Exile Nation: “No Stolen Elections & Other Exercises in Futility”

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No Stolen Elections & Other Exercises in Futility

Back in Chicago I was preparing for my move to New Paltz when I received a call from Ben Manski, a member of the Steering Committee of the Green Party. He told me that he, David Cobb, and Wisconsin activist Patrick Barrett were putting together a progressive coalition to monitor the election for voter irregularities and fraud.

The group–alternately referred to as United Progressives for Democracy, No Stolen Elections!, and the November 3rd Coalition [1]–was a who’s-who of progressive figures that included:

Medea Benjamin – CodePink
Leslie Cagan – United for Peace and Justice
Tim Carpenter – Progressive Democrats of America
John Cavanagh – Institute for Policy Studies
Steve B. Cobble – political strategist
David Cobb – Green Presidential Nominee
Rev. James Demus – NAACP, Chicago
Karen Dolan – Policy Studies & Cities for Peace
Daniel Ellsberg – author
Barbara Ehrenreich – author
Larry Fahn – Sierra Club
Lisa Fithian – Root Activist Network of Trainers
Arun Gandhi – M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence
Dolores Huerta – United Farm Workers
Rev. Jesse Jackson – Rainbow/PUSH
Van Jones – Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Rabbi Michael Lerner – Tikkun
Robert McChesney – Free Press
Michael Moore – Author
Maya O'Connor – Labor Greens Network
Eleanor Smeal – Feminist Majority
Starhawk – Activist and writer
Gloria Steinem – Author and feminist activist
Chuck Turner – Boston City Council
Jason West – Mayor, New Paltz NY
Bob Wing – War Times
Howard Zinn – Historian

The bulk of the organizing work was done by a team that included Leslie Cagan, Medea Benjamin, Ben Manski, Lisa Fithian, Andrea Buffa, Patrick Barrett, David Cobb, Chris Vaeth, and myself, among others. We circulated a pledge and a decentralized action framework to the 800 member groups of United for Peace & Justice, put together on-the-ground teams for designated “battleground” states, created a a Fair Elections Advisory Council made up of US and international elections experts, and put together a “Signal Committee” made up of most of the core organizers, whose job it was to hunker down on election night at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC and make sure that information flowed freely between all parties.

If there was significant fraud, an Urgent Response Network would be activated on November 3rd, calling on people everywhere to engage in protest, including nonviolent civil disobedience, in front of their local federal buildings and other appropriate places. Those who could were encouraged to converge in the states where the most serious fraud occurred.

Our main concerns with the upcoming election were dubious voting technology, rather obscene conflicts of interest, and potential disenfranchisement. Nearly 80% of the voting technology in use at the time (thanks to George Bush’s shamelessly ironic “Help America Vote Act,” enacted in response to the “irregularities” of the 2000 election) were either Diebold touch screen machines, or ES&S optical scan units. Both companies were run by one of the O’Dell brothers: Scott O’Dell was CEO of ES&S, and Walden “Wally” O’Dell was the head of Diebold. Both were major campaign fundraisers for George Bush, and Wally was known as one of Bush’s “Rangers and Pioneers, an elite group of loyalists who have raised at least $100,000 each for the 2004 race.” [2]  In an August 2003 letter to 100 wealthy and politically inclined friends, O’Dell wrote, ''I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.''

Diebold touch screen technology was considered protected “intellectual property.” As a rather convenient consequence, the source code was not available to election monitors, so no one had any idea whether the vote totals coming out of the machines were legitimate. It had already been shown that any Diebold employee with a key to the machine could access its programming and change any of the parameters to, for example, flip vote totals or add and subtract votes. [3]  Additionally, the lack of a paper receipt or record of a person’s vote made it impossible to verify who they had actually voted for.

Our next biggest concern was the potential disenfranchisement of African Americans through a variety of techniques that include: inaccurate and misapplied “felon purge rolls” such as those used in Florida in 2000; long lines and a dearth of voting machines in poorer precincts; time-tested scare tactics like stringent ID requirements and rumors of police monitoring polling stations, checking voters for outstanding warrants.

Ohio, New Mexico, and Florida were identified as having the highest potential for fraud. In Ohio there was an eerie repetition of the circumstances that Florida witnessed in the 2000 election.  Like Catherine Harris had done for Florida in the 2000 election, the person tasked with certifying the vote totals was Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, like Harris an avowed Bush supporter, and like her as well, the Chairman of the statewide reelection committee. Despite her obvious and somewhat appalling conflict of interest, Harris fended off criticism (and apparently,  the law and moral decency) and certified a highly dubious vote in Florida, and was promptly rewarded with a Congressional seat. Knowing the carrot that was dangling before Blackwell, and expecting the worst, we took special care to have a large on-the-ground presence in Ohio.

Two weeks before the election I once again said goodbye to Edie and Milhouse and headed off to New Paltz. My brother flew in from New York to help me drive a rental truck across country. In the two years since I had visited him while covering the anniversary of 9/11, we had begun rebuilding our relationship. Even though he lived in the hyper-conservative financial world, he had turned against Bush and was now decidedly against the war. He told me he was proud of what I had done in New York, and this was his way of showing me.

We were somewhere on the Pennsylvania Turnpike when I got word that both the job I was supposed to take and the place I was supposed to live had fallen through, so I was arriving in New Paltz homeless and jobless. Once there, no one seemed particularly interested in helping me, and I detected a distinct chill from my new friends. It took me only a few hours to figure out what had happened.

