rossl GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
http://www.cherihonkala.com
http://www.facebook.com/Cheri4Sheriff
WASHINGTON, DC — Cheri Honkala, candidate for Sheriff of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has emerged as the Green Party’s highest profile candidate in the 2011 election year.
Ms. Honkala’s campaign slogans, “Keeping Families in Their Homes,” “The People’s Sheriff,” and “Referendum on America,” reflect her pledge, if elected, to declare a moratorium on home evictions until the economic climate in Philadelphia changes.
“I’m running for Sheriff because something needs to be done to address the plague of home evictions being faced by too many poor and working families in Philadelphia,” said Ms. Honkala, who is using her campaign to help build the nation-wide movement to reverse the growing dominance of banks and other corporations over our government and local communities.
Cheri Honkala discussed her campaign and “zero evictions” platform at the Green Party’s 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, New York, on August 5 (http://nygreenfest.org). Two videos of Ms. Honkala speaking at the meeting: http://vimeo.com/27355841 and http://vimeo.com/27415010
Ms. Honkala would be the first woman sheriff in Philadelphia. The city’s past sheriff, who resigned during a corruption investigation, cooperated with banks in evicting families from homes as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis, and Ms. Honkala’s Democratic and Republican competitors in the race intend to continue using the sheriff’s office as a tool for the financial industry.
The crisis was triggered when low- and middle-income working Americans were unable to refinance their homes after they were issued adjustable-rate mortgages. The subprime mortgage crisis, stemming from misleading lending practices by banks and other financial companies, touched off the 2008 economic meltdown.
“Our so-called political leaders don’t dare to do anything of substance against the banks,” said Jason Bosch, chief of staff for the Cheri Honkala campaign. “Cheri Honkala’s campaign is the most significant thing happening in this country to challenge these banks and the direction they are taking all of us. Philadelphia voters have the unique opportunity to do something that no other voters in America have — to change policy with one vote. If Cheri gets elected there will be no evictions. This will force banks to the table and expand the discourse around these issues to include the voices of people who are struggling just to survive and keep a roof over their heads. This is a campaign of national significance.”
The Honkala campaign supports the development of community-based land trusts. There are over 40,000 vacant properties in Philadelphia, and community-based ownership of these properties offers the means to house people in need of homes and to create more urban gardens and public spaces that will strengthen communities. Ms. Honkala sides with immigrants facing raids and deportations that tear apart families, affirming that she will stand with poor working class people of all nationalities and refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Cheri Honkala, a tireless advocate for the nation’s poor and homeless, founded the local Kensington Welfare Rights Union and the national Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign, which works to help people who cannot get help through bureaucratic channels find solutions to their housing crises. She has organized numerous street demonstrations in Philadelphia, as well as efforts to reclaim and occupy vacant homes for poor families in need of housing.
Ms. Honkala was included in Philadelphia Magazine’s list of 100 Most Powerful Philadelphians and was named Philadelphia Weekly’s “Woman of the Year” in 1997.
David Cobb, the Green Party’s 2004 presidential nominee, called Cheri Honkala “a long-distance runner for social justice” and added, “I think Cheri’s campaign can become the ’signature’ national electoral campaign for progressives of all stripes in 2011.”
The Cheri Honkala campaign headquarters is located about 100 feet from the site where Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence. Ms. Honkala has dedicated her campaign to forging a new independence — independence from the big banks and other corporations, which Jefferson himself warned about. “I hope we shall… crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws our country.” (Letter from Thomas Jefferson to George Logan, November 12, 1816)
rossl This man has spirit, and that’s required for real, positive change! Reverend Billy Talen is the leader of the Church of Life After Shopping and has been, for months or years now, protesting in bank lobbies to get them to stop funding mountain top removal. He posted this on facebook:
This peaceful bank seizure was that rare successful thing: nonviolent direct action in 2010 that worked. PNC’s financing of MTR was our whole point, and the Choir sang songs with the Earth Quakers and the folks from RAN. Four of us were taken to prison, and I learned a great deal about activism and life from George Lakey, my cellmate. A month later PNC pulled out of MTR, and we are jubilant! Appalachia-a-lujah!
http://www.youtube.com/v/o-SsCwSySgM?fs=1&hl=en_US
Think about that before you take the easy route of decrying that “the system is beyond change!” and “I’m powerless!”
rossl As we all know, there was a rally in Washington, DC on Saturday. It’s gotten tons of attention in the media and had some high profile guests, like The Roots, Jeff Tweedy, the Mythbusters and, of course, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
Its aim is…well, nothing. Just to get together on the national mall, have some laughs, and get the Viacom-sponsored duo some attention. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
But my previous enthusiasm for the rally and for the brave master satirists hosting it has been tempered lately. It seems not to be any kind of beneficial political activity, but, as Irregular Times put it, a promotion of “inactivism.”
The Rally to Restore Sanity was corporate-sponsored, televised, tweeted, and perhaps a strikingly accurate (and sad) reflection of what America is today.
