Green Party Watch

Damon Eris writes at Poli-Tea Party (emphasis added):

There is an inspiring amount of third party and independent political activity happening at the occupation protests in New York and Washington DC.  Consider, for example, the case of the Greens.  In New York, Green party activists have been involved at Occupy Wall Street from the very first days of the protest.  A number of weeks ago a liaison from the party made an announcement at a general assembly pledging the full support of Green party activists all over the country and asking how Greens could help the movement.  A number of high profile Greens were present at the Freedom Plaza protests in Washington DC over the weekend, including Cheri Honkala, Howie Hawkins and Ralph Nader.  Now, it appears that Jill Stein, a former Green party candidate for governor of Massachusetts who is seeking the party’s nomination for president in 2012, has been visiting Occupy Boston in recent days and campaigning in support of the 99%. 

It is not difficult to understand why third party and independent activists would be attracted to the Occupy Everything protests spreading across the country.  A simple explanation is embedded in the movement’s most prominent slogan: We are the 99%.  The Democratic and Republican parties do not represent the interests of 99% of the American people.  They are the parties of the ruling financial oligarchy and political class.  They are the parties of the 1%. 

Democrats, obviously, are attempting to hijack this movement the same way the Republicans hijacked the Tea Party movement in 2009-2010 and the same way the Democrats hijacked the anti-war movement in 2005-2006.  At present, many participants in these protests appear to be vehemently intent upon maintaining their political independence.  Yet the same was true of Tea Party activists in the spring of 2009, and we know how that turned out.  The question is whether this movement will suffer the same fate.  The more important question is: what can be done to avert that outcome?

As someone who was active in the Tea Party movement until it was infiltrated and destroyed by the Republican party, I urge all Tea Party activists who have maintained at least a semblance of political independence to become involved in the occupation protests.  As an Independent, I urge all Independents to become active in this movement.  As an advocate of third party alternatives to the Democrat-Republican duopoly, I urge all third party activists to become involved in this movement.

Perhaps some may say they do not agree with the direction this movement is heading and refuse to become involved.  The funny thing is, if you become involved you can change its direction.  It is really that simple.   

Scot Hansen of the DuPage County Illinois Green Party published an article at the local party’s website titled Why I joined the Green Party

In the article, Hansen explains

There is a way to get our democracy back from the big money donors that run our legislature. It’s called people-powered politics, and it starts on a local level. That movement is called the Green Party.

Why did you join the Green Party?

– Scott McLarty

The review can only be read at Z Magazine if you have a subscription, but McLarty also published the review here and here.

The book, A No Nonsense Guide to Green Politics, is recommended by both Carolina Lucas, recently elected Member of Parliament for the Green Party of England and Wales, and by famed historian Howard Zinn. Here’s a short excerpt from the review.

If a Green ideology exists, it’s based on humane and ecological principles rather than single-model prescriptions for economics, government, and other spheres of human behavior. The classic ideologies of the 19th and 20th century — laissez-faire capitalism, bureaucratic collectivism, fascism, and various theocratic fundamentalisms — all value abstractions, systems, and doctrines over human life. Stalin made communism work by allowing millions of Ukrainian peasants to starve to death; fascists liquidated ‘useless eaters’ and scapegoat minorities; business owners resisted the right of workers to livable wages, reasonable hours, and safe workplaces; corporate polluters dumped lethal substances regardless of the effect on nearby residents; religious zealots condemned queers and unsubmissive women in the name of a savior, prophet, or edity. Derek Wall recognizes that deep ecology, taken to an extreme as a single-model ideology, reduces humans to ecological cogs. He mentions deep ecologist Dave Foreman’s claim that AIDS and famines in Africa should be welcomed because they reduce human populations and thus mitigate the environmental harm that people cause.

Atlanta, Georgia

5 April 2011

President Obama promised “change” to the people who voted for him.  He told them to hope again and that change would come.  But President Obama’s change is really more of the same.  Therefore, his elixir that was sold to the world was nothing more than snake oil.  The most damage, of course, is being done to those whose dreams were intricately woven into his words, not realizing that words are not policy.  In a most deadly treachery, those who believed in our President the most are the ones who are now suffering and dying the most.

Some people, to this day, remain tricked by the salve of words for the wounds inflicted by our President.  Others have begun to sink into despair while some search for answers.  But our President is adept at giving us, in the words of the late, great Fred Hampton, Chicago’s other son, “answers that don’t answer, explanations that don’t explain, and conclusions that don’t conclude.”  It is to those searching for answers that I refer to my previous writings compiled on the websites below and to the writings of Bruce Dixon and Glen Ford and the entire BlackAgendaReport.com team and of Wayne Madsen whose writings can be found at WayneMadsenReport.com.