When I was in New Paltz in September following the convention in New York, I made an offhand comment to a friend of Jason West’s that I was looking forward to being in New Paltz and to “helping keep an eye on Jason.” Ever since the gay marriages and the People Magazine issue, Jason had been on a non-stop touring schedule, and the wear was starting to show. I considered Jason a friend and I was concerned about his health. Somehow, this was misinterpreted to mean that I had been sent by the national party to keep tabs on him, and that was why I was so eager to relocate to New Paltz. In essence, I was under suspicion of being a spy of sorts.

What drove this suspicion was the fact that nearly all the Greens in New Paltz were behind the Nader campaign, and I, because of my position within the party, had committed to David Cobb as a means of showing my support for party building. The New York Greens were one of the more vocal groups squawking that the convention in Milwaukee was rigged, and that Nader was the real Green candidate.

To make matters worse, most of the people in New Paltz seemed to be in the Anybody But Bush camp and were terrified by a Nader candidacy. Some had begun to take it out on the Greens publicly in the op/ed section of the local paper, and the Greens, being the party in power, were only too eager to respond in their defense. Jason West may have committed a supremely noble deed by solemnizing gay marriages, but it was not with the full support of the town, and around the time of the election, dissatisfaction with his policies began to bubble up in the public debate. His open support of Nader only compromised his standing.

The week I arrived in New Paltz, Nader made a campaign stop at SUNY. Word spread that there were going to be protests against his appearance, and that ABB people were planning on disrupting his speech. When the day came, he stood before a packed lecture hall and gave an eloquent and rational argument as to why his candidacy was necessary. The moment he finished, as he opened the floor up to questions, they went at him like piranhas.

Why don’t you drop out! You’re going to cost us the election! Wasn’t Florida enough? Is your ego so big that you can’t do what’s best for us all?! etc etc.

Nader’s head dropped and his shoulders went slack as he gripped the podium for support. He was a portrait of an already-defeated man, and no matter what he said, he consistently got the same response. While the people in the lecture hall argued back and forth with each other, Nader stared at the ground, silent. I would have given anything to know what he was thinking in that moment.

What these people didn’t understand was that Nader wasn’t coming from a place of ego, that was a ridiculous and intentional smear. If he was, he never would have run in 2004. Virtually everyone with a prominent name had turned on him publicly. He was utterly savaged by the Democrats, who dragged his name through a mile of shit and spent untold resources undermining his ballot petitions and campaign teams in every state in which he attempted to run. He had been widely pilloried by the mainstream as the spoiler of 2000, and everyone but this small committed cadre of Greens wanted him out of the race. He was definitely not feeling the love.

Unfortunately, Nader didn’t do himself any favors by letting it get to him. It was clear the 2004 campaign embittered him, you could see it in virtually every interview he gave during that time. This was when the cranky Nader began to emerge, a man so markedly different from the one who stood in jubilation before the Green Party in November of 2000 after having posted three million votes. By the time he rolled into New Paltz four years later, you could tell he was over it.

Whatever you may think about Nader as a candidate, he deserved better than he got. He was a man who had dedicated his life in service to the greater good, and he spent his career holding accountable the most powerful corporations and governments. He attained certain heights of prominence and even power because he was the voice of the little guy. When he ran for office, it was to give voice to the voiceless, and stand for the things that the major parties eschewed.

But instead of letting you look at the platform, they had you look at the man. The man was much easier to discredit than the platform and the ideas behind them. Because of this, future generations may never understand how hip Nader was back in the day, and one of the most powerful public advocates may pass into history as a footnote.

The rancor in New Paltz continued after Nader’s visit, and things only got worse for me. I was seen as an interloper, at best a party flunky, at worst a provocateur. I was even accused of being some kind of government agent because I didn’t have a well documented activist history. At the time, I was trying to keep my past and my convictions on the DL, and so my ensuing silence about them only inflamed suspicions. To make matters worse, I was deeply resentful of all the suspicion, and I responded with a great deal of anger and defensiveness. I was completely dislocated from everything I knew, living out of a suitcase, surviving on slices of pizza, and it made me bitter. Very soon I had worn out my welcome, if it had ever existed at all.

I hopped a bus to DC the day before the election to meet up with the rest of the core team from the November 3rd Coalition. On election day I headed over to the Institute for Policy Studies to set up shop for the night. Throughout the early evening we received calls from our teams in Ohio, New Mexico, and Florida, and already things were amiss. We were receiving reports of day-long lines in the pouring rain for African Americans in Ohio, and machine glitches in New Mexico. But all in all, it looked like things were going well.

As the first returns were coming in, a Zogby exit poll predicted that Kerry would win by a landslide with 305 electoral votes.

Around 9pm things changed, dramatically. As polls closed in the eastern states, the vote-count put out by the National Election Pool (a private polling organization that had replaced the consortium that had handled previous elections) and broadcast on CNN, showed Bush leading Kerry by a massive 11 percent margin, an unprecedented gap of 12 to 14 percent between the tallied results and the exit polls. Anyone who understands the mathematics of polling knows that this is a statistical impossibility. The final figures put out by the National Election Pool seemed to flip the vote totals for Bush and Kerry, and this pattern was evident in the three key battleground states. This was clear evidence of vote tampering. [4]

As the night wore on, we received reports of more “irregularities” from our street teams, and it became clear to us that Ohio was the main focus of the Bush reelection team. There was most definitely coordinated voter fraud going on, particularly in the African American community, just as we had predicted.

