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Another short video
2008-04-26 13:30:00
I realize that these are of no use to those of you on dial-up, but for the broadband folks, check out this video.I hope to get back to semi-regular blogging. For now, I'll just say that the finincial crisis has abated a bit, and I plan to not get in that situation again if I can avoid it. :-)Peace...and thanks.
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Proof (if any were needed) that the Green Party matters
2008-03-11 13:52:00
In articles at Ballot Access News editor Richard Winger reports that neither Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor nor any of Arkansas' Representatives in Congress will face major party opposition in November.If any proof that the Republicans and Democrats see precious little difference between themselves, this is it folks.Fortunately, the Green Party is on the ball, and all these political hacks will face Greens at the ballot box come November. Go Arkansas Greens!On a more personal note, I hope to be back to regular blogging in a week or so. Family health issues have gotten more intense, and between offering what little help I can and trying to keep my micro-business from turning into a micro-micro business, I have had little time to properly keep the blog up and running with regular posts.Peace out gang...and keep your chin up. We will win. We must.
More About: Proof , Green Party , Matters

Recorded from Death Row
2008-03-03 13:15:00
And I don't mean Death Row Records...I mean death row. The recording is by the Prison Radio Project, and is a recording of observations by Mumia Abu Jamal about Cynthia McKinney's campaign for President as a Green. You can listen to it at Cynthia McKinney's website.

William F. Buckley Jr. is dead at 82
2008-02-28 13:44:00
Founder of National Review, Buckley was willing to stand on what he saw as principle for decades with limited success. being born rich didn't hurt I feel sure, but standing firm for conservative doctrine faced with so few successes is an example we Greens will have to follow if we are to ultimately win.The BBC article is here.
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Cynthia McKinney video
2008-02-24 18:25:00
Cynthia McKinney - Green for President - Insightful Personal Conversation from Craig Seeman on Vimeo.
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Arizona Greens fight for ballot access
2008-02-18 17:10:00
Last night I got a call from Greg Jan, a member of the Green National Committee from California. He called to ask me to consider making a small donation to the Arizona Green Party's ballot access drive.With only a few weeks left to get the signatures needed to get ballot access, the Arizona Green Party is pulling out all the stops. Not content to let their efforts fall short, the AZ Greens are reaching out to their fellow Greens across the nation for small donations to wrap up the ballot access drive successfully.Why should this matter to you if you don't live in Arizona? Well, just as an injustice to one is an injustice to all, a success by one is a success for all. Greens scoring any sort of win anywhere gives me at least a tiny boost. For that I am grateful.So...what to do? Well, the best thing to do, if you can afford to do so, is donate a few dollars here.Of course, if you can give thousands, please do so. :-)
More About: Fight , Access , Ballot

Running on empty
2008-02-05 17:11:00
Please forgive my inattention to the blog of late. I am trying to stave off financial ruination. If ya want to see me back full blast, send cash. ~Grin~
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Eleanor Roosevelt speaketh
2008-01-28 01:02:00
I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do...No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.You must do the thing you think you cannot do.Those who attack always do so with greater fervor than those who defend.I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.No man is defeated without until he has first been defeated within.Friendship with oneself is all important because without it one cannot be friends with anybody else in the world.
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Davey D speaketh
2008-01-25 14:21:00
In case any of you are wondering why the "debates" are so unsatisfying, take a look behind the "Read more!" link to find the text of a column written by Davey D at his blog. The link above goes to his site.Last Night's Presidential debate Was Wack-Here's WhyBy Davey DSo last night after doing a whole lot of hustling and string pulling I got a chance to attend the big presidential debate in South Carolina. The pomp and circumstances surrounding it and leading up to it was a story on to itself. The way it was framed is that it was a debate designed to force the candidates to talk specifically about key issues important to the African American community.The fact that this debate was taking place on the Martin Luther King holiday in Myrtle Beach, -a place that once upon a time was the site for numerous lynching of black people made this symbolic. The fact that the African American Congressional Whip Congressman James Clyburn who is from South Carolina along with the Congressional Bla...

