1,792 votes cast, Jill Stein received 1,223 of them, or 68%. Roseanne Barr, who had just entered the race in the last week, picked up 526 votes, or 29%. There were 35 votes for Kent Mesplay, and 8 votes for Harley Mikkelson

GPW reports that Roseanne Barr is very active on Twitter, and had tweeted a challenge to Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to have both herself and Jill Stein on their programs.

They also report that Jill Stein is actively fundraising, has hired at least 3 staff onto the campaign, and has campaigned so far in California, Colorado, Delaware, DC, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Wisconsin, and other additional states as well.

Jill Stein issued a short statement saying “It is great to have Roseanne Barr on the Green Party team. Let’s bring down the house!” Barr has similarly already made positive statements regarding Stein’s candidacy.

An email from the Stein campaign says that

Dr. Jill Stein, Green Party presidential candidate, begins a three day tour of Indiana and Ohio today with a visit to the Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, accompanied by Cleveland City Councilman and Green Party elected official Brian Cummins and County Executive candidate David Ellison.

Saturday at 11:30am, Dr. Stein addresses the Green Party of Ohio Presidential Nominating Convention in Columbus.

This Sunday, as part of Indianapolis’ Occupy the Super Bowl protests, she rallies with supporters at the state capitol against anti-labor legislation such as “Right to Work for Less.”

The full itinerary of public events is viewable here: http://www.jillstein.org/events

Dr. Stein is especially interested in the Evergreen Cooperatives for providing one successful model, among many, for how economic democracy can provide employment and prosperity for stressed communities. In her recent People’s State of the Union address, Dr. Stein called for a Green New Deal providing for full employment and an immediate transition to a sustainable, more democratic economy. The Evergreen Cooperatives “are pioneering innovative models of job creation, wealth building, and sustainability,” and are, “employee-owned, for-profit companies are based locally and hire locally.”

On Occupy Super Bowl Sunday, at noon, Dr. Stein will rally with supporters and other labor movement advocates at the Indiana statehouse in Indianapolis. Dr. Stein is not only strongly opposed to so-called Right-to-Work legislation (RTW), her Green New Deal includes a “program of immediate creation of 25 million, publicly useful, sustainable, well-paying jobs,” according to a prepared statement. Stein will be joined at the rally by lifelong labor organizer Anthony Prince, and student activist Erika Wolf, both newly hired members of the Jill Stein for President campaign staff.

The Green Party has put out a press release welcoming Stein and Barr to the presidential race:

The Green Party of the United States welcomes two candidates into the race for the 2012 Green presidential nomination, Jill Stein and Roseanne Barr. Ms. Barr and Dr. Stein submitted paperwork to meet the Green Party’s requirements as of the evening of the Feb. 1 deadline.

“We are thrilled to have two strong women running for President as Greens,” said Darryl Moch, national co-chair of the Green Party. “We look forward to a race based on Green ideas and values, and to showing the Democrats and Republicans how to run without the corrupting influence of fat corporate campaign checks and corporate-funded attack ads.”

“Anyone hopeful about the Occupy Wall Street’s challenge to the status quo or disappointed by the Obama Administration’s broken promises of change now has a pair of candidates to watch. Anyone bored or irritated with the Mitt Versus Newt Show by now will be relieved by the breath of fresh air — maybe a Green gale force of righteousness — that’s about to come,” said Tamar Yager, also a national co-chair of the Green Party.

For more information about the candidates, visit the following sites:

Jill Stein: http://www.jillstein.org

Roseanne Barr: http://www.roseanneforpresident.com

2012 Press Information for Green Candidates http://www.gp.org/candidates/index.php

The nominee will be chosen at the Green Party’s national convention, July 12-15, in Baltimore, Maryland (http://www.gpconvention2012.com)

State Green Parties in California, Arizona, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and possibly Ohio are participating in primary elections. Other state Green Parties will choose the nominee they support and apportion delegates during statewide Green conventions. The Green Party currently has ballot access in 17 states. Greens expect to have the presidential nominee and other candidates on the ballot in at least 46 states and the District of Columbia on Election Day 2012.

Past Green Party convention sites and nominees:

2000: Denver, Colorado; Ralph Nader

2004: Milwaukee, Wisconsin; David Cobb

2008: Chicago, Illinois; Cynthia McKinney

“We consider it important to have strong women candidates at a time when women’s reproductive rights are under assult, from the Obama Administration’s decision on the morning-after pill to the Komen Foundation’s withdrawal of funding for breast cancer screening from Planned Parenthood. We’re proud that our presidential nominee in 2008 was a woman,” said Carl Romanelli, Pennsylvania Green and member of the Green Party’s International Committee.

132 Greens hold public office in the United States, including five mayors. The largest city with a Green mayor is Richmond, California, with Mayor Gayle McLaughlin. The Green Party and its candidates accept no money from corporate PACs.

Many Green candidates are promoting the “Green New Deal” in their campaigns (http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-green-new-deal). Greens have been active participants in the Occupy Movement; both Ms. Barr and Dr. Stein have appeared and spoken publicly at Occupy rallies.

Ballot Access News reports that the Associated Press has this story about Roseanne Barr’s announcement that she is seeking the Green Party presidential nomination; here is a Los Angeles Times story about Barr’s candidacy.

Kent Mesplay was featured in the Bloomington Alternative (H/T Green Party Watch).

This article at Green Party Watch has biographical information about four candidates (Stein, Barr, Mesplay and Mikkelson).

Green Party Watch also reports that Cindy Sheehan wrote

In the last election, I supported the Green Party candidate, Cynthia McKinney and her running mate, Rosa Clemente. Unfortunately, the Party is not entirely functional (which party is?), even if many of us do support its 10 Key Principles.
I have also been impressed by the other woman seeking the nomination, Jill Stein–she is bright, articulate, well-informed, truly progressive and dedicated to public service–but if push came to shove, I would support Roseanne.

Barr was a supporter of Sheehan in her race for Congress.

If one believes that the problem is out-of-control government trampling our Bill of Rights, Newt Gingrich is definitely not the solution. If one believes the problem is the lack of Christian morals among our civil magistrates, Newt Gingrich is definitely not the solution. If one believes the problem is the slaughtering of over 50 million innocent unborn babies, Newt Gingrich is definitely not the solution. If one believes that the problem is honesty and integrity in the White House, Newt Gingrich is definitely not the solution. If one believes that the problem is out-of-control federal spending, Newt Gingrich is definitely not the solution. If one believes the problem is the United States catering to the evil machinations of the Security Council of the United Nations, Newt Gingrich is definitely not the solution. If one believes the problem is more and more outsourcing of America’s manufacturing jobs and products, Newt Gingrich is definitely not the solution. If one believes that the problem is ever-burgeoning deficit spending, Newt Gingrich is definitely not the solution. If one believes the problem is the banksters at the Federal Reserve, Newt Gingrich is definitely not the solution. If one believes the problem is illegal immigration, Newt Gingrich is definitely not the solution. If one believes the United States gives away far too much foreign aid, Newt Gingrich is definitely not the solution.

Newt Gingrich? Really?

Baldwin goes on to further detail his case against Gingrich, as well as Santorum and Romney, and to elaborate on why he supports Ron Paul.

Paul, who was the 1988 Presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party, is seeking the Republican presidential nomination this year, as he did in 2008. Baldwin actively supported Paul in 2008 and is doing so again this year, and in return Ron Paul endorsed Baldwin in the 2008 general election.

Meanwhile, 2008 Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr, who famously backed out of Ron Paul’s joint appearance with Baldwin, independent Ralph Nader and Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney because he would not appear on stage with “people like Cynthia McKinney,” has endorsed Newt Gingrich.

Recent Barr columns include The bizarro world of Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum (published yesterday), and several previous columns expressing his support for Gingrich.

Barr, Gingrich and McKinney all represented Georgia in Congress.

More of Baldwin’s article here.

