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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Cynthia McKinney Aboard Boat Headed for Gaza, Intercepted by Israeli Naval Force - FOXNews.com Transition Tracker

Cynthia McKinney Aboard Boat Headed for Gaza, Intercepted by Israeli Naval Force - FOXNews.com Transition Tracker:

FOXNews.com

The ex-congresswoman and long-time activist for the Palestinians was among a group of individuals turned back after their boat tried to enter Israeli waters in an attempt to land in Gaza to distribute medical supplies."

Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, unimpeded by the "closed military zone" imposed by Israel, was among 16 people aboard a medical supply boat that collided with an Israeli naval ship Tuesday as it tried to enter coastal waters around Gaza.

The yacht, owned by the U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement, was reportedly carrying 3.5 tons of medical supplies donated by Cyprus. A press release from the group claimed "several Israeli gunboats intercepted the Dignity she was heading on a mission of mercy to Gaza." They said the Israeli military fired machine guns into the water in an attempt to stop the Dignity's progress.

The boat, registered under the flag of Gibraltar and with an English captain, reportedly took on water and experienced engine problems, according to the group's Web site. It also said the incident occurred 90 miles offshore in international water. The boat's captain was given permission to dock in Lebanon, where it was regrouping to try again.

Israel's foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told Reuters that an Israeli vessel and the 60-foot Free Gaza Movement boat did make "physical contact," but only after the aid boat failed to respond to radio contact. He denied any gunfire had occurred, and he said no one was hurt in the incident. He told Reuters the Israeli ship escorted the damaged boat back to Cypriot territorial waters.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Sunday, November 30, 2008

We need your help TODAY and THIS WEEKEND and through next week, people. And thanks to every one of you in advance!


Among three candidates - a Green, a Republican, and a Democratic incumbent indicted on multiple corruption charges - Louisiana Green Party candidate MALIK RAHIM is the only one who truly looked after the people of New Orleans, the people of the Ninth Ward, etc., after the scandal of the levees that were allowed to break after Hurricane Katrina.

In the days following Hurricane Katrina, it was Malik Rahim who helped to found the grassroots assistance organisation called the COMMON GROUND COLLECTIVE.

Today and all through next week YOUR HELP is needed to make phone calls to New Orleans voters -- from now up to Election Day -- as well as to potential donors/supporters outside New Orleans.
If you know anyone who can GO to New Orleans to help, please do try to recruit them, too.

We also need your help to raise as many little contributions of CASH as we can, and especially NOW and over THIS WEEKEND, BEFORE MONDAY. After Monday we still need donations but we need as many funds as possible to already be donated to the campaign THIS WEEKEND in order for the campaign to be able to USE THEM as soon as possible to be effective.
 
$5.00, $10.00, $20.00, etc., please contribute online through PAYPAL
www.votemalik.com/contribute -- or call the campaign and donate
over the phone. See www.votemalik.com, or email info@votemalik.com for methods of donating besides Paypal online.

Please forward this message and ask your peeps, your organizations, to help also! Thanks!!

Phone banking only requires a computer with Internet connection, plus your phone to make long-distance calls (for all of us calling from outside New Orleans).
Phone bank info and SIGN UP are here:
http://www.tinyurl.com/5686o2

As Bruce Dixon writes in his extremely telling article, below:
"In a low turnout environment like this a few votes, a modest contribution of money or time can make a big difference. "

He adds, "If you want a change, be that change."
Peace,
Marian Douglas-Ungaro
Washington, DC

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Contribute to Malik Rahim for Congress Today!


Malik Rahim for Congress

Contribute Online using Paypal

Send your donation today. Individuals may contribute up to $2300. To contribute by mail print the donor form or you may donate online here...
Three years since Katrina and the government continues to fail us. Malik Rahim has spoken out with courage, asked the difficult questions, and built viable community alternatives. He is a strong organizer that acted while the politicians waited. Now he wants to take his courage to Congress. Malik is on the ballot for US Congress in Louisiana's 2nd District.


The Louisiana Secretary of State changed the elections calendar after Hurricane Gustav, so the general election where you can vote for Malik is on December 6, not November 4.



Malik's Platform

  • Hurricane Recovery & Flood Protection:
  • Rebuild a Sustainable Economy:
  • Quality Public Education:

  • Healthcare for All:

  • Comprehensive and Sustainable Energy Policy:

  • Reform of the Criminal Justice System:

  • Alternative sentencing for non-violent offenders.

