Enacting a single-payer health care program will boost the ailing US economy, say Greens

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

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, December 18, 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


Single-payer plan would remove the expensive burden of employer-based health coverage

Greens see danger that progressive groups, unions will acquiesce to the Obama's 'life-support for insurance industry' plan


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders urged Americans to take up President-elect Barack Obama's call for discussion on health care and demand a single-payer national health care program, also called Medicare For All.

Greens said that the current financial crisis is an ideal time to introduce single-payer.

"Businesses have been burdened for decades with the high expense and administrative burden of employer-based health care benefits. Single-payer will alleviate the burden and stimulate the economy. It will also cost working people far less than they now pay for private coverage. Businesses large and small, unions, and all middle- and low-income working Americans will benefit from single-payer," said Sanda Everette, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.

Greens have taken the lead on single-payer in many states. Party leaders Gloria Mattera and Peter LaVenia are co-sponsors of Single Payer New York, Mark Dunlea is one of the organizers, and gp.org webmaster David Doonan manages the group's site (http://singlepayernewyork.org).

"Mr. Obama asks Americans to send their ideas to him about how to fix health care. Now is the time for organizations and Americans who support single-payer to tell the President-elect that single-payer is the only acceptable solution," said Carl Romanelli, former Green candidate for the US Senate and Northeastern Pennsylvania coordinator for the PA single payer movement (http://www.healthcare4allpa.org).

"The greatest danger is that the sense of exhilaration and relief that greeted Mr. Obama's election will turn into acquiescence to his mandate plan for health care reform," added John Battista, MD, Green Party member and Coordinator of the Connecticut Coalition for Universal Health Care. "That's what happened in 1993 after Bill Clinton was elected, setting back the chance for single-payer for more than a decade. Like Mr. Clinton and every Democratic presidential nominee for the past two decades, Mr. Obama would leave the private insurance industry in control of our health care."

"Will Barack Obama stand with the American people and make quality health care a right for all by saying no to for-profit health insurance?" asked Mr. Dunlea, who attended a recent Healthcare Now national gathering in Chicago and proposed placing 20,000 single payer signs at the inauguration. "Or will he allow health insurance companies to continue to make profits by denying consumers access to coverage? Doctors say yes to single-payer, nurses say yes to single-payer, and the American public says yes to single-payer in every poll despite the denials from politicians and the media. Will Mr. Obama say, Yes we can?"

Green Party leaders urged progressive and consumer groups and unions not to repeat mistakes made during the first Clinton term, when many of them dropped their demand for single-payer and endorsed the Clinton 'managed care' plan, which would have herded Americans into coverage under a handful of the largest private insurance companies. President Clinton rejected single-payer, and support for national health insurance was deleted from the Democratic Party platform during the Clinton Administration. As a result, health care reform languished while the number of uncovered Americans grew and even those with coverage have been increasingly denied treatment.

The Obama plan includes similar mandates and attempts to compensate insurance firms and HMOs for heavy regulation by giving them huge subsidies.

"The Obama plan is a scheme to sustain insurance companies and HMOs with our tax dollars. It reciprocates the hundreds of thousands of dollars that these corporations contribute to Democratic candidates every election cycle. Insurance companies and HMOs have a financial interest in excluding 'high risk' people -- the old, the poor, those with prior medical conditions -- and limiting treatment for those who have coverage in order to maximize profits. Why should we pay off insurance companies and HMOs to cover the excluded, when we can save hundreds of billions annually by covering everyone with a single-payer plan?" said Green Party co-chair Jill Bussiere.

Single-payer/Medicare For All would cover all Americans regardless of income, employment, residence, age, or prior medical condition, while allowing choice of health care provider. In 2003, the New England Journal of Medicine published an article estimating that Single-Payer could cut health care costs by $350 billion annually (http://www.pnhp.org/publications/nejmadmin.pdf).

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) is sponsoring a bill, HR 676, that would enact a single-payer plan (http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc110/h676_ih.xml).

For a comparison of mandate plans and single-payer, see "Talking Points: Why the mandate plans won't work, and why single-payer 'Medicare for All' is what we need" by Len Rodberg, PhD, published by Physicians for a National Health Program (http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/december/talking_points_why_.php).

For a comparison of mandate plans and single-payer, see "Talking Points: Why the mandate plans won't work, and why single-payer 'Medicare for All' is what we need" by Len Rodberg, PhD, published by Physicians for a National Health Program (http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/december/talking_points_why_.php).

Green Party Speakers Bureau list of party activists available to speak on health care: http://gp.org/speakers/speakers-health-care.php

Video clips:
2008 Green presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney speaks on Single-Player health care and racial health care disparities http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEHd4lRVUuU
More on health care: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEHd4lRVUuU
Health, the environment, and the economy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVNTOa8owQQ


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
Tally of Green election victories http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/election-results.html
Green candidate news http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/candidate-news.php
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

"Speak up at Sen. Daschle's house parties. Participant Guide for Health Care Community Discussions: Obama-Biden Transition Project" (Physicians for a National Health Program)
http://www.pnhp.org/blog/2008/12/16/speak-up-at-sen-daschles-house-parties/

Green-Rainbow Party files request for investigation of FBI targeting

Green-Rainbow Party (Massachusetts)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 10 December 2008

Contact:
Jill Stein, 781-674-1377
Eli Beckerman, 617-821-1453,
Co-chairs, Green-Rainbow Party

Reaffirms call for charges against Turner to be dropped

The Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party has filed a formal request with the Department of Justice for an investigation into the process by which the FBI targeted Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner in its recent FBI sting operation. The letter states that known facts about the investigation "raise serious questions regarding whether the Turner action was a legitimate law enforcement activity."

