Proposition Five on the November ballot would make widespread changes in the ways that drug users are treated by California's prison system.

The Yes on Prop 5 website is here.

The No on Prop 5 website is here .

There's an impartial analysis of the measure here. And you can read the actual text of Proposition 5 here. (pdf, 61 pages)

The September 24th forum on Proposition 5, to be held at 7 pm in the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors' chambers (575 Administration Drive, Suite 100A, Santa Rosa), is hosted and sponsored by the Sonoma County Advisory Board on Drug and Alcohol Problems.

If you haven't heard of plans being made for a North American Union, an economic and political consolidation of Canada, Mexico and the United States, it may be because the powers behind those plans want them kept quiet.

Constance Fogal, a leader of the Canadian Action Party , speaks out against the North American Union.

The Amero, a new currency which would cover all of the Americas, could be introduced as a future step into the North American Union.  Here's what Fogal says about that.

You can read a U.S.  government fact sheet about NAFTA here.

 While events inside the Republican National Convention last week received saturation coverage from the mainstream media, significant developments in the streets outside went largely unreported.

Carl Patrick, a member of the IMPACT! activist group from Petaluma , was among the hundreds of protesters at the Republican National Convention last week. He will be speaking  about his experiences there on Thursday evening,  Sept. 11, at the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County. For more details,  click here.  Patrick says  that local police in the Twin Cities made numerous attemps to infiltrate the protest groups, but their efforts were conspicuous failures.

  Cazadero-based activist Starhawk says that in spite of all the furor and ominous aspects of the police response to the protestors, she considers her trip to Minnesota last week a success.

To read Starhawk's most recent blog entry about her experience at the Republican National Convention, click here .  

The protests were primarily organized by the RNC Welcoming Committee, which is now coordinating fund-raising for the legal defense for those still facing criminal charges in connection with the protests.

Political infighting has moved to a new pre-election battleground-the ballot summaries in the publicly published, non-partisan election guides.

Dave McCuan is Associate Professor of Political Science at Sonoma State University.