By three o’clock in the morning the race was still undecided, so some of us who had been working all day and night curled up on the floor and got a few hours of sleep. When we woke up, the election was still “undecided,” Ohio was being called the new Florida, and it looked like we were in for another long drawn out battle. We were in the process of contacting the member groups of our coalition to prepare them for Phase II of our action plan when John Kerry suddenly conceded the race! The votes weren’t even counted yet and he still bowed out. People openly wept in the IPS offices.

If I didn’t know any better (which unfortunately, I do, but I’ll say it anyway) I’d say Kerry was in on the fix. You could say that I feel it in my (skull and) bones.

By the end of the week there was abundant evidence in the media of tampering and outright electoral fraud. [5]  The “smoking gun” came on Monday, November 8th, when MSNBC’s Keith Olberman reported [6]:

The mainstream newspaper, the Cincinnati Inquirer, reports that officials in Warren County, Ohio, that`s 20 miles northeast of Cincinnati, locked down their administration building last Tuesday night to prevent anybody from observing the vote count. Moreover the secrecy, unique among all 88 of Ohio`s counties, was attributed to concerns about potential terrorism.

The newspaper reports that Warren County emergency services director Frank Young had recommended the walling off of the vote count based on information received from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. Mr. Young did not explain whether al Qaeda might have been planning to hit Caesar Creek State Park in Waynesville or the King`s Island Amusement Park [two local attractions of note]. After some negotiating, reporters were finally admitted to that building around midnight. They were kept in the lobby. The counting went on unobserved two floors above them. Warren County`s polls were among the last in Ohio to close, thus among the last to report and thus among the votes that clinched the state and the election for President Bush [emphasis added]. A local television news director called the homeland security explanation a, quote, " red herring."

County prosecutor Rachel Hutzel told the newspaper that the Warren County commissioners were, quote, "within their rights to lock the building down, even though no other Ohio county did so because having photographers or reporters present could have interfered with the count." You bet, Rachel.

Ohio, whose 20 electoral votes were based on a margin of 2 percent in the vote, has other problems tonight. The state reports 92,000 presidential votes did not count. Ranging from votes improperly cast to votes improperly counted. And in Cuyahoga County, that is greater Cleveland, the official records of 29 different voting precincts show more votes than registered voters to a total of 93,000 extra votes in that county alone.

It wasn’t just a bad day for the Democrats, the third parties were humiliatingly trounced. Nader walked away with only 10% of his 2000 vote total, and Cobb barely pulled 100,000 votes. When I stopped into the Green Party office, I was told the national office might be closing. It was a bad day for the Greens.

If there is one silver lining to this fiasco, it is in the subsequent conduct of the third parties, and those most affected by the disenfranchisements, in Ohio. In a shocking and inspiring display of solidarity the Green and Libertarian Party joined forces with Progressive Democrats and the Congressional Black Caucus to challenge Kenneth Blackwell’s vote certification.

David Cobb joined with Jesse Jackson and Libertarian presidential candidate, Michael Badnarik, to file suit in Federal court compelling three Ohio counties to recount their vote totals. They would unsuccessfully attempt the same with Nevada and New Mexico. For months they would deal with court prevarications and political obstacles strewn in their path, and ultimately lose. [7]  But the lawsuit led to a congressional inquiry by the House Judicial Committee, led by Michigan Congressman John Conyers, which concluded:

We have found numerous, serious election irregularities in the Ohio presidential election, which resulted in a significant disenfranchisement of voters. Cumulatively, these irregularities, which affected hundreds of thousand of votes and voters in Ohio, raise grave doubts regarding whether it can be said the Ohio electors selected on December 13, 2004, were chosen in a manner that conforms to Ohio law, let alone federal requirements and constitutional standards. [8]

This report led to Robert Kennedy Jr’s precision analysis in Rolling Stone which built on the Conyer’s Report to present a detailed description of widespread electoral fraud. [9]  Kennedy concludes, “For the second election in a row, the president of the United States was selected not by the uncontested will of the people but under a cloud of dirty tricks.” Perhaps telling is the fact that Rolling Stone has since disappeared the article down the memory hole.

It doesn’t matter what the pundits try and argue, it was clear to anyone in the November 3rd Coalition that for the third time in a row Americans had been outright robbed of their democratic process. [10]  Perhaps the saddest aspect was how quickly the public rolled over and acquiesced. Despite abundant, concrete evidence, they refused to believe another election had been stolen. The biggest insults came from some of the liberal elite, who, rather than face that they had once again been duped and their boy had thrown the fight, decided, “Americans are just that stupid to reelect Bush.” The blame had been sloughed on the electorate, and the rest of us were told to “get over it.”

How, exactly?

Thoroughly demoralized, I dreaded going back to New Paltz. I vented some of my frustration to Medea Benjamin, and she suggested I accompany her to San Francisco for a change of scene and offered to buy me a plane ticket. The “Green Festival” was taking place that weekend, which her husband had co-founded, and she said it would be a nice way to decompress. It took me all of a minute to take her up on the offer. I had nothing to lose, and needed something, anything, to keep me going.

