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Jason at Open Media Boston provides a lengthy response to the question, “Are Grace Ross and Jill Stein Jumping the Political Gun?” I don’t concur with all of his conclusions, but I would call his editorial exemplary journalism. Hmmm–if some of the best coverage in MA springs from alternative sources (low budget, but smart, sophisticated, and dedicated) … why shouldn’t some of the best campaigns?

I’m interested in how you feel about his take, but I’d urge you to please post comments at Open Media as well–they opened this dialogue and deserve your input (and there’s not a story on there that isn’t worth reading).  

Continue reading Link: Worthwhile Take on the Stein and Ross Campaigns at Open Media Boston

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Jill Stein announced her campaign for the corner office to the media and about 50 supporters in front of the State House on Monday morning. She directly confronted the corruption that rules the day on Beacon Hill, vowing to open up the doors of the State House to get the lobbyists out and let the people in. Her prepared remarks are below. Read the Boston Globe’s coverage here. Read the Boston Herald’s coverage here. Read Open Media Boston’s coverage here. Then check out Jill’s website and Facebook page and show your support!

Prepared Remarks of Jill Stein

Candidate for Governor of Massachusetts

February 8, 2010 at the State House, Boston, Massachusetts

INTRODUCTION

Thank you so much for being here today. This is the year we the people regain control of our Commonwealth and our common future. It’s time for a Commonwealth that listens to the people, works for the people, and answers to the people. It’s time to bring the voices of ordinary people into this election and into the halls of power. It’s time to break the stranglehold of lobbyists and insiders, and get Beacon Hill back to work for the families and communities of the Commonwealth. It’s time to start building the healthy, secure green future we so urgently need, richly deserve, and is within our reach. My name is Jill Stein and that’s why I’m running for governor.

Continue reading Jill Stein launches campaign to regain control of our Commonwealth and our common future
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The number of Britons who acknowledge the reality of climate change has fallen, according to a recent BBC poll.

I shall be offering no prizes (repeat, no prizes) for guessing the source of climate confusion in the land of my birth. But if you guessed “oil companies,” give yourself a pat on the back.

ExxonMobil is one of the fossil-fuel giants behind a network of right-wing think tanks successfully pushing climate-change-denialism into the popular media, says the UK’s Independent newspaper.

The bright side? It’s not only Americans who are falling prey to corporate-sponsored climate-change denialism. Apparently a British accent is no predictor of intellectual ability or an indication of inherent authority after all, although any of my students (or offspring) who happen to have stumbled across this blog should disregard that last comment. I really do know best.

In the face of the Right’s success in making climate-change denialism part of the debate among grown-ups who ought to know better, how should progressives respond? One option is to continue supporting Democratic office-holders who talk a good game about climate-change solutions but vote for decidedly dodgy cap-and-trade non-solutions like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). For a strong indictment of carbon-trading I recommend Mark Schapiro’s “Conning the Climate” in the current Harper’s Magazine.

Another option, popular among Democratic activists and voters alike during the senatorial special election, was to take what I think of as the Comfy Chair Option. My goal in this post is to urge readers to renounce that option and all its works. But I do understand its appeal.

After a decade of directionless Democratic supermajorities in Massachusetts and a year of Democratic under-achievement at the national level, many Bay State progressives are feeling disappointed, disaffected, and distraught. Yes, there is a welcoming home waiting for them in the GRP, but even I (a Green with the zeal of the convert) have to admit to a continuing dearth of legislative candidates and active local branches. And on the path from Democratic to Green is the comfy chair of alienation.

Some contributors to the blog just across the aisle (BlueMassGroup) are having a healthy and robust debate about the merits of fighting on within the party as opposed to supporting third-party candidates, among them my friend Leo Maley, who managed my successful 2004 campaign for Governor’s Council. One of Leo’s observations that jumps off the screen is that the 25 open seats in this year’s legislative elections present progressives with an opportunity to change the dynamic of the State House for the next decade.