Full story and a photo at The Link news here
A Dark Decade
Conference Examines Post-9/11 Democracy
by Jacob Roberts / September 13, 2011

“Of course we were all afraid, and we didn’t know what had actually happened. But when I was given those talking points that said I should go out and tell my 630,000 constituents that we were hit because we are free, as a black person in the United States, I knew that wasn’t the truth. As a person who has understood the workings of the Counter Intelligence Program [an FBI operation debuted in 1956 to spy on and infiltrate the African-American community], I understood that wasn’t the truth,” McKinney told the crowd.

McKinney went on to talk about the manipulation of what [Canadian Prime Minister Stephen] Harper would define three days later as democratic values: freedom, human rights, and the rule of the law…

A fascinating piece at IBTimes. New information shows that in addition to the TARP funds and bank bailout that Americans know about, there were secret loans from the Federal Reserve to private banks. And, did you know that our US Federal Reserve secretly loaned money to foreign banks? What is that about? My comments on the article (and its status quo bias) are below. A January 2011 video with Ron Paul and Ralph Nader about the Federal Reserve is: here.

(excerpt from) International Business Times
Federal Reserve Lent Private Banks $1.2 Trillion During Financial Crisis’ Acute Stage
IBTimes Staff Reporter | August 21, 2011 9:10 PM EDT

The U.S. Federal Reserve lent private banks about $1.2 trillion in order to maintain credit market liquidity, bank function, and prevent the U.S. economy from plunging in to a depression.

The largest borrower was Morgan Stanley (MS), which received as much as $107.3 billion in loans, Bloomberg News reported Sunday, while Citigroup (C) received $99.5 billion, and the Bank of America (BAC) received $91.4 billion. Bloomberg News obtained the information through Freedom of Information Act requests.

The loan totals far surpass the $160 billion in public bailouts the top 10 banks received from the U.S. Treasury Department. Up until now, the Federal Reserve action was not made public…

What’s more, half of the Federal Reserve’s top 30 borrowers, as ranked by peak balances, were European firms…

My comments, as posted at the IBTimes website:

This “article” is so bogus. It is at least an opinion piece, if not a propaganda piece for the bankers, Washington, and the status quo. It is also comical to believe that Bloomberg news is wonderful and successful for filing the Freedom of Information Act which led to this bank loan news. Ron Paul has been working on this project for years. And, the fact that Ron Paul’s HR 459 bill to audit the Federal Reserve is picking up sponsor after sponsor is probably why the Federal Reserve decided to answer this request, and answer to people more fully than it has in the past. The information is fascinating. Get our US taxpayer money back from the foreign banks! Fire the Fed Chairman and Treasury Secretary. Then, let’s rethink the Federal Reserve.

Related information:

Ron Paul website: here

Ralph Nader website: here

“Audit The Federal Reserve supported by Bernie Sanders and Ron Paul”  from May 2010: here.

Archival videos of a press conference from September 10, 2008. Ron Paul is standing up with Presidential candidates from third parties who had endorsed a set of principles. The principles were endorsed by Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, and Chuck Baldwin who all attended the press conference.

Video below: Dr. Ron Paul speaks
Lists 4 principles the candidates agree on
at 3 min 35 sec – Request audit of Federal Reserve

Video below: Ralph Nader speaks
Four areas of agreement
at 1 min 43 sec – Nader on Federal Reserve

Dear Friends,

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine are not going through with the July 2 date in Tel Aviv. This does not mean I or anyone else in the band are endorsing or joining lockstep with the boycott of all things Israel. I am going to Israel and Palestine to check things out myself and may yet conclude that playing for people in the belly of the beast was the right thing to do in the first place.

The toll and stress on the band members and myself has been huge, both logistically and as a matter of conscience. I can’t drag anyone any further into rough waters without being better prepared than some of us thought we were. A responsible leader does not go, ‘Hey, check out the storm at the top of Mount Everest. Let’s go up anyway just in case we don’t die.’ Some members are angry with me for this decision, let alone how long it took me. I don’t blame them.

It would have been so easy to quietly pass on the gig out of fear someone might get upset, and no one would have been the wiser. We could have flown under the radar, left the date off our tour postings and not bothered with a statement, but how honest is that?

Our intention in going was that we thought we could do some good , speaking truth to power, fans and impressionable young minds in a way that most bands don’t. What about the people on the same side of the human rights fence we are who now don’t get to see us play? Should the be boycotted too? What about the even larger atrocities of the Bush regime and by extension Obama? Should we turn off our mouths of anger and boycott our own country too? We tried again and came close to landing a Ramallah show, but again, we needed to be better prepared. How fair is it to the organizers to demand a full-on rock show on a few days’ notice with a type of music they may not be familiar with? More importantly, how much are we really doing for Palestinian rights if people there don’t seem interested in our kind of music at all?

I’ve been doing this long enough to know better than buy into hardline absolutes such as playing in Israel automatically supports apartheid or Israel’s government. That threat is ridiculous. I know far more about this issue than some people think I do, and I am not a poodle for Hasbara, Peace Now, BDS or anyone else. The first people contacting us went out of their way to be diplomatic and communicate how they felt. Then our Facebook page went from eye-opening and educational to a childish bickerfest between a handful of people, to the point where we had to try something else just to reclaim our own Facebook page.

As the gloves came off, unfortunately so did some of the masks. Calling anyone speaking up for Palestinian rights a ‘terrorist’ is dumb. So are the blanket condemnations of everyone who happens to be Israeli that seem to be coming from the ‘drive all the Jews into the sea’ crowd. I also even got an invitation from a self-proclaimed fan to ‘come meet the Israeli right’ and see the settlements through their eyes, complete with a wine-tasting party. Whew! Whoever started punksagainstapartheid.com now admits it was aimed solely at one person – me. It is obvious that not everyone signing the petition has any idea who I am, or knows anything about punk, possibly the majority. The last time I looked I could only find three names of people I actually knew. Some made it clear that I will be on their bad list no matter what I do because I dared to even think of playing in Israel.

I can’t back anyone whose real goal or fantasy is a country ethnically cleansed of Jews or anyone else. Where people who think for themselves or talk to the wrong person are automatically a sell out. Speaking personally, I currently favor two democratic states in the admittedly naive hope that in our lifetime they can somehow evolve into one. Where race or religion does not matter because people have learned to work with each other.

I think back to last year when JBGSM played in Serbia. The locals we spent time with were not monsters, and filled me in on how they risked their necks for years opposing and demonstrating against Milosevic and were not down with ethnic cleansing at all. But they weren’t too happy about being bombed by NATO for over 2 months straight either, and showed the ruined buildings to prove it.

I also heard comments like, ‘The Croats killed my grandfather in World War II. I can’t forget that…’ and ‘There’s another war coming soon. I can feel it.’ The most I could do from the stage is say that I do not know what I would do if the Croats or Serbs killed my grandfather, or a suicide bomber or occupying army killed my child. But I would hope I would be one of those people who could somehow say, ‘Can’t we have some peace?’ The audience seemed to appreciate that.

The next day I laid out my thoughts and emotions to the person giving me a ride in Slovenia. She turned ice cold and said, ‘Maybe next time you should play in Bosnia.’ Good point. The nightmare continues.

Rise Above, Jello Biafra

Two leading lights of the US Green Party, Jello Biafra and Cynthia McKinney, have betrayed the party’s platform and values by loaning support to Israel and Qaddafi, respectively. If the Green Party wishes to maintain any legitimacy, it must quickly repudiate them…

Yet, somehow, Jello has seen fit to buck the boycott of Israel by playing a gig in Tel Aviv  on July 2. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)  has issued a statement to the lapsed punk pioneer, “Appeal to Jello Biafra: Do not cross our picket line.” But Jello apparently intends to do so, condescendingly offering to “debate” the issue with his critics. In an open letter of his own to the critics, he wrote that “both the Israeli Left and the Palestinian Left are divided right down the middle as to whether this kind of a boycott is a good idea at all.” As if we should give equal weight to the “left” wing of an occupied people and an occupying power.

