March 30, 2009
Editorial, New York Times
Reviewing Criminal Justice
America’s criminal justice system needs repair. Prisons are overcrowded, sentencing policies are uneven and often unfair, ex-convicts are poorly integrated into society, and the growing problem of gang violence has not received the attention it deserves. For these and other reasons, a bill introduced last week by Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, should be given high priority on the Congressional calendar.
The bill, which has strong bipartisan support, would establish a national commission to review the system from top to bottom. It is long overdue, and should be up and running as soon as possible.
The United States has the highest reported incarceration rate in the world. More than 1 in 100 adults are now behind bars, for the first time in history. The incarceration rate has been rising faster than the crime rate, driven by harsh sentencing policies like “three strikes and you’re out,” which impose long sentences that are often out of proportion to the seriousness of the offense.
Keeping people in prison who do not need to be there is not only unjust but also enormously expensive, which makes the problem a priority right now. Hard-pressed states and localities that reduce prison costs will have more money to help the unemployed, avert layoffs of teachers and police officers, and keep hospitals operating. In the last two decades, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts report, state corrections spending soared 127 percent, while spending on higher education increased only 21 percent.
Meanwhile, as governments waste money putting the wrong people behind bars, gang activity has been escalating, accounting for as much as 80 percent of the crime in some parts of the country.
The commission would be made up of recognized criminal justice experts, and charged with examining a range of policies that have emerged haphazardly across the country and recommending reforms. In addition to obvious problems like sentencing, the commission would bring much-needed scrutiny to issues like the special obstacles faced by the mentally ill in the system, as well as the shameful problem of prison violence.
Prison management and inmate treatment need special attention now that the Prison Litigation Reform Act has drastically scaled back prisoners’ ability to vindicate their rights in court. Indeed, the commission should consider recommending that the law be modified or repealed.
Mr. Webb has enlisted the support of not only the Senate’s top-ranking Democrats, including the majority leader, Harry Reid, but also influential Republicans like Arlen Specter, the ranking minority member on the Judiciary Committee, and Lindsey Graham, the ranking member of the crime and drugs subcommittee.
There is no companion bill in the House, and one needs to be written. Judging by the bipartisan support in the Senate, a national consensus has emerged that the criminal justice system is broken.

TOWNS TRY TO PUNISH PUBLIC MARIJUANA USE

Pubdate: Wed, 25 Mar 2009
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2009 Globe Newspaper Company
Author: Jonathan Saltzman

Officials Want Children Shielded

Dozens of Massachusetts cities and towns are taking steps to impose
stiff new fines for smoking marijuana in public and even to charge
some violators with misdemeanors, a trend that critics say subverts
the state ballot question passed overwhelmingly last fall to
decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

In recent weeks, at least seven communities - Duxbury, Lynn, Methuen,
Medway, Milford, Salem, and Springfield - have passed bylaws that
target people who light up in public. And two dozen cities and towns
expect to vote this spring on similar measures, which proponents liken
to local open container laws that ban drinking alcohol in public.

Police officials say they want to discourage flagrant marijuana
smoking, particularly in public parks, schoolyards, and on beaches
where young children gather. While last year's ballot initiative
reduced possession of an ounce or less from a misdemeanor to a civil
infraction carrying a $100 fine, police say that some marijuana
smokers mistakenly believe that the voters legalized the drug
entirely.

"If you're smoking marijuana in front of schoolchildren, to me that's
a little bit more serious than smoking a joint by yourself out in the
middle of the woods," said Salem police Captain Brian Gilligan. His
city recently authorized officers to fine public smokers $300 in
addition to the $100 fine for possession. The Salem bylaw also lets
officers give them a misdemeanor summons, although Gilligan predicted
that few will get them.

Advocates of last fall's ballot initiative say the new civil fines for
smoking marijuana in public are, at best, unnecessary because those
individuals can already be fined for possession. At worst, they say,
bylaws that treat smoking violations as a misdemeanor are a backdoor
attempt to subvert the will of Massachusetts voters, who approved
decriminalization in November by a margin of nearly 2 to 1.


Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n336.a10.html Close Window

Commentary: Legalize Drugs to Stop Violence

From CNN.com
Commentary: Legalize drugs to stop violence
Jeffrey Miron: Thousands have been killed in Mexico's ongoing drug war
He says U.S. drug policy leads to corruption of politicians and law enforcement
Miron: Legalizing drugs is the best way to reduce drug violence
He says drugs should be controlled through regulation and taxation
By Jeffrey A. MironSpecial to CNN
Editor's note: Jeffrey A. Miron is senior lecturer in economics at Harvard University.
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Over the past two years, drug violence in Mexico has become a fixture of the daily news. Some of this violence pits drug cartels against one another; some involves confrontations between law enforcement and traffickers.
Recent estimates suggest thousands have lost their lives in this "war on drugs."
The U.S. and Mexican responses to this violence have been predictable: more troops and police, greater border controls and expanded enforcement of every kind. Escalation is the wrong response, however; drug prohibition is the cause of the violence.
Prohibition creates violence because it drives the drug market underground. This means buyers and sellers cannot resolve their disputes with lawsuits, arbitration or advertising, so they resort to violence instead.
Violence was common in the alcohol industry when it was banned during Prohibition, but not before or after.
Violence is the norm in illicit gambling markets but not in legal ones. Violence is routine when prostitution is banned but not when it's permitted. Violence results from policies that create black markets, not from the characteristics of the good or activity in question.
The only way to reduce violence, therefore, is to legalize drugs. Fortuitously, legalization is the right policy for a slew of other reasons.
Prohibition of drugs corrupts politicians and law enforcement by putting police, prosecutors, judges and politicians in the position to threaten the profits of an illicit trade. This is why bribery, threats and kidnapping are common for prohibited industries but rare otherwise. Mexico's recent history illustrates this dramatically.
Prohibition erodes protections against unreasonable search and seizure because neither party to a drug transaction has an incentive to report the activity to the police. Thus, enforcement requires intrusive tactics such as warrantless searches or undercover buys. The victimless nature of this so-called crime also encourages police to engage in racial profiling.
Prohibition has disastrous implications for national security. By eradicating coca plants in Colombia or poppy fields in Afghanistan, prohibition breeds resentment of the United States. By enriching those who produce and supply drugs, prohibition supports terrorists who sell protection services to drug traffickers.
Prohibition harms the public health. Patients suffering from cancer, glaucoma and other conditions cannot use marijuana under the laws of most states or the federal government despite abundant evidence of its efficacy. Terminally ill patients cannot always get adequate pain medication because doctors may fear prosecution by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Drug users face restrictions on clean syringes that cause them to share contaminated needles, thereby spreading HIV, hepatitis and other blood-borne diseases.
Prohibitions breed disrespect for the law because despite draconian penalties and extensive enforcement, huge numbers of people still violate prohibition. This means those who break the law, and those who do not, learn that obeying laws is for suckers.
Prohibition is a drain on the public purse. Federal, state and local governments spend roughly $44 billion per year to enforce drug prohibition. These same governments forego roughly $33 billion per year in tax revenue they could collect from legalized drugs, assuming these were taxed at rates similar to those on alcohol and tobacco. Under prohibition, these revenues accrue to traffickers as increased profits.
The right policy, therefore, is to legalize drugs while using regulation and taxation to dampen irresponsible behavior related to drug use, such as driving under the influence. This makes more sense than prohibition because it avoids creation of a black market. This approach also allows those who believe they benefit from drug use to do so, as long as they do not harm others.
Legalization is desirable for all drugs, not just marijuana. The health risks of marijuana are lower than those of many other drugs, but that is not the crucial issue. Much of the traffic from Mexico or Colombia is for cocaine, heroin and other drugs, while marijuana production is increasingly domestic. Legalizing only marijuana would therefore fail to achieve many benefits of broader legalization.
It is impossible to reconcile respect for individual liberty with drug prohibition. The U.S. has been at the forefront of this puritanical policy for almost a century, with disastrous consequences at home and abroad.
The U.S. repealed Prohibition of alcohol at the height of the Great Depression, in part because of increasing violence and in part because of diminishing tax revenues. Similar concerns apply today, and Attorney General Eric Holder's recent announcement that the Drug Enforcement Administration will not raid medical marijuana distributors in California suggests an openness in the Obama administration to rethinking current practice.
Perhaps history will repeat itself, and the U.S. will abandon one of its most disastrous policy experiments.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jeffrey Miron.
All AboutMexico • Illegal Drugs • Law Enforcement



Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/24/miron.legalization.drugs/index.html?eref=rss_topstories


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After Yucca: America's homeless nuclear waste

In Idaho. In Massachusetts. In Iowa, Nebraska, Texas, Louisiana, California, New Mexico -- at 120 locations in 39 states a total of 66,000 tons of used but still dangerously radioactive fuel are stored in concrete containers under the open sky.

And now it has nowhere else to go.

