Green Party calls House energy bill dangerously weak, urge stronger steps against global warming

Greens give a thumbs-down to the House energy bill, urge Obama and the Senate to pass stronger anti-global warming legislation

The Green Party’s national Eco-Action Committee is sharply criticizing an energy bill passed in the US House (HR 2454), calling the legislation dangerously inadequate and a concession to polluting industries.

Greens, currently preparing for the party’s 2009 annual national meeting in Durham, North Carolina, are urging the US Senate and President Obama to reject the bill and instead enact stronger policies to curb global warming.  The meeting takes place from July 23 to 26 (http://www.ncgreenparty.org/2009-ANM.html);

“The Energy Bill passed by the US House of Representatives is not a transition to a sustainable energy future,” said Audrey Clement, a Virginia Green and member of the Eco-Action Committee.  “It moves us in the wrong direction by subsidizing more coal and nuclear power, and it’’s far too weak in its support of earth-gentle renewable energies
and in its effort to reduce carbon emissions.”

Greens called the the bill’s cap on greenhouse gas emissions a fraction of what it should be and said that the cap is undermined by the allowance of annual “offsets” that allow polluters to keep polluting.  “These offsets are a handout to large corporations,” said Ms. Clement.

LI Green Sheets 7/15/09

Welcome to the LI Green Sheets
rev 7-15-09

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The LI Green Sheets is a weekly “Green Events” email service about green events and activities in our region.  If your organization or company has an event, class, meeting, seminar or program that you want LI Green’s over 5000 environmental businesspeople, activists, educators email list to know about please fill out this web form or forward information to greensheets@ligreen.com.  Include  date, time, address, event description, web link and contact information.

We also offer sponsored listings and advertisement to businesses that provide sustainability products and services.  To learn more about this great opportunity please contact Chuck Schwartz at chuck@ligreen.com or 631-721-1908.  Thanks for your company’s support

Click here to signup for the LI Green Email List.

Please forward this email to anyone that you think might be interested in it.

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Green Drinks – Green Drinks are monthly networking events for environmental professionals, educators and others held throughout Long Island

• Green Drinks North Fork - Thursday July 16th 6 to 9 pm Castello Di Borghese Winergy Route 48 (Sound Ave) and Alvah’s Lane Cutchogue New York 11935.  Click here for directions More Info www.ligreen.com/greendrinks RSVP greendrinks@ligreen.com or 631-721-1908

• Green Drinks Open House -  With Whole Foods Jericho and Greener Country Store – Monday August 10th, 5-8 PM. Jericho Commons Shopping Center, 429 North Broadway, Jericho 11743. Click Here for Directions

• Coming Soon – Watch for the dates – First annual Southampton Green Drinks “Beach Party” in Mid August,  Green Drinks Open House at the Wales Darby Energy Room,  Western Nassau County Green Drinks, Five Towns Green Drinks

Charitable Events

• Ellen’s Run – Family Event to Benefit Breast Cancer Patient Support Services.  5K race/walk.  Sun August 16th.  9 am sharp. New Location: Southampton Hospital

Live and Learn

• LONG ISLAND SOUND MEDITATION – All environmental issues are symptoms of a far deeper issue – human separation from the rest of nature.  Renew your spiritual relationship with LI Sound to find inner peace.  A shamanic-based meditation.  Older children welcome.  Peter Maniscalco guides.  Summer Sundays through Labor Day weekend.  Meet: 10:30 am, Shoreham Beach parking lot,  N. Country Rd., Shoreham.  Info: 631.874.4104.

• Sierra Club Long Island Water Sentinels Invites you to taste wine and meet LI artists Martha Clara Vineyards 6025 Sound Ave, Riverhead, NY 11901 Sunday, August 16  1:00pm – 5:00pm *Cost: $25.00 pay at door RSVP:  Linda Freilich, Coastal Waterways Chair, turton@optonline.net or Sally Anne Keller at sawatercolor@optonline.net *100% of funds go toward buying water test kits *20% of artists’ earnings pledged to the cause

• Renewable Energy Long Island (RELI) – Free public seminar on Renewable Energy, Town of East Hampton – July 30 – 6:00-8:00pm www.renewableenergylongisland.org for more info

• Green Living LI Meetup – August 6th at Bobbi-Que, 70 W Main St, Patchogue, NY 11772, 631-447-7744.  More details at
  http://www.meetup.com/Living- Green-Long-Island/calendar/ 10788718/. Michael Brylewski of Organic Cleaning in Hampton Bays will be speaking about the benefits of green cleaning your home.

