Wisconsin Green Party

http://livestre.am/CTT
Watch live streaming video from greenpartyus at livestream.com

Matt Rothschild interviews Jill Stein for The Progressive magazine

5:30pm ~ Friday ~ December 16
UW-Madison Memorial Union
See "Today in the Union" Directory

Take advantage of this opportunity to hear Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein address questions posed by crusading journalist Matthew Rothschild, followed by public discussion and Q & A. Hosted by Leland Pan, student labor activist and representative with the Associated Students of Madison. Free and open to the public.

RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/events/189217821170641/
or here: http://www.jillstein.org/a_public_conversation_with_jill_stein_and_matt_...

Watch live streaming video from greenpartyus at livestream.com

(be wary of huge volume swings due to cheering)

@ http://www.jillstein.org/assaults_on_ows?mid=52

In this statement, Jill Stein condemns police actions against the Occupy Wall Street movement. She sees the sometimes brutal assaults as violations of civil liberties and part of an attempt to suppress a much needed movement for economic justice and democracy.

November 16, 2011

Today presidential candidate Jill Stein of the Green Party released the following statement condemning recent police actions against the Occupy Wall Street movement:

"The aggressive, needless police actions across the country against Occupy Wall Street (OWS) are an assault on civil liberties and an effort to suppress a much needed movement for economic justice and democracy. The courageous protesters who have stood up to intimidation by lethal force are standing up for us all.

The use of police in full riot gear with helicopters buzzing overhead to arrest peaceful and largely sleeping protesters is frightening commentary on the militarization of state and municipal security. Unprovoked police violence against citizens practicing peaceful civil disobedience - clearly documented on videos gone viral on the internet - is deeply alarming: young women being corralled and pepper sprayed on Wall Street, students at University of California Berkeley being attacked with nightsticks, Iraq veteran Scott Olsen who served two tours of duty ostensibly to defend freedom, only to have his own freedom assaulted in a police attack at Occupy Oakland that fractured his skull and rendered him unable to speak.

In conducting these raids, public officials are suppressing rights of free speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press. Routinely, reporters were physically prevented from observing the raids. Many of those who managed to get in to the sites were reportedly intimidated or arrested. If access to public ways and public health and safety concerns were significant, other non-military solutions were available to deal with them. The lack of such efforts belies the excuse that these concerns justified police raids.

As the OWS protesters have said, the defenders of the 1% can evict the protesters, but they can't evict an idea. The protest is here to stay. I call upon the mayors of the occupied cities to follow the example of Green Party Mayor Gayle McLaughlin of Richmond, California, who welcomed the local occupation, and to allow the Occupy gatherings to continue.

Throughout American history public assemblies by the people have been essential to the advance of our civil liberties and to the defense of our freedoms.

Coxey's Army in 1894 marched from Ohio to DC, demanding public jobs for the unemployed in the midst of a recession. In 1932, the Bonus Army of 17,000 World War I veterans and their families, in the third year of the Great Depression camped in DC demanding the immediate cash-payment redemption of their World War I bonuses that were scheduled to be paid in 1945. In 1968, the Poor People's Campaign, a legacy of recently assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King, set up a shantytown in DC known as "Resurrection City" in support of an Economic Bill of Rights, seeking full employment, a guaranteed annual income, and affordable low-income housing. In 1985-86, students erected and camped in anti-apartheid shantytowns on college campuses to protest investments in corporations in apartheid South Africa.

Some of the OWS protesters are homeless. Many more are young and jobless, often carrying unconscionable college-loan debt burdens. They are the tip of the iceberg of insecurity that is increasingly intolerable for growing numbers of the American public, with the upper 1 percent of Americans now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year and controlling 40 percent of the nation's wealth. Income disparity in the US now exceeds that before the Great Depression. Thus, the anguish that compels protesters to sleep on the cold hard ground is not going away.

The political parties of the 1% are showing signs of neither understanding the protest, nor acting to address the root economic causes. I challenge President Obama to forbid all Federal involvement in these disturbing violations of civil liberties, and to urge all elected officials to respect the right of citizens to peacefully assemble to petition their government for redress of the economic grievances caused by rule by the 1%."

