From NORML: Congressional Scorecard

In honor of 4/20 of course.

And it provides an example of how interest groups can send messages to supporters, as well as give warning to members of Congress that they are keeping track of them.

- Click here for it.

NORML is pleased to present its 2016 Congressional Scorecard. The Scorecard is an all-encompassing database that assigns a letter grade 'A' through 'F' to members of Congress based on their marijuana-related comments and voting records. The information provided in the scorecard will periodically be updated as needed.

Read the executive summary to learn why the Scorecard is important, how the grades were calculated, and key findings of our research. Then, check out your Congressional members' voting records on marijuana law reform amendments. If you find this tool useful, please consider making adonation of at least $4.20 so that we may continue to work towards legalization and providing you the tools necessary to be an informed voter.

From the executive summary, a list of the votes they took into consideration to determine their grades:

NORML weighed the following votes when determining our grades for US Representatives:

The 2015 McClintock/Polis Amendment: This language, which was defeated by the House, sought to prohibit the Department of Justice from interfering with state-specific, adult use marijuana laws.

The 2015 Rohrabacher/Farr Amendment: This language, which was passed by the House, prohibits the Department of Justice from interfering with state-specific medical marijuana programs that license the production and dispensing of cannabis to qualified patients.

The 2015 Blumenauer Amendment: This language, which was defeated by the House, sought to permit physicians affiliated with the US Department of Veterans Affairs to recommend cannabis therapy to veterans in states that allow for its therapeutic use.

NORML weighed the following amendment votes when determining our grades for US Senators:

The 2015 Daines/Merkley Amendment: This language, which was passed by the Senate but later defeated in conference with the House, sought to permit physicians affiliated with the US Department of Veterans Affairs to recommend cannabis therapy to veterans in states that allow for its therapeutic use.

The 2015 Mikulski Amendment: This language, which was passed by the Senate, prohibits the Department of Justice from interfering with state-specific medical marijuana programs that license the production and dispensing of cannabis to qualified patients

The 2015 Merkley Amendment: This language, which was passed by the Senate but later defeated in conference with the House, sought to prohibit the US Treasury Department from using federal funds to take punitive actions against banks and other financial institutions that provide services to marijuana-related businesses that are operating legally under state laws.

Did the Blackout Work?

Wikipedia's decision - along with other websites - to close down Wednesday seems to have had an impact on Congress.

The Hill reports that support for the bills crumbled, with Senate Republicans leading the charge.

PC World details the following results:

-4.5 million people signed Google's anti-SOPA/PIPA petition, according to the Los Angeles Times

-25 Senators now oppose PIPA (the Senate version of SOPA), according to OpenCongress

-Twitter saw more than 2.4 million SOPA-related tweets between midnight and 4 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday

-Two SOPA co-sponsors and several others dropped support for the House bill

-More than 162 million people saw Wikipedia's protest page

-More than 8 million people used Wikipedia's search tool to look up their elected representatives' contact information

-News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch accused "the blogosphere" of "terrorizing many senators and congressmen who previously committed" to SOPA and PIPA.

-Conservative publication The National Review called on Congress to dump SOPA
Here's a nice graphic showing who changed positions on the bill.

An Inside Peek at a Policy Change

The Washington Post has a story today on how an influential interest group, The Human Rights Campaign, was consulted by the Obama Administration on what potential policy changes would best affect the gay and lesbian community, and provoke the least backlash.

A good example of an advocacy network, perhaps an iron triangle, but an unconventional one.

Is Tobacco Advertisement Protected Speech

The NYT reports that the ACLU, among other groups, plans to challenge the recently passed restrictions on tobacco advertisement on First Amendment grounds (as Ron Paul suggested below):

The law’s ban on outdoor advertising within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds would effectively outlaw legal advertising in many cities, critics of the prohibition said. And restricting stores and many forms of print advertising to black-and-white text, as the law specifies, would interfere with legitimate communication to adults, tobacco companies and advertising groups said in letters to Congress and interviews over the last week.

The controversy, legal experts say, involves tension between the right of tobacco companies to communicate with adult smokers and the public interest in preventing young people from smoking.

Opponents of the new strictures, including the Association of National Advertisers and the American Civil Liberties Union, predict that federal courts will throw out the new marketing restrictions. They say, for example, a 2001 Supreme Court decision struck down a

Massachusetts rule that had imposed a similar ban on advertising within 1,000 feet of schools.
“Anybody looking at this in a fair way would say the effort here is not just to protect kids, which is a substantial interest of the country, but to make it virtually impossible to communicate with anybody,” Daniel L. Jaffe, executive vice president of the Association of National Advertisers, said in an interview Monday. “We think this creates very serious problems for the First Amendment.”

His group represents 340 companies spending more than $100 billion a year on marketing and ads.

Some take issue with the ACLU's taking part in this effort and have evidence that tobacco companies have become a leading contributor of the organization.

- Secret Documents Reveal A.C.L.U. Tobacco Industry Ties
- The ACLU's Tobacco Addiction - American Civil Liberties Union ...
- American Civil Liberties Union - SourceWatch

LittleSis

I've added a link below--under the tab networks--to LittleSis which calls itself the involuntary Facebook of powerful Americans. It claims to detail the connections that powerful Americans with each other and with governmental agencies, and Congress.

It's worth a look. Should be a great way to help connect the dots among the interests that tend to determine the direction of public policy.

Issue Celebrities

Does celebrity endorsement of a policy matter?