From efficacy at msn.com Tue Aug 1 05:31:24 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2006 05:31:24 -0400 Subject: {news} Say no to Bush's faux pas, and foie gras, too References: Message-ID: I know I do not have a plank but I am on her side. Cliff Thornton for Governor PO Box 1971 Manchester, CT 06045 votethornton at yahoogroups.com www.votethornton.com 860 657 8438-H 860 268 1294-C 860 778 1304-Tim Mckee-Campaign Manager 860 293 0222-Ken Krayeske-field Manager Paid for by Thornton For Governor Donna L. Byrne-Mckee, Treasure ----- Original Message ----- From: David Bedell To: ctgp-news at ml.greens.org Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 9:03 PM Subject: {news} Say no to Bush's faux pas, and foie gras, too Connecticut Green Party - Part of the GPUS http://www.ctgreens.org/ - http://www.greenpartyus.org/ to unsubscribe click here mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org I wasn't at the state meeting last week so didn't hear Diana Urban's presentation. I understand her stance on ending the Iraq War was not strong enough to win much support from Greens; however, I was impressed by the following article which shows her dedication to non-violence. How many of our candidates have included animal cruelty or animal rights in their campaign platforms? http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-foiegras.artjul25,0,4495992.story Cruelty Claims May Foil Foie Gras By WILLIAM WEIR Courant Staff Writer July 25 2006 In the kitchen of Grants in West Hartford Center, chef Eric Sass holds up a couple of pounds of foie gras. Before it gets fancied up for customers, this delicacy isn't much more than a plastic-wrapped shapeless lump. It's so underwhelming that it's surprising that it would be the center of the latest food controversy. In fact, this shapeless lump would be banned from restaurants and stores in Connecticut under a bill to be offered in the General Assembly next year. "The way to bring attention to this is to ban the sale," says Rep. Diana Urban, R-North Stonington, who plans to introduce legislation in January. "I know that that's going out on a limb, but what I want to do is generate discussion - and I'm sure we will." By January, it may seem less of a long shot. Chicago's city council has already passed a ban on selling foie gras (pronounced "fwah grah"), and California will restrict its production starting in 2012. Regulations are also being considered in Philadelphia, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois. Animal-rights activists say the farms where the ducks and geese are raised for foie gras combine the worst elements of all mass-production animal farms. Those in the industry, though, contend they're being singled out because they don't have the political power of other meat industries. Though it didn't gain much of a following in the United States until the mid-1980s, foie gras has since become a staple of French cuisine. Most of the chefs we spoke to said they'll serve it as long as their customers want it. And for now, at least, their customers want foie gras. "We've heard from people who ask questions about it and then order it," says Steve Abrams, co-owner of Max Downtown. "It's doesn't seem like a problem for them." Animal activists have seized upon the way ducks and geese are fed - tubes are forced down their throats to pump in food for 3 seconds at a time, three times a day. "The question is, does the process of feeding the ducks cause unacceptable pain?" says Michael Ginor, co-owner of the nation's biggest foie gras producer, Hudson Valley Foie Gras in New York. "The focus of all the attention has been on the actual feeding process." Most of the foie gras in the U.S. comes from three farms - two in New York and one in California. Ginor's produces 250 tons a year. Foie gras translates literally to "fatty liver" and is exactly that. Ducks are force-fed so that their livers grow to up to 12 times normal size. The imagery of the feeding process is misleading, Ginor says. Because ducks don't have a gag reflex like we do, this doesn't hurt them the way many think it would. Bruce Friedrich, spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, says objections go beyond feeding. Videos exist of ducks jammed into cages or dangling from wires. Inspections of farms routinely find ducks that are "dead, dying or diseased." Everyone from the pope to the Israeli supreme court has condemned foie gras, Friedrich says. People who defend it have a vested interest or have never seen the process of making it. "We have done undercover investigations into the production of all animal products, and this combines the worst elements of all of the other animal products," he says. "There isn't really a close second place." Elizabeth Ciarlelli, manager of Zinc in New Haven, said she welcomes any discussion that causes people to "be aware of what we put in our mouths." The popular restaurant serves free-range chicken, supports local farms and avoids using endangered fish. But there's been no serious discussion about removing foie gras from its menu. Listed as "duck liver mousse torchon," it goes for $11. Personally, she neither cares for foie gras nor the process used to make it. But she also recognizes that the ethics of what we choose to eat can be complicated. "If I loved it, would I feel that way?" she wonders. Ginor thinks his product is being singled out for political reasons. The foie gras industry doesn't have much clout, and it's easier to persuade people to give up something they might have once or twice a year than to forego staples like hamburgers or chicken. "And it's something foreign and something most people have never heard of," he says. Urban, who is running for the U.S. Senate as an independent petitioning candidate, says a pricey delicacy is the perfect place to start raising awareness about farming standards. "It's a luxury product, and it is indeed incumbent upon as a society to ask, `Is this a product that we need if it's produced this way?'" Oddly, Ginor says, talk about banning foie gras has been good for his business. People are talking about his product. And in any business, he says, that's half the battle. "They don't quite remember what they heard or what was said, but they remember it, so they try it," he says. "This year, revenue-wise, it'll be better than any year we've had before." William Weir can be contacted at bweir@ courant.com. A discussion of this story with William Weir is scheduled to be shown on New England Cable News each hour today between 9 a.m. and noon. Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant To be removed please mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org _______________________________________________ CTGP-news mailing list CTGP-news at ml.greens.org http://ml.greens.org/mailman/listinfo/ctgp-news ATTENTION! The information in this transmission is privileged and confidential and intended only for the recipient listed above. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email and delete the original message. The text of this email is similar to ordinary or face-to-face conversations and does not reflect the level of factual or legal inquiry or analysis which would be applied in the case of a formal legal opinion and does not constitute a representation of the opinions of the CT Green Party. The responsibility for any messages posted herein is solely that of the person who sent the message, and the CT Green Party hereby leaves this responsibility in the hands of it's members. NOTE: This is an inherently insecure forum, please do not post confidential messages and always realize that your address can be faked, and although a message may appear to be from a certain individual, it is always possible that it is fakemail. This is mail sent by a third party under an illegally assumed identity for purposes of coercion, misdirection, or general mischief. CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify the sender by e-mail at the address shown. This e-mail transmission may contain confidential information. This information is intended only for the use of the individual(s) or entity to whom it is intended even if addressed incorrectly. Please delete it from your files if you are not the intended recipient. Thank you for your compliance. To be removed please mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Tue Aug 1 15:37:39 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2006 12:37:39 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Santorum donors give to PA Green Party (????) Message-ID: <20060801193739.67002.qmail@web81413.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Posted on Tue, Aug. 01, 2006 Santorum donors give to Green Party They helped fund a drive to get Carl Romanelli on the ballot, which some say may hurt Bob Casey Jr. By Carrie Budoff Inquirer Staff Writer When Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) encouraged everyone in state politics to help the Green Party earn a spot on the November ballot, at least one group answered the call: Santorum donors. Fourteen Santorum supporters gave $40,000 to fund a petition drive that has allowed Carl Romanelli to collect about 100,000 voter signatures to qualify for the Senate race. That's 33,000 more signatures than required, and double what independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader gathered here in 2004. But Romanelli and the Green Party of Luzerne County, which collected the money, might have violated federal election law in the process. In his latest campaign-finance reports, Romanelli listed $66,000 as an in-kind contribution from the Green Party. Such donations cannot exceed $5,000, said Ian Stirton, a Federal Election Commission spokesman, who spoke generally about election law and not about this specific case. Romanelli said if he and the Green Party didn't follow federal rules, it wasn't intentional. "Do I have a team of lawyers at my disposal? No," Romanelli said last night as he drove to Philadelphia to collect petitions to submit by today's deadline. "We were trying to honestly disclose where our help came from when, in fact, it was activity of the party and didn't need to be disclosed on the Senate side." Romanelli made no excuses for Santorum's donor support, but denied coordination. "Both Republicans and Democrats have this notion that, if Greens are in the race, Democrats lose votes," said Romanelli, a railroad-industry consultant from the Wilkes-Barre area. "If that was going to motivate someone to contribute, I am fine with that." For more than two months, Romanelli has attracted considerable attention from Santorum, who is trailing Democrat Bob Casey Jr. in the polls. As an abortion-rights, anti-Iraq war candidate, Romanelli could siphon votes from Casey, who opposes abortion and a timetable for pulling out of Iraq. It's created an unlikely alliance. "We have encouraged those who have inquired or asked to assist in this effort," said Virginia Davis, Santorum's spokeswoman, of the Green Party petitions. She declined to provide specifics. "I think the bigger question here is why is Bob Casey going to such extremes to silence another voice in the Democratic process?" Larry Smar, a Casey spokesman, said Santorum was being hypocritical. He did not debate third-party candidates in 2000, but is now "using the Green Party as a political pawn," Smar said. "He is trying to get someone else on the fall ballot to steal votes," Smar said. State law puts the signature requirement at 2 percent of the ballots cast for the largest vote-getter in the last statewide election race. Casey set the bar during his 2004 state treasurer's race. He received 3.4 million votes, which works out to 67,070 signatures - more than twice the required amount in either 2002 or 2004. The petition drive, which involved a mix of volunteers and paid workers, was funded with $34,000 from a dozen individuals who contributed to Santorum's reelection campaign. An additional $6,000 came from individuals who lived at the same addresses as Santorum donors. The Taylor family of Salinas, Calif., was the most active. Steven and Kathryn Taylor and two others at the same address who listed their occupation as students contributed $10,000 to the Green Party; five Taylor family members have contributed $20,700 to Santorum's reelection campaign. Smar said Casey has not decided whether to challenge Romanelli's petitions in court. --------------------------------- Contact staff writer Carrie Budoff at 610-313-8211 or cbudoff at phillynews.com. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From wtcards at earthlink.net Tue Aug 1 18:17:22 2006 From: wtcards at earthlink.net (Ken Krayeske) Date: Tue, 01 Aug 2006 18:17:22 -0400 Subject: {news} ralph nader Message-ID: <44CFD2F2.7060408@earthlink.net> Consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader will hold news conferences in Hartford and New Haven on Wednesday, August 2 on the subject of "Big Business and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman - Alliance for Injustice." Hartford: 1:30 pm, The Central Baptist Chuch, 457 Main Street, second floor chapel (across from the Federal Courthouse). New Haven: 4:00 pm, the New Haven Public Library, the program room on the lower floor (corner of Temple and Elm). For more information, contact Pete Ellner at vantagetax at aol.com or 203-435-1577. From efficacy at msn.com Wed Aug 2 07:37:16 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 07:37:16 -0400 Subject: {news} "Single Issue" Candidate Knows What's Important Message-ID: "Single Issue" Candidate Knows What's Important By Jesse Jackson Chicago Sun-Times - August 1, 2006 http://www.suntimes.com/output/jesse/cst-edt-jesse01.html To this day, Joe Lieberman still doesn't get it. The 18- year incumbent Democratic senator from Connecticut is in the battle for his political life in the Democratic primary. He dismisses his challenger -- Ned Lamont, a Connecticut businessman whose campaign is grounded on opposition to the war in Iraq, as a single- issue candidate. But Iraq is not a single issue, it is a central issue -- both for the country and for the Democratic Party. It is a catastrophic foreign policy debacle. It has alienated us from our allies and generated hatred among Muslims across the world. It has weakened our military, forcing our troops into an extended occupation in the midst of a growing civil war for which they have neither appetite nor training. It has proved a recruiting boon for al- Qaida. It has sorely weakened our foreign policy influence, as demonstrated graphically in the current conflict in Lebanon. It has cost nearly 2,700 American lives, over 20,000 Americans wounded -- and an estimated 50,000 Iraqi deaths. It has skewed our budget priorities. We've spent about $300 billion already -- with the estimated cost likely to exceed $1 trillion -- even as we cut support at home for the still-displaced Katrina survivors, raise interest rates on student loans and cut access to preschool for poor children. The budget is a statement of our moral choices -- and this is a deeply immoral choice. The Iraq debacle has featured the cronyism, corruption and incompetence that is characteristic of this administration. Billions have been pocketed in Iraq by companies like Halliburton, which the Pentagon charged with contracting abuse even as it renewed its no-bid contracts. The administration cooked the intelligence to get us into the war, and then launched the war with no plan for the occupation, and with inadequate forces and inadequate equipment. The war has undermined our own democracy, with a president claiming untrammeled powers to act above the law for the duration of a war on terror that he says will last for generations. And from this arrogance has come shameful abuses, from the torture in Abu Ghraib to the hidden prisons of the CIA to the locking up of people -- too many of them innocent -- without hearing or lawyer or charges in Guantanamo and elsewhere. America, which has championed the rule of law throughout the world, is now widely viewed as a rogue nation that views itself as above the law. Through all this, Lieberman has been, as the New York Times termed it, the president's "enabler." He lobbied early and hard for the pre-emptive war of choice. He echoed the lies and dismissed the folly of the president's men while questioning the patriotism of those who raised sensible questions about our course. Iraq is not a single issue; it is a central issue. Lieberman's response has been to line up the Democratic Club -- basking in the embrace of Bill Clinton, whom he once called a moral disgrace, and enlisting fellow Sen. Chris Dodd to mobilize other senators to support him. The Democratic Senate Committee has rushed in political pros and organizers to help "save our guy." But across Connecticut, voters are saying "this is not our guy." They are sending a message not just to Bush but to the Democratic Party -- calling them to account. Lieberman's opponent, Ned Lamont, has run a principled campaign, devoid of personal attacks or gutter politics. He has simply argued, correctly, that Lieberman has not simply been wrong on the war, but has been a leader of the war hawks, the president's favorite Democrat and leading defender. Workers in Connecticut -- which has witnessed a steady hemorrhaging of manufacturing jobs -- have other reasons to think Joe is not their guy. He's been a leading promoter of the corporate trade policies that have devastated U.S. manufacturing while racking up the largest trade deficits in the history of mankind. He's the single greatest defender of off-the-books, short- term executive stock options, which contributed directly to the worst corporate crime scandals in a century. Whatever happens in the primary next Tuesday, the message has already been sent. Americans don't pay much attention to politics. They are easily roused by appeals to patriotism and fear. They tend to re-elect incumbents. But periodically, democracy works. A defining issue rouses opinion, and that leads to a defining election. In Connecticut, the Democratic primary is just that. And every member of the club had better listen to what the voters are saying. Email to: jjackson at rainbowpush.org. ____________________________________________ portside (the left side in nautical parlance) is a news, discussion and debate service of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. It aims to provide varied material of interest to people on the left. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From efficacy at msn.com Wed Aug 2 07:44:01 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 07:44:01 -0400 Subject: {news} The Other Other Aug. 8 Primary Message-ID: http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-ct1stdistgop0801.artaug01,0,6530927.story?coll=hc-headlines-politics-state POLITICS The Other Other Aug. 8 Primary August 1, 2006 By DAN UHLINGER, Courant Staff Writer The two Republicans battling in the Aug. 8 primary for the right to face U.S. Rep. John B. Larson, D-1st District, both believe they are fighting something bigger than all of them: voter apathy. Miriam Masullo of New Canaan, who is challenging Scott MacLean of East Hartland, the endorsed GOP candidate, said voter indifference could be the death not only of the Republican Party, but also of the Democratic Party. "There's a tremendous sense of apathy. A lot of Republicans tell me you're swimming against the tide. On the Democratic side, the problem is worse," Masullo said. "Democrats don't realize there is no longer any accountability. This is no competitiveness," she added. "I'm a firm believer in diversity of ideas. It's like when one party gives up the other party goes to sleep." In the district's GOP primary in 2002, when Masullo, who was endorsed by the party, lost to Phil Steele, only 5.5 percent of the registered Republicans voted. Larson later defeated Steele in the general election. The 1st District is a Democratic stronghold made up of 27 municipalities, including Hartford, which has elected a Republican to the House of Representatives only one since 1948, the year Larson was born. Many Republican and Democratic politicians predict there will be another low turnout in the Republican primary and Larson will coast to victory again in the general election. Masullo and MacLean even fear their fate may be sealed, no matter who wins the primary. "I feel this race just isn't getting any press, this primary really isn't covered by the media except for a story here and there," MacLean said. "The turnout could be very low and that would be too bad." Masullo agreed. "Everyone's talking about [Democratic U.S. Sen. Joseph] Lieberman and [his challenger] Ned Lamont. No one's talking about the 1st District," Masullo said. Neither MacLean nor Masullo has gotten any substantial support in the form of campaign money from Republican donors. Neither candidate has filed a campaign finance report because the $5,000 threshold for receiving or spending money has not been met. For the latest campaign finance period, from April 26 to June 30, the Larson campaign reported receiving $204,087 in contributions. To drum up interest in the primary, Masullo recently challenged MacLean to a debate, but MacLean, who lives in Hartland, said the offer came too late because the primary is only about 10 days away. "There's plenty of time left for a debate. He just doesn't want to be pinned down on the issues," Masullo said. "She should have thought of the debate two months ago. There's just no time left," MacLean said. "You can't really nail her down on anything, anyway." Masullo and MacLean have sparred over who is the true Republican in the primary. Masullo, a computer scientist, has attacked MacLean, a television director, for favoring gun control and opposing the Republican values of small government and low taxes. MacLean has responded by saying there should be no one definition of a Republican. Masullo has also attacked MacLean's religious denomination, accusing the leadership of the United Church of Christ of supporting terrorists and suicide bombings. MacLean is a retired minister in the church. MacLean and his supporters have called Masullo's accusations "delusional ramblings" and preposterous. Whatever the outcome of the primary, both candidates believe the main goal of the Republican Party should be to unseat Larson, who is seeking his fifth two-year term. "It really hurts me that people just want to go to sleep on Election Day," said Masullo, who lives outside the district in New Canaan but plans to move into it if she wins the primary. "No matter what happens in the race between me and MacLean we have to at least hold Larson accountable." Contact Dan Uhlinger at uhlinger at courant.com. Thornton for Governor PO Box 1971 Manchester, CT 06045 votethornton at yahoogroups.com www.votethornton.com 860 657 8438-H 860 268 1294-C 860 778 1304-Tim Mckee-Campaign Manager 860 293 0222-Ken Krayeske-field Manager Paid for by Thornton For Governor Donna L. Byrne-Mckee, Treasure -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Wed Aug 2 17:08:10 2006 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2006 21:08:10 +0000 Subject: {news} Burton Lawsuit Over Archaeological Dig Also Settled In-Reply-To: Message-ID: http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctventure0802.artaug02,0,1745518.story Smith's Grave Has No DNA Lawsuit Over Archaeological Dig Also Settled SARAH MISHKIN Courant Staff Writer August 2 2006 Time and acidic soil have eroded away all genetic material from the 200-year-old gravesite of freed slave Venture Smith, making it impossible to salvage his DNA, archaeologists announced Tuesday. Excavating the four graves of Smith and his family in East Haddam was part of a larger project to document the genetic heritage of his descendants, now in the 10th generation, as well as to learn more about a man who, according to his autobiography, was brought from Africa at age 8 and died in Connecticut as a relatively prosperous landowner. Descendants had wanted to find DNA that would trace Smith to Africa and remains that would attest to his strength and size. However, Smith's remains were fully decomposed. Scientists were able to recover genetic material from the grave of Smith's wife, Meg, along with funeral artifacts from Smith's grave, including hardware from his coffin. "This was not a poor man's coffin, from what I've seen of it," said state archaeologist Nick Bellantoni, who advised on the dig. And the size of the coffin indicated it belonged to someone who was tall, Bellantoni said. Also on Tuesday, a settlement was reached in a lawsuit challenging the dig. Nancy Burton, a disbarred attorney and Green Party candidate for attorney general, sued Bellantoni in Superior Court, urging the dig be halted to prevent damaging or desecrating Smith's grave and headstone, which are part of the National Register of Historic Places. Burton dropped the case in exchange for an injunction from the court preventing any further work on the grave. Under the terms of the injunction, excavation can continue on the nearby graves of Smith's wife and their two children, but Smith's grave must be filled in without delay. Chandler Saint, president of the Beecher House Center for the Study of Equal Rights, which manages the documentation project, said archeologists on site Tuesday morning double-checked that the excavation on Smith's grave was complete and that no remains of Smith had been overlooked. "We didn't compromise the project in any manner," he said of the settlement. Descendants of Smith said they were still frustrated that Burton tried to stop a project that was trying to document their heritage. But despite that, and the disappointment of not finding Smith's remains, they found promise in the artifacts discovered. "She shouldn't have brought [the lawsuit] in the first place, but I wanted to learn about my family, and I can still do that," said Ericka Buttram, a ninth-generation descendant from Middletown. The final settlement, reached after nearly three days in court, was due in part to the assistance of New London lawyer Richard Dixon, who became interested in the Smith proceedings because of his background in environmental law. He represented pro bono Coralynne Jackson, the descendant who spoke on the family's behalf in court. "Everybody recognizes that this site is special - that was the basis of this agreement," Dixon said. The excitement generated by the site is not likely to die down soon, even without Smith's DNA. A closing celebration is planned for Saturday, analysis of the remains found will continue for many months, and the BBC will release a documentary filmed by correspondents throughout much of the work. For now, even the slightest encounter with Smith's resting spot excites those who have worked there. "They asked me if I wanted to help one morning," said Pastor MJ Hinchliff of the East Haddam First Church of Christ, Congregational, in whose cemetery Smith is buried. "And I was as close to heaven as I could be in this life." Contact Sarah Mishkin at smishkin@ courant.com. Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant From smderosa at cox.net Wed Aug 2 18:49:22 2006 From: smderosa at cox.net (smderosa) Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 18:49:22 -0400 Subject: {news} Burton Lawsuit Over Archaeological Dig Also Settled In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <000001c6b685$e68c0740$8201a8c0@userb649154f63> Dear David: Once again the Courant prints that: "Nancy Burton, a disbarred attorney and Green Party candidate for attorney general, sued Bellantoni in Superior Court". Since this is the not first article about this case in the Courant to raise this issue about Nancy, I think they are trying to raise some impropriety in her going to court. It is clear that the Courant has decided to put Nancy Burton in the worst possible light by saying that she is disbarred without making it clear that she has done nothing wrong by going into court as a private citizen. Perhaps you could argue that it is relevant to the article to mention her status, but don't they have an obligation to inform the public that she is not doing anything wrong, illegal, or unethical in pursuing a legal case as a regular citizen? I suppose there is no such thing as bad publicity. Regards, Mike DeRosa -----Original Message----- From: ctgp-news-bounces at ml.greens.org [mailto:ctgp-news-bounces at ml.greens.org] On Behalf Of David Bedell Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 5:08 PM To: ctgp-news at ml.greens.org Subject: {news} Burton Lawsuit Over Archaeological Dig Also Settled Connecticut Green Party - Part of the GPUS http://www.ctgreens.org/ - http://www.greenpartyus.org/ to unsubscribe click here mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctventure0802.artaug02,0,1745518.story Smith's Grave Has No DNA Lawsuit Over Archaeological Dig Also Settled SARAH MISHKIN Courant Staff Writer August 2 2006 Time and acidic soil have eroded away all genetic material from the 200-year-old gravesite of freed slave Venture Smith, making it impossible to salvage his DNA, archaeologists announced Tuesday. Excavating the four graves of Smith and his family in East Haddam was part of a larger project to document the genetic heritage of his descendants, now in the 10th generation, as well as to learn more about a man who, according to his autobiography, was brought from Africa at age 8 and died in Connecticut as a relatively prosperous landowner. Descendants had wanted to find DNA that would trace Smith to Africa and remains that would attest to his strength and size. However, Smith's remains were fully decomposed. Scientists were able to recover genetic material from the grave of Smith's wife, Meg, along with funeral artifacts from Smith's grave, including hardware from his coffin. "This was not a poor man's coffin, from what I've seen of it," said state archaeologist Nick Bellantoni, who advised on the dig. And the size of the coffin indicated it belonged to someone who was tall, Bellantoni said. Also on Tuesday, a settlement was reached in a lawsuit challenging the dig. Nancy Burton, a disbarred attorney and Green Party candidate for attorney general, sued Bellantoni in Superior Court, urging the dig be halted to prevent damaging or desecrating Smith's grave and headstone, which are part of the National Register of Historic Places. Burton dropped the case in exchange for an injunction from the court preventing any further work on the grave. Under the terms of the injunction, excavation can continue on the nearby graves of Smith's wife and their two children, but Smith's grave must be filled in without delay. Chandler Saint, president of the Beecher House Center for the Study of Equal Rights, which manages the documentation project, said archeologists on site Tuesday morning double-checked that the excavation on Smith's grave was complete and that no remains of Smith had been overlooked. "We didn't compromise the project in any manner," he said of the settlement. Descendants of Smith said they were still frustrated that Burton tried to stop a project that was trying to document their heritage. But despite that, and the disappointment of not finding Smith's remains, they found promise in the artifacts discovered. "She shouldn't have brought [the lawsuit] in the first place, but I wanted to learn about my family, and I can still do that," said Ericka Buttram, a ninth-generation descendant from Middletown. The final settlement, reached after nearly three days in court, was due in part to the assistance of New London lawyer Richard Dixon, who became interested in the Smith proceedings because of his background in environmental law. He represented pro bono Coralynne Jackson, the descendant who spoke on the family's behalf in court. "Everybody recognizes that this site is special - that was the basis of this agreement," Dixon said. The excitement generated by the site is not likely to die down soon, even without Smith's DNA. A closing celebration is planned for Saturday, analysis of the remains found will continue for many months, and the BBC will release a documentary filmed by correspondents throughout much of the work. For now, even the slightest encounter with Smith's resting spot excites those who have worked there. "They asked me if I wanted to help one morning," said Pastor MJ Hinchliff of the East Haddam First Church of Christ, Congregational, in whose cemetery Smith is buried. "And I was as close to heaven as I could be in this life." Contact Sarah Mishkin at smishkin@ courant.com. Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant To be removed please mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org _______________________________________________ CTGP-news mailing list CTGP-news at ml.greens.org http://ml.greens.org/mailman/listinfo/ctgp-news ATTENTION! The information in this transmission is privileged and confidential and intended only for the recipient listed above. 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Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.10.5/405 - Release Date: 8/1/2006 From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Thu Aug 3 13:57:28 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2006 10:57:28 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} "Lieberman holds grudge against Nader" (Ralph meet with local Greens) Message-ID: <20060803175728.34472.qmail@web81409.mail.mud.yahoo.com> It was an excellent trip with Nader in Hartford, New Haven and Bridegeport. He met and traveled with local Greens and will be back thru later to help the local candidates closer to the fall final election Tim McKee CT http://ctnewsjunkie.com/index.php/2006/08/02/lieberman_holds_grudge_against_nader Three workers from U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman?s campaign were waiting outside to protest a Ralph Nader press conference in Hartford today where the former Green Party Presidential candidate criticized one of Lieberman?s endorsements. The literature the trio handed out said, ?Ralph Nader has made a career of attacking the Democratic Party.? ?Want to be angry at someone about George Bush? Talk to Ralph Nader he elected him.? The literature was paid for by the Friends of Joe Lieberman. Inside the Central Baptist Church, Nader had just finished remarking to a small crowd about how there are two kinds of Democrats, corporate Democrats and progressive Democrats. Lieberman he said is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce?s favorite corporate Democrat, and is only one of two Democratic senators to receive the endorsement of an organization that represents the pursuit of corporate greed and power at taxpayers expense. Nader said a chamber endorsement leads to more business campaign contributions and other activities such as mass mailings, phone calls, and media strategies that involve dirty tricks against opponents. According to Open Secrets, Lieberman?s biggest contributors in the business world so far have been Lehman Brothers, a global investment banking firm, followed by United Technologies Corporation, aerospace and engineering company. Would Nader goes as far as to endorse Lieberman?s challenger Lamont? ?I hope he wins the primary,? Nader said. He said he doesn?t generally endorse candidates he doesn?t know personally, but it seems to him that Lamont is winning the ?human energy? race. When asked if he would be voting in the primary, Nader said ?I couldn?t stomach registering as a Democrat.? He said his father once filed a lawsuit to allow all taxpayers to vote in primaries, since all taxpayers pay for the polls to be open for just two parties. He said while the case was thrown out, he said he stills believes that?s how the system should operate. ?What good are voter rights if they don?t have distinct choices in a campaign?? Nader asked. Ironically, Lieberman announced five weeks ago that he would petition to run without the party?s support if he failed to win the primary Aug. 8. Nader said he welcomes Lieberman, who he called half-Democrat and half-Republican, over to the third-party side of the fence. ?He didn?t like what the third-party did in 2000 and 2004,? Nader said. But somehow that all gets swept under the rug when ?it?s all about him.? See what happen when Nader went to New Haven later in the day. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paid for by Thornton For Governor ,Donna Byrne-McKee, treasurer- www.VoteThornton.com email: info at votethornton.com Tim McKee NEW cell (860) 778-1304 or (860) 643-2282 Cliff Thornton for Governor- Campaign Manager- National Committee member of the Green Party- Connecticut -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Thu Aug 3 14:57:17 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2006 11:57:17 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} CT POST- NADER RIPS LIEBERMAN IN NEW HAVEN APPEARANCE Message-ID: <20060803185718.88457.qmail@web81404.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Nader rips Lieberman in New Haven appearance KEN DIXON dixon.connpost at snet.net Connecticut Post Online NEW HAVEN ? Consumer advocate Ralph Nader visited Connecticut Wednesday to bury U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, not to praise Democratic primary challenger Ned Lamont. Still, the Greenwich telecom millionaire came out way ahead when Nader appeared in the library here and at a Hartford church to criticize Lieberman for putting corporate interests ahead of Connecticut taxpayers. In particular, Nader ? a Connecticut native, who lost a bid for president under his controversial Green Party candidacy in 2000 ? said that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce singles out Lieberman as one of the few Democrats it will support. "Citizens groups that have contended with the chamber's agenda and lobbyists, view this giant organization's pursuit of corporate greed and power, at the expense of peoples' economic well being, health and safety, to be without peer in Washington, D.C.," Nader told about 70 people in a library meeting room. Nader said that Lieberman, in return, agrees with the chamber's attempts to expand corporate subsidies and lessen federal oversight of white-collar crime, fraud and abuse. Nader said that Lieberman supports globalization "boondoggles" and most recently approved a law that would force class-action lawsuits to move to federal courts, rather than be tried on the state court level. Nader, who became famous as a consumer advocate nearly 40 years ago when he uncovered systematic safety problems in the nation's auto industry, said Lieberman is "waffling" on pending asbestos liability legislation. "The chamber also likes Sen. Lieberman for what he does not do," Nader said. "He has not met a weapons system he doesn't like, ignoring repeated, critical reports by the Government Accountability Office of the Congress." When asked by reporters about Lamont's candidacy, Nader, who grew up in Winsted, said that he spoke with the challenger twice this year and suggested that he expand his criticism of Lieberman to include President Bush. Asked to comment on Lieberman's support from organized labor in Connecticut, primarily the AFL-CIO, Nader said it might be more out of habit. "He has endorsed NAFTA and the WTO, which organized labor fought and they still endorse Joe," Nader said, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement. "Which doesn't make sense to me." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Thu Aug 3 15:07:21 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2006 12:07:21 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} COURANT (snip of Nader visist)" Raising their Voices" Message-ID: <20060803190721.71837.qmail@web81410.mail.mud.yahoo.com> In another development Wednesday, former presidential candidate Ralph Nader came to Hartford to criticize Lieberman as "the hermaphrodite of American politics - half Democrat, half Republican." Despite his opposition to Lieberman, Nader will not be going to the polls Tuesday to vote for Lamont because Nader is an unaffiliated voter who refuses to switch his registration. "I couldn't possibly stomach registering as a Democrat," Nader said. Nader didn't venture to guess who would win Tuesday's primary, though he said Lamont appears to be winning where human energy and lawn signs are concerned. He chuckled at a question regarding whether he had any advice for Lieberman if he loses Tuesday's primary and runs as an independent. "I welcome him to the third-party world," Nader said. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Thu Aug 3 15:08:02 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2006 12:08:02 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} COURANT (snip of Nader visist)" Raising their Voices" Message-ID: <20060803190802.15991.qmail@web81406.mail.mud.yahoo.com> In another development Wednesday, former presidential candidate Ralph Nader came to Hartford to criticize Lieberman as "the hermaphrodite of American politics - half Democrat, half Republican." Despite his opposition to Lieberman, Nader will not be going to the polls Tuesday to vote for Lamont because Nader is an unaffiliated voter who refuses to switch his registration. "I couldn't possibly stomach registering as a Democrat," Nader said. Nader didn't venture to guess who would win Tuesday's primary, though he said Lamont appears to be winning where human energy and lawn signs are concerned. He chuckled at a question regarding whether he had any advice for Lieberman if he loses Tuesday's primary and runs as an independent. "I welcome him to the third-party world," Nader said. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Thu Aug 3 15:07:32 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2006 12:07:32 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} COURANT (snip of Nader visist)" Raising their Voices" Message-ID: <20060803190733.24990.qmail@web81403.mail.mud.yahoo.com> In another development Wednesday, former presidential candidate Ralph Nader came to Hartford to criticize Lieberman as "the hermaphrodite of American politics - half Democrat, half Republican." Despite his opposition to Lieberman, Nader will not be going to the polls Tuesday to vote for Lamont because Nader is an unaffiliated voter who refuses to switch his registration. "I couldn't possibly stomach registering as a Democrat," Nader said. Nader didn't venture to guess who would win Tuesday's primary, though he said Lamont appears to be winning where human energy and lawn signs are concerned. He chuckled at a question regarding whether he had any advice for Lieberman if he loses Tuesday's primary and runs as an independent. "I welcome him to the third-party world," Nader said. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Thu Aug 3 15:08:15 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2006 12:08:15 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} COURANT (snip of Nader visist)" Raising their Voices" Message-ID: <20060803190815.25044.qmail@web81403.mail.mud.yahoo.com> In another development Wednesday, former presidential candidate Ralph Nader came to Hartford to criticize Lieberman as "the hermaphrodite of American politics - half Democrat, half Republican." Despite his opposition to Lieberman, Nader will not be going to the polls Tuesday to vote for Lamont because Nader is an unaffiliated voter who refuses to switch his registration. "I couldn't possibly stomach registering as a Democrat," Nader said. Nader didn't venture to guess who would win Tuesday's primary, though he said Lamont appears to be winning where human energy and lawn signs are concerned. He chuckled at a question regarding whether he had any advice for Lieberman if he loses Tuesday's primary and runs as an independent. "I welcome him to the third-party world," Nader said. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From justinemccabe at earthlink.net Thu Aug 3 19:17:07 2006 From: justinemccabe at earthlink.net (Justine McCabe) Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2006 19:17:07 -0400 Subject: {news} Fw: USGP-INT Human Rights Watch Accuses Israel of War Crimes Message-ID: <002b01c6b753$e501d930$0402a8c0@JUSTINE> Thursday, August 3rd, 2006 Human Rights Watch Accuses Israel of War Crimes For Indiscriminately Targeting Lebanese Civilians Listen to Segment || Download Show mp3 Watch 128k stream Watch 256k stream Read Transcript Help Printer-friendly version Email to a friend Purchase Video/CD -------------------------------------------------------------------------- HRW Emergencies Director Peter Bouckaert speaks from Beirut on the bombing of Qana, Israel's use of cluster bombs, phosphorous weapons and depleted uranium. Earlier today Human Rights Watch issued a new report titled "Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon." [includes rush transcript] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of committing war crimes for systematically failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians in their attack on Lebanon. Last night the group issued a major new report titled "Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon." The co-author of the report, Peter Bouckaert, joins us on the line from Beirut. He is the the emergencies director for Human Rights Watch. a.. Peter Bouckaert, Emergencies Director for Human Rights Watch, co-author of the new report "Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon." -------------------------------------------------------------------------- RUSH TRANSCRIPT This transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution. Donate - $25, $50, $100, more... AMY GOODMAN: The co-author of the report, Peter Bouckaert, joins us on the phone from Beirut. He is the Emergencies Director for Human Rights Watch. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Peter. PETER BOUCKAERT: Thanks for having me on. AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell us what you found? PETER BOUCKAERT: Human Rights Watch has been on the ground in Lebanon, as well as in Israel, investigating the kind of attacks that are taking place on both sides of this border. Our findings have been that Israel is carrying out indiscriminate attacks inside Lebanon and that this is resulting in the deaths of many civilians. We've identified eyewitnesses and survivors to many of these attacks, and we can clearly state that Israel's excuse that Hezbollah is really responsible for the civilian deaths has no foundation in fact, because in many of these sites where civilians are being killed, like the tragic case in Qana just a few days ago, there was no Hezbollah anywhere nearby and no rocket firing taking place when Israel struck civilian homes and civilian cars. AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk more about what you found in Qana? Are you revising the numbers downward of the number of people killed there? PETER BOUCKAERT: Yes. Originally it was reported that more than 50 people died in Qana. However, our preliminary investigation, based on interviews with the survivors and the doctors at the hospital and rescue workers, has now established that at least 28 people died in Qana, and those bodies have been recovered. It's possible that that death toll will rise slightly, but we do not think that it will rise to the 54 people who had been originally reported killed. There was no conscious effort by the Lebanese authorities to inflate the death toll from Qana. It simply happened in the chaos and confusion of the rescue efforts that certain assumptions were made, because the authorities had a list of 63 people who were believed to be inside the building, and they had identified only nine survivors. However, they have reached the village only hours after the attack had taken place, and in fact, there were at least 22 survivors. So that explains the discrepancy which happened in the heat of the moment in this very difficult rescue effort. AMY GOODMAN: Is it possible there are still bodies in the wreckage? PETER BOUCKAERT: Well, according to the family members, at least 13 people are still missing from the home they were sheltering in in Qana. It's unclear whether their bodies remain buried or whether they fled from the scene during the bombardment in the night and simply have not been located. The rescue effort and the recovery effort has now been called off in Qana. The recovery teams do not expect to find any more bodies, so we're still trying to establish what has happened to these 13 people. I think it's important that this slight controversy over the numbers of those killed in Qana does not distract from the fact that a very brutal attack took place in Qana, a totally unjustified attack took place, and that Israel has had to backtrack significantly on its original statement. Originally Israel said that they had attacked Qana because Hezbollah was there and was firing rockets at the time of the attack. Now, Israeli officials have been forced to admit, under heavy scrutiny, that they had no information about Hezbollah present at the time of the attack or rocket firing and that Qana had simply been put on the target list, because several days before, rockets had been fired from nearby Qana. And that just shows you how indiscriminate many of these attacks are. Israel is not adhering to the laws of war, because it's failing to distinguish between military objects it's entitled to attack and civilian homes, cars and infrastructure, which it should refrain from attacking. And that's why so many civilians are dying in Lebanon today. AMY GOODMAN: Peter Bouckaert is Emergencies Director at Humans Rights Watch. Looking at the Lebanese government and Lebanese Red Cross's response to the Human Rights Watch report, and they stand by 57 deaths in Qana. They say, "It's confirmed there are 57 bodies," according to Elias Diab, an official in the Lebanese Red Cross operations room in Beirut. "27 of them are children," he said. PETER BOUCKAERT: Well, we went to visit the hospital in Tyre, which is the official government hospital where all the bodies were taken to. We established that there are 28 bodies there. And according to the officials at the hospital, there are no bodies which were taken to any other hospital. And we're certainly willing to look at the evidence that the Lebanese authorities have and revise our death figures, but I spoke to many journalists who were on the scene of this very brutal killing all day long who closely followed the recovery effort, and they reported to me that they did not see more than 27, 28 bodies being recovered from the rubble. But as I said before, I think it's really important that the controversy over the numbers does not distract from the larger picture of what is happening in Lebanon today. We issued a report today called "Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon," which is on our website, www.hrw.org, which clearly shows that Israel, time and time again, is striking civilian homes and civilian cars, killing entire families without any military objects in sight. And there is a deep, deep crisis in Southern Lebanon today. Tens of thousands of civilians remain stuck in their homes in towns which are the scenes of very fierce fighting. And they're simply not able to flee, because the fighting is too fierce and because their cars are being attacked on the road and because they cannot afford the extremely high taxi fares that are being charged. At the same time, Israeli officials are saying that anybody left in the south after they have issued these warnings is going to be considered a Hezbollah supporter, and therefore, a fair, legitimate target. It's a dire situation. Humanitarian supplies are running out. Medical personnel cannot reach the wounded. Bodies are being left in the street rotting, because recovery teams cannot reach them. And that should be the focus of our attention. And there needs to be real pressure on the international community and on Israel and Hezbollah to allow for an improvement in the humanitarian situation and to respect the laws of war. AMY GOODMAN: Peter Bouckaert, what are those laws? Human Rights Watch, accusing Israel of war crimes; what exactly are war crimes? PETER BOUCKAERT: Well, war crimes are grave breaches of the laws of war, and the laws of war have a very clear principle. Combatants, like Israel and Hezbollah, have to distinguish between military targets that they are allowed to attack and civilians, objects, which they have to refrain from attacking. Obviously, sometimes civilians do get killed in legitimate military attacks. I've worked in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, and we documented many abuses there, too, and many cases in which civilians were killed. But what we see in Lebanon is very different, and also what we see in Israel. Inside Israel Hezbollah is carrying out direct attacks against civilians with the aims to kill civilians. And this is a war crime, because their attacks are against civilians. Inside Lebanon, we find that Israel is not making the most fundamental distinctions of the laws of war, which is that it has to refrain from attacking civilian objects. In plain words, before pulling the trigger, they have to make sure that they're aiming at a military target. And time and time again, we find that civilians are being killed without any military objective in sight. AMY GOODMAN: Peter Bouckaert, the head of the military, Halutz, the general, says that "Hezbollah places civilians as a defensive shield between itself and us, while the Army places itself as a defensive shield between the citizens of Israel and Hezbollah's terror. That's the main difference between us," he says, Hezbollah using civilians as a human shield. Your response? PETER BOUCKAERT: Well, Human Rights Watch has no problem denouncing the kind of war crimes and abuses that Hezbollah is committing against Israel. We have said since the beginning that these are war crimes and that Hezbollah should stop these indiscriminate attacks against civilians. But at the same time, it's a very convenient excuse for Israel to say that civilians are being killed because Hezbollah is shielding behind them, and that's simply not the reality on the ground in many of the cases we have documented. Time and time again, we have documented that civilians have been killed without any Hezbollah being in the neighborhood, without any Hezbollah being inside their homes, and without any Hezbollah weapons being stored, and also that civilians are being hit on the road time and time again, when they're traveling in cars which are clearly marked with white flags. On a daily, basis Israel is hitting ambulances, they're hitting humanitarian convoys, they're hitting UN bases multiple times a day. Sometimes 30 separate attacks on UN observer posts are being documented in a single day. So, the problem is that Israel simply is not taking the kind of precautions they need to take. Yes, Hezbollah is a difficult enemy to fight. It's a guerrilla enemy. It's not an enemy with tanks and armored cars, which are easy to hit. But Israel has the obligation to take the precautions required under the laws of war. And I've been in Iraq and Afghanistan and Kosovo and Chechnya and many other places, and I have seen these distinctions being made by armies. And so, what we are seeing in Lebanon is very different from what we see in these other conflicts. AMY GOODMAN: Peter Bouckaert, Human Rights Watch has also reported on cluster bombs, the Israeli military use of that. Can you elaborate? PETER BOUCKAERT: Yes. My research team in Northern Israel has been able to photograph cluster bombs in the possession of the artillery teams firing into Lebanon. And we have also been able to document their use on the ground inside Lebanon. Cluster bombs are very dangerous weapons. Basically what happens is that an artillery shell is fired, it opens up over its target and drops these small bomblets over a very wide area, which are supposed to explode on impact. They create a virtual minefield, exploding minefield, when they drop. Now, what we find is that it's an indiscriminate weapon, which is extremely dangerous to use against a civilian-populated area. And we documented in the village of Blida a cluster bomb attack which killed an elderly woman and wounded an entire family of twelve, including seven children. The husband of that family lost both of his legs in the attack. But the problem also with cluster bombs, in addition to them being an indiscriminate weapon, is that many of them fail to explode. As much as 14% of cluster bombs' bomblets, those small bomblets, fail to explode. And so, they leave behind a legacy of death and destruction and maiming after this conflict is over. And it's not just a theoretical legacy. In Kosovo and Iraq, we found that children pick these things up, because they're curious, and farmers step on them when they're out working their fields. Israel absolutely should not be using cluster bombs in this conflict. And it's an entirely inappropriate weapon against a guerrilla force, anyway, from a military perspective, because cluster bombs are designed to be used against dense concentrations of military troops. You drop cluster bombs on them to kill them. They are anti-personnel weapons. They should not be used against a widely dispersed enemy like Hezbollah, which isn't concentrated in any place. AMY GOODMAN: Peter Bouckaert, after Human Rights Watch came out with its report on Israel's use of cluster bombs, they admitted in fact they are using cluster bombs, but they said they're using them legally. What does that mean? PETER BOUCKAERT: Well, they also issued one of the most bizarre statements I've ever heard of. One Israeli official said they're using cluster bombs, yes, but they're not using them against populated areas and they're also not using them against Hezbollah. So I'm not quite sure what he was trying to say they're using them against. We don't think cluster bombs can be used within laws of war in populated areas. It's simply too dangerous a weapon. It's too indiscriminate a weapon. And all countries should refrain from using cluster bombs in populated areas. And we're talking about our experience in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, where we documented horrendous death tolls and the horrendous injuries, because cluster bombs were used in urban areas, especially by the U.S. and U.K. government in Iraq, where they've used them widely in populated areas. AMY GOODMAN: Are there any reports of the use of phosphorus as a weapon? PETER BOUCKAERT: There are many reports of the use of phosphorus, and we know that the Israelis have phosphorus in their military -- along with their artillery team. Now, the issue with phosphorus is different, because there are legitimate uses of phosphorus as a weapon --not as a weapon, as an illumination tool. But the problem occurs when phosphorus is used as an offensive weapon, because it causes horrific burn wounds, which can be very disfiguring to civilians. There have been reports that Israel has fired on vehicles and at homes with phosphorus weapons. We're still investigating those, and we do take them serious, because in Fallujah the U.S. Marines did use phosphorus as an offensive weapon, after first denying they did, and it was a very serious violation of the laws of war. AMY GOODMAN: Peter Bouckaert, I wanted to ask you about another weapon. There are reports of the U.S. sending Israel bunker buster bombs, GBU-28 guided bomb unit bombs, and that they're depleted uranium. Do you know about this? PETER BOUCKAERT: Yes. We have seen those reports. And those shipments are already going through to Israel. There's a controversy between the United States and England about the use of English bases to transfer weapons to Israel, without seeking permission from English authorities. And we think it's very disturbing that at this moment the U.S. is still sending weapons to Israel, when there is such widespread evidence of their misuse by the Israeli authorities. Yes, these are smart munitions. And in the ideal world, it's good to use smart munitions, because you end up hitting the targets you want to hit. But the evidence on the ground clearly establishes that Israel is misusing these weapons, that they're firing them indiscriminately at civilian targets. So we believe it's important that countries put some limits on the way their weapons are used and stop weapons shipments if weapons are used in violation of the Geneva Conventions. AMY GOODMAN: Peter Bouckaert, we want to thank you very much for being with us, Emergencies Director at Human Rights Watch. He's speaking to us from Beirut. The report that Human Rights Watch has just put out is called "Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon." To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, click here for our new online ordering or call 1 (888) 999-3877. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Fri Aug 4 14:22:11 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2006 11:22:11 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} CT GREENS WIN ONE! No Touch screen voting screens- paper ballots(optican scan) Message-ID: <20060804182211.740.qmail@web81401.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Thanks to all the hard work of CT VOTER, Mike deRosa and the Greens on this one! Conn.Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz announced today that her office has entered into a contract with LHS Associates of Massachusetts to provide optical scan technology to replace lever voting machines across the state. ?As our office considered possible new voting technologies, the principles of security, accessibility and reliability guided our decision-making. We heard from thousands of citizens, academics, and advocacy groups concerned about the pitfalls of touch-screen voting technology. Touch-screen technology, in its current state of development, is simply is not ready for ?prime time? herein Connecticut.? Secretary Bysiewicz said. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From wtcards at earthlink.net Fri Aug 4 20:00:06 2006 From: wtcards at earthlink.net (Ken Krayeske) Date: Fri, 04 Aug 2006 20:00:06 -0400 Subject: {news} re: Diana Urban on the War Message-ID: <44D3DF86.7060907@earthlink.net> Time For U.S. To Share The Ball For A Secure Global Order We are now engaged in a race to the bottom or a race to the top. We can't continue what we have been doing, and we can't simply go home. We must go forward. By *Diana Urban* View Article Stats Published on 8/2/2006 in Editorial ? Perspective We all probably know someone with a pain in their gut that rises up through their chest as they consume ever-increasing numbers of antacids. Each pill temporarily removes the pain, but masks what's really going on. Ultimately, a massive heart attack cripples the person. What's happened? The person has treated the symptom, not the problem. U.S. foreign policy too often has made the same mistake. Rather than ameliorating problems in the Middle East ? from the political (Arab-Israeli and Sunni-Shi'ite conflicts) to the societal (lack of education, rule of law and economic disparities) ? invading Iraq has ignored the potential for massive regional instability and perpetuated the notion that we can secure a political solution by military means. Until we recognize the folly of this approach, a potentially fatal crisis (from Iran gaining nuclear capability to an all out Iraqi civil war) lies in our future. What can we do? In Connecticut, I am the chief proponent of Results Based Accountability (RBA), a performance-based model for incorporating accountability and transparency into budgetary decision-making. The framework is instructive: reach a consensus on the result that you are trying to achieve; identify the metrics that you want to use; and establish the policies that will get you results. Information technology (IT) has created profound societal changes; RBA uses IT to build effective policy, and can be applied to almost any situation. To apply RBA to the Middle East's problems, we begin with the ?National Strategy for Victory in Iraq,? which lays out the results that the administration has been trying to achieve there: Stability, economic prosperity, and democracy, using war as the principal means to end ?terrorism.? Unfortunately, using our present unilateral (military) approach, the opposite has resulted: chaos, devastation, brewing civil war, increasing regional instability, and an increased resentment of Americans and what we represent. Clearly, our military policy is making the problem worse. *Getting results in Middle East* How would RBA approach this problem? First, assess the results we want; second, decide how to measure them; third, decide how to achieve them. ? : RBA could measure the number of violent deaths, the creation of a sustainable infrastructure, and establishment of the rule of law. Clearly, many obstacles exist to achieving this most critical result: Hezbollah and Hamas do not want Israel to exist, much less to negotiate with them; the United States designates Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorists, and therefore refuses to negotiate with them. Nevertheless, without securing their participation, and that of Syria and Iran, it is doubtful that we should expect to achieve stability in the Middle East. ? ? : Measure this result by business formation, investment in human and social capital, foreign trade and tourism. Allowing the infrastructures of Middle Eastern countries (Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine) to turn into rubble and streets into war zones will never result in economic prosperity. ? : Measure this result by the depth of inclusion in governmental decision-making and an independent judiciary. Encouraging Palestine to hold democratic elections and then shunning and undermining their choice will never result in people believing that we respect others forming their own democracy. Nor in Iraq will an ineffective central government, incapable of crafting political solutions to internal problems, encourage the belief that the US is an effective champion of democracy. RBA articulates a democratic and diplomatic Middle East policy. We could use it to achieve stability based on a variation of Thomas Friedman's World of Order: laying the groundwork for economic prosperity and a democratic form of government. Like the international force that liberated Kosovo and fought Gulf War I, the proverbial ?Big Stick? must include NATO, the United Nations, and countries such as Russia, China, India, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. While we would require that everyone in the region participate in this effort, there would be rewards for those who do and consequences (tough, enforceable sanctions and, if pressed, military solutions) for those who don't. We are now engaged in a race to the bottom or a race to the top. We can't continue what we have been doing, and we can't simply go home. We must go forward. Otherwise, the region will degenerate and take the rest of the world with it. I am reminded of the great philosopher coach, Pete Carril, who saw the basketball court as a moral playground where unselfishness was a virtue. His teams truly embodied the word ?team,? getting two-thirds of their baskets from assists. Unilateralism doesn't work: Israel withdrew from Gaza and tried to impose a solution that hasn't worked, and this administration's unilaterally-imposed regime change in Iraq hasn't worked. It is time for the United States to share the ball with our teammates (the World of Order) and help lead the way to a mutually secure global order based on the long-term results of stability, economic prosperity and democracy for all. /Diana Urban is a state representative for the 43rd District and is trying to petition her way onto the ballot in the 2006 U.S. Senate race. She resides in North Stonington./ From apbrison at hotmail.com Sat Aug 5 07:55:26 2006 From: apbrison at hotmail.com (allan brison) Date: Sat, 05 Aug 2006 07:55:26 -0400 Subject: {news} Paull Bass' comments on Ralph Nader Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Sat Aug 5 08:46:03 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2006 05:46:03 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} (Freezerbox)Nader welcomes Lieberman to Life in 3rd Party Lane Message-ID: <20060805124603.5146.qmail@web81412.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Nader Welcomes Lieberman to Life in the Third-Party LaneBY ADAM BULGER 08.04.2006 | POLITICS At an August 2 news conference, consumer activist, two-time presidential candidate and pariah of the Democratic Party Ralph Nader tepidly endorsed Ned Lamont, Joe Lieberman's opponent in Connecticut's Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. Connecticut native Nader called the press conference, held six days before the Democratic primary, to rail against Lieberman. Unlike the majority of criticism against Lieberman, Nader's critique didn't hinge on Lieberman's support of the Bush administration's disastrous foreign policy. Instead, Nader focused on Lieberman's economic record, which should come as a surprise to absolutely no one who knows anything about Ralph Nader. Evidently, Joe Lieberman's re-election bid was recently endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Citing a recent report from public interest group the center for Justice and Democracy, Nader characterized he U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a corrupt pro-corporate, anti-environment enabler of "the bloated, wasteful, military contracting budget." Using that endorsement as a starting point, Nader offered a stern rebuke of Lieberman's economic voting record, noting that the Senator had voted for the NAFTA, CAFTA and WTO trade agreements. After his presentation, a television reporter noted that while Nader's entire presentation amounted to an attack on Lieberman, he hadn't made a single reference to Ned Lamont. Nader, who is often frustratingly evasive about endorsing other politicians, was uncharacteristically nearly forthcoming in his answer. "I hope Ned Lamont wins the primary," Nader said, explaining that while he doesn't normally endorse people he doesn't know well, he hopes "Joe Lieberman is retired." Despite his distaste for Lieberman, Nader said he wasn't going to do anything about it on August 8. "I'm registered as an independent," Nader said. "I couldn't possibly stomach registering as a Democrat." Nader seemed amused by the prospect of Lieberman losing the primary, and staying in the race as an independent. "I welcome him to the third-party path," Nader said. The press conference was held amid sweltering heat in the second floor of a church in downtown Hartford. I got there early and had my dork reporter notebook on display, but I guess my sloppy jeans and punctured polo shirt didn't broadcast "journalist" to Nader's staff. As a result I didn't get the text of the speech, which was printed in charming double spaced courier font and featured adorable anachronistic Underwood typewriter typos and corrections, until about halfway through the speech. By then my Red Bull buzz was fading, so I was glad I didn't have to take notes anymore. The room was filled with the usual suspects for these sort of affairs; I left while a girl from a high school newspaper asked a question and after some Wavy Gravy-looking motherfucker complained about the media. And despite how TV and newspaper reporters were there to cover the event, the old defeated hippy had a point. The kind of corporate malfeasance Nader addressed isn't addressed by the media. It's too complicated, too threatening and does little to increase ad revenue or increase circulation or viewership. Even if you blame him for Bush's first presidential nondefeat, I'd argue you're still obligated that Ralph Nader remains an unexpectedly compelling public figure. The man's presentation is as dry as ancient parchment, but watching him speak in person is strangely riveting. He obviously spends eight hours a day pouring over information the rest of America ignores. Lefty cartoonist Tom Tomorrow had a great take on Nader's vibe when he described him as "an alien who has just been plopped down on this planet and is confused by this planet that he's been dumped on and he's saying, 'This makes no sense; why don't you have safety features in your vehicular transport?' " We'd probably still be dying in Corvairs if it weren't for the dude. Conversely, though, Al Gore could arguably be stentorian-in-chief if not for him, too. But it is noteworthy that a divisive figure like him would speak in favor of Ned Lamont, even if it was feint praise. Nader could have easily said there was little quantifiable difference between the candidates, as he did during the Bush/Gore race. Lieberman's attempt to paint Lamont as an anonymous rich guy plays into a potentially unhealthy misguided populist portrayal of a geeky, well-meaning guy who has gone on the record calling the Iraq war "poppycock." Watching him half endorse Lamont, I came back to a clear truth that's become somewhat obscured by the campaign rhetoric: Lieberman's got to go. He's emblematic of the shittiest aspects of the Democrats. He's a moralizing pro-war killjoy who crowds out all the room in the public discourse that should be reserved for truth, justice and fun. I have no doubt that Lamont will be grinded into hamburger by Washington within the first 60 days of his first term if he wins the Senate seat. But at least he'd be entering the butcher shop with the best of intentions. In any event, I'm really looking forward for this election being over, and will be glad when the rest of the country goes back to ignoring Connecticut like usual. Copyright ? 