Equally problematic is Cynthia McKinney, who was the Green Party’s presidential candidate in 2008. Embarrassingly, since the NATO bombing campaign she has been openly shilling for blood-drenched dictator Moammar Qaddafi. Last month, McKinney spoke on Libyan state TV—in what appeared to be a live interview in Tripoli—to blast the NATO bombing, saying the “last thing we need to do is spend money on death, destruction and war.” Such pacifistic sentiments might have some legitimacy—if McKinney were not speaking over a propaganda organ of the Qaddafi regime, or if she at least offered some recognition that Qaddafi is also guilty of perpetrating “death, destruction and war…”

The Green Party must forthrightly repudiate Jello Biafra and Cynthia McKinney until they halt their depraved conniving with oppressive regimes.

The rest of the post is certainly worth reading, with links to things like an open letter from a group of Palestinians to McKinney asking her to stop supporting Qadaffi and McKinney’s own commentary linked on the front page of the Green Party’s website.

When I asked Nader, who mounted campaigns for the presidency in 2000, 2004 and 2008, if he would consider running again, he answered that it was “very unlikely.”

“You have millions of people who say run, run, run,” he said. “Then you put yourself out there and find they are voting for Obama. Until they become mature, until they realize that if they generate 5 to 8 million votes behind a progressive third-party candidate for leverage, what is the point? Why should people try four or five times? Let someone else do it.

“The people who go out there with some credibility and record, go into 50 states, sweat it out month after month, beating back ballot access obstacles, fighting the Democrats who are trying to suppress free speech and candidate choices for the voters, and then you still can’t get on the air to discuss civil liberties,” he said. “Never mind that they do not want to upset dear Obama or dear [John] Kerry. They don’t give you air time to discuss the simple issue of the denial of civil liberties and the crushing of third parties.”

Nader is sounding more and more burnt out with running for office. Who can blame him after five successive presidential campaigns? In previous months, he called for another progressive standard bearer to step up to the task of a run, although he had kept the possibility of a bid alive.  Now, Nader sounds increasingly less enthusiastic about such a prospect.

In the short-term, this is good news for the national Green Party. For the last two presidential cycles Green presidential candidates have split between one and one and a half percent of the electorate with Nader, so his exit could provide an opportunity for the Greens to reconsolidate their pulpit as spokesmen for disenchanted  leftists.

But a big problem remains: who would be the spokesman? This is not a new problem; the Green Party has no obvious candidate to excite the base and run a vigorous campaign like Nader did in 2000. The clock continues to tick as the 2012 presidential race begins to heat up.

Green Party leaders urged President Obama to reverse his decision to withdraw from participation in the third World Conference against Racism (“Durban III”). US Green Party members will attend the conference.

The conference, sponsored by the United Nations, will take place in New York City on September 22, 2011, marking the tenth anniversary of the first World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance in 2001, which was held in Durban, South Africa. The Obama Administration has cited widespread anger against Israel and the US at past conferences, perceived to be antisemitic and anti-American, as the reason for the withdrawal.

“2011 is both the International Year of Afrodescendants and the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the US Civil War. As such, it is vitally important the United States of America have an official presence at Durban III, to join an open discussion with the rest of the world on racism and how to end it; racism here in the USA, as well as in other countries,” said Marian Douglas-Ungaro, co-chair of the Green Party’s International Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/intl/) and a member of the Green Party Black Caucus (http://www.gp.org/caucuses/black/index.php).

“Any statement expressing religious or ethnic intolerance or incitement to hatred against the Jewish people deserves swift condemnation. But the U.S. and other western countries have often interpreted legitimate criticism of the state of Israel, which has maintained its brutal and illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and internal apartheid, as ‘antisemitic’. They’ve used this thinly-veiled excuse to withdraw from the Durban conferences to avoid situations where certain rights-violating policies would face scrutiny and criticism on the world stage,” said Muhammed Malik, Co-Chair of the Miami-Dade Green Party (http://miamidadegreenparty.org/) and former Racial Justice and Voting Rights Projects Associate at the ACLU Florida. Mr. Malik recently spoke about racial justice as a panelist on the opening plenary of the Rights Working Group’s Southeastern Regional Conference and is organizing a rally at the Israeli Consulate in Miami in support of
Palestinian rights and the Freedom Flotilla II to Gaza (http://ustogaza.org).

Greens said that the White House has avoided the Durban conferences also because of the failure of the US to address internal racial inequality, including continuing economic disparities and disadvantages suffered by people of color (such as the disproportionate loss of black families’ homes during the recent sub-prime mortgage crisis), the unaddressed call for reparations for the descendants of slavery, harassment and deportation of undocumented immigrants, the targeting of people of color in the War on Drugs, and record incarceration rates, with black, brown, poor, and young people locked up to feed the for-profit private prison industry.

Referring to Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent announcement that he will authorize the release of 5,500 federal prisoners to begin correcting sentencing disparities between crack and cocaine offenders, Green Party co-chair Theresa El-Amin said, “In this International Year of People of African Descent it’s beyond disappointing that the Obama Administration lifts a release of [only] 5,500 for nonviolent drug offenses when there are 2.4 million incarcerated in the United States. The fact that the majority of the 2.4 million are people of color makes the 5,500 release a non-event. The US is number one in the whole world in incarceration rates. China, which is four times more populous than the US, is a distant second with 1.6 million people in prison. The US pulling out of the Durban process is simply unacceptable.”

Ms. El-Amin, who plans to attend Durban III, was one of several human rights activists who participated in a special White House conference call briefing on Thursday, June 2. During the briefing, White House official Samantha Powers explained that the US delegation to the UN would withdraw from Durban III and cited “Israel” when asked why, drawing several statements of disappointment by other participants before the White House abruptly terminated the call.

Greens, including 2008 Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney, have participated in the first World Conference against Racism in 2001 and the second meeting (“Durban Review Conference”) in Geneva in 2009, both of which the US shunned. On August 8, 2001, the Green Party issued a strongly worded resolution on the withdrawal (http://www.gp.org/press/pr_08_13_01.html).

MORE INFORMATION

UN: One-day plenary event on the 10th anniversary of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intorelance
http://www.un.org/events/calendar/Edetail.asp?EventID=1976&BeginDate=9/22/2011

2001 World Conference against Racism (UN site)
http://www.un.org/WCAR/

US Human Rights Network
http://www.ushrnetwork.org

WASHINGTON, DC — The Green Party’s online livestream show ‘GreenStream Wednesday’ will feature Cynthia McKinney, the party’s 2008 presidential nominee, and journalist Jared Ball on Wednesday evening, March 2, 10:00 pm ET, 7:00 pm PT.

Along with discussion between the two guests, the one-hour show will present Green news, interviews, video clips, and viewer participation.

Viewers can tune in at http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus or go to http://www.livestream.com and enter the channel name: greenpartyus. The channel is also accessible at the Green Party’s video page (http://www.gp.org/video/index.php).

The first show, which aired on February 23, featured interviews with Wisconsin Green Party leaders on the protests in their state against Gov. Scott Walker’s budget plan that would cut benefits and abolish collective bargaining. The guests were Tony Palmeri, elected Green member of the Oshkosh City Council; Amy Mondloch, Executive Director of the Grassroots Leadership College in Madison (http://www.grassrootsleadershipcollege.org) and a long-time Green Party activist; and AJ Segneri, co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party (http://www.wisconsingreenparty.org). They were interviewed by Starlene Rankin and Craig Seeman of the Green Party’s Media Committee. The show, with video clips of the Wisconsin protests, continued for a half hour beyond its scheduled one-hour time.

To participate in the ongoing discussion in the chat window during the show, viewers can log in to Livestream or can join the chat as a nonmember guest. Viewers can register for a free Livestream account by clicking on ‘Sign Up’ at the top of the page, but membership is not necessary to watch the broadcast. The shows are repeated in rotation after the initial broadcast and are archived on the Green Party Livestream Channel web site.