To find out more about, or to contribute to the Jill Stein for President campaign, please visit http://www.JillStein.org

Let’s take our democracy back from Wall Street.

We need a new politics for the other 99% of America that doesn’t collect a CEO’s salary or write big checks for politicians.

America deserves a Green New Deal that provides a secure future for we the people and the planet we depend on.

@ http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=460

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org

Greens condemn orders for police to clear Occupy encampments in Oakland, California and New York's Zuccotti Park

Green Party Election Results for November 2011
Green Party Watch http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2011/11/09/green-party-election-results-n...
Election Results Feed http://www.gp.org/elections/results-2011.php

WASHINGTON, DC -- As some participants in the Occupy Movement across the US begin to turn towards involvement in elections, Green Party leaders are inviting them to run for office as Greens and to support Green candidates.

"The Green Party encourages those Occupiers who want to have an effect on the 2012 elections to help us build a permanent alternative party that represents the interests of We The People -- the 99 percent -- instead of banks, oil companies, arms manufacturers, insurance firms, and other powerful lobbies. The Green Party accepts no money from corporate PACs. Our platform reflects the values and demands of Occupy Wall Street," said Kent Mesplay, candidate for the Green Party's 2012 presidential nomination (http://www.mesplay.org).

Breaking News: Greens condemned the police clearance of the Occupy Oakland encampment and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's order for police to evict the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park on November 15. New York Greens are offering assistance in the form of emergency housing, arrest support, and food and expressed hope that the court order obtained by the National Lawyers Guild would allow the encampment to continue. Greens noted that the clearances and other police actions in various cities will swell the November 17 Day of Action (http://occupywallst.org/action/november-17th). (See "Eviction of Wall Street Occupation Exposes Mayor's Corporate Collusion, Says NY Green Party," Green Party of New York State press release, Nov. 15, http://www.gp.org/press/pr-state.php?ID=459)

Occupy Wall Street in New York City and other Occupy protests have declared that they do not endorse any political party and that the demonstrations are not a venue for electioneering. The Green Party has respected and cooperated with this request (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=453).

But many Occupiers have begun to embrace electoral participation as a strategy for challenging the corporate corruption and the erosion of democracy in the US (http://www.occupytheballot.org). Occupy Cincinnati demonstrators are working to establish their own party (http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_19279413 / http://www.occupationparty.org). Carl Mayer, public defender and long-time Ralph Nader/Green Party supporter, recently spoke before Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park and expressed "his hopes of the OWS movement's becoming a viable third party in the future" (http://www.policymic.com/articles/2251/carl-mayer-speaks-at-zuccotti-par...).

"The Green Party, as an established national party, has laid a foundation for Occupy candidates to run for public office," said Budd Dickinson, secretary of the Green Party of the United States. "In many states, Greens have accomplished the difficult task of achieving ballot status, overcoming prohibitive rules enacted by Democratic and Republican politicians to hinder alternative parties and candidates. By allying themselves with the Green Party, by becoming the Green Party in some states and towns, Occupiers who wish to launch campaigns for office can take advantage of the infrastructure and experience we've been building for more than a decade."

In New York, the Green Party gained major-party status through Howie Hawkins' campaign for governor in 2010, fulfilling the state's difficult requirements and earning the Green Party of New York State its place on the 2012 ballot. New York Greens have been active participants in Occupy Wall Street since the protests began in September. (See "Hawkins Blasts Cuomo for Arrests at Occupy Albany," Nov. 14, http://www.web.gpnys.com/?p=11207)

"If the policy goals and legislative agenda of the Green Party and Occupy Movement participants who wish to pursue electoral activism are the same, there's no reason we should compete with each other in 2012. Nor do we want to see the Occupy Movement exploited by the Democratic Party and front groups like MoveOn.org or the American Dream movement, which seek to corral people sympathetic to the Occupy Movement into voting Democratic and reelecting Barack Obama. There is no hope for the Occupy agenda as long as the US is stuck in the two-party status quo. Elections aren't the only way to effect social change, but change must including replacing the corporate-money politicians who now hold public office. We appeal to those who support Occupy Wall Street -- help the Green Party emerge as a major party," said Audrey Clement, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.

