cannabisnews.com: Hunter S. Thompson, R.I.P.





Hunter S. Thompson, R.I.P.
Posted by CN Staff on February 22, 2005 at 19:07:34 PT
By William Rivers Pitt, TruthOut.org
Source: AlterNet 
"The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy." - Edwin W. EdwardsIn the same month the planet gets to know the 'journalist' James/Jeff Guckert/Gannon, Hunter S. Thompson decides to make The Big Bit-Spit and eject from the planet. This could be sacrilege, and I hope his family will forgive me, but there is something wretchedly fitting in the confluence. Thompson, the acerbic counterculture writer who popularized a new form of journalism in books like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, fatally shot himself Sunday, Feb. 20, 2005, at his Aspen-area home, his son said. He was 67.
Hunter was a drunk and a drug-sucker. He would go to cover an event and slather himself with LSD. He went to the '72 GOP convention as a wild-eyed liberal and elbowed his way into the activist bullpen, grabbing a sign reading 'Garbage Men Demand Equal Pay' before charging the floor with the Nixon-shouters to howl "Four More Years!" at John Chancellor. He wanted to write about motorcycle gangs, so he went out and joined the worst of them, and got his ass stomped in. And wrote about it.Hunter Thompson is the reason I write politics. Period. He was the most honest man in the business. Everyone else had and has an angle, a reputation, or a source to protect. Hunter stripped it down to the raw throbbing nerve and let it fly. How is this for prose:"How many more of these goddam elections are we going to have to write off as lame but 'regrettably necessary' holding actions? And how many more of these stinking double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get ourselves straight enough to put together some kind of national election that will give me and the at least 20 million people I tend to agree with a chance to vote for something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils? I understand, along with a lot of other people, that the big thing, this year, is Beating Nixon. But that was also the big thing, as I recall, twelve years ago in 1960 - and as far as I can tell, we've gone from bad to worse to rotten since then, and the outlook is for more of the same."Or this:"It is a nervous thing to consider: Not just four more years of Nixon, but Nixon's last four years in politics - completely unshackled, for the first time in his life, from any need to worry about who might or might not vote for him the next time around. If he wins in November, he will finally be free to do whatever he wants...or maybe 'wants' is too strong a word for right now. It conjures up images of Papa Doc, Batista, Somoza; jails full of bewildered 'political prisoners' and the constant cold-sweat fear of jackboots suddenly kicking your door off its hinges at four A.M."Or this:"The main problem in any democracy is that crowd-pleasers are generally brainless swine who can go out on a stage & whup their supporters into an orgiastic frenzy - then go back to the office & sell every one of the poor bastards down the tube for a nickel apiece. Probably the rarest form of life in American politics is the man who can turn on a crowd & still keep his head straight - assuming it was straight in the first place."That's the stuff. Rip it down, Bubba, and let the fur fly. For the record, the aforementioned is from Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972, possibly the most purely excellent book on politics to be found anywhere.Amusing, then, that Hunter decides to cash his check in the same week we learn about James or Jeff Gannon or Guckert or whatever. What would Thompson have made of this feeble wretch? Of a man who reports on the White House with a fake name? Who was so clearly the go-to guy for McClellan or Bush when the questions got too hot? Who copied and pasted his 'news reports' from boilerplate GOP press releases? Who somehow got within 20 feet of the president of the United States using a false name while peddling his wares online as a male prostitute for $200 an hour?Hunter once wrote in The Great Shark Hunt about walking in on two Secret Service agents sharing a joint back and forth in a hotel room. Maybe that's how Gannon/Guckert/Whoever got within pistol range of the leader of the free world. No other explanation seems to satisfy.It comes down to this. The Bush crew has been caught in bed with the proverbial 'live boy.' Someone in that White House either eased Gannon/Guckert/Whomever through the 'hard pass' application process, which requires a thorough background check, or else smoothed the way for him to get day pass after day pass after day pass. Some complain that Gannon/Guckert/Whomever is being victimized for his political views. This misses the point. Someone let a working, advertising whore into the White House, and then was stupid