At Reagan Airport in DC I was pulled out of the security line and given a comprehensive search of my body and bags. I had in my suitcase my press tags for Newtopia and the Green Party, and a few political books including Mike Ruppert’s Crossing the Rubicon. The TSA agents present took note of everything they found, and asked me why I was in DC. After I explained it all to them, they added the November 3rd Coalition and the Institute for Policy Studies, to their list, and then sent me on my way without any explanation.

In San Francisco we were picked up by Medea’s husband, Dr. Kevin Danaher. The couple had co-founded the international human rights organization, Global Exchange, in the early 90s, and  later Danaher co-founded the Green Festivals, which he produced through a partnership with Co-Op America. He was a fast-talking, no bullshit, walking encyclopedia of politics and sustainability. Sporting a wool knit cap and a white goatee, Danaher exuded a hipness that was rare for the activist world. Able to explain pretty much anything to anyone, he never let you feel like you didn’t know something, and you always walked away from him knowing more than when you greeted him.

He and Medea were surrounded by a cadre of fiercely intelligent younger activists who were utterly committed to their cause. The Global Exchange offices on Mission St. were a vibrant locus of political consciousness. The day I first visited some filmmakers from Argentina dropped by to screen a documentary they had just finished on the cooperative movements that grew out of the country’s economic collapse in 2002. For the first time since I got involved in political activism I was surrounded by professionals whose knowledge base was humbling. This was nothing like back in Chicago.

In its third year, the Green Festival, held inside San Francisco’s Concourse Center, was unlike anything I had ever seen. I freely admit to being late to the party, that this stuff had been going on for a long time, but coming as I did from a conservative background, and living most of my life in Chicago and on the East Coast, I had no real awareness that there was such a thing as a Green Economy. What little I did understand about the Green movement was almost purely ideological. Now I was surrounded by scores of green merchants featuring sustainable technologies, clothing, food, and consumer goods. The speakers were giving solutions-based presentations, and the crowds were eating it up. In the midst of the most liberal city in America, where less than a week after the election the general mood was dark and gloomy like the pervasive fog coating the streets, the thousands of people inside the Concourse Center had not given up, and the place was bubbling over with hope.

“You want to see what the future looks like,” Danaher said, “take a look around. Everyone here is contributing something towards building an entirely new system, one built on three simple ideas: ecological balance, sustainable economics, and social justice. We’re not trying to tear anything down, and we’re not raising our fists in the air, we’re gettin’ busy making things.  Screw marching, let’s make worm poop. You wanna know how the Greens are gonna make themselves relevant, its not in Washington, it’s right here in this room. When shit starts to break down and the cats in Washington are scrambling around looking for solutions to energy and food crises, who do you think they’re gonna turn to? Who do you think will have the answers?”

Suddenly it all made sense. I had spent so much time talking shit about the hippies, how they gave up and didn’t finish the job in the Sixties, how they were useless and self-indulgent. But they didn’t give up, they just changed their strategy. When things got too inhospitable, they retreated to their isolated communities in Northern California and Oregon and they started building shit. They channeled all of their defiant energy into innovation and created technologies and lifestyle products that spoke to their value system. Oh, and they had kids and handed down those values to them, and the kids didn’t grow up to be Alex P. Keaton, they grew up to be more refined versions of their parents, carrying this hippie innovation into another generation. Now here we were, in 2004, and an entire sustainable subculture had emerged and converged on this narrow strip of convention hall.

I realized that I was meant to be there, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. It hadn’t taken long, I was quickly burning out on the whole protest thing. This was a new model, a wildly engaging one, and Danaher embodied the kind of personality that seemed commensurate with my own brash approach. His melange of business acumen, cultural awareness, and political savvy exuded what I would call a refined radicalism. He was able to navigate the system and speak its language while at the same time actively subverting it.

It took less than a week for me to convince myself that I was in paradise in San Francisco, and that I never wanted to go back to Chicago. The beauty of the landscape, the level of social consciousness, and permissiveness, and the dense collection of people doing pioneering work was more than I had ever experienced, and I finally felt like I was in some place where I could be appreciated. Even though I had no home and no job, I decided to stay. 

I began a nomadic existence. A friend of Medea’s let me house-sit her place in Oakland while she was out of town. Before she left, she turned me on to the work of writer Mike Davis, who I had read only sparingly and outside the context of his larger body of work. She gave me a book of his essays called Dead Cities, and I was transformed by it. It was some of the best writing I had ever seen, the perfect mix of socially relevant stories bearing deep political consciousness, vivid language and imagery, and proper contextualization, undergirded by an all-pervading sense of justice.

Reading Davis, I was reminded how good writing can be, and how much I had been neglecting my own work. Although I cranked out at least one feature a month on Newtopia, I hadn’t really branched out to other publications, and I wasn’t happy with the pieces I had written. They felt rushed and incomplete, and were crying out for more research and serious revision. It was becoming clear to me that all this running around trying to save the world was keeping me from doing what I loved most, writing, and Davis’ work lit a fire under my ass to start producing better quality material.

