E-Actions for Freedom

Sign the NoJailForPot.com statement, pass it on

DEAR FRIENDS

This short note has been sent to you because you took a stand, and signed
your name to NoJailForPot.com, along with nearly SIX THOUSAND other people.

That is a lot of people, particularly since word about us is spread strictly
by word of mouth, person to person.

The federal government is still pushing its war on marijuana. Pushing hard.

But there has been a shift in the wind.

Ed Rosenthal, arrested by the Federal government for growing pot that was
legal according to the laws of the State of California has been sentenced to
ONE DAY in jail, and released, credited with time already served by a
Federal judge.

He could have spent nearly the rest of his life in jail.

This is how alcohol prohibition ended. Judges and juries stopped imposing
severe sentences and then stopped imposing sentences altogether.

Now is the time for our voices to be heard.

Timing is everything, and now, while the shift is happening, the time has
come to show and increase the strength of our voices. There is nothing more
powerful than an idea whose time has come.

My request is:

Please send the following short, simple message to every appropriate email
address you have.

-----------------
Dear Friend:

I believe laws against the use, possession, sale, growing and transportation
of marijuana/hemp are foolish, unjust, counterproductive, and harmful to
society. Please join me in signing the Declaration at www.nojailforpot.com
which declares that no one in the United States should be in jail for these
simple, peaceful actions.

Signed,

A Friend.
-----------------

Our nearly six thousand voices can multiply into the tens of thousands,
maybe to the hundred's of thousands. The more who sign, the more powerful
our voice. Please cut and paste and send this email today.

It costs nothing to sign, it takes less than a minute, and when enough
people sign, it can result in the end of marijuana prohibition.

WIN TAPES ON THE FREEDOM PHILOSOPHY

Register now for this month's Free-Market.Net "door prize"

DEADLINE MONDAY: WIN TAPES ON THE FREEDOM PHILOSOPHY
------------------------------------------------------------
FMN's monthly FREE drawing: http://www.free-market.net/

Okay, our shameless grab for last-minute publicity for ISIL's annual
World Conference (http://www.isil.org/conference/), has turned into
a grab for attention to both our conference *and* our auction.

We're giving away a comprehensive introduction to libertarianism
by George H. Smith on audio cassette. The 12-tape set is a new
product being added to the ISIL store (http://www.isil.org/store/),
but was originally produced by Resources for Independent Thinking
(http://www.rit.org/).

Entitled "Themes in the History of Libertarian Thought", the lectures
cover six George Smith seminars, including "Cultures of Liberty" and
"The Right to Resistance and Revolution". Q&A sessions are included.

To this day, I remember the powerful formative impact the Nathaniel
Branden NBI lecture tapes had on my early libertarian thinking. These
lectures have that kind of power, but are of more recent vintage.

To register to win, please stop by the FMN home page:

http://www.free-market.net/

It's free, it's easy, and, as always, there's no obligation.

And don't forget to check out our auction -- and please let all your
libertarian or generally freedom-loving friends know about it!

http://www.free-market.net/rd/337649661.html

Help Abolish Guatemala's Notorious EMP

Urge Guatemala's President to Abolish the Estado Mayor Presidencial (Presidential Guard or EMP)

Action Works: Senators to Question DEA Nominee on medical Marijuana

This is a success story, not an action...though I wholeheartedly support the Marijuana Policy Project, and encourage you to assist them in their efforts in any way possible. They provide a link to donate to this campaign at the end of the letter.

I sent a fax to Senator Feinstein on this issue, and it's very nice to see that she's finally going to take a step to help defend the many medical marijuana patients and providers who are being abused, harassed, and incarcerated by the federal government.
===========================================

==============================================

It appears that between three and five U.S. senators, including
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), will be submitting written questions
about medical marijuana to Karen Tandy, President Bush's nominee for
DEA administrator. This is a major achievement for MPP's "Don't
Confirm the Raids" campaign, a grassroots and direct lobbying effort
aimed at making medical marijuana the focus of the DEA confirmation
hearings. (Please see http://DontConfirm.org .)

