With Obama and Cantor and all the other Republicrats sucking up to aging baby boomers and bailing out insurance corporations, its good to know that there are other places in the world that know how to handle health care. With more debt and destruction on it’s way thanks to our current duopoly government, how much longer will Americans have to wait for a basic modicum of care for all citizens?From  TheDailyBeast.com :

 When Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks was diagnosed with cancer overseas, she didn’t hightail it back home, to “the best health care in the world”—she stayed in Australia, home to a humane, rational system.

In 2004, I’d just finished a novel and by way of celebration had taken my family for an extended visit to Australia, where I was born and raised.

I didn’t expect that trip to save my life. But I’m convinced it did, because of Australia’s “socialized” medicine.

 Lets get those offshore wind turbines turning…From SmartPlanet.com :

 Texas is increasingly relying on wind turbines to create electric power and that’s annoying the state’s natural gas industry.

The Wall Street Journal chronicles the wind power vs. natural gas feud. The Journal notes how the argument that wind power is a compliment to other fuels doesn’t hold up. Turns out wind can be a replacement for other fuels. Meanwhile, the wind turbine industry has matured rapidly to the point where it can be a replacement.

And the real kicker: Tudor Pickering & Holt, a Houston investment bank, contends that the natural gas used to power electric plants could fall by 18.5 percent by 2013 as plants sit idle.

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES

http://www.gp.orgFor Immediate Release:Friday, February 26, 2010Contacts:Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.orgStarlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org“A real Tea Party movement would look like the Green Party”: Greens urge Americans to reject corporate royalists and faux populists like Limbaugh, Beck, and Palin, citing Jefferson’s warning about “the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations”Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on health care reform, democracy, corporate power, and related issues: http://www.gp.org/speakersWASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders and candidates said that many Tea Party activists might be in the wrong party and urged them to consider going Green.”Not all Tea Party members are befuddled rightwingers screeching that President Obama is a socialist, fascist, pro-terrorist, or all of the above. Many Tea Partiers have legitimate concerns about how the Democratic Party’s health care reform plans will reduce Medicare and about trillion-dollar taxpayer-funded giveaways to Wall Street firms. They are as outraged as Greens are about how both Democrats and Republicans are coddling CEOs, major stockholders, and other wealthy elites while preaching sacrifice for the rest of us,” said Carl Romanelli, former Green candidate for the US Senate and a member of Health Care for All Pennsylvania (http://healthcare4allpa.org).Greens said corporate royalists like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin who pose as populist leaders have hijacked the Tea Party movement.”Republicans and rightwing ideologues in the media are thrilled with a Tea Party movement that will channel votes and money towards extremist GOP politicians. Their idea of the Tea Party has nothing to do with the 1773 Boston Tea Party. They prefer a movement full of people who would have denounced the original Boston Tea Party as leftist terrorism against the British East India Company. They would have criticized Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine for wanting to rein in what Jefferson called ‘the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations.’ * To these Tea Partiers, and to most Republican and Democratic politicians, restraints on corporate power are a symptom of ‘big government.’ Many of the Tea Partiers who vented their rage against health care reform at town hall meetings in 2009 were in effect defending the power of health insurance companies — the modern equivalents of British tea companies — to drive people who need medical care into financial ruin,” said Rodger Jennings, Green candidate for Congress in Illinois, District 12 (http://www.rodgerjennings.org).Green Party leaders noted that media coverage of health care reform gave a megaphone to the anti-reform Tea Partiers at town hall meetings, while mostly ignoring advocates of Medicare For All (Single-Payer national health care), including many Green Party members, who protested vociferously against the plans offered by President Obama and Democrats in Congress. Examples of such protests include Medicare For All activists disrupting Congressional hearings and burning insurance forms outside meetings of insurance company lobbyists.Greens, like true fiscal conservatives, oppose subsidies for health insurance companies in the Democratic plans, including proposed ‘mandates’ that would require enrollment. The Green Party has warned that, whether Obamacare is enacted or Republicans succeed in blocking reform, the real winners will be the health insurance, pharmaceutical, and other industry lobbies.Greens also compared the invasive homeland security measures favored by Republicans and Democrats to the bullying tactics of the British Army and requirement that colonists house British troops on demand.”We need a Tea Party movement that opposes warrantless surveillance of American citizens, torture, invasion of other countries, and other violations of the US Constitution. We need a Tea Party that calls the ‘general welfare of the people,’ including the right to medical care, more important than the right of insurance and pharmaceutical companies to shake down patients and deny treatment. We need a Tea Party against predatory private prisons, the war on drugs, and mass incarceration of Americans. We need a Tea Party that defends future generations of Americans rather than corporate polluters,” said Lynne Williams, Green-Independent candidate for Governor of Maine (http://www.lynnewilliams2010.org).”We need a Tea Party that recognizes corporations as artificial entities created by government fiat, and that corporations must not enjoy the same free speech and other constitutional rights as humans. A real Tea Party movement would look like the Green Party,” said Ms. Williams.* “I hope we shall… crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and to bid defiance to the laws of our country.” ~ Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Logan, November 12, 1816MORE INFORMATIONGreen Party of the United States http://www.gp.org202-319-7191, 866-41GREENGreen candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtmlGreen Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtmlGreen Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakersGreen Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-electionsGreen Party Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyusGreen Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United StatesWinter 2010 issue now onlinehttp://gp.org/greenpages-blog~ END ~

