On behalf of the Green Party, congratulations to everyone, especially Tyla MattesonFrom the Sierra Club Falls of the James blogDear Mattaponi Friends,    This is fantastic news.  The judge ruled today in the federalcourt case of the Alliance to Save the Mattaponi, Sierra Cluband Chesapeake Bay Foundation vs. the Corps of Engineers.    You can read the attachments: the Corps was “arbitraryand capricious”…and the case is remanded to the Corps andEPA.    Thanks to everyone, and especially to our attorneysDeborah Murray with Southern Environmental Law Center,and Jon Muller with CBF.    I’m sure there are more details, which I’ll forward whenit’s clearer to me what the next legal steps will be.    –Tyla 

Where’s All the Money Coming From?

The Crisis on Withering Heights

By RALPH NADERWhere is the revenue coming from to help reduce the tidal waves of red ink during the massive deficit spending by Washington to bolster Wall Street greed, stimulate the economy and rescue homeowners?The scale of federal deficit is witnessed by the new frequency with which the dollar word “trillions” is used in the news media. An adjustment of major proportions is needed. It was only ten years ago when economists projected out the Clinton?s budgetary surpluses as “as far as the eye can see.” They were scurrying to figure out how this surprising surplus was going to affect the U.S. Treasury bond market. How quaint!So, who is going to have to pay more into the Treasury? Not the oil and gas industry whose advertised protests against removing unjustified tax breaks are saturating the radio and television stations. Not the real estate or defense industries. Certainly not the financial industry.How about the very wealthy? Well Barack Obama is letting George W. “red-ink” Bush?s tax cuts expire. So people earning over $250,000 a year will pay more. Mr. Obama plans to give 95% of the taxpayers some tax relief. Granted the Federal Reserve is printing money big time now, in order to spend it fast.The right-wing, commercially-funded Think-Tank establishment wants tax cuts across the board. And the Cato Institute’s fellows are also defending foreign tax havens! But most corporatists still want an even bigger military budget which already devours fifty percent of the entire federal government?s discretionary budget. Their faith is that future economic growth will dissipate deficits whose purpose ironically is to promote growth On Capitol Hill?better described as Withering Heights during the past decade?there is little interest or fortitude to confront the revenue question. Who or what can you tax more to make a difference on the massive deficits?For starters, close the “tax gap” which is defined as the difference between taxes owed and taxes actually paid. This amount is estimated to be $290 billion every year by the IRS. Several thousand more IRS tax collectors will pay for themselves many times over and help preserve some public sense of fairness by those Americans who regularly do pay their taxes.This figure of $290 billion does not include the huge tax shelters and offshore tax havens harboring trillions of dollars from U.S. corporations and very wealthy Americans who do not wish to share onshore tax responsibilities. Some members of Congress, notably Senator Byron Dorgan, want legislation to bring back some revenues from these tax escapees. Another huge source of revenue, with very little if any fallout on the average taxpayer, would be a Wall Street sales tax on speculative derivatives (not stocks or bonds). With an estimated $500 trillion traded in such bets on bets or bets on debts last year, a 1/10th of 1% sales tax could bring in $500 billion yearly. Consumers pay sales taxes in most states of 5 to 7 percent on necessities, while Wall Street?s casino gamblers buy trillions of dollars in derivatives and pay no sales tax. Unfair! Also such a transaction tax will help tamp down wild and destabilizing speculation, which has already pushed our economy to its knees.A carbon tax would be another important source of revenue to keep the deficit lower and provide incentives to shift faster to energy efficiency and renewable energy such as various kinds of solar and geothermal.There are other activities that our society as a whole would rather see diminished that can be subjected to increasing taxes. These could include the addictive and gambling industries and anti-social behavior such as corporate crime and fraud. Note that companies do not hesitate imposing “penalties” on consumers for far lesser infractions of their private, one-sided, fine print credit card and other form contracts.Of course another $300 billion could come to the Treasury if Congress just restored the tax rates on corporate profits that were paid in the relatively prosperous nineteen sixties. Then there is the reasonable argument that if taxes on “unearned income” — that is dividends and capital gains on investments?should never be lower than the tax on “earned income” by human labor. Well, today, taxes on the former — capital gains and dividends?can be half the rate as income taxes on work. Bringing them closer together could raise more revenue or bring down worker taxes in the process.With huge deficits coming on like fiscal tornados for future repayment, Congress and President Obama have to face the music and stop dodging the question as to when they are going to be paid for and by whom?Otherwise bankrupt corporate capitalism may be on its way to bankrupting its savior: Washington socialism!Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate and three-time presidential candidate.

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

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, March 26, 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 Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on foreign policy http://www.gp.org/speakers

“The First 100 Days: What Would a Green Administration Look Like?” (video and text) http://www.gp.org/first100

WASHINGTON, DC — On Monday, March 30, the Green Party of the United States will join other advocates for an end to the Israeli occupation, for full human rights and equality for all in Israel-Palestine, and for a nonviolent resolution to the Middle East conflict by observing the Global Day of Action for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).

