Please, Immediate Action needed:

[seth]

in regards to the AMBER Alert/ RAVE act Bill:

take a moment to read thsi, and follow the link to quickly and easily let your senator know that you oppose this move....

THE RAVE ACT IS MOVING!
IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO STOP IT: FAX YOUR SENATORS & EMAIL THIS TO YOUR
FRIENDS

Late on Tuesday, April 8, a Senate and House Conference Committee,
without a hearing, public notice or a debate in Congress, attached
the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act (formerly known as the RAVE
Act) to the Amber Alert Bill (a child abduction bill).

It is not too late to stop the bill - Fax your senators. The main
floor fight is likely to take place in the Senate in the next 12-24
hours so do it NOW
http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/a...ep=2&item=1578

Representatives John Conyers (D-MI) and Bobby Scott (D-VA) valiantly
opposed this sneaky effort to pass controversial legislation.
Unfortunately they were outvoted and RAVE Act provisions did become
part of the bill. These provisions make it clear that "crackhouse
laws" apply to temporary events, such as concerts, dances or
festivals, and add civil penalties of up to $250,000 to the
statute. If passed, property owners can be punished for any drug
offense that their customers commit - even if they work hard to stop
such offenses. This is likely to deter nightclub and stadium owners
from holding events.

On a more positive note, the word "rave" and an earlier "findings"
section that implied that water, glow sticks and other legal items
could be construed as evidence of drug use have been removed from the
bill. We hope that this will ensure that nightclub and other property
owners will not be prosecuted for having these legal items available
to customers. Your faxes achieved this!

With your help we will continue to fight to remove the RAVE Act
provisions from the AMBER Alert legislation, even if the Senate and
House act and the President signs the bill into law. We urge you to
take immediate action.

Fax your two Senators to let them know that you oppose the inclusion
of RAVE Act provisions in the AMBER Alert Bill. The main floor fight
is likely to take place in the Senate in the next 12-24 hours
http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/a...ep=2&item=1578

Let Representatives John Conyers and Bobby Scott know that you
appreciate their fight. Write a thank you note, card, postcard, or e-
mail:

Representative John Conyers
669 Federal Office Building
231 West Lafayette Boulevard
Detroit, MI 48226
John.Conyers@mail.house.gov <mailto:John.Conyers@mail.house.gov>
mailto:John.Conyers@mail.house.gov

Representative Bobby Scott
The Jackson Center
501 N Second Street
Richmond, VA 23219
bobby.scott@mail.house.gov <mailto:bobby.scott@mail.house.gov>
mailto:bobby.scott@mail.house.gov

Thank you to everyone who responded to our earlier e-mail alerts, and
to the hard work of all of our coalition partners in the electronic
dance, beverage and hotel industries, along with freedom of speech
and public health organizations. We especially wish to thank those
people who responded to our sign-on letter - Representative Conyers
read parts of it to the Conference Committee.

Finally, we want you to know that regardless of whether these
provisions pass or not, Drug Policy Alliance and our coalition
partners will work with you to mobilize to protect property owners
and prevent the further criminalization of dance or music events. We
will scrutinize law enforcement raids of clubs and properties. We
will work to find ways to help property owners, hotel owners,
nightclub owners and others to keep their customers safe. Finally we
will continue to advocate for legislation that helps ensure the
safety and free speech of the dance and music community and of all
people who are affected by this law.

[seksybeetchkerri]

i thought the amber alert was when a kid was missing?



*feeling dumb*



explain please

It is. Biden has tacked on the new version of the RAVE Act as a rider to the Amber Alert bill in a not-too-uncommon, but still quite shady tactic to insure that his otherwise dead-in-the-water bill will get voted on.

[seksybeetchkerri]

Originally posted by hyoomen
It is. Biden has tacked on the new version of the RAVE Act as a rider to the Amber Alert bill in a not-too-uncommon, but still quite shady tactic to insure that his otherwise dead-in-the-water bill will get voted on.

that is RIDICULOUS!


so basically he's hiding it behind the amber alert?



which has NOTHING to do w/ raves or any of that to begin w/??????????

[seksybeetchkerri]

Originally posted by WarLord
Where have you been?????

This is standard operating procedure in Washington.....nothing new at all.

Oh yeah...that's right......you can't be bothered with facts, can you?

shut the fuck up dumbass.


u have to be a fucking moron when i post.. cant u see i learned something NEW today.. so fuck off.


i'm so glad it wasnt you who explained it to me.. b/c then i really wouldnt have read it.... *ignore*

[TranceLVR]

WTF?
Government is shadey like that.
That's a bunch of bullshit.

Yeah, let's get people to vote on the Rave ACT by hiding it in a CHILD ABDUCTION ACT?

AZZHOLES.

Calling them assholes isn't going to help. Contact your Senators and Representatives.

I'm currently reviewing the possibilities of holding a May31 rally in Austin to be in line with the national RAVE Act protest day being developed by a group of associates. Don't know if I'll have time/resources, but it would be nice.

[Ryan]

I say screw Amber alert if they want to play like this. Let a few children go missing and put it on Biden's fat head. Of course, this shady tactic will almost definitely work because noone will "vote against the children." How pathetic.

Okay, chill out. We already know that not everybody is as educated or as willing to educate themselves as you are, WarLord. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your views and respect your intellect -- I try to value people's right to an opinion -- but there is certainly a better way of resolving this sort of childish bantering. ;P


Both of you, just relax.


This, however, is an excellent point of departure for me to offer up my theory that the degradation of the rave community began when we strived to create communities outside of the raves. Essentially, when we started talking on boards like this all the time instead of just seeing each other Saturday nights, we found that we hated each other just as much as we hated the regular world we sought shelter from. Good example, thanks.

[seksybeetchkerri]

Originally posted by Warlord
This person is on your Ignore List. To view this post click [here]

ahhh much better




i dont hate anyone.. i just choose not to like certain people


has nothing to do w/ the rave scene...

but this situation.. w/ the amber alert.. really does bother me ..... is there anything we can do about it?

thats just pathetic how they are trying to hide a act behind something that is really important (ie. the amber alert)

[Adam D]

It's a time tested political strategy to either get legislation passed or to kill legislation.

The intent of riders is to allow congressional committees to adjust the actions of a bill, for example, to add budgetary verification controls that the original text may not have when it was referred to the committee. However, because of the open ended policy on riders, they have become a powerful political tool.

Sometimes riders are placed on to legislation, such as in this case, to get unpopular or partisan legislation passed by attaching it to very popular or very bipartisan legislation, where the legislators would rather pass the bill with riders than not pass the legislation. I'm sure most legislators would rather pass the amber bill with the RAVE act rider than risk having Congress, or one party, look like they do not care for children. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and the bill will get killed because the rider will kick enough support off of the bill. In cases like the federal Amber plan bill, it's unlikely anybody would want to vote against it, which makes it the perfect bill to attach protested legislation to. And people who protest the passage of the bill with riders can be spun into appearing self-serving, when it isn't the case.

Other times, riders will be attached to a bill that has support, but members of the committee are trying to kill it. These riders are usually very controversial (partial birth abortion riders were popular with Republicans during the Clinton era) are often used in large quantity to ensure that either Congress will not pass it or the president will veto the bill based on the riders.

Other times they are used to garner support for a bill, either within Congress or with the president, by striking deals to agree to attach riders in return for voting for the bill.

Is there anything you can do to stop it? No, not really, except to ask the senators to reject the bill.