Rev. Ferre's surfin' habits

I Declare Peace on War!

Saturday, February 21, 2004

Ferre wants you to click here

posted by Ferre 4:47 PM

Friday, February 13, 2004

The Gadflyer is a new
progressive Internet magazine. As the name implies, The Gadflyer
will be provocative, critical, and iconoclastic. It will cover
politics and public affairs from a fresh perspective, offering
journalism, analysis, and commentary from a new generation of
writers. The Gadflyer will bring together the brightest
young progressive voices to provide unique and compelling stories
that can be found nowhere else.


The Gadflyer will be
unabashedly progressive, but not doctrinaire; pugnacious, but not
shrill; lively and entertaining, but substantive.


What will you find
in The Gadflyer?



In 2004 and beyond, The
Gadflyer will be essential reading for anyone who wants to
understand the present and future of America’s politics. We
invite you to visit when we launch on March 15.


You can find them here

posted by Ferre 3:54 PM

Sunday, February 08, 2004

Today Roger Christy has send me this excellent article, great stuff :

Cannabis And Religious Traditions

Marijuana as history has shown is the catalyst used to achieve the spiritual journey into the heavens. That is why in India it was referred to as the Heavenly-Guide, the Poor Man's Heaven, and the Sky-flier. That is why Professor Mircea Eliade, perhaps the foremost authority on the history of religion, suggested that Zoroaster may have caused hemp to bridge the metaphysical gap between heaven and earth.

One dictionary defines marijuana as the leaves and flowering tops when taken to induce euphoria. Euphoria is defined by the same dictionary as great happiness or bliss. (In India, marijuana has been referred to as the joy-giver and the soother of grief.) Bliss is defined as the ecstasy of salvation, spiritual joy. Some of the synonyms of bliss are beatitude, transport, rapture, ecstasy, paradise, heaven.

Throughout the ancient world there is mention of "magical flight", "ascent to heaven", and "mystical journey". All these mythological and folklore traditions have their point of departure in an ideology and technique of ecstasy that imply "journey in spirit".

The pilgrimage from earth to heaven is not a journey to some other place or some other time, but is a journey within. One must realize that "death" through which we must pass before God can be seen does not lie ahead of us in time. Rather it is now that we have a man of sin within us that must be killed and a new man free from sin that must be born. This is actualized in baptism and the sacramental life in the church. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Galatians 3:27). The effect of baptism is spiritual regeneration or rebirth, whereby one is "enChristened", involving both union with Christ and remission of sins. In Titus 3:5 baptism is the "bath of regeneration" accompanying renewal by the Spirit. Some of the synonyms of regeneration are beatification, conversion, sanctification, salvation, inspiration, bread of life, Body and Blood of Christ.

Sara Benetowa of the Institute of Anthropological Sciences in Warsaw is quoted in the Book of Grass as saying: "By comparing the old Slavic word 'Kepati' and the Russian 'Kupati' with the Scythian 'cannabis' Shrader developed and justified Meringer's supposition that there is a link between the Scythian baths and Russian vapor baths.

"In the entire Orient even today to 'go to the bath' means not only to accomplish an act of purification and enjoy a pleasure, but also to fulfill the divine law. Vambery calls 'bath' any club in which the members play checkers, drink coffee, and smoke hashish or tobacco."

St. Matthew's account of the institution of the Eucharist attaches to the Eucharist cup these words: "Drink of it, all of, for this is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins (St. Matthew 26:27). Drinking the sacramental cup therefore serves like baptism (Acts 2:38) where Peter said unto them, "Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church declare a three-part doctrine of the Holy Herb, the Holy Word, and the Holy Man (Woman).

The present and future benefits to the individual communicant have their importance given them by Jesus, who said, "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day." (John 6:54) As such we must see that the divine person who is active in creation, in renewal, and in human rebirth and resurrection, is also active in the Eucharist.

There was a profound change in America when marijuana smoking started on a large scale in the late 1960's. A large number of people resisted the draft, resisted the war ... started letting their hair and beards grow ... became interested in natural foods... the ecology and the environment. What we really saw was the awakening of our generation to the beginning of Christian mentality through marijuana smoking. The earmarks of this mentality are: I don't want to go to war; I really don't want to be part of the political-military-economic fiasco you call society.

