Happy Halloween (Samhein)

The real horror this October, has been the sludge fest between several Kansas candidates. When a Republican with no real credentials fights for his public life, there’s only one thing to do---sling mud and sling hard and fast. Don’t worry about accuracy or accountability, just appeal to the uneducated. The perfect example was with Phill Kline in The Wichita Eagle, Oct. 27:


“The Eagle editorial board is back in the news again. Kansas City Star columnist Mike Hendricks has a column today that links to our editorial board video excerpt from our interview with Attorney General Phill Kline. And the Topeka Capital-Journal did a news article about it. Associated Press also reported about the video today. During the interview, I asked Kline if he was going to use the 15-year-old sexual harassment allegation against his opponent, Paul Morrison, in his campaign. He said, “I’m not.” But less than a week later, Kline held a press conference about the unproven allegations. Hendricks writes: “Character does matter. But isn’t it interesting that the only thing Kline could find on Morrison was so long ago, whereas Kline showed his true character this very month?”

Translated from the Marxist-Leninist-Revolutionaries (MLR)

Iraqi Poem :
ر سالة الي د يرير شيفوليت ورفاقه في سجن بلجيكاDr. R. asked to Eerier Chivolet and his comrades in prison Belgium
والي كلاراAnd Clara
ايتها ا لرياح لتتوقفي عن الد ورانA mandate for the winds to Ttoaqvi the father and Ran
اذا لم تنشدي لي نشيد الاممية !If Tensdi I commend the nation!
ايتها الشمسSun mandate
لتغربي ابداTo begin Tgerbi
اذا لم تروي عطشي للشيوعية !If it tells of the communist thirsty!
ايها الماءDear water
لتجف اللحظةFor the moment, dry
اذا لم تروي عطشي للشيوعية !If it tells of the communist thirsty!
ايتها الجبالMandate mountains
لتكوني ارضا جرد اءNothing preventing the purchase of land inventory
اذا لم تينع فيك زهور الشيوعية !If you Tina flower communism!
ايها العازفFellow musician
لتقطع اوتار كمانكHer Uttar Kmank
اذا لم تعزف الحان انتصار الشيوعية !If not harping about the victory of communism!
ايها الفنانFellow artist
لتتحول الوانك الي الرماديTurning to Aloank Ramadi
اذا لم ترسم ضحكة الشيوعية !Draw a smile, if not communism!
ايها السجن لتنهارDear prison collapse
اذا كان بين جد رانك سجيناIf the grandfather Rank prisoners
بهموم الشيوعية !Concerns of communism!
ايها الجنديDear soldier
لتنكسر فوهة بندقيتكThinking of the barrel Bendeghetk
اذا لم تقف في خندق الشيوعية !If not stand in the trench communism!
ايها الشاعرFellow poet
لتتحول الهامك الي حجرTo turn to stone Alhamk
اذا تسمرنا بقصاند الشيوعية !If Tsmerna Bqassand communism!
ايها الروانيDear Alroani
لتقف ذاكرتكTo stand Thakrtk
اذا لم تكتب عن حب الشيوعية !If not write about love communism!
ايها العالمDear world
لتتحول الي انقاضTurning to rubble

اذا لم تحيا الشيوعية !If Long live communism

morphine and coke

Excerpts from: Memoirs of a Drugged-Up, Sex-Crazed Yippie Tales from the 1970s counter-culture: Drugs, sex, politics and rock and roll

By Steve Otto


Chapter Sixteen The whole drug manufacture's chapter

Morphine…….