"Without Green Party candidates to vote for, the demands of movements like Occupy get ignored, because their votes are routinely taken for granted by Democratic politicians who know that progressive voters have nowhere else to take their votes," said David Doonan, Green Mayor of Greenwich, New York.

The Occupy Movement's demands, such as an end to the legal status of corporations as 'persons', a halt to home foreclosures in the wake of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis, rejection of an austerity budget that burdens working people and the poor, requiring corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes, a ban on hydrofracking, and withdrawal of all US military forces from Afghanistan and Iraq (including private contractors, which President Obama intends to keep in Iraq after 2011) reflect the Green Party's positions.

The Green Party also supports Medicare For All (single-payer national health care) and rejects the Democratic health care bill passed in 2010, which requires Americans to subsidize the for-profit insurance industry through 'mandates' to purchase private coverage or pay a penalty. The party also supports a massive public works program to include millions of new green jobs in conservation, conversion to safe clean energy, expansion of public transportation, and other efforts to curb the advance of global climate change.

The Green Party's goals are summarized in the 'Green New Deal' adopted by Green candidates across the US (http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2010/08/11/62-green-candidates-endorse-gr...). The Green Party will nominate a presidential candidate at its 2012 national convention, at a site to be announced.

Greens have warned that the Occupy Movement and its agenda may be eclipsed by late spring 2012 as the media focus on the debate between the Democratic and Republican candidates for the White House.

"No one can pretend that either of the establishment parties -- the Democrats and Republicans -- represents the Occupy Movement in any way," said Jill Stein, candidate for the Green Party's 2012 presidential nomination (http://www.jillstein.org). "President Obama campaigned in 2008 as the candidate of change, but after taking office he simply continued the pro-war and pro-Wall Street policies of the Bush Administration, with troop surges and bank bailouts and attacks on social programs under the guise of deficit reduction. We need to create eight times more jobs than are promised by his inadequate 'jobs bill' and we need to stop his attempts to create job-destroying trade pacts with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. I'm glad he backed down from his climate-destroying threat to approve the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, but we know that without a long-term political pressure, schemes to exhaust the tar sands into the atmosphere will be back on the table. This is the time for a principled opposition party to emerge and give an effective voice to all those who are suffering under the current Republican/Democratic doctrines. Greens and OWS together are a formidable force to take our democracy back."

See also:

"Green Party calls for a nationwide moratorium on home foreclosures"
Green Party press release, November 3, 2011
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=458

"Occupy Wall Street looks ahead to 2012"
By Justin Elliott, Salon.com, November 11, 2011
http://www.salon.com/2011/11/11/occupy_wall_street_looks_ahead_to_2012/s...

"One Bay Area mayor WELCOMES Occupy protests to her city"
("At least one Bay Area mayor is actually welcoming the Occupy Wall Street movement to her city: [Green] Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin.")
By Joe Garofoli, Politics Blog, San Francisco Chronicle, November 9, 2011
http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2011/11/09/one-bay-area-mayor-welco...

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
Green Papers http://www.greenpapers.net

Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
2011 Annual National Meeting http://nygreenfest.org

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog

~ END ~

search: lwcj, spol

___

Disclaimer: State, local, and candidate press releases made available here represent the opinions of the original source only. Opinions expressed by a state party or candidate do not necessarily represent the views of the Green Party of the United States. State party contact information, when provided with candidate releases, does not imply state party endorsement of the opinions expressed nor of the candidate (prior to gaining formal nomination by the party).
___

Office: PO Box 57065 Washington, D.C. 20037
Email: GPHQ--at--gp.org 202-319-7191 or toll-free (US): 866-41GREEN

Almost 40% for Josephine Okot in Portland School Board race
Two Green victories in Fairfax, CA, and a Green win in Federal Heights, Colorado!
Beryl Baker brought in 22 thousand votes running for Tucson City Council for 34%, a nice showing!

Full Results Tabulation @ http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2011/11/09/green-party-election-results-n...

