From chapillsbury at igc.org Mon Sep 1 11:53:12 2008 From: chapillsbury at igc.org (Charlie Pillsbury) Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2008 11:53:12 -0400 Subject: {news} REMINDER: New Haven chapter/NOMINATING meeting 7:30pm Tues., Sept. 2 In-Reply-To: <005f01c9053b$6a8acb20$3fa06160$@org> References: <003101c6eb40$3d5cbd00$6500a8c0@S0031616584> <005101c80a2a$07952c20$6500a8c0@S0031616584> <001701c80c42$8966ce10$9c346a30$@org> <6.1.0.6.2.20071011202253.028005d0@nlb25.mail.yale.edu> <000001c82032$74b12840$6600a8c0@S0031616584> <006801c820a1$c7ed2490$57c76db0$@org> <005f01c9053b$6a8acb20$3fa06160$@org> Message-ID: <006101c90c4a$d83c3f30$88b4bd90$@org> Date: Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008 Time: 7:30 p.m. Location: Never Ending Book Store, 810 State Street, New Haven CT 06511 Purpose: Nominate candidates for public office, including Third Congressional District; State Senate District 33; and New Haven Registrar of Voters. Nominations shall be accepted from the floor. Only registered Greens who are present at the meeting are 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, instant runoff voting will be used and abstentions will not be counted as votes. Charles A. Pillsbury, Co-Chair, New Haven Green Party 247 Saint Ronan Street New Haven CT 06511 203-865-6575 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From apbrison at hotmail.com Mon Sep 1 22:03:36 2008 From: apbrison at hotmail.com (allan brison) Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2008 22:03:36 -0400 Subject: {news} FW: DN!: Urgent Action Alert: Amy Goodman Unlawfully Arrested At RNC In-Reply-To: <20080901200829.76691@list.democracynow.org> References: <20080901200829.76691@list.democracynow.org> Message-ID: Read here about Amy Goodman being arrested in St. Paul, watch it on the youtube link, and call the numbers in protest.> From: outreach at democracynow.org> To: apbrison at hotmail.com> Subject: DN!: Urgent Action Alert: Amy Goodman Unlawfully Arrested At RNC> Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2008 20:08:32 -0400> > Amy Goodman and Two Democracy Now! Producers Unlawfully Arrested At the RNC> > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE> www.democracynow.org> > September 1, 2008> > Contact:> Denis Moynihan 917-549-5000> Mike Burke 646-552-5107, mike at democracynow.org> > ST. PAUL, MN?Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was unlawfully arrested in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota at approximately 5 p.m. local time. Police violently manhandled Goodman, yanking her arm, as they arrested her. Video of her arrest can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ> > Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfully detained. They are Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Kouddous and Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman's crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.> > Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were being arrested on suspicion of rioting. They are currently being held at the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul.> > Democracy Now! is calling on all journalists and concerned citizens to call the office of Mayor Chris Coleman and the Ramsey County Jail and demand the immediate release of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar. These calls can be directed to: Chris Rider from Mayor Coleman's office at 651-266-8535 and the Ramsey County Jail at 651-266-9350 (press extension 0).> > Democracy Now! stands by Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and condemns this action by Twin Cities law enforcement as a clear violation of the freedom of the press and the First Amendment rights of these journalists.> > During the demonstration in which they were arrested law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force. Several dozen others were also arrested during this action.> > Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism's top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar is a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists from the nation's leading independent news outlet.> > Democracy Now! is a nationally syndicated public TV and radio program that airs on over 700 radio and TV stations across the US and the globe.> > Video of Amy Goodman's Arrest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ> > ##> = = = = = = = = => ABOUT DEMOCRACY NOW!> Democracy Now! airs on over 650 radio and TV stations, including> Pacifica, NPR, community, and college radio stations; on public> access, PBS, satellite TV stations (DISH network: Free Speech TV> ch. 9415 and Link TV ch. 9410; DIRECTV: Link TV ch. 375); on the World> Radio Network's European Service and on the Community Broacasting> Association of Australia service; as a "podcast", automatically> downloaded to your computer or portable audio player; and streams live> M-F at 8am EST at www.democracynow.org> = = = = = = = = => Now real-time CLOSED CAPTIONED on TV!> You can also view/listen/read all Democracy Now! shows online:> http://www.democracynow.org> To bring Democracy Now! to your community, go to:> http://www.democracynow.org/get_involved/bring_to_station> = = = = = = = = => --~----------------------------------------------------------------> You are subscribed as apbrison at hotmail.com> EasyUnsubscribe or manage your settings at:> http://list.democracynow.org/do/unsub/digest/16814959/114bgrmf7d/1061> or by email to digest-unsub-16814959 at list.democracynow.org> --~--> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Tue Sep 2 14:06:53 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 14:06:53 -0400 Subject: {news} Nader endorses Harold Burbank for Congress Message-ID: http://www.thecornerreport.com/index.php?title=nader_channels_eugene_debs_gains_support [some typos corrected] Nader channels Eugene Debs; gains support; endorses Burbank for Connecticut' s 5th Congressional District English (US) September 1st, 2008 by admin ( Email ) By Gale Courey Toensing SHERMAN, Conn. - When people ask presidential candidate Ralph Nader what he wants to achieve, he has a simple answer: A better world, he says. "I simply start with what we all hope to achieve -clean elections, universal heath care, and a living wage - the modest first stage improvements for a civilized, caring society," Nader told a group of several dozen people at a private house party on Sunday. Not many people would disagree with those goals or with Nader's battle to take back the country from the multinational corporations that now control the government, or the dozen or more put-people-first issues that he and his vice presidential running mate Matt Gonzalez have put "on the table" on their website http://www.votenader.org , Nader said. A visit to the website details Nader and Gonzalez's platform, but also provides a reminder of the remarkable list of achievements Nader has gained as a citizen activist for more than four decades. He was responsible for safety belts in cars, the creation of the Freedom of Information Act, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Safe Drinking Water Act, and more. He founded or helped start more than 100 public interest groups that help improve safety and the quality of life for all Americans. "Ralph Nader has saved more lives than anyone else in America," one supporter said. The party had two objectives: to raise funds for Nader's presidential campaign and to announce his support for Harold Burbank II, the Green Party candidate who is running for Congress in the state's 5th District against first term Democratic incumbent Chris Murphy, and his Republican challenger David Cappiello, a state senator from Danbury. Harold Burbank II is challenging first term Democratic incumbent Christ Murphy for the 5th District congressional seat. Burbank, a civil rights attorney, introduced both himself and Nader to the gathering. The two men's friendship goes back several years. Burbank volunteered his legal services to Nader's 2004 presidential campaign. Burbank has worked in the peace and justice movement for 30 years. During that time he worked in the public sector, including the attorney general's office, and has never worked for a corporation. Among the issues Burbank supports are universal health care, full employment with a living wage and job protection, and ending the war in Iraq and U.S. imperialism. He calls for the impeachment of President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for war crimes. "No one is above the law, especially for war crimes under international treaties such as the UN Charter, Geneva Conventions and Nuremberg Charter, which make war crimes the ultimate crimes against humanity," Burbank said. More information about Burbank and his positions is available at his website at http://www.newmenu.org/haroldburbank Burbank is the only candidate for Congress that Nader has ever supported during his long career as an advocate for public safety, the environment and honest government. Nader launched his fifth bid for president last February. So far, he has qualified for the ballot in 45 states, plus the District of Columbia without having filed a single ballot access lawsuit. This year, Nader has exceeded his "personal best." which occurred in 2000 when he was on the ballot in 43 states and D.C. Relaxed and informal, Nader spoke extemporaneously to the group and held a question and answer period afterward. This is the first time in the history of the country that a minority party actually represented the majority opinion of the people, Nader observed. The public's "discomfort" level is reflected in the current polls: 81 percent of Americans polled think the country is going in the wrong direction; 75 percent think corporations have too much control over our lives; and 61 percent think the two major parties are failing. Historically, most third parties espouse issues that are supported by a minority and later picked up by one of the major parties, such as the 19th century anti-slavery and pro-women's rights movements. "So, were coming in on a bizarre situation where we now are the dissenters and our positions are supported by the majority," Nader said. But people have bought into the two major party system and the likelihood - or certainty - that one of its candidates will win - and that's why they keep voting for them, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. "This always upsets me because the 60th seat at Wimbledon has a shot at center court; the 60th seat at the NCAA has a shot for the final four, but the third seat in the presidential candidacy is considered tilting at windmills," Nader said. The major parties understand "intuitively" that the system itself is "monumentally obstructive," locking out challengers through a variety of questionable methods, including harassing petitions and getting petition signatures for specious reasons. That's why one of Nader's top priorities is to open up the elections process and the presidential debates. The first step is to get rid of all special interest funding and have public funding of elections, an initiative that the two parties claim to support, but they never actually implement, Nader said. It's all about civil liberties, Nader said. "Let's face it, people who are well to do can live in a world of their own that's pretty comfortable and they have a lot of personal freedom, but along with tens of millions of other Americans, they don't have civic freedom," Nader said. He quoted Cicero, who said, "Freedom is participating in power." "That's a fantastic definition of freedom," Nader said. Civic freedom is having a say in whether the country goes to war or not, how taxpayer dollars are used, and whether everyone is going to have health insurance, he said. People often ask Nader why he doesn't try to achieve his goals outside of the electoral system. "Because for 20 years ever since the Democrats started dialing big time for corporate dollars, they've shut the door on solutions and we can't get anything done. We can't get congressional hearings; we can't get regulatory agencies to respond to our petitions," Nader said. Perhaps one of the most cogent questions Nader posed - and answered - was "When was the last time we solved a major problem? We couldn't even clean up and help people after Katrina and it's because of the paralyzed government. The government has been hijacked by big corporations whether it's the Defense Department or the Treasury. So you try to bring young people into the electoral area, try to mobilize new energies and you push the system so its fangs come out when you challenge it and you force people to look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves how do they continue to succumb to a two party duopoly that makes them vote against people they believe in and for people they don't believe in," Nader said. He quoted labor leader Eugene Debs, an American labor leader in the 19th and early 20th centuries, who was one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). More than 100 years ago, Debs said, "It's better to vote for someone you believe in and lose than vote for someone you don't believe in and win because that someone's going to betray you." Nader stressed the importance of bringing young people into the process. "If you don't do that the future is pretty clear: Things are going to get worse and the concentration of power gets worse." He rolled out the statistics: --100 million poor people "and the Democrats never mention the poor, only the middle class, which is shrinking"; -- 47 million people who make $10 an hour or less before deductions. "You can't live on that," Nader said. --50 million people without health insurance --50 million who are underinsured --18,000 people dying each year because they cannot afford health care --58,000 people dying because of work-related diseases --65,000 people dying because of air pollution. "At the end of his career, Eugene Debs was asked by a reporter around 1920 - and, by the way, he ran for president five times so I have an affinity for him - 'What's your greatest regret?' And he said, 'My greatest regret is that under our Constitution Americans can have almost anything they want, but it just seems like they don't want much of anything at all,'" Nader said. Americans' expectations -- or demands - of their government are the worst in the western developed world, Nader said. He pointed out that, at the end of World War II when Europe was in rubble and America was the most powerful country in the world, Europeans through their social democratic governments, trade unions, associations and other non-governmental organizations demanded -- and got - universal health care, decent pensions, living wages, efficient public transportation systems, four weeks or more of paid vacations, day care, paid maternity leave, paid family sick leave, and universal free tuition to universities. "We don't have any of that here today, 63 years later," Nader said. People are faced with two choices, Nader said. "We can sort of give up on ourselves and live in our comfortable personal lives and accumulate our estates or we can elevate our own self respect and develop a determination to turn things around. And I have no doubt that they can be turned around. There are a lot of good people in this country. They' ve just got to get to know each other civically, not just socially," Nader said. He estimated that the political system and agenda could be turned around by about one million people organized into congressional watch dog groups, 2,000 per district with two full time staff to bring the first stages of improvement to the collective life in America. "It's not all that much. I'm told there are 10 million bird watchers in our country," Nader said. From apbrison at hotmail.com Tue Sep 2 14:09:59 2008 From: apbrison at hotmail.com (allan brison) Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 14:09:59 -0400 Subject: {news} The arrest of Amy Goodman and 2 other Democracy Now! personnel In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Keep the calls coming. See below in red. I got through to the Ramsey County Jail and was told that the 3 had been released. But people should keep calling and ask if the charges have been dropped. Also there is a complaint line. Be quick, the person answering hangs up on you - I've called 3 times. The complaint number is 651-266-8989. Call the other numbers below as well. Ask about the charges. Thanks, Allan September 1, 2008 Contact:Denis Moynihan 917-549-5000Mike Burke 646-552-5107, mike at democracynow.org ST. PAUL, MN?Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was unlawfully arrested in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota at approximately 5 p.m. local time. Police violently manhandled Goodman, yanking her arm, as they arrested her. Video of her arrest can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfully detained. They are Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Kouddous and Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman's crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press. Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were being arrested on suspicion of rioting. They are currently being held at the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul. Democracy Now! is calling on all journalists and concerned citizens to call the office of Mayor Chris Coleman and the Ramsey County Jail and demand the immediate release of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar. These calls can be directed to: Chris Rider from Mayor Coleman's office at 651-266-8535 and the Ramsey County Jail at 651-266-9350 (press extension 0). Democracy Now! stands by Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and condemns this action by Twin Cities law enforcement as a clear violation of the freedom of the press and the First Amendment rights of these journalists. During the demonstration in which they were arrested law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force. Several dozen others were also arrested during this action. Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism's top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar is a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists from the nation's leading independent news outlet. Democracy Now! is a nationally syndicated public TV and radio program that airs on over 700 radio and TV stations across the US and the globe. Video of Amy Goodman's Arrest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hksHDv1i55R2qYI6dkmMm10uxZ0AD92ULV1O7 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From apbrison at hotmail.com Tue Sep 2 15:41:42 2008 From: apbrison at hotmail.com (allan brison) Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 15:41:42 -0400 Subject: {news} FW: Amy Goodman Arrested In-Reply-To: <27702443.1220381211121.JavaMail.www@app18> References: <27702443.1220381211121.JavaMail.www@app18> Message-ID: Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 13:28:57 -0500From: list at freepress.netTo: apbrison at hotmail.comSubject: Amy Goodman Arrested Dear Allan, Police in St. Paul arrested several journalists yesterday, including Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman. Stand Up for Independent Journalism Yesterday, police in St. Paul arrested several journalists, including Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and an AP photographer as they were covering protests of the Republican National Convention. Amy Goodman and others were released last night, but the story is not over. We need you to cosign our public letter demanding that press intimidation cease immediately, and that all charges be dropped. It will be delivered immediately to St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, the RNC Host Committee and the local prosecuting attorneys. We need 10,000 signatures in the next 24 hours, so please take action now: Sign the Letter: Drop All Charges Against Journalists In addition to these arrests, police with firearms drawn raided a meeting of the video journalists' group I-Witness and arrested independent media, bloggers and videomakers. We?re also receiving late-breaking reports of other arrests. By signing this letter, you?re sending a powerful message: Officials must rein in aggressive and violent tactics by local law enforcement, stop the targeting of journalists and immediately drop all charges against them. Reporting by independent journalists is vital to a functioning democracy. Americans must have access to diverse sources of information to hold their leaders accountable. Journalists must be free to do their jobs without intimidation. Please Take Action by Signing this Letter Don?t wait. We need a free press now more than ever. Tell your friends and take action now! Thank you, Josh SilverExecutive DirectorFree Presswww.freepress.net 1. Watch the video of Goodman's arrest. 2. See other journalists being arrested as reported by UpTake. 3. News of the AP arrest. 4. Learn more about the arrest of an ABC News producer during the Democratic Convention in Denver. 5. Watch the video of the police raid of I-Witness journalists (Caution: strong language). Take action on this important campaign at:https://secure.freepress.net/site/Advocacy?id=281 Tell your friends about this campaign at: http://free.convio.net/site/Ecard?ecard_id=1361 You (apbrison at hotmail.com) are receiving this e-mail as an opt-in subscriber to Free Press' e-activist list. You can unsubscribe or manage your account at any time. Note: Free Press is a national nonpartisan organization working to reform the media. Free Press does not endorse or oppose any candidate for public office. OUR OTHER CAMPAIGNS: Free Press is a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media. Learn more at www.freepress.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From richard.duffee at gmail.com Tue Sep 2 18:13:00 2008 From: richard.duffee at gmail.com (Richard Duffee) Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 18:13:00 -0400 Subject: {news} Re: [haroldburbank] Nader endorses Harold Burbank for Congress In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <21f4f7390809021513x4941c414j78bddcddab6edb44@mail.gmail.com> Beautiful article! Congratulations, Harold! On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 2:06 PM, David Bedell wrote: > > http://www.thecornerreport.com/index.php?title=nader_channels_eugene_debs_gains_support > [some typos corrected] > > Nader channels Eugene Debs; gains support; endorses Burbank for > Connecticut' > s 5th Congressional District > English (US) September 1st, 2008 by admin ( Email ) > > By Gale Courey Toensing > > SHERMAN, Conn. - When people ask presidential candidate Ralph Nader what he > wants to achieve, he has a simple answer: A better world, he says. > > "I simply start with what we all hope to achieve -clean elections, > universal > heath care, and a living wage - the modest first stage improvements for a > civilized, caring society," Nader told a group of several dozen people at a > private house party on Sunday. > > Not many people would disagree with those goals or with Nader's battle to > take back the country from the multinational corporations that now control > the government, or the dozen or more put-people-first issues that he and > his > vice presidential running mate Matt Gonzalez have put "on the table" on > their website http://www.votenader.org , Nader said. > > A visit to the website details Nader and Gonzalez's platform, but also > provides a reminder of the remarkable list of achievements Nader has gained > as a citizen activist for more than four decades. He was responsible for > safety belts in cars, the creation of the Freedom of Information Act, the > Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health > Administration (OSHA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Safe > Drinking Water Act, and more. He founded or helped start more than 100 > public interest groups that help improve safety and the quality of life for > all Americans. > > "Ralph Nader has saved more lives than anyone else in America," one > supporter said. > > The party had two objectives: to raise funds for Nader's presidential > campaign and to announce his support for Harold Burbank II, the Green Party > candidate who is running for Congress in the state's 5th District against > first term Democratic incumbent Chris Murphy, and his Republican challenger > David Cappiello, a state senator from Danbury. > > Harold Burbank II is challenging first term Democratic incumbent Christ > Murphy for the 5th District congressional seat. > > Burbank, a civil rights attorney, introduced both himself and Nader to the > gathering. The two men's friendship goes back several years. Burbank > volunteered his legal services to Nader's 2004 presidential campaign. > > Burbank has worked in the peace and justice movement for 30 years. During > that time he worked in the public sector, including the attorney general's > office, and has never worked for a corporation. Among the issues Burbank > supports are universal health care, full employment with a living wage and > job protection, and ending the war in Iraq and U.S. imperialism. > > He calls for the impeachment of President George Bush and Vice President > Dick Cheney for war crimes. > > "No one is above the law, especially for war crimes under international > treaties such as the UN Charter, Geneva Conventions and Nuremberg Charter, > which make war crimes the ultimate crimes against humanity," Burbank said. > More information about Burbank and his positions is available at his > website > at http://www.newmenu.org/haroldburbank > > Burbank is the only candidate for Congress that Nader has ever supported > during his long career as an advocate for public safety, the environment > and > honest government. > > Nader launched his fifth bid for president last February. So far, he has > qualified for the ballot in 45 states, plus the District of Columbia > without > having filed a single ballot access lawsuit. This year, Nader has exceeded > his "personal best." which occurred in 2000 when he was on the ballot in 43 > states and D.C. > > Relaxed and informal, Nader spoke extemporaneously to the group and held a > question and answer period afterward. > > This is the first time in the history of the country that a minority party > actually represented the majority opinion of the people, Nader observed. > > The public's "discomfort" level is reflected in the current polls: 81 > percent of Americans polled think the country is going in the wrong > direction; 75 percent think corporations have too much control over our > lives; and 61 percent think the two major parties are failing. > > Historically, most third parties espouse issues that are supported by a > minority and later picked up by one of the major parties, such as the 19th > century anti-slavery and pro-women's rights movements. > > "So, were coming in on a bizarre situation where we now are the dissenters > and our positions are supported by the majority," Nader said. > > But people have bought into the two major party system and the likelihood - > or certainty - that one of its candidates will win - and that's why they > keep voting for them, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. > > "This always upsets me because the 60th seat at Wimbledon has a shot at > center court; the 60th seat at the NCAA has a shot for the final four, but > the third seat in the presidential candidacy is considered tilting at > windmills," Nader said. > > The major parties understand "intuitively" that the system itself is > "monumentally obstructive," locking out challengers through a variety of > questionable methods, including harassing petitions and getting petition > signatures for specious reasons. > > That's why one of Nader's top priorities is to open up the elections > process > and the presidential debates. The first step is to get rid of all special > interest funding and have public funding of elections, an initiative that > the two parties claim to support, but they never actually implement, Nader > said. > > It's all about civil liberties, Nader said. > > "Let's face it, people who are well to do can live in a world of their own > that's pretty comfortable and they have a lot of personal freedom, but > along > with tens of millions of other Americans, they don't have civic freedom," > Nader said. > > He quoted Cicero, who said, "Freedom is participating in power." > > "That's a fantastic definition of freedom," Nader said. Civic freedom is > having a say in whether the country goes to war or not, how taxpayer > dollars > are used, and whether everyone is going to have health insurance, he said. > > People often ask Nader why he doesn't try to achieve his goals outside of > the electoral system. > > "Because for 20 years ever since the Democrats started dialing big time for > corporate dollars, they've shut the door on solutions and we can't get > anything done. We can't get congressional hearings; we can't get regulatory > agencies to respond to our petitions," Nader said. > > Perhaps one of the most cogent questions Nader posed - and answered - was > "When was the last time we solved a major problem? We couldn't even clean > up > and help people after Katrina and it's because of the paralyzed government. > The government has been hijacked by big corporations whether it's the > Defense Department or the Treasury. So you try to bring young people into > the electoral area, try to mobilize new energies and you push the system so > its fangs come out when you challenge it and you force people to look at > themselves in the mirror and ask themselves how do they continue to succumb > to a two party duopoly that makes them vote against people they believe in > and for people they don't believe in," Nader said. > > He quoted labor leader Eugene Debs, an American labor leader in the 19th > and > early 20th centuries, who was one of the founding members of the > International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). > > More than 100 years ago, Debs said, "It's better to vote for someone you > believe in and lose than vote for someone you don't believe in and win > because that someone's going to betray you." > > Nader stressed the importance of bringing young people into the process. > "If > you don't do that the future is pretty clear: Things are going to get worse > and the concentration of power gets worse." > > He rolled out the statistics: > --100 million poor people "and the Democrats never mention the poor, only > the middle class, which is shrinking"; > -- 47 million people who make $10 an hour or less before deductions. "You > can't live on that," Nader said. > --50 million people without health insurance > --50 million who are underinsured > --18,000 people dying each year because they cannot afford health care > --58,000 people dying because of work-related diseases > --65,000 people dying because of air pollution. > > "At the end of his career, Eugene Debs was asked by a reporter around 1920 > - > and, by the way, he ran for president five times so I have an affinity for > him - 'What's your greatest regret?' And he said, 'My greatest regret is > that under our Constitution Americans can have almost anything they want, > but it just seems like they don't want much of anything at all,'" Nader > said. > > Americans' expectations -- or demands - of their government are the worst > in > the western developed world, Nader said. > > He pointed out that, at the end of World War II when Europe was in rubble > and America was the most powerful country in the world, Europeans through > their social democratic governments, trade unions, associations and other > non-governmental organizations demanded -- and got - universal health care, > decent pensions, living wages, efficient public transportation systems, > four > weeks or more of paid vacations, day care, paid maternity leave, paid > family > sick leave, and universal free tuition to universities. > > "We don't have any of that here today, 63 years later," Nader said. > People are faced with two choices, Nader said. > > "We can sort of give up on ourselves and live in our comfortable personal > lives and accumulate our estates or we can elevate our own self respect and > develop a determination to turn things around. And I have no doubt that > they > can be turned around. There are a lot of good people in this country. They' > ve just got to get to know each other civically, not just socially," Nader > said. > > He estimated that the political system and agenda could be turned around by > about one million people organized into congressional watch dog groups, > 2,000 per district with two full time staff to bring the first stages of > improvement to the collective life in America. > > "It's not all that much. I'm told there are 10 million bird watchers in our > country," Nader said. > > __._,_.___ Messages in this topic > > (1) Reply (via web post) > | > Start a new topic > > Messages| > Files| > Photos| > Links| > Database| > Polls| > Members| > Calendar > [image: Yahoo! Groups] > Change settings via the Web(Yahoo! ID required) > Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest| Switch > format to Traditional > Visit Your Group > | > Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe > > Visit Your Group > > Yahoo! News > > Odd News > > You won't believe > > it, but it's true > Find Balance > > on Yahoo! Groups > > manage nutrition, > > activity & well-being. > Featured Y! Groups > > and category pages. > > There is something > > for everyone. > . > > __,_._,___ > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Tue Sep 2 22:12:30 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 21:12:30 -0500 Subject: {news} Nader endorses Harold Burbank for Congress Message-ID: <20080903021230.6212A32675A@ws1-8.us4.outblaze.com> this is a good article,,but Nader has endorsed many candidates for Congress including Ralph ferrucci for Senate ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Bedell" To: haroldburbank at yahoogroups.com, ctgp-news at ml.greens.org Subject: {news} Nader endorses Harold Burbank for Congress Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 14:06:53 -0400 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.thecornerreport.com/index.php?title=nader_channels_eugene_debs_gains_support [some typos corrected] Nader channels Eugene Debs; gains support; endorses Burbank for Connecticut' s 5th Congressional District English (US) September 1st, 2008 by admin ( Email ) By Gale Courey Toensing SHERMAN, Conn. - When people ask presidential candidate Ralph Nader what he wants to achieve, he has a simple answer: A better world, he says. "I simply start with what we all hope to achieve -clean elections, universal heath care, and a living wage - the modest first stage improvements for a civilized, caring society," Nader told a group of several dozen people at a private house party on Sunday. Not many people would disagree with those goals or with Nader's battle to take back the country from the multinational corporations that now control the government, or the dozen or more put-people-first issues that he and his vice presidential running mate Matt Gonzalez have put "on the table" on their website http://www.votenader.org , Nader said. A visit to the website details Nader and Gonzalez's platform, but also provides a reminder of the remarkable list of achievements Nader has gained as a citizen activist for more than four decades. He was responsible for safety belts in cars, the creation of the Freedom of Information Act, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Safe Drinking Water Act, and more. He founded or helped start more than 100 public interest groups that help improve safety and the quality of life for all Americans. "Ralph Nader has saved more lives than anyone else in America," one supporter said. The party had two objectives: to raise funds for Nader's presidential campaign and to announce his support for Harold Burbank II, the Green Party candidate who is running for Congress in the state's 5th District against first term Democratic incumbent Chris Murphy, and his Republican challenger David Cappiello, a state senator from Danbury. Harold Burbank II is challenging first term Democratic incumbent Christ Murphy for the 5th District congressional seat. Burbank, a civil rights attorney, introduced both himself and Nader to the gathering. The two men's friendship goes back several years. Burbank volunteered his legal services to Nader's 2004 presidential campaign. Burbank has worked in the peace and justice movement for 30 years. During that time he worked in the public sector, including the attorney general's office, and has never worked for a corporation. Among the issues Burbank supports are universal health care, full employment with a living wage and job protection, and ending the war in Iraq and U.S. imperialism. He calls for the impeachment of President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for war crimes. "No one is above the law, especially for war crimes under international treaties such as the UN Charter, Geneva Conventions and Nuremberg Charter, which make war crimes the ultimate crimes against humanity," Burbank said. More information about Burbank and his positions is available at his website at http://www.newmenu.org/haroldburbank Burbank is the only candidate for Congress that Nader has ever supported during his long career as an advocate for public safety, the environment and honest government. Nader launched his fifth bid for president last February. So far, he has qualified for the ballot in 45 states, plus the District of Columbia without having filed a single ballot access lawsuit. This year, Nader has exceeded his "personal best." which occurred in 2000 when he was on the ballot in 43 states and D.C. Relaxed and informal, Nader spoke extemporaneously to the group and held a question and answer period afterward. This is the first time in the history of the country that a minority party actually represented the majority opinion of the people, Nader observed. The public's "discomfort" level is reflected in the current polls: 81 percent of Americans polled think the country is going in the wrong direction; 75 percent think corporations have too much control over our lives; and 61 percent think the two major parties are failing. Historically, most third parties espouse issues that are supported by a minority and later picked up by one of the major parties, such as the 19th century anti-slavery and pro-women's rights movements. "So, were coming in on a bizarre situation where we now are the dissenters and our positions are supported by the majority," Nader said. But people have bought into the two major party system and the likelihood - or certainty - that one of its candidates will win - and that's why they keep voting for them, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. "This always upsets me because the 60th seat at Wimbledon has a shot at center court; the 60th seat at the NCAA has a shot for the final four, but the third seat in the presidential candidacy is considered tilting at windmills," Nader said. The major parties understand "intuitively" that the system itself is "monumentally obstructive," locking out challengers through a variety of questionable methods, including harassing petitions and getting petition signatures for specious reasons. That's why one of Nader's top priorities is to open up the elections process and the presidential debates. The first step is to get rid of all special interest funding and have public funding of elections, an initiative that the two parties claim to support, but they never actually implement, Nader said. It's all about civil liberties, Nader said. "Let's face it, people who are well to do can live in a world of their own that's pretty comfortable and they have a lot of personal freedom, but along with tens of millions of other Americans, they don't have civic freedom," Nader said. He quoted Cicero, who said, "Freedom is participating in power." "That's a fantastic definition of freedom," Nader said. Civic freedom is having a say in whether the country goes to war or not, how taxpayer dollars are used, and whether everyone is going to have health insurance, he said. People often ask Nader why he doesn't try to achieve his goals outside of the electoral system. "Because for 20 years ever since the Democrats started dialing big time for corporate dollars, they've shut the door on solutions and we can't get anything done. We can't get congressional hearings; we can't get regulatory agencies to respond to our petitions," Nader said. Perhaps one of the most cogent questions Nader posed - and answered - was "When was the last time we solved a major problem? We couldn't even clean up and help people after Katrina and it's because of the paralyzed government. The government has been hijacked by big corporations whether it's the Defense Department or the Treasury. So you try to bring young people into the electoral area, try to mobilize new energies and you push the system so its fangs come out when you challenge it and you force people to look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves how do they continue to succumb to a two party duopoly that makes them vote against people they believe in and for people they don't believe in," Nader said. He quoted labor leader Eugene Debs, an American labor leader in the 19th and early 20th centuries, who was one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). More than 100 years ago, Debs said, "It's better to vote for someone you believe in and lose than vote for someone you don't believe in and win because that someone's going to betray you." Nader stressed the importance of bringing young people into the process. "If you don't do that the future is pretty clear: Things are going to get worse and the concentration of power gets worse." He rolled out the statistics: --100 million poor people "and the Democrats never mention the poor, only the middle class, which is shrinking"; -- 47 million people who make $10 an hour or less before deductions. "You can't live on that," Nader said. --50 million people without health insurance --50 million who are underinsured --18,000 people dying each year because they cannot afford health care --58,000 people dying because of work-related diseases --65,000 people dying because of air pollution. "At the end of his career, Eugene Debs was asked by a reporter around 1920 - and, by the way, he ran for president five times so I have an affinity for him - 'What's your greatest regret?' And he said, 'My greatest regret is that under our Constitution Americans can have almost anything they want, but it just seems like they don't want much of anything at all,'" Nader said. Americans' expectations -- or demands - of their government are the worst in the western developed world, Nader said. He pointed out that, at the end of World War II when Europe was in rubble and America was the most powerful country in the world, Europeans through their social democratic governments, trade unions, associations and other non-governmental organizations demanded -- and got - universal health care, decent pensions, living wages, efficient public transportation systems, four weeks or more of paid vacations, day care, paid maternity leave, paid family sick leave, and universal free tuition to universities. "We don't have any of that here today, 63 years later," Nader said. People are faced with two choices, Nader said. "We can sort of give up on ourselves and live in our comfortable personal lives and accumulate our estates or we can elevate our own self respect and develop a determination to turn things around. And I have no doubt that they can be turned around. There are a lot of good people in this country. They' ve just got to get to know each other civically, not just socially," Nader said. He estimated that the political system and agenda could be turned around by about one million people organized into congressional watch dog groups, 2,000 per district with two full time staff to bring the first stages of improvement to the collective life in America. "It's not all that much. I'm told there are 10 million bird watchers in our country," Nader said. 