One thing I learned from reading the 11th addition of The Encyclopedia Britannica was how people smoked opium in the 1800s. It described the equipment and the process in detail. I figured how to get the most for my money from smoking opium, but my new recipe offered something quite different.
"We should buy some," I said. "I have this recipe that will allow us to convert that into morphine or heroin that we can shoot."
"It's worth a try," George said.
I was able to get the ingredients for making morphine, but not the harder chemical needed for converting it to heroin. Basically the recipe simply allowed us to turn the free-base morphine of the opium into a hydrochloride salt. George bought the opium and we started to work in his kitchen. It had to be soaked overnight in a solution, so I came back the next day. We drained a liquid off of the dregs at the bottom of a small glass tumbler, added some muriatic acid, and then heated the mixture on the stove until we had a dark black powder.
"I'm ready to give this a try," I said.
George got out some spoons and we each mixed hot water over just a pinch of the black powder. We used 1cc rigs. It only took about a half cc of water. I shot the stuff and when I pulled out the needle I got an instant rush. It almost knocked me over.
"This stuff is fantastic," I said. "This is actual morphine. It 's not completely pure, but it beats the hell out of trying to smoke that stuff for a high you barely feel."
"No kidding," George added. "As soon as we run out of this stuff, I'm going to buy up all the opium that guy has. I can't believe we can get a high this good off of something we made."
The rush was not as nice as heroin, but the high lasted over six hours. Nothing pharmaceutical could last that long.

Coke………..

One thing we could never learn to make, but always buy, was cocaine. It was plentiful during the 1970s and when we couldn't get narcotics, there was always coke. We could mix it with our Talwin to get the speedball effect. If we were big-time junkies, living in a big city, we would have speedballed it with heroin. But in Lawrence, all we had were synthetic narcotics and codeine.
On one occasion I bought a quarter gram of coke from one of Rusty's friends after running into him at the Harbor Lighthouse. It was early in the afternoon, so I took it to my apartment and put just a pinch in a spoon. I shot it and the rush was so intense that it made my ears ring. It was similar to the ringing a person gets from shooting a gun too close to his or her head. It was the most powerful batch I ever bought. Vic had told me of cocaine that was so pure it made a user's ears ring when it was shot. My ears rang just as Vic described. That was the first and only time that had happened. It sounded like some kind of Christmas chime going off in my eardrum. The intensity of the rush was unbelievable.
A few days later I went over to Frieda's house. George was there. I had just enough coke for each of us to take a hit. Usually Frieda didn't like me using needles at all.
"This coke is extra good," I said. "It's the best I ever had."
"You know, I might try shooting coke just this one time," Frieda said.
"Really?"
"Sure. You can set it up for me can't you?"
"Oh, Sure."
I fixed her a real small hit in one of my 1cc rigs. George held her arm using a belt as a tourniquet while I searched for a good vein. I finally found one. The needle went in, George released the belt and I pushed in the liquid.
"I don't feel anything," Frieda said as I pulled out the needle.
"Oh wait!...," she said a few seconds later.
"Is it OK if I throw up?"
"Yes," I said.
She ran to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet. She was not used to such an intense rush and was not the least bit upset about throwing up. She went to her couch and sat down. She held her head back as the coke rushed through here.
"Are we still going to Doc's to get some Talwin?" George asked.
"Sure," I answered. "Is that OK with you, Frieda?"
"Go ahead. I'm doing fine."
She was still enjoying the high as we left. That was the only time I ever got her high using a needle. I don't think she ever shot up again.

Kline may get trashed

Paul Morrison
may be our next Attorney General





Attorney General Phill Kline was elected with no attorney credentials by anti-abortion wing-nuts and all he has done is file meaningless charges against abortion clinics and try to prosecute teenagers and organizations he believes promote underage sex.

The latest polls, on local TV news 12, show Paul Morrison ahead of Attorney General Phill Kline. Could we be on the edge of seeing the last of Kline? Will the voters finally put him where he belongs, in the dustbin of history? We may have a shot at this one.

Che Guevara

Hasta siempre Comandante - Tribute to Che Guevara - rendition Nathalie Cardone


We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.- Ernesto Che Guevara

Acid (LSD) tales

Excerpts from: Memoirs of a Drugged-Up, Sex-Crazed Yippie Tales from the 1970s counter-culture: Drugs, sex, politics and rock and roll
By Steve Otto
LSD revelations- divine inspirations
“A man of knowledge had an ally” - Carlos Castaneda on the teachings of Don Juan