Like the Indians Hemp Drug Commission three quarters of a century earlier, the Canadian Le Dain Commission conducted an inquiry into the use of marijuana. On page 156 of the report is the following:

"In the case of cannabis, the positive points which are claimed for it include the following: It is a relaxant; it is disinhibiting; it increases self-confidence and the feeling of creativity (whether justified by creative results or not); it increases sensual awareness and appreciation; it facilitates self acceptance and in this way makes it easier to accept others; it serves a sacramental function in promoting a sense of spiritual community among users; it is a shared pleasure; because it is illicit and the object of strong disapproval from those who are, by and large, opposed to social change, it is a symbol of protest and a means of strengthening the sense of identity among those who are strongly critical of certain aspects of our society and value structure today."

On page 144 of the Report, marijuana is associated with peace.

"In our conversation with (students and young people) they have frequently contrasted marijuana and alcohol effects to describe the former as a drug of peace, a drug that reduces tendencies to aggression while suggesting that the latter drug produces hostile, aggressive behavior. Thus marijuana is seen as particularly appropriate to a generation that emphasizes peace and is, in many ways, anticompetitive."

In a magazine article by G. S. Chopra entitled "Man and Marijuana" on page 235 is a section dealing with Human Experiments. One hundred persons with an established marijuana smoking habit smoked marijuana. They described the symptoms as follows: "I have done things today which I usually dislike but which I rather enjoyed doing today." "Nothing seemed impossible to accomplish." "I assumed a cool and composed attitude and forgot all mental worries." "I behaved in a childish and foolish manner." "It relieves sense of fatigue and gives rise to feelings of happiness." "I feel like laughing." "My head is dizzy." "I feel like taking more food." "The world is gay around me." "I feel inclined to work." "I am a friend to all and have no enemy in the world."

Read the rest of this excellent article here

posted by Ferre 4:57 PM

Saturday, February 07, 2004

Lately the American government has seen it's popularity drop in most parts of the world. Reason for this could be the invasion of Iraq and the motives to start this war. Questions also appear when it comes to things like the 'Patriot act', taking away most of the American people's constitutional rights. None of the outside world's busyness but it makes you wonder how democratic this nation is lead...and by who. Never in history there were so many conspiracy theories as today. Besides coca cola and mc donalds, we now get a new product : "fear", and a new kind of war, a war on 'terrorists', terrorists have no name, no country, they can be anyone the American government declares to be terrorists, "If you are not with us,...you are against us." is what the US President warned the world for before he started to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. Not a good move in terms of public relations and I think a more peacefull president would do a lot of good to the US and the rest of the world. Looking at the candidates for the elections in the US for this year I can see only one candidate who has the right vision to change things and that is Dennis Kucinich. If I was American I would vote for him.

posted by Ferre 7:40 AM

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Vivamus eget lorem. In diam quam, luctus at, tristique quis, volutpat sed, nunc. Duis pulvinar accumsan massa. Nullam elit nibh, iaculis a, interdum non, auctor ut, dui. Sed dignissim mauris in arcu. Nulla nunc libero, laoreet in, vestibulum non, suscipit id, leo. Phasellus pharetra eros vel lacus. Donec pulvinar tellus vestibulum ante. Mauris in lorem. Fusce mauris lorem, ultrices quis, tincidunt non, lacinia at, velit. Suspendisse venenatis faucibus leo. Integer accumsan vestibulum urna. Nulla facilisi. Sed laoreet bibendum dui. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Vivamus a est in purus aliquet ullamcorper. Nunc diam libero, fringilla quis, dapibus at, aliquet id, mi.

