Monthly Archives: August, 2013

August 15, 2013 - MTV has announced their nominees for the 2013 VMA Awards for the "Best Videos With A Social Message" for the VMA Awards which will be aired on August 25 at 9 PM EST. The nominees include Beyonce for her video "I Was Here" in honor of World Humanitarian Day, to Snoop and his daughter Cori B. for their video "No Guns Allowed" calling for an end to gun violence. The issues tackled and addressed by these videos are wide ranging, from same-sex marriage to the environment. Below is my choice for the award, Miguel's "Candles in the Sun". Read more on the MTV VMA website here.

August 13, 2013 - Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined the condemnation of the harsh and Draconian voter suppression bill that North Carolina Republican state lawmakers and Republican Governor Pat McCrory passed and signed yesterday, saying it "reads like the greatest hits of voter suppression". She also weighed in on the recent gutting of the federal voting rights act and the effort by Republican state lawmakers across the country enacting laws making it harder for people to vote. Speaking in San Francisco yesterday she said, "In the weeks since the ruling, we've seen an unseemly rush by previously covered jurisdictions to enact or enforce laws that will make it harder for millions of our fellow Americans to vote." 

JTMP urges our supporters to contact your state lawmakers and governor, and tell them you do not support voter suppression efforts, and demand they start making it EASIER for Americans to vote, NOT HARDER. The USA.gov website has a great place for you to find out how you can contact your state lawmakers and governor, check it out HERE. Watch the C-Span video of her speech yesterday at the American Bar Association conference below.  (Photo credit: US Department of State)

August 12, 2013 - North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory quietly signed a bill making it much harder for many North Carolinians to vote, such as eliminating early voting and requiring specific forms of ID one would need to show at the poll to exercise their right to vote at the polls. Republicans on the state level across America have been pushing aggressively to make it harder for people to vote, but some say this effort by state Republicans in NC is Draconian and harsher than most. Although there has been zero evidence of this supposed "voter fraud" in the state, Governor McCrory signed the bill that even stops young people aged 16 and 17 from registering early so they are ready to vote when they turn 18. JTMP is all about urging young kids to get involved in our elections, and this is just absurd. There has always been a low participation by young people in our democratic process, and this is not just unnecessary, but undermines what our government should be doing, which is encouraging people to participate in their civic duty of voting and making it easier for them to vote. This is a clear attempt at trying to put hurdles in front of voters that tend to vote for Democrats. In 2012, over 70% of African-Americans took part in early voting with the "Souls to the Polls" on Sundays after they attended church service, and they tend to vote Democratic. This blatant attempt at circumventing our democratic process and making it harder for Americans to vote is outrageous, and thankfully, as Ari Berman of The Nation reports, 2 lawsuits have already been filed challenging the law. Read more on Charlotte Observer here.  (Photo credit: State of North Carolina website)

August 12, 2013 - Justice Through Music has been blogging about justice recently, and how it is hard for American citizens to move on with their lives after making mistakes, and Eric Holder came out today with something JTMP wants to applaud him for. Speaking to the American Bar Association's House of Delegates in San Francisco, he announced that the US Justice Department will no longer pursue mandatory minimum sentences for low-level non-violent drug offenses. For those of you who do not know what mandatory minimum sentencing is, it is a stupid idea the US Congress came up with years ago to take away the power of a judge to impose sentences and have automatic jail time for offenders that has caused our prison population to soar and ruin millions of people's lives; often for non-violent drug offenses which are a health issue not a criminal one. Addicts not only have to face battling their demons of addiction, but then they have an albatross around their neck with a criminal charge and a prison record, which interferes with them finding a job and moving on with their lives.

Eric Holder said we as a nation "cannot prosecute or incarcerate" our way to safety, and JTMP wholeheartedly agrees; addicts need health care and treatment, NOT incarceration. Holder added that the stupid "war on drugs" has been "ineffective and unsustainable" and also pointed out the injustice of disproportionate arrests and prosecutions of African-Americans and called it "shameful". Another important and significant thing he is implementing is that he is having prosecutors leave out the amount of drugs involved, thereby stopping the "trigger" of mandatory jail sentences kicking in; but we need the US congress to get rid of the law. JTMP urges our supporters to contact your congress members and tell them you support Holder's move, and ask them to get rid of mandatory minimum sentencing laws for non-violent drug offenders. Tell them we need more funding for treatment, not more prisons. Also, only 10% of low-level non-violent drug offenses are in the federal justice system; we need to work at the state level and get rid of this Draconian practice at the state level too, so contact your state delegates, representatives and state senators and tell them you want treatment for low-level non-violent drug offenses, NOT prison.  Read more on CNN.com here.   (Photo credit: US Dept. of Justice)

August 11, 2013 - 14-year-old Rachel Parent debates the harmful practice of GMO food with bully TV host Kevin O'Leary and wins! You must see this video! Head on over to our JTMP Green site and check it out!