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATEShttp://www.gp.orgFor Immediate Release:Thursday, February 25, 2010Contacts:Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.orgStarlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.orgGreen Party urges a program for millions of new public works jobs and financial security for Americans instead of Wall Street handoutsGreen Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on economic policy, racial justice, and related issues: http://www.gp.org/speakersWASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders said today that Democratic and Republican politicians are pursuing fiscal agenda, including responses to the subprime mortgage crisis, that amount to an “economic war” on Black and Latino/a people across the US.Greens especially criticized President Obama, whose bailouts for Wall Street firms have done little to provide economic security for those who were among his most enthusiastic supporters in the 2008 election.Derek Grigsby, chair of the Detroit Green Party and member of the Green Party Black Caucus (http://www.gp.org/caucuses/black/index.php): “The Green Party demands an end to the ‘two party’ economic war on Black people and Latinos and on working and poor Americans of all races. Instead of Wall Street bailouts, we need assistance for those who’ve lost their homes and jobs. Millions of new jobs can be created through public works in conservation, retrofitting and greening houses and infrastructure, and expanded public transportation. We need to cancel the wasteful war on drugs, end racially biased sentencing and other criminal justice system disparities, and abolish private ownership of prisons. Black, Latino, and poor Americans have been made fodder for the private prison industry, which profits by filling up cells. We need reparations for the descendents of slaves, recognizing the hundreds of years of stolen labor and post-slavery exploitation and discrimination. We must immediately call an end to the murderous escapades in Iraq and Afghanistan and bring our sons and daughters home now. These steps would lead to an economic recovery that benefits all Americans, and show the rest of the world that we practice what we preach!”Tony Affigne, Green Party National Committee delegate from Rhode Island, Latino community activist: “Outside of the Green Party, few politicians want to recognize racial economic disparities and how they’ve been aggravated by the current financial crisis. In September, the unemployment rate for Blacks was 15.7%; the underemployment rate for Blacks was 23.8 percent and for Latinos 25.1%. The poverty rate for Black children is nearly 35%. But Democrats and Republicans in the White House and Congress are resisting the necessary massive public works program necessary to create jobs and reverse such figures, out of deference to corporate lobbies that prefer a desperate labor force. They promise a private sector miracle that isn’t going to happen. This amounts to a vicious bipartisan policy of inaction to help Americans most in need.”Alfred Molison, Green candidate for Houston City Council and member of the Green Party Black Caucus (http://votealfred.com): “President Obama and other leaders like to preach moral lessons to Black people while slashing the safety net and providing minimal assistance for homeowners and job-seekers. We’re seeing lots of blame on the alleged ‘cultural deficiencies’ of Black people, such as single-mother family statistics and ‘cycles of poverty’ rhetoric that ignores imposed economic factors and a justice system too eager to incarcerate Blacks. Meanwhile, the profits of financial corporations — including those responsible for the current crisis — are now underwritten by US taxpayers to the tune of nearly $24 trillion (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/20/bailout-may-cost-237-tril_n_241512.html). All Americans are becoming victims of the Democratic-Republican assault on working people and dedication to Wall Street’s economic elites, with Black people and Latinos suffering the worst.”Betty Davis, co-chair of the Green Party Black Caucus (http://www.gp.org/caucuses/black/index.php): “Blacks and Latinos were primary targets for lending corporations offering high-interest subprime loans, and were thus disproportionately hit by the subprime mortgage crisis. Blacks were especially vulnerable to such loans because they were denied the equity that whites have long enjoyed, a result of Federal Housing Administration redlining and racial discrimination in the granting of housing loans and mortgages during the mid 20th century. These policies have had profound effects on the finances of Blacks long after discriminatory practices were outlawed. The Center for Responsible Lending has found that, because of the mortgage meltdown, Latinos will have lost between $75 billion and $98 billion and Blacks between $71 billion and $92 billion in home-value wealth. The victims of subprime loans should be first in line for aid that restores financial stability and the ability to keep one’s home.”MORE INFORMATIONGreen Party of the United States http://www.gp.org202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN• Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections• Green Party Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyusGreen Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United StatesWinter 2010 issue now onlinehttp://gp.org/greenpages-blog~ END ~

