... Helloweenie!

Happy...

Internet addresses set for change

The internet regulator has approved plans to allow non-Latin-script web addresses, in a move that is set to transform the online world.

The board of Icann voted at its annual meeting in Seoul to allow domain names in Arabic, Chinese and other scripts.

More than half of the 1.6 billion people who use the internet speak languages with non-Latin scripts.

It is being described as the biggest change to the way the internet works since it was created 40 years ago.

@'BBC'

"Do I have the right to refuse a search?"

“Do I have the right to refuse this search?” This is a question I heard many times during my law enforcement career. Often my answer was no. But occasionally it would be “yes,” followed by an admonition to have a good day. For the last half of my career, I would have documented each interaction, whether or not it involved an arrest. I would have written down the nature and length of the interaction, the gender, race, and age of the person, and the outcome of the contact (arrest, citation, etc.). I carry the baggage of this history with me as I’ve traveled over the last eight years, mindlessly placing my luggage on the conveyer belt and removing my shoes for TSA inspection.

Recently, something changed.

@'Homeland Security Watch'

Excellent article written by Deirdre Walker. She retired recently as the Assistant Chief of the Montgomery County, Maryland, Department of Police. She spent 24 years as a police officer.

(Thanx Lochie!)

Percussive postcard

Postcard sent from Ralf & Florian from Kraftwerk asking Klaus Dinger to join them in the studio.

Harmonia - Walky Talky

Pixar intro parody

LSD less dangerous than alcohol, says UK government's drug adviser

The Government’s chief drug adviser has suggested that Ecstasy, LSD and cannabis are less dangerous than both alcohol and cigarettes.

David Nutt, chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, attacked the decision to make cannabis a Class B drug. He accused the former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who reclassified the drug, of “distorting and devaluing” scientific research.

Professor Nutt said smoking cannabis created only a “relatively small risk” of psychotic illness, adding that all drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, should be ranked by a “harm” index.

He said that alcohol came fifth behind cocaine, heroin, barbiturates and methadone, while tobacco should rank ninth, ahead of cannabis, LSD and Ecstasy. His views are published today as a briefing paper for the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King’s College London.

@"The Times'

"To base punishment on the weight of the carrier medium makes about as much sense as basing punishment on the weight of the defendant."

Something that amazed me earlier today was that if you are caught with 100 doses of LSD in liquid form in the US you would probably get a year sentence. However if the same 100 doses were in blotter form you would get a 2 to 3 year sentence, if they were on sugar cubes you would get 15 years because they include the "carrier medium" for LSD in calculating the drug's weight for sentencing purposes!

Meanwhile this editorial in The Washington Post talks about the disparity in sentencing between cocaine and crack in the US...

RePost - Grievous Angel presents Blogariddims 21: Fusion Dub. A mix of Miles Davis-inspired jazz, funk and soul, in dub (April 2007)

Now that Grevious Angel has been signed to The Black Dog's label 'Dust Science' hopefully more people will hear him. In the meantime here is one of my favourite mixes of his.

"This time last year I was waaaaay deep into a series of pilgrimages deep into dubstep, a process that is still ongoing, though not as spiritually all-encompassing as it was. And part of my response to the influx of dubstep vibrations that have been flowing into me since 2005 has been a re-connection with deep dub sounds of… Miles Davis. My connection with Miles has always crossed over with dub, electronics and industrial. I got heavily into Miles, especially the electric period but also the Gil Evans orchestral period, at the same time as I got into Cabaret Voltaire – when I was 13, almost 14. It was only a year or so later that I realised how much of an influence he was on Richard Kirk and Stephen Malinder; all I knew was that the sonics and spaces of 2 X 45 were identical to On the Corner. In the same way as the threads connecting from the Cabs to acid to ardkore and thence to dubstep are obvious, for me, the thematic connection from Miles to dubstep is also clear, but it’s more a matter of influence than direct connection.

