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Dan Mage

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I was born in NYC in 1959. I grew up in the DC area, the product of suburbia and liberal parents with doctoral-level educations. I dropped out of the public school system in eighth grade, and from all schooling by the age of 16. My life rapidly became a typical story of downwardly mobile suburban youth in the late 70s and early 80s.

I worked for low wages, hung around the fringes of various 60s-relic left-anarchist factions, drank and used drugs as much as possible and had sex with pretty much anyone who was available.

One day, early in the fall of 1984, at an outdoor concert on the Monument Grounds in DC, a couple of undercover cops jumped out of a bush at me while I was smoking some cannabis with a few people I'd just met. I pulled a knife; for some reason they didn't shoot me, and when I saw the badges and guns, I dropped the blade. Charged with APDW (Assault on Police Officers with a Deadly Weapon), I feared that I would be going to prison for a really long time (I would be, but not for this case).

I had the good fortune of entering my plea before the Hon. Rufus King, a liberal judge now retired and active in efforts to reform the criminal justice system.

After a conviction for one count of misdemeanor assault, and receiving 2 years of Federal probation, I moved to Colorado, was accepted to Naropa University in Boulder (Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics) got married, had a kid, dropped out again, got divorced, and returned to my pattern of downward mobility and anti-social behavior.

I was arrested and sentenced to the Colorado Department of Corrections on multiple drug and robbery convictions in 1995, served over seven years in prison, and five on parole.

I discharged my parole on July 1st of 2008 and moved back to the east coast, meanwhile having married a woman I met in DC in 1983.

I write for Associated Content and Helium, and published one article with Reason (online)

I currently have several works in progress, and recently completed a prison memoir, which I am now editing for publication.

My political views are hard-line left-libertarian, and I am dedicated to the idea of ending the new prohibition and the ridiculous "War on Drugs," as I have seen its result, the American Gulag from the inside, and consider it to be an ongoing crime against humanity.

www.freneticmemetics.com

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8 Articles, 0 Quick Links, 46 Comments, 0 Diaries, 0 Polls

8 Articles

Monday, February 27, 2012
The Politics of Psychiatric Assessments
(13 comments) To arrive at a diagnosis as defined by the DSM-IV, the clinician is required to make personal judgments based on vague and entirely subjective criteria. A patient's diagnosis is primarily a measure of the clinician's reaction to the patient. What is "normal" "unusual" "bizarre" and "non-bizarre" is determined by the clinician's personal belief's and prejudices.

Sunday, February 26, 2012
Why "Hard Drug" Users and Addicts Commit Suicide: A Declaration from the "Other One Percent"
(3 comments) Those who dare say that users and addicts of the dreaded group of chemicals know collectively as "hard drugs" have baseline human rights, including the right to live and die as they choose are considered to be extremists. Yet, those who build fortunes and political careers on the manufacture of corpses, and the slow destruction of lives by exploitation are honored. Still, some need ask why we who use so readily invite death.

Monday, December 5, 2011
People as Livestock: The Cult of Fundamentalist Materialism and the Cheapening Life
Even as class struggle escalates, the areas of contention remain within the boundaries set by the cult of "Fundamentalist Materialism." The majority of demands seem to have the goal of increased comfort in oppression, while all but ignoring the fate of humans whose lives are entirely without a market value.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Class War, but not Obama's: It's Time to Make Other Arrangements
(2 comments) The corporate domination of of life in America and the Federal Government is nearly complete. Only a new "counter-culture," a counter-economic culture can break the corporate/governmental stranglehold on life's necessities.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011
"Back to Work!" The Futility of Appeals to State and Capital
Our appeals to institutions that have no interests in common with us are futile. Capital, The State, and Authoritarian Religion back the sacred institutions of modern slavery, with mind control, and always with force, up to and including the lethal, as needed. This is fascism, as defined by Mussolini, it's here, it's real, and we are running out of time.

Thursday, September 1, 2011
The Tea Party and Fake Libertarians: Rebellion, Backlash or Death Spasms of a Hate Cult
(8 comments) The legitimate discontent of some decent people merged in a prefab reactionary populist movement, and was diverted into a pseudo-libertarian ideological muck pit. They are Witch Hunter, Queer Bashers and Cross Burners. They are doomed, but they can still do a lot of damage.

Sunday, August 28, 2011
Revolution for the Freedom of the Mind "Jesus of Malibu" an Independent Film
(3 comments) Independent filmmakers Anais and William Yeager have resurrected and redefined "Revolution" through the production of "Jesus of Malibu" a bold and uncompromising call to action, for all free thinkers.

Sunday, July 26, 2009
End Global Drug Prohibition
The United States Government has no legitimate role in reducing the cultivation and production of illegal drugs in other countries, or in the dictation of drug policy the governments of other nations.