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Party of Ohio Main Page
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Newsletter
of the Green Party of Ohio
Vol. II, No. 33 -- December 14, 2002
(This newsletter
distributed to 2,882)
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FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE
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1) JOIN THE GREEN PARTY:
100 JOIN IN 2 MONTHS
2)
FITRAKIS ENDORSED FOR COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL
3)
NEW GREEN PARTY FORMING IN STARK COUNTY
4)
PA TOWNSHIP BANS CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
5)
ARCTIC ICE IS MELTING AT RECORD LEVEL
6)
THE AMERICAN LEGISLATE EXCHANGE COUNCIL
7)
U.S. HEALTH SYSTEM IN CRISIS
8)
LOST HEALTH BENEFITS REACHING MIDDLE CLASS
9)
HEALTH ISSUES AS TOP PRIORITIES SAY POLLS
10) MISCELLANEOUS NEWS ITEMS
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Green Party News Circulator:
http://www.greenpartyus.org/circ/circulator.html
Green Party in the News:
http://web.greens.org/news/
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1) JOIN THE GREEN PARTY:
100 JOIN IN 2 MONTHS
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763
Ohio citizens have registered as members of the
Green Party of Ohio (GPO).
Of these, 100, or over
13% of the party's current membership, joined during
the
past two months.
Add
your name to the list at:
http://www.ohiogreens.org/membership/.
Join
the Green Party of Ohio today by completing the
form at:
http://www.ohiogreens.org/membership/register.html
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2) FITRAKIS ENDORSED FOR
COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL
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On
Dec. 5, the Central Ohio Green Party endorsed
Green Party member Bob Fitrakis
for Columbus City
Council.
Fitrakis
is a Professor at Columbus State Community
College and is well-known in the
Central Ohio pro-
gressive community as the editor of the Free Press
(http://www.freepress.org),
newspaper columnist
(formerly of Columbus Alive) and radio talk-show host.
This
month he is finishing his law degree and will
take the bar exam next summer.
Fitrakis
is an experienced campaigner and said he felt
all successful campaigns focused
on a limited set of
issues. The three he wanted to focus on in the Colum-
bus
City Council race are:
(1)
Declaring Columbus a Civil Liberties Safe Zone
-- this has been done in dozens
of other cities around
the country and this sets a policy for locally-controlled
agencies
of protecting civil liberties from violation
by new Federal laws;
(2) Challenging
Developers' control of City Council and
the subsequent development policy fostering
sprawl in
the region; and
(3) Reforming the police force with a redefinition
of
community policing.
The
Green Party's Fitrakis Campaign Committee is now
forming. Contact Paul Dumouchelle
at 614-766-4511 or
pauld@columbus.rr.com
if you are interested in serving
on this committee.
The
immediate order of business is getting the 1,600
or so signatures needed by
early February to get
Fitrakis on the ballot.
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3) NEW GREEN PARTY FORMING
IN STARK COUNTY
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The
second meeting of the new Stark County Green Party
on December 5th at Walsh
College in Canton attracted
about 20 people. The party is in the process of
"drafting"
bylaws. Frank Burris is serving as convener.
Agenda
items included opposition to the probable war
in Iraq, initiating a recycling
program in the area,
choice/abortion and voter registration. It was decided
that
the party's current focus will be to express an
official opposition to George
W. Bush's politically
motivated war.
All
Stark County Greens and others with an interest
are encouraged to join and
participate in the local
party's listserv. You can subscribe by sending a
blank
message to:
starkgreens-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
There are currently 46 people on the list.
The
next meeting is to take place Jan. 9, 2003, at
Walsh College at 7:00 PM. The
main topic of the
meeting will be opposition to unnecessary military
action
in Iraq.
For more
information, contact Frank Burris at
330-244-9965 or peacecreep42273@yahoo.com.
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4) PA TOWNSHIP BANS CORPORATE
GOVERNANCE
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The elected
officials of Porter Township, PA, have
passed a law declaring that corporations
operating
in that township may not claim civil and constitu-
tional privileges.
A unanimous vote cast on Dec. 9,
2002, evolved out of long-time efforts by
citizens
and public officials to bar corporations from dumping
toxic sludge
on township lands. The new law declares
that corporations allowed to do business
within Porter
Township possess none of the human rights that cor-
porations
have been wielding to overrule democratic
processes and rule over communities.
For details,
contact the Community Environmental Legal Defense
Fund (CELDF)
in PA at 717.709.0457 or info@celdf.org,
or
contact the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy
(POCLAD) in MA at 508.398.1145
or people@poclad.org.
More
information:
http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate_accountability/porter_township_ordinance.html
Visit
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund:
http://www.celdf.org
Visit
the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy:
http://www.poclad.org
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5) ARCTIC ICE IS MELTING
AT RECORD LEVEL
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The
melting of Greenland glaciers and Arctic Ocean
sea ice this past summer reached
levels not seen in
decades, scientists reported Dec. 7.
This
year's summertime melt, which provides more
evidence of recent quick warming
in the Arctic, is
in part driven by natural climate oscillations, the
researchers
said. But they added that human-driven
changes to the environment like the
destruction of
ozone and the emission of carbon dioxide could well
have
accelerated and enlarged the effect.
In
September, the end of summer, ice coverage of the
Arctic Ocean dipped to two
million square miles before
it started to grow again. Since 1978, when direct
satellite
measurements of sea ice started, the average
summertime minimum has been 2.4
million square miles.
Of the sea ice that survived, most was thinner than usual.
