Archive for the ‘The Media’ Category
Simon Heffer’s Disgusting Prohibitionist Rant
Fat Cat And His Drug Of Choice
Journalists in the old media and politicans are panicking. They are trying to crack down hard on us and our rights to opinions and self-expression. In the age of WikiLeaks and the internet, their self-serving oligarchy is undermined by real freedom.
Cameron’s and Miliband’s arrogant and dismissive rejection of Bob Ainsworth’s proposals for an end to prohibition, shows they have no proper response to his arguments. Today, another member of the ruling elite penned a truly ignorant and repressive opinion in The Daily Telegraph. See here for the full article.
As well as trying it on with the discredited idea that cannabis causes psychosis, Heffer says, with astounding spitefulness and stupidity:
“We have a serious problem with drugs in this country because we do not punish drugs crime severely enough. Legalisation is not the answer, but getting nasty might just be.”
It is an utterly disgraceful article. Heffer should be ashamed of himself for spreading lies and misinformation, I suspect deliberately.
The facts are that the harms caused by prohibition are well documented and proven.
The facts are that the allegation cannabis causes psychosis is just the latest scare story. In the 1930s the prohibitionists used to say that cannabis makes white women promiscuous with black men. This is just the latest smear of equivalent value.
Public opinion is hugely in favour of an end to prohibition. You only have to look at the polls and the huge volume of comment and opinion on the web.
The oligarchy of politicians and the media is on the point of collapse. Those who value truth and freedom can console themselves that the darkest hour is just before dawn. Journalists like Heffer and Andrew Marr, for example, are desperate to hang on to their corrupt position where they control the news agenda and contrive media coverage in cahoots with their friends in parliament.
A peaceful revolution is coming where fat cat journalists with no more talent than the lowliest blogger will be turfed out of their comfortable sinecures as the irrelevant dinosaurs that they are.
Heffer and his chums on both sides of the House have had their nasty little stitch-up going on for too long. Dawn is approaching and his sort has no future
Assange Freed!
“Well it’s great to smell the fresh air of London again!”
British justice is not dead!
Rebecca – I Told You So! – WRONG—WRONG!
I had this all ready to go!
I think the result is very strange. Rebecca should have won.
She is the one who will go on to achieve great success.
It’s wonderful to be able to say I told you so nearly ten weeks ago!
She is the one with the X Factor.
She deserves it.
Vile Police Website Reveals Violent Conspiracy
The disgusting Inspector Gadget website is at it again. Go take a look if you want your eyes opened to the corrupt, barely literate, violence-obsessed, rabid scum that masquerades as our police force. They are salivating in delight at their frenzy of brutality on Thursday and eagerly anticipating more opportunities to beat up our children next week.
I support the real police. There are evil, subversive forces hiding behind and amongst the students. Those who are violent and only trying to ferment anarchy need to be stopped but they are on both sides. There are far too many of them wearing a police uniform and they deserve the most severe punishment of all.
It is outrageous that they are allowed to commune, plot and scheme with each other like this. They are paid not to have opinions like these and to stay calm and neutral. They are incapable of doing the job. Inspector Gadget should be closed down. Any officer who participates in it is not fit to hold the Queen’s warrant.
These are a selection of comments made by those who we pay to protect our children:
“I don’t think you can hurt a student by hitting them on the head.” Posted by “Fee”
“Good point, get chainsaws and cut their legs off then. That will slow them down a bit.” Posted by Taff Taff
“Shields advance… Fix bayonets. Charge…..Good luck troops.” Posted by BeePee
“Good cavalry charge at that protest, the only thing missing were the pig sticklers used in days of Yore.” Posted by Bodrules
“Time to get hard and nasty!” Posted by Ranter
“A few well placed live rounds and the ‘protest’ would stop in an instant.” Posted by ExTrafficBiker
See more of this disgusting behaviour here.
And this, the Taser equivalent of a claymore mine, is the sort of weapon that the Inspector and his cronies want for next time:
“absofuckinglutely ideal for this situation” Posted by Taff Taff
“I WANT THESE. SWEEEEET.” Posted by Goinwibblebobby
Wake up Britain! This is the mindset of the overpaid, mindless thugs and sadists that are supposed to be protecting our children.
This is the consequence of a government that hides in its ivory towers, refuses to engage with the people, conspires with the media to silence dissent and is a betrayal of everything that democracy stands for. And I speak as a Tory!
USA to Host World Press Freedom Day (via The Mad Hatters)
An extraordinary story brought to you by another champion of media freedom, Duncan Robertson, sitting at the head of the table at the Mad Hatters tea party.
via The Mad Hatters
SECOND UPDATE On Legal Medicinal Cannabis In Britain
This is the third instalment in this story.
1. Legal Medicinal Cannabis In Britain
2. Update On Legal Medicinal Cannabis In Britain
Eventually The Guardian took some notice. See here.
Despite the pleas of those in pain and suffering, the Home Office was talking to Mary O’Hara of The Guardian but not to them. Dozens if not hundreds of medicinal cannabis users had written to the Home Office asking for confirmation that they could go to Holland for a prescription. Not a word was heard.
Jim Starr, the subject of this story, wrote to his MP, and then he wrote again. He heard nothing. He wrote to the Home Office, chasing up his application for a personal import licence. He heard nothing. He wrote again.
