GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATEShttp://www.gp.orgFor Immediate Release:Wednesday, September 1, 2010Contacts:Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.orgStarlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.orgGreen Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on foreign policyhttp://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-foreign-policy.phpWASHINGTON, DC — The Green Party of the United States responded to President Obama’s Oval Office address to the nation on Tuesday, August 31, with a call for Americans who oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to press for a complete withdrawal of US forces from both countries and a halt to attacks inside Pakistan’s borders.”When President Obama says we’re turning the page, we’re really moving to the next page of war without end. It would be a mistake for Americans who desire peace to let the President off the hook after Tuesday’s speech,” said Anthony Gronowicz, New York Green candidate for the US House, 7th Congressional District (Bronx/Queens, New York) and a member of the Green Party’s International Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/intl).Green Party leaders listed reasons for renewed protest against the Obama Administration’s military policies:50,000 military personnel, rechristened non-combat ‘advisors,’ will remain in Iraq, along with a large number of private contractors (over 200,000 as of last month). The Iraq War has entered a new phase: occupation by largely mercenary forces to protect US interests, especially control over Iraqi oil resources. Skepticism remains that US combat in Iraq will cease, given the destabilization caused by the war. Past US ‘advisors’ in southeast Asia, Latin America, and other regions have been used for belligerent purposes (e.g., Vietnam, El Salvador) and regime change (Iran, Guatemala) rather than for peace.The Democratic White House and Congress have continued to pump up the military budget, while seeking cuts in human services. Until military spending is cut drastically and the money is redirected to human needs and action against global warming, President Obama’s stated goal of refocusing on domestic issues remains a hollow promise. (See “Greens call for a new kind of national defense: defense against catastrophic climate change,” Green Party press release, August 6, 2010, http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=336)The US owes the people of Iraq a sincere apology and recompense after an invasion launched in 2003 for false reasons: nonexistent WMDs, lies about nuclear materials and Iraqi involvement in the 9/11 attacks. The aim was to topple a murderous tyrant, but the US has not acknowledged its own role in propping up Saddam Hussein during the 1980s. The Iraq War resulted in hundreds of thousands of dead civilians, many more maimed, millions displaced, shattered infrastructure, and lingering effects from extremely toxic depleted uranium and white phosphorous weapons used by US forces.US troops who fought in the war and the families of those who gave their lives also deserve an apology and restitution including full health care for service members, especially for those who have suffered physical and mental trauma.President Obama has escalated the war in Afghanistan, expanding it into Pakistan, with thousands of civilian casualties. The US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, threats against Iran (and support for Israel’s threats), and military aid for Israel’s assaults on Palestinians have been interpreted by many nations as a greater war against Islam. (See “Greens urge Congress to pass the Kucinich-Paul bill for withdrawal of US troops from Pakistan, citing Wikileaks revelations,” Green Party release, July 27, 2010, http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=335)The threats against Iran demonstrate that President Obama has embraced the Bush-Cheney neocon doctrine of preemptive aggression against countries at peace with the US.The Obama Administration has refused to investigate and prosecute Bush-Cheney officials for abuses of power and war crimes: massive deception; manipulating intelligence; authorizing extraordinary rendition and torture. President Obama has maintained warrantless surveillance of US citizens, surpassed President Bush in his pursuit of whistleblowers, and added extra-judicial killing of targeted US citizens to the list of assaults on the US Constitution. Congress has not repealed or amended the USA Patriot Act.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/greenpartyus“Another False Ending: Contracting out the Iraq Occupation” by Bill Quigley and Laura Raymond, Common Dreams, September 1, 2010http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/01-0Video clips from the Green Party’s 2010 Annual National Meeting, Detroit, Michigan, June 24-27http://www.gp.org http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyusGreen Pages:The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United Stateshttp://gp.org/greenpages-blog~ END ~