1998-2006 Infocrat, LLC. All Rights Reserved. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Sat Aug 5 08:58:05 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2006 05:58:05 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Author claims "The Everglades" (and Nader ) cost Gore the election in 2000 Message-ID: <20060805125805.20324.qmail@web81405.mail.mud.yahoo.com> The Everglades may have even cost Al Gore the presidency in 2000, Grunwald suggests (Page 337-38ff). Gore?s refusal to come out against the proposed Homestead airport that would have gobbled up a huge chunk of the Everglades resulted in environmental diehards turning away from a resolute supporter of ecology toward Ralph Nader. Gore lost Florida by 537 votes. ?Nader received more than 96,000 votes, and some operatives attributed 10,000 of them to the airport issue. Aug. 4, 2006 BOOK REVIEW: ?The Swamp?: A Fast-Paced Run Through the Everglades and Florida Real Estate Development; History, Ecology Never Was So Fun to Read! There are no other Everglades in the World ? South Florida Author Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998) Reviewed By David M. Kinchen Huntington News Network Book Critic Hinton, WV (HNN) ? The Florida hurricane of 1928, which struck the hardest at Lake Okeechobee, killed 2,500 people, mostly poor blacks who drowned in the vegetable fields of the Everglades, writes Michael Grunwald in ?The Swamp? (Simon & Schuster, 464 pages, illustrations, maps, $27.00). The death toll was second only to the Galveston, Texas hurricane of September 1900, when 8,000 to 10,000 died. The Okeechobee hurricane death toll was higher than that of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, ?another case of poor blacks in low-lying floodplains betrayed by inadequate dikes.? Subtitled ?The Everglade, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise,? ?The Swamp? is an lively, entertaining and thoroughly researched book about humans attempting to take a perfect ecosystem ? the Kissimmee River valley, Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades -- and trying to ?improve? it. We humans never seem to leave well enough alone, as the siting of New Orleans and the monstrous over development of South Florida amply demonstrate. I could add the development of a gigantic megalopolis in a place that gets about 14 inches of rain a year ? greater Los Angeles ? and the more recent out of control development of another city in a desert, Las Vegas. The real motto of Homo Americanus seems to be: ?anything worth doing is worth overdoing ? and then some.? A prize-winning national reporter for The Washington Post, Grunwald traces the history of the Everglades from its beginnings in the Ice Ages to its function as a natural ?river of grass,? as Marjory Stoneman Douglas dubbed it in her 1947 Rivers of America book (Those wonderful books enchanted me when I was in high school in the 1950s! Numbering 65, they rivaled the WPA guidebooks to the states in sheer readability) to thoroughly misguided attempts to drain the swamp that isn?t a swamp. It really is a slow moving body of water than once covered much of southern Florida, providing a lush habitat for thousands of species of animals and plants and purifying the water through sawgrass (not really a grass) and limestone aquifers, Grunwald writes. In some respects, the destruction of the Everglades was inspired by the draining of the swamp where Chicago now is, Grunwald suggests. In fact, one attempt to ?improve? the Everglades came from a 1913 report produced by 65-year-old Isham Randolph, ?one of America?s best-respected hydraulic engineers.? (Pages 160-61). Randolph had served on the Panama Canal board and had overseen the Chicago Drainage Canal, ?a gargantuan project best remembered for reversing the flow of the Chicago River.? Almost all the attempts to destroy the Everglades were motivated by development, first of cattle ranching in the Kissimmee Valley, where the winding river was turned into a die-straight canal to keep the river from flooding the land; to draining areas south of Lake O to create gigantic sugar-growing fields. I?ve never understood the need for so much sugar ? I never use it in my coffee or cereal -- but it produced multimillionaires who had terrific clout in Florida. One of them ? in fact the father of the Everglades sugar industry, Grunwald writes -- was Ernest ?Cap? Graham, father of the late Washington Post publisher Phil Graham, Miami Lakes developer Bill Graham and Florida Governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham. The 1928 hurricane ? they weren?t named in those days ? ended the Florida land boom for almost two decades, but it didn?t stop plans by a variety of developers and Florida governors to dig canals, build dikes that would withstand hurricanes and generally destroy an ecosystem unique in all the world. The Everglades National Park that was dedicated by President Harry Truman on Dec. 7, 1947 ? a month after the publication of Douglas? ?The Everglades: River of Grass.? The park included only 1.3 million acres, excluding all of the upper Keys, Big Cypress and ?everything else north of the Tamiami Trail, the coral reefs, the Turner River area, the marshes of northeast Shark Slough along the park?s eastern boundary, and a 22,000-acre tract of farmland inside the park known as ?The Hole in the Donut.?? The newest Florida land boom was underway when the park was dedicated, spurred by the returning veterans of WW II who fell in love with Florida and the arrival of what one wag called ?the newly wed and the nearly dead.? Huge suburbs sprawled out in Southeast Florida, from Dade County on the south to Broward County (Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood ) named after Florida Gov. Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, who was a major swamp-draining advocate, north to Palm Beach County, whose growth was spurred by Henry Flagler, John D. Rockefeller?s right-hand-man at Standard Oil. Flagler built the Florida East Coast Railroad, inspired by his honeymoon with his second wife in St. Augustine. That?s a true capitalist: Dreaming of railroads, monster resort hotels and cities like Palm Beach and West Palm Beach while on his honeymoon! ?The Swamp? is a great read for anyone interested in the politics of development. The second half of the book deals with attempts to preserve ? even restore to something like its natural state -- much of this unique ecosystem. Long before Rachel Carson?s ?Silent Spring? spurred the modern environmental movement, Grunwald says, Aldo Leopold, a pioneer ecologist, wrote ?A Sand County Almanac? which was published in 1949 shortly after his death (Pages 226-27). In his book Leopold persisted in ?questioning the notion that nature existed to serve man, calling for a land ethic in which people would be responsible citizens of the earth rather than its conquerors.? Leopold (1887-1948), an Iowa native and a long-time Madison, Wis. Wisconsin resident, was a founder of the Wilderness Society in 1935 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldo_Leopold) and inspired Floridians like Ernest Lyons, editor of the Stuart News, who made a stirring ecology-based case against a massive flood control project by the Army Corps of Engineers. Lyons warned against the ?Hollandization? ? referring to the land ethic of the Netherlands ? of South Florida, arguing that the project would provide land reclamation for the few and destruction of natural wetlands that provided nature?s better way of flood control (Page 227). The Everglades may have even cost Al Gore the presidency in 2000, Grunwald suggests (Page 337-38ff). Gore?s refusal to come out against the proposed Homestead airport that would have gobbled up a huge chunk of the Everglades resulted in environmental diehards turning away from a resolute supporter of ecology toward Ralph Nader. Gore lost Florida by 537 votes. ?Nader received more than 96,000 votes, and some operatives attributed 10,000 of them to the airport issue. That was more than enough to elect a president who would support oil exploration in the arctic National Wildlife Refuge and enrage environmentalists like no president since Ronald Reagan,? Grunwald writes. A prediction: ?The Swamp? will be on everybody?s short list for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. If I were voting, I?d give it both honors! Publisher?s web site: www.simonsays.com --------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Sat Aug 5 09:03:03 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Sat, 5 Aug 2006 06:03:03 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Rell objects to NUKE WASTE storage (prefers it in someone else' back yard'?) Message-ID: <20060805130303.10465.qmail@web81412.mail.mud.yahoo.com> AP Connecticut Rell, Northeast governors object to nuke waste storageAugust 4, 2006, 3:45 PM EDT MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Gov. Jim Douglas and some of his colleagues around the region are protesting a U.S. Senate proposal that they say could force their states to become storage sites for spent nuclear fuel. Douglas and Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri signed a letter on behalf of the Coalition of Northeastern Governors protesting a spending bill that has won the unanimous recommendation of the Senate Appropriations Committee. On Error Resume Next isFlash9up=IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.9")) isFlash8up=IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.8")) plugin=IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.7")) isFlashFailover=IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.6")) Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell also sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. "This proposal flies in the face of the long-term commitment of the federal government to a permanent storage solution for this country's nuclear waste," she wrote. "This risky and hazardous proposal must be abandoned immediately, so that work can begin in earnest on a permanent nuclear waste storage solution." A provision in that bill would permit money paid into a fund for building a permanent centralized waste storage facility to be diverted to "a hastily created network of federal consolidated storage facilities," Douglas and Carcieri wrote to Senate leaders. The Senate proposal could lead to long-term storage at consolidated local or regional sites in 31 states, including Connecticut, the governors said. "Congress appears to be on the verge of telling states it's their own problem," Douglas said of the waste disposal issue. "That is a breach of the deal we have had for some time." Electricity ratepayers for years have paid into a fund that was supposed to help find, design and build a centralized nuclear waste disposal facility. A site has been proposed at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, 90 miles north of Las Vegas, but its construction has been delayed repeatedly and it is not expected to open before 2017. In the meantime, 50,000 tons of nuclear waste sits at nuclear power plants awaiting permanent disposal. Some members of the Senate Appropriations Committee that approved the bill said they opposed the provision on nuclear waste and hoped to delete it before the legislation passes. It's not due before the full Senate before September and differences still would need to be worked out between it and a House version. The House did not include the nuclear waste provision. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., voted for the bill in committee but will seek to deal with the nuclear waste in the meantime, said spokesman David Carle. "Senator Leahy believes the best solution is to remove nuclear waste from Vermont and other locations. The national repository in Nevada is a better solution than opening the door to many new, temporary storage sites," Carle said. ___ Information from: The Times Argus, http://www.timesargus.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From wtcards at earthlink.net Sat Aug 5 09:33:02 2006 From: wtcards at earthlink.net (Ken Krayeske) Date: Sat, 05 Aug 2006 09:33:02 -0400 Subject: {news} ralph and greens Message-ID: <44D49E0E.5090505@earthlink.net> This photo comes from Bloodroot, Wednesday, August 2, 2006. I love Paul Bassler's shirt. Enjoy the photo peace, kk -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Ralph Nader and CT Greens.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 123892 bytes Desc: not available URL: From efficacy at msn.com Sun Aug 6 11:09:14 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2006 11:09:14 -0400 Subject: {news} Inner City News Article Message-ID: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Inner City Thornton Article top.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 298900 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Inner City Thornton Article bottom.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 407483 bytes Desc: not available URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Sun Aug 6 17:07:50 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2006 14:07:50 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} CTPOST-Seeing the black and white in a tight race Message-ID: <20060806210750.50401.qmail@web81403.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Seeing the black, white in tight race by Ken Dixon Connecticut Post Online Consumer advocate/political bomb thrower Ralph Nader and the Rev. Richard Bishop, radio minister/real estate agent, don't have much in common. One's a Washington idealist. The other, Bishop, is a Bridgeport realist. Bishop's sitting in a folding chair in the basement of Mount Aery Baptist Church in Bridgeport's hard-scrabble Hollow. He's leaning back, arms folded, legs jutting out from his sharp white linen suit as he waits for Ned Lamont to emerge with Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, who will anoint his campaign against Sen. Joe Lieberman. Around him, people file in slowly, whether they're political operatives or members of the mostly African-American congregation, who'll soon be led in all three verses of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by Pastor Anthony Bennett. Nader's standing, hunched over, behind a podium in the cellar of the New Haven Public Library, wearing what looks like a 20-year-old suit, reading from remarks he wrote out on an ancient Underwood typewriter. Behind him is an old, Depression-era mural of Rip Van Winkle, the Washington Irving character who finally wakes up after 40 years to discover a changed world. Nader's speaking to about 70 people, predominantly white New Havenites whose political leanings are decidedly to the starboard. Bishop, whose radio ministry can be heard a couple times a week on WVOF 88.5 FM, is sitting there, talking about politicians in particular and the state of things for black people in general. For minorities in southwestern Connecticut, Bishop says, life is getting worse, not better. Born in the South, Bishop's mother, a maid afraid of raising her black son in the South, brought him to Connecticut in the mid-1950s, around the time that Ned Lamont, whose great-grandfather was a big-time Wall Street banker with J.P. Morgan, was born. Bishop, who lived with his mother in an attic on the wrong side of Putnam Avenue, was one of a handful of blacks back then who graduated from Greenwich High. He believes that since the major civil-rights advances in the 1960s and 1970s, opportunities for blacks have sharply diminished. "It's no different now than the 1950s," Bishop says, his voice rising in pitch. "It's like the city is a vacuum because folks can't reach the suburbs, 'cause it's not affordable. Who can afford a half-million-dollar? Who can afford a $250,000 house?" Bishop's looking at this hyped-up Senate race as if it were business as usual. "What's Lamont gonna do that Lieberman couldn't do? I'd like to know," he says, in a mix of skepticism and disgust. Sharpton offered a rambling, mostly coherent speech that rose, fell and soared again, culminating in a standing ovation for Lamont. "He's the one who says it's not about the right wing or the left wing," Sharpton said. "Because a bird needs both wings to fly. The problem is we've had a one-winged bird. "A right-winged bird, rather than a balanced bird that will fight for education that will fight for health care, that will fight for world peace. I believe in a man that's brought both wings to the bird and we will fly in Connecticut next Tuesday. I believe I can fly, I believe we can fly, I believe we can touch the sky..." The dour Nader was criticized by many Democrats and Lieberman for running for president on the Green Party ticket back in 2006, when Lieberman ran for both his Senate seat and vice president with Al Gore. "The political bigotry behind Lieberman's comments is that we should not have spoken out, petitioned and assembled in the form of a candidacy in 2000, because we should have left it to the Democratic Party, which has been shutting out consumer, environmental and worker groups for 25 years in Washington." Nader relishes the imminent irony if Lieberman fails to win the primary and files the 7,500 signatures needed to make the November ballot as an independent. "I need to congratulate him for joining the third-party forces but it's a little premature and we'll have to wait until next Tuesday," Nader, the idealist says, finally offering a smile. You may reach Ken Dixon in the Capitol at (860) 549-4670 or e-mail him at dixon.connpost at snet.net. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Wed Aug 9 12:07:50 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2006 09:07:50 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Petition drive CELEBRATION TONIGHT IN HARTFORD Message-ID: <20060809160750.80572.qmail@web81406.mail.mud.yahoo.com> COME CELEBRATION THE FINISH OF THE GREEN PARTY PETITION DRIVE THANKS TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HELPED WITH THE DRIVE! TONIGHT STARTING AT 6 PM AT THE HOME OF STEVE FOURNIER 74 TREMONT STREET HARTFORD 860-794-6718 DONATION OF $20 REQUESTED (PLEASE COME EVEN IF CAN NOT AFFORD THE DONATION) REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED PAID FOR AND APPROVED BY THORNTON FOR GOVERNOR DONNA BYRNE- MCKEE , TREASURER -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Wed Aug 9 12:46:30 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2006 09:46:30 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} (NEWS RELEASE) THORNTON, FERRUCCI TOP 13, 000 BALLOT SIGNATURE DRIVE FOR CT. GREENS Message-ID: <20060809164630.62336.qmail@web81414.mail.mud.yahoo.com> GREEN PARTY OF CONNECTICUT NEWS RELEASE- for Immediate Release- August 9, 2006 Contact: Tim McKee, CT Green Party National Committee Person, cell (860)860-778- 1304 or (860)-643-2282 Jean DeSmet, State Co-Chair (860) 456-2188 Ralph Ferrucci, U.S. Senate candidate (203) 430-9342 Cliff Thornton, Green Party Candidate for Governor (860) 657-8438-Home or (860) 268-1294-Campaign cell THORNTON, FERRUCCI TOP 13,000 BALLOT SIGNATURE DRIVE FOR CT. GREENS Hartford, CT, - GREEN PARTY OFFICIALS SUBMITTED 13,000 SIGNATURES TODAY TO FINISH THEIR DRIVE FOR A FIRST EVER SLATE OF CANDIDATES FOR STATE OFFICES AND THE U.S. SENATE RACE. INDEPENDENT BUSINESS MAN AND TRUCK DRIVER RALPH FERRUCCI WILL LEAD THE TICKET AS THE CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE . RETIRED BUSINESSMAN CLIFF THORNTON, RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR, TOPS A SLATE FOR STATE OFFICERS. Over 65 volunteers from across the state submitted petitions for Ferrucci, an anti-war activist from New Haven and Thornton?s team of state office seekers. 7,500 valid signatures were need by 4 pm Wednesday, August 9 at 4 pm, and the total of 13,000 was submitted as a buffer for any errors in petitions. Teams of lawyers and notaries with the Green Party carefully inspected each petition before they were submitted to local town hall for validation. The Greens expect confirmation of ballot access from the Sectary of State?s office within days. Governor: Clifford Thornton, founder of the drug policy reform group Efficacy, who will be CT's first African American candidate for Governor; Lt. Governor: Robin Schaefer Attorney General: Nancy Burton, environmental activist and founder of CT Coalition against Millstone; Secretary of the State: Mike DeRosa, founder of Project V.O.T.E.R. - Voter Opportunity through Election Reform; State Treasurer: David Bue, Socially Responsible investment adviser with First Affirmative Financial Network; State Comptroller: Colin Bennett U.S. Senate: Ralph Ferrucci, New Haven Independent businessman and truck driver. -30- web sites(with photos): Cliff Thornton www.votethornton.com Mike DeRosa http://www.ctgreens.org/derosa Ralph Ferrucci http://www.ferrucciforsenate.org Nancy Burton http://ctgreens.org/candidates/burton2006.html David Bue http://ctgreens.org/candidates/bue2006.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From efficacy at msn.com Wed Aug 9 17:50:02 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2006 17:50:02 -0400 Subject: {news} meeting call Message-ID: Cliff Thornton, the Green Party candidate for Governor, will host a statewide campaign meeting Wednesday, August 16 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Russell Public Library in Middletown. With the Green Party petition drive completed, the Thornton for Governor campaign needs to focus on Nov. 7, 2006. Apart from winning the governor's seat, Thornton for Governor has six basic goals, and will develop more in the future: 1. Win the towns of New London and Windham. 2. Earn a spot in the gubernatorial debates. 3. Be placed in the Quinnipiac University polls. 4. Build local Green Party chapters across the state. 5. Recruit 2,000 volunteers to stand at the polls on Election Day, November 7, 2006. 6. Raise $50,000. Come to the meeting and learn how you can contribute your talents and skills to helping to these goals, and the larger one of growing the CT Green Party into a viable electoral alternative. Thornton for Governor PO Box 1971 Manchester, CT 06045 votethornton at yahoogroups.com www.votethornton.com 860 657 8438-H 860 268 1294-C 860 778 1304-Tim Mckee-Campaign Manager 860 293 0222-Ken Krayeske-field Manager Paid for by Thornton For Governor Donna L. Byrne-Mckee, Treasure -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From efficacy at msn.com Thu Aug 10 08:37:43 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 08:37:43 -0400 Subject: {news} NYPD busts for pot puffing show racism, study asserts Message-ID: CurrentArchive NYPD busts for pot puffing show racism, study asserts BY ERNIE NASPRETTO DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU The NYPD disproportionately targets poor, black and Hispanic neighborhoods when enforcing marijuana smoking-in-public laws, according to a hotly debated new study. The results of the study, funded by the Marijuana Policy Project and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, are published in the new issue of Harm Reduction Journal, an open-access online journal published by BioMed Central. The NYPD says that this type of enforcement goes along with its focus on where the heaviest crime patterns exist and is part of the department's successful quality-of-life policing strategy. But study author Dr. Andrew Golub of the National Development and Research Institute in New York City contends that is not the case. He says a review of arrests for smoking marijuana in public from 1992 to 2003 shows enforcement shifted dramatically from the lower half of Manhattan and scattered broadly throughout the city in the early '90s. The majority of that enforcement, he states, occurred in high-poverty, minority communities in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens by the late '90s. Golub suggests that these arrests no longer serve the goals of quality-of-life policing, but rather exacerbate race relations in New York City. "That's ridiculous," responded retired Detective George Repetti, who served 15 years in the NYPD narcotics division. "Our enforcement is based on crime trends, constant analysis of residual crime, intelligence and citizen complaints. Race simply is not a factor." Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, an NYPD spokesman, said the author ignored the geographic distribution of crime. "The study distorts reality to prop up a thinly disguised manifesto for marijuana legalization," Browne charged. "More arrests of all kinds take place in areas with more crime," he said. Originally published on August 8, 2006 Thornton for Governor PO Box 1971 Manchester, CT 06045 votethornton at yahoogroups.com www.votethornton.com 860 657 8438-H 860 268 1294-C 860 778 1304-Tim Mckee-Campaign Manager 860 293 0222-Ken Krayeske-field Manager Paid for by Thornton For Governor Donna L. Byrne-Mckee, Treasure -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Masthead_thefrontpage.gif Type: image/gif Size: 3335 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: shim.gif Type: image/gif Size: 35 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: odot.gif Type: image/gif Size: 67 bytes Desc: not available URL: From wtcards at earthlink.net Thu Aug 10 10:33:50 2006 From: wtcards at earthlink.net (Ken Krayeske) Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 10:33:50 -0400 Subject: {news} re: LWV-CT Candidate Eligibility Criteria Message-ID: <44DB43CE.5060109@earthlink.net> http://www.lwvct.org/voters/candidate_eligibility.htm *Criteria to Determine Candidate Eligibility to* *Participate in LWVCTEF-Sponsored Debates and Forums* The LWVCTEF criteria used in determining whether a candidate should be invited to participate in the LWVCTEF?s candidates debates and forums are as follows: The candidate must have: 1. Ballot access in accordance with Connecticut election laws 2. A formal campaign (headquarters, staff, position papers, campaign appearances) 3. Evidence of broad voter support (can be evidenced by number of volunteers) 4. Financial support (contributions from a significant number of contributors indicating broad-based support) A committee consisting of the LWVCTEF Co- Presidents, Vice President- Communications, Vice President-Voters Service and the Treasurer will determine if a candidate meets the criteria. The criteria are to be applied as objectively as possible. The decision is to be made at least ten days prior to the debate or forum. May 31, 2006 From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Thu Aug 10 15:55:51 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 12:55:51 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} (AP) Senate campaign could be a 4 way race (CT) Message-ID: <20060810195551.1390.qmail@web81407.mail.mud.yahoo.com> http://www.norwalkadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-10101946.apds.m0316.bc-ct-brf--aug10,0,7520418.story?track=rss Senate campaign could be a 4-way race Associated Press August 10, 2006 HARTFORD, Conn. -- The Connecticut U.S. Senate race could become a four-way fight with the Green Party saying it has submitted enough signatures to place a candidate on the ballot in November. Ned Lamont is the Democratic candidate after beating Sen. Joe Lieberman in the party's primary Tuesday. Lieberman is mounting an independent campaign and Alan Schlesinger is the Republican candidate. The Green Party of Connecticut submitted 13,000 signatures Wednesday on behalf of Ralph Ferrucci, the party's candidate for the U.S. Senate. They needed 7,500, but party leaders said in a statement that they wanted "a buffer for any errors in petitions." Ferrucci said his campaign launches officially at a fundraiser Friday night in New Haven. The Connecticut Green Party describes itself on its Web site as being committed to grass roots democracy, social justice, nonviolence and ecological wisdom. --- Information from: New Haven Register, http://www.ctcentral.com =0)document.write(unescape('%3C')+'\!-'+'-') //--> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From demac at galaxyinternet.net Thu Aug 10 21:03:23 2006 From: demac at galaxyinternet.net (Jean deSmet) Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 21:03:23 -0400 Subject: {news} Article in The Broadcaster Message-ID: <00e601c6bce1$f5c94670$d1bcf504@jean1oa1rgr0ov> There was a good, independent article about Nader's appearance in Hartford in the northeast edition of The Broadcaster on August 11. Published by Reminder Press out of Vernon. Written by Andres Hidalgo. I know that someone else knows how to find these things online, right? Jean -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Thu Aug 10 22:00:21 2006 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 02:00:21 +0000 Subject: {news} Nancy Burton interviewed on Indymedia Message-ID: http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/08/74336.html "Interview with Nancy Burton Legal challenge to Millstone Nuclear Plant Via Electoral Process" Listen to an interview by David Grace of San Francisco Indymedia (Indybay.org) From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Fri Aug 11 02:46:10 2006 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 02:46:10 -0400 Subject: {news} Ferrucci in Stamford Advocate References: <1155263457.aee7d608c71d0557.51f0cd3b@persist.google.com> Message-ID: The Stamford Advocate http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-10101946.apds.m0316.bc-ct-brf--aug10,0,4514953.story Senate campaign could be a 4-way race Associated Press August 10, 2006 HARTFORD, Conn. -- The Connecticut U.S. Senate race could become a four-way fight with the Green Party saying it has submitted enough signatures to place a candidate on the ballot in November. Ned Lamont is the Democratic candidate after beating Sen. Joe Lieberman in the party's primary Tuesday. Lieberman is mounting an independent campaign and Alan Schlesinger is the Republican candidate. The Green Party of Connecticut submitted 13,000 signatures Wednesday on behalf of Ralph Ferrucci, the party's candidate for the U.S. Senate. They needed 7,500, but party leaders said in a statement that they wanted "a buffer for any errors in petitions." Ferrucci said his campaign launches officially at a fundraiser Friday night in New Haven. The Connecticut Green Party describes itself on its Web site as being committed to grass roots democracy, social justice, nonviolence and ecological wisdom. --- Information from: New Haven Register, http://www.ctcentral.com From efficacy at msn.com Fri Aug 11 07:18:18 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 07:18:18 -0400 Subject: {news} meeting call Message-ID: Connecticut Green Party - Part of the GPUS http://www.ctgreens.org/ - http://www.greenpartyus.org/ to unsubscribe click here mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org Cliff Thornton, the Green Party candidate for Governor, will host a statewide campaign meeting Wednesday, August 16 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Russell Public Library in Middletown. With the Green Party petition drive completed, the Thornton for Governor campaign needs to focus on Nov. 7, 2006. Apart from winning the governor's seat, Thornton for Governor has six basic goals, and will develop more in the future: 1. Win the towns of New London and Windham. 2. Earn a spot in the gubernatorial debates. 3. Be placed in the Quinnipiac University polls. 4. Build local Green Party chapters across the state. 5. Recruit 2,000 volunteers to stand at the polls on Election Day, November 7, 2006. 