enough to let him walk around alive and free after he blew his own cover. That's the point.My hero died tonight. He was a flawed man, a maniac, in so many ways the antithesis of what a journalist is supposed to be. Worst of all, he told the truth. There is now one less warrior on this planet filled with Guckert clones, drones who get fed shit and regurgitate it wholesale for the masses because that is what we are trained to eat.Rest in peace, Hunter. Thank you for everything. We're going to deal with this Gannon/Guckert/Whomever person, and then move down the line and deal with the rest of the whores. You died on the eve of the birth of a new journalism, populist in nature, beholden to the truth and thanking the Google gods every step of the way. I wish you had stuck around to see it, but I'll tell you all about it when we meet at that clearing at the end of the path. Until then ... http://www.truthout.org/imgs.art_01/3.022105-F2.jpgSource: AlterNet (US)Author:  William Rivers Pitt, TruthOut.orgPublished: February 22, 2005Copyright: 2005 Independent Media InstituteContact: letters alternet.org Website: http://www.alternet.org/DL: http://alternet.org/drugreporter/21320/CannabisNews Justice Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/justice.shtml
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Comment #14 posted by nuevo mexican on February 24, 2005 at 09:35:49 PT
?????????????
On Hunters' premature 'Suicide'.Go to DemocracyNow.org and watch the interview with him from last year. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/23/164218Read the posts' about Hunter Thompsons' knowledge of offical government involvement in Pedophilia, the BUSH smoked Pot story as a ruse, Gannon/Guckerts/Goosh and his mother, kidnapping, mind-control, etc.....and then wonder why someone would commit suicide with their wife and 2 kids in the other room. Anyone who automatically believes in suicide stories has been succesfully programed by the Matrix. 
 
Get your news from the Internet, this will not be in the papers, or on TV:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3144209#3149652
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Comment #13 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on February 23, 2005 at 15:08:07 PT
HST on cannabis
I remember HST being interviewed for a High Times special issue a few years ago where he says of cannabis, "I'm not an addict, but I refuse to be without it." Can we name a strain "Dr. Gonzo" in his honor?The best piece HST wrote regarding the current administration is in his book "Kingdom Of Fear". I hesitate to even post the title of it, but it begins on page 65, and he says that were the Bush administration to run against the Nixon administration, he'd have to vote for Nixon.
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Comment #12 posted by mayan on February 23, 2005 at 05:31:02 PT
unrelated
Now I know why Rumsfeld and Goss were spewing their "terror attack" crap last week! Maybe they figured the Gannon story would just go away. The timing of the ensuing "Bush Tapes" was way beyond suspect but even that hasn't silenced talk of "Gannongate". Bush needs a big distraction real quick as this story just keeps getting bigger and bigger! Interesting times, indeed. Democratic leadership joins call for Gannon inquiry; Whip calls on members to join push:
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=117
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Comment #11 posted by mayan on February 23, 2005 at 04:19:20 PT
More on HTS...
Nose Hair And Hunter - by Greg Palast:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0502/S00239.htmGoodbye,Gonzo - Hunter Thompson is gone, long live the Gonzo Spirit:
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1026THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...Media ignore 9/11 questions:
http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050221/NEWS/502210360/1022Popular Mechanics' Deceptive Smear Against 9/11 Truth:
http://911review.com/pm/markup/index.html9/11 Prior Knowledge/Government Involvement Archive:
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/archiveprior_knowledge.html
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Comment #10 posted by E_Johnson on February 22, 2005 at 23:27:28 PT
Oh actually this is really curious!
1. Jimmy Carter stays in Prince Bandar's house when he take his grandson skiing in Aspen.2. Hunter Thompson held his last book signing in the Prince Bandar Bin Sultan Center at the Aspen Institute.3. Hunter Thompson's article in Rolling Stone on Jimmy Carter's Law Day speech attracted so much attention that Carter turned from an unknown to a major force in the campign almost overnight. People now claim that without HST, Carter never would have been elected.That's kind of interesting.Bandar seems to have ties to the left that are just as deep as his ties to the right.
