Repeal SB 1070 Rally 7/31/10

News 12 coverage of the event: here.

More photos at our Flickr page

Luis Valenzuela on the mic

Green Party Organizers Needed as McKinney Crosses the US with Bike4Peace

Cynthia McKinney

A request from David Josue, a Cynthia McKinney supporter. Circulated on Green Party list-serves:

Cynthia McKinney will be stopping in several towns, cities along the route from California to Washington, DC. Although this trip started out as a way to clear her mind and go off grid after the death of her aunt Hazel, it has the potential to advance the cause and promote Green Party building during the trip.

While Cynthia is doing the riding, will it be possible to coordinate a Green Party agenda in every state, cities and town that she will pass through?  I am sure that there are Greens along the route. So, a meet/greet and local medias at strategic stops will help spread the Green Party platform.  A successful stop can even have a new members registration drive. A screening of American Blackout (http://www.americanblackout.com) before the arrival of the riders will work well in the plan.

What do you think?  2012 is around the corner.

McKinney: Looking for Colorado Bike4Peace Hosts 8/13/-8/24/10

Cynthia McKinney

From 2008 Green Party President candidate Cynthia McKinney, July 30, 2010…

We’ll be in Colorado in a few days and was wondering if you had some contacts who could provide us a warm shower and maybe through a potluck for food for us!  We plan to overnight at Dolores, Telluride, Ridgeway, Cimarron, Doyleville, Poncha Springs, Howard, Westcliffe, Pueblo, and Haswell, this is all between August 13 and August 24.  Any contacts you can provide for these towns would be greatly appreciated.

Wm “Dock” Walls Endorses Whitney (G-IL) for Governor

Rich Whitney

Illinois Green PartyGovernor candidate Rich Whitney received the endorsement today of William “Dock” Walls.  Mr. Walls is a long time activist in the city of Chicago who has worked as an aide to former mayor Harold Washington, served as the National Political Director for the Rainbow PUSH coalition, and has run for mayor of Chicago and the U.S. House.

According to Walls:

I began my run for Governor in January of 2009 primarily to make certain voters had a choice they could have confidence in. I was extremely delighted when Rich Whitney of the Green Party announced he would run again for Governor. Not only does he have a complete grasp of the facts; his comprehensive platform is well developed with thoughtful positions likely to move this state forward. Rich Whitney is the one remaining candidate who will balance the budget, improve education funding, and ensure public safety.

As I withdraw from the race for Governor, I wholeheartedly endorse Rich Whitney for Governor of the State of Illinois.

NYCLU Seeks Records about FBI Collection of Racial and Ethnic Data across New York State

The New York Civil Liberties Union today asked FBI offices in New York City, Albany and Buffalo to turn over records related to the agency’s collection and use of race and ethnicity data in neighborhoods across New York State.

According to a 2008 FBI operations guide, FBI agents have the authority to collect information about and map so-called “ethnic-oriented” businesses, behaviors, lifestyle characteristics and cultural traditions in communities with concentrated ethnic populations. While some racial and ethnic data collection by some agencies might be helpful in lessening discrimination, the FBI’s attempt to collect and map demographic data using race-based criteria for targeting purposes invites unconstitutional racial profiling by law enforcement.

NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said:

New York is the very epitome of our national melting pot. As a state that embraces immigrants and is even home to the United Nations – the most international organization the world has ever known – New Yorkers should be deeply concerned about the FBI’s targeting of certain communities for investigation based solely on their residents’ race or ethnicity.

Nader & Guv cand Hawkins (G) Demand NYS Stop Rebating Stock Transfer Tax to Wall St 8/3/10

The only way that the Green Party can regain ballot status in NY is to get 50,000 votes for their Governor candidate in 2010. This opportunity comes only once every four years, and it only applies to the Governor’s race. Gaining ballot status will enable the Green Party to run more peace candidates, more single-payer candidates, more anti-fracking candidates, and more sustainable energy candidates. The last time that the Green Party of New York State had ballot status it set the record for running the most Green candidates of any state.

Consumer advocate and former Green Party Presidential candidate Ralph Nader will appear in Buffalo on Tuesday August 3, 2010 to support the efforts by Green Party of New York State governor candidate Howie Hawkins to stop New York State from rebating $16 billion annually to Wall Street speculators.

Hawkins and Nader will speak on Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 7pm at Dnipro
Ukrainian Cultural Center, 562 Genesee St. Buffalo, NY. The talk is entitled “Ways to Mobilize the People for Long Overdue Changes, No More of Our
Money for War and Wall Street.”

US Senate Cand LeAlan Jones (G) to Address Illinois Green Party Convention 8/1/10

LeAlan Jones

LeAlan Jones, the Illinois Green Party candidate for US Senate, will be delivering the keynote address to the Illinois Green Party State Convention on August 1, 2010. The address will take place at Loyola University Chicago’s Lakeshore campus in Simpson Hall from 3-4p.m. Simpson Hall is located at the corner of Sheridan Rd. and Winthrop Ave in Rogers Park.

