There was a huge failure of the American press after JFK was assassinated. Oswald’s connections to the FBI and Ruby’s connections to the mob went virtually unmentioned for decades. At first, President Johnson wanted no investigation beyond the Dallas police (just like G.W. Bush didn’t want a 9/11 Commission) but eventually Johnson created a commission he knew could be contained. Allen Dulles and J. Edgar Hoover controlled that investigation and both hated JFK with purple passion. Dulles was David Rockefeller’s cousin, and Hoover had ties to organized crime, which apparently possessed a photo of Hoover giving a blow job to Clyde Tolson. Immediately after the assassination, Dulles disappeared into the CIA special ops center and stayed there until the cover-up was completed.
Before the Warren Commission Report was published, however, three Commissioners disputed the “single bullet theory,” although only one of them would speak out publicly against the report: Hale Boggs, the House Marjority Leader, who also attacked Hoover on the House floor in April of 1971, accusing him of running an American Gestapo. After that incident, Nixon cut all ties with Boggs. On October 16, 1972, the plane Boggs was traveling in disappeared over a remote area of Alaska and was never found. As a result, Emergency Locator Transmitters were placed in all US civil aircraft.
John Roselli
The Warren Commission was initiated in November of 1963 and published in September of 1964. It had access to tremendous resources and easily could have revealed the true conspiracy behind the assassination. Today we know the nuts and bolts of that assassination were orchestrated by Allen Dulles, Ted Shakleford, and James J. Angleton, and that an assassination project initially aimed at Castro plotted by Richard Bissell, Bill Harvey and John Roselli was diverted to kill JFK. Four shooters were involved, including Roselli, whose first shot (from the front) went through the car windshield and into Kennedy’s throat. Coming through the windshield might account for the driver freezing and taking his foot off the gas just as the vehicle entered the kill zone. Or maybe the driver knew where and when to stop.
The fatal shot came from the grassy knoll. A third shooter may have been located in the Dal-Tex building, although a rifle was thrust out of the “sniper’s nest,” it was likely not even fired. The fourth shooter was likely located either on the roof or another area of the School Book Depository. All four shooters were reportedly paid $50,000, money put up by the Texas oil barons, Murchison and the Hunts.
The original plan of blaming the assassination on Cuba was abandoned early on and the patsy became the typical “lone” assassin with zero ties to anyone. Many on the Commission understood dark details had to be concealed for reasons of National Security. Foremost among these was Oswald’s ties to Angleton. When the Zapruder film was first analyzed by CIA photo-expert (and trick-shot artist) Homer McMahon, he concluded there were 8 shots fired from three different directions. The Secret Service pressured McMahon to change this testimony to support the fiction only three shots were fired, all from the rear.
What this proves is that every book, every investigation, every published word in fact, can easily be manipulated and censored if one owns the means of production. If you owned all book companies, you could easily censor vital information concerning politics or even religion, and this corruption becomes even easier over time. After WWII there was a tremendous concentration of media companies into mega-corporations that purchased most newspaper, magazine and book publishing companies. This rapid concentration of power around the world may have been aided by plundered Nazi and Japanese gold, most of which “disappeared” after the war.
So when people tell me the Bible is the sacred word of God, and that there was zero attempt by the Roman Empire (or anyone else) to conceal the historical cannabis-Christian connection, I have to ask how reliable is the Warren Commission Report, written only a few years after JFK’s assassination? In the thousands of years that have transpired since the time of Christ, and considering all the wars that have been fought over this sacred land, can you really trust anything an establishment church has to say? Religion, like armies, police and politicians must be kept under the control of oligarchies that rule in secret. This has been true for a long, long time. Today, the multi-generational fortunes of the oligarchy are typically concentrated into trusts, like the Rockefeller’s, so their power can be wielded more effectively.
I was asked recently who JFK was talking about when he warned against secret societies. My answer was “probably Skull & Bones.” JFK knew about the secret societies of Harvard, which were run by the Boston Brahmins, and was not permitted into the Porcelian Club, Harvard’s equivalent to Bones. And he was talking to the media, which is dominated by Yale’s most prestigious secret society.
But Skull & Bones is a college fraternity (that now accepts some females), and while it offers a path to power for many, real power in banking and intelligence doesn’t reside in twenty-somethings. The most powerful secret society on earth right now is probably the Bilderberg Group, which is interesting because that society has links to stolen Nazi gold. Previous to the Bilderberg Group, the most powerful society may have been the Pilgrim Society. Either one of these groups, The Pilgrims or the Bilderbergers (and there is extensive overlap between the two) could have provided a fertile ground from which a conspiracy to assassinate JFK may have emanated. One thing is clear, James Jesus Angleton left his job in disgrace and powerless. He was not at the center of anything, but was merely working for the oligarchy that really rules America.