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATEShttp://www.gp.orgFor Immediate Release:Thursday, February 4, 2010Contacts:Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.orgStarlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.orgMcKinney will accept the award at a peace conference in the same city as NATO’s Munich Security Conference, which will address the war on Afghanistan; Greens contrast McKinney’s ‘deserved’ award with Obama’s Nobel Peace PrizeGreen Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on peace, foreign policy, and other related issues: http://www.gp.org/speakersWASHINGTON, DC — The Green Party of the United States congratulated former US Representative Cynthia McKinney after an announcement that she will receive the ‘Peace through Conscience’ award from the Munich American Peace Committee (MAPC / http://www.mapc-web.de). Ms. McKinney was the Green Party’s 2008 nominee for President of the United States.Ms. McKinney has been invited to participate in an International Peace Conference scheduled to take place in Munich, Germany, from February 6 to 7, coinciding with the Munich Security Conference, which will address NATO strategy towards Afghanistan, including President Obama’s planned troop escalation. A long-time proponent of abolishing NATO, Ms. McKinney is scheduled to speak on February 6 at a rally in protest of the NATO conference. After the rally, she will participate in the conference.MAPC will present the award to Cynthia McKinney during ceremonies of the Munich Peace Conference on the evening of February 6, 2010. The MAPC Peace Prize is normally awarded by the previous year’s winner. In Ms. McKinney’s case, the award will be presented by André Shepherd, a US Army Specialist who applied for asylum in Germany after objecting to the wars in Iraq.”I am humbled to be so recognized,” said Cynthia McKinney. “Clearly, the MAPC gave more thought to the significance of those whose struggle for peace is based on principle and an unshakeable commitment, despite the personal sacrificies required, than did the Nobel Peace Committee that rewarded our President for war.”Commenting on the decision to grant President Obama the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, Ms. McKinney said, “In this way of thinking, peace is now war, lies are now truth, and ignorance is strength.”Ms. McKinney has urged Americans across Germany to gather in Munich and protest US and NATO war policies, noting that Germany has sent its own troops to Afghanistan. She will meet with American expatriates while in Munich.”We are very proud of Cynthia McKinney’s work for peace and human rights in the US and internationally,” said Dr. Justine McCabe, co-chair of the Green Party’s International Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/intl). “Ms. McKinney has led the demand for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and strongly criticized President Obama’s announcement of a troop surge in Afghanistan. She has challenged NATO’s global expansion of military operations and demanded its abolition. Last June, after President Obama urged humanitarian aid for people in Gaza, Ms. McKinney and other Free Gaza activists tried to deliver medical and construction supplies and other relief. They were illegally intercepted by the Israeli navy in international waters and jailed, while the White House remained silent. Unlike our President, Cynthia McKinney deserves a peace prize.”In a presentation at the 8. Internationale Muenchner Friedenskonferenz (Eighth Munich International Peace Conference), Ms. McKinney will discuss chances for a civil and nonviolent US foreign policy, the need to end the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, US policies regarding Colombia and its neighbours, and efforts toward a nuclear-free world. She will pose the question “What should governments and the politicians at the Security Conference do to promote peace and justice?”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 Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United StatesFall 2009 issue now onlinehttp://gp.org/greenpages-blog~ END ~

 Another broken Obama campaign promise noticed and actually reported on:“C-SPAN chief executive Brian Lamb sent a letter to congressional leaders this week asking for the talks to be opened to cameras. As a candidate, President Barack Obama pledged during a January 2008 debate that negotiations would be on C-SPAN.”Of course, with universal, single payer health care never even allowed to enter debate (it was thrown out before debate stated, according to the Baucas 8), the public’s interest is not what it was.“The health insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies have spent $1.4 million per day this year to make sure no real reform happens,” Flowers and Paris wrote. “They have already claimed victory and are celebrating their success – 30 million more people to extort money from while providing a defective product. What a deal! Make no mistake though – their success comes at a great cost, especially to the middle class.”

From Madison Capital Times (Wisconsin):

My first wish for 2010 is that President Obama will direct U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to begin federal prosecutions:

• • of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney — for war crimes and treason against our Constitution.
  • of 30 or so leaders of the largest banks and investment, insurance, accounting, bond rating and law firms responsible for the irresponsible home mortgage lending and fraudulent repackaging of bad mortgages into investment instruments that led to the housing crash — for crimes of purposeful lack of due diligence and any other crimes they perpetrated upon investors, including false balance sheets.
  • of the high-level federal appointees at Treasury, the Federal Reserve and other agencies who were told by staff what was going on with the mortgages/investment instruments and what could be done about it, and who did nothing — thus violating their oaths of office and statutory authorities.

