19.08.2008
by GreenProgress
Category Green Living News, Videos on Green Living
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Cynthia McKinney on Mexico-NAFTA, Plan Mexico, Human RightsGreenProgress
3 min - Aug 19, 2008Discussion by Cynthia McKinney about NAFTA and policies regarding Mexico. Filmed during the Green Party of the United States National Convention held in Chicago in 2008.
This was the last Presidential Forum held the night before the nominating convention. The other candidates at the the Forum included Kat Swift, Jesse Johnson, and Kent Mesplay.
Cynthia states that she would repeal NAFTA, uphold human rights toward Mexico, no US interference in elections, US should not steal Mexican oil through privatization, US should not support privatization of education in Mexico, defend Mexicans their right to not have to emigrate to the US to work.
16.08.2008
by GreenProgress
Category Green Living News, Videos on Green Living
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Rita Maniotis Illinois Green Party State. Rep. 21 CandidateGreenProgress
5 min - Aug 16, 2008http://www.ritamaniotis.com
http://www.runcynthiarun.org
http://www.gp.org
Make Education The Foundation
Once again, the state has decided on a band-aid approach to funding public education and bypassing education funding reform that would not only equitably fund our public schools, but also put in place a sustainable funding structure for the foreseeable future. H.B. 750, a bill that was supported by grassroots organizations as well as educators and school districts would have meant property tax relief for many and spread the tax burden more equitably between those who are able to pay. Education is key to the health of our state. Without education funding reform, Illinois will remain near the bottom of the list of states in terms of per pupil expenditure. That in turn triggers a cascade of costly problems from increasing delinquency, gang violence and crime, to unemployment, teen pregnancy and child abuse.
Sensible Universal Health Care
Governor Blagojevich's Kids Care plan is a step in the right direction to cover all children for basic health care including dental and eye care. I would support a single-payer state healthcare plan that covers all Illinoisans. Universal Healthcare would not only relieve the anxiety of all those who have no health insurance or have pre-existing conditions and cannot obtain coverage, but it will also attract businesses to the state who will be able to offer their workers healthcare at a much less burdensome cost.
We also need to curb the mandates of the Illinois Department of Public Health. This department creates ever increasing vaccine mandates forcing medical experiments on our children as early as their first day of life without regard to public protests. As a result, chronic illnesses and autism have skyrocketed in the state over 1,000 percent since the 1990s.
Rita Maniotis grew up in Waterloo, Iowa but has lived in Illinois for almost a decade. She attended graduate school at SIU Carbondale and received a Masters degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in Theatre History in 1982. After living in on both coasts, she returned to the Midwest, and in 2005, she received a Masters degree in teaching from Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois.
Maniotis is a high school teacher and an activist. She has taught at Proviso East High School in Maywood and Ralph Ellison Charter High School in Chicago. In 2001, Maniotis moved to Berwyn, Illinois with her husband and three children who have graduated from or are still attending public schools.
Rita Maniotis has been an active participant in her children's schooling. She served on the board of Mark Twain School PTO in Iowa City 1998-2001, and while President of Emerson School PTA, 2002—2004, she successfully passed a resolution to halt the Hepatitis B vaccine mandate in the state at the 2004 Illinois PTA Convention. She is immediate past President of Morton West High School PTO where she created a member email list-serve, worked to set up a website, established monthly parent information programs including a forum for school board candidates, and served on the discipline committee where she helped to ban the use of stun guns on campus.
In addition to volunteering at her children's schools, she has been active in grass roots political groups. As Secretary of Near West Citizens for Peace and Justice, 2006—2008, Maniotis has been instrumental in placing three advisory questions on the Berwyn Township ballot concerning troop withdrawal from the Iraq War and local initiatives to curb global warming. She also serves as secretary of the Illinois Vaccine Awareness Coalition and is an Active Member of the West Side Greens.
A former public radio producer, Rita (Sand) Maniotis continues to produce "From the Trenches," the radio project of the Chicago Independent Media Center, which is heard monthly on 88.7FM WLUW.
16.08.2008
by GreenProgress
Category Green Living News, Videos on Green Living
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Part 1 Omar N. López Speech National Green Party ConventionGreenProgress
9 min - Aug 16, 2008As a member of the Green Party it is important for me to know that the people of the communities I represent are able to provide input into the formulation of our position on a number of issues. Over the course of this campaign I will take the opportunity to meet with civic leaders and discuss the six points listed below for the expressed purpose of modifying or even changing our platform to become consistent with the views of the people of our community. This is the primary responsibility of the democratic process and it is the ideology by which I will abide.
1. The Economy - we believe that any economic stimulus package must include a job-generating initiative through massive public works. This will put money into the packets of American families, instead of a one-shot approach of $600 to $1200 which will be absorbed by the business sector, but won't help in sustaining jobs. Also, we believe that the best way to accomplish this is to invest tax dollars in clean energy industries that create GREEN jobs.
2. Health Care - we believe in a single-payer National Health Insurance. Rather than to treat health care as a commodity dispensed according to peoples' ability to pay, it should be treated as a social service to be distributed according to medical need. This approach will be facilitated by providing for the elimination of an Administrative overhead in an expanded and improved version of Medicare.
3. Education - Education is key to our future; our children need to be knowledgeable on the new world economy. For that we need adequately trained and adequately paid teachers along with improved educational programs. No Child Left Behind must be eliminated.
4. Immigration - We believe in comprehensive immigration reform for all workers in the USA; a reform that incorporates family unity, labor rights, due process for all ICE detainees and no militarization of the border.