• Green Living Seminars – Starflower Experiences – Speakers on a variety of ‘green living’ topics at the Melville Library on the 2nd Thursday (except July & August) 7-9 pm 516-938-6152 Email:info@ starflowerexperiences.org www.starflowerexperiences.org

• Discovering a Sense of Place Discussion Course – Starflower Experiences 516-938-6152 :info@starflowerexperiences.org This 8 session course will meet Tuesday evenings at Manor Farm. The purpose of the Discovering a Sense of Place course is:  to understand the meaning of a bioregional perspective, and what it would mean to develop one, to consider the benefits of consciously developing an intimate relationship with your place, and to explore what it might mean to protect the place where you live. Starts October 6 Download a registration flyer at www.starflowerexperiences.org.  More info at www.nwei.org

• Permaculture Design Course – Starflower Experiences 516-938-6152 :info@starflowerexperiences.org Permaculture design is a comprehensive set of principles and theories regarding sustainability.  This is an internationally recognized certification program which, upon successful completion of the course, the student is now enabled to teach and practice permaculture design. Download registration form www.starflowerexperiences.org

• Stony Brook Advanced Energy Research Center Annual Conference - If you are in any way involved in the search for innovative solutions to the world’s energy needs, then Advanced Energy 2009 is the one conference you cannot afford to miss. On November 18 & 19 the energy world will be focused on the Hyatt Regency Long Island hotel in Hauppauge, New York. Mark the dates on your calendar today! For info or to register Kathleen Ferrell at kferrell@notes.cc.sunysb.edu,  or by telephone at  (631) 632-4625.
  

Long Island Environmental Groups

• EECO Farm – Win a John Deere Mower/Tractor!  Raffle tickets only $20  Three for $50.  Tickets sold at EECO Farm Stand
  55 Long Lane, East Hampton &  Balsam Farm Stand Town Lane, Amagansett. All proceeds will support EECO Farm Drawing on Saturday, September 5 at EECO Farm’s Pot Luck Picnic 6 PM

• Group for the East End – Friday Forum: Algae, Aquaculture and the Environment – Can We Really Farm the Bays?  July 17th 9 to 10 am.  Join Group for the East End President Bob DeLuca and his award-winning co-host, WLIU 88.3 FM radio’s Bonnie Grice for an informative discussion about algal blooms, what they can tell us about the health of our coastal waters, and how they impact the viability of commercial shell fishing and aquaculture for the future.  Joining Bob and Bonnie for this discussion will be John Aldred of the East Hampton Town Hatchery, Karen Rivera of the East End Marine Farmers Association, Greg Rivera from Cornell Cooperative Extension’s shellfish and aquaculture program, and Dr. Steve Tettlebach, a Marine Scientist and Local Shellfish Expert.

• Peconic Land Trust – Bridge Gardens – Join us for Friday Evening special events – www.peconic.landtrust.org

• Babylon Green Party – On Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 7pm, the Babylon Green Party Gathering will feature a showing of Michael Moore’s film, “Sicko” The film uses humor to point out the sad state of medical coverage in the United States.  It outlines how much more successful a single-payer universal healthcare system has been in every other industrialized country. This showing is an extension of the Babylon Green Party’s 100 Days series which discusses issues that President Obama needed to address in his first 100 Days. http://www.BabylonGreens.org The event will be held at Pisces Café, 14A Railroad Avenue, Babylon, NY (631-321-1231) http://www.piscescafe.net.  For info call 631-422-4702 or email ian.wilder@yahoo.com Children are welcome. All gatherings are free of charge, and open to the public.

• Rangers of the Earth Program Day- Starflower Experiences 516-938-6152 info@starflowerexperiences.org – Rangers of the Earth helps upper elementary learners understand basic ecological processes, develop positive feelings about being in the natural world, and use their new understandings and feelings to change their own environmental habits.  This full-day session will provide an overview of the program, give you a chance to experience some of the activities (both indoor and outdoor), and help you find out how your group can participate in the program. This workshop is for classroom teachers, outdoor leaders, those who care for wild places, and others interested in seeing a model earth education program. November 15, 2009  8:30 am – 5:00 pm Sweet Hollow Hall, West Hills County Park. Download or request registration flyer www.starflowerexperiences.org