My second wish for 2010 is that Obama wakes up and says, “My God, I am guilty of Bush’s ‘sins.’ ” And that Obama immediately orders the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan; orders the cessation of illegal attacks against alleged terrorists in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere; orders the FBI to draft criminal charges against suspected terrorists and presents these charges to federal courts and international police agencies, requesting the apprehension of such terrorists through police channels; orders the cessation of illegal spying on all Americans; orders the immediate closure of GITMO and moves all prisoners to the basement of the Pentagon to stand trial in federal courts; orders the immediate cessation of all actions considered torture under the Geneva Conventions; orders the termination of all agency heads and generals who told him to do all these things; and orders the prosecution of present and past agency heads and generals who advocated the above actions or implemented these actions in violation of U.S. law.My third wish is that Obama then goes to a large park in Los Angeles, invites the poor of all races and nationalities, and states he has seen the error of his ways. He asks for forgiveness from the American people and the millions of people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan whose lives he has ruined, and he states he will not run for president in 2012 but will spend the last three years of his presidency working to eradicate poverty in America with public sector jobs and training so that Americans can: live with their families, have a job to go to each day, have food on the table, have a roof over their heads, not fear sickness because they have single-payer/Medicare-for-all health insurance, believe in the future because their kids will go to good, free public schools and higher education, and have a secure retirement due to an improved Social Security system.And lastly, if Obama does not act on wishes No. 1 and No. 2 above in the first few months of 2010, we regretfully and forcefully move to impeach and remove him from office.We have given Obama a year of hope and patience. He deserves no more. We must create a crisis — the crisis of impeachment — and remove from office the person who has violated his oath of office to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States and to uphold and enforce the laws of our nation.Just as America has been strong enough to withstand the massive personal, corporate and governmental corruption of the last 10 years, we are certainly strong enough to withstand the turmoil of impeaching our president.We must take action against the crimes Bush committed and Obama is committing, or we lose our form of government. We must punish those at the top who break our laws or we are finished as a nation ruled by law, not kings.Obama either protects our Constitution and enforces the laws, or we, as citizens, are duty bound to throw him out using the most powerful tool we have: impeachment!

The author: Buzz Davis of Stoughton is a former Army officer and elected official and a retired state government planner. He is a member of Wisconsin Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition and Veterans for Peace. 

From CounterPunch.org :

The nascent movement for single-payer in the United States has to learn the correct lessons from the health care debacle that has unfolded for the last year and is about to conclude. The number one lesson: DON’T TRUST THE DEMOCRATS – NOT A ONE. Especially the progressive Democrats. Millions believed Barack Obama’s campaign pledge to create a humane, affordable and inclusive health care system and rein in the copious abuses of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. On the campaign trail, Obama proclaimed these corporations were greedy and more concerned about profits and patents than the needs of patients. Some thought because Obama was a former supporter of a single-payer system, he might just enact it when he won the Whitehouse. How wrong they were. 

No one could have predicted how much influence and control over health care reform President Obama would give to the very corporate interests killing and bankrupting the American people, and who just a few months earlier, had fiercely attacked and called out by name. No one could have predicted the scale and scope of the sell out. It is truly astounding given the soaring rhetoric of before and the cruel and sleazy reality of now. 

From Liberty Underground News:

President Obama attacked John McCain during the presidential race last year for wanting to tax health care plans, but now supports the Senate bill that taxes health care plans. 

He also attacked his primary Democratic Party rival, Hillary Clinton, last year for wanting to mandate that people have to buy health insurance, saying “If a mandate was the solution, we could try that to solve homelessness by mandating everybody buy a house.  The reason they don’t have a house is they don’t have the money.”  Now he supports forcing people to buy Medical Mafia plans or be fined, as does the Senate bill he supports, even if workers don’t have the money, and calling it “providing health care.”