In Rosa Clemente’s and my 2008 Green Party “Power to the People” Presidential campaign, I tried to warn the attentive public of what was to come under an Obama Administration:  even I could not imagine that it would get this bad.

I knew that dissent would be intolerable under an Obama Administration, enforced both from the Black political consensus and from the Democratic Party wingnuts–quashing dissent even with all of the attendant special interest burdens that come with any aspect of the Democratic Party.

I knew that the Muslim world was going to be in for a shockingly rude awakening, but even I could not conceive of the carnage this President could bring to that part of the world–either by a policy that encourages Muslims to kill other Muslims, or by the dropping of bombs and the use of depleted uranium on Muslim communities.  But not only that, we are seeing the murder of whole countries and the communities and cultures that gave rise to them. The President’s policies are dismantling and dismembering Pakistan and Afghanistan as we watch.  The U.S. Embassy in Iraq announced plans to employ a total of 16,000 people, doubling its staff, within the next two years.  The only antidote to these policies is unity and I hope that the residents of these countries are able to unite and resist in a much more effective way than have “antiwar”  “liberal” communities inside the United States. Of course, some individuals stand out and are leading the resistance now and I can only hope that their voices are heard and multiplied among the masses, both here and around the world.

I do believe that Henry Kissinger was onto something when he marveled at the tremendous good will that this President has around the world and I do believe that Henry Kissinger, among others, sought to use that good will for their own purposes.  After all, when you buy a President, like a slave, he becomes yours. It is clear now, that the people of the United States did not buy this President and so they do not own him.  There are clear winners from the policies currently being pursued, but they are not the people.

Speaking of Henry Kissinger, let me just say this about him and his minions:  When I was in the Congress, I received a phone call from Alassane Ouattara from aboard Henry Kissinger’s yacht. I had received many such calls from people wanting to benefit from my good reputation within the human rights and peace community in the United States and they wanted me to sell their particular potion of iniquity to people inside the United States and to the world. Usually, these people were the kind of people accustomed to buying the consciences of public persons, so my “no” resounded rather sharply to them, and I earned yet another set of crosshairs on my forehead, I guess.

Alassane Ouattara and his Zionist wife, Dominique, were seeking my assistance–or maybe my silence–in his effort to become President of Ivory Coast.  I applaud Laurent Gbagbo in his efforts to stave off imperialism in Ivory Coast, one of the few African countries that has not one iota of a relationship with the U.S. military. However, Democracy Now, FOX, CNN, AP, Reuters, and all the rest didn’t tell you that when they ran their many stories about Ivory Coast. While the world will celebrate “democracy” arriving in Ivory Coast once Gbagbo is gone, the exact opposite will actually be the case.  Handing Ivory Coast over to Henry Kissinger and his ilk is the policy of the Obama Administration. I guess, President Obama is proving his worth:  perhaps no one could have done it better.

But it doesn’t stop there.  Look at what President Obama’s policies are in Haiti!  When the devastating earthquake struck there, only the fifth in the entire history of that country, President Obama sent in the drones when the people needed food, shelter, and medical relief!  How is that any different from George W. Bush and Michael Chertoff who sent men with guns into New Orleans, military and mercenaries, after Hurricane Katrina when the people really needed food?  Now, because of President Obama’s policies and his complete prostration before the Vicars of the Imperium–that is, the Clinton Family–who call the shots on the future of the Haitian people, Haiti can only see more struggle against domination in its future. Hillary Clinton went to Haiti to snatch self-determination from the Haitian people in the victory of Jude Celestin and to instead select a musician buffoon who once mooned his audience in a concert for Haiti’s Presidency, all with the smack of legitimacy granted when one can successfully threaten the Election Commission with revocation of visas to the U.S. and control the Organization of American States and the United Nations that has troops of occupation there.

Had George H.W. or W. Bush or John McCain or any Republican done any of this there would be enough hot air to float the Hindenburg!  The streets all across the United States would be aflitter!  There would be animation in the Congress enough to make John Boehner cry!  Instead, however, the very people who wield official power and who could stop this madness because they supposedly represent the interests of the people, silence themselves and let this happen.  Unity, again is the antidote–the sand that can be thrown by a few into the gears of the machine.