  • Troops out of Iraq:

  • Affordable Housing

  • Call for a full investigation now on the awarding of contracts for the demolition of public housing developments in New Orleans and their reconstruction
Website:
Office:
Committee to Elect Malik Rahim
Location:
331 Atlantic Avenue

Thursday, November 6, 2008

BlackCommentator.com - October 30, 2008 - Issue 297

BlackCommentator.com - October 30, 2008 - Issue 297: "BlackCommentator.com - An Obama Presidency: More of the Same - Only Worse (Part 1) - Keeping it Real - By Larry Pinkney - BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board"

Green Party Black Caucus Leadership to attend "State of the Black World Conference Planned for New Orleans in November" | Black Politics on the Web

- A group of national and local African American leaders gathered at the Ashe Cultural Center Thursday, August 21, to announce plans to hold the State of the Black World Conference (SOBWC) November 19-23 in New Orleans.

The conference, anchored by the New York-based Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW), is centered on the theme Return to the Source, Restoring Family, Rebuilding Community, Renewing the Struggle. A major goal of the conference is to focus national and international attention on the continuing struggle for fair and equitable recovery in New Orleans and the Gulf.

“We come to New Orleans with a mission: to help rebuild New Orleans; to express our resolve in helping in any way we can,” said veteran activist and IBW President Dr. Ron Daniels. “We understand that rebuilding New Orleans is an important part of what we must do to rebuild our cities and to rebuild America.”"

2008 Election Database | Green Party of the United States Candidates for Office

2008 Election Database | Green Party of the United States Candidates for Office

Congratulations are in order to one of our members!

Rick Tingling-ClemmonsOffice: Advisory Neighborhood Commission
District: SMD 7D05
City: Washington
State: District of Columbia
Election date: 11/4/2008
Elected: Yes

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The 36th Annual Thomas Merton Award will honor Malik Rahim!



The 2008 award dinner will be on Wednesday, November 12th!
6pm Social Hour
7:20pm Dinner
Circuit Center and Ballroom

The Circuit Center and Ballroom is located at 5 Hot Metal Street, in the IBEW Hall, right on the corner of Hot Metal and Carson Streets. There will be free parking, easy bus access, and a vegetarian (including vegan) dinner catered by the locally renowned Fluted Mushroom.

Reservations: $45 ($26 for students/low-income)
Have a group? We can accommodate tables of 10 people at a time. The cost for a table will be $400. Please RSVP by October 31!

Reserve your space by:
Check (made payable to "Thomas Merton Center" with "TMC Dinner" in the memo line)
Cash (stop into the TMC during regular business hours - Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm)
Credit Card (either mail us your information or click here.)

To mail in payment: Thomas Merton Center, 5125 Penn Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15224

Ways to help:
If you can't attend, make a donation! Or buy and sell lots of raffle tickets…someone has to win the prizes: a trip to New York (all expenses paid), a custom-built bike from Free Ride!, and a whole slew of gift certificates & tickets – sports and cultural – for Pittsburgh attractions
! Would you like to purchase an ad in our dinner program book? If you have a business, big or small, or just want to honor the Center, buy an ad in the program. Rates are as low as $50 and as high as $500 to become an underwriter. People read those ads and support those who share their beliefs in justice. And you can always offer to help with the dinner. There is enough work for all of us involved in this major event.

Questions? Call 412-361-3022 or e-mail Melissa.

This November 12, the Merton Center will be honoring activist Malik Rahim at the annual Thomas Merton Award ceremony. Malik is a former Black Panther, convicted felon, and a long-time housing and prison activist in the U.S. state of Louisiana. He gained publicity as a community organizer in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

During Hurricane Katrina, Malik stayed to assist the community and has been speaking out about racism and the failures of government exposed by the Katrina disaster. To counter the powerful corporate forces trying to control the rebuilding, Malik has founded Rebuild Green to work with community-based organizations' efforts to advance social justice and environmental sustainability. Malik states that "By focusing on green building technology, renewable energy, mass transit systems, and green community development that empowers local people to take control of their local resources, the rebuilding of New Orleans can take our city from being a symbol of disaster to being a prototype sustainable city of the future."

In July of 2008, Malik filed to run for Louisiana's second congressional district seat of the U.S. House of Representatives as a Green Party candidate.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Daily Greens: Democratizing the Electoral College «


Daily Greens: Democratizing the Electoral College «:

"DC Statehood Green Party leader Asa Gordon spoke at the 2008 Green Party Convention in Chicago on how he has been using litigation to work toward democratizing the Electoral College. For more information, or to get in touch with Asa Gordon, check out his web-site, with great background material at: http://www.electors.us

Related post: A press release from the national Green Party went out about Asa Gordon’s newest lawsuit last week. The blog from onthewilderside is here.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

* GreenPartytakes on Electoral College
* Green Party Protestors Fault Post for Lack of Coverage

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Civilians have repeatedly been displaced by violence in DR Congo

"Congo groups 're-arming' in east
By Martin Plaut
BBC Africa editor

Civilians have repeatedly been displaced by violence in DR Congo

Government forces and rebel troops are rearming and recruiting for conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the BBC has learned.

