Showing posts with label Green Party of the Unites States. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Party of the Unites States. Show all posts

Thursday, July 1, 2010

When Democrats Think John Kerry Is Too Passionate About Climate Change Legislation, You Know It's Green Party Time


E.J. Dionne has a column in today's Washington Post saying that the Obama administration and Democratic congressional leaders are annoyed with Sen. John Kerry for being too passionate about getting a climate change bill passed:
One of the strangest lead sentences I have ever encountered appeared in Politico last week. It read: "John Kerry has been the most aggressive advocate of climate change legislation in the Senate this year -- so aggressive that it's rubbed some of his colleagues the wrong way."

The story went on to say that Kerry's "zeal" is "making some swing-vote Democrats cringe at the thought of negotiating with someone they fear is tone-deaf to the political realities of their respective states -- particularly in a difficult midterm elections year."

So there you have it: Once criticized for being too aloof and patrician, Kerry is now being assailed for daring to have passion for the cause of reducing the amount of carbon we are pumping into the atmosphere.

Note that none of this is about the legislative merits. Kerry is being criticized for caring too much about an issue and not thinking enough about an election -- for being insufficiently opportunistic and unprincipled.

And Democrats wonder why the polls find an "enthusiasm gap" that suggests their supporters will sit around grumpily in November while Republicans flood the polling places. . .

On the current course, even a Republican Party whose leaders say the most outlandish and extreme things -- and whose own congressional rank and file worry about their lack of a coherent program -- could take back the House and make deep inroads in the Senate.

Which brings us back to Kerry, who in a talk with me made no apologies for his eagerness to get an energy bill. What's striking is that he has negotiated with every industry and trade group imaginable to find a deal. If he's passionate about this, he's also been relentlessly practical.

And he notes that many business groups would prefer that Congress deal with the carbon question. "They see it coming from the EPA and regulation, and they would rather have us legislate," he said. Kerry's persistence is one reason the Senate leadership and a White House with which he's been working closely are still trying to push an energy bill through.

Someone needs to find the same pugnacious spirit on a jobs bill. Yes, crucial assistance to states that are slashing programs and raising taxes has been blocked by Republican senators -- including Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine. Both prize their moderate images, but neither has been willing to break with the GOP leadership.

But either Obama and the Democrats really believe that giving the economy another shot in the arm now is essential or they don't. If they put no punch behind their argument, voters will have no idea that some state cutbacks or tax hikes they are worried about could be avoided if Congress were willing to act.


The spineless, somnolent Democratic leadership in Congress and the White House needs a push from both inside the party and from those of us who do have passion about core progressive issues, including the fate of our planet -- those of us in the Green Party.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Green Party Condemns Israel's Murderous Attack on the Gaza-Bound Freedom Flotilla, Urges Immediate Aid Cutoff and End to Impunity for Israel


As a Green Party candidate for Congress and an American Jew, we are happy to endorse this statement from the Green Party of the United States:
The Green Party of the United States condemns the attack by the Israeli navy on Gaza-bound humanitarian aid ships in international wates near Cyprus, which have left at least 19 human rights activists dead and at least 50 wounded.

"The attacks on the aid boats is a criminal act of piracy and a deliberate provocation," said Dr. Justine McCabe, co-chair of the Green Party's International Committee.

"We demand immediate action from the US, including emergency orders from President Obama to cut off all aid to Israel. The policies of the US regarding Israel and Palestine up to now have convinced Israel that it can act with impunity in committing massacres and massive human violations against Palestinian civilians. These illegal and atrocious actions now include the murder of other countries' citizens in international waters," added Dr. McCabe, who recently returned to the US from Haifa, where she participated in a coalition of over 400 Jewish and Palestinian Israelis and internationals who met to promote the growing call for the one democratic state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Israel had earlier threatened to seize the Freedom Flotilla ships and arrest the activists when they entered Gaza coastal waters, but instead executed a surprise maneuver at night in international waters that resulted in death and mayhem for nonviolent activists attempting to deliver 10,000 tons of supplies to the people of Gaza.

2008 Green presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney has released a statement on the massacre ("Cynthia McKinney Mourns the Dead of the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza: People of the US and the world must end Israeli impunity now!"). Ms. McKinney, a former member of Congress from Georgia, was one of 21 human rights activists on board the Free Gaza relief boat seized by the Israeli navy in international waters when it tried to deliver medical and other humanitarian aid to Gaza in June 2009, in the wake of Israel's invasion of Gaza.

Ms. McKinney and the other activists were held in an Israeli jail for several days.

"The US government's lack of response to the seizing of the Free Gaza boat and jailing of a former member of Congress was interpreted by Israel as a license for even more extreme illegal actions," said Starlene Rankin, co-chair of the Lavender Green Caucus. "We urge all Americans who value justice, human rights, and peace to put pressure on the White House and on their Representatives and Senators to move right now to stop all aid to Israel and seek international condemnation of these acts."

"We also urge Americans to be wary of the justifications for Israel's crimes that will come from politicians, media commentators, AIPAC, and other apologists for Israel. These justifications are meant to cover up atrocities, including yesterday's murderous attack on the Freedom Flotilla," said Ms. Rankin.