The website Irregular Times has done a good job of writing about this over the past few days. Here are a few choice cuts:
“I can’t stop the war, shelter homeless, feed the poor
I can’t walk on water, I can’t save your sons and daughters
Well I can’t change the world to make things fair
The least that I can do is care.”- Kid Rock, Rally to Restore Sanity
The hell you can’t:
Kid Rock,
who lives in one mansion in Malibu
another mansion in Michigan
and voted for John McCain
to keep his capital gains taxes lowerThe man is filthy rich. Kid Rock can do a lot of the things he says he can’t do. He chooses not to. If we work together, we can stop the war, shelter homeless, feed the poor and change the world to make things fair. Will we choose to?
Jon Stewart’s Rally To Help Corporations Outsource American Jobs To Overseas Sweatshop
Unlike a genuine political rally, Jon Stewart’s Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Fear was full of corporate advertisements. People attending the rally were handed pre-made signs to show whether they stood with Sanity or with Fear… and on the back of every sign was an advertisement for Yahoo.
In another bit of advertising, free hand towels were handed out to people attending the rally, because… well, I have no idea why they were handed out. What do people attending a rally on the National Mall need with a hand towel? The hand towels featured the official logo of the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, and the logo of Reese’s, which makes candies with chocolate that’s harvested by child slaves in Africa. The towel itself was manufactured not in the USA, but in India, where textiles factories have a long and consistent history of using child labor, paid pennies a day to work in dangerous sweatshop conditions, if the children are paid at all.
Jon Stewart Fans Go To D.C. To Watch TV And Laugh At Old Jokes
The most surreal moment came before the official start of the rally, when the TV screens were turned on and tuned in to the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Huge crowds of people fell silent, and gazed up at the screens en masse.
Then, the crowds were shown old clips from the Daily Show and Colbert Report. The clips were from the shows in which Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert announced that they would hold a rally in the first place. Almost everyone in the crowds had already seen these clips, if not once, many times. Yet, they laughed.
The crowds laughed at jokes they had already heard about a rally that was being planned, but which they were actually attending in the present. The rally was a re-run even before it was over.
That’s when it hit me: These people had all come to Washington D.C., not to participate in any rally for anything, but just to watch television.
Even Jon Stewart’s big final speech that focused on the role of the media was incredibly frustrating. The lack of depth seen in the media is precisely because of control of corporate conglomerates like Viacom, which sponsored the rally. And instead of focusing on breaking up the big media companies or something like that, Stewart took a very superficial view of politics, calling only for “moderation,” which is an ambiguously beneficial quality in politics.
I know Stewart said that he wasn’t trying to insult people who are passionate and active in politics. But that is exactly what he did. He mocked us and he encouraged people to do anything else before they join our ranks. His rally – with a rallying cry of “I can’t change the world” – served only to justify servile passivity and guiltless obedience to the ruling order, one which nourishes itself through war profits, oil profits, and sadistic practices like state-sanctioned torture.
And I know it wasn’t supposed to be a political rally! But that’s beside the point that’s being made here. Over 200,000 people showed up for what was essentially a big concert. When I went to the nation’s capital in March to protest against the war, there were, at most, about 10,000 people there.
We have become a corporatized people, and that can perhaps be demonstrated by both this rally and the rally which preceded it. Glenn Beck’s disgusting perversion of Martin Luther King’s rally was indeed a corporate-sponsored event. Corporate donors are what fuels the Tea Party, not any kind of grassroots effort, which is mild at its strongest. The rally this Saturday, on the other hand, was more blatantly passive and corporate-sponsored.
This might sound ridiculous at first, but Stewart’s rally was, in a way, a kind of tea party of the Democratic Party (I would have said “American left” there, but the left is mostly outside of the Democrats and maybe too small to merit a role in Stewart’s rally). It was a timid gathering of misguided individuals who have legitimate anger toward the status quo (and of course not all of the attendees came because of politics), but are only reinforcing it through their actions.
Even our activism is corporatized these days. We’re raising money for candidates along with corporations or we’re attending corporate-sponsored rallies or we’re tempering our criticisms so we don’t offend the corporate-sponsored media or we’re buying products “for a cause.” We’ve been turned off, tuned out, and dropped into a culture of consumerism, and even our activism is now following.
So, yes, I was too busy to go to the rally on Saturday. I was spending a few hours working for a local Green Party candidate, making my voice heard, not content to merely laugh away the nation’s troubles.
rossl Originally posted at PoliZeros.
I went to a protest in Philadelphia this past Saturday, and it was more disheartening than anything else. It was against the wars and various other injustices, with a special focus on he recent FBI raids of peace activists and Pennsylvania Homeland Security spying on innocent civilians and activists.
By the end of it, I kind of just felt like going up to the megaphone and asking, “How much moral outrage can one person muster? There are more people handing out fliers here than not, and with this country committing so many disgusting, outrageous acts, I don’t blame you.” I won’t lie, I handed a few out myself. Yet the contrast between the righteous causes featured in the speeches and on the signs and on the fliers and the, as a fellow protester said to me, “complete lack of solidarity” was striking.
However, I don’t believe that we should stop protesting or that we need to find another way to be activists (although protesting is by no means the only way to be an activist). Old fashioned protests have always worked and they will continue to work. But what I went to Saturday – and it is similar to many other antiwar protests I’ve been to, and I’m sure it’s similar to many other demonstrations by progressives, socialists, and the like – was too lethargic, too focused on recruiting for outside groups (like the ANSWER Coalition, as Bob has focused on before), and too passive to do anything other than serve as a large meeting for peace supporters.