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 ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Wed Sep 3 19:31:15 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2008 18:31:15 -0500 Subject: {news} Sec of State says we have about 1, 700 Greens in Press release Message-ID: <20080903233115.F0264BE4078@ws1-9.us4.outblaze.com> In a press release about latino voters , The CT Sec. of State list all the many party' s including the Indepence (?) and Independent. Our trouble is many Greens were Delisted in the recnet past becuase it it up to Local elected Reisitgers to list them if the partty is locally active. We aregued that we where state wide active //www.sots.ct.gov/sots/lib/sots/releases/2008/9.2.08_8500_new_latino_voters.pdf ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Thu Sep 4 01:55:12 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2008 01:55:12 -0400 Subject: {news} Sec of State says we have about 1, 700 Greens in Press release Message-ID: Thanks, Tim. Those figures are worth looking at, so I'm pasting them below. 133 new Greens since January 1st is not a bad growth rate. http://www.sots.ct.gov/sots/lib/sots/releases/2008/9.2.08_8500_new_latino_voters.pdf TOTAL ACTIVE VOTERS BY PARTY AS OF 08/29/08 PARTY COUNT _______________________________________________________________________ A Better Future 3 A Connecticut Party 51 A Sentinel Party 35 Concerned Citizens 261 Connecticut For Lieberman 52 Democratic 718,329 Enfield Taxpayers Party 2 Friends Of Saybrook 20 Green 1,785 Independence 1,094 Independence For Montville 11 Independent 1,878 Libertarian 841 Norwich for Change 1 Orange Taxpayers 8 Pro-Bethel 5 Reform 83 Republican 409,664 Swing 2 Unaffiliated 808,342 Waterford Independent 1 Winsted Independent 42 Working Families 13 Working Families Party 1 =========== Total Active Voters 1,942,524 VOTERS BY PARTY REGISTERED SINCE 01/01/2008 PARTY COUNT ____________________________________________________________ Connecticut For Lieberman 31 Democratic 57,759 Friends Of Saybrook 1 Green 133 Independence 192 Independent 231 Libertarian 86 Reform 1 Republican 16,905 Unaffiliated 49,049 Working Families 2 Working Families Party 1 =========== Newly Registered Voters 124,391 VOTERS AGE 18 TO 29 REGISTERED SINCE 01/01/08 PARTY COUNT ___________________________________________________ Connecticut For Lieberman 16 Democratic 26,380 Green 77 Independence 88 Independent 113 Libertarian 56 Republican 6,675 Unaffiliated 24,570 Working Families 1 Working Families Party 1 ========== Newly registered voters since 01/01/08 57,977 ----- Original Message ----- Subject: {news} Sec of State says we have about 1, 700 Greens in Press release From: Tim McKee timmckee at mail.com Date: Wed Sep 3 16:31:15 PDT 2008 In a press release about latino voters , The CT Sec. of State list all the many party' s including the Indepence (?) and Independent. Our trouble is many Greens were Delisted in the recnet past becuase it it up to Local elected Reisitgers to list them if the partty is locally active. We aregued that we where state wide active //www.sots.ct.gov/sots/lib/sots/releases/2008/9.2.08_8500_new_latino_voters. pdf ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Thu Sep 4 02:15:22 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2008 02:15:22 -0400 Subject: {news} New Haven Independent article focuses on Green Party Registrar Message-ID: I didn't think about this before, but if Ralph Ferrucci ran for the Registrar position against Democrat Sharon Ferrucci, he would probably pick up enough votes just through voter confusion. Maybe he and Mary Anne should switch campaigns. By the way, I'm running for Registrar in Stamford and Keith Brooks is running in Weston (both Green). Another one to watch is Urania Petit, Working Families Party candidate for Registrar in Hartford (unlike other WFP campaigns, this is not a Democrat cross-endorsement--Urania seems to be a genuine grassroots candidate). David Bedell http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/09/greens_nominees.php In 1 Race, Their Opponents Can't Lose by Allan Appel | September 3, 2008 1:08 PM The Green Party nominated candidates to chase elected offices large - U.S. Congress - and small - New Haven registrar of voters. Thanks to the registrar nomination, get ready for a three-way race this fall that city law offers only one candidate the opportunity to lose. New Haven's Ralph Ferrucci (pictured being congratulated by party member Pat Kane, who recently moved to town from Stamford) was nominated to run again this fall against U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro in the Third Congressional District. The nomination took place at a meeting of four party members Tuesday night at the Neverending Bookstore on State Street. The four present didn't include two of the actual nominees. Colin Bennett, an environmental activist from Westbrook and graduate student at Southern Connecticut, was chosen to run in the 33rd State Senatorial district; he was attending another meeting Tuesday night. And Mary Anne Davis, the Greens' candidate for New Haven registrar of voters, was home Tuesday night because of an illness in the family. Davis, who lives in Fair Haven Heights, is currently treasurer of New Haven Green Party and works for the state Department of Environment Protection employee. By running for registrar of voters, she sets up a race in which her opponents can't lose - but she might. Here's why: The law requires that the two major parties each have a registrar of voters. That means Democrat Sharon Ferrucci and Republican Rae Tramantano are guaranteed reelection. Minor parties have to come in at least second to gain a registrar's job. So if Davis comes in second, the city will have three registrars on the payroll. If she loses, it will maintain its current two. All three nominees received unanimous, that is, four votes. Party co-chair Pillsbury (pictured) accepted on behalf of the two absent nominees. Despite the absence of a crowd, however, Pillsbury suggested that serious business was afoot. If Davis succeeds, he said, it might mean that New Haven's voter registration landscape could change significantly. The Greens ran a candidate for registrar in 2004, Calvin Nicholson. He received 8 percent of the vote. Ferrucci received 79 percent of the votes cast, Tromantano, 13 percent. "If Mary Anne," said Pillsbury, "attracts, say 11 percent of the vote and Rae gets 10 percent, that is, if she outperforms the Republicans, that would mean that the Greens would come in second and deserve a registrar of voters too. "It's complicated, but I think, yes, that the work they do - getting the voting machines into every ward, sending out the post cards and so forth - would now have to be split with a Green registrar. It could happen." The registrar is a paid position, so that each of the current registrars earns $52,000. Would that mean a Green registrar would cost the city, in addition to the $104,000 being paid to the Republican and Democrat an additional $52,000? "Well, I'm not sure we want to put it that way," said Pillsbury. "The point is that if that turned out to be the case, Mary Ann would provide a lot of value added. "Don't get me wrong. Sharon and Rae have always been more than fair to the Greens and work hard, but I haven't seen a real voter registration drive come out of that office in years. I remember the days when there was a kind of assistant voter registrar in each of New Haven's wards. Mary Anne would, I know, have tables set up at Cross and Hillhouse and register the high school kids as they near graduation. She'd bring in the twenty-somethings too who are underrepresented. Participation in municipal elections has been on a steady decline. A Green registrar would try to reverse that." But first she has to be elected. Next step: Pillsbury will file the endorsements of the three candidates with the state Wednesday and, in the case of Davis, with the city. Because of their record in previous elections, the Greens get automatic ballot spots without having to petition this year. Discussion of the nominees was witty and brief. Roger Uhlin said of Davis's track record as treasurer of the party: "During her tenure as treasurer of the New Haven Greens, not a dollar has been missing." "Of course," Ralph Ferrucci quipped, "there's only two dollars in the treasury." From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Fri Sep 5 16:20:07 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2008 16:20:07 -0400 Subject: {news} Richard Duffee on Ballot in 4th District Message-ID: Green Party Headquarters, The Aquarium, 10 Knight Street, Norwalk, Ct. 06851 - www.richardduffee.com NEWS September 5, 2008 - For immediate release Contact: Richard Duffee, Candidate, 203-588-0161 David Bedell, Secretary, Fairfield County Green Party, 203-977-8106 Remy Chevalier, Campaign Manager, 203-227-2065 DUFFEE, GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS, ON BALLOT Norwalk, CT?Richard Duffee, Green Party candidate for Congress in the 4th congressional district, is on the ballot. The Secretary of the State's announcement, dated August 26, reached Fairfield County Green Party Secretary David Bedell September 2?without a stamp or postmark. For the first time, the Green Party has candidates for Congress in all five districts of Connecticut: Stephen Fournier in the 1st, G. Scott Deshefy in the 2nd, Ralph Ferrucci in the 3rd, Richard Duffee in the 4th, and Harold H. Burbank II in the 5th. Heading the list of Duffee's platform items is his demand that the US fully comply with international law. Because, he says, "Our worst international problems are blowback from our illegal activities," he holds that the US should ratify the charter of the International Criminal Court and grant it jurisdiction to prosecute US war criminals such as Bush, Cheney, Rice, and Wolfowitz. He also holds that Bush and Cheney should be impeached and indicted under US law. He argues that all covert operations of the CIA should be banned because they are, by definition, offences against the laws of the nations where they are carried out. "We must give the rest of the world adequate cause to believe that we are no longer intent on violating their rights." Duffee is committed to lowering carbon emissions by at least 80% by 2030 without using nuclear power, which is so dangerous that insurance companies refuse to insure nuclear facilities. He recommends projects similar to FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930's, only this time with a mission to retrofit buildings with insulation and LED lighting, to create solar, wind, geothermal, hydrogen, and hydro power, and mass transportation as good as Europe's. Pointing out that decentralization reduces energy prices, he advocates giving home and building owners loans to develop on-site power generation, which can be repaid by subsequent contributions of electricity to the grid. Because health care is a human right, Duffee advocates universal single-payer health coverage. Because legal rights should not depend on income, Duffee wants to revitalize the Legal Services Corporation and fund it at the Canadian level. Duffee demands that all the Constitutional law Bush and Cheney have vandalized be restored. Believing that corporations have usurped individual and human rights, he advocates eliminating the rights corporations have gained by the legal fiction that they are persons. Duffee advocates law distinguishing between a corporation's earnings attributable to productivity and earnings attributable to transfer, and that the latter be subject to maximum taxes. "For example," he said, "profits from a pharmaceutical like Xanax, 100 one-milligram tabs of which sell for $136.79, a 569,958% markup over the cost of its active ingredients, 2.4 cents, should be taxed at well over 99% to force the prices down and stop the ruthless exploitation of illness." Rather than merely maximizing profit to investors, which is an anti-democratic project, we should maximize benefit to human beings, and to do this we must learn to conceive value in terms of purchasing power parity, the law of diminishing returns, and environmental impact. He believes our disastrous present course of empire stems from dependency on other countries for resources and labor, so we should recreate our industrial base using non-polluting Green technology. Duffee wants to eliminate all US weapons of mass destruction, shut down the 725 US military bases outside US borders, redesign the military to be wholly defensive, and work with international organizations to steadily reduce any remaining need for the military. "Why are we squandering 3 trillion dollars on war when we could be vastly improving our lives instead?" Asked about his opponents, Duffee said, "They face the same problem Lyndon Johnson faced: all their good intentions will be destroyed by war." More information about the Duffee for Congress campaign can be found on the website, www.richardduffee.com ### -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Fri Sep 5 16:55:39 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2008 16:55:39 -0400 Subject: {news} Courant's Jesse Hamilton blog on Green congressional campaigns Message-ID: (Follow the link for original webpage with graphics and hyperlinks.) http://blogs.courant.com/on_background/2008/08/every-congressional-ballot-is.html Every Congressional Ballot is Going Green By Jesse A. Hamilton on August 7, 2008 4:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) Connecticut's Green Party will be on the ballot in all five of the state's congressional races. Yes, people from Stamford to Enfield to Stonington can vote for a "eco-social analysis and vision for our country," according to the party's platform. Don't like your blue or red choices in the five district's? These people represent a third color option: 1st District: Stephen Fournier; 2nd District: G.Scott Deshefy; 3rd District: Ralph Ferrucci; 4th District: Richard Duffee; 5th District: Harold Burbank. [I couldn't spot a Ferrucci campaign site yet -- I mean, one that's not for his campaigns for Senate or mayor of New Haven. But his MySpace page demonstrates he's probably the best electoral choice for those who enjoy Goth drumming.] Four of these candidates were brought to you buy the party's delivery of 16,000 signatures to the secretary's of state's office. Ferrucci in the 3rd (currently held by Rep. Rosa DeLauro) had already been secured. [As a special bonus to this blog entry, I'd like to offer you a reading from one of the campaign sites, Duffee's. In the introduction to a poem that includes "24 dramatic monologues about power relationships" on the site, he's posted this explanation: "Eight of the monologues examine political power, eight are on economic power, and eight are on social power. Half the monologues are spoken by people who have more power than the people they are talking about; half have less. Of the half who have more, half enjoy having power over others while half try to relieve others. Of the half who have less power than those they speak about, half accept their victimization while half turn to confront their oppressors." If I'm doing the math right, I think the trains meet in Cleveland at 3:45 p.m.] Oh, and don't miss Fournier's campaign video: http://blogs.courant.com/on_background/2008/08/every-congressional-ballot-is.html From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Fri Sep 5 21:15:56 2008 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2008 21:15:56 -0400 Subject: {news} Fw: Upcoming Connecticut Events for Peace and Justice Message-ID: <002401c90fbe$2040cb90$fc844c0c@edgn2b574u14bi> 6-Story Newsletter Template + Images ----- Original Message ----- From: AFSC Connecticut To: edubrule at sbcglobal.net Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 6:00 PM Subject: Upcoming Connecticut Events for Peace and Justice American Friends Service Committee Connecticut In This Issue: Sept 4 2008 . Sept 6: Justice for Nashawn Williams rally . Sept 14: 7th Hope Out Loud Peace and Music Festival . Sept 9: CNADP Annual Meeting . Sept 26-27: Join AFSC-CT at the Durham Fair . Support paid ad calling for abolition of nuclear weapons . Sept 20: Million Doors for Peace Sept 6: Justice for Nashawn Williams rally Justice for Nashawn Williams" Rally Hartford Area activists will go to Moosup, CT to demand justice for Nashawn Williams. Saturday, September 6, 2008 11 AM: Gather at Charter Oak Cultural Center 21 Charter Oak Avenue, Hartford Vanpools to Moosup. 12:30 PM Rally at the site of Nashawn's assault in Moosup. Immediately following, activists will caravan to the Plainfield Police Station to read a Manifesto about Racial Injustice. The Manifesto will be tacked to the police station as a form of protest. Background Info: Nashawn Williams, a black youth, was beaten by a gang of whites called K-Nation in Moosup on October 19, 2007. The family was run out of town by whites shortly thereafter. 11 months later, no one has been arraigned or prosecuted in this racist hate crime! Info: Contact Minister Cornell Lewis numeric pagers 220-4051, wait for beep and enter a number, then hit # sign. Sept 9: CNADP Annual Meeting Save the Date! How New Jersey Abolished the Death Penalty. and how we can do it here in Connecticut! Please join the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty at its 2008 Annual Meeting with special guests: Celeste Fitzgerald, Executive Director, New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NJADP). Ms. Fitzgerald, recently named again to the Top 100 Most Influential Political Figures in New Jersey, led the NJADP in their successful campaign to become the first state in the nation to legislatively abolish the death penalty in the modern era. Celeste will talk with us on how this was done and inspire us to move quickly in the same direction. The focus of her talk is going to be on the challenges faced in New Jersey and how Connecticut can overcome the challenges we face. Senator Raymond Lesniak Senator Raymond Lesniak, an attorney, has served in the New Jersey legislature since 1978. Senator Lesniak will talk about how New Jersey's legislators moved from supporting the death penalty to favoring abolition. Tuesday, September 9, 2008 Linsly Chittenden Hall, First Floor Yale University 63 High Street New Haven Please join us as we Honoree Irv Stolberg as 2008 Abolitionist of the Year Refreshments will be served. This meeting is FREE and open to the public! For more information, please contact Robert Nave, Executive Director of the CNADP, at: 203.206.9854 or robertnave at cnadp.org http://www.cnadp.org Support paid ad calling for abolition of nuclear weapons AFSC-CT is supporting the No Nukes/No War Coalition in its campaign to place a paid ad in the Hartford Courant calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Let's make certain we place the vital issue of nuclear weapons abolition on the 2008 political campaign agenda, by supporting an important and vital ad speaking out against nuclear weapons Cold warriors like Henry Kissinger and George Schultz, the Democratic Party Platform, Mayors for Peace, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, CT peace organizations and the vast majority of people across the world are urgently calling for nuclear abolition. At least 250 paying signaturesare needed to place a half-page or larger ad in a major CT newspaper to raise the issue of abolition before the elections this fall. The deadline to receive signatures and payment is Sept. 30. Please don't wait. WHY ARE WE STILL LIVING UNDER THE THREAT OF NUCLEAR WAR? * 2,317 Mayors of cities on all continents are calling for the abolition of all nuclear weapons. * The U.S. Conference of Mayors in 2008 for the 4th time in 4 years called for abolition. * In Connecticut, the mayors of Ansonia, Fairfield, Hartford, Mansfield, New Haven, Stamford, and Windham joined the Mayors for Peace campaign calling for abolition of nuclear weapons. * The Connecticut State Senate in 2005 unanimously passed a resolution calling for abolition. The vast majority of the planet's people call for abolishing all nuclear weapons. *The Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty (NPT), signed by the U.S. in 1970, requires the nuclear weapons powers to negotiate to abolish nuclear weapons in return for non-nuclear states not acquiring them. *In 1970 there were 5 nuclear weapons states: United States, Soviet Union, Britain, France, China. Now there are 8, including India, Pakistan, Israel. NUCLEAR WEAPONS STATES HAVE NOT MET THEIR OBLIGATIONS TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS WHILE DEMANDING THAT NON-NUCLEAR STATES ABIDE BY THE NPT. *Worse, our own government attacked Iraq based on the false claim that it had nuclear weapons, threatens Iran and other countries with nuclear annihilation and maintains the right to drop nuclear bombs on non-nuclear states. THE VERY EXISTENCE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS THREATENS ALL HUMANITY *The Hiroshima/Nagasaki Protocol requires the total abolition of nuclear weapons by the year 2020. Important legislation, H. Res. (House Resolution) 68, calling for the U.S. to abide by the NPT is co-sponsored by CT Congressmember Rosa DeLauro. *Contact your Representative, Senators and President to pass and sign nuclear abolition legislation. The U.S. Capitol Switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. Cities Are Not "Targets!" Abolish All Nuclear Weapons! We Call for Total Abolition of Nuclear Weapons Now! Sponsored by American Friends Service Committee, CT; City of New Haven Peace Commission; Greater New Haven Peace Council; No Nukes, No War; Northeast CT Peace & Justice; People's Action for Clean Energy; Promoting An Enduring Peace Please contact for more information and to sign on to the ad: Greater New Haven Peace Council PO Box 3105 New Haven, CT 06515 grnhpeacecouncil at gmail.com 203-389-9547 http://www.nonukes-nowar.org/ Sept 14: 7th Hope Out Loud Peace and Music Festival HOPE OUT LOUD 7 Be part of the Seventh Annual Hope Out Loud Peace & Music Festival Sunday, Sept 14th 1-5 pm Bushnell Park FREE! FREE! Picnic ... Poetry ... Music ... Speakers ... Kids activities ... Fun ... and ... More.. Spend the afternoon. Bring a picnic. It's a concert, rally, playground, remembrance, a day of inspiration for renewal and commitment. For more information call (860)523-4823 Hope Out Loud is a sober event. Hope Out Loud Peace & Music Festival: Sponsored in part by: The Connecticut Coalition for Peace & Justice (CCPJ) The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty Supported in part by the Greater Hartford Arts Council and the City of Hartford http://www.hopeoutloud.org/ Sept 26-27: Join AFSC-CT at the Durham Fair Please join us at the AFSC-CT booth at the in-door exhibition building at the Durham Fair. We will have a booth were we'll sell fair trade coffee, hot cocoa, chocolate, and tea and have AFSC peace education materials to distribute. We need people to help us staff the AFSC booth. The booth will be open from 9am-11pm on Friday Sept 26 and Saturday Sept 27 and from 9am-7pm on Sunday Sept 28. Please consider joining us for a few hours. The fair is loads of fun and you'll get to talk with people about AFSC's work on peace building. We'll provide training and orientation. Contact David Amdur at damdur at afsc.org or at 860-523-1534 if you can volunteer Sept 20: Million Doors for Peace Million Doors for Peace Saturday, September 20, 2008 Please join AFSC and other members of Connecticut Oppose the War on Saturday Sept 20th for the Million Doors for Peace. There will be teams going out in Greater Hartford and probably in the Storrs/Willimantic area. Local Contacts Steve Thornton 1199/SEIU 860-251-6013 John Murphy CCAG 860-233-2182 Alexandra Ferreira CCAG 860-233-2182 Strategy Million Doors for Peace will be one of the largest anti-war mobilization efforts in the past year. The Million Doors for Peace nationwide outreach day will educate the public, promote our message through earned media, and identify & organize a major, nationwide, online & grassroots, volunteer-based "anti-war" constituency who will lead and aid efforts to end the Iraq war. The day will serve as a clear reminder of the depth of antiwar sentiment throughout the country. Million Doors for Peace will use a grassroots petition to Congress to identify those who support our goal of ending the war. We will bring our petition to Congress, showing the depth of support for ending the war, and call on them to take action to end the Iraq war. Goals 1. Identify & organize an "anti-war" constituency who will who will lead and aid efforts to end the Iraq war. 2. Turn out 25,000 Million Doors for Peace Day volunteers across all 50 states. 3. Increase Million Doors for Peace coalition organizations contacts, membership, volunteers, and other leaders, thus strengthening the antiwar movement for the work ahead. 4. Generate significant earned media that reflects that this is the major "anti-war" organizing effort of 2008. Target The Congress of United States Our message will address every member of Congress, whether they voted for or against starting the war, for or against troop withdrawal, for or against funding for the war, and for or against other legislation connected to the war in Iraq. This broad targeting will ensure that every member of Congress understands, and will act upon, the broad and deep support for ending the war, bringing the troops home, and investing in America's future. Message Over the course of this five year war the message remains the same: End this immoral war, bring our troops home, and invest in America's future. Polling finds, and our organizing experience shows, that the best way to engage people on the war is to compare the costs of the war to domestic needs in our country. The cost of war includes: the loss of life, the United States diminished status as a world leader and symbol for justice and democracy, the loss of treasure that could have gone to more productive short and long term investments such as education, health care and renewable energy based economy. The decentralized nature of Million Doors for Peace will work to each organization's advantage by allowing each group to tailor the message details to reflect its internal goals. The flexible, non-partisan messaging will help the coalition to broaden and diversify since it will be open to all organizations, regardless of tax status. http://www.milliondoorsforpeace.org/ American Friends Service Committee Connecticut Area Office 56 Arbor Street, Suite 213 Hartford, CT 06106 Phone: 860.523.1534 Fax: 860.523.1705 Email: connecticut at afsc.org Visit AFSC CT Online Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Confirm | Forward -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Fri Sep 5 21:24:33 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2008 20:24:33 -0500 Subject: {news} Enforcement of Email rules_ Personal attacks violations Message-ID: <20080906012433.78E9C1BF28D@ws1-10.us4.outblaze.com> Dear Greens, I am asking the rules of state party be enforced by those responsible to maintain the list serves. For several years, One person has repeated violated the rules and still this person posts personal attacks. We have discussed this one person violations at state meetings, but still this person is posting attacks and disturbing state party business. I ask the state executive committee to ACT on this problem and BAN this person from all lists, because of numerous violations. Free speech is one thing, Unpopular speech is another. Calling Greens : a Pig, money hungry, racists, ect etc is clearly unacceptable and we must do something to maintain order and follow OUR own rules. This ONE person continues year after year to violate the rules I have posted OUR rules from our web site for any one to read. Rules and Etiquette for CT Green Party Listservse Preamble Presently there are two automated email lists (listservs): the CT Green Party Forum and the CT Green Party News. It is in the best interest of the Party to keep these lists a viable place for the purpose of information dissemination and civil discourse for all members of the Green Party of CT. Because the substance of a grassroots democracy is the community in which the democracy functions, and because the community comprises human beings, feelings do matter in this political party. Therefore, an honest effort should be made, in posting material to the listserver, to respect the feelings of anyone mentioned in the posting and of all recipients thereof. Most organizational listservs have rules for members. Keep in mind that membership on a listserv is a responsibility and a privilege, not a right. General Rules for News and Forum * Foul language and personal attacks are not permitted. * Harassment or promotion of illegal activities is forbidden. * Any e-mail sent to an individual should be respected as private, and should not be forwarded to a listserver without permission. * Flooding or spamming is not permitted. * Don?t knowingly post messages from subscribers suspended or removed from the Forum. * The NEWS listserv has been designated for notifying Connecticut Green Party members of upcoming events and meetings, disseminating minutes of meetings and other vital internal information, and advising members of chapter, national, and international Green Party news. The Forum listserv is designated for the free and open discussion of Green values and strategy as well as the current political, economic, and social state of affairs. All subscribers should post correctly and not double post. * Posts are to be signed by all senders. No nicknames or pseudonyms will be used. Enforcement of These Rules Posts will not be pre-screened, but a moderator(s), chosen by the State Central Committee (Coordinating Council, or CC), will review submissions and enforce the above rules. A violation of the above rules will result in a warning. If another violation occurs, the subscriber will not be allowed to post for three months. If the subscriber continues to violate the rules after the three months of probation, they will be removed as a subscriber permanently. Any subscriber permanently removed has the right to have his/her case reviewed by an adhoc Appeals Board, to be formed by no more than one member from every chapter, with members to be designated by the chapters and who should preferably be listserver subscribers. Email: greens at ctgreens.org ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Fri Sep 5 21:37:45 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2008 20:37:45 -0500 Subject: {news} Republicans seek to shut out Deshefy from debates Message-ID: <20080906013745.E7741164293@ws1-4.us4.outblaze.com> From: sveley at comcast.net Subject: Re: Debate participation letter To: LWVCT at LWVCT.org Cc: danreale at realedealforcongress.com, deshefy_for_congress at yahoo.com, jdydolphin at yahoo.com, Morganmcginley at aol.com, "Matt McGrath" Date: Thursday, September 4, 2008, 5:16 PM Dear Pat, The Sullivan Campaign thanks you and everyone in attendence at Monday's meeting for taking the time in preparing for a very important debate. We look forward in participating and assisting you in anyway. The potential participation in the New London debate of candidates from the Green and Libertarian parties has emerged as an issue of importance. My counterpart in the Courtney campaign, Mr. Matt McGrath, in a letter dated September 4, pleaded for their inclusion. Not surprisingly, Mr. McGrath and I see things differently. The Courtney campaign no doubt wants all challengers on stage to make it more difficult for any one challenger to stand out. Conversely, I would clearly prefer a one-on-one between Sean Sullivan and Joe Courtney so that my candidate could get fifty percent of the available time. Of course, these debates are not for the candidates, but for the people. On behalf of the people, an argument could be made either way. Mr. McGrath has made one argument, asking that all voices be heard. On the other hand, limiting debate to candidates who demonstrate substantial support provides focus and serves to clarify the differences between candidates who stand a reasonable chance of prevailing in the election. Far from being arbitrary, your rules appear designed to navigate through difficult situations such as the one presented here. I trust that whatever action you take, you will do so with the best interests of the people of Connecticut?s Second district in mind. Very truly yours, Scott Veley, Campaign Manager Sean Sullivan for Congress ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Mon Sep 8 16:50:13 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2008 15:50:13 -0500 Subject: {news} ATTENTION ALL CANDIDATES- PLEASE POST YOUR EVENTS Message-ID: <20080908205013.94CA632675A@ws1-8.us4.outblaze.com> Please all candidate for office - please your events, press releases, new items and FUNDRAISING EVENTS to both the Ct new list serve and yahoo candidates groups email list serves. We need to get as many people to your events, debates and other activites!! We need to get volunteers to pass out campaign materials, collect money and help.. so please DO NOT asssume people know when your NEXT debate is.. or if you need help! Lets us ALL help you. remember (endless) internal debates are for the forum group - and are best left for AFTER the elections when we all may have a little more time for reflection. Tim McKee ************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Mon Sep 8 16:54:12 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2008 15:54:12 -0500 Subject: {news} Fw: [usgp-dx] Contact C-SPAN, demand airing of McKinney interview Message-ID: <20080908205412.4243A32675A@ws1-8.us4.outblaze.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott McLarty" To: natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org Subject: [usgp-dx] Contact C-SPAN, demand airing of McKinney interview Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2008 16:46:22 +0000 Dismayed by C-SPAN's decision to bump Green presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney on Sunday evening? Let C-SPAN know! Be firm but respectful, and ask them when they plan to reschedule the interview. You can also call when C-SPAN broadcasts shows that allow viewers to call in, such as Washington Journal. If C-SPAN airs your call, you'll be heard by everyone watching the show. C-Span phone: (202) 737-3220 Fax number (202) 737-6226 More contact information: http://www.c-span.org/about/contact.asp _________________________________________________________________ Stay up to date on your PC, the Web, and your mobile phone with Windows Live. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093185mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Natlcomaffairs mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs You must know your password to do this. If you can't figure out how to unsubscribe, as a last resort only, send a message OFF LIST to steveh at olypen.com If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html To report violations of listserv protocol, write to forummanagers at lists.gp-us.org For other information about the National Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Mon Sep 8 16:54:11 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2008 15:54:11 -0500 Subject: {news} Fw: [usgp-dx] Contact C-SPAN, demand airing of McKinney interview Message-ID: <20080908205411.5D77032675A@ws1-8.us4.outblaze.