US and European Union officials are warning the situation is increasingly tense despite a January peace deal.

One source said six plane-loads of arms and ammunition had been flown into Goma by the government in the last 10 days.

The defence minister refused to confirm or deny allegations the government was moving weapons into eastern DR Congo.

Chikez Diemu said it was an internal matter for the authorities to deal with.

Human rights groups say that tens of thousands of people have fled as the situation in the area deteriorates." Read more...

Greens launch effort against Electoral College manipulation of presidential elections


Asa Gordon, Chair DC Statehood Green Party Electoral College Task Force
Executive Director Douglass Institute of Government


• Malapportionment of Electoral College votes may lead to a Republican victory despite the popular vote, disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters, especially black voters in southern states

• Green civil action seeks to democratize the Electoral College by enforcing 14th Amendment voter protections, names Vice President Cheney as defendent

WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders said today that the outcome of the 2008 presidential election may be affected by the antidemocratic apportionment of Electoral College votes, with the popular vote misrepresented by the winner-take-all system of assigning votes to electors.

"We're in danger of seeing the 2008 election stolen again, as in 2000 and 2004," said Clyde Shabazz, Green candidate for the US House in Michigan (13th District) (http://www.migreens.org). "In Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, we witnessed the obstruction and manipulation of votes by election officials and possible tampering with computer voting machines. But equally insidious is the malapportionment of Electoral College votes, which disenfranchises whole sections of the voting public."

A civil action to protect the voting rights of presidential electors and the voters they represent was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia (1:08-cv-01294) on January 28, 2008, by Asa Gordon, chair of the DC Statehood Green Party's Electoral College Task Force and executive director of the Douglass Institute of Government (http://members.aol.com/digasa/dig.htm).

The action seeks relief against the defendant, Vice President Cheney, who will preside over the tabulation of "unbound electoral states" on January 6, 2009, challenging the recognition of Electoral College votes that are apportioned by states on a winner-take-all basis.

The civil action seeks enforcement of the 'Mal-Apportionment Penalty' provided in Section 2 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which mandates a reduction of a state's presidential electors and congressional representatives if "the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States... is denied... or in any way abridged."

The civil action alternatively seeks the issuance of a court order providing proportional apportionment of presidential electors.

"If two thirds of the voters in a state vote for a candidate from Party A and one third vote for a candidate from Party B, and the state's winner-take-all rule gives all of the state's electors to Party A, then one third of the voters have been disenfranchised in violation of Amendment 14, Section 2 of the US Constitution," said Jody Grage, treasurer of the Green Party. "We've witnessed in election after election how some states have used the winner-take-all formula to prevent the votes of political, ethnic, and other minorities from being counted."

Mr. Gordon noted that the civil action had the potential to "alter the fate of the 2008 presidential election in a manner different from any presidential election in the nation's history." (http://www.electors.us)

"By refusing to challenge Electoral College malapportionment in 2000 and 2004, which blocked Democratic electors from voting in those elections, the Democratic Party's leaders abandoned tens of thousands of their own voters, just as they failed to challenge the election irregularities in Florida and Ohio in 2000 and 2004," said Mr. Gordon. "Will they fail to challenge malapportionment again in 2008, and hand the Republicans another victory? Barack Obama would not be the Democratic nominee if not for the Democratic Party's proportional assignment of primary delegates. The winner-take-all provisions in the general election present the distinct possibility that Mr. Obama in 2008 will win the popular vote by a considerably larger margin than did Gore in 2000, but will repeat the Democratic loss in the Electoral College."

Mr. Gordon said that African American voters in several southern states* that were represented by proportional assignment of delegates in the Democratic primary, and who were critical to Barack Obama's success, will be lost to Mr. Obama under the winner-take-all rules of the general election.

"If proportional assignment is considered by Democrats to be vital to democracy in their primary elections, why won't they fight for it in the general election?" asked Mr. Gordon, who led workshops for Green presidential electors during the 2008 Green National Convention (http://www.gp.org/speakers/detail.php?ID=29) (http://www.greenparty2008.org/wiki/index.php/Workshops).

As a result of the workshops, several Green electors pledged to presidential candidate (and eventual Green nominee) Cynthia McKinney agreed to institute a program for enforcement of the Reconstruction-Era provision enshrined in the 14th Amendment.

"The 'Democratize the Electoral College' program exposes the hypocrisy and fraud behind charges that the McKinney campaign might 'spoil' the Democratic presidential ticket's chances of winning. Democratic leaders should have to explain why they choose to ignore 13 additional electors from southern states that they'd gain through the Green Party's presidential electors project. Why is the Green Party fighting to give voice to Democratic voters that the Democratic Party will not fight for? Let me be clear -- we're not doing this to assist Barack Obama, but to foster real democracy and voter participation, and to offer Cynthia McKinney as the truly democratic choice for all the people," said Mr. Gordon.