• Earth Education Workshop – Starflower Experiences:516-938-6152 info@starflowerexperiences.org Join us for a full day of stimulating sessions and demonstration activities introducing earth education. Earth education programs help learners understand basic ecological processes, develop positive feelings about the natural world, and use their new understandings and feelings to begin making change in their own environmental habits.November 14, 2009 8:30 – 5:00 at Sweet Hollow Hall, West Hills County Park, Melville.  Download or request registration flyer www.starflowerexperiences.org

• LI Naturally environmental fair – Starflower Experiences 516-938-6152 info@starflowerexperiences.org This is our annual environmental fair to be held at Manor Farm in Huntington.September 26, 2009 10 am – 4 pm Just come – no signup required. www.starflowerexperiences.org

Local Government

• More Planning for the Great Greening of Southampton – Thurs. July 16th 5:30 pm Rogers Memorial Library – Open meeting with the Town’s Sustainable Southampton Green Committee to learn about local initiatives. 283-0774 x 523 for reservations.

Schools

• DONATE USED BIKES NOVEMBER 7 & 8, 2009. 9:00 a.m. – 4:00p.m. at The Wheatley School 11 Bacon Road, Old Westbury, NY.  Bikes will be shipped to Ghana, West Africa to be used as socially, economically, and environmentally appropriate and sustainable transportation technology, helping people break the poverty cycle, providing access to school, work, health care, and market places.  In collaboration with The Village Bike Project.org, we have already sent nearly 2000 bikes to Ghana!  Re-Cycle your cycles and help The Wheatley Afri-Bike Coalition change more lives in rural West Africa.  And please help us spread the word by posting this info at your local bike shop, house of worship, community center, etc. For more info and other drop off locations in Nassau and Western Suffolk, please contact Steve Finkeklstein at (H) 516-334-2375,  (W- school year) 516-333-7143 or earthfink@aol.com and check the school website this fall at ewsdonline.org.

Long Island Green Businesses

• Workshop with Wendy Eden – Certified Hippocrates Health Educator/ Nutritionist/ Speaker – Raw Living Foods, Wellness, and Anti-aging – Reverse cancer, diabetes, obesity, depression and many health challenges.  Saturday July 18th, 2009 2pm-4pm  ANANDA YOGA and WELLNESS  20 Hampton Road  Southampton,. NY www.anandayogawellness.com 631-204-1219

• Go Solar Saturday Solar Tour -  Educational seminar on solar energy.  See how solar electric and solar thermal work first hand in our SunShack.  August 15, 2009  10 a.m. - Noon  Signup at gosolar.com 631-727-2224.  Also Sept. 12th and 19th

• East End GreenFest – Weekend of August 1st and 2nd. 2 day outdoor festival celebrating the latest green solutions in a fun and informative setting.  Festivities include live music from local musicians, healthy and organic foods and beverages, interactive displays, speakers, kids activities, speakers, hand on demonstrations, exhibits and shopping for natural and sustainable products.  Strawberry Fields Fairgrounds – Rt 48 in Mattituck.  For more info 631-470-3933 or www.eastendgreenfest.com

• Second Annual Solar Day – August 8th 12pm Eastern Energy Systems 631 779 1026. mfroehlich@e2sys.com -  Event will be held at our Renewable Energy Demo Home Facility (3305 Alrich Lane, Laurel).  Live Music, Food, Local Farm Products, Wine Tasting, Green Vendors. Renewable Energy Tours and Presentations will be given hourly promoting education, conservation and energy efficiency and production.

• HIA Environmental &  Energy Seminars & Expo Several “green” seminars & exhibition hall with several “green” technologies October 23, 2009  8 AM – 4 PM www.hia-li.org 631.543.5355

• Introduction to Photovoltaics – 8 hour seminar – Windsine, Inc. www.windsine.org 631-514-4166 Sat July 25th.  8:30 to 4:30.  Holiday Inn East End, Riverhead.  Understand PV before you talk to contractors or do it yourself
  

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Please forward this email to anyone that you think might be interested in it.

LICSN: Presentation/Educational Climate Materials from the National Academy of Sciences

Ecological Impacts of Climate Change

Life on Earth is profoundly affected by the planet’s climate. Explore some of the ecological impacts of climate change that have already been observed—right in your own backyard.  Here’s a straightforward science-based set of presentation slides on why Congress needs to act this year on Climate legislation.