My best acid trip was in 1977. I opened my small white refrigerator and from the freezer, all crusted with ice, I pulled out a small piece of foil. I got it from my friend, Seth, while working on campus. He was a short guy with long brown hair, who usually wore a tie-dye T-shirt or some hippy type clothing. He got me a piece of blue Window Pane, which was a tiny, thin square that looked like a piece of blue tinted plastic.By 1977 acid was rare. Few people liked to do it. There were only a few young people around who liked to experiment with it. The acid fad had passed and it was no longer the “in drug” on campus. One Thursday night, just for something different to do, I cut the little square in half on my brown wooden table, with a razor blade, and took it. I then headed out my door for the Harbor Lighthouse, a bar on Massachusetts Street the main drag of Lawrence. I figured I’d be the only stoned person in a bar full of drunks. I didn’t have a car at the time, but I did have a one-speed, black Schwinn bike. When I got to the Lighthouse, I chained my bike to a lamppost and went inside. By now the acid was just beginning to work.The Lighthouse was laid out like a typical bar, with pool tables in the back, and a few beer ads on its brown wooden walls. It had a long bar on the left side of the room and brown tables and chairs on the right. At first it seemed a typical night with the bar being a little less than half full of patrons. I walked to the long bar and ordered a Bud draught. Then I notice a few strange things. A short man, with black stringy medium length hair and dark glasses, sitting at the end of the bar, ordered a bag of Lay’s Potato chips.“Bartender! I need some chips,” he said. “All I’ve had to eat today is four reds and a pitcher of beer.”When the bartender gave him the chips he opened the bag and stuffed them all into his mouth at once. While chewing a mouthful of chips, he picked up a pitcher that was sitting in front of him and started guzzling the beer out of it, trying to wash down the bag of chips in one gulp. I immediately realized this was not a typical night at this bar.By now the acid was beginning to kick in strong. As I looked at the pool table, a man’s pool cues seemed to be moving back and forth when he was still setting up his aim for a shot. I felt that urge to giggle that comes from taking acid. A lady came up to me and looked into my face. She was thing, had medium length red hair, a freckled face and was wearing some overalls over a T-shirt. At first she just stared for a second or two then asked me a question.“Do you want some acid?”“I already have some,” I said. “I just took it.”She looked at me even more puzzled.“Did I already give you some?” she asked.“No. I had some of my own tonight.”“Oh! Well have another hit.”

She handed me a small, purple colored pill. This was really strange because I never dreamed I would run into people using acid on the same night I decided to. I had been to that bar many times and never saw anyone using acid there before. Many of the people in the bar were equally stoned.I put the pill in my pocket for later use. The girl came back and gave me a second hit. Some of these people would show up into my future adventures. The guy eating reds was Crazy Dan, a future friend of some dealers I would get to know. The girl was a friend of Connie’s, an exhibitionist I would later sleep with. After a night of meeting strange new people I decided to go back homeI unhooked my bicycle and rode it home from the bar. I went through an alley between the buildings on Massachusetts Street and those behind them. I rode passed the trash containers and the little loading doors the businesses all had in back. There seemed to be little stars glowing and moving around all over the gray pavement of the alley as I rode my bike. I kept looking down and laughing as I rode past street light after streetlight, until I got to the road that led to my home.When I got home, I sat out on my wooden porch. I watched the stars in the sky as they resembled white Christmas-tree lights that blinked on and off. I went inside, sat down on my couch and turned on my brown RCA color TV set. I was changing the channels when I came to a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie. Normally I would have turned that off, but the acid made it look so strange that I decided to watch it. That was the fist and maybe only time I could get into one of those old time Fred Astaire musicals.I didn’t use acid very much. I didn’t even use it much during the early 1970s. It wasn’t a very relaxing high. But I don’t regret the times I did use it. It occasionally seemed to give me some type of revelation. That night, I got the feeling that I was going to have sex soon. While I was high, it felt like a certainty, as if it was just about to happen and I could anticipate it. So could I trust the intuition of this drug experience?The Aztec Indians, of ancient Mexico, believed they could foretell the future with the use of magic mushrooms or Peyote. The ancient Druids of the English Isles believed they could do the same with a “Rite of Inspiration,” using nightshade. Shamans from various cultures have used various drugs for thousands of years to do just that. Could LSD do the same thing as nightshade, magic mushrooms or peyote? I had to wonder about that.

