{news} Fwd: [media-states] Green Party of the U.S. News Circulator for 7/11/05-7/18/05

[Green Party-CT]

Andy Parx <parx at midpac.net> wrote:From: Andy Parx <parx at midpac.net>
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
Subject: [media-states] Green Party of the U.S. News Circulator for 7/11/05-7/18/05
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 13:42:17 -1000

Green Party of the U.S. News Circulator for 7/11/05-7/18/05

For more Green Party news go to http://web.greens.org/news/

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1) NEW ZEALAND: ZIMBABWE CRICKETER TO JOIN NEW ZEALAND ANTI-TOUR PROTEST

2) GERMANY: GERMAN GREENS, SPD SHIFT ELECTION CAMPAIGN INTO HIGH GEAR
3) NEBRASKA: GREEN PARTY'S LARRICK FINDS OLD POSTCARDS FROM WILLIAM
JENNINGS BRYAN; NEBRASKALAND FEATURE
4) NEW ZEALAND: TOUR SHOULD BE CALLED OFF, OLONGA SAYS
5) NEW ZEALAND: EMBASSY STAFF CRITICISED
6) NEW ZEALAND: GREENS LAUNCH POSTCARDS TO HELEN' ANTI-TOUR CAMPAIGN
7) ALASKA: VOICE OF THE TIMES; ON THE HOMEFRONT, WE HAVE . . .
ECO-TERRORISM
8) NEW ZEALAND: PAC: ICC GIVES NZ POSSIBLE WAY OUT OF ZIMBABWE CRICKET
TOUR
9) CONNECTICUT: EMINENT DOMAIN LAW CONTROVERSIAL, BUT NOT NEW
10) IRELAND: BITTER PILL; GREEN FURY AS EU BANS VITAMINS & MINERALS
11) AUSTRIA: VIENNA COURT REJECTS COMPLAINT AGAINST MOCHOVCE NUCLEAR
PLANT
12) NEW ZEALAND: ELSEN SELECTED AS AORAKI CANDIDATE
13) NEW ZEALAND: FITZSIMONS CALLS FOR CHANGES TO FARM PRACTICES
14) MAINE: EX-AIDE TO LAWMAKER CLEARED IN VOTE FRAUD; BEN CHIPMAN,
ACCUSED IN A BIDDEFORD SPECIAL ELECTION, CALLS THE VERDICT A VICTORY FOR
THE GREEN PARTY.
15) IRELAND: GREEN PARTY COUNCILLOR BRIAN WILSON CONGRATULATES FRIENDS
OF THE EARTH FOR DRAWING EUROPE'S ATTENTION TO THE DISREGARD FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTIVES.
16) NEW ZEALAND: EXCEPTION TAKEN AT FITZSIMONS' COMMENTS
17) CALIFORNIA: BOHEMIAN GROVE; GREEN PARTY TO LEAD PROTEST AT GATHERING
OF RICH AND POWERFUL
18) CANADA: FIXING LEPREAU WILL COST TAXPAYERS: GREEN PARTY
19) MAINE: EX-SPEAKER DEFENDS SUSPENSION OF GREEN PARTY STAFFER LAST
YEAR
20) CANADA: GREENS SHOW SURPRISING STRENGTH IN POLL: PARTY GETS 43 PER
CENT SUPPORT, BUT UVIC POLITICAL SCIENTIST PREDICTS SURGE WILL EVAPORATE

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1) Agence France Presse – English; July 10, 2005

NEW ZEALAND: ZIMBABWE CRICKETER TO JOIN NEW ZEALAND ANTI-TOUR PROTEST

WELLINGTON -- Zimbabwe's first black Test cricketer, Henry Olonga, is to
join a campaign here aimed at stopping New Zealand's cricket tour of his
homeland, Greens Party co-leader Rod Donald said Sunday.

Olonga fled Zimbabwe in 2003 after wearing a black armband during a
World Cup match to mourn what he called the death of democracy in his
country.

Donald said he would take Olonga on a speaking tour to "turn up the
heat" on the government.

"We want Henry to give the government, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and
the people, the message loud and clear that the Black Caps should not be
touring Zimbabwe," he said.

"The Government should be doing everything in its power to get the Black
Caps off the hook, and needs to match its tough talk with decisive
action."

The government's position is that it does not want the team to tour, but
will not stop it because that would need legislation authorising the
removal of passports.

Foreign Minister Phil Goff last week announced a diplomatic offensive
against all sporting contacts with Zimbabwe, and is urging the
International Cricket Council to waive financial penalties that would be
imposed if the tour does not go ahead.

Goff has said the government will refuse to issue visas to the Zimbabwe
team for a return tour to New Zealand scheduled in December.

NZC's chief executive Martin Snedden said his association has no
alternative but to go on tour or face crippling fines believed to be at
least two million US dollars.

Donald drafted a bill that would allow the government to stop the tour,
but it has been vetoed on the grounds that it would cut across New
Zealand's human rights laws.

"We hope Henry's visit will lead to public pressure increasing on the
Government to stop the tour," he said.

The Greens are bringing Olonga to New Zealand, and he will speak at
public meetings in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland this week.

President Mugabe's order to destroy thousands of homes and businesses
triggered the Green's protest.

The demolitions campaign has left between 200,000 and 1.5 million people
homeless according to the United Nations and the Zimbabwe the opposition
respectively.

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2) Deutsche Presse-Agentur; July 10, 2005

GERMANY: GERMAN GREENS, SPD SHIFT ELECTION CAMPAIGN INTO HIGH GEAR

Berlin -- Berlin's embattled centre-left coalition leaders shifted their
re-election campaign into high gear over the weekend with blistering
attacks on front-running conservatives as well as leftwing challengers.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, whose Social Democrats are
trailing in the public opinion surveys in the run-up to the planned
September general election, lashed out at conservative Christian
Democrats who hope to reinstall themselves after a six-year hiatus.