The only thing we shut down was part of a bike lane and half a road in the business district of Philadelphia. No one really cared, although we got some positive honks from drivers and some of them were probably annoyed. Maybe that could be the antiwar movement’s new slogan: “We’ll slightly inconvenience you until the wars, the empire, the torture, the spying, the ecological destruction, and the general disrespect toward life is over!”
When I got home, I saw this video on the blog Docudharma, which just compounded my feelings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckwzV8ddwdA&feature=player_embedded
In France, the nation is being shut down. Why? Because the retirement age could be raised by two years. Even then, it would still be three years younger than what it is in America! Not to mention, similar protests are happening all over Europe.
In the comments at Docudharma, I said something similar to what I’m saying here, and I got a good reply, from user Activist Guy. You can read the whole thing here, but basically he said screw the permit or march at night and bang on pots and pans or go through neighborhoods where this affects people instead of the business district. And he’s right. The protests in Europe are, for the most part, nonviolent. Yet they are incredibly effective because of their numbers and their tactics.
For now, the antiwar movement doesn’t have numbers. Neither do most movements, because we’ve become a very passive nation. So we must utilize the numbers we do have, whether through coordinated civil disobedience (not just getting arrested for show, but actually affecting others’ lives, by doing things like blocking off streets without permission) or well-organized protests that emulate groups such as the militant Wobblies, who utilized their small numbers incredibly effectively. In any case, we’ve got to get the energy back. That is what will bring people into the movements, and show them that the alternative to the failure of Washington is not copping out and becoming even more passive, but taking politics into their own hands.
rossl Dan Hamburg, LeAlan Jones, and Jill Stein are running three races that are very important to the Green Party this year. In California, Hamburg is a former Democratic Congressman hoping to be elected as a Green to Mendocino County Supervisor. In Illinois, Jones is the only African American in the Senate race and has polled as high as 14%, in a state where the Green candidate for governor got over 10% in 2006. In Massachusetts, Stein is less than $1,000 away from qualifying for the rest of the debates, and about $38,000 away from qualifying for matching funds.
I’ll make this as simple as possible. Here’s what each one needs from you:
1. Dan Hamburg. He is an incredible candidate, and really represents the future of the Green Party. He came in first in a primary which included ALL candidates in the race, but an ultra-conservative candidate came in a close second. With a great background and the local SEIU’s endorsement, Hamburg is both qualified for office and running a strong enough campaign to win. However, he needs help financially – that’s where you come in.
In the words of Greechange.org, “[When] he wins, Dan Hamburg will show that the Green movement is ready to lead with fresh ideas for reviving our economy and protecting our ecosystem.” The netroots has shown before that it has great skill at fundraising – just a bit of that can be stretched a long way in a local race like this. So please donate whatever you can afford.
2. But don’t give all your money away! Save some for LeAlan Jones. And even if you don’t donate to Jones, there is something else extremely important that you can do. Call Meet the Press (202-885-4598 ) and let them know that they shouldn’t exclude Jones from their Senate debate. When the Florida Libertarians did this for their Senate candidate, they got the Meet the Press debate cancelled – let’s one up them and get a Green on national television!
From the Jones campaign:
Plus, we are asking YOU to call NBC’s Meet The Press at 202-885-4598 and tell them to “Let LeAlan debate!” NBC decided to shut out the only African-American candidate running for this historically African-American Senate seat. It’s time to stand up to this media BLACKout. More details in my letter to the president of NBC News
Tell them you’d like to talk to Meet the Press. Let’s do this!
3. Jill Stein. She needs to raise $100,000 by October 1 in order to qualify for the gubernatorial debates, which is really the best way for her to gain support. She is less than $1,000 from that goal, so every dollar counts!
Since the state government uses a different fundraising standard, she is about $38,000 away from raising the needed $125,000 to get matching public funds. If she can do this, her campaign will be one of the best tools in the nation for building the Green Party, and she will have a shot at winning in Massachusett’s 4-way race (that means only 25%+1 to win).
She needs to raise this money by September 24, and we can do it! Last week alone, Stein raised $25,000, a quarter of the total her campaign has brought in this year. It’s up to us.
(For the next $350 or so donated at DemocracyDays.com, a fundraising site for Stein, another donor will match that donation.)
Let’s do this! Together, we can build an alternative to the corrupt, destructive two party system.
rossl After losing the race to represent the Democrats in a special US Senate election, former Democratic politician (and arguably, institution as far as West Virginia is concerned) Ken Hechler has endorsed Jesse Johnson. Johnson is the nominee for US Senate of the Mountain Party, West Virginia’s affiliate of the Green Party.
Salon describes Hechler and his motivation for, at 95, running for Senate:
In his 95 years, Ken Hechler has recorded history from the front lines in World War II, debriefed Hitler’s top commanders before the Nuremberg Trials, advised Harry Truman, marched with Martin Luther King, published several books, been the subject of a documentary, and — somewhere between all of this — served nine terms in Congress and four as West Virginia’s secretary of state…
You say that you aren’t running anyone and that you want to use this race to raise awareness of mountaintop removal from strip mining. Why single out this issue?