Also: Green Party to hold 2012 national convention in Baltimore
@ http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2011/11/15/green-party-to-hold-2012-natio...

@ http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=458

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, November 3, 2011

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org

Greens urge Obama, Congress to halt further bank foreclosures: Wall Street firms should suffer 'austerity' for the economic crisis they caused, not the American people

Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on economics: http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-economic-justice.php

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Green Party of the United States called for an immediate nationwide moratorium on foreclosures and urged President Obama and Congress to take steps to halt further actions by banks to foreclose on the homes of Americans in the continuing economic recession.

"An order barring lenders from evicting people from their homes would be a powerful first step towards restoring financial stability and easing the fears of middle- and low-income working Americans," said John Eder, Green candidate for Mayor of Portland, Maine (http://www.johneder.org) and former State Representative in Maine. "The economy might be thriving again for the one percent, but for most Americans, the Subprime Mortgage Crisis and 2008 recession are not over. Millions of families face the loss of their homes, millions are without a job or only semi-employed, millions have no health coverage or inadequate coverage."

Green Party candidate Cheri Honkala, running for Sheriff of Philadelphia in the 2011 election, has pledged not to cooperate with banks attempting to evict residents from their homes (http://www.cherihonkala.com). Ms. Honkala is a long-time housing activist and founder of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.

Victims of the subprime scam and Americans facing the loss of their homes deserve assistance instead of eviction (Green Party Platform on housing: http://www.gp.org/committees/platform/2010/social-justice.php#1002699). The suspension on foreclosures should continue at least until a determination can be made about which would-be homeowners were offered subprime mortgages by banks with insufficient regard for the ability of the borrower to make good on payments or get refinancing.

Greens across the US are participating in Occupy movements against the greed, recklessness, criminality, and unchecked political power of banks, Wall Street firms, and other corporate elites.

Green Party leaders said that major banks and other financial institutions made billions of dollars by defrauding people who were unlikely to make good on payments into taking out adjustable-rate mortgages, pooling the high-risk mortgages into collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), giving the toxic securities high ratings, and taking taxpayer-funded bailouts when the house of cards collapsed. The banks then began to foreclose on homes, often filing fraudulent paperwork for eviction of families.

Democratic and Republican politicians, including Presidents Clinton and Bush, supported the deregulation that made these actions possible and presided over the failure of regulatory agencies to use existing laws against the abuses. President Clinton played signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (repealing the Glass-Steagall Act) and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which deregulated derivatives, CDOs, credit default swaps, and other complex securities, both of which helped trigger the crisis.

"If the federal government can bail out Wall Street firms that caused the crisis, it can act now to protect Americans faced with the loss of their homes," said Terry Baum, Green candidate for Mayor of San Francisco (http://www.terryjoanbaum.com). "When Democratic and Republican politicians talk about austerity, funding cuts for social services, plans to slash Social Security and Medicare, and similar steps to fix the economy, what they mean is that working people must suffer for the irresponsibility and crimes of Wall Street. As the SEC's slap on the wrist penalty for Citigroup's sale of toxic mortgage-backed securities proves, this austerity is one-sided. CEOs and other top staff whose behavior caused the meltdown continue to rake in millions in salaries and bonuses." (See "Judge questions SEC settlement with Citigroup," The Washington Post, Oct. 27, http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/judge-questions-sec-settl...)

Greens said that President Obama, despite his expressions of sympathy for people facing lost homes and jobs, remains on the side of Wall Street. Recent news stories confirm that he is seeking and receiving fat campaign checks from corporate contributors (http://october2011.org/blogs/kevin-zeese/era-occupy-wall-street-obama-re...). Mr. Obama received more financial industry contributions than any politician in US history in 2008. During this campign, he endorsed President Bush's bailout for Wall Street. After taking office, he stacked his administration with Wall Street insiders like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, economics advisor Larry Summers, and Chief of Staff Billy Daley.

