GREENS TO BUSH: OBEY THE NATION'S
LAWS
On the eve of the party's Midterm Convention (July
18-21 in Philadelphia), Greens warn of damage to rights,
security, and the economy in Bush's protection of corporate
and government criminals
Greens cite Enron abuses in Harken and Halliburton, rollback
of 'Whistleblower' protection, and noncompliance with the
International Criminal Court
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As Greens prepare for the Midterm
Convention of the Green Party of the United States, party
candidates and activists are calling on Americans to hold
the Bush Administration responsible for coddling corporate
criminal activity and governmental malfeasance.
"With George W. Bush in the White House, our federal
government is fast becoming a gangster operation, as all
sorts of criminal behavior go uninvestigated and
unpunished," said David Cobb, Green candidate for Texas
Attorney General. "Even in the case of Enron,
which is now in court, the links of corporate criminals to
the Bush and Clinton Administrations and to both Democrats
and Republicans in Congress have evaded
investigation. If I am elected, my first act will be to haul
the officers and directors of Enron before a grand jury to
face criminal indictment."
Greens urge American voters and the media to hold President
Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney directly responsible for
relaxed law enforcement, corporate cover-ups, and secret
government policies and operations:
*** The sale of Harken stock by former executive
George W. Bush, who cashed in to the tune of $848,560
just before the stock price fell drastically and Harken
reported a $23 million loss, is in every way comparable to
the actions of Enron executives who dumped their shares just
before their value plummeted. In both cases,
wealthy corporate execs made a killing, while smaller
investors and employees lost their savings.
"Before we believe Bush's flimsy excuses about failing
to disclose his huge stock sale to the Securities and
Exchange Commission in a timely manner, we need an
independent investigation -- just as we need one for the
Enron scandal, for WorldCom, and other corporations that
exercise enormous influence over both Democrats and
Republicans," said Linda Schade, Green candidate for
the Maryland State House of Delegates, District
20.
*** Halliburton Inc. faces seven lawsuits on behalf of
investors claiming violations of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934. The lawsuits cite fraud by Halliburton for false
and misleading statements to the market, and for
reporting fraudulent revenues of $98 million for Fiscal Year
1999 and $113 million for FY 2000 -- when Dick Cheney was
CEO. Also, the Financial Times of London has reported that
between September 1998 and early 2000, CEO Cheney oversaw
$23.8 million in deals for the sale of oil-industry
equipment and services to Saddam Hussein, thanks to legal
loopholes in US sanctions against Iraq. The contracts were
negotiated through Halliburton subsidiaries Dresser Rand and
Ingersoll-Dresser Pump.
*** A provision in the bill to President Bush's proposed
Homeland Security Department will exempt its employees from
the Whistleblower Protection Act, preventing the exposure of
intelligence errors that led up to September 11. Homeland
Security personnel would escape accountability for the kind
of mismanagement that FBI agent Colleen Rowley revealed,
since employees with evidence of wrongdoing would face
harassment and loss of their jobs.
*** President Bush asserts (as did President Clinton) that
the US will not participate or comply with the International
Criminal Court. Congress and the White House reacted
hysterically to the establishment of the ICC, vetoing
further UN operations in Bosnia. US officials have
threatened to send in US forces to rescue any American
soldiers held at ICC headquarters in the Hague, in the name
of US sovereignty and fear over anti-American sentiment
around the world.
"The President's refusal to cooperate with
international law is notorious - and inconsistent,"
said Dr. Jonathan Farley, a congressional candidate in
Tennessee. "While NAFTA and other free trade pacts
allow secret international authorities to override US labor,
human rights, and environmental laws on behalf of
powerful corporations, neither Bush nor Congress will allow
an open international court to hold any US official
responsible for war crimes, genocide, or serious human
rights abuses. It shows that Democrats and Republicans alike
fear international cooperation that's based on justice
rather than on military or economic power."
The Green Party of the United States will hold its Midterm
Convention in Philadelphia from July 18-21 at the Holiday
Inn, a few blocks from the historic sites of one of
America's early capitols. The Green Party will also hold a
large political rally on Friday night, July 19, at the
Irvine Auditorium, featuring:
2000 Presidential candidate Ralph Nader,
2000 California Senatorial candidate Medea Benjamin,
and
Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney.
