From spencer.graves at prodsyse.com Sun Apr 1 21:04:38 2012 From: spencer.graves at prodsyse.com (Spencer Graves) Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:04:38 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] George Goehl action against the banks Message-ID: <4F792556.5050300@prodsyse.com> Hello All: You might be interested in an interview of George Goehl by Bill Moyers (http://billmoyers.com/segment/organizer-george-goehl-on-people-power/). Goehl is organizing "The 99% Spring" (http://the99spring.com/), which is organizing protests April 9-15. He is also working with "Confront Corporate Power" (www.confrontcorporatepower.org ), which hopes to disrupt stockholder meetings and engage in similar actions. I thought you might like to know about this. Best Wishes, Spencer -- Spencer Graves, PE, PhD President and Chief Technology Officer Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc. 751 Emerson Ct. San Jos?, CA 95126 ph: 408-655-4567 web:www.structuremonitoring.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net Mon Apr 2 09:57:54 2012 From: j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net (Jim Doyle) Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:57:54 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Foothill college Green party forming? Message-ID: <4F79DA92.3070709@sbcglobal.net> This arrived in my jimd at greens mailbox yesterday, April 1-st. Let's check it oout and see if it is for real. ----- Hey. You're recieving this email because you don't have a campus outreach individual listed on the county party website. I live in (very south) San Mateo country, and go to school at Foothill College. I realized a unique opportunity with regards to Foothill- if a Green Party-affiliated group was formed, it would be the only active party group on campus. The Democrats and Republicans are presently inactive on campus- though there is some subterfuge involving the administration and Democrats- at least at De Anza a lot of their people involved in advocacy are actually institutional Democrats who have or currently hold Democratic party office within Cal Dems. So I've made a twitter at twitter.com/FoothillGreens and am generally drumming up interest. April 9th is the first day of the spring quarter. I'd like to see if it can be formed up by Tax Day. Can you help me with literature, and perhaps arranging for someone to speak at a preliminary interest-check meeting? Thank you, Andrew J. Mackay kazmarov at gmail.com From j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net Mon Apr 2 10:01:35 2012 From: j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net (Jim Doyle) Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:01:35 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] my availability Message-ID: <4F79DB6F.102@sbcglobal.net> P.S. My wife and I have some very important company for the next two weeks - April 3-rd through April 17-th. The whole package is 5 people and includes two grandchildren, Forest 10 and Oliver 8. So I will not be able to give too much help for the next two weeks. Jim Doyle From j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net Mon Apr 2 19:53:29 2012 From: j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net (Jim Doyle) Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:53:29 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Foothill College Greens Message-ID: <4F7A6629.3000808@sbcglobal.net> Caroline remembers meeting Andrew McKay the last time we were at Foothill College. Somebody please pick up the ball on this one. I have grandkids coming tomorrow for two weeks. Jim Doyle From pagesincolor at yahoo.com Tue Apr 3 09:17:09 2012 From: pagesincolor at yahoo.com (John Thielking) Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2012 09:17:09 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Green Party Logo In-Reply-To: <4F7A6629.3000808@sbcglobal.net> Message-ID: <1333469829.72325.YahooMailClassic@web111108.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Hello, ? Does anyone on this list have an idea for where I can get a digital copy of the Green Party logo that could be used on b+w or full color fliers?? Do we even have an official GP logo? Thanks. ? Sincerely, ? John Thielking -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jules.c.brouillet at gmail.com Mon Apr 2 12:27:52 2012 From: jules.c.brouillet at gmail.com (Jules Brouillet) Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2012 12:27:52 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Foothill college Green party forming? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear Andrew, Thank you for your intention to start a College Greens group at Foothill College! I'm Jules Brouillet, a long-time Green resident from Palo Alto. I'm managing Carol Brouillet's campaign for congress in California's 18th Congressional District, and we'd really like to meet with you. You, and everybody on this list, are invited to Carol's Organizing party this Sunday, April 8th, at 505 Cypress Point Dr, Mountain View (Invitation Card FRONT/ BACK). Carol is confronting our Congresswoman Anna Eshoo on fundamental issues, including challenging corporate power, protecting the Constitution, and holding our public officials accountable for their actions and to the law. If you give me the time and location, I will come out next week to the preliminary interest meeting next week at Foothill College to update you on Green Party of Santa Clara County happenings, and distribute Green Party of California literature and voter registration forms. We do ask you to get as many of your colleagues at Foothill as you can to attend this meeting. In addition, I have access to the call list of Greens in the 18th Congressional District (Santa Clara + San Mateo + Santa Cruz Counties), and I would be happy to work with you to get more Greens active & involved, both on-campus and off-campus. Sincerely, Jules On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 11:45 AM, Jules Brouillet wrote: > Hey. You're recieving this email because you don't have >> a campus outreach individual listed on the county party website. >> >> I live in (very south) San Mateo country, and go to school at >> Foothill College. I realized a unique opportunity with regards to >> Foothill- >> if a Green Party-affiliated group was formed, it would be the only active >> party group on campus. >> >> The Democrats and Republicans are presently >> inactive on campus- though there is some subterfuge involving the >> administration and Democrats- at least at De Anza a lot of their people >> involved in advocacy are actually institutional Democrats who have or >> currently hold Democratic party office within Cal Dems. >> >> So I've made a twitter at twitter.com/FoothillGreens > **FoothillGreens > and am generally >> drumming up interest. April 9th is the first day of the spring quarter. >> I'd like to see if it can be formed up by Tax Day. >> >> Can you help me with literature, and perhaps arranging for someone >> to speak at a preliminary interest-check meeting? >> >> Thank you, >> >> Andrew J. Mackay >> kazmarov at gmail.com >> >> ______________________________**_________________ >> sosfbay-discuss mailing list >> sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org >> http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-**bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-**discuss >> >> > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From spencer.graves at prodsyse.com Tue Apr 3 14:28:02 2012 From: spencer.graves at prodsyse.com (Spencer Graves) Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:28:02 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Green Party Logo In-Reply-To: <1333469829.72325.YahooMailClassic@web111108.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> References: <1333469829.72325.YahooMailClassic@web111108.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <4F7B6B62.8060901@prodsyse.com> There's a "Green heart-leaf" logo on our web site and part of "No Credit Card" Open Office documents downloadable from the "Resources" page on our web site. If this is not adequate, let me know, and I can send you that in another format. Spencer On 4/3/2012 9:17 AM, John Thielking wrote: > Hello, > Does anyone on this list have an idea for where I can get a digital > copy of the Green Party logo that could be used on b+w or full color > fliers? Do we even have an official GP logo? Thanks. > Sincerely, > John Thielking > > > > _______________________________________________ > sosfbay-discuss mailing list > sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org > http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss -- Spencer Graves, PE, PhD President and Chief Technology Officer Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc. 751 Emerson Ct. San Jos?, CA 95126 ph: 408-655-4567 web: www.structuremonitoring.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cbrouillet at igc.org Tue Apr 3 22:51:43 2012 From: cbrouillet at igc.org (Carol Brouillet) Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2012 22:51:43 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Green Party Party Invitation Message-ID: Green Party Party Invitation ? This Sunday ? Carol for Congress! Dear Friends, Carol Brouillet is running for Congress to advance the causes we care about ? human needs foremost, accountability for abuses of power, transparency in the democratic process, and a well-protected environment. And to be successful we need and welcome your help. You are invited to her organizing party for volunteers, supporters and friends, this Sunday, April 8, 2012 from 7 to 10 pm at the clubhouse at 505 Cypress Drive in Mountain View. To unseat the corporate-cozy status quo, we?ll need dedicated volunteers, so your time, skills and enthusiasm will be greatly appreciated. From canvassing and phoning to press and community relations, from data entry to event coordinating and much more, we?ll need your participation. Meet Carol and a great group of other wonderful people at the party . . . and plan to pick-up campaign materials for your neighborhood and community of friends. Although we would love to see you in person, if you can?t attend, but would like to help, please contact our campaign manager as soon as possible at: jules.c.brouillet at gmail.com or call 650-308-4396 The June 5th primary election is just weeks away! With the new California election law in effect, Carol needs to place first or second to reach the general election in November. Voters from any party can vote for Carol in the primary. Our combined efforts and resources are essential. We would be very grateful for whatever time you could give us or for any support (including putting up a yard sign or housing volunteers) or any donations that you could offer via our website- http://www.carol4congress.org . Occupy Congress with heart and integrity! Sincerely, Jules, Jonathan, Bill Directions: Turn off Moffett onto Cypress Point Drive. The clubhouse (just past the 3rd driveway on the right) has a big ?505 Cypress? sign. Other queries contact- jonathanfluck at yahoo.com PS. Hope you can come! Jules is my son and campaign manager, who worked for a year with the American Monetary Institute on Monetary Reform. Jonathan Fluck has worked on a number of Green Party campaigns; he also ran a theater company, is a talented musician, actor, and organizes an annual Peace Film Festival in New York. Bill has worked with me for years with the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance and worked for BFUU in their office. Tian Harter is the party host and treasurer of the campaign. We did get 600 signatures to help us get on the ballot, and we are doing our best to ramp up the campaign and create useful materials for volunteers to aid us in our outreach efforts. We'll have a bigger campaign kickoff when we have more time to organize it. We also are working on new Deception, Perception Dollars, a special Election Dollar and a special Greenback- to help promote the Green Party of California. We are having a great time working on the campaign, but we could use a lot more help! Carol -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tnharter at aceweb.com Wed Apr 4 00:08:52 2012 From: tnharter at aceweb.com (Tian Harter) Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:08:52 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fukushima Never Again - San Jose, April 13 Green Party Movie night Message-ID: <4F7BF384.900@aceweb.com> Green Party Movie Night Friday, 4/13, at the San Jose Peace and Justice Center, 48 S. 7th St. downtown San Jose. 6:30 pm: Food 7:00 pm:: Movie (followed by a discussion led by a representative from No Nukes Action Committee.) $5 - $10 (no one turned away for lack of funds) Our Green Party Movie night is April 13 and we will be showing "Fukushima Never Again" from the Labor Video Project. Umi Hagitani from the No Nukes Action Committee will be leading the introduction. Please spread the word to all the other groups you are involved with and all the people you know. Lets fill the Peace Center. -- Tian http://tian.greens.org Latest add: PBP Two Cities Ride. Light showers exist. The small leaded glass pyramid is on a Michigan quarter. From tnharter at aceweb.com Wed Apr 4 00:18:15 2012 From: tnharter at aceweb.com (Tian Harter) Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:18:15 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fukushima Never Again - San Jose, April 13 Green Party Movie night In-Reply-To: <4F7BF384.900@aceweb.com> References: <4F7BF384.900@aceweb.com> Message-ID: <4F7BF5B7.5080002@aceweb.com> FUKUSHIMA NEVER AGAIN ?Fukushima, Never Again? tells the story of the Fukushima nuclear plant melt downs in northeast Japan in March of 2011 and exposes the cover-up by TEPCO and the Japanese government. This is the first film shown in the United States that interviews the mothers of Fukushima, nuclear power experts and trade unionists who are fighting for justice and the protection of the children and the people of Japan and the world. The residents and citizens were forced to buy their own geiger counters and radiation dosimeters in order to test their communities to find out if they were in danger. The government said contaminated soil in children?s school grounds was safe and then when the people found out it was contaminated and removed the topsoil, the government and TEPCO refused to remove it from the school grounds. It also relays how the nuclear energy program for ?peaceful atoms? was brought to Japan under the auspices of the US military occupation. It also looks at the criminal cover-up of the safety dangers of the plant by TEPCO and GE management, which built the plant in Fukushima. Included is an interview with Kei Sugaoka, the GE nuclear plant inspector from the bay area who exposed cover-ups in the safety at the Fukushima plant and was retaliated against by GE. This documentary allows the voices of the people and workers to speak out about the reality of the disaster and what this means not only for the people of Japan but the people of the world as the US government and nuclear industry continue to push for more new plants and government subsidies. This film breaks the information blockade story line of the corporate media in Japan, the US and around the world that Fukushima is over. Tian Harter wrote: > Green Party Movie Night Friday, 4/13, at the San Jose Peace and Justice > Center, 48 S. 7th St. downtown San Jose. > > 6:30 pm: Food > 7:00 pm:: Movie (followed by a discussion led by a representative from > No Nukes Action Committee.) > $5 - $10 (no one turned away for lack of funds) > > Our Green Party Movie night is April 13 and we will be showing > "Fukushima Never Again" from the Labor Video Project. Umi Hagitani > from the No Nukes Action Committee will be leading the introduction. > Please spread the word to all the other groups you are involved with and > all the people you know. Lets fill the Peace Center. -- Tian http://tian.greens.org Latest add: PBP Two Cities Ride. Light showers exist. The small leaded glass pyramid is on a Michigan quarter. From j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net Wed Apr 4 08:28:14 2012 From: j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net (Jim Doyle) Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2012 08:28:14 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] nomination delegates Message-ID: <4F7C688E.50406@sbcglobal.net> GREEN PARTY COUNTY CONTACTS MESSAGE This is an announcement from the GPCA Contact List. For more information, or questions related to the topic of the posting, please do not hit reply. Follow the contact directions stated in the email. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CRITICAL-ACTION NEEDED: Deadline is April 5 to apply to be a delegate to the Presidential Nominating Convention COUNTY CONTACT GREENS-IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU DISTRIBUTE THIS TO YOUR LISTS AND THAT EACH COUNTY COUNCIL RESPONDS TO THE DELEGATE SELECTION COMMITTEE WITH YOUR LIST OF UNDECLARED DELEGATES BY THURSDAY MIDNIGHT. THE CAMPAIGNS MUST ALSO SUBMIT THEIR SLATES BY THURSDAY MIDNIGHT SO IF ANY OF YOUR COUNTY GREENS WISH TO BE A DELEGATE FOR A SPECIFIC CANDIDATE, YOU NEED TO GET THAT INFORMATION TO THE CAMPAIGN CONTACT INDIVIDUALS LISTED BELOW BEFORE THAT TIME. The complete Delegate Selection Procedure for the Presidential Nominating Convention for CA is on our website at http://www.cagreens.org/gpus#PNC DEADLINE TO APPLY IS APRIL 5. Every year there is an Annual National Meeting which is attended by National Committee (NC) Delegates. In addition, once every four years there is a Presidential Nominating Convention. For more information about the Baltimore convention, see http://www.gpconvention2012.com/: So in addition to the Annual National Meeting which is attended by the NC Delegates, state parties also send Presidential Nominating Convention (PNC) Delegates. CA has been alloted 65 delegates out of about 400. Every state has their own procedure to select their Nominating Convention Delegates and the responsibility of those delegates. California is very specific: Policies and Procedures for Selection and Conduct of GPCA Delegates to the GPUS Presidential Nominating Convention Basically, any GPCA members can apply to be delegates to the GPUS Presidential Nominating Convention, while only NC delegates will attend the Annual National Meeting. The convention itself will be on July 14. Generally NC delegates will also apply to be PNC delegates, but we need many more. You can either apply in support of a particular candidate or through your county with no designation. Read through the procedure to understand that better. Applications must be submitted 60 days before the Presidential Primary, which would be April 5. If you want to apply directly to the candidates send your application with subject line CA Delegate to PNC to: For the Jill Stein delegation, write "Erika P Wolf"> For the Kent Mesplay delegation, write "Kent Mesplay"> For the Roseanne Barr delegation, write "Farheen Hakeem " > If you are applying through your county, send your application to your County Council.....AND MAKE SURE YOUR COUNTY COUNCIL KNOWS TO SUBMIT IT TO THE DELEGATE SELECTION COMMITTEE BY APRIL 5. On your application, include your name, address, phone, and email. If you are selected, you will also need to submit your year of birth. The candidate delegate slates and the county delegate slates will be submitted to the Delegate Selection Committee. That committee will work with the lists as proscribed in the procedure. After the Presidential Primary on June 5, the committee will intensify their work, selecting delegations proportionally to the results of the Primary election votes. Because of the date of the primary as compared to the date of the PNC, the committee will need to notify delegates very quickly and you will need to be prepared to make your final decision to accept the positon quickly as well. If you are selecting to go, you will need to register immediately, though you can register now if you so choose. There are specific rules guiding how you will represent California. Another important note: GPCA will not fund your trip as a PNC delegate. You may see if your county will help raise funds for you, and in some instances, candidates have been known to help with your expenses. If you have questions, contact any member of the Delegate Selection Committee: Sanda Everette, San Mateo, sanda at greens.org Peggy Koteen, San Luis Obispo, pkoteen at aol.com Richard Gomez, Fresno, nate136_66 at yahoo.com From j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net Wed Apr 4 08:30:07 2012 From: j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net (Jim Doyle) Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2012 08:30:07 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] [Fwd: Re: Foothill College Greens] Message-ID: <4F7C68FF.10601@sbcglobal.net> -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Carol Brouillet Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] Foothill College Greens Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:32:50 -0700 Size: 3741 URL: From gerrygras at earthlink.net Wed Apr 4 16:05:18 2012 From: gerrygras at earthlink.net (Gerry Gras) Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:05:18 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] JOBS bill? Message-ID: <4F7CD3AE.7080803@earthlink.net> FYI, Jim Hightower has an article critical of the JOBS bill: "Save Wall Street! Congress Passes JO(BS) Act" http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/04/04 Apparently there is some deregulation of Wall Street for some companies. More info at Forbes: "Breaking Down The JOBS Act: Inside The Bill That Would Transform American Business" http://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2012/03/21/jobs-act/2/ The bill is H.R. 3606. The text is at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.3606: The House vote is at: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll110.xml (All local Congresspersons voted for it except for Barbara Lee.) The Senate vote is at: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=2&vote=00055 (Boxer, Feinstein, and Sanders voted against it) No Republican voted against it, although some did not vote. Gerry From snug.bug at hotmail.com Wed Apr 4 16:33:17 2012 From: snug.bug at hotmail.com (Brian Good) Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2012 16:33:17 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] PLEASE JOIN US GOOD FRIDAY AT LOCKHEED MARTIN In-Reply-To: <1333549200.42511.YahooMailRC@web83303.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> References: <1333549200.42511.YahooMailRC@web83303.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Each of the current 14 Ohio class submarines may be armed with 24 Trident missiles. Each of these missiles is capable of carrying 8 W88 warheads. Each of these warheads has about 21 times the explosive power as the weapon dropped on Nagasaki. These weapons have first strike capacity. (Britain has 4 Vanguard-class submarines that also carry Tridents.) Lockheed Martin is the Trident's prime contractor. It also is involved in weapon design through its management of Sandia Labs as well as in arming, through its co-management of Pantex. Lockheed Martin is close to our homes--in nearby Sunnyvale. In 2008, taxpaying families paid an AVERAGE $260 to LM, which is the world's largest arms maker and exporter. Our imaginations can only begin to list constructive ways ithis money could be-- and should have been-- used. PLEASE JOIN US ON GOOD FRIDAY IN A NON-VIOLENT WITNESS AGAINST THIS MILITARY/INDUSTRIAL BEHEMOTH !0:30 at Java and Mathilda in Sunnyvale. There will be a march to this location after gathering at 10:00 at the head of the Ridge Trail adjacent to the pollution control plant parking lot at Caribbean and Borregas. > > Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. > This world in arms in not spending money alone. > It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. > The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. > It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. > It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. > It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. > We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat. > We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. > This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. > This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. President Eisenhower, 1953 _______________________________________________ action_condi mailing list action_condi at lists.stanford.edu https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/action_condi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: ATT00001 URL: From fredlois2 at gmail.com Wed Apr 4 17:10:38 2012 From: fredlois2 at gmail.com (fred Duperrault) Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2012 17:10:38 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fwd: [PEACE] War Isn't Inevitable References: Message-ID: Friends, Here is an article discussiong arguments regarding whether war is an inevitable and legitimate undertaking. In the spirit of peace, justice and open discussion, Fred Duperault Begin forwarded message: > From: "Hank Stone " > Date: April 4, 2012 6:02:19 AM PDT > To: earthplan at lists.riseup.net > Subject: [PEACE] War Isn't Inevitable > > > I came across the excellent (but long) article below. I?ve > summarized it > here: > > When Obama accepted his Nobel Peace Prize, he said ?[W]ar is sometimes > necessary?Let's face it, we're not going to eradicate war in our > lifetimes." > In a new book, The End of War, veteran science journalist John > Horgan argues > he was wrong. > > Between 80 and 90 percent of people say war will never end. We're > always going > to have wars of some kind or other. War is part of human nature. > > Many scientists believe this too, and argue that we humans are > genetically > similar to chimpanzees, and prone to violence. But in hundreds of > years of > observations of chimpanzees, there are almost no cases of attacks by > one group > on another leading to death. Also, we are equally closely related > to bonobos, > who are peaceful. > > Furthermore, war is not ancient. It appeared relatively recently in > the human > record, and then spread rapidly. Sometimes war emerges, but > disappears. > Previously warlike peoples can become peaceful, so war isn?t deeply > engrained > biological behavior. > > Some believe competition for scarce resources explains wars. But > wars can be > fought for any reason, when a charismatic sociopath convinces his > tribe to > attack another. Then the attacked tribe has to either run away of > fight in > self defense. War is insidious. > > War is a self-perpetuating meme. We started war with Iraq based on > the notion > that Iraq might get nuclear weapons and attack us. Now war against > Iran is > proposed for the same reason. So we put Iran in the situation of > needing > nuclear weapons to deter our attack. > > Back before WWI, President Roosevelt and even pacifist William James > believed > war could be good for the character of the nation. This was > bullshit. The two > world wars took a lot of the glamour out of it. > > There was a fierce Amazonian tribe, the Waorani, whose villages > continued to > raid each other. More than 50% of the population died violently. > It was > self-perpetuating, but unsustainable. Trust levels were so low that > they > couldn?t parlay, but missionaries helped them by dropping leaflets > from > planes saying ?Let?s stop this. It?s stupid.? This led to a truce. > > Switzerland and Sweden both gave up having wars years ago. Costa Rica > doesn?t even have an army. Some people think that to end war, you > need > utopia first, but things work the other way. Costa Rica showed that > by getting > rid of war and militarism, they drove out poverty and got freedom and > democracy. > > The military did a study and found out that soldiers tend to be > reluctant to > shoot people in battles. They were horrified, and trained soldiers > differently > to get higher kill rates. But this led to more cases of Post > Traumatic Stress > Disorder, even for people piloting drone airplanes from a place of > safety. > Most people are not natural warriors. > > Machismo doesn?t lead to war, but the other way around; war leads to > the > notion that aggression and toughness are the essence of manhood. > > Atrocities in wartime are usually not committed by bad people (?the > bad > apple? idea). War creates a ?bad barrel? that brings out the worst in > people. War is at least as much about conformity as it is about > aggression and > hostility. > > The military-industrial complex does promote war, but there are much > bigger > companies that have more to gain from peaceful commerce. With the > right > leadership, we could quickly eliminate the military-industrial > complex. > > The world faces, poverty and hunger, climate change, female > inequality, and > more. In terms of leverage, we would be better off focusing on > reducing > militarism, getting rid of nuclear weapons, and creating a more > rational > international policy. That would make a lot of these other things > easier to > address. > > > *********** > > Why War Isn't Inevitable: A Science Writer Studies the Secret to > Peaceful > Societies > By Brad Jacobson, AlterNet > > Posted on March 18, 2012, Printed on April 3, 2012 > > http://www.alternet.org/story/154508/why_war_isn%27t_inevitable%3A_a_science_writer_studies_the_secret_to_peaceful_societies > > When President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, he > expressed a > well-worn notion about warfare: "[W]ar is sometimes necessary, and > war is at > some level an expression of human feelings." Today, as the drumbeats > for war > with Iran once again reach bellicose heights, a timely new book > argues that, > contrary to conventional wisdom, waging war is not an innate part of > human > nature. > > In The End of War, veteran science journalist John Horgan applies the > scientific method to reach a unique conclusion: biologically > speaking, we are > just as likely to be peaceful as we are to be violent. So what keeps > humans > bound by a seemingly never-ending cycle of war? > > In a phone interview with AlterNet from his home in New York's > Hudson Valley -- > situated within earshot of the mortars and howitzers at West Point > Military > Academy's artillery range -- Horgan dispelled multiple myths about > the impetus > for war, the combination of which, he believes, sustains the > institution of war > despite rational thought and an overwhelming human aversion