Dilatory
Richard Drax, the first timer, newly elected Tory MP for Dorset South just happens to be my MP too, so I wrote to him on Jim’s behalf.
Jim has heard nothing. Richard Drax asked me not to mention his name in any article about Jim. Jim wrote again. I wrote again. We have heard nothing.
Jim’s medicine has run out. We told the Home Office and Richard Drax that it was an urgent medical emergency. We have heard nothing.
I spent the last week on the telephone and exchanging emails with the Home Office. This is the result:
A Home Office spokesperson said:
The UK’s position is clear – cannabis is dangerous and has no medicinal benefits in herbal form. It remains illegal for UK residents to possess cannabis in any form.
Britons benefit from reciprocal laws which allow EU nationals, in limited circumstances, to travel with controlled medicines. We are working with European authorities to ensure the system is robust and not open to abuse.
The Home Office says you can import cannabis to the UK and use it without restriction provided you “are resident in a country where that drug is legally prescribed”. So it’s OK for the Dutch and the Belgians and the Spanish and the Italians and the Czechs and the Poles (and many others) to smoke weed in Britain but not if you’re British.
We Won't Give Up
This is clearly unequal, discriminatory, unjust and unsustainable in law but the Home Office is not about to give in. The only way to resolve this is that either someone must appeal a conviction all the way to the Supreme Court or there must be an application for judicial review.
Stay tuned for the next exciting instalment.
In the meantime, Jim and thousands like him will manage as best as they can.
He’s still heard nothing from either the Home Office or Richard Drax.
Home Office Plays A Cruel Game Of Media Spin
There is no logic nor common sense nor science nor rationale in UK government drug policy. Everyone knows that. Nearly every commentator, scientist, doctor, even most politicians in private, acknowledge that there is no reasonable basis for our current drug laws. They do more harm than good and in the process they waste billions of pounds in law enforcement costs and create massive harm to society and to public health. The report issued today by Professor Nutt and his colleagues reveals the appalling incompetence of our drug policy. See here.
Monster
Unlike every other country in Europe, the UK places drug policy in the hands of the Home Office rather than the Department of Health. Nothing reveals the idiocy of this more than the current debacle over medicinal cannabis. See BBC Inside Out London tonight at 7.30pm or here on the iPlayer tomorrow.
What is truly disgraceful about the Home Office is the way it plays the media game with complete disrespect for and by ignoring citizens to whom it owes a duty of care. While it issues conflicting messages to the media, it fails to respond at all to dozens of individuals suffering from debilitating diseases who have sought its advice on obtaining their medicine. Hundreds of individuals have written repeatedly to the Home Office but have received no reply. The conduct of the minister responsible for this scandalous episode, James Brokenshire, can only be described as cruel, negligent and irresponsible. While the rest of us may debate the political issues around drug laws, thousands continue in pain and suffering while this monster continues his game of media spin.
There is no justice or truth in government drug policy but in this instance there is blatant evil and disregard for human suffering in James Brokenshire. The man is a disgrace and not fit to hold public office.
BBC Blanks Proposition 19
According to the Home Office there are six million regular users of cannabis in the UK. I have seen just one report on the BBC news about the Proposition 19 vote in California on 2nd November which promises legalisation.
Compare this with the recent wall to wall coverage of the Pope’s visit. How many regular supporters of the Catholic Church are there in Britain? Just 887,000.
This is an appalling failure by the BBC and a dereliction of its duty to provide fair and balanced coverage. Please make a complaint. It will take you less than five minutes and it will make a difference if enough of you take the time.
Here is a direct link to the BBC complaints website. Please do it now!
Who Rattled Andrew Marr’s Cage? I Think He’s Worried.
It's Called Competition
Andrew Marr’s rant against bloggers rather surprised me. His Sunday morning show is a fixture for me. I think his intemperate and short tempered polemic betrays an old-fashioned journalist’s insecurity and fear of the new media
Someone in his privileged position has only to sneeze and he will be published in front of millions. I admire his work but there are thousands, equally capable and with equally valid opinions who are now able to express themselves widely on the internet. The real question is when will the “dead mens shoes”, “who you know not what you know” culture be overturned? Let’s not be shy here, I know my writing is generally better than most that’s published in the national press, yet I only enjoy that audience occasionally. Those, like Andrew Marr, who already have their foot in the door, shut it firmly in the face of their challengers and competitiors. It’s a closed shop, much worse than any trade union restrictive practice.
I do agree with him completely about anonymity. It is a matter of pride to me that, wherever I can, I use my own name when writing, commenting, abusing, complimenting, agreeing or yes, occasionally, even ranting. I also agree, in this one instance only, with that obnoxious little billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, when he said “Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity”. I think he’s absolutely right on this and I hope more people will follow his and my example.
Overall though Mr Marr, I think your rant about bloggers says more about you than anything else – and you’re right to be worried. I hope you stick around but there’s plenty of dead wood in journalism and broadcasting that needs chopping out. Editors are the lazy ones, the real culprits. It’s easy for them just to sign off the same old names time after time. They have become far too powerful and need taking down a peg or two. They should be scouting round the blogosphere for new talent instead of sitting on their backsides getting fat and lazy.
Peter Reynolds 