Article from the Islamic Army of Iraq

It’s no surprise that the almost the entire left has no interest in helping any Islamic group. At the same time, such groups are helping us bring down the George Bush regime my making his war in Iraq un-winnable and an obvious major mistake. There is a Marxist opposition in Iraq, but more than likely it is Islamic groups that are doing the damage. So are they helpful in the short run or not? Either way, one group, The Islamic Army of Iraq
has a website that clearly states that they are making bold attacks on the US Army and people in Iraq that they consider traitors. Here is an article from the Islamic Army of Iraq website, http://www.iaisite.net/, which is in Arabic, but can be translated by Google:

حصاد الشهر الثامن لسنة 2006/

The results of the eighth month of 2006




Katlohm often capable hands of God and compunctions and helps them and recovered the issuance of people believing Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds strong Aziz
The best prayer and fully recognized the prophet Huda prophet saga, and his family and companions
As yet.
After missing on God and the help it has been incurring losses following the enemy of the period of August 1 and continue until August 31, 2006
1. The loss of the American enemy mechanisms as follows :
· Burning and destruction and the destruction and the damage (to 175) with the killing and wounding of crews, distributed as follows : (12 carriers, Armored modern one in Baghdad (inside), 112 Another ,4-wheel drive, 8 minesweepers, one Robert, five fuel tanks, 10 dump, 17 truck trailer, Von Zell 5), in addition to the seizure of American camera).
· Destruction of a helicopter parked in the Bakr airbase in the north of Baghdad boycotted Yathrib (outside) during threw four 82-mm mortar shells on January 24, August / 2006 on the base said. .
2. The total transactions of guerrilla warfare and special Gatalat (158) process, and clashes with the American forces (38) hand, However forces Safawi movement cooperating (24), and operations Altardhih their headquarters and the bombing of control points (2) and the attack on Alsitarat installed on the roads and foot patrols and the killing and wounding of and seize their weapons and equipment (4), and one coordinated attacks on American forces and cooperating with rockets and mortars and unequivocally Alermanat in Mada'in southeast of Baghdad (outside) on August 5, and to respond to attacks Safawi movement and engagement with them during the siege and the Sunni mosques, and incur losses in lives and equipment (10), ambushes and air (1) ambushes and terrestrial (11) to the American forces to strike Artaham driven on roads (packagings explosive double and mortars medium and heavy and medium machine-guns and missile launchers light), sniping and operations (40) and quality operations (2), and bombings (247) and the firing of rockets (48) tumor. and threw mortars (113) throw, and joint operations with the groups working on the Iraqi arena (5), and bringing the grand total (704) operations.
3. The loss of the American enemy personnel, including 60 dead (4) officers were elements of the American CIA and an American general to force (AI) the forces of Alaska (the Arctic wolves) were killed in the quality of blockage on August 21 August in the Bab Sinjar - Mosul (inside) north of Baghdad (outside), (56), a soldier had been killed, dismissing a blockage in separate operations in addition to the killing and wounding of 525 individuals representing the crew of the destroyer mechanisms and fully damaged, The minimum is calculated to the presence of individuals in each mechanism, and thus a total of 585 officers and one American soldier, in addition to tens injured.
4. Shots were (202) rockets on the headquarters of the American enemy and its collaborators, distributed as follows : (8 Tariq, 6 Grad, 22 Katyusha rockets, 2 John, 19 measurements and analysis, 20 core, Sekhoi ,2, 123 bombers).
5. Been throwing 403 mortar rounds and pomegranate on the headquarters of the American enemy and its collaborators, broken down as follows : (41 mm ,13 mm 120 mm 100 mm, 263 mm 82 mm, 83 mm 60 mm, and owned RKg3, and threw hand grenades)
6. The loss Idolater Guard forces and the internal mechanisms and equipment : the burning and destruction and the destruction and damage b (115) different mechanism distributed as follows (6 ,8 Another Land Cruiser, one Hyundai, and Hénault, Gamse guerrillas, six dump, April 68 cars, an ambulance, and Chevrolet security, 22 returns to the wheel of a civilian death squads and their collaborators during the response to their attacks, the destruction of the control tower guards Idolater diesel engine and 2)
7. The loss Idolater Guard and internal forces and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the (briefings) escorts and Kurdish militias individuals : the killing and wounding of 199 including 13 officers and 186 soldiers blockage and explosions on foot patrols in addition to representing the 345 crew mechanisms devastating fully calculate the minimum presence of individuals in each mechanism bringing the total 544 members of the Idolater Guard forces and the Interior addition, dozens of wounded.
8. The killing of spies and agents, Mullishbat Safawi movement attacking (domestic enemy) 209.
Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds
Allahu Akbar, Glory to God ... The military leadership / Islamic Army of Iraq

