Nader 2008 Presidential Exploratory Committee Launched!

Nader 2008 Presidential Exploratory Committee Launched!

http://www.naderexplore08.org/

Friends,

Here’s a safe bet: the two major political parties will nominate
Presidential candidates from the corporate wings of their parties.

What will that leave us in this election year?

Corporate control as usual.

If this happens, we have two choices ­ throw in the towel.

Or fight back.

If we choose to fight back, here’s a good option:

Join with a person whose life is one of dedicated service to the
public interest.

To help him organize a political campaign in every state against
corporate control over our lives.

Luckily, that person ­ Ralph Nader ­ is considering such a
campaign.

But he will need active and informed citizens in every Congressional
district in the country.

He will need volunteers.

He will need funds.

He will need dedication.

That’s why we’ve signed on at Nader’s exploratory
web site: http://www.naderexplore08.org

Check it out.

And spread the word.

In 2008, it’s either sit back and watch the drift.

Or get off the couch and fight back.

Hope you will join us.

Thank you.

The Nader Team


*  *  *  *  *


Nader announces presidential exploratory
committee

Rick Klein
ABC News, January 30, 2008
http://www.greenchange.org/article.php?id=1664


Ralph Nader has formed a presidential exploratory
committee, and said in an interview Wednesday
that he will launch another presidential bid if
he's convinced he can raise enough money to
appear on the vast majority of state ballots this
fall.

Nader, who ran as an independent candidate in
each of the past three presidential elections,
told ABCNews.com that he will run in 2008 if he
is convinced over the next month that he would be
able to raise $10 million over the course of the
campaign attract enough lawyers willing to work
free of charge to get his name on state ballots.

Nader said he filed papers with the Federal
Election Commission and launched a Web site after
Dennis Kucinich, a liberal Ohio congressman,
announced his decision to withdraw from the
presidential race last week.

He was set to announce that he had formed an
exploratory committee Wednesday, even before
former Sen. John Edwards made it known that he'd
be ending his candidacy. But with Edwards who has
made economic populism and ending poverty
cornerstones of his campaign leaving the
Democratic field, Nader said, he feels his
candidacy is more urgent than ever.

"When Kucinich threw in the towel, now you have
Edwards gone who's going to carry the torch of
democratic populism against the relentless
domination of powerful corporations of our
government?" Nader said. "You can't just brush
these issues to the side because the candidates
are ignoring them."

He has harsh words for the leading Democratic
candidates, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack
Obama, chastising them for failing to advance
aggressive plans to tax corporations more fairly,
and to fight for a vastly higher minimum wage.

Obama, he said, is a particular disappointment,
since his background suggests that he knows the
importance of progressive issues yet hasn't
fought for them in the Senate.

"His record in the Senate is pretty mediocre,"
Nader said. "His most distinctive characteristic
is the extent to which he censors himself. He
hasn't performed as a really progressive
first-term senator would."

His "self-censorship," Nader said, "is a
reflection of character."

He's no kinder to the Republican frontrunner,
Sen. John McCain. "Senator McCain is the
candidate of perpetual war," he said.

Nader also rejects the "spoiler" label many
Democrats have applied to him since 2000, when
his candidacy was blamed in some circles for
helping defeat Democratic candidate Al Gore.

"That is the sign of political bigotry," he said.
"Why aren't the major candidates spoilers? They
represent parties that spoil our electoral system
and our government."

John M. Wages, Jr. announced plans to run for Congress in Mississippi

Wages Leaves Election Commission and Announces Plans

John M. Wages, Jr., announced his resignation from the Lee County Election Commission effective December 15, 2007.

Wages was elected as the Election Commissioner from the 3rd District in 2004. State law provides that Election Commissioners declare their party affiliation, which is then listed on the ballot. Wages is the first Green Party candidate elected to office in Mississippi. While serving on the Election Commission, he worked for paper ballots and provided options and recommendations for voting systems to the Board of Supervisors. In 2005, Lee County became one of three counties to opt out of Secretary of State Eric Clark's plan for a uniform, statewide system of computer voting using touch-screen voting machines. This decision preserved paper ballots that can be recounted or audited, and also provided a more cost-effective voting system for the taxpayers of Lee County. The State Election Code provides for the Board of Supervisors to choose a replacement to serve the remainder of the term until the next election. In his resignation letter, Wages stated,

"For the past three years, it has been a sacred honor and my great pleasure to serve the citizens of Lee County on the Election Commission. I now look forward to serving the community in other capacities."


Speaking to friends and supporters on January 1, Wages announced plans to run for Congress,
"With respect for the past, hope for the future, and confidence in the rightness of this quest, in accordance with the State Election Code, I have submitted qualifying papers to the State Executive Committee of the Green Party of Mississippi, seeking its nomination for the 1st Congressional District.


America faces challenges unlike any we have ever faced before this time:

· An incredible burden of debt amassed by banks and other financial institutions threatens to dissolve our economy. We must begin to address this crisis not in terms of saving Wall Street, but of saving Americans who stand to lose their homes, savings, and retirement accounts.

· Even after the folly of NAFTA, Congress continues to approve free trade pacts that send America's jobs overseas and that undermine workplace protections for American workers. We must replace NAFTA and similar treaties with Fair Trade agreements that benefit and protect American workers as well as their trading partners.

· Here in Mississippi, we have begun to experience global climate change firsthand in the twin disasters of a devastating hurricane and the ongoing drought. No one person, city, state, or nation can address this problem. Working with other nations, we can limit human suffering and the worst effects of climate change.

· Global petroleum production appears to have peaked in 2006. Our economy is based on the cheap energy contained in liquid petroleum. We must begin a crash course of implementing a national energy policy anchored in conservation and renewables.

· Hiding behind a curtain of lies, the Bush-Cheney administration launched an illegal war of aggression in Iraq. We must immediately end the war, dismantle our bases in that country, bring our soldiers home, and give our veterans the health care and support they deserve.

· Despite these daunting problems and the others space and time do not permit me to mention, the politicians we sent to Washington to represent us spend their time raising campaign cash, strategizing, and winning the popularity contests that our elections have become. Problems in education, healthcare, and other areas are never solved because of the influence of money in politics. We must enact radical campaign finance reform that outlaws all corporate contributions, severely limits contributions from wealthy individuals, mandates equitable media coverage for all candidates, and provides a fair and reasonable level of public financing for campaigns.

· Furthermore, we must call to account, whether by impeachment or by trials in a court of law, all members of the administration and Congress who have violated their oaths of office to support and defend the Constitution. This is not only the Constitutional remedy for "high crimes and misdemeanors," it is the requirement and obligation of all those in elected office who take their responsibilities seriously under the Constitution.


Every challenge is also an opportunity. If we rise to the occasion, with grace and humility, we may not only overcome these problems, but enjoy the fruits of Liberty that are the unrealized vision of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison. If chosen as the nominee, these are the things I will speak about during my campaign."

Ralph Nader: Eight More Years?

<http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/26/6641>http://www.commondream
s.org/archive/2008/01/26/6641/

Published on Saturday, January 26, 2008 by CommonDreams.org

Eight More Years?
by Ralph Nader

For Bill and Hillary Clinton, the ultimate American dream is eight more
years. Yet how do you think they would react to having dozens of partisans
at their rallies sporting large signs calling for EIGHT MORE YEARS, EIGHT
MORE YEARS?

