San Francisco Green Party

After Wednesday's historic Supreme Court rulings legalizing same-sex marriage in CA, and overturning part of DOMA, the Green Party put out a press release praising the decisions.  But after this weekend's celebrations, there's still much work to be done, as New York Green Drew Langdon acknowledged:

We commit to continue the struggle because we understand that equality means more than marriage equality. The struggle continues, as we work to make full protections for our transgender siblings a reality. The struggle continues as we ensure that every LGBTQI person has enough food to eat, a roof over their heads, and the proper care for a healthy life. The struggle continues as we work to ensure the basic dignity and human rights that we all deserve.

The Green Shadow Cabinet also put out a statement responding to the Supreme Court's overturning of a key part of the Voting Rights Act.  Here are a few quotes from their full statement on the VRA:

The Supreme Court ruling removes the last remnants of protection for poor and minority voters and will openly invite new and creative ways to repress the most vulnerable people in our society.

What the Supreme Court should have done is expand the principles of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into the emerging Jim Crow states of Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania.

The Green Party thinks we need far stronger protections than those that had been guaranteeed by the Voting Rights Act, including an acknowledgement of everybody's right to vote and have your vote counted, and fair access to run as a candidate.

As we approach the much loved San Francisco Gay Pride Parade June 29-30 the controversy surrounding the election of Bradley Manning as Grand Marshall continues to boil. 

On April 25^th, several newspapers (here and here) reported that Army Private First Class Bradley Manning was chosen by Pride’s electoral college as Grand Marshall for the 2014 Parade.  However, the next day (April 26^th) Pride board President Lisa Williams released a highly controversial and widely criticized missive attempting to annihilate the electoral college’s decision not only from Pride's parade process but from history itself.  In harsh words which have been characterized as unseemly and authoritarian, Lisa Williams refused ‘even the hint’ of support for Bradley Manning as a whistle-blower and assured that any person involved had been ‘disciplined.’ 

This lead to an outcry by many organizations who support the actions of the Nobel Peace Prize nominee Manning, actions, which while illegal, brought to light incredible crimes of war and crimes against humanity perpetuated by the US Military.  Due to the protestation of many activists, a hearing was scheduled by the Pride board for May 7^th to discuss the selection and swift removal of Manning as Grand Marshal.  That meeting was cancelled and the board met privately, much to the chagrin of interested parties.

Recently Pride Inc emailed a message saying that no hearings would be held until after the parade to protect the ‘safety and security’ of everyone at the event (here and here).

In an age when the President of Hope has done more to crackdown on whistleblowers than all of the previous presidents combined and the government is actively creating an atmosphere of fear around telling the truth, it is worrisome to many to see Gay Pride falling victim to this intellectual malfeasance.    

There is no violence in holding a hearing; there is no lack of security in allowing people to voice their opinions.  When a group like Pride Inc implies that the concerned citizens protesting the closed door reversal of a popular decision is a threat to security we must begin to worry for them. 

While the web was swarmed this week with climate change articles, the message boards were swamped with comments from an active group who seem to honestly and truly believe that there is nothing wrong with burning as much fuel and creating as much waste as possible.  

This very noisy minority has done a great job, thus far, in obfuscating the fact that climate change is a very important issue according to the federal government and that the scientific community has come to a consensus regarding the pressing nature of changing the way our species burns fuel and creates waste.

Where are our leaders in Congress?  Why aren’t they leading us to change?

Two reasons: First, wealthy interests have spent tons of money confusing people about the real impact of climate change.  Second: Big businesses and rich individuals profiting from the use of fossil fuels are bribing our congresspeople at an alarming rate. 

These are important things to consider as President Obama weighs arguments on the permit decision for the Keystone XL Pipeline.  Proponents of the pipeline argue that it will not spill very often and will create jobs, even though most scientists agree that tar sands oil will be a huge problem for the global environment.

What about the Keytstone I pipeline?  The one they started using in 2010 and claimed would spill only once every 7 years?  Oh yeah, it spilled 12 times in 12 months.

But just look at how much money backers of the pipeline are spending!