Wednesday 30 November 2011

Poem Closes Down Bank


Uploaded by on 24 Nov 2011

Having had the pleasure of filming JJs poetry once before, I wanted to film another poem. It was a bit nippy so we decided to film it in the Natwest Bank. The end result as you will see is the closure of the bank ! Perhaps this could be a Nationwide or Worldwide campaign to close down the banking system using poetry ??!!

Tuesday 29 November 2011

SAVE TRURO PETITION

Again we find Cornwall Council working with Waitrose and the ‘Duchy’ to grant itself a planning application to transform a large acreage of rolling green dairy fields into a sordid and squalid money-grabbing vortex of vulgarity.

Please take action to preserve this beautiful piece of the Cornish countryside, check out the Save Truro website, sign the petition & get involved in the campaign to halt the senseless destruction of this land.

SAVE TRURO PETITION: http://www.savetruro.co.uk/


Please print & display the poster....

Monday 28 November 2011

Sunday 27 November 2011

Psychedelic Sunday roundup

week_psychedelics.jpg

Deepak Chopra's psychedelic experiences inspire a new meditation video game for Kinect and Wii, Bill Maher describes acid as safer than processed sugar and "mind-narrowing pharmeceuticals", and brain scans reveal the "reality" of ayahuasca visions in this week's psychedelic news.

  • Leela, a new meditation and chakra-based game for Kinect and Wii, was inspired by spirituality guru Deepak Chopra's early experiments with psychedelic drugs. (Wired)
  • Bill Maher explains the value of tripping on acid, and why "it's one of the least harmful drugs a child could ever take." (Mediaite)
  • A study correlates high IQ in children with subsequent use of illegal drugs, including "cocaine, cannabis, LSD (acid), heroin, downers (tanks, blues, barbiturates), and uppers (speed and wiz)". (Medical News Today, TIME)
  • A study suggests that LSD use in Australia has increased significantly in the last year. (Sydney Morning Herald)
  • Brazilian scientists report ayahuasca visions may be as real as anything the eyes actually see, according to brain scans of activity in the primary visual cortex. (New Scientist)
  • Amazonia, a new documentary by Alberto Villoldo, addresses the power of healing with jungle plants. (Technorati)
  • A new film looks at the work of a Canadian doctor and author who travelled to the Amazon to larn about ayahuasca, a psychotropic medicine that may help drug addicts recover. (Yahoo News)
  • This same Canadian doctor, who allowed a film crew to document his use of ayahuasca to help treat drug addiction, has been ordered to end his treatments. (CBC News)
  • Canadian researchers have sequenced the genome of Cannabis sativa, the plant that produces both industrial hemp and marijuana, revealing the genetic changes that led to the plant's drug-producing properties. (Science Daily)
  • David Jay Brown explains how ibogaine, a derivative of the psychoactive African plant iboga, can offer hope for people with severe drug addictions. (Santa Cruz Patch)
  • An article reviews recent evidence that MDMA and other illegal drugs like LSD and psilocybin mushrooms can help treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). (Miller-McCune)
  • A feature article describes NYU's project using psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to treat end-of-life distress in people with cancer, and the current state of palliative care in the United States. (Institute of Noetic Sciences)
  • James Fadiman, PhD describes the growing field of psychedelic psychotherapy research. (Institute of Noetic Sciences)
  • The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies will be celebrating 25 years of research and education from December 8-12 in Oakland, CA. (Santa Cruz Patch)
  • The Ecuador National Assembly is to begin a debate on the decriminalization of possession of drugs for personal use. (Talking Drugs)
  • Juan Manuel Santos, the Colombian president, has called for the global legalization of marijuana to help combat the trafficking of harder drugs and related violence. (Telegraph, Guardian)
  • A Forbes article highlights the many failures of the drug war, asserting that "it's time to declare peace in the war against drugs." (Forbes)


...MORE HERE...

Saturday 26 November 2011

How-To: Holography


Uploaded by on 24 Nov 2011

Did you know that you can make your own holograms? Matt Richardson shows you how to do just that with the Litiholo Kit, available in the Maker Shed:
http://www.makershed.com/DIY_Hologram_Kit_p/mklh1.htm&Click=37845

For more information about the science behind holography, check out:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/hologram.htm

Friday 25 November 2011

Occupy the Machine


Uploaded by on 21 Nov 2011

http://submedia.tv/stimulator/2011/11/21/occupy-the-machine/
This week:

1. Occupy movement under attack
2. Waking up to the role of the police
3. Bloomberg's real message
4. Anonymous strikes at the 1%
5. McGill students fight back
6. George Wright still free
7. Mc Sole
8. Occupy the Machine

Thursday 24 November 2011

BUY-NOTHING-DAY NOV.25/26.

A powerful tool in our armoury against the big corporate greed machine is one of the simplest to use. It's called "Buy-Nothing". We are approaching that religious festival of corporate gluttony when we are coerced to put ourselves in over our ears in debt, supposedly to make everybody happy. Of course those who end up happiest are the corporate vampires. This year we can really make a success of the annual "Buy-Nothing-Day" November 25/26. Take a leaf from the occupy movement and occupy the pavement outside all the big stores, tents, sleeping bags, fake Santa parties, handing out leaflets on alternative uses for credit cards. Such as spreading marmalade on your toast, scraping bird shit of your windows etc. I'm sure you can come up with some ingenious use for those micro-chipped devil cards. November 25/26 should be a fun, family and money-free-day, give the shops, supermarkets, retail parks and restuarants a day of tranquillity, they'll love you for that.

If we want to have an impact on the corporate world we have to hit them where it hurts them most, in the bank balance. This is the 20th anniversary of "Buy-Nothing-Day" let's try to make it global, shut down the suction pump of consumerism across the world for at least one magic day. Let's give the shop assistants, sales staff etc. a break, let them have a wonderful easy day with full pay. You never know, you might enjoy the feeling and start to make it a habit, now that would be a success. You know consumerism kills.
For more ideas on how to enjoy your "Buy-Nothing-Day" HERE.

The Upside of Austerity

By Fiona McInnes

My Utopian dream for the New Scotland is to be liberated from the tyranny of stuff. If you have ever had to crawl around the floor and contort yourself to reach into the gunk-filled areas of your home and investigate murky folding sofa beds to retrieve the item known as the ‘Polly pocket’, then you will begin to know what I mean.

I sit amid a claustrophobic accumulation of stuff and wonder how this nylon and fake velvet coup happened. I can just remember the far off days when each room of the house, bought with the innocence of those days as a 20 year home not a financial investment, echoed with uncarpeted emptiness.

I am to blame for the second hand kitch that began the clutter, but that came from an obsession with getting bargains and rescuing ‘must have’ flying duck sets from such emporia as the cancer shop in Stockbridge. I confess to losing the plot when I insisted in shipping, like so much emotional baggage, a deadweight of an enormous second hand piano from the Area 7 warehouse at Abbey Hill all the way to Orkney.