The letter states that biases in FBI targeting may "constitute infringement upon the civil and constitutional rights of Councilor Turner, his constituents, and the members of the Green-Rainbow Party."

The only specific justification offered in the FBI affidavit for their interest in Turner is an unsubstantiated claim by the cooperating witness that Turner took money for writing a letter of recommendation for an ex-offender. Green-Rainbow Party co-chair Jill Stein noted, "This is scarcely the kind of evidence one would expect to trigger an FBI sting operation. Further, the implication that money from ex-offenders is corrupting the political process and warrants a sting is odd. Massachusetts politics is awash with private money on a massive scale - such as the $1.4 million in unreported payments made to a close associate of House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi in return for influencing the award of $17.5 million in state software contracts. With all the real money flowing on Beacon Hill, what prompted the FBI to go after an office holder who could be convicted only if the FBI itself created a crime?"

Stein added "The recent Boston Globe report that the cooperating witness was approached by the FBI, not the other way around as implied in the affidavit, underscores the concern that the FBI may have been targeting Chuck Turner prior to any allegations of bribery."

Green-Rainbow Party co-chair Eli Beckerman commented that "Chuck Turner was well known as a critic of the FBI's record of infringement upon civil liberties. In 2005 he was a speaker at a rally outside the FBI's Boston offices, protesting the killing of Puerto Rican separatist Ojeda Rios by an FBI sniper. If the FBI's attempt to trap Chuck Turner in a fake bribery attempt was motivated by payback for his political activities, it will have a chilling effect on any elected official who contemplates questioning FBI tactics."

Green-Rainbow communications director Lloyd Smith added "It would be very dangerous if a secret police force were allowed to practice political targeting of elected officials. This is a threat to our civil liberties and to our democracy. As we ask the Department of Justice to investigate possible civil rights violations in this case, we reaffirm our call for these unsubstantiated charges against Chuck Turner to be dropped."


#####


Green-Rainbow Party letter to Department of Justice

10 December 2008
Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Complaints
Office of the Inspector General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. - Room 4706
Washington, D.C. 20530
Fax 202-514-4001

Dear Inspector General,

The Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party requests that the Inspector General launch an immediate investigation into the process by which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) decided to initiate a sting operation against Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner. Our concerns will be more fully documented in a later letter.

We feel that the question of how Councilor Turner was selected as a target is a critical one. The use of improper criteria would constitute infringement upon the civil and constitutional rights of Councilor Turner, his constituents, and the members of the Green-Rainbow Party. It may also involve violation of guidelines and protections regarding FBI undercover operations. We feel that the information contained in the FBI affidavit of November 19, 2008 raises serious questions regarding the reasons that Councilor Turner was targeted.

We feel that the actions of the FBI, especially regarding the timing of their actions and their use of the media, raise serious questions regarding whether the Turner action was a legitimate law enforcement activity.

We ask that the Department of Justice notify the FBI that this matter is under investigation and that the destruction of any FBI records regarding the case of Councilor Turner or the confidential witness or witnesses be prohibited.

Please feel free to contact us if further information is required to allow you to act on this request.

Signed for the Green-Rainbow Party with the approval of the Green-Rainbow Administrative Committee

Jill E. Stein, Co-chair, Green-Rainbow Party, 781-674-1377, jillstein1@gmail.com
Eli Beckerman, Co-chair, Green-Rainbow Party, 617-821-1453, elibeck@gmail.com

Green-Rainbow Party
PO Box 440353
Somerville, MA 02144-0004

Illinois Green Party Statement on Arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich

Illinois Green Party Statement on Arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich

(Distributed by the Green Party of the United States, http://www.gp.org)

Illinois Green Party http://www.ilgp.org


For immediate release
Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Contacts:
Patrick Kelly, Illinois Green Party Media Coordinator, 773-203-9631
Phil Huckelberry, Chair, Illinois Green Party, 309-268-9974

We in the Illinois Green Party are deeply troubled by the arrest of Governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief-of-staff John Harris. The Governor is charged with attempting to personally profit from his power to appoint a person to the U.S. Senate. While we recognize that the accused are innocent until proven guilty, we must also admit that we are not surprised by these allegations. We have seen a long pattern of pay-to-play from Blagojevich, and indeed, a long pattern of pay-to-play throughout Illinois politics for years. The long sordid history of corruption in Illinois must finally come to an end.

The Green Party has always stood for accountability, transparency, and clean government through clean elections. We reject all corporate campaign contributions, advocate for public financing, and have long pushed for at least caps on individual contributions, so that our elections will no longer be pay-to-play.

We call on the Illinois General Assembly to hold an emergency session to:

1) Develop legislation to give the people of Illinois the ability to recall their public officials;

2) Consider the impeachment of Governor Blagojevich;

3) Amend Illinois statute to provide for an open process for filling this and future U.S. Senate seats, preferably through a special election, as the process for filling the current vacancy has been irrevocably tainted;

4) Reform the campaign finance system, banning all corporate campaign contributions, and installing caps on individual contributions;

5) Further reform the campaign finance system to eliminate pay-for-play, by barring or severely limiting contributions from political appointees, and mandating that political committees return donations made from individuals subsequently appointed to public office, boards, or commissions.

These are the first steps which need to be taken to help instill integrity, transparency, and accountability to our state government.