Green Party leaders noted that after John Kerry quickly conceded the 2004 election, Democratic leaders failed to respond to thousands of complaints about voting irregularities in Ohio and other states. Green presidential nominee David Cobb and Libertarian nominee Michael Badnarik launched the Ohio and New Mexico recount efforts and collected the initial evidence that Republican officials had blocked the votes of many African American and young voters (http://www.iwantmyvote.com). Greens raised most of the money for the recounts. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) later held hearings and published evidence of the election theft (http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1101).

Cynthia McKinney and running mate Rosa Clemente were nominated during the 2008 Green National Convention in Chicago, July 10-13.

The Green Party's national platform endorses a constitutional amendment abolishing the Electoral College and providing for the direct election of the president by instant runoff voting (http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/democracy.html#309649).

"Americans don't vote for President. Instead, we vote for an electoral college which was created in the late 1700s to expressly increase the power of the slave states -- and which it is still doing," said Mark Dunlea, an election law attorney with the Green Party of New York State.

* Asa Gordon's civil action observes that the Office of the Federal Register of the National Archives and Records Administration explicitly declares that "the electors in these (Southern) States (ARKANSAS -- 6 Electoral Votes, GEORGIA -- 15 Electoral Votes, LOUISIANA -- 9 Electoral Votes, TENNESSEE -- 11 Electoral Votes, TEXAS -- 34 Electoral Votes) are not bound by State Law to cast their vote for a specific candidate" (http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/laws.html).

The civil action was filed on July 28, 2008, to commemorate the 140th anniversary of the adoption of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. Since the debacle of the 2000 presidential election, the Green Party in partnership with the Douglass Institute of Government has led the way in educating Americans about their constitutional "right to vote" under the provisions of 14th Amendment, Section 2.

MORE INFORMATION

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

Mal-Apportionment Penalty Civil Actions http://www.electors.us

"Greens: Enforce 14th Amendment's 'Right to Vote' Provision"
Green Party press release, October 18, 2004
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_10_18_04.html

"Greens Push for Real Electoral Reforms at Carter-Baker Hearings, June 30"
Green Party press release, June 27, 2005
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2005_06_27.shtml


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

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Cynthia McKinney Names V-P Running Mate


Rosa Clemente

On July 9, the news leaked out that Cynthia McKinney’s choice for the Green Party vice-presidential nomination is Rosa Clemente, 35, of New York. See here for more about her. Zentronix blog says that the McKinney-Clemente ticket would be the first in U.S. history of two women of color. However, in 1992, the New Alliance Party ticket was Lenora Fulani and Maria Elizabeth Munoz. Also in 1996, the Workers World Party ticket was Monica Moorhead and Gloria La Riva.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this article about the McKinney campaign. Even though it was published on July 9, it doesn’t contain the news about Rosa Clemente. Instead it says the announcement about a vice-presidential candidate will come on July 11.

Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the news.

http://www.ballot-access.org/2008/07/09/cynthia-mckinney-names-v-p-running-mate/


Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Statement by Cynthia McKinney, Power to the People Candidate for U.S. President, on the nomination of Barack Obama as the Democratic Party's President

(statement issued June 9, 2008)

On Saturday, June 7, 2008, Hillary Clinton announced that her 2008 presidential bid is over, making Barack Obama the first-ever Black presidential nominee of a major party in the history of the United States.

Congratulations to Senator Obama for achieving such a feat!

When I was growing up in the U.S. South in the racially turbulent 1960s, it would have been impossible for a Black politician to become a viable Presidential contender. Nothing a Black candidate could have done or said would have prevented him (or her) from being excluded on the basis of skin color alone. Many of us never thought we would see in our lifetime a Black person with a real possibility of becoming President of the United States.

The fact that this is now possible is a sign of some racial progress in this country, more than 40 years after the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. But it is also a sign of the deep discontent among the American people, and particularly among African Americans, with the corporate-dominated, business-as-usual politics that has prevailed in Washington for too many years.

Coming from Barack Obama, the word "change" did not appear as just another empty campaign slogan. It galvanized millions of people --mostly young people--to register to vote and to get active in the political system. The U.S. political system needs the energy and vision of all is citizens participating in the political process. Citizen participation is always the answer.

Senator Obama called for healing the wounds inflicted on working people and the poor in our country after eights years of a corrupt and criminal Bush-Cheney Administration. Just as in November 2006, people full of an expectation for change, including those the system has purposefully left out and left behind, flocked to the polls to vote for Senator Obama. Across a broad swath of the people of this country, and from those who are impacted by U.S. foreign policy, there is a real expectation, a real desire, for change.