In the last recession, funded by our giros courtesy of Thatcher’s North sea oil bonanza, us expendable youth combed the Edinburgh streets on bin night for furniture for our shared housing association flat. Lauriston Place was entirely decked out with other folk’s cast offs, rugs, sofas, mattresses, chairs, tables, fridges and even a piano from the Castle Trades Hotel in the Grassmarket. Spores of consumptive TB and bedbug infestation are modern ills that never entered our heads then.

The merciless drive towards buying new stuff took hold with the arrival of children. The TV babysitter conspired to tantalise the toddling duo with all the delights of pink plastic, the price bombshell placed discreetly on the screen, oblivious and incomprehensible to toddler eyes, and then the tsunami started to take real hold. There were must have ‘collectables’ things called ‘beanie babies’, targeted at the doting granny market, which seemed to be regularly issued in order that you always might feel just behind everyone if you did not have the latest stuffed necessity. Being ignorant of the comparable boy-tide of plastic I am sure it is similar but in suitably un-girly and gender appropriate colours.

TV advertising was unrelenting and cynical. Like, if you like, taking candy from a baby except in reverse, ensuring babies extracted candy from their parents through girning and pester power which we all know is much more difficult to resist, if you are a knackered mum, than the naughty-step-brigade claim.

The hideous plasticana of Barbie would annually launch another doll slightly different to the last with, lo and behold, new accessories and accoutrements for her Californian lifestyle somewhere in Plasticland with the anatomically challenged Ken. Sitting up at 4am trying to assemble a Barbie carriage complete with battery operated automaton horse and a million fiddly little stickers is just one horror memory of chrismas eve. I moot the ‘C’ word indeed, reminded of those nights fabricating the serial virgin births of annual Barbies while waiting in tense anticipation of Santa rolling in from the pub and the subsequent frosty overhung pall that would seep through into the ‘must have joy’ of Christmas day.

As Edwina Curry points to large flat screen tellys and the ‘comfort’of families on benefits with food handouts (BBC One show) there is confusion over what poverty is in the First World.

While I could always afford to buy the dreaded Christmas fashion toy, I knew that many could not. I knew that I did not have to struggle to ensure my kids had something that helped them fell ‘normal’ in the playground. Their desperation to feel a kind of peer acceptance through acquisition that was constructed and marketed by big business was and is the evil.

Trying to keep your head above water as a mother in that moment between cajoling and damage limitation and somewhere trying to get a night’s sleep or a shower on your own, makes for a very compliant tool in the marketing plan. There is no mental energy for reasoned debate with your toddler on the complexities of capitalism and manipulative selling and any way that will just make the kids seem even more odd in the playground when already, as with my kids, withdrawl from the all the God stuff marked them out.

Feeling different and lesser than their peers is the worst thing a child can feel, so the toy marketing is supplanted and bolstered by clothes, trainers, designer this and designer that, then graduates to mobile phones and their attendant superfluous fashion, right up to laptops, cars and, yes, personalised number plates. Young people can sniff out an inferior make at a hundred paces. This of course is not what life is about and yet our continued buy-in to this type of toy, clothes and ‘stuff’ dictatorship renders us all powerless with wholly distorted views on what does matter.

I began my own ethnic cleansing policy towards plastic infiltration and latterly my one-woman dictatorship began to mercilessly hover up stray Polly Pockets or bits of them that had escaped the safety of their meringue-topped glittery house with shutters. The noise of them rattling up the hover tube brought a wicked satisfaction to me in my powerless state.

The myth of choice in many areas of our life is that we demand it, it is a ‘right’ and it will make us happy. Yet only those with money can exploit choice be it from schools to supermarkets. In my youth when you just went to the only shoe shop in the town and bought your shoes from the 3 available styles it might be claimed we were deprived of choice. Now I find the blinding nature of choice turns me into an obsessive evaluator of the frivolous pros and cons of miniscule differences in buckles and bows, straps and heels, and still you think you might have missed the elusive perfect shoe.

I just wonder if this whole ‘growth’ thing that we are all supposed to be hell bent on achieving is really where it’s at – I mean GDP. Does it actually make anyone ‘feel’ better? It just illuminates everyone’s lack in the Polly Pocket plastic crap stakes. Likewise, for Edwina Curry to equate poverty only with a distended African bellies is simplistic. There is a whole other argument on food as a weapon of war and Western compliance with corrupt regimes that could be had but will have to wait today. We have in our complex society managed to create more sophisticated perspectives on ‘lack’.

If the considerable brain power of the human race was concentrated less on finding ways to sell plastic rubbish back to itself, and the engineering expertise of our best minds was less obsessed with enabling us to sit in our seats and remote control everything, what kind of lack free society might we envisage? Is it possible that the first base of poverty that is distended bellies could be eliminated, and the subsequent bases of satisfaction lack which our stuff-choked society feels, could be replaced by human connection and feeling normal? Can material acquisition be replaced by intellectual acquisition built on a given of a full belly, warmth and a roof?

The up side to austerity is the realisation of the worthless con that is material greed on which the house of cards of collapsing economies rely. The built-in obsolescence of Henry Ford means we never have things that last although it is perfectly possible that we could. The challenge is to create a new normal that does not require de facto poverty and an exhausting and unaffordable race to chase stuff to make you feel fleetingly accepted and good with the subsequent downer of an addict.

For starters, stuff stuff.

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Everything is OK at The Occupy LSX Gathering


Uploaded by on 17 Nov 2011

The music at the beginning is a shameless promotion of the beautiful tones of my daughter singing (recorded age 11). We speak to people about Occupy LSX and have some megaphone fun too.

Monday 21 November 2011

Popular Air Fresheners Trigger Allergies, Asthma

Anthony Gucciardi
Activist Post

Air fresheners and other chemical fragrances can trigger allergies and asthma, according to new research.

Due to the widespread usage of air fresheners and similar chemical concoctions, many allergy and asthma sufferers may actually be responding to these fragrance enhancers as opposed to the environment. Such products include scented candles, plug-in deodorizers and wick diffusers.

“The chemicals in some of these products can trigger the nasal congestion, sneezing and the runny nose,” said Dr. Stanley Fineman, an allergist with Emory University and the Atlanta Allergy & Asthma Clinic. “With the asthmatics, there’s really good data showing their lung function changes when they’re exposed to these compounds.

Chemical hypersensitivity in asthmatics established in 2009

Previous research adds evidence to the findings and also highlighting the negative effects of synthetic chemicals on many asthmatics.

In 2009, a study conducted by Caress and Anne Steinenmann at the University of Washington found that around 1/3 of asthmatics have chemical hypersensitivity, and more than 1/3 reported irritation from scented products.


'The more you’re around, the more likely it is to cause an attack,' Caress said. 'People with asthma, many of them should try to avoid artificially fragranced products.
Most shocking is the fact that many harsh chemicals may also be found in products labeled ‘natural’ and ‘green’. In the past it has even been found that many ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘green’ products actually contain toxic ingredients similar to conventional chemical cleaners.