Prepared by Phil Huckelberry, Chair, Illinois Green Party

Green Party Calls for Carbon Tax, Higher Taxes for the Rich and Wall Street, to Resolve State Budget Crisis

Green Party of New York State Media Release
www.gpny.org

For Immediate Release

Contacts:
Peter LaVenia, chair2@gpnys.org, 518-463-8653
Eric Jones, chair@gpnys.org, 716-908-5226

The Green Party of NYS today offered a number of alternatives to resolve the state's fiscal crisis, calling for a state budget that improves the future of all New Yorkers, rather than reacting out of fear of a budget shortfall.

The centerpiece of the Party's proposal is a carbon tax, which is needed to both reduce greenhouse emissions contributing to climate change while raising funds to support the quick transition to a economy that will end reliance upon fossil fuels.

The Green Party also called for increasing taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers to reverse the regressive nature of NY's tax system; re-instituting the stock transfer tax which would serve to minimize or contain Wall Street speculation; collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in unclaimed deposits from the bottle bill; reducing health care costs by eliminating the huge payments to for profit insurance companies (e.g., adopting a single payer universal health care system); and elimination of wasteful corporate welfare programs such as the Empire State Program. The Greens called for raising various fees of corporate polluters to pay for the entire cost of the state's Superfund program to clean up abandoned toxic waste sites; right now taxpayers are required to foot 50% of the cleanup bill.

"We need to start implementing eco-taxes, so that polluters rather than taxpayers pick up the various costs associated with pollution. Pollution results in higher health costs to deal with health problems created (e.g., asthma from air pollution, cancer, etc.) while also forcing taxpayers to pay for costs to clean up toxic waste sites, contaminated water, landfills, etc. We need to stop wasting tax dollars subsidizing business practices that are harmful to the public health and the environment; which leave clean businesses at an unfair disadvantage," said state party co-chair Peter LaVenia.

The Greens said that a carbon tax would be far more effective in reducing carbon emissions than cap and trade programs, especially the limited Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative New York has joined. While the revenues from a carbon tax could be used short-term to deal with the state budget deficit, they should be devoted to long term support for investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency and mass transit that would reduce the generation of carbon emissions. Measures should also be adopted to make the carbon tax progressive in nature (not an undue burden upon lower income people), by increasing funding for the Home Energy Assistance Program or even income tax rebates for low and moderate income families.

The Carbon Tax Center (www.carbontax.org) says that a "federal" carbon tax equivalent to 10 cents a gallon of gasoline - but applied to all fossil fuel burning - would bring in roughly $55 billion a year in revenue. A similar tax in New York would probably bring in about one-fifteenth to one-twentieth of such revenue. The Carbon Tax Center suggests raising the tax each year for ten years by an annual equivalence of 10 cents, raising an additional $50 billion per year nationally. The tax would be levied in the wholesale branch of the fuel supply chain, as far upstream as practicable. For example, electric generators will pay the mandated carbon tax to their coal, oil or natural gas suppliers, who will forward the payment to the government.

Regarding the stock transfer tax, the Green Party called upon statel awmakers to collect the $9 billion it could annually get from that tax on speculation. "Governor Paterson keeps on talking about the need to protect Wall Street. What we need to do is to protect average New Yorkers who are losing their homes, jobs and life savings from the robber barons on Wall Street. The stock transfer tax doesn't have any impact on those who make long term investments. What it would do is serve as an anti-speculation tax, primarily impacting upon those who treat Wall Street as a casino, gambling all day long on one trade after another on which way the stock market is headed,." said Gloria Mattera former Party Chairperson.

The Green Party said that enacting a single payer universal health care system could also save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars annually while making New York an economic magnet for businesses. Health care, under the current privatized system, is by far the biggest portion of the state budget, costing $50 billion annually with tens of billions of additional payments being made by consumers, local governments and employers. More than 16% of the American economy is now devoted to pay for health care, far more than other industrial countries even though the American health care system is consistently ranked among the worst of the industrial nations while leaving more than 2.5 million New Yorkers uninsured.

"It is economic suicide for America to keep on wasting as much as a third of our health care budget on a system of private for profit health insurance that provides nothing of value. If New York was the first state in America to have a rational single payer health care system that covered everyone while lowering costs, employers would flock here to lower their costs. The huge health care costs for the automobile insurance companies is one of the major reasons they are in such bad financial shape. Everyone who studies the health care system knows that a single payer Medicare for All type health care system makes the most sense in terms of quality, 100% coverage and lowering costs but politicians unfortunately are bought out by the campaign contributions by insurance and drug companies. Its time to just say no to for profit health insurance," said Eric Jones, co-chair of the Green Party of NYS..

The Green Party noted that the poorest New Yorkers now pay twice the percentage of their income in state and local taxes as wealthy New Yorkers like Donald Trump do. The tax cuts given to the wealthy over the last two decades now costs the state more than $16 billion annually in lost revenues, more than the projected state budget deficit. If the state went back to the tax system it had thirty years ago, with tax brackets adjusted for inflation, 95% of New Yorkers would get a tax cut – while the state would generate more than $8 billion in additional revenues. The Greens said the state should also stop giving tax breaks to multistate companies that put local businesses at a competitive disadvantage.

Statement on human rights, with a challenge to Obama, from Cynthia McKinney and fellow US delegates attending international conference in Cuba

Statement on human rights, with a challenge to Obama, from Cynthia McKinney and fellow US delegates attending international conference in Cuba

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

For Immediate Release:
Monday, December 15, 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


WASHINGTON, DC -- Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party's 2008 presidential candidate, and other US delegates in Cuba for an international conference marking the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have issued a statement calling on the US to confirm and observe the tenets of the Declaration (http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html).