I’m not really running for the Senate, I’m running to enable the people of West Virginia to register at the polls their opposition to this devastating practice, which hurts so many people in the valleys when they dump the rocks in the soil and all the things that they’re blasting out of the mountains into people’s front yards.
Hechler received about 17 percent of the vote in the primary. Now Johnson is the only candidate in the race who opposes mountaintop removal, a situation he was also in when he ran for governor in 2008.
The following video was posted on the front page of Johnson’s website:
From the Sunday Gazette-Mail:
“People were voting not against mountaintop removal, but were actually voting against my age of 95,” he said.
Johnson doesn’t have that “handicap,” Hechler said.
“He’s 51 years old,” Hechler said as he introduced Johnson, who also opposes mountaintop removal. “Compare that with a 95-year-old, and you’ll see why you’re going to have a huge outpouring of support for Jesse Johnson.”
Johnson has previously run for governor, U.S Senate and president. He said he would run a grass-roots campaign and stand up to rich and powerful interests.
“It’s time for business as usual to be over,” he said.
rossl I’ve been gone all summer – traveling, gardening, volunteering a bit, and doing some other things – and as much as I had a lot of fun, it is nice to be back. In all that time, some interesting things have happened with what I consider to be one of the better Green campaigns in the nation this year, and one that I’m very involved with, Hugh Giordano’s campaign for state legislature as a Green.
In case you don’t know who Hugh is, he’s a 25 year old union organizer running as a Green in PA’s 194th district, which is mostly in Philadelphia and also a bit in Montgomery County (for locals, it encompasses Roxborough, Manayunk, parts of Lower Merion, and some surrounding areas). He’s been running a great campaign, knocking on doors, holding fun fundraisers, getting in the newspaper, and raising as much money as a typical Green congressional candidate.
Anyway, here is the news I was talking about originally.
In July, Green Party candidate for State Representative in PA’s 194th district Hugh Giordano received the endorsement of Bill Morris, a Democrat who ran and lost in the May primary. The news made several newspapers, including the Philadelphia Public Record, which ran the headline “Green Party Candidate May Liven Up 194th State House Race:”
Giordano is not your usual Green Party advocate. An organizer for United Food & Commercial Workers Local 152, Giordano has practical political experience and union connections. He has been working the District, which encompasses Roxborough and Manayunk along with parts of Lower Merion Township and Wynnefield, ever since the winter…
But the Dems are still split from their bruising primary, giving Giordano his opening. Over the weekend, Giordano received the support and endorsement of former Democratic Primary candidate Bill Morris…
“I sat back and thought hard about who is the best candidate to represent this District in Harrisburg,” said Morris. “At the end of the day, I feel Hugh is the best candidate.” Morris, a union carpenter, thinks Giordano, a union organizer, understands the issues of working people and the middle class and will stand by them against the corporate executives that control Harrisburg.
Giordano has been in the local paper more recently for his efforts to reach out to young voters (at 25, he is a very young candidate himself):
“It’s very encouraging to see so many young people getting excited about politics and my campaign. The voters have a real chance here to vote for someone who truly stands by them and the issues that affect them everyday.” Giordano feels its important for young voters to stay engaged and on top of the issues of jobs, environment, and public education because these are all issues that are going to affect them in their future; whether it’s a year from now or ten years from now. “Citizens need a state representative who understands them and is a true independent, and these issues must be tackled now,” said Giordano.
Chris Rodgers and Mike Torpey feel Giordano is the best choice in November, because he knows the issues and has lived in the district his entire life. “We both have known Hugh since high school, and when Hugh say’s he is going to do something, he does it!” said Rodgers.
And though it didn’t make it into any newspapers, as far as I know, Giordano also participtaed in a demonstration against the fact that every single third party statewide candidate was tossed off the ballot by the major parties in Pennyslvania this year:
Hugh Giordano, Green Party candidate for State Representative in the 194th district attended a rally on August 15, to ensure that Third Party candidates keep their place on the ballot in the November election. Giordano is officially on the ballot in November, but for some other Third Party candidates, they still have a fight ahead of them. The Republicans have challenged three Libertarian Party contenders who are running for Governor, U.S. Senate, and Lieutenant Governor. Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, Joe Sestak, challenged a Green Party candidate who is attempting to join the race against Republican Pat Toomey.
‘I think this is an attack on democracy to the fullest, and quite honestly I think the Democrats and Republicans are cowards,” Said Giordano. Giordano is outraged that the two party system has such strangle hold over the Pennsylvania voters and feels that every voice deserves to be heard and recognized in a democracy. “ I cannot understand why anyone would register with the two party system, let alone voter for the Democrats or Republicans,” said Giordano, “ Why would anybody vote for a party or candidate that not only forces you to vote for them, but also attacks your freedom to vote for the candidate you feel is best for the job.”
Giordano also has some upcoming events listed on his website, including an end of the summer happy hour on August 31st and a spaghetti dinner fundraiser on September 19th. If you don’t live in the area, donations are always appreciated.
