Greensweek: The Green Bulletin

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Vol. 1, No. 18
Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Greensweek will go on vacation until the week of December 29. Happy Green holidays, everyone!

Green news
Upcoming events
Green Action: call Congress; write a letter
Good reads

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GREEN NEWS

CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles County Greens took the trophy at the recent statewide party get-together in Fullerton. LA County Greens registered more new Green voters than any other county in a five-month registration drive that put 2,185 new Green voters on the county's lists.
More: http://cagreens.org/lacounty/

CALIFORNIA: Tom Hutchings, Green candidate for the 33rd Assembly District (San Obispo) accused Gov. Schwarzenegger of lying today by proposing to suspend Proposition 98 education money. Cuts to public education have already amounted to $1.5 billion so far; Hutchings said the governor reneged on his campaign promise not to cut education funding.
More: http://www.votetom.org

CONNECTICUT: Connecticut Greens will push for impeachment if Gov. John Rowland refuses to resign in the wake of numerous scandals and daily revelations of corruption. Green officials announced that they will contact their local State Representatives and Senators asking for impeachment hearings to begin. Common Cause and 5 newspapers (including The New York Times and Hartford Courant) have called for Rowland's resignation, but Greens note that such corruption is an unavoidable symptom of corporate money's influence.
More: http://www.ctgreens.org

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The DC Statehood Green Party has established an Electoral College Task Force to work for full democracy and fair representation in the Electoral College system. The Task Force, chaired by Asa Gordon, will work to restore citizens' rights as enacted by Congress under Section 2 of the 14th Amendment. The Task Force will educate DC residents and other Americans about the need to democratize the Electoral College and will work with other groups seeking the same goal, such as the Douglass Institute of Government. The Statehood Green Party Platform's section on election reform calls for replacing the 'winner take all' method of apportioning presidential electors, which disenfranchises votes for all runner up candidates, with a requirement that electoral votes shall be divided in proportion to the popular vote for each candidate.
More: http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org
http://members.aol.com/electorsus/map.htm (Douglass Institute's lawsuit challenging the Electoral College's vote apportionment)

IDAHO: United Vision for Idaho, a progressive public policy coalition, has honored an Idaho Green Party member Gwen Sanchirico as Grassroots Organizer & Leader of the Year. Sanchirico, a state Coordinator and Publications Chair, was chosen for her work against the USA Patriot Act in Idaho. She is the Founder and Spokesperson of Boise Patriots, which successfully lobbied the city of Boise to pass a resolution against the Act, and later founded Idaho Patriots as a clearinghouse for a statewide resolution.
More: http://www.idahogreens.org/

INDIANA: The Indiana Green Party has endorsed the 'March for Women's Lives' planned for Washington DC on April 25. The march will addresses the assaults on women's rights and lives, nationally and globally, that restrict women's access to reproductive health services and limit ability to have a child or end a pregnancy. The St. Joe Valley Greens are producing a GreenTV pre-march interview with representatives from the South Bend NOW and Planned Parenthood chapters, to air on February 26. Also on GreenTV: 'Fear and Favor in the Newsroom,' narrated by Studs Terkel, January 8-15. GreenTV airs regularly at 4 pm EST on Thursdays, on Channel 03 in the Michiana area.
More: http://www.sjvgreens.org
http://www.now.org/press/12-03/12-16a.html
http://www.indianagreenparty.org/

MARYLAND: The Campaign for Verifiable Voting in Maryland, led by Green activists Linda Schade and Kevin Zeese, has filed a complaint with the Maryland Department of Legislative Affairs against Diebold, which is providing computer voting machines for the state. According to Diebold's own internal emails, Diebold used uncertified software in the machines during the election of Governor Ehrlich, which renders the vote count illegal. Furthermore, Diebold has used uncertified software in ten states. California Secretary of State Shelley now claims that Diebold has used uncertified software in ALL their machines in California, in violation of state and federal law.
More: http://www.TrueVoteMD.org

PENNSYLVANIA: The Green Party of Pennsylvania has issued its first ever fund-raising music CD. The tracks were written and donated by artists to deliver a strong message consistent with the Green Party's 10 key values, in a multitude of styles including blues, reggae, folk, rock, Native American, and comedy. Local chapters may place bulk orders and resell the disks to fund their own activities while also benefiting the state party. More (including ordering information):
http://www.pagreenparty.org/partywithapurpose/

RHODE ISLAND: On December 18, the City Council of Providence, with the lead sponsorship of Green councilmember David A. Segal, adopted a resolution condemning the USA Patriot Act. The council called on Rhode Island's senators and representatives to monitor implementation of the act and related presidential executive orders and to work for the repeal of provisions that violate fundamental liberties.
More:
http://www.projo.com/metro/content/projo_20031219_pcoun19.10c3f0.html
http://www.greens.org/ri/

CHESAPEAKE REGION: The national Coordinated Campaign Committee and Greens in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania are organizing a two-day Campaign School in Baltimore, at the University of Baltimore on January 31 and February 1, 2004. See the listing under Upcoming Events below.

