ethical drug dealing
Tombo wrote:
But where do you draw the line? Say you grow a little for you and your mates, that's a good thing it keeps you clear of dodgy dealer types. But then you start growing a bit more and then you dont need to work anymore because your making enough money from the sale of the bud. Is this wrong? You wont be paying tax on the money you earn and you will probably have to sign on to hide the way your funding yourself.....
I dont have the answers. I am just aware that there is a fine line.
considering the way the government spends my money, and the level of participation i am afforded by this pale imitation of democracy, i wouldnt say that tax evasion is a neccessarily bad thing. however, it is most of the time, as i cant really justify stiffing hospitals and schools of my money, just cos we are also blowing up innocents in other countries.
at the end of the day, its the law at fault for criminalising herbal horticulturalists in the first place. if the law wasnt there, there would be no need for the growers to sign on, just to appease the taxman, they would be allowed to make their proper contribution back to society, instead of being forced to hide a "crime" that has no victims. in fact, i know at least three disabled people who would be have a considerably lower quality of life if it was not for their medicinal marajuana, and whom the state persecutes for merely taking medicine!
virtually all problems asscoiated with drug use are there percisely because they are illegal, and that they feed criminality. but if they were properly taxed there would be more than enough money to provide the support that drug users need form time to time. also, if they were legal they would have to be high-purity, so we can all enjoy the uncut goods that usually only the super-rich get to bosh. everybodys happy.
ethical drug dealing You cannot have low level dealing without high level dealing. With that comes serious crime, mainly due to the fact that its a black market and there is serious money to be made for a few at the top.
In my opinion all drugs should be decriminalised and that way purity can be assured and crime relating to its black market nature would reduce.
I am worried about the price of pills being loads cheaper than hash. Some kind of age restriction on drugs would be a good thing.
ethical drug dealing
USE wrote:
what if i grow my own and sell it? i call that ethical consumerism.
But where do you draw the line? Say you grow a little for you and your mates, that's a good thing it keeps you clear of dodgy dealer types. But then you start growing a bit more and then you dont need to work anymore because your making enough money from the sale of the bud. Is this wrong? You wont be paying tax on the money you earn and you will probably have to sign on to hide the way your funding yourself.....
I dont have the answers. I am just aware that there is a fine line.
Blair ‘should be impeached’ for Iraq conflict says general http://news.scotsman.com
JAMIE LYONS
PRIME Minister Tony Blair should be impeached over the Iraq war, a former
top general said today.
General Sir Michael Rose, who commanded United Nations forces in Bosnia, said the Prime Minister should not be allowed to "walk away" from the conflict without being held to account.
He will use a TV documentary this week to call for Mr Blair's impeachment.
Today he accused the Prime Minister of misleading parliament and the public about his true motives for going to war in Iraq.
Despite publicly insisting that his aim was to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, Mr Blair "probably had some other strategy in mind", said Gen Rose.
"Certainly from a soldier's perspective there can't be any more serious decision taken by a prime minister than declaring war," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"And then to go to war on what turns out to be false grounds is something that no one should be allowed to walk away from."
The general described Mr Blair's actions in the run-up to war as "somewhere in between" getting the politics wrong and actually acting illegally.
"The politics was wrong, that he rarely declared what his ultimate aims were, as far as we can see, in terms of harping continually on weapons of mass destruction when actually he probably had some other strategy in mind," he said.
"And secondly, the consequences of that war have been quite disastrous both for the people of Iraq and also for the West in terms of our wider interests in the war against global terror."
Gen Rose is one of a number of retired soldiers taking part in a documentary by former war correspondent and independent MP Martin Bell, entitled Iraq: The Failure of War.
He told Bell he would have resigned his commission rather than take troops to war on the flimsy basis offered by Mr Blair.
And he said: "The politicians should be held to account, and my own view is that Blair should be impeached.
"That would prevent politicians treating quite so carelessly the subject of taking a country into war."
In his documentary, Bell denounces the war as an "ill-considered adventure" and suggests it may prove more damaging to those who launched it even than America's involvement in Vietnam.
