GP RELEASE Green Party: Victory by either Romney or Obama will be a global climate setback

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

For Immediate Release:
Monday, September 3, 2012

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


While Obama and Romney ignore global warming, Green presidential nominee Jill
Stein and other Green candidates promote real solutions

• Unless Stein can join the presidential debates, there will be no discussion of
fossil fuel consumption, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, hydrofracking,
mountaintop detonation mining, and other threats to the environment and public
health


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party candidates and leaders said today that the delay
of the Republican National Convention in Tampa and hurricane Isaac's Gulf Coast
landfall should remind voters of a worsening crisis that both Mitt Romney and
Barack Obama keep ignoring: global climate disruption.

Greens expressed alarm over Thursday's news that the Obama Administration has
granted Shell Oil approval for dangerous oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean in a
fragile region off Alaska, especially when a critical oil-spill containment
vessel still awaits certification.

• Andrew Groff, Green candidate for US Senate in Delaware
(http://www.andrewgroffforsenate.us):

"Unless Green presidential candidate Jill Stein is allowed to participate in the
presidential debates, there will be no discussion of what we need to do to curb
catastrophic climate change. On one hand, Romney is appeasing the know-nothing
extremists and junk-science believers in the GOP who deny human responsibility
for global warming. On the other hand, President Obama has proposed minimal
steps to deal with global warming -- and then undercuts them by surrendering to
the corporate energy lobby, supporting off-shore drilling in US coastal waters,
repeating the myth of 'clean coal', and allowing hydrofracking and mountaintop
detonation mining to continue. All of these are immediate threats to public
health and the environment and contribute to the fossil-fuel consumption that's
pumping more and more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The effects are
already evident in the drought and growing instability of weather patterns in
the US."

(See also "Climate Change: An Information Statement of the American
Meteorological Society," August 20, 2012,
http://www.ametsoc.org/policy/2012climatechange.html)

• Martin Pleasant, Green candidate for US Senate in Tennessee
(http://www.martinpleasant.com):

"Jill Stein and other Green candidates are running on a platform that will put
millions of Americans to work and restore economic stability by combatting
global warming with new jobs in conservation, developing new and safe energy
technologies, retrofitting buildings and homes and redesigning public
infrastructure for energy efficiency, expanding public transportation to reduce
car traffic, a carbon tax as an incentive to promote safe and clean energy, and
other ideas. Obama and Romney keep talking about independence from foreign oil.
The real problem is America's addiction to fossil fuels, regardless of where
they come from. Only Dr. Stein is offering solutions."

(More on Dr. Stein's 'Green New Deal': http://www.jillstein.org/green_new_deal)

• Ursula Rozum, Green candidate for US House in New York's District 24
(http://www.ursulaforcongress.com), author of "Solve climate crisis to make
economy humane," Syracuse Post Standard, April 20, 2012
(http://www.greenpapers.net/?p=240):

"The Obama Administration has turned out to be a disaster on the global warming
front. He wants to banish the 2C goal (keeping the world's average temperature
from rising more than two degrees Centigrade) from international negotiations on
climate change (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19161799).
President Obama is also promoting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a new
international trade pact that will serve powerful corporate lobbies by
overrriding environmental protections and allowing more logging, drilling,
mining, and transportation of raw materials in the Pacific rim, as well as
weakening labor rights and imposing more restrictive intellectual property
rules. TPP was negotiated in secret and is supported by Mitt Romney. Greens
oppose it. There will be no discussion of these enormously important issues in
the Obama vs. Romney debate. A victory for either candidate on Nov. 6 will spell
more disaster for our planet."

See also:

Green Party Platform on Climate Change
http://www.gp.org/committees/platform/2012/ecological-sustainability.php#ClimateChange

"Green Party to Obama: Whether foreign or domestic, it's time for America to cut
oil and gas from our energy diet"
Green Party press release, January 31, 2012
http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=474

"Solar Utopia: Another future is possible!"
With articles and essays by David Schwartzman, DC Statehood Green Party
candidate for the US Senate, Professor Emeritus, Department of Biology, Howard
University
http://www.solarutopia.org

"Framing in the context of fracking"
By Cecile Lawrence, Green Papers, August 29, 2012
http://www.greenpapers.net/?p=340

Green Party Eco-Action Committee
http://www.gp.org/committees/ecoaction/index.php

"Climate change is here — and worse than we thought"
By James E. Hansen, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies,
The Washington Post, August 3, 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/climate-change-is-here--and-worse-than-we-thought/2012/08/03/6ae604c2-dd90-11e1-8e43-4a3c4375504a_story.html

"Who’s afraid of the big, bad drought? Romney and Obama say they want to help
farmers, but refuse to mention the cause of the drought that's hurting them"
By Andrew Leonard, Salon.com, August 10, 2012
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/10/whos_afraid_of_the_big_bad_drought/

"The TPP & the Environment: A Behind-Closed-Doors Deal for the 1%"
Citizens Trade Campaign
http://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/TransPacificEnvironment.pdf