From SinglePayerAction.org :

 As the White House was unveiling it’s insurance industry-friendly Obamacare plan this morning, workers were unfurling a different message on a billboard in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia.

“What Would Jesus Do?” the billboard asks.

“Start Over. Single Payer. Health Care for All. Everybody in. Nobody Out.”

We are inviting you for this great Conference in African Isuues: “Sudan inWorld, African, and Disapora African Politics.”The Conference will take place at Virginia Union University on March 6thand 7th from 7:am to 9:pm. with welcoming gathering on Friday 5th from7:pm 9pm. Please read these letters if you have any question call WilliamDeng at 804-218-6360. We are looking forward to seeing you in ourConference. The former Pastor of President of the United States JeremiahWright will open our Conference on Saturday at 10:am

February 24, 2010Dear Friends:A quick reminder that tomorrow, Thursday, February 25, is the National Call-Congress Day to stop the Obama Administration’s proposed $54 Billion loan program for new nuclear reactor construction–otherwise known as a giant taxpayer giveaway to wealthy nuclear corporations.You can reach every member of Congress through the Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121.We ask that your call your House Representative and both of your Senators, if at all possible.Our asks are these:*we want them to publicly oppose the President’s request for a tripling of the Department of Energy loan “guarantee” program to $54 Billion.*we want them to vote against this program in committee if possible and on the floor if it comes to the floor.We are supplementing the Call-Congress Day with your letters.*If you haven’t written to your Representative yet this week, please do so here.*If you haven’t written to your Senators yet this week, please do so here.Please drop us a quick e-mail (to nirsnet@nirs.org) and let us know that you called, and any response you receive.This is a National Call-Congress Day, being sponsored by several groups, including NIRS, Public Citizen, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Beyond Nuclear, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and others.Let’s keep those phones ringing all day long! Help us spread the word! Make sure everyone has the opportunity to participate. Your actions matter!Thanks for all you do,Michael MariotteExecutive DirectorNuclear Information and Resource Servicenirsnet@nirs.orgwww.nirs.orgP.S. if you’ve never signed the statement on nuclear power and climate (“We do not support construction of new nuclear reactors as a means of addressing the climate crisis. Available renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies are faster, cheaper, safer and cleaner strategies for reducing greenhouse emissions than nuclear power.”),please visit our home page, www.nirs.org to sign.