Guest bios for March 2:

Cynthia McKinney served six terms in the US House of Representatives as a Democrat before joining the Green Party in 2007 and becoming the Green Party’s 2008 candidate for President. Since 2008, Ms. McKinney has been a champion of Palestinian Rights and a supporter of the Free Gaza movement. In 2009, she was one of 21 activists on a Free Gaza relief ship that was rammed and taken captive by the Israeli Navy. She was held by the Israelis for 5 days. In 2010, Ms. McKinney participated in portions of the Bike4Peace event from San Francisco to Washington, DC.

Jared Ball is assistant professor of communication studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, where his research interests include the interaction between colonialism, mass media theory and history, and the development of alternative/underground journalism and cultural expression as mechanisms of social movements and political organization. He is founder and producer of ‘FreeMix Radio: The Original Mixtape Radio Show’ and former editor for the first academic journal dedicated to hip-hop, ‘The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture’. He briefly sought the Green Party nomination for President in 2008 before pulling out and endorsing Cynthia McKinney. Mr. Ball is host of ‘Midday Jazz: Jazz & Justice’ on WPFW (89.3 FM) every Monday, 1 to 3 pm ET.

Green Party of Suffolk Endorses March 19th Anti-War March and Vigil

John Keenan.

The Green Party of Suffolk, the county’s largest peace organization, has endorsed the Saturday, March 19, 2011 march and vigil calling for an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The date was chosen since it will mark the eighth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. John Keenan, a 2002 Green Party Congressional candidate, will be speaking at the event. The North Country Peace Group is sponsoring the march and vigil. This event has been designed as the focal point for all peace activities on Long Island on March 19. For more information, contact ncpeaceg at gmail dot com.

The endorsing groups call for all Long Islanders to mourn the thousands who have died since the invasion of Afghanistan, and to call for an end to the immoral, illegal and costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They call for “Not One More Death, Not One More Dollar!”

The Marchers assemble at Setauket King Kullen Shopping Center on Rt. 25A, Setauket at 10:15 a.m. The Solemn “March of the Dead” proceeds east along shopping center to Stop & Shop, then west to Bennetts Road/25A at 10:30 a.m. Marchers are asked to wear black. Others may opt to go directly to vigil site. There will be the “Reading of the Names” of Long Islanders killed in Iraq and Afghanistan followed by speakers; music; vigil; and the demonstration from 11:00 a.m. to 12 noon.

Since December 2002, the North Country Peace Group has demonstrated every Saturday morning on the corner of Rt. 25A and Bennetts Rd. in Setauket for an end to the Iraq War and Afghanistan War, and a speedy and safe return of our troops.

The Green Party, also known as America’s Peace Party, has nearly 1500 members in Suffolk County. The Green Party has continually opposed the Afghanistan and Iraq war and has consistently called for the immediate return of our troops, in stark contrast to the Democratic and Republican parties. The Green Party has always been part of the national peace movement. The opposition has been expressed across the board, from local Green Party members marching in a Smithtown peace vigil while U.S. bombs were first being dropped on innocent Afghanis, to the campaigns of National and State Green Party candidates.

The Democratic and Republican Parties have refused to listen to Green Party candidates telling them that their war policies were based on false information and flawed policy analysis. In 2002, Green Party Congressional candidate John Keenan (2nd Dist) explained why attacking Iraq and Afghanistan were bad policy based on false information and a misguided idea of revenge. His opponent, Congressman Steve Israel, kept insisting that he had read two books that backed the necessity to follow the invasion of Afghanistan with an invasion of Iraq. As former FDNY member Keenan had predicted, the books cited by Israel not only turned out to be false, but were funded by the CIA as propaganda tools.

Roger Snyder

Six years later in the 2008 presidential election, the Democratic and Republican candidates still had not learned from their fatal mistakes. While on the national stage, Green Party Presidential candidate (and former Congresswoman) Cynthia McKinney warned Obama and McCain to not continue the failed policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. The same dialogue played out with the local surrogates for their campaigns. In a presidential debate in Huntington with local political leaders standing in for their candidates, Green Party of Suffolk chair Roger Snyder warned the Democratic and Republican stand-ins that the U.S. would be best served by immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan. Suffolk County Legislator Jon Cooper, standing in for Obama, called the idea of immediate withdrawal “naive”

Snyder said:

It’s time for the rank and file of America’s Peace Movement to come home to America’s Peace Party. Today we march, tomorrow we vote.

The march and vigil on March 19th are also endorsed by Bellport Women in Black; Code Pink LI; Franciscan Brothers of the Little Portion Friary; Great Neck SANE/Peace Action; Interfaith Alliance – LI Chapter; Islamic Center of LI; LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives; LI Food Not Bombs; LI Immigrant Alliance; LI Progressive Coalition; LI School of the Americas Watch; LI Teachers for Human Rights; Metro NY Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism; Pax Christi LI; Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stony Brook; South Country Peace Group; Suffolk Peace Network; Suffolk Progressive Vision; United People for Social, Economic and Racial Justice; Veterans for Peace LI

In addition, the Green Party of Suffolk has invited all enrolled Green Party members to come to their annual membership meeting to celebrate regaining their ballot line. The meeting will be held on the following Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 12pm at the Stony Brook Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 380 Nicolls Road, E. Setauket. You can enroll in the Green Party on a New York State Voter Registration form. For more information about the Green Party, or about the March meeting, please contact Suffolk Chair Roger Snyder at (631) 351-5763. Or, go to the web-site: www.gpsuffolk.org.

The Green Party is a worldwide political movement. The four pillars of the Green Party are: Social and Economic Justice; Grassroots Democracy; Ecological Wisdom and Non-Violence/Peace.

Johnkrii at Daily Paul via Third Party and Independent Daily

Ron Paul will not run as a third party candidate. I was on his national conference call last night and he said himself, “we don’t want to lose my congressional seat”. He said he would continue in the Republican Presidential primary as long as the money and support are there, just like he’s been saying. But he very specifically mentioned his congressional seat and he was taking care of various votes and other business in congress the last couple days to ensure he would be ready for the primary vote for his seat in Texas next month. Texas has the “LBJ” law which allows anyone to run for congress and President at the same time. This is what Dr. Paul is doing and he cannot run as a third party candidate for President while running as a Republican for congress, the Texas Republican party would toss him out. So forget any talk about a third party run! It’s collect as many delegates as possible, get Dr. Paul a prime time speech during the RNC and get as much into the Republican platform as possible. End of story, that’s what we have to concentrate on.

At Salon, Alex Pareene writes

, Paul is headed to Iowa, to deliver one of those speeches that candidates have to give,

And

it is bad news for every other fringe candidate who hoped to be 2012′s Ron Paul. Dave Weigel already pointed out the obvious loser: former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson

Like Ron Paul, the 1988 Libertarian Party presidential candidate, Johnson has been a dues paying Libertarian Party member who continues to consider himself a libertarian while contemplating a likely race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Ron Paul remains a life member of the Libertarian Party, saying recently that “I believe the Libertarian Party has done a great service in promoting the libertarian philosophy, and I continue to have many friends and supporters in the Libertarian Party…”

In 2008, Paul endorsed Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin for President in the General Election, after appearing on stage with Baldwin, Ralph Nader, and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney to support the common goals of addressing the problems of war, debt, government violations of privacy and the federal reserve system. Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr said he agreed with those goals, but refused to be on stage with “people like” Cynthia McKinney.

More recently, Paul and Nader have had joint media appearances regarding a coalition against war and corporatism, and there had been speculation that Paul might run on an independent or third party ticket, perhaps with someone like Nader, McKinney, or Democratic Congressman and former presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich.