"Obama Trade Document Leaked, Revealing New Corporate Powers And Broken Campaign
Promises"
By Zach Carter, The Huffington Post, June 13, 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/obama-trade-document-leak_n_1592593.html


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191
• 2012 Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention, July 12-15 in Baltimore,
Md. http://www.gpconvention2012.com
• Green candidate database and campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Ballot Access Page http://www.gp.org/2012/ballot-access.html
• Video Page http://www.gp.org/video/index.php
• Green Papers http://www.greenpapers.net/
• Google+ http://www.gp.org/google
• Twitter http://twitter.com/gpus
• Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
• GP-TV Twitter page http://www.gp.org/twitter
• Facebook page http://www.gp.org/facebook

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United
States
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog

STUDENTS CONVERGE AT OBAMA OFFICE TO RECLAIM VOICE

PRESS RELEASE
For August 13, 2012

*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***

CONTACT(s): Janna Powell / Aislinn Bauer
PHONE: (484) 695-1204 / (479) 366-8609
EMAIL: info@studentpower2012.org
WHAT: Press Conference of Student Voices
WHEN: Monday, August 13th at 1:00PM EST
WHERE: 1570 N. High St., Suite C10 Columbus, OH

STUDENTS CONVERGE AT OBAMA OFFICE TO RECLAIM VOICE

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Students from across the country will march from Ohio State University Student Union to President Obama’s campaign office to hold a press conference today, calling into question the injustices of our current economic and political system. In an era where our political process is gridlocked by the influence of money and corporate power, our society has systematically diverted resources from the bottom to the top to fund a frenzy of profit seeking.

The demonstration will highlight how our electoral system and politicians have failed our youth on the critical issues of education, gender equality, racial justice, environmental sustainability, and basic respect for human rights. Neither party has the audacity to confront these injustices, nor do they attempt to facilitate any type of connection with us on these issues, which disproportionately affect women, LGBTQ youth, and people of color.

Akin Olla, an organizer from New Jersey, states: “It is important to recognize that not only are racism and discrimination against people of color still present in the United States, but they are playing a huge factor in the future for the youth of color by limiting our access to education, personal liberty and the right to feel safe in our own communities.”

Although women and LGBTQ people have won notable gains in recent years, Raquel Valesquez of Arizona gets to the heart of how the current system is one of structural inequality: “As we speak, women and LGBTQ people are refusing to accept the old idea of what our rights should be and are demanding change towards the true needs of our communities. As we are denied security in the workplace and safety in the streets; as our survivors of violence are blamed for their traumas while perpetrators are excused; while the state tightens its grip on our bodies through criminalization, incarceration, and abortion bans, we demand more than the right to military and marriage.”

Along with gender and sexuality injustice, we have learned that no matter who we vote for, we cannot avoid the controlling interests of corporations such as Goldman Sachs and Exxon Mobil dominating our political process. The corporate framework dictates infinite growth and accumulation of profit no matter what the environmental and human costs are. Tabitha Skervin of Michigan State University sums it up by saying, “You can preach economic growth all day but there are no jobs on a dying planet.

The United States currently maintains a massive military machine responsible for the inhuman attempt to maintain and increase domination over the planet. We are outraged that more than $1 trillion of the annual federal budget is allocated towards sustaining the military-industrial complex instead of socially beneficial services such as accessible education. Within our borders, youth are growing up in a militarized society. The United States military targets low income and youth of color with manipulative promises of enlistment being the doorway to education and enrichment. We do not condemn individual soldiers whose bodies becomes tools of the state, used and then discarded to suffer untreated from the traumatic consequences of their service. Aislinn Bauer from New York City states, “We believe that the massive expenditures of taxpayer money should be redirected towards enhancing socially beneficial services like accessible education rather than furthering the interests of multinational corporations such as Big Oil and agribusiness and monitoring and criminalizing our own population. Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation!”

We are now raising our voices to join the rallying cry of student movements across the world, addressing common global grievances, and resisting a system that does not serve the majority of us. Noting that access to higher education has become increasingly out of reach for much of the population due to skyrocketing tuition and burdensome loans, Lainie Rini of Ohio State University compares our education system to a factory: “Our current education system denies anyone but the privileged access to quality education. It is farming students for profit rather than being a space for inquiry and thought.”

The current situation has demonstrated that we cannot passively depend upon our leaders to save our society. We call for American youth to take action much like students across the globe in places like Quebec, Mexico, Chile, Spain, and Puerto Rico, who are mobilizing to demand their rights. Democracy cannot exist without demonstration and debate in public spaces. This fall, regardless of where we lie on the political spectrum, it is crucial that we come together on campuses across the country to reclaim our future before it’s too late. Join us November 14th-21st as part of a global week of student action, demonstrating that we in the U.S. are committed to global justice and the international student movement. Here. Us. Now.

WEB: www.studentpower2012.org
TWITTER: @studentpower12 #HereUsNow
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/StudentPower2012

# # #

Obama's Progressive Credentials: The LGBT* Community

(I find it fitting that out of coincidence my fourth installment in this series should come out the same day as Obama has his first official campaign rally.)