But I was conflicted. I took my obligations to the Green Party seriously, and I couldn’t escape the nagging guilt that I would be abandoning them, even as I was staring the futility of protest square in the face. I couldn’t understand how people like Medea and her Code Pink ladies kept at it in the face of so many repeated and consistent disappointments, but for the fact that it was their job, and if she didn’t do it, she didn’t pay the bills. Still, their level of commitment was astounding. For chrissakes they had been wearing nothing but pink for two years! They would march in the street for hours, chanting their slogans and holding their signs. I couldn’t do that. I admired them for what they were doing, but I needed to find another way.

Unwittingly, Medea’s friend more or less confirmed it for me when I asked her how she kept going. She looked at me as if the question itself was strange.

“I push myself until I can’t push anymore and then I have a little breakdown, and then I get up and do it all over again. And when I think about complaining or stopping, I remind myself of those who have it worse than me.”

I didn’t know whether this was supremely selfless, or willfully self-destructive, yet it was important for me to understand because I was in the same boat. I was wearing myself down. The summer and the election had totally depleted me, and I was completely stressed out because there was still so much more to do, and everywhere you looked we were losing. I didn’t want to push  it all the way to a breakdown, I knew enough to know it was the worst possible option for me. What I needed was a kind of reset, an ability to look at everything in my life from a fresh perspective.