As an added bonus, MPP, with the help of Suzanne Pfeil, a medical
marijuana patient with post-polio syndrome, has revealed Karen Tandy
to be nothing more than a coward. After Tandy's hearing before the
Senate Judiciary Committee, Pfeil waited patiently to hand her a
letter. Instead of approaching Pfeil, Tandy tried to sneak away
through a back door. Undeterred, Pfeil actually chased Tandy down the
halls of Congress -- in her wheelchair -- to hand-deliver her letter.
(To read about -- and see pictures of -- Pfeil's adventure, please see
http://DontConfirm.org/confront.html .)

Without the work of the campaign, Karen Tandy could have been
confirmed as DEA administrator without ever revealing her position on
medical marijuana. Now, her position will likely be made public. If
she doesn't signal an intention to stop Asa Hutchinson's policy of
raiding the homes and cooperatives of patients and providers acting in
accordance with California's medical marijuana laws, MPP will call for
senators to oppose Karen Tandy's confirmation.

Sen. Feinstein's decision to submit questions represents a milestone
for medical marijuana activism. This is her first official action to
reform the DEA's policy of aggressively targeting patients. Her past
silence had only emboldened the DEA.

=============================================

Sen. Feinstein's small step toward developing a medical marijuana
policy consistent with the laws of her state and the views of her
constituents came only after stories of the DEA raids were personally
delivered to her office by the people who have had their hands cuffed,
their medicine confiscated, guns pointed at their heads, and their
loved ones imprisoned -- all at the hands of the DEA.

In April, MPP brought Valerie Corral and Ashley Epis to Washington --
accompanied by Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe
Access (ASA) -- to share their experiences with Sen. Feinstein's
staff. Corral, who uses marijuana to treat her epilepsy, is the
director of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), a
Santa Cruz cooperative that was raided by the DEA last September.
Ashley Epis is the eight-year-old daughter of Bryan Epis, a medical
marijuana patient and caregiver currently serving a 10-year federal
prison sentence for conspiring to grow marijuana for the Chico Medical
Marijuana Caregivers and to treat his own pain and disabilities
sustained in a near-fatal car accident.

Within the last week, a number of additional actions increased the
pressure on Sen. Feinstein:

* On Tuesday, ASA held a press conference in front of
Sen. Feinstein's San Francisco office featuring California-
approved patients, providers, and families who have suffered
from DEA raids on their homes and cooperatives. Twenty-three
of the people most directly affected signed and delivered a
letter to the senator requesting that she take action on
Wednesday to protect them from further DEA attacks. (See
http://DontConfirm.org/feinstein_letter.html .)

* In Washington, D.C., MPP sponsored the visit of the above-
mentioned Suzanne Pfeil, an active member of the WAMM
cooperative. Suzanne, who uses marijuana to treat muscle
spasticity and the pain of nerve degeneration, traveled
3,000 miles to educate the D.C. media about Sen. Feinstein's
refusal to support California patients.

* Valerie Corral followed up her April visit with an open
letter to Sen. Feinstein that she delivered on Monday.
(An Oakland Tribune article describing this letter is posted
at http://www.mpp.org/CA/news_4468.html .)

The day before Tandy's hearing -- in the midst of all this activity --
Sen. Feinstein's office called MPP and ASA to say that the senator
would submit written questions about medical marijuana.

Medical marijuana supporters should be encouraged by these events.
They demonstrate that even our most ardent opponents can be swayed by
personal stories and public pressure. If you have ever considered
lobbying your member of Congress, you should know that one or two
people can make a difference.

MPP is indebted to Valerie Corral, Ashley Epis, Suzanne Pfeil, and
Steph Sherer for traveling to D.C. to share their stories with
policymakers.

