Last week's editorial had two additions to it. Dona, Ava and C.I. did the first one and Ty did the second one.
Kimberly Wilder (The Wilder Side) advised us that there are candidates considering a run for the Green Party presidential nomination and recommended the Peoples President Page as well as Politics1. In addition, you can also utilize this video of the Presidential Candidates Forum held this month.
The Green Party website lists the following as candidates so far:
Jared Bell
M. Jingozian
Jesse Johnson
Jerry Kann
Kent Mesplay
Gail Parker
and Kat Swift
As a vice-presidential hopeful, Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyawaisifza-Curry is also declared.
In addition, this node is about attempts of the Green Party to recruit bloggers for their political convention. The party is currently deciding on where to hold the convention and the choices are Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis or Oakland. One reason to go with Chicago is the fact that the Green Party will "be included in the statewide primary because of the strong third-place finish by gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney last year".
The Green Party is a national third-party and explains itself as:
The Green Party of the United States is a federation of state Green Parties. Committed to environmentalism, non-violence, social justice and grassroots organizing, Greens are renewing democracy without the support of corporate donors. Greens provide real solutions for real problems. Whether the issue is universal health care, corporate globalization, alternative energy, election reform or decent, living wages for workers, Greens have the courage and independence necessary to take on the powerful corporate interests. The Federal Elections Commission recognizes the Green Party of the United States as the official Green Party National Committee. We are partners with the European Federation of Green Parties and the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas.
While last week saw efforts by the United Steelworkers to get Democrats in Congress to show support for the Iraqi oil unions, the Green Party announced their opposition to the alleged 'benchmark' (theft of Iraqi oil) on July 19th.
In last week's Black Agenda Report radio commentary, Glen Ford began by noting, "The Green Party, once perceived by many Blacks as a club for white counterculturalists, now champions an end to racially selective administration of justice in the U.S. By making Black and Brown mass incarceration a top priority, the Greens engage a public policy-created crisis that impacts all aspects of African American life. While the Democrats, including Barack Obama, make occasional feeble noises about the fact that half the U.S. prison population is Black, the Greens call for an end to the so-called 'drug war' as 'a war on youth and people of color.' It is not surprising that the Democrats have little of substance to say about the Black Gulag: they helped create it."
The party is also on record as in favor of impeachment and as calling for "immediate withdrawal" of US troops in Iraq. And in 1996 and 2000 their vice-presidential candidate, Winona LaDuke, was a Native American who was named Woman of the Year by Ms. magazine in 1997.