North Korea arms itself against a Bush invasion

North Korea has tested a nuclear bomb. Now the George Bush administration may not be able to invade the small country and take it over as a part of “The New American Century.” He has declared it the Axis of evil and all his lackeys are now scrambling to denounce the tests.

According to the BBC, 9 October 2006:

North Korea has claimed to have successfully tested a nuclear device. BBC News looks at the crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions, and the likely ramifications.
Why does this issue matter so much?
The nuclear test follows four years of mounting tension between North Korea and the US, in what is possibly the most serious threat to East Asia's short and long-term security.
If a nuclear test is confirmed, it will cement North Korea's place as a nuclear power, effectively ending hopes of resolving the stand-off through stalled six-nation talks. It would also greatly increase the risk of an East Asian arms race, as countries like Japan a South Korea weighed up whether to go nuclear as well.

And in our own The Wichita Eagle, Oct. 10, 2006:

North Korea tests may prompt a united response
BY RON SYLVESTER
David Lambertson of the University of Kansas sees a potentially positive aftermath in North Korea's nuclear tests.
An expert in nuclear policies with North Korea and a former diplomat, Lambertson said Monday that the explosions could have the effect of pulling together nations opposing North Korea.
South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States haven't been of the same mind on how to deal with North Korea, Lambertson said.
"If those nations can get to where they are more on the same page, that might lead to results," Lambertson said.
From 2000 to 2005, Lambertson helped implement North Korea's nuclear program agreements with the international community as a diplomat with the U.S. Foreign Service. He is now co-director for KU's Center for International Business Education and Research. Lambertson said the Cold War never really ended on the Korean peninsula, and the region has remained unstable for 50 years.

Yes they all need a united response, because now we can’t push the small country around, bully them and make all those threats. Too bad for our empire and its leader Bush, but great for those of us who want to see the empire brought down,

World Can’t Wait: our local coverage

This is the news of the World Can’t Wait rallies held around the country, according to our local newspaper, The Wichita Eagle, Oct. 6:





Don’t see anything? I didn’t either. However, the World Can’t Wait web site had this to say:


“Actions to Drive Out the Bush Regime occurred from coast to coast on October 5 in over 200 locations. Several thousand took to the streets in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, hundreds acted in cities such as Tucson, Portland, Atlanta, and Austin, and in many small towns and cities scores of people went to intersections, town centers, local beaches, and wherever they thought they would reach the most people in their areas with the message that This Regime Does Not Represent Us and We Will Drive it Out.”

The Islamic Army in Iraq

Does anyone wonder who is fighting our troops and what they really think. Here's on Islamic group The Islamic Army in Iraq. Here is One of the pages they present, which has been translated to English:

"Recommendations Jihad : Dr. Mujahid Sheikh Abdullah Azzam (God's mercy) "
Sent : 19 / 08 / 2006-2:27

The King of Love Jihad for my life and myself and my feelings and my heart and emotion, The Sura of Repentance Bayatha Court, which represented the final legitimacy of the Jihad in the religion and the religion of the day wrings my heart pain and sorrow and tears myself, I think of default and default Muslims towards fighting for the sake of God. Any sword that a copy before any odd, 20th or 40th of any post cent of the jihad verses is a decisive answer and the answer to all of the firm manipulated wanted to go fighting for the sake of God or dares Mhekmaha interpretation or disbursement of seemingly categorical and unequivocal sign texts.