The labeling of products is oftentimes deceptive, and the problem is not unique to fragrance items. In fact, the food industry is filled with deceptive labeling, tricking customers into thinking they are purchasing high quality items when in fact they are oftentimes loaded with GMOs and high-fructose corn syrup. That is why it is essential to learn how to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy products, not only in the field of food products but household items as well.

In order to isolate and avoid asthma and allergy triggers, rid your home of harsh chemical cleaners and air fresheners. Not only will it help your asthma and allergies, but it will also improve your overall health.

Explore More:
  1. This Common Chemical Linked to Allergies and Asthma
  2. Naturally Reducing Your Risk of Allergies and Reversing Symptoms
  3. Raw Milk Decreases Asthma and Allergies by 41%
  4. Six Million U.S. Kids Have Food Allergies
  5. Food Allergies Cost $500 Million a Year, Study Shows

Please visit Natural Society for more great health news and vaccine information.

Sunday 20 November 2011

Occupy London’s ‘public repossession’ of UBS bank in The City

Patrick Henningsen
Infowars.com
November 18, 2011

LONDON – Nearby the Occupy London camp site at St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London, protesters have embarked on a new approach to raising the public’s level of awareness by occupying a third site – a vacant office block belonging to Swiss banking giants UBS.

In what has been billed as a “public repossession”, protesters took the demonstration up to another level today, occupying a major banking institution’s property which is located outside the edge of the Square Mile, inside London’s borough of Hackney.

Occupiers have made plans to set up a “Bank of Ideas” inside the four-story modern office complex located between Finsbury Square and Liverpool Street. The building boasts state-of -the-art meeting rooms and presentation facilities where Occupy plans to host speakers, workshops, seminars, events and a running exhibition over the coming weeks to highlight issues surrounding the global financial system and its effect on society.

Occupiers are citing UK ‘squatters rights’ under 1977 Criminal Law Section 6 as their legal right to take over the disused banking space.

“The criminal financial system that has allowed banks and other corporations to steal the wealth of the world is collapsing and the ‘Bank of Ideas’ is here to educate, inform, and to create a platform for solutions to be discussed and actioned because we are no longer willing to wait for bought-off politicians to change their ways”, says occupier Kish.

He adds, ” This is now a community space for the public to exchange skills and ideas and our only currency is creativity.”

The Guardian also reported today:

At a press conference inside the building Occupy activists said they hoped to avoid confrontation with police by negotiating with UBS to use the empty complex by agreement. Attempts to contact the bank had thus far been unanswered, they said.

Aside from the building’s size and location, near many other financial institutions, the activists say it was chosen as it is owned by a major bank, and one which was bailed out by taxpayers, albeit those in Switzerland. Ronan McNern, a regular camp spokesman, said: “UBS is representative of the sort of bank which is not acting in the public interest. This is a public repossession of their empty building.”

Occupy London’s main location at St Paul’s was given until 6pm yesterday evening to vacate their protest camp or face legal action from the Corporation of London. Occupy organisers say the site is safe for now, but are now preparing for a protracted legal battle with The City which is expected to last at least one month, but could potentially drag over into 2012.

RAIN - BEATS RHYMES & REVOLUTION (REAL HIP HOP)


Uploaded by on 9 Nov 2011

Rain on Beats, Rhymes & Revolution. One take, in then out. Pure organic Hip Hop, taking it back to the essence. Presented by the Don of exceedingly good music, bigCakes. Beats dropped by Kwake and DJSnuff (Speaker's Corner Quartet/End Of The Weak). Sound on all BRR series recorded and mixed by GlobalFaction's 'Brotherman Dude' (VFW).
http://rainfreedommusic.com/rainmusic/
http://www.youtube.com/rainfreedomTV
http://soundcloud.com/rainfreedom
http://twitter.com/rain_freedom
https://www.facebook.com/Rainfreedommusic

Saturday 19 November 2011

DEATH TO EXTREMISTS


Uploaded by on 17 Nov 2011

How To Erase Your Digital Footprint

by Jeffrey A. Lambert

Think about all the things you’ve used your Internet for in the past 24 hours. You’ve probably checked your email, updated your Facebook status, paid some bills through online banking, read up on the latest news, and took the time before bed to video chat with a far-flung childhood friend. Even after logging out and turning off your computer, the information you’ve just accessed or created continues to wander the great plains of the World Wide Web. This information that we leave behind about ourselves on a daily basis is known as our digital footprint.

Like stepping in wet concrete, these trails we unwittingly leave behind can be tough to erase. With the rise of identity theft, corporate tracking, and the ability of “Big Brother” to access our private data, it is more important than ever for Internet users to be aware of how past and future data can be erased and controlled more effectively.

How Big is My Footprint?

To truly understand just how big your digital footprint is, there are several tools available that can be easily accessed and added to your computer for constant monitoring and control.

Google is one of the most commonly accused mediums for collecting our data, and rightfully so. That ad that just popped up on your GMail page for cookbooks does indeed have something to do with your search for a killer Spam recipe for last Sunday’s tailgate party.

On a daily basis Google pings your browser for information about browsing history, allowing the search giant to improve their search algorithms and target advertising. Interested in seeing just how often this is happening? Download the free software offering Google Alarm, created by F.A.T. Labs, which is available for both Firefox and Chrome browsers. This add-on will notify you each time you are sending data to Google. Just make sure you disable the sound option for this. I jumped out of my chair the first time the (very loud) alarm went off, and kept going off almost every time I visited a new site. Unless you have a serious love for air horns or are trying to induce a heart attack don’t forget to do this!

G alarm

Another way to measure your digital footprint is to see how much advertising companies have been allowed to track your browsing habits. “But I never gave any companies permission to know about sites I visit” you insist. The sad reality is that simply visiting certain sites allows advertising companies to place what are known as “tracking cookies” on your computer. Cookies are small chunks of data created by web servers that are delivered through a web browser and stored on your computer. They allow websites that you often frequent to keep track of your online patterns and preferences, creating a personalized experience.

Leading the fight to raise awareness and provide solutions to this issue is the Network Advertising Initiative, a coalition of cooperative of online marketing and analytics companies committed to “building consumer awareness and establishing responsible business and data management practices and standards.”

According to the NAI, “Most of the advertising online today is provided by 3rd party ad networks. These networks use tools such as cookies to track your Web preferences and usage patterns in order to tailor advertising content to your interests. What you may not realize is that information gathered at one website may be used to direct ad content at another site.”

To combat this, the NAI has created a service that scans your computer to identify those member companies that have placed an advertising cookie file on your computer. The results from running this simple diagnostic can be eye-opening about how much your internet habits are being monitored.

digital footprint

Another method of obtaining a simple estimate about your digital footprint is by using the Digital Footprint Calculator, provided as a service from the EMC Corporation. The software download, which is available for both Windows and Mac, measures user input about the frequency of emails, photo and video uploads, phone usage, web browsing, and where in the world you live. After submitting your estimates, the calculator will provide you with an actual file size of your presence on the Internet. The software also ironically provides an option of creating a ticker widget to share your results on a web page, thus expanding your footprint in the process.