The statement challenges President-elect Obama to implement the tenets of the Universal Declaration and reject past policies, including invasions of other countries, support for dictatorships, and the use of torture. The statement also urges the closing of Guantanamo and ending the US embargo against Cuba. The text is appended below.

On November 23, Ms. McKinney was scheduled to deliver a speech on human rights at an international conference in Damascus, Syria, but was stopped at the Atlanta Airport and not allowed to leave the US for reasons still unclear (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=150).


From Cynthia McKinney: Dispatch from an International Conference Being Held in Cuba

On the morning of December 10, 2008, Cindy Sheehan, Nelson Valdes, Saul Landau, and I signed a declaration as the U.S. delegates to an international conference assessing sixty years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights sponsored by the Network of Networks in Defense of Humanity. Here is our declaration:

We celebrate sixty years of failure. Human rights have been converted from a noble goal into an instrument of foreign policy used by rich and powerful nations against the poorest and weakest people of the world.

In 2008, almost three billion people throughout the world suffer the most basic privations. After sixty years of empty human rights rhetoric, we demand that governments focus their attention on fulfilling the promises of 1948. We write this document on the parchment of environment, which everyone shares, and has warned us all to drastically change the ways in which mass production and consumption take place.

1. The United States is a member of the commonwealth of nations;

2. Benefits accrue to those who cooperate with the global community and view other countries as potential partners for the upliftment of humankind;

3. Unfortunately, the leadership of the United States Government has consistently been a disappointment to those of us who value the tenets and the possibilities for humankind embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

4. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the rights of self-determination, the rights of women, the indigenous, and the rights of association, expression, and resistance to protect and preserve these precious rights;

5. Poverty, severe income inequality on one hand and greed and over-consumption by a few, on the other hand, deny for far too many on the planet universal application of the Universal Declaration;

6. Climate change, unsustainable agriculture, unbridled militarism, terrorism with impunity, nuclear proliferation represent threats to our planet and threats to humankind;

7. The current implosion of the engine of U.S. imperialism and global capitalism contains the seeds of a new global order in which the rights of humankind and the Universal Declaration can find universal application;

8. The incoming Barack Obama Administration has a unique opportunity to make a clean break with the policies of the past, including installation of dictatorships, campaigns of invasion, terror, and slander, torture, and occupation, and can build bridges of peace and justice with dignity and respect to Africa, Latin America, and Europe;

9. Therefore, we call on the President-elect to put the United States on a clear course of global fraternity by
a) invoking the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
b) rejecting torture and terror and demonstrating this by closing and vacating Guantanamo and ceding to Cuba its rightful patrimony,
c) ending the U.S. embargo,
d) releasing the Cuban Five, and
e) extraditing Luis Posada Cariles;

10. While this list is not exhaustive, it represents a much needed down payment on hope and change.

11. We will disseminate this document through our respective networks.

Signed:
Saul Landau, Cindy Sheehan, Nelson Valdes, Cynthia McKinney


MORE INFORMATION

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

Tally of Green election victories http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/election-results.html

Green candidate news http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/candidate-news.php

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

Greens Offer Six Big Steps For Economic Recovery

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

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, December 10, 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

Greens support workers occupying a factory in Chicago after layoff: bailout money isn't being used to help working Americans


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders said today that the incoming Obama Administration and Congress should take six major steps to reverse the financial meltdown and restore financial security for Americans.

The steps include a Green public works program, aid for state and municipal governments, expansion of mass transit, Single-Payer health care, a peace dividend gained by ending the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and an end to the wasteful war on drugs.

Green Party candidates running for local, state, and national office in 2008 promoted many of these ideas even before the crisis precipitated. In September, Cynthia McKinney published a ten-point list of solutions and reforms in response to the Wall Street meltdown, titled "Seize the Time" (http://votetruth08.com/index.php/learn/mckinney-messages).

Greens expressed support for United Electrical Workers union members occupying a Republic Windows and Doors plant in Chicago after the plant was shut down and they were laid off with three days' notice and told they had no assurance of receiving severance and unused vacation pay. The company's creditor, Bank of America, received $25 billion from the government's financial bailout package. Greens said that the bank's actions, including refusal to allow Republic to give workers 60 days notice (as required by law), demonstrates how bailout money isn't being used to assist working Americans facing financial hardship.

Six Green steps for economic recovery:

(1) Enact a massive Green public works program, creating new living-wage jobs in conservation (including weatherization and energy retro-fitting); clean and safe energy technologies to replace fossil fuel and nuclear sources and create a carbon-free economy; repair and improvement of America's deteriorating infrastructure (especially water and sewer systems); and improvement of public schools and Green job training programs.

"The collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis in 2007 was a result of the neglect and starvation of funds for maintaining infrastructure that was built decades ago. The ideology of privatization and hostility to 'big government' is no longer tenable during the financial crisis -- the current White House and Congress conceded as much when they began pushing for bailouts. Public works programs built America, and public works, with hundreds of thousands of new Green jobs, is what America needs now for economic recovery," said Rosa Clemente, the Green Party's 2008 candidate for Vice President (http://www.rosaclemente.com).

"We're encouraged that President-elect Obama intends to launch a public works program along these basic lines, but we hope Congress and his own administration don't undermine and dilute such a program out of traditional Democratic and Republican loyalty to corporate interests and fear of being labeled liberal or socialist. It's time to follow the lead of the Green Jobs For All movement," Ms. Clemente added.

