One hundred Green letters by May 31!

The Media Committee challenges Greens all over to put the Green Party and our candidates on the media map!

Our goal is to see ONE HUNDRED letters to the editor sent by Greens to newspapers throughout the US by the end of May. If enough letters get sent, a good percentage will get published, and hundreds of thousands -- maybe millions -- of voters will read about the Green Party and Green candidates.

If you'd rather submit an op-ed column or an article to the newspaper of your choice, that's fine too!

What should you write about? It's up to you:

• Your favorite Green candidate for President of the United States

• Your favorite Green candidate for the US House, US Senate, state legislature, county commissioner, city council, mayor, school board, or any other office

• The upcoming Green National Convention in Chicago, July 10-13

• The Green Party's demand for immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq

• The Green Party's demand for real action on global warming, rather than ineffective corporate-friendly half measures

• The Green Party's support for single-payer national health care

• Another Green Party position that you consider important

• Anything else you can think of about the Green Party or Green candidates!


Here are some suggestions:

• Keep your letter concise & focused. Five or six sentences is good, but in most larger newspapers, anything longer is in danger of getting edited or immediately rejected. In many local papers, they'll be happy to print a longer letter. Op-eds & articles can be longer, too. Check the newspaper's guidelines on submissions.

• Use the word GREEN at least once, preferably a few times, so it's clear that your favorite candidate is a Green candidate, or the position you're espousing is a Green position. Mention that you're a Green Party member and try to work in the web site of the national party (gp.org) or your local or state party.

• If you can, use a personal angle. For example, if a family member can't pay a medical bill or is on the front line in Iraq, it might be worth mentioning in a letter to the editor about the Green Party's position on health care or the war.

• Respond to an already published article or column. For example, a recent column in The Progressive by Adolph Reed (May 2008 issue, http://www.progressive.org/mag_reed0508) on why he isn't supporting Barack Obama deserves a Green reply: why doesn't Mr. Reed mention the Green presidential candidates?

• Read "How to Place an Op-Ed or Letter in the Top 100 US Newspapers" http://theopedproject.org/content/view/8/8/

Start writing letters! If you get published, let us know -- and post it on Green Party discussion lists too, so other Greens can read it too.

Scott McLarty
mclarty at greens.org
Media Committee
Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org

Live Green Vote Green! Register now for the 2008 Green Party of the United States Presidential Nominating Convention

The 2008 Green Party of the United States Presidential Nominating Convention and Annual Meeting is in downtown Chicago from July 10-13th. This year's event is shaping up to be one of the best events of the year. Please visit http://www.greenparty2008.org for all the information related to the convention, including registration and the link to reserve your room at the headquarter hotel, the Palmer House Hilton. Staying at the Palmer House is a very important aspect of this onvention,
the party needs to fill rooms to get the best rates on space, plus don't you want to be where all the action is? If you share a room it is reasonable, especially for such a beautiful hotel in the heart of downtown Chicago.

The workshop selection will be top notch, with expert activists from across the country discussing an array of issues. From foreign policy issues related to the Middle East and Iran, working toward immigrant and LGBTQ rights or to how to campaign on a shoestring budget, attendees have the ability for much education and continued learning.

Thursday evening's International Reception will feature Greens from all over the world. In 2004 we had over 35 International guests representing at least 15 countries.

The Annual National Meeting Committee urges you to register as soon as you can and to reserve you room at the Palmer House Hilton. It is most financially helpful to the party to have the attendees staying at the Palmer House, our headquarter hotel. Downtown Chicago is an epicenter of activity, especially in the summer months, with Grant Park and the magnificent Lake Michigan only a couple of blocks away the location is awesome.

So, please visit http://www.greenparty2008.org for registration, room reservations and general questions.

The actual nomination vote will take place on Saturday, July 12 at the Symphony Center. As part of the Nominating Convention day, the Green Party will host keynote speeches from Malik Rahim, Kathy Kelly, and Cliff Thornton.

Malik Rahim is a long-time community activist from New Orleans, a former Black Panther, and in the last election was the Green Party candidate for Mayor of New Orleans. Malik co-founded the Common Ground Collective/Relief, an organization that provides short term relief to victims of hurricane disasters in the Gulf region. Please visit http://www.commongroundrelief.org for more information.

Kathy Kelly Is a familiar name to many Greens. Kathy co-founded Voices in the Wilderness in 1996, an organization that worked to end the sanctions on Iraq. She has visited Iraq and other locations in the Middle East on several occasions. Voices in the Wilderness has since become Voices for Creative Non-Violence, and you can read more about Kathy's recent work at http://www.vcnv.org.

Cliff Thornton Jr. is a long-time social justice activist who has done much work on drug policy reform, recently receiving the Robert C. Randall Award for Achievement in the Field of Citizen Action from the Drug Policy Alliance. Cliff was the Green Party's candidate for Governor of Connecticut in 2006, and is currently co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. Read more about Cliff's organization Efficacy, Inc. at http://www.efficacy-online.org.

Numerous workshops will be held across the days of the convention, with expert activists from across the country discussing an array of issues, including foreign policy (especially Iran and the Middle East), immigrant rights, GLBTIQ rights, campaign school workshops, and much more. Attendees will have the ability for much education and continued learning.

The national Green Party's Annual National Meeting Committee and the Illinois Green Party's convention host committee urge you to register as soon as you can and to reserve your room at the Palmer House Hilton. It is most financially helpful to the party to have the attendees staying at the Palmer House, our headquarter hotel. Downtown Chicago is an epicenter of activity, especially in the summer months. With Grant Park and the magnificent Lake Michigan only a couple of blocks away the location is awesome. Attendees are encouraged to come early or stay longer to see the attractions that Chicago has to offer, and to visit the neighborhoods where Green Party activity has been steadily increasing for years.

More speakers, workshops, and events will be announced in upcoming weeks. Also visit http://www.greenparty2008.org for new information as it becomes available, as well as for registration, room reservation, and other general questions.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you in July.

-Green Party of the United States Annual National Meeting Committee
-Illinois Green Party Convention Host Committee

Greens urge defeat of current Farm Bill, urge legislation to assist small local farms instead of big agribusiness

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org

Main Street, not Wall Street: Green Party calls for bill to assist local economies, promote local production of nutritious food, and end hunger in the US and around the world


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders called for national defeat of the $300 billion Farm Bill, calling it a capitulation to major agribusiness interests and a blow to small farmers.

"While the bill contains a funding for nutrition and some environmental reforms, the bill would provide huge subsidies for powerful agricultural corporations, giving them greater power to crush and absorb family farms," said Rodger Jennings, Green candidate for Congress (http://www.rodgerjennings.org) in District 12 of Illinois, a large part of which is farm land. "Corporate welfare will not solve the world food crisis."