Looking for a quick way to determining digital shoe size? Write down every site on the Internet you have created a user account for. Sound impossible? For most of us, we have cast such a wide personal net across the web, that it is insurmountable to go back and accurately pinpoint where we’ve left information about ourselves. Attempting to complete this exercise may bring on the realization that caging the Internet beast that is your personal information is next to impossible, and for the most part, it is. Fortunately, there are organizations and free software offerings that can help you bring your data monster into submission.

Erasing Your Digital Footprint

Now that you’ve had the chance to measure just how big your footprint is, what steps can be taken to try and erase it? Let’s start with cookies.

...MORE HERE...

Friday 18 November 2011

BBC drops Frozen Planet’s climate change episode to sell show better abroad

The BBC has dropped a climate change episode from its wildlife series Frozen Planet to help the show sell better abroad.

The Telegraph
15 Nov 2011

British viewers will see seven episodes, the last of which deals with global warming and the threat to the natural world posed by man.

However, viewers in other countries, including the United States, will only see six episodes.

The environmental programme has been relegated by the BBC to an “optional extra” alongside a behind-the-scenes documentary which foreign networks can ignore.

Campaigners said the decision not to incorporate the episode on global warming as part of the main package was “unhelpful”.

They added that it would allow those countries which are sceptical of climate change to “censor” the issue.

Read more: BBC drops Frozen Planet’s climate change episode to sell show better abroad

NORML gives full spectrum smackdown to Obama response to marijuana legalization petition

NORML image
Russ Belville
NORML

The Obama White House has released its official response to the “We the People” online petition for marijuana legalization submitted by NORML. The petition, which garnered 74,169 signatures, was by far the most popular petition submitted. The government response (released late on a Friday to avoid news cycles, we’ll note) repeats the same tired lies and classic misdirections. Most of all, it fails to answer NORML’s actual petition, which asked:

Legalize and Regulate Marijuana in a Manner Similar to Alcohol.
We the people want to know when we can have our “perfectly legitimate” discussion on marijuana legalization. Marijuana prohibition has resulted in the arrest of over 20 million Americans since 1965, countless lives ruined and hundreds of billions of tax dollars squandered and yet this policy has still failed to achieve its stated goals of lowering use rates, limiting the drug’s access, and creating safer communities.
Isn’t it time to legalize and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol? If not, please explain why you feel that the continued criminalization of cannabis will achieve the results in the future that it has never achieved in the past?
Following is the full official White House response, with NORML’s comments interspersed…

What We Have to Say About Legalizing Marijuana
By: Gil Kerlikowske
When the President took office, he directed all of his policymakers to develop policies based on science and research, not ideology or politics. So our concern about marijuana is based on what the science tells us about the drug’s effects.
Oh, good. Then we’ll look forward to implementation the 1972 Shafer Commission Report or any of the other government and scientific studies that recommend the decriminalization of cannabis.
According to scientists at the National Institutes of Health- the world’s largest source of drug abuse research – marijuana use is associated with addiction, respiratory disease, and cognitive impairment.
“Addiction” links to a NIDA page noting the lifetime dependence rate of cannabis to be 9% – that is, 9 in 100 people who try cannabis will develop a dependence. Kerlikowske does not mention that caffeine has the same 9% rate, alcohol is a 15% rate, and tobacco is a 32% rate. NIDA scientists also rated the addictive qualities of those substances and rated cannabis about equal to caffeine in risk. The withdrawal from this rare dependence is characterized by the Institute of Medicine as “mild and short lived” and “includes restlessness, irritability, mild agitation, insomnia, sleep disturbance, nausea, and cramping.”

(Speaking of withdrawal, Mr. Drug Czar, you do know withdrawal from alcohol can kill a person and it’s legal, right?)

“Respiratory disease” links to a 2008 Science Daily article on a study entitled “Bullous Lung Disease due to Marijuana” which looked at the cases of ten people who came in already complaining of lung problems, who admitted they smoked pot over a year. The subject was featured in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine as it found “insufficient evidence for a causative link“. Matthew Naughton, author of the 2008 study, co-authored a 2011 study which noted “unfortunately, it is difficult to separate marijuana use from tobacco smoking which does confound these reports“.

(Speaking of tobacco, Mr. Drug Czar, you do know tobacco is much worse for the lungs and it’s legal, right?)

“Cognitive impairment” links to a 1996 NIDA fact sheet on studies of cognitive impairment involving card sorting. Since then…
A 2001 study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry found chronic users who quit for a week “showed no significant differences from control subjects”.
  • A 2002 clinical trial published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal determined, “Marijuana does not have a long-term negative impact on global intelligence.”
  • A 2003 meta-analysis published in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society also “failed to reveal a substantial, systematic effect of long-term, regular cannabis consumption on the neurocognitive functioning of users who were not acutely intoxicated.”
  • A 2004 study of twins published in the journal Psychological Medicine reported “an absence of marked long-term residual effects of marijuana use on cognitive abilities.”
  • A 2005 study published in the American Journal of Addictions used magnetic resonance imaging and found “no significant differences” between heavy cannabis smokers compared to controls.
  • A 2006 study published in the German journal Psychopharmacology found no “long-term deficits in working memory and selective attention in frequent cannabis users after 1 week of abstinence”.
  • A 2009 study published in Human Psychopharmacology found “little indication of differences in executive functioning” for mild to moderate cannabis users.
  • And a 2010 study published in Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior found regular cannabis users’ performance accuracy on episodic memory and working memory tasks “was not significantly altered by marijuana.”
  • Forgive the overkill, but as an organization that is honored to have regular cannabis consumer Carl Sagan’s widow, Ann Druyan, as an Advisory Board Member, we’re particularly offended when the government claims science says that regular cannabis consumers are stupid.

    (Speaking of cognitive impairment, Mr. Drug Czar, are you aware that frequent alcohol use is shown to have incredibly deleterious effects on cognition and it’s legal?)

    ....MORE HERE...

    Thursday 17 November 2011

    Police agents provocateurs caught on camera at London student rally

    Russia Today


    A YouTube video shot during the November 9 student rally in London clearly shows plainclothes police acting as agents provocateurs among the protesting crowds.

    The video uploaded by the user “noshockdoc” shows two people who first engage in rough handling of one of the rally protesters. Then, reportedly, the same people are shown along with six others detaining someone behind a police cordon.

    The media dubbed the November 9 march against tuition fees and education cuts one of the most intensively-policed events to take place in London. The force had 4,000 officers on duty on the day, and they were authorized to use rubber bullets if necessary. This was never needed, however. The Met reported that 24 arrests were made on the day.

