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Newsletter of the Green Party of Ohio
Vol. III, No. 3 – April 4, 2003
(This newsletter distributed to 3,045)
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FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE
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1) JOIN THE GREEN PARTY
2) RUN FOR OFFICE AS A GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE
3) REGISTER TO VOTE: DEADLINE NEXT WEEK
4) UPCOMING MEETINGS
5) NADER BLASTS 'MESSIANIC MILITARIST' BUSH
6) EARTH DAY COALITION TO SPONSOR EARTHFEST 2003
7) CHANGE OF KENT STATE TO HOST WEEK OF LABOR ACTION
8) SCALIA BANS MEDIA FROM “FREE SPEECH”EVENT IN CLEVELAND
9) WHO WILL PROFIT FROM WAR IN IRAQ?
10) IN BAGHDAD, BLOOD AND BANDAGES FOR THE INNOCENT
11) MISCELLANEOUS NEWS ITEMS
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1) JOIN THE GREEN PARTY
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874 Ohio citizens have registered as members of the Green Party of Ohio (GPO).
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) RUN FOR OFFICE AS A GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE
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The Green Party of Ohio Calls for Candidates for the 2003 & 2004 Elections.
The Green Party is looking for progressives to run for elected office. Across the US already, 178 Green office holders in 24 states are hard at work. They are creating public policy on important issues including civil rights, a living wage, affordable housing, alternative voting systems, and peace. They are advocating for peace and opposing urban sprawl and expansion of corporate power. Green office holders ran to make an immediate impact on their communities as town council members, county commissioners, school board members etc. These Greens reached out to voters of diverse backgrounds, brought together coalitions of community organizations and individuals to begin to reclaim their local governments.
The growth and movement of the Green Party continues in 2003 and toward 2004. All across the country hundreds of Green Party candidates will be challenging the two establishment parties. Here in Ohio this year all kinds of local offices are up for election, from city councils to school boards to township trustees. In 2004, one of our US Senate seats, seats in the US Congress, the Ohio State Senate and House of Representatives and other local offices will be contended.
Two-thousand three and 2004 will be a great time for candidates to learn the art of running for office, and a smart, energetic candidate could win. You can run too. Please consider becoming a candidate for elective office this year. We especially encourage people who are under-represented in elective office to consider running: women, African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, gays and lesbians, people with disabilities, young people and other minorities. If you or someone you know is considering running, please contact The Green Party of Ohio Candidates Committee whose contact information can be found on The Green Party web page, http://www.ohiogreens.org .
We are also looking for people to work with these candidates: campaign coordinators, managers and other campaign volunteers.
The Green Party is a grassroots activist party working for social change based on our Ten Key Values. To learn more please visit he Green Party of Ohio web page: http://www.ohiogreens.org
The Green Party of Ohio Candidates Committee
Logan Martinez loganmartinez@hotmail.com 937-275-7259
David Berenson davidb@berenson.net 216-548-0254
Russ Buckbee russbuckbee@adelphia.net 330-562-4637
* Filing dates vary for municipal offices, check with your local board of elections. For most boards of education and township offices, the filing date is August 21, 2003.
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3) REGISTER TO VOTE: DEADLINE NEXT WEEK
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If you are a first-time voter or need to change your name/address, the deadline is April 7th for Ohio voter registration in order to vote in Ohio's May 6th Primary Election. To register to vote, visit your local library, or request a form at the Ohio Secretary of State website. http://www.ohio.gov/sos/
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4) UPCOMING MEETINGS
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SOUTHWEST OHIO GREENS (Cincinnati Area)
April 8, 7:30pm in Hartwell
For more info, visit: http://www.swohgp.org
MID-OHIO GREENS (Richland, Crawford and surrounding counties)
April 14, 2003, 7pm in Mansfield
For more info, visit: http://www.midohiogreens.org
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5) NADER BLASTS 'MESSIANIC MILITARIST' BUSH
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Consumer advocate and 2000 Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader called President Bush a "messianic militarist with a closed mind" before a standing-room only crowd at UMass Dartmouth last evening.