MORE INFORMATION
The Green Party of the United States
National office: 1314 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-296-7755, 866-41GREEN
Convention information
Press credentialing for the convention: download
an application
Index of Green Party candidates in 2002
Top
Green candidates
for Congress urge a halt to the spiraling violence and
immediate action from Bush
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party congressional candidates have
joined various Israeli-Palestinian coalitions for peace in
demanding that the killings on both sides cease and that
Israel and Palestine agree to accept an international
peacekeeping body under the auspices of the United Nations to
be sent to the occupied territories to enforce a halt to the
escalating retaliatory violence. At the same time, all
available channels of diplomatic communication must be kept
open in order for negotiations for peace and the establishment
of a Palestinian state to advance.
"America's reluctance to propose an internationally
cooperative effort remains a major obstacle to peace and
stability in the Middle East," said Richard Vikstrom,
Illinois candidate for U.S. Senate. "Greens in Israel and
the rest of the world have joined Israeli-Palestinian peace
organizations such as Gush Shalom, [the Arab-Jewish political
party] Hadash, and [the women's peace group] Bat Shalom in
demanding that Israel's army stop attacks on Palestinian civil
authorities, that Palestinians cease all political murders of
Israeli civilians, and that both peoples come together to
disarm and negotiate."
"The more Israel tries to suppress violence by
Palestinians through the use of military force, the more many
Palestinians -- already desperate from decades of economic and
political suppression, displacement by settlers, and abuse and
murder by Israeli forces -- may be motivated to commit
suicidal attacks on Israeli civilians," said Charles
Pillsbury, Green Party candidate for Congress in Connecticut's
3rd District.
"If Sharon succeeds in isolating Arafat, we fear the
violence will only expand. Each attack on Palestine, every
bomb that Israel drops on a refugee camp, results in more
Palestinians killing more Israelis, followed by more Israeli
attacks," Pillsbury added. "The invasion of Ramallah
won't bring Israel even temporary security but new waves of
death and destruction. Arafat has pleaded for
international help to interrupt the spiraling violence.
President Bush must cease arming one side of the conflict
[Israel] and push for an international U.N.-led peacekeeping
force, or the atrocities will escalate."
"Each side feels justified in using violence to respond
to the violence committed by the other side," said Joseph
Fortunato, candidate for New Jersey Representative, 8th
Congressional District. "Greens support the right of
Israel and Palestine to a peaceful coexistence, and we
strongly oppose the decades-long violation of Palestinian
human rights in the occupied territories by Israel, while
condemning any and all violence against civilians. Israel must
end its military aggression and leave the occupied territories
now. Its continued occupation of Palestinian lands, in
violation of international law, is perpetuating the cycle of
violence and despair. We call for an immediate end to the
mayhem and demand that Israel must stand down now."
Green Party 2 "It's clear that the recent efforts by the
Bush administration to reduce the fighting are driven by a
desire to secure Arab support for a U.S. military attack on
Iraq, rather than to secure permanent peace in the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict," said Dr. Jonathan Farley,
Green congressional candidate in Tennessee. In November, Dr.
Farley spoke at a Stop the War rally in London that drew
100,000 people.
"There have been far too many victims on both sides.
Palestinian and Israeli children have been slaughtered,
ambulances carrying wounded Palestinians shot at, Palestinians
homes are demolished and their towns and villages sealed
off," added Evergreen Chou, a candidate seeking the Green
Party's nomination for Representative from Queens, New York.
"U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East has contributed
to the violence. It is time for the U.S. to stop its efforts
which have blocked peace in the Middle East. It is clear that
the Sharon and Arafat governments will not be able to
negotiate a peaceful settlement without the intervention of
the international community."
Index of Green Party candidates in 2002
*** Greens, other environmental activists oppose the assault
on New Source Review requirements for old power plants, and
urge EPA chief Whitman to stand up to the polluter lobby
inside the Bush Administration
BETH A. McCONNELL, Pennsylvania Public Interest Research
Group (nonpartisan organization): "President Bush's
Energy Department is poised to eliminate a requirement of the
Clean Air Act that old power plants install modern air
pollution equipment when they upgrade, thereby severely
weakening efforts to reduce air pollution. More than 30,000
Americans lives are cut short each year due to power plant
pollution. Now is the time that we should be coming down hard
on air polluters, not relaxing clean air standards. The plan
will jeopardize the health of every American, and will undo
decades of clean air progress."
