SF GREEN PARTY WEEKLY 5/26/06-6/1/06 NEWS: - 5/10: Louisiana And California Committees Pass Bill For Nationwide Election Of The President (http://www.sfgreenparty.org/news/newsitem-start.gem?idx=1485) - 5/12: A Democrat-Controlled House Wouldn't Impeach, Pelosi Says (http://www.sfgreenparty.org/news/newsitem-start.gem?idx=1490) - 5/12: Wacky Doodle Politics and Common Sense: Where does the Green Party fit in? (http://www.sfgreenparty.org/news/newsitem-start.gem?idx=1491) - 5/18: Granting Immigrants the Right to Vote (http://www.sfgreenparty.org/news/newsitem-start.gem?idx=1489) - 5/23: A New Populist Uprising, by David Cobb (http://www.sfgreenparty.org/news/newsitem-start.gem?idx=1492) EVENTS: This week: - 5/24: Sing Out for a Living Wage, Cantando para un Salario Digno - 5/24: Something Fun at the Green Party Forum!!! Join the medley of politics and performance - 5/30: Madonna Thunder Hawk, Lakota Elder Save the date: - 6/6: Housing and Land Use Working Group meeting - 6/6: Victory Party for Aimee Allison! - 6/16: "Let’s Put Harvey Milk Back in City Hall!" Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi Hosts Art Opening Celebrating SF LGBT Pride Month ANNOUNCEMENTS & ACTION ALERTS: - Volunteer for Aimee Allison From Now to June 6; Victory is Possible! - Co-Chair Needed for GROW Working Group IN EVERY ISSUE: - Left Talk with Diamond Dave! - Discuss Instant Runoff Voting in Green Party Activist Jim Dorenkott's Blog (http://www.dailykos.com/user/jim%20d) - Take Action! - Earn A Living Making San Francisco A More Green and Progressive City! - Become a Green Party Sustainer! JOKE OF THE WEEK: - Saturday Night Live: If Gore Were President (http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/05/14.html#a8280) ************************************************************ EVENTS: 5/24: Sing Out for a Living Wage, Cantando para un Salario Digno WHEN: Wednesday, May 24 Mi®¶rcoles, 24 de mayo 12:00 noon - 1:00PM WHERE: Civic Center side of City Hall, 1 Carlton B Goodlett Place, San Francisco Nos reuniremos en la Alcaldia en el lado del Civic Center Lineas de MUNI #49 o 47 a McAllister o Grove, #5 o #21 a Van Ness Ave. CONTACT, INFORMATION: Call the Living Wage Coalition at: Para mas informaci®Æn, llame al Living Wage Coalition a: 513-5393 e-mail sflivingwage@riseup.net DETAILS: Help raise wages for 15,000 home healthcare aides, non-profit workers, homeless shelter workers and CalWORKs parents Please join us in singing outside the offices of Mayor Gavin Newsom and Board President Aaron Peskin to urge them to support the Ammiano/McGoldrick Amendments to the Living Wage Law Ayude a aumentar el sueldo de 15,000 trabajadores Å0É2 empleados de hospicio, empleados de instituciones de no-lucro, CalWORKs madres en asistencia p®≤blica en transici®Æn de empleo Por favor nos reuniremos cantar afuera la oficinas de Alcalde Gavin Newsom y Board President Aaron Peskin para exigir que apoyen las enmiendas Ammiano/McGoldrick para la ley de sueldos justos --------- 5/24: Something Fun at the Green Party Forum!!! Join the medley of politics and performance WHEN: Wednesday, May 24 7:00PM-2:00AM WHERE: Studio Z, 314 11th Street @ Folsom, San Francisco CONTACT: (415) 252-7666 www.StudioZ.tv ADMISSION: $5 to $500 Must be 21+, with ID No one turned away for lack of funds DETAILS: Join the medley of politics and performance with: Barry Hermanson (candidate for 12th Assembly district), Forrest Hill (candidate for Secretary of State), Ross Mirkarimi (Supervisor, District 5), Mehul Thakker (candidate for state treasurer), Medea Benjamin (Global Exchange), Laura Wells (candidate for state controller), Diamond Dave Whitaker (San Francisco icon of poetry and Greenism ...), Ubidube Whitaker (Rocker and son of icon ...), Mike Wyman (candidate for state Attorney General), Go Van Gogh (Indy rock band), Garrin Benfield (Indy soloist) And more...(see http://www.sfgreenparty.org/events/events-itemfromhome.gem?idx=1521) --------- 5/30: Madonna Thunder Hawk, Lakota Elder WHEN: Tuesday, May 30 6:30PM WHERE: New College of San Francisco, Valencia Street (between 19th and 20th), San Francisco CONTACT: BACORR at bacorr@riseup.net DETAILS: Madonna is a veteran of every modern Native American struggle from the occupation of Alcatraz to the 1973 siege of Wounded Knee. She is also a long-time community organizer with a range of experience in American Indian rights protection, cultural preservation, economic development, environmental justice and Lakota social reclamation. Thunder Hawk helped organize the Black Hills Protection Committee (later the HeSapa Institute) whose goal is to protect the many sacred sites within the region’s treaty lands. Madonna will speak to ongoing efforts in South Dakota to secure women’s reproductive rights. Her work serves as an inspiring model for committed reproductive rights/justice activists in the aftermath of South Dakota’s disastrous decision to ban abortion and in the face of ongoing attacks on ourselves, our rights and our bodies. --------- 6/6: Housing and Land Use Working Group meeting WHEN: Tuesday, June 6 7:30PM-9:30AM WHERE: San