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott McLarty" To: natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org Subject: [usgp-dx] Contact C-SPAN, demand airing of McKinney interview Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2008 16:46:22 +0000 Dismayed by C-SPAN's decision to bump Green presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney on Sunday evening? Let C-SPAN know! Be firm but respectful, and ask them when they plan to reschedule the interview. You can also call when C-SPAN broadcasts shows that allow viewers to call in, such as Washington Journal. If C-SPAN airs your call, you'll be heard by everyone watching the show. C-Span phone: (202) 737-3220 Fax number (202) 737-6226 More contact information: http://www.c-span.org/about/contact.asp _________________________________________________________________ Stay up to date on your PC, the Web, and your mobile phone with Windows Live. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093185mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Natlcomaffairs mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs You must know your password to do this. If you can't figure out how to unsubscribe, as a last resort only, send a message OFF LIST to steveh at olypen.com If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html To report violations of listserv protocol, write to forummanagers at lists.gp-us.org For other information about the National Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Tue Sep 9 07:00:23 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 06:00:23 -0500 Subject: {news} Deshefy Debates Sept. 16- Be there!!! Message-ID: <20080909110023.309D7BE4078@ws1-9.us4.outblaze.com> Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 Times: 6 pm Location: Lyman Memorial HS Contact: G. Scott Deshefy Phone: (860) 642-7066 Email: Deshefy_For_Congress at yahoo.com ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Wed Sep 10 07:45:21 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:45:21 -0500 Subject: {news} Fw: [usgp-dx] Ron Paul makes an appeal for Third Party candidates Message-ID: <20080910114521.D5F2911581F@ws1-7.us4.outblaze.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: jdt at itol.com To: natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org Subject: [usgp-dx] Ron Paul makes an appeal for Third Party candidates Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:31:25 -0500 Sent on by Jill Bussiere, Wisconsin NYT By Michael Falcone Representative Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning congressman from Texas who attracted a devoted following in his bid for the Republican nomination, is once again trying to shake up the presidential race. At a press conference in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Mr. Paul plans to urge voters to support one of the third-party candidates for president rather than cast their ballot for either Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, or Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate. "At a time when 60 percent of the American people are dissatisfied with their presidential choices," Mr. Paul said in a statement, "this could be the year that third-party option brings in a big chunk of the vote." And Mr. Paul intends to showcase some of those options at the National Press Club on Wednesday. He will be joined by Ralph Nader, an independent candidate, Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party, former Representative Bob Barr of Georgia, who is running on the Libertarian Party ticket and former Georgia congresswoman, Cynthia McKinney, who is the Green Party's presidential candidate. According to a spokesman, Mr. Paul plans to say that the Republican and Democratic candidates "have no substantive differences on important issues." The four third-party candidates, on the other hand, have agreed to sign on to a four-point plan that includes balancing the federal budget, bringing American troops home, protecting civil liberties and investigating the Federal Reserve. Mr. Paul's iconoclastic ways have earned him the scorn of some, especially in the Republican party, who fear he could sap votes from Senator McCain on Election Day, even as he has continued to inspire others who back his reform agenda. Several thousand turned out for his "Rally for Liberty," in Minneapolis last week, an alternative to the much Republican convention taking place nearby. Despite that following, he has refused to run on an alternate ticket, saying he is a Republican. _______________________________________________ Natlcomaffairs mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs You must know your password to do this. If you can't figure out how to unsubscribe, as a last resort only, send a message OFF LIST to steveh at olypen.com If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html To report violations of listserv protocol, write to forummanagers at lists.gp-us.org For other information about the National Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Wed Sep 10 07:45:25 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:45:25 -0500 Subject: {news} Fw: [usgp-dx] Ron Paul makes an appeal for Third Party candidates Message-ID: <20080910114525.2F5F211581F@ws1-7.us4.outblaze.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: jdt at itol.com To: natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org Subject: [usgp-dx] Ron Paul makes an appeal for Third Party candidates Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:31:25 -0500 Sent on by Jill Bussiere, Wisconsin NYT By Michael Falcone Representative Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning congressman from Texas who attracted a devoted following in his bid for the Republican nomination, is once again trying to shake up the presidential race. At a press conference in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Mr. Paul plans to urge voters to support one of the third-party candidates for president rather than cast their ballot for either Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, or Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate. "At a time when 60 percent of the American people are dissatisfied with their presidential choices," Mr. Paul said in a statement, "this could be the year that third-party option brings in a big chunk of the vote." And Mr. Paul intends to showcase some of those options at the National Press Club on Wednesday. He will be joined by Ralph Nader, an independent candidate, Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party, former Representative Bob Barr of Georgia, who is running on the Libertarian Party ticket and former Georgia congresswoman, Cynthia McKinney, who is the Green Party's presidential candidate. According to a spokesman, Mr. Paul plans to say that the Republican and Democratic candidates "have no substantive differences on important issues." The four third-party candidates, on the other hand, have agreed to sign on to a four-point plan that includes balancing the federal budget, bringing American troops home, protecting civil liberties and investigating the Federal Reserve. Mr. Paul's iconoclastic ways have earned him the scorn of some, especially in the Republican party, who fear he could sap votes from Senator McCain on Election Day, even as he has continued to inspire others who back his reform agenda. Several thousand turned out for his "Rally for Liberty," in Minneapolis last week, an alternative to the much Republican convention taking place nearby. Despite that following, he has refused to run on an alternate ticket, saying he is a Republican. _______________________________________________ Natlcomaffairs mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs You must know your password to do this. If you can't figure out how to unsubscribe, as a last resort only, send a message OFF LIST to steveh at olypen.com If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html To report violations of listserv protocol, write to forummanagers at lists.gp-us.org For other information about the National Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Wed Sep 10 10:38:22 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:38:22 -0500 Subject: {news} [usgp-dx] Hey Greens: respond to this AP article Message-ID: <20080910143823.067651CE825@ws1-6.us4.outblaze.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott McLarty" To: natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org Subject: [usgp-dx] Hey Greens: respond to this AP article Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:30:44 +0000 http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gDgHGLpSnR4V9L_yGzr2USAwY4BQD933IPV02 This AP article, which was posted here by Ian and will get published in lots of newspapers & online news sites, gives Greens a perfect opportunity to write responses and put our nominees' names in front of the voting public. PLEASE write letters to the editor and encourage other Greens to do so in the last two months before Election Day! When letters get published, we reach thousands (sometimes tens or hundreds of thousands) of readers. When we don't send letters, we miss this chance. We can blame the media for ignoring our candidates, but it's our own fault if we don't send newspapers & news web sites our letters, column submissions, articles, etc. Here are a few things we can say: -- "Third party" candidates can't siphon or steal votes away from Obama or McCain, because Obama & McCain own nobody's votes except their own. Using language like "siphoning" assumes that the Democratic & Republican candidates have a prior claim to our votes. Voters have a right to vote for the candidates who best represent their own needs & ideals, regardless of party. -- While the media focus on the differences between Obama-Biden and McCain-Palin, a lot of voters have come to realize that the debate between Democrat & Republican is actually very narrow, and that lots of important ideas (like single-payer national health care and quick withdrawal from Iraq & Afghanistan) are getting excluded. Many of the positions & ideas promoted by Cynthia McKinney & Rosa Clemente have widespread popular support. Media coverage and the presidential debates must include candidates outside the bipartisan consensus. Voters have a right to know about all the candidates whose names they'll see on the ballot, not just the pro-war pro-corporate candidates approved by big-business campaign contributors. -- The media and some of the public believe that candidates like Cynthia McKinney are not valid and don't deserve attention because they lack the winnability factor. This reduces voting to the level of placing bets on a horserace. When people vote according to who they think is winnable, rather than who they think is the best candidate, they throw away the chance to support their own political ideals. -- The Green Party and its candidates aren't an alternative, we're an imperative. The problems of the 21st century won't be solved by the two major parties, whose policies created the current crises we face: illegal wars with no end in sight; addiction to fossil fuels; Americans bankrupted by health care needs; breakdown of election integrity; record numbers of Americans in jail; erosion of the US Constitution; etc. Nothing could be worse for America than another century of politics restricted to the two pro-war, pro-corporate parties and their failed ideas. A vote for McKinney/Clemente and other Green candidates will build the Green Party and help us advance towards major party status in the coming years. The Green Party is the Peace Party. We're the party of We The People, not powerful corporations. We're the party of the 21st century. These are just a few ideas -- I'm sure Greens can add to the list. Keep your letters short and focused. Most newspapers have a limit of 250 or 300 words for letters to the editor. If you send a letter with five paragraphs, you probably won't get published, and if they do publish it, it'll be severely edited, with your most important points deleted. Scott Media Committee _________________________________________________________________ See how Windows Mobile brings your life together?at home, work, or on the go. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093182mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Natlcomaffairs mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs You must know your password to do this. If you can't figure out how to unsubscribe, as a last resort only, send a message OFF LIST to steveh at olypen.com If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html To report violations of listserv protocol, write to forummanagers at lists.gp-us.org For other information about the National Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From apbrison at hotmail.com Wed Sep 10 12:23:40 2008 From: apbrison at hotmail.com (allan brison) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:23:40 -0400 Subject: {news} RE: Stop the Execution of Troy Davis Message-ID: Greens and others, This is the same case that many of us acted on about a year ago in which the Georgia Supreme Court granted a stay of execution for Troy Davis. Most of us thought, or at least hoped, that this meant that the new evidence would get heard by a court. Unfortunately that did not happen. The Court decided not to hear the case and now a new execution has been set for Sep 23. The board of Pardons wil hear the case on Friday. Please click below on the bold below and generate a letter to the Board of Pardons. Also please pass on to your friends. Best, Allan Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 20:35:18 -0500From: Executive_director at aclu.orgTo: apbrison at hotmail.comSubject: Stop the Execution of Troy Davis Troy Anthony Davis was convicted of murder based solely on the testimony of witnesses. There was no other evidence against him. And, since his trial, seven of those witnesses have recanted -- changing the story they told in court. Act now to demand justice and stop the execution of Troy Anthony Davis. Dear ACLU Supporter,On Friday, the Georgia Department of Pardons and Paroles is going to meet and decide if Troy Anthony Davis should be executed. They will either take into account compelling evidence challenging Mr. Davis? guilt or choose to ignore that evidence and allow his sentence to stand. They have the power to stop this indefensible execution, and we must implore them to make the right decision. An African-American, Davis was convicted of the murder of off-duty Savannah Police Officer Mark MacPhail in 1991. No physical evidence links him to the crime, and he has steadfastly maintained his innocence. His conviction was based solely on the testimony of witnesses. There was no other evidence against him. And, since his trial, seven of those witnesses have recanted -- changing the story they told in court. Some witnesses say they were coerced by police. Others have even signed affidavits implicating one of the remaining two witnesses as the actual killer. But due to an increasingly restrictive appeals process, none of this new evidence has ever been heard in court. Act now to demand justice and stop the execution of Troy Anthony Davis. The ACLU believes the death penalty is the ultimate denial of civil liberties. Our work to abolish the death penalty includes supporting moratorium and repeal movements through public education and advocacy, engaging in systemic reform of the death penalty process, and case-specific litigation highlighting some of the death penalty?s fundamental flaws.The case of Troy Davis highlights all that the ACLU finds problematic with the death penalty such as the risk of innocent people being executed, inadequate counsel and racial and geographic disparities. It is an example of our criminal justice system?s inability to ensure that only the guilty are convicted at trial and sentenced to death. The Troy Davis case also is an example of a less obvious problem with our criminal justice system -- that the ever-increasing number of procedural hurdles erected by courts and legislators to deny death-row inmates relief and expedite their executions has seriously eroded the system?s ability to correct its mistakes.That?s why I?m calling on ACLU supporters across the nation to add our voices to those of people who have grave concerns about this case -- including former judge, FBI Director and death penalty proponent William Sessions.Act now to demand justice and stop the execution of Troy Anthony Davis. The Georgia Department of Pardons and Paroles will meet just three days from now. So, we need you to act right away. Thank you for standing with us and standing up for justice. Sincerely,Anthony D. RomeroExecutive DirectorACLU ? ACLU, 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor New York, NY 10004 Unsubscribe from receiving email, or change your email preferences. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Wed Sep 10 12:54:33 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:54:33 -0500 Subject: {news} Who are the third party candidates for Congress? who qualified? Message-ID: <20080910165433.EABDE11581F@ws1-7.us4.outblaze.com> This is the final list according to the Sec of State for Congress http://www.statementofvote-sots.ct.gov/StatementOfVote/WebModules/ReportsLink/CLNWRepCongView.aspx?Parameter=11/04/2008-General ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Wed Sep 10 13:14:33 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:14:33 -0500 Subject: {news} "CT for Lieberman" party has several candidates for St Rep. Message-ID: <20080910171433.9F35A32675A@ws1-8.us4.outblaze.com> http://www.statementofvote-sots.ct.gov/StatementOfVote/WebModules/ReportsLink/CLNWStateRepView.aspx?Parameter=11/04/2008-General Who the hell are these people?? what is there agenda? ballot lines?? ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rstuller at snet.net Wed Sep 10 17:15:32 2008 From: rstuller at snet.net (Ronna Stuller) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:15:32 -0400 Subject: {news} "CT for Lieberman" party has several candidates for St Rep. In-Reply-To: <20080910171433.9F35A32675A@ws1-8.us4.outblaze.com> References: <20080910171433.9F35A32675A@ws1-8.us4.outblaze.com> Message-ID: That is indeed an interesting question. I did a little digging and uncovered this website/blog: http://ctforlieberman.blogspot.com/ It appears as though the candidates listed represent the faction of CFL that is hostile to Joe. This is their statement or what they stand for: The Connecticut for Lieberman Party (CFL) rejects the fraud perpetrated on the members of this party and the citizens of Connecticut by Joe Lieberman when he used the creation of this party to get on the general election ballot in 2006. The CFL is an independent, anti-war, anti-corruption, pro-fiscal responsibility, pro- democracy party, that stands for individual liberties and real problem- solving in government. The CFL wants everyone to know that in the United States of America, voters are free to join any party they wish, and participate in the democratic process according to the laws of Connecticut and the United States. Do any of the Fairfield Greens know John Orman, a professor at Fairfield U., who is apparently the individual who initiated the takeover of the party by Lieberman critics? Ronna On Sep 10, 2008, at 1:14 PM, Tim McKee wrote: > http://www.statementofvote-sots.ct.gov/StatementOfVote/WebModules/ReportsLink/CLNWStateRepView.aspx?Parameter=11/04/2008-General > > > Who the hell are these people?? what is there agenda? ballot lines?? > > > ****************************************** > Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 > National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States > and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. > BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Wed Sep 10 18:12:38 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:12:38 -0500 Subject: {news} Fw: [usgp-dx] Report on press conference with Paul, McKinney, Nader, Baldwin (Kevin Zeese) Message-ID: <20080910221238.4D1F647808F@ws1-5.us4.outblaze.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott McLarty" To: natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org Subject: [usgp-dx] Report on press conference with Paul, McKinney, Nader, Baldwin (Kevin Zeese) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:07:48 +0000 Press Conference Unifies Third Party and Independent Candidates Around Four Key Positions Polls Indicate Non-Duopoly Candidates Could Determine Outcome of the Election By Kevin Zeese http://www.opednews.com/articles/Ron-Paul-Press-Conference-by-Kevin-Zeese-080910-177.html http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/73799 Ron Paul held what he described as a ?very important? press conference on September 10th in Washington, DC. The event brought four third party and independent candidates ?together in unity? around a statement of principles. The event came as polls showed the presidential race tightening and third party/independent candidates getting combined votes of over 10% in swing states. The four candidates ? Independent Ralph Nader, the Green nominee Cynthia McKinney, the Constitution Party?s Chuck Baldwin and the Libertarian Party?s Bob Barr along with Ron Paul agreed on the following four key principles: Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from around the world, including Korea , Japan , Europe and the entire Middle East . We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for attacks on Iran , nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia . We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations. Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders. The National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation. The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended. There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds. Further, they agree that the process of U.S. presidential elections is as Rep. Paul said a ?charade, collusion of the two parties and the media? where they ?pretend great differences where there is none? and where neither party really ?addresses subjects that are majority positions,? referring to the points in the statement of principles quoted above. The press conference participants, which did not include Rep. Barr even though he was invited, repeatedly pointed out that the majority of Americans, some 60%, are unhappy with their choices. As a result half of Americans do not bother to vote, many for the intellectual decision that a false choice is provided and where half of those that do vote decide to vote for the lesser of two evils rather than on the direction they want the country to move. All the participants described American democracy as failing. Ron Paul announced that he received a telephone call the day before the press conference from the McCain-Palin campaign seeking his endorsement. Paul reported that the campaign made the argument, not that McCain is a great leader who will move the U.S. in the right direction, but that he isn?t as bad as Obama and would do less harm to the country. Paul described the call as ?a little strange? and that he declined to endorse. He said that instead he is urging voters to support the four candidates who signed the statement of principles and that he would probably not endorse any candidate. A great deal of focus was placed on the manipulated presidential debates. Rep. Paul reported that during the Bush-Dukakis campaign they had an agreement to dictate the terms of the presidential debates to the League of Women Voters. The League refused to go along and withdrew its sponsorship saying: ?The League of Women Voters is withdrawing sponsorship of the presidential debates...because the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter. It has become clear to us that the candidates' organizations aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance, spontaneity and answers to tough questions. The League has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public.? That fraud continues to this day with a complicit media working with a corporation created by the two parties, the National Commission on Presidential Debates, that prevents third party and independent candidates from participating and allows the campaigns to dictate the terms of the debates. Ron Paul concluded that keeping the competition out of the debates is undemocratic and that it is a serious problem that ?a majority of the people are outside the establishment ? this is not very democratic.? He described voting as more the pretense of democracy than a real democracy. Paul argued the ?majority deserves to be in the debate? and the way to determine who is allowed to participate is if they are on enough ballots to theoretically get 270 Electoral College votes. Paul described the ballot access issue as an arduous test. Therefore, Rep. Paul said he is making a ?strong suggestion today? on what people can do and that is to vote for what they believe in and not be fooled by the two party charade. He described the two parties as a manipulation quoting Carroll Quigley from ?Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in our Time:? ?The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can ?throw the rascals out? at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy.? Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney described the four pillars of the Green Party ? peace, social justice, ecological wisdom and grass roots democracy. She described the situation we face today as akin to 160 years ago when a few hundred people got together to work for the right of woman to vote. They achieved their end and so can we by ?declaring our independence? and pointed out how she declared her independence one year ago in front of the Pentagon. She no longer wanted to be complicit in illegal wars, detentions without trial, torture and environmental destruction. Voters need to declare their independence from ?conformity and control? by voting their values. ?It would be a very different country if Americans voted their values,? McKinney concluded. Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party described how he was a Republicans who worked for President Reagan?s election and worked with Jerry Falwell becoming the executive director of the Moral Majority. But, in the 1990s he found that the Republican Party had lost its way and he concluded the Republican Party was not fixable. He argued that the ?parties have a stranglehold over the political process and are choking the lifeblood out of our country.? He sees the debate as between globalists like McCain and Obama and constitutionalists. Independent Ralph Nader described the agreement of the four candidates on the statement of principles as ?the beginning of a realignment of American politics.? He sees the issues raised as pointing to a ?crisis in constitutional government.? Nader described the U.S. Constitution as something that has been ?degraded, violated, nullified and twisted out of any semblance of it real meaning.? Nader urged people to pledge on Constitution Day (September 17th) to support candidates who will defend the Constitution (www.ConstitutionPledge.com). He believes that the media needs to reassess how it covers presidential election by sponsoring its own debates and breaking with the Democrats and Republicans private corporation that manipulates debates. He also urged to ?stop wallowing in trivia like the current lipstick-gate? which he describes as ?demeaning to the media, the people and the United States ? standing in the world.? During the question and answer session the weakness in U.S. democracy came up ? the fraudulent debates, the unfair ballot access laws, the poor media coverage, the massive disenfranchisement of voters, the lack of transparency and manipulation of electronic voting machines. Nader described ?democracy being destroyed on the installment plan in an escalated way.? Paul said the real wasted vote is voting for one of the two parties and not for what you want. Baldwin updated Wallace?s comment, citing inflation, saying ?there?s not a nickel?s worth of difference between the two parties.? And, McKinney urged people to see the movie ?American Blackout? and warned that unresolved problems in American democracy are being ?compounded.? One suggestion made to avoid the trap of the fear of the greater evil is Vote Pact (http://www.VotePact.org) where unenthusiastic McCain or Obama supporters agree that both will support a third party candidate instead of the Democrat or Republican. The Ron Paul press conference came at a time when third party and independent candidates are showing strength in key battle ground states where together they are garnering more than 10% of the vote. At this point, with the race between Obama and McCain in the low single digits the votes for the alternative candidates is likely to affect the outcome of the election. With the strong group of third party and independent candidates ? including two former members of Congress, one from each party, Ralph Nader, the most successful community organizer running for president and Chuck Baldwin, the former executive director of Moral Majority ? and the reality that they could impact the outcome of the election ? it is impressive how the mainstream media has been steadfast in ignoring these candidates as well as the issues they stand for. As Ron Paul said, perhaps now that the four have joined together to highlight four key issues maybe the media will recognize there is something important to cover here. Who knows, maybe the media will even ask McCain and Obama their views of the four points raised in their joint statement. Kevin Zeese is Executive Director of the Campaign for Fresh Air and Clean Politics (www.FreshAirCleanPolitics.net) whose projects include Voters for Peace, True Vote and Climate Security. _________________________________________________________________ Want to do more with Windows Live? Learn ?10 hidden secrets? from Jamie. http://windowslive.com/connect/post/jamiethomson.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!550F681DAD532637!5295.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_domore_092008 _______________________________________________ Natlcomaffairs mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs You must know your password to do this. If you can't figure out how to unsubscribe, as a last resort only, send a message OFF LIST to steveh at olypen.com If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html To report violations of listserv protocol, write to forummanagers at lists.gp-us.org For other information about the National Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Thu Sep 11 08:43:28 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:43:28 -0500 Subject: {news} Fw: [usgp-dx] NO COVERAGE of Groundbreaking Press conference of thirdparty Message-ID: <20080911124328.AC90A32675A@ws1-8.us4.outblaze.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tim McKee" To: NattionGreensDiscussion Subject: [usgp-dx] NO COVERAGE of Groundbreaking Press conferenceof thirdparty Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:40:14 -0500 Sadly, NO new coverage of the historic and ground breaking new conference of third party presidential candidates in: The New York Times USA today Hartford Courant,--- the Cournat still has Never covered McKinney,,Not one word! MSNBC had a graphic of BARR, Paul and Nader only with Pat Buchanon talking about Sarah Palin!!! ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com _______________________________________________ Natlcomaffairs mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs You must know your password to do this. If you can't figure out how to unsubscribe, as a last resort only, send a message OFF LIST to steveh at olypen.com If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html To report violations of listserv protocol, write to forummanagers at lists.gp-us.org For other information about the National Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Thu Sep 11 08:54:27 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:54:27 -0500 Subject: {news} 3rd Party COMMON AGENDA statement- please pass this along! Message-ID: <20080911125428.4A1AB164293@ws1-4.us4.outblaze.com> Please pass this along to all your emails lists!! The Republican/Democrat duopoly has, for far too long, ignored the most important issues facing our nation. However, alternate candidates Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin, Cynthia McKinney, and Ralph Nader agree with Ron Paul on four key principles central to the health of our nation. These principles should be key in the considerations of every voter this November and in every election. We Agree Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle East. We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia. We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations. Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders.. The National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation. The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended. There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds. We support opening up the debates beyond the two parties and the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a private corporation co-chaired by former chairmen of the Republican and Democratic Party. It is time for our Presidential Debates to once again be hosted by a truly non-partisan civic-minded association. ShareThis ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com! ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Thu Sep 11 10:17:16 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:17:16 -0500 Subject: {news} 2nd District debate CHANGED to OCT 14 Message-ID: <20080911141716.2992811581F@ws1-7.us4.outblaze.com> The debate next week(Sept, 16) has been changed to OCT 14 at Lyman High school by Courntey ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Thu Sep 11 13:15:01 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:15:01 -0500 Subject: {news} G.P. National Women's Caucus call for new members Message-ID: <20080911171510.2C7401BF2A8@ws1-10.us4.outblaze.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Linda Manning Myatt" To: "USGP DX" Subject: [usgp-dx] NWC call for new members Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:18:31 -0400 Please forward to all women in your State Green Party: The National Women's Caucus is preparing to elect new officers. The open positions are for a co-chair, treasurer, spokesperson, NC delegate, and NC alternate. If you are not already a member of the NWC and wish to have a voice in the caucus, please download the membership application at http://greens.org/gp-uswomen/Application.htm or visit the Web site at http://greens.org/gp-uswomen/ and click on "Application."* * Per our bylaws, " The NWC is open for membership to all women who are verified by their state parties as being registered Green or a member of an affiliated state party." Nominations will be open until October 26, 2008, and anyone who has joined by October 19, 2008 is eligible to be nominated, to make a nomination, and to vote in the election. * Thank you. Linda manning Myatt NWC Spokesperson _______________________________________________ Natlcomaffairs mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs You must know your password to do this. If you can't figure out how to unsubscribe, as a last resort only, send a message OFF LIST to steveh at olypen.com If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html To report violations of listserv protocol, write to forummanagers at lists.gp-us.org For other information about the National Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Thu Sep 11 13:19:07 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:19:07 -0500 Subject: {news} Beyond Elections, the movie. Bring it to your community! Message-ID: <20080911171909.C913E1BF28D@ws1-10.us4.outblaze.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ben Manski" To: natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org Subject: [usgp-dx] Beyond Elections, the movie. Bring it to your community! Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:10:43 -0500 http://www.libertytreefdr.org/event.php?event_id=153 Liberty Tree is very pleased to sponsor this urgent and exciting movie tour:/ Beyond Elections /is coming to a town near you, and we need your help. Just months away from one of the most important elections in U.S. history, everyone is talking about elections, but few people are talking about democracy. /Beyond Elections: Redefining Democracy in the Americas/ is a new documentary film, which takes us across the Americas -- from Venezuela's Communal Councils, to Brazil's Participatory Budgeting, from Constitutional Assemblies to grassroots movements, recuperated factories and cooperatives -- to attempt to answer one of the most important questions of our time: What is Democracy? With less than two months before this fall's presidential elections, /Beyond Elections/ is going on the road, and we need your help. We're going to be traveling through Baltimore, New York, Chicago, Ohio, Madison, and Wisconsin, Minneapolis and Minnesota, South Dakota, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia, and we're looking to show our film all along the route. Some of our dates are set, but many are not. Please let us know if you'd be interested in helping us organize or promote a presentation in your town, or if you can help out with a donation to make sure we don't run out of gas between Green River and Salina, Utah. And please check out our website regularly to see whether we are stopping in a community near you! *Additional Information:* Please visit our website, www.BeyondElections.com , for more information on helping out, tour dates or to view our trailer. -- * * * * * * Ben Manski Executive Director LIBERTY TREE Foundation for the Democratic Revolution http://www.LibertyTreeFDR.org Manski at LibertyTreeFDR.org 608 257 1606 (o) ~ 608 239 6915 (m) * * * * * * +++CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE+++ The information in this email may be confidential and/or privileged.This email is intended to be reviewed by only the individual or organization named above. If you are not the intended recipient or an authorized representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination or copying of this email and its attachments, if any, or the information contained herein is prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please immediately notify the sender by return email and delete this email from your system. Thank You. _______________________________________________ Natlcomaffairs mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs You must know your password to do this. If you can't figure out how to unsubscribe, as a last resort only, send a message OFF LIST to steveh at olypen.com If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html To report violations of listserv protocol, write to forummanagers at lists.gp-us.org For other information about the National Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Thu Sep 11 14:41:11 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:41:11 -0400 Subject: {news} Richard Duffee in Fairfield Sun, etc. Message-ID: This was published in the Hersam-Acorn papers, which include the Greenwich Post and the Fairfield Sun. The company has a chain of small-town weeklies, and I expect the article will appear in most of those covering the 4th District (about 14 of the 20 papers). http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/index.php?option=com_content&id=8469:green-partys-duffee-joins-4th-district-race Green Party's Duffee joins 4th District race Written by Joshua Fisher Thursday, September 11, 2008 Richard Duffee, who has spent much of the past two years pushing for the President and Vice President to be impeached, will appear on the Fourth Congressional District ballot as the Green Party candidate. In his campaign announcement, topping the list of Duffee's platform is his demand that the U.S. fully comply with international law - including allowing the International Criminal Court to prosecute President Bush, Vice President Cheney and other members of the administration for war crimes. While many think there is not enough time to start impeachment proceedings, Duffee said in a Tuesday interview, he disagrees. "If we don't impeach them, we are giving up on our nation," he said, pointing out that after the new Congress is in session, there are 16 days with President Bush remaining in office. Duffee, who is a teacher, lawyer and poet, was the Green Party candidate for Congress in 2006. But he dropped out of the race in late October to endorse Democrat Diane Farrell who lost to incumbent Republican Chris Shays, a Darien native. This time, Shays is also being challenged by Democrat Jim Himes of Greenwich. That will not likely happen this time. Remy Chevalier, Duffee's campaign manager, said that if the Green Party gets enough support in this election, the party would appear on future ballots without needing the nearly 3,000 signatures it needed this year. While Chevalier said he likes Shays (particularly his record on the environment) and is working with the congressman's staff to create more green collar jobs in Fairfield County, he says Shays is wrong on a lot of issues. And he doesn't know Himes well. "The two party system is turning purple," Chevalier said Tuesday, saying that alternative views need to be heard. "I think we will be able to participate in the debate this year, we have crossed the hurdles with the League of Women Voters," Chevalier said. "Richard is an extraordinary professional speaker. It would step things up and it would make a more interesting campaign. I don't think the Democrats or Republicans want an exciting campaign." When contacted about Duffee's candidacy, Michael Sachse, spokesman for Jim Himes, said: "Chris Shays' support of George Bush's policies makes replacing him crucial. We hope Mr. Duffee and his supporters eventually join us in that effort. We can't afford to be divided with so much as stake." Duffee said he doesn't believe he would be spoiling Himes' chances. "I do not think that the standard perception that most Green votes will come from Democrats is as true as it was before," he said. "Principled conservative voters are just as upset with Bush and Cheney." He later said: "It does not make sense to describe politics in the left-right sense. There is no reason other than the structure of the seating that politics can be described in a one-dimensional sense." Other issues Duffee said that if Himes supported impeachment, he would support Himes. But impeachment is not Duffee's only issue. He want to lower carbon emissions by at least 80 percent by 2030 - without using nuclear power. He wants to create projects similar to Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s but with a mission to retrofit buildings with insulation and LED lighting, to create solar, wind, geothermal, hydrogen, and hydro power, and mass transportation as good as Europe's. Pointing out that decentralization reduces energy prices, he advocates giving home and building owners loans to develop on-site power generation, which can be repaid by subsequent contributions of electricity to the grid. Because he believes health care is a human right, Duffee advocates universal single-payer health coverage. He also said that legal rights should not depend on income and wants to revitalize the Legal Services Corporation. "I went to law school to become a legal services lawyer but in 1995 Clinton reduced the Legal Services Corporation to a telephone referral service," Duffee says in biography downloaded from his campaign Web site. "I went to India. At least there I could get work teaching "law and poverty," a course that isn't taught here anymore because our government now believes essentially that only property owners, not human beings, should have rights." He returned in 2004. Duffee said that corporations have usurped individual and human rights. He wants to eliminate the rights corporations have gained "by the legal fiction that they are persons." Duffee advocates law distinguishing between a corporation's earnings attributable to productivity and earnings attributable to transfer, and that the latter be subject to maximum taxes. "For example," he said, "profits from a pharmaceutical like Xanax, 100 one-milligram tabs of which sell for $136.79, a 569,958% markup over the cost of its active ingredients, 2.4?, should be taxed at well over 99 percent to force the prices down and stop the ruthless exploitation of illness." Rather than merely maximizing profit to investors, which is an anti-democratic project, he said, the maximize benefit should belong to human beings. He believes our disastrous present course of empire stems from dependency on other countries for resources and labor, so we should recreate our industrial base using non-polluting green technology. Duffee also wants to eliminate all US weapons of mass destruction, shut down the 725 U.S. military bases outside U.S. borders, redesign the military to be wholly defensive, and work with international organizations to steadily reduce any remaining need for the military. "Why are we squandering $3 trillion on war when we could be vastly improving our lives instead?" he said. editor@ darientimes.com From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Thu Sep 11 15:27:36 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:27:36 -0400 Subject: {news} "CT for Lieberman" party has several candidates for St Rep. Message-ID: I think I've only spoken with John Orman once by phone, but I've followed his career, especially his very clever takeover of the CFL party. Joe Lieberman created the CFL party when he ran in 2006, but there were no registered members until Orman changed his party affiliation, called a convention, and took control, turning it into an anti-Lieberman party. Glad to see they're running some candidates, but I don't know what their strategy is. They are not cross-endorsing, except in the 75th District (Waterbury), where they cross-endorsed (or were cross-endorsed by) the Independent Party. The only one of their candidates with a website up yet, John Mertens ( http://mertensforstaterep.blogspot.com ), was connected with the Independent Party in the past. He is pro-gay marriage, anti-bottled water, but pro-nuclear power. David Bedell ----- Original Message ----- Subject: {news} "CT for Lieberman" party has several candidates for St Rep. From: Ronna Stuller rstuller at snet.net Date: Wed Sep 10 14:15:32 PDT 2008 That is indeed an interesting question. I did a little digging and uncovered this website/blog: http://ctforlieberman.blogspot.com/ It appears as though the candidates listed represent the faction of CFL that is hostile to Joe. This is their statement or what they stand for: The Connecticut for Lieberman Party (CFL) rejects the fraud perpetrated on the members of this party and the citizens of Connecticut by Joe Lieberman when he used the creation of this party to get on the general election ballot in 2006. The CFL is an independent, anti-war, anti-corruption, pro-fiscal responsibility, pro- democracy party, that stands for individual liberties and real problem- solving in government. The CFL wants everyone to know that in the United States of America, voters are free to join any party they wish, and participate in the democratic process according to the laws of Connecticut and the United States. Do any of the Fairfield Greens know John Orman, a professor at Fairfield U., who is apparently the individual who initiated the takeover of the party by Lieberman critics? Ronna On Sep 10, 2008, at 1:14 PM, Tim McKee wrote: > http://www.statementofvote-sots.ct.gov/StatementOfVote/WebModules/ReportsLink/CLNWStateRepView.aspx?Parameter=11/04/2008-General > > > Who the hell are these people?? what is there agenda? ballot lines?? > > > ****************************************** > Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 > National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States > and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. > BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com From timmckee at mail.com Sun Sep 14 07:31:35 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2008 06:31:35 -0500 Subject: {news} Fw: [usgp-dx] Peter Camejo passed away at 3 AM 9-13-08 Message-ID: <20080914113135.45572104F0@ws1-3.us4.outblaze.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lisa Taylor" To: natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org Subject: [usgp-dx] Peter Camejo passed away at 3 AM 9-13-08 Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2008 09:49:12 -0700 > > Begin forwarded message: > >> From: Lynda Hernandez >> Date: September 13, 2008 9:23:32 AM PDT >> To: gpoc_discuss at yahoogroups.com >> Subject: Peter Camejo passed away at 3 AM 9-13-08 >> >> Peter Camejo has passed away but his life and words will >> continue. Peter was writing his memoir and I am told only had >> 1/2 chapter left to write when he entered the hospital at the >> beginning of the week. >> >> Matt Gonzalez and Ralph Nader both spoke to Peter this week >> (Matt several times) and I'm sure discussed their shared work >> and what remains to do. Peter played a key role in the Peace & >> Freedom National Convention in August when he spoke to >> delegates and helped persuade them to back Nader/Gonzalez in >> the first round of voting. Please view his speech: >> >> http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0M7iVFz8FUc >> >> I am so proud that I was able to work with Peter Camejo and will >> continue to work for social justice and a more open democratic >> U.S. government. >> >> peace & social justice, >> Lynda Hernandez > _______________________________________________ Natlcomaffairs mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs You must know your password to do this. If you can't figure out how to unsubscribe, as a last resort only, send a message OFF LIST to steveh at olypen.com If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html To report violations of listserv protocol, write to forummanagers at lists.gp-us.org For other information about the National Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Mon Sep 15 12:09:28 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:09:28 -0500 Subject: {news} NB HERALD- DOES A BROKEN 2 PARTY SYSTEM HAVE ROOM FOR MORE? Message-ID: <20080915160928.5F6B632675A@ws1-8.us4.outblaze.com> 09/14/2008 IN OUR VIEW: Does broken 2-party system have room for more? U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, a former candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, said last week, "the strongest message can be sent by rejecting the two-party system, which in reality is a one-party system with no possible chance for the changes to occur which are necessary to solve our economic and foreign policy problems." Advertisement Click Here! He also called on his supporters to vote for one of the non-establishment, "principled" candidates. He made the appeal at a news conference with three third-party candidates: independent Ralph Nader; former Georgia Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party candidate; and Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party candidate. Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate, was invited but said at his own news conference later that he declined because Paul didn't endorse one candidate. In a campaign e-mail, Nader said of the gathering, "the coming together of third-party candidates marks the beginning of the realignment of American politics," though he added he didn't share many of the same positions as the very conservative Paul. According to The Associated Press, Paul called the presidential elections a charade and said voters are faced with choosing the "lesser of two evils." He, himself, has refused to endorse GOP nominee John McCain. "The idea," which Paul rejected, "was that he would do less harm than the other candidate," Paul said. The majority of Americans, about 60 percent, are unhappy with their choices in the race, Paul said. He urged the three-third-party candidates to bring all their supporters together to vote against the "establishment candidates." Frankly, we like the idea of a new party but, if we were creating one, we would envision it as being "a big tent," as both the Republican and Democratic parties were during the mid-20th century. We hate the increasingly narrow partisanship of both of the major parties and would love to see a group that was dedicated to uniting the many faces and viewpoints that are America, of fostering leaders who could reach across the political divide for the benefit of the country. But we don't think that's what the current third party candidates are trying to achieve. Moreover, we saw the "spoiler" role that Ralph Nader was accused of playing in the 2000 election and it concerns us. Nader, age 74, campaigns for president as much to get his ideas heard as with any real expectation of winning, but in a tight race he could again draw away enough votes to determine the election. Is that what his supporters want? email: letters at newbritainherald.com ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Mon Sep 15 17:30:27 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:30:27 -0500 Subject: {news} No debates in the 1st Congressional District?? Message-ID: <20080915213027.56027104F0@ws1-3.us4.outblaze.com> we will keep you informed,, more later,, larson wont debate???? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Fournier" To: CTGP-candidates at yahoogroups.com Subject: [CTGP-candidates] Interesting development Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:29:24 -0400 >From Rick Green, Hartford Courant reporter Steve, Joe and Geoff, I'm told by the League of Women Voters that they will not be hosting a debate or forum for the First District race. I'd like to step in and help out. I don't know what other opportunities the candidates have, but I'd like to get together with all three at the same time to talk about the issues. I'd write a column about this and give you all ample opportunity to agree or disagree. Steve and Joe, I'm pretty sure you are game for this. Geoff, you may remember we spoke briefly about whether any debates were planned some weeks back. Would you check with Rep. Larson about this idea and get back to me? I'll work with whatever schedule you guys can come up with, but I'd like to do this the sooner the better. The Courant won't spring for lunch but I'll pay for the coffee. Please get back to me as soon as possible and tell me if you are interested and, if so, possible dates. Thanks, Rick Green Columnist The Hartford Courant desk: 860-241-6483 cell: 860-539-0159 fax: 860-241-3865 http://blogs.courant.com/rick_green/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] __._,_.___Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Files | Photos | Links | Database | Polls | Members | CalendarYahoo! Groups Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Visit Your Group Yahoo! News Get it all here Breaking news to entertainment news Yahoo! Groups Join people over 40 who are finding ways to stay in shape. Family Photos Learn how to best capture your family moments. .[IMAGE] __,_._,___ ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Mon Sep 15 17:56:08 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:56:08 -0500 Subject: {news} Sounds Like New London giveaways-again in DC RELEASE Statehood Greens protest DC public property giveaways, urge passage of Thomas Bill Message-ID: <20080915215609.DEAF1164293@ws1-4.us4.outblaze.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott McLarty" To: natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org Subject: [usgp-dx] DC RELEASE Statehood Greens protest DC public property giveaways, urge passage of Thomas Bill Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:20:26 +0000 THE DC STATEHOOD GREEN PARTY http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org For immediate release: Monday, September 15, 2008 Contact: Scott McLarty, DC Statehood Green Party Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty at greens.org DC Statehood Greens join protest against public property giveaways to developers, urge DC Council to pass the Thomas Bill (17-0527) ? Statehood Greens demand that Franklin Shelter be kept open ? Rally to save public property organized by Empower DC in front of the Wilson Building, 9 am on Tuesday, Sept. 16 WASHINGTON, DC -- DC Statehood Green candidates and leaders called on Mayor Adrian Fenty and other District public officials to end their efforts to sell off and give away public properties, including public school facilities, libraries, shelters, and parks. Statehood Greens plan to attend a rally on Tuesday, Tuesday, September 16, at 9 am in front of the Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW. Empower DC (http://www.empowerdc.org), which has organized the event, has announced plans to pack the Council Chambers after the rally and demand passage of Council Bill 17-0527 ("Public Land Surplus Standards Amendment Act"), introduced by Councilman Harry Thomas (Ward 5) and supported by Phil Mendelson (At-Large) and Kwame Brown (At-Large). "The closing of DC schools is motivated by a land grab and by the privatization agenda, which seeks to replace public schools with charter schools. We saw the same backroom deals at work when the city began closing libraries. The city's Democratic political establishment, with a few notable exceptions like Harry Thomas, care more about business cronies than our children," said David Schwartzman, Statehood Green candidate for City Council At-Large (http://www.davidschwartzman.com). Statehood Greens expressed special concern over plans to close the Franklin Shelter, and demanded that the homeless facility be kept open. In February, Ward 7 activists, including Statehood Green Party leader Rick Tingling-Clemmons, learned that the city was conducting private meetings with developers to replace the ward's Benning Library with a shopping center. Local residents were shut out of the meetings. Mr. Tingling-Clemmons is a plaintiff in the lawsuit to save the library. "The Thomas Bill upholds the principle that public property should be used for community needs, rather than for the corporate profits. We -- the residents of Washington, DC -- own these properties," said Chris Otten, who ran for Mayor on the DC Statehood Green ticket in 2006. "There are lots of ways we can use our publicly owned properties -- homeless services and shelters, child care, before- and after-school care, services for children with special needs, transitional housing and permanent affordable housing, health care, literacy programs, training for jobs and workforce readiness, senior services, gardening and green spaces, recreation. It's outrageous that Mayor Fenty would rather transfer them to his friends in the Federal City Council and other well-connected and powerful real estate and development interests," added Mr. Otten. Statehood Greens cited a list compiled by Empower DC of public schools, libraries, and other public facilities that have already been closed and turned over to private owners and developers, or are slated for such use: Property / former use / is now or will be: ? Randall School / homeless shelter / art gallery and luxury condos ? Wormley School / school / condos starting at $1.3 million/unit ? Gage School / school / Parker Flats condos ? Pierce School / school / condos ? Lovejoy School / school / condos ? Adams Morgan / school / condos ? Berret School / school / condos ? Carbery School / school / luxury lofts ? Bryan School / school / luxury lofts ? Giddings School / school / Results Gym ? Mather Building / UDC building / condos ? Arthur Capper / public housing / parking lot for the new baseball stadium Property / current public use / proposed private use: ? Franklin School / downtown men's shelter / boutique hotel ? Kingman Park / park / charter school ? Poplar Point / park / retail, stadium, condos, offices ? Barry Farms / public housing / mixed income housing ? West End Library / library / condos/library ? Benning Library / demolished library / unknown development (possibly a shopping center) ? Clark Elementary / public school / charter school ? McMillan Reservoir / green space / retail, condos Bill 17-0527 would create a process to ensure that public properties are used to expand government services (new libraries, fire stations, homeless services etc); to replace the 3 million square feet of space currently rented by DC government at a cost of $110 million with space that is publicly owned; and to serve community needs and promote community development (small businesses, community marketplaces, affordable housing, space for nonprofit organizations serving the community, etc). MORE INFORMATION DC Statehood Green Party http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org Empower DC (People's Property Campaign) (not affiliated with any political party) http://www.empowerdc.org 2008 DC Statehood Green candidates http://www.statehood4dc.com/home ? Joyce Robinson Paul, for US Representative http://www.statehood4dc.com/jrpaul/home ? David Schwartzman, for Council, At-Large http://www.davidschwartzman.com ? Louise Thundercloud, for Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives http://www.statehood4dc.com/thundercloud ? Keith Ware, for US Senator http://www.statehood4dc.com/ware/home ? Cynthia McKinney, for President of the United States http://www.runcynthiarun.com ? Rosa Clemente, for Vice President of the United States http://www.rosaclemente.com ~ END ~ ... _________________________________________________________________ See how Windows Mobile brings your life together?at home, work, or on the go. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093182mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Natlcomaffairs mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs You must know your password to do this. If you can't figure out how to unsubscribe, as a last resort only, send a message OFF LIST to steveh at olypen.com If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html To report violations of listserv protocol, write to forummanagers at lists.gp-us.org For other information about the National Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Mon Sep 15 23:32:59 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:32:59 -0400 Subject: {news} Harold Burbank in Danbury News-Times References: <287456.94604.qm@web52209.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: http://www.newstimes.com/ci_10466241 Green Party candidate to challenge Murphy, Cappiello 09/15/2008 By Dirk Perrefort Staff Writer DANBURY -- Human rights attorney Harold Burbank has been certified by state officials as a third-party candidate for the 5th Congressional District race. Burbank said he plans to run as a member of the Green Party against U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, a first-term Democrat, and Republican state Sen. David Cappiello. Burbank said lies by the current administration during the run-up to the Iraq War -- and Congress' failure to initiate impeachment proceedings -- prompted his decision to run for office. "President George W. Bush lied to congress about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," Burbank said. "I don't understand why every lawyer in the nation doesn't stand up and say this is a direct attack on the U.S. Constitution." Burbank, a Canton resident and international human rights lawyer, worked in the state Attorney General's office for 12 years before opening his own practice. "Harold Burbank will be a superb public servant," independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader told The News-Times on Wednesday. "He understands the constitution, he understands presidential accountability and he understands that Congress has to reassert its authority under the constitution and initiating impeaching proceedings for George Bush and Dick Cheney on various grounds including high crimes and misdemeanors." Nader added that Burbank's long history of civil rights activity and opening ballots to third-party candidates has prompted him to support his congressional bid. Adam Bauer, Cappiello's communications director, said Burbank's candidacy shows that "folks from all political strips are unhappy with congressman Murphy's do-nothing record in Washington and we welcome him into the race." Ken Curran, Murphy's campaign manager, said nobody knows better than Chris Murphy about how the administration's failed policies have affected residents of the district. "Chris is focused on doing things differently by listening to the people of the 5th District and taking their issues to Washington," Curran said. "He is working hard to make sure home heating oil is affordable this winter and our economy gets back on track." Contact Dirk Perrefort at dperrefort@ newstimes.com or at (203) 731-3358 From timmckee at mail.com Tue Sep 16 09:35:33 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:35:33 -0500 Subject: {news} (hartford cournat)"A Lieberman Politcal Party That Opposes Lieberman" Message-ID: <20080916133537.957601BF28D@ws1-10.us4.outblaze.com> I generated this story after i found these guys on the Sec of state's web site. What do people think about this? i think we should also say that it kinda of misleading to the public to run under banner while opposing the same man. Will some vote for these guys NOT knowing they are against Lieberman? Should we issue a press release calling for them to change their name? Leave them alone and hope it goes away? courant.com/news/politics/hc-joeparty0916.artsep16,0,5483457.story Courant.com =========== A Lieberman Political Party That Opposes Lieberman -------------------------------------------------- By MARK PAZNIOKAS | Courant Staff Writer September 16, 2008 Even casual observers know that Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut has invested significant time and political capital in electing John McCain president. So, it only follows that the Connecticut for Lieberman Party would be squarely for McCain, right? Wrong. It's not even for Lieberman. Not any more. Confused? Welcome to the world of third-party politics. Led by John Mertens, a Trinity College engineering professor with a passion for independent politics and a disdain for Joe Lieberman, a few dozen voters have resurrected the senator's old ballot line. After losing the Democratic primary in 2006, Lieberman ran for re-election as a petitioning candidate. To get his own ballot line, Lieberman took the initial steps to create a new party, Connecticut for Lieberman. But he abandoned the name and the embryonic party as soon as he won. John Orman, a Fairfield University political science professor and Lieberman critic, tweaked Lieberman by holding party functions under the Connecticut for Lieberman banner. "I followed John Orman's antics. I thought it was quite amusing," Mertens said. "Then it hit me ? Connecticut for Lieberman has ballot access." Ballot access is everything in third-party politics. Mertens tried to run for U.S. Senate in 2006 as a candidate of the Independent Party, but elections officials refused to give him ballot access, saying that the existence of two local Independent parties rendered the name unusable for statewide office. (State officials say there now is only one Independent Party, and it can have statewide access.) Mertens contacted Orman and proposed using Connecticut for Lieberman as a real political party. Orman agreed, on the condition that Mertens become chairman and take over the effort. As the marketers would say, Mertens has "re-purposed" the old brand into an anti-Lieberman vehicle that is running a half-dozen candidates for state legislature this year and has endorsed Barack Obama for president. Five of the six candidates have Trinity connections. The sixth, Robert Adkins of Waterbury, is an Independent Party member cross-endorsed by Connecticut for Lieberman, Mertens said. Bryce Snarski-Pierce is a Trinity senior running in the 4th House District, which includes the Trinity campus. Mertens is running in the 20th House District in the Elmwood section of West Hartford. Two others are alumni and another is a former faculty member. On its website, the party describes itself: "The CFL is an independent, anti-war, anti-corruption, pro-fiscal responsibility, pro-democracy party, that stands for individual liberties and real problem-solving in government." Mertens said that the party looks forward to endorsing a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010, when Christopher Dodd is up for re-election. If Lieberman were to run again in 2012, the senator could look forward to being opposed by a nominee of the Connecticut for Lieberman Party. A spokesman said that Lieberman has no comment on the new direction of his old brand. Tim McKee, an activist with the Green Party, which also ran a candidate against Lieberman in 2006, said that an anti-Lieberman party whose name indicates support of Lieberman strikes him as a joke. "We've been trying to build up respect for third parties. If this is just a prank, please cut it out," McKee said. "Only the political junkies like us are the ones who get the joke." Mertens said he was surprised by McKee's reaction. "This is not a prank," Mertens said. "It is a takeover. This party has real value." Even if it was for Joe Lieberman before it was against him. Contact Mark Pazniokas at mpazniokas at courant.com. Copyright ? 2008, The Hartford Courant ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Tue Sep 16 14:02:42 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:02:42 -0500 Subject: {news} Only Nader to made CT Ballot- reject rates at 50 % Message-ID: <20080916180242.89BB947808F@ws1-5.us4.outblaze.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tim McKee" To: NattionGreensDiscussion Subject: [usgp-dx] Only Nader to made CT Ballot- reject rates at 50 % Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:23:18 -0500 [IMAGE] Libertarian Connecticut Petition Woes September 16th, 2008 Connecticut elections officials say the Libertarian presidential petition lacks approximately 500 valid signatures. Libertarian activist Andy Rule will be reviewing these findings. The party submitted over 12,000 signatures to meet a requirement of exactly 7,500 signatures, but elections officials say only 54% of the signatures were valid. The Constitution and Green Parties this year did not collect as many as 7,500 raw signatures, so if the Libertarian petition re-verification process does not succeed, Ralph Nader will be the only presidential candidate on the ballot other than Barack Obama and John McCain. Connecticut permits write-ins for declared presidential candidates. ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com _______________________________________________ Natlcomaffairs mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs You must know your password to do this. If you can't figure out how to unsubscribe, as a last resort only, send a message OFF LIST to steveh at olypen.com If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html To report violations of listserv protocol, write to forummanagers at lists.gp-us.org For other information about the National Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Tue Sep 16 18:08:34 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:08:34 -0400 Subject: {news} (hartford cournat)"A Lieberman Politcal Party That Opposes Lieberman" References: <006801c91811$0b7298a0$6401a8c0@HaroldII> Message-ID: I would leave the the CFL Party alone to figure out their own strategy. If they just want ballot access, certainly they could change their name, or merge with the Independent Party. But it looks like they are hoping to spoil Lieberman's campaign if he runs again. Yes, some voters (there's no way to know how many) will be misled into voting for the CFL candidate instead of Lieberman. In fact, they could really spoil Lieberman if they found someone with the same or similar name to run against him. This would be devious, but legal. There was a recent case where a candidate (I think it was a Green candidate but I'm not sure) deliberately ran against a conservative incumbent solely because they shared the same last name. The conservative tried to get him off the ballot, but the state ruled that the challenger had every right to run, and the two candidates were clearly enough distinguished on the ballot by their different first names. I suggested, half in jest but half seriously, that Ralph Ferrucci should run against the incumbent New Haven Registrar of Voters Sharon Ferrucci. Is this unethical? Perhaps no more so than nominating Sarah Palin for VP in hopes of winning over Hillary Clinton supporters (they both wear lipstick; therefore voters will be confused). David Bedell ----- Original Message ----- Subject: {news} (hartford cournat)"A Lieberman Politcal Party That Opposes Lieberman" From: Tim McKee timmckee at mail.com Date: Tue Sep 16 06:35:33 PDT 2008 I generated this story after i found these guys on the Sec of state's web site. What do people think about this? i think we should also say that it kinda of misleading to the public to run under banner while opposing the same man. Will some vote for these guys NOT knowing they are against Lieberman? Should we issue a press release calling for them to change their name? Leave them alone and hope it goes away? courant.com/news/politics/hc-joeparty0916.artsep16,0,5483457.story Courant.com =========== A Lieberman Political Party That Opposes Lieberman -------------------------------------------------- By MARK PAZNIOKAS | Courant Staff Writer September 16, 2008 Even casual observers know that Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut has invested significant time and political capital in electing John McCain president. So, it only follows that the Connecticut for Lieberman Party would be squarely for McCain, right? Wrong. It's not even for Lieberman. Not any more. Confused? Welcome to the world of third-party politics. Led by John Mertens, a Trinity College engineering professor with a passion for independent politics and a disdain for Joe Lieberman, a few dozen voters have resurrected the senator's old ballot line. After losing the Democratic primary in 2006, Lieberman ran for re-election as a petitioning candidate. To get his own ballot line, Lieberman took the initial steps to create a new party, Connecticut for Lieberman. But he abandoned the name and the embryonic party as soon as he won. John Orman, a Fairfield University political science professor and Lieberman critic, tweaked Lieberman by holding party functions under the Connecticut for Lieberman banner. "I followed John Orman's antics. I thought it was quite amusing," Mertens said. "Then it hit me - Connecticut for Lieberman has ballot access." Ballot access is everything in third-party politics. Mertens tried to run for U.S. Senate in 2006 as a candidate of the Independent Party, but elections officials refused to give him ballot access, saying that the existence of two local Independent parties rendered the name unusable for statewide office. (State officials say there now is only one Independent Party, and it can have statewide access.) Mertens contacted Orman and proposed using Connecticut for Lieberman as a real political party. Orman agreed, on the condition that Mertens become chairman and take over the effort. As the marketers would say, Mertens has "re-purposed" the old brand into an anti-Lieberman vehicle that is running a half-dozen candidates for state legislature this year and has endorsed Barack Obama for president. Five of the six candidates have Trinity connections. The sixth, Robert Adkins of Waterbury, is an Independent Party member cross-endorsed by Connecticut for Lieberman, Mertens said. Bryce Snarski-Pierce is a Trinity senior running in the 4th House District, which includes the Trinity campus. Mertens is running in the 20th House District in the Elmwood section of West Hartford. Two others are alumni and another is a former faculty member. On its website, the party describes itself: "The CFL is an independent, anti-war, anti-corruption, pro-fiscal responsibility, pro-democracy party, that stands for individual liberties and real problem-solving in government." Mertens said that the party looks forward to endorsing a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010, when Christopher Dodd is up for re-election. If Lieberman were to run again in 2012, the senator could look forward to being opposed by a nominee of the Connecticut for Lieberman Party. A spokesman said that Lieberman has no comment on the new direction of his old brand. Tim McKee, an activist with the Green Party, which also ran a candidate against Lieberman in 2006, said that an anti-Lieberman party whose name indicates support of Lieberman strikes him as a joke. "We've been trying to build up respect for third parties. If this is just a prank, please cut it out," McKee said. "Only the political junkies like us are the ones who get the joke." Mertens said he was surprised by McKee's reaction. "This is not a prank," Mertens said. "It is a takeover. This party has real value." Even if it was for Joe Lieberman before it was against him. Contact Mark Pazniokas at mpazniokas at courant.com. Copyright ? 2008, The Hartford Courant ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com From kumfry at hotmail.com Tue Sep 16 18:31:00 2008 From: kumfry at hotmail.com (Ken Humphrey) Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:31:00 +0000 Subject: {news} (hartford cournat)"A Lieberman Politcal Party That Opposes Lieberman" In-Reply-To: References: <006801c91811$0b7298a0$6401a8c0@HaroldII> Message-ID: Lieberman has always been devious himself. He ran simultaneously for his senate seat and for veep in 2000. And he took a second shot at his senate seat in 2006 after he failed in the primary. What REALLY should happen is to enact legislation that would enable us to recall or impeach Jingo Joe. He's an embarrassment to Connecticut. As it is, we're stuck with this pompous chickenhawk warmonger for over four more years. NO, I for one got a kick out of the astute folks who took over Lieberman's opportunistic party and are using it against him. Good for them. I don't agree with Tim KcKee on this one little bit. Ken Humphrey> From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com> To: ctgp-news at ml.greens.org> Subject: Re: {news} (hartford cournat)"A Lieberman Politcal Party That Opposes Lieberman"> Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:08:34 -0400> > 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 would leave the the CFL Party alone to figure out their own strategy. If> they just want ballot access, certainly they could change their name, or> merge with the Independent Party. But it looks like they are hoping to> spoil Lieberman's campaign if he runs again. Yes, some voters (there's no> way to know how many) will be misled into voting for the CFL candidate> instead of Lieberman. In fact, they could really spoil Lieberman if they> found someone with the same or similar name to run against him. This would> be devious, but legal.> > There was a recent case where a candidate (I think it was a Green candidate> but I'm not sure) deliberately ran against a conservative incumbent solely> because they shared the same last name. The conservative tried to get him> off the ballot, but the state ruled that the challenger had every right to> run, and the two candidates were clearly enough distinguished on the ballot> by their different first names.> > I suggested, half in jest but half seriously, that Ralph Ferrucci should run> against the incumbent New Haven Registrar of Voters Sharon Ferrucci. Is> this unethical? Perhaps no more so than nominating Sarah Palin for VP in> hopes of winning over Hillary Clinton supporters (they both wear lipstick;> therefore voters will be confused).> > David Bedell> > ----- Original Message ----- > Subject: {news} (hartford cournat)"A Lieberman Politcal Party That Opposes> Lieberman"> From: Tim McKee timmckee at mail.com> Date: Tue Sep 16 06:35:33 PDT 2008> > I generated this story after i found these guys on the Sec of state's web> site.> > What do people think about this?> > i think we should also say that it kinda of misleading to the public to> run under banner while opposing the same man. Will some vote for these> guys NOT knowing they are against Lieberman?