Celebration and memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta

Neighbors and Peacemakers is having a Circle of Dreams. It will be held on Saturday, April 8, 2006 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Sister Cities Bridge (between the Clarion Hotel and First Federal Plaza on East Main Street). It is in celebration and memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. The event is free and is open to the public.

A Circle of Dreams will bring together people representing the diversity of the community of Monroe. We invite everyone to celebrate their determination to become the "beloved community, " the goal of Dr. King who was assassinated on April 4, 1968. On April 8, 1968, Mrs. King, along with her three oldest children, Yolanda, Martin and Dexter led a march in Memphis, Tennessee which Dr. King was scheduled to lead. This event is in commemoration of that march that took place 38 years ago.


-this is something we were invovled in preliminary organizing for last spring, I think it would be wonderful if everyone could mark it on there calenders.

Internships at the Green Party National Office

Help make History! Intern with the fastest growing party in the US!

The Green Party of the United States is looking for interns to work in our Washington, DC office. Interns will assist with daily office operations, provide administrative support for campaigns, research, and help with convention planning and fundraising events. Qualified applicants should be computer savvy. Activist experience and/or Green Party membership preferred. Women and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

Start date is flexible. Hours are flexible although three-quarters to full-time is preferred.

This is an unpaid internship, although many colleges and universities offer college credit for internships.

To apply, please email your resume and cover letter to:

Green Party Internship
Attn: Emily Citkowski
Emily@gp.org

Interesting Links on Abortion & Hot Women

This is a great post on abortion - very thought proking. The Mahablog

And yes, smart women are hot.

Observations on TV News

I don't usually watch network newscasts - they just end up frustrating me. But I ended up watching this evening and a couple of things came to mind.

They keep having "news" stories on New Orleans musicians - how they're rising up from Katrina to restore the culture of New Orleans. But they don't talk about the people still displaced - mostly poor people. We don't hear mention of them. The millions of dollars people donated to help Katrina victims...how much of that has been spent? How many of the contract for reconstruction are going to political cronies? How about the land grab that's been going on to make New Orleans a corporate playground?

It sure would be cool if reporters staged their own revolution - if they refused to report such garbage. The corporations couldn't put on news if there was a strike. But they don't seem to have the guts.

Another thing I saw tonight was a story about people protesting military funerals. They seemed to be fundementalist wackos because their signs said stuff like "God Blows Up Soldiers" and things like that. That's not a slogan from any war protester I've ever been associated with.

But those protesters had protesters (of course). And in a soundbyte interview, one bikerguy said something along the lines of - these fallen soldiers fought for our freedom and they deserve respect.

OK...that's where he lost me. I'll start this point with the ubiquitous disclaimer that I support the troops, but I'll do it with an explanation. If you mean by supporting the troops that I hope none of them get killed or tortured and that none of them kill or torture, then yeah, I'm down with the troops. USA! USA!

But let's get this straight. The soldiers in Iraq are NOT fighting for our freedom. They may have been brainwashed into believing that - YOU may have been brainwashed into believing that. But they are not in Iraq to protect the United States. They are over there to protect and steal resources for rich people. Soldiers are pawns, plain and simple. I've always been ambivalent about military people. There have not been THAT many instances where our military has been protecting us (or even our allies). To varying degrees, there were alternative circumstances around decisions to go to war in every case.

Read the entire speech by President Eisenhower. Today, this guy would have been seen as being a crackpot lefty.

Gosh, I hope my phone doesn't get tapped now. I have so much to hide.

================================================================================

I'll stay on the topic of TV News, but I'll add a local note. I just read the City Newspaper article on former Channel 8 reporter Rachel Barnhart. As a personal note, I hope things work out for her - she's always been fair to us (Greens).

I've been told by a prominent Green, many times, don't trust the media. I understand why - there have been a number of times I've had to contact a reporter or editor to complain about the slant of a story or a misquote. But I've always had the attitude to trust first, but if you burn me once, you're going to have to be extra nice to get my trust again. I'm not going to name names here, but there are reporters in all media who I trust and don't trust. Also, I know that what a reporter writes, films, records, isn't always what makes it to us...Hello, Mr/Ms. Editor.