Don’t you have the feeling that they would cringe at such public displays of
their fervent ambition which the New York Times described as a “truly
two-for-the-price-of-one” presidential race? It might remind voters to
remember or examine the real Clinton record in that peaceful decade of
missed opportunities and not be swayed by the sugarcoating version that the
glib former president emits at many campaign stops.

The 1990’s were the first decade without the spectre of the Soviet Union.
There was supposed to be a “peace dividend” that would reduce the vast,
bloated military budget and redirect public funds to repair or expand our
public works or infrastructure.

Inaugurated in January 1993, with a Congress controlled by the Democratic
Party, Bill Clinton sent a small job-creating proposal to upgrade public
facilities. He also made some motions for campaign finance reform which he
promised during his campaign when running against incumbent George H.W. Bush
and candidate Ross Perot.

A double withdrawal followed when the Congressional Republicans started
roaring about big spending Democrats and after House Speaker Tom Foley and
Senate Majority Leader, George Mitchell, told Clinton at a White House
meeting to forget about legislation to diminish the power of organized money
in elections.

That set the stage for how Washington politicians sized up Clinton. He was
seen as devoid of modest political courage, a blurrer of differences with
the Republican opposition party and anything but the decisive transforming
leader he promised to be was he to win the election.

He proceeded, instead, to take credit for developments with which he had
very little to do with such as the economic growth propelled by the huge
technology dot.com boom.

Bragging about millions of jobs his Administration created, he neglected to
note that incomes stagnated for 80% of the workers in the country and ended
in 2000, under the level of 1973, adjusted for inflation.

A brainy White House assistant to Mr. Clinton told me in 1997 that the only
real achievement his boss could take credit for was passage of legislation
allowing 12 weeks family leave, without pay.

There are changes both the Clinton Administration actively championed that
further entrenched corporate power over our economy and government during
the decade. He pushed through Congress the NAFTA and the World Trade
Organization (WTO) agreements that represented the greatest surrender in our
history of local, state and national sovereignty to an autocratic, secretive
system of transnational governance. This system subordinated workers,
consumers and the environment to the supremacy of globalized commerce.

That was just for starters. Between 1996 and 2000, he drove legislation
through Congress that concentrated more power in the hands of giant
agribusiness, large telecommunications companies and the biggest
jackpot-opening the doors to gigantic mergers in the financial industry. The
latter so-called “financial modernization law” sowed the permissive seeds
for taking vast financial risks with other peoples’ money (ie. pensioners
and investors) that is now shaking the economy to recession.

The man who pulled off this demolition of regulatory experience from the
lessons of the Great Depression was Clinton’s Treasury Secretary, Robert
Rubin, who went to work for Citigroup-the main pusher of this oligopolistic
coup-just before the bill passed and made himself $40 million for a few
months of consulting in that same year.

Bill Clinton’s presidential resume was full of favors for the rich and
powerful. Corporate welfare subsidies, handouts and giveaways flourished,
including subsidizing the Big Three Auto companies for a phony research
partnership while indicating there would be no new fuel efficiency
regulations while he was President.

His regulatory agencies were anesthetized. The veteran watchdog for Public
Citizen of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Sidney Wolfe, said that
safety was the worst under Clinton in his twenty nine years of oversight.

The auto safety agency (NHTSA) abandoned its regulatory oath of office and
became a consulting firm to the auto industry. Other agencies were similarly
asleep-in job safety (OSHA) railroads, household product safety, antitrust,
and corporate crime law enforcement.

By reappointing avid Republican Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal
Reserve, Mr. Clinton assured no attention would be paid to the visible
precursors of what is now the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Mr. Greenspan,
declined to use his regulatory authority and repeatedly showed that he
almost never saw a risky financial instrument he couldn’t justify.

Mr. Clinton was so fearful of taking on Orrin Hatch, the Republican Chair of
the Senate Judiciary Committee, that he cleared most judicial appointments
with the Utah Senator. He even failed to put forth the nomination of
sub-cabinet level official, Peter Edelman, whose credentials were superb to
the federal appeals court.

Mr. Edelman resigned on September 12th, 1996. In a memo to his staff, he
said, “I have devoted the last 30-plus years to doing whatever I could to
help in reducing poverty in America. I believe the recently enacted welfare
bill goes in the opposite direction.”

Excoriated by the noted author and columnist, Anthony Lewis, for his dismal
record on civil liberties, the man from Hope set the stage for the Bush
demolition of this pillar of our democracy.

To justify his invasion of Iraq, Bush regularly referred in 2002-2003 to
Clinton’s bombing of Iraq and making “regime change” explicit U.S. policy.

But it was Clinton’s insistence on UN-backed economic sanctions in contrast
to just military embargos, against Iraq, during his term in office. These
sanctions on civilians, a task force of leading American physicians
estimated, took half a million Iraqi children’s lives.

Who can forget CBS’s Sixty Minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl’s tour through
Baghdad’s denuded hospitals filled with crying, dying children? She then
interviewed Mr. Clinton’s Secretary of State, Madeline Albright and asked
whether these sanctions were worth it. Secretary Albright answered in the
affirmative.

Bill Clinton is generally viewed as one smart politician, having been twice
elected the President, helped by lackluster Robert Dole, having survived the
Lewinsky sex scandal, lying under oath about sex, and impeachment. When is
it all about himself, he is cunningly smart.

But during his two-term triangulating Presidency, he wasn’t smart enough to
avoid losing his Party’s control over Congress, or many state legislatures
and Governorships.

It has always been all about him, Now he sees another admission ticket to
the White House through his wife, Hillary Clinton. EIGHT MORE YEARS without
a mobilized, demanding participating citizenry is just that-EIGHT MORE
YEARS. It’s small wonder that the editors of Fortune Magazine headlined an
article last June with the title, “Who Business is Betting On?” Their
answer, of course, was Hillary Clinton.

Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer, and author. His most recent book
is The Seventeen Traditions.

Duncan Gives Spitzer Failing Grade On 25 Green Party Challenges For His First Year In Office, Saying He Failed To "Work Well With Others"

For Immediate Release Jan. 1, 2008
Contact: Ann Link 347-226-1195 eastst@hotmail.com
http://www.alisonduncan.org

NEW YORK, NY - Alison Duncan, the Green Party of New York State's 2006 candidate for Lieutenant Governor, gave Governor Eliot Spitzer a failing grade of "F" today on 25 Green Party challenges issued last January for his first year in office. Duncan added an additional challenge for Spitzer: to "work well with others." The challenges will be reissued for 2008.

"In 2006 Eliot Spitzer was elected in a landslide -- with a clear mandate to bring change to Albany," said Duncan. "He seems to have mistaken his mandate for the power of a dictator. Not only is the Governor's behavior undemocratic, it's also woefully ineffective. The people of New York State need a governor who can employ conflict resolution skills and creative problem solving. Our health, economic future and civil rights depend on it. That's why, in addition to grading the Governor on the 25 challenges I sent last year, I'm adding a 26th challenge on behalf of the 42,122 voters who chose the Green Party ticket. Governor Spitzer, I challenge you to work together with the elected representatives in Albany and across the state to build a more sustainable New York."