The bill, which comes up for renewal every five years, is the result of a House-Senate compromise and has strong bipartisan support, especially from Democratic leadership. Congress is expected to vote on it in July.

Greens drew attention to several problems with the current bill:


* The bill provides no real relief for US counties with the highest rates of poverty, since subsidies mainly benefit the wealthy owners of corporate farms.


* The bill grants subsidies for crops like corn, wheat, cotton, rice and soybeans -- US imports dumped into poorer countries, hurting subsistence farmers in these countries and hindering farmers in other countries from competing in international markets. When prices for food plummet as a result, local farms fail and are replaced by giant agribusinesses, and poverty increases.


* The bill does not support cultivation of fruits and vegetables, and instead promotes an economy that encourages cheap calories and drives up the price of nutritious foods, aggravating obesity and other health problems.


* The bill encourages production of sugar and corn to be used for ethanol, which Greens call an inefficient replacement for fossil fuels; the rise in ethanol-based energy has converted land that could be used for food production into a source of fuel. This conversion has caused economic and food supply crises in several African countries, as agricultural land now benefits the high energy-consumption demands of the US and other western nations.


* The richest 5% of US farm owners would win more than half of the bill's federal subsidies. Black farmers complain that they would be excluded from the subsidies program.



"The Green Party urges passage of legislation that would strengthen small, locally owned farms and give them protection against the takeover of land by giant agricultural corporations. We support strong local economies, with farms that provide nutritious food and numerous financial benefits for the surrounding community," said Carol Brouillet, California Green candidate for the US House in District 14 (http://www.communitycurrency.org).

"The current bill favors Wall Street. Greens support Main Street. We need a farm bill that will replace hunger with abundant nutritious organic food, help family farms, and promote locally based economic development and self-reliance," added Jason Wallace, Green Candidate for Congress in Illinois' largely agricultural 11th District (http://www.electwallace.us).


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

Video of Green presidential candidates
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php

Links to Green Presidential Candidates' web sites
http://www.gp.org/committees/pcsc/index.shtml

Green candidate database for 2008 and other campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml

Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml

Green Party Speakers Bureau
http://www.gp.org/speakers

Green Party ballot access page
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections

2008 Green National Convention: Live Green, Vote Green
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/index.shtml

Media credentialing
http://www.gp.org/forms/media

Bread for the World: "How to Improve the Farm Bill"
http://www.bread.org/take-action/farm-bill-ol2007/how-to-improve-the-farm-bill.html

Meet the Candidates

Candidate's websites
Jesse Johnson – http://www.jesse08.org/
Cynthia McKinney – http://www.runcynthiarun.org/
Kent Mesplay – http://www.mesplay.org/
Kat Swift – http://www.voteswift.org/

San Francisco Green Presidential Debate / January 13th, 2008
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/president/sf_debate.php

Polidoc Productions videos:
Jesse Johnson – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcXF4AHcVbs
Cynthia McKinney – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiZkPfx07Pw&feature=related
Kent Mesplay – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB0exE5kssI
Kat Swift – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB7f-XHsJD8

Statements to the Green Party of the United States in Reading, PA last
summer:
Jesse Johnson – http://youtube.com/watch?v=mMxgYnmdHfg
Kent Mesplay – http://youtube.com/watch?v=5RzsfsFJS_Q
Kat Swift – http://youtube.com/watch?v=uzHn2D789Wg
Cynthia McKinney was not yet a candidate at that time so she spoke in
a different format at that time –
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=332622179870559068

Bus Fareness Update

The Bus Fareness Coalition held a public Town Hall meeting on April 3rd at the downtown public library. The purpose was to encourage bus riding citizens and those that support them to speak out regarding the arrogant and non-responsive treatment the average bus rider recives at the hands of the Rochester Genesee Regional Transit Authority. There was a list of concerns but the overall key point focused on the long term practice by the officials at the Transit Authority of demonstrating a total lack of respect for the needs of the average riders. Instead if a corporate business or a City official interested in matters that speaks to business interests have a demand, they are right there. The Authority boosts they hold their own Town Hall meetings but few attend and since there are different persons attending at each meeting, there is no effort to organize a real bus riders response. Another pattern with the RGRTA is to select issues of concern to them and to make an ad like statement to the media with no counter information by those affected, namely the riders who depend totally on the bus to meet many daily needs. This is not just job related. It also affects riders who must often carry groceries, household supplies and other heavy items and abide by bus schedules that often double the time each rider must take to do daily errands. Greater availability to bus schedules, timely modernazation of the shelters and bus overcrowding are problems that have been been neglected for years.

Recently the RGRTA announced they may lower bus fares by one dollar. This is curious as they had recently sited some lose over last year's budget. It does appear however, that again this may be directed at business interests both who have left the city and those who plan to move to the city after being located in the suburbs. Since riders in these situations usually have a destination of downtown and return home, they would benefit from the $1.oo reduction from the current $2.50 for the same travel. However, since most city riders do not work downtown and use the bus for other needs as well they would pay more. To covers thier costs they would have to continue to purchase the $3.00 day pass. This is their only option since the RGRTA discontinued the use of transfers in 2006. We have asked that the day pass as well as the other passes be lowered at the same time the fare becomes $1 so all can benefit. We contacted the media to inform the public of this solution.


We are unsure if the City administration's is in support of our request to have a citizen review board that would relate to the City in oder to assure interests of bus riders are heard and changes made. It is our belief such an approach is legal and would not interfer with the current Board structure which is set up at the state level. The City has members on the RGRTA Board which if they chose could work with us and represent these issues to the Board at their monthly meeting which at this time does not happen. We plan to meet directly with the Mayor's staff to clarify our poisiton and plan. It is our hope that the City and the City Council will agree to endorse our plan which can only strengthen community involvement. As stated previously the lack of a voice for the average city resident is deafening!

Bonnie Cannan CoChair GPOMC

Greens introduce a plan for environmental action for a Green President's first 100 days in office

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org

Green Party seeks bans on mountaintop removal and coal-fired and nuclear power plants, introduces an aggressive plan to curb global warming

An environmental program for Green presidential candidates -- and a challenge to Democrats and Republicans















Green presidential candidates Jesse Johnson, Kat Swift and Kent Mesplay carpooling to a campaign event.

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Green Party's Eco-Action Committee has announced a set of recommendations for environmental actions for the first 100 days of a Green presidency.

Titled "First 100 Days: Energy and Environmental Policy" and posted online (http://www.gp.org/committees/ecoaction/documents/First_100_Days.pdf), the recommended executive orders and legislation are addressed to the Green Party's national candidates. Jesse Johnson, Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mespllay, and Kat Swift are the four contenders for the Green presidential nomination; Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza-Curry is seeking the vice-presidential nomination.