(Distributed by the Green Party of the United States (http://www.gp.org). The Progressive Party of Missouri is an affiliate of the Green Party.)Midge Potts for US Senate 2010http://www.electmidge.comContact: Midge Pottsmidge@electmidge.com417-893-1398FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEFebruary 23rd, 2010Progressive Party Co-Chair Intends to Walk Throughout Missouri During CampaignSpringfield, MO - Tuesday was the first day for Missouri political hopefuls to register to run for office in the August primary election. While the recognized parties will hold primaries, the Progressive Party of Missouri will circulate petitions to gather 10,000 verified signatures in order to gain ballot access. Midge Potts, the Co-Chair of the Progressive Party of Missouri, as well as a delegate to the Green Party of the United States National Committee, announced in June 2009 that she would seek the US Senate seat being vacated by Kit Bond. Tuesday she released a statement proclaiming that she intends to run a non-traditional campaign by walking the state in order to discuss issues of concern to Missourians in their own communities.”In 1976, Joe Teasdale, a then unknown entity in the Missouri political arena, walked the state on his way to winning the governor’s race against Republican incumbent, Kit Bond,” Said Ms. Potts, “I intend on replicating the feat of ‘Walking Joe’ by winning the hearts and minds of Missouri voters in a series of walks and bike rides that will highlight a number of issues leading up to the November 2nd general election.” Potts added, “The only way an alternative party candidate can compete against the special interest money spent by career politicians such as Roy Blunt and Robin Carnahan, is to bypass traditional campaign outreach through directly engaging people with innovative ideas and raw creativity.”In her statement, Potts described plans for her first walk which will begin on April 10th at the Ameren Nuclear Power plant near Fulton, and will end on May 1st, the anniversary of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, with a rally at the Honeywell nuke bomb parts factory in Kansas City.”I want to highlight the need for the Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act which has been introduced into Congress by Washington DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton,” remarked Potts. “Now is the time to divert the more than fifty billion dollars American taxpayers spend each year on maintaining the US nuclear arsenal into retooling facilities, such as the KC Honeywell plant, to build green technologies.” She announced that she will hold a press conference in Columbia on April 10th before traveling 30 miles to Calloway county where she will begin her walk.Midge Potts, co-chair of the Progressive Party of Missouri, is the party’s candidate for U.S. Senator in 2010. She and other party members are circulating petitions to get Ms. Potts and other Progressive Party candidates on the Missouri ballot this year.