On the list are:

Jared Ball (DC)
Rosa Clemente (NY)
Tom Clements (SC)
Howie Hawkins (NY)
Jesse Johnson (WV)
Cynthia McKinney (GA)
Jill Stein (MA)
kat swift (TX)
Laura Wells (CA)
Rich Whitney (IL)

There is also a space to vote for “Another Green Party candidate not listed here”.

People in Atlanta don’t drive well when it rains, why in the world would anyone down here want to drive in the snow/sleet/ice today? And yet, I can see drivers outside my window! As for me, I’m going to watch videos and read until it all melts.

I know every one is still trying to digest the assassination attempt on the Congresswoman. My mother called and told me that she didn’t sleep all night. She had flashbacks of our own experiences as a political family. My father and I had our share of hate mail, stalkings, FBI surveillance, and armed haters at our public appearances and Congressional events. You all are aware of recent events with me. I am paying close attention as more facts relating to this case are revealed and I am reserving judgment until more is known. Beware the political spin; this matter goes to the core of who we are as a country and is well beyond Democrats and Republicans scuffling for Congressional and State Legislative seats.

Here’s my list of videos to view and articles to read. I hope you’ll take the time to enjoy them, too:

1. Beautiful Song about 5 minutes by Sami Yusuf entitled, “Try Not to Cry.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpUC45vugdY&feature=related

The song comes at the end of a video by Josh Blakeney that highlights the most recent work of Dr. James Petras.

2. There is so much propaganda and disinformation about Sudan, Haiti, and Cote d’Ivoire right now. Cutting through the disinformation and propaganda around Sudan is noted journalist Charles Onana who just completed a book in which I am featured. Here, in a 15 minute video, he explains his findings after months of research on the ground in Sudan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au7TdSKsOsE

3. I spoke to Mike Ruppert right after the Arizona tragedy. Here is Mike Ruppert in the History Channel’s “Prophets of Doom.” First ten minutes are missing, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSpLUpiMkj0

3. After reading Ellen Brown’s “Web of Debt,” I found this documentary while trying to follow the yellow brick road. I now enjoy watching this over and over again about the Federal Reserve:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U71-KsDArFM

4. And along similar lines, this animation, “The American Dream.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPWH5TlbloU

5. This pearl came to me all the way from Australia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbdHK5gag_g&feature=related

6. From Seattle to Pittsburgh, news of life on the block if you’re a person of color, I’m listening to this now:

Listen to complete stories on: http://www.ontheblockradio.org

JOHN T. WILLIAMS

On August 30, 2010, John T. Williams was shot and killed as he walked down a Seattle street. He was a well-known woodcarver in the Seattle area, and minutes before he was killed, he was holding a knife that was 3 inches long–less than the minimum length that a knife needs to be to be considered illegal to carry in public. He was 50 years old, a Native American, homeless, deaf, and many people believe a fatality of police brutality. Aspects of the incident were captured by a police car video camera. (Video of parts of the incident can be seen HERE.) On that video tape is heard shots being fired only four seconds after Williams was directed to drop the knife he was carrying. And according to Fern Renville, a community member actively involved in bringing about justice in this case, a coroner’s report states that Williams appears to have been shot from the side, not from the front as one would have expected if he was lunging towards the officer with the knife. An inquest into the case is scheduled to take place on Monday, January 10th.

7. Here is an article that is very interesting. I have no reason to disbelieve it, but surely more investigation is warranted because if it is true . . . Clearly, war should never serve as an energy policy:

Karpen’s Pile: A Battery That Produces Energy Continuously Since 1950 Exists in Romanian Museum

By Ovidiu Sandru | 27 December 2010, 12:22 BST

The “Dimitrie Leonida” National Technical Museum from Romania hosts a weird kind of battery. Built by Vasile Karpen, the pile has been working uninterrupted for 60 years. “I admit it’s also hard for me to advance the idea of an overunity generator without sounding ridiculous, even if the object exists,” says Nicolae Diaconescu, engineer and director of the museum.

The invention cannot be exposed because the museum doesn’t have enough money to buy the security system necessary for such an exhibit.

Half a century ago, the pile’s inventor had said it will work forever, and so far it looks like he was right. Karpen’s perpetual motion machine now sits secured right in the director’s office. It has been called “the uniform-temperature thermoelectric pile,” and the first prototype has been built in the 1950s. Although it should have stopped working decades ago, it didn’t.

The scientists can’t explain how the contraption, patented in 1922, works. The fact that still puzzles them is how a man of such a scientific stature such as Karpen’s could have started building something “that crazy.”

The prototype has been assembled in 1950 and consists of two series-connected electric piles moving a small galvanometric motor. The motor moves a blade that is connected to a switch. With every half rotation, the blade opens the circuit and closes it at the the start of the second half. The blade’s rotation time had been calculated so that the piles have time to recharge and that they can rebuild their polarity during the time that the circuit is open.

The purpose of the motor and the blades was to show that the piles actually generate electricity, but they’re not needed anymore, since current technology allows us to measure all the parameters and outline all of them in a more proper way.

A Romanian newspaper, ZIUA (The Day), went to the museum for an interview with director Diaconescu. He took the system our of its secured shelf and allowed the specialists to measure its output with a digital multimeter. This happened on Feb. 27, 2006, and the batteries had indicated the same 1 Volt as back in 1950.

They had mentioned that “unlike the lessons they teach you in the 7th grade physics class, the ‘Karpen’s Pile’ has one of its electrodes made of gold, the other of platinum, and the electrolyte (the liquid that the two electrodes are immersed in), is high-purity sulfuric acid.” Karpen’s device could be scaled up to harvest more power, adds Diaconescu.

Karpen’s battery had been exhibited in several scientific conferences in Paris, Bucharest and Bologna, Italy, where its construction had been explained widely. Researchers from the University of Brasov and the Polytechnic University of Bucharest in Romania have even performed special studies on the battery, but didn’t pull a clear conclusion.

“The French showed themselves very interested by this patrimonial object in the 70s, and wanted to take it. Our museum has been able to keep it, though. As time passed, the fact that the battery doesn’t stop producing energy is more and more clear, giving birth to the legend of a perpetual motion machine.”

Some scientists say the device works by transforming thermal energy into mechanical work, but Diaconescu doesn’t subscribe to this theory.

According to some who studied Karpen’s theoretical work, the pile he invented defies the second principle of thermodynamics (referring to the transformation of thermal energy into mechanical work), and this makes it a second-degree perpetual motion machine. Others say it doesn’t, being merely a generalization to the law, and an application of zero point energy.

If Karpen was right, and the principle is 100% correct, it would revolutionize all of the physics theories from the bottom up, with hard to imagine consequences. Though I guess this isn’t going to happen very soon, the museum still needs proper private funding to acquire the necessary security equipment required by the police to exhibit the device.

Build your free energy device, with off-the-shelf components you can purchase cheaply. Basically, what it does is extracting energy out of radio waves. More information is available here.

Source: The Green Optimistic http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2010/12/25/karpen-pile/

8. This article speaks for itself:

US forced to import bullets from Israel as troops use 250,000 for every rebel killed

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington

Sunday, 25 September 2005

US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan – an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed – that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand. As a result the US is having to import supplies from Israel.

A government report says that US forces are now using 1.8 billion rounds of small-arms ammunition a year. The total has more than doubled in five years, largely as a result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as changes in military doctrine.

“The Department of Defense’s increased requirements for small- and medium-calibre ammunitions have largely been driven by increased weapons training requirements, dictated by the army’s transformation to a more self-sustaining and lethal force – which was accelerated after the attacks of 11 September, 2001 – and by the deployment of forces to conduct recent US military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq,” said the report by the General Accounting Office (GAO).

Estimating how many bullets US forces have expended for every insurgent killed is not a simple or precisely scientific matter. The former head of US forces in Iraq, General Tommy Franks, famously claimed that his forces “don’t do body counts”.