Stolen quote
2008-01-15 02:41:00
"...It is your country that you must help, not a political party...Your party exists in order to serve your country, not to create difficulties for another party or the party in power."Thich Nhat Hanh "Anger: The Wisdom for Cooling the Flames"
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Compressed air powers cars, boats, warehouse trams
2008-01-14 23:05:00
This video is from a television show in Australia. It shows two sets of tools which provide transportation using compressed air to provide the needed energy. The first tool is a fairly conventional engine, but made of light weight aluminum, where the piston is driven not by exploding gasoline, but by compressed air carried on board in high pressure tanks. That tool is used to power cars and very legitimate looking mini vans. The second uses something like the Wankel Rotary Engine. This tool is amazing, in that it doesn't drive a piston, but uses compressed air to move the drive shaft more directly. The compressed air also provides a cushion some how so that the internal moving parts do not come into contact with one another, making the energy transfer to the wheels much more efficient.We always need to be looking at the possible negative but hidden dangers. Would the massive demand for the product cause more short tern air pollution because they must be built in the first pl...
More About: Cars , Boats , Warehouse , Powers , Compress

Quick run-down
2008-01-14 16:46:00
SF Gate has run a piece about the Green Party presidential debates in San Francisco.Jason Wallace gets a couple of plugs in an article about the race for Congress in IL's 11th district.Indy Bay covered the SF debate too.Photos from the debate.Richard Winger, who publishes the Ballot Access News and lives in San Francisco, reported that Jared Ball more-or-less announced that his campaign would change from a campaign for the party presidential nomination to one of support for Congresswoman McKinney's campaign.
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Follow up on the Gregg Jocoy Show
2008-01-14 07:05:00
Well, none of the folks who syndicate radio talk shows has called with a seven figure radio show proposition, or even $5 for a five minute piece, but I still think the show went well. My co-guests and I agreed on most things, which may have flustered the host a bit because I think he thinks we Greens are beyond "out there", as in "Tin foil hats and space aliens out there", and having a former Methodist preacher, psychiatrist and a sociologist agree with a Green may not have been what he expected. And it's not like I had to tone down my rhetoric to meet the others where they were at. They were already in most of the same places I was.Anyhoo, if you want to listen to the show, you can listen to Charlotte Talks by clicking here. Just look for the "Average Joes" show on January 10th, and hit the Listen button.
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Green presidential candidates speak out in MN
2008-01-14 06:49:00
This was sent to the Charlotte Area Green Party email listserv by Gray Newman.KAT SWIFT AND JESSE JOHNSON VISIT MINNESOTAKat Swift and Jesse Johnson visited Minnesota Jan. 5 for a meeting and forum. In the morning, they attended the state winter membership meeting in St. Paul, where they visited with GPMN members. Johnson and Swift ate lunch with Lydia Howell from community radio station KFAI. In the afternoon they went back to the meeting and each spoke for about 7 minutes. There were about 100 members there, who received the candidates well.In the evening, Johnson and Swift attended a presidential candidate forum over in Minneapolis. Danene Provencher said a few words about the Draft Nader campaign, Farheen Hakeem spoke on behalf of the Cynthia McKinney campaign, and David Strand updated the audience on the other candidates who were unable to attend.Both candidates spoke about addressing the excesses of corporate power, and a range of other issues consistent with the Ten Key Value...
More About: Presidential , Candidates , Speak , Presidential Candidate

Don Wiviott
2008-01-13 13:46:00
He's the Democrat running for Congress against Carol Miller. In his reply to my post about Miller's race, LP wrote that my referring to Wiviott as a corporate Democrat shows an inadequate understanding of his politics at the least, or sometihing along those lines.I'll confess to not knowing Don Wiviott at all. So I am doing some looking about to see what I can find.First of all, Wiviott's campaign slogan, "A Democrat who will stand up to Bush" seems kinda stupid as Bush will not be President in just over a year. Maybe I would be more impressed if his slogan was "A Democrat who will stand up against Clinton".Secondly, he's a land developer in a place where some question the benefits of adding additional load to the environment. Perhaps he's an exceptional land developer, but in my 50 years on this globe I have yet to meet a land developer who is not at least very comfortable with the corporate world and happy to do their bidding.His website touts his support for better ball...