25 GREEN PARTY CHALLENGES FOR SPITZER (grades in italic):

I. War in Iraq:

- bring New York State's National Guard troops home as soon as possible by using his veto power
[F]

II. Civil Rights:

- marry same-sex couples at the Empire State Plaza by the end of 2007
[D -- Spitzer submitted legislation in April to legalize same-sex marriage but treated it as a publicity stunt by refusing to spend the political capital to push it through]

- repeal the New York State version of the PATRIOT Act that he drafted with Pataki, which rescinded constitutional due process and probable cause protections
[F]

III. Health Care:

- actively promote the Legislative Commission on Health Care Coverage Act of 2005 (A.6575) sponsored by Assembly Member Richard Gottfried as a first step toward implementing universal, single-payer health care
[F -- Spitzer's efforts toward universal coverage do not include single payer]

- increase funding for public health research and programming with an emphasis on prevention, especially prevention of blood-borne diseases such as AIDS
[C -- Spitzer publicized a disease prevention plan in March but has not made AIDS prevention a major priority]

- keep hospitals open that have been targeted by Pataki's hospital closure commission
[F]

IV. Education:

- immediately follow through on his promise to invest $4 to $6 billion in New York City's schools, commit to investing $8.5 billion statewide, and commit an additional 500 million yearly to fund after-school programs in every district
[C -- Spitzer signed a bill that will increase school funding incrementally over 4 years, reaching $7 billion by 2010-11, however the aid must be more equitably distributed so that poorer districts have the resources they need]

V. Energy Policy:

- increase the percentage of electricity produced with renewable energy sources (not nuclear) to 25% in the first year, with a goal of 40% by the end of his term
[D -- Spitzer's goals of reducing NY's energy consumption by 15% below the forecasted level in 2015 and obtaining 25% of energy from renewable resources by 2013 are too modest for a problem that requires immediate action]

- promote energy conservation and research to create 25,000 new jobs for each year of his term
[F]

VI. Criminal Justice Reform:

- submit a bill to the NYS legislature to restore sentencing control to judges -- no mandatory minimums and use of alternative sentencing with a focus on restorative justice to prevent recidivism
[F]

- submit a bill to the NYS legislature to legalize marijuana and repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws
[F]

VII. Death Penalty:
- advocate against the death penalty and refuse to sign any bill to reinstate it
[F]

- commit $40 million per year for the permanent funding of legal services programs
[C -- Spitzer increased funding but not to the amount that is needed]

VIII. Housing:

- build 250,000 units of affordable housing each year of his term -002D the criteria "affordable" being that all New Yorkers are able to find housing near their work for no more than 30% of their family income
[D-- Spitzer announced financing for 800 "affordable" housing units on Dec. 14 and 730 housing units on Nov. 16, far short of what is needed]

- repeal the Urstadt Law that bars New York City from adopting rent limitations and tenant protections that are more restrictive than those allowed by the state
[F]

IX. Agriculture:

- submit a bill for labeling laws that identify food by origin (defining "family farm," "small farm), and whether genetically engineered
[F]

- submit a bill to require every public school cafeteria to serve locally grown food — with a priority on small, organic farms
[F]

X. Labor:

- repeal the Taylor Law to give public unions negotiating tools that are as powerful as management's while protecting public safety
[F]

- give union organizers full access to organize workfare workers and prisoners in New York State
[F]

XI. Electoral Reform:

- promote conversion to hand-counted paper ballots
[F]

- institute instant runoff voting by actively promoting A03509 and A03510 sponsored by Assembly Member Fred Thiele to establish an instant runoff voting method for certain primary and local elections
[F]

XII. Multiparty Democracy:

- introduce legislation to more fairly define ballot status of political parties by either enrollment or the vote totals of any statewide or federal office
[F]

- introduce clean election legislation that doesn't penalize third parties
[F -- the Green Party of New York State has described the legislation Spitzer and the legislature passed last year as "stunningly inadequate" and "codifying an already rotten system," citing a need for full public funding of campaigns and a ban on soft-money donations]

- introduce legislation to provide for proportional representation of political parties on the county and state boards of elections
[F]

XIII. Public Authorities:

- spearhead a public review of public authorities including their mandates, governing structures and budgets; and implement a comprehensive reform with a focus on transparency and accountability
[D -- although Spitzer and Paterson announced on May 24 that they had submitted limited reform legislation, it remains to be seen whether they can get it passed and whether the reforms will be implemented]

NEW CHALLENGE! Work Well With Others

Greens: Tactical retreat by pro-Democrat fake antiwar lobbies is setting back the peace movement

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

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, January 24, 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: Tactical retreat by pro-Democrat fake
antiwar lobbies is setting back the peace
movement

• Substituting goal of electing Democrats for
goal of immediate US troop withdrawal will lead
to more war, say Greens


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders called on
Americans who oppose the Iraq War to rebuff an
agreement among pro-Democratic 'antiwar' lobbies
to scale back pressure to end the war.

"MoveOn.org, Americans Against Escalation in
Iraq, and other groups have decided that passing
legislation in Congress that does nothing to end
the war makes their favorite Democratic
candidates look better than demanding action to
end the war quickly," said Jason Wallace, Green
candidate for the US House in Illinois' 11th
District <http://www.electwallace.us> and active
member of Iraq Veterans Against the War
<http://www.ivaw.org>. "The big myth of the 2008
election is that Democrats are the antiwar
candidates. In reality, a vote for a Democrat is
a vote for a longer occupation in Iraq and
possibly a war with Iran."

According to Politico
<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7949.html>,
several mainstream antiwar groups in a recent K
Street meeting have decided on a tactical retreat
in the face of Congress's failure to reverse the
Bush war agenda.

Greens have sharply criticized Democrats in
Congress and leading Democratic presidential
candidates for offering vague and deferred
timetables for withdrawing US troops from Iraq;
refusing to cut off funding for the war;
criticizing President Bush solely on the basis of
strategic mistakes in Iraq; for signing on to Mr.
Bush's military threats against Iran; having
voted to surrender Congress's constitutional war
powers to Mr. Bush in 2002; and refusing to
rescind the war authorization after the 2006
election.

Greens also noted that the Democratic Party
leadership, including most presidential
candidates, have rejected calls for impeachment
despite evidence that the Bush Administration's
fraudulent justifications for invading Iraq, war
crimes, authorization of torture and warrantless
surveillance of US citizens, broken treaties, and
other abuses of power and violations of the US
Constitution.

"Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both said
they'd maintain a permanent US military presence
in Iraq with only a limited draw-down of combat
troops that could then be redeployed 'just over
the horizon.' This military misadventure is not
in the best interests of Americans or Iraqis and
only benefits the oil and weapons industries.
Groups like MoveOn that divert the energies of
peace activists towards Democrat candidates who
fail to push for a prompt and total withdrawal
only undermine the peace movement and advance the
war agenda. Voters need genuine peace candidates
like those from the Green Party," said Titus
North, Green Congressional candidate from
Pennsylvania's 14th District
<http://www.votenorth.org>.

MoveOn has called on the Democratic presidential
candidates to "be unequivocal in their
commitments to remove all US troops within
eighteen months of taking office"
<http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/01/moveon_anitwar_movement_still.html>,
which could delay withdrawal until mid 2010.
Greens contend that Democrats in Congress could
have brought a rapid end to the war merely by
stalling on White House requests for continued
war funding.

"The position of Green candidates is that we are
not willing to accept any more dying by violence
-- American or otherwise. It has been the
willingness of US military policy to accept
collateral damage in the hundreds of thousands
and forcing people to live under governments of
our choosing, which drives hostility towards us
and decreases our own security. The recent
statement by NATO leaders urging maintenance of a
first strike nuclear policy is one more example
of a dangerous position that has been supported
by both Republicans and Democrats," said Bob
Kinsey, Colorado Green candidate for the US
Senate <http://www.KinseyforSenate.org>.