The Green Party of the United States will hold its 2008 National Nominating Convention in Chicago, Illinois, July 10-13 (http://www.greenparty2008.org).

"We're not only sending the 'First 100 Days' list to Green candidates. The Green Eco-Action recommendations are a challenge to all presidential candidates, regardless of party, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain -- with a plea to set aside their promises to corporate contributors for the sake of our children's lives and our planet's future," said Wes Rolley, co-chair of the Eco-Action Committee.

"The Green Party's concrete proposals stand in sharp contrast to those who would base their election on such short term ideas as a gasoline tax holiday, which they would have to pay for with more borrowing from oil rich sheikdoms," Mr. Rolley added.

The Eco-Action recommendations also provide guidance on major environmental issues for Green candidates for Congress and other offices.

Summary of major recommendations:


* No new coal fired-power plants; no new nuclear power plants; reduce by 90% the mercury emissions of coal-fired power plants by 2012; protect human health and the environment.in the disposal of coal-fired power plant wastes


* Ban mountaintop coal removal; ban the dumping of mountaintop removal wastes in stream beds and valleys


* Reduce CO2 and SO2 emissions by 80% by 2020


* Provide incentives for industry and citizens to reduce energy use through conservation and generate more renewable energy sources; enact a mandatory 25% renewable energy mix in the national grid by 2015; encourage all states to do the same (using oil and nuclear subsidy funds); encouraging local energy generation


* Increase Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 60 mpg for cars and 45 mpg for light trucks by 2012


* Set a national phosphorus standard for all US waters that will protect steams from nutrient growth; strengthen bacteria standards to protect human health


* Require labeling of imported foods, foods with growth hormones, and foods produced by Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)


* Stop export of any technology abroad for projects that involve fossil fuel or deforestation


* Require that all federal agencies continue their policy of direct negotiation with Indian tribes on a government to government basis


* Protect the rights of Environmental Justice communities to be free from new proposals for permits that would potentially increase their burden of toxic contamination, and prioritize these communities for cleanup




The Eco-Action Committee credited Earl Hatley of Oklahoma with most of the writing of the recommendations, with significant contributions from Derek Iverson (California) and detailed discussion among all committee members.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

Video of Green presidential candidates
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php

Links to Green Presidential Candidates' web sites
http://www.gp.org/committees/pcsc/index.shtml

Green candidate database for 2007 and other campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml

Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml

Green Party Speakers Bureau
http://www.gp.org/speakers

Green Party ballot access page
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections

2008 Green National Convention: Live Green, Vote Green
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/index.shtml

Media credentialing
http://www.gp.org/committees/media/kit.shtml

Green presidential candidates:

Jesse Johnson http://www.jesse08.org

Cynthia McKinney http://www.runcynthiarun.org

Kent Mesplay http://www.mesplay.org

Kat Swift http://www.voteswift.org

Vice-presidential candidate: Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza-Curry
http://curry08.wetpaint.com

Green Party Eco-Action Committee
http://www.gp.org/committees/ecoaction

Interview with Kat Swift on her presidential campaign (San Antonio Current)

Finally old enough for the Oval Office, Swift
throws a lasso in the ring

Greg Harman
San Antonio Current, May 7, 2008
http://sacurrent.com/news/story.asp?id=68690


Three candidates get all the air time. Ralph’s
defected for an Independent run. “Green” has
become the Holy Grail of marketing kitsch. And
San Antonio’s newest perennial candidate (and
former Current staffer), Kat Swift, is using her
Minervan powers to shake down the last few
uncommitted primary voters to save the world from
anti-human, corporo-fascist domination.





















Greg Harman
Green presidential candidate Kat Swift works the King William Fair crowd

[Q] I was thinking about that Kinky Friedman
saying, “How hard could it be?” What have you
found? How hard is it to run for president?

[A] The FEC filing is insane. I mean, I’ve run
for [San Antonio] City Council … you go online,
it’s straightforward, it makes sense, it matches
the paper forms. You go and use the FEC free
software, you gotta find special characters that
only special programs create and it doesn’t match
the paper. You can see how they sort of made it
where companies can make money off of the
government’s inability to be simplistic and
straightforward.

Then, of course, you have ballot-access issues,
where every state is different. And this is a
federal election, you know, this should be a
uniform ballot-access requirement nationwide. It
just makes it next to impossible. Texas is the
hardest state to get on the ballot.


[Q] Why is that?

[A] Well, we have primary screen-out. We’re the
only state that has primary screen-out. It’s been
ruled unconstitutional in several places, but it
basically is that if you vote in the primary you
can’t petition your government to get another
party on the ballot, or an independent candidate.
So in years like this, when people actually vote,
which is not common, it makes it even more
difficult because you have 75 days to get 45,000
signatures from people who registered but didn’t
vote [in the primaries]. And finding those people
has been next to impossible.


[Q] How vital is it for the Green Party or any
other third party to get established in the
system?

[A] When your only choice is a
corporate-dominated party, I mean you’ve got a
left wing and a right wing of the same corporate
party that’s leading us to a totalitarian-fascist
government, then it’s absolutely essential in
order to keep democracy, in order to have
choices. The people in power want to keep it.
They don’t want people to have a choice. They
don’t even follow the Constitution, which says
you’re supposed to proportionally represent
delegates … In that case, you disenfranchise
entire demographics in the South.

I think if we’re going to have political parties,
we need to have a multi-party system or we should
just do away with political parties.


[Q] Tell me that the Green Party does not operate
in this way like the Democratic Party, where we
see these proportional splits in delegates and
then you see the super delegates and then you
have the super-duper delegates.

[A] [Laughter.] No, we have, like, normal
delegates. Every state is different. The way they
choose their delegates is different, but what
happens is they do proportionally distribute
their delegates. If you get 33 percent of the
votes, you get 33 percent of the delegates to the
national [convention].


[Q] And they’re still not bound, or are they?

[A] Almost every state binds the first round,
because we do instant run-off voting. Whoever has
the lowest votes after the first round will get
dropped. Some states bind every round, but most
don’t. Most just bind the first round and then
delegates are free to do what they want … But
there are no super delegates and all that
craziness.


[Q] When you’re out on the street, do people ever
bring up, say, “Oh, Ralph Nader, he was a
spoiler. A third party or Green Party is just a
spoiler for Democratic Party chances?”

[A] It didn’t help that the media made it seem
like it was Nader’s fault or the Green Party’s
fault. The only people who still really say that
are people who are still really angry, but who
also don’t know the facts. It’s hard to deal with
it. A lot of times, it’s best to just walk away
and let them be ignorant. But the facts are there
were more people on the ballot in Florida than
Ralph Nader. There were more Democrats that voted
for Bush than voted for Nader. The Democratic
Party itself did not stand up for voter fraud. In
2004 in Ohio there were numerous egregious
violations of people’s rights and the Democratic
Party. The Green Party and Libertarian Party did
but it was thrown out because there was no way we
could have won with a recount and so it was
considered frivolous.

