My dad was sentenced to die in prison for a non-violent drug charge. Please sign my petition asking President Obama to grant him clemency.
For the last 25 years, my entire life, my father has been behind bars serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense. Over the years I’ve cried myself to sleep many nights, knowing that I’ll never have my father in my life. My father’s name is Michael Palmer and between 1987 and 1989 he made the wrong decision to get involved in selling drugs. In 1989, ten days before I was born, he was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine and given a life sentence because he was painted as “a kingpin” — he was not. He was only 25 years old. Throughout my life I can honestly say I was embarrassed of my dad for selling drugs and ending up in prison. He left our family. But he is now 50 years old and not the same man he used to be. He was convicted along with four other men — three have been released and the other will be soon. The mandatory minimum sentencing laws that sent my father to prison for the rest of his life have since been reduced by Congress. Those laws created a 100:1 sentencing disparity between powder and crack cocaine and were based on assumptions about crack cocaine now known to be false. The impact of that disparity fell disproportionately on African-American families. My father committed a serious crime and deserved to be punished, but life without parole means he will die behind prison bars. After 25 years in prison, he has spent more of his life in prison than outside of it. He has paid his debt to society, been rehabilitated, and deserves to reunite with the grandchildren he has never met. He can only be free if President Obama grants him clemency. With your support, I believe that he will — just four months ago President Obama granted clemency to 8 non-violent crack-cocaine offenders. My dad is a good man who, even as a prisoner, has motivated me to be where I am at today. With his encouragement I graduated at the top twenty five percent of my class and I am now in medical school, soon to graduate in 2016. It’s time for my father to come home. Thank you, Taylor Palmer |
Tag Archives: United States Supreme Court
Eye on the Amazon: Photos from #AntiChevron Day around the world
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What Happens When an Oil Company Actually Chooses to Be a Sociopath? You gotta give Chevron’s management credit for bringing people together – across oceans, continents, and borders. Not because the company is a good neighbor; quite the opposite. Communities on five continents who live where Chevron operated, operates, or seeks to operate, came together yesterday in a worldwide day of protest to denounce the oil giant’s environmental and human rights practices. |
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Thank a Sheriff
Nice to meet you — I’m Dave Hoover.
As a police officer for over 31 years, I’ve been shot at a number of times. Police officers put their lives on the line every day to protect our communities. It’s a choice and a privilege.
I’m writing to tell you that I support background checks on gun sales because as a police officer, I will do everything I can to make sure that my team of law enforcement officers keeps the public safe without being put at unnecessary risk. They’re my people — I love them, and I’m responsible for them.
I’m also writing to you because my nephew A.J. was doing what teenagers should be doing when he went to the movies in Aurora, Colorado almost two years ago. It’s one thing for an officer like me to be at the wrong end of a firearm, but that night, A.J. was murdered in an act of senseless gun violence — and it only drove home how urgent it is to get firearms out of the hands of dangerous people.
In Colorado, where we’ve implemented background checks, we’ve already stopped 167 people who shouldn’t own firearms from purchasing them.
That’s 167 fewer people putting my officers at risk — and 167 fewer chances that their families will have to feel the devastation of losing a loved one.
Look — I enjoy using firearms safely and responsibly. I’m a hunter who loves to take his family shooting in the mountains. I’m also a Republican — and have been since even before I was eligible to vote. But this isn’t about politics, it’s about common sense. My officers will tell you: Politics don’t mean a thing when you’re in a confrontation with a guy who has multiple felony warrants and a .40 caliber in his waistband.
This is about the men and women in all our police departments, their families, and the safety of all of our families.
When your job is to be in situations like these every day, you know that reducing gun violence is too important to leave to the politicians.
Thanks a lot. As a police officer, an uncle, and a parent I appreciate your support.
Take care,
Dave Hoover, Sergeant
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Alternative Energy Sources
Department of the Interior needs to investigate ALEC
For decades, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has undermined federal policy and pushed legislation that would destroy our public lands, our forests and our rivers.
Thumbing their nose at the constitution, they’ve enabled extremists like Cliven Bundy to threaten law enforcement and promote dangerous standoffs, endangering the lives of both the police and the public.
If we don’t stand together today, we may lose our nation’s most beautiful treasures tomorrow. Imagine uranium mines in the Grand Canyon or fracking for oil in Yellowstone National Park. That is ALEC’s vision for America, not ours.
Wielding corporate influence and buying crooked politicians, they’ve repeatedly torn down critical health, safety and environmental rules – all so they can sell our country to the highest bidder. What’s more, ALEC has done all this while hiding in the shadows, never disclosing its role or the groups who fund its extreme agenda.
Thanks for all that you do,
Marisol
Be a Seed for Change 
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