> > Should we issue a press release calling for them to change their name?> > Leave them alone and hope it goes away?> > courant.com/news/politics/hc-joeparty0916.artsep16,0,5483457.story> > > > Courant.com> ===========> > > A Lieberman Political Party That Opposes Lieberman> --------------------------------------------------> > By MARK PAZNIOKAS | Courant Staff Writer> > September 16, 2008> > Even casual observers know that Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut> has invested significant time and political capital in electing John> McCain president.> > So, it only follows that the Connecticut for Lieberman Party would be> squarely for McCain, right?> > Wrong.> > It's not even for Lieberman.> > Not any more.> > Confused?> > Welcome to the world of third-party politics.> > Led by John Mertens, a Trinity College engineering professor with a> passion for independent politics and a disdain for Joe Lieberman, a few> dozen voters have resurrected the senator's old ballot line.> > After losing the Democratic primary in 2006, Lieberman ran for> re-election as a petitioning candidate. To get his own ballot line,> Lieberman took the initial steps to create a new party, Connecticut for> Lieberman.> > But he abandoned the name and the embryonic party as soon as he won.> > John Orman, a Fairfield University political science professor and> Lieberman critic, tweaked Lieberman by holding party functions under the> Connecticut for Lieberman banner.> > "I followed John Orman's antics. I thought it was quite amusing," Mertens> said. "Then it hit me - Connecticut for Lieberman has ballot access."> > Ballot access is everything in third-party politics.> > Mertens tried to run for U.S. Senate in 2006 as a candidate of the> Independent Party, but elections officials refused to give him ballot> access, saying that the existence of two local Independent parties> rendered the name unusable for statewide office.> > (State officials say there now is only one Independent Party, and it can> have statewide access.)> > Mertens contacted Orman and proposed using Connecticut for Lieberman as a> real political party. Orman agreed, on the condition that Mertens become> chairman and take over the effort.> > As the marketers would say, Mertens has "re-purposed" the old brand into> an anti-Lieberman vehicle that is running a half-dozen candidates for> state legislature this year and has endorsed Barack Obama for president.> > Five of the six candidates have Trinity connections. The sixth, Robert> Adkins of Waterbury, is an Independent Party member cross-endorsed by> Connecticut for Lieberman, Mertens said.> > Bryce Snarski-Pierce is a Trinity senior running in the 4th House> District, which includes the Trinity campus. Mertens is running in the> 20th House District in the Elmwood section of West Hartford. Two others> are alumni and another is a former faculty member.> > On its website, the party describes itself: "The CFL is an independent,> anti-war, anti-corruption, pro-fiscal responsibility, pro-democracy> party, that stands for individual liberties and real problem-solving in> government."> > Mertens said that the party looks forward to endorsing a candidate for> U.S. Senate in 2010, when Christopher Dodd is up for re-election.> > If Lieberman were to run again in 2012, the senator could look forward to> being opposed by a nominee of the Connecticut for Lieberman Party. A> spokesman said that Lieberman has no comment on the new direction of his> old brand.> > Tim McKee, an activist with the Green Party, which also ran a candidate> against Lieberman in 2006, said that an anti-Lieberman party whose name> indicates support of Lieberman strikes him as a joke.> > "We've been trying to build up respect for third parties. If this is just> a prank, please cut it out," McKee said. "Only the political junkies like> us are the ones who get the joke."> > Mertens said he was surprised by McKee's reaction.> > "This is not a prank," Mertens said. "It is a takeover. This party has> real value."> > Even if it was for Joe Lieberman before it was against him.> > Contact Mark Pazniokas at mpazniokas at courant.com.> > Copyright ? 2008, The Hartford Courant> > > > ******************************************> Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282> National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a> spokesperson for the Green Party of CT.> BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.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 _________________________________________________________________ Stay up to date on your PC, the Web, and your mobile phone with Windows Live. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093185mrt/direct/01/ From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Wed Sep 17 08:55:08 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:55:08 -0400 Subject: {news} CT Post: Shays avoiding debates Message-ID: http://www.connpost.com/localnews/ci_10481547 Himes claims Shays avoiding debates By KEN DIXON Staff writer Article Last Updated: 09/17/2008 12:59:10 AM EDT Two challengers for the 4th Congressional District seat Tuesday charged that veteran U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays was avoiding campaign debates. A Shays spokesman countered by saying he expects as many as nine debates will take place next month. However, by Tuesday evening no debates had yet been scheduled for the seat representing about 650,000 southwestern Connecticut residents. Democrat Jim Himes of Greenwich and Green Party candidate Richard Duffee of Stamford said that Shays, the only Republican member of Congress from New England, was trying to run down the clock to Nov. 4. Duffee also believes that Shays is undermining his attempt to participate in campaign events because the incumbent is afraid to be linked with the policies of the Bush administration. In response, Shays' campaign spokesman, Mike Sohn, said that he anticipates nine debates will be finalized by the end of this week. "The facts speak for themselves," Sohn said in a phone interview. "Two years ago we had 11 debates and the election before that there were nine." Later Tuesday, in a news release, the Shays campaign called the challengers' claims "ridiculous." But Dana Houle, Himes' campaign manager, maintained Shays was "hiding" from Himes. "Chris Shays is the guy who parroted George Bush's claim that 'the fundamentals of our economy are strong," Houle said. Duffee, a retired lawyer, charged that Shays was stalling the League of Women Voters on possible debate dates. The LWV on Tuesday was still not sure when congressional debates would occur. "He appears to be delaying," Duffee said in a phone interview, adding that he is concerned that Shays is working to keep him away from the debates because of the charges he and other Green Party candidates have leveled against the Bush administration. The Green Party wants to impeach President Bush for violating the Constitution. Sohn said it's up to the various debate organizers to decide whether minor and third-party candidates should be included in the events. The Hamden-based LWV on Tuesday released a tentative list of debates, including an Oct. 5 confrontation at Staples High School in Westport and an Oct. 15 forum in Norwalk Community College. Both events, however, were pending Shays' confirmation. Sohn declined to detail why Shays, who joined Congress after a special election in 1987, doesn't want to schedule any debates in September, including one that had been set by the LWV for Sept. 25. "We'll have a debate window from Oct.11 to the 20th," Sohn said. "We were not able to do Sept. 25. This is the window." Paul S. Timpanelli, president and CEO of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, confirmed Tuesday that congressional candidates will appear somewhere in Bridgeport for a debate on health care on Oct. 24. He doubts whether Duffee will be invited. "The answer is probably going to be 'no' because in the past, the third-party candidate wasn't viable," Timpanelli said in a phone interview. "I haven't given it any thought at this point, but normally, in the past, we have made that decision based on our government-relations committee." On Nov. 4, voters in the 4th District will have four candidates from whom to choose. Himes will appear on both the Democratic and Working Families ballot lines and Michael Anthony Carrano is the Libertarian candidate. Statewide, there are about 2,151 Green Party members and about 1,147 members of the Libertarian Party in Connecticut, according to the secretary of the state. In the 2006 election, Shays won with 106,510 votes compared to 99,450 for Democrat Diane Farrell. Libertarian Philip Z. Maymin received 3,058 votes. Green Party State Chairman S. Michael DeRosa said Tuesday that unlike 2006, when the Greens fielded only one Congressional candidate, there are Green candidates this year in each of the five districts. DeRosa, in a phone interview, said he's not surprised that mainstream politicians may try to keep Greens out of the debates. "This has always been a problem," DeRosa said. "All parties are equal in Connecticut, but some are more equal than others." He described the state's publicly-supported election fund as the "no-Democrat-or-Republican-left-behind" law while Connecticut lawmakers made it harder for minor parties and independents to gain public financing. "We're on the ballot and we have a large number of supporters," DeRosa said. "The two parties don't want us in the debates because we'll raise issues they don't want to talk about, like the economy falling around us, offshore drilling and the war." DeRosa said that Duffee would add a necessary voice to the BRBC's healthcare forum. "He would raise the issue that we should be discussing around the nation and that's the single-payer system like Canada and every other industrialized, civilized nation in the world has in one form or another," DeRosa said. From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Wed Sep 17 08:57:55 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:57:55 -0400 Subject: {news} Hartford Courant: Larson avoiding debates? Message-ID: http://blogs.courant.com/rick_green/2008/09/steve-fournier-joe-visconti-an.html Steve Fournier, Joe Visconti and ... John Larson? By Rick Green on September 16, 2008 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) Because the League of Women Voters isn't bothering with a debate or forum in the First Congressional District, I've asked the three candidates to join me for a cup of coffee and a little arguing. "Anytime, anywhere,'' said Joseph Visconti, the Republican nominee. "I'm flexible," replied Steve Fournier, the Green Party candidate. No word yet from U.S. Rep. John Larson, the incumbent Democrat. From timmckee at mail.com Wed Sep 17 10:24:37 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:24:37 -0500 Subject: {news} (NEWS RELEASE) Greens ask Larson -why no debates? Message-ID: <20080917142437.74EA5104F0@ws1-3.us4.outblaze.com> GREEN PARTY OF CONNECTICUT CONTACT: Steve Fournier, Green Party Candidate for Congress (860)794-6718Joe Visconti -Republican candidate for Congress 860-989-8471 Tim McKee, NATIONAL COMMITEE PERSON cell (860) 860-778-1304 (Best) or (860)-643-2282, timmckee at mail.com Mike DeRosa, State Co-Chair (860)956-8170 or (860) 919-4042 (cell GREEN PARTY ASKS CONGRESSMAN LARSON AND LEAGUE OF WOMENS VOTERS WHY THERE ARE NO DEBATES. Hartford, CT- With NO DEBATES in the First District Congressional race scheduled, Green Party candidate Steve Fournier and local party officers asking Congressman Larson and the League of Women voters why not? Fournier who spent weeks collecting thousands of signatures in the heat of the summer to get on the ballot as a Green Party candidate and talking with local voters in the streets, thinks there is a demand for debates with Larson and Republican challenger Joe Visconti. Fournier called for: 1. A series of debates on television and radio stations, including Spanish language stations. 2. All areas of the district, including college campuses, churches, and senior centers 3. Inclusion of all three candidates in all the debates 4. Town hall formats for some of debates, so the public can be involved with questions for the candidates. Party officials have spoken with Republican Challenger Visconti who agrees with the Fournier inclusion in all the debates and said there are no scheduled debates at this time. Tim McKee, a spokesperson for the Greens, said if Larson does not debate or simply limits the debates to one or two low profile events, it would be a disservice to public with so many important differences between the three candidates. McKee added the League of Women Voters need to step up and sponsor debates even if Larson won?t show up. He added ?An empty chair, if Larson does not show to debate, is a powerful statement to voters, and right now, no debates hurts our democracy!? #End of release# ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ralphferrucci at sbcglobal.net Wed Sep 17 10:31:00 2008 From: ralphferrucci at sbcglobal.net (RALPH FERRUCCI) Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:31:00 -0700 (PDT) Subject: {news} Re: CTGP-news Digest, Vol 50, Issue 19 In-Reply-To: <20080917142518.CD2CB8DC5A8@gandhi.greens.org> Message-ID: <815295.99862.qm@web81005.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Running candidate for CFL party will legitimate the party which plans to run a candidate for US Senate in the future so they can hold the ballot line to run against Lieberman in his own party forcing Lieberman to either run as a different 3rd party, run as a Republican or file a lawsuit to try to regain the party name again. Ithink this is brilliant. Ralph Ferrucci --- On Wed, 9/17/08, ctgp-news-request at ml.greens.org wrote: From: ctgp-news-request at ml.greens.org Subject: CTGP-news Digest, Vol 50, Issue 19 To: ctgp-news at ml.greens.org Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 10:25 AM Send CTGP-news mailing list submissions to ctgp-news at ml.greens.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://ml.greens.org/mailman/listinfo/ctgp-news or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to ctgp-news-request at ml.greens.org You can reach the person managing the list at ctgp-news-owner at ml.greens.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of CTGP-news digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: (hartford cournat)"A Lieberman Politcal Party That Opposes Lieberman" (David Bedell) 2. RE: (hartford cournat)"A Lieberman Politcal Party That Opposes Lieberman" (Ken Humphrey) 3. CT Post: Shays avoiding debates (David Bedell) 4. Hartford Courant: Larson avoiding debates? (David Bedell) 5. (NEWS RELEASE) Greens ask Larson -why no debates? (Tim McKee) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:08:34 -0400 From: "David Bedell" Subject: Re: {news} (hartford cournat)"A Lieberman Politcal Party That Opposes Lieberman" To: Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I would leave the the CFL Party alone to figure out their own strategy. If they just want ballot access, certainly they could change their name, or merge with the Independent Party. But it looks like they are hoping to spoil Lieberman's campaign if he runs again. Yes, some voters (there's no way to know how many) will be misled into voting for the CFL candidate instead of Lieberman. In fact, they could really spoil Lieberman if they found someone with the same or similar name to run against him. This would be devious, but legal. There was a recent case where a candidate (I think it was a Green candidate but I'm not sure) deliberately ran against a conservative incumbent solely because they shared the same last name. The conservative tried to get him off the ballot, but the state ruled that the challenger had every right to run, and the two candidates were clearly enough distinguished on the ballot by their different first names. I suggested, half in jest but half seriously, that Ralph Ferrucci should run against the incumbent New Haven Registrar of Voters Sharon Ferrucci. Is this unethical? Perhaps no more so than nominating Sarah Palin for VP in hopes of winning over Hillary Clinton supporters (they both wear lipstick; therefore voters will be confused). David Bedell ----- Original Message ----- Subject: {news} (hartford cournat)"A Lieberman Politcal Party That Opposes Lieberman" From: Tim McKee timmckee at mail.com Date: Tue Sep 16 06:35:33 PDT 2008 I generated this story after i found these guys on the Sec of state's web site. What do people think about this? i think we should also say that it kinda of misleading to the public to run under banner while opposing the same man. Will some vote for these guys NOT knowing they are against Lieberman? Should we issue a press release calling for them to change their name? Leave them alone and hope it goes away? courant.com/news/politics/hc-joeparty0916.artsep16,0,5483457.story Courant.com =========== A Lieberman Political Party That Opposes Lieberman -------------------------------------------------- By MARK PAZNIOKAS | Courant Staff Writer September 16, 2008 Even casual observers know that Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut has invested significant time and political capital in electing John McCain president. So, it only follows that the Connecticut for Lieberman Party would be squarely for McCain, right? Wrong. It's not even for Lieberman. Not any more. Confused? Welcome to the world of third-party politics. Led by John Mertens, a Trinity College engineering professor with a passion for independent politics and a disdain for Joe Lieberman, a few dozen voters have resurrected the senator's old ballot line. After losing the Democratic primary in 2006, Lieberman ran for re-election as a petitioning candidate. To get his own ballot line, Lieberman took the initial steps to create a new party, Connecticut for Lieberman. But he abandoned the name and the embryonic party as soon as he won. John Orman, a Fairfield University political science professor and Lieberman critic, tweaked Lieberman by holding party functions under the Connecticut for Lieberman banner. "I followed John Orman's antics. I thought it was quite amusing," Mertens said. "Then it hit me - Connecticut for Lieberman has ballot access." Ballot access is everything in third-party politics. Mertens tried to run for U.S. Senate in 2006 as a candidate of the Independent Party, but elections officials refused to give him ballot access, saying that the existence of two local Independent parties rendered the name unusable for statewide office. (State officials say there now is only one Independent Party, and it can have statewide access.) Mertens contacted Orman and proposed using Connecticut for Lieberman as a real political party. Orman agreed, on the condition that Mertens become chairman and take over the effort. As the marketers would say, Mertens has "re-purposed" the old brand into an anti-Lieberman vehicle that is running a half-dozen candidates for state legislature this year and has endorsed Barack Obama for president. Five of the six candidates have Trinity connections. The sixth, Robert Adkins of Waterbury, is an Independent Party member cross-endorsed by Connecticut for Lieberman, Mertens said. Bryce Snarski-Pierce is a Trinity senior running in the 4th House District, which includes the Trinity campus. Mertens is running in the 20th House District in the Elmwood section of West Hartford. Two others are alumni and another is a former faculty member. On its website, the party describes itself: "The CFL is an independent, anti-war, anti-corruption, pro-fiscal responsibility, pro-democracy party, that stands for individual liberties and real problem-solving in government." Mertens said that the party looks forward to endorsing a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010, when Christopher Dodd is up for re-election. If Lieberman were to run again in 2012, the senator could look forward to being opposed by a nominee of the Connecticut for Lieberman Party. A spokesman said that Lieberman has no comment on the new direction of his old brand. Tim McKee, an activist with the Green Party, which also ran a candidate against Lieberman in 2006, said that an anti-Lieberman party whose name indicates support of Lieberman strikes him as a joke. "We've been trying to build up respect for third parties. If this is just a prank, please cut it out," McKee said. "Only the political junkies like us are the ones who get the joke." Mertens said he was surprised by McKee's reaction. "This is not a prank," Mertens said. "It is a takeover. This party has real value." Even if it was for Joe Lieberman before it was against him. Contact Mark Pazniokas at mpazniokas at courant.com. Copyright ? 2008, The Hartford Courant ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:31:00 +0000 From: Ken Humphrey Subject: RE: {news} (hartford cournat)"A Lieberman Politcal Party That Opposes Lieberman" To: David Bedell Cc: ctgp-news at ml.greens.org Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Lieberman has always been devious himself. He ran simultaneously for his senate seat and for veep in 2000. And he took a second shot at his senate seat in 2006 after he failed in the primary. What REALLY should happen is to enact legislation that would enable us to recall or impeach Jingo Joe. He's an embarrassment to Connecticut. As it is, we're stuck with this pompous chickenhawk warmonger for over four more years. NO, I for one got a kick out of the astute folks who took over Lieberman's opportunistic party and are using it against him. Good for them. I don't agree with Tim KcKee on this one little bit. Ken Humphrey> From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com> To: ctgp-news at ml.greens.org> Subject: Re: {news} (hartford cournat)"A Lieberman Politcal Party That Opposes Lieberman"> Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:08:34 -0400> > Connecticut Green Party - Part of the GPUS> http://www.ctgreens.org/ - http://www.greenpartyus.org/> > to unsubscribe click here> mailto:ctgp-news-unsub scribe at ml.greens.org> I would leave the the CFL Party alone to figure out their own strategy. If> they just want ballot access, certainly they could change their name, or> merge with the Independent Party. But it looks like they are hoping to> spoil Lieberman's campaign if he runs again. Yes, some voters (there's no> way to know how many) will be misled into voting for the CFL candidate> instead of Lieberman. In fact, they could really spoil Lieberman if they> found someone with the same or similar name to run against him. This would> be devious, but legal.> > There was a recent case where a candidate (I think it was a Green candidate> but I'm not sure) deliberately ran against a conservative incumbent solely> because they shared the same last name. The conservative tried to get him> off the ballot, but the state ruled that the challenger had every right to> run, and the two candidates were clearly enough distinguished on the ballot> by their different first names.> > I suggested, half in jest but half seriously, that Ralph Ferrucci should run> against the incumbent New Haven Registrar of Voters Sharon Ferrucci. Is> this unethical? Perhaps no more so than nominating Sarah Palin for VP in> hopes of winning over Hillary Clinton supporters (they both wear lipstick;> therefore voters will be confused).> > David Bedell> > ----- Original Message ----- > Subject: {news} (hartford cournat)"A Lieberman Politcal Party That Opposes> Lieberman"> From: Tim McKee timmckee at mail.com> Date: Tue Sep 16 06:35:33 PDT 2008> > I generated this story after i found these guys on the Sec of state's web> site.> > What do people think about this?> > i think we should also say that it kinda of misleading to the public to> run under banner while opposing the same man. Will some vote for these> guys NOT knowing they are against Lieberman?> > Should we issue a press release calling for them to change their name?> > Leave them alone and hope it goes away?> > courant .com/news/politics/hc-joeparty0916.artsep16,0,5483457.story> > > > Courant.com> ===========> > > A Lieberman Political Party That Opposes Lieberman> --------------------------------------------------> > By MARK PAZNIOKAS | Courant Staff Writer> > September 16, 2008> > Even casual observers know that Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut> has invested significant time and political capital in electing John> McCain president.> > So, it only follows that the Connecticut for Lieberman Party would be> squarely for McCain, right?> > Wrong.> > It's not even for Lieberman.> > Not any more.> > Confused?> > Welcome to the world of third-party politics.> > Led by John Mertens, a Trinity College engineering professor with a> passion for independent politics and a disdain for Joe Lieberman, a few> dozen voters have resurrected the senator's old ballot line.> > After losing the Democratic primary in 2006, Lieberman ran for> re-election as a petitioning candidate. To get his own ballot l ine,> Lieberman took the initial steps to create a new party, Connecticut for> Lieberman.> > But he abandoned the name and the embryonic party as soon as he won.> > John Orman, a Fairfield University political science professor and> Lieberman critic, tweaked Lieberman by holding party functions under the> Connecticut for Lieberman banner.> > "I followed John Orman's antics. I thought it was quite amusing," Mertens> said. "Then it hit me - Connecticut for Lieberman has ballot access."> > Ballot access is everything in third-party politics.> > Mertens tried to run for U.S. Senate in 2006 as a candidate of the> Independent Party, but elections officials refused to give him ballot> access, saying that the existence of two local Independent parties> rendered the name unusable for statewide office.> > (State officials say there now is only one Independent Party, and it can> have statewide access.)> > Mertens contacted Orman and proposed using Connecticut for Lieberman as a> real p olitical party. Orman agreed, on the condition that Mertens become> chairman and take over the effort.> > As the marketers would say, Mertens has "re-purposed" the old brand into> an anti-Lieberman vehicle that is running a half-dozen candidates for> state legislature this year and has endorsed Barack Obama for president.> > Five of the six candidates have Trinity connections. The sixth, Robert> Adkins of Waterbury, is an Independent Party member cross-endorsed by> Connecticut for Lieberman, Mertens said.> > Bryce Snarski-Pierce is a Trinity senior running in the 4th House> District, which includes the Trinity campus. Mertens is running in the> 20th House District in the Elmwood section of West Hartford. Two others> are alumni and another is a former faculty member.> > On its website, the party describes itself: "The CFL is an independent,> anti-war, anti-corruption, pro-fiscal responsibility, pro-democracy> party, that stands for individual liberties and real problem-solvin g in> government."> > Mertens said that the party looks forward to endorsing a candidate for> U.S. Senate in 2010, when Christopher Dodd is up for re-election.> > If Lieberman were to run again in 2012, the senator could look forward to> being opposed by a nominee of the Connecticut for Lieberman Party. A> spokesman said that Lieberman has no comment on the new direction of his> old brand.> > Tim McKee, an activist with the Green Party, which also ran a candidate> against Lieberman in 2006, said that an anti-Lieberman party whose name> indicates support of Lieberman strikes him as a joke.> > "We've been trying to build up respect for third parties. If this is just> a prank, please cut it out," McKee said. "Only the political junkies like> us are the ones who get the joke."> > Mertens said he was surprised by McKee's reaction.> > "This is not a prank," Mertens said. "It is a takeover. This party has> real value."> > Even if it was for Joe Lieberman before it was against him.> > Contact Mark Pazniokas at mpazniokas at courant.com.> > Copyright ? 2008, The Hartford Courant> > > > ******************************************> Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282> National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a> spokesperson for the Green Party of CT.> BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.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 a nalysis 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 _________________________________________________________________ Stay up to date on your PC, the Web, and your mobile phone with Windows Live. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093185mrt/direct/01/ ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:55:08 -0400 From: "David Bedell" Subject: {news} CT Post: Shays avoiding debates To: , Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" http://www.connpost.com/localnews/ci_10481547 Himes claims Shays avoiding debates By KEN DIXON Staff writer Article Last Updated: 09/17/2008 12:59:10 AM EDT Two challengers for the 4th Congressional District seat Tuesday charged that veteran U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays was avoiding campaign debates. A Shays spokesman countered by saying he expects as many as nine debates will take place next month. However, by Tuesday evening no debates had yet been scheduled for the seat representing about 650,000 southwestern Connecticut residents. Democrat Jim Himes of Greenwich and Green Party candidate Richard Duffee of Stamford said that Shays, the only Republican member of Congress from New England, was trying to run down the clock to Nov. 4. Duffee also believes that Shays is undermining his attempt to participate in campaign events because the incumbent is afraid to be linked with the policies of the Bush administration. In response, Shays' campaign spokesman, Mike Sohn, said that he anticipates nine debates will be finalized by the end of this week. "The facts speak for themselves," Sohn said in a phone interview. "Two years ago we had 11 debates and the election before that there were nine." Later Tuesday, in a news release, the Shays campaign called the challengers' claims "ridiculous." But Dana Houle, Himes' campaign manager, maintained Shays was "hiding" from Himes. "Chris Shays is the guy who parroted George Bush's claim that 'the fundamentals of our economy are strong," Houle said. Duffee, a retired lawyer, charged that Shays was stalling the League of Women Voters on possible debate dates. The LWV on Tuesday was still not sure when congressional debates would occur. "He appears to be delaying," Duffee said in a phone interview, adding that he is concerned that Shays is working to keep him away from the debates because of the charges he and other Green Party candidates have leveled against the Bush administration. The Green Party wants to impeach President Bush for violating the Constitution. Sohn said it's up to the various debate organizers to decide whether minor and third-party candidates should be included in the events. The Hamden-based LWV on Tuesday released a tentative list of debates, including an Oct. 5 confrontation at Staples High School in Westport and an Oct. 15 forum in Norwalk Community College. Both events, however, were pending Shays' confirmation. Sohn declined to detail why Shays, who joined Congress after a special election in 1987, doesn't want to schedule any debates in September, including one that had been set by the LWV for Sept. 25. "We'll have a debate window from Oct.11 to the 20th," Sohn said. "We were not able to do Sept. 25. This is the window." Paul S. Timpanelli, president and CEO of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, confirmed Tuesday that congressional candidates will appear somewhere in Bridgeport for a debate on health care on Oct. 24. He doubts whether Duffee will be invited. "The answer is probably going to be 'no' because in the past, the third-party candidate wasn't viable," Timpanelli said in a phone interview. "I haven't given it any thought at this point, but normally, in the past, we have made that decision based on our government-relations committee." On Nov. 4, voters in the 4th District will have four candidates from whom to choose. Himes will appear on both the Democratic and Working Families ballot lines and Michael Anthony Carrano is the Libertarian candidate. Statewide, there are about 2,151 Green Party members and about 1,147 members of the Libertarian Party in Connecticut, according to the secretary of the state. In the 2006 election, Shays won with 106,510 votes compared to 99,450 for Democrat Diane Farrell. Libertarian Philip Z. Maymin received 3,058 votes. Green Party State Chairman S. Michael DeRosa said Tuesday that unlike 2006, when the Greens fielded only one Congressional candidate, there are Green candidates this year in each of the five districts. DeRosa, in a phone interview, said he's not surprised that mainstream politicians may try to keep Greens out of the debates. "This has always been a problem," DeRosa said. "All parties are equal in Connecticut, but some are more equal than others." He described the state's publicly-supported election fund as the "no-Democrat-or-Republican-left-behind" law while Connecticut lawmakers made it harder for minor parties and independents to gain public financing. "We're on the ballot and we have a large number of supporters," DeRosa said. "The two parties don't want us in the debates because we'll raise issues they don't want to talk about, like the economy falling around us, offshore drilling and the war." DeRosa said that Duffee would add a necessary voice to the BRBC's healthcare forum. "He would raise the issue that we should be discussing around the nation and that's the single-payer system like Canada and every other industrialized, civilized nation in the world has in one form or another," DeRosa said. ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:57:55 -0400 From: "David Bedell" Subject: {news} Hartford Courant: Larson avoiding debates? To: , Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" http://blogs.courant.com/rick_green/2008/09/steve-fournier-joe-visconti-an.html Steve Fournier, Joe Visconti and ... John Larson? By Rick Green on September 16, 2008 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) Because the League of Women Voters isn't bothering with a debate or forum in the First Congressional District, I've asked the three candidates to join me for a cup of coffee and a little arguing. "Anytime, anywhere,'' said Joseph Visconti, the Republican nominee. "I'm flexible," replied Steve Fournier, the Green Party candidate. No word yet from U.S. Rep. John Larson, the incumbent Democrat. ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:24:37 -0500 From: "Tim McKee" Subject: {news} (NEWS RELEASE) Greens ask Larson -why no debates? To: "CT Greens News" Message-ID: <20080917142437.74EA5104F0 at ws1-3.us4.outblaze.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" GREEN PARTY OF CONNECTICUT CONTACT: Steve Fournier, Green Party Candidate for Congress (860)794-6718Joe Visconti -Republican candidate for Congress 860-989-8471 Tim McKee, NATIONAL COMMITEE PERSON cell (860) 860-778-1304 (Best) or (860)-643-2282, timmckee at mail.com Mike DeRosa, State Co-Chair (860)956-8170 or (860) 919-4042 (cell GREEN PARTY ASKS CONGRESSMAN LARSON AND LEAGUE OF WOMENS VOTERS WHY THERE ARE NO DEBATES. Hartford, CT- With NO DEBATES in the First District Congressional race scheduled, Green Party candidate Steve Fournier and local party officers asking Congressman Larson and the League of Women voters why not? Fournier who spent weeks collecting thousands of signatures in the heat of the summer to get on the ballot as a Green Party candidate and talking with local voters in the streets, thinks there is a demand for debates with Larson and Republican challenger Joe Visconti. Fournier called for: 1. A series of debates on television and radio stations, including Spanish language stations. 2. All areas of the district, including college campuses, churches, and senior centers 3. Inclusion of all three candidates in all the debates 4. Town hall formats for some of debates, so the public can be involved with questions for the candidates. Party officials have spoken with Republican Challenger Visconti who agrees with the Fournier inclusion in all the debates and said there are no scheduled debates at this time. Tim McKee, a spokesperson for the Greens, said if Larson does not debate or simply limits the debates to one or two low profile events, it would be a disservice to public with so many important differences between the three candidates. McKee added the League of Women Voters need to step up and sponsor debates even if Larson won?t show up. He added ?An empty chair, if Larson does not show to debate, is a powerful statement to voters, and right now, no debates hurts our democracy!? #End of release# ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://ml.greens.org/pipermail/ctgp-news/attachments/20080917/92c7d52b/attachment.htm ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ CTGP-news mailing list CTGP-news at ml.greens.org http://ml.greens.org/mailman/listinfo/ctgp-news End of CTGP-news Digest, Vol 50, Issue 19 ***************************************** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From apbrison at hotmail.com Wed Sep 17 13:23:34 2008 From: apbrison at hotmail.com (allan brison) Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:23:34 -0400 Subject: {news} Dennis Hamilton 1942-2008 Message-ID: Friends, The progressive activist community of New Haven has lost one of its most beloved members yesterday. Dennis Hamilton passed away after having been stricken by a heart attack the day before. He was in New Hampshire with Heiwa Salovitz when he felt sick and checked into the local hospital. Joan Cavanaugh and Frank Panzarella drove up and, along with Heiwa, were with him when he died. Dennis was to fly to West Africa later this week to assist in a drilling project to provide villagers with water. Dennis combined a warm personality with a passion for justice. He was close to the epicenter of most of the progressive activism in New Haven. He was a person of many talents. As an accomplished pianist, he performed at my 70th birthday party in June playing songs my mother may have been listening to in 1938, the year of my birth. Earlier in the year he had done the same thing for Sally Joughin at her 70th birthday celebration. He was also an accomplished problem solver. He always seemed to know what to do in a crisis. A couple of years ago, for example, while on a train returning from an anti-war protest in DC, I noticed that my daughter was not on the train with me. Dennis got on his cell phone and quickly determined that she was on the next train to leave DC, and then he arranged with the conductor's of the two trains to have me transferred from the one train to the other at the next stop. My wife and I have known Dennis for most of the 12 years that we have been in New Haven. I believe that I met him at Sally Joughin's house at a PAI (People Against Injustice) meeting, Betsy knew him as a library patron. As a registered Green, Dennis was an invaluable help in my two campaigns for public office. An accomplished phone banker, he played a major part in the Get Out The Vote (GOTV) effort which provided my margin of victory last November. He will be greatly missed. Allan -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From efficacy at msn.com Wed Sep 17 21:29:20 2008 From: efficacy at msn.com (Clifford Thornton) Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:29:20 -0400 Subject: {news} DRUGS: A BUSINESS FOR OUR TIMES Message-ID: At the local, state and federal level we spend 50 billion and year to interdict drugs. The drug enforcement agency readily admits that they capture less than ten percent of all illegal drugs. Does a 50 billion dollar investment for ninety percent failure rate sound like a good investment to you? This is the number one problem black, Latino and poor whites face in this country. Mark my words--it is going to get exceedingly worse. With the financial crisis that will have far reaching affects, look at one business that is not affected at all. DRUGS: A BUSINESS FOR OUR TIMES Sam Smith, Progressive Review - Since there is so much bad financial news these days, we thought this might cheer you up. The drug business is doing extremely well, thanks in large part to years of de facto subsidy by the perversely misnamed "war on drugs." A recent CNN report said the Coast Guard had seized $4.7 billion worth of cocaine last year. That's only the amount the Coast Guard seized and it's only the value of cocaine, not all the other drugs. The value is just shy of the $4.83 billion Google earned in the last quarter of last year. At the time Google had about 16,000 employees. When you are able to lose $4.7 billion a year in just one product line and still keep growing, you've got an impressive business. Back in 1997, I interviewed Billy Bear Bottoms, the pilot for one of the biggest drug importers of the time, Barry Seal. Bottoms told me that Seal had made about 50 trips of 300 kilos each, or approximately 16 tons total. The Coast Guard recently seized one vessel - a self propelled semi-submersible that costs up to a million bucks to build - and found seven tons on the craft or 21 times as much as the notorious Seal was able to transport on one trip. Another of this year's seizures amount to more than Seal was able to import on 50 flights. One day, and sadly far too late, we will finally learn that the biggest driver of the drug trade is US law enforcement. Cliff Efficacy PO Box 1234 860 657 8438 Hartford, CT 06143 efficacy at msn.com www.Efficacy-online.org "THE DRUG WAR IS MEANT TO BE WAGED NOT WON" Working to end race and class drug war injustice, Efficacy is a non profit 501 (c) 3 organization founded in 1997. Your gifts and donations are tax deductible -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Thu Sep 18 09:05:55 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:05:55 -0500 Subject: {news} Work. Fam. hopes to elect a St Senator Message-ID: <20080918130555.E1D3F16429C@ws1-4.us4.outblaze.com> [IMAGE] Connecticut Working Families Party Hopes to Elect a State Senator September 16th, 2008 The Connecticut Working Families Party, together with the Connecticut Independent Party, are jointly running Cicero B. Booker for State Senate, 15th district. Connecticut permits fusion. Booker?s only opponent is the incumbent Democrat, Senator Joan Hartley. No Republican is running. Booker is a former member of the State Parole Board, and currently an alderman in Waterbury. He was elected alderman on the Independent Party line. He is close to qualifying for full public funding. If he succeeds, he will receive approximately $100,000 in public funding. ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From apbrison at hotmail.com Thu Sep 18 15:13:24 2008 From: apbrison at hotmail.com (allan brison) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:13:24 -0400 Subject: {news} Surprise Party for Mitzi Bowman Message-ID: Surprise Party for Mitzi Bowman (don't tell her! - she will not be receiving this post) Greens and Friends, Mitzi Bowman, a pillar of the New Haven progressive and Green communities for many years, will be moving to Vermont later this month. Come and join us for a surprise party. DATE: Monday Sept. 22, 2008 TIME: 6pm - 8:30pm PLACE: Unitarian Society 700 Hartford Turnpike Hamden Mitzi, along with her deceased husband, Peter, has been active for many years in the anti-nuclear power community. She has continued to run, since Pete died, the organization that they had formed together, Don't Waste Connecticut. She has been active in the New Haven Green Party, and a founding member of Fight the (Utility Rate) Hike. Pot luck - Bring a Dish to Share (due to problems at the UU with food allergies - do not bring anything containing nuts) for directions call the Unitarian office 288-1807 or Paula's cell phone: 887-4778 Frank's cell phone: 675-8364 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Thu Sep 18 20:26:54 2008 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:26:54 -0400 Subject: {news} Fw: List your candidates in the Hartford Courant's 2008 Voter's Guide Message-ID: FW: List your candidates in the Hartford Courant's 2008 Voter's GuideCan someone post this on the candidates' listserve? I'm not a member of that listserve. --Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: Stern, Paul To: greens at ctgreens.org Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 11:51 AM Subject: FW: List your candidates in the Hartford Courant's 2008 Voter's Guide Hi Folks... We've sent letters to all the individual candidates for state and congressional office in Connecticut, but I thought it might also help to spread the word if I asked the party to communicate with its candidates about the Hartford Courant's 2008 online and print Voter's Guide. If you wouldn't mind, would you forward this to your candidates? Attention Legislative Election Candidates: Don't miss your chance to address thousands of Hartford Courant readers in the upcoming 2008 Connecticut Voter's Guide. Most candidates and their opponents have already received written instructions on how to submit information and photos, but if you did not, email data at courant.com or call 860-241-6662 for complete instructions. The online Voter's Guide will be available to readers throughout the election season beginning later this month. The print version is scheduled for publication Oct. 26. In order to participate, candidates will need a password and instruction sheet that I can supply them via email. Thanks. And if you have any questions, feel free to write or call. Paul E. Stern The Hartford Courant, 285 Broad Street, Hartford, CT 06115 Phone: 860-241-3069 Fax: 860-241-3853 Toll free: 1-800-524-4242 ext. 3069 www.courant.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From apbrison at hotmail.com Thu Sep 18 21:47:01 2008 From: apbrison at hotmail.com (allan brison) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:47:01 -0400 Subject: {news} Dennis Hamilton 1942-2008 Message-ID: Click on the link to see my story on Dennis in the New Haven Independent today. http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/09/dennis_hamilton.php Allan Brison -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Fri Sep 19 08:13:04 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2008 08:13:04 -0400 Subject: {news} Shelton Constitution Day event in New Haven Register Message-ID: http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2008/09/18/news/valley/b2-shgreenparty.txt Constitution focus of Green Party event Thursday, September 18, 2008 6:51 AM EDT By Patricia Villers, Register Staff SHELTON - Reiterating what the Founding Fathers wrote in the Constitution was the focus of a Constitution Day celebration Green Party members hosted Wednesday at Constitution Park. Three candidates for Congress and one who is running for state Senate staged the event, marking the 221st anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787. The audience for the event was small: two members of the media. Each man spoke passionately about what they see are abuses of the Constitution by elected officials. They all seek to raise awareness of what they consider the intent of the Founding Fathers who wrote and signed the Constitution. Richard Duffee of Stamford, a candidate in the 4th District, said, "There are clauses in the Constitution we have to restore." Regarding part of Article I, pertaining to the power of Congress to declare war, Duffee said: Congress "has relinquished its power to President Bush" and "has failed to reassert itself." Duffee is a writer and retired lawyer who taught law in South Asia. Hartford resident Stephen Fournier, who is running for Congress in the 1st District, said he is a member of Veterans Against the War. He said when President Bush visited Hartford in April, he and about 200 others couldn't get within a quarter-mile of the president's car. Fournier, who is a lawyer, said he is suing the city of Hartford because the city's streets were barricaded and he and other war protesters were not visible to the president. Fournier read from Article I of Connecticut's state constitution that says "citizens have a right to assemble for redress of grievances," which he said he was denied. Mike DeRosa, co-chair of the Connecticut Green Party and a candidate for state Senate in the 1st District, spoke against the concept of "Real ID" cards, which he called a "national ID card scheme." He called the idea "invasive" and said it turns a driver's license into a "surreal ID" that threatens an individual's freedom. DeRosa is a computer consultant. He lives in Wethersfield. Canton resident Harold Burbank, candidate for Congress in the 5th District, spoke of his opposition to the war in Iraq. He said the United States is involved in wars of aggression. "I've begun to fear deeply for my children; they are going to inherit the policy of wars of aggression," he said. Burbank invited concerned citizens to call members of the Green Party. "Ask us questions and invite us to public forums. People have every right to question" their government, he said. "People like me must stand up and voice their opinions." Burbank is an international human rights lawyer and native of Kennebunkport, Maine. He said he once worked for the Bush family. The event was preceded by a similar celebration at Mortensen Plaza in Hartford, Burbank said. The candidates distributed copies of the U.S. Constitution to passers-by. Patricia Villers can be reached at pvillers@ nhregister.com. From rstuller at snet.net Sun Sep 21 12:00:42 2008 From: rstuller at snet.net (Ronna Stuller) Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2008 12:00:42 -0400 Subject: {news} From The Day In-Reply-To: <20080918130555.E1D3F16429C@ws1-4.us4.outblaze.com> References: <20080918130555.E1D3F16429C@ws1-4.us4.outblaze.com> Message-ID: <48FA44C1-EBEA-456F-957A-BD57D5F6A909@snet.net> http://theday.com/re.aspx?re=3a460a85-dc5e-43f6-bd15-5490a5b25952 Campaign Financing Still Favors Two Parties Campaign Financing Still Favors Two Parties By Morgan McGinley Published on 9/21/2008 in Home ?Editorial ?Editorial Columns Connecticut is about to experience partial and voluntary participation in public financing of campaigns for the state House and Senate. And while the effort aims at reform - removing the gross influence of big money from special interests - not everybody is pleased. The Green Party sees the system as skewed to favor the Democratic and Republican parties, and has filed a lawsuit contending the system is not fair. Since the rules were written by a General Assembly consisting almost wholly of Republicans and Democrats, the outcome of self-protection was inevitable. One rule for obtaining public financing states that to be fully eligible, the candidate's party must have gotten at least 20 percent of the vote in the last election for that office. The Green Party's argument may have merit since minority parties often don't run many candidates, or just as frequently, fail to get more than a few percentage points of the total vote. In its ?charitableness? though, the legislature said that even if minority party candidates could not meet the percentage standard of the last election, they could petition their way to a share of the public money. They could get the full amount if they filed petitions bearing the signatures of voters equal to 20 percent of the ballots cast in the last election for that office. Those grants would be $85,000 for state senators and $25,000 for state representatives. And candidates could get proportionately reduced grants if they filed petitions equaling 15 or 10 percent of the total voters for that office in the last election. Most vexing, though, may be the first eligibility requirement. To be eligible at all, a candidate must raise at least $15,000 for state Senate consisting of small donations of $1 to $100 from at least 300 small donors within the Senate district. A candidate for state representative must raise at least $5,000 in small donations from at least 150 residents of his or her district. The legislature felt strongly, and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz agrees, that the candidate must in this fashion show a measure of public support. But even if minority party candidates meet all those standards for public financing, they first must obtain the signatures of registered voters equal to 1 percent of the total voting in the last election. That effort gets them onto the ballot. Then they can try to raise the money needed to qualify them for grants. Connecticut's experiment with what it calls the Citizens' Election Program is almost certain to undergo some reforms in the future as the system identifies issues not previously contemplated or reveals flaws in the program. It is a start at reform, and that's good. But Connecticut still seems to be suffering from its long history of opposition to truly open elections. Time was when primaries were almost impossible to wage within a constricted party system and the party lever was an instrument for maintaining tight control on state politics. The modern-day success of Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. and U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in winning third-party fights for office was a strong exception to the norm. Both men were charismatic political figures well known to Connecticut voters and possessing strong records in prior office. Weicker had been a first selectman, a state representative, a U.S. representative and a United States senator. Lieberman served as a state senator and state attorney general before being elected to the U.S. Senate. But even as noble a gesture as this campaign finance reform apparently couldn't happen without putting burdens on minority party candidates. These candidates have trouble raising money, have trouble getting into campaign debates and generally are asked to bear a greater burden to participate in the process than either Democrats or Republicans. MORGAN MCGINLEY IS A FORMER EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR OF THE DAY, NOW RETIRED. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From roseberry3 at cox.net Sun Sep 21 20:34:12 2008 From: roseberry3 at cox.net (B Barry) Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:34:12 -0400 Subject: FW: {news} Fw: List your candidates in the Hartford Courant's 2008Voter's Guide Message-ID: <20080922003406.GISM22820.eastrmmtao103.cox.net@eastrmimpo01.cox.net> _____ From: ctgp-news-bounces at ml.greens.org [mailto:ctgp-news-bounces at ml.greens.org] On Behalf Of edubrule Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2008 8:27 PM To: ctgp-news at ml.greens.org Subject: {news} Fw: List your candidates in the Hartford Courant's 2008Voter's Guide Can someone post this on the candidates' listserve? I'm not a member of that listserve. --Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: HYPERLINK "mailto:PStern at courant.com"Stern, Paul To: HYPERLINK "mailto:greens at ctgreens.org"greens at ctgreens.org Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 11:51 AM Subject: FW: List your candidates in the Hartford Courant's 2008 Voter's Guide Hi Folks... We've sent letters to all the individual candidates for state and congressional office in Connecticut, but I thought it might also help to spread the word if I asked the party to communicate with its candidates about the Hartford Courant's 2008 online and print Voter's Guide. If you wouldn't mind, would you forward this to your candidates? Attention Legislative Election Candidates: Don?t miss your chance to address thousands of Hartford Courant readers in the upcoming 2008 Connecticut Voter?s Guide. Most candidates and their opponents have already received written instructions on how to submit information and photos, but if you did not, email HYPERLINK "mailto:data at courant.com"data at courant.com or call 860-241-6662 for complete instructions. The online Voter?s Guide will be available to readers throughout the election season beginning later this month. The print version is scheduled for publication Oct. 26. In order to participate, candidates will need a password and instruction sheet that I can supply them via email. Thanks. And if you have any questions, feel free to write or call. Paul E. Stern The Hartford Courant, 285 Broad Street, Hartford, CT 06115 Phone: 860-241-3069 Fax: 860-241-3853 Toll free: 1-800-524-4242 ext. 3069 HYPERLINK "file:///\\\\www.courant.com"www.courant.com No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1683 - Release Date: 9/21/2008 10:10 AM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1683 - Release Date: 9/21/2008 10:10 AM -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: ATT00256.txt URL: From roseberry3 at cox.net Sun Sep 21 22:28:39 2008 From: roseberry3 at cox.net (B Barry) Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:28:39 -0400 Subject: {news} 7PM 9-23-08 EC meeting in Hartford, CT for the Green Party of CT Message-ID: <20080922022831.IFTG22820.eastrmmtao103.cox.net@eastrmimpo03.cox.net> Proposed agenda for the 7PM 9-23-08 EC meeting in Hartford, CT for the Green Party of CT Location: Lena?s First and Last Pizzeria, 2053 Park Street (near Prospect Street), Hartford, CT 06106-2025 P: 860-232-4481 1. Any business/concerns from last SCC meeting of 8-26-08? 2. Any proposed short and long term goals for the CTGP by the executive committee officers? Fundraising/CTGP literature for candidates. 3. Develop the agenda for the 9-30-08 SCC meeting. Template is below. Proposed agenda for the 7PM 9-30-08 SCC CTGP meeting at Portland Senior Center Facilitator: To Be Determined A. Preliminaries: 1. (1 minute): Introductions of voting/non-voting attendees; chapters; if quorum was met; timekeeper; ground rules. 2. (2-4 minutes): Approval of tonight?s proposed agenda, any deletions or additions. 3. (2-4 minutes): Review and approval of minutes of 8-26-08 SCC meeting. 4. (2 minutes): Review and acceptance of the 9-23-08 EC meeting. 5. (2-4 minutes): Treasurer?s report from Christopher Reilly. B. Any proposals/referendums by chapters, committee: 1. (10-15 minutes): PROPOSAL from Fairfield County chapter. CONTACT: David Bedell, 12 Ardsley Rd, Stamford, CT 06906, 203-581-3193, dbedellgreen(at)hotmail.com SUBJECT: Definition of party membership. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: At its February 2008 meeting, the Fairfield chapter adopted a somewhat stricter definition of membership than that in the state bylaws. New Haven has also adopted a stricter definition. The purpose of this proposal is to make party membership contingent on a simple written declaration, just like membership in the major parties, instead of the current definition, which includes vague criteria such as what constitutes a volunteer activity or what is a "coalition partner." This proposal also addresses the contingency of losing minor party status, which happened in some towns during 2004-2006. Further comments can be read at HYPERLINK "http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldCountyGreens/message/839"http://grou ps.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldCountyGreens/message/839 PROPOSAL: In the CT Green Party bylaws (HYPERLINK "http://www.ctgreens.org/bylaws.shtml"http://www.ctgreens.org/bylaws.shtml ), the section under "Individual Membership" shall be revised to read: If the Green Party has minor party status in a town, then: A person enrolled on their town voter list as a Green Party member is a member of the Green Party for all purposes. If the Green Party does not have minor party status in a town, then a person may become a member of the Green Party under the following conditions: 1. The person must be an unaffiliated voter and must not have been registered with any other party affiliation during the past ninety (90) days. 2. The person shall fill out and sign a CT Voter Registration Form declaring enrollment in the Green Party and submit this to an officer of the local or state Green Party. 3. Upon submission of such declaration, the person's membership in the Green Party will be effective after ten business days. A person not yet old enough to vote under state law may become a member of the Green Party under the following conditions: 1. The person will turn 18 and be eligible to vote before the next General Election Day. 2. The person has applied to vote by filling out and signing a Voter Registration Form with declaration of enrollment in the Green Party and submitted this to their town hall or to an officer of the local or state Green Party. 3. If the form is submitted to a local or state Green Party officer, membership in the Green Party will be effective after ten business days. Party members shall receive announcements of State Party general meetings, and shall be entitled to vote when attending State Party general meetings. When an active Member of a Chapter, the member shall be entitled to vote at all general meetings of the Chapter. No member, however, shall be entitled to vote in more than one Chapter. Chapters may institute their own requirements for membership different from those for State Party membership. C. Reports: 1. (5 minutes): Number of petitions handed into the CT Secretary of State for GPUS Presidential Candidate: Cynthia McKinney; need seven more electors for her write-in candidacy. 2. (10-15 minutes): GPUS reports from: Cliff Thornton, Co-chairperson of GPUS, CTGP representatives: Tim McKee and Charlie Pillsbury and National Committee Members: Steve Fournier, Richard Duffee and S. Michael DeRosa. 3. (5-10 minutes): Steven Fournier, endorsed 1st Congressional District CTGP candidate: number of petition signatures handed in, campaign status. 4. (5-10 minutes): Scott Dehefy, endorsed 2nd Congressional District CTGP candidate: number of petition signatures handed in; campaign status. 5. (5-10 minutes): Ralph Ferrucci, endorsed candidate for the 3rd Congressional District line. Status of campaign; the nominating convention. 6. (5-10 minutes): Richard Duffee, 4th Congressional District CTGP candidate; number of petition signatures handed in; campaign status. 7. (5-10 minutes): Harold Burbank, l Green Party of CT candidate for 5th Congressional District; number of petition signatures handed in; campaign status. 8. (10-20 minutes): Status of other CTGP candidates for public office: number of signatures handed in for each candidate; their nominating convention occurred: campaign status. 9. (5-15minutes): CTGP literature. 10. (5-10 minutes): Fundraising for CTGP. 12. (1 minute): ACLU lawsuit update. 13. (2-5 minutes, each): Other Chapter reports. 16. Place for next SCC meeting to be 7pm 9-30-08. Date, place and time of next EC meeting in 10-08: to be determined. 17. Any additions Green Party Key Values: non-violence, respect for diversity, grassroots democracy, social justice and equal opportunity, ecological wisdom, decentralization, community-based economics and economic justice, future focus and sustainability, personal and global responsibility, feminism and gender equality No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.7.0/1683 - Release Date: 9/21/2008 10:10 AM -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Mon Sep 22 14:03:14 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:03:14 -0500 Subject: {news} 2nd District Debates with ScottDeshefy Message-ID: <20080922180315.58CDE1BF28D@ws1-10.us4.outblaze.com> 2ND DISTRICT CONGRESSIONAL DEBATES ARE SCHEDULED By Published on 9/19/2008 in Home ?Region ?Region Briefs U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, has announced his planned participation in five debates against Republican Sean Sullivan and Green Party candidate G. Scott DeShefy before Election Day. The first debate, co-sponsored by The Day, will be held at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 7 at the Garde Arts Center in New London. The others: Oct. 14 - Lebanon Connecticut Business Association debate at 7 p.m. at Lyman Memorial High School, 917 Exeter Road, Lebanon. Oct. 15 - Plainfield debate at 7 p.m. at Plainfield High School, 105 Putnam Road, Plainfield. Oct. 21 - Enfield debate at 7 p.m. at Enrico Fermi High School, Enfield. Oct. 28 - Old Lyme Chamber of Commerce debate at 7 p.m. at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School, 53 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Regional ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Tue Sep 23 16:33:20 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:33:20 -0400 Subject: {news} LWV To Greens: No Debates For You Message-ID: Mark Pazniokas' blog in the Courant: http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2008/09/lwv-to-greens-no-debates-for-y.html LWV To Greens: No Debates For You By Mark Pazniokas on September 23, 2008 2:06 PM The League of Women Voters is barring the Green Party from its congressional debates in Connecticut, saying that the candidates do not meet its standards. G. Scott Deshefy, the Green running in the 2nd District, said the Greens were invited, then disinvited in similar or identical form letters. Here is the letter sent out yesterday by Pat Donovan of the League to Richard Duffee, the Green running in the 4th District: On September 17, 2008 a committee of the LWVCT Board of Directors met to review materials submitted to us by candidates for the office of Representative in Congress and to assess their eligibility for participation in League-sponsored candidate debates. Using criteria reaffirmed by the League of Women Voters in April of 2007, and re-affirmed in April 2008, the committee made a determination that your candidacy does not meet all of our criteria. Therefore, unfortunately, we must deny your eligibility to participate in League-sponsored debates during the 2008 election season. We made this difficult decision only after careful consideration of the materials that you submitted. Although we congratulate you on attaining ballot access, our committees had several observations about your submission. First, they were unconvinced that your campaign is funded adequately to undertake an election for a competitive Congressional seat. Committee members also did not find sufficient documentation - in position papers, writings, or other publications - addressing the many issues related to your district and to your district's voters, beyond those broader national issues important to your political party. Finally, the committee did not believe that your submitted material showed sufficient evidence of the voter outreach activities so necessary in a highly competitive election to federal office. The League has the utmost respect for candidates who devote time, money and energy toward running for office. We regret that we cannot give each and every one a chance to make their case to the public in a live debate format. However, we note that you have taken advantage of our On-line Voters Guide. In 2006, the On-line Voters' Guide received more than 100,500 hits and we expect the circulation to be even wider this year. We trust that this will afford you an opportunity to put your views before the voting public. Best wishes for your campaign. The League referred all questions to Donovan, who was not immediately available for comment. The organization's guidelines for participating in their debates is online. [http://www.lwvct.org/elibrary/Local%20League%20Reference%20Series/5-debates -forums.htm ] The League has debates scheduled next month in the 2nd, 4th and 5th Districts. From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Tue Sep 23 16:44:19 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:44:19 -0400 Subject: {news} Green Party Candidates Excluded from Debates Message-ID: Green Party Headquarters, The Aquarium, 10 Knight Street, Norwalk, CT 06851 PRESS RELEASE September 23, 2008 Contact: Richard Duffee, 4th District Congressional Candidate, (203)286-9697, richard.duffee at gmail.com Harold Burbank II, 5th District Congressional Candidate, (860)693-2687, haroldburbank at comcast.net G. Scott Deshefy, 2nd District Congressional Candidate, (860) 642-7066, deshefy_for_congress at yahoo.com GREEN PARTY CANDIDATES EXCLUDED FROM DEBATES Norwalk, CT?The League of Women Voters of Connecticut (LWVCT) will not be including any third-party candidates in the 2008 Congressional election debates in Connecticut. A number of debates have already been scheduled in each of the five Congressional districts, but these debates will be between only the Democratic and Republican contenders. None of the Green, Independent, or Libertarian candidates will be allowed to participate. In a letter sent to several aspiring candidates on Monday, League Vice President Pat Donovan wrote: ?Using criteria reaffirmed by the League of Women Voters in April of 2007, and re-affirmed in April 2008, the committee made a determination that your candidacy does not meet all of our criteria. Therefore, unfortunately, we must deny your eligibility to participate in League-sponsored debates during the 2008 election season.? The letter went on to enumerate the criteria, including level of campaign funds, documentation of positions, and voter outreach, which the League judged the candidates had failed to meet. Candidates responded with surprise and outrage at what they saw as the lack of democratic spirit and transparency in the League?s decision. Harold Burbank II, Green Party candidate in the 5th District, said, ?Nowhere in the state or federal Constitutions, nor in any state or federal law, does it say one must have a certain budget, or position papers, or any of the other criteria listed in the attached debate rejection letter to run for federal or any office. Nowhere in these laws nor in any other place does it say the voters of Connecticut demand these criteria. ?Apparently the League believes in corporate sponsored campaigns alone, which is plainly where the major parties get their millions of dollars to run campaigns suggested by League debate rejection criteria. My experience tells me the voters do not support just corporate candidates; but rather the opposite. They still believe in one (wo)man, one vote, open elections, open election processes and open debates. To Greens, the League, by its debate rejection criteria, reveals itself as part of the problem of illegitimate democracy in this country, rather than a true champion of democracy.? Burbank promised that the Green Party would stage lawful protests at each debate. To that end, his campaign has already rented the room adjacent to the debate hall for the scheduled debate in Litchfield October 22. Richard Duffee, Green Party candidate in the 4th District, countered each of the League?s criticisms of his campaign. ?The Constitution and state law have no monetary requirement for congressional candidacy. Besides, nowhere has the League published the level of funding they consider a threshold to legitimacy.? Duffee further observed that in 2006, the League admitted Libertarian candidate Phil Maymin into debates after he had raised $8,000. The Duffee campaign has raised over $9,000 and yet he is excluded. ?In terms of position papers, my website has more documentation than [Democratic candidate] Jim Himes?. And as for outreach, I was told that the League wanted to see lawn signs or bumper stickers around the district. As an environmental party that refuses corporate funding, these are hardly things we can be enthusiastic about.? G. Scott Deshefy, Green Party candidate in the 2nd District, felt it was a sad day for democracy in Connecticut. ?Mostly, I feel sorry for the membership of the LWVCT for these misguided actions, actions contrary to what the LWVCT may actually believe is a mission of assisting Connecticut voters,? he said. More information about the Green Party candidates can be found on the website, www.ctgreens.org ### -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: Burbank 08 Answer.doc Type: application/msword Size: 34304 bytes Desc: not available URL: From timmckee at mail.com Wed Sep 24 11:00:51 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:00:51 -0500 Subject: {news} Lots of responses nattionaly like this F w: LWV cowardice Message-ID: <20080924150051.60FC4BE4078@ws1-9.us4.outblaze.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Olsen" To: timmckee at mail.com Subject: LWV cowardice Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:42:08 -0400 Tim, in thier statement, the LWV said (per your post) "The League has the utmost respect for candidates who devote time, money and energy toward running for office." This is patently false, and they need to be called on it. Obviously they were pressured by the Demagugues and Repugnants to refuse Green participation. I would encourage CT Greens to challenge this. Here in Maine, Our Green candidates have received honest and respectful treatment, including many, many collective appearances on stage in debates with our candidates for governor, along with the incumbent. Jon Olsen ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Wed Sep 24 13:17:57 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:17:57 -0500 Subject: {news} In Canada, Greens get a place at the debates -- why not in US? (John Nichols, The Nation) Message-ID: <20080924171757.66D4A32675A@ws1-8.us4.outblaze.com> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott McLarty" To: natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org Subject: [usgp-dx] In Canada, Greens get a place at the debates -- why not in US? (John Nichols, The Nation) Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:24:23 +0000 Noted. By John Nichols The Nation, September 17, 2008 (October 6, 2008 print edition) http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081006/noted O CANADA! Something remarkable happened in Canada on September 10, and it offers an example of what ought to be possible in the United States. Canada's television networks decided to exclude the leader of the country's Green Party from nationally televised debates between the major party candidates competing in the country's October 14 election. Though the Greens hold only one seat in Parliament, the party--like its US equivalent--is highly organized, has won many local offices and is competing in a sufficient number of constituencies to form a government. Green leader Elizabeth May launched a national campaign urging Canadians to "reclaim democracy" by demanding a place in the debates. Canadians responded, dispatching e-mails, letters and phone calls to the networks and the major-party leaders. Former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark, who governed as a Progressive Conservative, joined the crusade, declaring, "The immediate question about Canada's election is not who will win but how open and inclusive the campaign will be. Elections can confirm bad practices or change them. Ours need changing." The day Clark spoke up, the networks and the major parties backed down, allowing May in. We need a similar outcry in the United States. Excluding Green nominee Cynthia McKinney, Libertarian Bob Barr, independent Ralph Nader and their running mates--all of whom will be on enough ballots to conceivably, if not realistically, win the presidency--is not just undemocratic; it will narrow the quality of the discourse in the upcoming presidential and vice presidential debates. Canada will have multiparty debates this fall. The United States should as well. JOHN NICHOL _________________________________________________________________ Get more out of the Web. Learn 10 hidden secrets of Windows Live. http://windowslive.com/connect/post/jamiethomson.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!550F681DAD532637!5295.