Rachel is on the trusted list - for me anyway. I hope she gets treated a lot better than Jack Spula.

One Machine to Rule Them All

The real reason America is being flooded with billions of dollars worth of paperless computerized voting machines is so that no one will ever again be able to prove vote fraud.

http://www.truthout.com/docs_03/102503C.shtml

Support Labor

Walgreens Rally

Walgreens has ignored our area's community standards while constructing their store in Irondequoit. (and Brighton)

Please join us for a "Welcome to OUR community rally!"

Where: Corner of Culver and East Ridge In Rochester
When: Sunday 2-26-06 @ 10am till noon (or longer)

Please park across Ridge in the shopping center lot or due East of the Walgreens in the Library lot. Bring something to make noise with and your family and friends!

Call (585)263-2650 for further information or details.

Anti War Events this week and through March

Hello all,
I attended the RAW (Rochester Against War) coalition meeting today at noon as a Green Party member and also as an individual activist. Present were-- Indymedia team, ISO, Peace Action and Ed, Metro Justice, and Military families Against the War, and others. There will be another meeting this coming Saturday again at noon in the same Hungerford Building office #368 at 1115 E main Street--this time with more specific detailed planning.

Here is a brief summary of events planned and scheduled from now til the March 24th final speaker in the Reality of War Tour series:

• Wed., Feb. 22, 7 pm Move On. Org Vigil -- 5 pm (I believe) at Twelve Corners
• Wed., Feb. 22, 7 pm -- REALITY OF WAR TOUR -- Event #4 "Not Your Soldier" @ First Universalist Church, 150 S. Clinton Ave
  Presented by Veteran Stan Goff and Vietnam War Resister Lee Zaslofsky http://RochesterAgainst War.org
• Sat. March 8 --International Women's Day -- Women Say No to War (Codepink) in DC and in events worldwide. Considering the MC Green focus this year, we may wish to co sponsor some event. I plan to check with Codepink and with some other women's groups to see what will work for everyone. Or I may go to DC if nothing happens here. Also go to http://codepink4peace.org to read the women's call for peace and sign the declaration.
  
• Sat., March 18th -- Global Call for Action to protest the US War against Iraq--specifically in Rochester the start of a 6 day series of actions in the city and in the suburbs--"Stop the War" march in the city Saturday, vigils/other events in outlying towns and villages during the week (at least 2 groups were represented at today's meeting), and culminating in the final event in the REALITY OF WAR TOUR--at RIT on Friday night, March 24th--speaker on ending the war now. (RIT and RAW are organizing this event specifically). I am on the media team and the planning team for coordinating the events of the week. I said the GPoMC would participate in the march and in at least 1 of the events most likely. QUESTION: are we a sponsoring organization in the RAW coalition? If so I need to get back to the lead members so our group name and website is included on their site (which is being revamped and updated).

Actually, a lot of good discussion and planning happened at this 2 hr meeting, and the various group reps seemed to all really get on board. The contact list for this coalition is long, so some cell phone calling and e-mailing will happen as soon as some plans are finalized. This is a great opportunity to tap into a growing majority of people who are frustrated with G. Bush and the war machine, people who are suffering as a result of the enormous costs (monetary and socio-economic) of this war.

Elizabeth Henderson's Talk at GPoMC Monthly Meeting

Last week, Elizabeth Henderson, of Peacework Organic Farm spoke at our Monthly Meeting. There were a lot of questions answered about organics and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA's). Here are the highlights:
(Picture "borrowed" from Nancy Kasper)

Most organic farming is done at a small scale level of 1-10 acres. Larger organic farms are the exception. Elizabeth sees the organic movement not as just one of farming and agriculture, but a movement of treating workers, consumers and the land with respect. It's a full agrarian movement.

Quick Fact: There are not many Universities with organic research programs, though the number is slowly expanding. One would think that Cornell University would have a program, but it doesn't.

Another Quick Fact: 43% of organic farmers are women.