While congratulating Senator Obama for a feat well done, I would also like to bring home the very real need for change and a few of the issues that must be addressed for the change needed in this country to be real. First of all, a few of the more obvious facts:

United for a Fair Economy (UFE) produces studies each year on the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. entitled, State of the Dream reports. UFE has found that on some indices the racial disparities that exist today are worse than at the time of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For example, infant mortality, where the overall U.S. world ranking falls below Cuba, Israel, and Canada. They also have found that, without a public policy intervention, it would take over 5,000 years to close the home ownership gap between blacks and whites in this country, especially exacerbated because of the foreclosure crisis disproportionately facing Blacks and Latinos today. They have found that it would take 581 years, without a public policy intervention, to close the racial gap in income in this country. UFE has found unacceptable racial disparities extant on economic, justice, and security issues. After analyzing the impact of the Democratic Party's "First 100 Hours" agenda upon taking the Congressional majority, UFE concluded in its 2007 report that Blacks vote in the Blue (meaning, they support Democrats in the voting booth), but live in the Red (they do not get the public policy results that those votes merit). And UFE noted that Hurricane Katrina was not even mentioned at all in the Congressional Democratic majority's 2007 First 100 hours agenda.

United for a Fair Economy is not the only organization to find such dismal statistics, reflecting life for far too many in this country. In a study not too long ago, Dr. David Satcher found that over 83,000 blacks died unnecessarily, due to racial disparities in access to health care and because of the disparate treatment blacks receive after access. A Hull House study found that the racial disparity in the quality of life of black Chicagoans and white Chicagoans would take 200 years to be eliminated without a public policy intervention. The National Urban League in its annual "State of Black America" publication basically concludes that the United States has not done enough to close long-existing and unacceptable racial disparities. The United Nations Rapporteur for Special Forms of Racism, Mr. Doudou Diene of Senegal, just left this country in an unprecedented fact-finding mission to monitor human rights violations in the United States. Dr. Jared Ball submitted to Diene on my behalf, my statement after the Sean Bell police verdict. The United Nations has already cited its concern for the treatment of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita survivors and the extrajudicial killings taking place across our country, that especially target Black and Latino males, and especially at the hands of law enforcement authorities.

I hope it is clear that the desire for change is so deeply felt because it is deeply needed. Politics, through public policy, can address all these issues and more in the favor of the people. We do not have to accept or tolerate such glaring disparities in our society. We do not have to accept or tolerate bloated Pentagon spending, unfair tax cuts, attacks on our civil liberties, and on workers' rights to unionize. We don't have to accept or tolerate our children dropping out of high school, college education unreachable because tuition is so high, or our country steeped in debt.

The 21st Century statistics for our country reflect a country that can still be characterized as Dr. King did so many years ago: the greatest purveyor of violence on the planet.

It doesn't have to be that way. And the people know it.

I have accepted as the platform of the Power to the People Campaign, the 10-Point Draft Manifesto of the Reconstruction Movement, a grouping of Black activists who came together in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to advocate for public policy initiatives that address the plight of Blacks and other oppressed peoples in this country.

Among its many specific public policy planks, the Draft Manifesto calls for:

* election integrity, if our vote is to mean anything at all, all political parties must defend the integrity of the votes cast by the American people, something neither of the major parties has done effectively in the past two Presidential elections;

* funding a massive infrastructure improvement program that is also a jobs program that greens our economy and puts people to work, and especially in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, Hurricane survivors, treated as internally displaced persons whose right to vote and right of return are protected, play a meaningful role in the rebuilding of their communities;

* recognizing affordable housing as a fundamental human right, and putting a halt to the senseless destruction of public housing in New Orleans;

* enacting Reparations for African Americans, so that the enduring racial disparities which reflect the U.S. government's failure to address the reality and the vestiges of slavery and unjust laws enacted can be ended and recognition of the plight of Black Farmers whose issues are still not being adequately addressed by USDA and court-appointed mediators despite a US government admission of guilt for systematic discrimination;

* acknowledging COINTELPRO and other government spying and destabilization programs from the 1960s to today and disclosing the role of the US government in the harassment and false imprisonment of political activists in this country, including Mumia Abu-Jamal, the San Francisco 8, Leonard Peltier, including restitution to victims of government abuse and their families for the suffering they have long endured;

* ending prisons for profit and the "war on drugs," which fuels the criminalization of Black and Latino youth at home and provides cover for U.S. military intervention in foreign countries, particularly to our south, which is used to put down all social protest movements in countries like Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and elsewhere;

* creating a universal access, single-payer, health care system and enacting a livable wage, equal pay for equal work, repealing the Bush tax cuts, and making corporations and the rich pay their fair share of taxes;

* establishing public funding for higher education--no student should graduate from college or university tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt;

* ensuring workers' rights by 1) repealing Taft-Hartley to stop the unjust firing of union organizers, ban scabbing, and enable workers to exercise their voices at work and 2) enacting laws for U.S. corporations that keep labor standards high at home and raise them abroad, which would require the repeal of NAFTA, CAFTA, the Caribbean FTA, and the U.S.-Peru FTA;

* justice for immigrant workers, including real immigration reform that provides amnesty for all undocumented immigrants;

* creating a Department of Peace that would put forward projects for peace all over the world, deploying our diplomats to help resolve conflicts through peaceful means and overseeing the orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops from the more than 100 countries around the world where they are stationed, and an immediate end to all wars and occupations by U.S. forces, beginning in Iraq and Afghanistan, and slashing the budget for the Pentagon.