But, there is also pernicious collateral damage from our President’s policies right here in the United States in the African-American community that brought itself up from slavery and U.S.-styled apartheid.  President Obama has hastened the collapse of Black wealth in this country even as he feeds the beast of the bankers.  And, although our President can be counted on to roundly condemn Black men on Father’s Day, it seems that is the only treatment for which our President actively searches out Black people–for criticism and condemnation.  The so-called Black Farmer “settlement” provides money for everyone but the initial Black Farmers who stood up and filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but who now stand to lose 1.5 million acres under President Obama’s watch.  Under this President, Black people can be condemned, but not repaired.

As a result, sadly, Blacks are slipping back more and more into economic and cultural servitude and political irrelevancy.  And Michelle Alexander’s clarion call in her book entitled “The New Jim Crow,” reveals the true state of Black America. Just one tidbit from Ms. Alexander:  “More African American men are in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, before the Civil War began.”  According to a recent Economic Policy Institute report, Black family wealth has fallen to just $2,000 while that of White families rests at $94,600.

But, I have spouted these statistics for the past 20 years as they got worse and worse.  I have done everything that I know to do to try and warn the next victims of what these policies all mean for them.  And at a time when Japan is spewing radioactive material across the planet, our President goes to India and Chile hawking more nuclear potions while limiting the companies’ liability when there is a disaster!  The winners in all of our President’s policies take their rewards to the bank.  Woe is unto the rest of us.

Finally, I have said too many times to recall the number, that politics is not a beauty contest, nor is it a popularity contest.  Politics is about power and policy.  And unless we cast our votes for the candidates who represent our best policy options, then we are practicing the politics of self-abnegation.  Nowhere is that more clear than in the case of the Black community where even thoughtful critique of our President is unwelcome.  I want so much to change the world, but feel like Harriet Tubman must have felt when she approached slaves who did not want to be free because they didn’t even know that they were enslaved!

Link: http://www.facebook.com/notes/cynthia-mckinney/president-obama-gets-his-groove-back-by-attacking-africans-by-cynthia-mckinney/10150141611341139

Typically Democrats and Republicans (and the media) ignore the Green Party whenever possible, but lately there has been a shift in attention as conservative groups are starting to use the Green Party to scare and influence voters to vote for or against other candidates.

Case in point – the Wisconsin Supreme Court election on April 5. The conservative incumbent, David Prosser, has suddenly found himself in trouble in a race against Madison attorney JoAnne Kloppenburg, an Assistant Attorney General. The race has grown to major significance because the collective bargaining rights bill that the GOP passed will likely be addressed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to determine whether it is legal. If Prosser retains his seat on the Supreme Court than a Conservative bloc will make that decision, while if Kloppenburg wins the race, a “Liberal” bloc will likely overturn the law. Consequently labor unions and others are throwing everything they have to get Kloppenburg elected.

Prosser and the the conservative groups that support him must be feeling the heat, and two weeks ago they began to go on the offensive against Kloppenburg. Among the many charges they have laid against her include her association with Ben Manski, the Green Party candidate for State Assembly who won 31% of the vote last November.

Here is what the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (a pro-business lobbying group) sent out in a fund raising letter last week:

WMC Issues Mobilization Council, Inc. is launching a television ad campaign to counter the distortions from government unions and their allies about Justice Prosser. Justice Prosser has been a solid, rule-of-law jurist who has taken on the activist wing of the court. Kloppenburg, who has never been a judge, has strong ties to Wisconsin’s extreme left, including endorsement by the former national co-chairman of the radical Green Party, Ben Manski.

Prosser himself has added the “Green Party Boogieman” to his talking points, using it on public radio interviews and at forums. Here is a quote from Prosser’s piece in the Madison Capital Times:

My largely unknown opponent hides her extreme ideological views behind a Mary Poppins persona. A candidate who supports Green Party candidates and principles should be willing to admit that publicly. A candidate who won’t forthrightly acknowledge her views disrespects the voters’ right to make an informed choice.

And now, days before the the April 5 election, the Green Party has been invoked in Letters to the Editor across the state. See for example the Oshkosh Northwestern, Steven’s Point Journal, Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, Appleton Post Crescent, WiscNews, etc.

Will this tactic work against Kloppenburg, (who is NOT a Green Party member, by the way), or is this the last desperate attempt to save Prosser’s seat?