==============================================
To show your support for this campaign with a financial contribution,
please visit http://DontConfirm/support .

Oppose Constitutional Amendment Defining Marriage

You can read my views on gay marriage here, in my second-oldest Internet article, from December 1996.

Suffice it to say, I'm against a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being only between a man and a woman. If that's the direction our country's heading in, we might as well just start back up with witch trials too for good measure. And then maybe we could ban mixed-race marriages, and then cross-class marriages...and there's still time to return to the feudal system, while we're at it. Oh -- I know! we could make a constitutional amendment banning tongue rings. Those kinda gross me out a little.
</sarcastic rant>

From: Matt Howes, National Internet Organizer, ACLU
To: ACLU Action Network Members
Date: June 25, 2003

With Canada preparing to legalize gay marriages, religious right organizations are signaling their intent to push a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as strictly between a man and a woman. And a Supreme Court decision on gay rights expected later this week will likely incite them even further.

The proposed constitutional amendment would also destroy a wide range of rights that are important to the lives of unmarried persons (whether unmarried relatives, heterosexual couples, and gay and lesbian couples). Those legal protections include state and local civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination based on "marital status" and state laws protecting unmarried elderly couples who refrain from marrying in order to hold on to their pensions.

Take action to oppose writing discrimination into the Constitution. Click here to get more information and send a free fax to your Members of Congress.

http://www.aclu.org/LesbianGayRights/LesbianGayRights.cfm?ID=9977&c=101

****************************************************************
For more information on other issues and the latest news, please visit our website at http://www.aclu.org

Help Strengthen the ACLU's Voice in Congress... Click below to become a card-carrying Member or donate today!
http://www.aclu.org/contribute/contribute.cfm?ORGID=AA02

If you are not already on our mailing list and would like to subscribe to the ACLU Action Network Updates, click http://www.aclu.org/team/member.cfm

To find out what more you can do to protect your civil liberties, please visit http://www.aclu.org/action

Join Amnesty's Human Rights Action Center, and earn them $1

I'm a member of Amnesty International, and also part of their Human Rights Action Network, which is basically an e-mail alert service about human rights violations around the world. Why limit your sphere of influence to just your own country? As much as freedom is in danger here in the United States, there are plenty of places where freedom is little more than a myth, barely existing at all. While I'm opposed to governmental military intervention as a means to end such tragedies, I'm strongly in favor of almost every other means there is, including social intervention, and boycott. The Internet greases the gears on this kind of action, big time.

And as you can see, AI has a major donor who will reward them for each new person that signs up for their network. So go to it -- what have you got to lose?

Here's their pitch:

Help Celebrate 30 Years of Action to Free Prisoners of Conscience
For Every New Online Activist Who Signs Up in June, $1 Will Be Donated to Amnesty

Take an easy, simple step to promote human rights! This year marks the 30th Anniversary of Amnesty International's Urgent Action Network (UAN), the global network of concerned citizens who are available 24 hours a day to intercede on behalf of prisoners of conscience everywhere. Tens of thousands of concerned folks have already made an enormous difference in our global fight for human rights - responses to e-mail alerts and Urgent Actions have resulted in hundreds of thousands of faxes, letters and emails and the ultimate release of more than 40,000 prisoners of conscience worldwide.

To mark this important anniversary, an anonymous donor has agreed to donate one dollar to Amnesty International for every new sign-up to Amnesty USA's online Human Rights Action Center (HRAC) - up to $100,000! Help us recruit 100,000 new participants in the HRAC! Launched in 2000, the HRAC grew out of our 30 years of experience with the UAN, utilizing new technologies to mobilize more people, more quickly via email and the Web.

Participation in the Human Rights Action Center is free. Sign up today - and forward this message on to your friends and encourage them to sign up too!

Use this link to join:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=464134&l=5960

Also, read more about the Urgent Action Network and its 30th Anniversary:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=464134&l=5961

If you are already a member of the Action Center, please forward this message on to your friends! Help us reach our goal!