"It is absolutely absurd that the hoboes from yesteryear seriously
expect to become the bosses of tomorrow," Schroeder told a cheering
crowd of Social Democrats at a statewide party congress in his native
state of Lower Saxony.

His foreign minister, meanwhile, issued a blistering attack on
conservatives and liberals.

"There is absolutely no reason for us to cower in fear or shame,"
Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, the Green Party's standard-bearer,
said in a keynote address during a two-day party congress in Berlin.

"We have an admirable and in fact outstanding record, built in two
decades of hard work in the German Bundestag," he said. "We have nothing
to fear from anybody as we go into an election campaign from which I am
confident we will emerge victorious."

Germany's Greens, facing a strong challenge from the political left for
the first time in their history, wrapped up their party congress on
Sunday with an election platform aimed at defusing the threat from the
left.

The congress was convened as opinion surveys show a new far-left
alliance of former East German communists and disenchanted Social
Democrats and Greens has the backing of 11 per cent of the voters,
compared to just 8 per cent for the Greens.

The new far-left alliance is headed by former Schroeder cabinet member
Oscar Lafontaine and Gregor Gysi, 57, long the most charismatic figure
in the far-leftist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), the
reconstituted East German Communist Party. Lafontaine heads the new
leftist party called the Labour and Social Election Alternative (WASG).

Fired on by Fischer, the Greens party congress hammered out leftist and
environmentalist stances in clear demarcation to the new far-left
grouping who are rallying around Lafontaine.

Platform planks included higher taxes on the rich, better day-care
programmes for double-earner families and tax breaks for
future-oriented, environmentally friendly technologies.

Over Fischer's objections, the party also adopted a plank calling for
an increase in VAT tax nationwide from the current 16 per cent to 18 per
cent. Fischer and other top Greens officials say it would constitute an
added tax on the poor...

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3) The Associated Press State & Local Wire; July 10, 2005

NEBRASKA: GREEN PARTY'S LARRICK FINDS OLD POSTCARDS FROM WILLIAM
JENNINGS BRYAN; NEBRASKALAND FEATURE

by Don Walton

LINCOLN -- One hundred years ago this September, William Jennings Bryan
left his home in Lincoln to embark on a trip around the world. It would
be a year's journey devoted to the quest for world peace, building the
foundation for Bryan's third and final presidential bid.

Two years ago, Steve Larrick wandered into the Q Street Antique Market
in Lincoln. Larrick drops in at antique shops occasionally to browse and
see what's there. He's especially attracted to old postcards and the
stories they tell.

"I recognized the handwriting instantly," Larrick said. "I knew it was
him."

Sorting through a pile, Larrick discovered a postcard mailed to Lincoln
from Japan with this message scrawled atop the painted picture:
"Compliments of the Bryans."

And then he found another.

"The last of Europe," read the message on the card next to the photo of
the Rock of Gibraltar. It was mailed on Aug. 20, 1906, and signed: "The
Bryans."

By now, the adrenaline had kicked in. Larrick rushed through the stack,
uncovering three more prizes mailed from Asia and Europe, with brief
greetings written in ink by Bryan.

Even today, Larrick's eyes light up as he recalls the moment of
discovery.

"Out of the blue," he said, "here were these cards from Bryan" mailed to
Lincoln a century ago in the midst of a journey seeking peace around the
globe.

Larrick was the Green Party's congressional nominee in the 1st District
last November.

Through all the debates about health care, farm policy and Social
Security reform, he made the case for peace and argued passionately
against the war.

The cards were addressed to Miss Leah Westhafer at the Commoner in
Lincoln, Nebraska. That's all. No street address. No post office box. No
need for any of that 100 years ago.

The Commoner was a weekly newspaper published by Bryan, who already had
won the Democratic Party's presidential nomination twice. He'd win it
again in 1908.

Amazed by his good fortune, Larrick paid the going rate for postcards in
the pile.

One dollar each.

After discovering the postcards, Larrick purchased a well-worn copy of
"The Old World and Its Ways," Bryan's book about his travels published
in 1907.

Another Larrick bargain at $15.

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4) New Zealand Press Association; July 12, 2005

NEW ZEALAND: TOUR SHOULD BE CALLED OFF, OLONGA SAYS

Wellington, July 12 NZPA - Zimbabwe's first black test cricketer, Henry
Olonga, said today the situation in his country should be seen in the
same light as apartheid was in South Africa.

Olonga arrived in New Zealand today to support the Green Party's
campaign to stop the Black Caps tour of Zimbabwe, due to start early
next month.

I personally believe it shouldn't go ahead simply because what is
happening to people in Zimbabwe is just terrible,'' he said.

This is a government that has consistently abused its own people.''

Olonga left Zimbabwe in 2003 after wearing a black armband during a
World Cup match to mourn the end of democracy in his country.

He acknowledged the difficulties faced by New Zealand cricketers, and
New Zealand Cricket (NZC), which faces heavy fines and financial
penalties if it does not tour.

I'm disappointed the ICC (International Cricket Council) hasn't shown
more compassion with regard to what's happening in Zimbabwe,'' he said
on National Radio.

We believed that sporting sanctions made some kind of difference when
South Africa was isolated.

We believed that people who went on rebel tours were somehow crossing a
line that we didn't accept... that they were showing no concern for the
people who were suffering under that oppressive regime.''

Olonga said he believed it was time the world started to take notice of
what was happening in Zimbabwe.

