Next step in the anti-freedom agenda:  taking away our voting rights.  Next week the legislature will consider two proposals to restrict Mainers' right to vote.  LD 203 would eliminate same-day voter registration.  LD 199 would require that you show a photo ID at the polls before casting your vote.  Both bills would turn people away from the polls on Election Day.
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Yesterday a group of prominent Maine business leaders stood up for a calmer, more sensible approach to immigration that benefits our economy and human rights. 

Group Forms to Fight Strict New Immigration Bills

You can listen to their thoughts here at MPBN:

Maine Business Leaders Take Issue with LePage Stance on Immigration
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A British immigration officer successfully kept his wife from returning to England for three years after putting her on the no-fly list.  He was just fired, but the story makes you wonder:  who monitors these no-fly lists, and what can you do if you were placed on the list by mistake or malice?  You can read the full story at the Daily Mail.  We've reported extensively on the problems with the United States no-fly list.  Dependi | continue reading

Here in Las Vegas, ACLU staff from all across the country are discussing core civil liberties problems.  Yesterday, I had the honor of speaking on a panel with Hina Shamsi, Director of National Security for the ACLU, Chris Anders, Senior Legislative Counsel for the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office, and Ahilan Arulanantham, Director of Immigrants Rights and National Security for the ACLU of Southern California.  We discussed how to confront the global war paradigm.  Almost a decade after 9/1 | continue reading

Yesterday advocates at our coalition partners, Maine Women's Lobby and Maine Equal Justice Partners, released a study of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cases in Maine.  You can read more about it here:

Advocates Urge Focus on Facts, Not Stereotypes, As Legislature Tackles Welfare Reform
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Please join us today in celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through service or activism.  The ACLU of MAINE will be joining our colleagues at the NAACP and many others for a Community Conversation about how to open the doors to MLK's "beloved community" at 1 pm at Preble Resource Center in Portland.  Then, at 2:15, we will march in solidarity with the NAACP from Preble Street to City Hall.

http://www.portlandmlk.net

Nine years ago today the first prisoners were sent to Guantanamo.  Two years ago today President Obama promised to close Guantanamo and end the illegal activities that the prison embodies.  Today, over 170 prisoners languish there without charge or trial.  Join me in signing a petition to President Obama. It's never too late to fulfill a promise.  It's never too late to do the right thing.

www.closegitmo.com

I hope Governor LePage's first act in office wasn't part of a larger anti-freedom agenda.  Targeting immigrants does nothing to create jobs or fix the economy, yet that was Governor LePage's first act:  signing an executive order allowing state officials to inquire about immigration status of those who approach their agencies.
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