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[Courtesy of Christine Beems] Michael C. Kelley, age 63 Vietnam Navy Vet of Shirley, Arkansas, has been held hostage since May 9 as a political prisoner of the drug war. Resultant of publicly speaking out against law enforcement’s reliance on untrustworthy, untrained and often vendetta driven ‘confidential informants’, other lies being perpetrated upon the public by ‘drug war’ propaganda and the repeated violations of the law by our county sheriff’s office in serious fiduciary matters, Kelley is now confined to Pulaski County Jail, Little Rock, Arkansas, on trumped-up charges designed to impugn his character and slander his motives. Factual matters about all of this are documented at http://www.gozarks.com/thecommittee To sign a petition endorsing "Free Mike Kelley Now," please visit http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/free-mike-kelley-now For more information, contact: Christine Beems, 223 Primrose Lane, Shirley, AR 72153, [email protected]

On November 4th Massachusetts voters will have the chance to pass a ballot initiative decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana -- removing the threat of jail time for possessing an ounce or less of marijuana for personal use. In response to the announcement that the initiative will be on the ballot a columnist for Boston's tabloid newspaper wrote the column below which was printed today. Letters to the editor of the Boston Herald need to be short and well written - under 200 words. The average printed letter is about 120 words in length. Please also support the initiative. For details visit http://sensiblemarijuanapolicy.org/ ********************************************************************** Contact: [email protected] Pubdate: Sun, 6 Jul 2008 Source: Boston Herald (MA) Copyright: 2008 The Boston Herald, Inc Author: Howie Carr SENSIBLE POT A HALF-BAKED POLICY, DUDE Marijuana makes you stupid. It's as simple as that. And now in Massachusetts, we are going to have a ballot question that asks the following: Do you really want to make it even easier than it already is to get stupid, and stay stupid? Yes, the Bong Brigade is on the march again. They want to put the high back into high school, the truckin' back in truck stops, the joint back in all those joint legislative committees. Stand by to see stoners at the Stone Zoo, potheads in Marblehead. The grass is always greener in Greenfield, dude. If you liked HempFest on the Boston Common every September, you're going to love legalized marijuana. This one's, like, totally for Jerry Garcia! This year, the front group is something called the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, and it's pushing a Sensible State Marijuana Policy. Its flacks are available for media interviews to discuss their "sensible policy." Organizers include the usual "concerned citizens," with a few token "former law enforcement professionals" thrown in. Their goal is to use the initiative to abolish criminal penalties for less than an ounce of marijuana or, to use their preferred word, hemp, as in, "Dude, did you know, like, George Washington's army used hemp when it was fighting in, uh, like, was it the Civil War, man?" The sensible group's press release sounds like it was written after watching a "Dragnet 1967" marathon on TVLand. Harmless people, we are told, "are arrested, booked, entered into the Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) system, resulting in a possible sentence of up to six months in jail and a $500 fine." Key word: possible. Do you know how difficult it is to actually be thrown in jail around here? You can lie under oath and obstruct justice, and you don't have to do a day in the can - am I right Tom Finneran? Pot charges are usually meaningless add-ons, like piling a driving-to-endanger on top on an OUI, or like Neil Entwistle being charged with possession of an unregistered handgun. The potheads say 7,500 marijuana citations make it onto the CORI system every year. But how many of those Class B controlled-substance convictions are added to someone's CORI record along with more serious raps like, say, for possession of Class D controlled substances (cocaine) with intent to distribute? The ganja-guys then cite the alleged "collateral damage" of this CORI indignity: "inability to find employment, obtain housing and receive a college loan." Please. The reason stoners can't find employment is because they're too wasted. They forgot to turn on the alarm clock. They went out for a smoke break and never returned. They missed the bus, man. They can't "obtain housing" because they can't get it together to ever leave mom's rent-free basement. Unless you're in the cop's face when you light up - like they do at HempFest - you face almost zero chance of getting arrested. Decriminalizing pot doesn't seem like a big deal, I'll grant you. After the courts decreed Adam and Eve are going to be Adam and Steve, bringing Cheech & Chong along for the ride amounts to little more than a footnote. But the problem with this ballot question is, it will lead to more pot smoking, which this society needs like . . . like, fill in the blank, dude. How can the same health pests who loathe tobacco not care a whit about a different debilitating drug that you have to ingest into your lungs in the form of smoke? The fact is, once you make something legal, even if it's just de facto, it's easier to get. Pot does fry your brain. On my radio show, I can tell a stoner within 10 seconds. They . . . talk . . . slow. They mention "hemp." They talk about "thousands" of political prisoners locked up for pot. And since their vocabulary is so stunted, because their memories are shot, they keep repeating the same words over and over again. Sensible . . . sensible . . . sensible. ********************************************************************** Additional suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism Center: http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides Or contact MAP's Media Activism Facilitator for tips on how to write LTEs that are printed. [email protected] ********************************************************************** PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent letter list ([email protected]) if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to [email protected] if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others may learn from your efforts. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list ([email protected]) will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts.