The Green Party recently opened a new web page
featuring videos of Green presidential candidates
and debates
<http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php>.
The party will choose its presidential and vice
presidential nominees at the 2008 Green National
Nominating Convention in Chicago, July 10-13.

"The election of a couple of Greens to Congress
and a strong showing for the Green presidential
nominee on Election Day 2008 would end the war
quickly by showing Democratic and Republican
politicians that they can no longer take votes
for granted, especially votes from Americans who
want peace," said Deanna Taylor, Desert Greens
Green Party of Utah and participant in the Green
Party Peace Network
<http://gpuspeace.wordpress.com>.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Video of Green presidential candidates
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php
• Green candidate database for 2007 and other
campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau
http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Media credentialing
http://www.gp.org/committees/media/kit.shtml

Green Party Peace Action Committee
http://www.gp.org/committees/peace/

Action Alert! New Voting Machices

The Monroe County Board of Elections has until February 8th to to choose whether to use either a paper ballot based ballot marker and scanner system, or a direct recording electronic (DRE) voting system. New York's lever voting machines are being replaced with an electronic voting system.

We want an electronic ballot marking machine that allows people with disabilities to vote independently and marks a paper ballot that can be reviewed and hand counted.

Thursday, January 31, 2008, the Monroe County Board of Elections will be hosting a preview of voting machines at the Medley Centre Mall, located at 285 Medley Centre Parkway, in Irondequoit.

Contact the Monroe County Board of Elections at:

Monroe County
Board of Elections
106 and 108 County Office Building
39 W. Main St.
Rochester, NY 14614
Phone: 585 753-1550
Fax: 585 753-1511

Interview with Elected CT Green, Jean de Smet

Jean de Smet talks about the challenges of a Green officeholder trying to revitalizing an economically depressed small town. Listen here.

Support for the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial in Washington DC

I had the opportunity this past summer to visit the proposed site of the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial in Washington, DC. It will be right on the water about across from the Jefferson memorial near the Lincoln and Korean War monuments. I think it's a great cause and something I have given to and support.

Thanks to DC Statehood Green T. E. Smith, the Green Party will now be listed among the organizations supporting the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial to be built on the National Mall in Washington, DC. "I felt that it was important that the Green Party provide tangible support for this project. People of Color, particularly Black People, are ignored and taken for granted by the two corporate parties - except on election day. The Green Party platform supports racial justice, the Democrats have not come out in favor of reparations for slavery, but the Green Party has supported reparations since 1998. The only way people will know about this is if we work together to support projects like the MLK Memorial".

According to memorial organizers, the Green Party of the United States is the only political party to date to have made a financial contribution to the project. For more information about the MLK Memorial go to: http://www.mlkmemorial.org/

Cynthia McKinney: "Something for Which to Vote" MLK, Jr. Day 2008

"We cannot be satisfied so long as the Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and the Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. August 28, 1963

Dear Friend,

Are you:
* Incredulous at the fact that two Presidential elections were stolen and no one was held accountable?
* Disappointed that, as a result, our country is at war, involved in torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against the peace?
* Concerned, especially in light of New Hampshire, that your vote might not be counted in November and that the will of the voters will be thwarted yet again with election fraud or outright theft?
* Disquieted that the use of electronic voting machines, coupled with laws that restrict public access to election data "owned" by voting machine companies, might thwart your ability to verify election results if they are in question?

As acknowledged in the documentary American Blackout, I worked with investigative journalist Greg Palast and conducted my own Congressional investigation into election theft in Florida and across our country in the Presidential election of 2000. Those proceedings documented the role of Data Base Technologies, now a part of ChoicePoint, and election officials in Florida, in illegally "scrubbing" the voter rolls.

In 2001, with Al Gore presiding, I objected to the seating of the Florida electors. Not one Senator objected and so there was no discussion and no debate in the Congress about what happened in Florida and across our country in the 2000 Presidential election during the seating of the Electoral College. The same pattern of fraud and theft was planned and executed in the 2004 Presidential election. But this time, not relying on any political party, the people themselves demanded and funded an investigation into what happened in Ohio. More and more information comes to us about how the will of voters in Ohio was deliberately suppressed to produce a desired outcome. This effort at discovering the truth of Ohio was led by independents, Libertarians, and the Green Party because the Democrats had already conceded the election.

In my own 2006 Congressional election, Georgia courts have ruled that the electronic election data cannot be made public because they belong to Diebold. The matter is going to be appealed all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court, but isn't that a shame? In my election night speech I declared electronic voting machines a clear and present danger to our Republic.

I want to keep election protection and a radical common sense approach to issues on the table. As the candidates with populist appeal, but without their party's support, are being pushed to the margins, I want to make sure that the election results are truly a reflection of the will of the voters. That will only happen if there is another voice raising critical issues.

Are you also:
* Waiting to hear the leading Presidential contenders say that it's past time to repeal the Patriot Acts, the Secret Evidence Act, the Bush tax cuts, the Military Tribunals Act, bring our troops home now, and institute a livable wage?
* Infuriated that 48 million of our neighbors have no access to health care while those of us with insurance have our claims too often denied?
* Ready to have the Parties' solutions to the shrinking dollar and the ballooning national debt explained, especially in light of rising food prices and unemployment?
*Tired of the belligerent talk being directed at Iran and Pakistan and ready for our country to become a leader in pursuit of peace? And finally, are you also
*Afraid that the issues you really care about won't get addressed in this election season and therefore the likelihood of them being addressed by the incumbent is almost nil?

I have traveled across our country to almost half its states. I have met too many people disillusioned by their fears that their issues won't be addressed in this campaign season. I've met many people who want to participate, but who long ago figured out that the system was rigged against the interests of working families and so, dropped out, but who want to have hope that our country can be delivered from its current morass.

Too many are feeling that they have nothing for which to vote, that their votes won't count, even worse, they might not even be counted. To them, I suggest looking another way. As I have done. On March 17th of 2007, I declared my independence from national leadership that deepens the slough in which our country finds itself today. That leadership has enabled our country to throw away traditional American values of justice, and peace, and freedom.

I have now become a member of the Green Party and am seeking its Presidential nomination.

I'm encouraging the people I've met to join me and do some things we've never done before in order to have some things we've never had before. I hope you will lend your support so we can press for election integrity and put real solutions to the problems faced by real people on the table in real talk that we all can understand.

This election in November is critical. The future of our country and the content of the current debate can be influenced by us. Please help me create the political space for real issues to stay on the table. I know you support the truth. I know you want to help the American people know the truth.

Please visit www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com to review my record. Please visit www.runcynthiarun.org to donate to this effort.

Please take the time to view two youtube offerings: http://youtube.com/watch?v=03cOM9r51Nw and http://youtube.com/watch?v=ozQ_iPuqCxg

After viewing these films, I hope you will agree that our work deserves your support. The time is too precarious, the issues too important, our futures too much at risk for us to lose any more critical voices on important issues.

Thank you again for your support of truth. I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Cynthia McKinney

P.S. You can mail your donation by U.S. Postal Service to:

Power to the People Committee
Cynthia McKinney for President
P.O. Box 311759
Atlanta, GA 31131-1759

Please complete and include in your mail our contribution form to help us comply with federal election reporting requirements:

http://www.runcynthiarun.org/pdf/contributor_form.pdf

Please note: Campaign Contributions are not tax-deductible. Corporate contributions are not permitted. Only U.S. residents and citizens aged 17 or older may make contributions to federal elections.

