Wednesday, 23 November 2011
The global war on drugs has failed. It is time for a new approach
We the undersigned call on members of the public and of Parliament to recognise that:
Fifty years after the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs was launched, the global war on drugs has failed, and has had many unintended and devastating consequences worldwide.
Use of the major controlled drugs has risen, and supply is cheaper, purer and more available than ever before. The UN conservatively estimates that there are now 250 million drug users worldwide.
Illicit drugs are now the third most valuable industry in the world, after food and oil, estimated to be worth $450 billion a year, all in the control of criminals.
Fighting the war on drugs costs the world’s taxpayers incalculable billions each year. Millions of people are in prison worldwide for drug-related offences, mostly “little fish” – personal users and small-time dealers.
Corruption amongst law-enforcers and politicians, especially in producer and transit countries, has spread as never before, endangering democracy and civil society.
Stability, security and development are threatened by the fallout from the war on drugs, as are human rights. Tens of thousands of people die in the drug war each year.
The drug-free world so confidently predicted by supporters of the war on drugs is further than ever from attainment. The policies of prohibition create more harms than they prevent. We must seriously consider shifting resources away from criminalising tens of millions of otherwise law abiding citizens, and move towards an approach based on health, harm-reduction, cost-effectiveness and respect for human rights. Evidence consistently shows that these health-based approaches deliver better results than criminalisation.
Improving our drug policies is one of the key policy challenges of our time.
It is time for world leaders to fundamentally review their strategies in response to the drug phenomenon. That is what the Global Commission on Drug Policy, led by four former Presidents, by Kofi Annan and by other world leaders, has bravely done with its ground-breaking Report, first presented in New York in June, and now at the House of Lords on 17 November.
At the root of current policies lies the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It is time to re-examine this treaty. A document entitled ‘Rewriting the UN Drug Conventions’ has recently been commissioned in order to show how amendments to the conventions could be made which would allow individual countries the freedom to explore drug policies that best suit their domestic needs, rather than seeking to impose the current “one-size-fits-all” solution.
As we cannot eradicate the production, demand or use of drugs, we must find new ways to minimise harms. We should give support to our Governments to explore new policies based on scientific evidence.
Yours faithfully,
List of signatories
Fifty years after the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs was launched, the global war on drugs has failed, and has had many unintended and devastating consequences worldwide.
Use of the major controlled drugs has risen, and supply is cheaper, purer and more available than ever before. The UN conservatively estimates that there are now 250 million drug users worldwide.
Illicit drugs are now the third most valuable industry in the world, after food and oil, estimated to be worth $450 billion a year, all in the control of criminals.
Fighting the war on drugs costs the world’s taxpayers incalculable billions each year. Millions of people are in prison worldwide for drug-related offences, mostly “little fish” – personal users and small-time dealers.
Corruption amongst law-enforcers and politicians, especially in producer and transit countries, has spread as never before, endangering democracy and civil society.
Stability, security and development are threatened by the fallout from the war on drugs, as are human rights. Tens of thousands of people die in the drug war each year.
The drug-free world so confidently predicted by supporters of the war on drugs is further than ever from attainment. The policies of prohibition create more harms than they prevent. We must seriously consider shifting resources away from criminalising tens of millions of otherwise law abiding citizens, and move towards an approach based on health, harm-reduction, cost-effectiveness and respect for human rights. Evidence consistently shows that these health-based approaches deliver better results than criminalisation.
Improving our drug policies is one of the key policy challenges of our time.
It is time for world leaders to fundamentally review their strategies in response to the drug phenomenon. That is what the Global Commission on Drug Policy, led by four former Presidents, by Kofi Annan and by other world leaders, has bravely done with its ground-breaking Report, first presented in New York in June, and now at the House of Lords on 17 November.
At the root of current policies lies the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It is time to re-examine this treaty. A document entitled ‘Rewriting the UN Drug Conventions’ has recently been commissioned in order to show how amendments to the conventions could be made which would allow individual countries the freedom to explore drug policies that best suit their domestic needs, rather than seeking to impose the current “one-size-fits-all” solution.
As we cannot eradicate the production, demand or use of drugs, we must find new ways to minimise harms. We should give support to our Governments to explore new policies based on scientific evidence.
