I have returned from the Annual National Meeting in Durham, NC. I am very tired and will be unable to post more for tonight. I did want to make two observations.
First, the people I liked before attending this meeting I still liked. Those who turned me off in the past still turn me off. That is my problem and not an indictment of them. Instead it is an affirmation for those of you who have faith in the Green Party that your faith is not misplaced. The Greens you trust and respect are as deserving of your trust and appreciation as you have believed in the past.
Secondly, the Green Party is not on the decline. We are struggling with serious financial problem, but we seem to have learned from past mistakes. No one was laying blame on others. Instead, everyone was taking personal responsibility, not for getting us in this situation but fior moving on to bigger and better things. I am as proud and hopeful to be in the Green Party as I have ever been.
Finally, GPW has rounded the first 100,000 hits. I want to thank personally and pubically all the writers, commenters, and you, our readers, for making GPW a bigger success than any of us had expected. We are going to do great things and I am so glad to be able to play a small role in our success.
Here is the complete text of the Declaration of Independence.
The original spelling and capitalization have been retained.
(Adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776)
The Unanimous Declaration
of the Thirteen United States of America
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Ronald Kane Hardy, founder of Green Party Watch, was told by our hosting company that the site has gotten a sudden burst of hits, leading to the site being intermittently unavailable. They inform us that the site hosting has been transferred to another hosting machine to deal with the new traffic. That does not come without a cost.
For the first time since Green Party Watch was established over a year ago we are considering turning to you, our readers, for help. No decisions have been made about how to do this, and we don’t anticipate a huge need, but it is not fair to have Ron carry this burden alone. We hope that, if we can figure out how to do so, many of you will offer small donations to defray the costs of keeping GPW available as your best source for Green Party news and views.
We have had fun with our fly catching frog banner over the last year but it is time for a change. We want a new “masthead” for the Green Party Watch website, and we want your help!
We are now soliciting designs for our new Green Party Watch banner and we are making it a contest. Our team of editors will review all entries, and select our three favorites. Then we’ll put the ball back in your hands and allow the Green Party readership and contributors to select our new banner!
How to Submit an entry:
Design us a banner, 970 pixels by 140 pixels (give or take). It should say “Green Party Watch” on it. Other than that – we’re open to anything! Send your image to gpw@greenpartywatch.org and include any additional information you want (like why you made it the way you made it, etc.) All submissions should be sent in by Friday July 10. Starting the week after we will showcase the best submissions and see what you think! (Bonus: Add a 170×170 box version for bonus points…)
If you have any suggestions for banners, feel free to drop them in the comments below.
~the management
Many have asked in previous posts and threads, “Why the low numbers? What have we learned? What do we do now?” With respect to the numbers, I believe that one reason is the distractions and changes in the political landscape. If you were looking for a reason not to vote Green, you could easily find one between Obama Mania, Nader’s Crusade, the Green Party speaking to its key values outside of environmentalism, the Green Party presenting a face that is younger and not so anglo, or the fact that the Green Party is not the hip, trending thing for progressives.
But what we gain and learn from this data is incredible. It demonstrates that we take our registrants for granted at times, and assume who they may vote, assume why they register, assume what they think. These numbers also demonstrate that we need a stronger, more informed base. We can’t wait until the green convention happens to start getting ready. We need to education people on the issues. We need to be ready for Obama/Clinton/Bush/Palin Mania. We need ammo ready to shell out and dollars. We need to network. We need to compete with the duopoly in terms of multimedia, websites and user generated material to reach the younger generation. We need to be informed ourselves to better convince people. We need, we need, we need. And we will. Things start today. read more »
Once Again the Democrats proved they are no different than the GOP by passing the War Funding Act yesterday. Green Party members ought to be proud of the fact that we are the only party calling for an end to the invasion of Iraq. Again, we see how the wheeling and dealing in Washington has now turn’s Bush’s folly into Obama’s folly.