This is just one part of national and international movements. The Greens in Australia won big the other day, gaining their first seat in the lower house of Parliament and the balance of power in both houses – so, yes, we can do it. We CAN build an alternative to the corrupt, destructive two party system!
rossl The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is hosting four public information meetings on the proposed study of the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and its potential impacts on drinking water…The meetings will provide public information about the proposed study scope and design. EPA will solicit public comments on the draft study plan.
The public meetings will be held on:
* July 8 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. CDT at the Hilton Fort Worth in Fort Worth, Texas
* July 13 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. MDT at the Marriot Tech Center’s Rocky Mountain Events Center in Denver, Colo.
* July 22 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT at the Hilton Garden Inn in Canonsburg, Pa.
* August 12 at the Anderson Performing Arts Center at Binghamton University in Binghamton, N.Y. for 3 sessions – 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT
Fracking, a method of extracting natural gas that pumps hundreds of chemicals into the ground, is destroying communities and lives all over the country. This is one chance we have to come together as people that must drink the water, breathe the air, and eat the produce of our nation to tell the EPA: NO FRACKIN’ WAY!
If you haven’t seen the movie “Gasland” already, it’s currently playing on HBO and HBO on demand. If you don’t have either, check for local screenings here, or organize one. The DVD will be out in December. (You can also watch a 20 minute PBS piece on the movie and fracking here.) I was aware of this issue before I saw the documentary, but seeing how the people in it were affected – with lifelong illnesses, with undrinkable water, with destroyed lives – even right here in my home state of Pennsylvania, I was shocked. I hadn’t realized the scale and devastation of this awful practice.
Right now another Gulf oil spill is being unleashed across the country, and now the EPA is offering us small people one small chance to try to stop it. We must grab that chance and run with it. Although fracking is happening in 34 states and hundreds, if not thousands, of communities, there will be four places that the EPA is holding meetings. So get to one!
Again, here are the dates and places:
* July 8 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. CDT at the Hilton Fort Worth in Fort Worth, Texas
* July 13 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. MDT at the Marriot Tech Center’s Rocky Mountain Events Center in Denver, Colo.
* July 22 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT at the Hilton Garden Inn in Canonsburg, Pa.
* August 12 at the Anderson Performing Arts Center at Binghamton University in Binghamton, N.Y. for 3 sessions – 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT
rossl 
(Image from Greenpeace)
Hello all – hopefully I can make this into some kind of a short series or get someone to help me with this, but if not you’ll probably see at least one more diary on the subject from me. Basically, here’s a post where I’m trying to assemble all the information for protests that you need to know in order to take action against BP and for some kind of a clean energy future.
(Just because of my own time constraints, I’ve only listed events in the US)
First off, if you’re in or near Philadelphia, I’m organizing two protests. Here’s a copy of the information I posted to the site youngphillypolitics.com:
FLOURTOWN (suburb)
Date: Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Time: 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Location: BP Station
Street: 1674 Bethlehem Pike
City/Town: Flourtown, PAWe’ll meet up at the shopping center right next to the station at 5 PM then head to BP
On google maps: Google Maps
ROXBOROUGH (Philly neighborhood)
Date: Monday, June 14, 2010
Time: 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Location: Roxborough BP Station
Street: Intersection of Ridge Ave and Shawmont Ave
City/Town: Philadelphia, PAWe will meet up at the Shawmont School on Shawmont Ave down the street at 5 PM and then head to BP.
The BP station: Google Maps
The Shawmont School: Google Maps
GENERAL INFORMATION
Our list of demands include:
NATIONALLY
-Make BP (and any other corporation responsible) pay for the ENTIRE cost of clean up
-Permanent moratorium on offshore drilling in US waters
-A real, strong climate and energy bill…that means something better than cap and trade and no fossil fuel bailouts like the current bill
LOCALLY
-Higher gas tax in Pennsylvania
-More and better public transportation
-A moratorium on all new natural gas drilling in the Marcellus shale
———————————————————–
One useful tool is the facebook page BP=Biological Predator’s list of events. Here they are for all of you who aren’t hooked into facebook (if you are, they’re linked, so you can RSVP on facebook). I didn’t include the two protests I’m organizing, even though they are listed on the facebook page.
CHICAGO OIL SPILL RALLY (Link)
Date: Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Time: 5:00pm – 7:00pm
Location: Pritzker Park (Corner of State & Van Buren) & march peacefully to Millenium Park.We will march peacefully to Millenium Park in honor of World Ocean Day and to raise awareness for all the beings suffering on the gulf coast. Let’s be a constructive force by bringing attention to the importance of minimizing our own energy consumption. We will meet at Pritzker Park (Corner of State & Van Buren). Bring a sign if you can.
Worldwide BP Protest – Cocoa, FL (Link)
Cocoa, FL, US – 12 June 2010 – Protest
Saturday, June 12, 2010
10:00am – 12:00pm
exact location will be announced soonStarter: Karrie Krell
Worldwide BP Protest – ATLANTA, GA (Link)
Atlanta,GA, US – 12 June 2010 – Protest BP
Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010
Time: 10:00am – 12:00pm
Location: 350 MORELAND AVENUEStarter: Monica Manuel, GA
Attention: this was moved from Jonesboro to Atlanta!
