Tag Archives: Barack Obama

55 years for marijuana ?


My brother Weldon was given a mandatory minimum sentence for a nonviolent marijuana offense that even the judge disagrees with.

Sign my petition and join the growing bipartisan support demanding President Obama to pardon my brother.

My brother Weldon is a talented musician, producer, and loving father. But for the past ten years his kids have grown up without their dad because he’s serving a mandatory 55 year sentence in prison for a nonviolent marijuana offense.

Weldon’s judge wanted to sentence him to just one day in prison for three small-time marijuana sales, but because an informant testified that he saw a gun, which wasn’t used or displayed, federal law forced him to issue a mandatory minimum 55 year sentence. The judge called it “unjust, cruel, and irrational.” But he had no choice.

The judge is hopeful that justice can still be served for my brother — he wrote a letter that strongly recommends President Obama commute Weldon’s sentence, and over 100 people signed his request in support — including former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and a prominent Republican Senator.

I started a petition on Change.org because I believe the momentum to free Weldon could pressure the President to grant him clemency. Please sign my petition asking Pardoning Attorney Rodgers to recommend that President Obama commute the remainder of Weldon’s sentence.

Weldon made the mistake of selling marijuana and deserves to serve some time, but his sentence is longer than those imposed for three aircraft hijackings, three second-degree murders, three kidnappings, and three rapes. Now, significant public support for the President to pardon him is the only chance Weldon has of getting out of prison before he’s 70 years old.

Not a day goes by that I don’t miss my brother. I can’t stand seeing his kids miss their father because he made one mistake and is now paying an unfairly high price for it. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Join thousands of others who have signed my petition on Change.org demanding that federal Pardon Attorney Rodgers approve the request of Weldon’s judge and recommend his clemency request to President Obama. Click here to sign. 

Thank you for your support.

Lisa Angelos

Please, help me stay in the U.S. with my family


  ICE: Don’t Deport Me Away From My Sons; Grant Me Prosecutorial Discretion 

  By Tsatsral Bekhbat
                                                Omaha, Nebraska

I am a wife, a mother of three boys, and long-standing member of my community in Omaha, Nebraska. But despite President Obama’s declaration that people like me should be low-priority for deportation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office, is trying to deport me.  Please, help me stay in the U.S. with my family by signing this petition asking ICE to close my case.

I came here to the United States at the age of 16 as a high school exchange student. I lived with my host family for ten months and graduated from high school, after which I was accepted into college. I lived here over 16 years, and this is where I graduated from college, learned to drive, bought my first car, got married, bought our first home and most of all had our sons. Brandon 9, Nike 5, avid basketball lovers. Jordan, my youngest, is only two years old. This is the country I grew up, and became the person who I am today. I mourn and cry when horrific happens, or celebrate the remarkable events, because I consider this great nation as my home.

I maintained my immigration status for years , but in 2009, I met a person who I thought was an immigration attorney, and she agreed to file my case. Later, I found out not only she didn’t file my case within a reasonable time, but also wasn’t an attorney, even though I was paying very high fee. I hired another attorney who later filed a complaint with State Bar Association on my behalf, because she said that there are a lots of people like her out there who take advantage of people.

My case was initially denied by Immigration Officer because not filing my case in timely manner. When my case was heard by Immigration Judge, it was denied because he didn’t think I had good reason to get my permanent residency granted based on information I provided. We appealed the case with BIA, and it was denied October of this year, and gave me 60 days to leave the country or face deportation. I am requesting Department of Homeland Security and ICE to grant me prosecutorial discretion.

Now, my precious boys might have to grow up without their mother around or leave the only home they have ever known. And I can’t let that happen.

Please, help me keep my family together. Join me in asking DHS/ICE to grant me prosecutorial discretion ( my alien number is 076768406) and remove me from deportation proceedings.