When I first met Jack Herer, he’d recently discovered John Allegro, and was obsessed with decoding the Bible, which he felt contained hidden messages about drugs and gay sex between priests and young initiates. Unfortunately, Allegro’s work was bunk, and constructed to conceal the truth, not unveil it, and the fact a corrupt version of Christianity used mushrooms and took power behind the scenes during the Templars, does not mean they were free of corruption. I always believed the true sacrament of Christianity (and most other major religions) was cannabis, not mushrooms. And the real Bible is one written in all our hearts. (Unless you’ve been abused, in which case your psyche has been likely twisted).
R. Gordon Wasson introduced the idea of Amanita Muscaria as the original sacrament of many religions at a critical time right before the psychedelic revolution was about to take off. In fact, Wasson tried to control and manage all the information concerning psychedelics and religion. Wasson was a Vice President of JP Morgan Bank and prominent member of The Council on Foreign Relations and the Century Club.
And that Emergency Transmitter system? That didn’t seem to work too well when JFK Jr’s plane went down, just before he was about to step onto the national stage and throw his hat in the ring in an attempt to derail George Bush Jr’s run at the Presidency. Strange, almost like Hale Boggs, that plane couldn’t be found for around 14 hours, by which time the co-pilot seat and flight log had mysteriously disappeared.
Is Mount Sinai of the Old Testament a real place? All we know is that Moses got the inspiration to lead his people out of Egypt after traveling to the top of Mount Sinai, where he was confronted by a burning bush that spoke to him with the voice of God. When he came down, he made the first menorah, an oil lamp with seven flames. Later, the menorah would evolve to eight candles, but I wonder if the original seven flames was a reference to the seven points of a cannabis leaf. Later, after the Exodus began, Moses revisited the top of Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments written on stone tablets. There has long been dispute over the origins of the words “Mount Sinai.” Some believe it’s a reference to the Sumerian Moon Goddess, others think it must be a volcano. Why volcano? Because Mount Sinai means “smokey mountains,” and its peak is always clouded in smoke, where a fire burns continuously.
I’ve come to believe the smokey mountain of Mount Sinai is actually a reference to cannabis intoxication. It was only after becoming intoxicated with cannabis smoke that Moses received the inspiration to make a menorah and lead his people out of slavery. Today, many people recognize the inspirational powers of cannabis. For example, Carl Sagan attributed some of his important scientific discoveries to inspiration he received after smoking a joint. Louis Armstrong and John Lennon also spoke of the inspirational powers of cannabis. And wherever you find cannabis use, you’ll find spiritual cultures seeking to throw off the chains of oppression, whether it be Rastas in Jamaica or hippies in North America.
Cannabis intoxication began thousands of years ago with the Scythian culture from the Black Sea area, a culture that eventually spread to Europe, Africa, China to India. The Scythians domesticated horses, built the first covered wagons and spread cannabis seeds wherever they traveled. Their culture had an enormous influence on the development of spirituality around the world, and eventually replaced the concept of a world filled with spirits to a world dominated by a single energy field that flowed through all spirits. But because they had no written language beyond runes, little is known about them other than what outsiders like Herodotus observed.
Check out this incense burner from ancient China. Cannabis incense burners in China were often shaped to look like mountains, and the smoke emanated from holes in the top, as if coming from the top of a mountain. This is probably the Mount Sinai Moses visited. These bronze incense burners could be placed inside small tents in order to fill the tent with smoke. After a few minutes inside, one became intoxicated….or, as Moses would have referred to it….”one felt the power of the Lord…”
Later, cannabis use would change from incense burners in tents to a cannabis-infused milk beverage. This was a more healthy and effective way to consume the medicine. This beverage was called Huma in China, Soma in India, and Haoma in Iran.
In the 1950s, a banker working with J.P. Morgan, then the richest man in the United States, a man with very close ties to the Bank of England, wrote several books stating Soma and Haoma were made from a mushroom, Amanita Muscaria. This rabbit hole may have been created to lead people away from discovering the truth about the origins of cannabis use and its influence on the development of spirituality.