It is immoral and the world somehow has to take a stance... possibly,
probably even treat this as a situation as abnormal as apartheid.''

The New Zealand Government's position is that it does not have the
power to stop the tour, and it has vetoed legislation drafted by Green
Party co-leader Rod Donald.

Foreign Minister Phil Goff says stopping people leaving New Zealand
would cut across human rights, and the Government would be committing
the same sort of abuses that were happening in Zimbabwe.

The Government is instead launching an international diplomatic
offensive against sporting contacts with Zimbabwe, and has written to
the ICC asking it to waive penalties.

Olonga said he was sure the Government could step in and possibly
indemnify the tour in some way.

It all depends on how strong the sentiment is.''

Olonga is due to speak at three public meetings this week, and will
meet NZC representatives and ministers.

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5) The Nelson Mail (New Zealand); July 13, 2005

NEW ZEALAND: EMBASSY STAFF CRITICISED

The New Zealand Embassy failed a Motueka man detained in the United
States and the Government must take steps to ensure shortcomings from
the Washington-based staff are not repeated, the Greens say.

Green Party foreign affairs spokesman Keith Locke said the embassy had
made no direct contact with James Kirkwood, who spent seven weeks in a
detention centre for a minor visa violation.

The 26-year-old aircraft engineer returned to New Zealand on Friday
night after being released from the Louisiana centre.

Mr Kirkwood and eight British colleagues working for Merchant Aviation
were arrested in May for working without the correct visa after the
British company pulled out of its US project.

New Zealand consular staff ''went no further'' than talking to a lawyer
assigned to Mr Kirkwood, Mr Locke said today.

''That is inexcusable, especially when his British workmates were
quickly talked to by British authorities and were then on a plane out
within two weeks.

''After speaking to James Kirkwood today, it is clear to me that our
embassy staff failed him.''

Foreign Minister Phil Goff had been asked in writing to look into the
apparent mishandling of Mr Kirkwood's case, he said.

''I have also requested that his ministry engage the American
authorities to put in place a system to ensure that no more New
Zealanders are treated so dreadfully.

''We should point out to them that Americans guilty of such minor
irregularities would not be jailed and their cases would be dealt with
fairly and promptly.''

New Zealand officials had accepted US ''excuses'' that Mr Kirkwood
couldn't be transferred out of detention earlier because of transport
problems, he said.

''It is now clear that there was regular prison transport to Atlanta
airport, which Mr Kirkwood was finally put on after seven weeks in
atrocious conditions.''

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6) New Zealand Press Association; July 13, 2005

NEW ZEALAND: GREENS LAUNCH POSTCARDS TO HELEN' ANTI-TOUR CAMPAIGN

Wellington, July 13 NZPA - The Green Party is hoping Prime Minister
Helen Clark will be deluged with postcards urging her to stop the Black
Caps tour of Zimbabwe.

Party co-leader Rod Donald said today that thousands of postcards had
been printed for distribution.

Opinion polls show that the overwhelming majority of New Zealanders are
opposed to the Black Caps tour of Zimbabwe,'' he said.

So far the Government has lacked the confidence to do the right thing.
We're hoping public pressure will lead to the Government matching its
tough talk on Zimbabwe with decisive action.''

The postcard carries the message: For the sake of the people in
Zimbabwe who are being oppressed by the Mugabe regime, for the sake of
all New Zealanders who want you to take decisive action on our behalf,
and for the sake of NZ Cricket who need you to declare the tour illegal
to avoid financial penalty, please rule this tour out.''

Mr Donald said there was still time to legislate to stop the tour -- a
step the Government is refusing to take.

We hope the public will flood Helen with postcards,'' he said.

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7) Anchorage Daily News (Alaska); July 13, 2005

ALASKA: VOICE OF THE TIMES; ON THE HOMEFRONT, WE HAVE . . .
ECO-TERRORISM

A SUPREME COURT judge in British Columbia has provided a reminder that
there are other forms of terrorism than bombs blowing up in London
subways. The judge, Kristi Gill, has ruled that there is enough evidence
against an accused American to permit his extradition from Canada to
face charges in Portland, Ore.

Her ruling held that a fugitive known as Tre Arrow, a Green Party
candidate for Congress in 2002, should stand trial in connection with
the firebombing of logging and cement trucks in Oregon in 2002. Three
others have pleaded guilty of participating in the crimes, and
identified Tre Arrow as an accomplice.

He denies it, of course, and says he will appeal the extradition order
-- a move that could take months to be resolved. He claims he is being
targeted by the U.S. government and the FBI.

The FBI identifies the 30-year-old Arrow as a member of the Earth
Liberation Front, an organization that has claimed responsibility for
dozens of attacks on forestry industry firms. He faces a possible life
term if convicted of charges of using fire to commit a felony,
destroying vehicles used in interstate commerce and using incendiary
devices in a crime of violence.

Those charged in this case were accused of blowing up three trucks owned
by the Ross Island Gravel Co., causing $200,000 in damages, and burning
three vehicles belonging to a Mount Hood logging company, at a lost of
$50,000.

The U.S. attorney in Portland said the four had intended to firebomb a
U.S. Forest Service office, but changed targets after the federal
security system frightened them away.

One of those who admitted participating in the attacks said the gravel
company was targeted "because it was guilty of stealing soil from the
earth."

As an indication of how nutty some of these extremists are, Arrow says
the trees told him to change his name. Before acting on the advice, he
was named Michael Scarpitti.

No matter what they call themselves, these people have earned the name
by which the rest of us know them: eco-terrorists.

They war against society in the same fashion as the Islamic zealots who
hate the U.S. and all of western civilization -- less deadly, perhaps,
but nonetheless practitioners of terrorism.