(2) Bail out financially ailing towns, cities, and states before bailing out private corporations: millions of public sector and contractor jobs depend on the fiscal security of municipal and state governments.

Greens noted that municipalities and states are businesses that drive state and local economies throughout the US. They also provide the social safety net that millions of working people need during the current crisis.

(3) Jumpstart our country's mass transit system, giving people an alternative to cars while saving them money and providing jobs.

"Making autos more efficient will only get us part way toward solving our energy and climate challenges. We need to get people out of their cars altogether. Communities need the ability to provide local solutions for mass transprotation: new trains, subways, light rail wherever they fit," said Wes Rolley, co-chair of the Green Party's EcoAction Committee.

(4) Enact a Single-Payer/Medicare For All national health plan, providing every American with coverage and removing the burden of health care from small and large private businesses.

"The skyrocketing cost of health care under our private health care system has created much of the economic instability as businesses struggle to provide workers health benefits. If President Obama and Congress have the political will to resist the power of the insurance, HMO, and pharmaceutical industries that siphon their profits off America's need for health care, the relief that Single-Payer will be a huge economic boost," said Sanda Everette, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.

Single-Payer would cover all Americans regardless of income, employment, residence, age, or prior medical condition, allowing choice of health care provider, and costing working people far less than they now pay for private coverage. In 2003, the New England Journal of Medicine published an article estimating that Single-Payer could cut health care costs by $350 billion annually (http://www.pnhp.org/publications/nejmadmin.pdf). Greens sharply criticized Barack Obama during the election season for rejecting Single-Payer out of concern for health insurance companies.

(5) End the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The staggering expense of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions and occupations haven't only cost American, Iraqi, and Afghan lives. It also ate up trillions of dollars away that could have been spent on human and environmental needs. If we call home our troops right now, we can divert the money needed for military occupations to Green public works and other programs to jumpstart the economy -- a new peace dividend," said Starlene Rankin, co-chair of the Lavender Green Caucus.

The Green Party opposed both wars from the beginning and has criticized Mr. Obama's plans for delayed and partial troop withdrawal from Iraq and for sending more troops to Afghanistan.

(6) End the war on drugs, which wastes billions annually, hasn't curbed drug use, and ruins lives by incarcerating nonviolent offenders (mostly young, African American, Latino, and poor white) at further government expense.

"The war on drugs is America's longest and costliest war. With Afghanistan providing the world's world's biggest poppy crop, it's one of the main reasons the US is fighting a war there," said Cliff Thornton, co-chair of the Green Party and co-founder of Efficacy, Inc. (http://www.efficacy-online.org), which promotes major reforms in drug policy.

Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron has estimated that legalizing cannabis would save federal, state, and local governments $44 billion a year in enforcement costs (http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/mironreport.html). Governments could collect another $33 billion in revenues by taxing cannabis as heavily as alcohol and tobacco.


MORE INFORMATION

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

Tally of Green election victories http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/election-results.html

Green candidate news http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/candidate-news.php

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

"The financial meltdown requires far-reaching Green solutions, say Green Party leaders"
Green Party press release, September 23, 2008
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=107

"The Auto Bailout Shows the Failure of Corporate-Government More than the Failure of Detroit: And Solving it Presents Opportunities for a New Economy"
By Kevin Zeese, OpEdNews.com, November 21, 2008
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Auto-Bailout-Shows-the-by-Kevin-Zeese-08112\1-683.html


~ END ~

Cynthia McKinney's speech on Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Text of Cynthia McKinney's speech prepared for conference in Damascus on Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the denial of the Right of Return for Palestinians GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Monday, December 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

McKinney was blocked from leaving the US and unable to deliver the speech in person


WASHINGTON, DC -- 2008 Green presidential candidate and former six-term Congress member Cynthia McKinney has published the text of her speech prepared for a conference in Damascus, Syria, in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the denial of the Right of Return for Palestinians, in violation of the Universal Declaration.

Ms. McKinney was unable to deliver the speech, because she was detained at the Atlanta airport under circumstances that haven't yet been made clear.

The text of Ms. McKinney's speech, preceded by an introduction, follows below.


Cynthia McKinney
November 23, 2008
http://www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com

Today, November 23rd, I was slated to give remarks in Damascus, Syria at a Conference being held to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, sadly, the 60th year that the Palestinian people have been denied their Right of Return enshrined in that Universal Declaration. But a funny thing happened to me while at the Atlanta airport on my way to the Conference: I was not allowed to exit the country.

I do believe that it was just a misunderstanding. But the insecurity experienced on a daily basis by innocent Palestinians is not. Innocent Palestinians are trapped in a violent, stateless twilight zone imposed on them by an international order that favors a country reported to have completed its nuclear triad as many as eight years ago, although Israel has remained ambiguous on the subject. President Jimmy Carter informed us that Israel had as many as 150 nuclear weapons, and Israel's allies are among the most militarily sophisticated on the planet. Military engagement, then, is untenable. Therefore the exigency of diplomacy and international law.

The Palestinians should at least be able to count on the protections of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. What is happening to Palestinians in Gaza right now, subjected to an Israeli-imposed blockade, has drawn the attention of the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, who noted that over half of the civilians in Gaza are children. Even The Los Angeles Times criticized Israel's lockdown of Gaza that is keeping food, fuel, and medicine from civilians. Even so, Israel stood fast by its decision to seal Gaza's openings. But where are the voices of concern coming from the corridors of power inside the United States? Is the subject of Palestinian human rights taboo inside the United States Government and its government-to- be? I hope not. Following is the speech I would have given today had I been able to attend the Damascus Conference.

