[SFGP] San Francisco Green Party Weekly

[announce at sfgreens.org]

SFGP Weekly Newsletter
for the week of 4/28- 5/4

This Week:

News:
- Green Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi challenges Mayor Newsom on regulating pot
  clubs
- Mourning the loss of activist Marla Ruzicka
- Terry Baum on the passing of Andrea Dworkin
- Sam Smith on why most Americans are Greens and don't know it

**********************************************************
SFGP Events:

4/30 Saturday: Enough is Enough- Standing Up for Civil Rights in the Bayview
4/30-5/1: Voter Outreach for Aimee Allison for Oakland City Council
5/3 Tuesday: Housing and Land Use Working Group Meeting
5/3: Remembering Marla Ruzicka, 7:30 at the Women's Building
5/5 Thursday: Feminist Issues (FIG) Working Group Meeting

**********************************************************
News:
**********************************************************

Pot Club regulation: Green Sup. Ross Mirkarimi challenges Newsom's
approach on regulating pot clubs.  A quote from the article below:

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who is leading the Board of Supervisors
effort, said he thinks new regulations will demystify clubs and pull
them out of a subterranean atmosphere.  "There's always that threat
(of DEA action). But I think that threat is lessened more by
regulating the clubs. If the Department of Public Health is the driver
of this, we have advanced our ability to rely on doctor-patient
confidentiality," he said.  Mirkarimi wants to look at new rules for
all three parts of the medical marijuana infrastructure - the clubs,
the doctors and the growers - and said the most logical places to
start are zoning, public health, planning and land use.

Read the full article at http://www.sfgreenparty.org/

************************************************************

Lakeport -- More than 600 family, friends and admirers of Marla
Ruzicka mourned her death at a memorial service in her hometown
Saturday, praising the activist killed in Iraq as a voice for the
voiceless and champion of human rights.

Read the Chronicle article and see the SFGP photo memorial at:
http://www.sfgreenparty.org/

************************************************************

Terry Baum, our former Congressional candidate, wrote about the passing of
Andrea Dworkin:
http://sfbaytimes.com/?sec=article&article_id=3589

************************************************************

Sam Smith writes that most Americans are Greens and don't know it:
http://prorev.com/mediasin.htm

************************************************************
Events:
************************************************************

Saturday, April 30, 7:00-9:00pm
Bayview Opera House, 4705 3rd Street, SF (Between Oakdale and Newcomb)

Come hear speakers tell us what we can do to build a new civil rights
movement against police harassment, pollution, the death penalty
Featuring: Barbara Becnel (advocate for Stan Tookie Williams)
Sandra-Juanita Cooper (Campaign to End the Death Penalty/Bayview
Chapter) Minister Christopher Mohammed (Nation of Islam/SF) mesha
monge IRIZARRY (Idriss Stelley Foundation) Charlene Smythe (Green
Party/Bayview resident) Mary Bull (Green Earth Alliance), with
entertainment by COLORED INK & LOCO BLOCO.  Sponsored by Campaign to
End the Death Penalty, Idriss Stelley Foundation, D.O.K.T.A. Cooper's
Community Networking Project

*******************************************************************

Help Elect Aimee Allison for Oakland City Council

Saturday, April 30 and Sunday, May 1:

. Elect Aimee Allison for Oakland City Council! Now is the time for
the power of the people to raise up and take a stand against the
machine. Please come out this weekend to make phone calls, walk
precincts and table information booths for this crucial chapter in
this campaign.

When: *Saturday and Sunday, April 30- May 1
Where: Campaign HQ: 3242 Grand Ave, a few doors down from the Grand Theater

*Saturday the 30th: Walk with Aimee Allison and Sierra Club members
(10:30am). Phone bank (10am). Tabling (any time).

*Sunday the 1st: Walk with Aimee Allison (10:30am). Tabling (any time).

