January 10, 2009

The Green Party of Texas mourns the tragic loss of Bill Holloway. Bill was a dedicated leader who was currently serving as the
Co-Chair of the Travis County Green Party in Austin, TX. He will be missed as a mentor and a friend.

Through his kind-hearted activism, Bill touched the lives of so many people. He was an active Green Party contributor at the local, state and national levels. Bill served on numerous committees in the Green Party and in other organizations as well.

Bill Holloway passed away unexpectedly last weekend at his home in Austin, Texas. Given the unexpected nature of his death, we know many will have questions regarding details. Out of respect for Bill, his family, and his lengthy legacy of community service, we hope you understand our reluctance to speculate and request that others will also be circumspect in their communication.

Our heart-felt condolences go out to all of Bill’s friends and family. Bill was a very special person who will be sorely missed.

There will be a memorial service in Austin, TX, on Friday, January 16, and his funeral will be in Oklahoma City, OK, on Wednesday, January 14.

For the memorial, a book is being compiled for his parents. If you would like to contribute, please write down a story or memory of Bill, with a photo if you have one and send it to Sondra - lonestarsondra at gmail.com by January 15th. His family never met most of his friends and, we suspect, had no idea of the difference he made in so many lives. The book is being put together to let them know how many people were touched by and loved him. If the photo and the text can be pasted onto one page, that would be ideal, but whatever people can contribute would be appreciated.

Whatever your beliefs, please keep Bill and his family and vast network of friends in your thoughts, prayers, and/or rituals.

In solidarity,

kat swift
co-chair
Green Party of Texas
210.471.1791 - txt okay
kat at txgreens.org

News Channel 13

ALBANY - New York’s Green Party is taking up the governor’s challenge to provide alternative ideas. They detailed ways to cut in to the state’s $15 billion shortfall without the many taxes and fees the governor is proposing.

The governor continued to sell his program Thursday, making himself available by satellite for a statewide news conference.

“I am not trying to come in and bully people,” Paterson insisted.

Once again the governor pushed the three broad areas of his plan to close the budget gap — raise numerous broad-based taxes and fees, get concessions from state employees to avoid layoffs or cut services.

But leaders of the state Green Party say there’s another way — tax the rich and stop returning tax collections to Wall Street.

“If we reinstituted progressive taxation at the levels they were in the 1970s, income taxation, we could find an additional 7.7 billion yearly. If we simply stopped rebating the stock transfer tax, which is what we do now to Wall Street, we’d get an additional 3.3 billion,” said Matt Funiciello, owner of the Rock Hill Bakehouse.

Read rest of article

The hazardous waste disaster is evidence that the US should stop using coal to generate electricity, say Greens

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders strongly criticized the Environmental Protection Agency’s response to the recent spill of 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant.

“The EPA has failed to follow through on its stated intention to regulate coal ash as hazardous waste,” said Frank Jeffers of the Green Party’s Eco-Action Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/ecoaction/index.php). “Nationwide, how big is this mess? Very very big. There are thousands of coal waste sites all over the country, and when it comes to coal wastes, you can figure about anything that could be in it, is in it.”

According to a December 29 article in The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/us/30sludge.html), byproducts from the Kingston plant in just one year include “45,000 pounds of arsenic, 49,000 pounds of lead, 1.4 million pounds of barium, 91,000 pounds of chromium and 140,000 pounds of manganese. Those metals can cause cancer, liver damage and neurological complications, among other health problems.”

As a result of the spill, the toxins have now been poured into a 400 acre area, rendering the land uninhabitable.

Greens called the spill a preventable disaster, noting that if the EPA had implemented its recommendation in 2000 to label coal ash as a hazardous waste, the coal ash would have been contained in a pond with a composite liner system.

According to the Times article, the EPA backed off this recommendation “in the face of industry opposition, promising instead to issue national guidelines for proper ash disposal, though it never did.”

“The enforcement of such guidelines is not optional. Safe drinking water standards are not optional. Such cowardice in the face of industry pressure is unacceptable. Americans deserve a strong advocate for their health and the health of their environment,” said Linda Cree, co-chair of the Eco-Action Committee.

