Julian Assange seeks asylum from Ecuador

Julian Assange, facing imminent extradition to Sweden, has decided to seek asylum from Ecuador. Glenn Greenwald explains why this is an utterly rational decision for the creator of Wikileaks:

In 2010, a top official from that country offered Assange residency (though the Ecuadorian President backtracked after controversy ensued). Earlier this month, Assange interviewed that nation’s left-wing President, Rafael Correa, for his television program on RT. Among other things, Correa praised the transparency brought about by WikiLeaks’ release of diplomatic cables as being beneficial for Ecuador (“We have nothing to hide. If anything, the WikiLeaks [releases] have made us stronger”). President Correa also was quite critical of the U.S., explaining the reason he closed the American base in his country this way: “Would you accept a foreign military base in your country? It’s so simple, as I said that at the time, there is no problem in having a U.S. military base in Ecuador but ok, perfect - we can give permission for the intelligence base only if they allow us to install an Ecuadorian base in the United States, a military base. That’s it, no more problem.”
In this same article, Greenwald explains why Assange has no reason to expect fair treatment from Sweden or the United States. See also this post, indicating that the U.S. prosecution of Assange is an attack on democracy itself. The "crime" of Assange is that he has done, only better, what the New York Times does when it wins awards.

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Why 69 is obscene.

According to a new report by Pew Charitable Trusts, the median length of the list of disclosures that you will be presented when you open a new checking account is 69 pages.

ƒFinancial institutions do not summarize important policies and fee information in a uniform, concise, and easy-to-understand format that allows customers to compare account terms and conditions. The median length of bank checking account disclosure statements has decreased, but is still cumbersome at 69 pages. For credit unions, the median length is 31 pages. Although shorter, credit union disclosures often do not include information that would allow a customer to compare account fees, terms, and conditions.

On a related note, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will be making its complaint database public today. The Washington Post indicates the importance of this data:
Complaints are the primary way that most consumers interact with the new agency. The CFPB said it has received more than 45,000 in the year since the bureau was launched. How it handles those complaints — and how much it makes public — has been a source of tension between the agency and financial industry groups.

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Lawrence Tribe offers a promising new amendment to the U.S. Constitution

At Slate, Lawrence Tribe has offered a new innovative approach to amending the U.S. Constitution with regard to election reform. Tribe's proposed amendment is especially valuable, because it doesn't obsess over neutralizing Citizens United and it doesn't simplistically demonize corporations (to the exclusion of other people and organizations that warp the election -- especially super-rich individuals and shell organization that hide the identities of the donors). Tribe takes serious aim at expenditures, rather than focusing only on contributions. Here is the text of Tribe's proposed amendment:

Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to forbid Congress or the states from imposing content-neutral limitations on private campaign contributions or independent political campaign expenditures. Nor shall this Constitution prevent Congress or the states from enacting systems of public campaign financing, including those designed to restrict the influence of private wealth by offsetting campaign spending or independent expenditures with increased public funding.
Tribe proposed language focuses on a critically important point. The vast pools of unregulated money flowing into the system don't merely distort the natural outcomes of elections; they also distort access to politicians between elections:
Expenditures to support or oppose political candidates, however nominally independent—and lately, the purported independence of super PACs has become a national joke—in practice afforded wealthy people and corporations grossly disproportionate access to holders of public office.
Therefore, anyone worrying only about the outcome of elections is missing much of the story. Tribe also argues that proposed amendments declaring that money is not speech miss the mark:

I am not prepared to abandon all First Amendment scrutiny of regulations imposed on financial backing of political expression. What’s crucial is that regulations treat content neutrally, regardless of whether they address speech itself or the funding of speech, and regardless of the speakers at which they aim.

Additionally, as I reported here, the United States Supreme Court has, in Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, prohibited states from leveling the tilted playing field with public funding. Tribe's proposed amendment also addresses this huge problem. It's not likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will reverse Citizen's United, not when Justice Anthony Kennedy "infamously claimed in Citizens United that 'independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.'" Tribe points out the lunacy of this belief, recognizing that big money buys special access. He urges that it is time for a new groundswell of united citizens to demand "commitment to equality of political influence."

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Dear Mom and Dear Dad: new ads regarding legalized marijuana

I've never used marijuana and I'm not trying to encourage other people to use marijuana. But neither am I discouraging adults who want to responsibly use marijuana the same way as many people responsibly use alcohol and prescription drugs. The reason I promote the legalization of marijuana is that I am horrified by the way that our politicians make personal marijuana use a criminal justice issue. Arresting 800,000 people each year (the equivalent of the population of the state of South Dakota) is a waste of taxpayer dollars and it makes our streets violent. We should tax and regulate marijuana for the same reasons we did away with Prohibition. This position is advocated by many people with careers in law enforcement, including all members of LEAP. Colorado is soon going to vote on Amendment 64, which would do the following:

• makes the personal use, possession, and limited home-growing of marijuana legal for adults 21 years of age and older;

• establishes a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol; and

• allows for the cultivation, processing, and sale of industrial hemp.

Amendment 64 (here's the full text) also does the following:
Amendment 64 removes all legal penalties for personal possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and for the home-growing of up to six marijuana plants, similar to the number allowed under current medical marijuana laws, in an enclosed, locked space. The initiative creates legal marijuana establishments – retail stores, cultivation facilities, product manufacturing facilities, and testing facilities – and directs the Department of Revenue to regulate a system of cultivation, production (including infused products), and distribution. . . . The general assembly will be required to enact an excise tax of up to 15 percent on the wholesale sale of non-medical marijuana applied at the point of transfer from the cultivation facility to a retail store or product manufacturer. The first $40 million of revenue raised annually will be directed to the Public School Capital Construction Assistance Fund. . . . The initiative does not change existing laws regarding driving under the influence of marijuana, and it allows employers to maintain all of their current employment and drug testing policies. . . . Take a look at two commercials being run by the proponents of Amendment 64, on which the people of Colorado will vote in November:
Colorado has some smart and media savvy people working on this campaign, including Mason Tvert: By the way check out Tvert's comments on industrial hemp at the 3 minute mark. How bizarre is it that our politicians are so dysfunctional about the false alleged dangers of marijuana that they also outlaw industrial hemp, with which people cannot possibly get high? Listen to Tvert talk about the economic benefits of making marijuana and industrial hemp legal.

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