Chinese Goons Take Over London?

Photo: YUI MOK/The Associated Press

Along London's Olympic torch route, a police officer Sunday tackled a man protesting China's human rights record and the recent crackdown on Tibet.
A fellow blogger has forwarded a very important and unexplored, (here in the USA) angle on the Olympic torch problem, at least regarding the events in London. I’ve selected a few paragraphs but you can go to the link below for the full blog:
Curly’s Corner Shop,
The Blog
April 8, 2008
Black Tuesday for Brown
Any good news for the PM?
[...] I wonder how comfortable our Scottish Prime Minister has felt seeing images of Chinese goons manhandling protesters on the streets of London, and pushing and urging on their British police counterparts as the Olympic Flame stumbled on it’s way? Apparently, Kevin Rudd, the Australian PM has declared that they will not be able to do the same job in his country, the Aussies will look after security themselves, the big question must be ‘who gave the authority for this display of Chinese security tactics?’
Geoffrey Wheatcroft writing in the Daily Mail says:
“The Prime Minister hadn’t himself planned this dismal event, and it would be nice to think that he hated every moment of it.”
Yes, he had a horrified look upon his face as the Olympic Torch closed in on him in Downing Street, he was at pains to ensure that he did not touch it himself, why doesn’t he take a big brave Merkel type decision to stay away from the games’ opening ceremony in Beijing?
In another article Lord Coe condemned the army of Chinese “thugs” who accompanied the Olympic torch relay through London.
The head of London’s 2012 Games described as “horrible” the burly henchmen who barged their way through the capital, shoving the public and even police out of the way.
“One thing in Paris is to get rid of those guys. They tried to push me out of the way three times. They are horrible. They did not speak English. They were thugs.”
The blue track suited goons were seen on television using judo tactics to bring down protesters before pushing the ‘yellow jacket’ British Police towards them, and what were they all carrying in those bum bags on belts around their waists? I sincerely hope they were first aid kits!
So who authorised their presence? Was it the British Olympic Association or the Greater London Authority? Where did the Home Office fit into the jigsaw puzzle? [my bold]
Either way, the Metropolitan Police do not seem impressed at all;
Privately, police were said to be furious as officers were made to look ridiculous, jogging along in cycle helmets and holding hands to form a chain around the bearers.



http://curly15.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/black-tuesday-for-brown/
Not to be frivolous, but I got a thrill when my fave “AbFab” gal, Jayne Secker, was interviewed on the video report, expressing “the greatest abhorrence” at what the Chinese government was doing to Tibet and other ethnic minorities. A great actor and citizen. Right on!

Great Britain's "Class C" Cannabis War

How much more research needs to be done before the more important question is addressed, which is why people need to get high in the first place? If we researched lettuce as much as cannabis, they'd find reason to criminalize it! But too much money changes hands in the black market, corrupt police, border patrols, etc. and they don't want to give up their gravy train. Let's not forget the pharamceutical companies who want people dependent on their expensive drugs and the alcohol companies who, despite MANY years of research allow people to damage their livers and other vital organs. I tell young people that no one who is healthy and happy does drugs. The rest is about control and politics.
Cannabis 'should remain class C'
The official body which advises the government on drugs policy has decided cannabis should remain a class C drug, the BBC understands.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs' decision appears to go against the view of Gordon Brown, who seems to favour returning the drug to class B.
[...] BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said the decision was taken at a private meeting of the council, which discussed significant new research from Keele University about links between cannabis and mental illness.
The study found nothing to support a theory that rising cannabis use in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s led to increases in the incidence of schizophrenia later on. [my bold]
[...] The Advisory Council's decision leaves the government in an awkward position, our correspondent added.
[...] If the government does reclassify, it would be rejecting the findings of the Advisory Council's panel of 23 drug experts, which has never happened before on a decision about drug classification.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she would not comment on the review until she had received it.
On Thursday, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said reports that the advisory body would recommend cannabis remain a class C drug were premature.
[...] Steve Rolles, of the Transform Drugs Policy Foundation, said increasing jail sentences from two years to five through reclassification was not the best way to send a strong signal to teenagers about the dangers of the drug.
"Rather than mass criminalisation of millions of young people, the best way would be to invest in effective, targeted public health education," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
[...] Mental health charity Sane was one group which gave evidence to the advisory group.
Marjorie Wallace, the charity's chief executive, said not enough was yet known about the direct links between cannabis and the brain.
She said she knew of hundreds of cases where people smoked cannabis heavily, in particular skunk, and went on to suffer psychotic breakdowns, hallucinations and paranoia.
[...] Police chiefs want cannabis to return to class B.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said it stood by its recommendation made to the Advisory Council that cannabis should be restored to the category of a class B drug.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7327702.stm

MAXIMUM DRUG PENALTIES (UK)

Class A: Seven years for possession, life for supplying

Class B: Five years for possession, 14 for supplying

Class C: Two years for possession, 14 for supplying