Yours faithfully,
List of signatories
BlogsofWar Blogs of War
No nuance from Newt tonight. He apparently wants to run every American through a nude body scanner and bomb everyone else.#CNNDebate
No nuance from Newt tonight. He apparently wants to run every American through a nude body scanner and bomb everyone else.
Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson Memorial Day 24th November 2011
Blessed be Sleazy
x
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Ken Russell: A House in Bayswater (1960)
"But buried in the middle of 1960 is a film called A House in Bayswater, which is interesting for a number of reasons. At nearly half an hour, it was double the length of a typical Monitor item, and it was also the first of his BBC films not made for Monitor -- he produced it himself during the programme's summer break. It was also by far his most personal film to date -- as the title implies, it's a portrait of a house in Bayswater, but what it doesn't tell you is that Russell himself lived there in the 1950s. Most of the film is straightforward reportage -- we meet the eccentric landlady Mrs Collings and her current tenants, who include the photographer David Hurn, later the subject of Russell's 1963 film Watch the Birdie -- but at the very end there's this extraordinary dreamlike coda, which is quite unlike anything Russell had done up to then. The house is about to be demolished, but just before it vanishes from the map, there's a montage of its occupants and their defining characteristics, seamlessly dissolving into one another as if to cram as many of their memories as possible into what time is left to them before they're irretrievably lost in the rubble." Michael Brooke
http://michaelbrooke.wordpress.com/auteur-of-the-arts-ken-russell-at-the-bbc/
Oh it was such a different time then...(the year I was born!)
Databending using Audacity
Thanks to some help on the Audacity forum I finally know out how to use Audacity to databend. Previously I’d been using mhWavEdit, which has its limitations and just doesn’t feel as familiar as Audacity. From talk on the various databending discussion boards I found that people would often use tools like Cool Edit/Adobe Audition for their bends. Being on Linux and restricting myself to things that run natively (i.e. not under Wine) presented a new challenge. Part of my task was to replicate the methods others have found but under Linux. My ongoing quest is to find things that only Linux can do, which I’m sure I’ll find when I eventually figure out how to pipe data through one program into another!
Here’s some of my current results using Audacity...
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Huysmans' Benevolent Malice
It was Richard Hell in a Melody Maker interview back in probably 1977 that turned me on to the wonderful Huysmans book À Rebours . A word of advice try and read the translation entitled 'Against The Grain' as opposed to the more common Penguin edition 'Against Nature'.
Those of you who know the Dim Stars cover of the precious stone encrusted tortoise will find its sorry tale in this novel also.
Finally I do seem to recall reading that Oscar Wilde based his character Dorian Gray on his idea of who Huysmans could have been when in fact all the time he was a lowly civil servant in 19th Century France.
Sex Pistols' Drawings As Important as Paleolithic Art?
Found behind cupboards in the upper room of a two-storey 19th-century house at 6 Denmark Street in London, the intact graffiti was drawn by the Sex Pistols' John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten). The Sex Pistols ushered in an era of punk in the United Kingdom in the 1970s.
According to John Schofield, of the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, and independent researcher Dr Paul Graves-Brown, the Pistols "cave art" is worthy of being reviewed in the same way archaeologists examine prehistoric art. While Lydon drew the pictures, other members of the band wrote some text on the walls.
"Why should graffiti and interior spaces from 1975 not be approached with the same seriousness as those from a thousand years earlier?" The authors make the point in the current issue of the journal Antiquity.
Presenting a "layering of time and of changing relations over time," the Pistol graffiti reveals "feelings and relationships, personal and political," said the researchers.
"Whilst some of this is documented in published biographies and captured in films and documentary, this very archaeological record offers something visceral and immediate and generates unique insight," they said...
Continue reading
Rossella Lorenzi @'DiscoveryNews'
Leonard Cohen - Show Me The Place
Cohen himself designed the cover, above.
Old Ideas:
01 Going Home
02 Amen
03 Show Me the Place
04 The Darkness
05 Anyhow
06 Crazy to Love You
07 Come Healing
08 Banjo
09 Lullaby
10 Different Sides
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LOL!!!
helen_bop Helen G
Living in a post-society, post-dubstep, post-modern, post-baked-potato, pre-coffee world.#nomorelabels
Living in a post-society, post-dubstep, post-modern, post-baked-potato, pre-coffee world.