As long as the wealthy have the power, they’re
going to do whatever it takes to limit your
choices and limit your vote.


[Q] And maintain their own.

[A] Right. As soon as people go, “Oh, wait a
minute. I don’t have to vote for the lesser of
two evils because I’m afraid of the alternative.
What if we all went and voted third party?”

It’s not some foregone conclusion that these are
the only people who can win.


[Q] But do you think the ideals of the Green
Party represent enough Americans to bring that
about, to even get established?

[A] Well, whenever you talk to people on the
street who aren’t involved in politics and they
find out what you’re talking about and what we
stand for, they agree every time. The only
disagreements I find are for people who are very
key-issue orientated. Because they’re
anti-abortion. They don’t want to talk about why
abortions are so high. Or why unwanted
pregnancies are so high, which is what we talk
about, on addressing the cause of it instead of
just making it illegal. When you’re dealing with
people like that it doesn’t matter what you say.


[Q] What is your campaign strategy and where does
the Wonder Woman suit fit into that?

[A] [Laughter.] My Wonder Woman suit, [she] was
one of my heroes. I was rewatching the series
actually recently and was like, “Wow. I got a lot
of my beliefs from that.” Female empowerment. Not
fighting with guns. Stopping the bad guys, stuff
like that.


[Q] And the truth lasso?

[A] Yeah. The truth lasso. Making people tell the
truth and stopping people from killing people,
you know? That kind of belief system. So I
thought it would be fun to go outside the box and
not be the politicians, be the dressed up-super
hero — especially for King William … I’ll
probably start carrying it with me just in case
the opportunity arises.

Cynthia McKinney Economic Plan

Cynthia McKinney has sent us a flier on her Economic Plan, this is perfect for printing and handing out or posting.

There is also a Black & White version that is better for some printers.

Kat Swift Radio Interview

Green presidential candidate, Kat Swift and SKCM Curry with a Texas Green Party candidate Art Browning on the radio program: Self Determination

http://archive.kpft.org/

click on play next to Self Determination on April, 27th, 2:00pm

Green national candidates salute Global Greens meeting in Brazil

Forwarded by the Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org

2008 Green national candidates salute, congratulate Green Parties worldwide on the Second Global Greens Congress, São Paulo, Brazil, May 1-4, 2008

The four candidates seeking the Green Party's presidential nomination and one candidate for the vice presidential nomination issued a joint statement of salutation, congratulation, and support for Greens from all over the world gathering in São Paulo, Brazil, for the Second Global Greens Congress, May 1-4, 2008.

Jesse Johnson, Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, Kat Swift and vice presidential hopeful Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza-Curry are currently touring the US seeking support for the nomination, helping several state Green Parties in their efforts to achieve ballot status, and winning new registrations in the party. The candidates took some time out for a joint teleconference, at which they decided on the message to the Global Greens Congress.

The Green Party of the United States will hold its 2008 National Nominating Convention in Chicago, Illinois, July 10-13
(http://www.greenparty2008.org).


Joint statement from Green presidential and vice presidential candidates on the Second Global Greens Congress, São Paulo, Brazil, May 1-4, 2008

We five national candidates, in line with the Green Party of the United States

1. Commend the Global Greens for helping and supporting the Green Party of the United States, and for helping community leaders run for public office worldwide.

2. Have strongly opposed President Bush's invasion of Iraq and oppose the continued
occupation; and have agreed that, if elected, will conduct an immediate orderly withdrawal from Iraq.

3. Demand an end to US dependence on oil, coal, and nuclear power.

4. Will continue to speak out against proposed anti-immigration bills, through participation in rallies and other actions to protest punitive legislation, such as House Bill 4437, directed at undocumented immigrants and those who assist them: Green national candidates emphasize that immigrants aren’t the enemy, and that people continue to come to US for the same reason people came throughout history -- for a better life.

5. Call for important steps to restore the power of the people:
• Proportional Representation, to ensure that minority populations as well as majorities get fair representation; more information at http://www.fairvote.org
• Legislation guaranteeing the people's right to vote in national elections
• Paper ballot trails to verify all votes and open-source software in all computer voting machines
• Instant Runoff Voting, to ensure that election results reflect the will of the majority of the majority of voters; more information at http://www.fairvote.org

6. Invite members of the Global Greens to attend the US Green Party's upcoming National Nominating Convention in Chicago, July 10-13, and also to make plans to help monitor national elections in the US: while Democrats remained silent, Greens challenged alleged vote manipulation by Republicans in Ohio and New Mexico on Election Day, 2004.

7. Share with the Global Greens Congress that "it's cool to be Green" and that the American public's interest in green living, from compact fluorescent light bulbs to local markets, has boosted interest in our party. We support you and encourage you to remain on the Green cutting edge in your respective nations and local communities


MORE INFORMATION

Green presidential candidates:
• Jesse Johnson http://www.jesse08.org
• Cynthia McKinney http://www.runcynthiarun.org
• Kent Mesplay http://www.mesplay.org
• Kat Swift http://www.voteswift.org

Green vice presidential candidate:
• SKCM Curry http://curry08.wetpaint.com/

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org

Green Party 2008 National Convention, Chicago,
July 10-13 http://www.greenparty2008.org

Green Party election advances in Ariz., Conn., Maine, Mich.

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, May 1, 2008

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805,
starlene@gp.org


Green Party election update: ballot status in Arizona; record number of legislative candidates in Maine; statewide meetings in Connecticut and Michigan apportion delegates for Chicago convention


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Parties in states throughout the US are preparing for the party's National Nomination Convention ("Live Green, Vote Green"), to take place in Chicago, Illinois, July 10-13.

836 delegates will attend the convention to choose the Green Party's 2008 national nominees (http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/Delegation-Size.php). Green Party members are working hard to get 51 ballot lines (50 states and the District of Columbia) for the Green nominees on Election Day.

For 2008 Green Party campaign news, visit:
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/index.shtml

Here are some updates:

• ARIZONA (http://www.azgp.org) The Arizona Green Party achieved ballot status in April after an aggressive effort. This is the third time that Arizona Greens won a place on the state's ballot, after 1992 and 2000.

Greens hope to receive at least 5% of the Arizona vote in the 2008 general election, which would give the party official recognition for the next election cycle. Arizona Greens can also maintain ballot status if at least 0.66 percent of voters register Green as of November 1, 2009.

"Arizona Greens have much to celebrate. This month [April 2008], we achieved ballot status for the third time in our history. And we will soon celebrate the 18 year anniversary of the Arizona Green Party -- the party was founded in May, 1990. We are in the process of recruiting candidates for state legislature and Congress. This is the moment that we have been waiting for!" said Angel Torres, co-chair of the Arizona Green Party.