One more Quick Fact: the average age of farmers in general is mid 50's, the average age of organic farmers is mid-40's. Younger people who get into agriculture are going organic.

Here are things that can be done to support organic agriculture at the local, state and national levels:

Local:

• Join a CSA (such as GVOCSA)


• Buy from local farms.


• Shop at Abundance Co-Op or Lori's Natural Foods.


• Participate in Rochester Roots.


• Enjoy family activites on local farms.


• Organize to enact local legislation barring Genetically Modified crops.


• Organize to get local food into local schools.

State:

• Join organizations such as the Hunger Action Network of NYS or NYPIRG.


• Letters and E-mails to your state representatives about Labeling Genetically Modified Food.


• Help farm workers to organize.


• Stay on top of issues at the New York State Farm Bureau.

National:

• Work to repeal and reject Free Trade Agreements.

Recommended Reading Before 2008!

"How The GOP Stole America's 2004 Election & Is Rigging 2008"
By
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
FreePress.org

Why I Don't Change the System from the Inside

I recently spoke to a couple of Participation in Government (PIG) classes at Greece Athena. I had a wonderful time. For being in school at 7:20am, they were pretty engaged. (Having school that early in the morning is another issue we could get inot, but I'll save it for another time)

In one of the classes, the resident Fox News advocate (there's one in every crowd, isn't there?) asked me THE question:

"Why don't you just become a Democrat and try to change things from the inside?"

Well, we did talk about that to a degree, but there was limited time and my answer would have made reference to a number of things that were beyond the scope of what we were talking about. But in summary, I can answer it this way...

Because I believe in standing up for what I believe in, and the two corporate parties believe in staying in power.

I bring this up because of something that happened in Washington on Friday. If you're reading this blog, it's probably because you are relatively sympathetic to what the Greens stand for. If that's the case then you are probably not down with the Patriot Act. Well, the Patriot Act is up for renewal and some want even stronger provisions put in it.

One Senator, Russ Feingold from Wisconsin, is trying to put amendments onto the Act that would prevent us from becoming a facist state. You can read his comments from the Senate floor here.

Friday, there was a vote on Feingold's amendments. They were voted down 96 to 3. Sens. Byrd & Jeffords voted for them. That's right. That means your Senators, Clinton & Schummer voted to keep us paranoid and like the countries we say we don't agree with. Do they represent you? Jeffords is an independent...so that means only 2 Democrats voted for these amendments.

Democrats in the Monroe County Legislature claim that because of the Repbulican majority in the County Leg they have no say. Will any of them do anything about it like Texas Democrats did back in 2003?

A couple of years ago, local Greens reached out to people working on Dennis Kucinich's presidential campaign. We invited some of them to come to a monthly meeting to talk to us about Dennis, what he stood for, etc. The three people who came proceded to use an hour of our meeting not to tell us about Kucinich, but to convince us to register Democrat. That was the respect we received. I had people calling & e-mailing me, mad as hell about it.

It's similar to situations we all faced as teenagers. Someone would try to get you to try smoking or drinking because they did it - and if you joined them it would validate their decision.

Well, I will not validate their decision to be in a party that sells out the people in purports to represent; whose excuse is that they don't do it as much as Republicans. If that's the inside, then the view is just fine where I am. I choose to walk the walk.

A Defense Against Anti-Democracy Democrats

[From http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0216-33.htm]

The Nader Effect: Democrats Are Chasing Ghosts Instead of Republicans
by Robert C. Koehler

Two ghosts stalk the national Democratic Party in its pitiful, 21st century incarnation. One is George McGovern, who taught them that only Republican values matter in a national election. The other is Ralph Nader, who taught them who the real enemy is.

The present hamstrung state of the party is the result of its abject fear of these ghosts, which has given it a permanent moral stammer. A party that doesn’t believe in itself is doomed to lose over and over, even if it represents the majority of the people and even — as Al Gore demonstrated in 2000 — when it gets the most votes.