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8) AAP NEWSFEED; July 13, 2005

NEW ZEALAND: PAC: ICC GIVES NZ POSSIBLE WAY OUT OF ZIMBABWE CRICKET TOUR

by Peter Williams

AUCKLAND -- The International Cricket Council (ICC) appears to have
given New Zealand the chance to stop its cricketers touring Zimbabwe
next month without its cricketing body incurring a financial penalty.

New Zealand Cricket has so far refused to call off the tour over
Zimbabwe's human rights abuses because it would cost it millions of
dollars in breach-of-contract penalties.

While continuing to reject cancelling the tour, ICC president Ehsan Mani
said in a letter to the New Zealand government that it recognised a
nation's right to impose sporting sanctions.

"In short, the board recognises that issues of the relationships between
countries are driven by politicians and governments that are elected by
the people to deal with these political issues," Mani said.

"It is also recognised that governments will, from time to time, elect
to use sporting sanctions as a tool in their foreign policy programs.

"Our members accept and respect that where this clear directive is given
by a national government, the obligations of the future tours program
will not apply."

New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff was urgently seeking
clarification from the ICC about what it meant by a clear directive.

"If the International Cricket Council is saying ... that a parliamentary
motion would be adequate, saying to New Zealand Cricket that they should
not go then that is something that could be readily achieved," Goff told
National Radio.

New Zealand's Green Party said the government could now stop the tour.

"It's only argument for not doing so is that it doesn't have the power.
However, the ICC has now made it abundantly clear that it recognises the
right of national governments to impose sporting sanctions," party
co-leader Rod Green said.

"This is a win-win-win situation."

The Greens have brought former Zimbabwe cricket player Henry Olonga to
New Zealand to lobby against the tour.

Olonga had talks today with New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin
Snedden, who welcomed the fresh perspective but said there was no change
to his organisation's position.

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9) The Journal Inquirer; July 13, 2005

CONNECTICUT: EMINENT DOMAIN LAW CONTROVERSIAL, BUT NOT NEW

For nearly 40 years, state law has allowed the seizure of property for
private economic development under the principle of eminent domain.

But only in the last month has the law become a central focus of state
politics -- ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the city of New
London can take homes in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood for a private
development project....

...While eminent domain may yet break along party lines in the
legislature, outside it already has made for some strange political
bedfellows.

"I think it's the first time I've found myself on the same side as
Clarence Thomas," says Thomas Sevigny, a state Green Party leader who
has been active in development controversies since at least the proposal
to build an NFL stadium for the New England Patriots in Hartford.

Sevigny, like the Republicans, opposes the law allowing property to be
seized for private development, but doesn't find anything odd in the
fact that opposition has only now reached critical mass.

"The Supreme Court decision has obviously brought this to light," he
said. "Especially when you have people who are saying, "No, we aren't
moving.' It provides something for people to rally around."

When two legislative committees do convene their hearings into the
question, they will have more than just the Home Rule Act to consider:
According to the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Research, eminent
domain is referenced in at least 80 statutes.

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10) The Mirror; July 13, 2005

IRELAND: BITTER PILL; GREEN FURY AS EU BANS VITAMINS & MINERALS

by Pat Flanagan

MORE than 300 vitamin and mineral supplements are to be banned from the
end of this month after a dramatic European Court ruling.

Close to 80 per cent of all health pills will be taken off the shelves
by the start of August.

The Association of Irish Health Stores has said the ban affects most of
the top vitamin and mineral brands sold here.

The decision follows a European Court ruling that has upheld an EU
directive on changes in the law controlling the sale of health vitamins.

The Green Party said the decision will give consumers less choice when
buying vitamins.

Green TD Paul Gogarty said: "This is less about consumer safety and
more about commercialisation and harmonisation.

"Diversity and choice are being replaced in the name of harmonisation.
The decision may be well-intentioned but the priorities are wrong.

"Consumers who purchase vitamins are making a conscious choice, whereas
much of the food in our supermarkets contains unnecessary, undesirable
chemicals.

"The Green Party would prefer if the EU prioritised the tightening of
food additive regulations first.

"Large pharmaceutical companies have lobbied to have the vitamin
supplements area tightly regulated and licensed for many years now.

"Many will see this as a cynical ploy on the part of the pharmaceutical
companies to wrest control of the market away from the smaller players."

According to the Commission, the main aim of this directive was to
enable food supplements "to be marketed freely across the EU while
ensuring the safety of consumers".

But many supplements have been reprieved until the end of 2009 and
firms, including Boots, say they have already changed their products to
avoid the ban.

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11) CTK National News Wire; July 14, 2005

AUSTRIA: VIENNA COURT REJECTS COMPLAINT AGAINST MOCHOVCE NUCLEAR PLANT

KEYWORD: Austria Slovakia energy nuclear Mochovce

VIENNA -- The Vienna Land Court has rejected a complaint against the
Slovak nuclear power station in Mochovce, west Slovakia, which was
lodged by the Austrian Green Party, the Austrian news agency APA reports
today.

The Land Court civilian legal panel verdict points out that the safety
shortcomings to which the party pointed have not been proved with
specific facts.

The complaint was lodged against the Slovenske elektrarne power
utility, which operates Mochovce, by opposition Greens spokeswoman Eva
Glawischnig in summer 1998. She said in it that the power plant,
situated 160 km east of Vienna, threatens Vienna and its inhabitants due
to its insufficient safety and technological equipment.

However, even Austrian legal experts are not united in the view whether
the verdict of an Austrian court could be binding for the operators of
the station.