Meet at the Campaign HQ -3242 Grand Ave- callers at 10am, walkers at
10:30 A.M. We'll have breakfast, with coffee and tea ready for you,
and we'll provide a bag lunch as well. Let us know if you want a
vegetarian or meat sandwich.

We also need helping hands ANY DAY of the week, 10am-9pm. Please
sign-up today by replying to this e-mail or calling our campaign
headquarters at (510) 594-7772. We're on the AC Transit #12 bus line
from 19th Street BART.

P.S.- Thanks so much to everyone who came out over the last few
weekends from Oakland, Richmond, Berkeley, Emeryville, Hercules, San
Francisco, Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, and everywhere else! You are all
one of the major reasons Aimee Allison will be the newest member of
the Oakland City Council May 18th!

*******************************************************************

Housing and Land Use Meeting:
Tuesday, May 3, 7:00-9:00pm
SFGP office 1028A Howard St. (between 6th and 7th Sts.)
The proposed agenda includes:
Housing development updates;
State legislation update;
San Francisco's Housing Element

*****************************************************************

Memorial for Marla Ruzicka:
Tuesday, May 3, 7:30-10:00

The Women's Building, 3543 18th St. (at Valencia), San Francisco
Honoring and Celebrating the Life of Human-Rights Activist Marla
Ruzicka Information: (415) 255-7296

Please join us on this very special evening to honor and celebrate the
life and work of Marla Ruzicka, former Bay-Area activist, friend, and
colleague who was killed in Baghdad on Saturday, April 16. Marla's
work in Afghanistan and Iraq with her organization Campaign for
Innocent Victims In Conflict (CIVIC) brought much needed attention to
the all too often overlooked civilian deaths and losses suffered
during these wars. Marla will be remembered for her tireless work for
justice and also for her unyielding zest for life, remarkable capacity
for joy, and deep loyalty to friends and family. Her spirit will leave
an indelible mark in the world.

In Memory of Marla Ruzicka 1976 - 2005

Bay Area activist Marla Ruzicka spent her 28-year life fighting
tirelessly for justice. She began organizing and educating her peers
about social and environmental issues when she was in high school,
bringing in speakers to her school and volunteering her time with
various organizations. Marla later worked with AIDS victims in
Zimbabwe, refugees in Palestine and campesinos in Nicaragua.

Following the US invasion of Afghanistan, Marla traveled there with
Global Exchange and was so moved by the plight of the civilian victims
that she dedicated the rest of her too short life to helping innocent
victims of war in both Afghanistan and Iraq. She created an
organization, Campaign for Innocent Victims In Conflict (CIVIC), to
count casualties, provide assistance, and pressure the US government
to take responsibility for the innocent civilians harmed by US
forces. She was on such a mission in Iraq when she met her untimely
death on Saturday, April 16, 2005 in Baghdad.

Marla will be remembered for her pioneering work, and also for her
unyielding zest for life, remarkable capacity for joy, and deep
loyalty to friends and family. Marla's smile stopped people in their
tracks and her optimism inspired all those around her. Everyone whose
life touched Marla's is richer for the experience, and her spirit will
leave an indelible mark in the world.

We also remember and honor the work of Faiz Ali Salim, Marla's Iraqi
colleague, who was killed with while working to bring attention and
comfort to civilian victims of the Iraq war.

To learn more about Marla and her work, please visit
http://www.civicworldwide.org

*********************************************************************

Feminist Issues Group meeting:

Thursday, May 5, 7:00-9:00pm

This is the regular monthly meeting for the Feminist Issues Group, the
women's caucus of the SF Green Party. Agenda: TBA. Please contact Maureen
Deboer with suggestions: maureen at deboerpeters.com

*********************************************************************

For more info on our activities, please see our website,
http://www.sfgreenparty.org.  You can also email us questions at
info at sfgreens.org.  To send us news items (short blurb please, plain
text only) for possible inclusion in the newsletter, email
news at sfgreens.org.  Please don't put these addresses on mailing lists;
messages not specifically addressed to us won't go through.