And Allah (and fight the Pagans all also fight you all informed that God with devotion), the justification for the same sin of clarion justification numb feelings fun and play, but to take religion for the Hoa and played and we hurry symptoms of those text of the Quran (throw sand into who took religion to Hua and feet and Grthm life). Hang hopes that preparation is the soul of small Attamah to reach the top and to live up to atomic If the old souls I am tired of certain objects and the womb Abdullah Mosque, which is sent to the virtuous Yadh Ben : Holy Yaabed if Abssertna You learned to play worship

From the Ekhaddb Cheeks Bdmoh Vanhorna blood Ttkhaddp and say son blessed prove verse Jihad's right to worship how the resolution and how to calm Muslim and Muslim with the enemy aggressor, I think also considers al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya of Upper Alsa'el enemy who corrupts religion and the world is not really after the faith of the batch.

I think it is not exempt from responsibility leaving Jihad Shi whether or call synthesis or rearing or other every Muslim lies in the neck and the consequences of letting Jihad carries the burden left Venice only the first damage and others is a sinner.

And then one day in the fighting, then the father of the father or the husband nor the wife of Sheikh Ali and student of the Prince of the commissioner, this unanimity of the nation's scholars in all eras of history.

I believe that Muslims today are responsible for every show violated in Afghanistan and spill the blood of all, and God knows they were involved in because of their blood because they have no capacity to make a weapon, which protected them, and the physician doctor, The money to purchase food, which Havaro by digging trenches, Any account any punishment awaits the owners of wealth and money wasted on the desires and whims shed Abthaali and luxury.

So, O Muslims : -

Your Jihad, Jihad Azkm Your destiny is linked to jihad, O preachers, the trick to you under the sun only if Amcqatm YOUR WEAPONS and your green Stagit and infidels and oppressors.

Those who think that religion can triumph without jihad and fighting and the blood and flesh of these barriers are not aware of the nature of this debt.

The trap will come and prevail without fighting (Katlohm, so that there will be strife and the religion is God) and sedition are caught.

Jihad is the only guarantee for peace rites and houses of worship and not pay ( God's people together for demolished silos, and the sale and prayers and mosques, stating the name of God Often).

Ahersoua to death or life donee you Tgrenkm aspirations it takes God conceit, that you fool yourselves and write Tekarawneha Bnoavl Tzaolonha Ihamlenkm not concern money laundering comfortable on the great (and you wish to be non - thorn) you have not Ttiaon one in the Jihad, no permission to the commander of the alarm for Jihad, Jihad is the strength of your shield and worship and the Shield Chriattakm.

Addressing scholars, saying Islam (Islam Yaalmae submitted to the leadership of this generation due to his God and Atenkloa and Trknoa to the minimum, and you round it Stagit grievance hearts and associations for Hearts and Thajdzkm the generation and transformation of hearts, and you?

(Talking to the nation and say : Muslims Iaaiha your Jihad and Jihad Azkm Your destiny is closely Jihad and adds : I think that the sound of Responsibility Jihad nothing left whether or call Autaliva Educational or otherwise) :

And talking to women : Yamashr women Rabin, the roughness of your son and masculinity and the championship and struggle to not Biotkn Arena for the black and not a farm pen, which Ithbha comfort to tyrants Agersen in Love your son Jihad and the principles of horsemanship and battlefields;

As well as talking to children, saying : nurtured by the tones of missiles and guns and the hum of aircraft and the roar of tanks and you and the music and music Alenaemin affluent and Almtakhmin mattress.

Addressing Azzam and his wife : Oh God or Mohammed Jazak me, the Muslims I have been richly rewarded good stead me that started this march and that the blessed work in the field of jihad for Allah even then Identify your grandfather's and his grandfather to run our absence from the House Maasttatta that bear this heavy burden alone. And talking to his apology : As for you, you were Thaddoua sons of my little did Enkam of Trbiti not easy Yes, I have filled you, but why do much misfortunes and Muslims simply boggle the nursing her baby on the ground that has not kept Bennkm throughout my time and the conditions of Muslims tearing all of the rest of the heart or heart; advances heartily faith and you are sanctioned, and I would recommend the Koran, conservation, and do, fasting, The company does not take the kind permission of one of the jihad in the name of God Ermua, and they were loaded because I like to Trmoa that Trkpoa .