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATEShttp://www.gp.orgFor Immediate Release:Monday, December 21, 2009Contacts:Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.orgStarlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.orgGreens call Asa Gordon’s action a demand for fair elections, voters’ rights, and racial justiceGreen Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on electoral reform and democracy:http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-democratic.phpWASHINGTON, DC — A major voting rights civil action filed by Green Party leader Asa Gordon is scheduled for oral argument in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (No. 09-5142) on Thursday, January 14, 2010.The civil action seeks enforcement of the US Constitution’s ‘Mal-Apportionment Penalty’ (14th Amendment, Section 2), which mandates a reduction of a state’s presidential electors and congressional representatives (”the basis of representation therein shall be reduced”) if “the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States… is denied… or in any way abridged.”"Asa Gordon’s civil action is a demand for fair elections, for the right of every voter to have his or her vote counted in a national election, and for racial justice,” said Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party’s 2008 nominee for President of the United States.The civil action, Gordon v. Biden (formerly Gordon v. Cheney), addresses the antidemocratic mal-apportionment of Electoral College votes, voter dilution by race and/or party affiliation with the popular vote misrepresented by the winner-take-all system of allocating electoral votes. Documents, links, and other materials related to the action are available online (http://www.electors.us).Asa Gordon (http://www.gp.org/speakers/detail.php?ID=29), chair of the DC Statehood Green Party’s Electoral College Task Force and executive director of the Douglass Institute of Government, filed his civil action to protect the voting rights of presidential electors and the voters they represent in the US District Court (1:08-cv-01294) on July 28, 2008. His reply brief (http://mapxiv2usc6.free0host.com/APPELLANT%27S%20REPLY%20BRIEF_map.pdf) was filed with the court on November 6 and final brief submitted on November 27 (http://mapxiv2usc6.free0host.com/APPELLANT%27S%20FINAL%20BRIEF.pdf).Mr. Gordon said, “My final brief provides a legal and historical overview of the Mal-Apportionment Penalty civil action, with a comprehensive context for the court and for anyone reading it. It asserts that the true measure of a democracy is not in counting how many votes are cast, but in how many of those votes that are cast truly count.”Gordon v. Biden pleas for a declaratory judgment by the US court for a proportional allocation of presidential electors that reflects popular vote percentages rather than the winner-take-all rule that has nullified the votes of millions of voters. It argues that winner-take-all apportionment of electors violates Section 2 of the 14th Amendment.”If two thirds of the voters in a state vote for a candidate from Party A and one third vote for a candidate from Party B, and the state’s winner-take-all rule gives all of the state’s electors to Party A, then one third of the voters have been disenfranchised. We’ve witnessed in election after election how some states have used the winner-take-all formula to dilute the votes of Black Americans and other political and ethnic minorities from being counted,” said Sanda Everette, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.Greens said that Democratic Party leaders’ refusal to challenge Electoral College malapportionment in 2000 and 2004 blocked Democratic electors from voting in those elections, thus abandoning tens of thousands of their own voters, just as they failed to challenge the election irregularities in Florida and Ohio in 2000 and 2004. Mr. Gordon has noted that the Democratic Party uses proportional assignment when it counts votes cast in presidential primaries, but has failed to fight for it in the general election.Mr. Gordon led workshops for Green presidential electors during the Green Party’s 2008 National Convention in Chicago. The party’s national platform endorses a constitutional amendment abolishing the Electoral College and providing for the direct election of the president by instant runoff voting (http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/democracy.html#309649).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 press releases“Greens launch effort against Electoral College manipulation of presidential elections” (August 5, 2008)http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=85“Greens: Enforce 14th Amendment’s ‘Right to Vote’ Provision” (October 18, 2004)http://www.gp.org/press/pr_10_18_04.htmlGreen Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United StatesFall 2009 issue now onlinehttp://gp.org/greenpages-blog~ END ~

From UrbanSurvival.com:

 I told you yesterday how as part of the plan to close down the penal colony in Cuba that Gitmo detainees were being moved to Illinois (a kind of punishment of its own)?  Well, now the ACLU is asking - in effect - “so if they’re on US soil tell us again why they don’t haveConstitutional Rights which include trials and so forth?“

A lot of people don’t like the ACLU, but they have always been really clear that they defend Constitutional Rights being taken from those least able to defend those rights.  It just hasn’t gotten to most of us Middle Class types yet, so they get marginalized.  Remember “First they came for the Gypsies, then they came for the….”?