The Green Party has endorsed BDS as a means to place international pressure on Israel, with special emphasis on ending US military aid to Israel (http://www.gp.org/position/st_2005_11_21.shtml). Greens have strongly criticized the Bush and Obama administrations and Democrats and Republicans in Congress for unconditionally supporting the occuption, Israel’s military actions (including the recent invasion of Gaza), expulsion of Palestinians from their homes, and the Israeli apartheid system.

The Green Party has also signed on to a petition, sponsored by Peace Cycle, to suspend the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel until Israel respects human rights and International Law (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Suspend-EU-Israel-Trade-Agreement).

“The withdrawal of Charles Freeman from his appointment to a top intelligence post, after he came under fire for criticizing Israel, laid to rest any doubt about the influence of pro-Israel lobbies over US policy in the Middle East,” said Hajja Romi Elnagar, Louisiana Green and member of the Green Party’s International Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/intl). “The attacks on Mr. Freeman were led by Stephen J. Rosen, who is currently under federal indictment for alleged violations of the Espionage Act based on his actions on behalf of Israel as an AIPAC official.”

Organizers of the Global Day of Action, which was launched at the World Social Forum 2009 in Belém, Brazil, are encouraging several actions: boycotts and divestment from Israeli corporations and international corporations that sustain Israeli apartheid and occupation; legal action to end Israel’s impunity and prosecute Israeli war criminals; blocking free trade and other preferential agreements with Israel and imposing an arms embargo (http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/314). The Global Day of Action coincides with Land Day, which marks an Israeli military attack on Palestinians protesting peacefully in Israel in 1976, resulting in six Palestinians killed and about 100 injured.

In January, the Green Party’s 2008 presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney participated in an effort to deliver medical supplies to besieged Palestinians in Gaza until the delivery boat she was traveling on was surrounded by Israeli gunboats and rammed by one of them (http://www.gp.org/cynthia/index.shtml).

“The Gaza invasion should end illusions about Israeli democracy. During the assault, Palestinian-Israelis were banned from nonviolently protesting their government’s actions. In over 200 demonstrations, some 800 protestors, including nearly 300 children, were arrested while others were interrogated by the authorities, placed under house arrest, and prohibited from traveling to certain Israeli cities,” said Justine McCabe, co-chair of the Green Party’s International Committee (Speakers Bureau page: http://www.gp.org/speakers/detail.php?ID=35).

The Green Party supports an immediate UN-sponsored, multinational peacekeeping force to protect civilians and to oversee implementation of all relevant UN resolutions and the dismantling of the occupation. The party endorses full human rights, democracy, equality under the law, and security for Palestinians and Israelis; efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflict; dismantling of the separation wall; and the Palestinian right of return (http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/democracy.html#307394).

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

Tally of Green election victories http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/election-results.html
Green candidate news http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/candidate-news.php
Green candidate database for 2008 and other 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

International Committee of the Green Party http://www.gp.org/committees/intl

“Green Party: Israel-Palestine truce must include end of Israeli occupation and observance of international law or violence is likely to resume”
Green Party press release, January 19, 2009
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=169

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=264

Green Pages, Vol. 13, No. 1
The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog

~ END ~

We will continue to do our duty and critically evaluate the Democratic Obama administration, but at least it has a budget.From American Prospect:

 Bush, famously, described his first budget by saying, “It’s clearly a budget. It’s got a lot of numbers in it.” Indeed it was, and did. This isn’t. There are no numbers. Let me repeat that: The Republican budget proposal does not say how much money they would raise, or spend. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a “budget” as “an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time.” This is not a budget. It talks about balancing the budget but doesn’t explain how. It advocates tax cuts but doesn’t estimate their costs. It promises to cut programs but doesn’t name them.

http://www.truthout.org/032609RGareth Porter, Inter Press Service: “Despite President Barack Obama’s statement at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, February 27 that he had ‘chosen a timeline that will remove our combat brigades over the next 18 months,’ a number of Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs), which have been the basic US Army combat unit in Iraq for six years, will remain in Iraq after that date under a new non-combat label.”

t r u t h o u t | 03.25

Phil Wilayto | Did Iran Reject Obama’s Overture?
http://www.truthout.org/032509A
Phil Wilayto, Truthout: “Iran’s response to a supposedly conciliatory address March 20 by President Barack Obama has been met with a torrent of ‘we-told-you-so’s’ by the US media. The Los Angeles Times reported that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had simply ‘dismissed President Obama’s extraordinary Persian New Year greeting …’ And an Associated Press report carried by, among others, The New York Times, called Khamenei’s response a ‘rebuff’ that ‘was swift and sweeping.’ Was it?” 