While the ghost of McGovern, who was mauled by Richard Nixon in 1972, is the most deeply ingrained and enfeebling, seeming to guarantee uncritical Democratic support (“we love America, honest”) for every cynical Republican military or civil-liberties outrage concocted in the name of national security, the ghost of Nader is the most life-threatening. Its effect is emetic, causing an immediate discharge of rationality among the party faithful at every hint of a challenge from the party’s values base. The Nader Effect causes Democrats to upchuck the very medicine that will save it.

I managed to trigger a minor emetic episode last week, in a column about a pro-peace, pro-labor progressive named Bill Scheurer, whose credible campaign for Congress in Illinois’ 8th District should be, I thought, a ray of hope for every opponent of the Bush assault on our democracy. Without Scheurer’s presence, voters in the district will have a choice between two Republicans, one of whom, incumbent Melissa Bean, is disguised as a Democrat.

Over on The Huffington Post, where the column landed, someone (code name “dapper”) set off a debate by lambasting me for failing to demonstrate the absence of a “Nader factor” in the race. That is, did Scheurer, who hoped to get on the ballot as an independent, really have a chance to win, or was he merely a manifestation of the Democrats’ worst nightmare, the spoiler?

Absent proof this wasn’t the case, “you should ... keep your trap shut,” he wrote, and vowed to research the matter himself. If he found evidence of a Nader factor, “I am going to come down on you like a ton of bricks” — whatever that might mean.

In other online discussions of this race, both before and after I wrote my column, I found further examples of paranoid “pre-defeat” among the Dems. One writer on the Daily Kos site, for instance, worried that any progressive candidate who might supplant Bean in the primary (let alone challenge her in the general election) would get “poleaxed” — lovely word — by the Republican.

As someone who voted for Ralph Nader in 2000, and has been defending my right to have done so ever since, I think it’s time to have it out about this preposterous state of affairs. It has turned mainstream Democrats into ballot bullies, convinced that their party’s future can only be secured by denying voters legitimate choice at the polling place. Indeed, this is the only fight they seem to wage with any animation.

In 2004, John Kerry cravenly conceded to Bush while the enormous irregularities in the Ohio vote were being contested by the Greens and Libertarians, and said not a word about the disenfranchisement of untold numbers of would-be (mostly Democratic) voters nationwide that probably cost him the election. Yet he managed to wage a vicious, resource-wasting campaign of harassment to keep Nader, and his message, off the ballot in as many states as possible. It’s the only fight Kerry won.

The myth that Nader cost Gore the 2000 election remains a virulent component of what passes for conventional wisdom among mainstream Dems. This is an outrageous simplification of what really happened. First of all, there’s no moral ground for claiming that Nader took any votes away from the stumbling, pandering Gore, who, like Kerry four years later, campaigned as though the only votes he had to “earn” were Republican votes.

Second, as Greg Palast pointed out in his book “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy,” Florida purged its election rolls of thousands of legitimate — mostly African-American — voters with names similar to ex-felons, a cynical act of Jim Crow-era disenfranchisement without which the race in that state would not even have been close.

Finally, Gore in fact won not only the national vote but the state of Florida as well, despite the bogus ex-felon purges, the hanging chads, the “Jews for Buchanan” and the Nader vote. According to a recount commissioned by a consortium of major newspapers, who of course buried the story, Gore would have won Florida, and thus the battle for electoral votes, if he had commissioned a statewide recount. Despite everything, he got the most votes. He just didn’t have a will to win that matched George Bush’s.

As the Republicans of 2006 shoot themselves and otherwise self-destruct, the Democrats have a chance to make significant gains in this year’s elections. All that’s stopping them are their own ghosts.

© 2006 Robert C. Koehler

FAIR USE NOTICE
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Stop the Attack on Greens!

[TO E-MAIL YOUR CONGRESS PERSON: http://www.gp.org/action/]

Democrats Push Bill That Would Bar Third Parties in Races for Congress

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

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

Text of HR 4694

Panic and retaliation among progressive Democrats over Green challenges are behind HR 4694, say Greens, citing the bill's prohibitive petition requirements, ban on private contributions; Greens call the bill patently unconstitutional.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders called on Congress to reject a House bill that combines public funding of congressional campaigns with a scheme to ban third party and independents from such races.

