SFGP WEEKLY For The Week of 9/2/05 - 9/9/05 This Week: ********************************************************** News: 8/29: MoveOn.org Should Listen to Their Members and Oppose the War 9/2: Message from New Orleans Green ********************************************************** Events: 9/6 - Housing and Land Use Working Group Meeting 9/6 - Campaigns and Issues Working Group Meeting 9/7- Green Party Candidate Forum 7-9:30 Ongoing: Muni Social Strike ********************************************************** Announcements: Joke of the Week Green Meeting Space Avaliable at Progressive Coffee House Become A Sustainer! ********************************************************** News *********************************************************** 8/29: MoveOn.org Should Listen to Their Members and Oppose the War 08/29/05 Source: http://www.gp.org While its members protest the Iraq occupation along with Cindy Sheehan, MoveOn.org itself favors continued occupation, say Greens. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders are challenging MoveOn.org to support an immediate pullout of troops from Iraq. "MoveOn has done an admirable job of rallying people nationwide behind Cindy Sheehan's protest vigil in Crawford, Texas," said Rebecca Rotzler, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and Deputy Mayor of New Paltz, New York. "But MoveOn itself has undermined such efforts by refusing to endorse an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq." Greens have rejected the claim of Democrats like Senators Hillary Clinton (NY) and Joe Biden (Del.) that the problem with the Iraq War is the Bush Administration's military miscalculations. "The invasion and occupation are crimes, based on deception about the motivations for the invasion, a radical ideology that embraces 'preventive war' -- condemned by international law after World War II -- and an oil grab," said Leenie Halbert, Louisiana Green and member of the party's International Committee. "This abuse of power was inevitable after most Democrats in October 2002 voted with Republicans to surrender Congress's constitutionally mandated power to declare war to the White House." MORE INFORMATION Contacts: Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@greens.org Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org 1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404 Washington, DC 20009. 202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN Fax 202-319-7193 Green Party Peace Action Committee http://www.gp.org/committees/peace/ Gold Star Families For Peace http://www.GSFP.org ************************************************************* Message from New Orleans Green: " It's Criminal" Malik Rahim, a veteran of the Black Panther Party in New Orleans, for decades an organizer of public housing tenants both there and in San Francisco and a recent Green Party candidate for New Orleans City Council, lives in the Algiers neighborhood, the only part of New Orleans that is not flooded. They have no power, but the water is still good and the phones work. Their neighborhood could be sheltering and feeding at least 40,000 refugees, he says, but they are allowed to help no one. What he describes is nothing less than deliberate genocide against Black and poor people. - Ed. New Orleans, Sept. 1, 2005 - It's criminal. From what you're hearing, the people trapped in New Orleans are nothing but looters. We're told we should be more "neighborly." But nobody talked about being neighborly until after the people who could afford to leave left. more: go to www.sfgreenparty.org ************************************************************ Events Housing and Land Use Working Group Meeting Tuesday, September 6th 7:00PM- 9:00PM SFGP office, 1028 A Howard St Housing and Land Use Working Group meeting Our tenative agenda includes: * Isn't it Time for Green Design (30 minutes) * Transportation Working Group/HLU Mid-Market Letter (20 minutes) * Better Neighborhoods Plus Legislation (20 minutes) * October seminar (20 minutes) * Housing Element (40 minutes) * Announcements (5 minutes) Note: This meeting will be held in the Green Party kitchen *********************************************************** Campaigns and Issues Working Group Tuesday, September 6th 7:00pm- 9:00pm SFGP office, 1028 A Howard St NOTE: we moved the meeting one day in observance of Labor Day. We will finalize our endorsement schedule, prepare for the Sept 7th candidate forum and Sept 19 Gun Ban forum. We have endorsed all state measures. We need to consider local initiatives for Sept 21: A- Community College Bonds B- Street Resurfacing G- Golden Gate Park/MLK Drive H- Gun Ban *********************************************************** Special Endorsement Meeting Wednesday, September 6th 7:30pm - 9:30pm SFGP office, 1028 A Howard St This will be our candidate night, where we will interview the candidates for Assessor, Treasurer and City Attorney. following the presentation, the SF Green Party active membership will make the endorsements using IRV and consider None of The Above (NOTA) an option. *********************************************************** Ongoing: Muni Social Strike: MUNI Fare Strike Starts Thrurday, September 1st Ongoing On September 1, a social strike begins to combat MUNI fare hikes, service cuts, and layoffs. Riders