     Do you ever find yourself debating about war, the economy, gas prices, trade policies, jobs bills and tax plans when all of a sudden you realize you, or someone you know, or someone you love is a part of the LGBT* community and you realize while your caught up in debates of politics, your politics are struggles in their, or your own everyday life. The LGBT* community sees a lot of the issues it faces politicized and in looking at the game of politics, how have they been treated lately? This is what I wanted to look at in my fourth installment in "Obama's Progressive Credentials."
Obama has always campaigned, and looked like an ally to the LGBT* community, but campaigning is all about what you say, putting one's words ahead of their actions and  using rhetoric to get the vote. Always and forever. That's not to say that you cannot or won't get things done, it just means that you can't take a politician on their word, especially their campaign word.
To start off with, the first thing I stumbled upon was this, "The Obama Administration has told government agencies that a court decision allowing health benefits for the same-sex spouse of a (single) federal employee applies to no one else." (Washington Post). And outside of the case of Karen Golinski and Amy Cunninghis, the office of Personnel Management has been directed by the department of Justice to continue applying the DOMA to all other situations. I am not trying to take anything away from Karen and Amy, please do not get me wrong for a second. I AM trying to call out Obama and his administration for there short comings, as I will reward them for what they've gotten and done right.
Obama has said that he will sign a Trans-Inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). I would love to see this reach his desk before election day in November, so I could know going into the voting booth if he did or did not sign it. (Also, in January of 2010, the Obama Administration explicitly added "Gender Identity" to the list of qualities protected by the Federal Equal Opportunity Employment policies). Unfortunately, both the House and the Senate versions of this bill are stuck in committee. Obama has signed The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act. This act, signed by the president in 2009 expands the 1969 federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. Also, on June 17, 2009 the U.S. signed on to the first-ever UN Resolution addressing human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity.
The list of accomplishments continues. On June 9, 2010 the Obama Administration's State Department announced new guidelines for changing gender - makers on passports. The new guidelines removed the previous requirements that a person must have undergone sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) in order to have their gender marker changed on their passport. This new regulation requires a physician's certification. This of course raises the debate of why does an individual need someone else to tell them what gender they are or are not and also the factor of how expensive seeking help like that can be (when last I visited the therapist it cost me $75 a visit).
A lot of the advances the Affordable Care Act makes for the LGBT* community seem to be for those who can afford health care. It does a lot to create a more open and accepting environment and addresses the issues of HIV and AIDS but it neglects for Transgender people the fact that therapy is not only required, but extremely expensive. It doesn't address the issue of hormones or surgery for the Transgender community, either.
Lastly the Administration has ignored homelessness, in-home discrimination and bullying for the community at large and bathroom and changing room discrimination for the Transgender community. I don't know if Obama has made a single statement about all of the LGBT suicides, and because he is a human, because he is THE human who leads this country, he should address that epidemic and it's causes.

You can read my three previous installments in the 'Obama's Progressive Credentials' series here:

Obama's Progressive Credentials: The Middle and Working Class

Obama's Progressive Credentials: A Hawk In Dove's Feathers

Obama's Progressive Credentials: Appointments

J.A. Fisher
@JAFThrasher


"Those that dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that all was vanity, but the dreamers of the day, are dangerous men, for they may act out their dreams and make them real."

"My Last Campaign"

This was in the subject line of an email I got from OFA (Obama for America) this morning. Seems like your regular fundraising email, right? They want some money, their swing has been for three bucks and the current winner of this contribution lottery may have the chance to meet both the current sitting president and George Clooney.

So what? The candidate is campaigning, he's asking for campaign funds, isn't that okay? Isn't that what candidates for elected office have been doing for countless years?

I could go on the typical "Why is the sitting president campaigning when we have people out of jobs, without healthcare or places to stay or food to eat?" rant, but I won't. Don't get me wrong, it is an important point and it SHOULD be made, in fact, I have made it, but today, I have a completely different focus.

Three words. My. Last. Campaign.

Is there a law that says he isn't allowed to run for office again? We can assume, based on his resume, that he believes in the power of elected office to affect change, right? So why not go back to Chicago and run for the Senate, the House Of Representatives, the state assembly of Illinois?

We all know the answer to this. It isn't about you and I. It won't be about the people of Chicago or the people of Illinois. It's about him, the DNC, all of his corporate givers. He wants this second term as president and he wants it to be his last campaign. Which can be prophetic if he loses. The American people he cares for so much, the American people he feels he's best for, don't deserve a second term out of him if it isn't consecutive?

It isn't profitable if it isn't consecutive.

Only a true lover of their country would run un-consecutively.

Mr. President, I am saddened that this will be your last campaign, not because I admire you as a politician or a leader, not because I do or don't agree that you are good for me or anyone else in the media/blogging world.

I am saddened to learn that this will be your last campaign based solely on the principle of the matter.

It's another sure sign that it's all about the damn money. Mr. President? Why don't you just  come out and admit it.

Please?

Because I'm going to feel compelled to go to the voting booth in November and I'd like at least a little honesty on which to base my vote.

Sincerely,

J.A. Fisher

"Those that dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that all was vanity, but the dreamers of the day, are dangerous men, for they may act out their dreams and make them real."