A poll released June 14th shows Mr. Jones with 14% support amongst Illinois voters. This is more than 10 times the support received by the most successful minor party candidate in the 2004 race: Jerry Kohn at 1.3%. This a unique moment in Illinois history as Mr. Jones would be the first minor party senator from Illinois.

With both major parties in Washington stuck at a political impasse, our citizens deserve a third way. The major party candidates in this race have received more coverage for their scandals than their policies. Illinois deserves a senator we can be proud of. As a candidate free of scandal and corporate influence Mr. Jones is ready to be that senator.

Immigration Story: Fashionable, Irish immigrant vs. Guatemalan cook

KW: This story seems so unreal. It is like a comedy of manners to expose the classism and racism that underlies the immigration debate in the United States. Pay attention to the rich people’s privilege and indifference. See if you can notice the two Hispanic people treated unfairly in this story (maybe you will notice, because the rich people involved did not care.)

(excerpt from) The NY Times
Illegal Immigrants Caught on a Yacht, in a Web of Maritime Laws
By KIRK SEMPLE
Published: July 27, 2010

Gaea Rich and her family were in full holiday mode aboard their yacht on the Fourth of July as they motored from Stamford, Conn., across Long Island Sound and into Oyster Bay, off the North Shore of Long Island.

The trip, with more than 15 relatives and friends, was supposed to be the high point of a weekend family reunion. But a few hours into the cruise, after what began as an apparently routine stop by a marine patrol of local and federal law enforcement officials, two passengers — a Guatemalan caterer hired for the day and Ms. Rich’s boyfriend, David Quinn, an Irishman who had worked for years as a horse-carriage driver in Central Park — were taken away on a police boat by federal immigration officials. Both men were illegal immigrants; they now face deportation…

“We couldn’t believe it,” recalled Ms. Rich, 28, a fashion designer for Ralph Lauren. “Everyone was just shocked.”

The boat is registered in the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and owned by Ms. Rich’s uncle…

Many American yacht owners register their boats in foreign countries, often for tax purposes…

The July 4 incident began about 1:30 p.m. when a boat operated by the Nassau County Police Department pulled alongside the 63-foot yacht as it entered Oyster Bay. On the police vessel were customs and Coast Guard officers, Officer Saleh said; he did not provide more details about the stop. The Nassau police said they were assisting Customs and Border Protection and referred all inquiries to that agency…

Immigration officials took one catering worker, a Hispanic woman, to a room below deck and interviewed her for about half an half before determining that she was in the United States legally, Ms. Rich said.

The officers then asked all the other passengers — some of them foreign citizens with green cards or work visas — for government-issued identification. When Mr. Quinn and the catering worker were unable to produce proof that they were in the country legally, the officers took them below deck, Ms. Rich said…

He [Mr. Quinn] said that he was held in the same detention center, in Elizabeth, N.J., as the catering worker, but that the worker was not granted a similar temporary reprieve. (Neither Mr. Quinn nor Ms. Rich knew the worker’s name.)…

Guv cand Hawkins (G-NY) Supports Immigrant Rights, Joins Protests Against Arizona Anti-Immigrant Law

The only way that the Green Party can regain ballot status in NY is to get 50,000 votes for their Governor candidate in 2010. This opportunity comes only once every four years, and it only applies to the Governor’s race. Gaining ballot status will enable the Green Party to run more peace candidates, more single-payer candidates, more anti-fracking candidates, and more sustainable energy candidates. The last time that the Green Party of New York State had ballot status it set the record for running the most Green candidates of any state.

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party of New York State candidate for Governor, said today that he is a strong supporter of the rights of people who have immigrated to the U.S. He said he would ensure that local school districts were not illegally requiring children to provide documentation of their status, something that is improperly done in one of five New York school districts, according to a recent survey by the NY Civil Liberties Union.
Hawkins said he supported providing drivers’ licenses to all New York State residents regardless of their immigrant status, a position supported by many law enforcement officials.

Hawkins will spoke at a rally Wednesday July 28 at the Federal Building in Syracuse against the new Arizona immigration law that goes into effect that day.

The Green Party has long advocated allowing all residents, regardless of their immigrant status, to vote in local  elections as is the case in European democracies.

Hawkins said:

This country was founded on immigration. With the exception of indigenous peoples and those forcefully brought here as slaves, we are all relatively recent immigrants or descendants of immigrants. It is ironic that the state with the highest percentage of recent out-of-state immigrants, Arizona, has become the most virulently anti-immigrant, attacking those who have routinely traveled and resided there for centuries. Hostile anti-immigrant laws, walls along the border, workplace raids, and armed vigilantes have put an ugly face on our nation.

America at its best welcomes those who come here for economic security, political asylum, and escape from ethnic, sexual, and religious discrimination. I oppose those who seek to divide us for political gain by raising ethnic and racial hatreds, and by blaming immigrants for social and economic problems perpetrated by a severely flawed political system favoring the wealthy.