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATEShttp://www.gp.orgFor Immediate Release:Thursday, February 18, 2010Contacts:Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.orgStarlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.orgGreen Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on energy policy, climate change, and related issues: http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-energy.phpWASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders and candidates are calling President Obama’s resurrection of nuclear power with a multi-billion-dollar taxpayer-funded subsidy for a Georgia plant his “worst idea yet” and warned about serious public health threats posed by mining, waste transportation, and waste storage. The Green Party disputes the myths that nuclear power is ‘green energy’ or a solution to the advance of climate change.”The twin nuclear reactors in Burke County, Georgia, would be financed with $5.4 billion in loans from the Federal Financing Bank with money of the US Treasury. According to the GAO, this investment has a 50/50 percent or worse chance of failing. President Obama wants taxpayers to assume 80% of the financial risk to turn the southeast Atlantic states into a big open-pit radioactive barbeque. This investment is a terrible idea — President Obama’s worst yet,” said Lisa Green, Green candidate for California Assembly Candidate, 53rd Assembly District (http://www.votelisagreen.net).”If built, the plant will be a financial disaster because of high construction expenses and likely cost overruns, compared with other sources of electrical power. As the first of a new generation of nuclear power plants, it’ll carry huge technical risks. Even more ominous is the problem of mining, waste storage, and waste transportation through populated areas, which carry huge public health dangers,” added Ms. Green.Greens noted that, in the US, more people have died from contamination from uranium mining, from causes such as water sources polluted by mine tailings, and from uranium transportation than from all the causes after materials reach the first processing plant (http://www.hcn.org/blogs/grange/what-the-nuclear-boosters-dont-tell-you / http://www.hcn.org/issues/371/17708). Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently told a Senate committee that, for the foreseeable future, the plants will probably store spent fuel rods on site. No long-term plan exists anywhere for storing commercial radioactive waste.”We are already seeing tritium in the wells in Girard Georgia, and the cooling ponds at Plant Hatch are filled to overflowing,” said Patricia Crayton, co-chair of the Georgia Green Party (http://web.greens.org/georgia). “The fuel cycle which feeds the power plants in Hazlehurst and Waynesboro is intricately linked to the one which feeds the bomb plant across the Savannah River near Aiken. $5 billion could better serve setting Georgia on a sustainable energy path worthy of our children.”"In addition to a cornucopia of biochemically and radiologically hazardous waste materials, the proposed powerplants will also manufacture plutonium-239, raising the question of whether the Obama administration’s underlying intent is to provide electricity to Georgia citizens or to further escalate the nuclear weapons race,” said Douglas Campbell, Green Party activist and a former nuclear engineer in Ferndale, Michigan.”If Republicans and Democrats really believed in the free market, they would strenuously oppose nuclear power, which is enormously expensive and carries astronomically high liabilities. But they don’t believe in the market. They believe in targeted, special interest handouts and guaranteed profits for favored corporations, despite flawed corporate agendas. That’s why they want nuclear plants built with taxpayer dollars, with utility ratepayers in states like Georgia and Florida assuming the financial risk and local residents assuming the health risk,” said Nicholas Ruiz III, Green Party candidate for Congress in Florida’s District 24 (http://intertheory.org/nriiiforcongress2010.html).Greens are fighting dangerous nuclear projects across the US. In Florida, the Green Party praised a citizens’ suit filed by