    Some of the protesters reported incidents of violence which they said had been caused by the security forces. “The police tried to provoke people to react violently, and some people had to act in self-defense against police attacks, but we all supported one another and prevented the police from causing a riot,” one of the activists, identified only as ‘Dan’, told the Oxford University student newspaper Cherwell.

    Another demonstrator, Nathan Akehurst, claimed that “undercover police snatch squads attacked and grabbed people from the demo, and an arrest was made on board a coach with the only apparent reason being that the student had a felt-tip pen.”

    Source: http://rt.com/news/london-rally-snatch-squad-267/

    If you ever had any doubt the media was controlled...


    Uploaded by on 3 Nov 2011

    End lobbying, publicly fund elections: http://www.getmoneyout.com/

    Original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GME5nq_oSR4

    Wednesday 16 November 2011

    Quantum Levitation


    Uploaded by on 16 Oct 2011

    Video courtesy of the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), representing the science center and museum field worldwide. To learn more, visit www.astc.org. Follow us on Twitter: @ScienceCenters.

    Tel-Aviv University demos quantum superconductors locked in a magnetic field (www.quantumlevitation.com). For an explanation of the physics behind this demonstration, visit www.quantumlevitation.com/levitation/The_physics.html.

    With the theme "Knowledge that Works: From Theory to Practice," the 2011 ASTC Annual Conference featured more than 100 sessions, which highlighted how science centers and museums are putting new ideas to practical use to serve their communities. The conference was hosted by the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, October 15-18.

    Davyd (A.I. Mashup)


    Uploaded by on 10 Nov 2011

    My remix of voices, chords and sound effects from Spielberg's 'AI: Artificial Intelligence'. Enjoy!

    Tuesday 15 November 2011

    THRIVE by Foster Gamble.


    Uploaded by on 7 Sep 2011

    THRIVE is an unconventional documentary premiering online on 11.11.11 at http://thrivemovement.com

    THRIVE lifts the veil on what's REALLY going on in our world by following the money upstream -- uncovering the global consolidation of power in nearly every aspect of our lives. Weaving together breakthroughs in science, consciousness and activism, THRIVE offers real solutions, empowering us with unprecedented and bold strategies for reclaiming our lives and our future.

    Pot Prevails: Rob Kampia Discusses Marijuana's Recent Political Triumphs


    Uploaded by on 11 Nov 2011

    Medical marijuana is now legal in 16 states plus the District of Columbia, according to Rob Kampia, co-founder and executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project.

    Kampia speaks to Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie, and says that advocates for legalizing marijuana have recently seen the best run of victories, ever. He explains why he thinks marijuana has moved to the back burner of political issues, and why this might cost President Obama come November of next year.

    Held each July in Las Vegas, FreedomFest is attended by roughly 2,000 libertarians and advocates of limited government. Reason.tv spoke with over two dozen speakers and attendees, and will be releasing interviews over the coming weeks. For an ever-growing playlist, go here now.

    About 5 minutes. Shot by Zach Weissmueller and Jim Epstein, and edited by Tracy Oppenheimer.

    Go to reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube Channel to receive automatic notifications when new material goes live.

    Monday 14 November 2011

    Symphony of Science - Onward to the Edge!

    Uploaded by on 9 Nov 2011

    mp3:http://bit.ly/oRYyiV - A musical celebration of the importance and inspirational qualities of space exploration (human and robotic), as well as a look at some of the amazing worlds in our solar system. Featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Cox, and Carolyn Porco.

    "Onward to the Edge" is the 12th installment in the Symphony of Science series. Materials used in this video are from :

    My Favorite Universe
    BBC Wonders of the Solar System
    Carolyn Porco TED talk
    NatGeo "Guide to the Planets"

    Thanks for watching!

    Occupy Reichstag: Thousands march in Germany


    Uploaded by on 12 Nov 2011

    More than ten thousand people have joined the demonstrations in Germany - seeking to draw attention to rampant corporate greed and the increasing poverty of the masses. The German Occupy movement has also made significant steps in legitimising itself - having earned the support of two major political factions. RT talks to one of the organizers of the event, Jutta Sundermann of the pro-equality 'Attac Germany' group

    RT on Twitter http://twitter.com/RT_com
    RT on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/RTnews

    Sunday 13 November 2011

    Is this a revolution?


    Uploaded by on 9 Nov 2011

    This week:

    1. No cops allowed in Occupy Vancouver
    2. W.T.F.W.J.D.
    3. Ninjas at Occupy Oakland
    4. Bahrain battles SUVs
    5. Justice, Syria style
    6. #Jan25
    7. Is this a revolution?

    IRAN NUKE BOMB FEST


    Uploaded by on 10 Nov 2011

    Conspiracy Clown T- Shirt - Hey Hey Hey http://www.cafepress.co.uk/fknnewz.208870134

    Saturday 12 November 2011

    MOBILE DESIGN LAB AT OWS - Permaculture


    Occupy Wall Street: The humble hash tag that could.

    This social and cultural EVOLUTION is taking root in hundreds of cities across the planet and showing little sign of losing momentum.

    In Zucotti Park (NYC), site of the first OCCUPATION, there are inspiring stories emerging.

    At every corner of the park is the exchange and the fomentation of ideas.

    Over the coming months, One Pack Productions and Seismologik Media will showcase some of the amazing people who are creating actions which can inspire people to practice being the change they wish to see in the world.

    mobiledesignlab.org

    'Sarkozy head next to roll after Silvio'


    Uploaded by on 10 Nov 2011

    Though France currently boasts an AAA rating and has its debts under reasonable control, domestic issues could knock it off its perch sooner rather than later, argues Hamish McRae, chief economic correspondent of The Independent newspaper.

    ­Hamish McRae told RT that a French economic collapse could mean that the next head to roll after Silvio Berlusconi's might well be that of Nicholas Sarkozy.

    RT on Twitter http://twitter.com/RT_com
    RT on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/RTnews

    Friday 11 November 2011

    Not in My Name

    Not in my name by Chelsea Davine

    Not in my name by Chelsea Davine

    The ceremonies every year on November 11, to mark the anniversary of the end of the First World War in 1918, commemorate the dead but leave no reason for doubt that their deaths were justified. The red poppy, now compulsory dress code for the BBC, parliament and all other parts of the British establishment in the weeks running up to the anniversary, is produced by the British Legion and is promoted by the army.

    The Cenotaph has long been connected with wars, not peace, its ceremonies of remembrance carried out on behalf of the military, not in opposition to it. The misery, futility, destruction of war is hidden from view behind the cheering, flag waving and pompous commentaries which mark the ceremonies.

    “There is everything right about remembering the dead who die in futile wars. There is everything wrong about using the past dead to justify current wars.”

    Read Lyndsey German on the History of the Cenotaph here.

    Next Frontier in Natural Gas Wars: Psy Ops

    Anti-fracking activists
    By Kate Sheppard
    Natural gas extractors want to use counterinsurgency tactics to deal with these ladies.