Dan O’Neill, Mercy Corps


Mercy Corps

Get this limited edition first aid kit

Ernie Lynn knows one thing: she’s grateful to be alive — grateful that she, her husband and their one-month-old baby survived Typhoon Haiyan.
After the typhoon devastated her village, Ernie Lynn and her neighbors urgently needed food, clean water and shelter.
Mercy Corps responded immediately, providing food, clean water, blankets, shelter materials and hygiene kits to families who lost everything in the storm.
Now, families must begin the long and difficult process of rebuilding, and they need your help.  Will you stand with them, and with other families in the world’s toughest places, by making a monthly pledge to Mercy Corps today?
When the storm passed, Ernie Lynn learned that the fishing boat her husband works on was severely damaged — meaning they’d lost not only their home but also their income.
Imagine the conflicting emotions Ernie Lynn must be feeling — grateful to have her baby safe in her arms, but grieving her family’s many losses… and worried about the future.  Without a job, her husband won’t be able to earn enough money to repair their home.  Where will they go?  How do they move forward?  How can they give their baby what he needs to grow strong?
Partners In Mercy monthly donors help families like Ernie Lynn’s move forward every day.  They help parents get back to work, so that they can earn money to provide for their families — to prepare healthy food, get medical care, and rebuild their homes.
The ongoing monthly support of Partners In Mercy makes it possible for us to respond immediately when a crisis strikes — distributing clean water and emergency supplies to survivors of natural disasters like the typhoon, providing food to hungry children during a hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa, and giving warm clothing and blankets to Syrian refugees facing a cold winter.  But your monthly gift will do so much more.
Your monthly support will fund effective, efficient programs that help communities recover and rebuild for the long term, better and stronger than they were before.
Becoming a Partner in Mercy monthly donor is quick and easy. So please take a moment to sign up today.  You’ll feel good knowing that you’re providing life-changing assistance to people like Ernie Lynn and her family every day
Sincerely,
Dan O'Neill, Mercy Corps Founder
Dan O’Neill Mercy Corps Founder
P.S.  Please make a life-changing difference for families in need by becoming a Partner In Mercy monthly donor.  Sign up now, and you’ll receive a limited edition first aid kit — a reminder of the help you’re providing to survivors of the typhoon, and other families in the world’s toughest places.

This is big: The First-EVER White House Student Film Festival


The First-EVER White House Student Film Festival:Something big is happening today, and you don’t have to be a kid to be excited about it:

We’re launching our first-ever White House Student Film Festival — and we’re inviting K-12 students from around the country to create and submit one- to three-minute short web videos.

Finalists could have their videos screened at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, and posted on the White House website. It might just be cooler than having your homework up on the fridge.

The topic: Highlighting the importance of technology in the classroom — and imagining how technology will change the educational experience for kids in the future.

Interested, or know someone who would be?

Check out our official page here — where you can learn more, read the official rules, learn how to submit your video, and hear from Bill Nye (the Science Guy). And if you’re a parent, guardian, or teacher, make sure you spread the word to kids with big ideas.

Here are more important details you should know:

  • Every student entry has to have a parent/guardian or teacher sponsor.
  • Films can be submitted now through January 29th, 2014.
  • If your video is selected as an official selection, you could have a chance to attend the mid-February screening at the White House.

Read the complete rules (and submit your video!) here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/filmfestival

We can’t wait to see what you make.

Stay Connected

It Gets Worse


By 

Sequestration About To Go From Bad To Worse

Between the government shutdown and the rollout of HealthCare.gov, you probably haven’t heard too much about sequestration lately. Unfortunately, these painful and damaging spending cuts are still here, still hurting people across the country, and are about to get a whole lot worse.

Early next year, another round of cuts kicks in on top of the cuts put in place this year. And many agencies won’t be able to use some of the tactics they did this year to blunt some of the impact of the current round of cuts.

Our Center for American Progress colleague outlines in a new report and this video exactly why and how sequester cuts get worse in 2014 unless Congress fixes them.

Click on the graphic and Check it out:

SequesterGetsWorse