members of the Citizens for Ratepayers Rights against nuclear cost recovery charges, and urged Floridians to sign a petition protesting unconstitutional rate hikes (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=296).In Illinois, Greens strongly opposed a legislative move to repeal a moratorium on nuclear energy (http://www.ilgp.org/groups/media/ILGPpress-releasses/greens-blast-legislative-move-to-repeal-nuclear-moratorium-call).”Building a nuclear plant is no substitute for enforcement of the Clean Air Act in Georgia, where pollution from poor construction and dirty coal plants has caused asthma in children and other health emergencies — or in Maine or in any other state,” said Lynne Williams, Green candidate for Governor of Maine (http://www.lynnewilliams2010.org). “Nuclear power proponents are gambling that Americans have forgotten the Three Mile Island Meltdown in 1979. We haven’t forgotten it. Nor are we ignorant about the risk of breast cancer and other ailments that uranium poses.”Greens insist that clean energy, not nuclear power, must replace fossil fuels in the effort to fight climate change. The Green Party supports socially equitable carbon taxes; incentives, legislation, and reforms to provide renewable energy technologies; rejection of environmentally destructive ‘alternative’ fuels produced from unsustainable or toxic feedstocks; rejection of ‘clean coal’; comprehensive planning to protect and conserve water resources; and an absolute limit on CO2 emissions through a dramatic reduction of fossil fuel use.”President Obama is calling for major investments in nuclear, coal, and natural gas, when we should drastically reduce the use of such energy,” said Carl Romanelli, 2006 Pennsylvania Green candidate for the US Senate. “Here in Pennsylvania, we have cancer clusters in the eastern part of the state due to too many nuclear plants (http://www.sott.net/articles/show/201699-US-Report-finds-high-rate-of-thyroid-cancer-in-eastern-Pennsylvania-blames-nuclear-power-plants / http://carbonwaters.org/polycythemia-vera/p-vera-media-coverage/20090203-researcher-identifies-cancer-cluster-in-eastern-pennsylvania/). Considering advancements in renewable technologies, it would make more sense for our energy resolve to be applied to these industries, not filthy and destructive forms of energy production so touted by the President. The president continues to act as if fossil and nuclear is the only manner in which energy is produced.”MORE INFORMATIONGreen Party of the United States http://www.gp.org202-319-7191, 866-41GREENGreen candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtmlGreen Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtmlGreen Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakersGreen Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-electionsGreen Party Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyusGreen Party Eco-Action Committee http://www.gp.org/committees/ecoaction/index.php“Energy Sec Unaware That Nuclear Loans Have 50 Percent Risk of Default”By Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones, February 16, 2010http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/02/chu-not-aware-nuclear-default-rates“Nuclear Loan Guarantees Aren’t Just Guarantees: They Are Actual Taxpayer Loans”Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), February 17, 2010http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/02/17-2“Fed loan guarantees may boost nuclear power return”Associated Press, February 16, 2010http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hx5wB6YEaAyHIpeDxx6ML-TApHzQD9DTH55G3“Obama’s nuclear error: $54 billion in loan guarantees make little policy or political sense”Climate Progress, February 1, 2010http://climateprogress.org/2010/02/01/obama-nuclear-error-nuclear-loan-guarantee/“A quarter of US nuclear plants leaking”AP: “27 of 104 plants leak radioactive tritium, a carcinogen, raising Concerns about nation’s aging plants”Climate Progress, February 8, 2010http://climateprogress.org/2010/02/08/a-quarter-of-u-s-nuclear-plants-leaking-radioactive-tritium/Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United StatesFall 2009 issue now onlinehttp://gp.org/greenpages-blog~ END ~