Next case: Oklahoma City, where a run-off election for a City Council seat between Charles Swinton, a banker, and Ed Shadid, a spinal surgeon, who apparently ran as an Independent candidate for State Assembly last year with the backing of the Green Party. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent on the City Council races in Oklahoma City, and with this district the last one to be resolved, Shadid has become a target. The mailers being sent out speak louder than words (click for full size image):

The Green Party – the Right Wing’s new “Boogeyman”

Email from Green Party activist Edy:

Forward this around the country!! Thanks!!

So I had a conversation online and the question came up if it would be un-Green like to take money from Republicans in order to help fund a campaign. Ralph Nader didn’t do it in his 2000, 2004 runs to give you some perspective, but what about the rest of the Greens?

I would suppose I would personally be ok with the idea, as long as the money wasn’t directly donated by some corporation.(Figuring out if it was directly donated from a corporation could be tricky).

What if the money was given to us by Democrats? Would that be more acceptable? What if the race involved only a Green up against a Republican and a Democrat donated money to our campaign? Again, as long as it’s not corporation money.

I know how much big money is tied up with both parties, so taking money which isn’t necessarily corporate-donated could be tricky.

The point that I want to make is that we are a political party. We are playing hardball against both corporate parties. No more time for saying “Next time” or “I’m busy.” (Insert not so important issue/excuse that you couldn’t give two hours a week to help the Green Party). We need money. That’s the reality. This is not the time to be timid or over-sensitive to the Green Party stance. Remember, what is the goal? To elect Green Party representatives and to improve the lives of our fellow citizens.

read more »

Gene Berkman at Independent Political Report:

Medea Benjamin was The Green Party candidate for U.S. Senator from California in 2000. Challenging Sen. Diane Feinstein’s record of support for bombing Serbia, and her earlier support for Bush Sr’s war in Iraq, Ms Benjamiin received 327,000 votes, over 3% and coming in third.

When all you have is bombs, everything starts to look like a target. And so after years of providing Libya’s dictator with the weapons he’s been using against the people, all the international community – France, Britain and the United States – has to offer the people of Libya is more bombs, this time dropped from the sky rather than delivered in a box to Muammar Gadhafi’s palace.

If the bitter lesson of Iraq and Afghanistan has taught us anything, though, it’s that wars of liberation exact a deadly toll on those they purportedly liberate – and that democracy doesn’t come on the back of a Tomahawk missile.

President Barack Obama announced his latest peace-through-bombs initiative last week — joining ongoing U.S. conflicts and proxy wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia — by declaring he could not “stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people that there will be no mercy, and … where innocent men and women face brutality and death at the hands of their own government.”

read the full commentary, co-authored with Charles Davis @ http://original.antiwar.com/medea-benjamin-davis/2011/03/23/instead-of-bombing-dictators-stop-selling-them-bombs/

By Ralph Nader at Nader.org:

The unfolding multiple nuclear reactor catastrophe in Japan is prompting overdue attention to the 104 nuclear plants in the United States—many of them aging, many of them near earthquake faults, some on the west coast exposed to potential tsunamis.

Nuclear power plants boil water to produce steam to turn turbines that generate electricity. Nuclear power’s overly complex fuel cycle begins with uranium mines and ends with deadly radioactive wastes for which there still are no permanent storage facilities to contain them for tens of thousands of years.

Atomic power plants generate 20 percent of the nation’s electricity. Over forty years ago, the industry’s promoter and regulator, the Atomic Energy Commission estimated that a full nuclear meltdown could contaminate an area “the size of Pennsylvania” and cause massive casualties. You, the taxpayers, have heavily subsidized nuclear power research, development, and promotion from day one with tens of billions of dollars.
read more »

Ralph Nader at Nader.org:

Dear Vice President Biden:

Word has reached us from reliable sources that the unions in Wisconsin tendered an invitation sometime last week or earlier for you to appear at one of the growing rallies in Madison protesting the legislative straitjacketing of public employee unions. Since you have just returned from trips to Russia and other autocratic nations where you talked about facilitating more democracy and competitive elections, it was no surprise for us to hear from our sources that you were eager to go to Madison. After all, you like to call yourself a “union guy”.

According to protocol the invitation to speak was forwarded to the White House where the political operatives turned it down. Political operatives do not turn down the Vice President of the United States without clearing the decision with President Barack Obama.

We know that your role is always to play the “good soldier” but in this case can you verify the above reports? If you choose not to, can you say at least that you want to go to Madison to speak to one of the diverse gatherings—the likes of which has not been seen for many years—of workers—union and non-union—farmers, students both from Universities and high schools and other hardworking people both active in democratic causes and inactive but wanting to lend their support to opposing the Republican reactionaries and corporatists?

