[GPCA Updates] GP ADVISORY Green Party LIVESTREAM: Greens discuss Obama's State of the Union during speech

[Green Party of California Updates]

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

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, January 25, 2011



Green Party leaders respond to Obama's State of the Union speech

• Green Party LIVESTREAM: Greens discuss the speech during tonight's
broadcast, 9 pm ET / 6 pm PT http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus

• Greens on solving the deficit: end the wars, cut the military budget, tax
the rich.  Greens on solving the health care crisis: enact Medicare For All.
Greens on jobs: a 'Green New Deal' with massive public investment in green
jobs and clean energy.


WASHINGTON, DC -- The Green Party leaders offered comments on President
Obama's 2011 State of the Union speech to Congress and the nation, scheduled
for Tuesday, January 25.  The Green response covers major issues the President
will discuss in his speech, as well as topics he won't address.

The Green Party will air an online livestream with party members discussing
the State of the Union, beginning at 9 pm ET, 6 pm PT, and running
concurrently with the speech.  Viewers can watch and participate on the Green
Party Livestream channel (http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus).  Call-in
comments will be accepted on Skype after the speech ends.

"There’s a lot of talk about Democrats and Republicans 'reaching across the
aisle' during the State of the Union.  What about the gap between Washington
and the rest of the country, much wider than the aisle between the two Titanic
parties?" said Carl Romanelli, 2006 Green candidate for the US Senate in
Pennsylvania.

HEALTH CARE

Should the Democratic health care reform bill be repealed?  Yes, say Greens,
and replaced with a Medicare For All plan -- legislation for single-payer
national health care, covering everyone regardless of ability to pay, age, or
prior medical condition, while allowing freedom to choose one's physician and
hospital.  Medicare For All reduces costs dramatically by enabling price
controls and because Medicare's overhead is only about 3%, while the
for-profit health insurance bureaucracy -- the real "death panels" -- pad
costs by up to 30% for administrative overhead, executive bonuses, and profits
for investors.  Medicare For All would help business and stimulate the economy
by relieving employers of the burden of providing health benefits.

Obamacare and the Republicans' effort to overturn it demonstrate that the
leadership of both parties care more about profits for the insurance cartel,
Big Pharma, and other corporate interests than high-quality low-cost health
care for everyone.  The Obamacare mandate (originally a Republican idea from
the 1990s) forces people who can't afford it to purchase defective, inadequate
coverage from private insurance companies, while doing nothing about
skyrocketing costs.

The narrow Democrat vs. Republican debate on health care, which refuses to
allow even the argument for Medicare For All, proves the need to get Greens
elected to Congress and state legislatures.

THE ECONOMY

There are millions of jobs waiting to be created in alternative energy,
retrofitting of buildings and other forms of conservation, and expansion of
public transportation to reduce car traffic, say Greens, but this can only
happen with a 'Green New Deal' with public investment in these ideas at
national, state, and local levels.  All of the Green New Deal proposals have
become vitally necessary in the century of global warming.  See "Fast Forward
to Renewable Energy" by Cecile Lawrence (http://www.greenpapers.net/?p=58).

Such measures face a huge political obstacle: opposition from Republicans and
"moderate" Democrats who insist -- contrary to all evidence -- that the best
way to stimulate the economy is to reduce government spending (by $100
billion, according to the GOP), slash taxes on the highest income brackets,
privatize essential public services and resources, and send taxpayer-funded
bailouts to reckless Wall Street firms.

The White House and Congress can reduce the deficit drastically by ending the
wars and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, cutting military spending and
the number of US bases on foreign soil, and taxing the wealthy so that they
pay their fair share.  Future meltdowns can be averted by breaking up the "too
big to fail" financial firms into smaller locally-based companies.  The Green
Party's goal of a decentralized economy, based on Main Street rather the Wall
Street, will restore economic stability and security to the US.

Instead of shilling for Wal-Mart's grocery section, First Lady Michelle Obama
would do far more good by promoting local produce, small farms and businesses,
local banks and credit unions, union jobs with good benefits at stores like
Walmart, extended compensation for the unemployed, and aid for people dealing
with home foreclosures, said Greens.  Ms. Obama's promotion of Walmart
coincides with efforts by the chain to open four department stores in
Washington, DC, over the objections of many local residents and merchants.

CORPORATE 'PERSONHOOD'

On the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision
upholding the legal status of corporations as person under the US
Constitution, Green Party leader Sarah 'echo' Steiner announced that she
intends to take the Supreme Court at its word and honor her marriage when she
finds a suitable candidate.  See "First Ever Marriage to a Corporation
Contemplated by Single, Female, 39" (Jan. 18 press release,
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=384), as well as an interview and
other links on the Green Party's home page (http://www.gp.org).

The decision, which abolished limits on corporate spending for political
campaign ads, severely damages the integrity of US elections and caused a
flood of misleading and offensive corporate-sponsored ads in the 2010 election
season.

President Obama and some other Democrats initially criticized the Citizens
United ruling but have taken no further action.  Greens have urged the
President and Congress to recognize that the growing power of corporations
threatens democracy, economic stability, and human rights and freedoms in the
US and abroad.  The Green Party, along with Move To Amend
(http://www.movetoamend.org), supports passage of an amendment that limits
constitutional rights and protections to humans and makes corporations
accountable to their own charters and to the public good.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
• Green candidate database and campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/ballotstatus
• Green Party Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the
United States (Fall 2010 issue now online)
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog


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