Mr. Nader denounced the war in Iraq as a misguided adventure in vengeance justified by documented falsehoods against a regime that for years did America's bidding in the Middle East.
Al Gore, the 2000 Democratic candidate for president, might not have been much better, Mr. Nader suggested.
Before his speech, he told The Standard-Times, "Who can predict? (Gore) was proposing a bigger military budget during the campaign than Bush."
What's more, said Mr. Nader, "He and Clinton got through Congress in 1998 a resolution stating that it's America's foreign policy to secure regime change in Iraq. So take it from there. The rest is looking into a crystal ball. Since he made that speech criticizing Bush a few months ago, we never heard from him again."
The Nader campaign was widely blamed for siphoning off votes from Mr. Gore and giving Mr. Bush the election.
Mr. Nader said that in going to war against Iraq, the United States may "win the war and lose the battles" that will come in the future, with the difficulties of managing the various factions, rebuilding the country, and facing domestic terrorism made worse by fanatics with a grudge.
More: http://www.s-t.com/daily/03-03/03-25-03/a01lo002.htm
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6) EARTH DAY COALITION TO SPONSOR EARTHFEST 2003
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The Earth Day Coalition (EDC) is a nonprofit environmental education and advocacy organization serving Ohio. EDC was established in 1990 to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Earth Day in Ohio.
This year, EarthFest 2003, marks the 14th year Earth Day Coalition will offer EarthFest to the community. EarthFest is Northeast Ohio's annual Earth Day celebration and takes place at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Since it's inception in 1990, EarthFest has grown to become Ohio's largest environmental education event, and one of the most recognized Earth Day celebrations in the country.
Each year EarthFest offers an opportunity for people of all ages to learn about environmental issues facing Northeast Ohio and the planet in a fun and enjoyable setting. EarthFest features children's activities, live music, entertainment acts and over 100 non-profit and environmentally-friendly business exhibits. On top of this, participants get to enjoy the day's festivities in the great outdoors amongst some of Earth's most wonderful creatures. Between 20,000 to 70,000 people have attended EarthFest each year over the past 13 years, requiring upwards of 500 active volunteers to ensure it's continued success.
Whether taking part in EarthFest as a visitor, exhibitor, sponsor or as an active volunteer and whether you are old, young, or in-between EarthFest is THE place to be for anyone interested in finding out how to help protect and preserve the environment. Don't miss out EDC brings EarthFest to you every April...so stay posted to find out about EarthFest 2003.
To learn more: http://www.earthdaycoalition.org/about_edc.html
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7) “CHANGE” OF KENT STATE TO HOST WEEK OF LABOR ACTION
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CHANGE (Coalition for a Humane and New Global Economy) will be holding a third annual Week of Labor Action, March 31st-April 5th, at Kent State University this year. Events planned for April 4th include an action packed rally, a protest at a grocery store that sells Mt. Olive Pickles, and an evening with world-renowned farm labor organizer Baldemar Velasquez (who will also be at the aforementioned events) and rabble-rousing folk musician, David Rovics. There will also be events throughout the week, including workshops on fair trade coffee and movies about the labor movement.
April 4, 2002, is the 34th Anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The day of action will bring students from coast to coast together with labor, community, and faith-based organizations to fight for workers' rights and economic justice in the spirit of the Memphis sanitation workers' struggle in 1968. This year we are also honoring the March 31st birthday of Cesar Chavez, a labor organizer who led the most successful farm workers movement in history.
Go to www.kentchange.org for more information.
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8) SCALIA BANS MEDIA FROM “FREE SPEECH” EVENT IN CLEVELAND
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Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia banned broadcast media from an appearance where he received an award for supporting free speech.
The ban "begs disbelief and seems to be in conflict with the award itself," C-SPAN vice president and executive producer Terry Murphy wrote in a letter last week to the City Club of Cleveland, which is presenting the honor. "How free is speech if there are limits to its distribution?"