The District Court of Vienna's Hernals district accepted the complaint
in February. It said in its verdict that the operators of the Slovak
nuclear power plant should take appropriate measures to prevent
radioactive emissions. It also stated that the Mochovce operator
neglected its safety.

However, the Land Court arrived at the conclusion that the "plaintiff
should have proved the pre-conditions for such preliminary accusations
of negligence but she has failed to do so."

According to its verdict, the "nuclear power station would not be
allowed to operate, for instance in Germany, due to less strict Slovak
safety regulations. However, even according to the stricter German
regulations, concrete conclusions about the insufficient safety of its
reactor cannot be made."

The construction of the reactor gives no reasons for such fears, the
court said, adding that fire regulations at Mochovce correspond to
Western standards and bigger shortcomings were not found in its alert
system and in its anti-earthquake system.

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12) The Timaru Herald (New Zealand); July 15, 2005

NEW ZEALAND: ELSEN SELECTED AS AORAKI CANDIDATE

Timaru woman Kate Elsen is now the official Aoraki Green Party candidate
for this year's general election after being selected at a meeting in
Geraldine last evening.

The meeting was chaired by Greens co- leader Jeanette Fitzsimons.

Mrs Elsen has lived in Timaru most of her life, and is a daughter of
Wynne and Nan Raymond, former mayor and mayoress of Timaru

Aoraki Greens campaign manager Cliff Jefferson said Kate was well known
and active in the Timaru community.

"Kate is a registered nurse who established and ran the Terrace Rest
Home and now works at the Mountainview Retirement Village.

"She is a trustee of the Timaru Festival of Roses, Aoraki Organic Co-op
and the Aoraki Wastebusters Charitable Trust, and has had a pivotal role
in organising several community initiatives and events, such as the
Peace Rally in 2003, and the Tsunami International Dinner in February
this year."

Mrs Elsen is married to Horst and they have three school-age sons.

For two years the couple and their children lived in Germany where Mrs
Elsen said she was most influenced by the green movement, in particular
the management of recycling.

Mrs Elsen said, in particular, what prompted her recent decision to
stand was learning of the Green Party's commitment to eliminating child
poverty in New Zealand and reducing this country's horrific rates of
child abuse and neglect.

"It is outrageous that up to one in three Auckland children live in
poverty and that the New Zealand child poverty rate is the fourth worst
in the developed world, with over 25,000 overcrowded houses."

She will be campaigning for the party vote with a view to increasing the
Green's percentage of Aoraki votes and increasing the number of Green
MPs elected to Parliament.

***************************************************************************

13) The Timaru Herald (New Zealand); July 15, 2005

NEW ZEALAND: FITZSIMONS CALLS FOR CHANGES TO FARM PRACTICES

South Canterbury farms are among those that will need to work within a
farm plan to ensure that local rivers do not become any more degraded
and start to repair, Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said
yesterday.

Ms Fitzsimons was in South Canterbury to see for herself the state of
the rivers and hear from locals about what they thought the problems
were, and said it was a well accepted fact that 95 per cent of low land
rivers in South Canterbury were degraded.

That is, not up to the standard required for contact through activities
such as swimming or drinking.

"There are three main contaminants, nitrates, bacteria like ecoli, and
runoff from urban areas and roads.

"With roads there is the danger of heavy metals and those sorts of
things."

But she said it was farming activities that did the most damage and the
increase in dairying was a real concern, particularly in areas of
fragile and unsuitable soils.

"There are parts of South Canterbury that would be in that category but
I do not have a soil map of the area and probably couldn't read it if I
did, so I am not saying every farm would be in that category.

"But the prevalence of dairying and the intensity of farming are causing
the most concern.

"Fertilisers enable intensive farming practices and we would like to see
farmers on nitrate budgets.

"Federated Farmers have asked for a $ 50 million fund to help farmers
change to more sustainable practices and we agree with that.

"We would like to see it well funded and we would fund it 50 per cent
through a fertiliser tax and 50 per cent from the taxpayer."

Ms Fitzsimons also wants to see wide riparian strips, or narrow forestry
strips, along river sides that would be selectively milled over a period
of time.

She said there would also be serious implications for South Canterbury
with the forecast climate change and soaring oil prices and it was
necessary for people to act now, to soften the impact.

"The east coast will become drier and the west wetter and neither is
beneficial.

"The cost of petrol will also skyrocket and become scarce and we need to
be finding sustainable options such as bio fuel and diesel, energy from
ethanol and wood; those sorts of things.

"We won't be able to produce it in the quantities we use now but it will
help to supplement it."

Ms Fitzsimons said transport was one of the biggest causes of carbon
gases and was growing rapidly.

She said there needed to be firm controls on the vehicles we brought
into the country.

"We are still importing cars that take 15 litres to go 100 kilometres, I
have just bought one that takes five litres to go 100 kilometres."

Ms Fitzsimons said there were some things the Green Party would like the
Government to do but she would not call them bottom lines.

"It's a silly term really. The Labour Government has bottom lines but no
one asks them what they are, but there are some things it would not
agree to going into a coalition.

"And we are not going to support a government that tells us to go away
we're not listening to you."

Ms Fitzsimons said changes that had been proposed by Labour to the
Resource Management Act had been toned down, for example, and she
expected it to be passed in Parliament.

"The RMA is a good piece of legislation and does not need much changed."

She said it was important that people from all around the country were
able to have a say on resource consents and not just those on whose
property the activity would take place.

"We all share the environment, it's only fair we all get a say on it,"
she said.

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14) Portland Press Herald (Maine); July 14, 2005

MAINE: EX-AIDE TO LAWMAKER CLEARED IN VOTE FRAUD; BEN CHIPMAN, ACCUSED
IN A BIDDEFORD SPECIAL ELECTION, CALLS THE VERDICT A VICTORY FOR THE
GREEN PARTY.

by Jen Fish

A former legislative aide to Portland Rep. John Eder of the Green
Independent Party hopes to return to politics after being cleared of
charges of campaign fraud.