So it was that when I was asked to do a solo outing in the brilliant Blogariddims series, I almost immediately decided to go on a voyage into Miles – in dub. I was going to include a lot of other fusion artists, but not much that I have in that genre really made the grade, so instead I threw in some of the soul and funk that influenced Miles in this period. And naturally, I used as my raw material much of Bill Laswell’s fabulous Panthalassa CD, which adds a layer of dub and re-edits to Miles’ originals. I simply re-edited and re-dubbed what Laswell did. All in all it’s an appropriate way for Blogariddims series to greet Beltane. I hope you enjoy it.

You can subscribe to Blogariddims, and download individual mixes, here: http://www.weareie.com/audio/blogariddims/Blogariddims.xml. This mix will be up for May 1st.

Tracklisting:

0:00 Miles Davis: Bitches Brew intro

0:59: Miles Davis: Agharta Prelude Dub

5:06: Miles Davis: Miles Runs the Voodoo Down (Edit)

12:19: Parliament: Dr Funkenstein (Live) (edit)

19:10: Miles Davis: What If

22:44: Curtis Mayfield: Stone Junkie (Live)

28:28: Miles Davis: Billy Preston

33:51: Headhunters: God Made Me Funky (Edit)

39:21: Miles Davis: Black Satin

43:14: Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (Edit)

46:59: Miles Davis: In A Silent Way / Shhh Peaceful (Bill Laswell dub)

54:49: Curtis Mayfield: I Plan To Stay a Believer (Live)

57:30: Miles Davis: It’s About That Time

Liner notes:

0:00 Miles Davis: Bitches Brew intro
This snippet is so recognisable – those sharp parps are the perfect signal to wake up for the mix.

0:59: Miles Davis: Agharta Prelude Dub
Sheer, unadulterated, slow motion funk bliss. A dub of one of the tracks on Panthalassa, the original is from the Agharta album, which was recorded live at the Osaka Festival Hall in Japan on February 1, 1975. A lot of critics think is one of Davis‘ two greatest electric live records alongside Pangaea (which were both recorded the same day – Agharta in the afternoon and Pangaea in the evening). The band has its roots in the seminal group assembled for On the Corner. Saxophonist is Sonny Fortune, guitarists Pete Cosey (lead’n’headfuck feedback) and Reggie Lucas (rhythm), bassist Michael Henderson, drummer Al Foster, and percussionist James Mtume. Bill Laswell edited “Prelude,” down from over a half-hour and I took it down to five minutes so all you have here is pure funk jazz fire.

5:06: Miles Davis: Miles Runs the Voodoo Down (Edit)
Probably my favourite cut off Bitches Brew, this, at least it is now it’s had a bit of vigorous pruning. The album was recorded over three August days in 1869, right after the Woodstock Festival. Miles famously would assemble musicians at short notice, forcing them to think on their feet with minimal guidance – which must have been a total head-fuck. You can tell how the band are right on the edge of mapped territory on this tune, but they’re locked tight. It starts off all gorgeously loping, before slowly lifting off into heavy, fat jazz that almost has dubstep’s “wobble” in the low end. I took out a lot of the free jazz bleating in the middle and made sure there was plenty of Miles’ red hot but laid back groove, and even so we fit atonal jazz funk gold at around 10:39.

12:19: Parliament: Dr Funkenstein (Live) (edit)
God, I love Parliament. This is probably the best track off 1977’s Parliament Earth Tour album. It’s just a fat, minimal, drum and bass funk locked groove. The recording isn’t that hot but the playing is unbelievable so I slashed it down from its original 15 minutes and dubbed the fuck out of it. The end of it is very Apocalypse Now, the scene at the bridge as shards of Miles’ horn float through the wreckage of Parliament.

19:10: Miles Davis: What If
From one deep funk track to another, but dear god is this heavy. Previously unreleased track from Panthalassa, I edited it out of Laswell’s mix of Black satin/What if/Agharta prelude dub. It was called What If by Laswell because we was wondering, “what if this is Pete Cosey (on lead guitar?)”, but actually it’s Maclauglin. The real star is Michael Hendeson’s bass line, an awesomely solid, endlessly repeating syncopated figure that’s just irresistible. This one just rocks.

22:44: Curtis Mayfield: Stone Junkie (Live)
The marvellous Curtis in cheeky mood from this seminal soul live album, recorded at the Greenwich Village’s Bitter End club on a freezing January ‘71 night and released on the brilliant Curtis/Live! Album. Stone Junkie calms it down a bit from What If, but the chill factor is back with the FX. This is the sort of soul Miles was listening to pretty relentlessly throughout the seventies.