The following message was sent by one of our supporters on July 4, 2008, to Adrian Fenty, DC Mayor ([email protected]) Vincent Gray, City Council Chairperson ([email protected]) Chief of staff, Jack Evans, City Councilmember ([email protected]) and Phil Mendelson, Chair of Judciary Committee, [email protected] MESSAGE TO CITY HALL: Dear City Hall Officials, On this day that America celebrates its freedom and independence, I respectfully add my voice to those of people who have contacted you on behalf of Dennis Sobin, asking that you make the necessary personnel adjustments so that he may enter City Hall--freely, without risk of arrest--in order to continue his vital work as Director of Prisons Foundation. I realize that all of you have been put in an awkward situation not of your choosing, but I am confident that you will do your best to resolve it to the benefit of all involved. I thank you for your time and attention to this. Grateful to live in a country where citizens can speak out freely, C.P. (Full name and contact information provided in emails sent by C.P.) ************************************************************* Below is the original email that the Prisons Foundation sent with details of the arrest of our director Dennis Sobin at a public hearing at city hall in Washington, DC Dennis Sobin, Director of the Prisons Foundation, went to City Hall to testify at a budget hearing on the priorities of the Attorney General's Office. This is routine for our director as these hearings represent important opportunities to advocate for alternatives to incarceration and the need for prosecutors to focus on serious crimes rather than non-violent offenses. One of those prosecutors happens to be Dennis Sobin's son, Darrin Sobin. He and his father have not seen eye to eye for some time. Last year the younger Sobin, Darrin, flexed his muscle as a government attorney by getting a stay away order to keep his father a set number of feet from him. Now he has gone the next step by having his father arrested for stepping foot in City Hall because Darrin has moved into an office in that building. When Dennis arrived for the hearing, his son knew of his presence because Dennis was on the witness list to testify. Dennis never got to testify because his son had him whisked out of the building in handcuffs and put in jail before a judge could release Dennis. By then the hearing was over. The building security officers who arrested Dennis have acknowledged that they were pressured to take this action by Darrin. They even went so far to try to appease Darrin, short of arresting his father, by offering to accompany Dennis to the City Council Chambers where the hearing was taking place and stay with him throughout his testimony. But Darrin rejected this. Darrin has let it be known that if his father returns to city hall for any reason, the same fate awaits him. It is therefore URGENT that the following officials at city hall be called TODAY to let our outrage be known. Says Dennis, "I don't want my son fired. That would be too extreme and a particular hardship for his children, my grandsons Alexander and Tristan." We are requesting that Darrin Sobin be relocated to the Attorney General's headqurters a few blocks away. That way our director Dennis can conduct Prisons Foundation business at city hall. Here are the names and phone numbers of officials at city hall who can make this happen. Please call them TODAY to get their assurance that this will indeed occur without delay. Even if you are not a resident of Washington you can demand action as a visitor who is shocked that such a thing could happen in the nation's capital. Adrian Fenty, Mayor, 202-724-8876 (This is Adrian's private number so please be brief when talking to him and please do not retain this number for any other purpose. He has been a supporter of the Prisons Foundation ever since his childhood friend Donald Thomas ended up in prison and needed our help.) Vincent Gray, City Council Chairperson, 202-724-8032 (Next to the mayor, Vincent is the most powerful person in city hall and has a reputation as a no-nonsense official. Dennis worked for his campaign and helped get him elected in 2006.) Jack Evans, City Councilmember, 202-724-8058 (As chair pro temp, Jack is number three in power at city hall. He also happens to be the councilmember representing Dennis in Ward 2. Still, Dennis cannot visit him at city hall as long as Darrin Sobin is there.) Phil Mendelson, Chair of Judciary Committee, 202-724-8064 (Phil is an at-large councilmember who chaired the hearing at which Dennis was set to testify and is reportedly upset at what happened there. He can bring about Darrin Sobin's transfer in the interest of justice and democracy.) On a personal note, Dennis is in good spirits and continues to meet his responsibilities daily as our director.... Thank you for calling the above city hall officials and demanding that action be taken TODAY. Please call us at 202-393-1511 or email [email protected] if you need further information. Thank you for your help and support in this crisis.