J. ROY CANNON, Green Party of Delaware: "We urge EPA
Administrator Christine Todd Whitman to uphold her obligation
to protect the Americanpublic from the hazards of pollution,
and to continue to stand up to the Energy Department's plan.
Last year, Ms. Whitman compromised on both the Kyoto global
warming treaty and the regulation to limit arsenic in drinking
water, which was later reversed after a storm of public
protest. But Ms. Whitman, as governor of New Jersey, supported
strict enforcement of the New Source Review program to make
plants restrict emissions, and we urge her to stand firm
against this latest attempt to satisfy the polluter lobby
inside the Bush Administration."
ANNIE GOEKE, Pennsylvania Green and co-chair of the national
party's International Committee: "The Bush
Administration's Energy Department, caving in to the oil and
gas, coal, and chemical manufacturer lobbies, wants to gut the
'New Source Review.' This is the provision that requires
hundreds of dirty old power plants, coal plants, which
were grandfathered out of the 1970 Clean Air Act's "Best
Available Control Technology" requirement to reduce air
pollution, to use the most up-to-date and effective air
pollution controls when upgrading their facilities. Marc
Racicot, chair of the Republican Party, has lobbied the White
House for years to weaken the Clean Air Act, and he continues
to be associated with a law firm that is leading the assault
against clean air. Since Bush and Cheney are former oil
industry executives, it might not take much persuasion."
CAROL MILLER, New Mexico Green and public health leader:
"The Energy Department proposal will allow plants to pump
sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions in the air for
decades to come. Sulfur dioxide causes acid rain and
nitrogen oxide causes urban smog. The proposal will cause a
whole range of serious health problems including asthma, lung
cancer and heart disease, especially in cities where children
already suffer record asthma rates. We call on every single
member of Congress to pass federal legislation to oppose it,
and we urge Americans to contact their Representatives and
Senators immediately and demand that they take action to block
this dangerous move."
Green Party 2
TOM SEVIGNY, Connecticut Green, member of the national
Steering Committee of the Green Party of the United States:
"The ghost of Enron lives on in these defective Bush air
policies. Bush should know by now that market-based systems,
like his proposed 'cap and trade' emission trading program,
have not worked and will not work to clean up our air. It's
just another shell game to allow corporate wheeler dealers to
create a new market for speculative trading, and even if it
were approved, it might not go into effect for years while old
power plants would be allowed to avoid installing modern
pollution equipment when they upgrade. It's more corporate
welfare at the expense of the environment, with corporate
polluters showered with billions in new credits while we get
acid rain and asthma. That's what Enron lobbied for
behind closed doors."
MORE INFORMATION
Well, more Greens win office than ever before. We're small,
but growing
and persistant. Check out the 40 some Greens that joined the
ranks of
Greens in office this year.
A few individuals that won:
And I just love this guy:
...John H, 11/25
Greens
see in the Taliban's flight from Kabul a chance to provide
humanitarian aid, restore basic rights of Afghans
WASHINGTON,
D.C. -- The Green Party of the United States has renewed its
call for the U.S. to halt the military assaults on
Afghanistan, as the war threatens to spread and Afghans face
starvation in the coming months.
"Continuing
the strikes through Ramadan will further alienate Muslims and
jeopardize fragile alliances with Pakistan and other Muslim
nations," said Tom Sevigny, Connecticut Green activist
and member of the national party's steering committee.
Pakistan's
President, General Pervez Musharraf, warns that the U.S.
assaults are "perceived in the whole world as a war
against the poor, miserable and innocent people of
Afghanistan" and that continuing attacks during Ramadan
would have "negative fall-out in the entire Muslim
world." The war on Afghanistan puts the military
junta in Pakistan in an explosive dilemma. Already on
shaky ground, the undemocratic Pakistani government faces
destabilization, with dire consequences if Pakistan's small
nuclear arsenal falls into the wrong hands. Meanwhile,
Pakistani extremists are increasing acts of violence in
Kashmir, forcing a confrontation with India.
