round of applause to the united nations ...

for bringing this up - "celebrity drug abusers treated softly by police". we were just talking (ranting) about this the other night.

jo public would be thrown in jail quicker than you could say "how much for a gram?", losing their job, possibly their home and the support of their friends and family in the process if they behaved in the same manner as these so called 'celebs'!

now, i'm all for supporting people with drug problems and not necessarily treating them like social pariahs but come on! folk walk past drug addicts in the street with a sneer on their face, people with a history of drug abuse are shunned by society but, hey, don't worry, if you're a celeb you'll be 'questioned' and then let off, on a regular basis, a la pete docherty, and then go on to win a gong at the next awards ceremony, see amy winehouse and the grammy's.

however, take away all the emotive or moral arguments surrounding drug users /abusers and you are left with the hard fact that these people have broken the law.

Celebrity drug abusers 'treated softly by police'

By Nigel Morris, Home Affairs Correspondent, The IndependentWednesday, 5 March 2008

Lenient treatment of drug-abusing celebrities is sending a damaging message to impressionable young people, the United Nations drug control agency has warned.

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said a soft approach by police and the courts to well-known names was undermining efforts to reduce drug abuse and eroding confidence in the criminal justice system.

Hamid Ghodse, an INCB board member, said it was regrettable that a "number of people have got a lenient response in the UK and around the world", although he declined to name the celebrities he had in mind.

Last month the singer Amy Winehouse was questioned by police but not arrested over a video that appeared to show her smoking crack cocaine.

The Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty, meanwhile, was given a suspended jail sentence and a 12-month drug rehabilitation order last year after pleading guilty to possession of crack cocaine, heroin, ketamine and cannabis.

The model Kate Moss has been interviewed by police over photographs of her allegedly taking cocaine, but no charges were brought against her. Chelsea FC sacked their Romanian striker, Adrian Mutu, after he tested positive for cocaine in 2004. The police never became involved.
Professor Ghodse said: "There should not be any difference between a celebrity who is breaking the law and non-celebrities. Not only does it give the wrong messages to young people, who are often quite impressionable, but the wider public become cynical about the responses to drug offenders."

In its annual report published today, the INCB said interest was greater than ever in famous people from the worlds of entertainment, the arts and sport.

It said: "Celebrity drug offenders can profoundly influence public attitudes, values and behaviour towards drug abuse, particularly among young people who have not yet taken a firm and fully informed position on drug issues.

"Cases involving celebrity drug offenders can also profoundly affect public perceptions about the fairness and proportionality of the response of the justice system, especially if there is a less lenient response to similar or lesser offences committed by non-celebrities."

The INCB said Britain had the worst problem with heroin and crack cocaine, while only Spain had a higher rate of cocaine use. It noted that cannabis use was dropping in Britain, although Professor Ghodse registered his concern about the increasing popularity of stronger "skunk" strains of the class-C drug.

hhhhmmmmfffffffffff

i get really frustrated at my lack of knowledge, my inability to express myself, to articulate what i’m feeling and thinking, especially when it’s in response to a piece of poetry or prose; a painting; a film; implications of current affairs, i could go on. sometimes i feel like i just don’t get it, and then when i do, i can’t articulate what i want to express adequately.

is it lack of basic knowledge ... ?
is it a sign of a stressed out brain ... ?
is it a lack of vocabulary ... ?
is it a lack of adequate thinking and processing time ... ?

or am i just a buffoooooon (or even a baboooooon!)

perhaps I need to focus my attention rather than maniacally trying to do everything all at once?! it's just that there's always so much i want to see to do to learn to experience.

so ...

why it's green to go vegetarian ...

being a vegetarian myself, and feeling quite passionately about the negative impact our way of living has on our plant, i do post this with a serious message ... however, i can't help being amused that farm animals' farts are the subject of this campaign by the veggie society.

postcards and a3 posters of this full page advert are available to order free of charge, email resources@vegsoc.org, or call 0161 9252000.

"Studies on world food security estimate that an affluent diet containing meat requires up to 3 times as many resources as a vegetarian diet"

"There were approximately 6.5 billion people living on earth in 2005*1,2, and as the world’s population continues to grow, our requirement for food will also increase. Worldwide food production requires 30% of the total soil available, 20% of fossil fuel energy and a major part of the fresh water flow*3. Raising cattle is one of the most damaging components of agriculture*4. They cause the most environmental damage of any non-human species through over-grazing, soil erosion, desertification and tropical deforestation for ranches, in addition to their gaseous emissions and manure products. Studies on world food security estimate that an affluent diet containing meat requires up to 3 times as many resources as a vegetarian diet*5.