"President Obama has offered window dressing instead of relief for Americans hurt by the crisis. He won't risk offending the banks by stopping the foreclosures -- especially in an election season in which his campaign is desperate for stacks of campaign checks from the 'one percent' contributors. He won't consider making systematic changes in how the financial industry operates, such as restoring Glass-Steagall safeguards and breaking up the 'too big to fail' banks. President Obama's token steps toward change have been matched with real steps backward -- the President's recent minimalist jobs proposal coincided with his job-killing free-trade agreement with Korea, Colombia, and Panama. In contrast to the President's lip service about change, Greens are calling for concrete solutions, starting with a moratorium on foreclosures right now," said Mark Dunlea, former Chair of Green Party of New York State and Executive Director of a statewide
anti-poverty organization in New York.

"Most Republican and Democratic politicians judge the US economy according to Dow Jones, profit margins of top corporations, the GDP, i.e., how much the rich are getting richer. Greens judge the economy by how many Americans have living-wage jobs with benefits, are safe in their homes, enjoy financial security and good health care, are moving out of poverty, and how well the environment is protected, now and for future generations. Those are the priorities of the secure green economy we are committed to creating," said Mr. Dunlea.

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191

Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
Green Papers http://www.greenpapers.net

"Why inequality in America is even worse than you thought: A new study shows economic and social conditions in the U.S. rank near the bottom of the developed nations"
By Justin Elliott, Salon.com, October 29, 2011
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/29/why_inequality_in_america_is_even_worse_...

"Cheat Sheet: What’s Happened to the Big Players in the Financial Crisis"
By Braden Goyette, ProPublica, October 26, 2011
http://www.propublica.org/article/cheat-sheet-whats-happened-to-the-big-...

2011 Endorsements for Green Party Candidates
http://www.gp.org/candidates/endorsements-2011.php

Press conferences, forums, and other events at the Green Party's 2011 Annual National Meeting in Alfred, NY, broadcast and archived on the Green Party's Livestream Channel
http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus

2011 Annual National Meeting
http://nygreenfest.org

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States (Summer 2011 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog

~ END ~

search: lwcj, spol

___

Disclaimer: State, local, and candidate press releases made available here represent the opinions of the original source only. Opinions expressed by a state party or candidate do not necessarily represent the views of the Green Party of the United States. State party contact information, when provided with candidate releases, does not imply state party endorsement of the opinions expressed nor of the candidate (prior to gaining formal nomination by the party).
___

Office: PO Box 57065 Washington, D.C. 20037
Email: GPHQ--at--gp.org 202-319-7191 or toll-free (US): 866-41GREEN

The Wisconsin Green Party’s Fall Gathering and Membership Meeting will be held November 5, 2012 at Ripon College, in Ripon, WI. All Wisconsin Greens are welcome and encouraged to attend. The Ripon Campus Greens are hosting the event.

Featured Speaker: Ben Manski, Executive Director of Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution and 2010 Green Party candidate for Wisconsin State Assembly

Agenda will include:
Secretary Report
Treasurer Report
Officer elections
Coordinating Council elections
National Committee Delegate elections
2012 Presidential Campaign updates and Wisconsin presidential preference process
Spring Elections / Fall Elections 2012
Committee Meetings

Any proposals from the floor should be brought in writing with copies available for review by the membership.

Logistics ~

When: Saturday November 5, 2012, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Where: Ripon College, West Hall, Room 2 – Elm Street, Ripon, WI. Parking is available on Elm Street. Driving directions can be found at: http://ripon.edu/about/location.html

Cost & Food: Suggested registration for the Membership Meeting is $15. Waivers will be available on site for economic hardship. Light breakfast and coffee will be included, along with a vegan lunch.

Lodging: There are a number of hotels in and around Ripon. See: http://www.ripon.edu/about/lodging.html
Some home stay arrangements may be possible. Contact Dean Katahira: KatahiraD @ ripon.edu

Contacts:
Dean Katahira, Advisor for Ripon College Greens: KatahiraD @ ripon.edu
Lisa Hilleren, Chair of the Ripon College Greens: HillerenL @ ripon.edu
Claude VanderVeen, Co-Chair, Wisconsin Green Party: 414-481-9881
Ron Hardy, Lake Winnebago Green Party: 920-292-8129