don't pay, drivers won't collect. Legal Support: If you have any legal difficulties, we have a legal team that can help. Contact 415-285-1011 and make sure you leave your information. Someone will call you back and we'll help fight your ticket. WHAT WE STAND FOR * Riders and Workers, Together! We have the same interests. * Expand Public Transit. No layoffs! No service cuts! Prioritize service expansion for communities who depend most on public transit. Remedy inequalities in service. * Public Transit Should be Free. Reduce fares. No fare hikes, ever! * The City is Not Poor! Increase taxes on big businesses and private transportation to provide all necessary money. HOW DOES IT WORK? The key to a social strike is that it involves riders and workers -- acting in concert. Starting September 1st, riders don't pay to ride and drivers (or station agents) don't ask for fares. Other than that, MUNI will operate as it normally does. Our strike will last until MUNI satifies our demands by repealing the fare hike and reversing all service cuts and layoffs. RIDERS: * Acknowledge the driver or station agent as you enter the MUNI. * Show the "transfer" flyer we have distributed, or wink, or mention the strike. Be polite and don't antagonize the driver, or try to trick them and sneak on. * Other ways to help: If you must pay anything, consider paying partial fare -a few pennies, nickels or dimes. Ask for a transfer and pass it on to someone else as you leave MUNI. * If police or MUNI officials accost you, don't answer their questions or incriminate yourself. Contact legal@socialstrike.org as soon as you can. DRIVERS AND STATION AGENTS: * Do what you can to help riders avoid fares. Be creative! * If police or MUNI officials give you trouble, don't answer their questions or incriminate yourself. Contact legal@socialstrike.org or as soon as you can. Before September 1st, we need as many people as possible to discuss and publicize the strike. If you are a rider, get to know the drivers you see most often. Talk to fellow passengers at your stop. If you are a driver, let riders know you support the social strike. Talk to other drivers and encourage them to participate. The efforts to get the word out and grow the strike will continue past September 1, and the more people who know about the strike the more effective it will be. Click below to get even more involved: http://socialstrike.net/ http://munifarestrike.net/ ************************************************************ Joke of the Week Balance Once upon a time in the kingdom of Heaven, God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael the archangel found him, resting on the seventh day. He inquired of God. "Where have you been?" God signed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look, Michael. Look what I've made." Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, "What is it?" "It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put Life on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a great place of balance." "Balance?" Inquired Michael, still confused. God explained, pointing to different parts of earth. "For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth while southern Europe is going to be poor. Over there I've placed a continent of white people and over there is a continent of black people," God continued pointing to different countries. "This one will be extremely hot and while this one will be very cold and covered in ice." The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a land mass and said, "What's that one?" "Ah," said God. "That's California, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful beaches, deserts, streams, hills, and forests. The people from California are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent and humorous and they are going to be found traveling the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking and high achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats and carriers of peace." Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then proclaimed, "What about balance, God? You said there would be balance!!!" God replied wisely, "Wait until you see the idiot ex-actor I'm going to put in Sacramento." ************************************************************ Announcements: Green Meeting Space Avaliable at Progressive Coffee House Hi. I'm a co-owner of Coffee to the People, a new progressive coffeeshop located near the corner of Masonic and Haight in the Haight-Ashbury. As part of our social mission, we offer free meeting space and a 15% discount on food and beverages to groups and causes we support. Toward this end, Coffee to the People would be honored to host meetings and events for the San Francisco Green Party. If you are interested, please contact me via email or call our manager, Megan Harkins, at 415-626-2435 for scheduling. ************************************************************ 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! Online: http://www.sfgreenparty.org/makeadonation/makeadonation.html Phone: 415-701-7090 ************************************************************ 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. Submissions for Joke of the Week, or comments and questions on the content of the newsletter are welcomed by the editor at ladypest@hotmail.com