Some links
2008-01-11 21:00:00
The Wilders have posted a piece about the upcoming Washington DC primary.Wally Haas discusses IL's primary. In both cases, these are Green Party primaries. I don't care about what those other guys do. ;^}Hot Indie News reports on a "Debate that matters". Yes, the Green Party debate planned for Monday in San Francisco. This is very good news for we Greens, and I am hoping against hope that C SPAN will cover it live.Finally, has anyone heard of Lester Brown and the Earth Policy Institute? I am going to read his book when it goes online for free next Wednesday, but I would like to know other's impressions of Brown and his Institute if you have any.
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Blue Man Group Vs Global Warming
2008-01-11 17:35:00
This one is cute, but carries an important message. We Greens need to develop media that is as entertaining, educational, and attention getting as this video. Enjoy!
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Clara Rojas freed!
2008-01-10 18:51:00
Read about this wonderful news here.Now I hope Ingrid Betancourt will be next, with all hostages released at the same time.
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Wanna know how many delegates your state gets?
2008-01-10 13:20:00
at the nominating convention? The rules were just passed by the Green National Committee. They choose the delegate allocation proposal put forward by VA. That formula can be read right over here.If you want to know what the rules the Credentialing Committee will follow at the convention, those are over this direction.The GNC has four proposals on their plate, and all of them can be found at this link here...no, not there, here!
More About: State , Delegates

Some Green stories
2008-01-10 13:08:00
The Landmark in central MA has a story about primary voting registration, and points out that you must be registered by January 16th to participate.The Cabin in AR points out that Faulkner County has a new early voting site, and lists the candidates on AR's primary ballot. Go Arkansas! Go Green !Jared Ball's presidential campaign has put up some information about the upcoming debate in California.The Sun Gazette of CT carries a story about Donald J. Wilson seeking the Green Party nomination for Congress in the 5th congressional district.
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It's the Gregg Jocoy Show!
2008-01-10 02:32:00
Staring, well, actually, it's Charlotte Talks, a local daily talk show on WFAE, an NPR affiliate. The broadcast begins at 9 AM and features four "Average Joe"s tomorrow. The four of us contacted the station and offered to be on the show as "people in the street". As you might imagine, I plan to represent the Green Party and Green Party ideals to the best of my ability.It is not unusual for someone listening online to call or send in an email, so if you are so inclined, visit WFAE by clicking here. To send them an email, just Click here., but only if it's during the show, which is from 9 to 10 AM east coast time on Thursday, January 10th, 2008.If you can't listen while we are on air you can click that same WFAE link above and look for the show in archives.
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Pick and choose your topic
2008-01-09 13:50:00
Ballot Access News reports that 3/8ths of Texas U.S. House Races Have Only One Major Party Candidate. If that's not reason enough to build third parties I don't know what is.A Crunchy Blogger in IL has decided to "Go Green" as in Green Party, not "Let's eat organic compact florescent bulbs."Craig R. Withers also thinks we Greens are worth a look...I like this trend!Our friends over at the Babblemur & Akaoni Power Hour! have a pretty good current run down on Green Party presidential contenders. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports that John Wages Jr, the first elected Green in that state, is running for US Congress.The Green Party Peace Network has run a piece about a commercial being run at AMC theaters which glorifies the military. Pay to watch a film and get propaganda to boot!The New Mexico FBIHOP writes that Carol Miller is running for Congress again. Last time through Miller won 17% of the vote, leaving the Democrat out in the cold come election day. Personall...
More About: Topic , Pick , Choose

Alaska Greens get new website up and rolling
2008-01-09 13:38:00
The website is over here and looks great. I also love the tag line at the site..."Here for good"...how true, and on more than one level!
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3rd post at local TV station website
2008-01-07 05:37:00
My third column at WBTV is up now, with the same subject line. The Catch 15 refers to the 15% showing in four national polls that any candidate must meet, and the application of that same rule here in South Carolina, even in races where no polling was done. If you think you might enjoy it, the link is here:Catch 15I don't intend to pour these things out at you folks all the time. Right at the moment I have three of the five "Latest blog entries", two of the top five "most read" articles and am the "Top political story".But, don't get too excited. The first two pieces I wrote has only gotten 133 hits
More About: Website , Post , Local , Station , Loca