Cynthia McKinney
Right of Return Congregation
Damascus, Syria
November 23, 2008

Thank you to our hosts for inviting me to participate in this most important and timely First Arab-International Congregation for the Right of Return. Words are an insufficient expression of my appreciation for being remembered as one willing to stand for justice in Washington, D.C., even in the face of tremendously difficult pressures.

Former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir, thank you for including me in the Malaysian Peace Organisation's monumental effort to criminalize war, to show the horrors of the treatment of innocent individuals during the war against and occupation of Iraq by the militaries and their corporate contractors of Britain, Israel, and the United States. Thank you for standing up to huge international economic forces trying to dominate your country and showing an impressionable woman like me that it is possible to stand up to "the big boys" and win. And thank you for your efforts to bring war criminal, torturer, decimator of the United States Constitution, the George W. Bush Administration, to justice in international litigation.

Delegates and participants, I must declare that at a time when scientists agree that the climate of the earth is changing in unpredictable and possibly calamitous ways, such that the future of humankind hangs in the balance, it is unconscionable that we have to dedicate this time to and focus our energies on policies that represent a blatant and utter disregard for human rights and self-determination and that represent in many respects, a denial of human life, itself.

In the same year as Palestinians endured a series of massacres and expulsions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights became international law. And while the United Nations is proud that the Declaration was flown into Outer Space just a few days ago on the Space Shuttle, if one were to read it and then land in the Middle East, I think it would be clear that Palestine is the place that the Universal Declaration forgot.

Sadly, both the spirit of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and the noblest ideals of the United Nations are broken. This has occurred in large measure due to policies that emanate from Washington, D.C. If we want to change those policies, and I do believe that we can, then we have to change the underlying values of those who become Washington's policy makers. In other words, we must launch the necessary movement that puts people in office who share our values.

We need to do this now more than ever because, sadly, Palestine is not Washington's only victim. Enshrined in the Universal Declaration is the dignity of humankind and the responsibility of states to protect that dignity. Yet, the underlying contradictions between its words and what has become standard international practice lay exposed to the world this year when then-United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour proclaimed:

"In the course of this year, unprecedented efforts must be made to ensure that every person in the world can rely on just laws for his or her protection. In advancing all human rights for all, we will move towards the greatest fulfillment of human potential, a promise which is at the heart of the Universal Declaration."

How insulting it was to hear those words coming from her, for those of us who know, because it was she who, as Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, willfully participated in the cover-up of an act of terror that resulted in the assassination of two democratically- elected Presidents and that unleashed a torrent of murder and bloodletting in which one million souls were vanquished. That sad episode in human history has become known as the Rwanda Genocide. And shockingly, after the cover-up, Louise Arbour was rewarded with the highest position on the planet, in charge of Human Rights.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that justice delayed is justice denied. And 60 years is too long to wait for justice. The Palestinian people deserve respected self-determination, protected human rights, justice, and above all, peace.

On the night before his murder, Dr. King announced that he was happy to be living at the end of the 20th Century where, all over the world, men and women were struggling to be free.

Today, we can touch and feel the results of those cries, on the African Continent where apartheid no longer exists as a fact of law. A concerted, uncompromising domestic and international effort led to its demise.

And in Latin America, the shackles of U.S. domination have been broken. In a series of unprecedented peaceful, people-powered revolutions, voters in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and most recently Paraguay used the power of the political process to materially change their countries' leadership and policy orientation toward the United States. Americans, accustomed to the Monroe Doctrine which proclaimed U.S. suzerainty over all politics in the Western Hemisphere, must now think the unthinkable given what has occurred in the last decade.

Voters in Cote d'Ivoire, Haiti, Spain, and India also took matters clearly in their hands to make "a clean break" from policies that were an affront to the interests of the majority of the people in those countries.

In country after country, against tremendous odds, people stood up and took their fates in their hands. They did what Mario Savio, in the 1960s, asked people in the United States to do. These people-powered, peaceful revolutions saw individuals put their bodies against the levers and the gears and the wheels of the U.S. imperial machine and they said to the owners if you don't stop it, we will. And I know that people of conscience inside my country can do it, too: especially now that the engines of imperial oppression are running out of gas.

Even though the Democratic Party, at the Convention that nominated Barack Obama, denied its microphone to Former President Jimmy Carter because of his views on Palestine, let me make it clear that Former President Carter is not the only person inside the United States who believes that peace with justice is possible in Palestine.

Inside the United States, millions who are not of Arab descent, disagree vehemently with the policy of our government to provide the military and civilian hardware that snuffs out innocent human life that is also Arab.

Millions of Americans do not pray to Allah, but recognize that it is an inalienable right of those who do to live and pray in peace wherever they are-including inside the United States.

Even though their opportunities are severely limited, there are millions of people inside the United States struggling to express themselves on all of these issues, but whose efforts are stymied by a political process that robs them of any opportunity to be heard.

And then there are the former elected officials who spoke out for what was right, for universal application of the Universal Declaration, and who were roundly condemned and put out of office as a result. My father is one such politician, punished-kicked out of office-because of the views of his daughter.

In my case, I dared to raise my voice in support of the World Conference Against Racism and against the sieges of Ramallah, Jenin, and the Church of the Nativity. I raised my voice against the religious profiling in my country that targets innocent Muslims and Arabs for harassment, imprisonment, financial ruin, or worse. Yes, I have felt the sting of the special interests since my entry onto the national stage when, in my very first Congressional campaign, I refused to sign a pledge committing that I would vote to maintain the military superiority of Israel over its neighbors, and that Jerusalem should be its capital city. Other commitments were on that pledge as well, like continued financial assistance to Israel at agreed upon levels.