In this June 25, 2002 file photo, the view from the summit ridge of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump near Mercury, Nev.,looking west towards California. (The Associated Press file photo)

But President Barack Obama opposes the repository and has slashed funding for it in his budget proposal. "Both the president and I have made clear that Yucca Mountain is not a workable option and that we will begin a thoughtful dialogue on a better solution for our nuclear storage waste needs," Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a Senate budget panel recently.
Concerns about transportation safety, earthquakes, water contamination and its proximity to millions of Nevadans have stalled the repository's completion after two decades and billions of dollars of study and construction.

Some even contend that the Yucca Mountain project is dead.

Read more at http://www.sltrib. com/ci_11967458

Monsanto's Many Attempts to Destroy All Seeds but Their Own

Some say that if farmers don’t want problems from Monsanto, they simply shouldn’t buy Monsanto’s GMO seeds. But it isn’t quite that simple. Monsanto contaminates the fields, trespasses onto the land taking samples, and then sues, saying they own the crop.

Meanwhile, Monsanto is taking many other steps to keep farmers and everyone else from having any access at all to buying, collecting, and saving of normal seeds:

Continue reading at:
http://articles. mercola.com/ sites/articles/ archive/2009/ 03/07/monsantos- many-attempts- to-destroy- all-seeds- but-their- own.aspx
Photo from: educate-yourself.org

Environmental Action

Polluters are using two Supreme Court rulings and Bush era actions by the Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to circumvent the Clean Water Act. This can result in the pollution of America's streams, lakes and rivers. Please support the "Clean Water Restoration Act". Go to earthjustice.org and learn more.

Posted by D.J.

Crisis in Somalia

CRISIS IN SOMALIA

A series of public forums on the current war and raising awareness on what some call the largest humanitarian crisis in Africa and the world.

Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009

4-6 pm

Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, 3 Rutland Street (at corner of State St.) Springfield, MA

COME MEET AND TALK WITH MEMBERS OF THE WESTERN MASS. SOMALI REFUGEE COMMUNITY

FEATURING special guest Smith College professor KATWIWA MULE. Video clips of past forums and live performance by members of the Walaalo! Somali Sisters Collective.

There will be POETRY and MUSIC from members of Walaalo! Collective

For more info visit our website at www.newworldtheater.org or contact Nicole: nmyoung@acad.umass.edu or 413-545-1972

The Crisis in Somalia forums are co-sponsored by the Center for Popular Economics,Western Mass. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the MLK Community Center, and other partners with generous support from the Mass Humanities.

See our website for updates & information – www.newworldtheater.org

WALAALO! Project is supported in part by the Womenʼs Fund of Western Massachusetts, and Mass Humanities. This highly collaborative project would not be possible without the work of the following partner organizations: the Center for Popular Economics, the International Language Institute, Akeret Productions, Deanʼs Beans, and Gasoline Alley.

For info email Nicole Young at nmyoung@acad.umass.edu or call NWT at 413-545-1972.

Homeless Nation gains attention

Last fall community and social media expert Chris Brogan gave a plus t0 Canadian-based Homeless Nation, a site I frequently go to for updates on homeless organizing.

You might have heard of the site. They won both the Canadian New Media Award (CNMA) and the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) Award for Excellence in New Communications Award for New Media Creation/Social Media Production, so it’s not like they’re going unnoticed. The organization has been around since 2003, providing information on services, events, missing people notices, and much more.

I found the fact that members of Homeless Nation can produce podcasts and video to be quite an interesting component. Imagine a world where your physical location is no longer fixed. You might have a place to stash parts of your belongings. You will certainly find ways to acquire temporary shelter, will learn how to find food, find a place to bathe, and the like.

Homeless Nation describes it goals as:

Our Goals

Build and strengthen communities, both virtual and actual, across Canada

Provide access to the Internet, media and training to Canada's homeless population

Encourage discussion and learning on social issues surrounding homelessness

Create dialogue between Canada's homeless and mainstream society to counter isolation and marginalization

Recycle and re-purpose technology for use by Canada's homeless communities

Break down stereotypes and barriers in our society

Community development uniting resources serving the homeless

Create a national collective voice by and for Canada's homeless population

Wouldn't it be great to have a site like this in the U.S.?

From the Springfield Republican, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009

NORTHAMPTON - Venturing into little-known legal territory, the defense for Jason W. Vassell asked a Hampshire Superior Court judge on Wednesday for the right to examine police and prosecution files for incidents involving race. Read more...

'Racism' hinted in UMass case

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

As President Obama is scheduled to announce his $50 billion foreclosure prevention plan today, we go to Minneapolis to speak with Cheri Honkala of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign. The group is taking matters into its own hands and finding housing for homeless people in foreclosed and vacant homes. We also speak to Dwayne Cunningham, a homeless man who recently moved into a vacant home.