Ben Chipman, 29, was suspended without pay from his position in October
when he was charged with attempting to influence a voter casting an
absentee ballot, a misdemeanor.

A York County jury acquitted him of the charge Tuesday, delivering a
verdict Chipman called a victory for himself and for the Greens.

"It's clear there was an attempt to paint the party in a negative light,
to indict the entire Green party," said Chipman. "I'm just glad the
whole thing is finally over. The charge was a false allegation that
couldn't be proven because it wasn't true."

Chipman and three other people were charged in connection with a special
legislative election held in Biddeford in February 2004. Dorothy
Lafortune, who fought a long and heated battle with the city over the
ownership of her house, ran as the Green Independent Party candidate in
the three-way race.

Lafortune finished second in the race, which was won by Democrat Steve
Beaudette. Soon after the election, Biddeford police and city officials
received complaints about Green party volunteers.

Indictments issued by the state Attorney General's Office alleged that
Chipman and three other volunteers delivered absentee ballots to elderly
voters and then either urged them to vote for Lafortune or marked the
ballots themselves.

In Chipman's case, an elderly woman told police Chipman gave her an
absentee ballot and told her to vote for Lafortune.

Attorney Leonard Sharon, who represents all four volunteers, said the
woman's allegations were disproved by several witnesses at the trial.

Her complaint, he added, was not even in the original calls to police
and city officials. She became a witness, he said, when police conducted
interviews beyond the first complainants.

"If you listened to the tapes, the way the police questioned them, it
was somewhat suggestive," Sharon said.

Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin, who is prosecuting the cases,
said the woman had no motive to make up stories.

"This campaign was rife with problems," she said, adding that one of the
witnesses called to discredit Chipman's accuser was a Lafortune
supporter.

While the investigation of the Green party volunteers began in February
2004, charges against Chipman and the others were filed less than a
month before the November elections.

"The timing was an effort to derail the campaigns of Green party
candidates, including John Eder," Chipman said. "Why did that amount of
time have to go by before the charges could be filed?"

Eder could not be reached for comment Wednesday. He testified as a
character witness for Chipman.

Robbin said the case was treated like any other criminal matter, and
that in cases where there are elderly victims and witnesses, there is
nothing to be gained by waiting to file the case.

So far one of the four volunteers has been convicted of wrongdoing.

Fred Dolgon of Old Orchard Beach was found guilty earlier this summer of
two counts of attempting to influence a voter. He was acquitted of
aggravated forgery and delivering absentee ballots for compensation.

Dolgon was sentenced to community service.

In that case, Sharon said, Dolgon believed he was helping a person who
was already committed to voting for Lafortune.

Philip Castora, a longtime friend of Lafortune's, was charged with four
felony counts of aggravated forgery, three counts of attempting to
influence a voter and one count of delivering absentee ballots for
compensation.

Castora is very ill, Sharon said, and his case has been postponed
indefinitely.

Wayne Whitten of Biddeford faces one count of interfering with a voter
attempting to cast a vote and one count of delivering an absentee ballot
for com- pensation.

His trial is expected to be held in August, said Sharon.

Staff Writer Jen Fish can be contacted at 282-8229 or at:
jfish at pressherald.com

***************************************************************************

15) Press Association; July 15, 2005

IRELAND: GREEN PARTY COUNCILLOR BRIAN WILSON CONGRATULATES FRIENDS OF
THE EARTH FOR DRAWING EUROPE'S ATTENTION TO THE DISREGARD FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTIVES.

Northern Ireland Green Party councillor Brian Wilson congratulated
Friends of the Earth for drawing Europe's attention to the disregard for
environmental directives.

The North Down councillor, who is his party's environment spokesman,
said it was regrettable that taxpayers would probably have the burden
placed on them to pay fines imposed because of the inaction of Northern
Ireland Office ministers.

"It was only a matter of time before the 'Direct Misrule' ministers
ended up in the dock at the European Court following the expert finding
by the QC, Robert McCracken that policy on sewage 'hotspots' did not
comply with the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive and was unlawful,"
Mr Wilson observed.

He described the policy pursued by Northern Ireland Office ministers as:
"irrational and a breach of Article 10 of the EC Treaty and in conflict
with the Northern Ireland Act 1998".

He added: "My only regret is that local taxpayers will bear the brunt of
the cost of fines imposed for the inaction of London's caretaker
ministers."

***************************************************************************

16) The Timaru Herald (New Zealand); July 16, 2005

NEW ZEALAND: EXCEPTION TAKEN AT FITZSIMONS' COMMENTS

Future proofing rivers and districts should be supported by the Green
Party not ignored, South Canterbury Farmers Irrigation Society chairman
Tom Henderson said yesterday.

He said comments by Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons had his blood
boiling and if she wanted to look over projects such as the Opuha dam,
she should at least speak to people who knew how the system worked and
see the advantages of it.

"Opuha dam is about future proofing. Ms Fitzsimons needs to look at the
benefits of the dam.

"Timaru City benefits from it, irrigators, the environment, and
business.

"Water storage is the way of the future."

Mr Henderson said the Green Party admits that with climate change the
east coast and South Canterbury would become drier which was not good.

He said without water storage South Canterbury would become a dustbowl.

Mr Henderson also took exceptions to remarks by Ms Fitzsimons that
people who lived well away from the community could make submissions on
resource consent applications.

"There is no reason why someone who lives a 1000 miles away should be
able to make a submission on something that happens here.

