EarthAction

Give Children a Second Chance

One of EarthAction's past campaigns was for the United Nations' Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), an international treaty to protect the rights of children around the world. Sadly, the United States is one out of merely two countries (the other being Somalia, which has no central government) that has failed to become State Parties to the Convention.

What does this mean? One example out of too many is the depressing fact that children in the United States can be sentenced to life without parole. A thirteen-year-old who cannot drive, vote, or join the military can - and has been - sentenced to a life in prison, with absolutely no second chance.

A recent fascinating Guardian article puts you in the shoes of these children (over 300 in the state of Michigan alone):

Dupure got life without parole, with no forensic evidence tying her to the crime and entirely on the strength of Blevins' testimony.

Dupure has just turned 21 but she still looks 17. She was told about life without parole for the first time when she entered prison - "You never go home." She spent much of her first year crying, she says. The prison doctor put her on Prozac but she stopped taking it; as she puts it, "I'm depressed because I'm in this place, not because I'm depressed." Instead, she sees the prison therapist once a month. She finds talking to the therapist helpful - she can't be open with other prisoners about her fears and despair, as it would be taken as a sign of weakness. In prison, "you have to pretend to be strong". Continue reading...

The ACLU of Michigan, in conjunction with Columbia University Human Rights Clinic, has filed a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States, alleging violations of the human rights of juveniles sentenced to life without parole in the USA. That petition is still pending. Read the petition.

There are also movements in individual states to give children a second chance. Do a search to find out what your state is doing about this grave issue. You can also join the Facebook group and keep up with the latest events and news.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user Bewdlerian, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Stop the Spying

Last week, House passed a bill that grants telecoms immunity for the warrantless wiretapping they did in the past - and allows them to continue doing so in the future! From the Wired blog:

"The proposed FISA deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation," said Wisconsin Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, the only senator who voted against the Patriot Act in 2001. "The House and Senate should not be taking up this bill, which effectively guarantees immunity for telecom companies alleged to have participated in the President’s illegal program, and which fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home."

The bill grants amnesty to the nation's telecoms that are being sued for allegedly breaking federal wiretapping laws by turning over billions of Americans' call records to government data-mining programs and giving the government access to internet and phone infrastructure inside the country. The bill strips the right of a federal district court to decide whether the companies violated federal laws prohibiting wiretapping without a court order.

Within the next few days, Senate will vote on this piece of legislation. If last week's vote in the House is any evidence, this vote will also be in favor of this gross piece of legislation that takes away our right to privacy - unless you do something about it. CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY - the Electronic Frontier Foundation makes it easy for you to find your senator and make sure your voice is heard. This five-minute phone call could make the difference for our nation - we need to protect our rights to privacy, and ensure that the Executive Branch of our government cannot flagrantly disregard the law.

If all that isn't enough to convince you, BoingBoing just quoted a fascinating piece by Salon's Glenn Greenwald. In part:

It is absolutely false that the only unconstitutional and destructive provision of this "compromise" bill is the telecom amnesty part. It's true that most people working to defeat the Cheney/Rockefeller bill viewed opposition to telecom amnesty as the most politically potent way to defeat the bill, but the bill's expansion of warrantless eavesdropping powers vested in the President, and its evisceration of safeguards against abuses of those powers, is at least as long-lasting and destructive as the telecom amnesty provisions. The bill legalizes many of the warrantless eavesdropping activities George Bush secretly and illegally ordered in 2001. Those warrantless eavesdropping powers violate core Fourth Amendment protections. And Barack Obama now supports all of it, and will vote it into law. Those are just facts.

The ACLU specifically identifies the ways in which this bill destroys meaningful limits on the President's power to spy on our international calls and emails. Sen. Russ Feingold condemned the bill on the ground that it "fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home" because "the government can still sweep up and keep the international communications of innocent Americans in the U.S. with no connection to suspected terrorists, with very few safeguards to protect against abuse of this power." Rep. Rush Holt -- who was actually denied time to speak by bill-supporter Silvestre Reyes only to be given time by bill-opponent John Conyers -- condemned the bill because it vests the power to decide who are the "bad guys" in the very people who do the spying.

It's chilling to think that our presidential candidate supports this bill, especially when Barack Obama vowed to "support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies." MoveOn.org may support Obama as a candidate, but is appalled by his lack of commitment to this past promise. They encourage you to call Obama's campaign office and let them know how you feel about this frightening bill. So, after you call your senators, take another minute to call Obama and make sure your voice is heard.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user xirannisx shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Have you read Little Brother?

In my tenth grade English class, the year’s ongoing theme was freedom versus security. To have more of one, you have to have less of the other. We put laws into place that limit our freedom, but increase our sense of security. However, the perennial question is, where do you draw the line? When do you know the balance has tipped too far in one direction? Tied into the debate is the question of “real” security versus a false sense of security, which further muddies the water.

Reading Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow, reminded me of that class, and the way it made me question the world around me. All too often schools fail to encourage curiosity, inquiry, and creative thinking. This book works to engage people of all ages (although it is specifically targeted at young adults) in these kinds of questions.

The novel stars Marcus, a seventeen-year-old boy, who lives in a close-future post-9/11 world that is chillingly believable – after all, we live in a world where Nelson Mandela is a terrorist, air marshals are grounded because they are on the no-fly list, your laptop can be searched just because, tourists taking photos are automatically terrorist suspects, and waterboarding is not torture.

This book is a must-read, whatever your age. Buy a copy for yourself, and then buy copies for your loved ones, nieces, kids, and grandchildren.

Download Little Brother for free, shared under a Creative Commons license, or buy Little Brother from Amazon.