Green Party of Ohio Newsletter, Vol. I, No. 23, October 13, 2001

Green Party of Ohio Main Page
Newsletter Archive Index

--------------------------------------------------
Weekly Newsletter of the Green Party of Ohio
Vol. I, No. 23 -- October 13, 2001
(This newsletter distributed to 2,890)
--------------------------------------------------
***************************************************
F E A T U R E D I N T H I S I S S U E
***************************************************
1) VOLUNTEER FOR A GREEN CANDIDATE
2) CONGRESS CONSIDERS SURVEILLANCE POWERS
3) DEMOCRATS WANT TO WIDEN USE OF SOFT MONEY
4) STEIN RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR IN MASSACHUSETTS
5) FACING THE FUTURE: NEW DISCUSSION GUIDE
6) HEALTH CARE SAFETY NET SHRINKS
7) ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE BY LOW-INCOME WOMEN
--------------------------------------------------

***************************************************
1) VOLUNTEER FOR A GREEN CANDIDATE
***************************************************
Across Ohio, Green Party candidates and endorsed can-
didates are running for local office. Candidates
are asking for volunteers to work with their campaigns.
Please join in this important endeavor.

Outreach weekends:
Oct. 12-14 Cleveland Heights and Toledo
Oct. 19-21 Athens and Cincinnati
Oct. 26-28 Kent and Dublin

***************************************************
2) CONGRESS CONSIDERS SURVEILLANCE POWERS
***************************************************
Broad-sweeping new Anti-Terrorism legislation ap-
proved by both houses of Congress is moving quickly
toward becoming law. This legislation is without pre-
cedent in U.S. history and bear grave implications.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said yester-
day that it was bitterly disappointed with the passage
of anti-terrorism legislation, which mirrored closely
the highly controversial original legislative proposals
the Bush Administration submitted to the House and Senate.

Late Thursday night, the Senate passed the USA Act of
2001 (S. 1510) 96 to 1 with very little debate. Sen.
Russ Feingold (D-WI) was the only Senator to vote against
the bill. He also introduced three amendments -- all of
which were defeated -- that would have fixed several of
the bill's more glaring problems.

Yesterday, the House GOP leadership substituted legis-
lative language which matched closely the Senate bill
and the Administration's anti-terrorism proposal. It
replaced the language of the PATRIOT Act, a bill that
had undergone significant revision in the House Judi-
ciary Committee to protect liberties. The new legisla-
tive language was agreed to in the wee hours of Friday
morning and its substitution passed by a very thin mar-
gin after minimal debate.

It is yet unclear whether the Senate and House will
have to negotiate a compromise between their respective
bills in conference. The Senate may take up the House
bill, making a conference unnecessary and therefore
eliminating any opportunity to make the bill better.
It is possible the legislation could reach the Presi-
dent's desk early next week.

Pressure from the White House and the Department of
Justice on Congress to quickly pass an anti-terrorism
bill modeled closely on the Administration's proposals
has been increasingly fierce during the last week.

According to the ACLU, the most troubling provisions in
both the Senate and the modified House anti-terrorism
legislation now include:

*Permits Information Sharing: Allows information obtained
during criminal investigations to be distributed to the
CIA, NSA, INS, Secret Service and military, without judi-
cial review, and with no limits as to how these agencies
can use the information once they have it.

*Authorizes "Sneak and Peek Searches": Authorizes ex-
panded use of covert searches for any criminal investi-
gation, thus allowing the government to enter your home,
office or other private place and conduct a search,
take photographs, and download your computer files
without notifying you until later.

*Allows Forum Shopping: Law enforcement can apply for
warrants in any court in any jurisdiction where it is
conducting an investigation for a search anywhere in
the country. This would make it very difficult for indi-
viduals subjected to searches to challenge the warrant.

*Creates New Crime of Domestic Terrorism: Creates an
entirely new type of crime, which is unnecessary for
the prosecution of the "War on Terrorism." By expanding
the definition of terrorism in such a way, the bill could
potentially allow the government to levy heavy penalties
for relatively minor offenses, including political protests.