I could never have known that the “reset” I was looking for was just around the corner, headed towards me on a high speed collision course, wearing a bird hat.

~~~~

Endnotes:

  1. Now known as the Liberty Tree Foundation for Democracy.
  2. “Machine Politics In the Digital Age,” by Melanie Warner, The New York Times, November 9, 2003.
  3. Taken from an Affidavit filed on December 6th, 2004 by Clint Curtis, former lead programmer of Yang Enterprises, who was asked to design a program for the 2000 election in Florida that manipulated vote totals without being detectable (published on the Brad Blog, December 2004)
  4. “Footprints of Electoral Fraud: The November 2 Exit Poll Scam” by Michael Keefer, Global Research, November 5, 2004.
  5. “Evidence of Electoral Fraud in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election: A Reading List” by Michael Keefer, OpEd News, 15 November 2004.
  6. “Did Your Vote Count: The Plot Thickens” COUNTDOWN, MSNBC, Monday November 8, 2004.
  7. “Ohio, recounted: A Green timeline” by Blair Bobier, Green Pages, Vol. 9, Issue 1, Spring 2005.
  8. “Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio” – Status Report of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff, January 5, 2005. 
  9. “Was the 2004 Election Stolen?” by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Rolling Stone, reprinted in its entirety on Third World Traveler.
  10. “What Happened in Ohio? A Documentary Record of Theft and Fraud in the 2004 Election.” by Bob Fitrakis, Harvey Wasserman, and Steve Rosenfeld.

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Exile Nation copyright © 2010 Charles Shaw. All rights reserved.

Charles Shaw's work has appeared in Alternet, Alternative Press Review,Conscious Choice, Common Ground, Grist, Guerrilla News Network,Huffington Post, In These Times, Newtopia, The New York Times, openDemocracy, Planetizen, Punk Planet, Reality Sandwich, San Diego Uptown News, Scoop, Shift, Truthout, The Witness, YES!, and Znet. He was a Contributing Author to the 2008 Shift Report from the Institute for Noetic Sciences, and in Planetizen's Contemporary Debates in Urban Planning (2007, Island Press). In 2009 he was recognized by the San Diego Press Club for excellence in journalism.

Charles is the Director of The Unheard Voices Project, the Editor of the openDemocracy Drug Policy Forum, and the Editor of the Dictionary of Ethical Politics, collaborative projects of Resurgence, openDemocracy, and the Sainsbury/Tedworth Charitible Trusts. He was Editorial Director of Conscious Enlightenment Publishing (Conscious Choice, Common Ground, Whole Life Times, and Seattle's Conscious Choice), the founder and publisher of Newtopia, head writer for the nationally syndicated radio show Reality Checks, Senior Staff Writer for The Next American City, and a Contributing Editor for Worldchanging.

Along-timeactivist and former official for the Green Party of the US, heis a native of Chicago who lives on the West Coast…for now.

 

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Read this guide to learn more about the different characteristics of gold cap mushrooms, and how they differ from other psilocybin species.

Guide to Cooking with Magic Mushrooms
From cookies to smoothies and sandwiches, we cover various methods of cooking with magic mushrooms for the ultimate snack.

2020 Election: The Decriminalize Psilocybin Movement
Are you curious if mushrooms will follow in marijuana’s footsteps? Read to learn about how the U.S. is moving to decriminalize psilocybin.

Oregon’s Initiative to Legalize Mushrooms | Initiative Petition 34
Oregon continues to push ahead with their initiative to legalize Psilocybin in 2020. The measure received its official title and now needs signatures.

Canada Approves Psilocybin Treatment for Terminally-Ill Cancer Patients
Canada’s Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu approved the use of psilocybin to help ease anxiety and depression of four terminal cancer patients.

Mapping the DMT Experience
With only firsthand experiences to share, how can we fully map the DMT experience? Let’s explore what we know about this powerful psychedelic.

Guide to Machine Elves and Other DMT Entities
This guide discusses machine elves, clockwork elves, and other common DMT entities that people experience during a DMT trip.

Is the DMT Experience a Hallucination? 
What if the DMT realm was the real world, and our everyday lives were merely a game we had chosen to play?

How to Store DMT
Not sure how to store DMT? Read this piece to learn the best practices and elements of advice to keep your stuff fresh.

What Does 5-MeO-DMT Show Us About Consciousness?
How does our brain differentiate between what’s real and what’s not? Read to learn what can 5-MeO-DMT show us about consciousness.

How to Smoke DMT: Processes Explained
There are many ways to smoke DMT and we’ve outlined some of the best processes to consider before embarking on your journey.

How to Ground After DMT
Knowing what to expect from a DMT comedown can help you integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible from your journey.

How To Get DMT
What kind of plants contain DMT? Are there other ways to access this psychedelic? Read on to learn more about how to get DMT.

How DMT is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make DMT? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how DMT is made.

Having Sex on DMT: What You Need to Know
Have you ever wondered about sex on DMT? Learn how the God Molecule can influence your intimate experiences.

Does the Human Brain Make DMT? 
With scientific evidence showing us DMT in the brain, what can we conclude it is there for? Read on to learn more.

How to Use DMT Vape Pens
Read to learn all about DMT vape pens including: what to know when vaping, what to expect when purchasing a DMT cartridge, and vaping safely.

DMT Resources
This article is a comprehensive DMT resource providing extensive information from studies, books, documentaries, and more. Check it out!

Differentiating DMT and Near-Death Experiences
Some say there are similarities between a DMT trip and death. Read our guide on differentiating DMT and near-death experiences to find out.

DMT Research from 1956 to the Edge of Time
From a representative sample of a suitably psychedelic crowd, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who couldn’t tell you all about Albert Hofmann’s enchanted bicycle ride after swallowing what turned out to be a massive dose of LSD. Far fewer, however, could tell you much about the world’s first DMT trip.

The Ultimate Guide to DMT Pricing
Check out our ultimate guide on DMT pricing to learn what to expect when purchasing DMT for your first time.

DMT Milking | Reality Sandwich
Indigenous cultures have used 5-MeO-DMT for centuries. With the surge in demand for psychedelic toad milk, is DMT Milking harming the frogs?

Why Does DMT Pervade Nature?
With the presence of DMT in nature everywhere – including human brains – why does it continue to baffle science?

DMT Substance Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to DMT has everything you want to know about this powerful psychedelic referred to as “the spirit molecule”.

DMT for Depression: Paving the Way for New Medicine
We’ve been waiting for an effective depression treatment. Studies show DMT for depression works even for treatment resistant patients.

Beating Addiction with DMT
Psychedelics have been studied for their help overcoming addiction. Read how DMT is helping addicts beat their substance abuse issues.

DMT Extraction: Behind the Scientific Process
Take a look at DMT extraction and the scientific process involved. Learn all you need to know including procedures and safety.

Microdosing DMT & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing DMT.