There has already been an attempt by MPs, led by Plaid Cymru's Adam Price, to impeach Mr Blair for "high crimes and misdemeanours" in taking Britain to war against Iraq.
Gen Rose accepted Parliament had endorsed the decision to commit British troops to military action, but he said that was because the Prime Minister had stressed the argument that dictator Saddam Hussein must be stripped of the power to deploy weapons of mass destruction.
The weapons of mass destruction (WMD) argument used to persuade MPs that war was justified had turned out to be wholly wrong, he told Today.
Gen Rose said he would not have been prepared to lead the Army into a war that he believed was wrong and on such weak grounds. "You cannot put people in harm's way if you don't believe the cause is right or sufficient," he said.
Senior soldiers should point out strategic failures, he went on.
They should tell their political masters "they should not contemplate taking the most serious decision any politician can take, and that is to go to war, without proper grounds and without proper adequate resources to fulfil the strategy that has been outlined".
Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond welcomed Sir Michael's impeachment call revealing that 109 MPs, including 20 Labour backbenchers, had now signed his motion calling for an inquiry into the Iraq War.
Mr Salmond said: "The comments from General Sir Michael Rose provide further impetus into the argument for a parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of the Prime Minister and his government in taking us to war in Iraq."
When in Spain I met a lady who was collecting pertitions regarding China and how they treat their animals. Particulary endangered species.
I gave her my details and this website to post her details on and I hope she contacts us so that for you who are against animal cruelty can at least sign your name on the petition, or perhaps take some kind of action like writing to the Chineese government.
I cant quite remember who spearheaded it, from memory it could have been Linda McCartney. I apologise to the lady who spent 10 minutes giving us her spill and now me forgeting.
Just wondered if there is any intrest out there and who could be contacted failing this lady contacting this website!
Answers anyone?
Elliot
Noam Chomsky v. Alan Dershowitz: A Debate on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/23/1450216
A debate between Noam Chomsky and Alan Dershowtiz on the question, "Israel and Palestine After Disengagement: Where Do We Go From Here?" Dershowitz argued for a political solution based on an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian towns and a mobile security fence to protect Israel's borders, while Chomsky insisted that the main obstacle to peace in the region is U.S.-Israeli insistence on maintaining settlements and rejecting minimal Palestinian rights. They faced off at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government last month. [includes rush transcript]
Noam Chomsky, Professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His books include "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest For Global Dominance", "Power and Terror," and "Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians."
Alan Dershowitz, Professor of Law at Harvard University. He is the author of "The Case for Israel" and "The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can Be Resolved."
Watch the entire debate, courtesy of the Kennedy School of Government.
Watchdog Slams Kazakhstan Over Borat Ban Watchdog Slams Kazakhstan Over Borat Ban
Thursday, December 15, 2005
ALMATY, Kazakhstan — An international media watchdog has criticized the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan for stopping a British comedian who poses as a bigoted Kazakh journalist from using the Kazakh Internet domain name.
The ex-Soviet country nation has long fumed against the antics of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays a vulgar journalist named Borat Sagdiyev on British and American television.
Kazakhstan's government has now blocked Cohen from using a Web site with the ".kz" domain name — a move the Reporters Without Borders group called censorship. In a statement released Wednesday, the Paris-based group expressed concern about "the politicization of the administration of domain names."
Kazakhstan's government has taken great exception to the character Sagdiyev, who, among other things, makes outrageous statements such as saying that Kazakhs make wine out of fermented horse urine, shoot dogs for fun, and consider incest and rape as popular hobbies.
Cohen's show is virtually unknown to most Kazakhs.
Kazakhstan's embassies in Washington and elsewhere have lodged protests through media interviews and letters. But Cohen's appearance as Borat Sagdiyev last month on the MTV Europe Music Awards — during which he made fun of President Nursultan Nazarbayev — prompted the Foreign Ministry to threaten legal action.
"We do not rule out that Mr. Cohen is serving someone's political order designed to present Kazakhstan and its people in a derogatory way," Ministry spokesman Yerzhan Ashykbayev said.