Saturday January 19 - Green Party Campaign School

I just wanted to remind everyone about Saturday's Campaign School, it looks like we may have Greens from as many as five differnt states and 10 differnt New York Counties! Afterwards (around 8pm) we'll go to Salena's Mexican Restaurant, conveniently located just down the street from the Auditorium Theater.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the campaign school!

Greens back Indian Trust lawsuit

Greens back Indian Trust lawsuit against Interior Department over billions in broken obligations, mismanaged funds, and appropriated natural resources

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

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, January 16, 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 -- Green Party leaders and candidates expressed support for an ongoing class-action lawsuit to force the US Interior Department to account for billions of dollars owed to Native Americans since the late 19th century.

"Since the 1880s, the US government has failed to make good on its promise to provide Native Americans payment for mining, oil and gas extraction, timber, and grazing on their homelands. It's time for the US to reverse hundreds of years of broken treaties and stolen resources, account for the breach of Indian Trust obligations, and restore honesty," said Rodger Jennings, Green candidate for Congress in Illinois (12th District) .

Filed in 1996, Cobell v. Norton (later renamed Cobell v. Kempthorne) addresses funds belonging to about a half million Native Americans and their heirs. In 1999, Judge Royce Lamberth held Clinton Administration officials (especially Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin) in contempt of court for stonewalling, destruction of documents, and misrepresentations before the court.

More recently, the US Court of Appeals sided with the federal government and removed Judge Lamberth from the case, rejecting the judge's findings of evasion and malfeasance and his charges of racism.

The Bush Administration is now taking steps to limit the government's liability and to ensure that only 1.3% of the trust accounts are reconciled, which means only a tiny fraction of those covered under the trust plan might see some form of restitution.

Greens, calling on the Bush Administration to honor the financial debt of the US government to Native Americans, also expressed frustration with the White House's recent violations of treaties and agreements.

"Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne is taking action to limit drastically the scope of payments owed to Native Americans. He's trying to get his department off the hook on its obligation to account for the historical theft of billions of dollars when white-owned firms were allowed to profit from natural resources on Indian land. His actions are consistent with the Bush Administration's refusal to honor numerous treaties signed by the US, from the Kyoto Accords to the Geneva prohibitions against torture," said Rebecca Rotzler, an Alaskan Native, a former co-chair of the Green Party of the United States, and an elected Green.

For further details, background information, and recent news on Cobell v. Kempthorne, see:

Indian Trust: Cobell v. Kempthorne
http://www.indiantrust.com/

"Interior again shifts duty to account for Indian trust," Indianz.com, December 5, 2007
http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/006198.asp

Justice Department documents
http://www.usdoj.gov/civil/cases/cobell/

Findlaw page
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=DC&navby=case&no=025374A


MORE INFORMATION

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

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

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

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

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

~ END ~

Green Party Presidential Debate

Watch videos of the first Green Party presidential debate of 2008. 800 people attended the debate held in San Francisco on Jan. 13. Candidates Cynthia McKinney, Jared Ball, Kent Mesplay, Kat Swift and Jesse Johnson participated in the debate. Ralph Nader, who has yet to announce his intentions for 2008, addressed the crowd after the debate concluded. Videos of the debate and speeches by other Greens are posted at http://gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php

Welcoming Remarks - Ross Mirkarimi (San Francisco Board of Supervisors), Amiee Allison (Master of Ceremonies), Gayle McLaughlin (Mayor, Richmond, CA)

Opening Statements - all candidates

Question #1: The "Spoiler" Question - all candidates

Question #2: Immigration - all candidates

Question #3: Tax Policy - all candidates

Question #4: Iraq occupation & war - all candidates

Question #5: Peak Oil, First Act in Office - all candidates

Recognition of Green Elected Officials present

Question #6: Terrorism/Protect Bill of Rights - all candidates

Question #7: Education/No Child Left Behind - all candidates

Question #8: Israel and Palestine - all candidates

Question #9: Farm Bill - all candidates

Question #10: Greens unite progressives - all candidates

Closing Statements - all candidates

Greeting from Canadian Greens - Melanie Mullen (Deputy Leader, Green Party of Ontario)

Green Presidential Debate - Opening Statements

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!

It was a brilliant event! 800 attendees, nearly a full house, in one of the nicest venues in San Francisco, the historic Herbst. All the candidates appeared at their best, and were exceptional on stage. All great spokespersons, and fine examples of the Green movement. The Great Green Debate made the local TV news and newspapers, and will be shown in part on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now this coming week. Thanks to Mike Feinstein’s crew, it will soon (in one or two days) be available in documentary format on YouTube. And KPFA radio’s full 3-hour taping of the event, with Green MC Aimee Allison and political analyst Larry Bensky will air Tuesday night, 7 pm (Pacific Time), on 94.1 FM in the Bay Area, and live streaming for the world online at www.kpfa.org . Listen in and see for yourself what the Green Party can look like, in the proper setting. Superb!

First round of photos can be seen at www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/13/18472234.php

We hope to have a full audio track available on this site by Monday evening, for those who want a downloadable file for rebroadcast. Stay tuned... we are just getting started!

******************************************

FIRST 25 MIN DEBATE SEGMENT NOW ON YOUTUBE:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NNGtJ_0vTgk

******************************************

Green Presidential Debate - Opening Statements

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!

It was a brilliant event! 800 attendees, nearly a full house, in one of the nicest venues in San Francisco, the historic Herbst. All the candidates appeared at their best, and were exceptional on stage. All great spokespersons, and fine examples of the Green movement. The Great Green Debate made the local TV news and newspapers, and will be shown in part on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now this coming week. Thanks to Mike Feinstein’s crew, it will soon (in one or two days) be available in documentary format on YouTube. And KPFA radio’s full 3-hour taping of the event, with Green MC Aimee Allison and political analyst Larry Bensky will air Tuesday night, 7 pm (Pacific Time), on 94.1 FM in the Bay Area, and live streaming for the world online at www.kpfa.org . Listen in and see for yourself what the Green Party can look like, in the proper setting. Superb!

First round of photos can be seen at www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/13/18472234.php

We hope to have a full audio track available on this site by Monday evening, for those who want a downloadable file for rebroadcast. Stay tuned... we are just getting started!

******************************************

FIRST 25 MIN DEBATE SEGMENT NOW ON YOUTUBE:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NNGtJ_0vTgk

******************************************

Kat Swift & Jesse Johnson Visit Minnesota

Thanks to Tom Cleveland for compiling these videos of two of our presidential candidates on a recent visit to Minnesota

Jesse Johnson at MN Green Party Membership Meeting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDfbQ0DUuhM

3. Kat Swift at MN Green Party Forum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD8JQPDQ884

4. Kat Swift at MN Green Party Membership Meeting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N18UZe_xkw0

5. Jesse Johnson at MN Green Party Presidential Candidate Forum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QyIO6nTSMA

Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney: The Struggle for Social Justice

Cynthia McKinney's lecture on "The Struggle for Social Justice," an excellent biographical introduction by Dr. Bobbie Pollard, comments by respondents, and Q&A from the audience are all included in this excellent piece of journalism from Baruch College in NYC:

http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/dml/engine.php?action=viewAsset&mediaIndex=809

Dr. Julia Willebrand added to Campaign School

Good News, Dr. Willebrand has been added as a guest presenter at our January 19th Campaign School, she will be discussing Green Campaigns around the world.

Dr. Julia Willebrand is an environmental and antiwar activist who has worked for peace.