More details: Arizona Republic article:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/20/20080420greens0420.html


• CONNECTICUT
(http://www.ctgreens.org/index.shtml) Party members attending the Annual Convention of the Green Party of Connecticut on April 26 voted for presidential candidates and delegates to the Green National Convention. The statewide meeting was held at the Greater New Haven Central Labor Council in New Haven.

Cynthia McKinney received 33 votes, Kat Swift three votes, Jesse Johnson two votes, and Kent Mesplay two votes. Those vote will be divided among the delegates to the convention. Write-in votes included six for independent candidate and native son Ralph Nader, and one each for two others. Connecticut Greens will send 20 delegates to the national convention, to be apportionate according to the April 26 vote.

Speaking at the event were first-time congressional candidates Stephen Fournier, 1st
Congressional District (http://www.fournierforcongress.org), Scott Deshefy, 2nd District (http://www.newmenu.org/deshefy4congress_ct); and Richard Duffee, 4th District (http://richardduffee.com). Harold Burbank, 5th District (http://www.newmenu.org/haroldburbank) did not attend the meeting.


• MAINE (http://www.mainegreens.org) The Maine Green Independent Party is running a record number of candidates for state legislature, with three candidates for State Senate (which has 35 seats) and ten candidates for State House of Representatives (151 seats).

In 2006 the party ran two State Senate candidates, and eight State House candidates.
John Eder served as a member of the Maine House from 2002 to 2006, the Green Party's most recent state legislator.

The Maine Green Independent Party is the largest Green Party in the US in terms of percentage of the electorate, with 3% of Maine voters registered Green.

Maine Greens will hold their 2008 annual state convention in Yarmouth on May 18, at which they will select 44 delegates to the national convention. In the caucuses held earlier this year Cynthia McKinney took about 80% of the votes. Greens who did not have the opportunity to attend the caucuses will have another opportunity to vote at the Convention.

For more information, visit the party's web site (http://www.mainegreens.org). Inquiries can be sent to info@mainegreens.org .


• MICHIGAN (http://www.migreens.org) The Green
Party of Michigan, at its statewide meeting on April 19 in Romulus, unanimously agreed on ten men and nine women to serve as delegates to the Green Party's 2008 presidential nominating convention in Chicago, July 10-13.

Elections co-ordinator John Anthony La Pietra announced the results of a statewide membership poll taken to bind the delegates' votes on the first ballot in Chicago. Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney received 64%, earning 13 delegates. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader (who announced an independent campaign in February) finished second with 17% of the vote and three delegates. Kent Mesplay of California and Kat Swift of Texas earned one delegate each; one vote in the delegation will go to the convention uncommitted.

The poll also invited party members to list their preferences beyond first choice. Mr. La Pietra reported detailed alternative results (counted using instant-runoff voting and approval voting) which delegates may use to help determine their votes after the first ballot in Chicago.


• Statewide meetings were also held by the Mountain Party in West Virginia (http://www.mtparty.org) and the North Carolina Green Party (http://www.ncgreenparty.org). Reports from these meetings will be published soon.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Video of Green presidential candidates
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php
• Links to Green Presidential Candidates' web
sites
http://www.gp.org/committees/pcsc/index.shtml
• Green candidate database for 2007 and other
campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau
http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections
• 2008 Green National Convention: Live Green,
Vote Green
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/index.shtml
• Media credentialing
http://www.gp.org/committees/media/kit.shtml

Candidates for the Green Party's 2008
presidential nomination:
• Jesse Johnson, http://www.jesse08.org
• Cynthia McKinney, http://www.runcynthiarun.org
• Kent Mesplay, http://www.mesplay.org
• Kat Swift, http://www.voteswift.org


~ END ~

Green Mayor Brings Open Government to Greenwich, NY

This comes to us from GP.org

David Doonan was considering a run for public office last year, but not necessarily for Mayor. But when then Mayor Chris McCormick, was quoted in the local paper as saying "things are easier to get done when the public doesn't show up" Doonan knew he had to run. "That was really the turning point for me". Doonan said, "People felt like they were shut out of the process, that decisions were being made without public input". Doonan made Open Government the central issue of his campaign. It turns out that was the right focus. Doonan won the election with more than 70 percent of the vote. The incumbent, running for a Trustee position, garnered only 8 percent.

Since taking office on April 7th, Mayor Doonan has already lived up to his promise to make Greenwich, NY's government more open and accountable. He has instituted video taping of all Village Council meetings which will then be available on-line. He's also added a Mayors report so that the public knows what he does and what he is responsible for. Doonan, a freelance web designer (Doonan is webmanager for the Green Party of the United States), maintains a list of his clients on his campaign website. "Many elected officials in NY who have second jobs do not disclose who their clients are, leaving the potential for graft. Publishing my client list is one way to ensure transparency when it comes to awarding village contracts. This is one way to counter the traditional power structure".

Doonan says that building community participation and public service were central to his campaign and to his job as Mayor. "If I had won the Mayor's race, but had not persuaded others to step up and run for office, I would have considered it a failure. But I got two people to run, and they are now serving with me as Village Trustees". He's also convinced community members to join the zoning board of appeals.

Besides winning the Mayor's race, Doonan's campaign had the added benefit of creating a new Green Party local which meets monthly.

When asked what advice he has for prospective Green Candidates, Doonan stresses the need to focus on local issues that effect the community you're running in. "Not that you should hide from the larger issues, I kept a 'Bring the Troops Home' sign in my yard during my entire campaign, but find out what the local issues are. You won't win if you don't address local concerns. "Also, let them know who you are. My race was officially non-partisan, but I campaigned with a Green Party button the whole time. I never shied away from the fact that I was a Green Party member, the webmanager for the Green Party, and also a member of the IWW".

Doonan included a union bug at the bottom of his website. He thinks it is particularly important for Greens to include union bugs on their campaign materials. "If we want to get labor union endorsements, we need to show that we support organized labor".

Doonan received financial support for his campaign from both the GPUS Coordinated Campaign Committee's campaign grant program and the Green Party of New York.

Cynthia McKinney on the Sean Bell Verdict

Cynthia McKinney
Statement on the Sean Bell Verdict
April 26, 2008

"[T]he legislation and histories of the time, and the language used in the Declaration of Independence, show, that neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves, nor their descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then acknowledged as a part of the people, nor intended to be included in the general words used in that memorable instrument. . . . [A]ltogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."