In a statement posted on the now-blocked Web site, Cohen, who is Jewish, said: "I like to state, I have no connection with Mr. Cohen and fully support my government's position to sue this Jew."
"Since the 2003 ... reforms Kazakhstan is as civilized as any other country in the world," he said in his video address using the blue Kazakh national flag as a backdrop. "Women can now travel on inside of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hat and age of consent has been raised to eight years old."
Gilbert the alien! / Hitchin DJVU's posts for the RBI launch party always remind me of this TV programe from the 80s; there was gilbert the alien on it and he used to sing
Quote:
how far to hitchin...,
its hitchin I'm missin...'
(we'd also sing this at school and piss the teachers off)
he'd also squirt bare green snot all over his celebrity guests (the bloke who did his voice was a speed freek as well :D)
anyone else remember this?12
Kazakhstan up in arms over Ali G spoof Tuesday November 15, 2005
The Guardian
The great and good of Kazakhstan are getting tired of having to clear up wild misconceptions about their republic. They are tired of having to insist that shooting a dog and then having a party is not a favourite national pastime and of denying that their wine is made of fermented horse urine and that women are kept in cages. They are so frustrated at the bad image which they believe the comedian behind such fictitious claims, Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G), is making through his spoof Kazakh television presenter Borat that they are threatening legal action.
A Kazakh foreign ministry spokesman, Yerzhan Ashykbayev, said yesterday: "We do not rule out that Mr Cohen is serving someone's political order designed to present Kazakhstan and its people in a derogatory way."
Borat, who touts himself as the second-best-known television presenter in the former Soviet republic, has been making jokes at the expense of the citizens of Kazakhstan for five years. In the US he persuaded officials to observe a 10-minute silence in memory of a massacre that never happened and caused controversy when he got regulars at a bar to join in a spoof anti-semitic Kazakh folk song.
But it was Borat's appearance at the annual MTV Europe Music Awards show in Lisbon earlier this month that has really upset the foreign ministry. The character arrived in an "Air Kazakh" propeller plane controlled by a one-eyed pilot clutching a vodka bottle. Later he described an all-woman band as "international singing prostitutes" and said it was brave to have Madonna - "a genuine transvestite" - on the show. Kazakh politicians and diplomats have had to repeatedly stress that Borat is nothing to do with them.
Fake CIA, FBI E-Mails Power Sober Worm Fake CIA, FBI E-Mails Power Sober Worm
Several new versions of the "Sober" e-mail worm have been mass-spammed to millions of e-mail boxes of the last 72 hours, posing as messages from the FBI and the CIA warning recipients that their Internet address has been implicated in illegal activity online.
The messages obviously were not sent by either agency, but any recipient who clicks on the attachment carried in the e-mail may indeed soon find their computers involved a variety of illegal activities at the hands of the virus authors. Both the CIA and the FBI have posted warnings about this latest worm on their Web sites.
Finnish anti-virus firm F-Secure calls the latest Sober outbreak the largest e-mail worm epidemic so far this year. UK-based e-mail security company MessageLabs said it has intercepted more than 2.7 million copies of Sober and its variants, noting that "the size of the attack indicates that this is a major offensive, certainly one of the largest in the last few months."
The criminals behind the Sober family of worms usually release several variants of the worm at once, each one altered slightly to evade detection by anti-virus software; security firms often take several hours to push out new virus definitions that their software uses to spot the worm.
The Sober worm uses its own e-mail engine to blast copies of itself out to all of the addresses found on an infected computer. Sober kills a long list of security applications that may be running, including anti-virus and firewall software, and prevents the victim from visiting a long list of security-related Web sites. Finally, it opens a backdoor on the infected machine, allowing attackers to upload whatever software they want.
As usual, be extremely cautious about clicking on links and opening e-mail attachments, even if they appear to come from someone you know. As Sober illustrates, you cannot always depend on scanning an attachment with anti-virus software to be sure it is safe to open. If you have any doubts about the integrity of an attachment or weren't expecting it, contact the person who sent it.