28:28: Miles Davis: Billy Preston
Another fantastic heavy funk work out, this is from the 1974 sessions that yielded the Get Up With It album. Most critics don’t seem to like this one but I love it, so much so I did a remix of it. This is just a dub of the original.

33:51: Headhunters: God Made Me Funky (Edit)
This is thee archetypal fusion track, here ripped to fuck. Herbie Hancock famously went looking for a bit of earth in 1973 and put together a funk band, The Headhunters. Yes it’s from the largest-selling jazz album of all time, but here’s it’s had the wanky sax solo ripped out, which makes the lush, faded out funk heaviosity that much more effective.

39:21: Miles Davis: Black Satin
From On The Corner – Kode 9’s favourite album of all time – and it’s a corker! Black Satin is built around a spanking hot cyclical break from Jack DeJohnette, with a set of discordant counter point tones bouncing around it and shimmering fuzz guitar drifting from the shadows.

43:14: Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (Edit)
This track is just mental. Absolutely dead serious, utter funk badness and jazz freakiness. This is just total, wailing madness which stays utterly the right side of formlessness, the energy surges and crackles and frankly it’s terrifying. The original edit loses its focus (sacrilegious though it is to say it) so I sharpened it up quite a lot by keeping the spotlight firmly on Miles – which doesn’t fit into the commonplace revisionism of praising the sidemen, but this is really about going with Davis into the nightmare. Across the chasm.

46:59: Miles Davis: In A Silent Way / Shhh Peaceful (Bill Laswell dub)
You simply don’t get any higher – or darker – than Bitches Brew, so it was time to let some light in with some lovely, twisted, sardonic chillage from 1969’s fantastic In A Silent Way album. If you’re reading this before downloading the mix and wondering if it’s all going to be a bit too much like onanistic jazz freakery, then fast forward to this bit cos it’s just lovely. Literally everyone in the country should own a copy of this album and we’d all be happier for it. And – despite the virtuosity on display throughout the rest of this mix, this is the one tune that absolutely anyone can learn to play on the guitar in half an hour. It’s that simple. But what Miles and his band do with it here is just priceless.

54:49: Curtis Mayfield: I Plan To Stay a Believer (Live)
Another one from Curtis / Live, and what a fantastic song this is. I won’t drizzle it with clichés (for once) but this simple, direct soul is the ideal partner for In A Silent Way, a similar cleanser.

57:30: Miles Davis: It’s About That Time
But Miles, even after his astonishing displays of malevolence throughout this mix, can out-do Mayfield when it comes to conveying purity and innocence, as he does on the very brief It’ About That Time."

@'Grievous Angel' (April 2007)

A superb mix and believe me when I say that you NEED this.
Get it here.
(Blogariddims 21 - 'Fusion Dub')

Alice In Wonderland - Trailer

Travolta's Scientology Turning Point?

The actor’s public acknowledgement that his son, who died in January, was autistic has former Scientologists convinced that he will leave the church—which they say has little tolerance for chronic conditions.

When John Travolta took the witness stand last week and testified that his late son, Jett, was autistic, it came as a grim relief to some former Scientologists.

“Wasn’t that amazing?” said a fallen-away church member after Travolta appeared in an extortion case that followed the death of his 16-year-old son last January. “I thought, ‘Good for him.’ He denied it for years. It’s really important that he says it.”

@'Daily Beast'

What with Paul Haggis's resignation and the recent court loss in France, it couldn't happen to a nicer 'church'!

Israel’s Growing Problem: Will Its Ministers Be Arrested?

Israeli Army Radio reported on Tuesday that Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon will not cut short his trip to Britain, despite warning from activists that they will press war crimes charges against him. Last month, British authorities rejected a petition to arrest Defense Minister Ehud Barak, saying that Barak was Britain’s diplomatic guest.

Still, lawyers in Britain and other European countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, and Norway have been collecting testimonies of Palestinians regarding the alleged war crimes committed by Israel Defense Forces during the Gaza War. If the alleged crime is proven in court, individuals charged will be arrested as soon as they enter these countries.