Marc Hype & DJ Uri - Bollykraut
Tracklist:
Notorious B.I.G. – Juicy Indian Stylee
Orchestra Gus Brendel – Night Clipper
Berry Lipman – Exotic Drums
The Poets Of Rhythm – Plus Plus
Charlie Antolinie’s Power Dozen – Marabuena
Siegfried Schwab – High Snobiety
Nina Hagen – Komm Komm
James last – Love For Sale
F Weyer – No Lady
Malcolm’s Locks – Get Up Stand Up
Veronika Fischer & Band – Kirschblüte
Dieter Reith
Bollywood Freaks – Very 1,2,3,4 (Remix)
Rahul Dev Burman – Shalamar
Meri Aakhon Mein Ek Sapna Hai – Psych Funk Sa Re Ga
Ultimate Breaks & Beats – Funky Penguin Inst.
Kalyanji & Anandji – Hemlata
J.J. Johnson – Willie Chase
Apollis – What It Is (Part 1)
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'Mr. President, You Can’t Say Dallas Doesn’t Love You'*
*Nellie Connally’s words to JFK just before he was shot.
From Krautrock to Kosmische Musik : 1970-82
1) Intro : Krautrock, the rebirth of Germany / BBC
2) Neu! : Hallogallo / Neu! (1972)
3) Neu! : Seeland / Neu! '75 (1975)
4) Manuel Göttsching, Ash Ra Tempel : Echo waves /Inventions For Electric Guitar (1975)
5) Klaus Schulze : Electric love affair / La vie électronique (1974)
6) ibliss : High life / Supernova (1972)
7) Kraftwerk : Ruckzuck : Kraftwerk (1970)
8) Amon Düül II : Wie Der Wind Am Ende Einer Strasse / Wolf city (1972)
9) Can : Aumgn / Tago mago (1971)
10) Michael Bundt : La chasse aux microbes / Just landed cosmic kid (1977)
11) Tangerine Dream : Invisible limits / Stratosfear (1976)
12) Ashra : Deep distance / New age of Earth (1976)
13) Ashra : Ocean of tenderness / New age of Earth (1976)
14) Harmonia : Sehr kosmisch / Musik von Harmonia (1974)
15) EMAK (Elektronische Musik aus Köln) : Filmmusik / EMAK 1 (1982)
16) Excerpt from Interview with Ralf & Florian
17) Kraftwerk : Autobahn / Autobahn (1974)
18) Kraftwerk : Komentenmelodie 1 / Autobahn (1974)
19) Manuel Göttsching : E2 E4 / E2 E4 (1981)
20) Final words on Krautrock…
DOWNLOAD
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pourmecoffee pourmecoffee
Pretty amazing times when the Pakistan Ambassador to US announces resignation by tweet. bit.ly/vKBT0l
Pretty amazing times when the Pakistan Ambassador to US announces resignation by tweet. bit.ly/vKBT0l
Change the Record
Made by heating and moulding the plastic disks into a funnel shape, they amplify the sound from a phone placed inside simply through the nature of their shape. The speakers were ‘launched’ this year at a live performance to music during Ron Arad’s Curtain Call installation at the Roundhouse in London, where Cocksedge himself was heating and moulding old LPs and encouraging visitors to bring their own 12” record.
A simple, elegant and playful way to amplify sounds from your smartphone and recycle to boot!
If you are interested in purchasing you will need to go to his site and send him an email.
@'Minimalissimo'
Turkish psych compilation from The Wire
Compiled and annotated by Daniel Spicer, author of the Turkish psychedelia Primer in The Wire 334.
Listen and info
High IQ in Children Linked to Drug Use Later in Life
The results suggest that men with high IQ scores at 5 years-old are 50 percent more likely to use drugs by the age of 30 than those with low IQ scores. High IQ scoring women at 5 years-old are twice as likely to use drugs than their low IQ counterparts. The authors are unclear why there is a link between intelligence and drug use.
Potential explanations are that intelligent people are open to new experiences, bored, or using drugs to cope with feeling different from their peers. Intelligence and drug use were linked independent of other factors like social class, household income, and other mental health problems.
@'Freakonomics'
AHA!!!