*Allows the CIA to Spy on Americans: Gives the Director of
Central Intelligence the power to manage the gathering of
intelligence in America and mandate the disclosure of
information obtained by the FBI about terrorism in general
- even if it is about law-abiding American citizens
- to the CIA.

*Imposes Indefinite Detention: Permits authorities to
indefinitely detain non-citizens, without meaningful
judicial review.

*Reduces Privacy in Student Records: Allows law enforce-
ment to access, use and disseminate highly personal
information about American and foreign students.

*Expands Wiretap Authority: Minimizes judicial super-
vision of law enforcement wiretap authority in several
ways, including: permitting law enforcement to obtain
the equivalent of "blank" warrants in the physical world;
authorizing intelligence wiretaps that need not specify
the phone to be tapped or require that only the target's
conversations be eavesdropped upon; and allowing the FBI
to use its "intelligence" authority to circumvent the
judicial review of the probable cause requirement of
the Fourth Amendment.

To stay abreast of further developments on this
legislation, check the ACLU's site at:
http://www.aclu.org

***************************************************
3) DEMOCRATS WANT TO WIDEN USE OF SOFT MONEY
***************************************************
Earlier this week, Common Cause had learned that the
Democratic National Committee had filed a request with
the Federal Election Commission for an "Emergency
Advisory Opinion" asking for greater latitude in the
way the party handles unregulated "soft money" contri-
butions for corporations, labor unions, and wealthy
individuals.

Common Cause immediately called on DNC Chairman Terry
McAuliffe to withdraw the request, which contended that
the party needed greater flexibility with using soft
money in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

"There are a lot of things that are more difficult in
the wake of the September 11 attacks, and political
fundraising may well be one of them," Harshbarger said.
"But for the Democrats to claim that the terrorist
attacks somehow justify widening the soft money loop-
hole is simply not credible."

Common Cause Statement at:
http://www.commoncause.org/publications/oct01/101001.htm

Democratic National Committee request at:
http://www.fec.gov/aos/aor01-16req.pdf

***************************************************
4) STEIN RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR IN MASSACHUSETTS
***************************************************
Boston-area physician Jill Stein has announced a bid
for the Massachusetts Green Party's nomination for
governor, promising a full-scale grassroots campaign
to qualify for public funding under the state's Clean
Elections Law.

Stein, a longtime environmental and public health
activist, has already recruited a modest staff and
begun soliciting contributions for her run, and has
already received endorsements from Noam Chomsky,
Howard Zinn, Winona LaDuke, and Michael Albert.

"The Clean Elections law gives us a chance to campaign
on the same level as the Democratic and Republican can-
didates," said Stein. "We have a rare opportunity here
to demonstrate the appeal of the Green message to the
average voter - and I think we can win."

The law under which Stein is running was passed in
referendum by nearly 70 percent of Massachusetts voters
in 1998, and it provides state money to candidates who
agree to limit individual contributions to $100 or less
and who obtain a certain number of contributions over
five dollars each. For the Governor's race, this means
Stein must receive 6,000 such contributions.

The funding for the law sits in Jeopardy, however, as
the state Legislature has failed to pass an operating
budget for the coming year. The budget was due in July,
and negotiations between key legislators are rumored to
focus on Clean Elections, with House Speaker Thomas
Finneran, a Democrat, strongly opposed to releasing the
money that the voters approved.

Stein said that she is committed to small-contribution
fundraising regardless of what the Legislature does.
This includes reaching out to Greens and progressives
outside of Massachusetts, since they are allowed to
contribute subject to the same $100 limit.

Stein is a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility,
and co-author of "In Harm's Way," a nationally recognized
report on the dangers of childhood exposures to environ-
mental toxins. She has appeared as a guest expert on NBC's
Today Show and ABC's 20/20. She said that she decided to
run for Governor as a result of her medical practice and
research.