But senior officers have recently claimed “great successes” in Iraq, based on counting the bodies of insurgents killed. Maj-Gen Rick Lynch, the top US military spokesman in Iraq, said 1,534 insurgents had been seized or killed in a recent operation in the west of Baghdad. Other estimates from military officials suggest that at least 20,000 insurgents have been killed in President George Bush’s “war on terror”.

John Pike, director of the Washington military research group GlobalSecurity.org, said that, based on the GAO’s figures, US forces had expended around six billion bullets between 2002 and 2005. “How many evil-doers have we sent to their maker using bullets rather than bombs? I don’t know,” he said.

“If they don’t do body counts, how can I? But using these figures it works out at around 300,000 bullets per insurgent. Let’s round that down to 250,000 so that we are underestimating.”

Pointing out that officials say many of these bullets have been used for training purposes, he said: “What are you training for? To kill insurgents.”

Kathy Kelly, a spokeswoman for the peace group Voices in the Wilderness, said Mr Bush believed security for the American people could come only from the use of force. Truer security would be achieved if the US developed fairer relations with other countries and was not involved in the occupation of Iraq. The President, said Ms Kelly, should learn from Israel’s experience of “occupying the Palestinians” rather than buying its ammunition.

The GAO report notes that the three government-owned, contractor-operated plants that produce small- and medium-calibre ammunition were built in 1941.

Though millions of dollars have been spent on upgrading the facilities, they remain unable to meet current munitions needs in their current state. “The government-owned plant producing small-calibre ammunition cannot meet the increased requirements, even with modernisation efforts,” said the report.

“Also, commercial producers within the national technology and industrial base have not had the capacity to meet these requirements. As a result, the Department of Defense had to rely at least in part on foreign commercial producers to meet its small-calibre ammunition needs.”

A report in Manufacturing & Technology News said that the Pentagon eventually found two producers capable of meeting its requirements. One of these was the US firm Olin-Winchester.

The other was Israel Military Industries, an Israeli ammunition manufacturer linked to the Israeli government, which produces the bulk of weapons and ordnance for the Israeli Defence Force.

The Pentagon reportedly bought 313 million rounds of 5.56mm, 7.62mm and 50-calibre ammunition last year and paid $10m (about £5.5m) more than it would have cost for it to produce the ammunition at its own facilities.

–

http://dignity.ning.com/

http://www.enduswars.org

http://www.livestream.com/dignity

http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction

http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction

http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun

http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney

http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney

http://www.youtube.com/runcynthiarun

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders challenged Democrats and Republicans in the 112th Congress, as well as President Obama, to end a decade of reckless violations of the U.S. Constitution, international agreements, and other laws by the U.S. government and begin a new era of respect for the rule of law.

“The new Congress began with a reading of the Constitution in the U.S. House, but the document seems to be incomprehensible for many Representatives,” said Muhammed Malik, co-chair of the Miami-Dade Green Party in Florida, http://www.miamidadegreenparty.org. “The protections enshrined in the constitutional amendments and Article Six’s requirement that the U.S. honor treaties are not subject to the whims of Presidents, State Departments, the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration, or any other government body. If we don’t restore the rule of law now, we’re in danger of seeing the end of the U.S. as a republic and a free country.”

Greens listed examples of official lawlessness and disregard for rights since 2000:

The Obama Administration has maintained many of the Bush-Cheney abuses of the Constitution: denial of habeas corpus, detention of suspects for long periods without charges, persecution of whistleblowers, targeting of innocent Muslim and Arab individuals and organizations, and surveillance without warrant of U.S. citizens. The Obama Justice Department has refused to investigate and prosecute Bush-Cheney officials for torture and other crimes — including President Bush himself, who has boasted publicly of his approval for waterboarding.

Guantanamo and several ‘black sites’ remain open. The treatment of Khalid El-Masri (tortured under the U,S,’s extraordinary rendition program, later found to be innocent), PFC Bradley Manning (detained in solitary confinement but unconvicted for leaking classified material to Wikileaks: see http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/14/manning and http://www.psysr.org/about/programs/humanrights/gates-manning-letter.php), and other prisoners reveals increasing disregard for laws against torture in the U.S. Constitution and Geneva Conventions.

The Green Party of the U,S. endorsed impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) introduced articles of impeachment in December 2006, before joining the Green Party and becoming the 2008 Green presidential nominee.

Military action outside of immediate self-defense is prohibited under international law, but the Bush Administration launched the invasion of Iraq based on the neocon doctrine of ‘preemption,’ which is now embraced by both Democrats and Republicans. Some members of Congress have urged a military assault on Iran based on the same doctrine.

The U.S., under both Bush and Obama presidencies, has continued to politically support and fund Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinians, which violates scores of UN Security Council resolutions and amounts to war crimes under international law.

……The Wikileaks cables have exposed extralegal actions and official lies, including U.S. airstrikes in Yemen (denied by President Obama), secret military operations in Pakistan, a secret agreement with Britain to allow U.S. bases in the UK to stockpile cluster bombs, and bribery and illegal surveillance to undermine opposition to U.S. climate change policies, http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4215.

“Exposure of wrong-doing by government officials, which often requires publication of secret documents, is the responsibility of the press in a free society. The claim that Julian Assange doesn’t deserve First Amendment protections because he isn’t a credentialed reporter is unfounded, since the First Amendment covers everyone, not just professional journalists,” said Pat LaMarche, weekly columnist for Maine’s largest daily newspaper, The Bangor Daily News and 2004 Green nominee for Vice President. (See http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=372)

Irregularities in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections disenfranchised thousands of U.S. citizens, especially black, young, and low-income voters. The Supreme Court’s patently biased Bush v. Gore decision (2000), which handed the presidency to George W. Bush, held that no national right to vote exists.

Greens led the effort in 2004 to expose and challenge election irregularities in Ohio and New Mexico,http://www.iwantmyvote.com. Although two Republican operatives were convicted in January 2007 of election tampering in Cuyahoga County, OH, Congress has taken no action to protect voters’ rights.

Greens have argued that Section 2 of the 14th Amendment requires punishment for states that “abridge” voting rights. In the wake of the 2004 election, Asa Gordon, chair of the DC Statehood Green Party’s Electoral College Task Force, filed suit against the malapportionment of Electoral College votes under the U.S.’s winner-take-all election system, citing Section 2′s penalty clause and the legacy of racial disenfranchisement in southern states.

On January 4, the day before the first session of the 112th Congress, Gordon was granted an emergency presentation of arguments before U.S. District Court Judge Henry H. Kennedy challenging the seating of Representatives from southern states. Gordon’s motion is currently pending. (More information and documents:http://www.electors.us or contact Asa Gordon at 202-635-7926 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              202-635-7926      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              202-635-7926      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              202-635-7926      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              202-635-7926      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              202-635-7926      end_of_the_skype_highlighting)

Whole populations of the U.S. remain outside the U.S. Constitution’s coverage. The local laws of the District of Columbia are subject to Congress’s control and veto power, regardless of the will of DC residents. Whether Democrats or Republicans have been in control, the White House and Congress have ignored the repeated requests by the citizens of the nation’s capital, with its black majority, for full representation in Congress and statehood.

The U.S. has also ignored demands by the people of Puerto Rico for self-determination and independence, ignoring protests against U.S. Navy bomb detonations in Vieques, which have spread depleted uranium contamination, and unwanted laws and policies imposed on the island by the U.S. government.

“The Green Party calls for the end of the colonial treatment of people living in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and others who’ve been denied self-determination and self-government,” said Darryl! L.C. Moch, who serves on the steering committee of the DC Statehood Green Party, http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org. “We support statehood for DC, http://www.gp.org/press/pr-state.php?ID=172. We support the 2005 draft resolution by the UN’s Special Committee on Decolonization calling on the U.S. to allow the Puerto Rican people to exercise fully their right to self-determination and independence, http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/gacol3121.doc.htm. Bipartisan inaction on DC and Puerto RIco are an affront to the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the U.S.’s own equal protection laws. It’s time to complete the unfinished business of the Civil Rights Movement and the national rights of U.S. colonies.”