to > killing. A > longtime Scientific American writer and director of the Center for > Science > Writings at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New > Jersey, Horgan > also charts a new course for rejecting the old paradigm of war's > inevitability > and finally releasing mankind from its destructive grip. > > Brad Jacobson: Was there an overriding factor that drove you to > write this > book? > > John Horgan: Yeah, it was my discovery that started right after the > U.S. > invasion of Iraq: the vast majority of people, both American and > people around > the world, believe that war is a permanent part of the human > condition. That > we've always fought wars and we always will. I have surveyed > thousands of > people on this issue now, young and old. I ask people this question: > Do you > think war will ever end? And usually between 80 and 90 percent of > the time > people say, "No, war will never end. We're always going to have wars > of some > kind or other." And when I would ask people why they were so > pessimistic, they > would give me a range of reasons. Often it would be, "War is part of > human > nature." "War is in our genes." Or it would be an environmental > explanation: > war comes from the tendency of humans to overpopulate different > regions, > leading to a competition for resources. > > There have been other surveys of people's attitudes toward war going > back to > the 1980s. I cited those in my book, too. And those found quite a > bit of > pessimism, but not nearly as much as I found over the last seven to > eight > years. > > So I wrote the book basically to rebut this extremely pessimistic > point of > view, which is also held by people at the highest levels of power. I > quote > Barack Obama right at the beginning of my book. At the fucking Nobel > Peace > Prize ceremony, he's giving this incredibly pessimistic and wrong > view of > warfare as dating all the way back to the origin of humanity. And > that leads > him to say, "Let's face it, we're not going to eradicate war in our > lifetimes." > Even if you believe that, I think it's awful for our leader, > especially someone > like Barack Obama, whom I voted for in part because I thought he > would not be a > hawkish president and get us out of these terrible wars we've been > in recently. > Even if he is personally pessimistic, I want vision from him, > especially when > he's accepting the Nobel Peace Prize. How about a vision of a world > without war > instead of saying this is just the way it is and you have to accept > it? > > BJ: Didn't he also receive the Nobel just days after calling for a > troop > buildup in Afghanistan? > > JH: That's right. When he was in Oslo, Norway, where he accepted the > Peace > Prize, this was about nine days after he had announced that he was > sending > 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. > > BJ: You also cite another line from Obama's Nobel acceptance speech, > which you > dispel in your book: "War in one form or another appeared with the > first man." > Why do you think this belief has become such entrenched conventional > wisdom? > > JH: That's a good question. I have been tracking the anthropology of > war > literature since the late 1980s. And since then, this view that war > is really > ancient and innate has become dominant in science. There's a group of > scientists at Harvard, in particular, starting with Edward Wilson, > also Richard > Wrangham, Steven Pinker, Steven LeBlanc. Very influential, very smart, > respected scientists who've been repeatedly putting out this idea > that war, as > Obama said, is at least as old as humans, and might even be older > and go back > millions of years to the common ancestor with chimpanzees. That > theory is now > accepted and has seeped down to the level of the general population. > I hear it > all the time. I see it cited in all sorts of popular books about > human nature, > human psychology, as well as about aggression and warfare. > > And I think that really, as a scientific hypothesis, has a lot to do > with > people's pessimism these days. In addition to a more obvious reason, > which > would be that over the last decade we've had 9/11, followed by two > very serious > wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus the war on terror. So I think > this bad > scientific theory has a lot to do with people's pessimism, which is > why I > devote a chunk of my book to rebutting that. > > BJ: I found it fascinating that you not only show in the book that > humans are > as equally genetically related to chimpanzees as they are to peace- > loving > bonobos, but also you debunk the idea that chimpanzees are > necessarily innately > violent to begin with. > > JH: And not just violent to begin with, which they can be. The claim > is more > specific than that: that chimps in one group band together and raid > chimps from > another group. Usually it's just ambushing one or two. In most > cases, it's just > finding a little baby and ripping it apart. > What I found when I looked at the literature carefully is we're > talking about a > very small number of these incidents over the past few decades. > Depending on > how you count them, just a couple of dozen. And you have literally > hundreds of > years of human observations, if you count individual scientists > watching > individual troupes [of chimpanzees], but which has accumulated just > a handful > of these troupe raids that lead to deaths. Even anthropologist > Richard Wrangham > -- who's sort of the chief proponent of this idea that human warfare > and > chimpanzee warfare are very similar -- says that this is very rare > behavior. > And Jane Goodall has suggested that this behavior might be a > response to > changes in the way that chimps behave as a result of the > encroachment of humans > on their habitat, even as a result, for example, of Goodall herself > putting out > bananas and so forth. > > So, you know, you've got this really dramatic, consequential claim > about human > nature and about war, this great scourge of humanity, based on > really flimsy > evidence. I mean I have great respect for Steve Pinker and Ed Wilson > and even > Richard Wrangham. But they should know better than to be putting out > this > theory as fact when the facts do not support it. > > BJ: If humans are as genetically related to bonobos as we are to > chimpanzees, > why isn't that cited more often in discussions on the human impetus > for war? > > JH: Well, you know, bonobos are getting a lot of press lately. > Peaceniks love > to cite them, especially peaceniks who think that humans are innately > pacifistic and gentle. Actually, I cite the bonobos research to > counter all the > chimp stuff. But really I think all of that is pretty much > irrelevant. We > really should be forgetting about the chimpanzee and bonobos stuff > -- that > might've evolved very recently. The way that chimps or bonobos act > now might > have nothing to do with what was happening millions of years ago > with the > common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans. > > The literature that I think is really significant from this question > about the > origins of war concerns the first appearance of war in the > archeological > record. The point I make in my book is that, in spite of what is > often said > about war being very ancient going back to the beginning of > humanity, as Obama > said, war is quite recent. The oldest evidence for war is 12,000 > years ago and > even that is kind of an outlier. Really all the evidence for war > starts about > 10,000 years ago. And war seems to have emerged independently in > various parts > of the world and then rapidly spread. > > So this is a cultural innovation that happened actually quite late. > It happened > after -- well after -- the invention of complex tools, the invention > of > cooking, after we see evidence for religion, after the emergence of > art and > music. War came after all those things, so in no way is it something > that's an > instinct or really deeply embedded in us. It's a very recent cultural > innovation and it's not something that then became permanent in all > human > societies. > > The fascinating thing about war, too, is that it emerges in some > places and > then it disappears. And some societies that were once extremely > warlike can > become peaceful, at least when it comes to group violence, for very > long > periods after that. Which again, undercuts the whole notion of war > being this > deeply engrained biological behavior. > > BJ: So why does war happen? > > JH: After biology, the next most common explanation is that war > happens because > humans tend to overbreed. We make too many copies of ourselves and > then we > start fighting over stuff -- water, game, land, women have been a > source of > conflict for fighting among men. Now we fight over oil and other > strategic > resources. After biology, this resource competition theory is by far > the most > common explanation of war. And often the two are combined, biology > plus > resource competition. > > The problem is it doesn't stand up to scrutiny. I look at the > evidence for the > resource scarcity argument and there are some wars where there are > clearly some > fights over resources, over oil or land or whatever. But there are > many wars > that aren't. And the fascinating thing about war that a lot of > people fail to > understand is that war can arise for almost an infinite variety of > reasons. > Wars happen because maybe you just got some charismatic sociopath > who convinces > people in his tribe to go and kick the asses of the tribe next door. > And when > that happens, you have this new behavior that emerges that rapidly > spreads. > What does that neighboring tribe do if it's attacked by the one led > by this > sociopath? It either has to run away or it has to fight in self- > defense. That's > what makes war so insidious. > > War really should be seen as a meme, as a self-perpetuating idea or > behavior > that becomes very persistent and deep-rooted once it emerges in a > given region. > And I think you can see the evidence of that over the last decade. > What have > been the motives behind the wars that have happened starting with > 9/11? We > invaded Afghanistan because we were attacked on 9/11. That was a war > of > vengeance. We were trying to get the guys who did it to us. The same > with the > invasion of Iraq. And if you didn't think Iraq was revenge for 9/11, > well, it > was because Saddam Hussein was threatening us. We thought he had > weapons. So > fear of war, in that case, caused us to launch a preemptive attack. > > Now you've got the case of Iran, the drums of war are beating again. > Why is > that? Is it over resource competition? No, not at all. It's because > we think > Iran is going to attack us because they're building nuclear weapons. > And of > course Iran, if it is interested in nuclear weapons, is interested > in them > because they think we're going to attack them or Israel is going to > attack > them. So I think you see clear evidence even right now, if you look > around the > world, as war as something that perpetuates itself apart from any > other causes > or factors. > > BJ: If the acceptance of war's inevitability is largely a meme, an > idea that > self-perpetuates in a culture, how do societies counter that? > > JH: Yeah, Jesus, it's a good question. I think we have already seen > over the > last century a sea-change in popular attitudes toward war. If you go > back > before World War I, you can find a lot of people, prominent > intellectuals and > political leaders, who talked about war as something that was > intrinsically > good. As something that was worth doing for its own sake because it > was good > for the character of a nation. Teddy Roosevelt talked that way. And > so did a > lot of prominent intellectuals. Even [the psychologist] William > James, who was > a pacifist, granted that war can be very stimulating for character > and marshal > virtues that are admirable. All that kind of bullshit. > But the idea that war is just something that's good to do apart from > any other > higher goal of national purpose or so forth has really diminished. > In part > because the gigantic industrial scale of wars that we had with World > War I and > World War II, which really took a lot of the glamour out of war. > > We still glorify the macho virtues of war in some ways. I think the > number-one > movie last week was the one about the Navy Seals who got Osama bin > Laden. But > it's not as deep-rooted as it once was. I feel as though there is so > much > exposure now to the real horrors of war, from the inevitable civilian > casualties and so forth. I think morally overall people are more > prepared to > denounce war once and for all than they were at pretty much at any > other time > in recent human history. > > BJ: Can you describe the implications of the fierce Amazonian tribe, > the > Waorani, on the ability of mankind to turn away from war? > > JH: It was this tribe in Ecuadorian Amazon that was first studied > more than 50 > years ago by anthropologists and had extraordinary high rates of > violence. They > were higher than anything that had ever been measured. More than 50 > percent of > the population died violently, for the most part, in raids of one > village on > another. It had just always been that way. And of course, as I said, > it becomes > self-perpetuating. People in each village would be so fearful of > everybody else > that if you met somebody in the forest, you would immediately need > to run away > or you'd try to kill them. And they were constantly carrying out > preemptive > attacks on each other. > > But they were smart enough to realize that this was crazy. It was > unsustainable. But how do you get out? And these missionaries came > up with an > ingenious idea. They couldn't even have peace parleys because any > people > meeting together from different villages would be worried that the > other guy > would pull out a spear and stab them. And so the missionaries came > up with this > ingenious idea of arranging negotiations by flying a plane over each > other's > camps to first deliver conciliatory messages. By having people from > one village > vowing to the other, "Hey listen, we've got to stop fighting. What > do you say?" > And this gradually led to a truce. And this extremely violent > society became, > not completely non-violent, to be honest, but much less violent. And > especially, these rates of group attacks started diminishing in > frequency. > > It again shows the self-perpetuating nature of war and also the > ability of > people collectively to come together and say -- apart from any other > conditions > of the society like political, demographic, or economic factors -- > "We don't > want to do this anymore so let's stop. It's stupid. " > And of course we've seen examples of this among very sophisticated > modern > states. Switzerland and Sweden both about 200 years ago decided that > war was > stupid and they stopped fighting. They are prepared vigorously to > defend > themselves. They have an army. But they haven't been involved in any > war in > combat. > > One of my favorite examples is Costa Rica, which in the 1940s went > through a > terrible civil war in which the army turned against the people. > After the war > was over, the victors, who were very progressive, especially in > retrospect, > said, "We never want this to happen again. Armies in this country > seem only to > cause trouble. So let's get rid of the standing army and invest > those resources > in education and infrastructure and tourism and so forth." And as > you probably > know, Costa Rica is in the middle of what has been over the last > half century > one of the most violent places in the world. It's right next to > Nicaragua, near > Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador. And while war is raging all around > it and > terrible poverty, Costa Rica has thrived. And according to lots of > so-called > social happiness indexes, it's the happiest place on earth. And > again, it was > just something they decided to do. > > Some people think that for war to end we have to first create a > utopia. We have > to first have complete social justice and economic equality and get > rid of all > poverty, have complete freedom and democracy and so forth. But > actually I think > things work the other way. First, you get rid of war and militarism, > and then a > lot of these other wonderful things can happen in part as a result > of that. And > I think that's what Costa Rica has shown. > > BJ: You also debunk the notion of man as a natural warrior, > exploring the > overwhelming reluctance of soldiers in major wars, including the > Civil War, > World War I and World War II, to fire their guns directly at the > enemy, even > with a clear shot and when ordered by their superiors. It was > definitely > eye-opening to me. > > JH: It was eye-opening to me, too. And I love the fact that the > person who > compiled these data is a guy named Dave Grossman, who is a Special > Forces > colonel and an instructor at West Point. He's a soldier and a real > hard-ass. > And he wrote this book called On Killing, which basically makes the > case and > presents massive data to show that far from being innate warriors > who are just > dying to kill people, the vast majority of men are extremely > reluctant to kill > other people. And this has been a real problem for soldiers in wars > going very > far back, including the Civil War, as you mentioned. There's some > evidence from > the Napoleonic War. There was a big survey done of U.S. combat > veterans in > World War II and it found that lots of guys who were infantrymen -- > these are > kind of the grunts in Word War II -- they were not firing at all or > were firing > away from the enemy. They did not want to kill someone. > > As a result of that the Army was horrified and they completely > revamped their > training to boost the firing rates of combat soldiers. They did > boost the rates > in the Korean War and especially in the Vietnam War. But what > Grossman said is > that as a result there are higher rates of post-traumatic stress > disorder. For > example, in Vietnam, because the soldiers were reacting in horror > often to all > the death they were meting out. > > BJ: Weren't these types of tactics to ensure higher firing rates > still employed > by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan? And aren't they, then, > continuing > to lead to higher rates of PTSD? > > Yeah. And so one of the things that's happened in modern warfare of > course is > that you're not shooting somebody 30 passes away as often anymore. > Firing or > killing has become even more automated. You have bombing. You have > very > long-range artillery and so forth. I mean that was true by WWII as > well. But > it's become even more true today. And of course now you have the > ultimate > remote killing machine, which is the drone. You got a guy sitting in > an office > in Nevada and he's pulling a trigger and blowing away a supposed > terrorist in > Yemen or Pakistan or Iraq. And what's interesting is that there have > been all > these reports that drone operators -- who are so far removed from > actual > bloodshed, and are completely removed from any danger to themselves > -- are also > experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. Which, again, I think > shows that > most people are not natural warriors. It's not something that most > people want > to do. > > > It's true also of the origins of war if you go back many thousands > of years to > right up to the present. There's this wonderful anthropologist Sarah > Blaffer > Hrdy, who has presented evidence about how war, once it emerged in > some of > these very early tribal societies, became such an important part of > culture > that it had a profound impact on male and female roles and identities. > > And it was the emergence of war that led to male macho-ness, the > male embrace > of the kind of warrior identity and how being really tough and > aggressive was > the essence of being a man. It wasn't that males are intrinsically > tough and > aggressive and that's why war happens. It was more that the causality, > according to Hrdy, was the other way around. War emerges and then > the culture > tries to elevate the martial virtues because war then becomes such > an important > part of the culture. > > BJ: You cite Abu Ghraib and the actions of, as former Defense > Secretary Donald > Rumsfeld referred to them, a "few bad apples," the guards who were > involved in > torture and abuse of prisoners and portrayed in the media as natural > born > monsters. But you show how many people, including Rumsfeld, failed > to either > acknowledge or understand that most causal factors of cruelty in > wartime > settings most often stem not from individuals themselves but from > the fact of > being immersed in a wartime setting, surrounded by war's inherent > brutality, > bloodshed, fear and madness. > > JH: So again we've been talking about the degree to which humans are > biologically predisposed to hurt each other. So one of the questions > is: Are > there some people who are just bad apples or sociopathic or sadistic? > > In the case of Abu Ghraib, this was a real question. Were the people > who > committed the abuse at Abu Ghraib just bad people, bad apples? > There's this > wonderful book written by a very prominent psychologist named Philip > Zimbardo > called The Lucifer Effect. He made a very good case that it's not > bad apples > who generally are responsible. There are bad apples out there, but > almost all > war crimes, abuse and atrocities and so forth, are a product of the > environment > of what he called the "bad barrel," of a situation that almost > forces people to > act violently and cruelly toward others. > > Zimbardo did this really dramatic experiment in the 1970s, one of > the most > famous experiments in the history of social psychology, called the > Stanford > Prison Experiment, where he got a bunch of good, clean-cut Stanford > students to > pretend to be guards and prisoners in a fake prison in the basement > of a > Stanford building. And within a couple of days the guards were > acting like > absolute sadistic beasts to the prisoners, who were just other > Stanford > students. These weren't sociopaths. These were kids who were just > playacting in > the beginning but then quickly got into their roles so much that > things really > got of hand. > > I think it's a very persuasive piece of evidence. You know, war is > like the > ultimate bad barrel. Once a war breaks out, then good, humane, > decent people, > in spite of themselves, often end up acting like absolute monsters. > And it's > not something innate. It's not something that's always there in > their genes. > It's something that's brought out by war itself. > > BJ: What is the case for the very small percentage of people who > enjoy killing > or feel no compunction to kill as being the driving force of war > throughout > history? > > JH: Well, this emerged from a study by a couple of psychiatrists > after World > War II of combat veterans. They found that the vast majority of > people after > continuous combat for 60 days basically go crazy. But a very small > percent, > about 2 percent, are having a great time. > > There are some people who would say these natural-born killers or > sociopaths > are responsible for all war. And some of them end up being leaders, > like Stalin > and Hitler. Except that the evidence for that is not really good. > You can't > underestimate the degree to which these people actually do > contribute to > certain wars. Another case, for example, is the Rwanda genocide > [where a small > percentage of people actually carried out the majority of the > killing]. > > But I think that when you look at the totality of war through history, > including wars that are happening right now around the world, that > explanation > doesn't work very well. It's not like all the American soldiers who > are > volunteers now in Iraq and Afghanistan are sociopaths. War is more > about > conformity, or at least as much about conformity as it is about innate > aggression and hostility. > > Modern warfare is so disconnected from the kind of basic male > aggression that > leads to bar fights or hockey fights and that sort of thing. It > really needs to > be explained more by political, social and cultural factors. It's > much more > often that war turns people into sociopaths than sociopaths causing > war. > > BJ: What about the idea that if there were more women running > countries then > that would lead to the end of war? > > JH: It has a lot of appeal and I kind of was favoring that for a > while in the > way that I thought if all nations were democratic, then there would > be no war. > The only problem is that there's so much counter-evidence. The > United States > has remained extraordinarily belligerent and militaristic even as > women's > rights have advanced. We haven't had a female president yet, but > we've had some > very powerful female figures in politics, including Hillary Clinton, > who, as > far as I can tell, is probably more hawkish than Barack Obama > himself. And you > also have somebody like Condoleezza Rice. And there are very > militaristic > female war leaders throughout history. > > BJ: One main criticism of your book is that you give short shrift to > the power > and influence of the military-industrial complex, of weapons > manufacturers and > their lobbyists and friends in government. How do you respond to that? > > JH: Yeah, I think that's a valid objection to my book. The military- > industrial > complex is extremely important. Some people broaden that and say, > "You're not > going to get rid of war as long as you have capitalism because we'll > always > have war profiteering, where people are going to benefit too much > from war for > it to go away." My response to that would be that the great titans of > capitalism right now are companies like Amazon and Google and Apple. > Haliburton > is like loose change in the pocket in one of these companies. It's > tiny. Even > big aerospace companies like Lockheed Martin are tiny compared to > these other > companies that just see the rest of the world not as places to be > conquered > through war but as potential markets. They don't want war. They want > free trade > and commerce. This is the impetus behind globalization. > > Globalization can lead to problems. It can lead to economic > exploitation and so > forth. But capitalism, in general, and I hate to say this -- I'm > like a liberal > socialist myself -- can be a very progressive force, a profoundly > antiwar force > that I think, with courageous political leadership, will make the > problem of > the military-industrial complex go away very rapidly. It's happened > in the > past. It happened after the Civil War. It happened after World World > I. The > problem is that since World War II the military-industrial complex > has become > very powerful and entrenched. But I think with enough collective > will of the > people and some decent political leadership, that's not going to be > a problem. > > BJ: Who is Gene Sharp and how has he influenced your thoughts on war? > > JH: He's one of the great minds and great moral leaders of our time. > He's a > political scientist who started in the 1970s. He's churned out an > enormous > number of papers and books on the power of nonviolent activism to > bring about > extraordinary political change -- toppling dictators, overcoming > injustice > within a society. He's looked not only at the obvious examples of > Gandhi and > Martin Luther King, but at many other examples through history and > compiled all > these techniques that people can use to accomplish pretty much any > political-social goal in their society. Very quietly he has had an > enormous > influence on world affairs. Just recently he's gotten a lot of > attention > because it turns out that activists in Tunisia and Egypt, people who > were part > of the Arab Spring, had adopted some of Sharp's techniques. > > I wish his writings were better known because I think the world > would be a > better place. Obviously there is still a lot of tyranny and > injustice in the > world. But Sharp holds out the hope that that can be overcome > nonviolently and > that the consequences of nonviolent revolution are almost always > much better > than violent revolution. > > BJ: What type of action do you hope your book inspires? > > JH: I mention somewhere in the book and would like this to be > discussed among > progressive activists: What should your priorities be? You know, do > you work on > environmental issues, against global warming? Against poverty and > world hunger? > Do you work on the advancement of women's rights? I mean all those > are worthy > causes. But I actually think that in terms of leverage, of focusing > on one > thing that can then have a cascade of other positive effects, > focusing on > militarism and war should be the priority. Because if we can really > reduce the > militarism of this country, really cut back on our military budget, > get rid of > nuclear weapons and create a more rational international policy, > then I think > that a lot of these other things will be much easier to address. > Environmental > issues, economic injustice issues, female inequality, all those > sorts of > things. > > Brad Jacobson is a Brooklyn-based freelance journalist and > contributing > reporter for AlterNet. Follow him on Twitter @bradpjacobson. > ? 2012 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved. > View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/154508/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jims at greens.org Wed Apr 4 17:29:13 2012 From: jims at greens.org (Jim Stauffer) Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:29:13 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Green Party Logo In-Reply-To: <1333469829.72325.YahooMailClassic@web111108.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> References: <1333469829.72325.YahooMailClassic@web111108.