I should add there never was an Exodus out of Egypt. That story was invented while the Jews were slaves in Babylon. Since they could not attack their masters, they invented a historical revenge drama to uplift their hearts. So they did not spend 40 days in the desert, but they could have survived times of famine by eating cannabis seeds. Manna is likely a reference to immature cannabis seeds collected by children and then pounded into wafers and baked. Also, Moses is a mythical character based mostly on Zoroaster with a tad of Cyrus the Great, the first Zoroastrian king of Persia who freed the Jews to return to Judea. So in homage they fashioned their new avatar on Zoroastrian ideas. Similarly, Jesus is a mythical creation that incorporated elements of Buddhism. Buddha is also likely a myth, but that’s another story.
It’s unfortunate the sacred texts from the world’s religions become corrupted almost beyond recognition over time. For example, although the story of the burning bush made it into the Bible, the identification of the crucial plant did not. This plant, in fact, may have created the first big wave of modern spirituality (based on a perception of a single energy uniting all spirits). We do know fire temples were suddenly erected from Iran to India, and a medicinal plant was mixed with milk and served in a ceremonial manner. They called this plant “the King of the Healing Plants” in some quarters, in others it was known as “The Tree of Life” or “The Tree of Knowledge.” Using instincts as my guide, I now relate the true story of Adam and Eve.
In the beginning The Great Spirit flowed through the light and through the air. That was the first day.
The Great Spirit flowed through the water. That was the second day.
The Great Spirit flowed through the vegetation, the seed bearing life, and that was the third day.
On the fourth day, The Great Spirit flowed through the living creatures, the animals, the birds, the insects and all the fish in the sea.
On the fifth day, Eve was born.
On the sixth day, Adam was born.
And on the seventh day, here’s what happened:
There’s no getting around the fact girls mature faster than boys, so isn’t it obvious Eve was ready for the most important role in her life (motherhood) long before Adam was ready to set aside his foolish boyish games? It must have been hard on Eve trying to get Adam’s attention so they could get busy starting a family. Eve was a sensible girl, so she called out to Mother Earth to help her find a way to get her family started. In a dream, Mother Earth instructed Eve to take Adam down to the river and make him partake of the Tree of Life that grows wild along the river banks.
And wouldn’t you know it, after Adam got high on cannabis, he was suddenly a lot more susceptible to Eve’s sexual charms and started to pick up on these cues for the first time? And of course, we all know the end of the story: Adam and Eve made spectacular love and then created all of us, their children.
And that is the real, true story of Adam and Eve, our great-great-great-grandparents.
Now, let’s consider how this story was rewritten in today’s Bible, where Eve is portrayed as vain, dumb, and evil, while Adam is tricked into partaking of the Tree of Knowledge, and then cast out of the Garden of Eden, presumably to live in the desert somewhere because “he has knowledge?” This story has been twisted beyond recognition in order to: subjugate women as second-class citizens, and encourage the peasant population to remain in a state of ignorance.
(Excerpted from my book Magic, Religion & Cannabis, click link below the video to order a copy.)
Completely forgotten in all the hoopla over the release of the heavily edited and redacted documents known as “The bin Laden Papers,” is the uncomfortable fact that immediately after 9/11, bin Laden went on Al Jazeera to announce he was innocent. In fact, zero actual evidence has been produced linking bin Laden to 9/11—other than some transparently manipulated audio and video clips of dubious origins. We have faked confessions, no doubt, but no forensic evidence for a crime that involved tremendous resources and intense planning? After all the Gitmo waterboarding that’s gone on, you’d think something concrete would have emerged. In fact, the FBI never even accused bin Laden of being a suspect in 9/11, as his wanted poster mentioned only two embassy bombing incidents. The patsy being put on trial (after over a decade of torture and isolation) will be judged and sentenced based solely on the testimony of another terror suspect put in a cell with him, a man whose testimony was extracted under torture and promise of an easier sentence? This is not a trial but a national disgrace.
We do know, however, bin Laden began his career as an Islamic jihadist at the request of the CIA and the organization he built was designed to repel Russian invaders in Afghanistan. It was only after the anti-Russian campaign ended that bin Laden came into conflict with Israel, England and the United States. Prior to our invasion of Afghanistan, he likely could have been easily captured. When troops encircled his Tora Bora command post (built by our CIA) they strangely left the back door escape route to Pakistan wide open. Clearly, this “escape” was nothing but a carefully orchestrated withdrawal.