6. Raise $50,000. Come to the meeting and learn how you can contribute your talents and skills to helping to these goals, and the larger one of growing the CT Green Party into a viable electoral alternative. Thornton for Governor PO Box 1971 Manchester, CT 06045 votethornton at yahoogroups.com www.votethornton.com 860 657 8438-H 860 268 1294-C 860 778 1304-Tim Mckee-Campaign Manager 860 293 0222-Ken Krayeske-field Manager Paid for by Thornton For Governor Donna L. Byrne-Mckee, Treasure To be removed please mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org _______________________________________________ CTGP-news mailing list CTGP-news at ml.greens.org http://ml.greens.org/mailman/listinfo/ctgp-news -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From efficacy at msn.com Fri Aug 11 13:19:33 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 13:19:33 -0400 Subject: {news} 'Green' option to be offered to voters Message-ID: http://www.villagernewspapers.com/ By CHUCK EDENBURN, ANTOINE CRAIGWELL, SHAUN MORIARTY Villager Staff Writers He isn't the pot-smoking, sandal-wearing hippie that members of the green party are often stereotyped as being. In fact, Cliff Thornton, the Green Party candidate for Governor, worked for SNET for 25 years, and has lived a typical, middle-class American life. He currently lives in Glastonbury with his wife, Margaret, and has five grown daughters. The funny thing is that Thornton came out of retirement to run on the Green Party's Gubernatorial ticket. But what could possibly motivate the retired businessman to run for the top political office in Connecticut, when no other African American has ever held the position before, let alone a Green Party candidate? For Thornton, the answer is simple. "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired," said Thornton. "Politician's will do whatever they want until there is a mass dissent against them. I am up against tremendous odds, but what I bring to the table are issues that no other candidates are willing to talk about." Thornton said one of his biggest concerns is the electorate's disenchantment with mainstream politics. "People have become so disenchanted with the government, that they don't want to participate," he said. "I want an open administration without corruption. It's only corrupt because we accept it." Thornton founded the nonprofit organization "efficacy," which began in 1996 and focuses its efforts on drug policy reform. He said the war on drugs is putting more and more people in jail without actually decreasing the number of users. Thornton also wants to utilize farmland for hemp cultivation because of the many needs it could meet. "We need to develop alternatives for fossil fuels," said Thornton. "Hemp farming is a true money maker and also environmentally sound." In addition to legalizing marijuana for medicinal use, Thornton wants to "decriminalize and medicalize drugs." "When we talk about legalizing, medicalizing, and decriminalizing drugs, we are talking about the redistribution of income and wealth," he said. After his mother died of a heroin overdose when he was 18, Thornton ultimately concluded that if heroin had been legal and supervised by doctors, his mother might not have died so young. He also said the lack of effectiveness in the way the government has handled its drug policy has been tolerated by the people, and changing and improving the situation is the right thing to do. "We have to ask ourselves, when does going along, to get along, make one complicit?," said Thornton. "We need politicians that are so committed to their job, that they are willing to lose it to make the right decision. Any politician that is not willing to risk election does not deserve to be elected in the first place." Another concern of Thornton's is the lack of available jobs and the need for a living wage. As stated on his Web site, "a $10 an hour living wage would raise living conditions for all." Thornton also believes college educations should be funded by the state lottery. "These candidates talk about education, but this problem popped up 40 years ago," he said. "If they were going to do something about this, they would have done it already. Politicians don't want an educated electorate." According to Thornton, a total of $1.1 billion in what is called the "Rainy Day Fund," and "much of it should be used for education." "In the last eight presidential elections, only between 42 and 52 percent of the registered voters voted, not counting the tens of millions of people that are not involved in participatory democracy," said Thornton. "This sends a clear message to the politicians that people don't think they can make a difference." And he did address the "Green Party stereotype." "One of my objectives was to change the misconception that the Green Party is a sandal-wearing group of hippies," said Thornton. "I have 25 years of experience working in corporate America." However, some politicians are often accused of selling out their electorate, in exchange for the opportunity to "become insiders." When the issue was raised and Thornton was asked if he would ever do such a thing, he said he had no such intentions. "I think my record speaks for itself," he said. "I have no ties to big business. Eminent Domain has cost people living in New London their private property for private business purposes. We have to ask ourselves the question, what would God do? What would Allah do? What would Buddha do?" Thornton said it comes down to serving your constituents and not yourself. "You have to meet people at the point of their need, not yours," said Thornton. "I bring honesty, integrity, and commitment to the table. I bring credibility to the table where they do not." When asked how far he was willing to go in the field of politics, Thornton said he was prepared to improve the political system, and do whatever it takes. "I'm prepared to take my campaign all the way," he said. "There are things in life that prepare you for the next step. I remember my grandmother and great grandmother saying that you have to leave the land better than the way you found it. I have the answers to the issues that people are concerned with. I will deal with the issues that other politicians aren't willing to talk about." Thornton said understanding the way the world works has been a key asset in his success to this point in his life. "If one does not understand racism, classism, white privilege, terrorism, and the war on drugs, what these terms mean, and how these concepts work," he said. "Then everything else you do understand will only confuse you." Charles Edenburn may be reached by phone at (860) 928-1818 ext. 113, or by e-mail at chuck at villagernewspapers.com. Thornton for Governor PO Box 1971 Manchester, CT 06045 votethornton at yahoogroups.com www.votethornton.com 860 657 8438-H 860 268 1294-C 860 778 1304-Tim Mckee-Campaign Manager 860 293 0222-Ken Krayeske-field Manager Paid for by Thornton For Governor Donna L. Byrne-Mckee, Treasure -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From roseberry3 at cox.net Sat Aug 12 21:21:26 2006 From: roseberry3 at cox.net (B Barry) Date: Sat, 12 Aug 2006 21:21:26 -0400 Subject: {news} preliminary agenda for 7pm 8-14-06 EC meeting at Luna Pizza, 88 Hebron Ave., Glastonbury, CT, 06033, 860-659-2135 Message-ID: <20060813012124.PPWU23821.centrmmtao01.cox.net@eastrmimpo02.cox.net> preliminary agenda for 7PM to 9PM, 8-14-06 EC CTGP meeting Place: Luna Pizza, 88 Hebron Ave., Glastonbury, CT, 06033, Phone: 860-659-2135 Facilitator: to be determined 1. Discuss/results, if known, of our petition drive for our state-wide candidates which was completed 4PM, Wednesday, 8-9-06. 2. Status of current CTGP candidates/events 3. Fundraising and potential financial support for CTGP candidates? 4. CTGP website status. 5. CT Green Times newspaper status: are more articles needed from chapters about their positions? Estimated date it will be going to publisher and availability for distribution. Review distribution process for possible fine tuning with Albert Marceau. 6. Treasurer's report from Christopher Reilly. 7. ACLU lawsuit regarding the 2005 CT "campaign finance reform" law. 8. Events/developments regarding the Peace Party i.e. Green Party. 9. agenda for 8-29-06 SCC meeting. 10. Any proposals. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Mon Aug 14 14:58:00 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 11:58:00 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Maine'sGP for Gov gets Demo support Message-ID: <20060814185800.39330.qmail@web81414.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Miller Endorses LaMarche for Governor Chris Miller, winner of an astonishing 24% of the Democratic Primary votes, urges his supporters to vote the candidate, not the party label. His primary candidacy was about putting people first, and after looking at all the candidates in the race, it was clear to him that only one candidate believes in putting the needs of Mainers ahead of all other issues: Pat LaMarche. www.pat2006.com August 11, 2006 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Miller Endorses LaMarche for Governor Portland, Maine - Democrat Christopher F. Miller announced his support and endorsement for Pat LaMarche for Governor in November. Pat LaMarche's commitment to a healthier state and citizenry have earned her the endorsement of Chris Miller, Democratic Gubernatorial Primary Candidate "I am here to give my support and endorsement to the only candidate who I believe has the courage, commitment and common sense to make the hard choices and changes necessary to move Maine forward," said Miller. "That candidate is Pat LaMarche." Miller ran as a Democratic candidate and won an astonishing 24% of the vote against incumbent governor John Baldacci, in the June primary election. His candidacy had strong support from Democrats unhappy with the current administration's lack of commitment to many Democratic ideals of energy conservation, environmental protection, and world peace. "I am a life long Democrat. It pains me that my party in Maine is so far out of touch. Most people are doing worse; that is a direct result of the Washington consensus and the neo-liberal agenda. The Liebermans, the leadership of state and national Republicans and Democrats alike," stated Miller. "But, as Upton Sinclair wrote: 'It's difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it.' stated Miller. As a long time advocate of putting people first, Pat LaMarche will bring about real tax relief by lowering municipal costs. In doing so, she also will create the nation's first, true, universal healthcare plan. LaMarche will take away the control of health care from the for-profit corporations, and will fight to end trash incineration from out of state and bring back community control. Pat LaMarche is committed to using her ability and authorization as Governor to stand up to Washington D.C. and keep Maine's National Guard soldiers here in Maine, not fighting a war half a world away. A new day is dawning in America and the very first sunrise in the country happens in Maine every day. Pat LaMarche will be the first ray of that sunrise. "I am endorsing Pat LaMarche for Governor this November 7th. I am asking all of the people who share my integrity and commitment to Maine and the people who hope to live here for generations to come to do the same. This year, have the courage and the commitment to Maine and vote for a candidate not a party - Vote for Pat LaMarche." -- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From justinemccabe at earthlink.net Tue Aug 15 19:41:07 2006 From: justinemccabe at earthlink.net (Justine McCabe) Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2006 19:41:07 -0400 Subject: {news} GP RELEASE Greens to antiwar voters: vote Green, defeat warhawk Dems Message-ID: <018101c6c0c4$48295870$0402a8c0@JUSTINE> GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES http://www.gp.org For Immediate Release: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 Contacts: Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty at greens.org Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene at greens.org Greens to peace voters: support the Green 'Peace Slate' for Congress, not warhawk Democrats in the November election . Criticism directed against MoveOn.org and other 'peace' groups supporting Democrats who cosigned the Bush agenda on Iraq, Middle East, Iran . List of Green candidates facing prowar Dems in congressional races WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In the wake of Sen. Joe Lieberman's primary defeat in Connecticut, Green Party leaders called on voters to defeat all warhawks, Democrats as well as Republicans, who are running for Congress in the November election. "The Green Party's 'Peace Slate' is challenging prowar Democrats and Republicans alike in numerous U.S. House and Senate races," said Byron De Lear, congressional candidate in California's 28th district (Studio City). "Both parties are responsible for the U.S.'s disastrous policies in Iraq and in the Middle East. We especially seek the defeat of Democrats who, like Sen. Lieberman, have supported the Bush agenda. My opponent, Rep. Howard Berman (D) is the Joe Lieberman of the House. Continuing to support the Iraqi War is completely at odds with upwards of 80% of our constituents who oppose the war." Greens described the following candidates as warhawks: . Democrats and Republicans who supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq; who voted to transfer war power from Congress to the White House in October, 2002, in violation of the U.S. Constitution. . Democrats and Republicans who favor maintaining the U.S. occupation of Iraq; who have opposed resolutions for an exit strategy. . Democrats and Republicans who have supported Israel's attacks directed against Lebanese and Palestinian civilians and military incursion into Lebanon and the Bush Administration's refusal to seek a ceasefire (Boehner resolution in the House; Frist resolution in the Senate). . Democrats and Republicans who have supported the Bush Administration's threats of a military assault against Iran, or have refused to rule out the possibility of such attacks. "Democrats who embrace Bush policy on the Middle East and Iran are making the same deadly mistake they made when they endorsed President Bush's invasion of Iraq," said Kathleen Culver, Green candidate for Congress in Tennessee's 7th District. "When antiwar groups like MoveOn.org refuse to recognize that many of the 'peace' Democrats they support have endorsed the Bush Administration's belligerent policy on the Middle East conflict or Iran, they make themselves complicit in disasters that may eventually outweigh Iraq." Green Party leaders noted that Senate Democrats Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Diane Feinstein (Calif.), Edward Kennedy (Mass.), John Kerry (Mass.), Barack Obama (Ill.), leader Harry Reid (Nevada), and dozens of others voted yea on Sen. Bill Frist's resolution supporting Israel's military offensive, which killed over a thousand Lebanese civilians and destroyed vital infrastructure. List of Green candidates facing Democratic and Republican warhawks in congressional elections (the list is not comprehensive; for more candidates, visit ): U.S. Senate races . Todd Chretien (Green) vs. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D, incumbent), Dick Mountjoy (R), California . Aaron Dixon (Green) vs. Maria Cantwell (D, incumbent), Mike McGavick (R), Washington . Ralph Ferrucci (Green) vs. Ned Lamont (D), Alan Schlesinger (R), Connecticut (See Mr. Lamont's statement on the Middle East crisis ) . Howie Hawkins (Green) vs. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D frontrunner, incumbent), John Spencer (R), New York . Chris Lugo (Green) vs. Harold Ford Jr. (D), Bob Corker (R), Tennessee . Carl Romanelli (Green) vs. Bob Casey (D), Rick Santorum (R, incumbent), Pennsylvania . David Sole (Green) vs. Debbie Stabenow (D incumbent), Mike Bouchard (R), Michigan . Rae Vogeler (Green) vs. Herb Kohl (D, incumbent), Robert Lorge (R), Wisconsin . Kevin Zeese (Green) vs. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D), Michael Steele (R), Maryland U.S. House races . Jim Brown (Green) vs. Peter King (R), New York (3rd district) . Kathleen Culver (Green) vs. Marsha Blackburn (R, incumbent), Tennessee (7th District) . Byron De Lear (Green) vs. Howard Berman (D, incumbent), Stanley Kesselman (R), California (28th District) . Wade Hannon (Green) vs. Collin Peterson (D), Minnesota (7th District) . Jeff Kravitz (Green) vs. Doris Matsui (D, incumbent), X. Claire Yan (R), California (5th District) . Krissy Keefer (Green) vs. Nancy Pelosi (D, incumbent), Mike DeNunzio (R), California (8th District) . Bob Levis (Green) vs. Jim Sensenbrenner (R, incumbent), Wisconsin (5th District) . Bill Paparian (Green) vs. Adam Schiff (D, incumbent), California (29th District) . Aimee Smith (Green) vs. John Dingel (D, incumbent), Michigan (15th District) . Steve Warner (Green) vs. Steny Hoyer (D), Maryland (5th District) MORE INFORMATION Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org 1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404 Washington, DC 20009. 202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN Fax 202-319-7193 Green campaign listings, news, photos, and web sites http://www.gp.org/2006elections Database of 2006 Green candidates http://www.greens.org/elections Video clips of Green candidates http://www.gp.org/2006elections/media.shtml VotersForPeace pledge http://www.votersforpeace.us "Why the Dems Have Failed Lebanon" By Stephen Zunes, Foreign Policy In Focus, August 9, 2006 http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3423 ~ END ~ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From efficacy at msn.com Wed Aug 16 10:49:29 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 10:49:29 -0400 Subject: {news} [CTGP-candidates] meeting call Message-ID: We are hoping that everyone involved with running for office and most of their staff will participate. Cliff ----- Original Message ----- From: Ronna & Bob Stuller To: clifford thornton Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2006 9:42 AM Subject: Re: [CTGP-candidates] meeting call Cliff, Chris Nelson will be representing the New London Greens at the meeting tonight. Bob and I will be attending a screening of "Book 'Em: Undereducated, Overincarcerated. The School to Prison Pipeline" sponsored by FRESH and Youth Rights Media at NLHS. Let me know what I can do to help with the campaign. #1 and #5 seem most appropriate, but I could also provide a list of NL County volunteers to help with the LWV documentation requirements for inclusion in the debates. Ronna On Aug 9, 2006, at 5:50 PM, clifford thornton wrote: Cliff Thornton, the Green Party candidate for Governor, will host a statewide campaign meeting Wednesday, August 16 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Russell Public Library in Middletown. With the Green Party petition drive completed, the Thornton for Governor campaign needs to focus on Nov. 7, 2006. Apart from winning the governor's seat, Thornton for Governor has six basic goals, and will develop more in the future: 1. Win the towns of New London and Windham. 2. Earn a spot in the gubernatorial debates. 3. Be placed in the Quinnipiac University polls. 4. Build local Green Party chapters across the state. 5. Recruit 2,000 volunteers to stand at the polls on Election Day, November 7, 2006. 6. Raise $50,000. Come to the meeting and learn how you can contribute your talents and skills to helping to these goals, and the larger one of growing the CT Green Party into a viable electoral alternative. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Wed Aug 16 10:56:16 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 07:56:16 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Thornton for Gov. meeting TONIGHT in Middletown Message-ID: <20060816145616.80413.qmail@web81401.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Cliff Thornton, the Green Party candidate for Governor, will host a statewide campaign meeting Wednesday, August 16 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Russell Public Library in Middletown. With the Green Party petition drive completed, the Thornton for Governor campaign needs to focus on Nov. 7, 2006. Apart from winning the governor's seat, Thornton for Governor has six basic goals, and will develop more in the future: 1. Win the towns of New London and Windham. 2. Earn a spot in the gubernatorial debates. 3. Be placed in the Quinnipiac University polls. 4. Build local Green Party chapters across the state. 5. Recruit 2,000 volunteers to stand at the polls on Election Day, November 7, 2006. 6. Raise $50,000. Come to the meeting and learn how you can contribute your talents and skills to helping to these goals, and the larger one of growing the CT Green Party into a viable electoral alternative. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Fri Aug 18 17:51:09 2006 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 21:51:09 +0000 Subject: {news} Duffee in CT Post In-Reply-To: Message-ID: http://www.connpost.com/news/ci_4190464 Article Created: 8/16/2006 02:13 PM Farrell criticizes Shays Iraq policy SUSAN SILVERS ssilvers at ctpost.com Connecticut Post Online NORWALK ? Diane Farrell, the Democrats' 4th Congressional District candidate, lashed out Tuesday at Republican U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays for supporting the war in Iraq, but stopped short of calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops by a specific date. "A date certain in my opinion is not realistic," said Farrell, breaking with some in her party who want a pullout date set. "We all want our troops out," Farrell said during a news conference in Norwalk City Hall. While she acknowledged that some war opponents want an immediate U.S. withdrawal, she suggested that most want to see the U.S. develop a strategy for leaving with the aim that Iraq be able to maintain some stability afterward. Farrell called the victory in last week's Democratic primary by anti-war Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont over U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman a sign that voters want a shift in approach. "What we have to focus on as a new Congress in January is holding the president accountable," she said. But Brett Cody, Shays' spokesman, maintained that "no one's performed more or better oversight" of the war. Cody pointed to Shays' imminent departure for a 14th trip to Iraq and a series of pending hearings on the war as evidence of the congressman's close monitoring of the war efforts. Iraq was a war of choice, Farrell said, and assertions that it stemmed the tide of terrorism "are without proof or evidence." During the hourlong news conference, Farrell said the United States "can be working toward clear goals" through such measures as defining the different roles of American and Iraqi personnel. She said, for example, the U.S. military can offer "expert training" to Iraqi security forces. On other topics, Farrell: ? criticized President Bush for not firmly stating that Israel "has a right to protect its citizens" at the start of its recent clash with Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. ? said that because of Hurricane Katrina, Americans feel less secure facing the prospects of a natural disaster. ? said she would hold open forums starting Thursday to listen to voters in each of the district's 17 municipalities as the campaign progresses, mirroring a town meeting custom of Shays. Farrell, a former Westport first selectwoman who came within 4 percentage points of ousting the Bridgeport incumbent two years ago, is again in a tight race with Shays. The contest is rated by many political observers as one of a handful that could change hands in November and shift the balance of power to Democrats if Farrell prevails. There could also be up to three other candidates on the ballot, depending on the certification of petitions filed last week by other aspirants. Potential candidates include: Richard Z. Duffee of Stamford, a Green Party member; Philip Z. Maymin of Greenwich, a Libertarian; and John Imre of Bridgeport, unaffiliated. Even with the required 2,909 valid signatures, Duffee and Maymin have to file endorsements from their parties to qualify, said Michael Kozik, managing elections attorney for the secretary of the state. From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Fri Aug 18 17:55:20 2006 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 21:55:20 +0000 Subject: {news} Duffee in Stamford Advocate In-Reply-To: Message-ID: The last sentence is misleading--the meaning is probably that the Secretary of the State has not yet received or tallied the required 2,909 signatures. Some petitions may still be at the local Registrars offices for validation. David http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-maymin6aaug16,0,3216001.story Libertarian petitions his way onto the ballot By Hoa Nguyen Staff Writer August 16, 2006 GREENWICH -- He and his family have contributed more than $9,000 to his campaign, and the payoff so far has been a spot on the November ballot. Greenwich hedge fund founder Phil Maymin has collected enough signatures for the secretary of the state to recognize him as a Libertarian candidate for the 4th Congressional District. "I am here to represent those of us who are sick and tired of the stranglehold the two-party system has taken of our liberties," the 31-year-old Cos Cob resident said at a news conference yesterday at his office at 222 Railroad Ave. "I am here to represent new directions." In the battle against a Republican incumbent and Democratic challenger, the 31-year-old Cos Cob resident said he will appeal to voters from both parties. "I am more of a Republican than my opponent Christopher Shays, and I am more of a Democrat than my opponent Diane Farrell," Maymin said. Maymin said he favors cutting government spending and slashing taxes. He also is against the invasion of Iraq and enactment of the Patriot Act, which expands the government's ability to track the movement of people suspected of terrorism. Maymin, who has spent more than $5,000 of his money on collecting signatures -- including paying petitioners an hourly wage of $20 or more -- said he wants to focus on raising money from donors and campaigning. "The way I'll run my campaign will be different," he said. "I'm going to do a lot more on the Internet and a lot more on alternative media." Third-party candidates typically don't garner enough votes to present a challenge in congressional races, though Maymin could garner crucial votes in what is expected to be a close race between Shays and Farrell. Green Party candidate, Richard Duffee, 57, of Stamford, also is seeking to petition his way onto the ballot, though he has not collected enough signatures, according to the secretary of state. Copyright ? 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc. From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Sat Aug 19 22:57:17 2006 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 22:57:17 -0400 Subject: {news} Ferrucci on WNPR References: Message-ID: Ralph Ferrucci was interviewed last Tuesday on WNPR's "Where We Live." If you follow the link, you may be able to listen to the audio recording: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wnpr/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=954828 Election Special: Ralph Ferrucci WNPR's Where We Live HARTFORD, CT (2006-08-15) The Green party has been an off and on player in national politics since Ralph Nader's 2000 run for President. In that election, many Democrats accused Nader of splitting the party's vote for Al Gore and handing the election to George W. Bush. But Nader and the Green party candidates who have followed him in Connecticut view third-party candidacies as essential to democracy and gives voters clearer election choices. Now, with the state in the middle of another major national race, Ralph Ferrucci has stepped in to challenge Democrat Ned Lamont, Independent Joe Lieberman, and Republican Alan Schlesinger. Ferrucci has been active in Green Party politics since working for Nader's presidential Campaign, and has run in New Haven against Mayor John DeStefano. Guest: Ralph Ferrucci and Adam Bulger of the Hartford Advocate. ? Copyright 2006, WNPR From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Sun Aug 20 11:05:10 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 08:05:10 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} ACTION: please respond to sleazy "Lieberman Imitates Nader" Message-ID: <20060820150510.47547.qmail@web81403.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Please respond to this lobbyist garbage: letters at cournat.com http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/commentary/hc-commentarymoffett0820.artaug20,0,4479722.story?coll=hc-headlines-commentary Lieberman Imitates Nader ADVERTISERS --------------------------------- Advertise on ctnow -->By TOBY MOFFETT August 20 2006 Why is it that Joe Lieberman reminds me of Ralph Nader these days? Is it that both are from Connecticut and spent the 1970s and '80s building progressive credentials as staunch environmental and consumer advocates? When a group of us, inspired by Ralph, started the Connecticut Citizen Action Group in the early '70s, one of our heroes in public office was Lieberman, then a young state senator. He went on, of course, to lose a U.S. House race in 1980, but bounced back to become a very good attorney general and, in 1988, a U.S. senator. Ralph built a national citizen action movement as well as an effective campus-based network of "public interest research groups." They ran into each other in 2000, Lieberman running with Al Gore as a vice presidential candidate and Nader running against both parties as an independent. That year, I and a host of other former Nader Raiders built a campaign to try to convince people that a vote for Nader might actually be a vote for Bush. Lieberman joined a chorus of Democrats who denounced Nader as a man in the process of destroying all the good things he had done. Now it's Joe who's running as the independent, in a race that clearly has national implications, not because control of the U.S. Senate is likely to be at stake but because Lieberman might help Republicans keep control of the House of Representatives. By staying in the race, he may bring more Republicans to the polls on Election Day, hurting Democratic challengers to U.S. Reps. Rob Simmons, Chris Shays and Nancy Johnson. Who would have thought 30 years ago that these two Connecticut figures, who accomplished so much for consumers, for civil rights, for protection of the planet, might build legacies like this? Each of them in their own stubborn way might become known as the two people who helped out Bush and his right-wing allies when they most needed it. Despite pleas from friends and former colleagues, Nader wouldn't even consider withdrawing from the 2000 race. He got more than enough votes in Florida to put the final Bush-Gore tally in doubt. In 2004, I and many other volunteers built a more effective operation to challenge Nader's presence on the ballot in many states. It was clear to us that Republican operatives were helping him because they wanted him to take votes from Democrats. That's why Joe so reminds me of Ralph these days. He's ruining what is left of his progressive credentials and doing it with Republican help. Prominent GOP leaders across the country are urging Republicans to support him. Connecticut's incumbent and endangered Republican members of the House are using Joe's words on terror - that to talk of getting out of Iraq "will strengthen [terrorists] and they will strike again," identical to Bush-Cheney-Rove line - to attack their Democratic challengers. This past week, one of those challengers told me that "there's so much noise around Lieberman/Lamont that we can't get our message out." Joe may even be helping rejuvenate the Connecticut Republican base, which seems to prefer him over its own candidate, Alan Schlesinger. When have you ever seen a major party almost gleeful that its Senate candidate is sitting at 4 percent in the polls? For those who want to take one critical lever of power - the House - away from Bush, this is a looming disaster. Like Nader, Joe will not be talked out of it. He has a lead in the polls. He is determined and self-righteous. Perhaps the next commercial from Democrat Lamont might be a version of the one he used in the primary, in which Joe morphed into Bush. This time, Joe becomes Ralph. Toby Moffett was a U.S. House member from Connecticut from 1975 to 1982. He is now a lobbyist in Washington and an unpaid adviser to Democrats Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy, who are challenging Republican Reps. Joe Simmons and Nancy Johnson, respectively. Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant --------------------------------- =0)document.write(unescape('%3C')+'\!-'+'-') //--> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at sbcglobal.net Sun Aug 20 13:08:25 2006 From: greenpartyct at sbcglobal.net (Green Party-CT) Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 10:08:25 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Fwd: LTE: Lieberman run nothing like Nader's Message-ID: <20060820170825.98572.qmail@web81414.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Green Party-CT wrote: Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 10:07:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Green Party-CT Subject: LTE: Lieberman run nothing like Nader's To: letters at courant.com Dear Editor, The commentary by corporate lobbyist Toby Moffitt "Lieberman Imitates Nader" misses the mark on so many points and is factually wrong. As one of the first people who ASKED Nader to run for President, after I founded the Green Party of Rhode Island, I can say thousands of Greens asked Nader to help run and address issues that were quite different than those of the two headed monster we Greens call "The Republi-crats". Thousands asking someone to run is quite different, than Lieberman's attempt to play the system by running after losing in a fair fight. Moffett incorrectly labels 2000 Nader's run as an "Independent" when he really was the Green Party nominee. This is an important point because we didn't work to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures to get Nader on as a "non party? candidate, Green ballot lines and candidates won across the country because Nader topped our ticket line. Moffett wrongly blames Nader?s 97,000 Green Party votes in Florida as the single factor in the Bush 2000 win, and conveniently leaves out that several states were also swung by the Reform Party candidate to the Democrats and Lieberman?s Democratic Leadership Council?s own study said that many people would not have even voted if Nader and the Greens were not on the ballot in 2000. With almost 3 million votes in 2000, Nader?s votes showed that the people want something different. Moffett shamefully boasts how he worked to keep Nader off the ballot in 2004. Did anyone here work to keep Lieberman off the ballot or out of any debates like Moffitt and his Democrats did to Nader and the Greens? We Greens believe Lieberman had a fair chance to run, debate and he spend over $4 million to get his message out, but he lost. Moffit's party spent millions in law suits to challenge and keep Nader off the ballot; we Greens will not file a lawsuit to keep Lieberman out of the race, despite his loss in the primary. Moffett?s is also wrong in the claim that the Republican Party helped with Nader?s Presidential runs. Like a bad internet rumor, this claim has been discredited over and over and the Federal Election Commission records show that clearly. Shame on the Courant for printing that nonsense. Moffett may believe in the fairy tale that we ONLY need two parties, but Ralph Nader had nothing to do with Joe Lieberman?s self centered attempt to keep his job. Comparing Lieberman to Nader is foolish. Tim McKee Manchester, CT The writer is The National Committee person for the Green Party of CT and worked on Ralph Nader?s Presidential Campaign ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim McKee cell (860) 778-1304 or (860) 643-2282 Cliff Thornton for Governor- Campaign Manager- National Committee Member of the Green Party(Connecticut) Paid for by Thornton For Governor ,Donna Byrne-McKee, treasurer- www.VoteThornton.com email: info at votethornton.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From efficacy at msn.com Sun Aug 20 16:58:33 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 16:58:33 -0400 Subject: {news} Fwd: LTE: Lieberman run nothing like Nader's References: <20060820170825.98572.qmail@web81414.