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <4F7CE759.9070503@greens.org> Here's a collection of "leafy-G" logos for print and web: http://files.cagreens.org/it/icons/logo.html On 4/3/2012 9:17 AM, John Thielking wrote: > Hello, > Does anyone on this list have an idea for where I can get a digital copy of > the Green Party logo that could be used on b+w or full color fliers? Do we > even have an official GP logo? Thanks. > Sincerely, > John Thielking > > > > _______________________________________________ > sosfbay-discuss mailing list > sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org > http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss From gerrygras at earthlink.net Wed Apr 4 20:46:27 2012 From: gerrygras at earthlink.net (Gerry Gras) Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:46:27 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] City Resolutions for MTA? Message-ID: <4F7D1593.7080209@earthlink.net> The Santa Clara County Move to Amend: http://scc-mta.org/start/ is starting to work on getting city councils, to pass resolutions in support of amending the constitution re campaign financing and corporate personhood. Anyone interested in helping get his or her city council to pass a resolution, please let me know, and I'll refer you to the right MTA person. Gerry From j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net Fri Apr 6 08:35:21 2012 From: j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net (Jim Doyle) Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:35:21 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Prop 28 and 29 Message-ID: <4F7F0D39.3080700@sbcglobal.net> Hi County Council members and GPCA leaders. Below is an analysis of Propositions 28 and 29 by several active members of the Green Party of Alameda County. Thank you Alameda Greens. We are asking all county councils to discuss and vote yes, no, no position or abstain on these propositions. THE DEADLINE TO SEND US YOUR POSITIONS IS APRIL 30. Thank you to the county councils that have already sent your positions to us: San Diego, Tulare, Alameda and Marin. Please contact us if you have any questions. Best wishes, Marnie Glicmkan, 415.259.7121 Richard Gomez, Fresno County, nate136_66 at yahoo.com *** *Proposition 28 (Changes to term limits) -- Yes (with reservations)* Proposition 28 reduces the number of years persons elected after June 5, 2012 can serve in the Legislature from 14 years to 12 years total in a lifetime. At the same time it increases the number of years persons can serve in either House (Assembly or State Senate) to a maximum of 12 years. Proponents of Proposition 28 include the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, the Congress of California Seniors, the Democratic Party, and Dan Schnur, Chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Opponents include U.S. Term Limits, Parents In Charge, the National Tax imitation Committee, and Americans for Prosperity. The virtue of this proposition is that it is a small change for the better. It is a tacit admission that term limits, which went into effect in November 1990, have been a fiasco for public policy. (The effect of term limits has been strengthening the hand of corporate lobbyists in dealing with a revolving door of legislators.) But we have two reservations. First, this is a very small improvement. It will not undo the damage done by term limits. (We are totally opposed to term limits. Term limits are an assault on the process of democracy, in which the voters decide whom they want to represent them.) Second, this measure does not address the real problems of the Legislature; the lack of responsiveness to the 99% caused by the exclusive dominance by the two corporate parties. As Ralph Nader says, ?We need more voices and choices.? To this end, in the short term, we propose ranked choice voting,as is now used for city council elections in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Leandro. In the longer term, we favor moving to a system of proportional representation, as is now used in most countries in the world, including Japan, Brazil, Venezuela, and in almost all European nations. The Green Party?s position on Proposition 28 should be: ?Yes (with reservations)?. *Proposition 29 (Tobacco tax) -- Either "No position", or "No"* Proposition 29 is largely another example of blaming and punishing the victim. Nicotine is a drug that is addicting. Those who are unfortunate enough to smoke are currently paying 87 cents in excise taxto the state for every pack of cigarettes, accounting for 905 million dollars annually, and by adding one dollar per pack, Prop. 29 would more than double that. The same people who would pay this tax are generally people who are already suffering from the effects of tobacco. It's doubtful we can ever succeed in getting everyone to quit smoking and another tax on cigarettes and all tobacco products will only serve to put more stress and burden on those who smoke -- almost all of whom are part of the 99%. Proposition 29 would create another politically-appointed bureaucratic entity to administer these funds without any real accountability. One of the most chilling things about Proposition 29 is the fact that if this tax goes into effect it has built in immunity to any changes for the next 15 years. While it's probably true (as the proponents argue), that increasing the cost of cigarettes by about 25% would somewhat discourage teenagers from starting o smoke, it should be noted that only a small portion of the funds that are raised would actually go to prevent people from (or help them to stop) smoking. Instead, the bulk of the money will mostly subsidize highly paid researchers. If Prop. 29 were truly serious about helping to prevent smoking, then the bulk of the money would instead have been used for prevention programs. Finally, voters should be aware that the notorious Don Perata (formerly leader of the State Senate) used this ballot measure as one of the main vehicles to raise money to help him (indirectly) with his 2010 campaign for Oakland Mayor. For example, in early 2010, Perata's state initiative campaign fund already had $700,000 in its accounts and it was sharing an office with his Mayor's campaign -- and "the Don" was using some of that initiative money on consultants who were also working on his Mayoral campaign, and on mailers which publicized himself to Oakland voters, as well as on fancy hotels and meals, etc. (See: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/the-cancer-in-the-oakland-mayors-race/Content?oid=1600133. And after Perata lost the Mayor's race to Jean Quan, he then paid his friend, city council member Ignacio DeLaFuente, $12,000 to be a "consultant" on the nitiative campaign, etc.). Of course, Perata calculated that it would be very unlikely that any major group would (sympathetically) defend addicted smokers from a tax increase on tobacco, and that (probably) only tobacco companies would contribute much money to defeat it (which so far is the case), so for the solid majority of voters, the "politically correct" position is going to be to approve this proposition. Which means that this could easily become a "hot potato" for the state Green Party. Therefore, despite all of the reasons cited above for defeating this proposition, "politically", it may well be smarter for the state Green Party to just "stay out of it" -- and have "No position" on Prop. 29. Go ahead. Go Green Party. http://cagreens.nationbuilder.com/ -=-=- Green Party of California ? PO Box 485, San Francisco, CA 94104 This email was sent to j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net. To stop receiving emails, click here . -=-=- Created with NationBuilder , the essential toolkit for leaders. From spencer.graves at prodsyse.com Fri Apr 6 08:54:48 2012 From: spencer.graves at prodsyse.com (Spencer Graves) Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:54:48 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Income taxes? Message-ID: <4F7F11C8.2090208@prodsyse.com> Hello, All: Do any of you have recommendations for income tax software? There is the "Free File Alliance," which "is a group of tax preparation companies that have partnered with the Internal Revenue Service to provide free electronic tax filing services to U.S tax payers meeting certain guidelines. The IRS stipulates filers must have an adjusted gross income of $58,000 or less for tax year 2010, but participating companies have their own requirements and restrictions." (Wikipedia, "Free File Alliance) Four member companies are listed in this Wikipedia article, which are in addition to the 15 listed on the IRS "Free File Alliance" web page (accessible from the Wikipedia article). I will NOT use TurboTax, in part because its owner, Intuit, "spent more than $1.7 million in an attempt to kill ReadyReturn. The California legislature allowed the ReadyReturn program to expire." (Bribery pays.) Fortunately, the Franchise Tax Board "revived it for the 2007 tax year, expanding it to cover one million Californians." (Wikipedia, "ReadyReturn"; "Republic, Lost") I've used and liked the H & R Block software, in part because they promise to provide an "enrolled agent" for free to advise you if you get audited on a return prepared with their software. However, I was unable to get it to work this year, in spite of multiple calls to their tech support and trying it on two different computers. Suggestions? Thanks, Spencer -- Spencer Graves, PE, PhD President and Chief Technology Officer Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc. 751 Emerson Ct. San Jos?, CA 95126 ph: 408-655-4567 web:www.structuremonitoring.com From snug.bug at hotmail.com Fri Apr 6 11:26:53 2012 From: snug.bug at hotmail.com (Brian Good) Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2012 11:26:53 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Mercury 'Reporting' Message-ID: I rarely bother with the Mercury though it's delivered every day, and its performance this week with headlines milking the Oakland Shootings for every teardrop reminds me why. That's a "Dog Bites Man", story, hardly news--and it's emotional pornography, serving only a sick appetite for safe vicarious grief. It's too bad our reporters don't have the guts to interview the victims of Obama's war crimes so his enablers can recognize some of the pain for which they are responsible. The lead story today--about deliberate efforts to inflict injuries in pro football--is news, but its presentation is hardly journalistic. I can't remember ever before \ seeing a news article loaded with rhetorical questions: "Is football not a form of hand-to-hand combat? Does it not purposefully test toughness and push the limits of pain? Are actual body parts not sacrificed or compromised?" When I was coming up, I was taught that editorials on the front page are the sure sign of a propaganda rag. The Mercury was once a fairly respectable newspaper. Times sure have changed. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gerrygras at earthlink.net Sat Apr 7 14:20:51 2012 From: gerrygras at earthlink.net (Gerry Gras) Date: Sat, 07 Apr 2012 14:20:51 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Psychiatrist moves to New Zealand In-Reply-To: <4F80AF52.9060003@earthlink.net> References: <4F80AF52.9060003@earthlink.net> Message-ID: <4F80AFB3.2070600@earthlink.net> A psychiatrist moves from Maryland to New Zealand due to the insanity of the current system in the U.S.. "Single Payer Doctor Carol Paris Packs It Up" http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/07-1 Gerry From tnharter at aceweb.com Sat Apr 7 15:44:56 2012 From: tnharter at aceweb.com (Tian Harter) Date: Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:44:56 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Carol Brouillet for Congress Party 7 PM tomorrow (Sunday)! Message-ID: <4F80C368.4040307@aceweb.com> Carol Brouillet is running for Congress to advance the causes we care about ? human needs foremost, accountability for abuses of power, transparency in the democratic process, and a well-protected environment. And to be successful we need and welcome your help. You are invited to her organizing party for volunteers, supporters and friends, this Sunday, April 8, 2012 from 7 to 10 pm at the clubhouse at 505 Cypress Drive in Mountain View. To unseat the corporate-cozy status quo, we?ll need dedicated volunteers, so your time, skills and enthusiasm will be greatly appreciated. From canvassing and phoning to press and community relations, from data entry to event coordinating and much more, we?ll need your participation. Meet Carol and a great group of other wonderful people at the party . . . and plan to pick-up campaign materials for your neighborhood and community of friends. Although we would love to see you in person, if you can?t attend, but would like to help, please contact our campaign manager as soon as possible at: jules.c.brouillet at gmail.com or call 650-308-4396 The June 5th primary election is just weeks away! With the new California election law in effect, Carol needs to place first or second to reach the general election in November. Voters from any party can vote for Carol in the primary. Our combined efforts and resources are essential. We would be very grateful for whatever time you could give us or for any support (including putting up a yard sign or housing volunteers). See our website- http://www.carol4congress.org/ . Occupy Congress with heart and integrity! Directions: Turn off Moffett onto Cypress Point Drive. The clubhouse (just past the 3rd driveway on the right) has a big ?505 Cypress? sign. -- Tian http://tian.greens.org Latest add: PBP Two Cities Ride. Light showers exist. The small leaded glass pyramid is on a partners for clean air fob. From WB4D23 at aol.com Sun Apr 8 18:15:02 2012 From: WB4D23 at aol.com (WB4D23 at aol.com) Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2012 21:15:02 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Need to Schedule Plenary Agenda Review Meeting -- April 22nd or? Message-ID: <22b6e.3c2ee58d.3cb39216@aol.com> April 8, 2012 Folks! At our last GPSCC general meeting, Merriam, Tian and Warner volunteered and were affirmed to be GPSCC delegates at the upcoming Plenary (May 12-13th in San Francisco). Our County GP can have up to four delegates, and 1 or 2 alternates could also be beneficial... We usually have an agenda review meeting, open to GPSCC members even if you don't plan to intend the state meeting (e.g., because you will be tabling at the Berryessa Arts & Wine Festival that Saturday). We usually meet at my house, sometimes on a Sunday afternoon and sometimes on a Saturday afternoon, to review the agenda so as to be able to present a condensed report at the GPSCC meeting preceding the Plenary so there can be decisions made about instrtuctions to the delegates if there are any significant controversies. I suggest 2-4 pm on Sunday April 22nd at my house in the Japantown neighborhood of San Jose. I am open to other suggestions as to time, place and date (but it needs to be before our GPSCC meeting on April 26th). Warner In a message dated 3/31/2012 7:06:58 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net writes: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Getting ready for the May 12-13 General Assembly in San Francisco The approved draft agenda is online at http://www.cagreens.org/ga/2012-05 . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tnharter at aceweb.com Mon Apr 9 01:45:40 2012 From: tnharter at aceweb.com (Tian Harter) Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2012 01:45:40 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Creative input needed Message-ID: <4F82A1B4.8090203@aceweb.com> Carol Brouillet has decided to do a greenback for the Green Party. At this point there is still a lot of room for improvements. You can see the current state of the project by looking at this page: http://tian.greens.org/GreenParty/CarolBrouillet/GreenPartyBill.1.0.html Please reply to this with suggestions on how to make it better! -- Tian http://tian.greens.org Latest change: Bill McKibben said CO2 in our air is up to 392 PPM. The small leaded glass pyramid is on an Iowa quarter. From spencer.graves at prodsyse.com Mon Apr 9 02:11:23 2012 From: spencer.graves at prodsyse.com (Spencer Graves) Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2012 02:11:23 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fwd: [occupy-san-jose] Gloria Takla's House to be Sold Today!! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4F82A7BB.6050209@prodsyse.com> Gloria Takla was suckered into a negative amortization loan, and has been trying to negotiate reductions in payments and principle since (I think) 2010. She learned Easter Sunday that her home was scheduled to be sold at auction Monday noon, after being told last Wednesday she could get a "trial loan modification"; see below. Spencer -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [occupy-san-jose] Gloria Takla's House to be Sold Today!! Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2012 00:56:44 -0700 From: iq4rent Reply-To: occupy-san-jose at googlegroups.com To: , , Please come continue the fight to save Gloria Takla's house today!! 11:30 Marshall and Webster side *FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE* *Chase Bank Lays Rotten Easter Egg, Occupiers Hopping Mad* * * APRIL 9, 11:30 AM, MONDAY San Mateo County Courthouse, Marshall St and Winslow Ave /Redwood City -/ Occupy Redwood City (ORWC), Occupy San Jose (OSJ), members of local Occupy groups, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), People Acting in Community Together (PACT), and other concerned members of the 99% will converge on the San Mateo County Courthouse once again to stop the sale of Gloria Takla's home. After months of repeated direct action against Chase Bank by ACCE, ORWC, OSJ, other community groups, and other concerned members of the 99%, JPMorgan Chase offered Gloria Takla a trial loan modification last month. This modification would make her monthly payments affordable. Chase officials told Gloria as recently as Wednesday that if she makes payments for the months of May, June, and July, there is no reason why she wouldn't receive a permanent modification. We can only imagine Gloria's genuine shock and fear when she was about to sit down for Easter dinner this evening and was told that her home was still up for auction the next day. Occupiers, ACCE, PACT, and other members of the community are outraged at this turn of events and are prepared to converge on the San Mateo County courthouse on Monday to stop the sale of Gloria's home. Ms. Takla is a retired widow whose Redwood City home was originally set to be foreclosed on December 14, 2011. Due to the repeated direct action of Occupiers and others at Chase branches in Redwood City and San Jose, Gloria is still in her home and in a position to make permanent her trial loan modification. Yet because of the shockingly poor nature of our current foreclosure laws and homeowner protections, her home is under threat once more due to what may maybe nothing more than a lack of attention or communication within Chase itself. Gloria's situation illustrates why ORWC made the effort at a recent General Assembly to join OSJ in endorsing ACCE's 2012 slate of legislative priorities in California, including SB 708 and AB 1602/SB 1470: AB 1602/SB 1470 would stop the process of "dual tracking" Gloria is currently experiencing. Together these laws would prohibit the recording of a notice of default or notice of sale when a timely-filed application for a loan modification or other loss mitigation measure is pending. They would also enshrine several other protections for homeowners, including the requirement that creditors provide documentation to borrowers that establishes the creditor?s right to foreclose on real property prior to recording a notice of default and to provide documentary evidence of ownership, the chain of title to real property, and the right to foreclose, at the time of the filing of a notice of default. SB 708 would extend SB 1137 from 2013 to 2018, giving us five more years of protections for homeowners. The bill requires lenders to contact property owners to attempt to avoid foreclosure, provides tenants additional time to move from a foreclosed property, and mandates maintenance of foreclosed properties to diminish the impact on the value of neighboring homes. Paige Scott of ORWC expressed her disgust at the situation Gloria has been placed in by the banks: "This is a lady who has for the last month been operating under the impression the bank gave her that her home was safe for now. To have this surprise foisted on her when she was sitting down to enjoy her holiday dinner with her family and friends is just cruel. And it really shows why we need laws like the ones ACCE, ORWC, and OSJ are supporting and how poor the current system is in supporting members of the 99%." Roger Brina of ORWC added: "It says a lot about the unchecked power of the banks and the threat that homeowners like Gloria are under everyday that we don't have basic protections likes these already." While ORWC is outraged that Gloria's home is once again under attack, they are proud to join once more with their allies at the County courthouse to demand that Chase give Gloria the clarity and peace of mind she deserves. We demand for Gloria nothing less than an affordable loan modification that will include fair interest rates and principal reduction at the end of her trial period. /*** ORWC continues to rally every Friday at 5 PM in Courthouse Square, with General Assemblies starting at 6 PM. At their most recent General Assembly, the group passed a proposal to endorse the San Mateo County Community College District's move toward district elections and away from at-large elections, and also passed a proposal to organize a May Day student walkout in Redwood City in solidarity with the labor movement and the General Strike called for that day./ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cbrouillet at igc.org Mon Apr 9 12:23:42 2012 From: cbrouillet at igc.org (Carol Brouillet) Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:23:42 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Progress on Green Party Dollar - More Creative input needed In-Reply-To: <4F82A1B4.8090203@aceweb.com> References: <4F82A1B4.8090203@aceweb.com> Message-ID: I'd love more ideas/websites for the new Green Party Dollar... Also the artist has not yet incorporated the suggestions that I've passed on to him, yet... this is still in progress. We also made a new version of the Perception Dollar- with a lot more color and you can view that art at- http://www.communitycurrency.org/perception.html (Scroll down beneath the old version) Let me know whether you prefer the Mark Hansen painting or the waterfall- the one with more color or the one more like actual money. I'm also willing to print or donate up to 100,000 to the Green Party- but only if there is some demand /enthusiasm for them - so far only the San Fernando Valley Greens, Santa Clara Greens and Alameda have expressed interest in them.) Carol Brouillet cbrouillet at igc.org At 01:45 AM 4/9/2012, Tian Harter wrote: >Carol Brouillet has decided to do a greenback for the Green Party. >At this point there is still a lot of room for improvements. >You can see the current state of the project by looking at this page: > >http://tian.greens.org/GreenParty/CarolBrouillet/GreenPartyBill.1.0.html > >Please reply to this with suggestions on how to make it better! >-- >Tian >http://tian.greens.org >Latest change: Bill McKibben said CO2 in our air is up to 392 PPM. >The small leaded glass pyramid is on an Iowa quarter. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From snug.bug at hotmail.com Tue Apr 10 11:37:54 2012 From: snug.bug at hotmail.com (Brian Good) Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:37:54 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] FW: [Occupy PA] Fwd: [Occupy Stanford GA] Protest the CIA with Ray McGovern Wednesday 11:15 @ CDC Office In-Reply-To: References: <1992350982.69842705.1333830727654.JavaMail.root@zm09.stanford.edu>, <761852819.69845006.1333830915060.JavaMail.root@zm09.stanford.edu>, , Message-ID: Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2012 22:00:26 -0700 Subject: [Occupy PA] Fwd: [Occupy Stanford GA] Protest the CIA with Ray McGovern Wednesday 11:15 @ CDC Office From: donni.wang at gmail.com To: occupypaloalto at googlegroups.com ***PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY*** The Career Development Center is hosting a CIA recruitment info session at 12 PM in the CDC office on Wednesday April 11th. The CIA has violated international law, violated the sovereignty of other nations, committed gross crimes against humanity and human rights violations, and killed US citizens. We must end CIA recruitment on campus. The CDC and the university should not encourage students to work for an organization that commits such heinous acts. Take a stand on Wednesday and say NO to CIA recruitment! Meet at 11:15 outside the Career Development Center. This is on Campus Drive East near the Law School, next to the Haas Center. Pay Parking available in the big garage under the athletic field, just toward the Bay. The Marguerite Bus runs right past it (lines X, Y). Catch the X bus at University Ave Caltrain at 11:25 Catch the Y bus at University Ave Caltrain at 11:26 Endorsing Student Groups: Stanford Says No to WarStudents for Palestinian Equal Rights Stanford Labor Action Coalition Here is some more info on CIA operations: "Killing Hope" William Blum "White Out" Alexander Cockburn "Legacy of Ashes" Time Weiner "Dark Alliance" Gary Webb http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/CIAtimeline.html http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=36881 http://wlcentral.org/category/action-campaign/crimes-against-humanity http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/CIA/CIA_ThirdWorld.html http://www.serendipity.li/cia.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-giraldi/cia-torture-and-other-war_b_78276.html -- Please note that all messages are in the public domain. Select "Reply to All" in your mail program if everyone should see your reply. To send a new message to the list, send an email to: occupystanfordga at googlegroups.com For older messages, list members and personal configuration, visit this group at: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/occupystanfordga You can always reduce the number of emails you receive by changing your setting to digest form in "Edit my membership." http://www.occupystanford.net | http://www.facebook.com/occupystanford | http://twitter.com/occupystanford http://www.facebook.com/OccupyStanford#!/pages/Occupy-Stanford/149259975170566 To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an email to occupystanfordga+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com -- The Forgotten History of Stanford Sayings I like -- This mailing list is for announcements of events and meetings. Please use OccupyPaloAltoGA at googlegroups.com for information and discussion. Please note that all messages are viewable by the whole world. Select "Reply to All" in your mail program if everyone should see your reply. To send a new message to the list, send an email to: OccupyPaloAlto at googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an email to: OccupyPaloAlto+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com For older messages, list members and personal configuration, visit this group at: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/OccupyPaloAlto -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net Tue Apr 10 16:37:44 2012 From: j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net (Jim Doyle) Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:37:44 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] green party dollar Message-ID: <4F84C448.2060508@sbcglobal.net> I suggest moving the Carol4congress.org up a notch so that it is readable aainst a light background. Also, move the globalgreens.org down a notch to get it on a lighter background for easier readability. From azuresea4me at gmail.com Tue Apr 10 11:31:13 2012 From: azuresea4me at gmail.com (azure sea4me) Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:31:13 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Movie: "Bag It" 4/11 Message-ID: InFor Movie Night presents "Bag It" Wednesday, April 11 2012 @ 07:00 PM Bluelight Cinema in the Cupertino Oaks Cupertino 21275 Stevens Creek Blvd. Cupertino Award-winning film Bag It, a touching and often funny documentary about how we use and abuse plastic. Admission only $5 / Students get in free. This event is sponsored by InFor Movie Night (Phil Pflager) Event URL: http://www.bagitmovie.com -- Lori Feed more people using fewer resources and take a bite out of global warming - www.awfw.org From snug.bug at hotmail.com Wed Apr 11 09:47:54 2012 From: snug.bug at hotmail.com (Brian Good) Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:47:54 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] FW: FW: [Occupy PA] Fwd: [Occupy Stanford GA] Protest the CIA with Ray McGovern Wednesday 11:15 @ CDC Office In-Reply-To: References: <1992350982.69842705.1333830727654.JavaMail.root@zm09.stanford.edu>, , <761852819.69845006.1333830915060.JavaMail.root@zm09.stanford.edu>, , , , , Message-ID: I mangled the bus schedule below, multitasking. Catch the Y bus at University Ave. Caltrain at 11:06 to get to the demo at 11:15 ***PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY*** The Career Development Center is hosting a CIA recruitment info session at 12 PM in the CDC office on Wednesday April 11th. The CIA has violated international law, violated the sovereignty of other nations, committed gross crimes against humanity and human rights violations, and killed US citizens. We must end CIA recruitment on campus. The CDC and the university should not encourage students to work for an organization that commits such heinous acts. Take a stand on Wednesday and say NO to CIA recruitment! Meet at 11:15 outside the Career Development Center. This is on Campus Drive East near the Law School, next to the Haas Center. Pay Parking available in the big garage under the athletic field, just toward the Bay. The Marguerite Bus runs right past it (lines X, Y). Catch the X bus at University Ave Caltrain at 11:25 Catch the Y bus at University Ave Caltrain at 11:26 Endorsing Student Groups: Stanford Says No to WarStudents for Palestinian Equal Rights Stanford Labor Action Coalition Here is some more info on CIA operations: "Killing Hope" William Blum "White Out" Alexander Cockburn "Legacy of Ashes" Time Weiner "Dark Alliance" Gary Webb http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/CIAtimeline.html http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=36881 http://wlcentral.org/category/action-campaign/crimes-against-humanity http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/CIA/CIA_ThirdWorld.html http://www.serendipity.li/cia.