But the most intriguing bit of information I’ve come across was a reference on a Middle-Eastern website to a suspected decline in bin Laden’s mental facilities after 2003. Did you even know two of his wives had PhD’s? Wouldn’t it be nice to hear their perspective on the raid and death of their beloved husband? Was an unarmed man suffering from dementia actually executed in front of his unarmed family? Clearly, this was no fire-fight. Do you ever wonder why the body was disposed of in the ocean, why the compound was quickly turned to dust, why the witnesses have disappeared from press and public scrutiny? And a year after the execution, we get treated to the release of “incriminating” papers, which actually reveal nothing of any substance about who bin Laden actually was and who he was working for. The strangest thing in these papers is a long diatribe on why jihadists should not attack oil company installations or refineries. I wonder who’s agenda that might be? After seizing every computer and scrap of paper in that compound, it is astonishing how little is revealed in the 17 fragments released, many of which have no attribution, author or context.
When we really want to get to the bottom of 9/11, it will be necessary to interrogate Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Armitage, Frank Carlucci and George Bush Senior, who was meeting with Osama’s brother Shafig in the Ritz-Carleton in Washington that day. Meanwhile, the only forensic evidence we have is a $100,000 money transfer from an ISI operative in Pakistan. Is it worth noting ISI chief Mahmoud Ahmad was meeting with Bob Graham and Porter Goss on the morning of 9/11?
But even Bob Graham (who sat and signed off on the whitewash commission) called for a new investigation last fall when it was revealed that all the Saudi links to 9/11 had been concealed rather than investigated. You can bet neither the ISI nor Saudi nor Mossad links will be touched upon in the upcoming trial.
And finally, is it worth mentioning another suspicious detail in this case: the deaths last August of the Seal Team that assassinated bin Laden?
The Soul Assassins first rehearsal in a rented studio.
Garage rock is a uniquely American form of music largely inspired by the British Invasion, although the genre was well established prior to the Beatles with roots in Rockabilly, Surf Rock and Buddy Holly.
The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead and Velvet Underground all essentially began by playing garage rock, known for its three-chord simplicity and raw emotion devoid of influence from the corporate music industry.
Pigpen was the only garage rocker in the Dead, and “Sweet Jane” is garage rock.
The genre kicked off with “Louie, Louie,” soon followed by “Hey, Joe,” and “Gloria.”
Spanning fifty years of garage rock history, my list of favorites includes songs from Europe as well as South America. Even though I wrote the first book on hip hop, garage rock has always remained my true love, musically-speaking.
The first band I joined was The Knight Riders, formed in Urbana, Illinois, in 1966, while we were all in junior high. My next band, The Soul Assassins, formed in New York City twenty years later. Two compatriots from Urbana were founding members along with me, although we lost one early on. The drummer, of course. If you like r-r-r-real rock and roll, here is my cream of the crop.
Psycho by The Sonics
Help You Ann by The Lyres
I’m Cracking Up by The Maharajas
You’re Gonna Miss Me by 13th Floor Elevators
El Humo Tace Mal by Los Peyotes
Open Up Your Door by Richard and the Young Lions
Shadow Line by The Fleshtones
I’ll Come Again by The Ugly Beats
Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In?) by The Chocolate Watchband
The uncontested b-boy anthem of first generation hip hop, this theatrical Spaghetti Western soundtrack proves how vital conga drums can be in powering a funky beat. They say Kool Herc was the first to play it; he certainly popularized the song. If it’s a breakdance battle you’re looking for, this is the essential song to play.
It’s Just Begun by The Jimmy Castor Bunch
This masterpiece seamlessly blends a potent stew of classical music and psychedelic funk. And when Castor’s band gets funky, few can touch them.
Give it Up or Turnit a Loose by James Brown
Of course there’s an almost endless list of classic break beat classics created by the Godfather and his spin-offs, but this live track is the one original b-boys would always wait and save their best moves for. Another Kool Herc mainstay.
Let a Woman Be a Woman (And a Man Be a Man) by Dyke and the Blazers
One of the James Brown Band spin-off players, Dyke got stranded out West, and eventually cut his own monster records.
Listen To Me by Baby Huey
Unfortunately, this Chicago funk icon died early in life. Grandmaster Flash and his crew called it “The Trouble Record” because it drove sitck-up crews crazy. Another Kool Herc classic.
Special Mention: Melting Pot by Booker T & The MGs, Compared To What by Les McCann, Get Into Something by The Isley Brothers, Get Ready by Rare Earth, Soul Power ’74 by Maceao & The Macks, I Know You Got Soul by Bobby Byrd, The Mexican by Babe Ruth
If you like this list, why not check out my book Hip Hop?