Global production of meat has risen dramatically from 130 million tonnes in the late 1970s to 230 million tonnes in the year 2000*6. Meat is now the single largest source of animal protein in all affluent nations*7 and demand for animal flesh is expected to more than double by the year 2050*8. In order to meet this growing appetite, animals will no doubt be reared more intensively and cheaply with factory farming and aquaculture (fish farming) causing further pollution, water and land usage. If nothing is done, the environmental impact of meat production can only increase.

Diet is an important tool in working to achieve environmental sustainability."

full article and further info at - http://www.vegsoc.org/environment/index.html

saddam killed mandela???!!!

really???!!! why weren't we told???!!!

just as well george bush has alerted the world to this oversight ...

"I heard somebody say, Where's Mandela?' Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas," Bush, who has a reputation for verbal faux pas, said in a press conference in Washington, Thurs 21st Sep 2007.

the full article, for the incredulous amongst you is at

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN144024.html

i despair ...

i was hoping that the original rumour of developers starting forest fires was inspired by conspiracy theories but perhaps not!

From The Indepdendent

Outrage in Greece over secret plan to develop land in region ravaged by fires

By Elinda Labropoulou in Athens, Published: 19 September 2007

The Greek government is facing a major embarrassment within days of its re-election after it gave property developers the green light to build on an environmentally sensitive area next to forests ravaged by this summer's deadly fires.

Documents leaked to the Greek press show the finance ministry pushed through an agreement allowing building activity to begin in a protected area in the Southern Peloponnese, the region hardest hit by last month's blazes that killed 67 people and destroyed nearly half a million acres of forest and farmland.

Under heavy criticism for their handling of the inferno, the ruling conservatives blamed the inferno on unscrupulous property developers looking to exploit protected areas. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis vowed to avoid past mistakes where building permits were handed out in fire-affected areas and land was rezoned for construction.

The agreement, revealed this week, covers a valuable coastal zone in Zaharo, the area that accounted for nearly half of the deaths during last month's "national emergency".

The zone includes a rare pine forest, thermal springs, and a nesting area for the endangered loggerhead turtle Caretta-Caretta. Environmental groups say the agreement could come at a huge cost for the area's sensitive ecosystem. The district is protected by the European Union's Natura 2000 scheme, designed to safeguard the most seriously threatened habitats and species.

Greek MEP Dimitris Papadimoulis said the plans could also endanger ¿600m (£410m) in EU funding for fire-stricken areas. "What happened is a crime against nature, committed in order to buy last minute votes prior to the elections," he said.

Mr Papadimoulis has already raised the issue with Athens and Brussels.

"I put a question forward to see whether it violates EU legislation but also whether it could threaten the receipt of EU funding for the fire-stricken areas."

The Greek government has yet to respond.

Dimitris Karavellas, director of WWF Greece, said the continued absence of a proper land registry was at the root of the present crisis. "We are the only country in the EU that doesn't have a land registry," he said. "We get situations where there are forest fires one year and nothing but houses a couple of years later."

The Zaharo deal, if confirmed, would take place in two stages. Firstly, it would legalise nearly 800 buildings that have been illegally constructed in the area over the past 50 years. In the second stage it would permit the construction of hotels, restaurants and recreational facilities. Developers would be allowed to use the land for up to 69 years.

Zaharo's mayor, Pandazis Chronopoulos, who signed the agreement with the finance ministry's Public Real Estate Corporation, says that, if it became law, the agreement would generate much needed money for the reconstruction of the fire-ravaged area. " It would help the redevelopment of the area. We need to recreate a tourism infrastructure. We will fully respect the environment. We are thinking of small-scale tourism development. Maybe a children's camp to start with. And all the money the municipality would get will be reinvested in rebuilding Zaharo".

According to the agreement 75 per cent of the income generated would go to the municipality, the remaining 25 to the finance ministry.

Local engineer Kostas Tzamaloukas, said the people are still numb from the catastrophe "At the polling station on Sunday, one third of the people who were in the queue were wearing black, a sign they had lost a loved one in the fires. This is a small community, people are devastated. They would listen to anyone promising them a way out of the financial disaster."

The ruling New Democracy party held on to power this weekend with a reduced majority.