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-giraldi/cia-torture-and-other-war_b_78276.html -- Please note that all messages are in the public domain. Select "Reply to All" in your mail program if everyone should see your reply. To send a new message to the list, send an email to: occupystanfordga at googlegroups.com For older messages, list members and personal configuration, visit this group at: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/occupystanfordga You can always reduce the number of emails you receive by changing your setting to digest form in "Edit my membership." http://www.occupystanford.net | http://www.facebook.com/occupystanford | http://twitter.com/occupystanford http://www.facebook.com/OccupyStanford#!/pages/Occupy-Stanford/149259975170566 To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an email to occupystanfordga+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com -- The Forgotten History of Stanford Sayings I like -- This mailing list is for announcements of events and meetings. Please use OccupyPaloAltoGA at googlegroups.com for information and discussion. Please note that all messages are viewable by the whole world. Select "Reply to All" in your mail program if everyone should see your reply. To send a new message to the list, send an email to: OccupyPaloAlto at googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an email to: OccupyPaloAlto+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com For older messages, list members and personal configuration, visit this group at: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/OccupyPaloAlto _______________________________________________ sosfbay-discuss mailing list sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: ATT00001 URL: From gerrygras at earthlink.net Sat Apr 14 18:02:43 2012 From: gerrygras at earthlink.net (Gerry Gras) Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2012 18:02:43 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Citizens Climate Lobby Message-ID: <4F8A1E33.4000500@earthlink.net> Recently I heard about the Citizens Climate Lobby, http://citizensclimatelobby.org/ from Wes. And I attended one of its meetings in San Jose on Tuesday. Their purpose is essentially to do a grassroots campaign to fight against climate change. They are willing to have someone come to one of our meetings to discuss what they do. Can we give them 15 minutes at our next meeting, April 26th? I think it would be very worthwhile for us to hear from them. Gerry From gerrygras at earthlink.net Sat Apr 14 18:15:44 2012 From: gerrygras at earthlink.net (Gerry Gras) Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2012 18:15:44 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] "Titanic Parties are Drowning Our Future" Message-ID: <4F8A2140.2090103@earthlink.net> FYI, Article by Greg Jan and Laura Wells: "Titanic Political Parties are Drowning Our Future" http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/04/14/18711347.php Essentially the country (and the world) are heading for disaster if the two major parties continue to dominate as they do now. Gerry From snug.bug at hotmail.com Sun Apr 15 11:25:07 2012 From: snug.bug at hotmail.com (Brian Good) Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2012 11:25:07 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Occupy the Election: Discussion w/Green Gayle McLaughlin, Justice Party Presidential Candidate Rocky Anderson, Greens, Peace and Freedom, Independents In-Reply-To: <50002474.1334511580782.JavaMail.nobody@james3.pvt.meetup.com> References: <50002474.1334511580782.JavaMail.nobody@james3.pvt.meetup.com> Message-ID: From: cynthia_papermaster Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2012 13:39:41 -0400 Friends of Peace and Justice, Tonight Gayle McLaughlin, Green Party Mayor of Richmond, Rocky Anderson, Justice Party nominee for President of the United States, Peace and Freedom Party members, independents and hopefully YOU will gather at the Humanist Hall, 390 27th Street (between Broadway and Telegraph), 6-9 p.m. We need to UNITE in 2012 to win our government away from the one-party stranglehold and partisan gridlock we have in Washington, D.C. The corporate-Wall St.-military contractor-owned Congress and White House are literally killing us and the planet. There IS an alternative. If we UNITE we can win and govern. Believe it! There are more of us-- independents, third-party members, non-voters, and new voters-- then there are of them: Democrats and Republicans. Below is the program for the Humanist Hall event. It's dinner, music and talk-- and good company. Hope to see you later. Cynthia Papermaster, 510-333-6097 Justice for the USA ? Let's elect independent voices in 2012! You?re cordially invited to meet Rocky Anderson, Mayor of Richmond Gayle McLaughlin, and people from the Green, Peace and Freedom and Justice Parties tonight at the Humanist Hall in Oakland. Rocky is a viable, independent, progressive, anti-war and anti-corporate candidate with a terrific track record as former two-term Mayor of Salt Lake City. He?s a lifelong activist for economic, environmental & social justice. Ralph Nader just announced his support for Rocky's candidacy. Gayle McLaughlin ran and won as a Green Party candidate for Mayor of Richmond and has done a fantastic job for the citizens and the environment. Want to end the corporate-military-fossil fuel industry-controlled one-party Republicrat monopoly so we can have policies that serve human needs instead of corporate greed? Come, meet, discuss, enjoy a delicious dinner and prepare to be energized. Rocky's platform, articles, interviews-- on Democracy Now, Rachel Maddow, Ratigan, Young Turks, Cindy Sheehan @ www.voterocky.org Sunday, April 15, 6:00- 8:30 pm, Oakland Justice for the USA - Occupy the 2012 Election Humanist Hall, 390 27th Street, Oakland, CA 94612 (between Telegraph & Broadway) Special guest: Gayle McLaughlin, Mayor of Richmond 6:00 pm, Dinner - Delicious Locally Sourced Organic Vegetarian Dinner 6:30 pm, Music ? Vic Sadot, famed ?Broadside Balladeer? 7:00 pm, Program Plenty of Free Parking in the Neighborhood RSVP for Free Childcare: 510-333-6097 Humanist Hall: 510-451-5818 Hosted by California Justice Party, Cynthia Papermaster, 510-333-6097 cynthiap.justice at yahoo.com -- Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message will be sent to everyone on this mailing list (impeachbush-404 at meetup.com) This message was sent by Cynthia Papermaster (cynthia_papermaster at yahoo.com) from Silicon Valley Impeachment Coalition. To learn more about Cynthia Papermaster, visit his/her member profile Set my mailing list to email me As they are sent | In one daily email | Don't send me mailing list messages Meetup, PO Box 4668 #37895 New York, New York 10163-4668 | support at meetup.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From wrolley at charter.net Mon Apr 16 09:45:31 2012 From: wrolley at charter.net (Wes Rolley) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:45:31 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Earth Day Message-ID: <4F8C4CAB.7060207@charter.net> This is the week of Earth Day. I would like everyone to go to Climate Progress and read the following post. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/04/15/462803/caldeira-only-ethical-path-is-to-stop-using-the-atmosphere-as-a-waste-dump-for-greenhouse-gas-pollution/ When one commenter (#4) said "by these same arguments car use is immoral" climatologist Ken Caldeir responded: "Yes, that is what I am saying. We can make driving become an ethical activity by electrifying cars and then decarbonizing our electricity generation system." What is our Earth Day message? From j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net Mon Apr 16 21:06:31 2012 From: j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net (Jim Doyle) Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:06:31 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] erth day 4-22 at full circle farm Message-ID: <4F8CEC47.2010806@sbcglobal.net> Hello all! Can you believe Full Circle Farm's Earth Day Event 2012 is THIS SUNDAY! We are very excited for this day to come, and hoping the weather will hold out for us. This is just a review of everything you will need to prepare for the day of. Basic information: Address: *1055 Dunford Way, Sunnyvale, CA 94087 * Event Time: *11am-4pm* *Please read the attached document* for instructions about set-up and check-ins, especially our no-car zone. We will have a lot of movement throughout the whole day, so it is imperative that you check-in and know where your booth is. *Please also to remember to bring*: * tables (unless requested) * chairs (unless requested) * canopies/pop-up tents (unless requested) * lunch and snacks * refillable water bottle (there will be water stations around the farm) This year we are also taking efforts to be a zero-waste event, so please be mindful of your lunch and take out whatever you brought in. With that said, we are really excited that you are taking part in the event! Definitely find some time to walk around, explore the event, and check out the farm. We will have food vendors, children's activities, green vehicle show, potable water, and restrooms on site. We encourage you to take part in our Earth Day Fair Contests: Prettiest Chicken, Best Farm Photo, and Pit-Spitting contest. Entry forms and guidelines can be found at: http :// www . fullcirclesunnyvale . org / earth - day -11/ contests / . Also attached to this email Earth Day Fair Flyers. Please feel free to distribute and post in your areas! This day is also being advertised by some big names like Radio Disney, KNTV, KBAY/KEZR, and Xfinity Cable Channel. * * I will be your contact person on the day of the event. You can reach me, Denise, at: (925) 262-3967 . *Please come to the main entrance, I will be giving you your booth space #, and the program details. * I am looking forward to the event and hope you are, too. We?ll see you on the morning of Sunday April 22nd! Best, Denise *____________________________________________* Denise Rosidi *FULL CIRCLE FARM *1055 Dunford Way Sunnyvale CA 94087 ph: (408) 394-1464 Visit us at fullcirclesunnyvale.org ! *Full Circle Farm _EARTH DAY FAIR 2012 Event Day Instructions for Booths _**Sunday, April 22, 2012**__* ? The event runs from *11 a.m. - 4 p.m.** * ? *9 ? 10 a.m.* - *Check-in at front gate* o Get booth space # o Pick up event program and map ? *9 ? 10:45 a.m.* - *Set-up booth* o *10 a.m.** - Start of NO CAR ZONE, all cars must be off the Farm * o If you need a cart to help transport materials for booth, you may drive onto the premises BEFORE 10 a.m. Please unload all materials and drive out, before setting up. Only drive-in if necessary. o Otherwise, there will be a few volunteers with carts to assist in carrying your things in o Please be finished with set-up at 10:45a.m. o Note: if you rented a canopy, table and chairs from us, all will be set up when you arrive. ? You may park anywhere on the street near the farm (1055 Dunford Ave), or at the Peterson Middle School parking lot (1380 Rosalia Ave) ? *4 p.m.* ? You may begin breaking down your booth. Please do not clean up before unless approved by Event Staff. ? *4:30 p.m.* ? You may drive vehicle onto the premises, if necessary o There will be volunteers with carts to assist in carrying your things out * If you need help or have questions, speak to someone in a bright EVENT STAFF t-shirt.* From gerrygras at earthlink.net Tue Apr 17 11:40:45 2012 From: gerrygras at earthlink.net (Gerry Gras) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:40:45 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] County Council Message-ID: <4F8DB92D.9020109@earthlink.net> Who's on the current county council? Do we have candidates for the county council for the next election? Gerry From gerrygras at earthlink.net Tue Apr 17 11:47:00 2012 From: gerrygras at earthlink.net (Gerry Gras) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:47:00 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Wealth & Compassion Message-ID: <4F8DBAA4.7010208@earthlink.net> "How Wealth Reduces Compassion" "As riches grow, empathy for others seems to decline" http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-wealth-reduces-compassion Gerry From wrolley at charter.net Tue Apr 17 13:56:55 2012 From: wrolley at charter.net (Wes Rolley) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:56:55 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fwd: Meet the co-author of Cooler Smarter in San Jose In-Reply-To: <2757121.1334692822824.JavaMail.www@app309> References: <2757121.1334692822824.JavaMail.www@app309> Message-ID: <4F8DD917.9080009@charter.net> Event Invitation Meet the Co-Author of /Cooler Smarter /in San Jose The Union of Concerned Scientists invites you to meet the co-author of our new book, /Cooler Smarter: Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living/, which challenges you to lower your global warming emissions by 20 percent this year---and gives you all the information you need to succeed. From how you heat your home, to how you get around, to what you eat and buy---/Cooler Smarter /shows how to combat global warming in your daily life. Come join UCS next week for our book launch in San Jose and meet: * David Friedman, co-author, /Cooler Smarter: Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living/, and deputy director, Clean Vehicles Program, Union of Concerned Scientists *When:* Sunday, April 22, 2:00 p.m. *Where: *The Tech Museum , 201 South Market Street, San Jose, CA 95113 There's a $10 admission fee for this event, $5 for Tech Museum members. *About /Cooler Smarter/* Based on two years of research and analysis, /Cooler Smarter: Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living/ (May 2012, Island Press) shows you the most effective strategies for reducing your global warming emissions, and how to take action at work, in your community, and politically. And /Cooler Smarter/ helps you "sweat the right stuff"---the smartest choices you can make for the climate---with answers to dozens of questions about your carbon emissions, such as: * Do books or e-readers cause more emissions? * Is it worth washing clothes in cold water? * Is buying organic cotton really a better option for the climate? Visit our website to learn more about our new book and the /Cooler Smarter /interactive web tool . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rainbeaufriend at yahoo.com Tue Apr 17 14:32:18 2012 From: rainbeaufriend at yahoo.com (Drew) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:32:18 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Sharat Lin talk: Nonviolence in the Egyptian Revolution: Sat. Apr 28th 2-4pm Message-ID: <1334698338.11105.YahooMailNeo@web124506.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Last year Dr. Lin gave an excellent talk on his personal observation of the Arab Spring events in Egypt.? He just visited again and has an update report. Please circulate this invitation widely. Nonviolence in the Egyptian Revolution ? The popular uprising in Egypt has unleashed a revolutionary process in which the military, business elites, workers, secular youth, and advocates of political Islam have stakes. The roots of the uprising provide critical clues to prospects for democratic reforms, economic changes and the struggles that lie ahead. Does the Egyptian experience provide new role models for nonviolent protest, "leaderless" movements, and new media? ? Dr. Sharat G. Lin is president of the San Jose Peace and Justice Center. He writes on global political economy, the Middle East, labor migration, and public health, and has lived for many years in the Arab Middle East, and most recently has witnessed the Egyptian Revolution before, during, and after the initial uprising. ? Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 2:00 pm ? New Community of Faith6350 Rainbow Drive San Jose, CA 95129 (between Bollinger and Prospect, and just off of Miller on Rainbow) ? Open to the Public: Suggested donation $5 (no one turned away) Wheelchair accessible For information: 408-253-1408?? http://www.new communityoffaith.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From snug.bug at hotmail.com Tue Apr 17 19:29:37 2012 From: snug.bug at hotmail.com (Brian Good) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:29:37 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Tax Day Demo At Lockheed Message-ID: I am reliably informed that a small demo took place today, Tax Day, outside Lockheed Martin facilities in Palo Alto that at one point involved 3 Lockheed security officers in separate vehicles, 3 Palo Alto police cars in separate vehicles, and one protester with a bicycle and a sign that said LOCKHEED WELFARE QUEENS ROB our SCHOOLS Reportedly Lockheed Security demanded the protester's camera and the police requested the camera, but the protester stood on the principle that surrender of 4th Amendment rights in the name of friendly compromise is poor precedent. Lockheed Martin gets $40 billion a year in federal contracts--10X the annual budget of Stanford, and more than what Canada and Australia spend on defense put together. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From omni at mcn.org Wed Apr 18 19:28:20 2012 From: omni at mcn.org (BC Macdonald) Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:28:20 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Being Green: Presidential hopeful Jill Stein Message-ID: In Grist early this week.... Bernie Macdonald Being Green: Presidential hopeful Jill Stein aims to rebuild a broken system The Green Party's front-runner says she wants to get corporations out of politics, create universal health care and free higher education, and rebuild the American economy. Don't even get her started on Ralph Nader. Read more. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: jill-stein.jpg?w=182&h=130&crop=1 Type: application/octet-stream Size: 4070 bytes Desc: not available URL: From tnharter at aceweb.com Thu Apr 19 13:19:19 2012 From: tnharter at aceweb.com (Tian Harter) Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:19:19 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Other Stuff plus [Fwd: [TASC Notes:] The History of NASA Ames] Message-ID: <4F907347.1040402@aceweb.com> Last Saturday I rode with some Bike Party friends. We rode around the south bay. This set is mostly nature photography. Check it out at: http://tian.greens.org/SouthBay/BikeParty/FirstRide.html In other news, I'm excited about Carol Brouillet's Congressional Campaign. She has a beautiful candidate website you can see at: http://www.carol4congress.org I've a few Carol Brouillet for congress bumper stickers. Let me know where to send it if you want one. Also, I hosed an organizing meeting for her. You can see who showed up at: http://tian.greens.org/GreenParty/CarolBrouillet/8April12/index.html -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [TASC Notes:] The History of NASA Ames: The Freedom to Learn Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:03:04 -0400 (EDT) From: TNHarter at aol.com The talk for TASC about NASA history last week was very graphics intensive, and once again the speaker was nice enough to share his slides with me. I've put my notes on the web, and you can see them at this URL: http://tian.greens.org/TASC/NASAHistory.html -- Tian http://tian.greens.org Latest change: I hosted a Carol Brouillet for Congress fundraiser. The small leaded glass pyramid is on a Nevada quarter. From tnharter at aceweb.com Fri Apr 20 12:02:56 2012 From: tnharter at aceweb.com (Tian Harter) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:02:56 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Agenda items? Green Party meeting next week... Message-ID: <4F91B2E0.90706@aceweb.com> So far I have: 15 min. speaker from 350 at the beginning via Gerry Gras County council issues, 10 min. all the regular stuff... -- Tian http://tian.greens.org Latest change: I rode around the south bay with bike party. The small leaded glass pyramid is on a Nebraska quarter. From WB4D23 at aol.com Sun Apr 22 12:58:36 2012 From: WB4D23 at aol.com (WB4D23 at aol.com) Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:58:36 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fwd: Prop 28 and Prop 29 / For Thursday's Meeting Message-ID: For Thursday's meeting. Deadline for decisions to be reported (by a County Council member) is Saturday April 28th. Warner ____________________________________ From: marnie at cagreens.org To: Sent: 4/5/2012 1:08:36 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time Subj: Prop 28 and Prop 29 Hi County Council members and GPCA leaders. Below is an analysis of Propositions 28 and 29 by several active members of the Green Party of Alameda County. Thank you Alameda Greens. We are asking all county councils to discuss and vote yes, no, no position or abstain on these propositions. THE DEADLINE TO SEND US YOUR POSITIONS IS APRIL 30. Thank you to the county councils that have already sent your positions to us: San Diego, Tulare, Alameda and Marin. Please contact us if you have any questions. Best wishes, Marnie Glicmkan, 415.259.7121 Richard Gomez, Fresno County, nate136_66 at yahoo.com *** Proposition 28 (Changes to term limits) -- Yes (with reservations) Proposition 28 reduces the number of years persons elected after June 5, 2012 can serve in the Legislature from 14 years to 12 years total in a lifetime. At the same time it increases the number of years persons can serve in either House (Assembly or State Senate) to a maximum of 12 years. Proponents of Proposition 28 include the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, the Congress of California Seniors, the Democratic Party, and Dan Schnur, Chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Opponents include U.S. Term Limits, Parents In Charge, the National Tax Limitation Committee, and Americans for Prosperity. The virtue of this proposition is that it is a small change for the better. It is a tacit admission that term limits, which went into effect in November 1990, have been a fiasco for public policy. (The effect of term limits has been strengthening the hand of corporate lobbyists in dealing with a revolving door of legislators.) But we have two reservations. First, this is a very small improvement. It will not undo the damage done by term limits. (We are totally opposed to term limits. Term limits are an assault on the process of democracy, in which the voters decide whom they want to represent them.) Second, this measure does not address the real problems of the Legislature; the lack of responsiveness to the 99% caused by the exclusive dominance by the two corporate parties. As Ralph Nader says, ?We need more voices and choices.? To this end, in the short term, we propose ranked choice voting,as is now used for city council elections in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Leandro. In the longer term, we favor moving to a system of proportional representation, as is now used in most countries in the world, including Japan, Brazil, Venezuela, and in almost all European nations. The Green Party?s position on Proposition 28 should be: ?Yes (with reservations)?. Proposition 29 (Tobacco tax) -- Either "No position", or "No" Proposition 29 is largely another example of blaming and punishing the victim. Nicotine is a drug that is addicting. Those who are unfortunate enough to smoke are currently paying 87 cents in excise taxto the state for every pack of cigarettes, accounting for 905 million dollars annually, and by adding one dollar per pack, Prop. 29 would more than double that. The same people who would pay this tax are generally people who are already suffering from the effects of tobacco. It's doubtful we can ever succeed in getting everyone to quit smoking and another tax on cigarettes and all tobacco products will only serve to put more stress and burden on those who smoke -- almost all of whom are part of the 99%. Proposition 29 would create another politically-appointed bureaucratic entity to administer these funds without any real accountability. One of the most chilling things about Proposition 29 is the fact that if this tax goes into effect it has built in immunity to any changes for the next 15 years. While it's probably true (as the proponents argue), that increasing the cost of cigarettes by about 25% would somewhat discourage teenagers from starting to smoke, it should be noted that only a small portion of the funds that are raised would actually go to prevent people from (or help them to stop) smoking. Instead, the bulk of the money will mostly subsidize highly paid researchers. If Prop. 29 were truly serious about helping to prevent smoking, then the bulk of the money would instead have been used for prevention programs. Finally, voters should be aware that the notorious Don Perata (formerly leader of the State Senate) used this ballot measure as one of the main vehicles to raise money to help him (indirectly) with his 2010 campaign for Oakland Mayor. For example, in early 2010, Perata's state initiative campaign fund already had $700,000 in its accounts and it was sharing an office with his Mayor's campaign -- and "the Don" was using some of that initiative money on consultants who were also working on his Mayoral campaign, and on mailers which publicized himself to Oakland voters, as well as on fancy hotels and meals, etc. (See: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/the-cancer-in-the-oakland-mayors-race/Content?oid=1600133. And after Perata lost the Mayor's race to Jean Quan, he then paid his friend, city council member Ignacio DeLaFuente, $12,000 to be a "consultant" on the initiative campaign, etc.). Of course, Perata calculated that it would be very unlikely that any major group would (sympathetically) defend addicted smokers from a tax increase on tobacco, and that (probably) only tobacco companies would contribute much money to defeat it (which so far is the case), so for the solid majority of voters, the "politically correct" position is going to be to approve this proposition. Which means that this could easily become a "hot potato" for the state Green Party. Therefore, despite all of the reasons cited above for defeating this proposition, "politically", it may well be smarter for the state Green Party to just "stay out of it" -- and have "No position" on Prop. 29. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gerrygras at earthlink.net Sun Apr 22 15:09:26 2012 From: gerrygras at earthlink.net (Gerry Gras) Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:09:26 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fwd: Prop 28 and Prop 29 / For Thursday's Meeting In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4F948196.1040704@earthlink.net> My responses are below. Gerry WB4D23 at aol.com wrote: > For Thursday's meeting. Deadline for decisions to be reported (by a > County Council member) is Saturday April 28th. Warner > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > From: marnie at cagreens.org > To: > Sent: 4/5/2012 1:08:36 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time > Subj: Prop 28 and Prop 29 > Hi County Council members and GPCA leaders. > > Below is an analysis of Propositions 28 and 29 by several active > members of the Green Party of Alameda County. Thank you Alameda Greens. > > We are asking all county councils to discuss and vote yes, no, no > position or abstain on these propositions. > > THE DEADLINE TO SEND US YOUR POSITIONS IS APRIL 30. > > Thank you to the county councils that have already sent your > positions to us: San Diego, Tulare, Alameda and Marin. > > Please contact us if you have any questions. > > Best wishes, > Marnie Glicmkan, 415.259.7121 > Richard Gomez, Fresno County, nate136_66 at yahoo.com > > *** > > *Proposition 28 (Changes to term limits) -- Yes (with reservations)* > > Proposition 28 reduces the number of years persons elected after > June 5, 2012 can serve in the Legislature from 14 years to 12 years > total in a lifetime. At the same time it increases the number of > years persons can serve in either House (Assembly or State Senate) > to a maximum of 12 years. > > Proponents of Proposition 28 include the League of Women Voters, > Common Cause, the Congress of California Seniors, the Democratic > Party, and Dan Schnur, Chair of the California Fair Political > Practices Commission. Opponents include U.S. Term Limits, Parents In > Charge, the National Tax Limitation Committee, and Americans for > Prosperity. > > The virtue of this proposition is that it is a small change for the > better. It is a tacit admission that term limits, which went into > effect in November 1990, have been a fiasco for public policy. (The > effect of term limits has been strengthening the hand of corporate > lobbyists in dealing with a revolving door of legislators.) But we > have two reservations. First, this is a very small improvement. It > will not undo the damage done by term limits. (We are totally > opposed to term limits. Term limits are an assault on the process of > democracy, in which the voters decide whom they want to represent > them.) Second, this measure does not address the real problems of > the Legislature; the lack of responsiveness to the 99% caused by the > exclusive dominance by the two corporate parties. As Ralph Nader > says, ?We need more voices and choices.? To this end, in the short > term, we propose ranked choice voting,as is now used for city > council elections in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Leandro. In the > longer term, we favor moving to a system of proportional > representation, as is now used in most countries in the world, > including Japan, Brazil, Venezuela, and in almost all European nations. > > The Green Party?s position on Proposition 28 should be: ?Yes (with > reservations)?. I don't understand this. I agree in that I too oppose term limits. What I don't understand is why this change is an improvement. For someone who wants to only be in the Assembly, this is an improvement. But for someone who wants to keep "moving up the ladder", and wants to be in both the Assembly and the Senate, he/she has 2 LESS years. (I will send a copy of this to Marnie and Richard and Greg Jan.) > > *Proposition 29 (Tobacco tax) -- Either "No position", or "No"* > > Proposition 29 is largely another example of blaming and punishing > the victim. Nicotine is a drug that is addicting. Those who are > unfortunate enough to smoke are currently paying 87 cents in excise > taxto the state for every pack of cigarettes, accounting for 905 > million dollars annually, and by adding one dollar per pack, Prop. > 29 would more than double that. The same people who would pay this > tax are generally people who are already suffering from the effects > of tobacco. It's doubtful we can ever succeed in getting everyone to > quit smoking and another tax on cigarettes and all tobacco products > will only serve to put more stress and burden on those who smoke -- > almost all of whom are part of the 99%. > > Proposition 29 would create another politically-appointed > bureaucratic entity to administer these funds without any real > accountability. One of the most chilling things about Proposition 29 > is the fact that if this tax goes into effect it has built in > immunity to any changes for the next 15 years. > > While it's probably true (as the proponents argue), that increasing > the cost of cigarettes by about 25% would somewhat discourage > teenagers from starting to smoke, it should be noted that only a > small portion of the funds that are raised would actually go to > prevent people from (or help them to stop) smoking. Instead, the > bulk of the money will mostly subsidize highly paid researchers. If > Prop. 29 were truly serious about helping to prevent smoking, then > the bulk of the money would instead have been used for prevention > programs. > > Finally, voters should be aware that the notorious Don Perata > (formerly leader of the State Senate) used this ballot measure as > one of the main vehicles to raise money to help him (indirectly) > with his 2010 campaign for Oakland Mayor. For example, in early > 2010, Perata's state initiative campaign fund already had $700,000 > in its accounts and it was sharing an office with his Mayor's > campaign -- and "the Don" was using some of that initiative money on > consultants who were also working on his Mayoral campaign, and on > mailers which publicized himself to Oakland voters, as well as on > fancy hotels and meals, etc. (See: > http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/the-cancer-in-the-oakland-mayors-race/Content?oid=1600133. > And after Perata lost the Mayor's race to Jean Quan, he then paid > his friend, city council member Ignacio DeLaFuente, $12,000 to be a > "consultant" on the initiative campaign, etc.). > > Of course, Perata calculated that it would be very unlikely that any > major group would (sympathetically) defend addicted smokers from a > tax increase on tobacco, and that (probably) only tobacco companies > would contribute much money to defeat it (which so far is the case), > so for the solid majority of voters, the "politically correct" > position is going to be to approve this proposition. Which means > that this could easily become a "hot potato" for the state Green > Party. Therefore, despite all of the reasons cited above for > defeating this proposition, "politically", it may well be smarter > for the state Green Party to just "stay out of it" -- and have "No > position" on Prop. 29. I don't understand this either. I agree that this would be unfortunate for current smokers, especially if it does not reduce their smoking. On the other hand, smoking does cost society a lot in terms of cancer and other illnesses. Would not society benefit from a higher cost? As for researchers, I know nothing about the rationale for spending money on the researchers. (I will send a copy of this to Marnie and Richard and Greg Jan.) Gerry From WB4D23 at aol.com Sun Apr 22 15:16:52 2012 From: WB4D23 at aol.com (WB4D23 at aol.com) Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:16:52 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Draft Agenda for Thursday April 26 GPSCC Meeting Message-ID: GREEN PARTY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY Draft Agenda for Monthly General Membership Meeting April 26, 2012 (4th Thursday) San Jose Peace and Justice Center, 48 South 7th Street, San Jose, CA (Near 7th and San Fernando Streets) 7:00 pm ? Eat and chat 7:30 pm ? Begin meeting Select Facilitator, Notetaker, Timekeeper, and Vibeswatcher(s), Select Agenda Preparer for next meeting; Affirm or modify draft agenda (5 Minutes) Introductions and Announcements (10 Minutes) Treasurer?s Report ? Jim Doyle (5 minutes) PROPOSAL TO FILL COUNTY COUNCIL VACANCY: At last month?s GPSCC meeting, it was proposed that John Thielkin be appointed to fill a vacancy on the GPSCC County Council. We have three CC members where there can be up to seven positions. The proposal was postponed to the April meeting because there had not been advance notice. NOTE: There were no filings for election to the County Council for the two year period beginning June 2012. We need additional volunteers to be County Council members!!! ? County Council (10 Minutes) Speaker from Project 350 ? Presenter Gerry Gras (10 Minutes) County Polling on Propositions 28 and 29 ? Tian Harter (20 minutes) There are two ballot measures that have been presented for GPCA approval or opposition by County Polling (see summaries below). The deadline for our County?s positions (4 votes) is due by April 28th. General Assembly (May 12-13 in San Francisco) Preparation ? Warner Bloomberg (30 Minutes) At the March GPSCC meeting, Warner Bloomberg, Merriam Music and Tian Harter were affirmed as delegates for the upcoming Plenary. We need one more delegate and some alternates. We also need to discuss our positions for proposals to significantly revise the GPCA Bylaws and to modify a 2006 proposal for GPCA Elections Code sections. Also note that a Green Party presidential candidates forum is planned for Saturday evening. For more details about the agenda go to cagreens.org/ga Movies Night ? Proposals -- Merriam and John Thielkin (5 Minutes) Discussion of status of tabling supplies -- (10 Minutes) Plan for Spring Tabling -- (5 Minutes) Berryessa Arts & Wine Festiveal Saturday May 12th Others??? (1 Hour 50 Minutes Estimated Cumulative Times. Goal: Adjourn by 9:30 pm) Tabling Events Addenda ? Needed for each item (not necessarily all at this meeting): Confirm date and location; Approval of fee payment (as applicable); Designation of coordinator(s) and other volunteers May 12 Barryessa Arts and Wine Festival ### [From GPSCC Bylaws] ARTICLE 2 COUNTY COUNCIL 2.1 Purposes 2.1.1 The County Council will fulfill the legal requirement for a liaison between the California Green Party and Santa Clara County officials. As used in these Bylaws, the term "County Council" shall have the same meaning as the term "Central Committee" as that term is used by the Office of the Registrar of Voters for Santa Clara County, California. 2.1.2 The Council shall select a secretary and a treasurer from among its members, or may ratify the selection of these officers made at a General County Meeting. The Council and/or its officers will be responsible for complying with the financial reporting requirements of the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). The Council or its officers shall be responsible for obtaining an FPPC number for financial reporting. The Council may create such committees or initiate such inquiries as it considers necessary and appropriate to perform its collective responsibilities as described in these Bylaws. 2.1.3 Internal to the Green Party, the Council's primary duties include serving as a coordinating or steering committee to: a) Facilitate communications between Green Party members within the county, at county meetings, and between locals within the county. b) Facilitate communications between the county Green Party and the State Green Party. c) Assist Green Party involvement in elections in the county (including recruiting, advising and assisting Green Party candidates, co-ordinating voter registration efforts and tabling, and supporting ballot issues effecting issues of concern to the state or county Green Party). d) Enhance communications between the county Green Party and other Green Parties and/or other local organizations which support the principals and objectives set forth in the Green Party Platform. e) Oversee and assist the work of committees formed by the Council, or outside the Council by the Party's members, to help carry out the above duties, or other duties considered necessary that are not in conflict with these ByLaws; such as an electoral reform committee, an environmental issues committee, etc. 2.1.4 The County Council shall act as the designated contact persons for the Green Party of Santa Clara County, and refer interested people to persons who may be designated as spokespeople for the Party at a General County Meeting. 2.1.5 The County Council, by agreement of eighty percent (80%) of its members, may authorize the use of the name of the Green Party of Santa Clara County as an endorser or co-sponsor of an event or public statement consistent with the principals and objectives set forth in the Green Party Platform if time issues make the decision necessary before it can be brought before the next general meeting. Any such County Council authorization shall be reported to those present at the next monthly meeting. [Adopted July 1, 2003] 2.2 Membership in the Council 2.2.1 All County Council members must be residents of Santa Clara County and registered to vote with the Green Party. 2.2.2 The County Council is designated by the State Green Party bylaws to consist of seven members elected at large from the county's Green Party constituency. Additional members may be appointed by the Council. Vacancies on the Council that reduce the membership to less than seven will be filled by appointment by the remaining County Council member(s) within 30 days of the vacancy. The State Green Party Coordinating Committee and the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters shall be informed of all appointed members within two working days of the appointment. It shall be an objective of the Green Party of Santa Clara County that its County Council reflect the diversity of the general population in the county and likewise reflect Green Party values. From: marnie at cagreens.org To: wsb3attyca at aol.com Sent: 4/5/2012 1:08:36 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time Subj: Prop 28 and Prop 29 Hi County Council members and GPCA leaders. Below is an analysis of Propositions 28 and 29 by several active members of the Green Party of Alameda County. Thank you Alameda Greens. We are asking all county councils to discuss and vote yes, no, no position or abstain on these propositions. THE DEADLINE TO SEND US YOUR POSITIONS IS APRIL 30. Thank you to the county councils that have already sent your positions to us: San Diego, Tulare, Alameda and Marin. Please contact us if you have any questions. Best wishes, Marnie Glicmkan, 415.259.7121 Richard Gomez, Fresno County, nate136_66 at yahoo.com *** Proposition 28 (Changes to term limits) -- Yes (with reservations) Proposition 28 reduces the number of years persons elected after June 5, 2012 can serve in the Legislature from 14 years to 12 years total in a lifetime. At the same time it increases the number of years persons can serve in either House (Assembly or State Senate) to a maximum of 12 years. Proponents of Proposition 28 include the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, the Congress of California Seniors, the Democratic Party, and Dan Schnur, Chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Opponents include U.S. Term Limits, Parents In Charge, the National Tax Limitation Committee, and Americans for Prosperity. The virtue of this proposition is that it is a small change for the better. It is a tacit admission that term limits, which went into effect in November 1990, have been a fiasco for public policy. (The effect of term limits has been strengthening the hand of corporate lobbyists in dealing with a revolving door of legislators.) But we have two reservations. First, this is a very small improvement. It will not undo the damage done by term limits. (We are totally opposed to term limits. Term limits are an assault on the process of democracy, in which the voters decide whom they want to represent them.) Second, this measure does not address the real problems of the Legislature; the lack of responsiveness to the 99% caused by the exclusive dominance by the two corporate parties. As Ralph Nader says, ?We need more voices and choices.? To this end, in the short term, we propose ranked choice voting,as is now used for city council elections in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Leandro. In the longer term, we favor moving to a system of proportional representation, as is now used in most countries in the world, including Japan, Brazil, Venezuela, and in almost all European nations. The Green Party?s position on Proposition 28 should be: ?Yes (with reservations)?. Proposition 29 (Tobacco tax) -- Either "No position", or "No" Proposition 29 is largely another example of blaming and punishing the victim. Nicotine is a drug that is addicting. Those who are unfortunate enough to smoke are currently paying 87 cents in excise taxto the state for every pack of cigarettes, accounting for 905 million dollars annually, and by adding one dollar per pack, Prop. 29 would more than double that. The same people who would pay this tax are generally people who are already suffering from the effects of tobacco. It's doubtful we can ever succeed in getting everyone to quit smoking and another tax on cigarettes and all tobacco products will only serve to put more stress and burden on those who smoke -- almost all of whom are part of the 99%. Proposition 29 would create another politically-appointed bureaucratic entity to administer these funds without any real accountability. One of the most chilling things about Proposition 29 is the fact that if this tax goes into effect it has built in immunity to any changes for the next 15 years. While it's probably true (as the proponents argue), that increasing the cost of cigarettes by about 25% would somewhat discourage teenagers from starting to smoke, it should be noted that only a small portion of the funds that are raised would actually go to prevent people from (or help them to stop) smoking. Instead, the bulk of the money will mostly subsidize highly paid researchers. If Prop. 29 were truly serious about helping to prevent smoking, then the bulk of the money would instead have been used for prevention programs. Finally, voters should be aware that the notorious Don Perata (formerly leader of the State Senate) used this ballot measure as one of the main vehicles to raise money to help him (indirectly) with his 2010 campaign for Oakland Mayor. For example, in early 2010, Perata's state initiative campaign fund already had $700,000 in its accounts and it was sharing an office with his Mayor's campaign -- and "the Don" was using some of that initiative money on consultants who were also working on his Mayoral campaign, and on mailers which publicized himself to Oakland voters, as well as on fancy hotels and meals, etc. (See: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/the-cancer-in-the-oakland-mayors-race/Content?oid=1600133. And after Perata lost the Mayor's race to Jean Quan, he then paid his friend, city council member Ignacio DeLaFuente, $12,000 to be a "consultant" on the initiative campaign, etc.). Of course, Perata calculated that it would be very unlikely that any major group would (sympathetically) defend addicted smokers from a tax increase on tobacco, and that (probably) only tobacco companies would contribute much money to defeat it (which so far is the case), so for the solid majority of voters, the "politically correct" position is going to be to approve this proposition. Which means that this could easily become a "hot potato" for the state Green Party. Therefore, despite all of the reasons cited above for defeating this proposition, "politically", it may well be smarter for the state Green Party to just "stay out of it" -- and have "No position" on Prop. 29. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cbrouillet at igc.org Mon Apr 23 08:44:23 2012 From: cbrouillet at igc.org (Carol Brouillet) Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:44:23 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Occupy Congress! Campaign Kickoff Party Saturday, April 28th In-Reply-To: <4F8DBAA4.7010208@earthlink.net> References: <4F8DBAA4.7010208@earthlink.net> Message-ID: Please join us! And if you can help or volunteer, before or during the event- please give us a call at 650-857-0927. I'm sorry I can't make it to Thursday's meeting, but the Palo Alto LWV is putting on an Election 2012 event 7-9 pm at Lucy Stern Community Center, in Palo Alto, looking at the new rules, redistricting... We also are planning a Green Party presence in the May Fete Palo Alto Parade (whose theme is "play") on Changing the Rules of the Game, which should be a creative opportunity, good exercise, and a great outreach opportunity, so please call us, if you want to participate in that- we'll be giving away our new Greenbacks- which is so much fun to do! We have also enjoyed precinct walking with our new lit and doorhangars- especially since we can invite the folks we're meeting to the upcoming party... so if you want to do any real grassroots outreach- here's another opportunity! Campaign Kickoff Party April 28th Join us April 28, 2012 from 3 to 10 pm for the Carol Brouillet for Congress Campaign Kickoff at the Willow Park Condo clubhouse, 500 W Middlefield Road, Mountain View, CA (Map here.) Food ? Music ? Politics Guest Speakers: Cindy Sheehan Maria Gilardin Dr. Peter Phillips Ken Jenkins Richard Gage Mary Ann Thomas Dr. Paul Rea Music provided by: Vic Sadot Rebecca Cross Jeremy Goodfeather Brian Wallace (More details posted at- http://www.communitycurrency.org/node/296 ) We'll be passing out the new Election Dollars, Greenbacks for the Green Party, and we'll have all new yard signs, campaign materials...) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From snug.bug at hotmail.com Mon Apr 23 10:12:55 2012 From: snug.bug at hotmail.com (Brian Good) Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:12:55 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Occupy Congress! Campaign Kickoff Party Saturday, April 28th In-Reply-To: References: <4F8DBAA4.7010208@earthlink.net>, Message-ID: I know almost all of these people, great people. This party is going to be a blast. Cindy Sheehan in person is one of the most gracious and charming people you'll ever meet. Don't miss her! Maria (Mar-EYE-a) Gilardin is a very thoughtful and perceptive analyst. She got a reputation as "Mar-eye-a the Pariah" years ago at KPFA when she was too outspoken for some of the bigwigs. Dr. Phillips was the director of Project Censored for many years. Years ago he spoke to a packed room at Fred's clubhouse about--I forget what--a shopping boycott or something. In Q&A someone asked him about 9/11 and he delivered a brilliant 4-minute analysis of what's bogus about it and why it's important. And I saw the attitudes of the Peace and Justice folks change right there before my eyes. They looked at me differently after that. Ken Jenkins went to Cubberly High School in Palo Alto, got a degree in Electrical Engineering, and then got interested in psychology. He's a good friend of the local documentary film-maker, Dorothy Fadiman. He's a very bright and perceptive guy who turned me on to the movie about Edward Bernays (the guy who invented Public Relations) called "Century of the Self". It's a four hour series, the first 2 hours are all you need. It's at archive.org. Don't miss it! Richard Gage is a former Reagan Republican and an architect and the founding member of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth. He has delivered his 90-minute powerpoint in Germany, Japan, Australia, France, Spain. He's a hell of a nice guy--too nice sometimes. You'll like him. Mary Ann Thomas has been working with World Can't Wait opposing war and militarism and torture since 2005 at least. She works for the US Treasury Department and sometimes wears a "9/11 Was an Inside Job" T-shirt on casual Fridays. In an earlier lifetime she was the trophy wife of the US Ambassador to Nigeria, who demanded that she pretend she was Danish. She has a lot of great stories and she's lively and inspiring. Dr. Paul Rea is a retired professor of English. He runs the Tri-City Documentary Film Series in Fremont, which has for over 5 years been getting about 75 people on Saturdays to see movies like "Who Killed the Electric Car" and "Iraq for Sale" and "Inside Job". I helped with the fact-checking for Dr. Rea's recently-published book about 9/11, "Mounting Evidence". He doesn't always see eye-to-eye with Carol (does anyone?) but they have always maintained a relationship of affection and mutual respect. Vic Sadot is a folksinger from New Jersey, a great admirer (as I am) of the work of Phil Ochs. Though Vic and I have had some serious disagreements, he has never been anything but really really nice and very open-minded about it. He's a great guy. The other musicians I don't know. This party is going to be a gas! Bring your friends! Brian Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:44:23 -0700 To: sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org From: cbrouillet at igc.org Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Occupy Congress! Campaign Kickoff Party Saturday, April 28th Please join us! And if you can help or volunteer, before or during the event- please give us a call at 650-857-0927. I'm sorry I can't make it to Thursday's meeting, but the Palo Alto LWV is putting on an Election 2012 event 7-9 pm at Lucy Stern Community Center, in Palo Alto, looking at the new rules, redistricting... We also are planning a Green Party presence in the May Fete Palo Alto Parade (whose theme is "play") on Changing the Rules of the Game, which should be a creative opportunity, good exercise, and a great outreach opportunity, so please call us, if you want to participate in that- we'll be giving away our new Greenbacks- which is so much fun to do! We have also enjoyed precinct walking with our new lit and doorhangars- especially since we can invite the folks we're meeting to the upcoming party... so if you want to do any real grassroots outreach- here's another opportunity! Campaign Kickoff Party April 28th Join us April 28, 2012 from 3 to 10 pm for the Carol Brouillet for Congress Campaign Kickoff at the Willow Park Condo clubhouse, 500 W Middlefield Road, Mountain View, CA ( Map here.) Food ? Music ? Politics Guest Speakers: Cindy Sheehan Maria Gilardin Dr. Peter Phillips Ken Jenkins Richard Gage Mary Ann Thomas Dr. Paul Rea Music provided by: Vic Sadot Rebecca Cross Jeremy Goodfeather Brian Wallace (More details posted at- http://www.communitycurrency.org/node/296 ) We'll be passing out the new Election Dollars, Greenbacks for the Green Party, and we'll have all new yard signs, campaign materials...) _______________________________________________ sosfbay-discuss mailing list sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From spencer.graves at prodsyse.com Mon Apr 23 21:27:06 2012 From: spencer.graves at prodsyse.com (Spencer Graves) Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:27:06 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fwd: Re: fighting foreclosures? In-Reply-To: <4F95F57E.4030706@structuremonitoring.com> References: <4F95F57E.4030706@structuremonitoring.com> Message-ID: <4F962B9A.7000904@prodsyse.com> Hello, all: Might the Green Party be interested in sponsoring a workshop on fighting foreclosures by TJ Holmes, a real estate agent in Santa Rosa and a founder of "Home Owners for Justice" (hofj.org), a non-profit devoted to this issue. I learned about her from an interview she gave via David Bernstein on Flashpoints on KPFA. She's interested in doing free workshops to try to help organize political action to to fight the banks on this issue. Spencer -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: fighting foreclosures? Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:36:14 -0700 From: Spencer Graves To: CJ Holmes On 4/23/2012 4:40 PM, CJ Holmes wrote: > > Aequitas did 382 foreclosures and charged 38k (I heard). So approx > $100 per foreclosure examined. I think we can "cherry pick" fraud > pretty cheaply with volunteers to get enough for court injunctions. > No reason to spend that much and still not have actual fraudulent docs > for a lawsuit, I think. > That sounds great. > With the advertising you suggested, what response do you think we > should expect? > I have not organized a lot of events, so it's difficult for me to guess. However, I think we can get support from multiple organizations and fill the Peace Center -- depending on the time, etc. How much time do you think is appropriate for your workshop? Are you looking for 2 hours (like your YouTube videos)? Would 7 - 9 PM some evening be appropriate? The Peace Center is available most Mondays except the first Monday of each month. Would it help if we found a place for you to stay the night after the event? Also, how much lead time do you think is appropriate? Two months seems like the minimum lead time if we are to get sponsorship from multiple organizations, etc. We could try to plan something with less lead time, but it would reduce our audience. We could start some things much sooner with videoconferencing using, e.g., Skype. Spencer > Then add a condo complex to the potential attendees. From the > response we can better determine the venue. Let me know. thx, cj > -- Spencer Graves, PE, PhD President and Chief Technology Officer Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc. 751 Emerson Ct. San Jos?, CA 95126 ph: 408-655-4567 web:www.structuremonitoring.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From fredlois2 at gmail.com Tue Apr 24 14:36:17 2012 From: fredlois2 at gmail.com (fred Duperrault) Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:36:17 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fwd: Re: fighting foreclosures? In-Reply-To: <4F962B9A.7000904@prodsyse.com> References: <4F95F57E.4030706@structuremonitoring.com> <4F962B9A.7000904@prodsyse.com> Message-ID: <52885D5A-8E37-4265-BED1-8841D5683D7F@gmail.com> A good item for Thursday's agenda, Spence. Fred D. On Apr 23, 2012, at 9:27 PM, Spencer Graves wrote: > Hello, all: > > > Might the Green Party be interested in sponsoring a workshop > on fighting foreclosures by TJ Holmes, a real estate agent in Santa > Rosa and a founder of "Home Owners for Justice" (hofj.org), a non- > profit devoted to this issue. I learned about her from an interview > she gave via David Bernstein on Flashpoints on KPFA. She's > interested in doing free workshops to try to help organize political > action to to fight the banks on this issue. > > > Spencer > > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: fighting foreclosures? > Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:36:14 -0700 > From: Spencer Graves > To: CJ Holmes > > > On 4/23/2012 4:40 PM, CJ Holmes wrote: >> >> Aequitas did 382 foreclosures and charged 38k (I heard). So approx >> $100 per foreclosure examined. I think we can ?cherry pick? fraud >> pretty cheaply with volunteers to get enough for court >> injunctions. No reason to spend that much and still not have >> actual fraudulent docs for a lawsuit, I think. > > That sounds great. > >> >> With the advertising you suggested, what response do you think we >> should expect? > > > I have not organized a lot of events, so it's difficult for me > to guess. However, I think we can get support from multiple > organizations and fill the Peace Center -- depending on the time, etc. > > > How much time do you think is appropriate for your workshop? > > > Are you looking for 2 hours (like your YouTube videos)? Would > 7 - 9 PM some evening be appropriate? The Peace Center is available > most Mondays except the first Monday of each month. Would it help > if we found a place for you to stay the night after the event? > > > Also, how much lead time do you think is appropriate? Two > months seems like the minimum lead time if we are to get sponsorship > from multiple organizations, etc. We could try to plan something > with less lead time, but it would reduce our audience. We could > start some things much sooner with videoconferencing using, e.g., > Skype. > > > Spencer > > >> Then add a condo complex to the potential attendees. From the >> response we can better determine the venue. Let me know. thx, cj > > > > > -- > Spencer Graves, PE, PhD > President and Chief Technology Officer > Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc. > 751 Emerson Ct. > San Jos?, CA 95126 > ph: 408-655-4567 > web: www.structuremonitoring.com > _______________________________________________ > sosfbay-discuss mailing list > sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org > http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rainbeaufriend at yahoo.com Tue Apr 24 15:34:39 2012 From: rainbeaufriend at yahoo.com (Drew) Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:34:39 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Sharat Lin talk this Saturday: Nonviolence in the Egyptian Revolution Message-ID: <1335306879.76301.YahooMailNeo@web124503.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Last year Dr. Lin gave an excellent talk on his personal observation of the Arab Spring events in Egypt.? He just visited again and has an update report. Please circulate this invitation widely. Nonviolence in the Egyptian Revolution ? The popular uprising in Egypt has unleashed a revolutionary process in which the military, business elites, workers, secular youth, and advocates of political Islam have stakes. The roots of the uprising provide critical clues to prospects for democratic reforms, economic changes and the struggles that lie ahead. Does the Egyptian experience provide new role models for nonviolent protest, "leaderless" movements, and new media? ? Dr. Sharat G. Lin is president of the San Jose Peace and Justice Center. He writes on global political economy, the Middle East, labor migration, and public health, and has lived for many years in the Arab Middle East, and most recently has witnessed the Egyptian Revolution before, during, and after the initial uprising. ? Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 2:00 pm ? New Community of Faith6350 Rainbow Drive San Jose, CA 95129 (between Bollinger and Prospect, and just off of Miller on Rainbow) ? Open to the Public: Suggested donation $5 (no one turned away) Wheelchair accessible For information: 408-253-1408?? http://www.new communityoffaith.