Powerpoint Presentation Modules on Ecological Impacts

These Powerpoint presentation modules were developed to assist educators, museum docents, and other interested parties in sharing information about the ecological impacts of climate change.

Presentations can be personalized to your geographic region. For your convenience, presenter notes are embedded in the Powerpoint files.  (If you prefer, you may download the Full Presentation (5.9 MB) including all geographic regions.)

Step 1: Download Introductory Powerpoint Slides (5.8 MB)

Step 2: Download Powerpoint Slides for Your Region

• Northeast (98 KB)

Step 3: Download Conclusion Powerpoint Slides (335 KB)

Step 4: Combine Powerpoint Slides into a Single Presentation and Enjoy!

This 28-page booklet is based on Ecological Impacts of Climate Change (2009), a report by an independent panel of experts convened by the National Research Council. It explains general themes about the ecological consequences of climate change and identifies examples of ecological changes across the United States . Download PDF Version (8 MB) Explore Ecological Impacts of Climate Change Online at: Introduction

Cynthia McKinney requests your presence in DC…

From a 7/13/09 e-mail from a Cynthia McKinney supporter:

We just received word that the Viva Palestina convoy is still being held in Egypt despite negotiations. Convoy organizers Cynthia McKinney [former Congresswoman, and 2008 Green Party presidential candidate] and George Galloway are calling for protests tomorrow. Those of us who are in Washington, DC will be gathering tomorrow (Tuesday, July 14) outside the Egyptian embassy at noon to demand that Egyptian authorities allow the aid through! Please come out and spread the message!

*Please Forward Far and Wide*

Emergency Protest! Demand that Egyptian Authorities allow humanitarian aid into Gaza!

When: Tuesday, July 14th at 12 noon

Where: Egyptian Embassy, Washington, DC (Van Ness metro – red line) (3521 International Court, NW)

For updates on the Washington, DC protest or to endorse, please contact:
703.231.7553.

Michael Moore’s “Sicko” 8/5/09 7p Babylon

On Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 7pm, the Babylon Green Party Gathering will feature a showing of Michael Moore’s film, “Sicko” The film uses humor to point out the sad state of medical coverage in the United States.  It outlines how much more successful a single-payer universal healthcare system has been in every other industrialized country. This showing is an extension of the Babylon Green Party’s 100 Days series which discusses issues that President Obama needed to address in his first 100 Days. www.BabylonGreens.org The event will be held at Pisces Café, 14A Railroad Avenue, Babylon, NY (631-321-1231)www.piscescafe.net map) Come hungry! For directions to the Babylon Green Gathering, call 631-422-4702 or email ian.wilder@yahoo.com Children are welcome. All gatherings are free of charge, and open to the public.

A social media version of this press release can be found at http://pitch.pe/17653

Unlike the Democratic and Republican Parties, the national Green Party supports

a universal, comprehensive, national single-payer health insurance program as the only solution to the current disastrous for-profit system.

Recently, the 2000 Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader explained that the inability of the U.S. auto industry to compete is due to the U.S. being the only auto-producing nations that does not have single payer healthcare. The 2008 Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney said in her acceptance speech that

Only a sick government would place  . . . an insurance lobbyist in-between a patient and his doctor.

During her six terms in Congress, McKinney said she was “a cosponsor of every bill to create a national system for universal access to health care under a single-payer model.”

According to a CBS new poll, ninety percent of Americans believe the American health care system needs fundamental changes or needs to be completely rebuilt. Two-thirds of Americans believe the federal government should guarantee universal health care for all citizens.  This belief is shown to have good cause by a UN Human Development Report which showed that while the United States leads the world in spending on health care,

countries spending substantially less than the US have healthier populations.… The infant mortality rate for the U.S. is now higher than for many other industrial countries.

And the New England Journal of Medicine shows that a prime cause of the problem is insurance companies’ greed and inefficiency.  They reported that

administrative costs account for 31 percent of all health care expenditures in the United States. The average overhead for U.S. private health insurers is 11.7 percent; for Medicare, it is 3.6 percent; for Canada’s national health insurance program, it is 1.3 percent.

Yet neither the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, nor the corporate media are willing to even discuss a single-payer system.

President Obama has consistently excluded single payer universal healthcare from any discussion.  At the President’s healthcare forums around the country, discussions of single payer were dismissed despite audience support. The President also publicly excluded Rep. John Conyers to the White House summit on healthcare despite Conyer’s Single Payer bill HR 676 having 90 co-sponsors in Congress.  The President was later embarrassed into inviting Conyers.