The City Club, which regularly hosts appearances by public figures, selected Scalia for its Citadel of Free Speech Award because he has "consistently, across the board, had opinions or led the charge in support of free speech," said James Foster, executive director.
The club usually tapes speakers for later broadcast on public television station WVIZ. But Scalia insisted on banning television and radio coverage as a condition of his appearance.
"I might wish it were otherwise, but that was one of the criteria that he had for acceptance," Foster said.
More: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0319-10.htm
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9) WHO WILL PROFIT FROM WAR IN IRAQ?
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By Christopher Brauchli
"One of the things we don't want to do is destroy the infrastructure in Iraq because in a few days we're going to own that country."
-Tom Brokaw, NBC News March 19, 2003
Although we have not yet completely prepared the site for reconstruction, we are nonetheless preparing for that event. Reconstruction was not, of course, the main purpose of the war. The buildings were perfectly OK before they were blown up. So were the victims of the bombing. They were both blown up to effect regime change. The people can't be reconstructed but the buildings can. We should, therefore, focus not on the misery that is being inflicted but upon the bright side of the war. And that is its aftermath and the opportunities for American companies that the aftermath presents.
Because of the bombing there is going to be the need for a massive amount of rebuilding, an undertaking that will very likely be considerably more than the $100 billion that has been estimated as the cost of the war. An article in The Wall Street Journal, published before the bombs started falling, disclosed that the United States had already begun putting work out for bids to help with the rebuilding. That is what is known as foresight and it is the kind of thinking you would expect from corporate moguls such as Dick Cheney. By letting contracts before there's anything for the companies to work on, those companies can be ready to begin rebuilding as soon as we finish destroying.
Under normal circumstances (as was true in Afghanistan and Kosovo) rebuilding would be undertaken under the auspices of United Nations development agencies. The trouble with that is that when done through the United Nations, all the countries in the organization get to bid on the work. That violates the age-old precept that "to the victor go the spoils." The U.N. is not the victor. George Bush will be the victor and hence he (and his cronies) should get the spoils. And that is how it is going to work.
More: http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0329-01.htm
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10) IN BAGHDAD, BLOOD AND BANDAGES FOR THE INNOCENT
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By Robert Fisk
The piece of metal is only a foot high, but the numbers on it hold the clue to the latest atrocity in Baghdad.
At least 62 civilians had died by yesterday afternoon, and the coding on that hunk of metal contains the identity of the culprit. The Americans and British were doing their best yesterday to suggest that an Iraqi anti-aircraft missile destroyed those dozens of lives, adding that they were "still investigating" the carnage. But the coding is in Western style, not in Arabic. And many of the survivors heard the plane.
In the Al-Noor hospital yesterday morning, there were appalling scenes of pain and suffering. A two-year-old girl, Saida Jaffar, swaddled in bandages, a tube into her nose, another into her stomach. All I could see of her was her forehead, two small eyes and a chin. Beside her, blood and flies covered a heap of old bandages and swabs. Not far away, lying on a dirty bed, was three-year-old Mohamed Amaid, his face, stomach, hands and feet all tied tightly in bandages. A great black mass of congealed blood lay at the bottom of his bed.
This is a hospital without computers, with only the most primitive of X-ray machines. But the missile was guided by computers and that vital shard of fuselage was computer-coded. It can be easily verified and checked by the Americans – if they choose to do so. It reads: 30003-704ASB 7492. The letter "B" is scratched and could be an "H". This is believed to be the serial number. It is followed by a further code which arms manufacturers usually refer to as the weapon's "Lot" number. It reads: MFR 96214 09.