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Comment #9 posted by E_Johnson on February 22, 2005 at 23:12:20 PT
Michael Moore and HST -- small facts of note
The supposedly evil right wing Bush and Bin Laden pal Prince Bandar lives about a 15 minute drive from HST's place in Woody Creek.Last summer HST held his book signing in the Bandar Bin Sultan Center at the Aspen Institute.Jimmy Carter confessed on Jay Leno that he stays at Prince Bandar's place when he takes his grandson skiing in the winter.It's a small, small world, but even that doesn't guarantee that Michael Moore will tell us the whole truth about it.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on February 22, 2005 at 22:48:41 PT
I Thought Some Here Might Appreciate This
October 27th, 2004 11:07 pmFear and Loathing, Campaign 2004By DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON / Rolling Stonehttp://michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=262
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Comment #7 posted by E_Johnson on February 22, 2005 at 20:33:26 PT
In other words, what I mean is:
HST didn't believe in journalistic a** kissing, and here he is, being subjected to it in print by people who claim to know better.Maybe what I REALLY mean is --I wish he were here to write about his own suicide, because nobody else seems up to the task.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on February 22, 2005 at 20:32:05 PT
EJ You're Welcome
I am not around anyone that drinks. I grew up with a mom who was a really nice person until she started drinking. I wasn't sure how to act depending on if she was sober or not. 
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Comment #5 posted by E_Johnson on February 22, 2005 at 20:23:11 PT
Thanks FoM
I appreciate him as a writer, but I have had so many MEAN drunks in my own family, I know that HST, as a mean drunk himself, probably hurt a lot of people in his own life in addition to enlightening others outside of his life.All of this glorification of his drinking might be upsetting to the people who saw the dark hurtful side of his legendary alcohol abuse.The LA Times published the most truthful article so far, interviewing the people who experienced his best and his worst in the same day.All of the other articles on him seem to gloss over the negative aspects of his personality, which I think means these writers didn't learn as much from him about HONESTY as they imagine they did.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on February 22, 2005 at 20:21:50 PT
News Article from The Scotsman UK
Tories Seek to Tighten Cannabis Law By Nick Mead and Jane Kirby, PA Political Staff Wednesday, February 23, 2005The Tories today launched a Commons bid to reclassify cannabis as a class B drug.Cannabis was downgraded to class C by former Home Secretary David Blunkett last year, leading to claims that the Government was going soft on drugs.The move came in report stage debate of the Drugs Bill, which is due to pass its final Commons stages tonight.The Bill will create an offence of the “aggravated supply” of drugs, meaning longer sentences for drug dealers who operate near schools or who use under-18s to transport drugs or drug money.It also strengthens the law on the possession and supply of magic mushrooms and gives police new powers to test people suspected of drug misuse on arrest rather than on charge.Complete Article: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4166340
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on February 22, 2005 at 19:38:26 PT
News
Canada: Motion Calls For Taxation Of Legal Marijuana
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n301/a03.html?397Delegates to the Liberal party convention next month will debate a motion to legalize and tax marijuana sales, saying it would bring in billions in new tax revenue. Parliament is already debating legislation to decriminalize marijuana, but a resolution by Alberta Liberals would go much further. It would tax the proceeds of legalized pot sales, which the resolution says would bring in $3 billion in revenue each year. "Legalizing marijuana would be a serious blow to drug dealers and organized crime financially," says the resolution for the March 5-6 gathering. CONT.&Canada: Legalized Marijuana On Agenda For Federal Liberalhttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n301/a02.html?397etc.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on February 22, 2005 at 19:25:19 PT
Animation from The Drug Policy Alliance
Wrong To Fire Smokers?: http://www.drugpolicy.org/flash/smoking/
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on February 22, 2005 at 19:10:10 PT
Just a Comment
As I said I didn't know Hunter Thompson but I know many here on CNews really appreciated him. I hope this article is what many would want to read.
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