On Wednesday, the former IDF chief of staff and Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon, whose trial has been sought over the assassination of senior Hamas activist Salah Shehadeh in July 2002, said he is “willing to forgo visits to European capitals and to allow the Israel Defense Forces the freedom to act.” He added:

"Israel is transparent. The IDF has recently conducted five serious probes, the criminal investigation division opened an investigation into credit card theft. There is a team that will respond to the report without having to stop the army in order to do so."

@'enduring America'

RePost - Two songs by Lou Barlow

Lou Barlow

'Easy'
The Folk Implosion

Said I wouldn't do it, leave it alone
Tried to ditch it, followed me right back home
After a while I don't resist
I'm alive with a purpose
My way down looking for it
That's what I'm afraid of

When I finally hold it, arrive on the scene
The doors are open I can hardly breathe
And like every guilty feeling
I've forgotten before
Three hours later, I'm hungry for more
That's what I'm afraid of
I don't have the will to change
Not when it's so easy, to be easy

Resistance is low when I'm feeling bored
What I thought was fun isn't fun anymore
Gravity pulls neither wrong or right
The moon is full and we're out of our heads
Let's do it again and feel allright
The fight is over for now
The fight is over

'Too Pure'
Sebadoh

Is something missing in my touch, a tension tugging at my smile?
If there's a right thing to say, I'm sure I missed it by a mile
Swallowed in some detail, heavy in my blood
I wanna hold you close, but I can't lift my arms up
Is there a reason for this distance?
More than the drug that floats my days
A nervous bug in my system, it keeps me edgy and ashamed
I've got a saint, never ever will forgive
That never understood me but still tells me how to live
It fits when I stretch and I stretch because I can
I stretch until I'm sore and then I open up for more
I do it out of habit, not addiction
And if I give it up, clean out my blood
Will I still feel bored and disconnected?
If I do it all for love, will I ever give enough?
'cause you can never be too pure or too connected
You can never be too pure or too connected
You can never be too pure

Lou Barlow session at Spin TV

Includes a cover of La Roux's 'Bulletproof' !
Watch it
HERE

Intrusion - RA Mix

Tracklist
Linkwood Family - Miles Away (Intrusion Sunrise Dub) - Firecracker
Tony Allen - Ole (A Remix By Moritz Von Oswald) - Honest Jon's
Rhythm & Sound - Mango Drive - Rhythm & Sound / Wackies
Loops & Samples from Deepchord - Electro Magnetic Dowsing - Step 2 - S Y N T H
Intrusion - Tswana Dub - Echospace
Rhythm & Sound - See Mi Yah (Basic Reshape) - Burial Mix
Rhythm & Sound w/Paul St. Hilaire - Free For All - Burial Mix
Echospace - Empyrean - Modern Love
Maurizio - M5 - Maurizio
Rhythm & Sound w/Cornell Campbell - King In My Empire - Burial Mix
Maurizio - M5 - Maurizio
Luke Hess - Reel Life (cv313's Dimensional Space Mix) - Echocord
cv313 - Space - Echospace
Deepchord - Vantage Isle (DC Mix I) - Echospace
Model 500 - Starlight (Echospace Unreleased Mix) - Echospace
cv313 - Starsailing (Intrusion Dub) - Echospace
Precession - Sandcastle (Mike Huckaby Remix) - Ferox
Atheus - Deploy - Styrax
Substance and Vainqueur - Libration - Scion Versions
XDB - Descap (Live Mix) - Metrolux / Wave Music
Son's Of The Dragon - The Journey Of Qui Niu (SQX Mix) Echospace
Convextion - Miranda - Matrix Detroit

Massive Attack/Portishead - Rising Son & Glory Box

Fever Ray - When I Grow Up

Car bomb in crowded Pakistan market kills 105

Suspected militants exploded a car bomb in a market crowded with women and children Wednesday, killing 105 people and turning shops selling wedding dresses, toys and jewelry into a mass of burning debris and bodies.

The attack in the northwestern city of Peshawar was Pakistan's deadliest since 2007 and came as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited the country to offer support for its fight against a strengthening al-Qaida and Taliban-led insurgency based along the Afghan border.

