National Politics June 26, 2013

Straight Arrow Watches You

by Jennifer Sullivan past co-chair of Green Party of Florida & Florida delegate to the Green Party National Committee “You better watch out where you go and watch out who you know. Watch what you do, because Straight Arrow watches you.” Why should good law abiding American citizens worry about the NSA compiling every single e mail, phone call or social network that you and every OTHER good (or not so good) American writes, makes or participates in? If you are not doing anything wrong, you don’t have to worry, right? Hmm..that depends. Who decides what is “wrong”? Do you…

Climate Change, Environment, Green Party, National Politics June 6, 2013

The Tar Sands Pipeline

by Scott McLarty Z Magazine June 2013 Bill McKibben says we don’t have time to challenge two-party rule and build an alternative like the Green Party. In reality, we don’t have time not to. Those of us who participated in the #ForwardOnClimate Rally against the tar-sands pipelines in Washington, DC on February 17, witnessed the environmental movement at its best and worst. Tens of thousands turned out in freezing weather to demand that President Obama kill the proposal for the Keystone XL and Enbridge pipelines that, if approved, will route highly polluting crude oil from the Alberta tar sands through…

Health Care Reform, Single Payer May 28, 2013

The “I”- Word, the Media and Health Care Reform

OpEd News by Cecile Lawrence Last Thursday (May 23, 2013), the politically-focused media outlet The Hill reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had made the statement that undocumented immigrants who become U.S. citizens under immigration reform will not have access to “Obamacare” or Medicaid [1]. What is perhaps most striking about the statement, however, is that, as the report points out, Pelosi did not actually use the term “undocumented” in referring to the immigrants; she apparently chose to refer to them over and over as “illegals.” Most “liberals,” or progressives, will undoubtedly find Pelosi’s choice of words troublesome, since it…

Economy, Green Party, New York, political corruption, Public Campaign Finance Reform, State Politics May 21, 2013

Public campaign finance reform: clean money or throwing good money after bad?

by Howie Hawkins syracuse.com May 14, 2013 New York needs a Clean Money system of full public campaign funding. That’s how we end the privatized “public” elections funded by the 1% that make Albany a feeding trough for wealthy special interests. The so-called Fair Elections Act (A4980C-2013), which passed the Assembly and was delivered to the Senate on May 7, merely supplements the existing system of unlimited private campaign financing with partial public funding. This bill throws good public money after bad private money. The cesspool of pay-to-play influence peddling by wealthy private donors remains alive and well. The bill…

Green Party, on Obama, Third Party May 13, 2013

Standing Up

by Evan Lyne I admit that I was once very much in bed with the enemy. This past November, I worked for President Obama’s re-election campaign as an “Early-Vote Organizer,” also known as an “E.V.O.” For those of you who don’t know what it means to be an E.V.O, it basically means you’re the campaign’s bitch. I worked sixty hours a week (bare minimum) canvassing a county that was over 60% Republican, helped organize the main Democratic headquarters, trained volunteers, handled their petty complaints, and made late-night runs to the regional campaign office for supplies. One Friday night I drove…