E-Actions for Freedom

IRS and FEC Gag Political Speech: Take Action

Drug Policy Alliance Action Center

IRS and FEC Gag Political Speech

Two Bush administration agencies are proposing new regulations to prevent the Alliance and other advocacy groups from telling our supporters about the political actions of federal officials who are up for re-election. Our First Amendment rights - and yours - are at stake! Help us put a stop to the dangerous proposals that could bring an end to free speech and political activism.

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Action Needed Immediately to Protect Rodi Alvarado

From Amnesty International:

Your action is needed immediately to help protect Rodi Alvarado and other women fleeing gender persecution.

Nearly a year ago, Attorney General John Ashcroft said that he would personally decide the asylum case of Rodi Alvarado, a Guatemalan woman whose government failed to protect her during ten years of horrific abuse by her husband. When deciding that case, Ashcroft also planned to issue regulations that could bar many people, especially women fleeing gender-based persecution, from asylum in the United States. Fearing that the Attorney General would deny Ms. Alvarado asylum and issue restrictive regulations, Amnesty campaigned to prevent such a decision. There has been no decision so far, but now it seems imminent.

--> Please write immediately to Attorney General Ashcroft asking him not to revoke Rodi Alvarado's asylum grant. Amnesty International USA - Action Center">To take action, click here.

About Rodi Alvarado
The terrible facts of Rodi Alvarado's case are undisputed. She fled Guatemala and applied for asylum in the United States in 1995, after suffering ten years of relentless domestic abuse. Her husband Francisco Osorio, a former soldier, attempted to abort their second child by kicking her in the spine, dislocated her jaw, tried to cut her hands off with a machete, kicked her in the genitals, and used her head to break windows and mirrors. Ms. Alvarado sought assistance from the Guatemalan police and the courts - in vain. If Mr. Ashcroft denies asylum to Rodi Alvarado, she would be deported to Guatemala, where she faces battering and possible killing by her husband, who has vowed to find her.

California - Stop the Execution of Kevin Cooper

From Amnesty International:

Kevin Cooper is scheduled to be executed in California on February 10, 2004. He was sentenced to death in 1985 for a quadruple murder committed in 1983. Cooper maintains his innocence of the murders, and the jury that sentenced him struggled to pass a death sentence, apparently due to residual doubt about his guilt. The jury never heard available mitigating evidence. On January 30, Governor Schwarzenegger denied clemency to Kevin Cooper.

Please urge Governor Schwarzenegger to reconsider his decision not to grant clemency to Kevin Cooper. To take action, click on this link or paste it into your Web browser:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=464134&l=7944

Amnesty International has the deepest sympathy for the victims of violent crime and their families. However, the death penalty only serves to create more victims and perpetuate a cycle of violence.

Thank you for taking the time to protect human rights.

Sincerely,

Online Action Center
Amnesty International USA
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=464134&l=7945

Help MPP fight injustice and bad laws in 2004

Dear Friend:

Federal officials are subverting California's medical marijuana law
again, and California prosecutors are helping them do it.

After six months of pursuing the case, a California prosecutor
suddenly dropped state charges against a middle-aged couple who grew
marijuana for their own medicinal use. Then, as soon as the two were
deceived into thinking their troubles were over, federal officials --
invited by the state prosecutor -- swarmed into the courtroom and
arrested the couple on federal charges.

This elaborate ruse was enacted for the sole purpose of getting around
California's medical marijuana law. It is an outrage.

If you're upset about this and want to do something to fight back,
please consider working for the Marijuana Policy Project on one of our
upcoming ballot initiative campaigns.

I co-founded MPP nine years ago because of my deeply held conviction
that marijuana prohibition is wrong -- and that I could help end it.
If you share this conviction and are able to move to a different state
to work for relatively low wages from February to June (and perhaps
all the way to November), please visit http://www.mpp.org/jobs to
learn more.

If you cannot work for one of our state campaigns but instead want to
help pay for others to do so, please see http://www.mpp.org/donate0905
to make a financial donation.

David Dean Davidson, 52, and Cynthia Barcelo Blake, 53, grew marijuana
on their own property for their own use. They had a doctor's
recommendation to take marijuana for their illnesses. Yet they were
arrested, and Tehama County prosecutor Lynn Strom pursued a case
against them for six months. Then, in the courtroom, she suddenly
dropped the charges.

Thinking the case was dismissed, the couple's lawyers were lured into
the judge's chambers. While the lawyers were absent, the feds swarmed
into the courtroom and arrested Davidson and Blake on federal charges.
The lawyers were deprived of the opportunity to advise their clients
of their rights. If convicted, the couple now faces a mandatory
minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. Please see
http://www.mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=6004 or
http://www.mpp.org/states/site/quicknews.cgi?key=6040 to read more
about this outrageous story.

Strom "knew she couldn't win," defense attorney Tony Serra said. "So,
she concocted this terrible, illegal, underhanded scheme to separate
David and Cindy from their attorneys and transition them into federal
jurisdiction, where she knows that medical necessity is not a
defense." I'm sure you agree that the people of California don't pay
Strom her salary so she can undermine the law they passed by a
statewide ballot initiative.

MPP staffers are working seven days a week to end marijuana
prohibition so that outrages like this will become a thing of the
past. More good people are needed to do this important work, however.

MPP's most pressing need is for an experienced political organizer
(from anywhere in the country) to mobilize voters in Vermont to
pressure the state legislature to pass MPP's medical marijuana bill.
Please visit http://www.mpp.org/jobs and http://www.mpp.org/VT for
more information.

Other job opportunities -- in four other states that I will name in a
future e-mail alert -- include (1) collecting signatures for one of
MPP's ballot initiatives that will appear on the November 2004 ballot,
(2) doing door-to-door canvassing to persuade voters who are on the
fence, and (3) for those who have management or canvassing experience,
organizing teams of petitioners and canvassers. You must be willing to
travel for these positions.

Sincerely,

Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

P.S. Please consider visiting http://www.mpp.org/donate0905 to make
one financial donation this year or -- better yet -- to join our
monthly credit card pledge program. Donations early in the year
allow us to plan for the rest of the year. Thanks in advance for
anything you can do to help.

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

The Marijuana Policy Project hopes that each of the 41,000 subscribers
on this e-mail list will make at least one financial donation to MPP's
work in 2004. MPP will be able to tackle all of the projects in its
2004 strategic plan -- http://www.mpp.org/2004plan -- if you and other
allies are generous enough to donate the following sums in 2004:

TYPE OF DONOR ..... $ GOALS FOR 2004 ..... $ RAISED IN 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------
monthly pledgers ........ $60,000 ............. $4,380 ....
less than $1,000 ....... $583,000 ............. $5,740 ....
$1,000 donors .......... $300,000 ................. $0 ....
$1,001 to $25,000 ...... $200,000 ............. $5,000 ....
$25,001 to $100,000 .... $500,000 ............ $60,000 ....
$100,001 and up ...... $1,000,000 ........... $145,000 ....
-----------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS ............... $2,643,000 ........... $220,120 ....