And with that, the United States Supreme Court ensured that the 20th Century would be defined, as W.E.B. DuBois wrote, by the color line. So, while we might be outraged at the Sean Bell decision itself, it comes directly from the flawed jurisprudence that gave us the Dred Scott Decision in 1857, Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, Bakke in 1978, Croson in 1989, Adarand in 1995, Gratz in 2003, and all of the Ward Connerly-inspired attacks on the very same affirmative action hard won by students facing water hoses and dogs; men and women facing jail, lynch mobs, and death.

Interestingly, according to Attorney Roger Wareham of the December 12th Movement's International Secretariat, the criminal justice system in this country "always finds a rationale for letting off cops who kill black and brown people." Indeed, police officers seem to know that they can kill certain people with impunity.

Just in New York City alone, Wareham rattles off the murders that have defined police-"communities of color" relations over two generations:

Clifford Glover, 1972
Louis Baez, 1978 shot (22 times)
Randolph Evans, 1979
Eleanor Bumpers, 1985 (a grandmother)
Amadou Diallo, 1999
Patrick Dorismond, 2003
Sean Bell, 2006

Sadly, New York City isn't the only city, with this plague. In 2001, the Dayton Daily News reported that Cincinnati topped the list of police killings of Blacks, having had 22 people shot, 13 fatally. All black men. Three unarmed. Plus two additional deaths due to police use of chemical irritants.

The 2001 "Cincinnati Intifada" lasted for three nights after a white police officer murdered an unarmed black teenager. Timothy Thomas was the fifteenth black male killed by Cincinnati police over a six-year period. I traveled with Ron Daniels and others to Cincinnati to support the call by black residents, including Reverend Damon Lynch III and 36 other ministers, for a boycott of that city. Still reeling from the effects of the boycott, Cincinnati made headlines again in 2003 when the world watched as one black and five white police officers repeatedly beat Nathaniel Jones with batons and then left him in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant, only to be pronounced dead later at the hospital.

The "Benton Harbor, Michigan Intifada of 2003" lasted two nights after the murder of an unarmed black motorcyclist by white police officers. Adding insult to injury, the residents of majority-black Benton Harbor are reeling under an attempted takeover of the last "undeveloped" beachfront property on Lake Michigan. The residents are under attack by the Whirlpool Corporation, that wants to develop "Benton Shores" and move all of the residents completely out of the town. The purported goal of the development is to turn Benton Harbor into one of the "hottest vacation destinations in the country," to include a members-only indoor water park, and a Jack Nicklaus golf course. According to Reverend Edward Pinkney, the valiant leader who is trying to save Benton Harbor for the people, Harbor Shores will result in a complete takeover of Benton Harbor, a city that is 96% Black. Reverend Pinkney has been in jail since December 14, 2007 on trumped- up charges including violation of probation, for writing an article calling the chief judge racist. Mrs. Pinkney called the Office of Michigan Congressman John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee to ask for justice for the residents of Benton Harbor and for her husband. Shockingly, Chairman Conyers refused Mrs. Pinkney's plea to get involved in this heroic struggle of a 96% Black community in his own state. When I visited Benton Harbor, it was clear to me that Reverend Pinkney has the full support of the area's residents, black and white, as they struggle to maintain the character of their community. Reverend Pinkney is recognized by the people as true hero and occupies a jail cell because of it.

Finally, however, someone broke the silence and admitted it. Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper wrote in his book, "Breaking Rank," that white police officers are afraid of Black men. He develops this theory in a chapter of the book entitled, "Why White Cops Kill Black Men." Finally: a hint of truth coming from the other side. In a June 16, 2005 interview with the Looking Glass News, Stamper says that he personally believes "that white cops are scared of black men. The bigger or darker the man, the more frightened the white cop. I can't shake that; it's a belief I will take to the grave."

So while the corporate press would have us believe that reporting on what a former Vice Presidential nominee says about a Presidential candidate is a discussion of race, the prospects are that black and brown men and women will continue to be murdered by police officers who, fundamentally, seem scared of black people. That fear apparently extends to the larger community because juries construct ways to let murderous police officers escape just punishment.

Roger Wareham, and the December 12th Movement International Secretariat raise, inside the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, the details of the type of police abuse in which a 92-year old grandmother, Kathryn Johnston, is murdered by police in Atlanta, Georgia and her family still has not seen justice or been made whole. Or where a young black male, also in Atlanta, can be sitting in his mother's car and is murdered because the police presume that the car is stolen.

The December 12th Movement has asked for United Nations Rapporteurs to come to the U.S. on fact-finding missions so that the U.S. can finally be listed as a major human rights abuser and a Rapporteur assigned to this country. Already, the Special Rapporteur on Racism and Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance is coming to the U.S. from May 18 - June 6 and will be in New York City on May 21st and 22nd. The December 12th Movement is scheduled to have a hearing for him at the Schomberg Center where the issue of police killings will be raised. The Rapporteur is also scheduled to visit DC, Chicago, Omaha, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Miami, and San Juan.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Summary and Arbitrary Executions, Mr. Phillip Alston, is conducting a Mission to the U.S. in June. The Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is also interested in reports of police abuse. If a consistent and systemic pattern of abuse exists (which it clearly does in the United States), the United Nations General Assembly can pass a resolution which helps creates international public opinion and perhaps the political will to stop it.

Certainly, doing the same thing--a cycle of protest without punishment--will net the same results. Something different must be done. That's why I authored legislation to deny federal funds and the use of federal equipment to any law enforcement unit found to have violated the civil rights of the people it is organized to protect and serve. Imagine if we had the laws on the books and the apparatus of enforcement. Imagine if juries wouldn't grant impunity to killer cops.

Some of you have written to me suggesting that we do something different: perhaps a full-scale boycott. Perhaps a full-scale, all-out political response--something many in this generation have never done before.

Bobby Kennedy always said, "Some men dream of things that are and say why. I dream of things that never were and say why not."

It is not impossible for us to have justice. We don't have to lose any more people to police abuse, brutality, or murder. But, in order to change things, we're going to have to do some things we've never done before in order to have some things we've never had before.

Are you willing to entertain that idea? Today? Right now? If we demand more of our elected representatives, I'm convinced we will get it. And it should be clear exactly what is needed if we don't get what we demand.

To read more of my writings, please visit www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com.

McKinney Wins In Michigan

Michigan Greens Apportion, Elect Convention Delegates Unanimously

For Immediate Release
April 20, 2008

Green Party of Michigan
www.migreens.org

For More Information, Contact:
Fred Vitale, Chair chair@migreens.org
GPMI Media Committee jalp@triton.net


McKinney Wins 13 of 19 Statewide Votes for 1st Ballot at GPUS Convention July 10-13 in Chicago; 3 for Nader; 1 Each for Mesplay, Swift, Uncommitted; Locals Will Pick, Instruct 5 More Delegates

Party Starting Drives to Boost Membership, Recruit Record Number of Candidates; Will Post "Announced" Candidates List Online by May 13 to Help Groups Considering Endorsements

Other Michigan political parties may be having problems allocating and seating national-convention delegates. But not the Greens.