More: http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0330-05.htm
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11) MISCELLANEOUS NEWS ITEMS
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Professor´s technology may violate personal freedoms
A form of technology Professor Dobson helped pioneer, known as geographic information systems, could assist a person in coercively monitoring and controlling the physical location of another individual — also known as geoslavery.
http://www.kansan.com/stories.asp?id=200303140013
Even As Bombs Drop, Hypocrisy Prevails
It was only five years ago when Vice President Dick Cheney, as chief executive of the oil-field supply corporation, Halliburton Co., was engaged in secret business dealings with Saddam’s regime by selling Iraq oil production equipment and spare parts to get the Iraqi oil fields up and running, according to confidential United Nations records.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2330.htm
US to use depleted uranium
A United States defense official has said moves to ban depleted uranium ammunition are just an attempt by America's enemies to blunt its military might.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/2860759.stm
U.S. shrugs off Afghan rebel missile attacks
U.S.-led troops played down more than a dozen errant missile attacks by rebels and pressed on with a roundup of possible Taliban fugitives, capturing at least 13 suspects, U.S. Army and Afghan officials said Friday.
http://www.iht.com/articles/90604.html
Federal deficit soars, heading for yearly record
The government ran up a deficit of $193.9 billion in the first five months of the 2003 budget year, nearly three times the deficit for the same period a year earlier.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/03/20/national1445EST0757DTL
What the New York Times Won't Tell You
On Dec. 3, 2001, the New York Times Co., along with many other major newspaper and broadcasting companies, filed voluminous documents at the Federal Communications Commission. The Times Co. strongly urged the FCC to abandon the quarter-century old safeguard that prevents a company from owning both a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in the same community. Broadcast networks urged that rules restricting the number of TV stations that one network can operate be scuttled as well. These filings are currently being reviewed by the FCC as part of its most significant proposed overhaul of the ownership policies that shape the US media marketplace.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15482
Return of Gendered Language
Let's call it exclusionary language creep – the re-emergence of masculine words to describe people who may be female or male. Despite years of effort by women's groups, linguists and educators to encourage speakers of English to adopt words that are gender-neutral, they note, and I note, a lapse into lazy terminology that excludes women. This slippage is occurring even at major newspapers, where their executives should know better.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15377
Fill 'er up with Krispy Kreme
Jeffrey Miottel, 36, of San Rafael, Calif., drives a cream-colored, 1984 Mercedes 300TD that inspires hunger pangs.
If you're stuck in traffic behind him, you won't be choking on diesel exhaust – instead, you might find yourself wondering if you've left an old restaurant takeout bag under the back seat.
Miottel, a contractor and environmentalist, makes his own fuel from used grease recycled from local Marin County restaurants.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15485
Intolerance In a Time of War
And so it begins, the intolerance of war.
Already this week, even before the bombs began dropping, it had reared its ugly head.
Consider an incident in the Houston area, where a woman of French descent who has lived in the United States for 23 years, a retired real estate agent, found these words spray-painted in red on her garage door: "Scum go back to France."
The words are part of a wave of anti-France animosity, based on France's refusal to support our nation's unilateral march toward war.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15502
Fierce resistance shocks wounded troops
For them, the war is over. A few U.S. soldiers have been flown half the way home, bearing wounds inflicted by Iraqis they thought they were liberating.
Two army soldiers and one marine recounted to journalists on Thursday how they came under fire at the weekend from Iraqi troops in civilian dress at the city of Nassiriya, scene of some of the fiercest fighting to date.
"We were very surprised. We were told when we were going through Nassiriya that we would see little to no resistance," Marine Lance Corporal Joshua Menard told a news conference at the U.S. military's medical facilities at Landstuhl, Germany.
A group of Iraqis in civilian clothes opened fire on Menard as he and six other marines approached them on a bridge near Nassiriya on Sunday, he said.
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=246732
Make Your Spring Cleaning Green
The spring equinox is fast approaching, and soon we can all throw open our windows and let the March breezes blow winter away. And it's about time: Levels of pollutants in indoor air can be from two to more than 100 times higher than outdoors, according to the U.S. EPA. That indoor pollution is due in large part to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that evaporate, or "offgas," from home decorating and cleaning products.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15486
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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.
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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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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/
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We publish this newsletter bimonthly (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.
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Copyright © 2003, 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
secretary@ohiogreens.org
webmistress@ohiogreens.org
http://www.ohiogreens.org
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