The Power to the People Campaign has visited 24 states and I believe there is already broad support across our country for these policy positions. The people deserve an open and honest debate on these issues and more. I encourage the Democratic Party and its new presumptive nominee, Senator Obama, to embrace these important suggestions for policy initiatives.

--
"And advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool."
PNAC, Rebuilding America's Defenses, p. 60

The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can "throw the rascals out" at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy.
-- Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in our Time




Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention

Register Today!



As you all know, the 2008 Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention is coming to Chicago, July 10-13. This year's event is shaping up to be one of the best events of the year. Please visit http://www.greenparty2008.org/ for all of the information related to the convention, including registration and the link to reserve your room at the headquarter hotel, the Palmer House Hilton. Staying at the Palmer House is a very important aspect of this convention, as the party needs to fill its allocated rooms to get the best rates onspace, and most of the convention activities across the weekend will be at the hotel.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



Email: office@gp.org
Office: PO Box 57065 Washington, D.C. 20037 202-319-7191 or toll-free (US): 866-41GREEN

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Letter From Elaine Brown, Former Chair of the Black Panther Party


My dear Sisters and Brothers,

Help us FREE CHIP FITZGERALD! Chip has been in prison for over 38 years now! He will go before the California Board of Parole Hearings on July 2, 2008.

Chip was a member of the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1969 when he was shot and wounded by police.—This was the year the FBI pledged to wipe out the Party, the year the Party’s L.A. office was assaulted for over five hours by several hundred members of the LAPD’s new SWAT Team, the year so many Party members were killed by police, including Walter Touré Pope and Fred Hampton.—Over a week later, Chip was arrested and charged with assault on police and the murder of a security guard. He was sentenced to death. When the death penalty was outlawed in California, his sentence was commuted to life with the possibility of parole.

Chip continues to believe in the struggle for the liberation of all oppressed people, and, despite the hardship of all these years of incarceration, heroically recognizes that his captivity is the result of his dedication and commitment to that struggle, a result we welcomed when we dedicated our lives to the Party and the Struggle.

On behalf of the Committee to Free Chip Fitzgerald, I’m asking you to sign our online Petition to the California Board of Parole Hearings advocating for Chip’s parole. The Petition can be easily accessed on our website: www.freechip.org. And, I’m asking you to pass it on, send out this email to every single person and organization you know, to all your email lists, urging everyone to sign the Petition and pass it on to their contacts! We want 100,000 signatures by June 30, 2008!

With love for the People,

Elaine Brown

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

A Discussion of Race Worth Having


Cynthia McKinney

March 18, 2008



Much has been made around the edges of this campaign about the issue of race. Sadly, nothing has been made of the public policy exigencies that arise because of the urgent racial disparities that continue to exist in our country. Just last week, the United Nations criticized the United States, again, for its failure to address the issues arising from the rights, particularly the right of return, of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita survivors. Author Bill Quigley writes in "The Cleansing of New Orleans," that half of the working poor, elderly, and disabled of New Orleans have not been able to return. Two weeks ago, United Nations experts on housing and minority rights called for an immediate end of public housing demolitions in New Orleans. Now, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, ratified by the U.S. in 1994, further observes that the U.S. must do more to protect and support the African American community. In 2006, the United Nations Human Rights Commission "noted its concern that while African Americans constitute just 12% of the population, they represent 50% of homeless people, and the government is required to take 'adequate and adequately implemented' measures to remedy this human rights violation." In short, the United Nations has issued reports squarely calling for the United States to do more to eliminate racial discrimination—and this discrimination is a human rights violation.



I am deeply offended that in the middle of a Presidential campaign, remarks--be they from a pastor or a communications mogul, or a former Vice Presidential nominee--are the cause of a focus on race, and not the deep racial disparities that communities are forced to endure on a daily basis in this country.



Myriad reports and studies that have been done all come up with the same basic conclusion: in order to resolve deep and persisting racial disparities in this country, a public policy initiative is urgently needed. A real discussion of race, in the context of a Presidential election, ought to include a discussion of the various public policy initiatives offered by the various candidates to eliminate all forms and vestiges of racial discrimination, including the racial disparities that cloud the hopes, dreams, and futures of millions of Americans.