At a statewide meeting Saturday in Romulus, the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) unanimously agreed on ten men and nine women to serve as delegates to the GPUS Presidential nominating convention July 10-13 in Chicago.

Also, GPMI Elections Co-ordinator John Anthony La Pietra announced the results of a statewide membership poll taken to bind those state-selected delegates' votes on the first ballot in Chicago. Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney got 64% of the first-place votes in the poll, earning 13 delegates. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader -- the 1996 and 2000 Green Presidential candidate, but running as an independent this year as he did in 2004 -- finished second with 17% of the vote and three delegates. Kent Mesplay of California and Kat Swift of Texas each also earned one delegate; one vote in the delegation will go to the convention uncommitted.

The poll also invited members to list their preferences beyond a first choice. La Pietra reported detailed alternative results (counted using instant-runoff voting and approval voting) which delegates may use to help make up their minds on how to vote in any later ballot.

Five GPMI locals -- Detroit Greens, Flint Greens, Huron Valley Greens, Traverse Bay Watershed Greens, and Van Buren County Greens -- qualified to select and bind one delegate each. The State Central Committee will fill any vacancies and find alternates.

But 2008 is not only a Presidential election year. Other candidates and issues were also hot topics of discussion Saturday.

GPMI's share of the ambitious national goal of 1,000 Green candidates in 2008 is 67. "That's half again as many as we've ever had before," notes La Pietra. "But we're about a third of the way there already." And, along with a membership drive, the party will reach out to more potential candidates using free, on-line, and alternative media and invitations to groups GPMI partners with on issues.

One new effort is an official list of candidates who have taken specific steps to show they are serious about running for a place in the Green column on the November 4 ballot. GPMI will post a list of these candidates on its Web site www.migreens.org by May 13.

Some groups that endorse candidates schedule their process around that date -- the deadline for Democrats and Republicans to file for the August 5 primary. But candidates of Greens and other parties can't get on a primary ballot, so they may not get equivalent official status until after the primary. GPMI hopes its list will give endorsing groups and voters more timely notice of Green candidates.

A breakout session in Romulus discussed ways to help Green candidates co-ordinate statewide. GPMI is focused on five campaign themes: ending the Iraq War, universal health care, the global environment, the economy, and the energy crunch. Members reported on policy ideas and actions ranging from helping "re-house" unfairly evicted families to a Truth Commission on affordable water for people versus profitization of water systems in the Detroit area and to fighting sulfide mining in the UP.

The meeting unanimously reaffirmed GPMI's support for the "Compassionate Care" medical-marijuana proposal on the November ballot. Greens also welcome the discussion of universal health care that would surround another proposed ballot issue, but have some doubt that the current proposal goes far enough in providing health care to people instead of subsidies to health-insurance corporations.

GPMI is looking at one more statewide meeting before the GPUS nominating convention, possibly in the Lansing area in mid-June. And Michigan Greens in Chicago may invite the newly-nominated Presidential ticket to "follow them home" to GPMI's own nominating convention the following weekend, July 19-20. Such a campaign visit might tie in with planned rallies in Benton Harbor five years after Governor Granholm's visit to that city, and her unkept promises to help its people, after riots sparked by the Terrance Shurn incident.


created/distributed using donated labor


Green Party of Michigan
548 South Main Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
http://www.migreens.org
734-663-3555

GPMI was formed in 1987 to address environmental issues in Michigan politics. Greens are organized in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each state Green Party sets its own goals and creates its own structure, but US Greens agree on Ten Key Values:

Ecological Wisdom
Grassroots Democracy
Social Justice
Non-Violence
Community Economics
Decentralization
Feminism
Respect for Diversity
Personal/Global Responsibility
Future Focus/Sustainability

Rally for Mumia Abu-Jamal

Kat Swift, Cynthia McKinney, and Kent Mesplay

On Saturday, April 19th, Green Party's Presidential Candidates, Jesse Johnson, Kent Mesplay, Kat Swift and Cynthia Mckinney spoke to the rally for Mumia Abu-Jamal in the wake of the recent appeals court ruling finding judicial bias in his sentencing hearings while refusing to address the judicial bias and prosecutorial misconduct during the underlying trial.

Here is the audio of Cynthia's speech

Kent Mesplay: An Open Letter to the Organizers of Science "Debate" 2008

An Open Letter to the Organizers of Science "Debate" 2008:

I would like to call attention to the apparent exclusion of alternative party candidates from the “Science Debate 2008.” Global Climate Change, in particular, is an important Green Party topic as it affects public health and safety, contains social injustice elements and is related to non-sustainable development. Moreover, as an Air Quality Inspector II for the county of San Diego, the issue is close to my vocation and avocation.

Selection of a “15% rule” of popularity for inclusion is arbitrary, capricious and unscientific. Some points must be made regarding “viability.” In 2004 the Green Party presidential candidate, David Cobb, was statistically capable of being elected president (see Richard Winger’s Ballot Access News). Especially during the primary election season, events such as yours further perpetuate the myth that there are only two political parties in this country by excluding alternative parties and limiting actual debate. Our candidates do quite well when they are heard. Would you now exclude Mrs. Clinton as she appears to not be a viable candidate? How about excluding John McCain since a broad coalition of progressives are united in seeing an end to Republican control and damage? Your “formula” does not account for the roughly half of the potential voter population perhaps being sufficiently inspired by an actual multi-party debate to register to vote and to participate. Nor does the benchmark account for late-breaking campaigns with “exponential” growth: witness the late-breaking run of Matt Gonzalez who nearly won the mayor-ship of San Francisco!

A Green Party presidential candidate would do well enough in your “debate” to subsequently poll over 15%. If you are accepting two Democrats then certainly you have room for one Green (and our party could decide whom to choose). I ask that you allow a Green to participate, especially in light of the subject matter and the reality of onerous, inconsistent ballot access laws that, together with exclusion from polls and “debates,” effectively outlaw political free speech.

Gore would not have done as well as he did had Nader not inspired people to register to vote by his run (a scholarly study backs this up). Plus, more Democrats voted Republican in Florida in 2000 than voted Green. Are you interested in facts or propaganda? It would seem the latter.

Thank you for reconsidering,

Kent P. Mesplay, Ph.D.
www.mesplay.org

Science Debate 2008 - candidates shut out and we make our own

Posted by Kat Swift in April 8th, 2008

so there was this group who wanted presidential candidates to come to the Science Debate 2008, at least three Green Party candidates, said we’d be there.

Then the exclusion came when a specific poll was used as one of the criteria - when have you ever seen a green candidate in a mainstream poll?