2010 was a roller coaster year for the Green Party. Mid-term elections proved voter dissatisfaction with the Democrats in power, but the media-darling Tea Party Movement drove voters to reactionary candidates, not helping Greens at the polls. International Greens saw successes in the United Kingdom, Australia, and other places, while US Greens were moved by the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza under siege by Israeli forces. The 2010 Annual National Meeting was held in Detroit, Michigan in conjunction with the US Social Forum, putting Greens side by side their brothers and sisters in the struggle for social justice in America. In the fall, Greens had many exciting candidates running for office including Jill Stein, LeAlan Jones, Laura Wells, Rich Whitney, Tom Clements, Colia Clark, Julia Willebrand, Farheen Hakeem, Howie Hawkins, Cecile Lawrence, Ben Manski, Fred Horsch, and so many other inspiring Greens.

The following Top 10 Green Party stories are taken from a combination of hits on Green Party Watch and other criteria to build a summary of the year. May 2011 be prosperous for Greens around the World. Time is running out.

Top 10 Green Party Stories of 2010

May 7, 2010 – Caroline Lucas becomes first Green Member of Parliament in United Kingdom – Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, won a hotly-contested race in Brighton Pavilion to become the Greens’ first-ever member of parliament. The Guardian summed it up best: “It’s a massive breakthrough, not only because she’s a brilliant, charismatic, humane politican who will enrich parliamentary life, but also because it proves it can be done, even under our antiquated political system.”

May 31, 2010 Green Party and Cynthia McKinney Condemn Freedom Flotilla Massacre – In May of this year the Israeli Navy attacked a flotilla of ships run by the Free Gaza movement carrying humanitarian supplies to the besieged residents of the Gaza Strip. 19 human rights activists were killed in the attack and 50 more wounded. The Green Party, led by 2008 Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney, have been vocal and active critics of Israel’s war on the people of Gaza.

“The attacks on the aid boats is a criminal act of piracy and a deliberate provocation,” said Dr. Justine McCabe, co-chair of the Green Party’s International Committee. ““We demand immediate action from the US, including emergency orders from President Obama to cut off all aid to Israel. The policies of the US regarding Israel and Palestine up to now have convinced Israel that it can act with impunity in committing massacres and massive human violations against Palestinian civilians.”

2008 Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney, who was taken prisoner by the Israelis last year on another attack on a Free Gaza ship, said: “I am outraged at Israel’s latest criminal act. I mourn with my fellow Free Gaza travelers, the lives that have been lost by Israel’s needless, senseless act against unarmed humanitarian activists.”

June 8, 2010 – California Voters Pass Prop 14, Top Two Primary Initiative By a 53% – 46% margin, California voters approved adopting a “top two primary” election reform, a system whereby all candidates appear on a single ballot in the primary but only the top two, regardless of political party, advance to the General Election.

California Gubernatorial candidate Laura Wells had this to say: “Prop 14 pretends to be “open primary,” but more accurately should be called “top two,” or party-killer! Only two candidates would be left in November, when Prop 14 would exclude all the independent, alternative political parties like the Green Party, Peace and Freedom, and Libertarian. Prop 14 would favor only Democrats and Republicans that are incumbents or highly funded.”

June 24-27, 2010 – Green Party Annual National Meeting in Detroit in Conjunction with US Social Forum The Green Party’s Annual National Meeting was held in Detroit, Michigan in conjunction with the US Social Forum. The Green Party sponsored several Social Forum workshops and registration was cross-listed between the two events. Many Green Party candidates were in attendance and available to the media. A number of candidate presentations were taped by Green Party Watch and can be found through this link.

June 2010 – Republicans pay to get Green Party on Ballot in Texas, Democrats Livid If there is one thing that drives Democrats crazier than a Green “spoiling” an election, it is Greens getting on the ballot at all despite overwhelming odds. In Texas, a Republican consultant in Arizona arranged for a non-profit in Missouri to pay for Free & Equal to come up with 92,000 signatures to get the Green Party of Texas on the ballot up and down the ticket. Democrats were livid, immediately suing and issuing injunctions against ballot access. The case went to the Texas supreme court before culminating with the Green Party candidates being allowed to remain on the ballot.

The ultimate result of this was that Ed Lindsay, Green Party of Texas candidate for State Comptroller won over 5% of the vote, ensuring that the Green Party of Texas will have state wide ballot access through the 2012 elections.

August 21, 2010 – Historic Election Results for Australian Greens The Australian Green Party performed very well in the federal elections in Australia, with Adam Bandt winning a seat outright in Melbourne with over 36% of the first-choice vote, and the Greens winning about 12% of the vote in the lower house, giving them a share of control over the balance of power in the Australian Parliament.

September 21, 2010 – Green Party Senate candidate Natasha Pettigrew hit and killed on bicycle Natasha Pettigrew, Senate candidate for the Green Party in Maryland, was riding in the bike lane on a highway early on a Sunday morning by an inattentive driver of a SUV. The driver apparently didn’t realize she had hit anyone until she arrived home. Pettigrew died from her injuries the next day. This (long after the fact) article really captures the influence this story had on people.

November 3, 2010 – Green Party Gains Ballot Access in Texas and New York Election returns resulted in the Green Party gaining ballot access through at least 2012 in two of the most populous states, New York and Texas, however the Green Party lost ballot access in Illinois and Wisconsin. In New York Greens gain ballot status through 2014 thanks to Howie Hawkins earning over 50,000 votes for governor. In Texas Greens gain ballot status through 2012 thanks to Ed Lindsay earning over 5% for comptroller.

November 5, 2010 – Green Party Candidates for US Senate Net Half Million Votes The eleven Green Party candidates on the ballot this year for US Senate netted a combined half million votes. The 510,000 votes is the highest combined total for Green Party Senate candidates since 2000, when Medea Benjamin won 326,000 votes for US Senate in California and Vance Hansen picked up over 100,000 in Arizona. The 2010 results were clearly led by Tom Clements in South Carolina, whose 118,000 votes gave him 9.37% of the total. Clements had the most votes and the highest percent of the vote of all Green Party US Senate candidates in 2010. LeAlan Jones was the second big finisher with 116,000 votes, 3.19% of the total.

2010 – Green Party Elects 37 Greens to Office in 2010 342 Greens ran for office in 2010, over 300 of them were on the ballot in November. 37 Greens were elected, a win rate of 10.8%. All but 2 of the wins were in non-partisan races.

On the November ballot, Greens had strong showings for State Legislative races, but fell short in races for Governor and US House of Representatives. One Green, Ben Chipman, was elected to the Maine State Assembly but was listed as an Independent due to a technicality.

Though he wouldn’t rule out another presidential campaign himself, Nader, 76, said he hoped a new face would take up the progressive cause.

“I’m not foreclosing the possibility … There are just other things to do,” he said in an interview. “And it’s time for someone else to continue. I’ve done it so many times. When I go around the country, I’m telling people they need to find somebody.”

Nader has run, in some form with some party, in the last five presidential elections: write-in bid as a Democrat in ’92, Green in ’96 and ’00, Independent in ’04 and ’08. The strongest performance of these was 2000, when he pulled 2.72% of the vote. Since then, a combination of progressive fury from potential vote-splitting with Democrats and the problem of  actual vote-splitting with the Green Party has limited his impact upon presidential campaigns.

Does the potential replacement for Nader exist? Most rumblings on the blogosphere would say no. If you are looking for an extremely viable candidate of the left, it doesn’t look like a Senator Feingold or Senator Sanders is willing to take the plunge. Former Senator Mike Gravel has publicly stated he may run, but his showing in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary was anemic.
Then there is the Green Party. An article at Green Party Watch has a nice summary of potential candidates for 2012, but the list isn’t very pretty. There are potential candidates like Van Jones and Cindy Sheehan who could be recruited to run on star power, but they are reminiscent of Henry Wallace’s 1948 Progressive Party run – well-known, but with significant negative baggage that could impede their viability.

