Tag Archives: action

Drug war fail: devastating consequences —Global Commission on Drug Policy

Stop locking up drug users who harm no others,
legalize drugs starting with marijuana,
switch to health and treatment,
stop harrassing farmers,
abandon zero tolerance and invest instead in youth activities,
focus on reducing harm,
and do it now, so says a commission of business moguls, former heads of state,
financial professionals, writers, and activists.

Writes Douglas Stanglin today in USA TODAY,



“The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for
individuals and societies around the world,” says the Report of the
Global Commission on Drug Policy in its opening statement. “Fifty years
after the initiation of the U.N. Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs,
and 40 years after President Nixon launched the U.S. government’s war on
drugs, fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies
are urgently needed.”

According to whom?

The 19-member commission, a private venture chaired by ex-Brazilian
president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, includes George Schultz, President
Reagan’s Secretary of State; Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin
Group; former U.N. Secretary General Koffi Anna; George Papandreou,
prime minister of Greece; Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal
Reserve, and Javier Solana,former EU foreign minister.

Here’s their full report.

What do they recommend?

Continue reading →

Expert says Valdosta lags behind Thomasville in Internet speed for business

Let’s leapfrog Thomasville in the 21st century equivalent of roads, rail, and airports: Internet speeds!

Here’s another point from Chris Miller at the

2011 Economic Summit,
according to the VDT story by Dawn Castro 18 May 2011,
:



“Thomasville didn’t have hi-speed internet,
so the process of moving products quickly was not possible,”
he said, “With Rose Net hi-speed broadband, it is now able to
work 25 times faster.
That one simple step boosted economic product growth,
and as we all know, the technical industry creates a
wage growth path.”






Georgia Internet Speed Results by www.speedmatters.org

So if the Chamber wants, as it says,

knowledge-based businesses and jobs,

Continue reading →

Ansel Adams and LBJ on A More Beautiful America



A while back, while moving things from one place to another, my sister
thrust a book into my hand and said something like “we think you should
have this”.

I didn’t pay it much mind and the book ended up in a box with framed photos
because it was of a large format and besides, most of my books had already
been packed up and moved.

Fast forward to yesterday when I opened the box labelled “framed photos”
and the first thing out was a book.

It turns out that the book was
“A More Beautiful America”.
Commissioned by President Lyndon Baines Johnson,
Nancy Newhall and

Ansel Adams created
a book that is as relevant today as it was in 1965.

Adams’ photos illustrate excerpts from

President Lyndon B. Johnson’s
Special Message to the Congress on Conservation and Restoration of Natural Beauty

The speech is compelling from beginning to end.

The beauty of our land is a natural resource. Its preservation is linked
to the inner prosperity of the human spirit.

The tradition of our past is equal to today’s threat to that beauty. Our
land will be attractive tomorrow only if we organize for action and
rebuild and reclaim the beauty we inherited. Our stewardship will be
judged by the foresight with which we carry out these programs. We must
rescue our cities and countryside from blight with the same purpose
and vigor with which, in other areas, we moved to save the forests and
the soil.

Please consider finding some way that you can be a good steward and
help preserve the beauty of our beloved Earth.

—Gretchen