Subscribe to TruthOut

TruthOut is an excellent free news service.
It leans a little to the left, but mostly it seem to focused on being the opposition -- presenting the stories and voices that the Powers That Be would rather not have heard. I am very much down with that. And they have been very focused on the wars in Iraq and elsewhere, and the War on Terror -- two of the greatest threats to freedom so far this century.

They have a website loaded with dissident and lesser-seen articles, and a daily e-mail newsletter that looks something like this:

t r u t h o u t | 06.24

Bush Forced to Defend Rising US Death Toll
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062403A.shtml

Top Blair Aide to Go Public Over Iraq Weapons
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062403B.shtml

Hundreds of Iraqis Killed By Cluster Bombs
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062403C.shtml

US Soldiers Attacked Again in Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062403D.shtml

Supreme Court Narrowly Upholds Affirmative Action
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062403E.shtml

Brooklyn Bridge Al Qaeda Bomber was FBI Spy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062403F.shtml

Brooks | A Nation of Victims
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062403G.shtml

'Saddam' Strike Shows US Desperation
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062403H.shtml

Jennifer Van Bergen | Your Medical Privacy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062403I.shtml

Contractors in Iraq Share '7 Billion Dollar Bank Account'
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062403J.shtml

t r u t h o u t | 06.23

William Rivers Pitt | Slaughtergate
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062303A.shtml

US General Condemns Iraq Failures
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062303B.shtml

Iraq-Al Qaeda Connection Undermined by Intelligence Report
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062303C.shtml

Blix: Iraq WMDs Were Little More Than 'Debris'
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062303D.shtml

Meyer | Where Are WMDs? Where's Congress?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062303E.shtml

Halliburton is Principal Beneficiary of Iraq Reconstruction
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062303F.shtml

Resistance Simmers as Iraqis Await Government
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062303G.shtml

Iraq Grenade Attack Kills U.S. Soldier
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062303H.shtml

Hentoff | Justice Denied at the Source
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062303I.shtml

Papers Used to Accuse British Parliament Member Deemed Forgeries
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/062303J.shtml

Perhaps the coolest thing about TruthOut is that they create a permanent archive copy of all the articles they feature, no matter the source. So even if the original website puts the article in their for-pay archives, or takes it down, TruthOut has a copy. I use TruthOut for a lot of the news items I post at PNAC.info, and it's great to not have to worry about those articles disappearing. They include a link to the original with each item, so folks can see the article in its original form if it's still available.

I've been receiving TruthOut's e-mail updates for about 6 months now, and I've been a monthly pledger for a few months, and I'm a very satisfied customer.

At the very least, subscribe to their e-mail updates. You can always unsubscribe if you don't like them.

I would also encourage you to support them financially, and will do so more thoroughly in another action item.

Help the Homeschooling Bryant family

The Bryant family of Waltham, Mass. have been involved in conflict with the state and the school borad for 6 years, and things have recently gotten more worrisome for them. The Bryants homeschool their two children, and refused to submit to the state's demands in terms of testing and evaluation of their children's educational progress. No allegations of harm or negligence have been made; the issue is simply that the Bryants are asserting their right to control their children's education, and the state asserts that it has the final say, and that they must pass the official tests and requirements.

The state Department of Social Services won official custody over their children almost two years ago. 11 days ago, police and DSS workers showed up at the Bryants' home to collect the two children (George, age 15, and Nyssa, 13) so that they could be made to take a standardized test to determine their educational level. The parents refused to comply, and were temporarily left alone.

You can read more about the Bryants here, and read an editorial here. I wrote about my recent phone conversation with George Bryant, Sr. here.

George Bryant feels that the best action for others to take if they want to help is to contact the Mayor of Waltham, and put pressure on him to put pressure on the School Board, to leave the Bryants alone.