Then there are former candidates. Winona LaDuke still has a bit of name recognition left, but I have seen little political will from her for a run in 2012 (she did endorse a Green for Minnesota State Auditor in 2010). Matt Gonzalez remains active in politics, but he was unable to translate name recognition in San Francisco into a strong showing on the Nader ticket in 2008 in that area and seems disenchanted with the Green Party. Then there is former Representative Cynthia McKinney, whose 2008 run floundered to 6th with 0.12% of the vote.

Finally, there is the potential for a strong Independent bid. Such a campaign would not necessarily be a progressive phenomenon, but on certain issues it could probably challenge President Obama from that angle. However, only two names stick out in this regard.

First is Jesse Ventura. He publicly declared in 2008 at Ron Paul’s Rally For the Republic that he was interested in such a bid. However, he has not returned to active campaigning in years, declining to run for Senate in 2008 despite strong poll numbers. He also may have a hard time consolidating some on the left; Ventura varies between a more progressive and libertarian line in interviews. In addition, he may want to focus on his TV show Conspiracy Theory, which has been relatively successful despite a few bumps.

The second possibility is Michael Bloomberg. The Independent mayor of New York City has been tossed around as a name to run for President since 2008. His ability to self-fund is infamous, only overshadowed by that of gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. He has high name recognition for one not affiliated with the two major parties. He would likely have the support of Jesse Ventura (although Ventura oddly encouraged Bloomberg to also support his ambitions). He is at 11% in the latest polls, but he sports high negatives. Ralph Nader recently wr0te 21 reasons why Bloomberg should run while claiming it is not necessarily an endorsement. Still, that may not translate to liberal support for the man with strong ties to Wall Street.

Nader himself has a few options. It doesn’t seem like he plans to drop completely out of the limelight anytime soon, but he could return to his roots in public advocacy. He could also keep politicking in the third party world. In 2010 there was significant encouragement for him to run against Chris Dodd in Connecticut, which it seems he entertained. There has also been a bit of buzz about a 2012 run against Joe Lieberman f0r Senate. If Lieberman does run as an Independent again, Nader could leverage his national profile to turn the contest into an interesting 4-way battle.
All things considered, the left does not yet have its new Nader. But politics can be unpredictable; it only takes one story for the next big thing, or Nader, to emerge.

It is no surprise then that party-switching elected officials are seen as monumentous occasions for minor parties. However, the danger comes when such a development is exagerrated in its scope.

We saw this in 2008 in the presidential race. Two former congressmen ran for President: Cynthia McKinney with the Green Party and Bob Barr with the Libertarian Party. McKinney garnered a relatively tiny amount of votes for an established third party, finishing 6th in the election. Barr fared better, turning in a solid performance but nothing for the recordbooks.

The problem was that these were Representatives- in other words, 1 out of 435 in any given two-year term. Both had been out of office for some time, eroding their name recognition. They lacked access to any significant funding networks. It was nice to add “former Congressman” to the top of a ticket, but it did little for electoral performance.

Two major examples of this have arisen in 2010 on a smaller scale. First, take Arkansas. In 2006 former Independent and Democratic Party state legislator Jim Lendall ran for Governor as the Green Party nominee. He garnered a meagre 1.7% of the vote in that race. This year is no different; current polling pegs the candidate at 2%.

Idaho provides another example. Jana Kemp was a state legislator as recently as 2006. As a moderate Republican, Kemp’s Independent candidacy appeared to have significant room to grow in a year where moderate Republicans are running strong as Independents. Yet evidence shows this may not be so; a recent poll put Kemp at 1% support, behind Libertarian Ted Dunlap at 3% and perennial candidate Pro-Life (yes, that is his name) at 2%.

Kemp’s example does come with a caveat, as another poll put her at 8.6% support a few days earlier. I do not intend to say that all party-switchers are inappropriate for political office. Picture this critique as two-fold: 1) if an office-holder has been out of office for a significant period of time, voters have a tendency to, well, forget them. 2) if an office-holder represented 2% of the population of a state, they probably aren’t going to have a huge profile with voters.

Nevertheless, third parties should be wary of recruiting state legislators or congressmen to run as the top of their ticket for a disportionately large electorate. While it sounds nice in a press release, a former legislator will not inherently result in a strong showing at the polls.

Thousands of people rallied today in lower Manhattan in defense of
the Muslim, Arab American and South Asian communities that have been
increasingly demonized in recent months.

The demonstration dwarfed the smaller right-wing, racist mobilization
that was organized in opposition to the planned construction of an
Islamic Community Center several blocks from the site of the former
World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.

Today’s demonstration was organized by a broad coalition of
progressive, anti-war, Muslim, Arab American, South Asian and social
justice organizations from the Black, Latino and Asian communities. The
ANSWER Coalition organized its members and supporters to join this
important mobilization against racism and Islamophobia. Speakers at the
demonstration included Ramsey Clark, Cynthia McKinney, representatives
of the International Action Center, December 12th Movement and others.

It is critical for the anti-war movement and all people of conscience
to stand together in defense of the Muslim community, and in opposition
to racism and war.

The ANSWER Coalition is organizing people from all over the East Coast and Midwest to participate in the Stand Up-Fight Back contingent at the Oct. 2 mobilization in Washington, D.C. Click here to sign-up to join the contingent. The Oct. 2 mobilization will draw together hundreds of thousands of working people who will demand jobs, peace and justice.

North Carolina Green Party

For immediate release

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Contact: Theresa El-Amin

Phone Number: 919-824-0659

E-mail: teagreenparty@aol.com

Web site: http://www.ncgreenparty.org

Press conference, 9 am in front of the courthouse in Raleigh on Sept. 9

On September 9, 2010 , the North Carolina Supreme Court will hear oral arguments from the North Carolina Green Party and the Libertarian Party of North Carolina at 9:30 am, 2 East Morgan Street, Raleigh 27601.

The action was filed by the Libertarian Party in 2005 and joined later by the North Carolina Green Party (http://www.ncgreenparty.org). Both parties will argue that current ballot access laws deny third parties full rights guaranteed by the state constitution. Members and supporters of both parties will gather at 9 am in front of the court for a press conference.

North Carolina Green Party members are active in the national Green Party (http://www.gp.org) and hosted the Annual National Meeting of the Green Party in 2009 in Durham at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). The Durham meeting was the first time an annual national meeting of the Green Party was held at an historically black college or university (HBCU).

“The Green Party has 27 ballot lines throughout the US and continues to grow in spite of attempts to suppress voter access to choices other than the two major parties,” said Theresa El-Amin, North Carolina Green Party activist and recently elected co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. “There are 321 Greens running in 2010 for local, statewide and Congressional seats. All fair-minded people support ballot access laws that do not require unreasonable use of time and financial resources. We will continue to fight for justice in North Carolina.”

“It’s a matter of giving voters alternative choices at election times,” said Alan Burns, Green Party member and environmental activist of Charlotte, NC. “Every two years in North Carolina, over 50% of House and Senate seats have only one name on the ballot, and more than 85% of results are predictable for the two major parties before polls open. It’s far cry from democratic rights for voters.”

According to Richard Winger, the country’s foremost expert on ballot access laws, “North Carolina requires 2% of voters in the most recent statewide election to sign petitions for a political party to be listed with candidates on the ballot. The massive turnout of over 4 million voters in 2008 in North Carolina set the requirement for ballot access at 85,379 valid signatures of registered voters.”

In 2008, the Green Party nominated Cynthia McKinney, former Georgia Congresswoman, for President of the United States. The North Carolina Green Party ran a write-in campaign for McKinney. Given the low number of write-in votes reported, NC Greens questioned whether all the votes were actually counted. Greens assert that ballot access is the only way to know for certain whether one’s vote will be counted.

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