HR 4694 ("Let the People Decide Clean Campaign Act") would grant nominees of parties (i.e., Democrats and Republicans) that had averaged 25% of the vote for House races in a given district in the last two elections would get full public funding.

All others (i.e., third party and independent candidates) would be required to submit petitions signed by 10% of the last vote cast for partial funding, and 20% petitions for full funding.

Furthermore, candidates who don't qualify for funding would be barred from spending any privately raised money on their campaigns.

"10% and 20% in many districts represent prohibitively large numbers of required signatures," said Phil Huckelberry, co-chair of the Illinois Green Party and co-chair of the national Green Party's Ballot Access Committee. "The goal behind HR 4694 is to use public financing of campaigns -- itself a sorely needed reform -- to eliminate third party challenges in congressional races."

"In Missouri's 2nd congressional district, a candidate with a party that won less than 25% of the vote in the last two elections would need nearly 70,000 signatures to qualify for the public funding that her/his Democratic and Republican opponents would get automatically, and only signatures from the 2nd District would count. Nearly 35,000 signatures would be required in order to allow the candidate to spend
anything at all on the campaign." (St. Louis Oracle, February 05, 2006)

The Green Party of the United States supports public financing of campaigns as one of several measures to remove the corrupting influence of corporations on U.S. politics. But Greens warned that HR 4694 uses public financing of campaigns as a cover to destroy democracy by reducing the field to two parties.

Greens called the bill patently unconstitutional and, if passed, unlikely to survive a court challenge. But Greens said that the bill is significant because of the line-up of Congress members supporting it.

The bill's eight sponsors include liberal Democrats: David Obey (Wis.), Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), Barney Frank and James McGovern (Mass.), Henry Waxman and Bob Filner (Calif.), Steve Israel (N.Y.), and Tim Ryan (Ohio). Mr. Obey, Ms. DeLauro, and Mr. Israel faced Green competition (Mike Miles, Ralph Ferrucci, and John Keenan,
respectively) in recent elections, suggesting that their sponsorship is retaliatory. Mr. Miles is seeking the House seat again in 2006 (Wisconsin, District 7); Mr. Ferrucci is running for the U.S. Senate (Connecticut).

"The Democrats behind this bill have as little regard for democracy and open elections as Republicans who have use altered district lines and other methods to fix elections," said D.C. Statehood Green Party activist T.E. Smith. "Hiding this stratagem in a bill for public financing of campaigns makes it doubly shameful."

"An obvious motivation behind HR 4694 is panic over a Green insurgency. Voters have realized that the Democratic Party has given President Bush and the GOP a pass on various abuses of power and radical actions, such as the invasion of Iraq and the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito, which most Democrats declined to filibuster. The
time is ripe for a non-corporate independent third party, and many Democrats are worried," added Mr. Smith.

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

Text of HR 4694
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.4694:

Mike Miles for the U.S. House of Representatives (Wisconsin, District 7)
http://www.milesforcongress.com

Ralph A Ferrucci for U.S. Senate (Connecticut)
http://ferrucciforsenate.org

Coalition For Free and Open Elections
http://www.cofoe.org

Green Party rebuttal to President Bush's 2006 State of the Union Address (Video News Release) http://www.gp.org/video/2006stateofunion/


___

Disclaimer: State, local, and candidate press releases made available here represent the opinions of the original source only. Opinions expressed by a state party or candidate do not necessarily represent the views of the Green Party of the United States. State party contact information, when provided with candidate releases, does not imply state party endorsement of the opinions expressed nor of the candidate
(prior to gaining formal nomination by the party).
___

Monthly Meeting on Monday

Don't forget the Green Party of Monroe County's Monthly Meeting this Monday, February 13th at 7pm. The guest speaker will be Elizabeth Henderson of Peaceworks Farm. She'll be speaking about organic foods at the family level.