Codeine got me through the Disco days

The following are excerpts from Memoirs of a Drugged-Up, Sex-Crazed Yippie,Tales from the 1970s counter-culture: Drugs, sex, politics and rock and roll

By Steve Otto

Chapter Twelve

Disco sucked

But the cocaine was real good

Cocaine was a popular drug among the disco set. That was definitely the case here in Kansas. That may be part of the reason that Rusty and I were able to get nearly pure cocaine on such a regular basis.

I still preferred narcotics to coke. I remember when Tony first explained to me the process of signing for a bottle of codeine cough syrup. We were sitting at his apartment one evening after I got off work.

“I usually ask for Novahistine,” he said. “There’s one called DH and another called expectorant. They both have the same amount of codeine.”

Naturally I couldn’t wait to try it. I went to a pharmacy on the main street of Lawrence. The regular counter was in the front. I had to walk to the back of the building, passed the rows of shelves covered with over-the-counter medical items and up to the prescription service area. It was one of Lawrence’s older buildings, with white cement walls.

“Yes?” the dark haired clerk, in his 40s, asked.

“I’d like some Novahistine DH,” I said nervously.

He pulled out a bottle, then a ledger. He filled in everything except my name and address.

“Fill this out,” he said.

I filled out the ledger, paid about $3.90 for the bottle and left. Once out the door and out of sight, I drank half the bottle. Once I started to feel it, I drank the rest. By the time I got home, I kept feeling these little rushes going down my back. I felt great. This was one of the best highs I had ever had.

“Why don’t you just get a bottle of whiskey?” Rusty asked, when I got home.

“This is a much better high than whiskey,” I said.

I’m sure he thought it sounded disgusting, but I didn’t care. There were restrictions on how often a person could buy it and how much they could buy. Over the next few months I went to some other pharmacies and discovered I liked the DH the best.

On one occasion I went out to Quantrill’s Saloon, using codeine, with Harry. I met Harry while I was hanging out in the various main street bars. We played pool one night and I had an unusual sense of confidence that allowed us to run the tables a few times. We played partners and we seemed unbeatable. When I was high on that stuff, I could function as if I seemed straight and I had this overwhelming sense of well-being.

Quantrill’s was a popular bar with both local young people and some of the long-term college kids. It was a large building in the older section of town. The bar itself was in the middle of the room and there was a few pool tables near the back, and lots of brown wooden chairs and tables near the front door. It had pale green walls and a slightly damp and musty smell that no doubt came from the building’s old walls. There was a jukebox and a picture of Quantrill on the wall.

Josh, from the Public Notice, complained one evening that people would name things after William Quantrill.

“He burns down most of the town for the Southern cause and they name a flea market and bar after him,” Josh said.

The paper had run an article on the same theme. Quantrill was famous for his raid on Lawrence, in 1863, in which he and his men slaughtered much of the town’s male population. They were Confederate irregulars and they burned most of the buildings. Lawrence was considered a Union stronghold. The article had a cartoon with a man holding a bloody knife. He had a button on his shirt that read: “Our hero.”

Despite Josh’s reservations about the place, it attracted many good-looking young women. Harry and I often tried to pick them up. I remember talking to one woman, a tall blond bombshell, after I took some codeine. I had an easy time talking to her because I was calm and cool. I wasn’t nervous at all.

“So you’re a business major,” I said to her. “That’s interesting. I’m interested in journalism.”

“Aren’t journalists idealists?” she asked?

“Yes.”

Our conversation went nowhere and I never talked to her again.

Another hypocrite Republican bites the dust

The danger of putting yourself on the moral pedestal is you fall hard if you can't live up to your principals. That's especially true when you hold public office. No one knows that better right now than Florida's Representative Mark Foley. Like many Republicans, he talked of family values. In the House, Foley was one of the foremost opponents of child pornography.

According to Wikipedia:

"did you have fun at your conference...what do you want for your birthday coming up....what stuff do you like to do" and "how are you weathering the hurricane....are you safe…send me an email pic of you as well...."


The page forwarded the messages to other Congressional staffers with the comments: "Maybe it is just me being paranoid, but seriously. This freaked me out," and "sick sick sick sick sick."