Worldwide BP Protest – DALLAS, TX (Link)
Dallas,TX, US – 12 June 2010 – Protest BP
Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010
Time: 10:00am – 12:00pm
Location: Young St. Dallas, TX (in front of the WFAA Channel 8 studios.)Starter : Lori Jett Davis
Celebrate Worldwide Protest BP Day! There will be an Anti-BP/Pro-Clean Energy Reform PROTEST next Saturday, June 12th 10am-12noon @ 606 Young St. Dallas, TX (in front of the WFAA Channel 8 studios.) Come join us!!!! Show your outrage, show your support, and show Big Oil that they may own our politicians, but they don’t own us!!!
Worldwide BP Protest – WEST PALM BEACH, FL (Link)
West Palm Beach, FL – 12 June 2010 – Boycott BP
Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010
Time: 10:00am – 2:00pm
Location: West Palm Beach, FL
Street: Okeechobee and Haverhill
City/Town: West Palm Beach, FL
Worldwide BP Protest – Santa Cruz, CA, USA (Link)
Santa Cruz, CA, USA – 12 June 2010 – Protest BP Saturday, June 12, 2010
11:00am – 1:00pm
Location will be announced shortly
http://www.facebook.com/…
Worldwide BP Protest – DAYTONA BEACH, FL (Link)
Daytona Beach, FL, US – 12 June 2010 – Protest BP
Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010
Time: 11:00am – 1:00pm
Location: 971 West International Speedway Daytona Beach Fl. On the corner of ISB and Nova
Worldwide BP Protest – NEW YORK CITY (Link)
Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010
Time: 11:00am – 1:00pm
Location: location tba
Worldwide BP Protest Day – Gulf Breeze, FL, USA (Link)
Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010
Time: 11:00am – 1:00pm
Location: 2967 Gulf Breeze Parkway, Gulf Breeze, FL 32563-3147
Worldwide BP Protest – Houston, TX, US
Houston, TX, USA – 12 June 2010 – Protest BP
Saturday, June 12, 2010
11:00am – 1:00pm
near the BP office in Houston at 501 Westlake Park Blvd
Worldwide BP Protest – Orange Beach, AL (Link)
Orange Beach, AL, US – 12 June 2010 – Protest BP
Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010
Time: 12:00pm – 2:00pm
Location: location to be announced
SEATTLE, WA Protest/Demonstration against BP for the Gulf oil spill (Link)
Protest/Demonstration against BP for the Gulf oil spill
Date: Saturday, June 12, 2010
Time: 12:00pm – 2:00pm
Location: Westlake Center, Downtown SeattleSince April 20 2010, thousands upon thousands of barrels of crude oil have been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Countless birds and marine life have been devastated beyond repair, as well as the livelihoods of fishermen that rely on the health of the Gulf to make a living. I am sick and tired of sitting back and not doing anything while these huge oil corporations run our country and destroy our fragile ecosystem. JOIN ME in staging a protest – bring your own signs, dress up, make a statement!!
HANDS ACROSS THE SAND – Maumee Bay State Park, Erie Beach, OH (Link)
Maumee Bay State Park, Erie Beach
Beach:Location: Maumee Bay State Park, OH
Address/directions: Maumee Bay State Park, Erie Beach.1400 State Park Road Oregon, Ohio 43618
HANDS ACROSS THE SAND – NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC (http://)
HANDS ACROSS THE SAND-NO TO OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING YES TO CLEAN ENERGY!
Date: Saturday, June 26, 2010
Time: 11:00am – 12:30pm
Location: NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC
HANDS ACROSS THE SAND – SIESTA KEY BEACH, SARASOTA, FL (Link)
HANDS ACROSS THE SAND-NO TO OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING YES TO CLEAN ENERGY!
Date: Saturday, June 26, 2010
Time: 11:00am – 12:30pm
Location: SIESTA KEY BEACH, SARASOTA, FL
———————————————————–
Here is more info about the “Hands Across the Sand” events, and more events themselves. From the website (there is more info there, too):
Hands Across the Sand is a movement made of people of all walks of life and crosses political affiliations. This movement is not about politics; it is about protection of our coastal economies, oceans, marine wildlife, fishing industry and coastal military missions. Let us share our knowledge, energies and passion for protecting all of the above from the devastating effects of oil drilling.
A Message To The World
In the next two days Hands Across The Sand will go International. Any country will be able to plan events on this website. This is a peaceful gathering of the people of the world. Planning an event is as simple as this: Go to YOUR beach on June 26 at 11:00 A.M. in your time zone. Form lines in the sand and at 12:00, JOIN HANDS. The image is powerful, the message is simple. NO to Offshore Oil Drilling, YES to Clean Energy.
Mission Statement
1. To organize a national movement to oppose offshore oil drilling and champion clean energy and renewables. These gatherings will bring thousands of American citizens to our beaches and cities and will draw metaphorical and actual lines in the sand; human lines in the sand against the threat oil drilling poses to America’s coastal economies and marine environment.
2. To convince our State Legislators, Governors, Congress and President Obama to stop the expansion of offshore oil drilling and to adopt policies encouraging clean and renewable energy sources. America needs legislation that creates tax incentives and subsidies to encourage the growth of clean energy and renewable industries for America’s future.