Rasta squatters brace for new eviction battle http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1607117,00.html
Rasta squatters brace for new eviction battle
Hugh Muir
Thursday November 3, 2005
The Guardian
For more than 30 years, the squatters of St Agnes Place have formed one of Britain's most distinctive communities.
The proud and well known Rastafarian enclave, complete with its own temple, drew Bob Marley to St Agnes Place on several occasions in the 1970s. They say it was his home from home. But Marley passed away in 1981, and soon the unique community in Kennington, south London, may be history too. Twenty two terraced houses at the heart of St Agnes Place - said to be the capital's oldest squatted street - are likely to be demolished to make way for a social housing development.
Attempts by residents to claim official and then informal squatters' rights have been brushed aside by the courts and the properties have been declared unlawfully occupied. Officials on Lambeth council claim the redevelopment is necessary to regenerate a rundown area plagued by crime. Surrounded by parkland and close to the station, each house could fetch around £500,000.
Yesterday the 100 Rastafarians of St Agnes Place prepared to mark the anniversary of Emperor Haile Selassie's coronation in 1930 knowing that the deadline for them to move on has elapsed. The council returned to court yesterday to get a further order and the next visitors could be the bailiffs. But the Rastafarians and other squatters are determined not to go without a fight. "We are not just going to move," said Ras Solomon, a tall, thin figure. "This is the core of the Rasta community in Britain. We want to work with the council but we are not going to stand around and let them evict us like animals."
At the temple, the UK headquarters of the International Rastafarian Movement, Sister Nzingha said they were victims of gentrification. "We took these properties on when they were rat-ridden, without electricity, without gas and without windows. We made this place habitable."
Even those who are not Rastafarian claim the diverse mix is worth preserving. Alex Windsor, an aspiring jazz musician, said: "People feel able to leave their doors open. But we are on potentially lucrative real estate. The council has got its eyes on the money."
There have been previous attempts to regenerate St Agnes Place. In 1977 and 1978, officials tried to take possession. A ball and chain were moved into place, but the threat was seen off. Last month Lambeth won permission to execute a bailiffs' warrant. The endgame looms.
But the squatters say their communal way of life equips them to meet the threat. Meetings have been held in the cafe at Number 60, a basement room with a cluttered kitchen at one end. Young squatters boast of the international appeal of St Agnes Place, where there are also Brazilians, Moroccans, Poles, Germans, Spaniards and Indians.
Rastafarians congregate at the temple, with its red, gold and green Ethiopian flags, and at the other end of the street at number 93, where they organise youth activities and help aspiring musicians. Ras John has his place decorated with more panache than most - including a miniature water feature. "I have made it look good," he said.
For the council, the issue is clearcut. The houses are illegally occupied and lie in an area which needs new homes and better leisure facilities. Evicted residents will receive statutory assistance according to their circumstances.
But Anthony Powell, 58, who has been there from the start, said things would not be so straightforward. "This is our street and the temple is our embassy," he said. "These things will stay."
Perranzabuloe Parish Council blame raves for… burnt out cars, hypodermic needlesand fly-tipping
doesn't ring true for me
Raves could lead to road closure
The main access road to a Cornish beauty spot could be closed to stop illegal raves and the dumping of cars.
Perranzabuloe Parish Council said that the raves at Cligga Head cause noise pollution in nearby Perranporth.
But county councillor Mark Kaczmarak says he will fight any attempt to shut what he regards as a right of way.
The parish council said the authority may have no choice because of the cost involved to clean up the area after raves have taken place.
Coastal access
Chairwoman Eileen Carter said: "We're tired of spending hundreds of pounds removing burnt-out cars and we're tired of cleaning up the mess, litter, hypodermic needles and goodness knows what from the site.
"It's costing a fortune."
Mr Kaczmarak is convinced closing the access road would be wrong and he will oppose any attempt to do so.
He told BBC News: "I am taking this very seriously and I do challenge any right of way, whether it's vehicular or on foot.
"We are losing many, many areas of coastal access because of actions of parish councils and district councils and we've got to start fighting it."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/4377488.stm
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