Hawkins said he strongly support calls for businesses, including sports teams, to boycott Arizona due to its reactionary new immigration law.

Deshefy (G-CT) Blasts Courtney’s Anti-Peace Vote

Scott Deshefy

Green Party candidate for the Second Congressional District Scott Deshefy (CT) blasted Democrat Joe Courtney for voting against a resolution pulling troops out of Pakistan. The Green Party of the U.S. had been urging Congress to pass House Resolution 301 to remove US forces from Pakistan. The  resolution was introduced by Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.) and Ron Paul (R-Tex.), who said that President Obama’s plans for an increase of US troops in Pakistan violate the 1973 War Powers Authorization. The resolution had both Democrat and Republican supporters.

Scott Deshefy said he supports an end to the US war on Afghanistan, which the Obama Administration has escalated by deploying more troops and ordering air attacks across the border in Pakistan. The Green Party opposes the current war escalation supplemental bill and all proposals to increase war funding.

Deshefy said

Mr. Obama is repeating the reckless and illegal policies of the Bush-Cheney Administration. His refusal to consult Congress about expanding the war, in violation of the War Powers Resolution, proves that he has learned from his predecessors that he can overstep his power with impunity. That’s why the Kucinich-Paul resolution was so important — it holds the White House to at least some standard of accountability!

Deshefy said that the election of a few Greens to Congress would establish an uncompromised antiwar bloc, which would demand quick withdrawal of all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan; oppose funding for the wars, and support reductions in military spending.

Port Jefferson Vigil in Opposition to Arizona’s SB 1070 7/31/10

Photos of rally:
here

To show opposition to Arizona’s harsh immigration law, SB 1070, Long Island residents will gather for an interfaith vigil in front of the Port Jefferson town hall. Come to the rally and let the public know how laws like this undermine our basic American values.

WHAT: Long Island Faith Community Solidarity Vigil in opposition to Arizona’s SB 1070
WHEN: Saturday, July 31, 2010 @ Noon
WHERE: Port Jefferson Village Hall

Sponsored by Long Island Jobs With Justice, Long Island Council of Churches, Long Island Immigrant Alliance, and Long Island Wins

Insanity Island Project Dead in the Water

Coalition Elated by Company’s Decision

Recently, the US Coast Guard and the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration formally acknowledged Atlantic Sea Island Group (ASIG)’s withdrawal of their permit application to construct “Safe Harbor Energy,” and closed the file on the project which was a massive man-made island in the Atlantic Ocean to import foreign liquefied natural gas (LNG). The federal agencies were responding to a letter sent by ASIG who chose to withdraw their proposal due to “existing market conditions; the current ‘climate’ regarding offshore development in the aftermath of the recent Gulf incident; and the prevailing uncertainty with respect to both the US and global economy.”

Guv cand Whitney (G-IL) to Make Several Stops on Green Jobs Tour 7/28/10

Rich Whitney

Illinois Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney will make a number of stops Wednesday on his Green Jobs tour. He will begin the morning by addressing reporters at the farm of Green Party State House candidate George Ocshenfeld. The meeting will focus on Whitney’s Green Capital Bill and his call for a modern energy infrastructure, sustainable transportation options, and the construction of energy efficient buildings. Mr. Whitney will next visit the Midwest Permaculture Center in the sustainable community of Stelle. The candidate will then visit the Black Oaks Center for Sustainable and Renewable Living and Pembroke Township later in the day.

From Cynthia McKinney: Bike4Peace Update, Malik Rahim Needs Hosts

Cynthia McKinney

from 2008 Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney:

Bike 4 Peace is still in need of hosts for potlucks and warm showers, and also sag vehicles by state because I’m the one who’s sagging behind the rest of the bikers–yesterday, by one hour and a half!!!  We’re available for radio interviews–especially me–because I’m definitely a better talker!!!

[Green Party congressional candidate and Common Ground founder] Malik Rahim, who is riding up solo from New Orleans to meet up with us on September 22 in Washington, DC needs hosts on the route outlined below.  He is especially interested right now in Mississippi and Alabama hosts.  Malik can be contacted at 504-252-3743.

Here’s my update by day.  Very brief updates will come as telephone and internet allow:

Day One: Whoopee!!!  I’m on my bike and it feels so free!!!

OK, Friday night, July 23rd, we had a wonderful sendoff at the House of Common Sense.  Minister J.R. and the young people are to be commended for organizing the event and the San Francisco Bay View and KPFA must be thanked for the publicity.  Thanks also to the folks who came to the House of Common Sense and to the Green Party members for the consistent support they have given, Sandra Decker organized the potluck.  I want to thank the riders who rode with us on the morning of the 24th and escorted us out of Oakland!  Thanks to the 25 or so bikers who met us in Martinez and rode us into Sacramento.  John and Peter stayed with us and John’s wife and Dave (a friend of theirs) rescued us at about Davis because–especially me–we were biked out!!

Day Two: Rhythm of the Revolution–The Revolution will not be motorized!