For a state-by-state list of events (OR to organize one), go to this page. There will be tons, especially in Florida.
———————————————————–
The folks at SeizeBP.org have a list of dozens of demonstrations around the nation. Their “weak of protest” started on June 3 and is lasting until June 10, this upcoming Thursday. Seize BP is calling for the government takeover of BP, but the protests are more general than that, it seems. Just go to SeizeBP.org and click “find a demonstration.
———————————————————–
Sierra Club rally in DC
Host: Glenn H.
Location: BP Gas Station Logan Circle Area
1301 N 13TH ST NW
Washington, DC 20005
When: 06/09/2010 1:30 PM-3:30 PM ESTAt the event, we’ll get a briefing via cell phone from Aaron Viles, Campaign Director of the Gulf Restoration Network, who’s on the ground assisting the recovery effort in New Orleans. Then we’ll call on BP to clean up the spill immediately – and demand that President Obama and Congress end offshore drilling and provide the leadership we urgently need to create a clean energy future.
Given that we’re in DC, we expect some good media attention – so bring big posters calling for an end to oil. After the event, we’ll head over to Church Key for some drinks – and to plan follow up action. It will be fun and we think a real opportunity to make a big impact.
So get off your butt and sign up!!! There’s a huge need in the Gulf and this is probably the biggest moment we’ve ever had to rally our city and country for clean energy! See you there.
———————————————————–
6/12 12pm Worldwide BP Protest Day @ the State House Boston (Link)
BP Protest in BOSTON MA
Start: June 12, at 12:00PM
Meeting Point: THE STATE HOUSE, 24 BEACON STREET
———————————————————–
Indian Harbour Beach, E Central FL
OIL SPILL VIGIL
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 — 7PM
Bicentennial Park
1877 SR A1A
Indian Harbour Beach FL, 32937
(A1A Hwy. just north of Pinetree and Lowes on the right)
If you’re planning an event, Codepink has a useful page with songs, chants, contacts, and more. Click here to check it out.
———————————————————–
Well, that’s all I could find tonight. If you know of any other events, let me know and I’ll post them. Hopefully this was helpful, and hopefully you’ll be out at one of these protests or you’ll organize your own.
And for your enjoyment, the Raging Grannies:
rossl On June 8, Californians will vote on several referendums, in addition to primary races. One of those referendums, Proposition 14 (aka the Top Two Primaries Act), could hugely change how those primary races are conducted, and it would definitely not be for the better. As if to add insult to injury, but it could take down a public campaign financing measure along with it.
Prop 14 was put on the ballot through the backroom dealings of State Senator (not Lt. Gov.) Abel Moldonado, the very last holdout on the budget this year. He used the budget crisis for his own profit and one of his demands was to put this measure on the ballot. Now, his reckless action is being opposed by every political party in California and numerous electoral reform groups, groups ranging from the NAACP to the Southern California Tax Revolt Coalition.
But big business wants this to pass because of the control it could give them over elections (explanation below the fold). So your help is needed – $5, $10, $100 – whatever you can chip in to prevent California from descending further into a mess of broken government.
So just what is Prop 14? And why is it so bad?
Basically, Prop 14 would set up a system in which every voter gets the same primary ballot, with every candidate running listed on it, and the candidates with the two highest percentages from that ballot move on to the general election. (Currently, independent California voters actually are able to vote in any primary they want to.) Write-in votes would be prohibited in the general election.
Something worth noting is that this is not a proposition for an “open primary,” as some claim. An open primary would allow voters to choose which primary to vote in regardless of registration, but that is NOT what this is. This would establish a “top two primary.”
That doesn’t sound so bad at first, but it turns out that the alleged reasons for implementing it are false. This system is already in place in Washington state and Louisiana (that bastion of transparent, honest politics!) had a similar system for most of the past forty years, so there is information available to compare these claims to.
Ballot access expert and San Francisco resident Richard Winger explores these claims briefly:
Louisiana has used “top-two” for state office since 1975. Many Louisiana gubernatorial elections have advanced candidates to the runoff who did not appeal to the center. In 1991, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke reached the gubernatorial runoff, just as he had reached the U.S. Senate runoff in 1990. In 1995, the gubernatorial runoff was between Mike Foster, a very conservative Republican, and Cleo Fields, who had supported Jesse Jackson for president. In 1999, the runoff was between Foster and William Jefferson, who was not a moderate either.California experience also shows that “top-two” doesn’t ease partisanship. California used a system in 1998 and 2000 called a blanket primary, in which all candidates from all parties ran on the same ballot and all primary voters used that ballot.
Political scientists who studied the California Legislature say the state Senate was just as polarized and the Assembly almost as polarized during the blanket primary years…
Prop. 14 would do great damage to the social fabric, because it would stifle dissident voices. Prop. 14 would eliminate the Peace and Freedom Party from the ballot (because that party has 58,000 registered members, and Prop. 14 eliminates all parties with registration under approximately 100,000 members). Prop. 14 also eliminates write-ins. We know from the experience of Washington and Louisiana that minor party members never place first or second in the primary, so they can’t campaign in the crucial six months between June and November when the voters are most interested in political ideas.