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_domore_092008 _______________________________________________ Natlcomaffairs mailing list To send a message to the list, write to: Natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org To unsubscribe or change your list options, go to: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/natlcomaffairs You must know your password to do this. If you can't figure out how to unsubscribe, as a last resort only, send a message OFF LIST to steveh at olypen.com If your state delegation changes, please see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/documents/delegate_change.html To report violations of listserv protocol, write to forummanagers at lists.gp-us.org For other information about the National Committee, see: http://gp.org/committees/nc/ ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Wed Sep 24 13:32:21 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:32:21 -0500 Subject: {news} Soap Opera of the Barr CT petition drive Message-ID: <20080924173221.307C732675B@ws1-8.us4.outblaze.com> [IMAGE] Barr Connecticut Petition September 23rd, 2008 The effort to show that the Connecticut Libertarian statewide petition has at least 7,500 valid signatures is making good headway. The state had initially said there were only 6,999 valid signatures, but it turns out that the state made an addition error. The correct sum should have been, and is now acknowledged to be, 7,279 signatures. In addition to that, it appears that 116 petition sheets were lost while they were in the custody of either the towns, or the state. Unfortunately the Barr campaign did not make photocopies of all the sheets. In addition to all that, the Libertarian activists who are still re-validating signatures are finding signatures that are valid, but which had been improperly invalidated. That work continues. Ballot access news .org ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From timmckee at mail.com Wed Sep 24 13:32:17 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:32:17 -0500 Subject: {news} Soap Opera of the Barr CT petition drive Message-ID: <20080924173217.1542232675A@ws1-8.us4.outblaze.com> [IMAGE] Barr Connecticut Petition September 23rd, 2008 The effort to show that the Connecticut Libertarian statewide petition has at least 7,500 valid signatures is making good headway. The state had initially said there were only 6,999 valid signatures, but it turns out that the state made an addition error. The correct sum should have been, and is now acknowledged to be, 7,279 signatures. In addition to that, it appears that 116 petition sheets were lost while they were in the custody of either the towns, or the state. Unfortunately the Barr campaign did not make photocopies of all the sheets. In addition to all that, the Libertarian activists who are still re-validating signatures are finding signatures that are valid, but which had been improperly invalidated. That work continues. Ballot access news .org ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Thu Sep 25 00:39:55 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:39:55 -0400 Subject: {news} Duffee and Green Faire in Norwalk Hour Message-ID: http://www.thehour.com/story/421410 An education in green NORWALK BY CHRIS BOSAK Hour Staff Writer Thinking green is not just for Earth Day, so celebrations of the environmentally friendly movement shouldn't be limited to Earth Day either. That's why Daphne Dixon of Conscious Decisions decided to organize the first Green Faire, a family-friendly event that will include more than 40 exhibitors, live music, children's activities and, according to Dixon, "an opportunity for people of Fairfield County to come together and learn how to live green and responsible lives." The Green Faire will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 4, at Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens in Stamford. Admission is free and the event will go on rain or shine. Several vendors and other interested parties, including U.S. House District 4 Green Party candidate Richard Duffee, attended a press conference promoting the event on Tuesday held at The Aquarium, a new environmental action and educational center on 10 Knight Street in Norwalk. The Aquarium also serves as Fairfield County campaign headquarters for the Green Party. "The more of these types of events we have in the area, the better," Frank Grazynski of Earthplace said. "People need to not just talk the talk, but walk the walk." Grazynski will represent both Earthplace and the Green Energy Task Force of Westport at the Green Faire. "We'll be taking pledges from people to reduce their carbon footprint," he said. Duffee will give a talk at the event and also be available to answer questions about the environment. There will also be guided nature walks, seminars, demonstrations, children's book readings, blood pressure screenings, and live performances from Bridgeport-based band Caravan of Thieves. In addition, Conscious Decisions will announce the winners of the first Green Coast Awards, which honors green and responsible businesses in Fairfield County . "It's an opportunity for people to talk to experts who are making a positive difference and improving communities, businesses, and the global environment," Dixon said. The Green Faire also serves as a launch party of sorts for Conscious Decisions, a community education and outreach organization that stresses making responsible decisions. Louisa Volpe, whose son Brian passed away due to a rare medical condition, will exhibit at the fair as a nutraceutical consultant. Volpe markets and sells nutritional supplements that do not include artificial sweeteners, preservatives or colors. She also sells environmentally safe cleaning products, as well as supplements for children and pets. Other vendors at the press conference who have committed to participate in the Green Faire include: Bill Thomas of Norwalk-based www.AlwaysBuildGreen.com ; Rosie Haas of Natural Neighborhood; Dan Delventhal of www.mowgreen.us ; Jeanine Behr Getz of Kids Think Big; Debbie Miron, an independent distributor of Shaklee environmentally friendly cleaning and health care products. Thomas will discuss renewable energy and green building. He will also talk for the first time about new construction technology for which he has licensed rights that utilizes aluminum instead of wood for internal wall construction. The houses, one of which will be constructed in Fairfield County this year, are wireless, independent of fossil fuels and resistant to fire, hurricane, earthquake and insect damage. Construction costs, Thomas said, are comparable to traditional modes of building. Among the products Haas will display for Norwalk-based Natural Neighborhood are Sigg bottles, reusable drinking bottles made of recycled aluminum. Delventhal will demonstrate the concept behind Mowgreen.us, a lawn service that utilizes manually powered mowers and old-fashioned rakes. Getz will read from her new children's book about "simple ways that children can get green." Gail Merrill, co-founder of www.MothersMilkProject.org , will be on hand to discuss her organization. She and her partner with the project, Nancy Burton, each lost their mothers to cancer. Merrill, a New Canaan resident, herself is a survivor of cancer. MothersMilkProject.org encourages mothers who live within a 50-mile radius of Indian Point nuclear power plant to donate a sample of their breast milk for a study. The milk will be screened confidentially for traces of the radioactive element strontium-90, which causes birth defects, bone cancer and leukemia and other types of cancer. "So many people have died of cancer," she said. "This has to stop and the politicians won't help us." The event will also include booths from environmental organizations such as Sierra Club and Connecticut Audubon Society. Festivities will start with a blessing of the Earth by several spiritual leaders. On the Web: http://www.consciousdecisionsmag.com From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Thu Sep 25 03:01:08 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:01:08 -0400 Subject: {news} Norwich Bulletin: Allow all candidates to speak at debates Message-ID: http://www.norwichbulletin.com/opinions/x810461435/Our-view-Allow-all-candidates-to-speak-at-debates Our view: Allow all candidates to speak at debates By Norwich Bulletin Posted Sep 24, 2008 @ 11:15 PM Minor party candidates in this year's election are once again being treated unfairly. The League of Women Voters of Connecticut has decided not to invite Green Party candidates to participate in any debate the league is sponsoring. That means Green Party 2nd Congressional District candidate Scott Deshefy of Lebanon will not be allowed to participate Oct. 7 in the Garde Arts Center debate along with Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney and his Republican challenger Sean Sullivan. That is unfortunate besides being unfair. Deshefy qualified to be on the ballot by obtaining the necessary signatures to meet state election law requirements. He should be given the opportunity to present his case to the people of the 2nd District, just as Courtney and Sullivan are being afforded that same opportunity. While it is likely Deshefy's candidacy will have little impact on the outcome of the race - he lacks the financial support and name recognition to be a factor - that should not disqualify him from presenting his views on the issues with his major party opponents. Fortunately, not all debate sponsors feel the same as the league. Deshefy has been invited to participate in the debate hosted by the Lebanon Business Association (Oct. 14) and the Plainfield debate (Oct. 15) hosted by this newspaper and the Chambers of Commerce of Northeastern Connecticut and the Greater Norwich Area. Should be enough It is not an easy task to obtain ballot status as a minor party candidate. Candidates must obtain the signatures of registered voters equal to 1 percent of the total vote from the district cast in the last election. Deshefy needed a little less than 4,000 signatures to qualify, and turned in more than 5,000 signatures to assure himself a spot on the ballot. The Republican and Democratic candidates needed only the support of delegates at their respective conventions - which they easily received. Shouldn't qualifying for a ballot spot through a petitioning effort be sufficient to demonstrate a level of support that would warrant any candidate to be treated equally with those who are not required to do the same? Shouldn't a qualified candidate be at least afforded the opportunity to make their case to voters at public forums so that citizens can decide on Election Day who best represents their views? From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Thu Sep 25 03:04:24 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:04:24 -0400 Subject: {news} Hartford Courant on Deshefy's exclusion Message-ID: http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-ctdebates0924.artsep24,0,1586933.story Minor Party Candidates Excluded From Congressional Debates By MARK PAZNIOKAS Courant Staff Writer September 24, 2008 The only thing harder than getting on the ballot for G. Scott Deshefy of the Green Party is getting on the stage of the Garde Arts Center. On Oct. 7, Deshefy will be the only ballot-certified 2nd Congressional District candidate absent from a televised debate at the Garde in New London. The League of Women Voters notified all minor-party candidates this week that they are unwelcome at the league's debates in the 2nd, 4th and 5th congressional districts. The league has no debates scheduled for the 1st or 3rd districts. In the league's view, none of the minor-party candidates met its criteria of broad voter and financial support and a sufficient effort at reaching out to voters. "I would like to stress that we value the effort these candidates are making to put themselves forth," said Jara Burnett, the league's president. "It is not a repudiation of the their efforts by any stretch of the imagination." Tell that to Deshefy. As the only debate scheduled for commercial broadcast, the league's New London forum was Deshefy's best opportunity for matching his views with the Democratic incumbent, Joe Courtney, or Republican Sean Sullivan. Nearly every day from May 1 to Aug. 5, Deshefy said, he worked four to six hours a day collecting the 2,450 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot. "I met, easily, face to face with well over 10,000 people," Deshefy said. "None of the two major party candidates has done that. That is the ultimate in voter outreach." The league's decision also affects Richard Z. Duffee of the Green Party and Libertarian Michael Anthony Carrano in the 4th and Harold H. Burbank II, of the Green Party, and Thomas L. Winn, an Independent, in the 5th. Deshefy is invited to participate in four other debates, but said none will get the exposure of the league's debate. Burnett said the league believes that voters are best-served by a debate the focuses attention on the major players. In the judgment of a four-member committee, none of the minor-party candidates made the cut this year, as has typically been the case in past elections. "That doesn't mean we aren't interested in having their views broadcast," Burnett said. "All of the candidates have been invited to submit an entry" for the league's online voters' guide. Contact Mark Pazniokas at mpazniokas@ courant.com Copyright ? 2008, The Hartford Courant From timmckee at mail.com Thu Sep 25 10:00:38 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:00:38 -0500 Subject: {news} Larson's mystery debate in Manchester? Message-ID: <20080925140038.681DB478092@ws1-5.us4.outblaze.com> Recently in John Larson Category ================================ Green Party Shut Out of Debates in Connecticut ---------------------------------------------- By Jesse A. Hamilton on September 25, 2008 12:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) Thumbnail image for Green Party button.jpgGreen Party congressional candidates are protesting that they won't be allowed in League of Women Voters debates in the state. This year, the party managed to put up a candidate for each of Connecticut's five congressional districts. But a League official was quoted from a letter to the rejected candidates: "Using criteria reaffirmed by the League of Women Voters in April of 2007, and re-affirmed in April 2008, the committee made a determination that your candidacy does not meet all of our criteria. Therefore, unfortunately, we must deny your eligibility to participate in League-sponsored debates during the 2008 election season." About a week ago, the Green Party had complained that the 1st District had no scheduled debates. I contacted the campaign of incumbent Rep. John Larson to ask about it. Spokesman Barry Feldman said Larson had agreed to a League of Women Voters debate in Manchester, but it hadn't yet been scheduled. When asked whether Larson would mind the Green Party being there, Feldman said, "The congressman doesn't have any problem with that." ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! Choose From 200+ Email Addresses Get a Free Account at www.mail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edubrule at sbcglobal.net Thu Sep 25 11:40:17 2008 From: edubrule at sbcglobal.net (edubrule) Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:40:17 -0400 Subject: {news} Fw: Important advocacy actions from AFSC-CT Message-ID: <6ADE5D8B0C4B49A59C39A280B9456401@edgn2b574u14bi> 6-Story Newsletter Template + Images ----- Original Message ----- From: AFSC Connecticut To: edubrule at sbcglobal.net Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2008 12:00 AM Subject: Important advocacy actions from AFSC-CT American Friends Service Committee Connecticut In This Issue: Sept 25 2008 . Sept 25: INSIST: NO BLANK CHECK BAILOUT FOR WALL ST.! . Sept 28: Hands Off Our Constitution! Vote NO on the Constitutional Convention . Tell Congress: No Lame Duck Vote on US. Colombia Free Trade Agreement Sept 25: INSIST: NO BLANK CHECK BAILOUT FOR WALL ST.! AFSC and our friends at the Coalition on Human Needs urge you to take part in an urgent National Day of Action this Thursday. Let Congress know it must reject a no-strings $700 billion bailout of Wall Street and insist on a solution that helps us all. AFSC is sponsoring a toll-free number, 1-800-473-6711, to help flood Congress with calls. See details below. Please forward widely. Congress must fix the mess created by Wall Street. But the right way. NOT by a no-strings-attached $700 billion handout. Join in a National Day of Action: Thursday, September 25, 5:00 p.m. Thanks to US Action and TrueMajority, you can easily set up or join a nearby event to tell Congress that we need an effective solution to the crisis caused by unregulated greed. To set up an event: http://www.truemajority.org/NoBailout/Event To find an existing event in your area: http://www.truemajority.org/NoBailout/Search Other ways to take action: * Call your U.S. Rep. and Senators: 1-800-473-6711, toll-free, thanks to American Friends Service Committee* Tell them: I urge you to reject a blank check bailout for Wall Street. I understand there is a real and costly crisis brought on by unregulated greed. Congress must fix the mess through a public ownership stake to reduce the loss to taxpayers, effective oversight, help for those hurt by the crisis (people losing homes, jobs, and income), and investments in economic recovery. * Write a letter to the editor TODAY! all you need is right here, thanks to the organization RESULTS: http://capwiz.com/results/issues/alert/?alertid=11847341 Why is the Coalition on Human Needs, not famous for global finance, joining in this effort? Because the stakes are very high. Do you want to see Congress give away $700 billion or get as much as possible back? Will they really fix the problem or trigger a depression? Economists we respect are telling us it could really be that bad. Congress is under a lot of pressure to enact a plan this week - but if they don't do it right, it might not work, and all those billions will not be available for health care, education, jobs, and other human needs. While not finance experts, here's what we do know: * $700+ billion is a big fat walloping amount of money. * The crisis is deep and real, and an enormous commitment of taxpayer dollars is needed to prevent an economic meltdown. * An effective plan requires: o oversight by Congress and regulations so the money is used well (with limits on compensation to execs in bailed-out companies); o a public ownership stake in the bailed-out companies, so taxpayers can get some or all of their investment back; o public investments in health care, nutrition, home energy, and other human needs to ensure a shared economic recovery; o protecting people from foreclosures and inability to afford food, heat, and other basic needs. Don't abandon Main Street while helping Wall Street! ============== *This toll-free number is provided courtesy of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization which works for economic justice and peace (www.afsc.org). AFSC welcomes groups to circulate and use the number in support of non-partisan work for policies that benefit the common good and without linking the alert to a website soliciting donations or actions which may be used to support partisan lobbying or work. If you've made it all the way to the end of this email, THANKS! Please take action; make sure that Congress hears your voice - not just the big money lobbyists working to profit from this mess. Sept 28: Hands Off Our Constitution! Vote NO on the Constitutional Convention Hands Off Our Constitution! Vote NO on the Constitutional Convention Rally at the State Capitol South Side Overlooking Capitol Avenue Sunday, September 28, 2008 Gather: 1:30 PM Kicks off: 2:00 PM Theatre, Singing, Speeches Don't be Conned by the Constitutional Convention Campaign. Background: The Rights of Women, African-Americans, Latinos, Immigrants, People Living in Poverty, Public Employees, Ex-Offenders, Transgender, Bisexual, Lesbian, and Gay people would likely All be Under Attack if Ballot Initiatives come to Connecticut. A Partial List of What's At Stake Under Ballot Initiatives: Abortion Rights Emergency Contraception for Rape Victims Affirmative Action Anti-Poverty Programs Judicial Discretion in Sentencing Public Education Funding Comprehensive Sex Education Human Rights to Housing & Employment for Transgender & Gender Non-conforming People Healthcare, Social Services, & College Assistance for Immigrants Collective Bargaining Binding Arbitration Healthcare & Retirement Benefits of Public Servants Same-Sex Marriage and Civil Unions Euthanasia A Pro-Ballot Initative Rally will take place on the North Side of the Capitol calling for a Constitutional Convention. In response, The Connecticut Civil Rights Defense Coalition is holding a simultaneous "Hands Off Our Constitution! Rally" on the South Side of the State Capitol to Defend the Rights of Women and Minority Groups and to call on all people to Vote NO on the Constitutional Convention Question November 4th. Take A Stand Against Patriarchy-Racism-Classism-Heterosexism Take A Stand for Civil Rights! Bring Banners, Posters, Flags etc. Sponsored by The Connecticut Civil Rights Defense Coalition A Better Way Foundation, American Friends Service Committee CT, A.N.S.W.E.R CT, Blue Hills Civic Association, Bright Star Vision, Clean Slate Committee, Connecticut Coalition for Peace & Justice, Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition, International Socialist Organization New Haven, Metropolitan Community Church Hartford, NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut , National Lawyers Guild - CT Chapter, Network of Spiritual Progressives (CT), North Hartford Coalition, People of Faith CT, Queers Without Borders, The Socialist Party Central/Eastern CT Local, West Hartford Citizens for Peace & Justice To join the coalition, contact People of Faith: http://faithct.net/contact http://faithct.net Tell Congress: No Lame Duck Vote on US. Colombia Free Trade Agreement Take Action Stop the U.S.-Colombia FTA from a Lame Duck Vote and tell the U.S. State Department that their decision to clear the Colombian army of human rights violation is the wrong one. With the 110th Congress wrapping up at the end of this month to prepare for the November 4th elections, U.S.-Colombia FTA supporters are lobbying in full force as they desperately seek a vote on the deal before Congress officially adjourns. Since a vote on the controversial FTA before the elections would be too politically costly for many members, proponents are banking on a Congressional "lame duck" vote in December if Congress reconvenes. As the human rights tragedy in Colombia continues, it's important that the State Department keeps using its influence - instead of throwing its leverage away - to push and prod the Colombian government into bringing those who have committed human rights abuses to justice and to do more to stop the systematic killings of trade unionists and civilians. The State Department's decision to clear Colombia of its abusive human rights record is worrisome and eerily timed given the pro-FTA lobby blitz. Your voice of opposition to a lame duck vote on the FTA and the State Department's decision is needed! Visit http://www.tradeandwar.org/take-action.html#Action to take action now > Trade and War Blog Proponents of FTA Launch Costly Rally to Nudge the U.S. Congress into Passing the FTA; U.S. State Department Clears Colombia to Receive More Military Aid Proponents are engaging in an all-out push for a lame duck vote on the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). An outdoor pro-trade rally held September 10th on the steps of Congress launched this effort. At the event Colombian Minister of Trade Luis Plata claimed that progress is being made to lower the country's murder rate of union leaders. In response, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney noted that 41 union members have been murdered in Colombia already this year - more than in all of 2007. Visit the Trade and War Blog to learn more http://www.tradeandwar.org American Friends Service Committee Connecticut Area Office 56 Arbor Street, Suite 213 Hartford, CT 06106 Phone: 860.523.1534 Fax: 860.523.1705 Email: connecticut at afsc.org Visit AFSC CT Online Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Confirm | Forward -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Thu Sep 25 17:30:16 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:30:16 -0400 Subject: {news} Duffee in Bridgeport News Message-ID: This was in the weekly Bridgeport News--it's a shorter version of the story that was in the Fairfield Sun, Darien Times, etc. http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/index.php?option=com_content&id=9463:green-party-candidate-for-congress-qualifies-for-ballot-supports-impeaching-bush&Itemid=567 Green Party candidate for Congress qualifies for ballot; supports impeaching Bush Wednesday, September 24, 2008 Richard Duffee has qualified for the ballot as the Green Party candidate for Congress in the Fourth Congressional District, which includes Bridgeport. Duffee said he has received notification from the secretary of the state's office. Duffee has unsuccessfully run for the seat in the past. The district now is represented by Republican Congressman Christopher Shays, who is facing a challenge from Democrat Jim Himes. Duffee said his top issue is to demand that the United States fully comply with international law. He said the United States should ratify the charter of the International Criminal Court and allow for the prosecution of President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other American officials as war criminals. He also wants Bush and Cheney impeached and indicted under U.S. law. "Our worst international problems are a blowback from our illegal activities," Duffee said. In addition, he said all CIA covert operations should be banned because they are offenses against the laws of the nations where they are carried out. Other issues Duffee will promote are lowering carbon emissions by at least 80 percent by 2030 without using nuclear power, passing universal single-payer health coverage, and revitalizing the Legal Services Corporation, which provides free civil attorney services to low-income Americans. In addition, he favors the elimination of all U.S. weapons of mass destruction and shutting down the 725 U.S. military bases outside the country. For the first time, in 2008 the Green Party has candidates for Congress in all five congressional districts of Connecticut. From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Thu Sep 25 23:00:33 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:00:33 -0400 Subject: {news} CCSU Backs Burbank in Debate References: <008c01c91f72$27508150$6401a8c0@HaroldII> Message-ID: NEWS September 25, 2008 Contact: Harold Burbank, 860-693-2687 CCSU WITHDRAWS SUPPORT FROM LWV FOR AXING GREEN PARTY'S BURBANK FROM HOUSE DEBATE Canton, CT - US House 5th District Green Party candidate Attorney Harold H. Burbank, II, Canton, was advised by Central Connecticut State University today that it has canceled its sponsorship of the Connecticut League of Women Voters' October 11, 2008 US House 5th District debate because of the League's September 21, 2008 withdrawal of Burbank's debate invitation, and that of Independent Party candidate Thomas Winn. Use of CCSU's Torp Theatre, the debate venue, was contingent on the League inviting all 5th District candidates who will appear on the November US House ballot to the debate. Burbank's invitation, dated August 25, 2008 by the League's New Britain chapter, was overruled by the League's Hamden office this week, which claimed he did not meet their fund raising, voter outreach and position paper standards required for debate invitations. CCSU further warned the League that if it did not include all candidates as promised it would consider canceling the debate altogether. "Kudos to CCSU for supporting real democracy, voter choice, and debate contract law," Burbank said. "I look forward to debating the whole field, which is what the 4800 5th District voters who signed my ballot access petitions want to see. The voters do not care about internal League debate rules that deny their rights to hear what all the candidates think. Voters depend on the League to help them understand who we are and what we stand for. I had thought that was the League's primary mission until they hammered me. On behalf of the voters who put me on the ballot, I am very grateful to CCSU for taking a firm stand for free and equal political speech through open debate. My faith in our state universities as key wellsprings of democracy is reconfirmed." Burbank was asked by the League to submit new evidence of meeting their rules despite their contract obligation to include all candidates on the ballot, but Burbank is not sure that he will do that for this debate. "It is clear that the League is contractually obligated to CCSU to include Mr. Winn and me by virtue of our ballot access. I don't see that the League can require us to jump through more hoops. The League has no authority to add new terms to this state contract without losing access to Torp Theatre. As far as I am concerned, all that Mr. Winn and I need to do now is show up," Burbank said. # # # From roseberry3 at cox.net Fri Sep 26 12:36:22 2008 From: roseberry3 at cox.net (B Barry) Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:36:22 -0400 Subject: {news} Proposed agenda for the 7PM 9-30-08 SCC CTGP meeting at Portland Senior Center Message-ID: <20080926163619.KGUL23768.eastrmmtao105.cox.net@eastrmimpo03.cox.net> Proposed agenda for the 7PM 9-30-08 SCC CTGP meeting at Portland Senior Center Facilitator: To Be Determined A. Preliminaries: 1. (1 minute): Introductions of voting/non-voting attendees; chapters; if quorum was met; timekeeper; ground rules. 2. (2-4 minutes): Approval of tonight?s proposed agenda, any deletions or additions. 3. (2-4 minutes): Review and approval of minutes of 8-26-08 SCC meeting. 4. (2 minutes): Review and acceptance of the 9-23-08 EC meeting. 5. (2-4 minutes): Treasurer?s report from Christopher Reilly. B. Any proposals/referendums by chapters, committee: 1. (10-15 minutes): PROPOSAL from Fairfield County chapter. CONTACT: David Bedell, 12 Ardsley Rd, Stamford, CT 06906, 203-581-3193, dbedellgreen(at)hotmail.com SUBJECT: Definition of party membership. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: At its February 2008 meeting, the Fairfield chapter adopted a somewhat stricter definition of membership than that in the state bylaws. New Haven has also adopted a stricter definition. The purpose of this proposal is to make party membership contingent on a simple written declaration, just like membership in the major parties, instead of the current definition, which includes vague criteria such as what constitutes a volunteer activity or what is a "coalition partner." This proposal also addresses the contingency of losing minor party status, which happened in some towns during 2004-2006. Further comments can be read at HYPERLINK "http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldCountyGreens/message/839"http://grou ps.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldCountyGreens/message/839 PROPOSAL: In the CT Green Party bylaws (HYPERLINK "http://www.ctgreens.org/bylaws.shtml"http://www.ctgreens.org/bylaws.shtml ), the section under "Individual Membership" shall be revised to read: If the Green Party has minor party status in a town, then: A person enrolled on their town voter list as a Green Party member is a member of the Green Party for all purposes. If the Green Party does not have minor party status in a town, then a person may become a member of the Green Party under the following conditions: 1. The person must be an unaffiliated voter and must not have been registered with any other party affiliation during the past ninety (90) days. 2. The person shall fill out and sign a CT Voter Registration Form declaring enrollment in the Green Party and submit this to an officer of the local or state Green Party. 3. Upon submission of such declaration, the person's membership in the Green Party will be effective after ten business days. A person not yet old enough to vote under state law may become a member of the Green Party under the following conditions: 1. The person will turn 18 and be eligible to vote before the next General Election Day. 2. The person has applied to vote by filling out and signing a Voter Registration Form with declaration of enrollment in the Green Party and submitted this to their town hall or to an officer of the local or state Green Party. 3. If the form is submitted to a local or state Green Party officer, membership in the Green Party will be effective after ten business days. Party members shall receive announcements of State Party general meetings, and shall be entitled to vote when attending State Party general meetings. When an active Member of a Chapter, the member shall be entitled to vote at all general meetings of the Chapter. No member, however, shall be entitled to vote in more than one Chapter. Chapters may institute their own requirements for membership different from those for State Party membership. C. Reports: 1. (5 minutes): Number of petitions handed into the CT Secretary of State for GPUS Presidential Candidate: Cynthia McKinney; need seven more electors for her write-in candidacy. 2. (10-15 minutes): GPUS reports from: Cliff Thornton, Co-chairperson of GPUS, CTGP representatives: Tim McKee and Charlie Pillsbury and National Committee Members: Steve Fournier, Richard Duffee and S. Michael DeRosa. 3. (5-10 minutes): Steven Fournier, endorsed 1st Congressional District CTGP candidate: number of petition signatures handed in, campaign status. 4. (5-10 minutes): Scott Dehefy, endorsed 2nd Congressional District CTGP candidate: number of petition signatures handed in; campaign status. 5. (5-10 minutes): Ralph Ferrucci, endorsed candidate for the 3rd Congressional District line. Status of campaign; the nominating convention. 6. (5-10 minutes): Richard Duffee, 4th Congressional District CTGP candidate; number of petition signatures handed in; campaign status. 7. (5-10 minutes): Harold Burbank, l Green Party of CT candidate for 5th Congressional District; number of petition signatures handed in; campaign status. 8. (10-20 minutes): Status of other CTGP candidates for public office: number of signatures handed in for each candidate; their nominating convention occurred: campaign status. 9. (5-15minutes): CTGP literature. 10. (5-10 minutes): Fundraising for CTGP. 12. (1 minute): ACLU lawsuit update. 13. (2-5 minutes, each): Other Chapter reports. 16. Place for next SCC meeting to be 7pm 9-30-08. Date, place and time of next EC meeting in 10-08: to be determined. 17. Any additions Green Party Key Values: non-violence, respect for diversity, grassroots democracy, social justice and equal opportunity, ecological wisdom, decentralization, community-based economics and economic justice, future focus and sustainability, personal and global responsibility, feminism and gender equality No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.7.3/1693 - Release Date: 9/26/2008 7:35 AM -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From apbrison at hotmail.com Sun Sep 28 20:35:20 2008 From: apbrison at hotmail.com (allan brison) Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:35:20 -0400 Subject: {news} FW: Ward 10 Aldermanic Newsletter - September In-Reply-To: <092920080028.7842.48E0211A0002086E00001EA2221348437302019C079D0D9F0E@comcast.net> References: <092920080028.7842.48E0211A0002086E00001EA2221348437302019C079D0D9F0E@comcast.net> Message-ID: Greens and other Friends, For those who are interested in what a Green Party alderman might be doing, here is a brief summation. There are other things that I didn't mention on this newsletter such as my work on the Peace Commission, the Littigation Settlement Committee (which settles all the City lawsuits), Food Policy Working Group, Fight the Hike, etc, to say nothing of Constituent Service in general. More in future newsletters. Best, Allan --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ward 10 Aldermanic Newsletter - September 28, 2008 Ward 10 and East Rock Residents, Attached are: 1. A better formatted version of this newsletter in Word; 2. David Cameron's op-ed in the New Haven Register; and, 3. The Trowbridge Environmental Center's program for October.This newsletter contains some of the issues that I have been engaged in, of interest to the Ward. The topics, in order, are: -Crime, -the Blue Ribbon Budget Review Panel, -the Trowbridge Environmental Center program for October (attached),-Safe Street Initiative,-Hooker School Construction,-the Octoberfest, and, of course,-Important Phone Numbers. Hope everybody is settling in for a productive fall season. Let me hear from you via phone or email. Special Thanks to all who have attended and/or helped in the summer activities that have taken part in College Woods, especially my birthday party in June, the Ward 10 Democratic Committee's party this month, all of the various events of the Friends of East Rock Park, as well as all of the various Block Parties around the ward. See you all this Sunday at Octoberfest!! Best, Allan Allan BrisonAlderman, Ward 10Green Party------------------------------------------------------- CRIME As reported in a recent New Haven Independent story, our neighbors in the SoHu (South of Humphrey) district have started biking and walking patrols in order to combat a series of muggings in the area. The patrols are not armed. The idea is to add more eyes and ears to the neighborhood, thus discouraging crime; and to engage, rather than accuse, suspicious individuals by patrollers introducing themselves as the Block Watch, giving the individuals a flyer describing the watch, and asking them to report to the watch if they see anything suspicious. The flyers are titled ?East Rock Neighbors: Eyes Open and Cell Phones Ready.? See the full story at the link below to read arguments on both sides of the question as to whether such patrols are good (some feel that if the community takes on this, the police will concentrate their efforts elsewhere) and whether or not such patrols should be armed. My own feeling is that citizen patrols are terrifically effective, do not decrease police presence, and are, indeed, a great help to the police; if they can be sustained. I would not support armed patrols. I would be happy to assist in the establishment of a similar patrol in our ward. Let me know if anybody is interested. Here is the link to the full story:http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/09/after_stickup_2.php -------------------------------------------------------------------- BLUE RIBBON BUDGET REVIEW PANEL As a member of the Leadership of the Board of Aldermen, I am a part of the committee that has been interviewing nominations for this new panel, and advising Board President Carl Goldfield in his appointments. This panel was created by a recent order of the BOA. The hoped-for mission is to help the Board get a handle on the budget. The usual yearly process has the Administration presenting their budget to the Board in March or so, giving the Board only about 2 months to review and pass this extremely complicated piece of legislation. The purpose of this new panel would be to start studying the budget much earlier, while it is still in progress, in cooperation with Administration personnel; and then to present the budget to the Board in a more understandable fashion; and to make specific recommendations to the Board. It is my opinion that such a panel could be a great help. Though I am not assigned to the Finance Committee, the body that reviews and passes on the budget; I have attended almost all of their meetings, occasionally being empanelled, as needed when the committee doesn't have a quorum. I have spent a great deal of time wrestling with the budget. I feel that something like this panel is absolutely essential if the Board is to perform its charter-mandated oversight function. The panel is to consist of 11 people as follows: -2 Administration personnel: Larry Rusconi, the Budget Director, and Mark Pietrosimone, the Comptroller; -2 Alders as appointed by the President of the BOA; and -7 New Haven Residents, also appointed by the President of the BOA. I have made 5 nominations to the panel, including East Rock residents David Cameron and Christine Bishop. I have attached a recent op-ed in the New Haven Register of David Cameron's which I hope everybody will read. We are now awaiting President Goldfield's appointments which will go a long way in determining whether, or not, this panel will be a serious contribution to the budget process and aldermanic oversight.---------------------------------------------------------------------- TROWBRIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER Attached is a schedule of nature programs for the month of October offered by the staff of the Trowbridge Environmental Center at East Rock Park. These programs are open to the general public. Please call the Trowbridge Center at 946-6086 if you have any questions or wish to register for a program. To register, please leave your name, a phone number where you can be contacted, and the number of people you would like to register.Tom Parlapiano, Trowbridge NaturalistDan Barvir, East Rock Park RangerTrowbridge Environmental CenterNew Haven Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Trees946-6086The October schedule for the events of the Environmental Center located at College Woods is attached.------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------- SAFE STREETS INITIATIVE - COMPLETE STREET PROPOSAL Kudos to my fellow alders, Erin Sturges-Pasquale and Roland Lemar, and to the Safe Streets Coalition and Elm City Cycling, for their work in developing the Complete Streets Proposal. This proposal, which was passed out of the Legislation Committee of the BOA with a unanimous favorable recommendation, would help the City transistion to the new reality of expensive $15/per gallon gas that may be just around the corner. If passed by the full Board, it would create a Steering Committee charged to develop a Complete Streets Policy, and create a Design Manual to guide in development of a policy to ensure equal, safe access for all motorists, cyclists and pedestrians in future developments; by, among other things: -re-establishing infrastructure for mass transit, -increasing bike lanes,-instituting traffic-calming measures, and -stepping up enforcement of current traffic laws. A large part of the goal would be to consider streets as public space for multiple uses and users; not simply as a conduit for cars to get from point A to point B. As a bicyclist who conducts virtually all of my aldermanic and personal business in New Haven by bicycle, I was asked by Erin to attend the committee hearing to show my support. For those who want to read the whole story by Melinda Tuhus in the Independent, here is the link: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/09/a_proposal_for.php#comments-------------------------------------------------------------------- HOOKER SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION Last week I was taken on a tour of the Hooker school construction site by Bruce Freeman and Tom Dembinski of the R2D development corporation. Also on the tour were Susan Weisselberg, School Construction Manager of the BOE; Robert Rifenburg, the new principal of Hooker; and Evelyn Robles-Rivas, the assistant principal at 'little' Hooker. We saw up close the excavations for the classrooms and the gymnasium; walked through the former church which is being extensively renovated for its new uses as the school's auditorium, and cafeteria; and walked through the passage way that will connect the classroom building with the former church. The report from the construction folks is that the construction is on target for the September 2009 opening. I have been working with many of my Everit Street neighbors, including people on both sides of the original site controversy, to insure that neighborhood needs are being addressed. At present we are trying to save some of the large shade trees on the north and south boundaries; eliminate the before 7am construction mayhem; and encourage the construction landscape folks to put in a 'green wall' of low-maintenance plantings along the boundaries. This week, Susan Weisselberg and I and two of the construction architects met with Everit neighbor, Robin Roush, to look at her green wall landscaping in her back yard. ------------------------------------------------------------ OKTOBERFEST In case you lost my previous mailing, here, again, are the Octoberfest highlights: Sunday, October 5th, 4-9pm ? OkTOBERFEST presented by Friends of East Rock Park(rain date: October 12th)College Woods in East Rock Park (at the corner of Orange St. and Cold Spring St.)Our biggest event of the year! Don?t miss this! - Community Contra Dancing and Square Dancing led by Bill Fischer.