Dalai Lama denied visa for South Africa peace conference

In December of last year an Iraqi reporter, Muntadar al-Zaidi, was launched into the spotlight for hurling his shoes at President Bush during a Baghdad press conference. As the shoes sailed through the air, he shouted, “This is a gift from the Iraqis. This is a farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.” He has been in custody since the incident and reportedly tortured. Last week, he was sentenced to three years in prison for assaulting a foreign dignitary.On the sixth anniversary of the disastrous Iraq War, Al-Zaidi’s story highlights the reality of the US-imposed democracy in Iraq. One of Bush’s false justifications for the invasion was the need to save Iraqis from a repressive regime and give them the freedom of expression they deserved. Six years later, expressing yourself freely will still get you tortured and imprisoned in Iraq. This is the democracy that over 4,000 US soldiers and over 1 million Iraqis have lost their lives for?Obama promised to end the war and bring the troops home in 2009 and we will continue to hold him to his word. He deserves to be pushed, we deserve to have our troops home and the Iraqis deserve peace, respect and to have their country back. This morning, in solidarity with our Iraqi friends, we gathered outside the Iraqi embassy in Washington, DC and call for Al-Zaidi’s release. Read Medea’s piece, “Is Shoe Throwing A Crime?“

One of the reasons this country is headed for real economic collapse is that it refuses to recognize the true cost of an asinine health care system built on gimmicks and piecemeal charity. Instead of joining the rest of the industrialized world with universal, single payer health care, the United States continues to cruise towards economic oblivion with no viable safety nets and a crippling inability to compete internationally. There is lots of blame to go around- lackluster political leadership, inept and corrupt insurance companies, power hungry pharmaceutical corporations, greedy hospitals, (how shall we put it nicely?) ‘accommodating’ doctors…and the list goes on. I should add patients and citizens in there- except that I think we mostly acknowledge the issue. If you explain single payer and the overall facts, the overwhelming majority of Americans support single payer. We believe in basic health care as a human right for ourselves, our families, and our neighbors and we are willing to pay for that. The problem is that its not explained right to us. We don’t get to see the full range of choices. And who’s fault is that? Well, mostly its the mainstream corporate media.  For example, CNN has this headline- ‘Young invincibles’ OK with risk of no insuranceOf course, once you actually dive into the issue you recognize that its not ‘OK’ at all. Young people are suffering and going without basic health care. Ironically, the article listed below that one on the CNN home page is about how minor head injuries can become serious medical emergencies (referring to the recent Natasha Richardson tragedy), but hey, according to the preceding article’s headline, ‘don’t worry, be happy’, ‘the kids are alright’.Not convinced? Look at the local daily newspaper.  One headline: ‘Local Program Delivers Specialty Care to the Uninsured‘. It seems to say that don’t worry, our local uninsured ARE getting taken care of by our local, generous charities. Its not until you actually digest the whole thing that you recognize it for what it is- another self-promoting, piecemeal, band-aid solution to a gushing wound that is tearing apart a large swathe of people both locally and nationally.Then there’s its companion piece, ‘First, Understand Reasons Why Costs Are Rising‘. The article does not actually explain anything, except to say that its not only drug costs, but also hospitals and services that are getting more expensive. The subtext is that rather than actually changing things, we need to study this more. No where in either article does it mention single payer health care as a way of making sure sure everyone receives a basic modicum of care or controlling costs. Readers are not presented with any real solution, just more blather that suggests things will ‘work out’ eventually with ‘experts’ help’.And so it goes with most of the major mainstream media in this country. Single payer health care is sometimes viciously attacked as ’socialism’, but mostly just not allowed to be part of the debate at all (kind of like the Green Party in the Presidential debates). We deserve better. Join the Green Party in demanding better. 

Iraqi political analyst Raed Jarrar will present a talk entitled “Is theOccupation Really Ending?” on Wednesday, April 15, at 7pm, at the PaceCenter for Campus Ministries, 700 W. Franklin Street.  Jarrar will discussthe Obama administration’s planned troop withdrawal and the future ofIraq.  This community forum is free and open to the public.Raed Jarrar is an Iraqi architect, blogger, and political analyst.  Hemoved to the United States in 2005, and is currently working as aconsultant to the American Friends Service Committee’s Iraq program inWashington, D.C.  After the U.S.-led invasion, Jarrar established Emaar,(meaning “reconstruction” in Arabic), a grassroots organization thatprovided humanitarian and political aid to Iraqi internally displacedpersons (IDPs). Jarrar recently won a lawsuit filed against JetblueAirlines and the Transportation Security Administration for preventing himfrom boarding an airplane wearing a shirt that said “We will not besilent,” in Arabic.Jarrar will examine President Obama’s plan for troop withdrawal, anddiscuss the impact of the U.S. occupation on Iraq’s future.  He willdescribe Iraq’s internal politics and struggles. He will also discuss theimportance of continued advocacy by the U.S. peace movement over the nextfew years.This program is co-sponsored by Richmond Friends Meeting and the RichmondPeace Education Center.For more information, contact the Richmond Peace Education Center at232-1002 or rpec@rpec.org. Or visit the website, www.rpec.org.