Read on...
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/18/as_obama_unveils_foreclosure_plan_activists

Amy Goodman’s New Column: “Jailing Kids for Cash”
As many as 5,000 children in Pennsylvania have been found guilty, and up to 2,000 of them jailed, by two corrupt judges who received kickbacks from the builders and owners of private prison facilities that benefited. The two judges pleaded guilty in a stunning case of greed and corruption that is still unfolding. Judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan received $2.6 million in kickbacks while imprisoning children who often had no access to a lawyer. The case offers an extraordinary glimpse into the shameful private prison industry that is flourishing in the United States.
Listen to this Column

Springfield Libraries Under Fire Again By Maureen Turner

Springfield Libraries Under Fire Again
Supporters say proposed budget cuts would devastate the city's library system.

Springfield's city libraries have been on a roller coaster ride in recent years, with dramatic lows (the shutting of three neighborhood branches by the Springfield Library and Museums Association in 2003) and thrilling highs (the citizens' movement that same year that led to the city taking control of the libraries from the SLMA).

While not all the damage suffered under the SLMA has been undone—notably, Mason Square still doesn't have a full branch, six years after the SLMA secretly sold that neighborhood's branch building to the Urban League—the system has enjoyed a general sense of security since it was taken from the private organization and put under public control.

But that sense of security has been shaken by recent budget recommendations put out by Mayor Domenic Sarno. Faced with deep cuts in local aid, the Sarno administration is looking to cut more than $4.5 million in city spending over the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Read more at http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=9228

20 years later, are we finally "families?"

One of the very first flyers Arise ever made-- back in the day when we scratched off presstype letters that were never even-- was about a memo from Welfare that had fallen into our hands. The language in the memo was very strange-- instead of saying families, we were called "Assistance Units!!!"

Well, we protested, we used it to organiz IOe other families on Welfare to illustrate how we were demeaned by the system.

Today I got an email from the Mass Coalition for the Homeless about the eight TERRIBLE proposals the Department of Transitional Assistance is proposing that would limit families' access to emergency shelter. they all need to be opposed, and I've written about them in more detail on my own blog.

At the very end of the email from MCH, two positive changes are mentioned. One removes barriers to shelter for children living with legal guardians who are not parents.

This is the other: "Refer to families as "households" instead of "assistance units."
What a long, strange trip it's been.

Bush Gone, More Children Get Healthcare

Right-wing President George W. Bush is no longer in office. He can no longer veto the increase in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The American people have repudiated his policies and elected President Barak Obama. President Obama has signed the SCHIP expansion. This is a complete reversal of government policy. Is the country beginning to catch up to the standards that civilized countries in Europe and elsewhere enjoy? We need a single-payer National Health Insurance Program for everyone.

Obama signs into law expansion of SCHIP health-care program for children Chicago Tribune Story

State by State SCHIPS database Insure Kids Now!

Physicians for a National Health Program fact sheet What is Single Payer?

(George W. Bush picture is in the Public Domain)

Change slow to come on Police Review Board

more on the Springfield Police Civilian Review Board from the Republican...

Police review board criticized
Sunday, February 08, 2009
By MIKE PLAISANCE
mplaisance@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - The police complaint review board meets at least twice a month and has handled more than 50 cases, according to its coordinator.
"People do know about the Community Complaint Review Board," Denise R. Jordan, who is chief of staff to Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and also coordinates the review panel, said this week. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have cases to work on. They come to our office and they get the forms, so I'm confident that they are aware of it."
Jordan will tell city councilors about the board's activity when she meets with the council's Civil Rights and Race Relations Committee Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall. The meeting comes in response to councilors' criticisms that the nine-member board, which is an advisory panel to the mayor, is secretive and ineffective. READ THE REST BY CLICKING THE LINK:

http://www.masslive.com/springfield/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-19/1233994807235360.xml&coll=1

Obama’s green plan must include Native Americans

I was skipping through my email this morning and this caught my attention. Winona La Duke is a great activist/writer/leader among so many. I hope Washington will hear the voices of our past, present & future in the words of native americans like Winona today.

Obama’s green plan must include Native Americans
By Winona LaDuke, January 31, 2009
To accomplish the green energy goals he talked about in his inaugural address, President Obama must work with Native Americans.
“Each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet,” the president said, vowing that “we will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.”

You can read the full article at http://www.progressive.org/mag/mpladuke013109.html

Springfield City Council wants to mess with new marijuana law

We simply have got to change our Arise board meeting so it's not on the same night as Springfield City Council speak-out!