Yes, 25 seats with no Democratic incumbent. As the manufacture and dissemination of news increasingly becomes the preserve of the major corporations, it becomes even more important to jump into the public arena, particularly the part of the arena dedicated to electoral politics. Whether progressives devote their resources to fighting on within the Democratic Party or to taking it outside by joining the Greens matters less than their decision to shun the comfy chair. I would like some of those 25 districts to end up in Green hands, but in the absence of Green candidates that hardly seems likely.

However, we can hope that Jill Stein’s candidacy will have a coat-tails effect and encourage Green activists not simply to support the gubernatorial campaign but to run for office themselves.

And this is definitely the year to run. Just as in Britain, here in Massachusetts the importance of the climate issue (an issue we should own lock, stock, and barrel) is starting to fade among the general public, giving climate-solution activists an even greater incentive to push it back where it belongs, i.e. front and center. If our voice is not in the electoral mix we leave the debate to ExxonMobil and their little denialist helpers in the Republican Party and to the the Wall Street dice-rollers and their Democratic allies.

So what’s my proposal for countering the fossil-fool propaganda and calling out the carbon-trader hucksters? Go to town or city hall, pull nomination papers for state rep, and run Green. Or persuade a friend to run.

Anything but the comfy chair.

Continue reading Not the comfy chair
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This was written originally for a national audience, so please excuse me if I treat the reader like they know nothing about Massachusetts politics.

Grace Ross, who ran in 2006 as the Green Party’s candidate for governor of Massachusetts, is now running in the Democratic primary for the same office, against incumbent governor Deval Patrick.  “I wasn’t planning to run again,” stated Ross, “but things got worse.  Things got worse for regular people.”

Continue reading Former Green Party candidate to challenge Mass. gov. Deval Patrick as a Democrat
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On his website, the Tim who would be governor asserts our Commonwealth already has all the money we need, we just need to be more frugal in how we spend it:

From my experience, I know that the state already collects plenty of tax money to meet its needs. …We can’t waste any more time spending money carelessly and then trying to make up for it by raising taxes.

So the first act of his campaign? Buying a Super Bowl ad! This is frugal spending? Maybe there’s a special discount for insiders and incumbents….

http://bostonherald.com/news/p…

Continue reading Tim Cahill’s not so super idea for frugal spending
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(Via the Jill Stein for Governorcampaign. BTW, you can now become a fanof Jill’s campaign on Facebook–mh.).

Dr. Jill Stein to Launch Campaign for Governor of the Commonwealth

Will be only candidate truly independent of the Beacon Hill machine

BOSTON – Dr. Jill Stein will declare her candidacy for Governor of Massachusetts on Monday, February 8th , 2010 at a rally in front of the State House.

Continue reading Stein Campaign Kick-off Event– All Out at the State House Monday Morning!

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The following article is meant to re-assure us that Pelosi is not going to back down on advancing real health care reform.  Evidently a number of “progressive media” were included in a phone call from her, resulting in the story.

http://mcjoan.dailykos.com/

What Pelosi says on the phone with “progressive media” is not as revealing as what she says on the phone (or in the closed room with no transcript to circulate) with the insurance industry.  Her job is to make sure that the industry continues to contribute more to Democrats than to Republicans.  Those conversations are most certainly not recorded and available for download.

And why do the progressive media place a definite article before the words “public option?”  What exactly is “the” public option?  It seems there are many versions of it, none of which would removely resemble anything that a Canadian would recognize, and most of which don’t seem to be publicly available at all.

I’m tired of the giddiness that results from these bones being thrown to people who say they want single payer health care.

I hope no one is going to ask me to “thank” Pelosi (no, I’ll support her opponents who don’t accept funds from corporate influencers) or to tell me (as another single payer advocacy group did) that as a “bold progressive” I should thank Olver for requesting a public option when there are no specifics.  Politicians need to do much more than that to get my thanks, let alone my vote.  They need to vote FOR things that advance single payer, vote AGAINST things that don’t, and REJECT the influence of health insurance industry interests.

Obama states that he doesn’t want to put health insurance companies out of business.  I do; the rest of the world has shown that private insurance policies are not necessary for 95% of the public in other societies.  Let’s make private policies the “option” that 5% buy to supplement the public plan that delivers quality to all.

Continue reading Pelosi Talks (Ho-Hum) to Progressive Media