[Once again Synthesis Blog brings you the rambling wisdom and sagacious meditations of our Synthesis Weekly columnist, Mad Bob Howard. The reclusive and gun-toting Mad Bob can be reached at madbob@madbob.com]

Dude, STFU!
Reverend Wright and the Death of the Original Day Tripper

Believe me, I desperately want to stop writing about politics as much as you probably want to stop reading about them, but everyday I listen to another outrage or episode on the news and my fingers just take over and start doing their little politics tap-dance on these black plastic keys! I am not in control here! I’m a junkie and I’ve got it bad. I’m shaking and slobbering like a dog, vibrating and contorting; there’s a twitch, a spasm. Damn these fits! There’s only one fix for the political junkie, and right now a fresh new batch of the good strong stuff has hit the streets. So politics it is my fine friends. Bend over and get ready for another five swipes with the paddle — or maybe the switch grass. Corporal punishment is alive and well here in the Immaculate Infection.
Reverend Wright and the National Media Launch Torpedo Attack: A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article in support of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. I stand by what I said; I think the Reverend is accurate when he says our nation was founded on racism and that our foreign policy has very much to do with our current “terrorism” woes. I also denounced the national media for taking his quotes out of context and replaying them on endless loop in order to paint the man as a radical zealot.

Unfortunately, it seems that Reverend Jeremiah Wright has taken a liking to the national media spotlight. Apparently a combination of failure to grasp the way this national media machine works and an ego-driven need for attention have rendered in him an inability to understand a fundamental fact.
Right now, every time Reverend Jeremiah Wright opens his mouth it will only hurt Senator Barack Obama’s chance to get into the White House. The story has already been framed by the national media; all they are looking for now is a handful of seven-second quotes to color their paint by numbers picture. The Revered has obliged willingly — stepped into the oncoming train that is the National Press Club and unleashed another political firestorm for Obama’s camp to try and desperately extinguish.
My sources tell me that Hillary Clinton came as close as she has in decades to having an orgasm while she watched Wright roll his eyes, flippantly dismiss the intrusive media questions, and deliver a Sunday-style sermon to a cynical godless media ready and waiting to pounce on any hyperbole that might be twisted to fit a landscape littered with but thirsting for more blood. On the other side of the aisle, John McCain witnessed the spectacle and politely dismissed himself to the restroom to jack himself off. Rush Limbaugh was so happy he popped a half-dozen oxys and washed them down with a half a pint of whiskey.

[More advice for Rev Wright, and a look back on the person who accidentally discovered LSD after the jump.]
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With the passing of Swiss Chemist Albert Hoffman, the person who discovered the psychedelic drug widely known as acid, I immediately thought of another person who has helped move mankind forward with an explosion for thought expansion: Bill Hicks.

I’ve waxed philosophical on philosopher/standup comedian Bill Hicks many times in this blog, and I hope someone unfamiliar with his work has been turned on through my ramblings. Most people will be vaguely familiar with him through Tool.

Here’s a clip of Bill Hicks talking about LSD.

DEEEEEEP. No, feel it. Grok it man.

It is my firm belief that every person on the planet should take Lysergic acid diethylamide, (or LSD, aka acid) one time in their life. Not so sure if most people should continue to use the stuff, because man, oh man, that’s a powerful drug. It will make you see things more clearly than you’ve ever seen them, and at the same time more opaquely than ever before. Then laugh like a hyena for hours.

The scientist who first discovered LSD in 1938, and then accidentally spilled some on himself, marking the first use of acid, has passed away. Swiss-born chemist Albert Hoffman died from a heart Attack at his home on Tuesday. He was 102 years old.

From Radio Netherlands:

Albert Hofmann discovered the drug by accident while he was researching medicinal plants. A bit of the synthetic fluid spilled on his hands during a laboratory experiment in 1943, leading to an unintended first hand experience with the new hallucinogenic drug.

The chemist later referred to LSD as his ‘problem child’, he never expected LSD to become a popular drug among the Hippy community in the 1960s. Mr Hofmann continued to defend the medicinal qualities of LSD long after the drug was banned in the 1960s.

Tune in, drop out man…..