    It's one thing to say that Pennsylvania has become a battleground in the debate over natural gas extraction. But it's quite another to actually endorse and employ counterinsurgency tactics to fight opponents of hydraulic fracturing, the controversial process used to extract the gas from the ground. But that appears to be exactly what industry insiders called for at a recent conference.

    CNBC, which obtained the audio from the event, has the report. In the audio files, recorded by an environmental campaigner from Earthworks, one industry insider suggests that those who oppose gas drilling constitute an "insurgency." Another advocates hiring former military psychological operations specialists to handle local populations.

    Here's the direct quote from Range Resources communications director Matt Pitzarella, from a from session titled "Designing a Media Relations Strategy To Overcome Concerns Surrounding Hydraulic Fracturing":

    "We have several former psy ops folks that work for us at Range because they're very comfortable in dealing with localized issues and local governments," Pitzarella said. "Really all they do is spend most of their time helping folks develop local ordinances and things like that. But very much having that understanding of psy ops in the Army and in the Middle East has applied very helpfully here for us in Pennsylvania."

    And here's Matt Carmichael, the manager of external affairs for Anadarko Petroleum:

    "Download the U.S. Army-slash-Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Manual, because we are dealing with an insurgency," Carmichael said. "There's a lot of good lessons in there and coming from a military background, I found the insight in that extremely remarkable."


    ...MORE HERE...

    Thursday 10 November 2011

    We Are Legion The Story of the Hacktivists - Trailer


    Uploaded by on 5 Nov 2011

    Website:
    http://www.wearelegionthedocumentary.com

    We Are Legion is a documentary about Anonymous and the history of hacktivism. We are currently in the process of shooting and editing and hope to be finished in early 2012.
    Expect updates!

    https://www.youtube.com/user/WeAreLegionDoc

    Wednesday 9 November 2011

    Anarchism 101 with Noam Chomsky


    Uploaded by on 10 Oct 2007

    Noam Chomsky begins a small group discussion on Anarchism at Hamilton, Ontario's McMaster University.
    Filmed by Dundas Independent Video Association
    DIVA http://dundastards.blogspot.com
    (c)2002

    Tuesday 8 November 2011

    PEAK SHALE GAS - UK Fracking Firm Admits They Are Causing Earthquakes

    According to Business Insider,


    Following seismic tremors in North-West England this Spring, the firm exploring for natural shale gas in the region has admitted that the disturbances were caused by the controversial exploration process of fracking. Fracking involves cracking or fracturing rock, containing trapped shale gas, by using pressurized liquid. Shale gas is an increasingly important energy resource though there have been claims that it is worse for the environment than coal, largely due to the fracking process. [source BUSINESS INSIDER]


    if I'm reading between the lines correctly, does this mean that WE HAVE REACHED PEAK SHALE GAS in the west in that the Fracking Process used to extract it is TOO DAMNED DANGEROUS as well as too expensive to be OF ANY VIABLE USE TO ANYONE (though this doesn't affect the gold extraction process which poisons third world countries where it is mined)?

    Time to face reality, idiocracy, there's a big round electromagnetic Sun up there that wants to give us INEXAUSTIBLE ENERGY for millennia.

    Accept this fact and Free Energy is ours for this Free Planet to truly benefit from.

    Are The Elites On The Run?


    BeforeItsNews

    by Zen Gardner

    An awakened populace is the enemy of the would-be Controllers. The war on terror is a war on human freedom by a dystopian state structure disguising itself as a protecting surrogate parent from an enemy of their own making.

    It's all by assumption and generations of conditioning. But the veil is coming off.

    Thanks to their own military invention called the internet millions are discovering the full truth. History is a lie. Religion is a control system. Money is a hoax. Government is a for profit corporation.

    And we don't need their goddamn hierarchy.

    Conscious Truth Cannot Be Stopped!

    Like they say, you may kill my body but you can never destroy my soul. Fear is the number one tool of the Powers That Would Be. If we don't fear they have no power.

    The cornucopia of laws and rules written, unwritten and subconscious is their method of entrainment. Crime, punishment. They define what's a crime, and people get in line for fear of punishment.

    Socially it's the same. Break the social norms and be shunned or called out. Use the "wrong" language and you can face incarceration. All restrictions put in place by these would-be Controllers. Screw 'em. They're arrogant lying bastards and the truth is they're scared to death of us.

    Wanna know their mindset? The monster George Bush Senior said the following in an interview published by Sarah McClendon in 1992:

    "If the people were to ever find out what we have done, we would be chased down the streets and lynched."

    Damn straight, buddy.

    The NWO Is Backfiring!

    People are noticing the PTBs seem to be stepping up their program of late. While revolution spilling into the streets is often of their own making to bring about draconian crack downs and to foist new control systems on the populace, what we're witnessing now is different.

    Police brutality and even several recent attempts by agent provocateurs have been ferreted out by demonstrators armed with cameras and internet access. Bankster funding of police has been exposed. And even efforts by the Democratic party, MoveOn.org and ACORN have been identified and snuffed.

    This is huge.

    It's All About Personal Empowerment

    People wonder why things don't change. It's because people observe and follow, observe and follow. Same old same old, hoping someone will do something. Choice is within carefully constructed confines to where they think they're free, but it's all within a tightly restricted playground created by social engineers and executed via their academic and media minions.

    Yes, it's that controlled. Or so they attempt it to be.

    The wild card is the all-powerful eternal human spirit. When we come to the realization of what we truly are, we are an unstoppable foe to these tyrannical beasts. They've turned our planet into a human farm with the people hypnotized to behave as cattle convinced of their own helplessness.

    Sorry, boys. The jig is up. This marvelous planet is OUR space station and you have no business trying to take it over, so get the hell outta here. Humanity is rising...and you're in the way.

    The Elites Are The Truly Enslaved

    What differentiates the psychopathic controlling elites from true humanity is a lack of empathy. They are possessed by a self-serving, self-preserving reptilian mindset that they are literally enslaved to. They know they're usurpers and subject themselves to self-flagellating rituals and mind control to be sure they're not influenced by any real sense of humanity that might deter their plan.

    In turn, they must exercise this Machiavellian control over others since they themselves are subjected to it in order to get what temporal power they've been loaned by their higher ups. Yes, the abuse cycle. The abused become the abusers. In their case it's off the charts wickedness.

    Yes, the controllers are all controlled even more than humanity. But that isn't gonna be our problem any longer. We should ship this wicked 1% or whomever or whatever they are to their own little island, take away all their toys (and boats) and let them have it out between each other. Freedom of tyranny over other tyrants I always say. Ha!

    Seize Control - Jump Now!!

    It won't be long now. They've got so much crap going it's gonna be hard to avoid seeing these psychopaths try to take the whole world down in their mass death ritual madness. We may have to muster through some really rough times ahead, but I really believe the wake up is scaring the shit outta these bastards and they're having to step on the gas to push their program through.