As a result of my refusal to make such a commitment, and just like the old slave woman, Sojourner Truth, who bared her back and showed the scars from the lashes meted out to her by her slave master, I too, bear scars from the lashes of public humiliation meted out to me by the special interests in Washington, D.C. because of my refusal to toe the line on Israel policy. This "line" is the policy accepted by both the Democratic and Republican Party leadership and why they could cooperate so well to coordinate my ouster from Congress. But I have survived because I come from the strongest stock of Africans, stolen then enslaved, and yet my people survived. I know how to never give up, give in, or give out. And I also know how to learn a good political lesson. And one lesson I've learned is that the treatment accorded to me pales in comparison to what Palestinian victims still living in refugee camps face every day of their lives.

The treatment accorded to me pales in comparison to the fact that human life is at stake if the just-released International Atomic Energy Agency report is true when it writes that "The only explanation for the presence of these modified uranium particles is that they were contained in the missiles dropped from the Israeli planes." What are the health effects of these weapons, what role did the U.S. military play in providing them or the technology that underlies them, why is there such silence on this, and most fundamentally, what is going on in this part of the world that international law has forgotten?

Clearly, not only the faces of U.S. politicians must change; we must change their values, too. We, in the United States, must utilize our votes to effect the same kind of people-powered change in the United States as has been done in all those other countries. And now, with more people than ever inside the United States actually paying attention to politics, this is our moment; we must seize this time. We must become the leaders we are looking for and get people who share our values elected to Congress and the White House.

Now, I hope you believe me when I say to you that this is not rocket science. I have learned politics from its best players. And I say to you that even with the fallabilities of the U.S. system, it is possible for us to do more than vote for a slogan of change, we can actually have it. But if we fail to seize this moment, we will continue to get what we've always been given: handpicked leaders who don't truly represent us.

With the kind of U.S. weapons that are being used in this part of the world, from white phosphorus to depleted uranium, from cluster bombs to bunker busting bombs, nothing less than the soul of my country is at stake. But for the world, it is the fate of humankind that is at stake.

The people in my country just invested their hopes for a better world and a better government in their votes for President-elect Obama. However, during an unprecedented two year Presidential campaign, the exact kind of change we are to get was never fully defined. Therefore, we the people of the United States must act now with boldness and confidence. We can set the stage for the kind of change that reflects our values.

Now is not the time for timidity. The U.S. economy is in shambles, unemployment and health insecurity are soaring, half of our young people do not even graduate from high school; college is unaffordable. The middle class that was invested in the stock market is seeing their life savings stripped from them by the hour. What we are witnessing is the pauperization of a country, in much the same way that Russia was pauperized after the fall of the Soviet Union. There are clear winners and the losers all know who they are. The attentive public in the United States is growing because of these conditions. Now is the time for our values to rise because people in the United States are now willing to listen.

So the question really is, "Which way, America?"

Today we uplift the humanity of the Palestinian people. And what I am recommending is the creation of a political movement inside my country that will constitute a surgical strike for global justice. This gathering is the equivalent of us stepping to the microphone to be heard.

We don't have to lose because we have commitment to the people.

And we don't have to lose because we refuse to compromise our core values.

We don't have to lose because we seek peace with justice and diplomacy over war.

We don't have to lose.

By committing to do some things we've never done before I'm certain that we can also have some things we've never had before.

I return to the U.S. committed to do my part to make our dream come true.

Thank you.

For more information on Cynthia McKinney please visit http://www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com

LINK:
http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/11/cynthia-mckinney-prevented-from-leaving-us/



MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
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Fax 202-319-7193
Running tally of Green election victories http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/election-results.html
Green candidate news http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/candidate-news.php
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

Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente 'Power to the People' Campaign for the White House
http://www.runcynthiarun.org
http://votetruth08.com
http://www.rosaclemente.com

"Greens respond to a slanderous attack by lawyer Alan Dershowitz against the Green Party and its position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict"
Green Party of the United States: press release, October 27, 2008
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=125

"Greens, Calling for Palestinian Rights, Urge Divestment from Israel"
Green Party press release, November 28, 2005
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2005_11_28.shtml

"A Real Road to Peace in the Middle East"
Green Party platform
http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/democracy.html#310677

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Greens Oppose Nomination of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State

Capital District Greens

For immediate release, December 1, 2008
For More Info: Mark Dunlea 518 283-6512, Howie Hawkins 315 425-1019

The Capital District Greens criticized President-elect Obama today for nominating Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) to be his Secretary of State, saying it contradicted the anti-war rhetoric he initially based his campaign on.

The Greens said Obama has put together a hawkish, right of center foreign policy team that is opposed to the positions of most Americans.

The Greens also called upon Governor Paterson to appoint a Senate replacement for Clinton that was more in touch with New York voters on issues such as peace, combating climate change and supporting single payer universal health care than Clinton was.

"When Senator Obama launched his campaign, much of his appeal to voters in the primaries was his initial opposition to the invasion of Iraq during his time as a state senator. During the presidential primaries, Obama positioned himself as a peace candidate, despite his consistent votes for funding the Iraq War during his time in the U.S. Senate. Senator Clinton has refused to admit that her support for the invasion of Iraq was a mistake," said Howie Hawkins, the Green Party nominee for US Senate from NY in 2006.