From ACLU’s Romero :

“Alarmingly, all indications are that the administration plans to continue its predecessor’s policy of indefinite detention without charge or trial for some detainees, with only a change of location. Such a policy is completely at odds with our democratic commitment to due process and human rights whether it’s occurring in Cuba or in Illinois. In fact, while the Obama administration inherited the Guantánamo debacle, this current move is its own affirmative adoption of those policies. It is unimaginable that the Obama administration is using the same justification as the Bush administration used to undercut centuries of legal jurisprudence and the principle of innocent until proven guilty and the right to confront one’s accusers. “It is also greatly disturbing that the administration will continue the use of military commissions, which are no more acceptable in Illinois or any other U.S. state than in Guantánamo. Despite some improvements, the commissions still fall far short of the legal standards necessary to comply with constitutional and international standards, allowing, for example, the use of coerced and hearsay evidence that would not be allowed in federal court. The proceedings will achieve neither reliable justice nor a restoration of America’s credibility around the world. “The administration must also make very clear what category of detainee will be transferred to Thomson in the future and what kind of prison conditions will apply. Detainees not charged with a crime should not be subject to punitive conditions meant for sentenced prisoners who have been found guilty in a court of law, and all conditions must comply with the Geneva Conventions. “The administration will no doubt be looking to Congress for legislative buy-in for this facility, and as both branches work together, we strongly urge lawmakers to legislate responsibly and not set any policies or precedents for indefinite detention on U.S. soil, or create any violation of the Geneva Conventions.

“The Obama administration’s announcement today contradicts everything the president has said about the need for America to return to leading with its values. American values do not contemplate disregarding our Constitution and skirting the criminal justice system. After detaining hundreds of individuals without the basic due process rights that define our justice system for almost eight years, it is time to charge suspects where evidence exists and repatriate and transfer the rest to countries where they won’t be tortured.”

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org

Green Party leaders from around the world to participate; US Greens challenge Obama to stop appeasing corporate polluters and peddling inadequate measures

Green Party Speakers Bureau: US Greens available to speak on ecological sustainability and global warming
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-ecological.php

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders from every corner of the globe will participate in a public forum in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Sunday, December 13, during the United Nations Copenhagen Climate Conference.

Titled “Copenhagen and beyond: delivering a meaningful deal on climate change” (http://www.globalgreens.org/event/copenhagen_climate_change), the Global Greens event will take place 6 pm at Klimaforum09, DGI-byen, Tietgensgade 65, 1704 København. The forum is the only time they will speak together on one stage, outlining their views on what a meaningful climate agreement is and how it can be achieved.

With the outcome of the UN climate talks in Copenhagen uncertain; this forum will give a Green perspective on how a meaningful and sufficient global deal on climate change can be reached before it is too late. The leading Green politicians participating in the forum advocate a strong climate treaty and will play important roles in decision-making at all levels.

“Copenhagen is up against real deadline, not just those set by international diplomats,” said Elizabeth May leader of the Green Party of Canada (http://www.greenparty.ca). “The real deadlines are in the risk of run-away global warming…The atmosphere is not negotiating with humanity. To save ourselves and future generations, GHG levels globally must stop rising no later than 2016. Copenhagen cannot be allowed to fail.”

In December 2007, Global Greens, representing 70 Green Parties and Green groups (http://www.globalgreens.org), including the Green Party of the United States, issued a declaration on reduction of greenhouse gases that called for establishment “of a binding regime for global greenhouse gas reductions which is consistent with avoiding dangerous climate change” (http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2007_12_07.shtml). See also “Global Greens Second Congress 2008 — Climate Change — Time for Transformation Declaration” (http://www.globalgreens.org/brazil2008/declarations/climate_change_time_for_transformation).

“President Obama must step up to the plate in Copenhagen and provide leadership. The US has been the main culprit in climate change, remaining the world’s worst emitter of greenhouse gases, blocking international action, and protecting corporate polluters. We’re relieved that Mr. Obama has dropped the Bush Administration’s policy of denial. But the Obama Administration’s priority is still stage management — providing political cover while proposing to do too little too late and peddling the woefully inadequate climate change bills pending in Congress,” said said Mike Feinstein, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and former mayor of Santa Monica, California. Mr. Feinstein attended the December 2007 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali (http://unfccc.int/2860.php); in 2001, during his tenure, Santa Monica became the first US city to use 100% renewable energy for all municipal facilities.

US Greens have called for an end to subsidies and tax breaks to fossil and nuclear energy industries; enactment of 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; an absolute limit on CO2 emissions; reduced fossil fuel use and an 80% cutback within ten years.

