Change For Trayvon: A New Website

Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton have started a new website, Change For Trayvon, that is dedicated to reviewing the Stand Your Ground laws. The Mission Statement: The purpose of Change for Trayvon is to give his family a voice in the political process. Your support will help engage the discussion across the country regarding stand-your-ground laws and the need to revise them so that there is required judicial or prosecutorial review before decisions are made. We need your help to change the laws which keep parents like ourselves from finding peace. -Tracy Martin 30,000 mothers and fathers lost their children to gun violence. The Change for Trayvon movement will shine the light on stand-your-ground laws across the nation. These laws allow individuals to shoot first and ask questions later. For more information email us at: info@changefortrayvon.com READ MORE

How Can We Stop the Mexican Drug Insanity When Banks and Much of the Establishment Profit Big Time from Illegal Drugs?

Photo Credit: ChrisgoldNY via Flickr

Corruption in the drug war extends far beyond the hands of drug cartels - our own banks, businesses, and government profit from illegalization of drugs.

June 26, 2012

This is the eighth article in the Truthout on the Mexican Border series looking at US immigration and Mexican border policies through a social justice lens. Mark Karlin, editor of BuzzFlash at Truthout, visited the border region recently to file these reports. You can find links to the previous coverage at the end of this article. 

 

US Banks Love Real Dollars, and Illegal Drug Money Comes in Cash

 

A recent article in The Guardian UK offers evidence that "while cocaine production ravages countries in Central America, consumers in the US and Europe are helping developed economies grow rich from the profits."

 

According to The Guardian UK story, the study by two Colombian professors found that "2.6% of the total street value of cocaine produced remains within the country [Columbia], while a staggering 97.4% of profits are reaped by criminal syndicates and laundered by banks, in first-world consuming countries."

 

One of the researchers, Alejandro Gaviria said: "We know that authorities in the US and UK know far more than they act upon. The authorities realize things about certain people they think are moving money for the drug trade - but the DEA [US Drug Enforcement Administration] only acts on a fraction of what it knows."

 

"It's taboo to go after the big banks," added Gaviria's co-researcher Daniel Mejía. "It's political suicide in this economic climate, because the amounts of money recycled are so high."  READ MORE

Roseanne Barr on Presidential Run: Two Major Parties Are a 'Bunch of Prostitutes Who Work for Big Money'

The irrepressible comic is trying to bring attention to electoral issues that are too often ignored.

May 27, 2012

Roseanne Barr leveraged her comedic skills to become a household name. But while she's known for her biting humor, and some critically acclaimed acting in the film adaptation of Fay Weldon's novel, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Barr's life experiences also left her with an appreciation of just how hard it is to climb the ladder today. It was reflected in her writing; in her standup routine and on her hit TV show, Roseanne was always most comfortable breathing life into the struggles of working-class families. An outspoken small “d” democrat, Roseanne is now running to head the Green Party's presidential ticket on a platform that stresses empowering the “little guy.”

A few weeks back, AlterNet interviewed Jill Stein, Barr's primary opponent in the race (you can read that interview here). This week, Barr appeared on the AlterNet Radio Hour for some equal time. Below is a lightly edited transcript of the discussion (you can listen to the whole show here).

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Get Money Out of Politics in 2012

Portrait, Michael Moore, 04/03/09. (photo: Ann-Christine Poujoulat/Getty)

By Michael Moore, Open Mike Blog

28 Decemeber 11

I have many things I'm planning to do in the New Year - walk three miles a day, use an eco-friendly laundry detergent, write fewer anonymous letters to Wolf Blitzer - but I want to declare, right here, that one of my top priorities in 2012 will be to spearhead a drive to remove ALL money from our electoral process, period. Nothing - and I mean NOTHING - we want to accomplish, from creating jobs to protecting the environment to preventing wars, will happen as long as those who hold the purse strings are the ones who own our Congress.

This destruction of our democracy can only be stopped if the majority of us make it clear that we will ONLY vote for those candidates who sign a pledge to make it their TOP legislative priority to push for a constitutional amendment prohibiting any person or entity from donating ANY money to a candidate's campaign (and that includes a millionaire candidate buying his own election). Plus, they must pledge to back a law banning elected officials from working as lobbyists after they leave office.

The majority of Americans already support strong campaign finance reform and lobbying bans. So what are we waiting for? Now is the time to act!

Here is the wording to the constitutional amendment we need:

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Mitch McConnell Admits That Hostage-Taking Is Exactly What the GOP Did

# 8/3/11 at 2:06 PM
# 32Comments

“I think some of our members may have thought the default issue was a hostage you might take a chance at shooting. Most of us didn’t think that. What we did learn is this — it’s a hostage that’s worth ransoming. And it focuses the Congress on something that must be done.” — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, on the GOP. Don't call them terrorists though. [WP via Political Wire]