More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/08/science/08ARCT.html
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6) THE AMERICAN LEGISLATE
EXCHANGE COUNCIL
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Though
it calls itself "the nation's largest biparti-
san, individual membership
association of state legis-
lators," with more than 2,400 state lawmakers
as
members -- roughly one third of the nation's total --
the American Legislative
Exchange Council (ALEC) might
better be described as one of the nation's most
power-
ful -- and least known -- corporate lobbies. While
other lobbyists
focus on the federal government, ALEC
gives business a direct hand in writing
bills that are
considered in state assemblies nationwide. Funded pri-
marily
by large corporations, industry groups, and
conservative foundations the group
takes a chain-
restaurant approach to public policy, supplying pre-
cooked
McBills to state lawmakers. Since most legis-
lators are in session only part
of the year and often
have no staff to do independent research, they're quick
to
swallow what ALEC serves up. In 2000, according to
the council, members introduced
more than 3,100 bills
based on its models, passing 450 into law. Not sur-
prisingly,
many of the bills benefit the companies
that helped write them.
More:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2002/37/ma_95_01.html
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7) U.S. HEALTH SYSTEM IN
CRISIS
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The U.S. health
care system is in crisis, and there
is a need to immediately test possible
solutions by
implementing pilot projects in several states, a
panel of health
care experts said in an Institute of
Medicine (IOM) report released Nov. 20.
The 16-member
panel, which included doctors, lawyers, a nurse and
several
educators, wrote in the report, "The American
health care system is confronting
a crisis. The health
care delivery system is incapable of meeting the pre-
sent,
let alone the future, needs of the American pub-
lic."
Problems
cited by the panel include the following:
the cost of private health insurance
is rising by more
than 12% annually; health care consumers are paying
more
out of pocket for fewer benefits; more than 14%
of Americans lack health coverage;
states are cutting
eligibility and benefits under Medicaid and other pub-
lic
health programs; and tens of thousands of people
are dying each year because
of medical errors.
Read
the IOM report at:
http://books.nap.edu/books/0309087074/html/
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8) LOST HEALTH BENEFITS
REACHING MIDDLE CLASS
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The
New York Times on 11/25/02 examined the "changing
portrait" of the
uninsured in the United States, a
problem traditionally associated with the
poor and
unemployed that now is "spreading up the income ladder
and
deep into the ranks of those with full-time jobs."
According to Census
Bureau figures, 1.4 million people
lost their health insurance coverage in
2001, and
approximately 800,000 of them had annual incomes of
more than
$75,000. Many of those who lost coverage
either became unemployed or were "priced
out of the
health care market by rapidly rising" insurance premiums.
To
read the NY Times article, visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/25/national/25INSU.html
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9) HEALTH ISSUES AS TOP
PRIORITIES SAY POLLS
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Americans
are increasingly citing health issues as
top priorities for the new US Congress
to address,
according to a prominent Republican pollster. Adding
an outpatient
prescription drug benefit to Medicare
and addressing the cost and availability
of health
insurance ranked only after making America less re-
liant on foreign
oil among voters' top priorities for
the new Congress, said Linda DiVall, president
of
American Viewpoint, who conducted a poll of 800 voters
election night
and over the following two days for
the Federation of American Hospitals.
See:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=1737602
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10)
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
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New
Federal Rule Tightens Demands on Failing Schools
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/27/education/27EDUC.html
Source:
List Includes U.S. Firms That Aided Iraqis
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1213-02.htm
Some
Political Lessons from Vermont
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1212-07.htm
A
First Step to Cutting Reliance on Oil
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/15/business/yourmoney/15VIEW.html
U.S.
Anti-War Protests Spread
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/world/1697350
Schröder
faces new Iraq row with US
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,857773,00.html
U.S.
Scorned for Foreign Arms Stand
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1212-01.htm
Report
Finds Security Flaws at Indian Point
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/08/nyregion/08INDI.html
Nuclear
Plant Fiascoes Likely with Age, Secret Study Suggests
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1130-02.htm
Privacy
Under Greater Threat after 9/11: Report
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1205-02.htm
Opposition
Exposes Lucrative Radioactive Wheat Export Scam
http://www.sundayherald.com/29664
In
Terror War, 2nd Track for Suspects:
Those Designated 'Combatants' Lose Legal
Protections
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58308-2002Nov30.html
U.S.
Facing Bigger Bill For Iraq War:
Total Cost Could Run As High as $200 Billion
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58312-2002Nov30.html
AIDS
epidemic set to explode in Eastern Europe
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993105
Patriot
Act earns council's `no' vote
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2002/11/26/1a.patriotact.1126.html
City
Council Votes for Anti-War Resolution
http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/12/03/3dec4b98bfdfc
Peace
Movement Growing Below U.S. Radar
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1209-02.htm
Sierra
Club Rift Opens Over Stance on Iraq
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1203-06.htm
Big
Business's Funding Shift Boosts GOP
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43694-2002Nov26.html
Ford
Motor Is Linked to Argentina's 'Dirty War'
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/27/international/27ARGE.html
The
Enemy Within
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/enemywithin.html
What
Really Happened:
The history the government hopes you DON'T learn!
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
Material
Breach: US Crimes in Iraq
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1130-01.htm
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The
views expressed in this newsletter are those
of the author or organization
noted and do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of the Green Party
of
Ohio.
***************************************************
To join the Green
Party of Ohio, complete the form at
http://www.ohiogreens.org/membership/register.html.
To
see the membership list of the GPO, see
http://www.ohiogreens.org/membership/.
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Party of Ohio by
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Copyright
© 2002, Green Party of Ohio.
All rights reserved.
Paid for by the Green
Party of Ohio PAC (OH1066)
Gina Ficociello, Treasurer
1427 Northstar Rd.,
Columbus OH 43212
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.
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Green
Party of Ohio
PO Box 851, Kent OH 44240
Email: secretary@ohiogreens.org
Web:
http://www.ohiogreens.org