What say you, Mr. Vice President?

Sincerely yours,

Ralph Nader

Ross Levin offers a diary of goings on in the Green Party in the Philadelphia area. Titled “Keepin busy with the Philly Greens – a march, a dinner, a meeting, and a concert”, Levin details upcoming events in the area, including a concert by Tom Neilson, a march to end foreclosures and an upcoming membership meeting.

In another article at OpEdNews, writer Joe Giambrone writes about his frustrations at what he sees as the failure of the Green Party to make itself available to those who are interested in getting involved. The article, titled “An open letter to a broken Green Party”, details his frustrations at websites that are not updated, emails left unanswered, and party registration that did not result in his being contacted by the state party.

Chris Hedges at Truthdig interviews Ralph Nader and together paint a persuasive argument in an article “The Left Has Nowhere To Go”.

A vote for Nader or Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney in 2008 was an act of defiance. A vote for Obama and the Democrats was an act of submission. We cannot afford to be submissive anymore.

Some exerpts, on the complicity of the Media:

“The so-called liberal media, along with Fox, is touting the tea party and publicizing Palin,” Nader said.
…
“If we don’t raise hell, we won’t get any media,” Nader said. “If we don’t get any media, the perception will be that the tea party is the big deal.”
…
“Three thousand people rallied to protest the invasion and massacre in Gaza two years ago,” Nader said. “It was held four blocks from The Washington Post. It did not get a single paragraph. People should march over to the Post and say ‘Fuck you! What are you doing here? You cover every little blip by the right-wing and you don’t cover us?’

On the Unions:

“Every major movement starts with field organizers, the farmers, unions, and the civil rights movement,” Nader said. “But there is nothing out there. We need to start learning from what was done in the past. All over the country people are pissed off. They hate Wall Street. They know they are being gouged. They know they are slipping behind. They know their kids will not be as well off as they were, and they were not that well off. But no one is putting it together. Who could put a thousand organizers in the field, besides George Soros? The labor unions. They have the money. They have a lot of cash. These idiots are going down. The UAW is a paradigm of a suicidal, supplicant labor union. It is disgusting. They are a puppy dog of GM, Ford and Chrysler.

Please read it all here.

Scott McClarty, Media Coordinator for the Green Party (US), has a piece at OpEdNews, a Memo to Progressives:

Is it time for progressive, antiwar, and pro-environmental activists and voters to look beyond the Democratic Party and seek other alliances?

There’s only one plausible excuse left for such voters to remain loyal to the Dems in the realm of electoral politics: to prevent the GOP from winning. Some progressives insist that we need to continue supporting Democrats because of Supreme Court appointments (although Dems in Congress have approved some of the most ideologically rigid Republican appointees) and to save reproductive rights (already watered down, with Democratic help), but these are corollaries of the ‘defeat the Republicans’ argument.

Is this enough reason to invest eternal hope in the Democratic Party? Is there any future for progressives beyond excuse-making?

It’s no secret that voters who call themselves progressive have been frustrated by the Obama Administration’s broken promise of “change we can believe in.” The list of disappointments is extensive:
read more »

Sam Smith, editor of the Progressive Review, has a piece on Counterpunch called When Green Matters. It focuses on the relative success of Green Party candidate Fred Horch in Maine and the past success of John Eder in Maine and why we should pay attention. Please read it all, but I have to reprint the conclusion:

Horch and Eder are examples of backyard Greens, whose influence spreads virally through human contact and experience and not through the mass media. It’s the way every great drive for social change has worked in America – the abolitionists, the populists, the early socialists, and the civil rights movement. Unfortunately, too many Green leaders have read too much Marx and not enough American history.

The big parties gave up human relationships long ago. Which is why we have such a hard time relating to them. But you can’t text your way to the presidency, you can’t Facebook a revolution and you can’t save the planet with Twitter. At some point real people have to join with, talk to, and help other real people.

Which is why a Green small business owner in Brunswick did so well and why so many others could learn something from the story.

Last week the Green Party’s National Committee passed a new Fiscal Policy intended to position the Party for financial growth going into 2011 and beyond. Now the National Committee is discussing the proposed 2011 Budget for the Party, which is (again) optimistic in light of the economic collapse this country is facing and the effect this economy has had on funding for non-profits. To the credit of this proposed budget it does more closely tie proposed expenditures to fund-raising targets, and it actually budgets for electoral support such as Ballot Access and Campaign support, something sorely missing from prior budgets.