Clinton was three hours' drive away in the capital meeting Pakistani government leaders when the bomb went off in Peshawar. Her trip was not announced in advance in Pakistan for security reasons.

The bomb was directed squarely at civilians, unlike many previous blasts that have targeted security forces or government or Western interests. While no one claimed responsibility, the bomb appeared aimed at undercutting public and political support for an ongoing army offensive against militants close to the frontier and showing that the government was unable to keep its people safe.

@'AP'

Why a tight market for drugs may be contributing to recent violence in Rio

All of Brazil’s big cities have a vigorous market in illegal drugs. If surveys of drug use are to be believed, consumption of cocaine, crack and cannabis per head in Rio de Janeiro is near the median when compared with other state capitals. So why is the city that has just won the 2016 Olympics so prone to paroxysms of drug violence, as seen on the weekend of October 17th-18th, in which about 25 people were killed (including three policemen), ten buses were set on fire and a police helicopter was shot down?
@'The Economist'

"Helpmaboab!"

New computer & Google Wave...
My head is
EXPLODING!!!

Opium and Afghanistan

(Thanx for the link Fifi)

Troops already outnumber Taliban 12-1 in Afghanistan

There are already more than 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan working with 200,000 Afghan security forces and police. It adds up to a 12-1 numerical advantage over Taliban rebels, but it hasn't led to anything close to victory.

Now, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan is asking for tens of thousands more troops to stem the escalating insurgency, raising the question of how many more troops it would take to succeed.

The commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, says the extra forces are needed to implement a new strategy that focuses on protecting civilians and depriving the militants of popular support in a country where tribal militias may be Taliban today and farmers tomorrow.

The White House said Tuesday that President Barack Obama has nearly finished gathering information and advice on how to proceed in Afghanistan, where bombings killed eight more American troops. With October now the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the war, many experts question the need for more troops.

"The U.S. and its allies already have ample numbers and firepower to annihilate the Taliban, if only the Taliban would cooperate by standing still and allowing us to bomb them to smithereens," said Andrew Bacevich, a professor of international relations and history at Boston University, and one-time platoon leader in Vietnam.

"But the insurgents are conducting the war in ways that do not play to (allied) strengths."

@'AP'

Date-rape drink spiking 'an urban legend'

Widespread spiking of drinks with date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol and GHB is an "urban legend" fuelled by young women unwilling to accept they have simply consumed too much alcohol, academics believe.
A study of more than 200 students revealed many wrongly blamed the effects of a "bad night out" on date-rape drugs, when they had just drunk excessively.
Many are in "active denial" that drinking large amounts of alcohol can leave them "incoherent and incapacitated", the Kent University researchers concluded.

@'Telegraph'

However, as George Pitcher quite rightly points out here it is rapists that rape NOT alcohol!

Brother of Afghan President Is on C.I.A. Payroll

Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country's booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials.

The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a variety of services, and those financial ties and the agency's close working relationship with him raise significant questions about America's war strategy, which is currently under review at the White House.
@'NY Times'

Smoking # 37

Monica Bellucci by Ellen Von Unwerth

Icon

"(Women) are not just there to be admired, they are there to be enjoyed."--Ellen Von Unwerth

Three girls, one boy; "Action!"

Ellen von Unwerth, Pajama Party, 1995. 16"x20", gelatin silver print

Meanwhile over at (son of)...

Tracklisting:
1. Theme
2. Low Life
3. Annalisa
4. Religion
5. Public Image
6. Belsen Was A Gas
7. Attack
8. Problems
9. Public Image (encore)
10. Annalisa (encore)

Vocals - John Lydon
Guitar - Keith Levene
Bass - Jah Wobble
Drums - Jim Walker

Much like the Belgium show this tape is a must have for its historical value if nothing else. The band play a similar set with two major differences. One being the omission of the PiL song 'The Cowboy Song' and the addition of the Pistols song 'Problems'. Now I can understand why they played 'Belsen' to a degree since there was question to its authorship, but 'Problems' is clearly a Pistols song and it even sounds like Wobble wasn't that familiar with it on the tape. This would be the last time they would play it of course. The tape as a whole is a pretty good sounding audience recording with some minor static all throughout, but nothing too obtrusive. This being the second gig the band played, and one of the three that feature the true original band make it noteworthy.

