants medicinal values. Today a more potent plant has risin on that site: the Pentagon.

5. A white Chicago jazz musician named Milton "Mezz" Mezzrow moved to Harlem in 1929, declared himself a "voluntary Negro,"and began selling marijuana. Known as "The man who hipped the world" and "The link between the races," Mezzroll sold fat joints called "mezzrolls". Soon a new piece of Harlem slang emerged: Something genuine was described as "mezz".

6. Marijuana interferes with short term memory...ah...oh yeah...it interferes with short term memory so that users forget what they just said or did.

7. Before Congress decided to ban marijuana in 1937, the birdseed industry got the bill amended to exempt marijuana seeds known as hemp seeds, as long as they were sterilized and could not be used to grow plants. An industry spokesman denied that the seeds made the birds "high", but an ardent marijuana foe, Dr. Victor Robinson, had previsously written that the seeds caused birds to "dream of a happy birdland where there are no gilded cages, and where the men are gunless, and the women hatless."

8. Billy Carter, the late brother of former President Jimmy Carter, believed the illegality of pot was part of it's attraction. "Marijuana is like Coor's beer,"he said. "If you could buy the damned stuff at a Georgia filling station, you'd decide you wouldn't want it."

9. One of the least typical supporters of the decriminalization or marijuana was conservative icon William F. Buckley, who died in February. Buckley once sailed his yacht into international waters so he could smoked a little reefer without breaking U.S. laws.

10. Bill Clinton said famously that he smoked pot but "didn"t inhale" (yeah..sure). President Bush has never admitted smoking dope, but his drug use was strongly suggested in recorded conversations between him and a friend-interesting named Doug Weed. Only one of the three 2008 contenders is an admitted ex-doper. Hillary Clinton and John McCain denied during the 2000 campaign season that they had ever smoked pot. Barack Obama, on the other hand has said, "When I was a kid, I inhaled frequently. That was the point."

HOPE YA ALL HAD A HAPPY POT DAY