    What's interesting is hurry and haste is not their strong suit. Their strength has always been the slow burn without the people noticing the noose being tightened around their necks. Their plans for global control go back centuries and even millennia. Pesky humanity has been a tough animal for them to fully corral, we seem to keep busting out with new life and consciousness in spite of their war on our minds and bodies.

    Isn't that cool? They can't control us. Must drive them nuts!

    They can try as hard as they want but they'll never do it. In spite of their fluoridating our pineal glands, genetically modifying and poisoning our food supply, chemtrailing our skies with toxic metals and monstrous germs and nano strands, killing off our youth and innocents in wars, introducing viruses into populations, shooting us up with anti-human cocktails and shoving drugs down our throats, and attempting to paralyze our hearts and control our minds with fear and propaganda......

    They can't keep us down! We're like a population of frikking Rasputins!

    The Key..Wake Yourself Up Fully And Everyone Around You!

    The only way to fully wake up is to take action. Period. If you don't open the spigot of your life by researching the Truth, communicating, withdrawing from the system, turning off the mainstream media in every form, alerting others as to what's going on, you'll go back to sleep.

    It's that simple, and it's that urgent.

    The conscious awakening of humanity is unfolding at an exponential rate and is having an impact we're seeing manifest daily before our eyes. But if you've ever tried to push a heavy car to jump start it, or attempted to get a big boulder moved, the most crucial point is when the momentum is just beginning to roll and it's make it or break it to get to that magical kick start speed.

    We're getting there. Push harder.....and call others to get on board, in any and every way you can. Write, talk, get out of banks altogether, not just go into smaller ones, at least as much as you can. And use your money as a weapon against them. Buy local, don't buy corporate crap as much as possible. Start a garden and grow your own food. Tell others around you to do the same.

    And if you don't know what to do, send help to those you believe are doing what needs to be done so they can commit their full time to doing it if they're not already, or to help them do even more. Everyone needs to participate.

    I guarantee you as you do these things it'll come back to you bigtime - in fulfillment, happiness, increased conscious awareness, love and even financially! You're tapping into the ultimate free energy system of the Universe!

    Let yourself go and watch a marvelous synchronistic loving world unfold around you!

    Act on your heart...the time is now.

    Love always, Zen

    P.S. Want a great example of someone who's doing something mighty to bring on the Awakening right from home?

    Two of the illustrations in this article are from the amazing David Dees, a courageous man who puts exposing realizations into realistic art. His work is free for all non-profit use and you'll see it everywhere. He's on the ADL hate list for his powerful anti-Zionism exposes, despite his having clearly distinguished them from being anti-Jewish. What he's produced works day and night around the world via the internet and even print media to raise the level of conscious awareness. I'm proud to be a recipient of his always impactful and enlightening work and thank him profusely for allowing myself and others to post it.

    There's an example of just one man's efforts. Now let's ALL get in gear....just IMAGINE what we can do!!

    More News and Views Posts from Zen HERE

    www.zengardner.com

    Monday 7 November 2011

    bishops, tents and the city

    Sharon Borthwick visited the occupations at London’s St Paul’s and Finsbury Square

    Outside St Paul’s the Royal British Legion had set up a poppy selling stall, “Shoulder to shoulder with all who Serve”. From this side of the cathedral one couldn’t yet see the occupation site, and the reminder that ex-servicemen are obviously not given decent enough pensions to live by seemed especially pertinent, in a time when concessions made to the working class in the aftermath of World War II are all under attack.

    The ruling class were wise then to introduce the welfare state, they knew that social unrest was brewing. The years prior to the war too were full of suffering; it truly was a Great Depression. During the Blitz public space also came to the forefront. It took an organised committee of citizens to eventually gain permission to access the London Underground stations for protection. With 40% of Britain’s housing stock flattened, the authorities eventually had to overlook squatting. Paternoster Square was the intended site of this occupation: formerly a public square it is now owned by the Subishi Estate Company which prior to the protest, oh so gracefully permitted 24 hour access. It is fine to come to London to work and shop. The profiteers are at least spooked, The Canary Wharf Group plc has just obtained a high court injunction preventing “any persons unknown remaining on the Canary Wharf estate in connection to protest action.”

    So, going round the vast edifice and coming upon the first tents, it is warming to see some party atmosphere, a group of occupiers are playing football by the first aid tent. Its then I spot a congregation of religious types. Indeed, it would be hard not to spot them, of the two guitar players, one is resplendent in Buddhist orange and the one on bongos sports purple Doctor Martens and beautifully big hair, afro style. One woman is waving an Israeli flag, while another is waving a giant crucifix. So, I’m about to give them a wide berth when a bit of a drama ensues. A City ‘gent’, so fresh from his long fat lunch that he reeks of whisky, decides to stop and give everyone a mouthful of abuse, saying they should all get out of here and get jobs. Giant crucifix woman gives him a shouting match and others stop to join in, many laughing at the preposterous drama. Two Labour politicians roll up, David Winnick and Nicholas Dakin, saying they’ve come down to offer support, reactionary man shouting, “Oh you would”, and a TV crew has set up to film who may or may not have been connected to the Labour politicians in some kind of cynical canvassing enterprise, but I didn’t see their names among those who’d signed John McDonnell’s motion of 17th October, expressing support and solidarity with Occupy LSX, agreeing the present economic system is unsustainable, rejecting cuts in public services, supporting the strike on 30th November and student action on 9th November.

    Sliding away from this spectacle, where entrenched reactionary man would dismiss anything constructive and said, “smarten yourself up, get a suit, you look like a nice young man, I’ll give you a job”, I went to the seat of the main action, the bottom of St Paul’s steps which serves as a speakers’ corner. The only message I heard by ‘human microphone’ was a health and safety plea from St Paul’s to remove bicycles chained to the railings surrounding Queen Victoria’s statue, though its hard to construe how chained up bikes are menacing. I don’t think the Church likes its pomp and circumstance messed with, Bishop Chartres saying, “there is a lot of pageantry planned for next year. The Queen is not going to come to the Lord Mayor’s show if she has to push through protesters camped on the doorstep.” Though the proposed injunctions made against protesters have at least been postponed. Throughout hese high-ranking clergy have proved their rank hypocrisy beyond all doubt. Back to St Paul’s steps and a man is holding up a sign, “I don’t care about the protest, I’m just here for the violence”, some kind of irony? I’m not sure, but an anti-capitalist speaker follows who speaks well and clearly on the avaricious, exploitative system he is there to change. The saner among the protesters have also managed to produce the Occupied Times, which is well worth a read.

    The message

    Intending to visit the south London cross-borough anti-cuts alliance (Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham) at the Finsbury Square occupation site, I found it had been squatted by a theatre company and was full of fantastical papier mache masks. The tent is still available to the borough’s alliance, but they haven’t had enough bodies available to keep someone permanently on site. There is an air of hippydom floating about the place, but also of serious debate, so the programme of lessons planned is a good balance of creative arts and serious discussion: an Arab Spring lecture, pumpkin carving, The Spanish Civil war Poetry of Cesar Vallejo, economic history and mask decorating, for instance.