For example, every year on the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. United for a Fair Economy publishes a study of the true state of people of color in America called the "State of the Dream Report." And it was their 2004 report that noted that without public policy intervention, it would take 1,664 years to close the racial gap in home ownership in this country. And that on some indices, for example, infant mortality, the racial disparities were worse at the time of the report than at the time of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.



In their 2005 report, entitled, "Disowned," United for a Fair Economy explored the disparate impact of Bush's "Ownership Society" economic program that saw Black and Latino lives shattered as unemployment, income, home ownership, business ownership, and stock ownership plummeted even in the face of Administration economists trumpeting the phenomenal "growth" of the U.S. economy as a result of their policies.



In 2006, United for a Fair Economy focused on the devastating and embarrassing effect of government inaction before, during, and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They focused on something as simple as car ownership and the relationship between vehicle ownership and race. In the case of New Orleans, car ownership literally meant the difference between losing or saving one's life.



In 2007, United for a Fair Economy explored the Black voters' attachment to the Democratic Party, and in a piece entitled, "Voting Blue, but Staying in the Red," they explored goals that the Democratic Party should have put at the top of its agenda for its first 100 hours in the majority. While noting that the Democrats didn't even mention Katrina in their agenda, United for a Fair Economy concluded that Blacks and Latinos voted in the November 2006 elections in the blue, but due to a failure of public policy that pays attention to their needs, they continue to live in the red.



In their 2008 report, United for a Fair Economy explores the sub-prime mortgage crisis and note that the largest loss of wealth in U.S. history is being experienced by the Black and Latino communities with an estimated $92 billion being lost by Blacks and an estimated $98 billion being lost by Latinos. And while families are losing their life savings and the only major investment that they own, policy makers are asking them to tighten their belts. But the predator banks' CEOs are walking away with record remuneration. And our policy makers are notable for their inaction: first on the predatory lending that disproportionately affects Blacks and Latinos, and then on offering relief so that homeowners remain homeowners, including in the midst of this crisis.



Sadly, United for a Fair Economy isn't the only research organization to find glaring and intolerable disparities in our society by race and no appropriate public policies enacted to address them. Hull House did a study that found that it would take 200 years to close the gap in the quality of life experienced by black Chicagoans and white Chicagoans. There has been no public policy initiative taken up by the mayor or the governor of Illinois to begin closing that gap.



Several years ago, the New York Times published a finding that nearly half the men between the ages of 16 and 64 in New York City were unemployed. There was no initiative by the mayor or the governor of New York to begin addressing such pain.



Every year, the National Urban League publishes a study, "The State of Black America," in which the ills and disparities that persist in this country are catalogued. Every year, the story is basically the same. The United States has a way to go that only public policy can address. However, when Harvard University/The Kaiser Family Foundation did a study on White attitudes about race several years ago, it found that Whites have little appreciation for the reality of Black life in America, from police harassment and intimidation, to imprisonment, to family income, unemployment, housing, and health care. But without an appreciation of the reality faced by many of our fellow Americans, the necessary public policy initiatives to change those realities will find difficulty gaining acceptance in the public discourse.



Additionally, compounding the problem, there is little public discourse because the corporate press refuse to cover the deep implications of the results of all these studies. I am convinced that if the American people knew the truth of the conditions, change would surely follow. I believe that to be the case because of the impact of the images of "Bloody Sunday" on the passage of the Voting Rights Act. I believe that to be the case because of the impact of the images of the Vietnam War on the turn of the tide of public opinion against that War.



This moment sheds light on a much-needed discussion: on race and the legacies of race and slavery and the continuing problems associated with our failure to treat racism as a curable American disease.



I am glad that candidate Obama mentioned the existing racial disparities in education, income, wealth, jobs, government services, imprisonment, and opportunity. Now it is time to address the public policies necessary to resolve these disparities. Now it is time to have the discussion on how we are going to come together and put policies in effect that will provide real hope and real opportunity to all in this country.



To narrow the gap between the ideals of our founding fathers and the realities faced by too many in our country today: That must be the role of public policy at this critical moment in our country today.



I welcome a real discussion of race in this country and a resolve to end the long-standing disparities that continue to spoil the greatness of our country. I welcome a real discussion of all the issues that face our country today and the real public policy options that exist to resolve them. That must be the measure of this campaign season. For many voters, this important discussion has been too vague or completely non-existent. Now is the time to talk about the concrete measures that will move our country forward: on race, war, climate change, the economy, health care, and education. Our votes and our political engagement must be about ensuring that fairness truly for all is embodied in "liberty and justice for all."