"I saw all of these horrible, preventable illnesses in
my work, and I began to realize that I could only do
so much as a doctor or advocate; so many of our soci-
etal problems are political that the solutions must be
political as well."

To contribute to the Stein effort, please send checks
of $100 or less to Jill Stein for Governor, PO Box 1382,
Lawrence, MA, 01842.

Visit Jill Stein's Web site at:
http://www.jillforgov.org

***************************************************
5) FACING THE FUTURE: NEW DISCUSSION GUIDE
***************************************************
The Study Circles Resource Center has developed a new
discussion guide, "Facing the Future: How Should We
Respond to the Attack on Our Nation?"

The Center help communities bring large numbers of di-
verse people into democratic, face-to-face dialogue and
action on critical public issues by promoting the use of
study circles -- small-group, democratic, highly partici-
patory discussion that give everyday people opportunities
to make a difference on critical social and political issues.

The Center's new guide shows how to bring people together
for an honest, productive, democratic conversation that
our country and communities need at this time and pro-
vides suggestions for a variety of ways to structure the
dialogue, depending on the needs of a community or
organization.

To download the discussion guide, go to:
http://www.studycircles.org/pages/americaresponds.html

***************************************************
6) HEALTH CARE SAFETY NET SHRINKS
***************************************************
In spite of the lowest unemployment rates in three
decades, those who remained poor in the US in 2000
experienced deeper levels of poverty than ever before.
The Census Bureau released data on poverty and income
that shows the level of poverty has increased among
the poorest. In a related report, The Center on Budget
and Policy Priorities says that reduced government
safety net and assistance programs, along with wor-
sening economic conditions, will likely lead to diffi-
cult times for many families in the coming year.

To read the Center's news release, see:
http://www.cbpp.org/9-25-01pov.htm

***************************************************
7) ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE BY LOW-INCOME WOMEN
***************************************************
An article, "Access to Care and Use of Health Services
by Low-Income Women" by Ruth Almeida and Lisa Dubay of
the Urban Institute and Grace Ko of Brown University,
examines the effect of insurance on low-income women's
access to care and use of health services. Uninsured
low-income women were found to have experienced greater
barriers to care and to have utilized fewer services,
particularly preventive care, than women with either
public or private coverage. Low-income women with Medi-
caid and private coverage had similar access to care
indicating that broadening health care coverage options,
either through the public-sector or through private
options, would improve access to care for low-income
women. This article appeared in the Health Care Financing
Review, Summer 2001, Vol. 22, No.4: 27-47.

To read the article, visit:
http://www.kff.org/content/2001/6005/dubay.pdf

***************************************************
Miss an issue of our newsletter? You can now read
past newsletters of the Green Party of Ohio by
visiting the newsletter archives at:
http://www.ohiogreens.org/newsletters/

***************************************************
We publish this newsletter weekly (with some
exceptions) to keep you informed about events,
activities, and news of interest to the Green Party
of Ohio -- http://www.ohiogreens.org.

We invite you to review our party Web site
after you've read this newsletter. We welcome your
comments or suggestions about our site or party.
Send comments: secretary@ohiogreens.org.

We value our relationship with you. If at any time
you wish to leave our mailing list and not receive
future newsletter mailings, reply to this message
with "unsubscribe" in the subject field.

We also encourage you to help us spread the word
about our newsletter and the Green Party. Please
feel welcome to forward a copy of it to your friends.
They can be added to our mailing list by submitting
the form at: http://www.ohiogreens.org/newsletter/register.html.

Copyright © 2001, Green Party of Ohio.
All rights reserved.
Paid for by the Green Party of Ohio PAC (OH1066)
Paul Dumouchelle, Treasurer
8832 Nairn Ct., Dublin OH 43017
Contributions to the Green Party of Ohio are not
deductible for federal tax purposes. This newsletter
is not authorized by any candidate or candidate
authorized committee.

***************************************************
Green Party of Ohio
PO Box 851, Kent OH 44240
Email: secretary@ohiogreens.org
Web: http://www.ohiogreens.org