Dr. Willebrand has served as chair of the NYC Sierra Club Solid Waste Committee, chair of the Manhattan Citizens' Solid Waste Advisory Board, and on the steering committee of the Citywide Recycling Advisory Board, among other positions, and has testified frequently at hearings on solid waste, air and water pollution, and sprawl. She has been a Fulbright Professor to Hungary, a union delegate, chair of college ESL and English programs, a teacher-trainer, and a testing and curriculum development specialist for adult education programs. As a United Federation of Teachers delegate in the 1960s, she was part of a caucus that succeeded in withdrawing their support for the war in Vietnam. She and her late husband were draft counselors, helping young men avoid service in the Vietnam War.

Dr. Willebrand has a B.A. in American Studies from City College, and a Masters and Doctorate in Education from Columbia University.

6 presidential candidates on the DC Statehood Green ballot in the February 12 primary election

THE DC STATEHOOD GREEN PARTY
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org

For immediate release:
Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Contact:
Scott McLarty, DC Statehood Green Party Media
Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org


Six presidential candidates on the DC Statehood
Green ballot in the February 12 primary election

• The 2008 Green presidential candidate may come
in second in DC, ahead of the Republican, say
Statehood Greens

• The candidates: Jared Ball, Jesse Johnson,
Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, Ralph Nader
(represented by Howie Hawkins), Kat Swift


WASHINGTON, DC -- The DC Statehood Green Party
will have six presidential candidates on the
ballot when DC voters go to the polls on February
12 for the primary election.

The six candidates are seeking the nomination of
the Green Party in the 2008 race for the White
House.  The nomination will be decided by about
800 delegates from state parties who will gather
at the Green Party's national convention in
Chicago, Illinois, July 10-13.  The DC Statehood
Green Party has qualified for 28 delegates to
participate in the nominating process.

The candidates are listed below.  Contact
information, photographs, video clips, and bios
of the candidates can be found on the candidates'
own web sites.  Video clips of many of the
candidates are also linked at
<http://www.gp.org/audio_video.shtml>.

The first Green presidential debate will take
place on Sunday, January 13 in San Francisco
<http://www.gp.org/press/pr-state.php?ID=9>.

"Since the DC Statehood Green Party has major
party status in the District of Columbia,
Statehood Green voters will participate in the
primary just as Democratic and Republican voters
do," said LaVerne Butler, Ward 5 representative
on the Statehood Green Party's steering
committee.

The Green Party has vowed to achieve 51 ballot
lines in 2008 in all the states and the District
of Columbia, and has committed party resources
for this purpose.  Greens currently have ballot
access in 21 states, including Washington, DC
<http://www.gp.org/statelist.shtml>.

"It's very possible that we'll see the Green
nominee come in second on Election Day 2008,
ahead of the Republican," said Gail Dixon,
at-large member of the DC Statehood Green Party's
steering committee and former elected member of
the DC School Board.  "We're seeing growing
enthusiasm for many of our candidates, and
District residents know how they've been treated
under the Bush Administration for eight years.
Many DC voters hold both Democratic and
Republican politicians responsible for endorsing
the Iraq war and other disastrous Bush policies,
and for confirming President Bush's worst
appointees.  More and more DC voters are hearing
the Statehood Green message that a vote in
Congress will not give us democracy, and that we
need the real thing -- statehood.  The Green
Party is the only party that supports DC
statehood."

In recent elections, DC Statehood Green
candidates have collectively won more votes than
Republican candidates, even in 2006 when the two
parties ran the same number of candidates for
partisan office.  The Statehood Green Party is
now 'DC's Second Party' in terms of electoral
clout.

The list of Green presidential hopefuls includes
one DC native, two women (one of them African
American), one African American man, at least two
candidates with Native American ancestry, one of
Arab ancestry, a former member of Congress, two
former Green presidential candidates, a college
professor, a candidate who will turn 35 in June
2008, and a 73-year-old.

The candidates:

• Jared Ball, independent journalist; radio host
(WPFW 89.3 FM Pacifica Radio in Washington, DC),
hip-hop scholar, assistant professor of
communications studies at Morgan State University
in Baltimore, Maryland
http://www.jaredball.com

• Jesse Johnson, 2006 US Senate candidate and
2004 gubernatorial candidate for the Mountain
Party in West Virginia (now an affiliate state
party of the Green Party of the United States);
filmmaker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMxgYnmdHfg

• Cynthia McKinney, former member of the US House
of Representatives (Georgia), 1993 to 2003, 2005
to 2007; former member of the Georgia House of
Representatives, 1988-1992
http://www.runcynthiarun.org
http://www.americanblackout.org/

• Kent Mesplay, 2004 candidate for the Green
presidential nomination; former president of
Turtle Island Institute; environmental engineer,
alternative energy activist; California Green
organizer
http://www.mesplay.org

• Ralph Nader, 1996 and 2000 Green candidate for
President; 2004 independent candidate for
President; consumer advocate (Howie Hawkins of
the Green Party of New York State has consented
to serve as a 'placeholder' candidate until Mr.
Nader announces his intentions for the 2008
election)
http://www.draftnader.org

• Kat Swift, Texas Green organizer; former Campus
Greens leader; activist with Clean Money San
Antonio and San Antonio Democracy Now
http://www.bexargreens.org/katforprez


MORE INFORMATION

The DC Statehood Green Party
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
• Green candidate database for 2007 and other
campaign  information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Media credentialing
http://www.gp.org/committees/media/kit.shtml
• Green Party Presidential Campaign Support
Committee
http://www.gp.org/committees/pcsc/index.shtml

Campaign School Presenters

Green Party Campaign School

Saturday, January 19, 2008, 10am-8pm

Auditorium Center, 875 E. Main St, Rochester, NY

Click Here for full details on the campaign school

Brent McMillan is the national Political Director for the Green Party of the United States. As political director, McMillan serves as a national liaison with state Green Parties, officeholders and candidates, including outreach to potential presidential candidates. He tracks Green Party elections and ballot access efforts, and identifies and solicits party contributors. He teaches outreach and fundraising techniques at regional campaign schools and provides party resources for local campaigns. McMillan also speaks on transportation, permaculture, and environmental justice.

McMillan has served as the GPUS Political Director since February 11, 2004. A former Republican, McMillan first became involved in the Green Party in 1991 with the Delaware County Greens in Muncie, Indiana and served as secretary for the first statewide gathering of Greens in 1992. In 1996 he co-founded the Green Party of Seattle and served on the first coordinating council. In 1998 he co-founded the Green Party of the 36th District and served as its Treasurer until 2004. In 2000 he co-founded the Green Party of Washington State and served as the first State Facilitator (Chair). In 2002 he was elected as one of two delegates to represent the state of Washington on the National Committee of the Green Party of the United States. In 2003 he was a candidate for the newly created Seattle Monorail Board. He finished third out of seven candidates and was endorsed by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and the Seattle Weekly. He received a BS and a BArch from Ball State University.


Scott McLarty has been the media coordinator for the Green Party of the United States since April 2000. He writes press releases and official media responses for the party, speaks at political events, hosts press conferences at national party meetings and conventions, and co-chairs the national Media Committee.

McLarty has had articles, guest columns, and book reviews published in Roll Call, Z Magazine, Green Horizon, The Progressive Review, In These Times, and several local and community publications and small press. In November 2006, he was interviewed on C-SPAN's 'Washington Journal' on the role of the Green Party in the 2006 election, and has spoken on numerous radio shows and panels on progressive third party politics and the emergence of the Green Party.