And now, for something completely different
2008-01-07 02:05:00
First of all, thanks a ton to those of you who visited my new blog at WBTV's website. I hope to post there once a day, so I'll kick something out later tonight.I'll likely cover the question of the bubble in the housing market. A very interesting conversation, which I am a part of, was started by Steve Loebs and is titled "Collapse of real estate markets". I believe it has signs of a good conversation, the sort we Greens seem to do so poorly sometimes, and yes, I include myself.Now, to get some links out to you good folks I am going to have to cut way back on the description, but hopefully enough to give you a feel for if it's something you want to click.Stan Goff has a piece at CounterPunch in which he calls on pretty much everyone to support Ron Paul in the Republican primary.Ohio Green Dennis Spisak, a candidate for state legislature there, issued a call of support for the Ohio Healthy Families Act. This citizen's initiative was recently certified and will be in November...
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Trying to get back on track
2008-01-06 00:55:00
In addition to blogging here, I also blog occasionally at Green Commons and Chlorophyll. In addition, I have written pieces for American Chronicle and Op Ed News.Perhaps most importantly to growing the Green Party amongst the voting public, I have posted comments to my local newspaper blog for over a year. They don't grant readers their own blogs, so I am limited to comments and threads that get no real publicity.But, starting yesterday, I was able to secure a spot as a political blogger at WBTV the most widely viewed TV station in the Charlotte market. The article linked to above is entitled "Stephen Colbert and Ron Paul walk into a bar". I hope that you'll click on it and offer your observations. The more comments I get, the more likely they will spotlight my columns.Regular blogging here will resume later tonight. No way I can catch up on the back log, so I'll just do my best.
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Stealing from socialists
2008-01-03 01:37:00
Over at Socialist Unity there is a good discussion about electoral politics, non-electoral politics, and Elaine Brown's resignation from the Green Party. Personally I think the entire thing is worth a click, but here's a "teaser" for ya.The recent resignation of Elaine Brown from the United States Green Party makes it necessary to examine how minority parties can achieve progress in circumstances where electoral success is excluded. In the context of the US electoral system, for the Green party to pursue the logic of mainstream electability would be disastrous, but does that mean they cannot achieve anything?
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Lewis Carroll and the Caucus Race
2008-01-03 00:50:00
This short piece is from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.`What is a Caucus -race?' said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that somebody ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined to say anything.`Why,' said the Dodo, `the best way to explain it is to do it.' (And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.)First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, (`the exact shape doesn't matter,' it said,) and then all the party were placed along the course, here and there. There was no `One, two, three, and away,' but they began running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out `The race is over!' and they all crowded round it, panting, and asking, `But who has won?'
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Spotted a blog
2007-12-30 05:32:00
Many of the general public see us as uniformly irreligious at best, and anti-Christian bigots at worst. No doubt many think we are all Muslims, pagans or Satanists. I have met some virulent atheists in the Green Party, including Anita Rios who is Jared Ball's campaign manager. I have certainly met some pagans. Most Greens seem to have a very live-and-let-live attitude towards faith issues, and while I assume anti-Christian sentiments may be a bit higher in the Green Party, it's clearly not the majority position. I must feel compelled to point out that Dan Mitchell of the American Enterprise Institute was a virulent atheist when we were in college together, so that attitude can be found in almost any political community.Well, enter Tom Stream, operated by Tom Cleland of Minneapolis. Much of what you will find at his site is postings from the presidential campaigns as well as national press releases...oh yeah, and a link to the full text of his book "SOULS IN PERIL: HOW CONSER...
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Mish Mash
2007-12-28 02:51:00
If I don't put a bunch of links into one post, I'll be here forever. :-)The Ellsworth American has a pretty comprehensive report on the Maine Green Independent Party.The Black Voices asks, "Is it easier being Green?" about McKinney, and answers beautifully in two words...Yeah baby!Wes writes about the Green Presidential Debate over at CA Greening.The Providence Daily Dose covers McKinney's announcement.There are several good pieces up today at Green Commons, so if you don't regularly visit there, today might be a good day to do so.All for now...hopefully more in the early AM.
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