-------------
Cynthia McKinney is a Green Party of the United States 2008 Presidential Nominee.
--
"And advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool."
PNAC, Rebuilding America's Defenses, p. 60

"The less you know, the more you believe." Bono

"Certain material weaknesses in financial reporting and other limitations on the scope of our work resulted in conditions that, for the 10th consecutive year, prevented us from expressing an opinion on the federal government's consolidated financial statements." David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, December 15, 2006

Monday, February 11, 2008

Ancestors Resume shows why we must VOTE


None of us has had to experience the pain of separation or live with the disgrace and humiliation that comes with not being free. When you cast your vote for who will run our country, never forget your history and keep this bill of sale in mind. When we allow ourselves to forget our not so distant past, then we are destined to repeat these actions in our future. Stand for those who came before us and those who could not stand up for themselves. VOTE!


"Each and every one of you here has heard and felt those ceilings, somebody pushing you down, defining your limitations, who are you? You know damn well what you are capable of doing. This election is just as much about that as it is about change because the truth is there are millions of shining little lights just like me all over this country...This is an opportunity for all of us to send a different message to all those shining lights." by Michelle Obama

Peace is not the absence of war, but the presence of justice.
African adage
Brothers And Sisters International, Inc.
Paul A. Pumphrey
International Liaison
broandsisinterna@aol.com
202/232-8936

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children...under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.
--President Dwight D. Eisenhower--
April 16, 1953 Before the American Society of Newspaper Editors

Monday, January 21, 2008

Democratizing The Electoral College


Democratizing The Electoral College

The true measure of a democracy is not in counting how many votes are cast, but in how many of those votes that are cast count. By this measure, American democracy does not measure up. This failure of American democracy is grounded in America's allocation of electoral college votes for the President of the United States on a "winner take all" basis. By awarding all electoral votes in each state to the candidates who win the most popular votes in that state, the “winner-take-all” or 'general ticket' system effectively disenfranchises everyone who voted for other candidates.


"Winner-Take-All" is structurally anti-majoritarian, institutionally racist, and constitutionally deficient. Winner-Take-All is structurally anti-majoritarian because it concedes over half of the Presidential Electors needed to select the President of the United States of America to the former 11 states that formed the Confederate States of America. "Winner-Take-All" is institutionally racist because it only counts the nearly 27% of general election white votes cast in the former Confederate States, while disregarding the near 46% of the general election black votes cast in those states. "Winner-Take-All" is constitutionally deficient because it exposes the states to a reduction in state representatives pursuant to the mal-apportionment penalty of the Second section of the fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution for an abridgment of a citizens "right to vote".


A Call For The Greening of the Electoral College
(Green Party 2008 national convention)

This year will mark the Century and Two Score years commemoration of the adoption of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Since the debacle of the 2000 presidential elections, the Green Party in partnership with the Douglass Institute of Government has led the way in educating the general citizenry in their constitutional "right to vote" under the provisions of the second section of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution (see the Green Press releases at http://www.electors.us.)

Proposals:

[]Asa Gordon of the Green Party Speakers Bureau and Chair of the DCSGP_Electoral College Task Force to lead a 3day Workshop on "Democratizing the Electoral College" (DEC) at the Green Party 2008 national convention, July 10-13.

[]The DEC workshops will provide the historical context and provide the post convention strategy for effecting the citizens right to vote under the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment.

[]State Green Partys will send at least one party delegate who will also be a Green party presidential elector to attend the DEC workshops.

[]The Green Party will advertise that the DEC workshop is open to all United States Party's Presidential

[]Candidates nationwide who desire to Democratize the Electoral College.

[]A Final DEC workshop Report to the National Convention.

Jared Ball Ends Presidential Bid, with Support for Cynthia McKinney's Campaign | Elect Cynthia McKinney, President of the United States


Jared Ball Ends Presidential Bid, with Support for Cynthia McKinney's Campaign | Elect Cynthia McKinney, President of the United States

12 min video featuring Asa Gordon on MAP Civil Action "Democratizing the Electoral College"

Political Prisoners

August 2, 2007--Imam Jamil Al-Amin has been moved to federal custody!

Correspondence with the commissioner should be put on hold for now, updates will be announced as they occur

Please keep the Imam and his family in your thoughts and prayers


Read the details on his transfer

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE TO SUPPORT IMAM JAMIL AL-AMIN
(the former H. Rap Brown)
547 West End Pl. SW
ATLANTA, GA. 30310


Real killer confesses--again--to the killing of Kinchen--Atlanta deputy sheriff for whose shooting death Imam Jamil was convicted and sentenced to life in prison! The State refuses to consider his confession, while continuing to keep Imam Jamil wrongfully imprisoned and isolated.


SEE FOR YOURSELF--PHOTOCOPY OF RECENT, FEBRUARY 2007 HANDWRITTEN CONFESSION OF OTIS JACKSON

NEW INFORMATION PROVING INNOCENCE OF JAMIL AL-AMIN!


OnTheWilderSide

OnTheWilderSide
Supporters of progressive activism, Green Party politics, and noncorporate cultural workers.

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