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From snug.bug at hotmail.com Tue Apr 24 17:01:42 2012 From: snug.bug at hotmail.com (Brian Good) Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:01:42 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] 500 Protest Wesll Fargo in SF, 24 Arrested Message-ID: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-24/wells-fargo-protesters-impede-shareholders-at-annual-meeting http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/24/wells-fargo-protest-san-francisco_n_1450689.html#s902669 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pagesincolor at yahoo.com Tue Apr 24 18:53:17 2012 From: pagesincolor at yahoo.com (John Thielking) Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:53:17 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Possible Lawsuit Over July 12, 2012 Center For Copyright Information Initiative In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <1335318797.9670.YahooMailClassic@web111108.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Hello, ? I have been concerned for some time about bills such as SOPA and PIPA and now CISPA (scheduled to be voted on this week) that infringe on people's privacy online.? However, the biggest threat to online privacy is not coming from legislation.? It is coming in the form of an industry-wide conspiracy promoted and funded?by the MPAA and RIAA to police every move that people make online to be sure that they are not downloading or uploading copyrighted content illegally.? Internet Service Providers such as ATT, Verizon, Time Warner and Comcast are all on board with this initiative.? The formal name of the initiative is the Center For Copyright Information.? Details can be found on Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Copyright_Information?.? The problem with this initiative is that in order to be effective, ISPs would be required to do what is called "Deep Packet Inspection" of every byte of data transferred to and from your computer that is connected to the Internet. ? I talked briefly with a lawyer about this and he agreed with me on two key points. ? 1) The ISPs may be violating wiretapping laws, especially if they don't get a court order before imposing sanctions or releasing information about infringement to third parties. ? 2) If they are violating wiretapping laws in concert with the MPAA and RIAA they could be sued by people who have standing under the federal RICO statute. ? So I am putting out the information that although I have yet to acquire standing to sue under RICO, I am perfectly willing to help anyone who wants me to get involved to try to find a law firm that would be able to help someone who does have standing on a contingency basis.? Ultimately I envision having a class action lawsuit develop to stop this initiative dead in its tracks. ? One possible roadblock is that if CISPA passes this legislation could legalize a major portion of what I'm claiming is illegal within the initiative, as CISPA specifically authorizes private companies to share information about your Internet use with each other and with the government, in the name of cyber-security. ? For more info on CISPA and to sign the petition against it, go here: ? https://www.accessnow.org/page/contribute/cispa ? Thanks. ? Sincerely, ? John Thielking ? PS: ?CISPA is scheduled to be voted on in the House on Thursday April 26, 2012.? Zoe Lofgren has come out against it.? Boxer and Feinstein have yet to take a position on it. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From WB4D23 at aol.com Tue Apr 24 21:40:32 2012 From: WB4D23 at aol.com (WB4D23 at aol.com) Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:40:32 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Draft2 Agenda for Thursday April 26 GPSCC Meeting Message-ID: <1aa0e.385fbd5b.3cc8da40@aol.com> GREEN PARTY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY Draft Agenda for Monthly General Membership Meeting April 26, 2012 (4th Thursday) San Jose Peace and Justice Center, 48 South 7th Street, San Jose, CA (Near 7th and San Fernando Streets) 7:00 pm ? Eat and chat; Two Speakers -- Lynne Huidekuper and seven minute video and comments (15 minutes); John Filretta / Citizen's Climate Lobby (_www.citizensclimatelobby.org_ (http://www.citizensclimatelobby.org) ) (15 minutes) Note: Times need to be pro-rated for starting late so meeting can start on time. 7:30 pm ? Begin meeting Select Facilitator, Notetaker, Timekeeper, and Vibeswatcher(s), Select Agenda Preparer for next meeting; Affirm or modify draft agenda (5 Minutes) Introductions and Announcements (10 Minutes) Treasurer?s Report ? Jim Doyle (5 minutes) PROPOSAL TO FILL COUNTY COUNCIL VACANCY: At last month?s GPSCC meeting, it was proposed that John Thielking be appointed to fill a vacancy on the GPSCC County Council. We have three CC members where there can be up to seven positions. The proposal was postponed to the April meeting because there had not been advance notice. NOTE: There were no filings for election to the County Council for the two year period beginning June 2012. We need additional volunteers to be County Council members!!! ? County Council (10 Minutes) County Polling on Propositions 28 and 29 ? Tian Harter (20 minutes) There are two ballot measures that have been presented for GPCA approval or opposition by County Polling (see summaries below). The deadline for our County?s positions (4 votes) is due by April 28th. General Assembly (May 12-13 in San Francisco) Preparation ? Warner Bloomberg (30 Minutes) At the March GPSCC meeting, Warner Bloomberg, Merriam Music and Tian Harter were affirmed as delegates for the upcoming Plenary. We need one more delegate and some alternates. We also need to discuss our positions for proposals to significantly revise the GPCA Bylaws and to modify a 2006 proposal for GPCA Elections Code sections. Also note that a Green Party presidential candidates forum is planned for Saturday evening. For more details about the agenda go to cagreens.org/ga Movies Night ? Proposals -- Merriam and John Thielking (5 Minutes) Proposal to endorse HR 1342 -- Gerry Gras (10 Minutes) Discussion of status of tabling supplies -- (10 Minutes) Plan for Spring Tabling -- (5 Minutes) Berryessa Arts & Wine Festiveal Saturday May 12th Others??? (1 Hour 50 Minutes Estimated Cumulative Times. Goal: Adjourn by 9:30 pm) Tabling Events Addenda ? Needed for each item (not necessarily all at this meeting): Confirm date and location; Approval of fee payment (as applicable); Designation of coordinator(s) and other volunteers May 12 Barryessa Arts and Wine Festival ### [From GPSCC Bylaws] ARTICLE 2 COUNTY COUNCIL 2.1 Purposes 2.1.1 The County Council will fulfill the legal requirement for a liaison between the California Green Party and Santa Clara County officials. As used in these Bylaws, the term "County Council" shall have the same meaning as the term "Central Committee" as that term is used by the Office of the Registrar of Voters for Santa Clara County, California. 2.1.2 The Council shall select a secretary and a treasurer from among its members, or may ratify the selection of these officers made at a General County Meeting. The Council and/or its officers will be responsible for complying with the financial reporting requirements of the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). The Council or its officers shall be responsible for obtaining an FPPC number for financial reporting. The Council may create such committees or initiate such inquiries as it considers necessary and appropriate to perform its collective responsibilities as described in these Bylaws. 2.1.3 Internal to the Green Party, the Council's primary duties include serving as a coordinating or steering committee to: a) Facilitate communications between Green Party members within the county, at county meetings, and between locals within the county. b) Facilitate communications between the county Green Party and the State Green Party. c) Assist Green Party involvement in elections in the county (including recruiting, advising and assisting Green Party candidates, co-ordinating voter registration efforts and tabling, and supporting ballot issues effecting issues of concern to the state or county Green Party). d) Enhance communications between the county Green Party and other Green Parties and/or other local organizations which support the principals and objectives set forth in the Green Party Platform. e) Oversee and assist the work of committees formed by the Council, or outside the Council by the Party's members, to help carry out the above duties, or other duties considered necessary that are not in conflict with these ByLaws; such as an electoral reform committee, an environmental issues committee, etc. 2.1.4 The County Council shall act as the designated contact persons for the Green Party of Santa Clara County, and refer interested people to persons who may be designated as spokespeople for the Party at a General County Meeting. 2.1.5 The County Council, by agreement of eighty percent (80%) of its members, may authorize the use of the name of the Green Party of Santa Clara County as an endorser or co-sponsor of an event or public statement consistent with the principals and objectives set forth in the Green Party Platform if time issues make the decision necessary before it can be brought before the next general meeting. Any such County Council authorization shall be reported to those present at the next monthly meeting. [Adopted July 1, 2003] 2.2 Membership in the Council 2.2.1 All County Council members must be residents of Santa Clara County and registered to vote with the Green Party. 2.2.2 The County Council is designated by the State Green Party bylaws to consist of seven members elected at large from the county's Green Party constituency. Additional members may be appointed by the Council. Vacancies on the Council that reduce the membership to less than seven will be filled by appointment by the remaining County Council member(s) within 30 days of the vacancy. The State Green Party Coordinating Committee and the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters shall be informed of all appointed members within two working days of the appointment. It shall be an objective of the Green Party of Santa Clara County that its County Council reflect the diversity of the general population in the county and likewise reflect Green Party values. From: marnie at cagreens.org To: wsb3attyca at aol.com Sent: 4/5/2012 1:08:36 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time Subj: Prop 28 and Prop 29 Hi County Council members and GPCA leaders. Below is an analysis of Propositions 28 and 29 by several active members of the Green Party of Alameda County. Thank you Alameda Greens. We are asking all county councils to discuss and vote yes, no, no position or abstain on these propositions. THE DEADLINE TO SEND US YOUR POSITIONS IS APRIL 30. Thank you to the county councils that have already sent your positions to us: San Diego, Tulare, Alameda and Marin. Please contact us if you have any questions. Best wishes, Marnie Glicmkan, 415.259.7121 Richard Gomez, Fresno County, nate136_66 at yahoo.com *** Proposition 28 (Changes to term limits) -- Yes (with reservations) Proposition 28 reduces the number of years persons elected after June 5, 2012 can serve in the Legislature from 14 years to 12 years total in a lifetime. At the same time it increases the number of years persons can serve in either House (Assembly or State Senate) to a maximum of 12 years. Proponents of Proposition 28 include the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, the Congress of California Seniors, the Democratic Party, and Dan Schnur, Chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Opponents include U.S. Term Limits, Parents In Charge, the National Tax Limitation Committee, and Americans for Prosperity. The virtue of this proposition is that it is a small change for the better. It is a tacit admission that term limits, which went into effect in November 1990, have been a fiasco for public policy. (The effect of term limits has been strengthening the hand of corporate lobbyists in dealing with a revolving door of legislators.) But we have two reservations. First, this is a very small improvement. It will not undo the damage done by term limits. (We are totally opposed to term limits. Term limits are an assault on the process of democracy, in which the voters decide whom they want to represent them.) Second, this measure does not address the real problems of the Legislature; the lack of responsiveness to the 99% caused by the exclusive dominance by the two corporate parties. As Ralph Nader says, ?We need more voices and choices.? To this end, in the short term, we propose ranked choice voting,as is now used for city council elections in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Leandro. In the longer term, we favor moving to a system of proportional representation, as is now used in most countries in the world, including Japan, Brazil, Venezuela, and in almost all European nations. The Green Party?s position on Proposition 28 should be: ?Yes (with reservations)?. Proposition 29 (Tobacco tax) -- Either "No position", or "No" Proposition 29 is largely another example of blaming and punishing the victim. Nicotine is a drug that is addicting. Those who are unfortunate enough to smoke are currently paying 87 cents in excise taxto the state for every pack of cigarettes, accounting for 905 million dollars annually, and by adding one dollar per pack, Prop. 29 would more than double that. The same people who would pay this tax are generally people who are already suffering from the effects of tobacco. It's doubtful we can ever succeed in getting everyone to quit smoking and another tax on cigarettes and all tobacco products will only serve to put more stress and burden on those who smoke -- almost all of whom are part of the 99%. Proposition 29 would create another politically-appointed bureaucratic entity to administer these funds without any real accountability. One of the most chilling things about Proposition 29 is the fact that if this tax goes into effect it has built in immunity to any changes for the next 15 years. While it's probably true (as the proponents argue), that increasing the cost of cigarettes by about 25% would somewhat discourage teenagers from starting to smoke, it should be noted that only a small portion of the funds that are raised would actually go to prevent people from (or help them to stop) smoking. Instead, the bulk of the money will mostly subsidize highly paid researchers. If Prop. 29 were truly serious about helping to prevent smoking, then the bulk of the money would instead have been used for prevention programs. Finally, voters should be aware that the notorious Don Perata (formerly leader of the State Senate) used this ballot measure as one of the main vehicles to raise money to help him (indirectly) with his 2010 campaign for Oakland Mayor. For example, in early 2010, Perata's state initiative campaign fund already had $700,000 in its accounts and it was sharing an office with his Mayor's campaign -- and "the Don" was using some of that initiative money on consultants who were also working on his Mayoral campaign, and on mailers which publicized himself to Oakland voters, as well as on fancy hotels and meals, etc. (See: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/the-cancer-in-the-oakland-mayors-race/Content?oid=1600133. And after Perata lost the Mayor's race to Jean Quan, he then paid his friend, city council member Ignacio DeLaFuente, $12,000 to be a "consultant" on the initiative campaign, etc.). Of course, Perata calculated that it would be very unlikely that any major group would (sympathetically) defend addicted smokers from a tax increase on tobacco, and that (probably) only tobacco companies would contribute much money to defeat it (which so far is the case), so for the solid majority of voters, the "politically correct" position is going to be to approve this proposition. Which means that this could easily become a "hot potato" for the state Green Party. Therefore, despite all of the reasons cited above for defeating this proposition, "politically", it may well be smarter for the state Green Party to just "stay out of it" -- and have "No position" on Prop. 29. _______________________________________________ sosfbay-discuss mailing list sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From WB4D23 at aol.com Tue Apr 24 22:29:30 2012 From: WB4D23 at aol.com (WB4D23 at aol.com) Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:29:30 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [GPSCC-chat] County Council Message-ID: <1b0cc.86efcc2.3cc8e5b9@aol.com> Current Members -- Merriam Music; Tian Harter; Andrea Dorey. The GPSCC Bylaws state that current County Council members are supposed to fill vacancies, but this has not been done, which is why there is an agenda item on for the April 26th meeting for the general membership to appoint John Thielking to the County Council. It's my understanding that NO ONE went and got a petitioner and signatures (not even the minimum 20) during the time to do so last February to March, so we are going to have to have volunteers to be County Council members who will need to be appointed by the current CC members (before June 2nd!!!) or by a General Membership meeting where that is announced as an agenda item. In any case, once appointments are made, they need to be communicated both the the County Registrar of Voters and to the GPCA Coordinating Committee. Warner In a message dated 4/17/2012 11:40:51 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, gerrygras at earthlink.net writes: Who's on the current county council? Do we have candidates for the county council for the next election? Gerry _______________________________________________ sosfbay-discuss mailing list sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From spencer.graves at prodsyse.com Wed Apr 25 12:53:12 2012 From: spencer.graves at prodsyse.com (Spencer Graves) Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:53:12 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fwd: [occupy-san-jose] San Jose Action--TONIGHT In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4F985628.8080306@prodsyse.com> Anyone living in San Jos? and is available to do something today is urged to call or email their city council representative to ask their position on payday lenders (legalized loan sharking) and encourage them to do the following two things. Whether or not you live in San Jos?, if you have the time to attend a City Council meeting at 6:30 PM today, that would be great; there will be a vote on this issue. 1. Oppose these predatory practices with their vote on item 3a on TODAY's San Jos? City Council agenda (www.sanjoseca.gov/planning/hearings/PC/2012/Agenda/0425.pdf ). (The wording of the resolution is so convoluted I can't figure out if we should ask them to vote for or against the resolution, but asking them to oppose payday lending should cover it.) 2. Oppose any new business or renewing any contracts with financial institutions involved in payday lending. This includes Wells Fargo, which makes money from payday loans (http://showdowninamerica.org/files/payday-final-091410.pdf) AND from the City of San Jos? (http://www.sanjoseca.gov/clerk/ORDS_RESOS/reso_75471.pdf). If you don't know which district you are in, that is available at "http://www.sanjoseca.gov/planning/data/council_dist/default.asp" (click "all districts" at the right). Then go to "http://www.sanjoseca.gov/council.asp" to get contact information. Below please find an email I just sent. Thanks, Spencer to: pierluigi.oliverio at sanjoseca.gov, mayoremail at sanjoseca.gov Subject: Payday lending? Dear Mr. Oliverio and Mayor Reed: What is your position on payday lenders? The information I've received suggest that they are legalized loan sharks, further impoverishing some of the poorest of San Jos?'s residents. I urge you to oppose these practices in two areas: 1. Oppose these predatory practices with their vote on item 3a on TODAY's San Jos? City Council agenda (www.sanjoseca.gov/planning/hearings/PC/2012/Agenda/0425.pdf ). (The wording of the resolution is so convoluted I can't figure out if we should ask them to vote for or against the resolution, but asking them to oppose payday lending should cover it.) 2. Oppose any new business or renewing any contracts with financial institutions involved in payday lending. This includes Wells Fargo, which makes money from payday loans (http://showdowninamerica.org/files/payday-final-091410.pdf) AND from the City of San Jos? (http://www.sanjoseca.gov/clerk/ORDS_RESOS/reso_75471.pdf). Thanks, Spencer Graves ########################### background email: -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [occupy-san-jose] San Jose Action--TONIGHT Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:34:42 -0700 From: iq4rent Reply-To: occupy-san-jose at googlegroups.com To: , James Join ACCE and others at the SJ city council to restrict predatory payday loan establishments. Payday lenders (legalized loan sharks) are more predominant in lower income areas and minority areas and prey on the the economic shortcomings of these people. Payday lenders are backed by the big banks, particularly Wells Fargo and we all know how much we love them. Check out this great report I found from the National People's Action (I haven't done all the fact checking yet): http://showdowninamerica.org/files/payday-final-091410.pdf People asked for actions to do "IN" San Jose, so here ya go :) Item 3a on the agenda. See you at 6:30 @ OSJ (city hall) http://www.sanjoseca.gov/planning/hearings/PC/2012/Agenda/0425.pdf -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pagesincolor at yahoo.com Wed Apr 25 17:19:58 2012 From: pagesincolor at yahoo.com (John Thielking) Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:19:58 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Draft2 Agenda for Thursday April 26 GPSCC Meeting In-Reply-To: <1aa0e.385fbd5b.3cc8da40@aol.com> Message-ID: <1335399598.51181.YahooMailClassic@web111104.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> After reading the bylaws excerpt regarding the responsibilities of the County Council members, I must reiterate my concern about not being qualified to handle financial matters.? If I take on the job of treasurer or otherwise assume resposibilities regarding reporting finances to the Fair Political Practices Commission I would prefer to delegate the details of the job to an outside accounting firm or if we have a nonprofit such as the Collins Foundation that is acting as our fisical sponsor we could pay them to handle the paperwork.?I could contribute up to $100 per month for this purpose.?Thanks. ? Sincerely, ? John Thielking --- On Tue, 4/24/12, WB4D23 at aol.com wrote: From: WB4D23 at aol.com Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Draft2 Agenda for Thursday April 26 GPSCC Meeting To: sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org Date: Tuesday, April 24, 2012, 9:40 PM GREEN PARTY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY Draft Agenda for Monthly General Membership Meeting April 26, 2012 (4th Thursday) San Jose Peace and Justice Center, 48 South 7th Street, San Jose, CA (Near 7th and San Fernando Streets) ? 7:00 pm ? Eat and chat;? Two Speakers -- Lynne Huidekuper and seven minute video and comments (15 minutes); John Filretta / Citizen's Climate Lobby (www.citizensclimatelobby.org) (15 minutes) Note:? Times need to be pro-rated for starting late so meeting can start on time. 7:30 pm ? Begin meeting ? Select Facilitator, Notetaker, Timekeeper, and Vibeswatcher(s), Select Agenda Preparer for next meeting; Affirm or modify draft agenda (5 Minutes) Introductions and Announcements (10 Minutes) ? Treasurer?s Report ? Jim Doyle (5 minutes) PROPOSAL TO FILL COUNTY COUNCIL VACANCY:? At last month?s GPSCC meeting, it was proposed that John Thielking be appointed to fill a vacancy on the GPSCC County Council.? We have three CC members where there can be up to seven positions.? The proposal was postponed to the April meeting because there had not been advance notice.? NOTE:? There were no filings for election to the County Council for the two year period beginning June 2012.? We need additional volunteers to be County Council members!!!?? County Council (10 Minutes) ? ? County Polling on Propositions 28 and 29 ? Tian Harter (20 minutes)? There are two ballot measures that have been presented for GPCA approval or opposition by County Polling (see summaries below).? The deadline for our County?s positions (4 votes) is due by April 28th. General Assembly (May 12-13 in San Francisco) Preparation ? Warner Bloomberg? (30 Minutes)???? At the March GPSCC meeting, Warner Bloomberg, Merriam Music and Tian Harter were affirmed as delegates for the upcoming Plenary.? We need one more delegate and some alternates.? We also need to discuss our positions for proposals to significantly revise the GPCA Bylaws and to modify a 2006 proposal for GPCA Elections Code sections.? Also note that a Green Party presidential candidates forum is planned for Saturday evening.? For more details about the agenda go to cagreens.org/ga Movies Night ? Proposals -- Merriam and John Thielking (5 Minutes) Proposal to endorse HR 1342 -- Gerry Gras (10 Minutes) Discussion of status of tabling supplies --????????? (10 Minutes) ? Plan for Spring Tabling --????????????? (5 Minutes) Berryessa Arts & Wine Festiveal Saturday May 12th Others??? (1 Hour 50 Minutes Estimated Cumulative Times.? Goal:? Adjourn by 9:30 pm) ? Tabling Events Addenda ? Needed for each item (not necessarily all at this meeting): Confirm date and location; Approval of fee payment (as applicable); Designation of coordinator(s) and other volunteers ? May 12 Barryessa Arts and Wine Festival ### ? [From GPSCC Bylaws] ARTICLE 2 COUNTY COUNCIL ? 2.1 Purposes ? 2.1.1 The County Council will fulfill the legal requirement for a liaison between the California Green Party and Santa Clara County officials. As used in these Bylaws, the term "County Council" shall have the same meaning as the term "Central Committee" as that term is used by the Office of the Registrar of Voters for Santa Clara County, California. ? 2.1.2 The Council shall select a secretary and a treasurer from among its members, or may ratify the selection of these officers made at a General County Meeting. The Council and/or its officers will be responsible for complying with the financial reporting requirements of the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). The Council or its officers shall be responsible for obtaining an FPPC number for financial reporting. The Council may create such committees or initiate such inquiries as it considers necessary and appropriate to perform its collective responsibilities as described in these Bylaws. ? 2.1.3 Internal to the Green Party, the Council's primary duties include serving as a coordinating or steering committee to: ????? a) Facilitate communications between Green Party members within the ????? county, at county meetings, and between locals within the county. ????? b) Facilitate communications between the county Green Party and the State Green Party. ????? c) Assist Green Party involvement in elections in the county (including ????? recruiting, advising and assisting Green Party candidates, co-ordinating ????? voter registration efforts and tabling, and supporting ballot issues ????? effecting issues of concern to the state or county Green Party). ????? d) Enhance communications between the county Green Party and other Green ????? Parties and/or other local organizations which support the principals and ????? objectives set forth in the Green Party Platform. ????? e) Oversee and assist the work of committees formed by the Council, or ????? outside the Council by the Party's members, to help carry out the above ????? duties, or other duties considered necessary that are not in conflict with ????? these ByLaws; such as an electoral reform committee, an environmental ????? issues committee, etc. ? 2.1.4 The County Council shall act as the designated contact persons for the Green Party of Santa Clara County, and refer interested people to persons who may be designated as spokespeople for the Party at a General County Meeting. ? 2.1.5 The County Council, by agreement of eighty percent (80%) of its members, may authorize the use of the name of the Green Party of Santa Clara County as an endorser or co-sponsor of an event or public statement consistent with the principals and objectives set forth in the Green Party Platform if time issues make the decision necessary before it can be brought before the next general meeting.? Any such County Council authorization shall be reported to those present at the next monthly meeting.? [Adopted July 1, 2003] ? 2.2 Membership in the Council 2.2.1 All County Council members must be residents of Santa Clara County and registered to vote with the Green Party. 