McLarty grew up in Long Island, New York, and now lives in Washington, DC. He joined the Green Party in 1996 after joining the Nader campaign that year, and in 1998 he ran for the Ward 1 seat on the Washington, D.C. City Council. In 1999, he helped negotiate the merger of the DC Green Party and the DC Statehood Party, which was founded in 1970 by local civil rights leaders in Washington, DC. After the merger, he became media coordinator for the DC Statehood Green Party.


Dr. Julia Willebrand is an environmental and antiwar activist who has worked for peace.

Dr. Willebrand has served as chair of the NYC Sierra Club Solid Waste Committee, chair of the Manhattan Citizens' Solid Waste Advisory Board, and on the steering committee of the Citywide Recycling Advisory Board, among other positions, and has testified frequently at hearings on solid waste, air and water pollution, and sprawl. She has been a Fulbright Professor to Hungary, a union delegate, chair of college ESL and English programs, a teacher-trainer, and a testing and curriculum development specialist for adult education programs. As a United Federation of Teachers delegate in the 1960s, she was part of a caucus that succeeded in withdrawing their support for the war in Vietnam. She and her late husband were draft counselors, helping young men avoid service in the Vietnam War.

Dr. Willebrand has a B.A. in American Studies from City College, and a Masters and Doctorate in Education from Columbia University.


Rachel Treichler 2006 Green Party candidate for New York State Attorney General has practiced law in New York since 1982. She was an associate with two large New York City law firms for eight years, then set up her own practice in 1989.

In 1996, Rachel founded Eco Books, selling environmental books online. From 1999 to 2002, she operated Eco Books as a storefront bookstore in Brooklyn. Rachel was a founder of Brooklyn Greenbacks, a local currency system, which operated from 1996 to 2002.

Rachel lived in New York City for 21 years before moving to the Finger Lakes region in 2002. In 2002, she ran for Congress as the Green Party candidate for the 29th congressional district.

Rachel became active in the Green Party in 1995. She is a member of the state committee of the Green Party of New York. She has served on the state executive committee and on the national committee of the Green Party of the United States. She co-founded the Park Slope Greens in 1997 and the Steuben Greens in 2002, and is secretary of the Steuben County Green Party. In 2002, Rachel was a plaintiff in Green Party of New York v. New York State Board of Elections. The Brennan Center represented the Green Party and individual Greens in this successful fight to protect the right of voters to register with the Green Party on voter registration forms.

In addition to the Green Party, Rachel is active in the Sierra Club, the Bath Peace and Justice Group, the Finger Lakes Progressive Coalition, the Steuben County League of Women Voters and Southern Tier Farm to You. She is a member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York. Rachel serves as an at-large member of the executive committee of the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club and is a member of the corporate accountability committee and the confronting corporate power task force of the national Sierra Club.

Rachel lives on an organic farm in Hammondsport near Keuka Lake.



Howie Hawkins has been active in movements for peace, justice, the environment, and independent progressive politics since the late 1960s when he was in high school in the San Francisco Bay Area.

A former Marine, he helped organize opposition to the Vietnam War and was a co-founder of the anti-nuclear Clamshell Alliance in 1976. He was a co-founder of the Green Party in the United States in 1984 and currently serves on the Green National Committee.

After attending Dartmouth College in the early 1970s, Howie worked as a carpenter in New England and helped start up a construction workers cooperative that specialized in solar and wind energy installations.

Howie moved to Syracuse in 1991 to be Director of CommonWorks, a federation of cooperatives working for an economy that is cooperatively owned, democratically controlled, and ecologically sustainable.

A member of Teamsters Local 317 and active in the national Teamster rank-and-file reform caucus, Teamsters for a Democratic Union, Howie presently works unloading trucks and rail cars at UPS.

Howie’s articles on social theory, cooperative economics, and independent politics have appeared in many publications, including Against the Current, Green Politics, International Socialist Review, New Politics, Peace and Democracy News, Peaceworks, Resist, Society and Nature, and Z Magazine. He is the editor of Independent Politics: The Green Party Strategy Debate (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2006).



Jason Nabewaniec currently serves a Co-Chair of the Green Party of the United States currently, and also Chairs the Green Party of New York State's Campaign committee.

Jason has formerly chaired the Green Party of Monroe County and the Green Party of Genesee County both in western New York State. Jason has served on several Green Party committee's and volunteered and advised several Green Party campaigns.

Jason is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology and currently lives in Irondequoit, NY.

Your Support for the Jared Ball campaign is needed!

Dr Jared Ball, Green Party Presidential candidate very accurately states,"Given the societal need and function of mass media and popular culture, all that is popular is fraudulent. Popularity is in almost every case an intentionally constructed fabrication 
of what it claims to represent." This analysis can be extended to the realm of politics and describes how the dominant parties perpetuate the myth of democracy while suppressing actual participatory democracy. Thus their debates become a carefully orchestrated fashion show of poll generated sound bites with this seasons most popular attire being a call for change.

The Green Party in putting forward real candidates and conducting real debates is providing an indisputable model for genuine political change. The January 13 Green Party Presidential Candidates debate in San Francisco California will be an important milestone in our effort to replace that "carefully constructed fabrication" of politics as usual with a discussion of the most pressing issues of our times by leaders who are of the people and for the people. Six-time Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney, longtime consumer advocate Ralph Nader - who is not yet an announced candidate, university professor Jared Ball and environmental engineer Kent Mesplay will participate in "Campaign 2008: A Presidential Debate that Matters." The debate will be held Sunday, January 13 at 2 p.m. at the Herbst Theater/Veterans Memorial Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue, and is open to the public with a suggested donation of $10-25. "Peace Mom" Cindy Sheehan will co-moderate the debate. 

For more information go to .

Our candidates stand by our Green principles and do not accept corporate money, and the corporate media suppresses news of their campaigns, so it is up to us to make sure that all our candidates can be present for these important debates. Your donation to the Jared Ball campaign will help us to cover the cost of attending this important campaign event.

To make a donation at our website go to: http://www.jaredball.com/donate

Or send a check to: 
Jared Ball for President 
P.O. Box 7423 
Silver Spring MD 20907 

  Thank you for your support! 

  Sincerely,

  The Jared Ball for president campaign team
  Anita Rios & Head Roc co-campaign managers

Greens Connect Ecology with Democracy

This article is from the Earth & Spirit column of the National Catholic Reporter


Greens connect ecology with democracy

By RICH HEFFERN

At their annual national gathering of the U.S. Green Party last summer in Reading, Pa., party leader John Rensenbrink gave a speech in which he outlined how the Greens were positioning themselves for the 2008 election and beyond.

“We are going to vie for real political power in the United States in order to achieve important goals for our neighborhoods, the country and the planet. We are no longer entering the political arena just to force the ‘real’ candidates to discuss substantive issues. We are not a club, not a nongovernmental organization but a real political party that will contest for power in these United States.”

A more strenuous Green Party strategy will include a marketing campaign, achievable political goals and serious fundraising. “The Republican party is imploding. The Democratic party has lost its way,” Mr. Rensenbrink concluded. “It’s up to a third party now to inspire the hearts and minds of millions of Americans.”

U.S. Greens have been working out alternative ways of doing politics for 25 years while committed to values and goals like gender balance, sustainable land use, nonviolence, community-based economics, grass-roots democracy and more. They have been busy fleshing out and realizing these values in the world and in the realm of politics. They have consistently opposed the invasion of Iraq, advocated for campaign finance reform and for a single-payer health insurance plan.

There are presently 227 Green party members holding state and local level political office around the country, 55 in California alone. They’ve had their struggles and infighting but now seem to be emerging as a force for change in America, capturing in particular the interest and passion of the young. Campus Green parties have sprouted like weeds in an organic garden. A Green Party candidate is expected to run for president this year.

The Green party platform is expressed in terms of 10 key values. These in turn are usually phrased in questions not definitive statements.

Under “ecological wisdom”: How can we live within the ecological and resource limits of the planet? How can we build a better relationship between cities and the countryside?

Under “community-based economics”: How can we redesign our work structures to encourage employee ownership and workplace democracy? How can we move beyond the narrow “job ethic” to new definitions of “work,” “jobs” and “income” that reflect the changing economy? How can we restrict the concentrated power of corporations without discouraging superior efficiency or technological innovation?

What other U.S. political party concerns itself with such a rich, values-laden agenda?

Environmental writer James Kunstler, speaking at the Land Institute in Salina, Kan., last September, said: “So many Americans believe the only thing wrong with America is George W. Bush, and that if only we could wiggle out of ‘his’ war and his presidency, every day would be Christmas.”

In reality, there’s a lot more wrong with how we live and how we think about how we live than the mere presence of George Bush in the White House.

Our dependence on foreign oil, for example, is not the real problem. It’s the living arrangements and consumerism that depend on that oil, and in that we’re all implicated. This failure to make connections between how we all live and resulting public and foreign policies goes down to the grass roots.

Mr. Rensenbrink presented an example of the strategizing that has been going on. A longstanding Green party goal is to find ways “to tame giant corporations in the interest of small businesses,” that last phrase added in order to avoid the protest mentality that identifies Greens as over against something else and to stress a positive commitment to community-based economics.

“We need to get on with the life-fulfilling project of citizenship and public life,” said Green writer Patrick Mazza, who spoke of the need to “transform politics and America itself.”

Short-term goals include winning ballot status for the Green party in all states. In 2008, the Greens want to add at least 25 states to the 19 states where they are recognized as a political party and win a minimum of 5 percent of the vote, which would qualify the party to receive public funding in the 2012 election, while also focusing energy, resources and enthusiasm on a reasonable number of winnable House seats and two Senate seats in 2008. Another goal is to have 1,000 Green party members holding elective office nationwide by 2010.

Greens present an alternative vision for America that projects hope. They are the most notable example of grass-roots environmental electoral politics in our nation’s history, yet they are largely ignored or viewed solely as presidential election “spoilers.”

Ecology, which can be defined as intelligent caring for the whole, “represents a tremendous breakthrough for viewing res publica [public affairs] as a natural sphere,” said Mr. Mazza. The direct connection between the traditions of democracy and ecological consciousness is a force that can lend Green parties dramatic force and energy for a transformation of politics.

Spring is Here!

I just saw the WDKX time and temperature sign and it said it was 60 Degrees outside, it must be spring! Which reminds me that now is a great time purchase your Green Party t-shirts, and don't forget to give a donation while your at it to help with all of our upcoming spring petition drives to get the Green Party on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Tuesday Jan. 8th discussion on homelessness in Rochester

This looks like an important discussion for every member of our community.


If you haven’t yet seen the exhibition, this is your last week to do so. Several hundred people have visited and commented — the community dialogue we’ve begun is still growing.

Tuesday, Jan. 8th 7-9 pm, a speakers’ night.

Erica Vera – Network Director for the Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (RAIHN)

Sr. Grace Miller – House of Mercy
Loret Steinberg - Eastman Commons Community in Rochester and the Common Ground organization in NYC (www.commonground.org) (the people from ECC cannot be present, so Loret will show the 20 minute segment on Common Ground for them)
Speaker to be confirmed — someone from the Rochester Continuum of Care (a Rochester group responsible for a ten year plan to end homelessness in the city)
Hubert Wilkerson — Rochester resident and homeless individual

Format: Short presentations (approx. 15-20 min. each) then a discussion with Q&A. Chairs will be provided.

Topics - What are the important issues in Rochester? How are homeless people and their issues different from one another? How can we help? What are some of the ways that have been developed to serve the homeless in Rochester?

December 11th, Professor Steinberg and Sister Grace Miller were guests on WXXI-AM 1370 at 1pm, for the program “1370 Connection” with Bob Smith. Please check WXXI.org for copies of that program.

Gallery r, 775 Park Ave., RIT’s student-run metro showcase for contemporary art, is open from 2 to 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free and the gallery is handicapped-accessible. For more information, call (585) 242-9470 or visit http://cias.rit.edu/~galleryr/.

Join us, have a look at the work by Lisa Barker, Val Sauers, Michael Gillman, Nick Mesrobian, Todd Carlson, Megan Rossman, Jeremy Oversier, Emma Tannenbaum and Loret Steinberg and stay for the discussion!

For more information – please email me at loret@mail.rit.edu

Monday,January 7th - Color Brighton Green

EVENT: New Green initiative launched by Town of Brighton

Brighton, NY. January 2, 2008. On Monday, January 7th the Town of Brighton's
"Green Brighton Task Force" will launch a community based Green initiative.
Organizers believe this is the first time a local municipal government will ask
all of its citizens, businesses, institutions & schools to reduce their energy
consumption and green house gas emissions as a part of a town-wide strategy.

The event, referred to as the "Color Brighton Green New Year's Resolution
Party!", will take place at Brighton Town Hall (2300 Elmwood Avenue) on Monday,
January 7th beginning at 7:00pm. The event is part of an campaign to rally the
community in support of a 10% reduction in energy consumption.

"We've got to make our government, schools & homes more energy efficient, cut
greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce our reliance on imported oil. It just
makes sense on so many levels," said town supervisor, Sandy Frankel. "We'll not
only save money, but we'll also strengthen our national security and help
preserve our beautiful community for future generations." Frankel kicked off
the effort early in 2007 in her State of the Town address.

The Green Brighton Task Force is organized primarily by a group of citizen
volunteers. The steering committee includes a town board member, the town's
commissioner of public works, the superintendent of Brighton's Central School
District and the vice president of the Brighton Chamber of Commerce among
others. The task force is headed by a local environmental educator, Karen
Berger.

Berger described the initiative this way, "Brighton's effort is part of a
nationwide climate protection action plan. The key elements are to increase
energy efficiency and decrease carbon dioxide. Other communities have been very
successful in similar pursuits."

The event will begin with local businesses displaying information about various
products and services related to energy savings. Then, volunteers will perform
a skit to kick off the formal portion of the evening. After the skit there will
be a brief description of the initiative. Then organizers will ask Brighton's
citizens, businesses & institutions to sign a "10% Pledge". A number of awards
will be given out to students who have participated in a special creative
assignment related to the Color Brighton Green initiative. After the formal
portion of the evening is over citizens who wish to may continue to interact
with the initiative's organizers and local business representatives.

Here's a sneak peek at some activities that will be announced on January 7th:

· The 10% Challenge: enlisting government, citizens, schools, businesses, and
other institutions to reduce their consumption of finite natural resources and
increase their use of renewable resources.

· A Green Business Award
· Earth Day Activities Fair
· Curb Your Car Week

Complete info: http://www.ColorBrightonGreen.org

The town of Brighton has a related site:
http://www.townofbrighton.org/index.asp?NID=252

The event is free and open to the public. Light snacks will be available.