Denice Traina, past co-chair of the Georgia Green Party: "We're eager to hear today's State of the State, hoping that Gov. Deal will use the occasion to propose policies that apply the principals of restorative justice, rather than our failed policies of punishment and social control. Rehabilitation, education and vocational opportunities can help us keep folks working and families together."
Arizona Green Party Statement in response to Tucson's domestic terrorism: "Nonviolence is one of the Ten Key Values of the Green Party. We promote non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community and global peace. Peace is not just the absence of violence; it is a willingness to resolve conflict in a constructive manner with a spirit of good will and respect. ... bloodshed and brutality are not replacements for compassionate dialogue and diplomatic actions."
Green Party Alex White will be running for Mayor of Rochester, NY. White opposes control of the city school district, and supports a return to neighborhood precincts for the Rochester Police Department.
Maryland Green Party has submitted 14,842 signatures to their Board of Elections to qualify for the ballot for the next two election cycles.
Updates of 2010 from Ronald Hardy of Green Party Watch:
May 7, 2010, Caroline Lucas becomes first Green Member of Parliament in United Kingdom -- Ms. Lucas won a hotly contested race in Brighton Pavilion to become the Greens' first-ever member of parliament.
May 31, 2010, Green Party and Cynthia McKinney Condemn Freedom Flotilla Massacre. "The Green Party, led by 2008 Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney, have been vocal and active critics of Israel's war on the people of Gaza. Dr. Justine McCabe, co-chair of the Green Party's Intl. Committee: "We demand immediate action from the US, including emergency orders from President Obama to cut off all aid to Israel."
August 21, 2010, The Australian Green Party performed very well in the federal elections in Australia, with Adam Bandt winning a seat outright in Melbourne with over 35% of the first-choice vote, and the Greens winning about 12% of the vote in the lower house.
Nov. 3, 2010, election returns resulted in the Green Party gaining ballot access through at least 2012 in two of the most populous states, New York and Texas (though lost ballot access in Illinois and Wisconsin). In NY through to 2014, thanks to Howie Hawkins for Gov. earning over 50,000 votes. In Texas to Ed Lindsay for State Comptroller winning over 5% of the vote through 2012.
Tom Clements, Green Party Senate Candidate in S.C., netted the greatest number of votes, 118,000, 9.37% of the total.
About PA State Assembly candidate Hugh Giordano: "Hide your unions, Democrats, because the Green Party is coming to take them away. Hugh Giordano, a 26-year old, Roxborough native and food workers' union organizer for UFCW Local 152, ran on the Green Party ticket for a seat in the 194th. He lost, but garnered 18% of the vote (23% in Philly)--an unprecedented number for a third-party candidate. Giordano's words in a letter to union workers: "We owe the Democrats and Republicans NOTHING, because they have done NOTHING for our members, for our contracts, and for the movement. How much longer are we going to support a bunch of failures?" Hard working Giordano had many people come out for him.
More from his letter: "Many labor unions still believe the Democrats are 'labor's friend'. Really? How can this be when they failed to pass EFCA, they bail out the super rich, failed to pass Single-Payer health care, pass horrible trade laws (NAFTA), attack pensions, and most of all -- are in the pockets of the same people we fight every day, the corporations! ... we CANNOT run as a Democrat or Republican; those two parties are too corrupted and entrenched. We must strengthen and build a THIRD PARTY! ... The corporate Democrats ONLY win because we fuel them, but then they turn their backs on us. ... The Green Party is the party of labor. They have a platform that is 100% pro-labor (repeal Taft-Hartley, NAFTA, and prosecute CEO's who break the law). (http://www.gp.org/) ...It's time we make history and do the right thing."
NY Green Party issues being addressed in NY for 2011 include: a ban on hydrofracking for natural gas; education; state budge/progressive revenue options; single payer health care; climate change; and peace/cut the military budget.
Sam Smith of Progressive Review in CounterPunch writes in praise of the success of Green Party Fred Horch in Maine and the past success of John Eder there. "The big parties gave up human relationships long ago. Which is why we have such a hard time relating to them. But you can't text your way to the presidency, you can't Facebook a revolution and you can't save the planet with twitter. At some point real people have to join with, talk to, and help other real people."
UK Young Green membership spiked by 10% in just one weekend when Parliament voted to trebel the cap on university fees in England to 9000 pounds per year. The young people are abandoning their support for the Liberal Democrats.
Jared A. Ball, Black Agenda Radio: "I am also further convinced of the serious dilemma facing the real Black left. ... I'm talking about those of us who would hope for more radical left politics to at least be put on the table. ... I mean like real universal health care or actual and immediate removal of troops. Better yet, how about a reduction of the military budget, a freeze on foreclosures and an actual declaration of an end to police brutality and mass incarceration as national policy and as a bedrock of the national economy?"
Scott McLarty ("Green or the Graveyard"), "Is it time for progressive, antiwar, and pro-environmental activists and voters to look beyond the Democratic Party and seek other alliances? ... Is there any future for progressives beyond excuse-making? ... The list of disappointments is extensive: the recent deal with Republicans to extend President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy; escalation of the Afghanistan War; continuation of ... assaults on the US Constitution; persecution of whistleblowers; dismissal of the public option in early negotiations; passage of a health care reform bill with legally questionable 'mandates' that funnel our money into private for profit insurance companies; authorization of new nuclear plants built with taxpayer money; embrace of the "clean coal" myth while allowing mountaintop removal mining to devastate and poison the landscapes of WV and other states; continuation of the failed and wasteful War on Drugs, silence about the mass incarceration of young black and poor men, and the powerful for-profit private prison system that makes money by filling up cells; taxpayer funded Wall Street bailouts; hiring of Wall Street insiders; minimal aid for Americans losing their homes; 'Catfood Commission' to mull cuts to Social Security; continued support and military aid for Israel's brutal violation of the basic human rights of Palestinians ... We can go on and on.
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Re Cathie Black's appointment as Chancellor of New York City schools, Tom Siracuse, retired public school teacher, told reporters that to support his application for Black's former job at the Hearst Corporation he was reading a book. Gloria Mattera called it "an outrage that Mayor Bloomberg has hand picked Cathie Black and the State Education Commissioner granted her a waiver so she could be hired."
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