2.2.2 The County Council is designated by the State Green Party bylaws to consist of seven members elected at large from the county's Green Party constituency. Additional members may be appointed by the Council. Vacancies on the Council that reduce the membership to less than seven will be filled by appointment by the remaining County Council member(s) within 30 days of the vacancy. The State Green Party Coordinating Committee and the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters shall be informed of all appointed members within two working days of the appointment. It shall be an objective of the Green Party of Santa Clara County that its County Council reflect the diversity of the general population in the county and likewise reflect Green Party values. From: marnie at cagreens.org To: wsb3attyca at aol.com Sent: 4/5/2012 1:08:36 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time Subj: Prop 28 and Prop 29 Hi County Council members and GPCA leaders. Below is an analysis of Propositions 28 and 29 by several active members of the Green Party of Alameda County. Thank you Alameda Greens. We are asking all county councils to discuss and vote yes, no, no position or abstain on these propositions. THE DEADLINE TO SEND US YOUR POSITIONS IS APRIL 30. Thank you to the county councils that have already sent your positions to us: San Diego, Tulare, Alameda and Marin. Please contact us if you have any questions. Best wishes, Marnie Glicmkan, 415.259.7121 Richard Gomez, Fresno County, nate136_66 at yahoo.com *** Proposition 28 (Changes to term limits) -- Yes (with reservations) Proposition 28 reduces the number of years persons elected after June 5, 2012 can serve in the Legislature from 14 years to 12 years total in a lifetime. At the same time it increases the number of years persons can serve in either House (Assembly or State Senate) to a maximum of 12 years. Proponents of Proposition 28 include the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, the Congress of California Seniors, the Democratic Party, and Dan Schnur, Chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Opponents include U.S. Term Limits, Parents In Charge, the National Tax Limitation Committee, and Americans for Prosperity. The virtue of this proposition is that it is a small change for the better. It is a tacit admission that term limits, which went into effect in November 1990, have been a fiasco for public policy. (The effect of term limits has been strengthening the hand of corporate lobbyists in dealing with a revolving door of legislators.) But we have two reservations. First, this is a very small improvement. It will not undo the damage done by term limits. (We are totally opposed to term limits. Term limits are an assault on the process of democracy, in which the voters decide whom they want to represent them.) Second, this measure does not address the real problems of the Legislature; the lack of responsiveness to the 99% caused by the exclusive dominance by the two corporate parties. As Ralph Nader says, ?We need more voices and choices.? To this end, in the short term, we propose ranked choice voting,as is now used for city council elections in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Leandro. In the longer term, we favor moving to a system of proportional representation, as is now used in most countries in the world, including Japan, Brazil, Venezuela, and in almost all European nations. The Green Party?s position on Proposition 28 should be: ?Yes (with reservations)?. Proposition 29 (Tobacco tax) -- Either "No position", or "No" Proposition 29 is largely another example of blaming and punishing the victim. Nicotine is a drug that is addicting. Those who are unfortunate enough to smoke are currently paying 87 cents in excise taxto the state for every pack of cigarettes, accounting for 905 million dollars annually, and by adding one dollar per pack, Prop. 29 would more than double that. The same people who would pay this tax are generally people who are already suffering from the effects of tobacco. It's doubtful we can ever succeed in getting everyone to quit smoking and another tax on cigarettes and all tobacco products will only serve to put more stress and burden on those who smoke -- almost all of whom are part of the 99%. Proposition 29 would create another politically-appointed bureaucratic entity to administer these funds without any real accountability. One of the most chilling things about Proposition 29 is the fact that if this tax goes into effect it has built in immunity to any changes for the next 15 years. While it's probably true (as the proponents argue), that increasing the cost of cigarettes by about 25% would somewhat discourage teenagers from starting to smoke, it should be noted that only a small portion of the funds that are raised would actually go to prevent people from (or help them to stop) smoking. Instead, the bulk of the money will mostly subsidize highly paid researchers. If Prop. 29 were truly serious about helping to prevent smoking, then the bulk of the money would instead have been used for prevention programs. Finally, voters should be aware that the notorious Don Perata (formerly leader of the State Senate) used this ballot measure as one of the main vehicles to raise money to help him (indirectly) with his 2010 campaign for Oakland Mayor. For example, in early 2010, Perata's state initiative campaign fund already had $700,000 in its accounts and it was sharing an office with his Mayor's campaign -- and "the Don" was using some of that initiative money on consultants who were also working on his Mayoral campaign, and on mailers which publicized himself to Oakland voters, as well as on fancy hotels and meals, etc. (See: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/the-cancer-in-the-oakland-mayors-race/Content?oid=1600133. And after Perata lost the Mayor's race to Jean Quan, he then paid his friend, city council member Ignacio DeLaFuente, $12,000 to be a "consultant" on the initiative campaign, etc.). Of course, Perata calculated that it would be very unlikely that any major group would (sympathetically) defend addicted smokers from a tax increase on tobacco, and that (probably) only tobacco companies would contribute much money to defeat it (which so far is the case), so for the solid majority of voters, the "politically correct" position is going to be to approve this proposition. Which means that this could easily become a "hot potato" for the state Green Party. Therefore, despite all of the reasons cited above for defeating this proposition, "politically", it may well be smarter for the state Green Party to just "stay out of it" -- and have "No position" on Prop. 29. ? _______________________________________________ sosfbay-discuss mailing list sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ sosfbay-discuss mailing list sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From spencer.graves at prodsyse.com Wed Apr 25 17:52:21 2012 From: spencer.graves at prodsyse.com (Spencer Graves) Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:52:21 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Draft Agenda for Thursday April 26 GPSCC Meeting In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4F989C45.4090608@prodsyse.com> One more proposed agenda item: * Might the Santa Clara Greens be interested in supporting an initiative regarding foreclosures? BACKGROUND: Various groups have been fighting foreclosures with limited success so far. I've been working with Occupy San Jos? (OSJ) and the Association of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) on this issue and have considered contacting others such as People Acting in Community Together (PACT) and Project Sentinel. CJ Holmes, a real estate agent in Santa Rosa, has founded an organization called Home Owners for Justice (hofj.org) to fight this. CJ was interviewed on Flashpoints in KPFA about her work. She is offering to do free two-hour workshops in San Jos? and elsewhere. I suggested to her that I might be able to get the Peace Center for such an event with (partial?) sponsorship from the Santa Clara Greens. However, it occurs to me that a more effective approach may be to organize a project under the supervision of an attorney that would create a web portal to make it easier for people to fight the banks successfully -- a higher success rate with lower legal fees, achieved in part by combining the wisdom of a good legal team with tech folks who can create a web portal making it easier for people concerned about this issue to do constructive things -- like leveraging the work of the recent San Francisco foreclosure audit (http://www.sfassessor.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=1018) to increased effectiveness in fighting foreclosures. Warner suggested I ask Thomas Speilbauer (www.spielbauer.com/testimonials.htm ) if he might like to support a project like this. He would donate some of his time with the anticipation that he would get some other paid work directly and indirectly from this project while people facing foreclosures could achieve more success at a lower cost. However, before I contact Spielbauer, I want to try to contact the attorneys who have been associated with OSJ, ACCE, PACT, etc., because we might find one who could be a better fit for this kind of project. I'd like guidance in the following terms: 1. Does the Santa Clara Green Party want to support such a project as long as it does not require money from the party? OR: 2. Would the Santa Clara Green Party want to hear more details on each event or project proposal before making a commitment? Of course, I would also be pleased to have other people volunteering time to help make something like this happen. Thanks, Spencer On 4/22/2012 3:16 PM, WB4D23 at aol.com wrote: > > *GREEN PARTY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY* > > Draft Agenda for Monthly General Membership Meeting April 26, 2012 > (4^th Thursday) > > San Jose Peace and Justice Center, 48 South 7th Street, San Jose, CA > > (Near 7th and San Fernando Streets) > > 7:00 pm -- Eat and chat > > 7:30 pm -- Begin meeting > > Select Facilitator, Notetaker, Timekeeper, and Vibeswatcher(s), Select > Agenda Preparer for next meeting; Affirm or modify draft agenda (5 > Minutes) > > Introductions and Announcements (10 Minutes) > > Treasurer's Report -- Jim Doyle (5 minutes) > > *PROPOSAL TO FILL COUNTY COUNCIL VACANCY:*At last month's GPSCC > meeting, it was proposed that John Thielkin be appointed to fill a > vacancy on the GPSCC County Council.We have three CC members where > there can be up to seven positions.The proposal was postponed to the > April meeting because there had not been advance notice.NOTE:There > were no filings for election to the County Council for the two year > period beginning June 2012.We need additional volunteers to be County > Council members!!! > > -- County Council (10 Minutes) > > Speaker from Project 350 -- Presenter Gerry Gras (10 Minutes) > > County Polling on Propositions 28 and 29 -- Tian Harter (20 > minutes)There are two ballot measures that have been presented for > GPCA approval or opposition by County Polling (see summaries > below).The deadline for our County's positions (4 votes) is due by > April 28^th . > > General Assembly (May 12-13 in San Francisco) Preparation -- Warner > Bloomberg > > (30 Minutes)At the March GPSCC meeting, Warner Bloomberg, Merriam > Music and Tian Harter were affirmed as delegates for the upcoming > Plenary.We need one more delegate and some alternates.We also need to > discuss our positions for proposals to significantly revise the GPCA > Bylaws and to modify a 2006 proposal for GPCA Elections Code > sections.Also note that a Green Party presidential candidates forum is > planned for Saturday evening.For more details about the agenda go to > cagreens.org/ga > > Movies Night -- Proposals -- Merriam and John Thielkin (5 Minutes) > > Discussion of status of tabling supplies --(10 Minutes) > > Plan for Spring Tabling --(5 Minutes) > > Berryessa Arts & Wine Festiveal Saturday May 12^th > > Others??? > > (1 Hour 50 Minutes Estimated Cumulative Times.Goal:Adjourn by 9:30 pm) > > Tabling Events Addenda -- Needed for each item (not necessarily all at > this meeting): > > Confirm date and location; Approval of fee payment (as applicable); > Designation of coordinator(s) and other volunteers > > May 12 Barryessa Arts and Wine Festival > > ### > > [From GPSCC Bylaws] ARTICLE 2 COUNTY COUNCIL > > 2.1 Purposes > > 2.1.1 The County Council will fulfill the legal requirement for a > liaison between the California Green Party and Santa Clara County > officials. As used in these Bylaws, the term "County Council" shall > have the same meaning as the term "Central Committee" as that term is > used by the Office of the Registrar of Voters for Santa Clara County, > California. > > 2.1.2 The Council shall select a secretary and a treasurer from among > its members, or may ratify the selection of these officers made at a > General County Meeting. The Council and/or its officers will be > responsible for complying with the financial reporting requirements of > the Fair Political > > Practices Commission (FPPC). The Council or its officers shall be > responsible for obtaining an FPPC number for financial reporting. The > Council may create such committees or initiate such inquiries as it > considers necessary and appropriate to perform its collective > > responsibilities as described in these Bylaws. > > 2.1.3 Internal to the Green Party, the Council's primary duties > include serving as a coordinating or steering committee to: > > a) Facilitate communications between Green Party members within the > > county, at county meetings, and between locals within the county. > > b) Facilitate communications between the county Green Party and the > State Green Party. > > c) Assist Green Party involvement in elections in the county (including > > recruiting, advising and assisting Green Party candidates, co-ordinating > > voter registration efforts and tabling, and supporting ballot issues > > effecting issues of concern to the state or county Green Party). > > d) Enhance communications between the county Green Party and other Green > > Parties and/or other local organizations which support the principals and > > objectives set forth in the Green Party Platform. > > e) Oversee and assist the work of committees formed by the Council, or > > outside the Council by the Party's members, to help carry out the above > > duties, or other duties considered necessary that are not in conflict > with > > these ByLaws; such as an electoral reform committee, an environmental > > issues committee, etc. > > 2.1.4 The County Council shall act as the designated contact persons > for the Green Party of Santa Clara County, and refer interested people > to persons who may be designated as spokespeople for the Party at a > General County Meeting. > > 2.1.5 The County Council, by agreement of eighty percent (80%) of its > members, may authorize the use of the name of the Green Party of Santa > Clara County as an endorser or co-sponsor of an event or public > statement consistent with the principals and objectives set forth in > the Green Party Platform if time issues make the decision necessary > before it can be brought before the next general meeting.Any such > County Council authorization shall be reported to those present at the > next monthly meeting./[Adopted July 1, 2003]/ > > 2.2 Membership in the Council > > 2.2.1 All County Council members must be residents of Santa Clara > County and registered to vote with the Green Party. > > 2.2.2 The County Council is designated by the State Green Party bylaws > to consist of seven members elected at large from the county's Green > Party constituency. Additional members may be appointed by the > Council. Vacancies on the Council that reduce the membership to less > than seven will be filled by appointment by the remaining County > Council member(s) within 30 days of the vacancy. The State Green Party > Coordinating Committee and the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters shall > be informed of all appointed members within two working days of the > appointment. It shall be an objective of the Green Party of Santa > Clara County that its County Council reflect the diversity of the > general population in the county and likewise reflect Green Party values. > > From: marnie at cagreens.org > To: wsb3attyca at aol.com > Sent: 4/5/2012 1:08:36 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time > Subj: Prop 28 and Prop 29 > > Hi County Council members and GPCA leaders. > > Below is an analysis of Propositions 28 and 29 by several active > members of the Green Party of Alameda County. Thank you Alameda Greens. > > We are asking all county councils to discuss and vote yes, no, no > position or abstain on these propositions. > > THE DEADLINE TO SEND US YOUR POSITIONS IS APRIL 30. > > Thank you to the county councils that have already sent your positions > to us: San Diego, Tulare, Alameda and Marin. > > Please contact us if you have any questions. > > Best wishes, > Marnie Glicmkan, 415.259.7121 > Richard Gomez, Fresno County, nate136_66 at yahoo.com > > *** > > *_Proposition 28 (Changes to term limits) -- Yes (with reservations)_* > > Proposition 28 reduces the number of years persons elected after June > 5, 2012 can serve in the Legislature from 14 years to 12 years total > in a lifetime. At the same time it increases the number of years > persons can serve in either House (Assembly or State Senate) to a > maximum of 12 years. > > Proponents of Proposition 28 include the League of Women Voters, > Common Cause, the Congress of California Seniors, the Democratic > Party, and Dan Schnur, Chair of the California Fair Political > Practices Commission. Opponents include U.S. Term Limits, Parents In > Charge, the National Tax Limitation Committee, and Americans for > Prosperity. > > The virtue of this proposition is that it is a small change for the > better. It is a tacit admission that term limits, which went into > effect in November 1990, have been a fiasco for public policy. (The > effect of term limits has been strengthening the hand of corporate > lobbyists in dealing with a revolving door of legislators.) But we > have two reservations. First, this is a very small improvement. It > will not undo the damage done by term limits. (We are totally opposed > to term limits. Term limits are an assault on the process of > democracy, in which the voters decide whom they want to represent > them.) Second, this measure does not address the real problems of the > Legislature; the lack of responsiveness to the 99% caused by the > exclusive dominance by the two corporate parties. As Ralph Nader says, > "We need more voices and choices." To this end, in the short term, we > propose ranked choice voting,as is now used for city council elections > in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Leandro. In the longer term, we favor > moving to a system of proportional representation, as is now used in > most countries in the world, including Japan, Brazil, Venezuela, and > in almost all European nations. > > The Green Party's position on Proposition 28 should be: "Yes (with > reservations)". > > *_Proposition 29 (Tobacco tax) -- Either "No position", or "No"_* > > Proposition 29 is largely another example of blaming and punishing the > victim. Nicotine is a drug that is addicting. Those who are > unfortunate enough to smoke are currently paying 87 cents in excise > taxto the state for every pack of cigarettes, accounting for 905 > million dollars annually, and by adding one dollar per pack, Prop. 29 > would more than double that. The same people who would pay this tax > are generally people who are already suffering from the effects of > tobacco. It's doubtful we can ever succeed in getting everyone to quit > smoking and another tax on cigarettes and all tobacco products will > only serve to put more stress and burden on those who smoke -- almost > all of whom are part of the 99%. > > Proposition 29 would create another politically-appointed bureaucratic > entity to administer these funds without any real accountability. One > of the most chilling things about Proposition 29 is the fact that if > this tax goes into effect it has built in immunity to any changes for > the next 15 years. > > While it's probably true (as the proponents argue), that increasing > the cost of cigarettes by about 25% would somewhat discourage > teenagers from starting to smoke, it should be noted that only a small > portion of the funds that are raised would actually go to prevent > people from (or help them to stop) smoking. Instead, the bulk of the > money will mostly subsidize highly paid researchers. If Prop. 29 were > truly serious about helping to prevent smoking, then the bulk of the > money would instead have been used for prevention programs. > > Finally, voters should be aware that the notorious Don Perata > (formerly leader of the State Senate) used this ballot measure as one > of the main vehicles to raise money to help him (indirectly) with his > 2010 campaign for Oakland Mayor. For example, in early 2010, Perata's > state initiative campaign fund already had $700,000 in its accounts > and it was sharing an office with his Mayor's campaign -- and "the > Don" was using some of that initiative money on consultants who were > also working on his Mayoral campaign, and on mailers which publicized > himself to Oakland voters, as well as on fancy hotels and meals, etc. > (See: > http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/the-cancer-in-the-oakland-mayors-race/Content?oid=1600133. > And after Perata lost the Mayor's race to Jean Quan, he then paid his > friend, city council member Ignacio DeLaFuente, $12,000 to be a > "consultant" on the initiative campaign, etc.). > > Of course, Perata calculated that it would be very unlikely that any > major group would (sympathetically) defend addicted smokers from a tax > increase on tobacco, and that (probably) only tobacco companies would > contribute much money to defeat it (which so far is the case), so for > the solid majority of voters, the "politically correct" position is > going to be to approve this proposition. Which means that this could > easily become a "hot potato" for the state Green Party. Therefore, > despite all of the reasons cited above for defeating this proposition, > "politically", it may well be smarter for the state Green Party to > just "stay out of it" -- and have "No position" on Prop. 29. > > > > _______________________________________________ > sosfbay-discuss mailing list > sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org > http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss -- Spencer Graves, PE, PhD President and Chief Technology Officer Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc. 751 Emerson Ct. San Jos?, CA 95126 ph: 408-655-4567 web: www.structuremonitoring.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net Wed Apr 25 19:06:06 2012 From: j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net (Jim Doyle) Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:06:06 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] county council - treasurer & secretary Message-ID: <4F98AD8E.3040809@sbcglobal.net> The bylaws not only say that the county council shall elect a treasurer and a secretary from their members but also may ratify the selection of these officers made at a General County Meeting. which is to say those officers may be selected at a General Meeting and ratified by the county council. The bylaws do not specify who makes the selection. However, that has been interpreted as the attendees at said general meeting make the selection. In the case of the person currently functioning as Treasurer the county Council appointed him and at the next general meeting the appointment was approved. The semi annual preparation of the FPPC filings takes me 2 to 4 hours each time. The only costs are for postage which average $17 each time. From the bylaws: 2.1.2 The Council shall select a secretary and a treasurer from among its members, or may ratify the selection of these officers made at a General County Meeting. From WB4D23 at aol.com Thu Apr 26 14:55:28 2012 From: WB4D23 at aol.com (WB4D23 at aol.com) Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:55:28 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Final Draft Agenda for Thursday April 26 GPSCC Meeting Message-ID: GREEN PARTY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY Draft Agenda for Monthly General Membership Meeting April 26, 2012 (4th Thursday) San Jose Peace and Justice Center, 48 South 7th Street, San Jose, CA (Near 7th and San Fernando Streets) 7:00 pm ? Eat and chat; Two Speakers -- Lynne Huidekuper and seven minute video and comments (15 minutes); John Filretta / Citizen's Climate Lobby (_www.citizensclimatelobby.org_ (http://www.citizensclimatelobby.org/) ) (15 minutes) Note: Times need to be pro-rated for starting late so meeting can start on time. NOTE -- IT IS UNCLEAR THAT THE SPEAKERS ARE PLANNED FOR BEFORE THE MEETING OR DURING THE MEETING. IF SPEAKERS PRESENT DURING THE MEETING THAT IS ADDING ABOUT 30 MINUTES, WHICH MEANS THE MEETING MAY GO AS LONG AS 10:00 PM 7:30 pm ? Begin meeting Select Facilitator, Notetaker, Timekeeper, and Vibes watcher(s), Select Agenda Preparer for t meeting; Affirm or modify draft agenda (5 Minutes) Introductions and Announcements (10 Mintes) Treasurer?s Report ? Jim Doyle (5 minutes) PROPOSAL TO FILL COUNTY COUNCIL VACANCY: At last month?s GPSCC meeting, it was proposed that John Thielking be appointed to fill a vacancy on the GPSCC County Council. We have three CC members where there can be up to seven positions. The proposal was postponed to the April meeting because there had not been advance notice. NOTE: There were no filings for election to the County Council for the two year period beginning June 2012. We need additional volunteers to be County Council members!!! ? County Council (10 Minutes) County Polling on Propositions 28 and 29 ? Tian Harter (20 minutes) There are two ballot measures that have been presented for GPCA approval or opposition by County Polling (see summaries below). The deadline for our County?s positions (4 votes) is due by April 28th. General Assembly (May 12-13 in San Francisco) Preparation ? Warner Bloomberg (30 Minutes) At the March GPSCC meeting, Warner Bloomberg, Merriam Music and Tian Harter were affirmed as delegates for the upcoming Plenary. We need one more delegate and some alternates. We also need to discuss our positions for proposals to significantly revise the GPCA Bylaws and to modify a 2006 proposal for GPCA Elections Code sections. Also note that a Green Party presidential candidates forum is planned for Saturday evening. For more details about the agenda go to cagreens.org/ga Movies Night ? Proposals -- Merriam and John Thielking (5 Minutes) Proposal to endorse HR 1342 -- Gerry Gras (10 Minutes) Discussion -- Bank forclosures project -- Spencer Graves (10 Minures) Discussion of status of tabling supplies -- (10 Minutes) Plan for Spring Tabling -- (5 Minutes) Berryessa Arts & Wine Festiveal Saturday May 12th Others??? (2 Hours Estimated Cumulative Times. Goal: Adjourn by 9:30 pm) Tabling Events Addenda ? Needed for each item (not necessarily all at this meeting): Confirm date and location; Approval of fee payment (as applicable); Designation of coordinator(s) and other volunteers May 12 Barryessa Arts and Wine Festival ### [From GPSCC Bylaws] ARTICLE 2 COUNTY COUNCIL 2.1 Purposes 2.1.1 The County Council will fulfill the legal requirement for a liaison between the California Green Party and Santa Clara County officials. As used in these Bylaws, the term "County Council" shall have the same meaning as the term "Central Committee" as that term is used by the Office of the Registrar of Voters for Santa Clara County, California. 2.1.2 The Council shall select a secretary and a treasurer from among its members, or may ratify the selection of these officers made at a General County Meeting. The Council and/or its officers will be responsible for complying with the financial reporting requirements of the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). The Council or its officers shall be responsible for obtaining an FPPC number for financial reporting. The Council may create such committees or initiate such inquiries as it considers necessary and appropriate to perform its collective responsibilities as described in these Bylaws. 2.1.3 Internal to the Green Party, the Council's primary duties include serving as a coordinating or steering committee to: a) Facilitate communications between Green Party members within the county, at county meetings, and between locals within the county. b) Facilitate communications between the county Green Party and the State Green Party. c) Assist Green Party involvement in elections in the county (including recruiting, advising and assisting Green Party candidates, co-ordinating voter registration efforts and tabling, and supporting ballot issues effecting issues of concern to the state or county Green Party). d) Enhance communications between the county Green Party and other Green Parties and/or other local organizations which support the principals and objectives set forth in the Green Party Platform. e) Oversee and assist the work of committees formed by the Council, or outside the Council by the Party's members, to help carry out the above duties, or other duties considered necessary that are not in conflict with these ByLaws; such as an electoral reform committee, an environmental issues committee, etc. 2.1.4 The County Council shall act as the designated contact persons for the Green Party of Santa Clara County, and refer interested people to persons who may be designated as spokespeople for the Party at a General County Meeting. 2.1.5 The County Council, by agreement of eighty percent (80%) of its members, may authorize the use of the name of the Green Party of Santa Clara County as an endorser or co-sponsor of an event or public statement consistent with the principals and objectives set forth in the Green Party Platform if time issues make the decision necessary before it can be brought before the next general meeting. Any such County Council authorization shall be reported to those present at the next monthly meeting. [Adopted July 1, 2003] 2.2 Membership in the Council 2.2.1 All County Council members must be residents of Santa Clara County and registered to vote with the Green Party. 