Here is contact information for Waltham's Mayor:

Mayor David Gately
610 Main St.
Waltham, MA 02453

Phone: 781-893-4040

That number is to city hall's main office. I will try to get a better number, as well as a fax number, tomorrow.

I also feel it would be helpful to write letters to the editor of the local paper, which has written sympathetically about the Bryants in the past.

There is a web form where you can submit an opinion to the paper in just a matter of minutes, right here. That's a page for Herald Interactive, the parent company of the Daily News Tribune.

Here is the Daily News Tribune's direct contact information:

If you write in, I suggest sending your comments in through both the web form and through e-mail, fax or letter to the places above (because the form offers a chance that your letters could be picked up by one of the larger papers in that company's network, while the other options seem to be the best chance of getting it published or counted at the local paper.)

Points to make:

I've asked George Bryant to let me know if anything new comes up that deserves action. Check back for updates.

Take the WTP Survey

If you are familiar with the efforts of the tax freedom group We The People, they would like you to take a survey to help them evaluate their effectiveness and approach. You can take the survey here.

If you're not familiar with them, you probably won't have much to offer in terms of responses to their questions, but you can take this opportunity to check out their website, and learn about the hardcore work they are doing to try to (massively) reform the U.S. tax system.

Support the Freedom to Read Act

Dear Bill of Rights defender:

Getting the Freedom to Read Protection Act (HR 1157) passed is one of the first tests of the growing grassroots movement to restore and protect essential rights and liberties in the United States.  Our web page on the bill includes up-to-date information on current cosponsors by state and a petition you may download and use to show local support for the bill: http://www.bordc.org/freedomtoread.htm#petition.

If your House member is already a cosponsor of HR 1157, please thank him or her.  If he or she is not, please organize delegations to meet with your House member or a senior aide when the member is in your district, and call or write your member's district office and Washington office.

Members of the American Library Association have recently visited the Washington, DC, offices of many House members and provided us with the following list of those who especially need local follow-up.  The list is divided into districts with communities that include Civil Liberties Safe Zones and those that do not (yet!).

Districts that include Civil Liberties Safe Zones and need follow-up visits and local calls:

Arizona 1st, Rep. Rick Renzi
California 2nd, Rep. Wally Herger
Colorado 3rd, Rep. Scott McInnis
Colorado 4th, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave
Florida 6th, Rep. Cliff Stearns
Montana at-large, Rep. Denny Rehberg
New Hampshire 2nd, Rep. Charlie Bass
Oregon 2nd, Rep. Greg Walden
Pennsylvania 19th, Rep. Todd Platts
Tennessee 2nd, Rep. John Duncan

Other potential cosponsors who need follow-up visits and local calls:

Wisconsin 6th, Rep. Tom Petri (has expressed civil rights concerns with the Patriot Act)
Pennsylvania 8th, Rep. Jim Greenwood (moderate Republican)
Tennessee 1st, Rep. Bill Jenkins
California 3rd, Rep. Doug Ose
California 11th, Rep. Richard Pombo
Arizona 3rd, Rep. John Shadegg
Nevada 3rd, Rep. Jon Porter
Virginia 10th, Rep. Frank Wolf

For more information about the act and useful links, go to http://www.bordc.org/freedomtoread.htm.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
- Margaret Mead

Editor: Nancy Talanian, Codirector
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
140 Pine Street, Room 10
P.O. Box 60591
Florence, MA 01062

Web: www.bordc.org
Email: info@bordc.org (Please note: new email address!)
Telephone: 413-582-0110

Donate to DRCNet (and get a sweet free book)

DRCNet is one of the best drug law reform groups in the country. Their weekly e-mail newsletter alone makes them worth supporting. You can find an excellent long excerpt from Jacob Sullum's book (their special $35 premium) here.

Note the desperation indicated near the end of the request. I donated $35.

Dear friends:

DRCNet is pleased to announce a new book offer: "Saying
Yes: In Defense of Drug Use," a new, scholarly work by
author Jacob Sullum of the Reason Foundation. "Saying
Yes," published by Tarcher/Putnam, strives to accurately
portray the controlled responsible use of drugs that is the
norm, not for all, but for most drug users. This is a
controversial notion in our society and to some extent even
in the drug reform movement itself. Whether you are
inclined to agree or disagree with Sullum's central point,
we hope you'll read "Saying Yes" and to hear and consider
Sullum's evidence and arguments in full. Just visit
http://www.drcnet.org/donate/ and donate $35 or more, and
DRCNet will send you a copy for free.

Your donation will help in a second, very important way.
The drug reform movement is in a financial crisis of
greater proportions than I have ever seen in my nearly ten
years of involvement. While some help is on the way from
the movement's major grant program, the Tides Fund for Drug
Policy Reform, they have unfortunately chosen a timetable
that won't see funds disbursed until September. That means
your help is very much needed in the meantime -- DRCNet
literally will be unable to pay its bills or payroll or
keep its online petitions to Congress running through even
next month, without your support.

So please visit http://www.drcnet.org/donate/ to make a
generous donation by credit card or to print out a form to
send in with your donation by mail -- or just send your
check or money order to: DRCNet, P.O. Box 18402,
Washington, DC 20036 -- and contact us for instructions if
you'd like to make a contribution of stock.

This is some of the advance praise that "Saying Yes: In
Defense of Drug Use" has received:

"Jacob Sullum has produced a thoughtful, sane, and logical
analysis of our drug laws. Is that even LEGAL?"
- Dave Barry, syndicated columnist

"Saying Yes is a powerful refutation of the pharmacological
prejudices underlying the war on drugs. Jacob Sullum
highlights the injustice of punishing people for their
politically incorrect choice of intoxicants."
- Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil
Liberties Union; professor of law, New York Law School

"Sullum pits the truth against the lies of the drug
prohibitionists."
- Thomas Szasz, professor emeritus of psychiatry, SUNY
Upstate Medical University

"I've never used a recreational drug (or even had a sip of
alcohol) in my life, but Jacob Sullum makes a great case to
stop the drug wars. He exposes the tricks of the drug
warriors, who scam the crowd with huckster patter about
magical substances that force people to do evil."
- Penn Jillette, the larger, louder half of Penn & Teller

"Jacob Sullum shows that drug use is far from an all-or-
nothing phenomenon and that all use is not abuse. He puts
the erroneous claims of prohibitionists into historical
perspective."
- Mark Stepnoski, former NFL player (Dallas Cowboys,
Tennessee/Houston Oilers); president, Texas NORML

I have read Jacob Sullum's book and learned from and
enjoyed it, and I believe you will too. So visit
http://www.drcnet.org/donate/ and donate $35 or more to
make your contribution and get your free copy! (You can
also request other books we offer, as well as
StopTheDrugWar.org t-shirts, mugs and mousepads.)

Please note that donations to the Drug Reform Coordination
Network are not tax-deductible. If you wish to make a tax-
deductible donation to support our educational work, make
your check payable to DRCNet Foundation, same address.
Again, visit http://www.drcnet.org/donate/ to join, donate
and order your free copy of "Saying Yes." And make sure to
check out issue #289 of The Week Online, coming out
tomorrow morning, to read a review of "Saying Yes" by
DRCNet writer/editor Phil Smith. Thank you for your
support.

Sincerely,

David Borden
Executive Director

P.S. Visit http://www.cato-institute.org/events/030529bf.html
for links to watch Jacob Sullum's book talk live at the
Cato Institute, noon today (Thursday, 5/29), and Real Audio
to listen to afterward.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Subscribe: http://www.drcnet.org/Signup.html
Unsubscribe or change address: mailto:listhelp@drcnet.org

Demand Accuracy Requirements in National Criminal Database

From EPIC (The Electronic Privacy Information Center):

A broad coalition of organizations across the United States has endorsed a letter urging the reestablishment of accuracy requirements for the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC), the nation's largest criminal justice database.