DMT Art: A Look Behind Visionary Creations
An entire genre of artwork is inspired by psychedelic trips with DMT. Read to learn about the entities and visions behind DMT art.

Changa vs. DMT: What You Need to Know
While similar (changa contains DMT), each drug has its own unique effect and feeling. Let’s compare and contrast changa vs DMT.

5-MeO-DMT Guide: Effects, Benefits, Safety, and Legality
5-Meo-DMT comes from the Sonora Desert toad. Here is everything you want to know about 5-Meo-DMT and how it compares to 4-AcO-DMT.

4-AcO-DMT Guide: Benefits, Effects, Safety, and Legality
This guide tells you everything about 4 AcO DMT & 5 MeO DMT, that belong to the tryptamine class, and are similar but slightly different to DMT.

How Much Does LSD Cost? When shopping around for that magical psychedelic substance, there can be many uncertainties when new to buying LSD. You may be wondering how much does LSD cost? In this article, we will discuss what to expect when purchasing LSD on the black market, what forms LSD is sold in, and the standard breakdown of buying LSD in quantity.   Navy Use of LSD on the Dark Web The dark web is increasingly popular for purchasing illegal substances. The US Navy has now noticed this trend with their staff. Read to learn more.   Having Sex on LSD: What You Need to Know Can you have sex on LSD? Read our guide to learn everything about sex on acid, from lowered inhibitions to LSD users quotes on sex while tripping.   A Drug That Switches off an LSD Trip A pharmaceutical company is developing an “off-switch” drug for an LSD trip, in the case that a bad trip can happen. Some would say there is no such thing.   Queen of Hearts: An Interview with Liz Elliot on Tim Leary and LSD The history of psychedelia, particularly the British experience, has been almost totally written by men. Of the women involved, especially those who were in the thick of it, little has been written either by or about them. A notable exception is Liz Elliot.   LSD Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety LSD, Lysergic acid diethylamide, or just acid is one of the most important psychedelics ever discovered. What did history teach us?   Microdosing LSD & Common Dosage Explained Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing LSD.   LSD Resources Curious to learn more about LSD? This guide includes comprehensive LSD resources containing books, studies and more.   LSD as a Spiritual Aid There is common consent that the evolution of mankind is paralleled by the increase and expansion of consciousness. From the described process of how consciousness originates and develops, it becomes evident that its growth depends on its faculty of perception. Therefore every means of improving this faculty should be used.   Legendary LSD Blotter Art: A Hidden Craftsmanship Have you ever heard of LSD blotter art? Explore the trippy world of LSD art and some of the top artists of LSD blotter art.   LSD and Exercise: Does it Work? LSD and exercise? Learn why high-performing athletes are taking hits of LSD to improve their overall potential.   Jan Bastiaans Treated Holocaust Survivors with LSD Dutch psychiatrist, Jan Bastiaans administered LSD-assisted therapy to survivors of the Holocaust. A true war hero and pioneer of psychedelic-therapy.   LSD and Spiritual Awakening I give thanks for LSD, which provided the opening that led me to India in 1971 and brought me to Neem Karoli Baba, known as Maharajji. Maharajji is described by the Indians as a “knower of hearts.”   How LSD is Made: Everything You Need to Know Ever wonder how to make LSD? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how LSD is made.   How to Store LSD: Best Practices Learn the best way to store LSD, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long LSD lasts when stored.   Bicycle Day: The Discovery of LSD Every year on April 19th, psychonauts join forces to celebrate Bicycle Day. Learn about the famous day when Albert Hoffman first discovered the effects of LSD.   Cary Grant: A Hollywood Legend On LSD Cary Grant was a famous actor during the 1930’s-60’s But did you know Grant experimented with LSD? Read our guide to learn more.   Albert Hofmann: LSD — My Problem Child Learn about Albert Hofmann and his discovery of LSD, along with the story of Bicycle Day and why it marks a historic milestone.   Babies are High: What Does LSD Do To Your Brain What do LSD and babies have in common? Researchers at the Imperial College in London discover that an adult’s brain on LSD looks like a baby’s brain.   1P LSD: Effects, Benefits, Safety Explained 1P LSD is an analogue of LSD and homologue of ALD-25. Here is everything you want to know about 1P LSD and how it compares to LSD.   Francis Crick, DNA & LSD Type ‘Francis Crick LSD’ into Google, and the result will be 30,000 links. Many sites claim that Crick (one of the two men responsible for discovering the structure of DNA), was either under the influence of LSD at the time of his revelation or used the drug to help with his thought processes during his research. Is this true?   What Happens If You Overdose on LSD? A recent article presented three individuals who overdosed on LSD. Though the experience was unpleasant, the outcomes were remarkably positive.

The Ayahuasca Experience
Ayahuasca is both a medicine and a visionary aid. You can employ ayahuasca for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual repair, and you can engage with the power of ayahuasca for deeper insight and realization. If you consider attainment of knowledge in the broadest perspective, you can say that at all times, ayahuasca heals.

 

Trippy Talk: Meet Ayahuasca with Sitaramaya Sita and PlantTeachers
Sitaramaya Sita is a spiritual herbalist, pusangera, and plant wisdom practitioner formally trained in the Shipibo ayahuasca tradition.

 

The Therapeutic Value of Ayahuasca
My best description of the impact of ayahuasca is that it’s a rocket boost to psychospiritual growth and unfolding, my professional specialty during my thirty-five years of private practice.

 

Microdosing Ayahuasca: Common Dosage Explained
What is ayahuasca made of and what is considered a microdose? Explore insights with an experienced Peruvian brewmaster and learn more about this practice.

 

Ayahuasca Makes Neuron Babies in Your Brain
Researchers from Beckley/Sant Pau Research Program have shared the latest findings in their study on the effects of ayahuasca on neurogenesis.

 

The Fatimiya Sufi Order and Ayahuasca
In this interview, the founder of the Fatimiya Sufi Order,  N. Wahid Azal, discusses the history and uses of plant medicines in Islamic and pre-Islamic mystery schools.

 

Consideration Ayahuasca for Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Research indicates that ayahuasca mimics mechanisms of currently accepted treatments for PTSD. In order to understand the implications of ayahuasca treatment, we need to understand how PTSD develops.

 

Brainwaves on Ayahuasca: A Waking Dream State
In a study researchers shared discoveries showing ingredients found in Ayahuasca impact the brainwaves causing a “waking dream” state.

 

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a pro cannabis Peruvian Shaman.

 

Ayahuasca Retreat 101: Everything You Need to Know to Brave the Brew
Ayahuasca has been known to be a powerful medicinal substance for millennia. However, until recently, it was only found in the jungle. Word of its deeply healing and cleansing properties has begun to spread across the world as many modern, Western individuals are seeking spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. More ayahuasca retreat centers are emerging in the Amazon and worldwide to meet the demand.

 

Ayahuasca Helps with Grief
A new study published in psychopharmacology found that ayahuasca helped those suffering from the loss of a loved one up to a year after treatment.

 