NATIONAL: Many Greens acroos the US have expressed their regret that Ralph Nader has withdrawn from the race for the national Green nomination. There is some talk of a 'Draft Nader' effort, but Nader has not said whether he'd cooperate. He will announce his decision whether to run as an independent within the next month. Meanwhile, the Green Party of the United States is preparing for its 2004 national nominating convention, set for June 24-27 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with five candidates competing for the nomination: David Cobb (CA), Paul Glover (NY), Kent Mesplay (CA), Carol Miller (NM), and Lorna Salzman (NY). Peter Camejo (CA) does not plan to run as a national candidate in 2004; he had his name entered as a presidential candidate in the California primary as a favorite son stand-in with the intention of giving support to another candidate, such as Ralph Nader.
More:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/8021175p-8957371c.html
http://www.gp.org/convention/process.html

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UPCOMING EVENTS

JANUARY 31 - FEBRUARY 1, 2004: The national Coordinated Campaign Committee and Greens in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania are organizing a two-day Campaign School in Baltimore. Intensive workshops, classes and training exercises will be held at the University of Baltimore. Who should attend: any Greens, anywhere, planning to run for office or serve as a campaign manager, press secretary, fundraiser, volunteer coordinator or other campaign principal in 2004. There will be a fee for materials, but no Greens with serious plans to be involved in a 2004 campaign will be turned away for lack of funds. Save the dates and stay tuned for more information. To subscribe to a weekly announcement list or to sign up for overnight homestays with local Greens, contact Ann Forno, <annforno@jhu.edu>.

SATURDAY, MARCH 20: Global Day of Action: The World Still Says No to War. On the one-year anniversary of the U.S. bombing and invasion of Iraq. Millions around the globe will take to the streets to say YES to peace and NO to pre-emptive war and occupation. Joining with growing numbers of military families and soldiers, United For Peace and Justice and other groups will call for an end to the occupation of Iraq and Bush's militaristic foreign policies. To endorse, e-mail m20endorse@unitedforpeace.org or call UFPJ at 212-868-5545 to let UFPJ know your group is on board.
More: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=2136

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GREEN ACTION

CALL CONGRESS
* Call, fax, write a letter, or pay a visit
* Contact information: Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121
US House of Representatives: http://www.house.gov/
US Senate: http://www.senate.gov
* Write a letter to the editor, a guest op-ed column, essay, or article

Repeated from earlier Greensweeks but still current....

Tell your Senators to vote NO on the Senate's version of HR 1904, the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 and instead to support efforts that protect communities from forest fires without weakening environmental protections.
More:
http://wildforests.com/wildforests.asp?id=181&id3=wildforests&id4=ES&
House Republican leaders are trying to block a resolution overturning the FCC's media deregulation plan from reach the floor for a vote. Urge Reps to force the vote and pass the resolution.
More: http://www.mediareform.net
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1010-13.htm
Tell Congress to support a $215 million increase for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP). More:
The Save ADAP Committee, a working group of the AIDS Treatment Activists Coalition (ATAC) http://www.atac-usa.org
Tell Senators to keep student information private! Under a little known provision of the 'No Child Left Behind' Act, schools are required to turn over their entire student rolls, including confidential contact information, to military recruiters. The only way to prevent military recruiters from getting this student information is if a parent 'opts-out' -- but the unfunded No Child Left Behind Act has no allocated budget to tell parents about this option.
Tell Senators and Reps to respect Indian claims: The House has put into serious jeopardy billions of dollars in American Indian Trust Funds, when members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior put last minute language into the HR 2691 conference report on Interior appropriations. More: http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=3937026&type=CO
Tell Representatives to support Rush Holt's bill HR 2239, which would require paper records for all votes cast on electronic voting machines.
More: http://www.verifiedvoting.com
http://www.verifiedvoting.com/fair_elections.asp
http://www.nytimes.com
Tell Senators to use their influence to see that the US Fish and Wildlife Service calls off proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act of 1973 that would make it easier for circuses, pet importers, and leather importers to capture, exploit, and kill certain endangered species.
More: http://www.capitolconnect.com/audubon/summary.asp?subject=269
Tell Senators to vote NO on Bush's plan to take overtime pay away from millions of American working people by reclassifying their jobs. The bill already passed in the House and faces a Senate vote on January 20.
More: http://www.saveovertimepay.org/bushproposal.htm

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GOOD READS