<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">Dear
Friends, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">The Los
Angeles Times has a feature they call "Blowback."<span style=""> </span>They will accept a 700-word op-ed article to
be posted on their official web site.<span style="">
</span>It is not the same thing as an op-ed printed in the nespaper, of course
(for that you have to a big shot with a Ph.D. repeating arguments and clichés
everybody has heard a thousand times already).<span style="">
</span>Nevertheless, it is the Los Angeles Times, one of the half-dozen largest
circulation newspapers in the United States.<span style="">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">Almost
every day, the Times publishes a hand-wringing article pleading for
"reform" in City Hall, "reform" in Sacramento, or
"reform" in Washington.<span style="">
</span>Accordingly, I crafted a little template that I've used to submit a
Green op-ed several times.<span style=""> </span>Last week
they ran a pathetic editorial pleading with California's Republican
congressional delegation to support the reauthorization of SCHIP.<span style=""> </span>Of course, all but one of the GOP wingnuts
voted to sustain Bush's veto.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">I guess
that must have pissed somebody off at the LA Times because today I checked the
web site and, blow me down, they posted the lastest version of my rant.<span style=""> </span>They even identified me as a
"contributor to Green Commons, a site dedicated to "promoting the
visibility and growth of the Green Party of the United States."<span style=""> </span>Funny thing is, I almost didn't check the
web site today, since I happen to have my hands full babysitting two
grandchildren alone this weekend.<span style=""> </span>See
the text below.<span style=""> </span>Agree or disagree,
please click on the LATimes web site at:<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br>
</font></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><br>
<span style=""><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></font> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-walker22oct22,0,6131751.story?coll=la-promo-opinion">http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-walker22oct22,0,6131751.story?coll=la-promo-opinion</a>.
</span><span style=""><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></font>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">Leave a
comment so they'll think I've kicked up a storm of controversy.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">Alex
Walker <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">=<span style=""> </span>=<span style="">
</span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style="">
</span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style="">
</span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style="">
</span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style=""> </span>=<span style=""> </span>=<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-walker22oct22,0,6131751.story?coll=la-promo-opinion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">From
the Los Angeles Times<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">BLOWBACK<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">CALIFORNIA
POLITICIANS CAN’T REFORM THEMSELVES<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">EDITORIALS
ABOUT THE SCHIP VETO AND CITY HALL LOBBYING POINT TO THE NEED FOR<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">THIRD-PARTY
REFORM<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">by Alex
Walker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">October
22, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">Thursday,
the Los Angeles Times ran an editorial pleading for California Republicans to
help save the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, vetoed by
President Bush. The very next day, The Times had another of many editorials
pleading for Los Angeles Democrats to reform themselves. While I agree, it is
time to face the truth: In the context of our dysfunctional two-party system,
these editorials are not worth the paper they are printed on because California
Republicans and Democrats cannot reform themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">Edith
Isabel Rodriguez died in May at King/Harbor Hospital after writhing in pain on
the floor of the emergency room lobby for 45 minutes while staffers did
nothing. Martin Luther King/Drew opened in Watts not long after the 1965 riots
and had been a symbol of African American pride. In August, the hospital closed
thanks to gross incompetence by the Los Angeles Democratic Party machine. Just
days later, voters rewarded this incompetence by electing Democrat Laura
Richardson in a special election to succeed Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald. In
this gerrymandered one-party Democratic inner-city district, voters have been
told over and over their only "choices" are Democrats and Republicans.
Weekly newspapers like the Los Angeles Sentinel are to Dem hacks what Pravda
was to the Communist Party in the USSR.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">You say
"voters should remember" if California Republicans don't act to save
SCHIP. And then do what? In their gerrymandered one-party Republican suburban
districts, voters have been told over and over that their only
"choices" are Democrats and Republicans. Talk-radio and
"conservative" blogs are to GOP hacks what Izvestia was to the
Communist Party in the USSR.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">And so,
the likes of Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) can easily get away with
pointing to King/Harbor and saying: "Do you want your healthcare to be run
like that?" In the debate over SCHIP on the floor of the House, Republican
Rep. Jerry Lewis of Redlands actually declared that "the real plan here is
to set the stage for a movement of the next gigantic step in the direction of
what should be called Hillarycare."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">All
politics is local.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">Arguments
over third parties are usually tied to Washington gossip and the perpetual
White House beauty pageant, but the greatest need for alternative choices is in
local one-party districts. Reform will only come from an independent,
progressive and inclusive party, like the Green Party.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">Greens
are not "big government" Democrats. Greens favor decentralization and
deep democracy - unlike Democrats who are busy awarding jobs, contracts and
subsidies to cronies at midnight. Greens believe in nonviolence. Greens say
keep kids from guns and gangs and mean it - without nods and winks to "our
guns" and "our gangs." Greens accept no corporate contributions
and reject "reforms" bankrolled by Wal-Mart and the chamber of
commerce. Greens support trade unions but are not beholden to big unions that
always endorse Democrats.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style=""><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">Green
Party activists in both cities and suburbs are the key to redeeming the promise
of American democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoPlainText"><span style="">Alex
Walker is a contributor to Green Commons, a site dedicated to "promoting
the visibility and growth of the Green Party of the United States through
independent commentary, organizing and networking." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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