"No one was interested in 1980 when we went for the Opuha dam. But that
was what the community wanted. Environmentalists, Maori, all parts of
the community had a say and we had scientific backing to guide us," he
said.

***************************************************************************

17) The Press Democrat; July 15, 2005

CALIFORNIA: BOHEMIAN GROVE; GREEN PARTY TO LEAD PROTEST AT GATHERING OF
RICH AND POWERFUL

by Carol Benfell

The Green Party is taking the lead in the annual protest of corporate
and governmental decision-makers who gather again this weekend at
Bohemian Grove near Monte Rio.

Members of the all-male San Francisco Bohemian Club have been coming to
the tightly guarded grove for relaxation and camaraderie for 123 years.
The membership includes many of the nation's rich and powerful,
including former U.S. presidents and Cabinet officials.

The guest list remains secret to all but club members and employees who
help stage the event.

Protesters accuse the club of using the secrecy of the grove to cut
deals outside the public view, but club members say that doesn't happen.

The Green Party took on the protest this year as a way of networking
with like-minded groups and expanding the party's role in the community,
said Paul Encimer, a Garberville-area businessman and a member of the
Green Party's statewide coordinating committee.

"The Green Party is a party focused on action," Encimer said. "We think
coalition-building and being involved in the movement is part of our
task."

Hosting the protest could help the Green Party solidify its base among
Sonoma County activists, while costing it little in terms of mainstream
voter support, political analysts said.

The Greens are California's fourth largest political party. But with
only 150,000 registered voters, it pales in comparison to state
Democrats, with more than 7.1 million members, and Republicans, with
more than 5.7 million members. The American Independent Party has twice
the numbers of the Green Party with 330,000 member.

Still, Greens maintain a majority on the Sebastopol City Council and
have more than 6,800 registered voters in Sonoma County.

"Sonoma County has always had a core group of activists who have driven
third, anti-establishment parties," said David McCuan, a political
science professor at Sonoma State University.

"This is a way to appease the activists, and it doesn't cost them much.
If it turns voters off, it's so early in the game (before the 2006
elections) that it won't be sustained," McCuan said.

Over the next three days, there will be signs, banners, rallies,
speeches, information booths and a march to the grove's entrance.

"This small group of men probably controls 80 percent of the wealth in
this country. This needs to be talked about," said Don Eichelberger, a
member of the state Green Party's working issues group.

"They want to maximize profits and maximize benefits to their
shareholders, but what does that do to the rest of us? What does that do
to our schools? Our health care?" Eichelberger said.

Anti-draft and anti-nuclear-weapon protests began at the grove in 1980,
led by the Bohemian Grove Action Network and organized by local activist
Mary Moore.

When Moore stepped down after more than 20 years, the local chapter of
Not in Our Name, a group opposed to the war in Iraq, picked up the
torch.

But the organization did not want to do it again this year, said Susan
Lamont, a founding member.

"It's a matter of time and energy. We're a very small group and it's an
awful lot of work for us," Lamont said. "We've also taken on a number of
other projects, including getting trained to do counter-recruiting."

The Green Party picked up the protest this year, renaming it "Green
Party of California Convergence for Peace and Justice" and paying the
$500 costs of the event. Some 200 activists are expected to show up,
about the same as last year.

The media coverage of Bohemian Grove protests will help the Greens stay
in the news during the dry spell between elections, said Shaun Bowler,
an analyst of third party movements and a political science professor at
UC Riverside.

"It's a hard time to get a story written about you," Bowler said. "That
can be pretty disheartening. This is a cheap and easy way for them to be
seen as relevant."

***************************************************************************

18) The Guardian (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island); July 15, 2005

CANADA: FIXING LEPREAU WILL COST TAXPAYERS: GREEN PARTY

If the P.E.I. and New Brunswick Liberals had done their homework, they
wouldn't be lobbying the federal government to refurbish the Point
Lepreau nuclear plant, said Green Party of Canada environment critic
Sharon Labchuk.

Labchuk was reacting to a news conference held by the provincial Liberal
parties in Charlottetown on Tuesday.

"Refurbishing the Point Lepreau nuclear plant will cost Canadian
taxpayers dearly and slow the adoption of cleaner more sustainable
alternatives to nuclear energy and fossil fuel," Labchuk said in a news
release Thursday.

"Federal taxpayers should not be forced to pick up the tab for NB
Power's bungling. The company, overseen by New Brunswick Premier Bernard
Lord, has under-collected the costs of operations and waste management
from consumers giving the impression that nuclear power is cheap, and
now wants a federal bailout."

Refurbishing Point Lepreau will cost about $1.4 billion.

Mothballing the facility will cost $500 million.

Either way, the P.E.I. government will be on the hook for part of the
costs. The Island's bill could be about $75 million if the nuclear
reactor is refurbished.

But Liberal leaders from the two provinces say the reactor must be
refurbished to ensure an adequate, cost-effective electricity supply in
the region.

Labchuk said 17 reactors in Quebec and Ontario all face the same
renovations as Lepreau and it will be difficult for the federal
government to refuse subsidies to these provinces if it gives in to New
Brunswick's demands.

"The Green Party would end all subsidies to the nuclear and fossil fuel
industries and phase out reactors as they become unsafe or reach the end
of their useful lives."

***************************************************************************

19) Bangor Daily News (Maine); July 16, 2005

MAINE: EX-SPEAKER DEFENDS SUSPENSION OF GREEN PARTY STAFFER LAST YEAR

by A. J. Higgins

AUGUSTA -- Former Maine House Speaker Patrick Colwell has defended his
decision to suspend a legislative Green party staffer last year and
denied there was any attempt to tarnish the image of the state's
burgeoning third party just before a statewide election.