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Good luck. Great letter but much to long. Thornton for Governor PO Box 1971 Manchester, CT 06045 votethornton at yahoogroups.com www.votethornton.com 860 657 8438-H 860 268 1294-C 860 778 1304-Tim Mckee-Campaign Manager 860 293 0222-Ken Krayeske-field Manager Paid for by Thornton For Governor Donna L. Byrne-Mckee, Treasure ----- Original Message ----- From: Green Party-CT To: ctgp-news at ml.greens.org ; VoteFerrucci at yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2006 1:08 PM Subject: {news} Fwd: LTE: Lieberman run nothing like Nader's Connecticut Green Party - Part of the GPUS http://www.ctgreens.org/ - http://www.greenpartyus.org/ to unsubscribe click here mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org Green Party-CT > wrote: Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 10:07:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Green Party-CT > Subject: LTE: Lieberman run nothing like Nader's To: letters at courant.com Dear Editor, The commentary by corporate lobbyist Toby Moffitt "Lieberman Imitates Nader" misses the mark on so many points and is factually wrong. As one of the first people who ASKED Nader to run for President, after I founded the Green Party of Rhode Island, I can say thousands of Greens asked Nader to help run and address issues that were quite different than those of the two headed monster we Greens call "The Republi-crats". Thousands asking someone to run is quite different, than Lieberman's attempt to play the system by running after losing in a fair fight. Moffett incorrectly labels 2000 Nader's run as an "Independent" when he really was the Green Party nominee. This is an important point because we didn't work to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures to get Nader on as a "non party" candidate, Green ballot lines and candidates won across the country because Nader topped our ticket line. Moffett wrongly blames Nader's 97,000 Green Party votes in Florida as the single factor in the Bush 2000 win, and conveniently leaves out that several states were also swung by the Reform Party candidate to the Democrats and Lieberman's Democratic Leadership Council's own study said that many people would not have even voted if Nader and the Greens were not on the ballot in 2000. With almost 3 million votes in 2000, Nader's votes showed that the people want something different. Moffett shamefully boasts how he worked to keep Nader off the ballot in 2004. Did anyone here work to keep Lieberman off the ballot or out of any debates like Moffitt and his Democrats did to Nader and the Greens? We Greens believe Lieberman had a fair chance to run, debate and he spend over $4 million to get his message out, but he lost. Moffit's party spent millions in law suits to challenge and keep Nader off the ballot; we Greens will not file a lawsuit to keep Lieberman out of the race, despite his loss in the primary. Moffett's is also wrong in the claim that the Republican Party helped with Nader's Presidential runs. Like a bad internet rumor, this claim has been discredited over and over and the Federal Election Commission records show that clearly. Shame on the Courant for printing that nonsense. Moffett may believe in the fairy tale that we ONLY need two parties, but Ralph Nader had nothing to do with Joe Lieberman's self centered attempt to keep his job. Comparing Lieberman to Nader is foolish. Tim McKee Manchester, CT The writer is The National Committee person for the Green Party of CT and worked on Ralph Nader's Presidential Campaign ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim McKee cell (860) 778-1304 or (860) 643-2282 Cliff Thornton for Governor- Campaign Manager- National Committee Member of the Green Party(Connecticut) Paid for by Thornton For Governor ,Donna Byrne-McKee, treasurer- www.VoteThornton.com email: info at votethornton.com To be removed please mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org _______________________________________________ CTGP-news mailing list CTGP-news at ml.greens.org http://ml.greens.org/mailman/listinfo/ctgp-news ATTENTION! The information in this transmission is privileged and confidential and intended only for the recipient listed above. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email and delete the original message. The text of this email is similar to ordinary or face-to-face conversations and does not reflect the level of factual or legal inquiry or analysis which would be applied in the case of a formal legal opinion and does not constitute a representation of the opinions of the CT Green Party. The responsibility for any messages posted herein is solely that of the person who sent the message, and the CT Green Party hereby leaves this responsibility in the hands of it's members. NOTE: This is an inherently insecure forum, please do not post confidential messages and always realize that your address can be faked, and although a message may appear to be from a certain individual, it is always possible that it is fakemail. This is mail sent by a third party under an illegally assumed identity for purposes of coercion, misdirection, or general mischief. CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify the sender by e-mail at the address shown. This e-mail transmission may contain confidential information. This information is intended only for the use of the individual(s) or entity to whom it is intended even if addressed incorrectly. Please delete it from your files if you are not the intended recipient. Thank you for your compliance. To be removed please mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From apbrison at hotmail.com Sun Aug 20 22:48:23 2006 From: apbrison at hotmail.com (allan brison) Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 22:48:23 -0400 Subject: {news} Fwd: LTE: Lieberman run nothing like Nader's In-Reply-To: <20060820170825.98572.qmail@web81414.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From efficacy at msn.com Mon Aug 21 06:11:38 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 06:11:38 -0400 Subject: {news} US WA: Advocates for Legalizing Marijuana Tout the Benefits at Hempfest Message-ID: This group will tour the state in Sept. Oct. time frame. Norm is a great guy. Cliff Thornton for Governor PO Box 1971 Manchester, CT 06045 votethornton at yahoogroups.com www.votethornton.com 860 657 8438-H 860 268 1294-C 860 778 1304-Tim Mckee-Campaign Manager 860 293 0222-Ken Krayeske-field Manager Paid for by Thornton For Governor Donna L. Byrne-Mckee, Treasure ----- Original Message ----- From: Richard Lake To: aro at drugsense.org Sent: Monday, August 21, 2006 4:17 AM Subject: ARO: US WA: Advocates for Legalizing Marijuana Tout the Benefits at Hempfest Newshawk: Your Donation Will Be Doubled www.drugsense.org/donate.htm Pubdate: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) Copyright: 2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer Contact: editpage at seattlepi.com Website: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/408 Author: Mike Lewis, P-I Reporter Cited: Seattle Hempfest http://www.hempfest.org Cited: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition http://www.leap.cc Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Seattle+Hempfest Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?233 (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) ADVOCATES FOR LEGALIZING MARIJUANA TOUT THE BENEFITS AT HEMPFEST Former Seattle police Chief Norm Stamper doesn't have dreadlocks, a Zig-Zag T-shirt or a single Phish album. He just sounds like it. "It's laughable when people say we are winning the drug war," said Stamper, who had just finished a main-stage speech to the crowd gathered Sunday at the Seattle Hempfest in Myrtle Edwards Park. "The people who are prosecuting the drug war are invested psychically and financially. It's a holy war for them. "We should legalize all drugs." While the comments might be unusual for most law enforcement careerists, they are nothing new for Stamper, who was Seattle's top cop from 1994 to 2000. That is why organizers brought him in for the popular two-day, pro-pot festival. Organizers estimated 150,000 people flowed into the waterfront park, which for the weekend turned into a dense village of food booths, stages, arts-and-crafts sellers, hemp product manufacturers, leafleteers, hackysack circles and picnickers. Now in its 15th year, Hempfest is at its core all about decriminalizing marijuana. So is Stamper, especially after years of witnessing firsthand what he sees as the futility of the federal drug war. The drugs are winning, he said. It's time to change tactics. "Police should be focused on violent crime," he told the crowd. Stamper, a member of pro-legalization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, said many of his peers agree with him but will only say so privately. He told a story about a recent chat with a police chief in a "major American city" who had read Stamper's 2005 book, "Breaking Rank." In it, Stamper advocates legalizing and regulating drugs as a way to reduce collateral problems such as addiction, violence and property crime. "He came up to me after a talk and said he agreed with the chapter on drugs," Stamper said. "I asked, 'Can I quote you publicly?' "He said, 'What have you been smoking?' " Stamper saw similar reticence Sunday, as he preached to the choir in the sunny, 90-degree heat. Waiting for hand-dipped ice-cream bars in the festival's munchie midway, Seattleites Tony Witherspoon, 31, and Neil Toland, 28, said they don't see pot as a rip in society's fabric. "I wouldn't think a little weed is going to hurt anybody," Witherspoon said. Added Toland, "There needs to be a little space for (pot)." Creating that political space is what the festival is all about, chief organizer Dominic Holden said. Hempfest has matured over the decade and a half it's existed, he said. Initially, it went unnoticed by local police. Then, Holden recalled, it became tense and even adversarial between organizers and police in the late 1990s -- at a time when Stamper was chief. "For a while there, it seemed like it would go downhill," Holden said. "They were doing backstage raids looking for pot. They didn't find any." Since then, the political landscape has changed, Holden said. First, state voters approved medical marijuana. Subsequently, Seattle residents said they are not worried about pot as a law enforcement issue. Now, he said, the relationship is much more mellow. "We all want it to be a safe festival," Holden said. "The police have been great. Very collaborative. "This might be our biggest festival ever -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Mon Aug 21 12:18:55 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 09:18:55 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Fwd: Member of Black Caucus tells Black voters: Be very concerned about voting machines Message-ID: <20060821161855.85188.qmail@web81414.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Black Box Voting wrote: From: "Black Box Voting" To: Subject: Member of Black Caucus tells Black voters: Be very concerned about voting machines Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 08:59:03 -0700 This message is from Black Box Voting: http://www.blackboxvoting.org BET.com -- Rep. Cynthia McKinney: Voting Machines Cheat Blacks http://www.bet.com/News/mckinneyvotingmachines.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished&Referrer=%7B03CE5360-2620-42CB-AD7E-77E4249C5FB7%7D Cynthia McKinney, the fiery Georgia Democrat said last week that electronic voting machines deprive Black folks of their voting rights. Speaking during the national Dialogue and Revival for Social Justice in the Black Church, sponsored by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network, McKinney said that Black voters should oppose the machines, which she added are designed to steal elections. "You won't know who won as long as we have [them], with the problems that have been manifested by them, McKinney said. BLACK BOX VOTING, a national nonpartisan nonprofit elections watchdog group, concurs. SOLUTIONS and WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT are at the bottom of this article. In a series of five tests in elections offices with real voting equipment, Black Box Voting was able to manipulate elections results without leaving a trace. Black Box Voting brought in two computer security professionals for demonstrations. Usually, it took less than 60 seconds to take over the election. Successful hacks were demonstrated using a number of attack points. HACKED WITHOUT A TRACE - On Feb. 14, 2005 and again on May 2, 2005, Black Box Voting and expert Dr. Herbert Thompson demonstrated a takeover of the voting machine "mother ship" -- the central tabulator that adds up votes from all the precincts. This demonstration was conducted in the Leon County Florida elections office and was videotaped. - On May 26, 2005, Black Box Voting and Finnish expert Harri Hursti took control of election results by manipulating the electronic ballot box in a polling place optical scan machine. - On Dec. 13, 2005, Black Box Voting, with Finnish expert Harri Hursti, blew apart a mock election demonstrating total control of all parts of the system and all audit reports. The hacker never entered the room and the elections supervisor was two feet from the voting system that was hacked. It happened without a trace. - In March 2006, Black Box Voting and experts Harri Hursti and a company called Security Innovation did a biopsy on a Diebold touch-screen in Emery County Utah, and discovered "back doors" -- openings to insert malicious election-tampering -- in all three levels of the system, the boot loader, the operating system and the voting program. (The boot loader can control the operating system, the operating system can control the voting program. When you turn on a computer, it whirs and thinks (BOOT LOADER) and then goes into Windows (OPERATING SYSTEM) and then you open your program (i.e. Microsoft Word). What Black Box Voting's experts found was that a back door had been constructed by Diebold Election Systems in each level, and that if one was to find one back door and close it off with new security measures, it could be re-opened from one of the other back doors. The New York Times reported these findings as "the nuclear bomb" of electronic voting. ZOGBY POLL SHOWS IT'S NEARLY UNANIMOUS: VOTERS INSIST ON RIGHT TO OBSERVE VOTE COUNTING >From Scoop News, by Michael Collins, Aug 21 2006: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0608/S00220.htm According to a recent Zogby Poll: - At a stunning rate of 92%, Americans insist on the right to watch their votes being counted. - And, at an overwhelming 80%, they strongly object to the use of secret computer software to tabulate votes without citizen access to that software. Viewing vote counting has become a process of watching computers, somewhat akin to watching the radio, but without sound. A Zogby Poll was commissioned and sponsored by election rights and business law attorney Paul Lehto of Everett. Washington. It consisted of 1018 interviews over a five day period beginning August 11, 2006. Details: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0608/S00220.htm ********** NEAR UNIVERSAL DEMAND TO SEE THE VOTES COUNTED Most all likely voters (92%) agree that citizens have the right to view and obtain information about how election officials? count votes Just 6% feel citizens do not have this right. Four fifths of respondents within every demographic group selected the right for citizen review and access, Statement A. This includes overwhelming majorities of both Kerry (92.8%) and Bush supporters (90.8%); independents (96.9%); Catholics (92.8%), Protestants (90.8%), Jews (87.2%), and those with no religious affiliation (93.3%). ********** THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO KNOW AND THEIR RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT THEY DON'T KNOW What will people think and do when they find out that these rights are (a) not granted universally either in law or by custom and (b) that even if they are granted, they are virtually unobtainable due to the nature of computerized voting. Invisible ballots cannot be observed by voters. Computer software calculations cannot be observed by voters. Inquiring about and receiving information on these invisible processes requires an act of faith of epic proportions. Voters are expected to believe summary data and tables from election officials who routinely deny and/or discourage access to vote counting and who sign contracts with private vendors like Diebold, Sequoia, and ES&S, that surrender the right of officials or the public to inspect the most important software in the voting machines, the source code. Lou Dobbs? coverage includes online polls that consistently show 80% and greater preference for a complete dismissal of voting machines and a return to paper ballots. * * * * * YOUR HELP IS NEEDED TO TAKE BACK U.S. ELECTIONS: - The public has the right to observe the entire election process. - The public has a right to get information on how that process works in order to satisfy the requirement for free and fair elections. SOLUTIONS FROM BLACK BOX VOTING, the nonprofit, nonpartisan elections watchdog group that proved once and for all that all electronic voting systems can be hacked, are prone to error, and through Freedom of Information and public records requests proved that citizens have lost the right to authenticate elections at all: Black Box Voting ( http://www.blackboxvoting.org ) has prepared a "Tool Kit" to help citizens learn the skills to take back their elections. It is available as a free download (Adobe Acrobat, version 7 or later recommended): http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit.pdf This fall, hundreds of thousands of citizens are about to discover for themselves that they do not have the right to authenticate their own elections. This discovery will propel change. If you have any concerns at all -- weird results, etc., you can obtain one-on-one help from Black Box Voting -- e-mail crew at blackboxvoting.org. * * * * * HOW YOU CAN BECOME PART OF SOLUTIONS: Take the following simple actions: 1) Sign up for the NATIONAL HAND COUNT REGISTRY: http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-profile.cgi?action=register 2) The Citizen's Tool Kit is the citizen's Declaration of Independence. http://www.blackboxvoting.org -- It contains 20 modules, each only a few pages long. - Pick any module - Choose any action from the module - See it through to its completion - You have just participated in the launch of a remarkable evolution to put our republic back in the hands of the taxpayers. * * * * * Black Box Voting is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501c(3) elections watchdog group supported entirely by citizen donations. We refuse funds from any vendor or vested interest. http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html Black Box Voting 330 SW 43rd St Suite K PMB 547 Renton WA 98055 * * * * * If you wish to be removed from any further updates, hit "reply" and type the word "remove" in the subject line. Please plan to participate this fall to restore control of elections to the citizenry. Thank you for your stewardship of our republic. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim McKee cell (860) 778-1304 or (860) 643-2282 Cliff Thornton for Governor- Campaign Manager- National Committee Member of the Green Party(Connecticut) Paid for by Thornton For Governor ,Donna Byrne-McKee, treasurer- www.VoteThornton.com email: info at votethornton.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Mon Aug 21 12:30:28 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 09:30:28 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} (NEWS RELEASE) STATE CERTIFIES HISTORIC GREEN PARTY SLATE OF CANDIDATES Message-ID: <20060821163028.45910.qmail@web81415.mail.mud.yahoo.com> THORNTON FOR GOVERNOR PO Box 1971, Manchester, CT 06045 www.votethornton.com PRESS RELEASE- August 21, 2006- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Cliff Thornton, Green Party Candidate for Governor (860) 657-8438 or (860) 268-1294-Campaign cell Tim McKee (860) 778-1304-Campaign Manager STATE CERTIFIES HISTORIC GREEN PARTY SLATE OF CANDIDATES For the first time in Connecticut history, an African-American will be on the ballot for the office of governor. Hartford, CT -State officials today told Green Party officials that they had reached the requisite 7,500 certified signatures to place their slate of candidates on the ballot for November 7, the Green Party announced. Cliff Thornton, a 61-year-old retired black businessman, leads the slate of candidates for constitutional office which includes Nancy Burton for Attorney General and Mike DeRosa for Secretary of the State and Ralph Ferucci for U.S. Senate. "This is a historic day that adds to Connecticut's rich political legacy," Thornton said. Thornton, who is the Green Party's first candidate for Governor, collected signatures himself. "More than 75 Green volunteers braved the heat, voter apathy and rejection on summer days to collect almost 13,000 signatures to guarantee the voters more choices and voices on the ballot in November," Thornton said. Pearl Williams in the Connecticut Secretary of the State's office indicated to Green Party officials that she had counted 7,505 certified signatures, and that her office received more certified petitions with more signatures daily. As the first African-American to make the ballot for the Governor's race, Thornton guaranteed that the Green Party candidates will address issues that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats will dare tackle, like race, poverty, class and the violent, failed drug war in Connecticut. "The Republicans and Democrats advocate failed policies, and are too cowardly to admit they have been wrong for decades," Thornton said. "The Drug War is just one example of bad bipartisan government. We can look at education, the environment, transportation and any number of other issues and see the pattern where the two parties lavish money on special interests while the people suffer." By clearing this petitioning hurdle for ballot access, which the other two parties do not have to do, the Green Party demonstrates that it deserves equal electoral consideration, Thornton said. "Our next step is to gain access to the gubernatorial debates and the polls which currently exclude minor parties," Thornton said. "The Green Party will lead Connecticut's effort to democratize the electoral process." -30- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Mon Aug 21 19:49:56 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 16:49:56 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Green Party of Washington State Resolution Regarding the transgendered Controversy with NWC Message-ID: <20060821234956.81336.qmail@web81409.mail.mud.yahoo.com> This is an ongoing controversy on the National Green level. A transgendered woman ( a man who became a woman) wanted to join the Women's Caucus and has been delayed almost two years from joining. Tim McKee Subject: [usgp-coo] Green Party of Washington State Resolution Regarding the Controversy with NWC This resolution was just passed by the State Coordinating Council of the Green Party of Washington State. I fully endorse this resolution as a delegate of my state party to the GNC: --------------------- Resolution from the Green Party of Washington State Coordinating Council to the National Women?s Caucus of the Green Party of the United States calling on the NWC to admit transgendered women Whereas the Green Party has endeavored to be a party that welcomes the underserved and underrepresented; And whereas, the Green Party has become the party that welcomes the participation of Arab and Moslem Americans, as first-class citizens and party members, by being the party that stands up to acts of aggression in the Middle East; And whereas, the Green Party has become the party that welcomes the participation of lesbian, bisexual, and gay Americans, as first-class citizens and party members, through the creation and accreditation of the Lavender Caucus, and support for the rights of lesbian, bisexual, and gay persons; And whereas, the Green Party can become the party that welcomes transgendered Americans, as first-class citizens and party members, by accepting them for who they are, and treating them with dignity and respect within the party; Therefore be it resolved, that the Coordinating Council of the Green Party of Washington State hereby calls upon the National Women?s Caucus of the Green Party of the United States to immediately start accepting all transgendered women in the party as equal members of the National Women?s Caucus; Be it further resolved, that the CC of GPoWS calls upon the NWC to immediately accept the membership application of Stephanie Loveless, who was properly vetted for membership in the NWC by the Green Party of Michigan 21 months ago; And be it further resolved that the GPoWS CC suggests, in the spirit of camaraderie, to the NWC, that the NWC consider changing its name to the ?National Caucus for All Green Women,? thus demonstrating to the world that the Green Party is serious about being a welcoming space for transgendered persons. Jody Haug, Chair Janet Jordan, Secretary Maryrose Asher, Deputy Treasurer Brent White, Vice Chair Trey Smith, Treasurer --------------- Mike Gillis Green Party of Washington State _________________________________________________________________ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar ? get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Natlcomvotes mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomvotes at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomvotes If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html For other information about the Coordinating Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim McKee cell (860) 778-1304 or (860) 643-2282 Cliff Thornton for Governor- Campaign Manager- National Committee Member of the Green Party(Connecticut) Paid for by Thornton For Governor ,Donna Byrne-McKee, treasurer- www.VoteThornton.com email: info at votethornton.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Mon Aug 21 19:50:05 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 16:50:05 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Green Party of Washington State Resolution Regarding the transgendered Controversy with NWC Message-ID: <20060821235005.69052.qmail@web81414.mail.mud.yahoo.com> This is an ongoing controversy on the National Green level. A transgendered woman ( a man who became a woman) wanted to join the Women's Caucus and has been delayed almost two years from joining. Tim McKee Subject: [usgp-coo] Green Party of Washington State Resolution Regarding the Controversy with NWC This resolution was just passed by the State Coordinating Council of the Green Party of Washington State. I fully endorse this resolution as a delegate of my state party to the GNC: --------------------- Resolution from the Green Party of Washington State Coordinating Council to the National Women?s Caucus of the Green Party of the United States calling on the NWC to admit transgendered women Whereas the Green Party has endeavored to be a party that welcomes the underserved and underrepresented; And whereas, the Green Party has become the party that welcomes the participation of Arab and Moslem Americans, as first-class citizens and party members, by being the party that stands up to acts of aggression in the Middle East; And whereas, the Green Party has become the party that welcomes the participation of lesbian, bisexual, and gay Americans, as first-class citizens and party members, through the creation and accreditation of the Lavender Caucus, and support for the rights of lesbian, bisexual, and gay persons; And whereas, the Green Party can become the party that welcomes transgendered Americans, as first-class citizens and party members, by accepting them for who they are, and treating them with dignity and respect within the party; Therefore be it resolved, that the Coordinating Council of the Green Party of Washington State hereby calls upon the National Women?s Caucus of the Green Party of the United States to immediately start accepting all transgendered women in the party as equal members of the National Women?s Caucus; Be it further resolved, that the CC of GPoWS calls upon the NWC to immediately accept the membership application of Stephanie Loveless, who was properly vetted for membership in the NWC by the Green Party of Michigan 21 months ago; And be it further resolved that the GPoWS CC suggests, in the spirit of camaraderie, to the NWC, that the NWC consider changing its name to the ?National Caucus for All Green Women,? thus demonstrating to the world that the Green Party is serious about being a welcoming space for transgendered persons. Jody Haug, Chair Janet Jordan, Secretary Maryrose Asher, Deputy Treasurer Brent White, Vice Chair Trey Smith, Treasurer --------------- Mike Gillis Green Party of Washington State _________________________________________________________________ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar ? get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Natlcomvotes mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomvotes at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomvotes If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html For other information about the Coordinating Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim McKee cell (860) 778-1304 or (860) 643-2282 Cliff Thornton for Governor- Campaign Manager- National Committee Member of the Green Party(Connecticut) Paid for by Thornton For Governor ,Donna Byrne-McKee, treasurer- www.VoteThornton.com email: info at votethornton.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From roseberry3 at cox.net Tue Aug 22 21:35:46 2006 From: roseberry3 at cox.net (B Barry) Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 21:35:46 -0400 Subject: FW: {news} preliminary agenda for 8-29-06 SCC meeting **** Starts at 6PM Message-ID: <20060823013552.MNUT22014.centrmmtao02.cox.net@eastrmimpo01.cox.net> Agenda for 8-29-06 SCC Meeting Place: Portland Public Library, 20 Freestone Avenue, Portland, CT Phone: 860-342-6770 ******** Time: 6PM to 7:45PM Facilitator: To Be Determined A. Preliminaries: 1. (1 minute): Introductions of attendees and chapters. Recruit timekeeper. 2. (1 minute): Identify attendees who are NOT voting representatives. 3. (1 minute): Adopt ground rules. 4. (3 minutes): Approval of tonight's proposed agenda, additions and deletions. 5. (3 minutes): Comments and approval of 7-25-06 SCC minutes. 6. (3 minutes): 8-12-06 EC meetings presentation and approval. 7. (3 minutes): Treasurer's report by Christopher Reilly . . Reports: 1. (10 minutes): Discussion about the petition drives for all CTGP candidates 2. (15 minutes): Discussion of CTGP candidate events and fundraisers and merchandise. 3. (10 minutes): Discussion about stand-in candidates. 4. (5 minutes): Discussion about donations from CTGP PAC to candidates. 5. (10 minutes): Criteria for candidate debates/office. 6. (2 minutes, each for): Chapter reports. 7. (5 minutes): U.S. Green Party report by CTGP representatives: Tim McKee and Charlie Pillsbury. 8. (5 minutes): Budget Committee suggestions 9. (2 minutes): V.O.T.E.R. update. 10.(5 minutes): Articles for and deadline for "CT Green Times" newspaper. 11.(5 minutes): 7-06 GPUS Tuscon, AZ convention 12. (2 minutes): Status of CTGP website. 13. Any proposals. PROPOSAL 1: PRESENTER (committee, chapter(s) or group of individuals): David Bedell, Charlie Pillsbury, Allan Brison, Barbara Barry DeRosa and Michael DeRosa. CONTACT: David Bedell, 12 Ardsley Rd, Stamford, CT 06906, 203-581-3193, dbedellgreen(at)hotmail.com SUBJECT: Independent audit of Green Party financial records BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE (100 words or less; include relationship, reasons and/or justification to the State Central Committee): The CT Green Party has had a number of Treasurers during its history but has not standardized its bookkeeping system. There is a need for a single paper- or computer-based ledger system and better documentation of expenditures. An independent audit is needed to review our records from the past several years and to recommend bookkeeping procedures going forward that will serve the Green Party well in the future. PROPOSAL: The CT Green Party shall appoint an ad hoc committee to obtain quotes from three professional accountants for an independent audit of the party's books. The committee shall then make a recommendation to the SCC regarding the hiring of an auditor. In order to avoid any perception of bias, it is our recommendation that the current and former party Treasurers not serve on the committee selecting an auditor. www.mapquest.com . -- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: ATT00188.txt URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Tue Aug 22 21:45:15 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 18:45:15 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Howard Zinn at UConn Message-ID: <20060823014515.70643.qmail@web81407.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Sept 26 ? Howard Zinn - You Can't be Neutral on a Moving Train: Equality in America 4:00 PM SU Ballroom Howard Zinn is a legendary voice for social justice and equality in America. As a teacher, writer, and activist he has been a central figure in the most important social and political movements of recent history. His presentations speak to the future, not to the past, showing in vivid detail how small actions affect great change and how every person has the ability and the obligation to make a difference. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Tue Aug 22 21:56:46 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 18:56:46 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Sec of State to hold news conference to announce ballot access Message-ID: <20060823015646.51352.qmail@web81401.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Wednesday at 11 am a Press conference will be held on Room 104 by the Sec pf State to announce which candidates have made the ballot. They did invite the GP to attend and speak after to reports and Cliff Thornton will attend speak to reporters. Other state wide candidates should try to attend if you can. Other Greens can attned outside the Press confernce for general support. Other news media and alternative media should notified and should attend, If you know of any invite them! Watch for coverage on evening news! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim McKee cell (860) 778-1304 or (860) 643-2282 Cliff Thornton for Governor- Campaign Manager- National Committee Member of the Green Party(Connecticut) Paid for by Thornton For Governor ,Donna Byrne-McKee, treasurer- www.VoteThornton.com email: info at votethornton.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From chapillsbury at igc.org Tue Aug 22 22:14:52 2006 From: chapillsbury at igc.org (Charlie Pillsbury) Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 22:14:52 -0400 Subject: {news} State reports for Fall edition of Green Pages due by Aug. 31 References: <20060823013552.MNUT22014.centrmmtao02.cox.net@eastrmimpo01.cox.net> Message-ID: <004f01c6c659$ebbfea90$6500a8c0@S0031616584> State and committee reports for the Fall edition of Green Pages are due by Aug. 31. They can be sent directly to mccorq at comcast.net, Delegates, please pass this information to your respective states and committees. David McCorquodale Co-chair, Green Pages ----- Original Message ----- From: B Barry To: ctgp-news at ml.greens.org Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2006 9:35 PM Subject: FW: {news} preliminary agenda for 8-29-06 SCC meeting **** Starts at6PM Connecticut Green Party - Part of the GPUS http://www.ctgreens.org/ - http://www.greenpartyus.org/ to unsubscribe click here mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Agenda for 8-29-06 SCC Meeting Place: Portland Public Library, 20 Freestone Avenue, Portland, CT Phone: 860-342-6770 ******** Time: 6PM to 7:45PM Facilitator: To Be Determined 1.. Preliminaries: 1. (1 minute): Introductions of attendees and chapters. Recruit timekeeper. 2. (1 minute): Identify attendees who are NOT voting representatives. 3. (1 minute): Adopt ground rules. 4. (3 minutes): Approval of tonight's proposed agenda, additions and deletions. 5. (3 minutes): Comments and approval of 7-25-06 SCC minutes. 6. (3 minutes): 8-12-06 EC meetings presentation and approval. 7. (3 minutes): Treasurer's report by Christopher Reilly . . Reports: 1.. (10 minutes): Discussion about the petition drives for all CTGP candidates 2.. (15 minutes): Discussion of CTGP candidate events and fundraisers and merchandise. 3.. (10 minutes): Discussion about stand-in candidates. 4.. (5 minutes): Discussion about donations from CTGP PAC to candidates. 5.. (10 minutes): Criteria for candidate debates/office. 6.. (2 minutes, each for): Chapter reports. 7.. (5 minutes): U.S. Green Party report by CTGP representatives: Tim McKee and Charlie Pillsbury. 8.. (5 minutes): Budget Committee suggestions 9.. (2 minutes): V.O.T.E.R. update. 10.(5 minutes): Articles for and deadline for "CT Green Times" newspaper. 11.(5 minutes): 7-06 GPUS Tuscon, AZ convention 12.. (2 minutes): Status of CTGP website. 