Ayahuasca Benefits: Clinical Improvements for Six Months
Ayahuasca benefits can last six months according to studies. Read here to learn about the clinical improvements from drinking the brew.

 

Ayahuasca Culture: Indigenous, Western, And The Future
Ayahuasca has been use for generations in the Amazon. With the rise of retreats and the brew leaving the rainforest how is ayahuasca culture changing?

 

Ayahuasca Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
The Amazonian brew, Ayahuasca has a long history and wide use. Read our guide to learn all about the tea from its beginnings up to modern-day interest.

 

Ayahuasca and the Godhead: An Interview with Wahid Azal of the Fatimiya Sufi Order
Wahid Azal, a Sufi mystic of The Fatimiya Sufi Order and an Islamic scholar, talks about entheogens, Sufism, mythology, and metaphysics.

 

Ayahuasca and the Feminine: Women’s Roles, Healing, Retreats, and More
Ayahuasca is lovingly called “grandmother” or “mother” by many. Just how feminine is the brew? Read to learn all about women and ayahuasca.

What Is the Standard of Care for Ketamine Treatments?
Ketamine therapy is on the rise in light of its powerful results for treatment-resistant depression. But, what is the current standard of care for ketamine? Read to find out.

What Is Dissociation and How Does Ketamine Create It?
Dissociation can take on multiple forms. So, what is dissociation like and how does ketamine create it? Read to find out.

Having Sex on Ketamine: Getting Physical on a Dissociative
Curious about what it could feel like to have sex on a dissociate? Find out all the answers in our guide to sex on ketamine.

Special K: The Party Drug
Special K refers to Ketamine when used recreationally. Learn the trends as well as safety information around this substance.

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

Ketamine vs. Esketamine: 3 Important Differences Explained
Ketamine and esketamine are used to treat depression. But what’s the difference between them? Read to learn which one is right for you: ketamine vs. esketamine.

Guide to Ketamine Treatments: Understanding the New Approach
Ketamine is becoming more popular as more people are seeing its benefits. Is ketamine a fit? Read our guide for all you need to know about ketamine treatments.

Ketamine Treatment for Eating Disorders
Ketamine is becoming a promising treatment for various mental health conditions. Read to learn how individuals can use ketamine treatment for eating disorders.

Ketamine Resources, Studies, and Trusted Information
Curious to learn more about ketamine? This guide includes comprehensive ketamine resources containing books, studies and more.

Ketamine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to ketamine has everything you need to know about this “dissociative anesthetic” and how it is being studied for depression treatment.

Ketamine for Depression: A Mental Health Breakthrough
While antidepressants work for some, many others find no relief. Read to learn about the therapeutic uses of ketamine for depression.

Ketamine for Addiction: Treatments Offering Hope
New treatments are offering hope to individuals suffering from addiction diseases. Read to learn how ketamine for addiction is providing breakthrough results.

Microdosing Ketamine & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing ketamine.

How to Ease a Ketamine Comedown
Knowing what to expect when you come down from ketamine can help integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible.

How to Store Ketamine: Best Practices
Learn the best ways how to store ketamine, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long ketamine lasts when stored.

How To Buy Ketamine: Is There Legal Ketamine Online?
Learn exactly where it’s legal to buy ketamine, and if it’s possible to purchase legal ketamine on the internet.

How Long Does Ketamine Stay in Your System?
How long does ketamine stay in your system? Are there lasting effects on your body? Read to discover the answers!

How Ketamine is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make Ketamine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how Ketamine is made.

Colorado on Ketamine: First Responders Waiver Programs
Fallout continues after Elijah McClain. Despite opposing recommendations from some city council, Colorado State Health panel recommends the continued use of ketamine by medics for those demonstrating “excited delirium” or “extreme agitation”.

Types of Ketamine: Learn the Differences & Uses for Each
Learn about the different types of ketamine and what they are used for—and what type might be right for you. Read now to find out!

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

MDMA & Ecstasy Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to MDMA has everything you want to know about Ecstasy from how it was developed in 1912 to why it’s being studied today.

How To Get the Most out of Taking MDMA as a Couple
Taking MDMA as a couple can lead to exciting experiences. Read here to learn how to get the most of of this love drug in your relationship.

Common MDMA Dosage & Microdosing Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing MDMA.

Having Sex on MDMA: What You Need to Know
MDMA is known as the love drug… Read our guide to learn all about sex on MDMA and why it is beginning to makes its way into couple’s therapy.

How MDMA is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make MDMA? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how MDMA is made.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

How Cocaine is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make cocaine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how cocaine is made.

A Christmas Sweater with Santa and Cocaine
This week, Walmart came under fire for a “Let it Snow” Christmas sweater depicting Santa with lines of cocaine. Columbia is not merry about it.

Ultimate Cocaine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
This guide covers what you need to know about Cocaine, including common effects and uses, legality, safety precautions and top trends today.

NEWS: An FDA-Approved Cocaine Nasal Spray
The FDA approved a cocaine nasal spray called Numbrino, which has raised suspicions that the pharmaceutical company, Lannett Company Inc., paid off the FDA..

The Ultimate Guide to Cannabis Bioavailability
What is bioavailability and how can it affect the overall efficacy of a psychedelic substance? Read to learn more.

Cannabis Research Explains Sociability Behaviors
New research by Dr. Giovanni Marsicano shows social behavioral changes occur as a result of less energy available to the neurons. Read here to learn more.

The Cannabis Shaman
If recreational and medical use of marijuana is becoming accepted, can the spiritual use as well? Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Hamilton Souther, founder of the 420 Cannabis Shamanism movement…

Cannabis Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Cannabis has everything you want to know about this popular substances that has psychedelic properties.

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a procannabis Peruvian Shaman.

CBD-Rich Cannabis Versus Single-Molecule CBD
A ground-breaking study has documented the superior therapeutic properties of whole plant Cannabis extract as compared to synthetic cannabidiol (CBD), challenging the medical-industrial complex’s notion that “crude” botanical preparations are less effective than single-molecule compounds.

Cannabis Has Always Been a Medicine
Modern science has already confirmed the efficacy of cannabis for most uses described in the ancient medical texts, but prohibitionists still claim that medical cannabis is “just a ruse.”

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