NYPD ‘Loses’ the Occupy Wall Street Wikileaks Truck
The Wikileaks truck has been a fixture at Manhattan's Occupy Wall Street protest since day one, provoking puzzled reactions from media, cops and tourists alike. Unfortunately, Julian Assange hasn't been secretly crashing in the flatbed; it's a project by New York-based artist/activist Clark Stoeckley. Stoeckley says he has no connection to the Wikileaks folks. He's been driving the thing around the country since March, filming his exploits, and for most of the past two months it's been parked down at Zuccotti Park, where it sheltered him and fellow occupiers.
But last Thursday morning—the morning of Occupy Wall Street's big day of action—Stoeckly was pulled over on Broadway and Cedar Street near Zuccotti Park. The cops used the fact that his license plate was crooked, and that he turned on his windshield wipers without his lights as pretense to pull him over, Stoeckley told us in a phone interview. (New York law requires drivers to use headlights "whenever you are using your windshield wipers to clear rain, snow, sleet, etc.")
Police demanded to search the vehicle, and when Stoeckley refuse they arrested him for "Obstructing Governmental Administration." Stoeckley's lawyer, Wiley Stecklow, said he's concerned Stoeckly was arrested "unlawfully," simply for "refusing to consent to a search."
His arresting officer gave him a handwritten slip of paper with contact info for a place called Mike's Towing, saying he could pick up his truck there. But when Stoeckley was released from jail Saturday, Mike's Towing said they had never received the truck, which incidentally also contains all of Stoeckley's possessions.
"I think this is over the NYPD's head," said Stoeckley, ominously. It's not the first time the truck has gotten him in trouble: He's been hassled by NYPD a couple times in New York, and when he parked the truck outside the White House in March, he said, Secret Service searched it and questioned him about any ties to Wikileaks.
A Mike's Towing representative confirmed they had no clue about the Wikileaks truck when we called today. "I definitely would have noticed something like that," he said.
So, where's the truck? Stecklow, said the truck wasn't at the city impound, either. But he's been in contact with the NYPD legal department and is trying to track it down. "My hope is that the NYPD is going to locate it, and explain why it disappeared," Stecklow said. Said Stoeckley: "I want my truck back immediately. It was illegally taken from me and it is illegally being held from me. That is not courtesy, professionalism or respect."
Stoeckley will be lucky if it doesn't come back with a couple wheels missing—NYPD doesn't have a good record of treating protesters' valuable possessions with loving care.
Adrian Chen @'Gawker'
WikileaksTruck Art Superheroes
Quit asking me for updates on the truck. It is worse than my mother calling and crying every hour. I will tweet all updates as they happen.
Quit asking me for updates on the truck. It is worse than my mother calling and crying every hour. I will tweet all updates as they happen.
Paul Motian RIP
He moved to New York in 1955 and played with numerous musicians - including Thelonious Monk, Lennie Tristano, Coleman Hawkins, Tony Scott, and George Russell - before settling into a regular role as part of Bill Evans' most famous trio (with bassist Scott LaFaro), appearing on his classics Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby.
In 1963, Motian left Evans' group to join up with Paul Bley for a year or so, and began a long association with Keith Jarrett in 1966, appearing with the pianist's American-based quartet through 1977.
In addition, Motian freelanced for artists like Mose Allison, Charles Lloyd, Carla Bley, and Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Ensemble, and turned down the chance to be John Coltrane's second drummer.
In 1972, Motian recorded his first session as a leader, Conception Vessel, for ECM; he followed in 1974 with Tribute.
He formed a regular working group in 1977 (which featured tenor Joe Lovano) and recorded several more dates for ECM, then revamped the ensemble to include guitarist Bill Frisell in 1980. Additional dates for ECM and Soul Note followed, and in 1988 Motian moved to JMT, where he recorded a long string of fine albums beginning with Monk in Motian.
During the '90s, he also led an ensemble called the Electric Bebop Band, which featured Joshua Redman. In 1998, Motian signed on with the Winter & Winter label, where he began recording another steady stream of albums, including 2000 + One in 1999, Europe in 2001, and Holiday for Strings in 2002. In 2005 Motian moved to the ECM label, releasing I Have the Room Above Her that same year, followed by Garden of Eden in 2006 and Time and Time Again in 2007.
Via
A Sudden Void at the Vanguard
One of my fave gigs ever was seeing him play as part of a trio at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam back around 84 or so...
Fox News Host Dismisses Pepper Spray Attack By Cops: ‘It’s A Food Product, Essentially’
Love the comment that by this logic that as we drink water then waterboarding is just quenching someone's thirst!!!
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
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