But let me be frank – the Green Party of the United States, given that it does not accept corporate funding and is not eligible for public financing, is almost entirely funded by small donations from Greens like you and I. There are no National Membership Dues, there are only pleas for financial support. The financial support from us “Greens on the Street” have paid for having an office in DC, paid for having a Political Director, and Office Manager, and until recently a Fundraiser and Accountant. The Green Party (US) Budget has typically been shoe string at best, half or one-third that of the Libertarian Party, and likely a fraction of the budget of the two Corporate Parties that control our government and electoral system.

In fact, I will go a step further and say that there are months in which the Green Party (US) has had to decide between paying staff salaries on time versus paying off debts to creditors versus paying the rent. Sound familiar? Yup, many of us have been in the same boat.

Green Party Watch is a website dedicated to covering news and views about the Green Party, particularly the Green Party in the US, and without the Green Party we would have nothing to cover. Our goals in creating this website were primarily to help raise awareness online and through the media of what the Green Party is doing, what Green Party Candidates are doing, and what Green Party locals and state parties are doing. Green Party Watch is an ALL VOLUNTEER EFFORT. We have never asked for any money, we have never asked for any compensation for our time and work, and we don’t intend to. We have no paid advertisements on this site, there are no pop-ups, no Google ads, nothing.

We intend to continue this ad-free public service to Greens across the United States and beyond because we believe in expanding media coverage of the Green Party in order to fill that void in our corporate media, and we believe in helping to build a stronger community awareness of the Green Party by spreading the word of what the Green Party is up to, good or bad.

So now comes my rare and special plea to you, the Green Party Watch reader. I’m not going to ask for financial support for Green Party Watch (we don’t need it, not really). I’m not going to ask for support for my own campaign for City Council in Oshkosh, Wisconsin this Spring.

I am asking you to join me in making a small financial contribution to the Green Party of the United States.

Why? I won’t tell you that it is for campaign support or ballot access or anything other than what it is – A donation to KEEP THE GREEN PARTY IN THE BLACK. A donation to keep the office doors open, to keep the phone bill paid, to pay for mailings, to pay for merchandise, to pay for health insurance for the two or three employees the Green Party retains, to pay for travel costs to prepare the Annual National Meeting, to pay for the general operating expenses of an organization.

But not just any organization, the Green Party is NOT the Sierra Club. The Green Party is a bootstrap grassroots political organization that has a skeleton staff, low overhead costs, and no corporate ties. Nonetheless when I call 1-866-41-GREEN I reach an actual human who can answer my questions.

A donation to support the Green Party Candidate Database which we have used so extensively in our reporting here at GPW, and expanded coverage of Local Candidates. A donation to support continued Media Outreach, better web presence, LiveFeeds, support for a Local Organizing Kit, Publication of Green Pages, and more.

Green Party Watch gets around 500 visitors a day. During Election times or Israeli kidnapping of Cynthia McKinney we get thousands of hits a day. We have almost 1,500 people subscribed to our Facebook feed. None of this would be relevant without the Green Party. I have arranged with the Green Party (US) to set up a specific fund-raising campaign for the Green Party from Green Party Watch. I am now asking all of the GPW readers to either make a large or small donation to the Green Party or to become a sustaining member, whatever you can manage. Lets put our money where our mouths are.

I am pledging a $100 donation to the Green Party if someone will match me. Who’s in? $50? $25? How about the price of a pizza delivery?

Lets give a gift to the Green Party from Green Party Watch letting them know that we want them to keep the doors open, the phones on, and the candidates to support!

Comments MORE than welcome!

While we at Green Party Watch gather results from yesterday’s races, check out this excellent article from Scott Tucker at Truthdig entitled “Apocalypse Again: The Boom-and-Bust Cycle of Bipartisan Politics”. An excerpt:

In Pennsylvania, the Democratic Party has used the courts as blunt instruments against the candidates of the Green Party. Using the “independent judiciary” as partisan brass knuckles may seem thuggish, but the bipartisan lockdown of elections can also be achieved by selling voters a false bargain. This is what happened when Proposition 14 was sold to Californians as a great electoral reform. It was nothing of the kind; it was designed to bump independent and insurgent parties off the ballot, and it may yet succeed. Recently, the Green gubernatorial candidate in California, Laura Wells, was denied the chance to debate the two corporate candidates at a public forum. When she tried to attend the event as a member of the audience, she was arrested. That story was then broadcast online and went over, under and around much of the traditional news media.