FALL 2005

FEATURES

Nationwide call for President Bush's impeachment
By Deyva Arthur
Green Party of New York State
Mainstream media have covered little of any investigations of the president's actions at the start of the war or his involvement with war crimes in violation of international law. The GP-US is asking party members to hold press conferences to educate the public about the level of deception in the White House.

Use of medical marijuana threatened
Fighting for humane health care
By Daniel Starling
Green Party of New York State
The Supreme Court's recent 6-3 decision allows the federal government to prosecute medical marijuana users in 11 states that had legalized the prescription, distribution and use of cannabis. This spurred the GP-US to defend the sick through local legislation.

Counter-recruitment activists go back to school
Innovations to protect youth from the military's powerful recruitment system and privacy violations
By Becky Weber
D.C. Statehood Green Party

Keeping New Orleans and its citizens alive and connected
In wake of Katrina, organizing at the grassroots level continues
By Deyva Arthur
Green Party of New York State
Greens throughout the country have offered their homes and support to victims of the hurricane.

ELECTIONS

Pennsylvania uses diverse strategies for fall elections
By Courtney Wege
Green Party of Pennsylvania
Thanks to steady electoral success since 2001, Pennsylvania has the second most Green officeholders and third most registered Greens in the U.S. Nevertheless, as a result of several events and trends in 2004, the Green Party of Pennsylvania faces a critical electoral test this fall.

Key advances in Minneapolis elections
By Mike Feinstein
Green Party of California
In 2001 the Green Party of Minnesota achieved a historic victory, which scared the Democrats into redistricting against Green candidates. But five Minneapolis Greens have advanced to the general election for city council anyway.

Two women run for mayor in the Twin Cities
By Mike Feinstein
Green Party of California
In an unprecedented move, Greens, both women, ran for mayor at the same time in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Texas two-step
By Brent McMillan
GP-US Political Director
Two Texans advance to office.

Commentary
What's in a number?
By Morgen D'Arc
Maine Green Independent Party
When it comes to electoral politics, numbers are everything.

CAMPAIGN TOOLBOX

Strategic fundraising
How states can raise more money, more effectively
By Becky Weber
D.C. Statehood Green Party
When Greens gathered in Tulsa this summer, one of the most popular workshops was devoted to state and local fundraising.

National resources library
By Deirdre Helfferich
Green Party of Alaska
Recent improvements to the gp.org website have expanded options available to state and local parties for sharing information and encouraging registration.

WORLD

Rescuing Ingrid Betancourt
By Joanne Cvar
Pacific Green Party of Oregon
Green parties across the globe have been calling for the release of Betancourt and Rojas, most recently at a May 2005 meeting of the European Federation of Green Parties in Riga, Latvia.

New Zealand survives a two-party squeeze
By Rod Donald
Green member of New Zealand Parliament
Despite an election campaign focused almost exclusively on New Zealand's two main parties, Labour and National, Greens retained a foothold in Parliament after the Sept. 17 general election.

Do elections spell the end of Germany's "Green era?"
By Phil Hill
Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (Green Party of Germany)
Greens won a respectable 8.1 percent in the German elections, a drop of four seats, but enough for 51 in the 614-seat Parliament. They will be the smallest of the five caucuses.

TULSA

Tulsa blogged!
The Green Party credentialed its first blogger to cover this year's annual national meeting, allowing former Green Party activist Ken Sain (www.kensain.com) access to all of the meetings and events that took place in Tulsa.

Green values are Okie values
A report and commentary on the 2005 GP-US Annual National Meeting in Tulsa
By Rachel Jackson
Green Party of Oklahoma
For the first time ever, U.S. Greens held their national meeting in the state of Oklahoma, with some 150 delegates and others on the campus of the University of Tulsa this July. In the process, attendees learned that challenges facing Greens in Oklahoma are both similar to and unique from those facing Greens elsewhere in the U.S.

What's in a logo?
Rachel Jackson of the Green Party of Oklahoma designed the logo for her state party, and explains its symbolism.

OPINION

By the numbers
The electoral racial divide
By Asa Gordon
D.C. Statehood Green Party
For Al Gore, John Kerry, and the Supreme Court, the best interest of the country was represented by the majority will of the white electorate, not by a constitutional election that ultimately reflected the political aspirations of a nonwhite minority electorate.

Running on Green
By Bill C. Davis
Green Party of Connecticut
There's too much blood on our dollar.

Reforming the Supreme Court appointment process
By Steven Hill
San Francisco, California
Should U.S. Supreme Court justices serve for life?

Restoring the roots of the Green Party
By Rick Whaley
Wisconsin Green Party
Despite the issue intersections of Green and Red, Greens start from a different philosophical basis (ecology) and are using a different method (decentralization) than the Left.

The essence of democracy
By Jill Bussiere
Wisconsin Green Party
The threat of the corporate parties to the future of the Green Party has been much discussed among Greens nationally. Yet our greatest threat currently is from the behavior of some of my fellow Greens who demean those who disagree with them.

Letters to the Editor
Raimondas Marclulevidus, John Anthony La Pietra

REPORTS

State reports
Ballot access victories, painful lessons, initiatives, and Camp Crawford

Caucus and Working Group reports
Priorities for Green women, preliminary results of the Shared Vision Survey

CONTACTS

Jenefer Ellingston shares her reasons for getting involved with the Green Party.

EVERGREEN

Activism with a sense of humor
Political cartoonist and fine artist draws attention to Green, Muslim and human rights issues
By Khurshid Khoja
Green Party of California
An interview with Green Party member Khalil Bendib, an Algerian-American political cartoonist, fine artist and co-host of the radio show "Voices of the Middle East and North Africa" has a bitingly funny wit.

Reality-based economics
Attention business owners!
By Deirdre Helfferich
Green Party of Alaska
A new website on Green economics challenges the old concept of economics and provides Greens a way to connect their politics with their money in every financial transaction.

Bonnie Raitt wins Humanitarian Award
It's not all about singin' the blues
Greens congratulated singer, guitarist and acclaimed songwriter Bonnie Raitt, a member of the Green Party of California, who was honored with the Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award in San Diego on Aug. 12.

Jason West cleared of all charges
In July, the district attorney for Ulster County, N.Y. dropped all charges against Mayor Jason West of New Paltz for performing two dozen same-sex marriage ceremonies at Village Hall.

BOOKS

Book review
A mud-slinging tempest in a half-cracked teapot
Review by Deirdre Helfferich
Green Party of Alaska
A review of Green Party Tempest: Weathering the Storm of 2004, by Greg Gerritt
Tempest falls short for those who are new to the Green Party.

Book excerpt
Red states, blue states, Green village
Pride & Politics: The Tale of a Big Story in a Small Town, by Erin Quinn
An award-winning journalist's new book looks at New Paltz and the media