2.2.2 The County Council is designated by the State Green Party bylaws to consist of seven members elected at large from the county's Green Party constituency. Additional members may be appointed by the Council. Vacancies on the Council that reduce the membership to less than seven will be filled by appointment by the remaining County Council member(s) within 30 days of the vacancy. The State Green Party Coordinating Committee and the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters shall be informed of all appointed members within two working days of the appointment. It shall be an objective of the Green Party of Santa Clara County that its County Council reflect the diversity of the general population in the county and likewise reflect Green Party values. From: marnie at cagreens.org To: wsb3attyca at aol.com Sent: 4/5/2012 1:08:36 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time Subj: Prop 28 and Prop 29 Hi County Council members and GPCA leaders. Below is an analysis of Propositions 28 and 29 by several active members of the Green Party of Alameda County. Thank you Alameda Greens. We are asking all county councils to discuss and vote yes, no, no position or abstain on these propositions. THE DEADLINE TO SEND US YOUR POSITIONS IS APRIL 30. Thank you to the county councils that have already sent your positions to us: San Diego, Tulare, Alameda and Marin. Please contact us if you have any questions. Best wishes, Marnie Glicmkan, 415.259.7121 Richard Gomez, Fresno County, nate136_66 at yahoo.com *** Proposition 28 (Changes to term limits) -- Yes (with reservations) Proposition 28 reduces the number of years persons elected after June 5, 2012 can serve in the Legislature from 14 years to 12 years total in a lifetime. At the same time it increases the number of years persons can serve in either House (Assembly or State Senate) to a maximum of 12 years. Proponents of Proposition 28 include the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, the Congress of California Seniors, the Democratic Party, and Dan Schnur, Chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Opponents include U.S. Term Limits, Parents In Charge, the National Tax Limitation Committee, and Americans for Prosperity. The virtue of this proposition is that it is a small change for the better. It is a tacit admission that term limits, which went into effect in November 1990, have been a fiasco for public policy. (The effect of term limits has been strengthening the hand of corporate lobbyists in dealing with a revolving door of legislators.) But we have two reservations. First, this is a very small improvement. It will not undo the damage done by term limits. (We are totally opposed to term limits. Term limits are an assault on the process of democracy, in which the voters decide whom they want to represent them.) Second, this measure does not address the real problems of the Legislature; the lack of responsiveness to the 99% caused by the exclusive dominance by the two corporate parties. As Ralph Nader says, ?We need more voices and choices.? To this end, in the short term, we propose ranked choice voting,as is now used for city council elections in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Leandro. In the longer term, we favor moving to a system of proportional representation, as is now used in most countries in the world, including Japan, Brazil, Venezuela, and in almost all European nations. The Green Party?s position on Proposition 28 should be: ?Yes (with reservations)?. Proposition 29 (Tobacco tax) -- Either "No position", or "No" Proposition 29 is largely another example of blaming and punishing the victim. Nicotine is a drug that is addicting. Those who are unfortunate enough to smoke are currently paying 87 cents in excise taxto the state for every pack of cigarettes, accounting for 905 million dollars annually, and by adding one dollar per pack, Prop. 29 would more than double that. The same people who would pay this tax are generally people who are already suffering from the effects of tobacco. It's doubtful we can ever succeed in getting everyone to quit smoking and another tax on cigarettes and all tobacco products will only serve to put more stress and burden on those who smoke -- almost all of whom are part of the 99%. Proposition 29 would create another politically-appointed bureaucratic entity to administer these funds without any real accountability. One of the most chilling things about Proposition 29 is the fact that if this tax goes into effect it has built in immunity to any changes for the next 15 years. While it's probably true (as the proponents argue), that increasing the cost of cigarettes by about 25% would somewhat discourage teenagers from starting to smoke, it should be noted that only a small portion of the funds that are raised would actually go to prevent people from (or help them to stop) smoking. Instead, the bulk of the money will mostly subsidize highly paid researchers. If Prop. 29 were truly serious about helping to prevent smoking, then the bulk of the money would instead have been used for prevention programs. Finally, voters should be aware that the notorious Don Perata (formerly leader of the State Senate) used this ballot measure as one of the main vehicles to raise money to help him (indirectly) with his 2010 campaign for Oakland Mayor. For example, in early 2010, Perata's state initiative campaign fund already had $700,000 in its accounts and it was sharing an office with his Mayor's campaign -- and "the Don" was using some of that initiative money on consultants who were also working on his Mayoral campaign, and on mailers which publicized himself to Oakland voters, as well as on fancy hotels and meals, etc. (See: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/the-cancer-in-the-oakland-mayors-race/Content?oid=1600133. And after Perata lost the Mayor's race to Jean Quan, he then paid his friend, city council member Ignacio DeLaFuente, $12,000 to be a "consultant" on the initiative campaign, etc.). Of course, Perata calculated that it would be very unlikely that any major group would (sympathetically) defend addicted smokers from a tax increase on tobacco, and that (probably) only tobacco companies would contribute much money to defeat it (which so far is the case), so for the solid majority of voters, the "politically correct" position is going to be to approve this proposition. Which means that this could easily become a "hot potato" for the state Green Party. Therefore, despite all of the reasons cited above fo r defeating this proposition, "politically", it may well be smarter for the state Green Party to just "stay out of it" -- and have "No position" on Prop. 29. _______________________________________________ sosfbay-discuss mailing list sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss _______________________________________________ sosfbay-discuss mailing list sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pagesincolor at yahoo.com Thu Apr 26 17:06:19 2012 From: pagesincolor at yahoo.com (John Thielking) Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:06:19 +0000 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Protecting our online privacy Message-ID: Hi there! Some people may have had problems with the link that I sent about CISPA earlier. Try the different link at the bottom of this e-mail. Our privacy is up for a vote this week. (The House voted in favor of CISPA today.) In an attempt to address cyber threats, the US House will begin voting Thursday on a bill that would allow for the unlimited sharing of personal data amongst and between private companies and the government, without a single safeguard for privacy or civil liberties. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act is such a serious threat to our privacy that the White House has threatened to veto it should it make it through Congress. If passed, it could have a ripple effect across the world. But there is still time to stop it. We need to convince technology companies supporting CISPA that protecting us against cyber threats does not have to come at the expense of our privacy. I've already signed the Access petition urging these 30 companies and organizations to stand up for their users and drop their CISPA. And I think you should too. Add your name to the petition by clicking below: https://www.accessnow.org/page/s/protect-our-privacy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net Fri Apr 27 12:29:10 2012 From: j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net (Jim Doyle) Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:29:10 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Berryessa Art and Wine Festival Message-ID: <4F9AF386.5000108@sbcglobal.net> We will have a spot at the "BAWF" on Saturday May 12-th. I have contacted them and submitted our formal application for a booth spot. From carolineyacoub at att.net Fri Apr 27 12:49:09 2012 From: carolineyacoub at att.net (Caroline Yacoub) Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:49:09 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fw: [HCA-SantaClara] New Legislative Districts for Congress, State Senate and Assembly Who is a Single Payer supporter? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1335556149.91006.YahooMailRC@web181003.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> ? To find who you will vote for on June 5th in the new Assembly, Senate and Congressional Districts here's the link where you enter your address and it shows you the map of the old and new district. Unfortunately they neglected to identify the numbers of each district! You might be able to figure out what the number is by looking at the map of the district. Below is the list of Dem. candidates for each district with the main cities in the new district. http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/29/3804492/see-your-senate-assembly-or-congress.html? Single Payer Supporters are in?blue? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ District Location ?Candidates AD 22 San Mateo Kevin Mullin,-D son of Gene Mullin, SSF Council Member AD 24 San Mateo/Santa Clara Counties Rich Gordon-D, Gaby Espinosa-D AD 25 Fresno, Santa Clara Bob Wieckowski-D, Pete McHugh-D AD 27 San Jose/East San Jose Nora Campos-D AD 28 Campbell-Saratoga-Los Gatos Paul Fong D AD 29 Santa Cruz- Monterey Bob Fultz-D Former member San Lorenzo USD ? ? Mark Stone-D Supervisor, Santa Cruz AD30 East Monterey Luis Alejo-D SD10 Hayward-Fremont Elaine Corbett-D Incumbent SS 11 SF Mark Leno-D SD13 San Mateo/Santa Clara Counties Sally Lieber-D former Assemblymember ? ? Jerry Hill-D current Assemblymember ? ? Christopher Kent Chiang-D SD15 San Jose/Campbell/Saratoga Jim Beall-D? current Assemblymember-? ? Joe Coto-D former Assemblymember ? ? Barry Chang-D Cupertino Council member SD17 Santa Cruz-San Luis Obispo Bill Monning-D CD 14 San Mateo Jackie Speier-D Incumbent CD 17 Milpitas, Santa Clara,San Jose Mike Honda-D CD18 Silicon Valley Anna Eshoo-D, William Parks-D CD19 Southeast San Jose Zoe Lofgren-D CD 22 Fresno,Clovis,Tulare,Visalia Otto Lee-D ? __._,_.___ Recent Activity: * New Members 9 * New Photos 10 * New Files 2 Visit Your Group Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest ? Unsubscribe ? Terms of Use . __,_._,___ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From snug.bug at hotmail.com Fri Apr 27 14:36:08 2012 From: snug.bug at hotmail.com (Brian Good) Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:36:08 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fw: [HCA-SantaClara] New Legislative Districts for Congress, State Senate and Assembly Who is a Single Payer supporter? In-Reply-To: <1335556149.91006.YahooMailRC@web181003.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> References: , <1335556149.91006.YahooMailRC@web181003.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Seeing Anna's name on that list as a no-single-payer reminds me of her performance at a Scott's Valley Town Hall probably in 2009 when somebody asked her about her position on single-payer. Anna responded to that by talking about how important health care is, and how challenging to working families, and then she went round and round about health care for ten minutes until everybody had stopped listening and only the most attentive noticed that she had never answered the question. Of course it's just a coincidence that of 2 of her top 3 contributors are Giliead and Johnson & Johnson, and the top industry contributing to her is Pharma. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00007335&cycle=2012 IMHO the need for campaign finance reform is one of the top factors with the problems with Congress today, and I've long thought that Greens should build national visibility for the party by running informational campaigns for Congress based on the ideas of Lawrence Lessig, and that a national working group should be established to create the template and the propaganda for such campaigns. There is a new organization, maplight, that's building databases allowing them to draw correlations between campaign contributions and legislators' votes. Here's their page on Anna http://maplight.org/us-congress/legislator/235-anna-eshoo Fun facts: 70% of her contributions come from outside her district 50% come from out of her state Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:49:09 -0700 From: carolineyacoub at att.net To: sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fw: [HCA-SantaClara] New Legislative Districts for Congress, State Senate and Assembly Who is a Single Payer supporter? To find who you will vote for on June 5th in the new Assembly, Senate and Congressional Districts here's the link where you enter your address and it shows you the map of the old and new district. Unfortunately they neglected to identify the numbers of each district! You might be able to figure out what the number is by looking at the map of the district. Below is the list of Dem. candidates for each district with the main cities in the new district. http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/29/3804492/see-your-senate-assembly-or-congress.html Single Payer Supporters are in blue ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ District Location Candidates AD 22 San Mateo Kevin Mullin,-D son of Gene Mullin, SSF Council Member AD 24 San Mateo/Santa Clara Counties Rich Gordon-D, Gaby Espinosa-D AD 25 Fresno, Santa Clara Bob Wieckowski-D, Pete McHugh-D AD 27 San Jose/East San Jose Nora Campos-D AD 28 Campbell-Saratoga-Los Gatos Paul Fong D AD 29 Santa Cruz- Monterey Bob Fultz-D Former member San Lorenzo USD Mark Stone-D Supervisor, Santa Cruz AD30 East Monterey Luis Alejo-D SD10 Hayward-Fremont Elaine Corbett-D Incumbent SS 11 SF Mark Leno-D SD13 San Mateo/Santa Clara Counties Sally Lieber-D former Assemblymember Jerry Hill-D current Assemblymember Christopher Kent Chiang-D SD15 San Jose/Campbell/Saratoga Jim Beall-D current Assemblymember- Joe Coto-D former Assemblymember Barry Chang-D Cupertino Council member SD17 Santa Cruz-San Luis Obispo Bill Monning-D CD 14 San Mateo Jackie Speier-D Incumbent CD 17 Milpitas, Santa Clara,San Jose Mike Honda-D CD18 Silicon Valley Anna Eshoo-D, William Parks-D CD19 Southeast San Jose Zoe Lofgren-D CD 22 Fresno,Clovis,Tulare,Visalia Otto Lee-D __._,_.___ Recent Activity: New Members 9 New Photos 10 New Files 2 Visit Your Group Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest ? Unsubscribe ? Terms of Use . __,_._,___ _______________________________________________ sosfbay-discuss mailing list sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jules.c.brouillet at gmail.com Fri Apr 27 16:04:19 2012 From: jules.c.brouillet at gmail.com (Jules Brouillet) Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:04:19 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] sosfbay-discuss Digest, Vol 27, Issue 31 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: If you would like more detailed information on Congresswoman Anna Eshoo's record, you can find it in our research document . Jules On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 2:36 PM, wrote: > Send sosfbay-discuss mailing list submissions to > sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > sosfbay-discuss-request at cagreens.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > sosfbay-discuss-owner at cagreens.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of sosfbay-discuss digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Fw: [HCA-SantaClara] New Legislative Districts for > Congress, State Senate and Assembly Who is a Single Payer > supporter? (Brian Good) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:36:08 -0700 > From: Brian Good > To: , > Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] Fw: [HCA-SantaClara] New Legislative > Districts for Congress, State Senate and Assembly Who is a Single > Payer supporter? > Message-ID: > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" > > > > Seeing Anna's name on that list as a no-single-payer reminds me of her > performance at > a Scott's Valley Town Hall probably in 2009 when somebody asked her about > her position > on single-payer. Anna responded to that by talking about how important > health care is, > and how challenging to working families, and then she went round and round > about health > care for ten minutes until everybody had stopped listening and only the > most attentive > noticed that she had never answered the question. > > Of course it's just a coincidence that of 2 of her top 3 contributors are > Giliead and > Johnson & Johnson, and the top industry contributing to her is Pharma. > http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00007335&cycle=2012 > > IMHO the need for campaign finance reform is one of the top factors with > the problems > with Congress today, and I've long thought that Greens should build > national visibility for > the party by running informational campaigns for Congress based on the > ideas of > Lawrence Lessig, and that a national working group should be established > to create > the template and the propaganda for such campaigns. > > There is a new organization, maplight, that's building databases allowing > them to draw > correlations between campaign contributions and legislators' votes. > Here's their page > on Anna http://maplight.org/us-congress/legislator/235-anna-eshoo > > Fun facts: 70% of her contributions come from outside her district > 50% come from out of her state > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:49:09 -0700 > From: carolineyacoub at att.net > To: sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org > Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fw: [HCA-SantaClara] New Legislative Districts for > Congress, State Senate and Assembly Who is a Single Payer > supporter? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > To find who you will vote for on June 5th in the new Assembly, Senate and > Congressional Districts here's the link where you enter your address and it > shows you the map of the old and new district. Unfortunately they neglected > to identify the numbers of each district! You might be able to figure out > what the number is by looking at the map of the district. Below is the list > of Dem. candidates for each district with the main cities in the new > district. > > > http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/29/3804492/see-your-senate-assembly-or-congress.html > > > > Single Payer Supporters are in blue > > ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ > > > > > > > > > > District > Location > Candidates > > AD 22 > San Mateo > Kevin Mullin,-D son of Gene Mullin, SSF Council Member > > AD 24 > San Mateo/Santa Clara Counties > Rich Gordon-D, Gaby Espinosa-D > > AD 25 > Fresno, Santa Clara > Bob Wieckowski-D, Pete McHugh-D > > AD 27 > San Jose/East San Jose > Nora Campos-D > > AD 28 > Campbell-Saratoga-Los Gatos > Paul Fong D > > AD 29 > Santa Cruz- Monterey > Bob Fultz-D Former member San Lorenzo USD > > > > Mark Stone-D Supervisor, Santa Cruz > > AD30 > East Monterey > Luis Alejo-D > > SD10 > Hayward-Fremont > Elaine Corbett-D Incumbent > > SS 11 > SF > Mark Leno-D > > SD13 > San Mateo/Santa Clara Counties > Sally Lieber-D former Assemblymember > > > > Jerry Hill-D current Assemblymember > > > > Christopher Kent Chiang-D > > SD15 > San Jose/Campbell/Saratoga > Jim Beall-D current Assemblymember- > > > > > Joe Coto-D former Assemblymember > > > > Barry Chang-D Cupertino Council member > > SD17 > Santa Cruz-San Luis Obispo > Bill Monning-D > > CD 14 > San Mateo > Jackie Speier-D Incumbent > > CD 17 > Milpitas, Santa Clara,San Jose > Mike Honda-D > > CD18 > Silicon Valley > Anna Eshoo-D, William Parks-D > > CD19 > Southeast San Jose > Zoe Lofgren-D > > CD 22 > Fresno,Clovis,Tulare,Visalia > Otto Lee-D > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > __._,_.___ > > > Recent Activity: > > New Members 9 > New Photos 10 > New Files 2 > Visit Your Group > > Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest ? Unsubscribe ? Terms of > Use > > > . > > __,_._,___ > > > _______________________________________________ > sosfbay-discuss mailing list > sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org > http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://lists.cagreens.org/pipermail/sosfbay-discuss/attachments/20120427/6f7bb368/attachment.html > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > sosfbay-discuss mailing list > sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org > http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss > > End of sosfbay-discuss Digest, Vol 27, Issue 31 > *********************************************** > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tnharter at aceweb.com Fri Apr 27 16:50:08 2012 From: tnharter at aceweb.com (Tian Harter) Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:50:08 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Carol Brouillet Party at Fred's clubhouse Saturday afternoon! Message-ID: <4F9B30B0.5010209@aceweb.com> Come on down! Starts around 3:00 PM, ends at 10 PMish. Where: Willow Park Condo Condo clubhouse, 500 W Middlefield Rd., Mountain View, CA 94042 There will be music, food, great speakers, lots of educational and campaign materials, including the new Election Dollars, Greenbacks, and Perception Dollars which we will be giving away. This is a community building event. "Community" literally means the free exchange of... gifts, and Carol has advocated for nearly two decades moving away from a debt based monetary system towards a gift economy. A third of the district used to be outside of the old District 14, where Anna Eshoo has been the incumbent for twenty years. Under the new law, all state and federal candidates of all parties will run against one another in the primary on June 5th, with only the top two, advancing to the November ballot. It is a blatant attempt to silence third party voices, and increase big money's influence over our choice of candidates. Carol has been an activist/organizer for two decades, exposing the truth about the effects of low-level nuclear radiation, confronting our global US military and security apparatus, rallying to protect human rights. She has pushed for holding officials accountable, monetary reform, reining in corporate power, and has lead the public charge to question the official narrative of 9/11, the foundation of imperial wars and onslaughts upon our rights, the Constitution, and the assault upon our economic system, escalating the plunder by the few of the many. The dollars she has published and distributed widely have helped nurture the growing movements for truth, peace, justice and social change. Join the campaign, come to the party, support this grassroots effort to get a Green option in the November election! With support from the community, we can make a difference. Guest speakers include: *Cindy Sheehan; mother, activist, author, host of The Soapbox Radio Show *Maria Gilardin; artist, activist, producer of T.U.C. (Time of Useful Consciousness) Radio *Dr. Peter Phillips; President of Media Freedom International, past director of Project Censored, author, host of the Morning Mix with Project Censored Radio Show *Ken Jenkins, Co-founder of the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance, filmmaker, he produced 9/11 ? The Myth and the Reality with David Ray Griffin, and 9/11: Blueprint for Truth. *Richard Gage, AIA; Architect and founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth *Mary Ann Thomas; mother, activist, member of World Can't Wait *MaryBeth Brangan & Jim Heddle, Ecological Options Network *Dr. Paul Rea, author of Mounting Evidence- Why We Need a New Investigation of 9/11 *Jay Cabrera, activist with the Occupy Movement, congressional candidate in District 19 Musicians include: * Vic Sadot, the Truth Troubadour, * Rebecca Cross, (Rebecca created the original theme music for the Community Currency Radio Show) * Jeremy Goodfeather, (Jeremy performed The Truth About It at the 2009 9/11 Truth Film Festival.) *Brian Wallace, Brian is a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, composer, poet, entertainer and media artist We also will have yard signs, bumper stickers, buttons, volunteer opportunities. We need to recruit more canvassers. In addition to doorhangars, literature, for walking the precincts, the new "Election Dollars," and the new "Greenbacks." We will also be distributing the new Perception Dollars. We hope to revitalize the Greens in the District, register more Green Voters. So many people have given up on the electoral process, a mere fraction actually votes. The small percentage that does vote determines the outcome of elections (well those elections which haven't been stolen). Apathy, cynicism allows incumbents an easy win; engagement, participation, awareness, a genuine alternative is our best hope for real change. Movements generally force policy change, but they do encounter much resistance. The Green Party does not accept corporate money and provides a needed option to the two pro-corporate, pro-war parties. The slogan of our campaign is "Occupy Congress," be a part of the effort; we can be the change we wish to see. Visit Carol4Congress.org to learn more about the campaign. -- Tian http://tian.greens.org Latest change: I took lots of pictures at SJBP's Shark bike party. The small leaded glass pyramid is on a partners for clean air fob. From gerrygras at earthlink.net Fri Apr 27 18:01:37 2012 From: gerrygras at earthlink.net (Gerry Gras) Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:01:37 -0700 Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Meat free, gluten free ... In-Reply-To: <4F9B4152.1000608@earthlink.net> References: <4F9B4152.1000608@earthlink.net> Message-ID: <4F9B4171.20000@earthlink.net> FWIW, A personal story about the big positive difference a meat free and gluten free diet made. http://bethechange2012.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/from-big-tobacco-to-big-corn-the-time-to-stand-up-for-the-right-to-health-is-now/ Gerry From leedobell at aol.com Mon Apr 30 01:12:04 2012 From: leedobell at aol.com (Leedobell) Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:12:04 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Fwd: Berryessa Art and Wine Festival In-Reply-To: <8CEF4BFEF1A9E5B-9FC-3E75@Webmail-d113.sysops.aol.com> References: <4F9AF386.5000108@sbcglobal.net> <8CEF4BFEF1A9E5B-9FC-3E75@Webmail-d113.sysops.aol.com> Message-ID: <8CEF4C01037565F-9FC-3E76@Webmail-d113.sysops.aol.com> -----Original Message----- From: Leedobell To: j.m.doyle Sent: Mon, Apr 30, 2012 1:11 am Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] Berryessa Art and Wine Festival Hi, I am sorry to report I will not be here for Berryessa or for Sunday at the plenary. I will be in Minnesota. If we can find somebody with a car to do Berryessa and/or thre plenary, John T. said he would help, but needs transport. I would love to hand over the canopy and tabling stuff. Caroline -----Original Message----- From: Jim Doyle To: sosfbay discussion group Sent: Fri, Apr 27, 2012 12:29 pm Subject: [GPSCC-chat] Berryessa Art and Wine Festival We will have a spot at the "BAWF" n Saturday May 12-th. I have contacted them and submitted our formal application or a booth spot. ______________________________________________ osfbay-discuss mailing list osfbay-discuss at cagreens.org ttp://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carolineyacoub at att.net Mon Apr 30 19:03:05 2012 From: carolineyacoub at att.net (Caroline Yacoub) Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:03:05 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [GPSCC-chat] April meeting Message-ID: <1335837785.92839.YahooMailRC@web181017.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> We had an embarassment of riches this month, in that we had two speakers lined up for our 7:00-7:30 time. Lynn Huidekoper came with a seven minute video and an update on the current state of single payer in California. Gerry brought John Fioretta from the Citizen's Climate Lobby, but they moved onto the regular agenda. Campaign For Healthy California is the new name for the single payer effort. The Green Party has become an official part of the coalition. There are two new videos, the 7 minute one and a longer one designed for an event primarily for health care discussion. We will probably be having one of those, in the manner of our Food For Thoughts. SB 810, the California single payer bill, has been in the works for 17 years. Recently, 6 state senators--all democrats--?who had been signers and co-authors, were bought off and turned coat. Mark Leno will reintroduce it. The purpose of these videos is to get as many people as possible behind it. THE MEETING Those present: Warner, Merriam, John T., Gerry, John Fioretta, Fred, Lynn H., Caroline, Spencer Tian, Jim D., and Drew. Facilitator: Warner Note Taker: Caroline Time Keeper: Merriam Vibes Watcher: Tian Agenda for next month: Jim Doyle Intros and announcements: Tian announced Carol Brouillet is having a fund raiser meeting at Fred's clubhouse on Saturday from 3-10. John T. said CISPA (?) passed today. Obama said he would veto it. Merriam: There is a fund raiser for Carlos Montez on May 12. It will be an art auction. Gerry and John Fioretta: Citizens' Climate Lobby. HR 3242 would create political will for a stable climate. It is a fee and dividend proposal. There would be a tax on carbon based fuels at their point of origin--oil well, port, coal mine, etc. The money raised goes back to the people who pay taxes. This is simpler than cap and trade because there are no offsets. Biggest impediment is a lack of a groundswell of support. The tax is based on tons of carbon dioxide that would be produced. The tax would be implemented by the IRS. We all twinkled for this. Treasurer's Report: We have $2546 in the account. We sent a check to the Green Party for stuff we haven't received yet. We brought in over $120 this month with our tabling efforts. Proposal to fill County Council vacancies: It was proposed that we appoint John and Spencer. When it was pointed out that John had been a member of the Green Party for less than a year, we wound up affirming Spencer. Ballot Propositions: If you are a voter, you should have received complete information on the content of 28 and 29. We have 4 votes to cast from our county. On Proposition 28, we will vote 1 yes, 3 no position. On Proposition 29,? we will vote 2 no, 2 no position.? Plenary: We are entitled to four delegates. Warner, Tian, and Merriam were supposed to go. Merriam can't go Saturday. Drew volunteered. Gerry, Merriam, Caroline, and Spencer were to be alternates, with Caroline providing transport on Sunday. Unfortunately, Caroline will be in Minnesota, so alternative transportation needs to be found. The spring plenary is the budget meeting. Warner will send out more information on this and on the "Standing General Assembly". Saturday night at the plenary will be a Presidential Candidates Forum. We will vote No on a proposed change for the CC to be all at large members. Movie Night: May 11--y'all come. We will be showing a scary movie about the Koch brothers. Tabling: John will help anyone who will take the stuff out to Berryessa Art and Wine on the 12th. Caroline was going to do it, but she'll be gone. She wants to hand off the canopy, tables, chairs, and tabling materials before she goes. We haven't discussed Juneteenth, but we're saving that for next month. Spencer: has been working with Occupy on foreclosures. Homeowners For Justice, by a realtor that Betsy found, will put on a two-hour presentation using the Green Party, possibly at Fred's or Tian's clubhouse, or Drew volunteered his church. Nasty factoid--at least one violation was found in 99% of foreclosure proceedings. Jim Doyle put his item aside until the next meeting. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: