Hempy Valentines Day!!

We know what Flowers you want for Valentine's Day...

100% CANNABIS FLOWER

Barney Frank is Retiring :_(

It makes me very sad that Congressman Barney Frank is retiring after 31 years of service in Congress.

Frank is an inspiration.  He was the Chairman of the Committee on Financial Services, where he pushed harder than anyone to change the way Wall Street handles money.  He was the first member of Congress in history to come out as openly gay.  He maintained a reputation for being one of the smartest members of Congress, and despite his mumbles and occasionally looking disheveled, he was one of the most powerful and respected Democrats in the House .

In recent years, he has been the leading advocate for Cannabis reform in Congress.  In 2005 he partnered with Representative Ron Paul and introduced the Industrial Hemp Farming Act.  This partnership is ironic because Ron Paul and Barney Frank are polar opposites, and come from opposite sides, from the far left and the far right.   This bill now has 30 bipartisan cosponsors, and
Last year, Frank sponsored the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011, which set new precedents for drug reform.

While Frank sponsored these bipartisan pieces of legislation, he is usually known for his strong liberal agenda.  As Congress became more and more polarized, Frank stuck to his beliefs and continued to push harder to the left.  His reforms in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act  were so controversial that GOP Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said that Barney Frank should be thrown in Jail.

Many People are very happy to see Frank leave.  I myself am very sad,  primarily because of his work on the Industrial Hemp Farming Act.  In either case, Frank's retirement is a sends a strong message.  One, that Congress is continuing to tumble and deteriorate, unable to do anything useful.  The partisanship that divides Congress and our voters has gotten in the way of the serious changes that America must face.  Frank leaving is a step towards bipartisanship, and hopefully, Congress will become a better governing body in the 113th Congress.

2012 Part I

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon

It's after 3 am and I can't sleep. It's all the energy in the universe that's keeping me awake!

Yesterday I discovered #H2, the second history channel that has all the good stuff and none of that crap like "Larry the Cable Guy" and "Pawn Stars". Instead, it's back to back Modern Marvels and crazy documentaries prophecies from Nostradomus and "History of the World in two hours".

They are all really good and are shining some SERIOUS LIGHT on December 21, 2012.

I'm sure I've now seen at least a dozen documentaries about 2012, and they are all different AND THE SAME!! As the story goes....

The Mayan Civilization was able to make complex and highly accurate astronomical predictions and measurements. I saw astronomical, not astrological, because the Maya actually calculated the orbits of actual real planets. We are not talking about some "the horoscope points to 2012". No, they were really good at math.

Their measurements of time and space were allegedly more accurate than we even have today, and they used calculation methods that remain a mystery because Spanish Colonizers destroyed all of their written documents, thinking it was work of the devil. Only 3 scrolls remain, which really means that no one on earth knows what this date symbolizes. But it is true and without a doubt, that December 21, 2012 held some type of significance to the Maya.

But the story goes deeper....

Isolated world cultures with completely different world views and systems of time, without knowing anything about each other, sometimes existing simultaneously and others thousands of years apart, all predicted a similar date.

But do not fear- the end of the world may not be here!

It is not the end of the Mayan Calendar, rather, the beginning of a new era, with the Maya Long Count date going from 12.19.19.17.9 to the 14th "Tikun" 13.0.0.0.0 . Mathematically, this was as the same date on August 11, 3114 BC, some 5,000 years ago. So the world will not end, but we are entering a new 5,000 year cycle.

What really got to me was when I cross referenced these dates with with the 1967 hit, "Age of Aquarius". Note, this is moving from "Astronomy" to "Astrology", which is far less accurate. According to legend, an astronomical age is roughly ~2,000-2,150 years, corresponding to some type of astronomical equinoxes... according to wikipedia, a full cycle lasts 26,000 years, divided by 12 signs, you do the math. . Anyways, the song was referring to the dawning of a new Astrological Age, something that Plato predicted over 2,000 years ago. Many people agree that we entered the Age of Pisces at around 1 AD, which is lends itself very well to our current world view but also to the inaccuracies of "astrology". Nonetheless, these Ages have captivated the minds of academics, clergy, and the common man for thousands of years and continue to do so today. But when exactly the Age of Aquarius will come remains unsettled and highly contentious.

Many people believe, based on crude mathematics, that Aquarius will come in the year 2,150. In 1928, at the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Leiden, the Netherlands, a bunch of crazy scientists estimated that the Age of Aquarius would not come until 2600. However, a number of other Astrologists posit that the Age of Aquarius has already come, and has ushered in the American, Industrial, and Cultural Revolutions that characterize the 20th Century. Has the Age come yet? And what is the exact date?

I have always thought that something crazy went down in the year 1967, because it always comes up as the most revolutionary of all years, besides maybe 1976, America's Bicentenial. I was freaking out when this was also the year of the Musical "Hair" with the opening song that calls for the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.

It is 4:19 am, but let me say this- the Age of Aquarius will come on December 21, 2012. All of the inaccuracies attributed to the Zodiac give us about a 400 year window, starting in, say, 1884. However, a number of other, independent studies of Astronomy and Astrology, forsee some type of phenomenon on a specific date that is right in the window of the Coming of a New Age. As we look back to 1967 when it was said that the New Age was coming, we have to ask ourselves, "Will it be 2012"??

TO BE CONTINUED.......

BYT Pool Party

Furcafe

What a weekend!

Last weekend was quite busy, in only the best of ways, let's jump right in.

.....By 4:30 pm I was tipsy, still dancing (now in an apartment) and drinking Hoegaarden on the roofdeck. Friday afternoon was AWESOME.
Despite wanting to continue hanging out until the sun came up, I had to bike home, upload pictures, and get ready for Friday night. When I looked at my watch and realized that the weekend 'proper' had not even begun yet, was a very WHOA experience.

By 6:30 pm I was running late for a baseball game, Nationals Vs Orioles. The weather was beautiful and I had a free ticket as the "date" of a friend whose office was having a baseball outing.
Despite the fact that this two teams that I have grown to love, I still do not care much for this American sport. We left around the 7th inning to head back to Columbia Heights.

I had a schedule to keep. I went straight to the grocery store to pick up a six pack, I decided on getting a old favorite: Mickey's malt liquor 'grenades' (which have word puzzles under the caps.) I was also starting to sober up since I could only afford to buy one drink at the baseball game, so I figured that normal beer just wouldn't cut it.
I took the six pack about 4 blocks to my friend's house, who was having a party that I was just on time for.


The party was awesome. People continued coming, I ran into a few people that I knew randomly, other acquaintances that I hadn't seen in a while. I told people about my Art show the following night, I hung out with my friend having the party, and I drank Mickey's and was merry. To top it off, I got into a conversation about hemp with someone that works for the EPA in the pesticide division, and before I knew it, it was almost midnight.
On Fridays and Saturday's, I play the role of a combination between Cinderella and Spiderman. I must run off into the night hail a pumpkin colored cab, and transform into party machine with a camera attached. While I may prefer a house party, Peter Parker must leave the party and go to an exclusive nightclub on Friday nights.




I didn't come home until about 3:30am on Friday. I had a long day ahead of me: after barely enough sleep to metabolize the alcohol, I had to wake up and bike to the office to print business cards and make other preparations for my art show. I had less than 8 hours until the doors would open, and every minute was precious.
This weekend, to be continued.....

PHOTOS: MPP Gala

Rep. Steve Cohen, Tennessee, Great Guy. Gave me a shoutout.
Former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson. He's Republican, Libertarian, and may even run for President
Cheech and Chong. Kicking off a New Comedy show this Spring.
This is why, this is why, this is why my pictures are hot.
I sat practically next to these guys.

I cannot decide what is better, being a hemp lobbyist or being a photographer.

Here's an article that puts them together, published in the Examiner.

Reform Conference

Today was my first day of my first Drug Policy Conference