"Our
ill-considered response to the September 11 atrocities
endangers the stability of two hostile nuclear powers --
Pakistan and India -- with unknowable results," said
Robbie Franklin, a Texas Green activist and treasurer of the
national party. "It is a very dangerous situation with
consequences far greater than anything we can hope to gain in
the war on Afghanistan."
The
military strikes have already proved devastating for the
people of Afghanistan, especially the use of cluster bombs,
fuel air bombs, and carpet bombing by the U.S. as the Taliban
dispersed into civilian areas. But the retreat of the Taliban
from Kabul provides an opening for the delivery of
humanitarian aid and the beginning of restored human rights
for Afghans.
"The
only hope for Afghanistan is massive intervention from the
U.N.," said Holly Hart, secretary of the Iowa Green Party
and co-chair of the national platform committee.
"Such an effort must provide emergency food and medical
supplies, attempt to prevent further bloodshed in the civil
war between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance, and address
the brutal treatment of Afghan people -- especially women --
by both the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. We must
guarantee that the fall of repressive, misogynistic laws in
Kabul after the Taliban fled is not reversed by the Northern
Alliance."
The
Green Party continues to demand that the criminals behind the
September 11 atrocities be tried according to international
law in an appropriate court. The Rome Statute, which the
U.S. refuses to ratify, would provide such a forum. The
non-retroactivity clause of the Rome Statute would preclude
using the International Criminal Court to try the September 11
criminals. However, Greens note that an ad hoc tribunal
based on the principles of the Rome Statute can be convened to
indict and try those responsible for the attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Unfortunately,
House and Senate negotiators last week agreed to block U.S.
participation in the U.N.'s establishment of an International
Criminal Court to prosecute war crimes, genocide and other
crimes against humanity. The U.S. government refuses to
cooperate in international attempts to hold all nations
responsible for crimes like the September 11 attacks, and
prefers unilateral force, since the U.S. considers itself
exempt from accountability for violation of international law.
"We
urge the U.S. government to build a worldwide coalition of
governments pledging to refrain from acts of violence against
civilians and to prevent independent groups from doing the
same," said Jane M. Hunter, vice-chair of the Green Party
of New Jersey.
(Top)
During the party's annual meeting in Santa Barbara, California
last July, Green delegates voted to establish a national party
and to apply to the FEC for national committee status. Delegates
also approved growth plans that include opening an office in
Washington, D.C. and hiring a team of field organizers for the
mid-term election season.
"National Committee status is a tremendous accomplishment
for the young party, one that acknowledges its place as the
leading and fastest growing political alternative in the United
States," added David Cobb, General Counsel for the Green
Party of the United States. "It will help increase the
numbers of voters who recognize us as the party of change, a
serious contender on the political landscape."
National Committee status will permit the Green Party to accept
contributions up to $20,000 per year from individuals, but
internal Green Party rules cap such donations at $10,000 per
year. The party and its candidates also refuse contributions
from corporations.
"The Green Party is the only political party to oppose the
big money that is corrupting politics in America," said
Steve Schmidt, chair of the party's Platform Committee.
"We're the only party that chooses to regulate itself more
strictly than the federal government."
The Green Party has called for a measured and just response to
the September 11 attacks, demanding that the U.S. avoid further
civilian deaths and continue to protect civil liberties and our
constitutional rights of dissent, free assembly, privacy, due
process, and mobility. The Republican and Democratic Parties
continue to retreat from supporting such protections.
"The attacks were a crime against humanity, and Greens call
for the culprits to be brought to justice in an appropriate
international court of law," said Annie Goeke, a
Pennsylvania Green and chair of the International Committee of
the Green Party of the United States. "The current war
mentality threatens to undermine our rights and cause needless
deaths, abroad and possibly even here in the U.S. It will prove
ineffective in stopping terrorism."
The Green Party of the United States is the national political
organization of the Greens, in which 33 states are represented,
with other states' memberships pending. It organized the Green
National Convention in Denver in June, 2000, at which Ralph
Nader was nominated to run for President, and is recognized
among Green Parties around the world.
Media inquiries about national policies and activities of the
Green Party should be directed to the Green Party of the United
States, through its media representatives as listed in the
heading above. To contact state Green Parties, visit the Green
Party of the United States web site <http://gpus.org> and
follow the links to the state parties and their contacts and web
sites.
