Senseless Things - The First Of Too Many
48 minutes ago
Thursday, 24 November 2011
The Ayahuasca Project / The Jungle Prescription
Ten years ago Mark Ellam, Jeronimo Mazarrasa, and Robin McKenna began to make a documentary film about what indigenous people know, and we have forgotten, about the most potent plants on earth.
The Jungle Prescription tells the story of ayahuasca, a visionary Amazonian brew of indigenous origin and its encounter with the West, as played out through the story of two doctors. The first, Dr. Jacques Mabit, runs a legendary detox centre deep in the Peruvian jungle. The second, Dr. Gabor Maté, is risking his reputation trying to establish a similar program in Canada. Through the intimate stories of these doctors and their patients, we see how an ancient medicine causes cathartic, life-changing insight, and we witness the commitment of people who have devoted their whole lives to helping others applying this medicinal knowledge.
The Ayahuasca Project is a labour of love developed over the course of ten years of research, with long periods of travel in the Amazon region. We have gathered an outstanding and unique collection of footage, stories and experiences in the complex and multifaceted ayahuasca world.
We made a short version of the film for Canada´s CBC, The Jungle Prescription, and we ran out of money. Now we need YOUR support to help us finish the editing and final post-production of the feature-length documentary we set out to make.
ABOUT THE FILM
The film follows the story of two radical doctors and their patients. One is in Peru, and for 30 years has worked hand in hand with indigenous healers.
The other is a doctor and bestselling author from Vancouver. He believes the medical system has failed us - by chasing symptoms instead of the root causes of illness. To help his patients - and benefit all of us- he is willing to risk his reputation and go up against Canada’s legal system.
We follow Dr Mate’s attempts to help his patients, and the miracles and disasters along the way. We watch young, cocaine-injecting lovers teeter on the edge, and an aboriginal single mother with a decade-long crack habit reunited with her children. Meanwhile, Dr. Mate relapses into his own addictive patterns, and is forced to face the consequences, and to learn the true meaning of commitment.
Along the road, we meet a Kurdish gangsta, a Catalonian pharmacologist, an indigenous shamanic powerhouse from the Putumayo, a shoeshine boy from Perú, and a very very angry wife. All wrapped around a mysterious visionary drink from the Amazon, outlandish rituals, purgative plants, tears, laughter, epiphanies, relapses, classical music, and the eternal human question: how to live.
WHY ARE WE MAKING THIS FILM?
We decided to focus our film on the treatment of addiction through the combination of traditional Amazonian medicine and western psychotherapy. We believed it was the best way to present to the world how ayahuasca affects people (as displayed by the dramatic process of change that the addicts undergo), while making a clear statement - the very same plants can be poisons or remedies, depending how they are used. We want to make a film that not only pays homage to the richness of indigenous knowledge, but actually shows an example of how it can be put into practice - and the mutual benefits this can bring, when the exchange is reciprocal.
Since news of our documentary was made public, the Canadian government has threatened Dr. Maté with prosecution if he continues working with ayahuasca.
This ongoing controversy reminded us why it’s so important that we continue. As we move towards finishing the film, the story continues to unfold- and we are uniquely positioned to tell it.
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@'Kickstarter'
EFF EFF
Anon "leaks" Facebook's 2010 law enforcement guidelines, which have been available on the EFF website since Jan: eff.org/r.H7t#foia
Anon "leaks" Facebook's 2010 law enforcement guidelines, which have been available on the EFF website since Jan: eff.org/r.H7t
Pepper Spray! A yummy and delicious form of crowd control
Pizza is a vegeatable. Pepper spray is a vegetable. Megyn Kelly is a vegetable.
Global Drug Survey
GlobalDrugSurvy Adam Winstock
Launched less 24 hours ago and already 2500 surveys completed ! We want to know about your#drug use globaldrugsurvey.com/mixmag2012
Launched less 24 hours ago and already 2500 surveys completed ! We want to know about your
Imprisoned Moroccan Rapper Defied the King
From the early days of the protests in Morocco, rapper al-Haked’s anti-regime songs echoed in the streets, until he was arrested on dubious grounds.
Calling himself “The Spiteful” (al-Haked), an anonymous protester released a rap song on YouTube only a day after the start of the February 20 protest movement in Morocco.
Directly addressing the king in the name of the people, the song broke new ground in political speech, sharply criticizing the regime. Back then, nobody knew who he was.
Yet since September 9, al-Haked has been languishing in Casablanca’s Akasha prison. He was arrested on charges of assault and battery, but many believe that his real crime was political activity, since his lyrics set a new standard for direct criticism of the Moroccan regime.
Al-Haked is 24-year-old Muadh Balghawat, from a poor working-class neighborhood in Casablanca.
During the early days of the protest movement, al-Haked participated in the general assembly of members of the February 20 Youth Movement at the United Communist Party’s headquarters in Casablanca.
Balghawat, a tall, thin young man appeared shy at the assembly, and his political inexperience was immediately apparent. He wasn’t skilled in the pandering or slick talk of refined politicians.
