Thursday, 23 June 2011
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Tuesday 28 June 6pm Protest: Stop Bombing Libya. Downing Street, London.
Jeremy Corbyn MP, poet Sanasino among those joining us.
If ever there was a time to consider exit strategies from a war, this is it. The war on drugs has cost roughly $1 trillion. It has resulted in tens of millions of arrests, put millions behind bars and driven the growth of a massive prison-industrial complex that now lobbies for the perpetuation of this failed war. It has precluded the sorts of public health policies that might have prevented hundreds of thousands of people in this country from dying of AIDS and other infectious diseases as well as overdoses. And it has legitimized gross violations of civil liberties and human rights in the United States and abroad; generated a global illicit drug market worth roughly $300 billion annually; and produced levels of crime, violence and corruption in many parts of the world that far exceed anything seen during the Prohibition era. All across the country this week are rallies and demonstrations calling for an end to the nation’s war on drugs. Activists fo r drug policy reform are recruiting local elected officials, clergy and people affected by the war on drugs to speak out and educate fellow citizens. Among the most persuasive of these are parents whose children are struggling with drug addiction, who have seen up close how devastating drugs can be but who also see clearly that the war on drugs did nothing to help and much to hurt their children and so many others.
Ethan Nadelmann, The Nation
Related Links:
Kyle Daly, The Washington Independent
Recently it was very evident the vaccine manufacturers are in damage control. Bulletins on the radio and television, plus numerous items in the print media, all attempted to convince people to have a flu shot. Obviously the message is not hitting home to a sceptical and suspicious public, and is it any wonder with the deaths of children last year and every year people getting very sick from the jabs. Two people I know have lost permanent heart muscle function from their “adverse event”. One was coerced by the GP into having the flu and pneumococcal shot at the same time. With fully-vaccinated staff at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital going down with whooping cough, it is no wonder people are starting to question the safety and efficacy of vaccines and choosing other ways to stay healthy.
Alex Hodges, Yorke Peninsula Country Times
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S. Viswanathan, The Hindu
More than 400 children got sick last year after being vaccinated with a CSL vaccine.
US Regulators have hammered Australian vaccine maker CSL over its "inadequate" investigation of manufacturing problems that may have led to severe reactions in children given the flu vaccine last year. In April last year Australian health authorities withdrew CSL’s season flu vaccine from use in children under five after 23 children from Western Australia were admitted to hospital with convulsions and high fevers following their injections. Investigations by State and Federal health authorities could not point to a cause of the problem, and CSL has previously denied they were linked to manufacturing issues at its Melbourne facilities.
Nick Evans, news.com.au
Maryanne Godboldo
Criminal charges will proceed against a mother who allegedly fired a shot at police when they entered her home on orders obtained by child protective service workers to take her teen daughter on claims of abuse for discontinuing psychotropic drug therapy. A Wayne County judge last week reversed a Detroit judge's earlier order to hold off on criminal charges against Maryanne Godboldo, the Wayne County Prosecutor's office announced today. The case has drawn nationwide attention from groups opposed to government interference in parental decisions, those concerned about the safety of childhood immunizations and others opposed to the use of the controversial anti-psychotic drug, Risperdal, to treat schizophrenia in children.
Doug Guthrie, The Detroit News
Related Links:
Gina Damron, Detroit Free Press
NCCPR, Child Welfare Blog
Vera Hassner Sharav, AHRP
Diane Bukowski, Voice Of Detroit
The hacker group LulzSec has denied it hacked the Office for National Statistics or stolen data from the 2011 census, after what appeared to be a statement from the group appeared on the site Pastebin. The Office for National Statistics said it was "investigating" the claims that were made. The claim on Pastebin appeared mid-morning on Tuesday, saying "We have blissfully obtained records of every single citizen who gave their records to the security-illiterate UK government for the 2011 census. We're keeping them under lock and key though... so don't worry about your privacy (...until we finish re-formatting them for release). Myself and the rest of my Lulz shipmates will then embark upon a trip to ThePirateBay with our beautiful records for your viewing pleasure!" Suspicions had been raised about the possibility of the hack because the census data was collected by the US military and civil contractor Lockheed Martin, which re cently announced that it had been the victim of a concerted hacking attack.
Charles Arthur, The Guardian
Related Links:
Richard Allen Greene, CNN
Heather Marsh, WL Central
David Batty, The Guardian
A group of UK copyright lobbyists held confidential, closed-door meetings with Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries to discuss a plan to allow industry groups to censor the Internet in the UK. The proposal has leaked, and it reveals a plan to establish "expert bodies" that would decide which websites British people were allowed to see, to be approved by a judge using a "streamlined" procedure. The procedure will allow for "swift" blocking in order to shut down streaming of live events. Public interest groups like the Open Rights Group asked to attend the meeting, but were shut out, presaging a regulatory process that's likely to be a lopsided, industry-centric affair that doesn't consider the public. The process is characterised as "voluntary," but the proposal makes reference to the Digital Economy Act, which allows for mandatory web-blocking (thanks to the action of LibDem Lords who submitted a proposal written by a record industry lobbyist as an amendment to the DEA).
Cory Doctorow, boingboing
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Dave Neal, The Inquirer
Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke smashing Legal Aid for the poor
(caption & pic courtesy of One Click)
Over 650,000 people, at recent estimates, and half a million according to the Ministry of Justice's own impact assessment, will lose out on this vital help through changes to legal aid alone, at a time where other funding streams for free advice have already been cut or are under threat. Legal aid funding is being withdrawn from all employment advice, all welfare benefits advice and virtually all debt advice, nearly half of housing advice and nearly all of education advice. There can only be one outcome: avoidable poverty and distress for many thousands of people. Not only will people be less likely to receive advice, but advice will be harder to find as agencies currently funded through legal aid find it more and more difficult to carry on. Pete Lowen from the Birmingham Law Centre was right when he said "as a nation we are sleepwalking into the dismantling of legal aid for poor and vulnerable people". Justice for the rich only is no justice at all.
Jack Dromey, The Guardian
Related Links:
Phil Scullion, politics.co.uk
Lisa Evans, The Guardian
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