Greens called on President-elect Obama’s chosen EPA administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, to:

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Read Cynthia McKinney’s Comments on Gaza, including her experience in her travels here.

January 5, 2009 – Home With My Parents

Last night I got to spend time with my parents and tell them all about what happened. I’ll make a full report to you on next steps when I’ve recovered. Thank you for all the kind messages. I read everything.

It’s clear that our movement for peace and justice must not end. We all are needed and doing nothing is not an option.

Read other entries here.

Green presidential candidate McKinney is safe after the SS Dignity, carrying relief to Gaza, is rammed by an Israeli gunboat in international waters

Greens challenge Obama to press Israel to comply with international law and end the illegal occupation of Gaza and other Palestinian lands

WASHINGTON, DC — The Green Party of the United States calls for an immediate end to Israel’s bombing attacks on Gaza, which in the past four days has already caused at least 364 deaths, including Palestinian women and children, with hundreds more wounded.

“It’s clear that President Bush gave a green light for Israel’s massive and disproportionate display of force. The Green Party demands that the US seek a bilateral ceasefire, with immediate pressure on Israel to stop the bombardment and end the occupation,” said Rosa Clemente, the Green Party’s 2008 candidate for Vice President of the United States (http://www.rosaclemente.com).

Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party’s 2008 presidential candidate, had joined the Free Gaza Group (http://www.freegaza.org) on the SS Dignity, which sailed from Cyprus to deliver three tons of medicine and humanitarian aid to Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade. Ms. McKinney was safe after Israeli gunboats attempted to intercept the Dignity last night and one gunboat illegally rammed the vessel in international waters, 90 miles off the Gaza coast (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/30/israel-gaza-aid-ship). Despite damage sustained in the encounter, the Dignity has docked safely in Lebanon and Ms. McKinney is on her way to Beirut.

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Found in the  Hartford Courant

When Jean de Smet was elected last year as Windham’s first selectman, she said she wanted to shake up the office by turning “town hall into a public service.”

De Smet’s goal almost was overshadowed by her triumph. She was the first Green Party candidate to be elected first selectman in the largely Democratic town. Third-party candidates rarely succeed in getting elected, but de Smet got the win by rallying voters around a specific issue. She beat Windham’s three-term Democratic First Selectman Michael Paulhus by campaigning to make local government more open to the public and to give residents easier access to town hall.

In the year since, de Smet has made town hall and local government more user-friendly, she and others who work with her said recently. De Smet said one of the first items she tackled was making the town website more informative and organizing training sessions for department heads so they could regularly update their own websites.

“We’re trying to make it so we’re user-friendly. Perhaps you can go on the website and get the information you need instead of possibly having to come in,” de Smet said.

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Published in the Monteray County Weekly

Delgado, one of three Green Party mayors in the state, wants to steer Marina in a more sustainable direction than the old guard. He expects to sign environmental accords such as the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and pursue a Styrofoam and plastic-bag ban. He also wants to focus dense development in the downtown area and push alternative energy in the project that replaces Cypress Knolls on Fort Ord.

“We’d like to go as green as we can,” Delgado said. But this vision may only be realized once his mayoral greenness rubs off.

Read the entire article

“A new magazine article documents reported killings in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, claiming a white militia formed in the days after the storm and shot nearly a dozen black people. It happened in Algiers Point, a historic community where some say what happened in the days after Katrina borrowed from a chapter in our nation’s history they would rather not relive.”

WDSU – New Orleans

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26e4gbcPliE&hl=en&fs=1]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd_3HowvKlA]

Posted by Ron Hardy at Green Party Watch

Green Party member Tony Palmeri is running for re-election to the Oshkosh Common Council. Tony was first elected two years ago on a platform of greater transparency and accountability. He won 4,704 votes to come in second of six candidates, with the top three winning seats on the all at-large common council.

Palmeri is a Communication Studies professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and a well known area media critic who writes a monthly column “Media Rants” for the Fox Valley Scene. He also blogs regularly at “Talk to Tony“. Tony’s election two years ago came from support across the city - Greens, Democrats, University people, working class folks, etc. Tony is seen as an independent voice on the Council that won’t give in to pressure from the Chamber of Commerce, the local newspaper, or any other influence on Municipal issues. He is opinionated, honest, and full of integrity.

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