Aliquam lobortis hendrerit diam. Praesent congue risus nec arcu. Cras aliquet velit eget massa. Morbi wisi est, imperdiet at, tincidunt nec, pharetra ac, tellus. Vivamus bibendum neque non dui. Praesent elementum bibendum libero. Nulla ac enim. Praesent blandit, diam in malesuada vestibulum, neque lorem pretium enim, non cursus velit lectus sed orci. Quisque laoreet nibh at velit. Nullam nec felis in arcu bibendum fermentum. Pellentesque ipsum eros, malesuada volutpat, fermentum eu, lobortis ac, nisl. Phasellus quam est, vestibulum eget, sagittis tincidunt, laoreet et, nulla. Aliquam sed pede nec turpis rutrum sagittis. Etiam sit amet turpis ut odio vehicula pulvinar. Mauris placerat erat nec lacus. Nulla ac pede. Praesent in quam.

Duis at arcu. Proin vestibulum cursus ipsum. Suspendisse malesuada odio ut felis. Donec nulla. Sed bibendum congue mi. Phasellus vestibulum mauris ac justo sodales tristique. In eros. Integer lectus mi, vulputate in, sagittis eu, tempus a, mauris. Etiam venenatis pellentesque erat. Nullam volutpat elit eget mi. Proin mi augue, auctor non, condimentum et, vulputate nec, tellus. Suspendisse feugiat, turpis bibendum vestibulum cursus, nulla risus commodo tortor, a lobortis sapien metus sit amet sapien.

Vivamus vel purus sit amet arcu placerat imperdiet. Morbi lobortis mauris id elit. Integer non velit et ligula rhoncus scelerisque. Praesent vitae neque. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. In ut leo. Nam ut arcu vitae augue laoreet fringilla. Maecenas lacinia eleifend metus. Praesent adipiscing, odio et elementum semper, nunc erat ornare nibh, ut sollicitudin velit dolor et risus. Curabitur sem tellus, imperdiet non, convallis id, rutrum sit amet, neque. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Phasellus gravida orci in metus. Sed elementum, arcu quis feugiat rutrum, neque leo egestas tellus, ac sagittis magna felis id diam. Mauris blandit lectus id pede. Donec tempor lacinia wisi. Phasellus sit amet dui ac enim ultricies elementum. Sed fringilla eleifend lorem. Donec sodales eros eu ante. Nullam tristique neque sit amet ante. Mauris erat.

Mauris varius. Nam a neque. Pellentesque vitae metus vitae orci adipiscing rutrum. Mauris ac tellus. Proin eget libero. Morbi blandit, ipsum vitae tristique aliquet, arcu sapien facilisis libero, et tempor urna magna a pede. Phasellus id ipsum. Quisque justo sem, condimentum quis, vehicula vel, molestie vel, est. Maecenas consequat ultricies leo. Ut nec magna at orci pellentesque vehicula. Nullam vel velit. Integer viverra velit ut tortor. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. This all is latin to me also, but you can get some kind of explaination here.

posted by Ferre 6:52 AM

Wednesday, February 04, 2004

Yes, I changed the looks of this page. I was kind of bored with how it looked and I have no idea when this is going to be changed next. For now I leave it at this.

posted by Ferre 1:18 AM

Tuesday, February 03, 2004



Launched on September 13, 1996, Disinformation was designed to be the search service of choice for individuals looking for information on current affairs, politics, new science and the "hidden information" that seldom seems to slip through the cracks of the corporate-owned media conglomerates. Ironically, it was funded by one of the largest media companies in the world (TeleCommunications, Inc. (TCI), now part of Comcast), who paid for placement on Netscape's then ubiquitous search page.

The site drew immediate attention and (usually) applause from the very same news media that it was criticizing as being under the influence of both government and big business, but the honeymoon was short. Some three weeks after launch the CEO of TCI learned of Disinformation and immediately ordered it closed down. Needless to say, site founder Richard Metzger and a few loyal members of his team managed to keep the site going and it has evolved into the largest and most popular alternative news and underground culture destination on the Web. At the height of the dotcom boom The Disinformation Company was acquired by one of the high fliers of the so-called "New Economy", Razorfish; when the bubble burst so did Razorfish and today The Disinformation Company is owned and operated by Metzger and business partner Gary Baddeley, with offices in New York and Los Angeles. In addition to this site, The Disinformation Company also has thriving publishing, television and home video divisions and is developing its first feature film.

http://www.disinfo.com/site/


posted by Ferre 9:39 PM