Councilor James Ferrara plans to introduce an ordinance to add an additional $300 fine (on top of the $100 fine in the new state ordinance approved last election day) to anyone seen smoking marijuana in public. See the Springfield Republican story here.

"It's not to circumvent the will of the voters. They have spoken. We're just going to try to address qualify-of-life issues in the city," Ferrera said.

Yes, we DID speak, and what we said was a $100 fine, not $400!!!!

I would suggest

• That we draft a letter at the board meeting opposing tampering with the new law and send it to the newspaper and Springfield City Council
• Call and email city councilors.

2009 Springfield City Councilors

James J. Ferrera, III
33 Palmyra Street, 01118
Home: 351-6657
Email: jferrera1@verizon.net

William T. Foley, President
221 Wildwood Avenue, 01118
Home: 783-2201

Patrick J. Markey
17 Oxford Street, 01108
Home: 746-5512
Email: pmarkey@ogklaw.com
Website: www.patmarkey.com

Rosemarie Mazza-Moriarty
95 Osborne Terrace, 01104
Home: 781-3908
Email: moefamily@netzero.com

Timothy J. Rooke
50 Overlook Drive, 01118
Home: 747-1825

Bruce W. Stebbins, Vice President
19 Mattoon Street, 01105
Home: 734-6216
email: BStebbins@nam.org

Jose Tosado
22 Birch Glen Drive, 01129
Home: 782-2678

Kateri Walsh
42 Magnolia Terrace, 01108
Home: 781-8042
Email: kwalsh@springfieldcityhall.com
Website: kateriwalsh.com

Bud L. Williams
71 Joanne Road, 01119
Home: 783-9592

Call and email

news from the Justice for Jason Campaign

The following are updates on the case as well as the grassroots movement. Please read this and stay updated by going to our website at www.justiceforjason.org Thank you for your continued support for Jason.

MOTION TO DISMISS

On Monday, December 29th, Jason Vassell's defense submitted a motion to dismiss Vassell's indictment, No. 08-56, "on the ground that the defendant has been selectively prosecuted because of his race, in violation of the rights guaranteed him by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Articles I and XII of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights." Click here to read the motion : http://www.justiceforjason.org/motion

A HEARING ON THIS MOTION WILL BE ON WEDNESDAY FEB. 18^TH AT 2PM

(15 Gothic St, Northampton MA)

YEAR ANNIVERSARY

February 3rd 2009 marks ONE YEAR that Jason has been victim of a racist hate crime and a horrific racist prosecution. As the prosecution continues its violent attack on Jason's life, we are calling on people throughout the region to join us for a DAY OF SHAME.

MARCH WITH US ON TUESDAY FEB 3 FOR THE DAY SHAME (for details click here: http://www.justiceforjason.org/dayofshame) Meet us outside Mackimmie Dorm (Southwest) UMASS at 11:30AM

CAN'T MARCH? JOIN US IN A CALL-IN DAY TO THE DA'S OFFICE or do BOTH (for details click here: http://www.justiceforjason.org/feb-3-national-call-in-day )

HELP US GET PETITION SIGNATURES-if you've already signed it get 5-10+ of your friends to sign. Please help us get 10,000 signatures before Feb.3^rd. Forward this link to as many people as possible http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/J4JDismissalofcharges/

WANT TO GET MORE INVOLVED?

Interested in working towards our national campaign? Have national contacts i.e. organizations, friends, family, or coworkers in other states? If you want to help continue raising awareness and mobilizing support for Jason please get in touch with us at mobilizingforjason@gmail.com College Valley students please email J4JValleycolleges@gmail.com

WEBSITE
Our website is constantly being updated and has recently been improved. Please visit it for more updates on the case and upcoming events: www.justiceforjason.org

Thank You again for your support.

In strength,
The Committee for Justice for Jason

ALSO!!!!

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21 ’09 6 P.M. Grace Episcopal Church Parish Hall, Amherst

A COMMUNITY AUCTION & community action for Justice for Jason...

Our goal: to help Jason Vassell and his family w/ his legal fees.

CAN YOU DONATE AN ITEM OR SERVICE?
Original art & crafts, gift certificates, food baskets et.al, getaways, jewelry, services: home, professional, babysitting, gardening, music, recreational, dinners - get the idea?

This auction is community sponsored & supported.
SUPPORT JASON & SUPPORT JUSTICE IN THE VALLEY!
CALL SOON !
Louise: 413-549-3630 louise.antony@gmail.com or
Emily:413-256-1760 lewis.emily@comcast.net