Prominent Women "Woman Up" for Drug Law Reform in Letter to Obama that Addresses Children's Concerns

Actress and Obama campaign co-chair Eva Longoria

What do Eva Longoria, Roseanne Barr, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson, Cameron Diaz, Scarlett Johannson, three Kardashians (Kim, Khloe and Kourtney), Demi Moore, Sarah Silverman, Susan Sarandon, Ani Difranco, Missy Elliott, Jennifer Hudson, Natalie Maines, Nicki Minaj, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and authors Michelle Alexander and Naomi Klein have in common with John Hamm, Ron Howard, Richard Branson and Mike Tyson?

They've all signed an open letter to President Obama calling for an end to the injustice of the war on drugs. Also signing were civil rights leaders and advocates, members of the faith community, business leaders and athletes, all members of a coalition 175 strong lead by Russell Simmons and the Drug Policy Alliance.

The letter says:

"The greatest victims of the prison industrial complex are our nation’s children. Hundreds of thousands of children have lost a parent to long prison sentences for non-violent drug offenses, leaving these children to fend for themselves. Many of these children end up in the criminal justice system, which comes as no surprise as studies have shown the link between incarceration and broken families, juvenile delinquency, violence and poverty....

"Many of those impacted by the prison industrial complex are among your most loyal constituents. Your struggles as the child of a single mother allow you to identify with millions of children who long to be with their parents. We request the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these ideas further and empower our coalition to help you achieve your goals of reducing crime, lowering drug use, preventing juvenile incarceration and lowering recidivism rates. We stand with you, ready to do what is just for America." 

The letter also asks Obama to form a panel to review requests for clemency that come to the Office of the Pardon Attorney. 

Justin Bieber didn't sign but made news when he tweeted support. And the NAACP president told the US to man up and reform the WOD, tweeted the Marijuana Majority. In response to a tweet with a link to this article, MM responded that Ben Jealous also said "woman up" in his excellent interview (well worth a look).

Joan Rivers Outs Herself and Friends; Roseanne Barr Runs for Green Party Presidential Nomination on Pot Platform; Armie Gets Hammered: All on TMZ!

RIP Joan Rivers: Forever Outrageous

Ya gotta love TMZ and not just for its hot James Franco-ish surferdude. It's for the gang's potparazzi-style fascination with celebs and pot. Formerly TMZ outed Whoopi Goldberg as smoking pot before she accepted her Oscar, and Dyan Cannon for proffering pot brownies at Lakers' games.

In tonight's episode, Joan Rivers is accosted in New York, where she is asked about smoking pot on her television show Melissa and Joan. Toke of the Town strangely said it smelled like a publicity stunt when Joan tokes up in a car, saying she hadn't done so in 40 years.

But maybe Rivers was purposely making a statement. TMZ asked the comedienne who else she'd smoked with. "Oh, Betty White," she said, "George Carlin, Woody Allen, Bill Cosby...we had fun."

Rivers and Lily Tomlin where the two females picked to honor Carlin after, a few days before his death, he was awarded the Mark Twain prize for humor. That night, she said of Carlin, "We met in Greenwich Village, but we couldn't pinpoint the date because he was high on acid and I was totally wasted."

TMZ was a bit behind on their story about actor Armie Hammer (grandson of the oil scion Armand) being caught with pot baked goods in the same Texas town where Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg were nabbed. On the red carpet at the Screen Actors' Guild awards Sunday night, the question put to Hammer by Access Hollywood was, "How did you manage to take a good looking mug shot?" the softest softball ever pitched. Not missing a beat, Hammer jokingly and sweetly answered the question “What you didn’t see is there was a makeup crew there.” He made no apology for entering the lofty triumverate, spending a night in jail to earn his badge of honor.

But wait, before the evening's out it's another scoop! Hitting on TMZ's website tonight is the breaking news that VIP Roseanne Barr has officially filed papers to run for president and hopes to carry the Green Party banner in the November election. They say,

"Barr says she's sick of Democrats and Republicans, whom she believes are not working in the best interests of the American people. So what, you ask, is Roseanne pushing? The answer is simple ... pot. She wants marijuana legalized and sold strictly domestically."

As of now, Barr is leading Romney in the online poll and isn't far behind Obama.

Obama 39%
Roseanne 36%
Romney 25%

Total Votes: 14,049

It's been quite a Candlemas. Let the quickening begin.

Roseanne Tells It Like It Is

Reading at Books Inc. in Berkeley on Sunday from her new book Roseannearchy Roseanne Barr laughed, she cried, and she displayed more compassion and common sense than all the politicians in Washington put together.

Barr has been making the talk show rounds, appearing with everyone from Joy Behar to Bill O'Reilly (she got Bill on board with a Charity Farm). She implored politicians to "stop dividing us against each other so you can rob us." The solution, she said, was to be kind to each other. "We can break free the minute we start sharing."

The no-nonsense Roseanne said she's gotten off Facebook because she realized it's "Satanic....I was thinking I was doing something when I wasn't." Instead, she blogs at Roseanneworld.com and invites all to meditate with her at 2AM on Friday night/Saturday morning (she posts her present time zone on her site). She spoke of the Sufi phrase, "That which occurs before that which transpires" and said, "Let's be that something."

Barr's hilarious HBO special "Blonde and Bitchin'" contained her trenchant observation, "The War on Drugs is a war on poor people using street drugs waged by rich people on prescription drugs."

There are a couple of references to the "Herb of the Goddess" in Roseannarchy. I recommend all buy and read the book to find them. She calls weed "the only drug that should be legal. In fact, it should be mandatory" (a line she borrowed from the great Bill Hicks).

  Read more about Roseanne.