The Greens pointed out during her 2006 campaign for US Senate, Hillary Clinton boasted that it was her husband, not Bush, that had first implemented the doctrine of pre-emptive invasion with his attacks on Somalia and the Balkans.

"The Democrats told the American people that the best way to reject Bush and his various wars was by given the Dems control of the White House and Congress. Now that they won, once again the Democrats are giving the American people something quite different. Putting the Clinton White House back together was not the change the Senator Obama talked about during his campaign," noted Mark Dunlea of the Capital District Greens.

"The man who vowed to deliver us from 28 years of Bushes and Clintons has been stocking up on Clintonites," New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd recently wrote. "How, one may ask, can he put Hillary -- who voted to authorize the Iraq war without even reading the intelligence assessment -- in charge of patching up a foreign policy and a world riven by that war?"

The Obama transition team recently announced that President Bush's Defense Secretary Robert Gates will retain his position. There are many troubling questions about Gates' role in Iran-Contra, as well as his shaping of intelligence about Russia. Vice-President Joe Biden, who backed the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, was selected for his hawkish views John Brennan, who played a major role in extraordinary rendition, torture at Guantnamo and warrantless wiretapping, was picked to lead the review of intelligence agencies. Obama sent former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, famous for stating in a 60 Minutes interview that the death of up to 500,000 Iraqi children by U.S. sanctions was worth the price, to represent him at the recent G20 meeting. Not one of the US Senators and House members who voted against the war in Iraq are being considered by Obama’s foreign policy team.

With so many former Clinton staff moving into the Obama Presidency, the Greens said it was important to look at President Clinton's foreign policy record. It was President Clinton who first initiated the policy of overthrowing Saddam Hussein by force with the Iraqi Liberation Act of 1998, which led to covert operations and increased bombing of Iraq intended to destabilize Iraq at enormous cost to innocent civilians Under the pretext of enforcing the No-Fly Zones in Iraq, he initiated the longest sustained U.S. bombing campaign since Vietnam. Yugoslavia was bombed and dismantled. Clinton has strongly defended her husband's decision to attack Yugoslavia, saying in 1999, "I urged him to bomb. You cannot let this go on at the end of a century that has seen the major holocaust of our time. What do we have NATO for if not to defend our way of life?"

As reporter Jeremy Scahill recently pointed out, under Bill Clinton, Sudan and Afghanistan were attacked, Haiti was destabilized and "free trade" deals like the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) dramatically accelerated the corporate-dominated globalization that hurt U.S. workers and devastated developing countries. Clinton escalated the militarization of the so-called War on Drugs in Central and Latin America and supported privatization of U.S. military operations, giving lucrative contracts to Halliburton and other war contractors. Meanwhile, U.S. weapons sales to countries like Turkey and Indonesia aided genocidal campaigns against the Kurds and the East Timorese.

Hillary Clinton was an ardent defender of her husband's economic and military war against Iraq. As a U.S. senator, she enthusiastically embraced the Bush administration's propaganda campaign in the lead-up to the invasion. "Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile-delivery capability and his nuclear program," Clinton said when rising in October 2002 to support the invasion. "He has also given aid, comfort and sanctuary to terrorists, including al-Qaida members. I want to insure that Saddam Hussein makes no mistake about our national unity and for our support for the president's efforts to wage America's war against terrorists and weapons of mass destruction."

Senator Clinton voted for the anti-civil liberties Patriot Act. She has consistently opposed any efforts to end the illegal occupation of Palestine, including the recent brutal blockade of Gaza. In 2006, she gave unconditional support to the bombings and attacks on civilians in Lebanon by Israel.

The Green Party of the US recently noted that along with Clinton, the appointment of Cong. Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff means that Obama is likely to maintain the same uncritical support for Israel as the Clinton and Bush administrations, whose policies resulted in increasing human rights violations against Palestinians and greater instability in the region. Mr. Emanuel was one of the original drafters of NAFTA and now favors similar antidemocratic 'free trade' pacts with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, which would cost more US jobs and suppress environmental and labor protections.

The Greens also called for a full public disclosure of the Clinton family finances and fundraising. Clinton herself has raised enormous sums of money from a slew of corporate interests to fund her Senate and Presidential campaigns. Clinton's husband, Bill, poses numerous conflicts of interests for her as Secretary of State. He has been widely accused of raising funds by use his stature as former President to put together shady deals. The most notorious involves receiving a $31 million donation to his Presidential library shortly after he helped broker a deal between Canadian financier Frank Giusta and the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Giusta ended up with a contract for access to Kazakhstanâ's Uranium, and Nazarbayev got appointed the head of an international election-monitoring organization that had ruled his election fraudulent.


Hawkins added that "The US cannot afford to continue spending over a trillion dollars a year maintaining a global military empire of over 700 military bases in over 100 countries. We face a choice: empire or economic recovery. Obama's stated commitments to increased military spending, deficit reduction, and trillions for financial corporation bailouts will mean a radical reduction in the living standards of Amerca's working families through increased regressive payroll taxes coupled to cuts in Medicare and Social Security, as Obama's budget manager, Peter Orszag, advocates. Economic recovery requires deep cuts in military spending of at least 50 percent and investing the peace dividend in economic recovery by building a green economy of renewable energy, mass transit, green buildings, sustainable manufacturing, and organic agriculture. Unfortunately, the neoliberals on Obama's economic team complement the neoconservatives on his national security team and indicate that his green energy rhetoric has been as disingenuous as his peace rhetoric."