5. Labor - We believe workers deserve a living wage and the right to organize in their work place.
6. Stop The War in Iraq - We believe that we must pull all of the troops out of Iraq and leave no residual forces. We need to stop the killing of American troops and we need to stop spending $10 billion dollar per month on the war. The sooner we are out the sooner the warring factions will begin negotiating.
http://www.omarlopez2008.org
http://www.gp.org
http://www.runcynthiarun.org
16.08.2008
by GreenProgress
Category Green Living News, Videos on Green Living
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Part 2 Omar N. López speech National Green Party ConventionGreenProgress
3 min - Aug 16, 2008As a member of the Green Party it is important for me to know that the people of the communities I represent are able to provide input into the formulation of our position on a number of issues. Over the course of this campaign I will take the opportunity to meet with civic leaders and discuss the six points listed below for the expressed purpose of modifying or even changing our platform to become consistent with the views of the people of our community. This is the primary responsibility of the democratic process and it is the ideology by which I will abide.
1. The Economy - we believe that any economic stimulus package must include a job-generating initiative through massive public works. This will put money into the packets of American families, instead of a one-shot approach of $600 to $1200 which will be absorbed by the business sector, but won't help in sustaining jobs. Also, we believe that the best way to accomplish this is to invest tax dollars in clean energy industries that create GREEN jobs.
2. Health Care - we believe in a single-payer National Health Insurance. Rather than to treat health care as a commodity dispensed according to peoples' ability to pay, it should be treated as a social service to be distributed according to medical need. This approach will be facilitated by providing for the elimination of an Administrative overhead in an expanded and improved version of Medicare.
3. Education - Education is key to our future; our children need to be knowledgeable on the new world economy. For that we need adequately trained and adequately paid teachers along with improved educational programs. No Child Left Behind must be eliminated.
4. Immigration - We believe in comprehensive immigration reform for all workers in the USA; a reform that incorporates family unity, labor rights, due process for all ICE detainees and no militarization of the border.
5. Labor - We believe workers deserve a living wage and the right to organize in their work place.
6. Stop The War in Iraq - We believe that we must pull all of the troops out of Iraq and leave no residual forces. We need to stop the killing of American troops and we need to stop spending $10 billion dollar per month on the war. The sooner we are out the sooner the warring factions will begin negotiating.
http://www.omarlopez2008.org
http://www.gp.org
http://www.runcynthiarun.org
14.08.2008
by GreenProgress
Category Green Living News, Videos on Green Living
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IMAGINE .... Bush Impeachment in 2003 or 2006GreenProgress
1 min - Aug 14, 2008Imagine
...that you had a political party calling for the IMPEACHMENT of Bush and Cheney back in 2003.
Imagine
...that you had a political leader in Congress that introduced ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT for Bush in 2006 .... 2006
Imagine
A political party with candidates willing to stand up for you, for us, for the constitution, for the environment, for justice....
Imagine no more.
The Green Party has always been here for us.
And now...
They proudly nominate a Presidential candidatethat reflects their values...
Cynthia McKinney
http://www.gp.org
http://www.runcythiarun.org
http://www.youtube.com/user/GreenProgress
12.08.2008
by GreenProgress
Category Green Living News, Videos on Green Living
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Bob Kinsey Colorado Green Party US Senate CandidateGreenProgress
10 min - Aug 12, 2008The major issue of this race is "Respect Life!" Not in the simplistic sense employed by those who use this motto to make abortion the litmus test for their vote. My chief value is about respecting all Life. Government should be about setting policies that insure we have life on this planet to the "7th Generation". Respecting life requires us to exercise judgment and discipline concerning the vehicles we drive, the housing patterns we build, the new jobs we create. Uncontrolled growth is the ideology of a cancer cell.
The life of hundreds of thousands of species, including our own, are threatened with extinction. Our irresponsible use of chemistry and technology, the indiscriminate ballooning of consumption we call the "American Dream" and our refusal to face this unsustainable environmental footprint endanger all life on earth. Our current production methods have created a chemical/nuclear soup that is poisoning our planet and us. Real respect for Life will require our willingness to face the limits we must place on our economic system and our consumption and our population in order to take responsibility.
I believe we can change our direction in international affairs. We can move away from a course that is guided by American exceptionalism and the idea we can unilaterally determine how the rest of the world will act. This unwise course operates on the racism we are trying to erase from our own social system. International Rule of Law and respect of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must be the path we choose to a sustainable and rewarding future. By "rewarding" I do not mean huge profits for the few. I do not mean a life that defines itself in terms of superior quantities of toys and labor saving devices.
As a Green Party candidate I pledge to vote for a single payer health care plan for all Americans. Every citizen's life deserves the respect of health care since all are exposed to the increased risks from industrial life.
Respect for Life means: re-empowering the Environmental Protection Agency to protect our water, air and food, insuring everyone a real job opportunity at a living wage. Respect for life by definition is respect for diversity. It means insuring that agriculture does not reduce the vast gene pools with monocultures. It means equal protection of all laws concerning long-term commitments, not just hetero-sexuals. It means respecting the life of all humans on the planet -- not just Americans. We must work through the United Nations to guarantee everyone protection of international law, helping enforce UN resolutions with regard to all countries. Republicans want to eliminate the United Nations and the international law it represents. Respect for Life means ending international arms sales, working to eliminate all nuclear weapons -- not just "theirs". (Colorado Republicans voted consistently to build new nukes over the past several years undermining our commitment to the Non Proliferation Treaty).
Help me to give these policies a voice in Congress. Register Green. Endorse this campaign. Pledge some time and money. This is a year when sufficient numbers of people could move to a new and vital Party and work through it for a positive future!!! Don't buy the self fulfilling prophesy that a third party vote is wasted. We just might win!
http://www.kinseyforsenate.org
http://www.gp.org
http://www.runcynthiarun.org