We'll also be talking about the upcoming election for Governor and voting on a new platform plank on job creation and IDA's.

The meeting - as always - is free and open to the public and is at 179 Atlantic Avenue.

Green Pages Newspaper

Dears Greens,

This is the last call for articles to be submitted to Green Pages for the Spring Issue.

Deadline is February 15. We are specifically looking for additional state reports and articles concerning enviromentalism because we would like to have the paper get wide distribution on Earth Day(April 22). You may contact us at greenpages@greens.org.

February 15 is also the deadline for cartoons which should be sent to: estereditor@mosquitonet.com. Additional cartoon info:

-Cartoons should be stand-alone panels (not strips continuing from issue to issue)

-Cartoons may be multipane

-Images should be JPGs, 200 dpi.

-Cartoons will be reproduced in grayscale

-If the cartoonist has a website, Green Pages will provide a link to the site when the cartoon is posted to the Green Pages website.

-Include who should be credited for the cartoon, and the cartoonist's Green affiliation (ie what state, if any, they are registered in).

Thank you,
Green Pages Editorial Board

Funeral of Coretta Scott King

I'm sure most of you saw at least the highlights of Coretta Scott King's funeral in the mainstream media. The clips of Reverend Joseph Lowery & Jimmy Carter were the main ones shown as they made specific references to Bush's actions as he & Laura were on the stage. I'll get to that in a minute. But it's important to hear/see more of the talk from Lowery. You can read a transcript on Democracy Now's site

If you're brave enough and a strong enough heart to listen to any of the right-wing media fools, then you'd have heard them complain about Lowrey, Carter, et al turning the funeral into something political. The left-wing media addressed that well enough - you can check out websites for Randi Rhodes, Stephanie Miller and such for that stuff.

From this whole scene, I had the following thoughts:

*This may have been the first time in this guy's entire political career that Bush has been in a room and "had" to listen to people call him on his crap. His crowds are always hand-picked and this is the only time I can think of where he hasn't had control over who is in the audience or who the other speakers are (in the US anyway). And yet he & Laura still have the audacity to be smarmy and give the stink eye.

(photo from AP)

*Could someone please explain to me why black folks love Bill & Hillary Clinton so much. Please? Look, that guy sold out blacks just like most other politicians have over the years and he's still looked on as a god in the black community. I just don't get it. I understand that we hate Bush so much that even the Harding administration may look good about now, but let's not engage in revisionary history just because we want this fool out of office. And Hillary? Well, we Greens will have our say about her come this fall.

It is amazing to me that we're still discovering new species by the passel. It's not like these are microscopic bugs or bacteria or something. I mean come on, tree kangaroos?!?!

Alice Green Reflects on the Loss of Al Lewis

Actor Al Lewis has died. You probably remember Lewis as "Grandpa" on the 1960's TV show "The Munsters."


Watch the video.

But in 1998 Lewis re-emerged into the spotlight as a maverick New York political candidate. He ran for New York State Governor on the Green Party Ticket, along with Albany native Alice Green, who ran for Albany Mayor this past year.

Green said, "I think most people thought of him as a funny man, but I knew him as this really serious, compassionate person who was committed to doing what he could for social justice."

Green said Lewis was loved by many, and people would just flock to him while they were campaigning together. She said he was known by everyone as 'Grandpa Al Lewis."

"I'm very proud to have run with him. I was overjoyed that I got a chance to spend so much time with him and learn so much from him. And I'm going to miss him very much," said Green.


By Jeanne King

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Al Lewis, best known for his role as Grandpa in television's "The Munsters," has died after a long illness, a local radio station said on Saturday.

A movie Web site listed his age as 95, but there have been reports that he was 83.

Lewis, who died on Friday, was born in Brooklyn and was raised by his mother, an immigrant sweatshop worker in the Brownsville district of that borough.

"Brownsville was the largest Jewish ghetto in America," he once said. "We all were very poor. But we stood together when people were evicted. When the marshals and sheriffs would leave, we'd break the lock and move the furniture back inside. Back then, we didn't let people live in the street."