The people who place first or second in “top-two” systems are the incumbent and the challenger with the most money and name recognition. A system that doesn’t include the disaffected in the general election is courting trouble. When people can’t air their grievances and ideas in election campaigns, they often turn to less desirable modes of protest. The general election is for everybody, even political minorities
In another piece, he talks about how Prop 14 avoids the problem of California’s broken government rather than fixing it:
The real solution to solve California’s budget gridlock is to eliminate the rule that the budget can only be passed with two-thirds of the legislators in each house. To those who fear that Democrats would pass an unacceptable budget if they could pass a budget with a majority vote, consider that we Californians have the recall, the initiative, and the referendum, to rein in a legislature that might otherwise be too powerful. We have enough checks on the legislature already. We should let the majority party in the legislature govern. If the voters elect a majority party, let that majority party pass its budget. If we don’t like that budget, we not only have recall, initiative or referendum, we can defeat the majority party in the next election and replace it. But having given one party a majority in the legislature, we should let it pass the budget it wants.
It’s worth noting that Winger is actually an active Libertarian. You read that right – a LIBERTARIAN is advocating that allowing Democrats to pass the budgets they choose is a better solution to this problem than a top two primary.
Why is he so opposed? Well, the main reason Winger opposes Prop 14 is that it would pretty much eliminate all third parties in California, as he said. That’s not to say it would get rid of much-hated spoilers – in fact, during the primary, it would probably be rare to see a candidate get a majority of the vote. And with a bunch of Democrats, Republicans, and whatever else running in the same primary, you can bet that many races would see the top two winners get ten percent of the vote or less. This is hardly the majoritarian solution it claims to be.
In fact, there isn’t much “there” there in the case supporting Prop 14. In a recent radio debate between Richard Winger and the referendum’s author, Lt. Gov. Moldonado, Winger frequently cited statistics and facts, while Moldonado spouted off shallow talking points. Take a listen for yourself (the whole show is about Prop 14, but the debate begins at about 12 minutes and lasts for the rest of the show):
Yet, if there is a lack of “there” in Prop 14, there certainly isn’t a lack of money. The “Yes” campaign has raised well over $2 million, with big donors like Hewlett-Packard ($100,000), the California Chamber of Commerce’s California Business PAC ($205,000), Pacific Life Insurance Company ($25,000), and the CEO of Netflix ($257,328.40). This is not some kind of grassroots push for electoral reform – in fact, it’s exactly the opposite. Prop 14 is a major way for big business to take control of our elections. Spending in elections is predicted to increase if this passes, so companies that can afford to spend a hundred thousand dollars on a single ballot measure would surely benefit.
And an added benefit of this passing would be that it makes defeat for a modest public campaign finance proposition (Prop 15) more likely. From Ballotpedia:
Opponents of the Top Two Primary measure say that it is conflict with another measure on the June 8 ballot, the Fair Elections Act. If the two propositions are in conflict, Section 4 of Article XVIII of the California Constitution decrees, “If provisions of 2 or more measures approved at the same election conflict, those of the measure receiving the highest affirmative vote shall prevail.”Richard Winger says:
“The two election law measures that will be on the June 2010 California ballot do not fit together. The public funding measure has at least eight sections that presume that political parties nominate candidates for state office, and that independent candidates do not appear on the primary ballot. But the top-two open primary sets up a scheme under which parties would not have nominees for state office, and also provides that independent candidates would run in the primary.”
And finally, Richard Winger’s point that this would mean the death of California’s third parties, which are some of the strongest third parties in the nation currently. In the San Francisco Chronicle, Winger writes,
Washington used a Top 2 system for the first time in 2008. For the first time since statehood, the November ballot had no minor party or independent candidates for any congressional race, or any statewide state race.Louisiana has used a Top 2 system for state office since 1975, and never has a minor party candidate qualified for the second round.
Furthermore, Prop. 14 is far more hostile to minor parties than the version of Top 2 used in Washington state and Louisiana…
…under Prop. 14, how parties remain ballot-qualified will change drastically. Under existing California law, a party remains ballot-qualified if it polls 2 percent for any statewide race in a midterm year. But under Prop. 14, parties won’t have nominees. The only way for parties to appear on the November ballot in a presidential election will be either to have approximately 100,000 registered members, or to submit a petition (each election) of approximately 1 million signatures.
Prop 14 is clearly undemocratic. It doesn’t really do anything about the divisiveness of California politics, it increases spending in elections, and it shuts out the voice of many candidates and hundreds of thousands of California citizens.
—————————————————
So here’s what you can do. The “No on Prop 14″ campaign desperately needs money in order to compete with the big bucks of the “Yes” campaign. For now, the place to donate is StopTopTwo.org. Every little bit helps, and please be generous! Plus, if you donate $14 or more you get a free bumper sticker.
You can also print out and distribute this flyer, and sign up for updates from the newly formed “No on Proposition 14.”
Everything helps! Talk to friends, family, and everyone else – but for now, donating is the most important thing you can do. The election is June 8, so this is urgent.
Thank you to every who contributes. You are doing your small part to keeping America’s elections intact.