Francisco Green Party office, 1028 A Howard St (between 6th St. and 7th St.), San Francisco DETAILS: Tuesday's agenda includes: Most of the evening will be spent working on the Housing platform for San Francisco, along with discussion of the Mayor Newsome's plan to add 15,000 housing units in 5 years; Currents Events and Legislation; Any other topics you want to discuss; Announcements Everyone welcomed, Green Party member or not. --------- 6/6: Victory Party for Aimee Allison! WHEN: Tuesday, June 6 Starts 8:00PM WHERE: Oasis Bar and Restaurant in Downtown Oakland, 2101 Webster St, Oakland, CA DETAILS: A Better World Begins in Oakland!All volunteers, donors, and supporters are invited to this Election Night Party. Aimee Allison, Green Party candidate for Oakland's City Council is proud to invite you to our victory party on June 6th. Thanks to the hard work of many dedicated activists from around the Bay, Aimee is poised for a grassroots victory this June. We hope that you join us in our final push to win this important race (see previous post) and then join us as we celebrate our hard work at our victory party. --------- 6/16: "Let’s Put Harvey Milk Back in City Hall!" Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi Hosts Art Opening Celebrating SF LGBT Pride Month WHEN: Friday, June 16, 2006, 5-8 pm Show runs through July 19, 2006 WHERE: San Francisco City Hall, 1 Carlton B Goodlett, Room 282 DETAILS: This art party and show, hosted by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, features Harvey Milk related photographs and memorabilia contributed by: the San Francisco Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Historical Society; San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum; and the Harvey Milk City Hall Memorial Committee (photographer Daniel Nicoletta, Nancy McNally, San Francisco artist and founder of the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park, and Rick Hauptman.) Harvey Milk, one of nation’s first openly gay elected officials in the nation, became a hero to the LGBT civil rights movement. He was assassinated at SF City Hall in 1978. To honor his achievements, the Harvey Milk City Hall Memorial Committee, a non-profit organization, was formed to commission a sculpture of Supervisor Harvey Milk to be placed in City Hall. For more information, go to http://www.milkmemorial.org/. Please join Supervisor Mirkarimi in celebrating SF LGBT Pride Month, and in taking another step toward putting Harvey Milk back in City Hall. ============================== ANNOUNCEMENTS & ACTION ALERTS: Volunteer for Aimee Allison From Now to June 6; Victory is Possible! We are down to the final two weeks of the June election season, and Aimee Allison is close to becoming the first Green Party member elected to Oakland's City Council. Recent polling indicates that Aimee is running virtually neck-to-neck with her main opponent, incumbent Pat Kernighan, so we have a real shot at victory this June. In order to win, however, we need strong volunteer turnout these last two weeks of the campaign. This means that we need every active Green to commit to working at least one volunteer shift between now and the final weekend of the campaign, and an additional few hours Sun, Mon, Tues, June 4-6 to help put us over the top. We really need as many volunteers and as much presence as possible! Please take a look at the schedule below and contact the campaign to let us know when you are coming. The campaign phone is 510-277-0182; we are located at 3208 Grand Ave next to the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland (car free and driving directions are at the end of this post). VOLUNTEER SHIFTS: WEEKDAY VISIBILITY: 7-9 am. We need at least one volunteer every morning to both accompany Aimee and work in volunteer teams to meet voters in high traffic pedestrian areas. We need volunteers for May 30, 31, June 1,2, 5 and 6. WEEKDAY VISIBILITY: 5-7 PM. Volunteers are needed to both accompany Aimee and work in volunteer teams at high visibility locations and to do sign waving and visibility at busy intersections. We need volunteers the following days: May 24, 25, 26 (Grand Lake Theater visibility on Friday night), 29, 30, 31, June 1, 4, 5 and 6. WEEKDAY CALLING: 12-8:30 pm daily (Mon-Thurs). We are calling District 2 voters to identify support and persuade undecided voters. Calling begins at 12 each day (to seniors) and continues until 8:30 each night. Callers are needed every day and evening. Meals and yummy snacks are provided. WEEKEND MOBILIZATIONS: Beginning 10 am Saturday and 12:00 noon on Sundays. We will be phone banking and dispatching volunteers to lit drop and do visibility the last two weekends, May 27-29 (Memorial Day Weekend) and June 3-4 (Get Out The Vote Weekend). We need as many volunteers as possible all day on both weekends. GOTV- Get Out The Vote: June 5-6. We will be doing GOTV activities the final weekend AND Monday and Tuesday, June 5 and 6th. We need volunteers who can commit to 6 hour shifts on Monday and Tuesday- election day- to help make sure our supporters make it to the