So off we were to protest our exclusion and guess what? the mainstream three candidates who were allowed in the debate blew them off! No debate.

They could have had a debate with at least three candidates and probably more.

so we’re still going to Philidelphia on April 18th:

Delaware County, PA Green Party and Democracy Unplugged present
A Third Party candidates Forum on Friday, April 18th at 7:30
at Swarthmore Borough Hall 121 Park Avenue
(first floor Council room)

green shirts and white electrical taped mouths….why won’t the “top three” answer the questions:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080317_Among_science-debate_questions_put_to_candidates.html

Faith discussion is more important it seems….what about faith that your president is willing to be challenged on matters of national security vis a vis science and technology and other hot topics of the century?

Drug War Chronicle: The 2008 Presidential Campaign: On the Left, the Greens and the Nader Campaign

The 2008 Presidential Campaign: On the Left, the Greens and the Nader Campaign

Drug War Chronicle
Issue #532, 4/18/08
StopTheDrugWar.org
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/532/2008_presidential_campaign_green_party_nader


With the Democratic Party presidential contenders offering little more than tepid reforms on the margin of drug policy and the Republican nominee largely promising more of the same old drug war (look for an article next week on major party contender crime and drug policies), people seeking radical reforms in US drug policy are looking beyond the two major parties. Last week, Drug War Chronicle examined the alternative on the right, the Libertarian Party, and its presidential campaign. This week, we turn our view to the left, to the Green Party and the independent campaign of Ralph Nader.

While third-party alternatives like the Greens or Libertarians have not succeeded in winning large percentages of the popular presidential vote -- the 2000 Nader Green candidacy garnered only 2.7% of the national vote, and the 2004 competing Nader and Green candidates combined for little more than half a million votes nationally -- in a close election, third parties could throw a state's electoral votes to one or the other of the major party candidates. Just to take one example, countless Democrats are still fuming that the 2000 Nader campaign cost them the election by garnering slightly under 100,000 votes in Florida.

"A third-party campaign could make a difference in a tight race," said Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Action Network, the lobbying arm of the Drug Policy Alliance. "In this election, it could come from either side of the political spectrum."

While conservatives and libertarians interested in drug reform have the Libertarian Party, for liberals and progressives, the Green Party comes closest to a palatable drug policy. In its most recent social justice platform, adopted at the 2004 national convention, the party calls for -- among other things -- repealing "Three Strikes" laws and mandatory sentencing, an end to asset forfeiture for unconvicted suspects, a moratorium on prison construction, the decriminalization of victimless crimes including marijuana possession, the legalization of industrial hemp, and "an end to the war on drugs."

"Law enforcement is placing too much emphasis on drug-related and petty street crimes, and not enough on prosecution of corporate, white collar, and environmental crimes," said the platform. "At the same time, we must develop a firm approach to law enforcement that directly addresses violent crime, including trafficking in hard drugs. Violence that creates a climate of further violence must be stopped. Police brutality has reached epidemic levels in the United States and we call for effective monitoring of police agencies to eliminate police brutality."

While the Green Party platform has its contradictions -- it calls for marijuana decrim and an end to the drug war, but also defines selling drugs as "violent crime" -- it is miles ahead of the major parties on drug policy. And the current crop of Green Party presidential candidates appear to be ahead of the party platform.

Former Democratic Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney looks to be the front-runner for the party nomination at this stage, primarily because of her high name recognition and national reputation. On her web site, McKinney says bluntly, "We want to end the war on drugs now!"

In addition to targeting communities of color, "the War on Drugs has become a war on truth, taxpayers, civil liberties, and higher education for the poor and middle class, and sadly, it has also become a war on treatment, addicts, and reason," says her statement. It also "provides cover for US military intervention in foreign countries, particularly to our south, and that this increased militarization is used to put down all social protest movements in countries like Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and elsewhere."

"This is a big issue for Cynthia, especially as it impacts communities of color and regarding the prison industrial complex," said John Judge, a McKinney press spokesman.

It's also a big issue for other Green candidates. "Drug policy is a big issue for me, it affects my daily life," said contender Kat Swift, a San Antonio-based political activist and former co-chair of the Texas Green Party. "I work at a homeless center, and we deal with drug issues all the time. We're across the street from a park with a lot of illegal drug sales. I've also had friends and family members arrested for having a joint."

Swift said she is looking to long-time drug reform activist and former Connecticut Green Party gubernatorial candidate Cliff Thornton, and his group, Efficacy for guidance on drug policy issues. "Cliff has submitted an amendment to our drug policy plank that would call for legalizing and regulating all drugs, and I don't know that I differ with him on this at all," she said.

For Swift, drug policy is a pivotal issue. "This is an area where race and class and even how we treat women and children is at play," she said. "This is about the prison-industrial complex and keeping people in their class."

"I am opposed to the war on drugs," said contender Kent Mesplay, who came up in California Green Party politics and now serves as a delegate to the Green National Committee. Calling the drug war a "vestige of Puritanism," he added that "it is, in effect, a war on poor people with terror for us all when we realize how completely the US government attempts to micro-manage our lives. It would be far better to have governmental agencies put money and effort into actually educating people as to the science of drug use."

And just in case that wasn't clear enough, Mesplay added, "Yes, I have smoked marijuana and I favor its decriminalization."

Neither the other Green Party presidential contender, Jesse Johnson, nor the Nader campaign responded to Chronicle requests for information on their drug policy positions. Johnson's campaign web site does not mention drug policy, nor does Nader list it among his "Twelve Issues that Matter in 2008," although his web site says it is open for more issues and he has embraced drug reform in past campaigns.

According to the Green Party web site, McKinney stands alone at the head of the pack in the delegate count, but that's with only three states having decided. The contest for the party's nomination will be on until the party national meeting later this summer.

Once again, people for whom drug reform is a major issue will have a choice, whether on the left or the right. They can vote for parties and candidates who support their drug policy positions, but who have little to no chance of winning, or they can vote for a Democrat in hopes of obtaining reforms on the margins, or they can vote for the Republican despite their drug policy convictions.

[This article was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so. Writing staff attempted to craft this article with full journalistic integrity as we do with our 501(c)(3) publishing.]

Green Presidential Debate - Feinstein, Riles KPFA backstage interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqJHHRCdaWk
15:48

Former Green officeholders Mike Feinstein (Mayor, Santa Monica) and
Wilson Riles, Jr. (City Council, Oakland) are interviewed backstage by
Larry Bensky on Pacifica radio station KPFA, Berkeley, California,
immediately preceding the Green Party 2008 Presidential Debate, January
13th, 2008. Herbst Theatre, San Francisco. www.cagreens.org www.GP.org
www.feinstein.org

Watch the debate!www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php

For more video of Green Party events and members
http://www.youtube.com/user/mfeinsteintube
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=mfeinsteintube