He tried to defend the slogan “the people want…,” which has been echoing through the squares of Arab capitals.
Nobody knew yet that he was al-Haked, singer of “One Day, When the People…,” a song that was already widely circulating among revolutionary youth.
Balghawat released a second song, and then a third and a fourth. From a musical perspective, his works were slightly amateurish, but his critical message is both powerful and sophisticated...
Continue reading
Muhammad al-Khodayri @'alakhbar'
Why do Police Officers Use Pepper Spray?
But as demonstrated by the routine spraying of Occupy Wall Street activists, culminating in the horrific assault at the University of California, Davis, pepper spray can too easily become a tool of first and excessive resort.
“I can’t get into the head of people using it in New York and Davis and around the country, but it seems that rather than turning to other tactics, they turn to the simple tool,” said Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina. “There’s an overreliance on technology.”
The incident at UC Davis, where campus police officers sprayed Defense Technology 56895 MK-9 Stream directly into the faces and mouths of sitting students, provoked both moral disgust and a renewed attention to the physical dangers of pepper spray. Far from being what one Fox News pundit called a “food product,” pepper is a dangerous and sometimes deadly weapon.
Receiving relatively less attention is the psychology underlying pepper spray use, which hasn’t been studied much but parallels the use of Tasers. Like pepper sprays, Tasers were supposed to be tools of intermediate physical force, an alternative to hitting a resisting suspect with batons or grappling them to the ground. But Tasers also became alternatives to less-violent tactics and were used in situations where suspects had not physically resisted arrest.
Rather than talking, police too often go straight to the electricity — and the same may also happen with pepper spray.
“When you have something that is readily available to you, something that’s on your belt like pepper spray, and you have a confrontation in front of you — the first thing you’re going to do, because you’re human, is use whatever is right there,” said Ana Yáñez-Correa, executive director of the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, a non-partisan group that has successfully lobbied to make pepper spray less readily available to law enforcement officers in that state’s youth correctional system.
“All of the training that you might use, anything that allows you to use your other skills, goes out the door,” Yáñez-Correa added. “The first thing you do is say, ‘I’m going to pepper-spray that kid.’ That’s a natural response...”
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Brandon Keim @'Wired'
DrugPolicyNews Drug Policy Alliance
So much for the first amendment. "Government Worker Fired for Signing Pro-Pot Legalization Petition" bit.ly/rAwMEF@CopsSayLegalize
So much for the first amendment. "Government Worker Fired for Signing Pro-Pot Legalization Petition" bit.ly/rAwMEF
James Murdoch resigns from Sun and Times boards
It emerged on Wednesday that the 38-year-old resigned in September as director of News Group Newspapers – owners of the Sun and the now defunct News of the World, and Times Newspapers Ltd, home to the Times and Sunday Times – as he relocates from London to New York.
News Group Newspapers is the company subject of a string of lawsuits for alleged breaches of privacy stemming from phone hacking, and it is the business unit that anybody wanting to sue either the Sun or News of the World would have to cite as a defendant in a legal case.
News Corporation, the ultimate parent company, said James Murdoch's departure from the boards was essentially a tidying up exercise. It added that the son of Rupert Murdoch remains as executive chairman of News International, which is the operation that runs the company's three British newspapers.
Insiders said that "nobody should read too much into the changes". They noted that James Murdoch remains on the board of a holding company NI Group Ltd and the Times editorial board whose function it is to approve the appointment of new editors of that newspaper.
James Murdoch took over as executive chairman of News International in late 2007, and has been called to give evidence to parliament twice to explain why the company did not find out that phone hacking at the News of the World was more widespread in the period running up to the arrest of Glenn Mulcaire in 2006. Mulcaire carried out hacking on behalf of the newspaper.