More than 4,000 individuals from 47 states and the District of Columbia have signed an online petition to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) also supporting the Privacy Act accuracy requirements.

The petition drive will continue until the OMB acts on the request. Individuals may sign petition online at: http://www.petitiononline.com/ncic/petition.html

The Justice Department has administratively discharged the FBI of its statutory duty to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the over 39 million criminal records it maintains in its National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. This action poses significant risks to privacy and effective law enforcement.

The NCIC system provides over 80,000 law enforcement agencies with access to data on wanted persons, missing persons, gang members, as well as information about stolen cars, boats, and other information. The Privacy Act of 1974 requires the FBI to make reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the records in the NCIC system. Now, the Justice Department has exempted the system from the accuracy requirements of this important law.

We believe it is particularly important to ensure that Privacy Act obligations are applied to government record systems as the government considers dramatic expansion of record-keeping systems and the incorporation of private sector databases that are frequently inaccurate and unreliable.

The Privacy Act should continue to govern the maintenance and use of this important law enforcement database.

Read More

Sign the Petition

Donate to Anti-Slavery Freedom Biker Campaign

On June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger and his union soldiers landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the civil war had ended and that the enslaved were now free.  This was two and a half years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.  The celebration of the slaves' freedom on June 19th was coined “Juneteenth” and is still celebrated in many communities across America. We live during a time where news travels in a nanosecond, so it may seem unbelievable that the word did not reach Texas and parts of Louisiana until two years later.  However, the presence of Confederate troops in the region was so strong that Union forces claimed that their regiments would not be able to overcome Confederate resistance if there was mass rebellion. As you know, most Americans have not received word that slavery still exists and did not end in 1865.  But Alexander Dynan, a  recent high school graduate, is leading a team of “freedom bikers” 1,600 miles from Seattle to Santa Barbara to let people know that the fight against slavery is not over and that we need financial help to continue fighting. Today we are asking you, members of the American Anti-Slavery Group Freedom Action Network, to forward this chain letter to 10 friends in the hopes that they might give $10 dollars to help Alexander’s goal of raising $16,000 to support vital human rights monitoring missions that will help free and assist individuals that are enslaved.  To support Alexander's goal of $16,000, you can click here to support vital field missions. Or send a check to: 198 Tremont St., #421 Boston, MA 02116. Tax-deductible donations should be made out to the American Anti-Slavery Group. Please also note on your check that it is for the Bike Campaign. To read more, view the team's itinerary, and send a message of support, click here. Watch the meter of support as donations pour in toward the goal of $16,000. With your help the American Anti-Slavery Group can continue its work in communities as modern-day “General Grangers,” letting people know that they are free from bondage and that the world community is demanding that they never be enslaved again.   Take a minute to send this message to ten of your friends. Click below:  Tell-a-friend! If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for iAbolish Freedom Action Network.

Welcome to E-Actions for Freedom

Welcome to E-Actions for Freedom, a weblog devoted to dispatching online action items that can help advance the cause of freedom.

I get an enormous amount of freedom-related e-mails, largely from the more than 50 lists and e-zines to which I'm subscribed. It's hard to pick and choose which ones to send out to what contacts, and if I sent as many as I get, I think I'd annoy most of my e-mail contacts before too long. So, I set up this place to disseminate the many action opportunities that come my way.

As the entries collect, I plan to categorize them by issue, type of action, and location if applicable. I expect other features will develop -- the scope of this project is likely to expand and adapt over time. Until then, enjoy clicking away for freedom!

And tell your friends!

Be well, Be free,

Lance Brown
Candidate for President in 2008

P.S. - You can subscribe to this service by e-mail, and receive a notification every time a new item is posted. Just put your e-mail address in the box on the left and hit Enter.

P.P.S. - You're also invited to visit my primary weblog: The Free View - Weblog of a presidential candidate