Earlier this week, the Environmental Protection Agency — confirming the Green Party’s warnings — called greenhouse gas emissions a severe threat to public health and urged strong regulatory measures to curb global warming, without congressional action if necessary (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091207/ap_on_go_ot/us_epa_climate).

Greens in the US insisted that there is “no climate security without peace, no peace without climate security” and said that the current US wars, especially President Obama’s troop escalation plans for Afghanistan, and global military spending (about $1.4 trillion per year, at least half from the US) are impediments to worldwide cooperation in the fight against climate change.

Program for December 13:

Moderation and introduction by Monica Frassoni, spokesperson of the European Green Party

Welcome from Socialistisk Folkeparti, member of Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament

Rebecca Harms, co-president of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament

Marina Silva, the Brazilian Green Party’s potential presidential candidate; former Environment Minister of Brazil

Wangari Maathai, Nobel Laureate, Kenyan Green; former deputy Environment Minister of Kenya (to be confirmed)

José Bové, renowned global environmental activist, Green Member of the European Parliament and former spokesperson of the French small farmers’ association

Christine Milne, Australian Green Senator and Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens

Elizabeth May, Canadian Green Party leader; former Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada

Catherine Grèze, French Green Member of the European Parliament, will facilitate a discussion with the audience.

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 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/greenpartyus

United Nations Copenhagen Climate Conference http://en.cop15.dk

Committees of the Green Party of the United States:
EcoAction Committee http://www.gp.org/committees/ecoaction/index.php
International Committee http://www.gp.org/committees/intl

Green Party resolution on protecting water resources
http://gp.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=380

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
Fall 2009 issue now online
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog

~ END ~

search: lwcj, spol

From LibertyUnderground News:

On October 27, 2007, Barack Obama said “I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do.  I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank”  Watch the short video of him saying this here. Corporate media packaged Obama as the peace candidate, realizing at the highest levels of the National Security State after reading public opinion polls, that the public would otherwise turn to Dennis Kucinch, Cynthia McKinney or Ralph Nader despite mass media censorship of their campaigns, as the public soured on what became the obvious lies of the corporate media and National Security State in taking the nation to war.  Obama convinced Democratic Party voters to choose him over his presidential primary rival Hillary Clinton because he was more for peace than her. Ironically, Clinton will now be the one to sell Obama’s Afghanistan surge to Congress.  Clinton voted for war funding throughout her Senate career.  Alexander Cockburn has pointed out that she supported the presidential campaigns of war mongers Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater in her youth, so has not changed.

 ——

As with so much of Obama policy, Bush Administration officials and Republican National Committee officials, including Karl Rove, are praising Obama for his surge strategy.  NPR stuck their microphone in front of Senator John McCain this morning, and he allowed how he supports Obama’s strategy.  It is unlikely McCain would have done anything differently had he been elected.  Corporate media call it a two party system, in keeping the masses comfortably numb.

————

Gallup reports this morning that President Obama’s public approval rating on the Afghanistan war has sunk to 35%, down from 49% in September and 56% in July, even as he escalates the war. Juan Cole has an excellent piece this morning explaining why Afghanistan is very different from Iraq, and the “Iraq success” story is largely misinformation from a prolonged propaganda campaign. More troops means more targets, so the deaths to American troops may be expected to increase with the two troop surges in Afghanistan President Obama has authorized since taking office.  His plan is the plan employed in Vietnam– to train local troops, who would take over, and then bring our troops home.  And it is failing exactly like it failed in Vietnam. Like the soldiers of the Army of South Vietnam, the essential Afghanistan troops are deserting in droves, as al Jazeera points out in a short video this morning.  Nobody knows where the Afghan troops are.  The Afghan people do not think well of those who help foreigners to occupy their country.  The best strategy for Afghan soldier recruits appears to be, get the bonus money from the American taxpayer, then high tail it for a village where you can hide out until the Pashtun finish off the occupiers.   

The Nuclear Mafia must be doing cartwheels, getting back a million dollars for every thousand they donated to the Obama presidential campaign, a thousand-to-one return.  With more contractors than troops in Afghanistan, the war has become a money factory, and in American politics, this probably makes the war unstoppable, as every Member of Congress who votes for more war funding gets campaign contributions from the Nuclear Mafia .