Dan Sabbagh @'The Guardian'
False Alarm - a 2011 Roots & Culture Mix by BMC
Riddims & tracks:
01 Sensimillionaire Riddim (House Of Riddim)
Ras Zacharri - Free Up Time
Jah Mason - Mr Government
Zareb - More Youth
Mark Wonder - Blaze It Up
House Of Riddim - Sensimillionaire Riddim Version
02 Protoje ft. Don Corleon - Our Time Now (Don Corleon)
03 Jah Army Riddim (Ghetto Youths International)
Stephen Marley, Damian Marley & Buju Banton - Jah Army *
Ward 21 - Take A Wif
Tarrus Riley - Eye Water
Pressure - It Haffi Guh Suh
Jah Cure - Look Pon Two Ways
Buju Banton - Don't Worry
04 Gorilla Riddim (Necessary Mayhem) *
Tarrus Riley - La La Warriors
Macka B - Our Music
05 Skateland Killer Riddim (Maximum Sound) *
Alborosie - Jahnoy
Luciano - By Jah Will
Tarrus Riley - Rebel
Captain Sinbad - World Wide Rebellion
Skateland Killer Version
06 Royalty Riddim (Xterminator)
Turbulence - Jah Is Love
Jesse Royal - Hatred Is The Obsolete Route
07 Bomboflow Riddim (Upsetta Records)
Admiral Tibet - Give A Little
Collie Buddz - Too Watchy
08 Chino - Seal The Link (Leaving) (Di Genius / VP) *
09 Sunset Boulevard Riddim (NCF)
Turbulence - Pray
Ikaya - Retribution
Mikey General - Innocent Blood
Jah Vinci - Love You
Sunrise Boulevard Riddim Version
10 Captain Riddim (Yard Vybz )
Wayne Marshall - Captain
Pressure – Heathen
Tarrus Riley - Soul Grabber
Jah Cure - Feel It
Sizzla - Murder Star
11 Ghetto State Riddim (Maximum Sound) *
Assassin, Bounty Killer & Half Pint - Ghetto State Of Mind
Sizzla - Ghetto Youths Rise
Bounty Killer - Ghetto State Of Mind (cont)
Ghetto State Version
12 Hold U Medz Riddim (In The Streetz) *
Fantan Mojah - Jah Bless I
Perfect - Everyone
Chuck Fenda - Soon
Lutan Fyah - Burn This A Fire
Sizzla - Cant Stop We
Turbulence - Unforgivable
13 Courtney John ft. Sly & Robbie - Run To You (Taxi)
14 Fuss & Fight Riddim (John John)
Tarrus Riley - Peer Pressure
Louie Culture - No Watch Man
Alborosie - Worlds Inna Trouble
Pressure - Let Me Love You
Sizzla - Got It Going
15 Ray Darwin - False Alarm + Version (Joe Fraser) *
16 Alive Riddim (Dynasty)
Lutan Fyah - Break I Down
Bobby Hustle - On The Run
Jah Sun - Tear Drops
Alive Riddim Version
17 Junie Ranks - Bring Back Di Love (Inna Di Dancehall) (JRanks)
Selection & Mix by: BMC
Website: http://bettermustcome.blogspot.com
Twitter: BMCsReggaeBlog
Download here:
One-track download @ 192kbps
One-track download @ 320kbps
Tracked .rar version (17 tracks)
Add to your shopping list
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More Reviews at Amazon
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Dirk57 Dirk Hanson
Pot doesn't kill anybody, unless a bale of it falls on your head. RT@GodsOfRuin: Alcohol kills more people than marijuana- #cnnDebate
Pot doesn't kill anybody, unless a bale of it falls on your head. RT
Ai Weiwei supporters strip off as artist faces 'porn' investigation
When artist Ai Weiwei disappeared, supporters made online appeals for his return. When authorities handed him a £1.5m tax bill, they sent money to help pay it. And now that he faces an investigation for spreading pornography – his admirers have stripped off.
Internet users began tweeting their nude photographs after Ai announced that authorities had questioned his cameraman over pictures which showed the artist and four women naked.
Many Chinese contemporary artists have taken pictures of themselves without clothes and the pictures of Ai that have emerged so far do not appear sexually charged. Some suspect that it may be an attempt by the authorities to smear the artist, whose 81 day detention this spring caused international outrage.
Officials accused him of economic crimes but supporters say the authorities are engaged in a vendetta because of Ai's social and political activism and criticism of the government.
While a couple of internet users tweeted full-frontal shots, others have come up with more decorous – and ingenious – variations on the theme. Some posted pictures of themselves as babies; one photo shows a row of nine unclothed women and one man – with images of Ai's head superimposed over their genitals and nipples.
Li Tiantian, a Shanghai lawyer who was herself detained earlier this year, appears partially concealed by a picture of a "grass mud horse", a creature invented by internet users to mock censors; its name is a homonym for a graphic curse.
"It is an expression of support for Ai Weiwei and scorn to Chinese government. It shows our attitude and anger towards the government's behaviour," she said.
"We are simply using an eyecatching way to attract people's attention. There are so many pornography websites in China: they don't regulate them, yet say that this is spreading pornography."
Wen Yunchao, blogger in Hong Kong who posted two nude photographs of himself, told Reuters: "This is a matter that has made many people very indignant. The interpretation of people's naked bodies in itself is an individual freedom and a form of creative freedom. Also, we don't see any pornographic elements in [Ai's] photographs. So we are using this extreme method to express our protest."
Zhao Zhao, the videographer who took the original pictures of Ai last year, told Reuters that Beijing police interrogated him about them for about four hours, telling him the photographs were obscene.
Ai told the news agency that police had also questioned him about the pictures. He said they did not have a hidden political meaning and were not meant to criticise the government, but noted that authorities might nonetheless see them as a "rebellious act".
Separately, the artist has encouraged supporters to call bloggers and commentators he described as leaders of the "50 cent" – pro-government – internet users, tweeting their phone numbers.
One of them, Wang Wen, told the Guardian he had received between 100 and 200 calls and innumerable messages since Sunday and that another man had received about 1,000 calls. He complained that posting the number was not fair, but refused to comment further.
Tania Branigan @'The Guardian'
Is Facebook Never Sorry?
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
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