- Chili Cookoff Competition ? Show up with chili at 4:30 if you wish to enter the contest.- Farm Animals, Magician, Kids Games.- EVERYONE WELCOME! Please bring your own bowl, utensils and mug to reduce waste. For more info contact:info at friendsofeastrockpark.orgJustin Elicker 203-500-2969 / Betty Thompson 203-785-9331www.friendsofeastrockpark.org----------------------------------------------------- USEFUL CITY TELEPHONE NUMBERS Police/Fire/Medical Emergency........................911Non-Emergency Police Assistance..................946-6316District Manager, Lt. Rebecca Sweeney??..946-7572Block Watch/Crime Prevention.........................946-6298Traffic Hotline for dirt bikes, etc?.....???..946-6956Mayor's Office.....................................................946-8200Board of Aldermen Office..................................946-6483Voter Registration...............................................946-8035New Haven Library - Main Branch...................946-8130Traffic and Parking???????....??......946-8075Towing Information...........................................946-6316Parks & Recreation Issues................................946-8027Livable City Iniative, Thelma Ragsdale..........946-70 90Household Hazardous Waste.........................401-2712Streetlight Hotline.............................................931-6325Recyclig..............................................................946-8053Tree Limb Removal...........................................946-6971Public Works Emergency (after hours)..........946-8334 Public Works Hotline: Trash Complaints/ Bulk Trash Pick-Up/ Potholes/ Sidewalks/ Graffiti/ StreetSweeping/ Snowplowing..............946-7700 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: October_Programs.doc Type: application/octet-stream Size: 189952 bytes Desc: not available URL: From rstuller at snet.net Sun Sep 28 20:58:36 2008 From: rstuller at snet.net (Ronna Stuller) Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:58:36 -0400 Subject: {news} Proposed agenda for the 7PM 9-30-08 SCC CTGP meeting at Portland Senior Center In-Reply-To: <20080926163619.KGUL23768.eastrmmtao105.cox.net@eastrmimpo03.cox.net> References: <20080926163619.KGUL23768.eastrmmtao105.cox.net@eastrmimpo03.cox.net> Message-ID: I am not sure that we will have a representative from New London at the SCC meeting this week. I want to report that the NL chapter discussed and approved the new definition of party membership as proposed by the Fairfield chapter. Ronna On Sep 26, 2008, at 12:36 PM, B Barry 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 > Proposed agenda for the 7PM 9-30-08 SCC CTGP meeting at Portland > Senior Center > Facilitator: To Be Determined > > A. Preliminaries: > 1. (1 minute): Introductions of voting/non-voting attendees; > chapters; if quorum was met; timekeeper; ground rules. > 2. (2-4 minutes): Approval of tonight?s proposed agenda, any > deletions or additions. > 3. (2-4 minutes): Review and approval of minutes of 8-26-08 > SCC meeting. > 4. (2 minutes): Review and acceptance of the 9-23-08 EC meeting. > 5. (2-4 minutes): Treasurer?s report from Christopher Reilly. > > B. Any proposals/referendums by chapters, committee: > 1. (10-15 minutes): PROPOSAL from Fairfield County chapter. > CONTACT: David Bedell, 12 Ardsley Rd, Stamford, CT 06906, > 203-581-3193, dbedellgreen(at)hotmail.com > SUBJECT: Definition of party membership. > BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: At its February 2008 meeting, the Fairfield > chapter adopted a somewhat stricter definition of membership than > that in the state bylaws. New Havenhas also adopted a stricter > definition. The purpose of this proposal is to make party membership > contingent on a simple written declaration, just like membership in > the major parties, instead of the current definition, which includes > vague criteria such as what constitutes a volunteer activity or what > is a "coalition partner." This proposal also addresses the > contingency of losing minor party status, which happened in some > towns during 2004-2006. Further comments can be read athttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldCountyGreens/message/839 > PROPOSAL: In the CT Green Party bylaws (http://www.ctgreens.org/bylaws.shtml > ), the section under "Individual Membership" shall be revised to > read: > If the Green Party has minor party status in a town, then: A person > enrolled on their town voter list as a Green Party member is a > member of the Green Party for all purposes. > > If the Green Party does not have minor party status in a town, then > a person may become a member of the Green Party under the following > conditions: > 1. The person must be an unaffiliated voter and must not have been > registered with any other party affiliation during the past ninety > (90) days. > 2. The person shall fill out and sign a CT Voter Registration Form > declaring enrollment in the Green Party and submit this to an > officer of the local or state Green Party. > 3. Upon submission of such declaration, the person's membership in > the Green Party will be effective after ten business days. > > A person not yet old enough to vote under state law may become a > member of the Green Party under the following conditions: > 1. The person will turn 18 and be eligible to vote before the next > General Election Day. > 2. The person has applied to vote by filling out and signing a Voter > Registration Form with declaration of enrollment in the Green Party > and submitted this to their town hall or to an officer of the local > or state Green Party. > 3. If the form is submitted to a local or state Green Party officer, > membership in the Green Party will be effective after ten business > days. > > Party members shall receive announcements of State Party general > meetings, and shall be entitled to vote when attending State Party > general meetings. > When an active Member of a Chapter, the member shall be entitled to > vote at all general meetings of the Chapter. No member, however, > shall be entitled to vote in more than one Chapter. Chapters may > institute their own requirements for membership different from those > for State Party membership. > > C. Reports: > 1. (5 minutes): Number of petitions handed into the CT Secretary of > State for GPUS Presidential Candidate: Cynthia McKinney; need seven > more electors for her write-in candidacy. > > 2. (10-15 minutes): GPUS reports from: Cliff Thornton, Co- > chairperson of GPUS, CTGP representatives: Tim McKee and Charlie > Pillsbury and > National Committee Members: Steve Fournier, Richard Duffee and S. > Michael DeRosa. > > 3. (5-10 minutes): Steven Fournier, endorsed 1st Congressional > District CTGP candidate: number of petition signatures handed in, > campaign status. > > 4. (5-10 minutes): Scott Dehefy, endorsed 2nd Congressional District > CTGP candidate: number of petition signatures handed in; campaign > status. > > 5. (5-10 minutes): Ralph Ferrucci, endorsed candidate for the 3rd > Congressional District line. Status of campaign; the nominating > convention. > > 6. (5-10 minutes): Richard Duffee, 4th Congressional District > CTGP candidate; number of petition signatures handed in; campaign > status. > > 7. (5-10 minutes): Harold Burbank, l Green Party of CT candidate > for 5th Congressional District; number of petition signatures handed > in; campaign status. > > 8. (10-20 minutes): Status of other CTGP candidates for public > office: number of signatures handed in for each candidate; their > nominating convention occurred: campaign status. > > 9. (5-15minutes): CTGP literature. > > 10. (5-10 minutes): Fundraising for CTGP. > > 12. (1 minute): ACLU lawsuit update. > > 13. (2-5 minutes, each): Other Chapter reports. > > 16. Place for next SCC meeting to be 7pm 9-30-08. Date, place and > time of next EC meeting in 10-08: to be determined. > > 17. Any additions > > Green Party Key Values: non-violence, respect for diversity, > grassroots democracy, social justice and equal opportunity, > ecological wisdom, decentralization, community-based economics and > economic justice, future focus and sustainability, personal and > global responsibility, feminism and gender equality > > > > > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG. > Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.7.3/1693 - Release Date: > 9/26/2008 7:35 AM > > 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 dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Mon Sep 29 01:34:13 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:34:13 -0400 Subject: {news} Weston Forum: Keith Brooks for Registrar References: Message-ID: http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/index.php?option=com_content&id=9513:green-party-puts-up-candidate-for-weston-registrar-of-voters&Itemid=702 Green Party puts up candidate for Weston registrar of voters Wednesday, September 24, 2008 "Weston provides a registrar for only the two major parties, so there's not much chance for you to be elected." That's what Keith Brooks was told when the Green Party asked him to run for registrar of voters in Weston, where he has lived for 33 years. He has never run for office before. "If you don't mind being embarrassed by maybe getting only a few votes, we'd like you to run," David Bedell, secretary of the Green Party in Connecticut, told him. Mr. Brooks accepted the offer, and his name will appear on the ballot in the Nov. 4 election. Other candidates for registrar are Republican Eileen Buckley and Democrat Laura Smits. In each town in Connecticut, the two major parties - the Republicans and the Democrats - are guaranteed a registrar of voters. For a minor party to have a registrar, the candidate would have to receive more votes than either the Republican or the Democratic candidate. If the minor party candidate were to do so, Weston would have three registrars instead of only two. "There are more independents and third-party members in Weston than there are either Republicans or Democrats. It seems fair that there be a registrar for those of us who, as a group, are in the majority, to assure that everyone's vote is accurately counted. That's why I decided to run," Mr. Brooks said. "As a Green Party person, I can represent the unaffiliated, the Greens, the Libertarians, the Working Families, and all others who comprise the plurality of voters in Weston," he added. Mr. Brooks is chairman and founder, with his wife Dr. Margaret Brooks, of Brooks Environmental Consulting LLC, and Brooks Laboratories Inc. of Norwalk. From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Mon Sep 29 02:15:07 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 02:15:07 -0400 Subject: {news} New Britain Herald on debate exclusion Message-ID: http://www.newbritainherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20140228 09/26/2008 Without third-party candidates, CCSU won't host debate By BRIAN WOODMAN JR. , Journal Register News Service The local debate in the race for the 5th Congressional District has lost its home. Democratic incumbent Chris Murphy and Republican challenger David Cappiello, of the state's 24th District, agreed to an Oct. 11 debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters to be held at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. The exclusion of independent candidate Thomas Winn and Green Party candidate Harold Burbank has caused the university to back out. "We've hosted the League of Women Voters' political debates several times, and we are proud of our association with the League," said Mark McLaughlin, associate vice president of university marketing and communications. "In this matter, however, the League is welcome to do what it wants, but CCSU cannot participate in the event nor serve as the venue if candidates are excluded." The university, as a nonprofit organization, was bound by IRS regulations, he said. But the league is also bound by rules, said Jara Burnett, president of the league, and the state board of directors determined Burbank and Winn did not meet its debate eligibility requirements. The criteria include whether candidates have a formal campaign with headquarters and other features, published position papers, broad voter support and significant campaign contributions. The directors questioned the candidates' funding levels and whether they demonstrated enough voter outreach, and Burbank did not submit sufficient documentation regarding issues relevant to the district, directors said. "I feel that they did not fulfill our criteria," Burnett said Friday. "This decision was not taken lightly. It was based on materials the candidates provided." While the process was skewed toward candidates from the major parties, the organization does provide an online voter guide with information on all the candidates, she said. Burbank called the league's requirements "simply unconstitutional bias." The league gets federal funding and expects media coverage of debates, "which now amount to political advertisement contributions to Democrat and Republican campaigns only. The U.S. Constitution First Amendment, severely eroded as it is under President Bush, will not permit such grossly unequal political speech access to the public airwaves," he said in a statement. Burbank, who is endorsed by former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, said party members may protest league events. He is considering filing a Federal Communications Commission complaint against the league. Winn, who has never run for elected office, said he would like to hold an alternative debate - preferably with Burbank. Winn criticized Cappiello and Murphy for participating in the league's event without requesting he and Burbank participate. "They should ask that there be all or none," he said. "'If all ideas are not being evenly represented, we shouldn't have them,' they should be saying. I'm so angry right now." Murphy would like to see all four candidates participate, said Kenny Curran, campaign manager for Murphy. Adam Bauer, a Cappiello spokesman, said the Republican's campaign hadn't been contacted directly on the matter and is "withholding judgment until CCSU and the league has reached a decision. We are interested in seeing the debate go forward." Burnett said the excluded candidates could resubmit materials. A committee of board members is meeting this weekend through a conference call to examine new information submitted by Burbank. Other 5th District debates are scheduled for Oct. 15 in Waterbury, Oct. 20 in Meriden, Oct. 22 in Litchfield and Oct. 29 in Danbury. ?The Herald 2008 From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Mon Sep 29 02:22:19 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 02:22:19 -0400 Subject: {news} Hartford Courant on Burbank's exclusion Message-ID: http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-ctdebates0927.artsep27,0,3749627.story CCSU: League Must Invite Minor-Party Candidates To Debate By MARK PAZNIOKAS Courant Staff Writer September 27, 2008 Central Connecticut State University wants the League of Women Voters to either open its 5th Congressional District debate to minor-party candidates or move the event off its New Britain campus. "The league is welcome to do what it wants, but CCSU cannot participate in the event nor serve as the venue if candidates are excluded from the debate," said Mark McLaughlin, a university spokesman. The league's statewide office notified minor-party candidates this week that they were unwelcome at debates the group is sponsoring in the 2nd, 4th and 5th districts. The decision prompted an outcry from candidates who qualified for the ballot, yet were deemed insufficiently competitive by the league. In the 5th, that meant Harold H. Burbank II of the Green Party and Thomas Winn of the Independent Party would be left out of the Oct. 11 debate. "On behalf of the voters who put me on the ballot, I am very grateful to CCSU for taking a firm stand for free and equal political speech through open debate," Burbank said. It was unclear Friday if the debate would go forward at CCSU without the league's sponsorship or if the league would find a new location. "It's a shame," said Pat Donovan, the debate coordinator for the league. Donovan said the group's debate committee would discuss its options this weekend. One possibility is to ask the minor-party candidates to submit more material to meet the league's criteria. The criteria include evidence of campaign activity, such as fundraising and position papers. Contact Mark Pazniokas at mpazniokas@ courant.com Copyright ? 2008, The Hartford Courant From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Mon Sep 29 02:45:54 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 02:45:54 -0400 Subject: {news} Chris Murphy on Burbank's exclusion References: Message-ID: http://ctlocalpolitics.net/2008/09/27/ccsu-wont-hold-debate-unless-third-party-candidates-can-attend Update: The Murphy campaign last week also called for Burbank and Winn to be included. They sent a letter to debate organizers, which read in part: To this end, we have accepted the invitation to participate in your debate with the assumption that all candidates who have qualified for the November ballot will participate in this important event. Just because some candidates might not have the resources to get their message onto the TV airwaves shouldn't mean that they are denied the opportunity to express their views in the context of a debate. We consider a candidate to have earned the right to participate in debates if the Connecticut Secretary of the State has recognized him/her as having qualified for the November ballot. They then listed Burbank and Winn as qualifying candidates alongside Murphy and Cappiello. The Cappiello campaign is currently withholding judgment, although they do want to see the debate go forward. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Mon Sep 29 03:07:18 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:07:18 -0400 Subject: {news} New London Day profiles Scott Deshefy Message-ID: http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=a48a6069-6c70-40df-b619-872512f2c1d0 Green: A Color Outside The Lines By Paul Choiniere p.choiniere@ theday.com Published on 9/28/2008 in Home ?Editorial ?Editorial Columns The Editorial Board recently sat down with G. Scott Deshefy, the Green Party candidate for Congress in the 2nd District. This is the time of year when the candidates are kind enough to visit with the board, helping it decide who The Day will endorse in the coming election. Though incumbent Democratic Rep. Joe Courtney and his Republican challenger, Sean Sullivan, are fine candidates, the Deshefy interview was my favorite so far (we have a meeting scheduled with Sullivan). This is not because I agree with the Green Party candidate on many of the issues, because I don't. What made the interview so interesting and different was Deshefy's willingness to color outside the lines that candidates in the two major parties know they have to keep the crayons in. Those voters who say they are tired of the same old rhetoric should give these third party candidates a listen. They certainly have something different to say. For instance, anyone running for office in eastern Connecticut is going to be pro-submarine, that's a given. Groton is, after all, the self-proclaimed "Submarine Capitol of the World." Electric Boat shipyard, where they make the submarines, along with the Naval Submarine Base, are two of the state's largest employers and make up a major part of the region's economy. Major party candidates that visit with the board argue how they will protect the base from any attempt to close it and can do a better job getting more federal dollars to build more submarines, followed by reasons their opponent won't do nearly as well on those counts. It was refreshing, then, to hear Deshefy call Virginiaclass attack submarines, "just another earmark." As Deshefy sees it, the need to build attack submarines ended with the Cold War and their continued construction is just a jobs program. Build non-military ships and electric buses at EB, said Deshefy. Now I happen to disagree. A growing Chinese Navy and the ability of the attack submarines to assist in surveillance gathering and special operations are just a couple of reasons they remain valuable to national defense. But I had to admire a candidate willing to say exactly what he thought and not what he expects most voters want to hear. Of course, such frankness, along with a lack of funding and an inability to get much media attention, explains why his election chances are close to nil. You also won't hear too many candidates in this defense-industry region talking about their plans, if elected, "to introduce legislation to reduce the military budget by 20-25 percent" and close most of the nation's 130 overseas bases. Deshefy would reallocate the money into middle-class tax cuts, rebuilding the nation's aging infrastructure, viable mass transit, improved schools and making a college education more affordable. In fact, he sees a need to reorganize and reprioritize our society. He wants to re-invigorate local farming to reduce the cost and pollution of trucking or shipping in food from faraway factory farms. The nation's never-ending economic growth model cannot subsist, he contends. The nation, according to the Green candidate, needs a sustainable approach that conserves natural resources and respects the environment. The Greens want more commerce to be local, to end the suburban sprawl and to return to the village model. Americans might even consider doing with less, Deshefy said, maybe going vegetarian twice a week (cattle flatulence produces a lot greenhouse gases) and leaving the car in the garage once a week. Calling for self-sacrifice, to live modestly, to do with less, to cut defense- these are not items found in the how-to-get-elected book. But I don't think getting elected is what Deshefy and his ilk are really about. They're about getting a different message out, about challenging assumptions, about providing an alternative to the relatively narrow range of options that dominate the nation's political debate. The Montville native has a bachelor of science degree in zoology and a minor in literature from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Deshefy is a supervisory environmental analyst with the state Department of Environmental Protection and has had his works of poetry published. He is an interesting guy and the election is richer for him. Paul Choiniere is editorial page editor. From apbrison at comcast.net Sun Sep 28 20:28:10 2008 From: apbrison at comcast.net (apbrison at comcast.net) Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:28:10 +0000 Subject: {news} FW: Ward 10 Aldermanic Newsletter - September Message-ID: <092920080028.7842.48E0211A0002086E00001EA2221348437302019C079D0D9F0E@comcast.net> Greens and other Friends, For those who are interested in what a Green Party alderman might do, here is a brief summation. There are other things that I didn't mention on this newsletter such as my work on the Peace Commission, the Littigation Settlement Committee (which settles all the City lawsuits), Food Policy Working Group, Fight the Hike, etc, to say nothing Constituent Service in general. More in future newsletters. Best, Allan --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ward 10 Aldermanic Newsletter - September 28, 2008 Ward 10 and East Rock Residents, Attached are: 1. A better formatted version of this newsletter in Word; 2. David Cameron's op-ed in the New Haven Register; and, 3. The Trowbridge Environmental Center's program for October. This newsletter contains some of the issues that I have been engaged in, of interest to the Ward. The topics, in order, are: -Crime, -the Blue Ribbon Budget Review Panel, -the Trowbridge Environmental Center program for October (attached), -Safe Street Initiative, -Hooker School Construction, -the Octoberfest, and, of course, -Important Phone Numbers. Hope everybody is settling in for a productive fall season. Let me hear from you via phone or email. Special Thanks to all who have attended and/or helped in the summer activities that have taken part in College Woods, especially my birthday party in June, the Ward 10 Democratic Committee's party this month, all of the various events of the Friends of East Rock Park, as well as all of the various Block Parties around the ward. See you all this Sunday at Octoberfest!! Best, Allan Allan Brison Alderman, Ward 10 Green Party ------------------------------------------------------- CRIME As reported in a recent New Haven Independent story, our neighbors in the SoHu (South of Humphrey) district have started biking and walking patrols in order to combat a series of muggings in the area. The patrols are not armed. The idea is to add more eyes and ears to the neighborhood, thus discouraging crime; and to engage, rather than accuse, suspicious individuals by patrollers introducing themselves as the Block Watch, giving the individuals a flyer describing the watch, and asking them to report to the watch if they see anything suspicious. The flyers are titled ?East Rock Neighbors: Eyes Open and Cell Phones Ready.? See the full story at the link below to read arguments on both sides of the question as to whether such patrols are good (some feel that if the community takes on this, the police will concentrate their efforts elsewhere) and whether or not such patrols should be armed. My own feeling is that citizen patrols are terrifically effective, do not decrease police presence, and are, indeed, a great help to the police; if they can be sustained. I would not support armed patrols. I would be happy to assist in the establishment of a similar patrol in our ward. Let me know if anybody is interested. Here is the link to the full story: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/09/after_stickup_2.php -------------------------------------------------------------------- BLUE RIBBON BUDGET REVIEW PANEL As a member of the Leadership of the Board of Aldermen, I am a part of the committee that has been interviewing nominations for this new panel, and advising Board President Carl Goldfield in his appointments. This panel was created by a recent order of the BOA. The hoped-for mission is to help the Board get a handle on the budget. The usual yearly process has the Administration presenting their budget to the Board in March or so, giving the Board only about 2 months to review and pass this extremely complicated piece of legislation. The purpose of this new panel would be to start studying the budget much earlier, while it is still in progress, in cooperation with Administration personnel; and then to present the budget to the Board in a more understandable fashion; and to make specific recommendations to the Board. It is my opinion that such a panel could be a great help. Though I am not assigned to the Finance Committee, the body that reviews and passes on the budget; I have attended almost all of their meetings, occasionally being empanelled, as needed when the committee doesn't have a quorum. I have spent a great deal of time wrestling with the budget. I feel that something like this panel is absolutely essential if the Board is to perform its charter-mandated oversight function. The panel is to consist of 11 people as follows: -2 Administration personnel: Larry Rusconi, the Budget Director, and Mark Pietrosimone, the Comptroller; -2 Alders as appointed by the President of the BOA; and -7 New Haven Residents, also appointed by the President of the BOA. I have made 5 nominations to the panel, including East Rock residents David Cameron and Christine Bishop. I have attached a recent op-ed in the New Haven Register of David Cameron's which I hope everybody will read. We are now awaiting President Goldfield's appointments which will go a long way in determining whether, or not, this panel will be a serious contribution to the budget process and aldermanic oversight. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TROWBRIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER Attached is a schedule of nature programs for the month of October offered by the staff of the Trowbridge Environmental Center at East Rock Park. These programs are open to the general public. Please call the Trowbridge Center at 946-6086 if you have any questions or wish to register for a program. To register, please leave your name, a phone number where you can be contacted, and the number of people you would like to register. Tom Parlapiano, Trowbridge Naturalist Dan Barvir, East Rock Park Ranger Trowbridge Environmental Center New Haven Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Trees 946-6086 The October schedule for the events of the Environmental Center located at College Woods is attached. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAFE STREETS INITIATIVE - COMPLETE STREET PROPOSAL Kudos to my fellow alders, Erin Sturges-Pasquale and Roland Lemar, and to the Safe Streets Coalition and Elm City Cycling, for their work in developing the Complete Streets Proposal. This proposal, which was passed out of the Legislation Committee of the BOA with a unanimous favorable recommendation, would help the City transistion to the new reality of expensive $15/per gallon gas that may be just around the corner. If passed by the full Board, it would create a Steering Committee charged to develop a Complete Streets Policy, and create a Design Manual to guide in development of a policy to ensure equal, safe access for all motorists, cyclists and pedestrians in future developments; by, among other things: -re-establishing infrastructure for mass transit, -increasing bike lanes, -instituting traffic-calming measures, and -stepping up enforcement of current traffic laws. A large part of the goal would be to consider streets as public space for multiple uses and users; not simply as a conduit for cars to get from point A to point B. As a bicyclist who conducts virtually all of my aldermanic and personal business in New Haven by bicycle, I was asked by Erin to attend the committee hearing to show my support. For those who want to read the whole story by Melinda Tuhus in the Independent, here is the link: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/09/a_proposal_for.php#comments -------------------------------------------------------------------- HOOKER SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION Last week I was taken on a tour of the Hooker school construction site by Bruce Freeman and Tom Dembinski of the R2D development corporation. Also on the tour were Susan Weisselberg, School Construction Manager of the BOE; Robert Rifenburg, the new principal of Hooker; and Evelyn Robles-Rivas, the assistant principal at 'little' Hooker. We saw up close the excavations for the classrooms and the gymnasium; walked through the former church which is being extensively renovated for its new uses as the school's auditorium, and cafeteria; and walked through the passage way that will connect the classroom building with the former church. The report from the construction folks is that the construction is on target for the September 2009 opening. I have been working with many of my Everit Street neighbors, including people on both sides of the original site controversy, to insure that neighborhood needs are being addressed. At present we are trying to save some of the large shade trees on the north and south boundaries; eliminate the before 7am construction mayhem; and encourage the construction landscape folks to put in a 'green wall' of low-maintenance plantings along the boundaries. This week, Susan Weisselberg and I and two of the construction architects met with Everit neighbor, Robin Roush, to look at her green wall landscaping in her back yard. ------------------------------------------------------------ OKTOBERFEST In case you lost my previous mailing, here, again, are the Octoberfest highlights: Sunday, October 5th, 4-9pm ? OkTOBERFEST presented by Friends of East Rock Park (rain date: October 12th) College Woods in East Rock Park (at the corner of Orange St. and Cold Spring St.) Our biggest event of the year! Don?t miss this! - Community Contra Dancing and Square Dancing led by Bill Fischer. - Chili Cookoff Competition ? Show up with chili at 4:30 if you wish to enter the contest. - Farm Animals, Magician, Kids Games. - EVERYONE WELCOME! Please bring your own bowl, utensils and mug to reduce waste. For more info contact: info at friendsofeastrockpark.org Justin Elicker 203-500-2969 / Betty Thompson 203-785-9331 www.friendsofeastrockpark.org ----------------------------------------------------- USEFUL CITY TELEPHONE NUMBERS Police/Fire/Medical Emergency........................911 Non-Emergency Police Assistance..................946-6316 District Manager, Lt. Rebecca Sweeney??..946-7572 Block Watch/Crime Prevention.........................946-6298 Traffic Hotline for dirt bikes, etc?.....???..946-6956 Mayor's Office.....................................................946-8200 Board of Aldermen Office..................................946-6483 Voter Registration...............................................946-8035 New Haven Library - Main Branch...................946-8130 Traffic and Parking???????....??......946-8075 Towing Information...........................................946-6316 Parks & Recreation Issues................................946-8027 Livable City Iniative, Thelma Ragsdale..........946-7090 Household Hazardous Waste.........................401-2712 Streetlight Hotline.............................................931-6325 Recyclig..............................................................946-8053 Tree Limb Removal...........................................946-6971 Public Works Emergency (after hours)..........946-8334 Public Works Hotline: Trash Complaints/ Bulk Trash Pick-Up/ Potholes/ Sidewalks/ Graffiti/ StreetSweeping/ Snowplowing..............946-7700 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: allan brison Subject: FW: Ward 10 Aldermanic Newsletter - September Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2008 04:24:04 +0000 Size: 371671 URL: From dbedellgreen at hotmail.com Mon Sep 29 15:33:40 2008 From: dbedellgreen at hotmail.com (David Bedell) Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:33:40 -0400 Subject: {news} Courant: Mike DeRosa on constitutional convention Message-ID: I think Mike is right in principle, but if direct initiative passes, we better be as well organized as the conservatives. Am I correct that referendum can automatically override legislation, but does not override the state constitution? In that case, we need to make sure minority rights are safeguarded in the constitution (gays, immigrants, prisoners, etc.) . What if the mob votes to kill all the lawyers? ;-) http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-rally0929.artsep29,0,7725388.story PUBLIC POLICY Rally Pushes Constitutional Convention By DANIELA ALTIMARI September 29, 2008 Former state Rep. John Woodcock defines himself as a progressive Democrat who favors gay rights; Peter Wolfgang is a conservative whose main job is battling same-sex marriage. They wouldn't seem to agree on much. But Woodcock and Wolfgang have found common ground on a question that will appear on the November ballot: Should the state hold a convention to amend the state constitution? They both say yes because they want to see the constitution reworked to allow for something called "direct initiative," a mechanism that permits citizens to force a vote on matters of public policy. "This is about opening up democracy and sharing power," said Woodcock, who served in the legislature in the 1980s and now teaches at Central Connecticut State University. "It's an establishment vs. the people issue." Opponents of direct initiative say it would clog government with endless and expensive referendums on a host of arcane matters. Gay-rights activists say it will become a tool for those who want to quash the rights of same-sex couples. The question has drawn its most vocal support from conservative groups who feel shut out of the circles of power at the Capitol. They include the anti-gay-rights Family Institute of Connecticut, which Wolfgang leads, as well as advocates of tougher penalties for criminals, critics of eminent domain and taxpayer activists. But it has also piqued the interest of some progressives who are similarly frozen out by the state's political elite. "We shouldn't be afraid of democracy," said Mike De Rosa, head of the Green Party in Connecticut. The party hasn't taken an official position on the question, but De Rosa said it deserves a look. Thirty-one states, including California and Massachusetts, permit direct initiative, or a similar mechanism. "A lot of conservative groups are looking at it from their own ideological paradigm," De Rosa said. "We see it as an opportunity to free the system, to open it up to more choices and more voices. That's very frightening to people." Neither De Rosa nor Woodcock were among the roughly 2,800 people who attended a Family Institute rally on the north side of the Capitol Sunday afternoon. The event aimed to drum up support for the constitutional convention and also to "urge" the state Supreme Court to reject a lawsuit brought by eight same-sex couples seeking the right to marry. Although judges in Connecticut are not elected, "they do follow public opinion," Wolfgang asserted. About 75 people gathered on the south side of the building in opposition to the constitutional convention. Copyright ? 2008, The Hartford Courant From timmckee at mail.com Tue Sep 30 16:41:28 2008 From: timmckee at mail.com (Tim McKee) Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:41:28 -0500 Subject: {news} Deshefy at 2% in U Conn Poll Message-ID: <20080930204128.ECAE447808F@ws1-5.us4.outblaze.com> courant.com/news/politics/hcu-courtney-0930,0,5267140.story Courant.com =========== Poll Shows Courtney Leading Sullivan ------------------------------------ By MARK PAZNIOKAS Courant Staff Writer 10:28 AM EDT, September 30, 2008 U.S. Rep. Joseph Courtney, a Democrat who won the nation's closest congressional race two years ago, has better than 2-1 lead in his first re-election campaign, according to a poll released today. The Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut shows Courtney leading his Republican challenger, Sean Sullivan, 50 percent to 23 percent. Scott Deshefy of the Green Party was supported by 2 percent. Courtney, who unseated Republican Rob Simmons by 83 votes to win eastern Connecticut's 2nd District in 2006, gets high job approval marks, with 61 percent saying they approve and 17 percent disapprove. The poll found the economy is nearly the only significant issue: 56 percent identified it as their biggest concern; no other issue topped 10 percent. Ninety-six percent described the economy as poor (64 percent) or fair (32 percent). The poll of 477 likely voters was conducted from Sept. 22 to 28 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. Copyright ? 2008, The Hartford Courant [IMAGE] ****************************************** Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT. BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com -- Be Yourself @ mail.com! 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