NB
This is taken from the original bootleg cassette. The bootleg LP version of the gig 'Recorded in Paris When No One Was Looking' has slightly poorer sound quality, and does not feature the 2nd encores of 'Public Image' & 'Annalisa'. 'Religion' has also been transposed from between the first versions of 'Annalisa' & 'Public Image', to after 'Problems'.

HERE

The Grateful Dead - Hard To Handle

Pigpen belts it out during this 1970 concert in Canada from 'Festival Express'
Best YouToob comment from cassidy3268:
"...at 2:13 Jerry steps into the engine,at 2:38,,he's home..2:59 circling the planets...3:21...??? 4:01,,the look on his face is precious ...5:01..coming back to earth.... F#$%.....!!!!!!"
(Thanx SirMick)

Embrace the darkness with Fever Ray for this very special Halloween-themed RA podcast.

Tracklist
01. Neil Young - Guitar Solo 1
02. Yo La Tengo - Everyday
03. Journey To Ixtlan - Corpse On The Mesa
04. Jad & David Fair - Nosferatu
05. Zola Jesus - Devil Take You
06. Bruce Haack - Mean Old Devil
07. Krause - Duo Canopolis
08. Burial Hex - Will To Chapel
09. Suicide - Ghost Rider
10. Amadou & Miriam - Ja Pense À Toi
11. Shackleton - Death Is Not Final
12. Entombed - Night Of The Vampire
13. Maddalena Fagandini - Interval Signals
14. Burundi: Musiques Traditionnelles - Chant Avec Cithare

Karin Dreijer Andersson is one of the most enigmatic figures in electronic music. The driving force behind Fever Ray and one-half of brother/sister team The Knife, she's been responsible for some of the most beguiling music of the past half-decade. It's music that's often frightening—whether she intends it to be or not—because of the way she twists, masks and terrorizes her own voice, a haunting one-of-a-kind sound that has quickly become a trademark. "It is interesting what you find scary, and especially within music," says Andersson.

And that's the major reason why we asked Andersson to put together a very special RA podcast in advance of Halloween, featuring tracks that could soundtrack the season. Some are obvious (Shackleton, Burial Hex), some less so (Bruce Haack, Amadou & Miriam) and some take on a new resonance because of the context (Neil Young, Krause Duo). But as Andersson herself puts it, "I think the eclectic and wide range of music makes it more dynamic and more intense. The tracks affects each other, they get even more mean." We think that once you get done listening to this mixtape-like selection from Andersson and the rest of the Fever Ray touring group, you'll no doubt agree.

Get it
HERE

RePost - JaJouka by TimN (ink, pencil, collage, screenprint and lots more coffee!)

(Click on image to enlarge)

'Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan'
'Apocalypse Across The Sky - featuring Bachir Attar'
'The Next Dream'
'Live in France 1980'

Joujouka/Jajouka/Zahjoukah

"The Master Musicians of Jajouka are an ensemble of full-time Moroccan musicians who live in the small rural village of Jajouka, which is in the Jibala hills south of Tangier. For them, music isn't a part-time interest or a mere hobby; it's an integral part of their day-to-day lives."

U.S. official resigns over Afghan war

Foreign Service officer and former Marine captain says he no longer knows why his nation is fighting

Cpl. Jeremy Foley of Bloomington, Ill., left, and Spec. William Makenzie of Pendleton, Ore., soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, fire mortars in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province. (AP)

When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan.
A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed.
But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency.
@'Washington Post'

A very interesting post by Glenn Greenwald over at Salon.

I-@-#-$...testing...

Scurvy
I need you to test this for me properly!
1 - 2!!!
Testing!
(OK we have NEW computer up and running...)

As well as a 'roadie-extraordinaire', Scurvy was also the best man at my wedding and was the model (ahem) for 'Si the serial killer' in 'The Preacher' (that is the model as in his likeness not...)
He is also to be found displaying his acting skills in the forthcoming video from The Saturdays!
(It is to be hoped that Scurvy will reprise his role of Si in the forthcoming live action film adaptation!)

