55 years of - you decide

Cannabis campaigner Dakta Green jailed 39 comments | Post Comment  Email  Print    Text Size: aA aA aA Dakta Green (NZPA) '); document.write(' ') <div> </div> UPDATED: 1:20PM Published: Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:01a.m. By Dan Satherley / 3news.co.nz staff Cannabis campaigner Dakta Green has been sentenced to eight months' jail on charges relating to the possession, supply and sale of cannabis. Green, 61, operated a high-profile warehouse called The Daktory, where cannabis was openly sold and consumed. Appearing in the Auckland District Court this morning, he rejected the judge’s offer of home detention, instead opting for jail time. This morning, prior to sentencing, Green told RadioLIVE's Marcus Lush his conviction was down to "politics". "One day, and I hope in the near future, our me...

US Government admits growing marijuana for supply 2 comments | Post Comment  Email  Print    Text Size: aA aA aA For the past three decades, Uncle Sam has been providing patients with some of the highest grade marijuana (file pic) '); document.write(' ') <div> </div> Thu, 29 Sep 2011 5:46a.m. By Nigel Duara Sometime after midnight on a moonlit rural Oregon highway, a state trooper checking a car he had just pulled over found pot on a passenger. The discovery was not surprising in a marijuana-friendly state like Oregon, but the 72-year-old woman's defense was: She insisted the weed was legal and given to her by none other than the federal government. A series of phone calls from a dubious trooper and his supervisor to federal authorities determined that the glaucoma patient was not joking - the US...

via elissarphotos.com Such colours - thank you

Australians Increased Shared Care Due to 2006 Family Law Amendment September 28th, 2011 by Robert Franklin, Esq. In Australia, it’s a race against the clock.  Can the Labor government of Julia Gillard squelch shared parenting in time, or will Australians stop the effort with their preference for greater equality for both parents? As most readers of this blog know, the Howard government ushered in amendments to the Family Law Act in 2006 that urged greater equality in parenting time post-divorce or separation.  That prompted the anti-dad crowd to leap to the barricades with the battle cry “domestic violence and child abuse.”  Maybe it should replace the Internationale . Long before the real effects of the amendments were known, anti-father advocates pronounced it flawed because it allowed abusive fathers to get custody of children.  As a practical matter, what that meant was that any father who was claimed by his ex to have been abusive...

The Dale Farm Eviction: How Racism Against Gypsies and Travellers Grips Modern-Day Britain – OpEd Written by: Andy Worthington September 30, 2011 As the Gypsy and Traveller community at Dale Farm in Essex continues its long struggle against eviction with another High Court hearing today , seeking a judicial review on a number of grounds, including the absolutely crucial basis that it is “disproportionate” to remove a family from their home when no suitable alternative accommodation exists, a YouGov poll reveals that two-thirds of those asked believe that it is appropriate for Basildon Council to spend £18 million on evicting around 400 people (86 families, including many children) from land they own, but on which they were not given permission to build permanent residences by the council. Many of those who support the eviction claim to believe that spending £18 million that surely could be spent more usefully elsewhere in the Basildon area is app...

John Baron Constituency Basildon and Billericay Party Conservative Address as Mr Baron Contact details Westminster House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA Tel: 020 7219 8138 Fax: 020 7219 1743 baronj@parliament.uk Constituency 13 Bentalls Business Park, Basildon, SS14 3BN Tel: 01268 520765 Fax: 01268 524009 turnerja@parliament.uk Biography Electoral history Contested Basildon 1997 general election. Member for Billericay 2001-10, for Basildon and Billericay since 6 May 2010 general election Parliamentary career Shadow Minister for: Health 2002-03 (resigned over Iraq War), Health 2003-07; Opposition Whip 2007-10 Select committees Member: Education and Skills 2001-02, ...

THE ABC OF OPINION MANAGEMENT: PART 4 Parts 1 and 2 of this investigative series explored key political drivers , and the framework for the opinion management process as a whole. These were illustrated and evidenced with clear unambiguous supportive examples. Part 3 revealed the mindset of the ABC Board , with apparent desire to preserve the relationship with Indonesia at the expense of Schapelle Corby's welfare. In Part 4 we will begin to investigate events at a more operational level. For our first foray into our database we will focus on what appears to pass for acceptable journalistic practice and behaviour within the ABC. 1. ABUSIVE AND AGGRESSIVE INTERVIEWING Ethical journalists are well aware of the requirement for respect, objectivity and fairness when interviewing members of the public. Indeed, the AJA Code of Ethics covers this through a number of its clauses, amongst them "Use fair, responsible and honest means to obtain mater...