Forwarded by the Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.orgPress Release - Green Party of FloridaFor Immediate ReleaseFebruary 11, 2010Contact: Michael Canney (352) 278-4031, alachuagreen@gmail.comOn Monday, February 8 members of the Citizens for Ratepayers Rights filed a lawsuit against Progress Energy Florida, claiming the statutes allowing Progress Energy to collect costs related to the construction of a nuclear power plant from the utility’s customers in advance are unconstitutional under the Florida State Constitution.Last October, the Green Party of Florida (GPF) issued a media release denouncing the decision by the Public Service Commission granting Progress Energy and Florida Power & Light rate increases in order to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in so-called “nuclear cost recovery” funds, calling it a “license to steal” for the private utility giants.Steve Wilkie, Green Party candidate for Congress in District 2, said about the lawsuit, “Members of the environmental movement have long understood that the true costs of nuclear energy are not competitive unless supported by publicly funded subsidies. It’s high time that citizens are taking this opportunity to oppose these “cost-plus” rate scams.”According to Nicholas Ruiz III, Green Party candidate for Congress in District 24, this class action is the only remedy available at this point. “Nuclear cost recovery is the kind of policy we get when we allow politicians who fail to represent the will of the citizens to legislate public policy,” said Dr. Ruiz. “When our lawmakers write laws that serve only narrow corporate interests, the only recourse for citizens is in the courts, and in the ballot box.”Progress Energy customers are unwilling victims of a scheme that forces them to finance a risky and outrageously expensive project that even the more adventurous Wall Street investors won’t touch. In effect, it grants taxing authority to private utility companies, but the ratepayers have no voice in either the amount they must pay or the use of the funds collected.The Green Party urges all Florida residents to sign the Citizens for Ratepayers Rights petition and support their legal action challenging the unjust law. We call upon the Florida Legislature to repeal the statutes that allow private utilities to collect construction costs for new nuclear power plants from their ratepayers in advance.PLEASE SEE ATTACHED PRESS RELEASE BY CITIZENS FOR RATEPAYERS RIGHTS.For more information:Green Party of Florida http://www.floridagreens.orgCitizens for Ratepayers Rights http://www.citizensforratepayerrights.com/Green Party candidates:Steve Wilkie for Congress, District 2 http://www.wewantwilkie.org/Nicholas Ruiz III for Congress, District 24 http://intertheory.org/nriiiforcongress2010.htmlRecommended sites for more information on nuclear power and the alternatives:Nuclear Information and Resource Service http://www.nirs.orgBeyond Nuclear http://www.beyondnuclear.orgCarbon-Free, Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy http://www.ieer.org/carbonfree/index.htmlInstitute for Energy and Environmental Research http://www.ieer.orgRocky Mountain Institute http://www.rmi.orgUnion of Concerned Scientists - Nuclear Power http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_powerPress Releases:Florida Greens file petition against NRC licensing of Levy County nuclear planthttp://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=181PSC Votes on Nuclear Cost Recovery for Florida Power & Light Company and Progress Energy Floridahttp://www.psc.state.fl.us/home/news/index.aspx?id=591Florida Green Party opposes Public Service Commission approval of Nuclear Cost Recovery for utilities, calling it ‘a license to steal’http://www.floridagreens.org/content/press-releases/21-florida-green-party-opposes-public-service-commission-approval-of-nuclear-cost-recovery-for-utilities-calling-it-a-qa-license-to-stealqSite approval for Progress Energy nuclear plant in Levy County by DEP and Crist Cabinet is premature while problems identified in federal licensing process remain unaddressed, say Florida Greenshttp://www.floridagreens.org/content/press-releases/19-site-approval-for-progress-energy-nuclear-plant-in-levy-county-by-depFlorida Cabinet Approves Site Certification for Progress Energy Florida’s Levy Nuclear Planthttp://www.dep.state.fl.us/secretary/news/2009/08/0811_02.htmLevy County Nuclear Plant - documentsDocuments and updates on the PETITION TO INTERVENE AND REQUEST FOR HEARING In the Matter of PROGRESS ENERGY FLORIDA, Levy County Nuclear Station Units 1 & 2, Docket Nos. 52-029 COL & 52-030 COLhttp://www.nirs.org/nukerelapse/levy/levyhome.htmFlorida Department of Environmental Protection - Conditions for Certification (90-page PDF)http://www.dep.state.fl.us/siting/files/certification/pa08_51_%202010_A.pdfNews articlesMarch 11, 2008 — Price triples for Progress Energy’s proposed nuclear plant in Levyhttp://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/article414393.eceJuly 16, 2008 — Progress Energy nuclear plant is okayedhttp://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/article701322.eceMay 1, 2009 — Progress Energy nuclear plant delayed by at least 20 monthsblogs.tampabay.com/…/progress-energy-nuclear-plant-delayed-by-at-least-20-months.htmlMay 2, 2009 — Progress Energy seeks rate hike despite nuclear plant delayhttp://blogs.tampabay.com/energy/2009/05/progress-energy-nuclear-plant-delayed-by-at-least-20-months.html# # #The following Press Release was distributed by Citizens for Ratepayers Rights on February 9. It is included here for informational purposes. The Green Party is not a party in the lawsuit, and all inquiries about the legal action should be directed to Suzan Franks at (352) 527-4123.PRESS RELEASECITIZENS SUE PROGRESS ENERGYBUSHNELL, FLORIDA — Individuals from the Florida group of Citizens for Ratepayers Rights filed a lawsuit in Bushnell, Sumter County, Florida on Monday, February 8, 2010 against Progress Energy Florida.The lawsuit seeks class action status to declare as unconstitutional under the Florida State Constitution the laws that were passed that allow Progress Energy to collect in advance all costs related to the construction of its nuclear power plant approved to be built in Levy County The complaint was filed by central Florida Attorneys Frank B. Arenas, Esq., Coleman, and Alberto E. Lugo-Janer, Esq. of Windermere. and disgorge all payments collected thus far – about $200 million and adding each month.“We tried everything to get someone to listen – the Governor, House, Senate, PSC, Attorney General – anyone that would help stop the madness of allowing $17 Billion to be collected by Progress with no requirement that any service be provided nor the nuclear plant even be built at all,” said Suzan Franks from Hernando, founder of the non-profit group. “We hope the courts will see this for what it is – a privilege and lending of the state’s taxing power to a private corporation which is prohibited under the State Constitution.”Mrs. Franks and others formed the group last October seeking to get others to be heard by the state representatives. “No one would listen; now Progress Energy will have to at least hear us in court” stated Mrs. Franks. She can be reached at (352) 527-4123 for further information or view the website www.cfrpr.com to sign their petition.# # #