The corporate media have done no better in discussing single payer healthcare as an option.  A new study released by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) found the

views of advocates of single payer have only been aired five times in the hundreds of major newspaper, broadcasts and cable stories about healthcare reform over the past week. No single-payer advocate has appeared on a major TV broadcast or cable network to talk about the policy during that period.

Babylon Green Party Gatherings are held on the first Wednesday of every month:

Rev. Billy Talen for Mayor Fundraiser w/ Joan Baez 7/27/09

Save The Date
ELECT-A-LUJAH!  Vote Rev Billy Fundraiser at the Highline Ballroom
Monday, July 27th 7pm
Tickets on Sale Now: http://bit.ly/vrbtix
431 W 16th St
New York, NY 10011
between 9th and 10th Ave
With the Rev and Life After Shopping Gospel Choir, Joan Baez, Jollyship the Whiz-Bang,

Greta Gaines, the New York Street Vendors Chorus, and Yetta Kurland!

LI Green Events Sheet 7/8/09

Welcome to the LI Green Sheets
rev 7-8-09

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The LI Green Sheets is a weekly “Green Events” email service about green events and activities in our region.  If your organization or company has an event, class, meeting, seminar or program that you want LI Green’s over 5000 environmental businesspeople, activists, educators email list to know about please fill out this web form or forward information to greensheets@ligreen.com.  Include  date, time, address, event description, web link and contact information.

We also offer sponsored listings and advertisement to businesses that provide sustainability products and services.  To learn more about this great opportunity please contact Chuck Schwartz at chuck@ligreen.com or 631-721-1908.  Thanks for your company’s support.

Click here to signup for the LI Green Email List.

Please forward this email to anyone that you think might be interested in it.

Petition for the release of Cynthia McKinney…captured by Israel

Former Congresswoman and 2008 Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, has been captured by the Israeli Navy, as she and others went on a humanitarian mission to Gaza.

It is the afternoon of Wed. July 1, 2009 and no word that she is back safe, yet. People just put up a petition for her release: here. Please do sign up in support.

Call White House for Cynthia McKinney please

Former Congresswoman and 2008 Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, has been captured by the Israeli Navy…oh, my. Unbelievable, but I have gotten many reliable reports via phone and e-mail.

It is the afternoon of Wed. July 1, 2009 and no word that she is back safe, yet. People just put up a petition for her release: here.

Also, Marian from the Green Party of the United States Diversity Committee said that we are trying to get calls to the White House. Please call now:

Ask people to contact the White House – 202-456-1111

I just left a detailed message with a White House comment line operator. He was very courteous, even supportive.

Marian

Women leaders rise up: “Peace Mom” Cindy Sheehan demands Cynthia McKinney’s release…

Call the White House and ask them to get Cynthia McKinney and the others back. White House – 202-456-1111 . More action items and links at read more…

Hot Indie News
[Peace Mom] Cindy Sheehan demands the immediate release by Israel of 2008 Green Party Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney and other kidnapped aid workers on the boat: The Spirit of Humanity
By James Lane / Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, Human Rights’ Activist and Gold Star Mother, Cindy Sheehan, calls on the Israeli government to immediately release the members and crew of the boat The Spirit of Humanity that was attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to the devastated peoples of Gaza.

Had enough of being abandoned by your party? Come home to the Green Party

Green Party, preparing for 2009 national meeting, ask: Is America ready for a real opposition party now?

• Citing Democrats’ votes for war funding and retreats on health care, Greens call Dems “the new wing of the GOP” and invite Americans to “come home to the Green Party”

• Green Party Annual National meeting: Durham, North Carolina, July 23-26

Green Party leaders, preparing for the party’s 2009 Annual National Meeting, said that America is in desperate need of a real opposition party, as Democrats maintain Republican positions on foreign policy, health care, the environment, and other big issues.

“Democratic leaders made their party a wing of the Republican Party in June,” said Wayne Turner, North Carolina Green Party co-chair (http://www.ncgreenparty.org). “Any progressive positions taken by the Obama administration are getting nullified by Blue Dog Democrats and other Republican allies.  The Democratic leadership and mainstream have adopted values we associate with the GOP, while Republicans are taking ever more extreme positions and want to see President Obama fail at whatever he sets out to accomplish.  That leaves two parties representing corporate lobbies and the Green Party representing the interests and ideals of most Americans.  ‘Across the aisle’ used to mean Democrats and Republicans.  Now both of them are across the aisle from the rest of America.”

“With President Obama expanding the war in Afghanistan and Democrats overwhelmingly voting for war funding, the Democratic Party can no longer pretend to be the antiwar party.  We invite voters who want peace to come home to the Green Party,” said Mr. Turner.

Greens cited widespread popular opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, support for a national health care plan that covers all Americans (http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE55K00220090621), and resentment over the Wall Street bailout as evidence that the Green Party is closer to the political sentiments of a majority of Americans.

Green leaders pointed to several decisions and actions in June that betray the Obama promise of change:

• 256 Democrats in the House voted for the war funding bill, with only 30 Democratic nays.  President Obama is also expanding US troops in Afghanistan, with air attacks inside Pakistani borders, and has maintained the Bush-Cheney ‘preemption’ doctrine in threatening Iran.  (Democratic leaders endorsed both wars from the beginning and continued voting for President Bush’s war funding requests after they took control of Congress in 2006.)

• The Democratic leadership’s health care reform plans not only reject Single-Payer, but will also omit the public health care option because it’s “unfair to insurance companies” — as if insurance industry profits were more urgent the health needs of millions of Americans.

• In capitulation to industry interests, the Waxman-Markey climate bill (”American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009″) would place a weak cap on greenhouse gas emissions (reductions of only 1-4% below 1990 levels by 2020), create a $2 trillion carbon-trading market with dangerously unregulated derivatives and minimal effect on emissions, give away 85% of the carbon permits to corporations over the next decade, offer a $150 billion handout to coal companies, and impose a severely inadequate 15% renewable energy standard by 2020.

• President Obama approved mountaintop removal for coal, which will wreak further environmental devastation on states like West Virginia and Tennessee.  The Obama Administration continues to espouse industry myths about ‘clean coal.’

• Despite President Obama’s announcement of some limited domestic partnership benefits for gay federal employees, the Obama Justice Department has submitted a brief in support of the antigay Defense of Marriage Act, undercutting the President’s claim to support equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans.

To this list, Greens added other Democratic betrayals and retreats: the bailout for Wall Street (the largest transfer of wealth from taxpayers to corporations in history); continued warrantless surveillance of US citizens; refusal to hold Bush officials who approved torture and lied to Congress accountable for their actions (with torture continuing at some sites, according to reports); and uninterrupted military aid for Israel despite massive human rights violations against Palestinians.

“Why won’t President Obama and congessional Democrats fight for a cap on credit card interest rates and restoration of Glass-Steagal regulations to prevent financial industry abuses?  The election of a few Greens to Congress would change the dynamic of American politics.  Democrats and Republicans would have to compete with Green candidates, who accept neither corporate campaign contributions nor the influence of corporate lobbies,” said Jody Grage, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States.

Free Gaza Speaks about the Delayed Departure of the Hope Fleet

This is not the statement we in the Free Gaza Movement intended to release today. We had hoped to announce that our two ships, the Free Gaza and the Spirit of Humanity, departed from Larnaca Port on a 30-hour voyage to besieged Gaza, carrying human rights activists who have travelled to Cyprus from all across the world for this journey, 3 tons of medical supplies, and 15 tons of badly needed concrete and reconstruction supplies.

In addition to the concerns expressed by our Cypriot friends today, the American consulate in Nicosia warned us not to go to Gaza, stating that:

“…[T]he Israeli Foreign Ministry informed U.S. officials at the American Embassy in Tel Aviv that Israel still considers Gaza an area of conflict and that any Free Gaza boats attempting to sail to the Gaza Strip will “not be permitted” to reach its destination.”

Former U.S. Congresswoman & [Green Party] presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney responded to this warning by pointing out that, “The White House says that cement and medical supplies should get into Gaza and that’s exactly what we are attempting to take to Gaza.”

“Instead of quoting Israel policy to us,” McKinney continued, “…the U.S. should send a message to Israel reiterating the reported White House position that the blockade of Gaza should be eased, that medical supplies and building materials, including cement, should be allowed in. The Free Gaza boats should be allowed to reach their destination, traveling from Cyprus territorial waters, through international waters, and straight into Gaza territorial waters.”

“The State Department has chosen to advise us to take the Israeli notification seriously.  Our question is, ‘Can we take President Obama seriously?’  Will he stand by his own words and allow us to provide relief for Gaza or will he back down?”