13.. Any proposals. PROPOSAL 1: PRESENTER (committee, chapter(s) or group of individuals): David Bedell, Charlie Pillsbury, Allan Brison, Barbara Barry DeRosa and Michael DeRosa. CONTACT: David Bedell, 12 Ardsley Rd, Stamford, CT 06906, 203-581-3193, dbedellgreen(at)hotmail.com SUBJECT: Independent audit of Green Party financial records BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE (100 words or less; include relationship, reasons and/or justification to the State Central Committee): The CT Green Party has had a number of Treasurers during its history but has not standardized its bookkeeping system. There is a need for a single paper- or computer-based ledger system and better documentation of expenditures. An independent audit is needed to review our records from the past several years and to recommend bookkeeping procedures going forward that will serve the Green Party well in the future. PROPOSAL: The CT Green Party shall appoint an ad hoc committee to obtain quotes from three professional accountants for an independent audit of the party's books. The committee shall then make a recommendation to the SCC regarding the hiring of an auditor. In order to avoid any perception of bias, it is our recommendation that the current and former party Treasurers not serve on the committee selecting an auditor. www.mapquest.com . -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To be removed please mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org _______________________________________________ CTGP-news mailing list CTGP-news at ml.greens.org http://ml.greens.org/mailman/listinfo/ctgp-news ATTENTION! The information in this transmission is privileged and confidential and intended only for the recipient listed above. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email and delete the original message. The text of this email is similar to ordinary or face-to-face conversations and does not reflect the level of factual or legal inquiry or analysis which would be applied in the case of a formal legal opinion and does not constitute a representation of the opinions of the CT Green Party. The responsibility for any messages posted herein is solely that of the person who sent the message, and the CT Green Party hereby leaves this responsibility in the hands of it's members. NOTE: This is an inherently insecure forum, please do not post confidential messages and always realize that your address can be faked, and although a message may appear to be from a certain individual, it is always possible that it is fakemail. This is mail sent by a third party under an illegally assumed identity for purposes of coercion, misdirection, or general mischief. CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify the sender by e-mail at the address shown. This e-mail transmission may contain confidential information. This information is intended only for the use of the individual(s) or entity to whom it is intended even if addressed incorrectly. Please delete it from your files if you are not the intended recipient. Thank you for your compliance. To be removed please mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at sbcglobal.net Wed Aug 23 07:10:19 2006 From: greenpartyct at sbcglobal.net (Green Party-CT) Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 04:10:19 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} NY GREENS file petitions Message-ID: <20060823111019.13045.qmail@web81405.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Green party candidates file petitions to get on November ballot By MARK JOHNSON Associated Press Writer August 22, 2006, 3:19 PM EDT ALBANY, N.Y. -- Five Green Party candidates running for statewide office filed signature petitions with election officials to get on the November ballot, even as the party's gubernatorial candidate acknowledged Tuesday he has no chance at victory. "There's no chance of winning, but we will be victorious because we'll tell the truth," said Malachy McCourt, an actor, author, and broadcast personality. "We're not bound by corporate corruption because we don't take money from the corporations." McCourt is the white-haired brother and sometimes collaborator of "Angela's Ashes" author Frank McCourt. Malachy McCourt will face Republican John Faso and one of two Democrats, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer or Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, in the November election. Recent polls show Spitzer with wide leads over all of them. "They've all been bought, they've all been purchased for various prices. All the other people, the Republicans and the Democrats," said McCourt, who turns 75 next month. Democratic Party spokesman Blake Zeff declined to comment and a spokesman for the state Republicans did not immediately return calls for comment. Besides the governor's race, the Green Party is running candidates for U.S. Senate, state attorney general, comptroller, lieutenant governor and for one seat in the U.S. House. The party delivered petitions with about 30,000 signatures supporting its slate to the state Board of Elections. "When you think of coming from a slum in Limerick, Ireland and then all of the sudden you're in Albany, New York, filing to be governor of the state, you say there's some sort of humor coming on high here. And I will indulge fully in all of that," said McCourt. If McCourt receives 50,000 votes for governor, the Green Party will not have to file petitions to get on the ballot next time. McCourt said there was "no doubt" he would get that many votes. "There is such lack of faith in the Republican, we may be runners up," he said. The party's Senate candidate, Howie Hawkins of Syracuse, is challenging Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton over her support for the war in Iraq. Hawkins, a UPS worker and former Marine, is calling for the immediate return of U.S. troops from the Middle East and for the impeachment of President Bush. Rachel Treichler is running for attorney general. A lawyer in New York since 1982, she worked for two New York City law firms, then set up her own practice in 1989. Treichler now lives on an organic farm in Hammondsport. Julia Willebrand, a former school teacher and environmental activist living in New York City, is the party's candidate for comptroller. Alison Duncan, a pre-med student at City College of New York and audiovisual technician in the Crowne Plaza Manhattan hotel, is the party's lieutenant governor candidate. Jim Brown, a Long Beach librarian, is running for the Green Party against Republican Congressman Peter King in the 3rd Congressional District covering parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties. King is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. _____ On the Net: New York Green Party: www.gpnys.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim McKee cell (860) 778-1304 or (860) 643-2282 Cliff Thornton for Governor- Campaign Manager- National Committee Member of the Green Party(Connecticut) Paid for by Thornton For Governor ,Donna Byrne-McKee, treasurer- www.VoteThornton.com email: info at votethornton.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Wed Aug 23 19:42:20 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:42:20 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} THEY STILL GET IT WRONG- Ap Courant website misses the point of news conference! Message-ID: <20060823234220.33380.qmail@web81410.mail.mud.yahoo.com> At a press confernece to announce that third party candidates, Ralph Ferrucci made it on the ballot, the ap said there was only 3!! Talk about a misleading article! Tim McKee State Confirms Lieberman's Petitions To Appear On November Ballot ADVERTISERS --------------------------------- Advertise on ctnow -->Associated Press August 23 2006, 11:35 AM EDT HARTFORD, Conn. -- U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman has gathered more than the 7,500 signatures needed to secure a spot on the November ballot with a new party, the secretary of the state said Wednesday. The certification means that Lieberman, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000 and a presidential candidate in 2004, will run for re-election as part of the Connecticut for Lieberman party against Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican Alan Schlesinger. Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said her office validated 8,215 signatures before employees stopped counting. The campaign collected more than 18,500 signatures, but Bysiewicz's office did not validate them all because they were not needed. "We are happy to have cleared this hurdle, so we can focus on bringing people together in Connecticut for a new politics of unity and purpose," said Dan Gerstein, Lieberman's campaign spokesman. Lieberman lost the Aug. 8 primary to Lamont, a Greenwich businessman who criticized Lieberman for supporting the Iraq war and for being too close to Republicans and President Bush. Lamont's 10,000-vote victory was seen as a referendum on an unpopular war and political pundits say it could have national implications. The day after the primary, Lieberman submitted petitions to create his own political party and appear on the ballot. All of the signatures had to be verified with clerks in the cities and towns where they were gathered. "Connecticut's rules are different than most states," said Tom Swan, Lamont's campaign manager. "Joe can and has asked for a do-over. We're confident that our message of change will trump his stay-the-course message in November." Creating a new party allows Lieberman to secure a position higher on the ballot than running as an independent, but he says he would still vote with Democrats if re-elected. An American Research Group poll Tuesday showed Lieberman and Lamont about even among likely voters, with Lieberman receiving 44 percent of the vote, Lamont 42 percent and Schlesinger 3 percent. Last week's Quinnipiac University poll showed Lieberman leading Lamont by 12 percentage points among likely voters. Copyright 2006 Associated Press --------------------------------- =0)document.write(unescape('%3C')+'\!-'+'-') //--> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From efficacy at msn.com Thu Aug 24 15:48:40 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:48:40 -0400 Subject: {news} Fw: Designing an Exit Strategy for the war on drugs Message-ID: NEAL PEIRCE COLUMN For Release Sunday, August 27, 2006 ? 2006 Washington Post Writers Group DESIGNING AN 'EXIT STRATEGY' FOR THE WAR ON DRUGS By Neal Peirce SEATTLE -- Is it time to forge an "exit strategy" for the our prolonged "war on drugs"? That question -- normally considered a "no-no" in legal circles, especially among prosecutors and police -- has been raised by the prestigious King County (Wash.) Bar Association since 2000. And the results have been impressive. King County is sending minor street drug users and sellers through drug courts instead of incarcerating them; its average daily jail count is down from 2,800 to 2,000. The Washington Legislature was persuaded to cut back drastically on mandatory drug possession sentences, apportioning funds to adult and juvenile drug courts and family "dependency courts." Tens of millions of dollars have been saved. "This project isn't for fringy pony-tailed pot smokers," insists Roger Goodman, director of the bar association's drug policy project. "We did it for the courts. We can't get civil cases heard for three years. And the drug cases are mostly so petty." The uncomfortable truth is that despite decades of aggressive government crackdowns, U.S. drug use and drug-related crime are as high as ever. Made profitable by prohibition, violent criminal enterprises they purvey drugs are flourishing. Harsh criminal sanctions, even for minor drug possession, have packed jails and prisons. Public coffers have been drained of funds for critical preventive social services, Internationally, we're discovering that the U.S.'s heavy-handed campaign of illegal drug eradication in countries like Colombia is about as successful as we've found our parallel military adventure into Iraq. Despite the stunning $4.7 billion we've spent since 2000 on planes fumigating Colombia's coca crop, farmers there are producing just as much cocaine as before our aerial assault. Back home, "street" prices for cocaine have dropped and purity remains high. Prohibition has failed equally to stamp out markets and quality, or increase street prices for heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana. The drug war kicked off by President Nixon in the '70s, and copied by state and local governments nationally, costs $40 billion or more a year. It is a massive, embarrassing, destructive failure. But politicians are normally afraid to question the system for fear of being called illegal drug apologists. So how did the King County Bar get the ball rolling? "It's the messenger, not the message" -- the credibility of the bar association, says Goodman. The King County Bar in fact assembled a nationally unprecedented coalition of supporters, ranging from the Washington State Bar Association to the King County and Washington State Medical Associations, the Church Council of Greater Seattle and the League of Women Voters of Seattle and Washington. And the first-stated goals weren't scuttling drug laws. Instead, the bar association announced its platform as (1) reductions in crime and disorder -- "to undercut the violent, illegal markets that spawn disease, crime, corruption, mayhem and death," (2) improving public health by stemming spread of blood-borne diseases, (3) better protection of children from the harm of drugs, and (4) wiser use of scarce public resources. Now the bar association and its allies are asking the Washington Legislature to establish a commission of experts to design how the state can switch from punitive approaches to a focus on treatment, shutting down the criminal gangs that now control the drug trade. As controversial as it sounds, programs for victims (most likely adults) of such dangerously addictive drugs as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine may be easiest to fashion. Rather than leaving them to the streets and black market exploitation, there may -- as some European models suggest -- be ways to register addicts, provide controlled amounts of drugs in medical settings, and try to guide them into treatment. For marijuana, control by cartels that now provide huge quantities might be broken by state licensing of home production (like brewing) and non-commercial exchanges. Or a state distribution system like state liquor stores, demonstrably effective in denying sales to youth, could be established. The toughest issues may surround protection of children. Today, it's noted, they get contradictory messages-- "Take a pill to feel better," and "Just say no, except when you're 21 and then you can drink." Youth see commercial advertising pushing a wide variety of mind-altering, pleasure-inducing substances, even while society leaves control of so-called "illicit" drugs to criminal gangs. Plus, kids /do/ like to experiment. A realistic program could start with respecting young people, providing them honest information, on uses of -- and the demonstrable dangers -- of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Goodman notes that in the 13 states where medical use of marijuana is authorized, teen use is down. "It's not as cool when grandma uses marijuana for cancer pain," he says. There's surely no risk-free "exit" from today's terribly destructive drug war. But we /have/ to try -- and we should thank communities and states with the courage to lead. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Attachment: http://drugsense.org/temp/part2349.html Thornton for Governor PO Box 1971 Manchester, CT 06045 votethornton at yahoogroups.com www.votethornton.com 860 657 8438-H 860 268 1294-C 860 778 1304-Tim Mckee-Campaign Manager 860 293 0222-Ken Krayeske-field Manager Paid for by Thornton For Governor Donna L. Byrne-Mckee, Treasure -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From efficacy at msn.com Thu Aug 24 20:07:44 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 20:07:44 -0400 Subject: {news} Lieberman is a Phony Message-ID: INDEPENDENT THOUGHTS: Lieberman is a Phony Independent By Jim Mangia Posted by: Jim Mangia on 08/24/2006 at 12:00 PM In California, if a candidate who lost a party primary wanted to run as an independent, the law would prevent it. California is one of a few states with "sore loser" laws that prevent candidates from bolting from their parties and running as independents in the general election. So here in the "political reform" state of California, Senator Joe Lieberman, would not be allowed to run as an independent in an attempt to keep his Senate seat, since he lost a close Democratic primary to anti-war candidate Ned Lamont. But in Connecticut, candidates do have the right to run independent after losing a party primary. And moreover, Connecticut has "open" primaries, which allow the state's independent voters to vote in Democratic and Republican party primaries. (California voters overwhelmingly enacted the "open primary" initiative in 1996 but it was overturned by the Courts at the behest of the Democratic and Republican parties in 1998). Interestingly enough, more than 2/3s of the independents who voted in Connecticut's Democratic primary last Tuesday, supported anti-war candidate Ned Lamont, not Joe Lieberman. Most of Lieberman's support in fact, is coming from Connecticut Republicans not Democrats and Independents. The fact is: Lieberman is not independent of anything. He has been a staunch "regular" Democrat throughout his non-illustrious political career. He never had an independent thought in his body. Lieberman's new-found affinity for the Independent line is all about attempting to save his political career and is a direct slap in the face to independents across America. Independents after all, are attempting to build a movement that puts the interests of the American people first, and the blind ambition of career politicians at the back of the line (where it belongs)! But an interesting fact that has been missed by the media coverage of the historic defeat of an incumbent Senator in his own party's primary, is the fact that the overwhelming majority of independents who voted in the Democratic primary, cast a resounding vote against the war in Iraq (which was the cornerstone of Ned Lamont's insurgent campaign). Since independents are increasingly deciding the elections in race after race across America and will have a strong voice in the 2008 presidential elections, the anti-war position of Connecticut's independent voters may not bode well for other pro-war Democrats like Hilary Clinton. Many of the state presidential party primaries are "open" and allow independent's to vote in party contests. While I'm not a gambling man, I would place my bets on independent voters casting their presidential ballots in favor of insurgents and anti-war candidates in the party primaries, much like they did in Connecticut. I wonder what the pro-war "regulars" in both parties think about that? Jim Mangia is the Co-Chair of IndependentVoice.org and the former National Secretary of the Reform Party. Every week he writes a column on Independents and Politics called "Independent Thoughts" which appears on www.independentvoice.org. Thornton for Governor PO Box 1971 Manchester, CT 06045 votethornton at yahoogroups.com www.votethornton.com 860 657 8438-H 860 268 1294-C 860 778 1304-Tim Mckee-Campaign Manager 860 293 0222-Ken Krayeske-field Manager Paid for by Thornton For Governor Donna L. Byrne-Mckee, Treasure -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Thu Aug 24 23:23:10 2006 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 03:23:10 +0000 Subject: {news} Cliff and Margaret in Hartford Courant In-Reply-To: <1156455707.831ccc94c3601039.739c79ff@persist.google.com> Message-ID: courant.com http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-susan0827.artaug27,0,3599039.column It's Not Always Easy Being Green Party Candidate Susan Campbell August 27 2006 Margaret Thornton is wearing tiny peace-sign earrings and well-worn Birkenstocks, but it's not what you think. She's staying with a daughter who's a wildlife rehabilitator, and if she's pitching in to care for the wounded birds and animals, that's not what you think, either. She is simply being helpful. Besides, says Margaret Thornton, laughing, "I'm too old to be a hippie." You have to say that up front when your husband is the Green Party candidate for governor and people's notions about that party are so askew - and entrenched. (For some perspective, read the commentary outside of Connecticut about the state's Democratic Party. Did you know that since the Democratic primary, George McGovern's people have come back from the grave and are ready to party? That's not true, of course. Senatorial candidate Ned Lamont is no more a lefty than I am the Queen of May, but there you are: The chattering class has spoken.) Clifford Thornton is the Greens' first gubernatorial candidate, and he is not strictly a hippie, either. He is a former phone company executive and a product of Hartford's North End whose mother died of a heroin overdose when he was a senior at Hartford High. Thornton is a former Breck girl, the daughter of a West Hartford lawyer. She grew up playing piano and bridge. They've been married 19 years and have five daughters - parents themselves, students going for their masters' degrees, teachers and a police officer - between them. This is the second marriage for both. She and her husband co-founded Efficacy, an organization that works to reform the country's drug policies. The Thorntons say the war on drugs is actually a war on people - mostly the disenfranchised- and that what keeps it going despite its manifest failure is that it profits people in power. Efficacy grew out of a radio show the Thorntons started 10 years ago on WWUH-FM (91.3). The show was a public-affairs program, but the conversation kept circling back to the country's misbegotten handling of illegal drugs. The death of Clifford Thornton's mother helped shape his opinion. Margaret came to her own as she did research for the show. "When you make drugs illegal, the drugs are controlled by criminals," she says. "They will never go away." But that is not the candidate's only issue. Clifford Thornton also talks about jobs - the need for more, and the need for a living wage. He says a state lottery should pay for college educations. Politics was not in their plans, but "I feel people should do what they have a passion for," Margaret Thornton says. She acknowledges that at this point if your name isn't M. Jodi Rell, a Connecticut gubernatorial campaign looks quixotic. Rell's approval rating is overwhelmingly high, and the two-party political system keeps rolling along like the bloated tick that it is. Since Lowell Weicker's A Connecticut Party, breaking in as a third-party candidate - an alternative to politics as usual - has been nearly impossible. Never mind Team Lieberman. U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman lost the Democratic primary not because of the party he belongs to, but because his politics didn't jibe with the those of most Democrats in the state. Thornton's campaign is entirely different. He has said that the state needs politicians willing to make the tough decisions that might lose them elections. So far, Margaret Thornton's work has mostly been behind the scenes. She will not perfect that political-spouse look, where spouses stand on a stage looking at the candidate as a hungry dog would gaze at a biscuit, but she's already thinking of her role as the wife of the new governor. She'd like to bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots, particularly among children. If children know each other as friends, they can't very well turn on one another later. But if things don't go that way - if Connecticut continues to vote along party lines for its governor - Margaret Thornton will be fine. "We can't lose," she says. "He's got a platform to say some of the things he believes. People will listen to him." E-mail: campbell@ courant.com Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Fri Aug 25 11:29:51 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 08:29:51 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} we need this in CT "Million Solar roof bills signed into law" in CA Message-ID: <20060825152951.95832.qmail@web81415.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Million Solar Roofs Bill Signed into Law by Jesse Broehl, Editor, RenewableEnergyAccess.com August 23, 2006 From L to R: SB 1 Author Senator Kevin Murray (D-LA), Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), Assemblymember Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo), Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bernadette Del Chiaro of Environment California at the signing of SB 1. Photo: John Decker, Office of Gov. Schwarzenegger Los Angeles, California [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] After a long roller-coaster ride in the California legislature, the Million Solar Roofs Bill, SB1, is now law. Governor Schwarzenegger, who campaigned on a pledge to create a major solar program, signed the bill Monday. The bill, authored by Senator Kevin Murray, went through an evolution of different versions over the past three years leading to collective moments of both euphoria and disappointment for the solar industry. This final version proved suitable enough to California lawmakers and the competing special interests with a stake in its outcome. "Turning the vision of building a million solar roofs into state law has been a long time coming. But in the end, this law was worth the wait and the fight that it took to turn a great idea into a landmark law." -- Bernadette Del Chiaro, Clean Energy Advocate with Environment California, the leading sponsor of the Million Solar Roofs bill "Nothing gets through the legislature that's perfect for someone without being a problem for someone else," said JP Ross, Policy Director for Vote Solar, one of the organizations that helped push for passage of this bill. "It was not the most perfect bill that passed, but the most perfect bill that could have passed. Everyone in the solar community is breathing a sigh of relief that we got what we needed; solar got the money in January from the PUC and now this codifies that into law." Following the larger solar policy topic in California has not only been a roller coaster ride but also a confusing ride, with policy and regulation taking on changing and divergent paths. SB1, as Ross noted, sets in stone a major victory achieved for solar back in January of this year when the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted to approve the California Solar Initiative (CSI). This provided two major items; the structure of a long-term (10-year) declining rebate plan, and the $3.2 billion dollars to fund it. While the PUC's plan was hailed as a breakthrough victory for solar, it left some key items unaddressed; chiefly, that net-metering caps needed to be raised. The Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) region was fast approaching its cap and would have reached it by early 2007, if not before, leading to a drastic halt in solar installations in the largest solar market. According to Ross, in 2004, the PG&E territory made up 85 percent of the California solar market. SB 1 now increases the cap from 0.5% of a utility's total load to 2.5%, enabling approximately 500,000 new solar system owners into the net-metering program. Another major item left unaddressed by the PUC's CSI approved last January is a provision requiring the state's municipalities to create their own solar rebate programs. The PUC regulates only publicly traded utilities (hence its name), leaving large "munies" like the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), and the Sacramento Municipal District (SMUD) out of the major statewide solar program. As a utility that wasn't forced to promote solar, SMUD is largely viewed as being progressive and accepting of solar energy through the solar programs it has administered on its own. The LADWP, on the other hand, is viewed as being slack in any commitment to solar. The massive utility serving most of Los Angeles does technically have a solar rebate program but it is widely considered to be too poorly funded to be a real program. Now, presumably, the LADWP will have to shape it up and administer a genuine and effective solar rebate program. SB1 now requires all munies in California to develop their own solar rebate programs so they will be making a similar, equitable effort -- as do the public utilities that are already required to provide rebates. For them to do so, a total of $800 million, coming from the larger CPUC pot approved in January, will be spread out over 10 years. SB1 also managed to find an acceptable middle ground in one of the most contentious areas in California solar policy: homebuilding solar mandates. Last summer, SB1 ground to a halt in the legislature over conflicts between a solar industry that wanted solar to be required on a small percentage of new homes and the homebuilders that would be directly involved. The homebuilders stung at the idea of any such mandates and went on to orchestrate a battle between building industry labor groups and the solar industry. By mid-summer, the lines of communication and negotiation went down just as the level of vitriol went up, and the bill died shortly thereafter. This time around, SB1 struck an acceptable balance by mandating that solar systems be offered "as an option" on new housing developments over 50 units in size. The specifics still need to be worked out but it will likely involve the builders working with the solar industry to provide prospective homeowners with information about the basics of solar projects and what additional costs they would incur in exchange for the long-term stability in their electric rates that solar projects provide. And, the price for these projects will be more palatable to the consumer since the cost will be subsidized by the larger California solar rebate plan (CSI). "Turning the vision of building a million solar roofs into state law has been a long time coming," said Bernadette Del Chiaro, Clean Energy Advocate with Environment California, the leading sponsor of the Million Solar Roofs bill. "But in the end, this law was worth the wait and the fight that it took to turn a great idea into a landmark law." --------------------------------- For further Information link to video from the Office of the Governor Please Note: RenewableEnergyAccess.com does not endorse the sites behind these links. We offer them for your additional research. Following these links will open a new browser window. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From greenpartyct at yahoo.com Sat Aug 26 12:59:39 2006 From: greenpartyct at yahoo.com (Green Party-CT) Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 09:59:39 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} published LTE Hartford Courant: "Ralph and Joe: No Comparison" Message-ID: <20060826165939.27374.qmail@web81413.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Ralph And Joe: No Comparison The Aug. 20 Commentary article by corporate lobbyist Toby Moffett, "Lieberman Imitates Nader," misses the mark on many points. As one of the first people who asked Nader to run for president, after I founded the Green Party of Rhode Island, I can say that thousands of Greens asked Nader to run and address issues that were quite different than those of the two-headed monster we Greens call "The Republi-crats." Thousands asking someone to run is quite different than Lieberman's attempt to play the system by running after losing in a fair fight. Moffett says Nader ran in 2000 as an "independent," when he really was the Green Party nominee. This is an important point because we didn't work to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures to get Nader on as a non-party candidate. Green ballot lines and candidates won across the country because Nader topped our ticket line. Moffett wrongly blames Nader's 97,000 Green Party votes in Florida as the single factor in the Bush 2000 win and conveniently leaves out that several states were also swung to the Democrats by the Reform Party candidate. And Lieberman's Democratic Leadership Council's study said that many people would not have voted if Nader and the Greens were not on the ballot in 2000. Almost 3 million votes for Nader in 2000 showed that the people want something different. Moffett shamelessly boasts that he worked to keep Nader off the ballot in 2004. Did anyone here work to keep Lieberman off the ballot or out of any debates like Moffett and his Democrats did to Nader and the Greens? We Greens believe Lieberman had a fair chance to run and debate, and he spent more than $4 million to get his message out, but he lost. Moffett's party spent millions in lawsuits to challenge and keep Nader off the ballot; we Greens will not file a lawsuit to keep Lieberman out of the 2006 race, despite his loss in the primary. Mr. Moffett overstates again when he claims Republican "operatives" were involved in the Nader campaign. A handful of Republicans may have given Nader money, just as Democrats gave to Bush and Republicans gave to Kerry in small numbers, but Moffett makes it sound like Republicans were almost pulling strings in a conspiracy behind the scenes. Nader has worked with many people from all parties to get landmark legislation done in more than 40 years of service, so is it so strange to think some might give him a donation? Moffett may believe in the fairy tale that we only need two parties, but Ralph Nader had nothing to do with Joe Lieberman's self-centered attempt to keep his job. Comparing Lieberman to Nader is foolish. Tim McKee Manchester The writer is the national committee representative for the Green Party of Connecticut and worked on Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential campaign. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From efficacy at msn.com Sun Aug 27 03:57:04 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 03:57:04 -0400 Subject: {news} Thornton qouted in Article in CT Law Tribune Message-ID: http://www.ctlawtribune.com/getarticle.aspx?ID=23464 Monday, August 28, 2006 Images Law Tribune File Photo War On Crack Cocaine Is An Absolute Crock By NORM PATTIS A client of mine recently elected to go to trial in a criminal case. Evidence in this drug conspiracy case won't begin until later in the fall. But already, I have this sinking feeling that slaughter is coming. Even so, I understand his choice. On a plea, this 33-year-old man is looking at a sentence in the range of 20 or more years. Should he lose trial, he will do life. From where he sits today there seems but little difference. The case against him is simple, straightforward and illustrative of how the state/federal narcotics task force in Connecticut operates. Rumor swirls about a drug operation. Agents swoop in with wiretap orders, surveillance photos, a confidential informant or two, and then wait patiently for the conspirators to produce enough evidence against themselves to make a conviction almost inevitable. The slam dunk of a case is presented to a federal grand jury, indictments follow, and then the defendants are, one by one, encouraged to wet themselves. The not so subtle message? The only way to save yourself a long stretch in Club Fed is to testify against the others. Many defendants do. Why are we doing this? My sense is that alcohol kills more people than cocaine. Yet we regulate alcohol and serve it publicly. Tobacco kills even bystanders with second-hand smoke, but we sell it happily, and tax it, too. Don't tell me we wage war on crack because it kills. Tobacco kills. Alcohol kills. Yet no war there. A fellow named Cliff Thornton is running for governor on the Green Party ticket. The primary plank in his platform: The drug war is a failure. When Thornton is candid he will share his suspicion that we wage war on drugs and not on alcohol and tobacco for reasons related to race. I agree with Thornton. So I prepare for my next skirmish in the war on drugs. Another black soul on the block. My client is looking at life for selling a drug common in every city of the state. The government offers a plea deal that is no deal at all. It makes no sense. Here is the grim reality in federal drug cases, a reality that Congress and the courts seem unwilling to correct: Sentencing for distribution of crack cocaine is far more draconian than sentencing for cocaine in its powdered form. In this case, my client would face a several years as a sentence for sale of powdered cocaine, but several decades for the sale of crack. My client has been charged with possession with intent to sell cocaine base. What is cocaine base, you say? The statute defining the crime doesn't really say. The federal sentencing guidelines define cocaine base as crack, however, despite the silence in the statute. Indeed, cocaine base may include non-crack cocaine as well.There is split in the circuits about what to do with this. Some circuits, but not our circuit. The Second Circuit applies tougher penalties to any form of cocaine base, whether it is crack or not. For you non-chemists out there, this means that our circuit calls cocaine base all cocaine substances that produce a salt when treated with acid. This is a view not shared by several other circuits, notably the fourth, seventh, eight and eleventh. So what is the significance of all this? My client wants to gamble his future, every last day of it, on the prospect of getting his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. He wants that court to say that, in his case, what was at issue was cocaine base and not crack. He wants the court to say that the lower courts are wrong to sentence savagely for all forms of cocaine base. It is a long shot, the client understands. But the government has given him no choice at all. Perhaps a jury will make all this moot. So begins nights of worry. Another skirmish in the war on drugs. . Norm Pattis practices criminal and civil rights law in Bethany. Thornton for Governor PO Box 1971 Manchester, CT 06045 votethornton at yahoogroups.com www.votethornton.com 860 657 8438-H 860 268 1294-C 860 778 1304-Tim Mckee-Campaign Manager 860 293 0222-Ken Krayeske-field Manager Paid for by Thornton For Governor Donna L. Byrne-Mckee, Treasure -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: pattis,%20normancutout.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 43444 bytes Desc: not available URL: From efficacy at msn.com Sun Aug 27 04:15:00 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 04:15:00 -0400 Subject: {news} Green Party--Hemp could be a boost for Connecticut Economy Message-ID: http://www.ctpost.com/business/ci_4242740 Job growth predicted to be slow ROB VARNON rvarnon at ctpost.com The state Labor Department said Thursday that Connecticut will have 150,000 more jobs in 2014 than in 2004, touching off a political brush fire as candidates for governor discussed what could be done to improve the 8.5 percent growth rate. John Tirinzonie, the Labor Department economist who authored the report, said Friday the U.S. Department of Labor requires the state departments to generate forecasts for planning purposes. The report is based on current trends and takes into account business cycles, both ups and downs, he said. Tirinzonie said many of the service-sector jobs the department believes will be created in the next eight years will be high paying and require college degrees and math and science skills. But with 2,594 annual job openings, retail salespeople will be the top growing occupation in the state, according to the report. However, Tirinzonie said projections for retail sales, cashiers and waiters and waitresses are high because there is a high turnover rate in those professions. The report said 14 professions where the average annual salary is more than $57,000 will have more than 200 job opening each year. Included among these higher-paying jobs are nurses, computer software engineers, management analysts, financial managers and teachers. While the overall growth rate appears slow, Tirinzonie said, people should remember Connecticut's economy is not only challenged by high-energy prices, but also because it is a mature economy with an older population of workers and limited room for expansion on a geographic scale. That's why the state's slow growth pattern might not be so bleak, he said, noting that rapid economic growth is typically accompanied by not only congestion, but also by pollution and higher crime rates. The two major party candidates issued news releases the day the report came out. Republican candidate and incumbent Gov. M. Jodi Rell said in her release the report should serve as a "blueprint for continuing economic progress," as the state moves from a goods-producing economy to a service-providing one. Rell's release noted the shift to a service sector will mean factory employment -------------------------------------------------------------- Advertisement -------------------------------------------------------------- will decline. She said the state needs to prepare for this shift and the retirement of thousands of workers, meaning younger residents should be encouraged to learn mathematics and medical skills needed to fill the jobs of the future. Democratic challenger John DeStefano, New Haven's mayor, said in a news release that the Labor Department is predicting less than a 1 percent per-annum job growth for the state. He also said Rell appears to be resigned to accepting the loss of high-paying manufacturing jobs. The state needs to create a skilled work force and find ways to reduce energy and health care costs, he said. While DeStefano and Rell issued statements on the report, Green Party candidate Cliff Thornton Jr. talked about it in a phone interview Friday after he said he looked over the report. Thornton said he sees two ways to improve job growth in the state. The first is to provide free post-secondary education to Connecticut residents who graduate from schools in the state. Thornton said any student with a "C" average would be allowed to attend community college for free and students with a "B" average or better could attend four-year universities for free. This would create a higher demand for teaching jobs, Thornton said, and create a more skilled work force because more students would receive math and science degrees. "If we had as many engineers as we have lawyers, we'd be in good shape," Thornton said. Thornton also wants to create new jobs by growing a new industry: hemp. He said hemp has a bad reputation because it's associated with cannabis but that the weed can be used to create clothing, paper and fuel. About 600 percent more ethanol could be produced from hemp than from corn, he said, noting hemp products are widely used in Europe. To view the report, visit www.ct.gov/dol. Rob Varnon, who covers business, can be reached at 330-6216. Thornton for Governor PO Box 1971 Manchester, CT 06045 votethornton at yahoogroups.com www.votethornton.com 860 657 8438-H 860 268 1294-C 860 778 1304-Tim Mckee-Campaign Manager 860 293 0222-Ken Krayeske-field Manager Paid for by Thornton For Governor Donna L. Byrne-Mckee, Treasure -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: clear.gif Type: image/gif Size: 43 bytes Desc: not available URL: From efficacy at msn.com Sun Aug 27 15:11:11 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 15:11:11 -0400 Subject: {news} Green Party candidates face hurdles Message-ID: Article created: 08/27/2006 04:43:11 AM EDT Green Party candidates face hurdles KEN DIXON dixon.connpost at snet.net To say the statewide slate of Green Party candidates faces a tough election campaign underestimates the obstacles that Republican and Democratic domination have built in Connecticut since Henry Dutton, a Whig, was governor in 1855. Political experts and observers say the 2,200-member Green Party, while addressing some major issues that concern state voters, cannot get its message out to enough people to overcome the massive media campaigns of the Republicans and Democrats. But amid the expected cacophony of attack advertising in this year's quadrennial gubernatorial race and the sizzling-hot U.S. Senate campaign, the Greens will provoke Connecticut's electorate to think beyond traditional party politics. The Green Party is under funded and expected to finish no better than a distant third in the fall races, but the party's top-of-the-ticket candidates hope to use the upcoming Senate and gubernatorial debates to frame public discussions on national security, health care and environmental issues. Clifford W. Thornton Jr., 61, a retired Glastonbury businessman whose campaign centers on drug-policy reform, is leading a team of advocates from throughout the state who believe that mainstream politics has failed Connecticut and the nation, letting corporate interests dominate public policy at taxpayers' expense and detriment. Overshadowed by the recent gubernatorial primary - which, in turn, was drowned out by the uproar of the U.S. Senate primary contest between Sen. Joe Lieberman and upstart millionaire Ned Lamont - Thornton hopes to break into the electorate's consciousness during the upcoming debates with Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and Democrat John DeStefano Jr. That is, if he gets invited and the mainstream candidates agree. Thornton may have an easier time than another petitioning gubernatorial candidate Joseph A. Zdonczyk of the Concerned Citizens Party, who received only 8,792 of the nearly one million votes cast in the 1998 election. Ralph A. Ferrucci, a 34-year-old truck driver and artist from New Haven, is the Green's U.S. Senate candidate, who has the formidable task of getting voters to notice him. The daily mud slinging of the Lamont-Lieberman race has also eclipsed former Derby mayor and little-known Republican Alan Schlesinger's attempt to gain traction beyond the 4 percent rating in the recent Quinnipiac University Poll. Ferrucci believes that voters are ready to listen to someone talk about issues that really concern them, such as health care. "I want to talk about a real universal health-care system," Ferrucci said recently. "A single-payer plans that takes insurance companies out of the system and makes health care the first priority." He said that the way elections are financed, with special-interest money fueling mainstream campaigns such as Lieberman's, make the fight for healthcare access tougher. "The problem is universal health care and campaign finance reform have to come together," Ferrucci said. "You have to take the lobbyists out of Washington, set up public financing instead of the insurance companies and pharmaceuticals financing the elections." He believes that the attack ads hurling back and forth between Lamont and Lieberman are turning off the electorate. "I talking about the issues that people care about while these commercials attack each other on what they do not stand for, while ignoring most of the concerns of the working people in Connecticut." ???????????????????? ? ? Thornton, the first African-American to run for governor, said during a recent interview that current national and statewide drug policy has created a wasteful prison culture that ensnares a disproportionate percentage of inner-city residents, let suburbanites off the hook and ignores the overriding need for better drug treatment. "It's not that today's drug laws are racist, but it's the application that's racist," Thorton said. "What I'm talking about is the double standard for people in the justice system. Anyone that supports our present system is directly responsible for its results." Thornton said that while initial signals seem to include him in the anticipated upcoming gubernatorial debates, he's concerned that Rell and DeStefano might work to keep he and other minor-party candidates like Zdonczyk, off the stage. "We're hopeful and we're pushing," Thornton said. "We've appeared at a ton of places and we've been well received even by people who say that for years they've been Republicans or Democrats." -------------------------------------------------------------- Advertisement -------------------------------------------------------------- He said that while the Lamont and Lieberman race has garnered national attention on Connecticut and the war in Iraq, the domestic war on drugs is being annoyed. "Our own house is not in order and we're telling people about democracy around the world?" Thornton said, adding that his main platform is the "legalization, medicalization and decriminalization" of drugs including marijuana, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. "Once we put the models in place at the same time, crime and violence is gone over night," Thornton said, adding that drug dealers would then be given chances to back to school and train for jobs. "If one does not understand racism, classism, white privilege, terrorism and the war on drugs, what these terms mean and how these work, then everything else you do understand will only confuse you," he said. "The war on drugs is a world destabilizer. The most-pressing issue facing the state of Connecticut and this country is not the war in Iraq, and I respect the human toll the war has taken." Thornton expects to run the campaign for $50,000 and to at least blaze a trail for future Green Party candidates. "The true test of a real leader is how many leaders he creates in the process," Thornton said. "I'm not talking about Lamont Light, the Lieberman Light or any of those rich white boys. Going along to get along makes one complicit." But political analysts and observers say that beyond adding some issues to the campaign, third parties in general and the Green Party in particular have little impact. Since the mid-1850s, there are been only two minor-party governors, Alexander H. Holley in 1857 and 1858 of the American Republican Party and Lowell P. Weicker, who invented A Connecticut Party for his successful 1990 campaign. Otherwise, it has been a string of 31 Republicans and 15 Democrats. Douglas Schwartz, director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said he doesn't include third-party candidates in telephone surveys unless they have prompted some amount of popularity. "They have to show things like fund-raising, media coverage, participation in debates and other issues that they show they could significantly affect the outcome of the election," Schwartz said last week. "Historically, they have not performed well at the voting booths and they get scant attention in the news media." Schwartz admitted that third parties can raise important issues that the mainstream politicians avoid. Gary L. Rose, chairman of the Department of Government and Politics at Sacred Heart University, said last week that Weicker and other independents such as Ross Perot and Teddy Roosevelt, are the few exceptions to the rule that third-party candidates are doomed. "And those who are successful often come out of the major parties," said Rose who teaches a class in political parties. Part of the problem for minor parties is that the two main parties write state and national election rules, he said. "Even though we have a lot of independents out there, they usually identify themselves as Republicans or Democrats," Rose said. "It seems that the American people break into two broad political factions. The parties that have existed have also been broad enough to encapsulate the broad range of their interests." Rose said the best that third parties can hope for is to shape the debate and possible force the mainstream pols to accept, or steal, their ideas. "The Progressives raised the issues of civil-service reform, creating primary elections, providing Social Security and even minimum-wage legislation," Rose said. In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt split from the Republican Party and formed the Progresive to run as independent president campaign nicknamed the "Bull Moose" party. On Thornton's drug-reform proposal, Rose said he hasn't seen any polling data indicating that state residents are concerned about it. "That's hardly front and center in either Connecticut or American politics today," Rose said. "I have serious doubts whether it gets traction in Connecticut." Thornton for Governor PO Box 1971 Manchester, CT 06045 votethornton at yahoogroups.com www.votethornton.com 860 657 8438-H 860 268 1294-C 860 778 1304-Tim Mckee-Campaign Manager 860 293 0222-Ken Krayeske-field Manager Paid for by Thornton For Governor Donna L. Byrne-Mckee, Treasure -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: clear.gif Type: image/gif Size: 43 bytes Desc: not available URL: From efficacy at msn.com Sun Aug 27 17:08:19 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 17:08:19 -0400 Subject: {news} Fw: ct post story Message-ID: All, Please read the note below and if you have not read the story in the post I will forward it to you. More importantly we need letters to the QUPI. Please pull out all stops. We need this to further our cause. There are two fronts. Letters to the editor edit at ctpost.com about the article and letters to QUPI. We have yet another opportunity. Are we just activists or are we on the way to changing this one party system?????????? This is another story that has just surfaced 2 IN POLICE DEPARTMENT ACCUSED OF COCAINE PURCHASES AND USE In Manchester. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n1131/a08.html?1042 Cliff ----- Original Message ----- From: Ken Krayeske To: clifford thornton Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2006 4:15 PM Subject: re: ct post story I forwarded this to the assistant dean i will be talking to tomorrow afternoon to show how ambiguous and vague the standards that Douglas Schwartz employs are. I think it adds weight to our argument. we need dave bedell or someone to write a letter. perhaps we can prompt pat kane to explain that the qupi won't ask residents of bridgeport about the toll the drug war takes on them. john fabrizi's recent admission about drug usage shows how much a storm this issue can create. i dont agree with rose's contentions at the bottom of the story, that the issue is not important, and we need someone to counteract that in a letter to the editor. kk -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From efficacy at msn.com Sun Aug 27 21:27:03 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 21:27:03 -0400 Subject: {news} Green party candidates face hurdles (CT Post) Message-ID: This is the kind of letter we need to go to edit at ctpost.com in response to the article in this morning's Connecticut Post. This lets the people of Bridgeport know that there is a change on the horizon. Lets get crackin. Thanks Pat. Green Party candidates have to be the gutsiest people anywhere to run for office knowing the odds are stacked in favor of the status quo, But given time and the increasing dissatisfaction with a system where its one party's millionaire versus the other party's multi-millionaire, the people will realize they have a real choice and not just a change of label. Green Party candidates don't need polls to identify injustices, like our failed "war on drugs" because they are living lives not insulated by privilege or lobbyist money. Cliff Thornton and Ralph Ferrucci speak from experience, not from a government study. As an attorney, I watched the criminal justice system in the 1970s collapse under the weight of minor drug offenses that filled our jails to the point where no new admissions were allowed at times. This was compounded with the incarceration of the mentally ill when community based facilities were never built. Clearly there is one rule of law for the John Fabrizzi's or Rush Limbaugh's of this world and another for the less fortunate or well-connected. If additictions are a health problem, which clearly they are, then why are we still locking people up, rather than diverting them to treatment. Isn't the present system really saying we can just throw some people away? Perhaps there are no polls to support the conclusion most people have reached that our drug laws are irrational and don't work, never did, because no candidate even speaks about it anymore. Sure, we all know it's a ridiculous system, but who has the political courage to say it should be changed? Cliff Thornton has. And how many of the establishment candidates have committed to universal health insurance? Ralph Ferrucci has. The Green Party may be small, but its mission of social justice and preserving the environment is big. Patricia Kane Patricia Kane, Esq. The Kane Legal Group LLC 230 High Ridge Road Stamford, CT 06905 (203 324-3316 (203) 351-0818 Fax -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates starting at 1?/min. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From justinemccabe at earthlink.net Mon Aug 28 15:11:58 2006 From: justinemccabe at earthlink.net (Justine McCabe) Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 15:11:58 -0400 Subject: {news} NYT: California Seeks to Clear Hemp of a Bad Name Message-ID: <014701c6cad5$db39a230$0402a8c0@JUSTINE> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/28/us/28hemp.html?_r=1&oref=slogin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- August 28, 2006 California Seeks to Clear Hemp of a Bad Name By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN STRATFORD, Calif. - Charles Meyer's politics are as steady and unswerving as the rows of pima cotton on his Central Valley farm. With his work-shirt blue eyes and flinty Clint Eastwood demeanor, he is staunchly in favor of the war in Iraq, against gun control and believes people unwilling to recite the Pledge of Allegiance should be kicked out of America, and fast. But what gets him excited is the crop he sees as a potential windfall for California farmers: industrial hemp, or Cannabis sativa. The rapidly growing plant with a seemingly infinite variety of uses is against federal law to grow because of its association with its evil twin, marijuana. "Industrial hemp is a wholesome product," said Mr. Meyer, 65, who says he has never worn tie-dye and professes a deep disdain for "dope." "The fact we're not growing it is asinine," Mr. Meyer said. Things could change if a measure passed by legislators in Sacramento and now on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk becomes law. [The bill reached Mr. Schwarzenegger last week; he has 30 days to sign or veto it.] Seven states have passed bills supporting the farming of industrial hemp; their strategy has been to try to get permission from the Drug Enforcement Administration to proceed. But California is the first state that would directly challenge the federal ban, arguing that it does not need a D.E.A. permit, echoing the state's longstanding fight with the federal authorities over its legalization of medicinal marijuana. The hemp bill would require farmers who grow it to undergo crop testing to ensure their variety of cannabis is nonhallucinogenic; its authors say it has been carefully worded to avoid conflicting with the federal Controlled Substances Act. But those efforts have not satisfied federal and state drug enforcement authorities, who argue that fields of industrial hemp would only serve as hiding places for illicit cannabis. The California Narcotic Officers Association opposes the bill, and a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington said the measure was unworkable. Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican running for re-election, has been mum on his intentions, with the political calculus of hemp in California difficult to decipher. The bill was the handiwork of two very different lawmakers, Assemblyman Mark Leno, a San Francisco Democrat best known for attempting to legalize same-sex marriage, and Assemblyman Charles S. DeVore, an Orange County Republican who worked in the Pentagon as a Reagan-era political appointee. Their bipartisan communion underscores a deeper shift in hemp culture that has evolved in recent years, from ragtag hempsters whose love of plants with seven leaves ran mostly to marijuana, to today's savvy coalition of organic farmers and health-food entrepreneurs working to distance themselves from the drug. Hundreds of hemp products, including energy bars and cold-pressed hemp oil, are made in California, giving the banned plant a capitalist aura. But manufacturers must import the raw material, mostly from Canada, where hemp cultivation was legalized in 1998. The new hemp entrepreneurs regard it as a sustainable crop, said John Roulac, 47, a former campaigner against clear-cutting and a backyard composter before founding Nutiva, a growing California hemp-foods company. "They want to lump together all things cannabis," said David Bronner, 33, whose family's squeeze-bottle Dr. Bronners Magic Soaps, based in Escondido, Calif., are made with hemp oil. "You don't associate a poppy seed bagel with opium." The differences between hemp and its mind-altering cousin, however, can be horticulturally challenging to grasp. The main one is that the epidermal glands of marijuana secrete a resin of euphoria-inducing delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or T.H.C., a substance all but lacking in industrial hemp. Ernest Small, a Canadian researcher who co-wrote a major hemp study in 2002 for Purdue University, compared the genetic differences to those that separate racehorses from plow horses. Evolution, Mr. Small said, has almost completely bred T.H.C. out of industrial hemp, which by law must have a concentration of no more than three-tenths of 1 percent. To its supporters, industrial hemp is utopia in a crop. Prized not only for its healthful seeds and oils, rich in omega-3 and -6 fatty acids, but also its fast, bamboo-like growth that shades out weeds, without pesticides. "Simply put, you create a jungle in one year," said John LaBoyteaux, who testified in Sacramento on behalf of the California Certified Organic Farmers association. "There's a growing market out there, and we can't tap it." The bill before Governor Schwarzenegger is the latest installment in a hemp debate that reached its height in 2004, when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said that federal antidrug laws did not apply to the manufacturing or consumption of industrial hemp. The court ruled that decades earlier, Congress had exempted from marijuana-control laws the stalks, fibers, oils and seeds of industrial hemp, and that the government had no right to ban hemp products. That opened the floodgates for Patagonia hemp jeans and the Merry Hempsters Zit Zapper (with hemp oil). Patrick D. Goggin, a lawyer for the Hemp Industries Association and Vote Hemp, said there would probably be legal snarls to work out with the California legislation, assuming it is enacted, so that farmers would not be placing their property in jeopardy if they chose to grow industrial hemp. But if the federal government clamps down, Mr. Goggin said, "we're prepared to raise the issue in court." "Were trying to get an arcane vision of the law contemporized," he added. Rogene Waite, a spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Administration, said the agency would not speculate about pending legislation. The bill's adherents point to hemp's hallowed niche in American history. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson cultivated hemp (neither effort was profitable). Colonists' boats sailed the Atlantic with hempen sails. Old Ironsides carried 60 tons of hempen sail and rope. The word "canvas," in fact, is derived from cannabis, a high-tensile fiber naturally resistant to decay. Hemp flourished as an American crop from the end of the Civil War until the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act ended production. During World War II, when Japan seized the Philippines and cut off supplies of Manila hemp, the crop got a brief reprieve in the United States, where farmers were encouraged to grow "Hemp for Victory," for boots, parachute cording and the like. But contrary to lore, most such hemp was never harvested. Today, China controls about 40 percent of the world's hemp fiber, and its ability to flood the market "could result in price fluctuations the American farmer would have to weather," said Valerie Vantreese, an agricultural economist in Lexington, Ky. (Kentucky was once the leading hemp-producing state). Hemp is grown legally in about 30 countries, including many in the European Union, where it is mixed with lime to make plaster and as a "biocomposite" in the interior panels of Mercedes-Benzes. In the United States, the chief argument against hemp has been made by drug-control officials, who are concerned that vast acreages could be used to conceal clandestine marijuana, which they say would be impossible to detect. "California is a great climate to grow pot in, and no one from law enforcement is going through the fields to do a chemical analysis of different plants," said Thomas A. Riley, a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington. To some people intimate with the nuances of marijuana, however, the idea of hiding marijuana in a hemp field, where the plants would cross-pollinate, provokes amusement. "It would be the end of outdoors marijuana," said Jack Heber, 67, a marijuana historian and author who runs a group called Help End Marijuana Prohibition, or HEMP. "If it gets mixed with that crop, it's a disaster." In North Dakota, the state agricultural commissioner, Roger Johnson, has proposed allowing hemp farming, and has been working with federal drug regulators on stringent regulations that would include fingerprinting farmers and requiring G.P.S. coordinates of hemp fields. "We've done our level best to convince them we're not a bunch of wackos," Mr. Johnson said. Fifteen years ago, he noted, there was little market for canola, which is now a major crop produced for its cooking oil. He sees hemp in a similar vein and dismisses the fears that it would lead to criminality. "It would take a joint the size of a telephone pole to have an impact," he said. But up north in Garberville, the Central Valley of marijuana, the lines between hemp and marijuana are often a hazy blur, as they are at a store called the Hemp Connection, where hemp hats and yoga clothing are sold alongside manuals on pot botany and Stoneware baking pans ("makes six groovy brownies per pan"). The proprietor, Marie Mills, who said she once crafted paper from marijuana stalks, remains committed to cannabis in all its guises. "We want to educate people and take away the stigma," Ms. Mills said. "We want hemp without harassment." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: logoprinter.gif Type: image/gif Size: 1810 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 01/ Type: application/octet-stream Size: 42 bytes Desc: not available URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Mon Aug 28 20:34:45 2006 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 00:34:45 +0000 Subject: {news} FW: Statutory Notice of Meeting to Nominate Minor Party Candidates Message-ID: Yesterday a few of us met with two promising candidates for Stamford Board of Ed: Matt (Hoegemann) Loter, who ran for the same office in 2003, and Nina Sherwood. They graduated from Stamford High School in 2000 and 2001, respectively, and should represent the Green Party well. Still hoping to find placeholder candidates for our 2 state legislature lines. For the record: ----Original Message Follows---- From: "David Bedell" To: lead@ po.state.ct.us CC: dloglisci@ ci.stamford.ct.us Subject: Statutory Notice of Meeting to Nominate Minor Party Candidates Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 00:22:50 +0000 August 28, 2006 Legislation and Elections Administration Division Secretary of the State P.O. Box 150470 Hartford CT 06115-0470 To Whom It May Concern: Pursuant to CT General Statutes Sec. 9-452a, as Secretary of the Fairfield County chapter of the CT Green Party, I hereby provide statutory notice of a Party nominating meeting to be held: Date: Wednesday, September 6, 2006 Time: 8:30 PM Location: UConn Stamford Branch (2nd floor lounge), 1 University Place, Stamford, CT Purpose: Nominate candidates for public office, including Stamford Board of Education, State Senate District 36, and State Assembly District 135. Nominations shall be accepted from the floor. Anyone who meets the requirements of membership as defined by the bylaws of the CT Green Party, who resides within Fairfield County and is present at the meeting is eligible to vote. The nominees must receive support from a simple majority of those who actually vote. If there is more than one person nominated for the same office, instant runoff voting will be used and abstentions will not be counted as votes. Respectfully submitted, David Bedell, Secretary Fairfield County Chapter, CT Green Party cc: Donna Loglisci, Stamford Town Clerk From wtcards at earthlink.net Mon Aug 28 23:02:40 2006 From: wtcards at earthlink.net (Ken Krayeske) Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 23:02:40 -0400 Subject: {news} FW: Statutory Notice of Meeting to Nominate Minor Party Candidates In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <44F3AE50.20706@earthlink.net> According to Pearl Williams, David Bedell has reached the ballot with 291 certified signatures, and Richard Duffee is at 2804, and I am not sure how many he has left. I will have Cliff ask when he goes in tomorrow. I may not be able to inspect petitions until Thursday as needed. peace, kk David Bedell wrote: > Connecticut Green Party - Part of the GPUS > http://www.ctgreens.org/ - http://www.greenpartyus.org/ > > to unsubscribe click here > mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org > Yesterday a few of us met with two promising candidates for Stamford > Board of Ed: Matt (Hoegemann) Loter, who ran for the same office in > 2003, and Nina Sherwood. They graduated from Stamford High School in > 2000 and 2001, respectively, and should represent the Green Party > well. Still hoping to find placeholder candidates for our 2 state > legislature lines. > > For the record: > > ----Original Message Follows---- > From: "David Bedell" > To: lead@ po.state.ct.us > CC: dloglisci@ ci.stamford.ct.us > Subject: Statutory Notice of Meeting to Nominate Minor Party Candidates > Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 00:22:50 +0000 > > August 28, 2006 > > Legislation and Elections Administration Division > Secretary of the State > P.O. Box 150470 > Hartford CT 06115-0470 > > To Whom It May Concern: > > Pursuant to CT General Statutes Sec. 9-452a, as Secretary of the > Fairfield County chapter of the CT Green Party, I hereby provide > statutory notice of a Party nominating meeting to be held: > > Date: Wednesday, September 6, 2006 > Time: 8:30 PM > Location: UConn Stamford Branch (2nd floor lounge), 1 University > Place, Stamford, CT > Purpose: Nominate candidates for public office, including Stamford > Board of Education, State Senate District 36, and State Assembly > District 135. > > Nominations shall be accepted from the floor. Anyone who meets the > requirements of membership as defined by the bylaws of the CT Green > Party, who resides within Fairfield County and is present at the > meeting is eligible to vote. The nominees must receive support from a > simple majority of those who actually vote. If there is more than one > person nominated for the same office, instant runoff voting will be > used and abstentions will not be counted as votes. > > Respectfully submitted, > > > David Bedell, Secretary > Fairfield County Chapter, CT Green Party > > > > cc: Donna Loglisci, Stamford Town Clerk > > > To be removed please mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org > _______________________________________________ > CTGP-news mailing list > CTGP-news at ml.greens.org > http://ml.greens.org/mailman/listinfo/ctgp-news > > ATTENTION! > The information in this transmission is privileged and confidential > and intended only for the recipient listed above. If you have > received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by > email and delete the original message. The text of this email is > similar to ordinary or face-to-face conversations and does not reflect > the level of factual or legal inquiry or analysis which would be > applied in the case of a formal legal opinion and does not constitute > a representation of the opinions of the CT Green Party. The > responsibility for any messages posted herein is solely that of the > person who sent the message, and the CT Green Party hereby leaves this > responsibility in the hands of it's members. > > NOTE: This is an inherently insecure forum, please do not post > confidential messages and always realize that your address can be > faked, and although a message may appear to be from a certain > individual, it is always possible that it is fakemail. This is mail > sent by a third party under an illegally assumed identity for purposes > of coercion, misdirection, or general mischief. > > CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: If you have received this e-mail in error, > please immediately notify the sender by e-mail at the address shown. > This e-mail transmission may contain confidential information. This > information is intended only for the use of the individual(s) or > entity to whom it is intended even if addressed incorrectly. Please > delete it from your files if you are not the intended recipient. > Thank you for your compliance. > > To be removed please mailto://ctgp-news-unsubscribe at ml.greens.org > From smderosa at cox.net Tue Aug 29 12:06:34 2006 From: smderosa at cox.net (smderosa at cox.net) Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 12:06:34 -0400 Subject: {news} Statutory Notice of Meeting to Nominate Candidate for CT State Senate District # 1 Message-ID: <001401c6cb85$1a710060$8201a8c0@userb649154f63> Greater Hartford Green Party August 29, 2006 Dear Elections Division of the CT Sec. Of The State: Pursuant to CT General Statutes Sec. 9-452a, as Chair of the Greater Hartford chapter of the CT Green Party, I hereby provide statutory notice of a Party nominating meeting to be held: Date: Tuesday, September 5, 2006 Time: 7:00 PM Location: Green Party office, 418A New Britain Ave. Hartford, CT Purpose: Nominate candidate for State Senate District 1. (Please note that during the last election the Green Party candidate obtained over 1% of the vote thereby giving the Green Party ballot access for that office in the 2007 election) Nominations shall be accepted from the floor. Anyone who meets the requirements of membership as defined by the bylaws of the CT Green Party, who resides within Hartford County and is present at the meeting is eligible to vote. The nominees must receive support from a simple majority of those who actually vote. If there is more than one person nominated for the same office, instant runoff voting will be used and abstentions will not be counted as votes. If you have any questions please contact me at 860-919-4042. Respectfully submitted, S. Michael DeRosa Greater Hartford Green Party Chapter CT Green Party From greenpartyct at sbcglobal.net Tue Aug 29 16:49:58 2006 From: greenpartyct at sbcglobal.net (Green Party-CT) Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 13:49:58 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Single payer health care passes Ca SENATE Message-ID: <20060829204958.78757.qmail@web81403.