Lewis worked as salesman and waiter and once owned a successful restaurant in Greenwich Village. He also was a poolroom owner, store detective and political candidate.

He worked as a circus clown and performed stunts on the trapeze bar, taught school, wrote two children's books and by the time he was 31, received a doctorate in child psychology from Columbia University.

An avid college basketball fan, he also scouted for several basketball teams.

1313 MOCKINGBIRD LANE

It wasn't until 1949 that he turned to acting and joined the Paul Mann Actor's Workshop where his classmates were Sidney Poitier and Vic Morrow. It was at the workshop that Lewis developed his comedic style.

His first big role was as Officer Leo Schnauser on the "Car 54, Where Are You?" series that ran from 1961 to 1963. In 1964, Lewis began playing Grandpa Munster, part of a wacky, endearing family of monsters whose fictional address was 1313 Mockingbird Lane in Mockingbird Heights.

"The Munsters" ran for two years on CBS, then continued on in syndication.

In 1988, he accepted the Green Party nomination for governor of New York saying, "We don't inherit the world from our ancestors, we borrow it from our kids."

Although he lost to incumbent Republican Gov. George Pataki, he still managed to collect more than 52,000 votes with his name on the ballot as "Grandpa Al Lewis."

Lewis' first political work was for the Sacco and Vanzetti defense committee. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian anarchists, were executed in Massachusetts in 1927 for a double murder and robbery amid doubts about their guilt.

Lewis worked in the 1930s to free the Scottsboro Boys -- nine black teenagers accused of raping two white women in another highly publicized case. All but one were sentenced to death, but eventually they were cleared.

"If anything I consider myself an anarchist," he once said on his weekly radio show on WBAI in New York City.

Lewis had three angioplasties, and in 2003 doctors were forced to amputate his right leg below the knee and all five toes of his left foot.

He is survived by his wife, Karen, three sons and four grandchildren.

What Does Golisano's Decision Mean to Greens

As I'm sure most of you have seen, Tom Golisano is not running for Governor. What does this mean for the Greens?

First I'll explain what the Governor's race means to us in general. We're not going to win. There, I said it. We don't have a chance in heck. We're not even going for second. Nope. We need something more attainable and vital to our continued success. We need ballot status.

Ballot status means the Greens will have a ballot line for our candidates in every election we want to run someone in. Potential Green candidates will only have to get petition signatures of Greens to get on the ballot not of the population as a whole. This is so much easier than running as an "independent". The difference is can be getting 2000 signatures versus 100 signatures. The time, money and effort you spend in getting all those signatures can be better spent campaigning. It's also easier to get qualified people to run for office. It also means that your party is higher up on the ballot.

For those in the city, you may remember my...um...amazing ballot placement in the school board race a couple of years ago. I was so far down, the levers covered up my name. For whatever reason, people will not bother to look down to find candidates. As if the extra 10 seconds it takes will somehow effect the outcome of their lives. But I digress.

So, how do you get this coveted ballot status? Easy. By getting 50,000 votes for Governor. You then have ballot status for the next 4 years. The special interest-sponsored parties get that standing on their heads. When we got ballot status back in 1998 it was by a little over 1000 votes. When we lost it in 2002 it was by 8000.

When Golisano ran for Governor last time he was on the Independence line. That got a lot of the "protest" vote. So did the guy who ran for the Marijuana Reform Party. We did too, but not enough to get 50,000. Golisano did for the IP, whatever the guy's name for MRP did not. So with Golisano out, the Repbulican candidate will be the decided underdog against Spitzer (more on him down the road), the IP may cross-endorse the Republican. This should leave the Green candidate poised to get the "protest" vote - at least enough for 50,000.

Of course that's best-case scenario. It's still going to take a lot of hard work getting our candidate on the ballot, whomever he or she may be. But overall, TG not running is a good thing for us.

Ohio GOP guts election protection

Ohio's GOP-controlled legislature has passed a repressive new law that will gut free elections here and is already surfacing elsewhere around the US. The bill will continue the process of installing the GOP as America's permanent ruling party.
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2006/1754