    Visually, both sites are impressive, for one, just to see so many tents in a city space. There are all manner of signs, some large ones, intricately written with many paragraphs describing their anti-capitalist message. The message is spreading. Londoners are stopping to read these long missives. They are also stopping in the street to talk to each other about how their lives are being run. They are in dire need of these alternative means of information. Nowhere in the mainstream media could I find it reported that on 29th October, police armed with machine guns raided the Kurdish Workers’ Party tent on the St Paul’s encampment, supposedly getting a tip-off from a member of the public. They said they were searching for guns, but left empty-handed. Deniz Cetiner, a student, was in the tent at the time and described how this kind of police tactic was what they put up with in Turkey all the time.

    The Daily Mail prefers to report that people weren’t in bed by 11pm. Talk about clutching at straws, it seems the right are wholly unable to dredge up a true argument against our movement. The moral argument is too overwhelming. Traversing the city between the two sites, you see that glistening, new skyscrapers are being erected. The financiers are still right there at the feast. However, the construction site electricians are being threatened with a 35% wage cut. The City itself is a vast banner against the greed.

    Download Immortal technique's FREE ALBUM!


    Uploaded by on 6 Nov 2011

    Piracy May Boost Sales, Judge Concludes

    A Spanish judge came to an interesting conclusion in a case dealing with a seller of pirated copies. According to the judge the defendant doesn’t have to pay compensation to the rightsholders because it is not possible to determine to what extent piracy actually decreases sales. On the contrary, the judge suggests that piracy may even boost sales.

    Anyone who says that piracy is only helping or hurting content creators is wrong.

    Piracy has a different effect in each unique case. Not only does it differ between the gaming, music, book and movie industries, but also between the relative popularity of the artists and the characteristics of their audiences.

    As we’ve pointed out repeatedly in the past, there are plenty of cases where piracy may have a positive effect on sales. Research has shown that “pirates” are the music industry’s best customers, something EMI’s new music boss Douglas Merrill confirmed earlier this year.

    “For example, there’s a set of data that shows that file sharing is actually good for artists. Not bad for artists. So maybe we shouldn’t be stopping it all the time. I don’t know,” Merrill said at the time.

    Merrill’s conclusions are quite unique coming from a music industry boss, but he is certainly not alone. The same conclusion was reached by people in the anime and book industries in recent months.

    The conclusion that piracy is not detrimental to sales has not gone unnoticed by the courts either. In a recent ruling in Spain a local judge noted that it’s impossible to determine the damages a seller of pirated copies had caused, because it’s unclear how many people would have bought the products for the original price.

    “It is not possible to determine the damage and corresponding compensation due to loss of benefits to the rightsholder, for the simple reason that customers of pirated copies of music and movies, when making the purchase of pirated copies, externalize their decision not to be customers of music and movies as originals, so there is no profit that could have been gained.”

    “In other words, those customers either buy a pirated copy at a low price or they don’t buy an original at a price between 15 and 20 Euros,” the judge added.

    On the contrary, instead of hurting the income of copyright holders piracy may actually boost sales, the judge noted.

    “In any case, reversing the legal argument, it is conceivable that a customer, after hearing or viewing the pirated copy, may decide to purchase the original, finding it to their taste, so that the sale of pirated copies, far from harming, benefits the market for original items.”

    “I declare that there is no harm for which compensation is required,” the judge concluded in her verdict.

    Although there are several studies and anecdotes that arrive at a similar conclusion, this is the first time that a judge has brought this up in a verdict. And rightly so.

    In a time where people’s rights are stripped to protect the interests of a few multi-million dollar entertainment industry companies, a more realistic, balanced and independent look at the “real” consequences of piracy in individual cases should be encouraged.

    Sunday 6 November 2011

    Hemp Warrior: Marijuana Activist Dana Beal Had a Heart Attack, Died, Came Back, and Beat His Pot Rap

    Beal, a founder of the Yippees and organizer of the Global Marijuana March, was busted for weed and had a heart attack on his way to prison. Then, a judge voided his sentence.

    Talk about dying to get your freedom. Dana Beal, a well-known drug war activist, literally did just that on his way to the slammer. Beal -- one of the founders of the Yippee movement and chief organizer of the Global Marijuana March was busted in Wisconsin for possessing 169 pounds of medical marijuana. Earlier this year he was sentenced to five years, half to be served in prison and half on probation. He had served 9 months, but soon after being sentenced and on his way to prison, a strange thing happened to him; he had a heart attack and claims he died. Miraculously he was revived and treated and then the authorities calculated the consequences of keeping Dana in prison. He needed heart surgery and they decided it was too costly and voided the remainder of his prison sentence. Beal then made bail and received a bypass and is in recovery. But despite his luck in cheating the grim reaper, the danger is not over for him. He is facing hard time on another marijuana charge that is pending from Nebraska when he target got busted in 2009 with an additional 150 pounds of medical marijuana.

    Dana in his own words describes what happened: "I don't remember a thing from the morning of the attack. I don't even remember where my memories leave off the day before. Either 5 or 6 days after passing out I woke up in intensive care and my daughter was sitting there, along with a deputy from Iowa County. They wanted to get me out on bail before the bypass, so they wouldn't be billed. Almost a week went by and then the deputy disappeared. Bail had been instated - they were always holding the $5000, they just agreed to void my prison sentence so that I wouldn't be a flight risk. I had great support from NORML in Madison and really appreciated their help”.

    Dana is a staunch advocate for making medical marijuana available for needy patients at an affordable cost. He is willing to put his life on the line to help those in need.

    As for his recent bust, he says in a recent Village Voice interview "it wasn't really such a huge amount when you break it up between 20,000 registered patients in Michigan, plus patients back in New York and D.C. Patients are paying $10, $15 and $20 a gram, and many can't afford it because they're on SSI, or they already pay thousands of dollars for meds each month. Our pot RETAILS for $4, $5 and $6 --a quality generic product for poor people. Do the math. The pot busted would have saved patients $5-800,000. There's never enough good, cheap, medical-grade cannabis."

    Dana looks at his arrest as a blessing in disguise because he had his heart attack in custody and received proper medical attention. He says that he now has been preserved like Lazarus for a purpose to help those in need of treatment of medical marijuana. His dream is to meet and talk to TV personality Montel Williams who is a marijuana patient activist. Williams, who has multiple sclerosis and smokes to reduce debilitating pain, recently visited Israel and thinks that America can learn from Israel's liberal attitude in regards to medical marijuana.

    Hopefully, Dana will fully recuperate and also retain his freedom and help those marijuana patients he put his life on the line for.

    Anthony Papa, author of 15 To Life: How I Painted My Way To Freedom, is a communications specialist for the Drug Policy Alliance.