Wilson, Ryan, support War Funding Bill…It’s the Democrats War now
House approves war supplemental
By Mike Soraghan and Walter Alarkon
Posted: 06/16/09 06:43 PM [ET]
The House passed a $106 billion war spending bill Tuesday after a day of intense lobbying by House Democratic leaders to persuade their most liberal members to vote in support of their president.
The 226-202 vote spared President Obama and House leaders an embarrassing defeat on a bill that Obama had made personal efforts to get passed. The bill had lacked enough Democratic support to pass only hours before. read more »
Editor’s note: Dennis Spisak is co-editor of GreenBeat and Green Party Watch’s newest writer. The full text of GreenBeat can be found by clicking on this article’s headline.
As 52 of you know, GPW posts are now being Twittered. We are using Twitterfeed.com to post GPW feeds to our Twitter account.
Because we don’t want to make people mad by sending them tweets after normal bedtime we are posting only during reasonable hours using GPW’s post-dating feature. This post, for example, is being written at 5:45 AM East Coast Time, but won’t appear, nor be tweeted until 9:45 AM.
There was apparently a glitch either in Twitterfeed or our particular account yesterday, and posts to the site were not being sent. I posted them directly via the web, and then twitterfeed sent the same post five hours later. From now on we will wait until Twitterfeed fixes whatever problems they have and avoid sending the same info to you twice.
If you are not one of our Twitter subscribers this doesn’t matter to you, but if you don’t subscribe, why not give it a whirl.
Please consider joining the GPUS group in particular. There are currently 954 members and it would be so cool if that number topped 1000 because of sign-ups from here.
If you are involved in a Facebook group that is specifically Green Party oriented, state, local, candidate, national, caucus…whatever, please post it in the comments and I’ll bring it to the front and include it in a future post.
In 1931 a dime was a lot more than it is today. An hour is still an hour though, and as valuable today as it was in 1931.
Here at Green Party Watch we are always impressed and amazed at the time and effort Greens are willing to give in the pursuit of what we know is a serious uphill challenge. That said, what choices do we really have? Once you know, you know. We can’t just pretend that solar power is going to be brought to the market by the powers that be. We can’t pretend that our water is going to be kept clean and affordable when we know that, world wide, wars will be fought over a commodity we often don’t even think about.
If, like us, you are impressed at all these efforts, and especially if you know how many of us toil in relative obscurity, won’t you consider sparing an hour from time to time? We here at GPW do need more writers, and that will be forever so, but there is more we can use. To help shed light on the work of our fellow Greens, GPW needs people willing and able to help us with projects like FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube. We need more help with the Blog Talk Radio show, and projects we haven’t even considered as yet.
Imagine, for example, Greens across the nation using a central portal to sell things they no longer need via Ebay or Craig’s List to raise cash for the Green Party. Imagine Greens reaching out to artists for donations to help raise money for ballot access efforts. Imagine Greens writing, editing and self-publishing books on Green topics and selling them as wide and far as possible.
The bottom line is, this revolution must be organic. It cannot be forced. It cannot be bought or sold. It will not happen online. But your efforts, online and in the streets, can help make it happen.
Won’t you consider helping, especially if you have time and no local efforts to focus on? Do any of these ideas hit home? Please, drop us a note or leave a comment here. The momentum is building. We can do it.
“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime,” lyrics by Yip Harburg, music by Jay Gorney (1931)
They used to tell me I was building a dream, and so I followed the mob,
When there was earth to plow, or guns to bear, I was always there right on the job.
They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead,
Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad; now it’s done. Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower, up to the sun, brick, and rivet, and lime;
Once I built a tower, now it’s done. Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell,
Full of that Yankee Doodly Dum,
Half a million boots went slogging through Hell,
And I was the kid with the drum!
Say, don’t you remember, they called me Al; it was Al all the time.
Why don’t you remember, I’m your pal? Buddy, can you spare a dime?
Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell,
Full of that Yankee Doodly Dum,
Half a million boots went slogging through Hell,
And I was the kid with the drum!
Say, don’t you remember, they called me Al; it was Al all the time.
Say, don’t you remember, I’m your pal? Buddy, can you spare a dime?