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Senator Sheila Kuehl > 08/28/06 > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > > KUEHL'S HEALTHCARE BILL, SB 840, PASSES CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLY > > On Monday, August 28th, Senate Bill 840, authored by State Senator Sheila > Kuehl (D-23), passed out of the California State Assembly on a preliminary > vote of 43-30 (final vote expected to be 44-31). > > SB 840 provides a concrete plan for covering every California resident > with comprehensive health insurance, saves the state of California, > businesses and working families nearly $8 billion in the first year, and > guarantees our right to choose our own doctor. The bill will now return to > the State Senate for concurrence and is expected to reach the Governor's > desk by September 1st. > > SB 840 provides comprehensive medical, dental, vision, hospitalization and > prescription drug coverage to every California resident. This broad > coverage is made possible through a streamlined claims and reimbursement > system that is projected to save billions of dollars in administrative > costs. SB 840 allows California to use its purchasing power to negotiate > bulk rates for prescription drugs and durable medical equipment, such as > wheelchairs, thus realizing an additional $2 billion in savings, SB 840 > preserves the status of healthcare providers, hospitals and pharmacies as > private, competitive businesses. > > The plan is funded by drawing in current public spending and replacing all > premiums, co-pays and deductibles paid to insurance companies with > premiums paid to the system. As amended, the bill creates a blue ribbon > panel of health, finance and technical experts to lay out the mechanics > for an affordable premium structure using information gathered in > available funding studies. > > "The growing cost of health insurance is bankrupting our businesses and > working families. Our health care system is being decimated to pay for > insurance company waste", says State Senator Kuehl. "SB 840 is the right > solution for California's broken health care system. It covers everyone, > it contains costs and it improves quality - most important, it guarantees > your right to choose your own doctor." > > "This plan provides security and savings to every California family, helps > businesses by reducing their health insurance costs, and saves the state > almost a billion dollars", said Speaker Fabian Nunez. "The Governor should > sign this historic bill." > > "Right now we have a broken system that leaves too many Californians in > medical or financial jeopardy and a system that hinders economic growth", > said President Pro Tem Senator Don Perata. "SB 840 is responsible, it's > achievable and it's what we need to do to fix the health care system in > California." > > (Comment: SB 840 has already been passed by the California State Senate. > It will return there for concurrence in an amendment calling for a > commission to establish the mechanics of a premium structure, and then > will move on to Gov. Schwarzenegger's desk.) > > > > > > -- > ------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim McKee cell (860) 778-1304 or (860) 643-2282 Cliff Thornton for Governor- Campaign Manager- National Committee Member of the Green Party(Connecticut) Paid for by Thornton For Governor ,Donna Byrne-McKee, treasurer- www.VoteThornton.com email: info at votethornton.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From efficacy at msn.com Tue Aug 29 22:40:08 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 22:40:08 -0400 Subject: {news} Leap speaking tour Club Schedule so far Message-ID: Dear Green Connecticut, This is a group of former and present law enforcement people who support my position on the drug war. If you would like to do an interview please let me know I will arrange it. I can promote them but they cannot promote me because of their non profit status. I have worked with them all over the world. Below is a tentative schedule for (LEAP-Law enforcement against prohibition) www.leap.cc Norm Stamper-former police chief of Seattle, Jack Cole 14yrs undercover narcotics cop, Peter Christ-police captain and Howard Woolridge Texas cop, etc. These are only a few as the dates and may swell to forty to fifty dates. Hartford and surrounding towns have been contacted and will be included. Please let me know when you get the schedule and what you can do. Thanks for all that you do. I will follow this up with a telephone call. Cliff Here is the full schedule to date: LEAP Connecticut Tour Date Day Time Event Tues 12-Sep-06 1:00 PM Ansonia Rotary Wed 13-Sep-06 6:00 PM North Branford Rotary Thurs 14-Sep-06 7:00 AM Seymour-Oxford Rotary Fri 15-Sep-06 12:00 PM Woodbridge Rotary Mon Tues 18-Sep-06 19-Sep-06 12:15 PM 7:00 AM Hartford Rotary North Haven Rotary Tues 19-Sep-06 12:00 PM Deep River Rotary Tues 19-Sep-06 12:00 PM Bristol CT Rotary Club Wed 20-Sep-06 7:00 AM Old Saybrook Rotary Thurs 21-Sep-06 6:30 AM Danielson CT Rotary Thurs 21-Sep-06 7:00 AM Ledyard Rotary Fri 22-Sep-06 7:30 AM Danbury Sunrise Rotary Tues 26-Sep-06 12:15 PM Willimantic CT Rotary Wed Thurs 27-Sep-06 28-Sep-06 7:00 PM 12:00 PM Oxford Lions Cheshire Rotary Thurs 28-Sep-06 12:00 PM Thomaston CT Rotary Tues 3-Oct-06 12:00 PM Stamford Rotary Tues 10-Oct-06 6:00 PM Wethersfield-Rocky Hill Rotary Wed Wed 11-Oct-06 11-Oct-06 7:30 AM 12:00 PM Bridgeport Sunrise Rotary Danbury Rotary Tues Wed Thurs 17-Oct-06 18-Oct-06 19-Oct-06 12:15 PM 6:00 PM 7:15 AM Bloomfield CT Rotary Stafford Rotary Simsbury Rotary Wed 25-Oct-06 7:15 AM Rotary Club of Cromwell CT Wed 1-Nov-06 6:30 PM Bridgeport Lions Wed 29-Nov-06 12:15 PM Norwalk Rotary tbd Glastonbury Rotary Rick Ostrander Asst. Speakers Bureau Coordinator Law Enforcement Against Prohibition 106 Belle Terrace North Syracuse, NY 13212 ostrander at leap.cc http://www.leap.cc C 315-345-4399 H 315-451-4952 As Albert Einstein said, "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From efficacy at msn.com Sat Aug 19 05:40:15 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 09:40:15 -0000 Subject: {news} "Black America Must Confront AIDS"--AIDS Crisis A Result Of War On Drugs Message-ID: http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/letters/hc-lets0819.artaug19,0,5404159.story?page=5&coll=hc-headlines-letters AIDS Crisis A Result Of War On Drugs Julian Bond's Aug. 15 Other Opinion article "Black America Must Confront AIDS" is traumatic. America, especially black America, operates in a crisis mode. This issue is not new. Trouble is, black America as well as everyone in perceived positions of power in this country are unwilling to confront this issue head on. Let's be realistic. More than 50 percent of the AIDS cases in this country, be they black, brown or white, somehow stem from intravenous drug use. To get control we must confront homosexuality, the war on drugs, prisons and black churches. It has been almost 40 years since this drug war started. The drug war is meant to be waged, not won. Yet we have ignored it and with it, the AIDS pandemic. The NAACP, Urban League and black churches have been cowardly in their approach to this ever-expanding crisis. The question that has to be asked is: When does going along to get along make one complicit? I have never heard Mr. Bond or any other black leader talk about the real issue called "the war on drugs." These drugs have to be brought inside of the law. When this happens, the spreading of AIDS will be stopped in its tracks. When one talks about legalizing drugs, we are only talking about one thing only and that is the redistribution of income and wealth. Black America and all its leaders who have sold out to the powers that be are complicit in this AIDS nightmare. Clifford Wallace Thornton Jr. Manchester The writer is the Green Party candidate for governor. Thornton for Governor PO Box 1971 Manchester, CT 06045 votethornton at yahoogroups.com www.votethornton.com 860 657 8438-H 860 268 1294-C 860 778 1304-Tim Mckee-Campaign Manager 860 293 0222-Ken Krayeske-field Manager Paid for by Thornton For Governor Donna L. Byrne-Mckee, Treasure -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ralphferrucci at sbcglobal.net Mon Aug 28 20:08:16 2006 From: ralphferrucci at sbcglobal.net (RALPH FERRUCCI) Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 00:08:16 -0000 Subject: {news} Senatorial Debate tomorrow on NPR Message-ID: <20060829000814.23823.qmail@web81011.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ******PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY******* Friends, Tomorrow on NPR, In our town there will be a debate that I was not even invited to even though I was on their show a few weeks ago. This does not mean that I can not be in the debate. I need people to listen tomorrow (Tues.) from 9-10 AM and call in with questions for certain issues. Do not tell the call person who answers that you know me but when on air say something like Ralph Ferrucci , the Green Party Candidate for US Senate supports a Single Payer Universal Health Care System that will lower costs to insurance by taking the insurance industry out of healthcare or Ralph Ferrucci , the Green Party Candidate for US Senate supports a complete and immediate withdrawal of Iraq without redeployment to Kuwait where do you stand or Ralph Ferrucci , the Green Party Candidate for US Senate supports regulating the Oil Industry to lower fuel prices and holding the oil industry accountable. etc. for more talking points please go to ferrucciforsenate.org and lets slam NPR with calls tomorrow. Thank You Ralph Ferrucci From efficacy at msn.com Wed Aug 30 18:39:50 2006 From: efficacy at msn.com (clifford thornton) Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 22:39:50 -0000 Subject: {news} You Know The Drug War Is Going Badly When Law Enforcement Turns Against It Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From justinemccabe at earthlink.net Sun Aug 6 10:45:47 2006 From: justinemccabe at earthlink.net (Justine McCabe) Date: Sun, 06 Aug 2006 14:45:47 -0000 Subject: {news} U.S. & Israel Selecting Targets for Cruise Missile First-Strike Attack Message-ID: <025d01c6b966$c4f3c2b0$0402a8c0@JUSTINE> What sad news on Hiroshima day. Justine ================================================================ U.S. & Israel Selecting Targets for Cruise Missile First-Strike Attack Multiple military sources have told the Global Network that Pentagon personnel responsible for selecting targets for cruise missile first strike attacks have been sent to Israel. This indicates that U.S. and Israeli military strategists are now likely meeting to plan a join attack on Syria and/or Iran. The Persian Gulf war and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq both began with cruise missile attacks by the U.S. from Naval ships. It would be wise to recognize that Bush has decided to expand the current war and chaos into the entire Middle East region. The implications for the U.S. will be enormous. Israel's recent bombing of Lebanon near the Syrian border indicate to me that they are trying to draw a response from Syria. So far Syria has not responded. Look for more such efforts by Israel and the U.S. to provoke Syria. I would highly recommend local peace groups call on their members of Congress and ask them to speak out against a further widening of this already insane war. More and larger public protests should be organized immediately. Bruce K. Gagnon Coordinator Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space PO Box 652 Brunswick, ME 04011 (207) 729-0517 http://www.space4peace.org globalnet at mindspring.com http://space4peace.blogspot.com (our blog) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From justinemccabe at earthlink.net Tue Aug 8 22:54:34 2006 From: justinemccabe at earthlink.net (Justine McCabe) Date: Wed, 09 Aug 2006 02:54:34 -0000 Subject: {news} GP RELEASE Greens: UN Gen. Assembly must invoke 'Uniting for Peace' Message-ID: <064d01c6bb5c$a05ef1c0$0402a8c0@JUSTINE> GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES http://www.gp.org For Immediate Release: Tuesday, August 8, 2006 Contacts: Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty at greens.org Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene at greens.org Greens call for U.N. General Assembly to invoke 'Uniting for Peace' resolution for immediate ceasefire in Lebanon . The U.S. veto in the U.N. is the major obstacle to peace, say Greens, who note that Bush ideologues favor attacks on Iran and a wider Middle East conflict . Israel must withdraw troops from Lebanon immediately WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Green Party of the United States today called on the General Assembly of the United Nations to invoke Resolution 377 'Uniting for Peace' in the face of the U.N. Security Council's inability to stop the violence the Middle East. Greens also urged the U.S. and U.N. to place pressure on Israel to respect Lebanese sovereignty and remove troops from Lebanon immediately, stressing that without a withdrawal a ceasefire will be impossible. "The U.N. must take all possible steps to press Israel to withdraw from Lebanon, to enact a ceasefire, and to prevent Israel, with U.S. support, from expanding the war with strikes against Syria and Iran," said Kathleen Culver, Green candidate for Congress in Tennessee (District 7) . "Every day the attacks between Israel and Hezbollah continue brings us closer to a wider regional conflict, and a possible global war." Under international law, the Security Council must take action to prevent war, but has been blocked by a veto from the Bush Administration with the support of the Blair government. Under Resolution 377, the UN General Assembly can take action when the Security Council fails to do so. Greens in the U.S. have urged both sides to halt the exchange of violence, which has left over a thousand civilians dead in Lebanon and Gaza and at least 75 dead in Israel, and have warned that Israel's retaliatory killing of civilians, 'targeted' assassinations, and destruction of infrastructure violate Fourth Geneva Convention prohibitions against 'collective punishment.' Israel's use of U.S.-made weapons violates U.S. laws against deploying such weapons for use against civilians. Green Party leaders listed several reasons for the U.N. General Assembly to act decisively for a ceasefire: . According to Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space , Pentagon personnel responsible for selecting targets for cruise missile first-strike attacks have been sent to Israel, evidence that Israel and the U.S. may seek a wider conflict. . Bush officials have sought excuses for an attack on Iran, in harmony with a program articulated by Bush Administration ideologues for military 'preemption,' war on multiple fronts, and a political makeover of the Middle East to give the U.S. power over and permanent access to Middle Eastern resources, especially oil. . As Iraq slides into civil war as a result of the U.S. invasion and occupation, expansion of the Israel-Lebanon-Palestine conflict will hinder efforts to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. . The policies and actions of Israel, the U.S., and U.K. increasingly draw condemnation from the rest of the world, internal dissension from their own citizens, and the rage of other Middle Eastern and Muslim nations, risking global war. . An ecological catastrophe looms as oil leaking from a Lebanese power station bombed by Israel has spreads north to the Syrian coastline and endangers the eastern Mediterranean region; more environmental damage is likely if the conflict spreads and more infrastructure is targeted. On April 3, 2003, the Green Party of the United States urged the U.N. to invoke 'Uniting for Peace' in response to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which violated the U.N. charter and U.S. constitutional law. Greens have repeatedly called for Israel to end the occupation and fully recognize the human rights of Palestinians, in accord with international law and U.N. directives, as necessary first steps for lasting peace and security in the Middle East. In November, 2005, the Green Party endorsed a resolution calling for divestment and a general boycott of Israel until it complies with international law and realizes human rights for Palestinians, including those living within Israel's borders . ==> For Green campaign listings, news, photos, and web sites, visit the Green Party's candidate spotlight page and the Green elections database , which lists all 2006 candidates. MORE INFORMATION Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org 1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404 Washington, DC 20009. 202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN Fax 202-319-7193 Green Party Peace Action Committee (GPAX) http://www.gp.org/committees/peace 'Uniting for Peace' Petition http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/justforeignpolicy.org/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=325 http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/justforeignpolicy.org/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=326 "A Road to Peace in Lebanon?" (article on the U.N.'s 'Uniting For Peace' resolution) by Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith, Common Dreams, July 27, 2006 http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0727-27.htm ~ END ~ From justinemccabe at earthlink.net Wed Aug 9 09:36:43 2006 From: justinemccabe at earthlink.net (Justine McCabe) Date: Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:36:43 -0000 Subject: {news} The Guardian: Israel responded to an unprovoked attack by Hizbullah, right? Wrong Message-ID: <008e01c6bbb8$d521da60$0402a8c0@JUSTINE> FW: So who really did start it? ********************************************************************************************* Israel responded to an unprovoked attack by Hizbullah, right? Wrong The assault on Lebanon was premeditated - the soldiers' capture simply provided the excuse. It was also unnecessary George Monbiot Tuesday August 8, 2006 The Guardian Whatever we think of Israel's assault on Lebanon, all of us seem to agree about one fact: that it was a response, however disproportionate, to an unprovoked attack by Hizbullah. I repeated this "fact" in my last column, when I wrote that "Hizbullah fired the first shots". This being so, the Israeli government's supporters ask peaceniks like me, what would you have done? It's an important question. But its premise, I have now discovered, is flawed. Since Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, there have been hundreds of violations of the "blue line" between the two countries. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) reports that Israeli aircraft crossed the line "on an almost daily basis" between 2001 and 2003, and "persistently" until 2006. These incursions "caused great concern to the civilian population, particularly low-altitude flights that break the sound barrier over populated areas". On some occasions, Hizbullah tried to shoot them down with anti-aircraft guns. In October 2000, the Israel Defence Forces shot at unarmed Palestinian demonstrators on the border, killing three and wounding 20. In response, Hizbullah crossed the line and kidnapped three Israeli soldiers. On several occasions, Hizbullah fired missiles and mortar rounds at IDF positions, and the IDF responded with heavy artillery and sometimes aerial bombardment. Incidents like this killed three Israelis and three Lebanese in 2003; one Israeli soldier and two Hizbullah fighters in 2005; and two Lebanese people and three Israeli soldiers in February 2006. Rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel several times in 2004, 2005 and 2006, on some occasions by Hizbullah. But, the UN records, "none of the incidents resulted in a military escalation". On May 26 this year, two officials of Islamic Jihad - Nidal and Mahmoud Majzoub - were killed by a car bomb in the Lebanese city of Sidon. This was widely assumed in Lebanon and Israel to be the work of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. In June, a man named Mahmoud Rafeh confessed to the killings and admitted that he had been working for Mossad since 1994. Militants in southern Lebanon responded, on the day of the bombing, by launching eight rockets into Israel. One soldier was lightly wounded. There was a major bust-up on the border, during which one member of Hizbullah was killed and several wounded, and one Israeli soldier wounded. But while the border region "remained tense and volatile", Unifil says it was "generally quiet" until July 12. There has been a heated debate on the internet about whether the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah that day were captured in Israel or in Lebanon, but it now seems pretty clear that they were seized in Israel. This is what the UN says, and even Hizbullah seems to have forgotten that they were supposed to have been found sneaking around the outskirts of the Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab. Now it simply states that "the Islamic resistance captured two Israeli soldiers at the border with occupied Palestine". Three other Israeli soldiers were killed by the militants. There is also some dispute about when, on July 12, Hizbullah first fired its rockets; but Unifil makes it clear that the firing took place at the same time as the raid - 9am. Its purpose seems to have been to create a diversion. No one was hit. But there is no serious debate about why the two soldiers were captured: Hizbullah was seeking to exchange them for the 15 prisoners of war taken by the Israelis during the occupation of Lebanon and (in breach of article 118 of the third Geneva convention) never released. It seems clear that if Israel had handed over the prisoners, it would - without the spillage of any more blood - have retrieved its men and reduced the likelihood of further kidnappings. But the Israeli government refused to negotiate. Instead - well, we all know what happened instead. Almost 1,000 Lebanese and 33 Israeli civilians have been killed so far, and a million Lebanese displaced from their homes. On July 12, in other words, Hizbullah fired the first shots. But that act of aggression was simply one instance in a long sequence of small incursions and attacks over the past six years by both sides. So why was the Israeli response so different from all that preceded it? The answer is that it was not a reaction to the events of that day. The assault had been planned for months. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that "more than a year ago, a senior Israeli army officer began giving PowerPoint presentations, on an off-the-record basis, to US and other diplomats, journalists and thinktanks, setting out the plan for the current operation in revealing detail". The attack, he said, would last for three weeks. It would begin with bombing and culminate in a ground invasion. Gerald Steinberg, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, told the paper that "of all of Israel's wars since 1948, this was the one for which Israel was most prepared ... By 2004, the military campaign scheduled to last about three weeks that we're seeing now had already been blocked out and, in the last year or two, it's been simulated and rehearsed across the board". A "senior Israeli official" told the Washington Post that the raid by Hizbullah provided Israel with a "unique moment" for wiping out the organisation. The New Statesman's editor, John Kampfner, says he was told by more than one official source that the US government knew in advance of Israel's intention to take military action in Lebanon. The Bush administration told the British government. Israel's assault, then, was premeditated: it was simply waiting for an appropriate excuse. It was also unnecessary. It is true that Hizbullah had been building up munitions close to the border, as its current rocket attacks show. But so had Israel. Just as Israel could assert that it was seeking to deter incursions by Hizbullah, Hizbullah could claim - also with justification - that it was trying to deter incursions by Israel. The Lebanese army is certainly incapable of doing so. Yes, Hizbullah should have been pulled back from the Israeli border by the Lebanese government and disarmed. Yes, the raid and the rocket attack on July 12 were unjustified, stupid and provocative, like just about everything that has taken place around the border for the past six years. But the suggestion that Hizbullah could launch an invasion of Israel or that it constitutes an existential threat to the state is preposterous. Since the occupation ended, all its acts of war have been minor ones, and nearly all of them reactive. So it is not hard to answer the question of what we would have done. First, stop recruiting enemies, by withdrawing from the occupied territories in Palestine and Syria. Second, stop provoking the armed groups in Lebanon with violations of the blue line - in particular the persistent flights across the border. Third, release the prisoners of war who remain unlawfully incarcerated in Israel. Fourth, continue to defend the border, while maintaining the diplomatic pressure on Lebanon to disarm Hizbullah (as anyone can see, this would be much more feasible if the occupations were to end). Here then is my challenge to the supporters of the Israeli government: do you dare to contend that this programme would have caused more death and destruction than the current adventure has done? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dagosta at iconn.net Fri Aug 25 19:50:01 2006 From: dagosta at iconn.net (dagosta) Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 23:50:01 -0000 Subject: {news} Re: [CTGP-elections] we need this in CT "Million Solar roof bills signed into law" in CA Message-ID: <200608251849.AA1052770448@iconn.net> That and 300 days per year of sunshine... ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: Green Party-CT Reply-To: CTGP-elections at yahoogroups.com Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 08:29:51 -0700 (PDT) >---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- >Million Solar Roofs Bill Signed into Law by Jesse Broehl, Editor, RenewableEnergyAccess.com > > > > > August 23, 2006 > From L to R: SB 1 Author Senator Kevin Murray (D-LA), Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), Assemblymember Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo), Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bernadette Del Chiaro of Environment California at the signing of SB 1. > Photo: John Decker, Office of Gov. Schwarzenegger > > Los Angeles, California [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] After a long roller-coaster ride in the California legislature, the Million Solar Roofs Bill, SB1, is now law. Governor Schwarzenegger, who campaigned on a pledge to create a major solar program, signed the bill Monday. The bill, authored by Senator Kevin Murray, went through an evolution of different versions over the past three years leading to collective moments of both euphoria and disappointment for the solar industry. This final version proved suitable enough to California lawmakers and the competing special interests with a stake in its outcome. > > > > "Turning the vision of building a million solar roofs into state law has been a long time coming. But in the end, this law was worth the wait and the fight that it took to turn a great idea into a landmark law." > >-- Bernadette Del Chiaro, Clean Energy Advocate with Environment California, the leading sponsor of the Million Solar Roofs bill > "Nothing gets through the legislature that's perfect for someone without being a problem for someone else," said JP Ross, Policy Director for Vote Solar, one of the organizations that helped push for passage of this bill. "It was not the most perfect bill that passed, but the most perfect bill that could have passed. Everyone in the solar community is breathing a sigh of relief that we got what we needed; solar got the money in January from the PUC and now this codifies that into law." > >Following the larger solar policy topic in California has not only been a roller coaster ride but also a confusing ride, with policy and regulation taking on changing and divergent paths. SB1, as Ross noted, sets in stone a major victory achieved for solar back in January of this year when the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted to approve the California Solar Initiative (CSI). This provided two major items; the structure of a long-term (10-year) declining rebate plan, and the $3.2 billion dollars to fund it. > >While the PUC's plan was hailed as a breakthrough victory for solar, it left some key items unaddressed; chiefly, that net-metering caps needed to be raised. The Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) region was fast approaching its cap and would have reached it by early 2007, if not before, leading to a drastic halt in solar installations in the largest solar market. According to Ross, in 2004, the PG&E territory made up 85 percent of the California solar market. SB 1 now increases the cap from 0.5% of a utility's total load to 2.5%, enabling approximately 500,000 new solar system owners into the net-metering program. > >Another major item left unaddressed by the PUC's CSI approved last January is a provision requiring the state's municipalities to create their own solar rebate programs. The PUC regulates only publicly traded utilities (hence its name), leaving large "munies" like the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), and the Sacramento Municipal District (SMUD) out of the major statewide solar program. > >As a utility that wasn't forced to promote solar, SMUD is largely viewed as being progressive and accepting of solar energy through the solar programs it has administered on its own. The LADWP, on the other hand, is viewed as being slack in any commitment to solar. The massive utility serving most of Los Angeles does technically have a solar rebate program but it is widely considered to be too poorly funded to be a real program. > >Now, presumably, the LADWP will have to shape it up and administer a genuine and effective solar rebate program. SB1 now requires all munies in California to develop their own solar rebate programs so they will be making a similar, equitable effort -- as do the public utilities that are already required to provide rebates. For them to do so, a total of $800 million, coming from the larger CPUC pot approved in January, will be spread out over 10 years. > >SB1 also managed to find an acceptable middle ground in one of the most contentious areas in California solar policy: homebuilding solar mandates. Last summer, SB1 ground to a halt in the legislature over conflicts between a solar industry that wanted solar to be required on a small percentage of new homes and the homebuilders that would be directly involved. The homebuilders stung at the idea of any such mandates and went on to orchestrate a battle between building industry labor groups and the solar industry. By mid-summer, the lines of communication and negotiation went down just as the level of vitriol went up, and the bill died shortly thereafter. > >This time around, SB1 struck an acceptable balance by mandating that solar systems be offered "as an option" on new housing developments over 50 units in size. The specifics still need to be worked out but it will likely involve the builders working with the solar industry to provide prospective homeowners with information about the basics of solar projects and what additional costs they would incur in exchange for the long-term stability in their electric rates that solar projects provide. And, the price for these projects will be more palatable to the consumer since the cost will be subsidized by the larger California solar rebate plan (CSI). > >"Turning the vision of building a million solar roofs into state law has been a long time coming," said Bernadette Del Chiaro, Clean Energy Advocate with Environment California, the leading sponsor of the Million Solar Roofs bill. "But in the end, this law was worth the wait and the fight that it took to turn a great idea into a landmark law." > > >--------------------------------- > For further Information > > link to video from the Office of the Governor > > Please Note: RenewableEnergyAccess.com does not endorse the sites behind these links. We offer them for your additional research. Following these links will open a new browser window. > > >