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Buried in the National Defense Authorization Act is a provision that would empower US Presidents to wage worldwide wars without consent from Congress. The provision was introduced late at night earlier this month by Rep. Buck McKeon (R - California).  His amendment would allow for the use of American military forces against terrorism suspects anywhere and everywhere. Email your representatives in Congress and ask them to oppose this provision. Northwestern University law professor Joseph Margulies wrote about the dangerous provision in the The New Republic: "The proposed AUMF authorizes a substantially greater role for the U.S. military than it had even at the height of the cold war: the use of force against an enemy the Obama administration considers it “neither possible nor advisable” to describe, anywhere in the world, without regard to whether the proposed targets had anything to do with September 11 or whether they threaten “future acts” against the United States. There is no end in sight. Whatever else may be true, this is not what the founders intended, and not what the nation has practiced. Nearly ten years after September 11, days after the death of Osama bin Laden, and in the absence of any imminent threat, Congress is poised to give President Obama and his successors substantially more authority to use force than it granted to President Bush only 72 hours after the attacks. It is an odd and distinctly un-American state of affairs when the clamor for war outpaces the war itself. We often hear that the attacks of September 11 “changed everything.” It would be sad indeed if, among the things that collapsed and changed that day, was the salutary idea that we might be “a humble nation,” determined to “project the power for good that America can represent,” as Bush and Gore put it back in the 2000 debate. For these are not merely platitudes to be trotted out days before an election. They are the ideals that sustain us through adversity." Take action now to stop this expansion of powers.

Medical marijuana has been legal in Maine since 1999. Ten years later, we passed a law allowing dispensaries. And now that these dispensaries are being implemented, we are running into trouble. While state law allows for doctors to prescribe this drug, federal law still prohibits its use and sale. The Portland Press Herald did an editorial this morning explaining the dilemma. U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty recently tried to clarify the federal position, in that sick patients that use medical marijuana will not be the focus of drug enforcement agents but  “the feds still may go after individuals and groups who engage in ‘unlawful manufacturing and distribution’ of pot, even if those activities are legal under state law.” We have clearly reached an impasse, which is why the national ACLU issued a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking him to not focus on those individuals who are in compliance with state laws and regulations.  According to the ACLU blog, since recent polling shows “as much as 81 percent of the American public in support of medical marijuana laws, it'd not only be the right thing to do, it'd also be a triumph of states' right to take innovative steps to promote public health while preserving public safety.”

The First Amendment in Maine is under threat, and legislators need to hear from you to protect it. Soon, Maine legislators will vote on bills to allow the state to spend government funds on religious schools.

Chaz

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