US Drug Czar Urges Police to Advocate Against Legalization

White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske's thinking about drug addiction has moved from disdain to enlightenment over the past decade, but the former police chief views drug legalization as a "non-starter" and is urging law-enforcement officials to speak out against the idea.

A new Justice Department policy directive not to prosecute legitimate medical-marijuana programs in states that allow medical use of the drug has sparked concerns in some precincts that the Obama administration is laying the groundwork for legalizing the drug -- or at least blurring the distinction between legal and illegal drugs.

However, in an Oct. 6 speech (PDF) before the 2009 International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference, Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), was clear in his opposition to legalization. Scorning a recent opinion published in the Washington Post by two members of the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), Kerlikowske urged the police officials at the conference to advocate against legalizing drugs.

"We owe it to the people we serve to speak out about the unintended consequences legalization would have and the toll it would take on the health and safety of our communities," said Kerlikowske, who announced that ONDCP is creating a new fellowship program in order to give a policy platform to law-enforcement personnel who have firsthand knowledge of drug problems.

"Recycling the same people through the system, the default approach in place now, is not working," Kerlikowske later added. "But let me be clear: A balanced and more effective approach does not mean legalization. It does mean being smarter about drug policy."

@'Join Together'

Read the whole article and then...weep!
You are wrong my friend especially with your comments about how much harm legalisation would cause.

UK police spotter cards: What they look like and how they work

This kind of highly confidential document – pictured above – is rarely seen by the public.

These so-called "spotter cards" are issued by police to identify individuals they consider to be potential troublemakers because they have appeared at a number of demonstrations.

The photographs are drawn from police intelligence files. This card was apparently dropped at a demonstration against Britain's largest arms fair in 2005.

H is Mark Thomas, the comedian and political activist. Asked why it was justifiable to put Thomas, who has no criminal record, on this card, the Metropolitan police replied: "We do not discuss intelligence we may hold in relation to individuals."

Thomas had been acquitted of criminal damage after attaching himself to a bus containing arms traders at a previous fair.

The Met said: "This is an appropriate tactic used by police to help them identify people at specific events … who may instigate offences or disorder."
@'The Guardian'

Mark Thomas: Doth I Protest Too Much?

America by Ralph Steadman

Ralph Steadman

Currently reading

A great find at a garage sale yesterday. This book, Fred and Judy Vermorel's 'Sex Pistols' book and Ralph Steadman's 'Scar Strangled Banger' all for $12!
(Sort of made up for never getting my copy of Steadman's 'America' book returned to me all those years ago!)

Exposing the colour of prejudice

How much does the colour of our skin make us who we are, and shape the way the world sees us?

The answer to that question may seem obvious now after decades of slow and uneven progress towards racial equality and enlightenment.

It would have seemed very different 50 years ago to the white Texan writer John Howard Griffin, when he embarked on one of the most remarkable one-man social and psychological experiments in history.

Griffin was the white man who fooled hundreds of Americans into believing he was a black man as he travelled through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia - and who felt at first hand the bigotry that meant.

In later life, the six-week venture - described in his book Black Like Me - was to expose him to the hatred and violence that underpinned that bigotry, too.

When he toured the South lecturing to white audiences about his experiences as a black man, he was threatened, intimidated and, on at least one occasion, seriously beaten.

@'BBC'

Bong Water illegal in Minnesota

State Supreme Court calls it a “drug mixture.”
The lesson is clear: If you live in Minnesota, and you happen to own a bong, be sure to pour out the water after each use.
Bong water is now officially a controlled substance in Minnesota, according to a state Supreme Court ruling last week. An Associated Press report by Steve Karnowski in the Minneapolis Star Tribune said the decision “raises the threat of longer sentences for drug smokers who fail to dump the water out of their pipes.”
@'Addiction Inbox'

Slightly strange this story as the water tested positive for methamphetamine not cannabis! In a 4-3 decision Thursday, the state's highest court said a person can be prosecuted for a first-degree drug crime for 25 grams or more of bong water that tests positive for a controlled substance.