polls. Please consider taking some time off work to help on either or both of these days if you can. All volunteers, donors, and supporters are invited to the Election Night Party on June 6th at Oasis Bar and Restaurant in downtown Oakland beginning at 7pm at 2101 Webster St, Oakland, CA. PLEASE PLAN TO COMMIT TO AT LEAST ONE SHIFT THIS ELECTION! Call the campaign today to get involved to be a part of this important Green victory. DIRECTIONS TO THE AIMEE ALLISON HEADQUARTERS: By Transit: BART to the 19th BART station. AC Transit bus #12 picks up at Grand Ave, and drops off at the Grand Lake Theater; the NL Bus picks up at Broadway and 20th and goes to Lake Park Ave, across the street from the Grand Lake Theater. (transit runs about every 30 minutes on each line on the weekends, go to http://www.actransit.org for the schedule). BART and biking/walking: BART to the 19th Street station. Walk/bike up 20th Ave towards Lake Merritt, go left around the lake (look for the colorful Fairyland sign on the hill above the lake) and continue East around the lake on Grand Ave, past several blocks of storefronts and back along the lake until you see the Grand Lake Theater sign. The walk takes about 20-25 minutes and about 10 minutes by bike. Driving: Take the 580 Fwy East to the Grand Ave/Lakeview St. exit. Turn Left on Grand Ave. Please try to carpool if you are driving. Parking is available on Grand Ave, under the freeway and in the parking lot off Grand Ave, meters are active Monday-Saturday, and is free on Sundays. --------- Co-Chair Needed for GROW Working Group Micheas Herman of the GROW Working Group (tabling and voter registration) is seeking a new co-chair. Contact Micheas Herman at ... or the County Council at cc@sfgreens.org for more information. ============================== IN EVERY ISSUE: Left Talk with Diamond Dave! Tune in to a round table discussion of progressive issues from the Green perspective (represented by Diamond Dave Whitaker) and the ISO perspective. 88.1 FM or 880 AM, every Friday from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Hosted by Spencer the Speaker. --------- Take Action! Find out about opportunities to help our elected Greens (writing letters, attending hearings, etc) -- subscribe to the SF Green Party Action list! The Action list is a low-traffic list (approximately one message per week in addition to our newsletter) telling you what you can do to help: https://list.sfgreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/action --------- Earn A Living Making San Francisco A More Green and Progressive City! Two years ago, former organizers for the Matt Gonzalez for Mayor campaign decided it was time to stop getting 'close but not close enough' to progressive victories like public power and Matt as Mayor, and to begin a city wide, year round, grassroots campaign that would start helping us win such victories! So in January 2004, the organization Our City was born. Since then we have helped to: - Pass the ban on old polluting diesel buses - Pass Matt Gonzalez's anti chain store law - Get the downtown hotel workers back on the job, and - Get the Police and Planning Commissions put back on SF Government TV after the City tried to pull them off. Now we are campaigning to get rid of PG&E's monopoly on our electricity service, and start running the City on renewable energy like solar and wind power instead! We have just begun hiring and training new grassroots campaigners to help us win this fight. No experience necessary. Earn $280 to $400 each four day work week learning to be a strong progressive organizer. To apply, call Eric at 415-756-8844 from noon to 2pm any weekday, or send an email to jobs@our-city.org For more information, see our web site at http://our-city.org --------- Become a Green Party Sustainer! As you may know, the SFGP is supported by our wonderful sustaining donors -- 175 and growing. In the next 12 months we hope to double that figure, and you can help us achieve our goal by signing up to make a regular contribution to the Green Party. Our sustainer program nearly pays all of our basic monthly operating expenses, including rent and utilities on the office, and drastically reduces the amount of work needed to raise money. Our sustainers free us up to do what we're really here for - to pursue Green values through the democratic system. Sustainers also ensure that we are able to keep our office, which has hosted numerous campaigns' headquarters including the successful Prop A, Instant Runoff Voting initiative. Becoming a Green Party sustainer is easy, fun, and secure! For more information, see http://www.sfgreenparty.org/makeadonation/makeadonation.html ************************************************************ For more info on our activities, please see our website, http://www.sfgreenparty.org. You can also email us questions at info@sfgreens.org. To send us news items (short blurb please, plain text only) for possible inclusion in the newsletter, email news@sfgreens.org. Please don't put these addresses on mailing lists; messages not specifically addressed to us won't go through.