Colwell, who now serves as executive director of the Maine Democratic
Party, made his remarks Friday in the aftermath of Tuesday's acquittal
of former Maine Green Independent Party campaign worker Ben Chipman by a
York County Superior Court jury.

The panel deliberated for about an hour before concluding the one-time
legislative aide to Green party state Rep. John Eder of Portland was not
guilty of attempting to influence a voter before a special election last
year.

Eder and other Greens were suspicious of Colwell's decision to suspend
Chipman after Democratic Attorney General Steven Rowe decided to bring
criminal charges against Chipman and three others.

The group was working on a February 2004 special election campaign for
Green party House candidate Dorothy Lafortune of Biddeford.

Chipman said the publicity ensuing from Colwell's press release
regarding his suspension and Rowe's indictments - both of which took
place within a month of the November general election - may have cast a
shadow over several other legislative Green campaigns across the state.

"We certainly believe that the timing of those indictments was no
coincidence and was certainly politically motivated," Chipman said.

The Maine Attorney General's Office has rejected the notion of any
effort to time the development of its case with the pending November
election.

Colwell agreed, saying his decision to suspend Chipman was motivated by
his responsibility to protect the integrity of the institution as the
presiding officer of the House.

"The idea of anyone being a victim here is purely political posturing,"
Colwell said. "There was none of that political gamesmanship that
occurred. We were all very concerned about making sure that the people
of the state of Maine have absolute certainty that when they vote, their
vote counts and that they will not be coerced into voting one way or the
other. He's had his day in court and the jury deemed him innocent. It's
a new day for Mr. Chipman and I wish him well."

Chipman said Friday he hopes to regain his position for Eder at the
State House, but will never accept the suggestion that Maine's
Democratic leaders did not pursue the indictments for the purposes of
embarrassing the Green party.

"The Democratic Attorney General's Office put an awful lot of time and
effort into trying to contact some 200 voters," he said. "I wonder how
much of the taxpayers' money was spent trying to prosecute me as an
innocent person for something I didn't do."

One of Chipman's three associates in the Lafortune campaign, however,
has not fared as well.

According to an Associated Press report, Fred Dolgon of Old Orchard
Beach was found guilty in May of two counts of trying to influence a
voter and acquitted on three others.

Wayne Whitten of Biddeford is awaiting trial on an identical charge, and
Philip Castora of Arundel is scheduled to go to trial in September on a
forgery charge in connection with the same incident.

***************************************************************************

20) Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia); July 16, 2005

CANADA: GREENS SHOW SURPRISING STRENGTH IN POLL: PARTY GETS 43 PER CENT
SUPPORT, BUT UVIC POLITICAL SCIENTIST PREDICTS SURGE WILL EVAPORATE

OTTAWA (CP) -- It may not be burning up the summer airwaves, but the
federal Green party is quietly amassing a large pool of soft support
that some believe could make it a player in the next federal election, a
new poll suggests.

Some 43 per cent of respondents in a Decima Research survey said they
could be induced to vote Green under some circumstances, giving the
upstart party the kind of broad recognition on which foundations
survive.

While only nine per cent of those polled said they are certain or likely
to support the Green Party, pollster Bruce Anderson nonetheless called
the results intriguing.

"One can't help but note the potential to affect an already
unpredictable electoral contest," the Decima CEO said Friday in
releasing the survey to The Canadian Press.

The poll asked respondents whether they were "unlikely to vote Green but
willing to consider" doing so -- and found 34 per cent of respondents
agreed. The survey of more than 1,000 Canadians taken the last week of
June is considered accurate within plus or minus 3.1 per cent, 19 times
out of 20.

The results were made public as the Green party began a weekend
executive meeting in Ottawa, where among other business they were
interviewing for a new executive director.

As Conservative Leader Stephen Harper loudly works the summer barbecue
circuit and New Democrat Jack Layton hobnobs with aboriginal groups and
provincial premiers, Green party Leader Jim Harris said his party has
been quietly building.

"While you may be saying, 'where's the air campaign?' we are busy
organizing the ground campaign," Harris said in an interview.

"And let me tell you, the ground campaign will come out in full force
during the election campaign. I'm just saying we're going to surprise
people."

But the Green surprise may cut any number of ways, suggests the Decima
poll.

A quarter of those kicking the Green tires said it was because none of
the alternatives are appealing.

And the main reason for ultimately not voting Green, said the
tire-kickers, was fear of throwing away their vote (30 per cent),
weakening the NDP (14 per cent), and fear of electing a Conservative (11
per cent) or a Liberal (10 per cent).

The poll, said Anderson, suggests strategic voters could bleed away from
the Greens when it comes time to actually cast ballots.

"Many voters today are anxious to avoid the outcome they want least . .
. and will hesitate to cast a vote that might contribute to that
outcome," he said.

That's been the experience in B.C., where the Greens have their
strongest support and field both provincial and federal candidates, said
political scientist Michael Prince of the University of Victoria.

Green support in some B.C. ridings has polled as high as 25 per cent in
the last couple of elections.

That all melted at the ballot box, said Prince. "Under the old
first-past-the-post system, people backed away. They went back to: 'I
either want to throw this rascal out or make sure I get my guy in."'

Prince called the Decima poll "a nice little summer gift for Jim Harris
but it will be ancient history by winter . . . . I think they've got
another generation to go," before electoral success.

The Greens didn't come close to winning a seat in the June 2004 federal
election but their 582,000 votes earned them $1 million a year in public
funding until the next campaign. That's allowed the party to
"professionalize and organize," said Harris.

***************************************************************************

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For more Green Party news go to http://web.greens.org/news/






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