Beginning at the beginning, I will undertake the effort to provide at least some information about each state’s Green Party. Please do not assume that what is written here is complete or even fair, as I will have to depend on what Greens I can find in each state along the way. There is no set time table for these reports so don’t be upset if the state you are most interested in doesn’t get covered as fast as you might like.
The hope is that we can help bring new involvement to each state, and perhaps reinvigorate state parties that have lain somewhat dormant in recent months. Of course many states are not even close to needing any help from me, and in those cases I feel sure that readers will find their own way to use provided links and other resources.
According to my contact in Alabama the state party is in serious need of new members and new leadership. The party leadership has, by and large, avoided deep involvement in national GP politics and thereby tried to avoid burn-out. Even so, Alabama has not yet become fertile ground for the Green Party. While apparently a bit worn out from years of trying to carry the banner aloft without much support the state’s leadership is committed to the long tern success of the Green Party and our ideals.
The most vital things the current state party leadership wants are new membership and some indication that their efforts will bear fruit.
I invite any readers who live in Alabama, or who have friends or family who live there, to comment here or write me at GreggJocoy@yahoo.com. I believe that Greens who attend the School of the Americas protest at Fort Benning GA will have a chance to meet folks from Alabama who share our Green Values, and while a protest is not enough to build a foundation for a growing Green Party, it may well give the Alabama Greens the sort of fresh ideas and new people they need to get the ball rolling again.
As I explained to my contact in Alabama, my goal is to focus attention on each state one at a time in hopes that we can help make them a bit stronger. This is not a national party effort. No one has “approved” this effort. No one, other than you, is being reported to. No one is responsible for doing anything with this information. It is just an effort by one Green to help other Greens in the belief that we are all stronger if each individual Green is stronger and if each Green has a viable group of other Greens to work with.
The good Reverend will join us here at Green Party Watch Radio for a very special program. Tuesday, April 14th at 5pm he will join us for a conversation about his campaign for Mayor of New York City on the Green Party ticket, the ideas behind the Church of Life After Shopping, what it’s like being the subject of a Morgan Spurlock film and answers the question, what would Jesus buy?
I realize that it might seem like overkill to focus on Green blogs when they are already linked on the site in our blogroll, and mentioning these in particular doesn’t mean that the others are not equally worthy of your time, but these are some of the ones I try to read at least once a week or so.
First, considering that we have been talking a bit about organizing rural Greens, it seems appropriate to point to Appalachian Greens. (AG) Updated often and well written, the site will educate you about the real appalachia and their issues. Beverly Hillbillies it is not.
In like manner, California Greening (CG) covers both rural and urban issues from a Green perspective. One interesting note about CG is, like our National Political Director, at least one of the writers there is a former Republican. Like AG, and GPW, CG is a joint effort, with three contributors.
News for Greens and it’s companion blog Greens for Greens are written by Roger Snyder. Snyder is in New York, and covers not only the Green Party, as we do here, but also covers news of interest to Greens. While you are unlikely to read about global climate change here unless it relates to a GP action or a candidate, Roger brings that, and more, to the table.
Likewise another joint blog, On The Wilder Side, written by the wife and husband team of Kimberly and Ian Wilder. These two cover not only Green Party issues, but also cover non-GP topics Greens care about, music, and poetry. Man (and woman) can’t live by politics alone! It should be noted that Kimberly is no longer a member of the GP, but does a fine job of covering Greens nonetheless.
Ester Republic(ER) is all things Alaskan. Like AG, ER is focused on a part of the country most of us only know from TV and movies. While Ice Road Truckers gives one perspective, ER shows us all that Alaska is not only populated with folks waiting to spoil the environment for a fist full of dollars. Professionally written, this is one pleasure to read.
Again, this is not to say that all of the linked blogs are not worth your time…they are indeed! I visit most of them from time to time, and a few not yet on our blogroll. Got your own favorites? Let us all know. Post a link or at least the blog’s name in the comments so we can all check them out.
We have had fun with our fly catching frog banner over the last year but it is time for a change. We want a new “masthead” for the Green Party Watch website, and we want your help! 
