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On Saturday, October 2, the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts (PHENOM) kicked off a cross-state walk/bike-a-thon which began at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield.  Participants are traversing the commonwealth from the Berkshires to Boston.  I and some other candidates for office were invited to speak, as were some students, faculty, administrators, and a city councilor.  The event was designed to draw attention to the cuts in public spending on higher education that now mean that Massachusetts ranks 46th of all states in such spending.  The result is growing unaffordability.

It was encouraging to note that a number of student speakers were aware that other countries make more public investments into higher education than this country does, which substantially relieves cost and debt burdens that students would otherwise face. In this country, the high costs of higher education not only mean that fewer numbers of students are able to afford higher education, it also means that the debt loads that a student incurs will dictate the course of study for those who decide to take on the burden.  High costs and high levels of debt translate into a student body excessively pre-occupied with concerns of how to pay off their loans.

The walk and bicycling began after the speeches.  Later in the day I joined the group of about twenty students on the final portion of their walk from Pittsfield to Lenox.  It was a pleasure to meet the students, faculty leaders, PHENOM board members, and to introduce them to my community.  By the time we arrived at the library, the park benches offered a welcome respite.  The day was beautiful and the spirits were high, even if the bodies were fatigued.

PHENOM in Lenox  

The following are the prepared notes I made for the speech I delivered in the morning at Berkshire Community College.

Continue reading Public Higher Education – A Candidate’s Speech

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From Maggie Zhou, MA delegate to GPUS, to the peace contingent gathering for the 10/2/10 One Nation Working Together march in Washington, D.C.

Brothers and Sisters,

We are here today because we are angry at the multitude of problems that our government is responsible for, the many ways the system has failed us, and we recognize the root causes of all these problems are the same, and therefore they require common solutions.

Many of us here are peace activists.  For nine years, we have been trying to stop the ongoing US wars for oil and for the expansion of the military-industrial complex.  In fact, the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are epicenters of the larger war we’re waging against Mother Earth & her children.  It is where our death-dealing empire bombs the planet, drill her, bleed her for her oil, poison her with radioactivity, and rape her out of the life she had, the innocent lives of men, women and children, and the fertile soils that once was the food basket of the Middle East.

But, there are many other epicenters in this larger war against Mother Earth.  A massive hemorrhage was just inflicted in the Gulf of Mexico by one of the worst perpetrators in this war.  Mountain Top Removal coal mining has been denuding, defacing & poisoning the beautiful mountain ranges and streams of Appalachia and the entire coal country.  Hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, for “natural gas” extraction, has been poisoning our groundwater, and consequently food production, anywhere it touched, and it’s taking over America with a vengeance.  Looking around the globe, the gazillion mines where we humans extract the insides of Mother Earth & poison her outside with it, the many shopping malls and pavements and parking lots we built in place of her life-giving forests and grasslands, the many dams we built that chokes the life out of her ecosystems, the diversion of her rivers & streams & precious groundwater reservoirs for monoculture, chemical-laiden farming operations, and now devastatingly, the crazed worldwide expansion of “energy crops” for biofuel, biomass & biochar production…  

Continue reading Maggie Zhou’s speech to the peace contingent
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From Jill Stein for Governor

October 1, 2010

AFTER LOSCOCCO’S DEFECTION, STEIN/PURCELL EMERGE AS THE TRUE INDEPENDENTS

BOSTON – As news spread of Paul Loscocco’s decision to abandon Tim Cahill’s campaign and join the Republican camp, Jill Stein, Green-Rainbow candidate for governor commented that “The Cahill campaign has never really established its independent credentials with voters who are looking for change. At this point its becoming clear that my campaign is the only one that is really independent of the Beacon Hill machines.  We’re not going to surprise everyone by suddenly deciding to join the business-as-usual parties.  We’re in this race to offer a true alternative, and the only alternative that really stands for change.”

Stein also reminded voters and political leaders that a solution exists for the so-called “spoiler” problem.

“The news around the high-profile defections from the Cahill campaign have focused primarily on how Cahill’s candidacy helps Deval Patrick and hurts Charlie Baker. The truth is there is a voting reform that gets rid of the problem that voting for the candidate you truly support might have unintended consequences – like helping a candidate you don’t like.”

Continue reading After Loscocco’s defection, Stein/Purcell emerge as the true independents
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from I, Candidate for Governor:  And How I Got Licked by Upton Sinclair

(12-13)  It is easy to imagine the unemployed of California in a system of production for use because of the efforts which they have made to establish such a system for themselves.  All over the State self-help and barter groups have sprung up.  There have been literally hundreds of them, and for a year or two I had been hearing stories of their achievements.  In Compton, an industrial town south of Los Angeles, they served 19,745 meals at a total money cost of less than one-half cent a meal [in 1934 or $0.08 in 2009 dollars].  My friend, Hjalmar Rutzebeck, author of “Alaska Man’s Luck,” was active in the UXA (Unemployed Exchange Association) of Oakland, and told me marvelous tales about the complicated procedure whereby a group of several thousand hungry men would manage to make something out of nothing.  They would find a farmer with a crop of peaches rotting on the trees, and who needed to have his barn painted.  They would find a paint merchant who would accept some canned peaches in return for paint.  Some of these operations were extremely complicated, involving an elaborate circle of activities with a dozen different participants.

Continue reading End Poverty in California
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I am impressed with Jill Stein’s commitment to education reform.  Her understanding of the issues and her positions for change come from the consideration of the human condition, instead of from the “how to” section of the Wall Street Journal.  The current leadership, both state and federal, are going in the wrong direction to resolve the issues that create so much failure and not enough success.  If Jill Stein can get her message out loud and clear to communities across the state, I have a feeling she will win a lot of support from not only the educators but parents as well.  I hope that she will speak strong and often about this issue.

Continue reading Can Jill Stein gain teacher and parent support through her positions on education?
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Woo-frickin-hoo!!!!!!!!

From the Jill Stein for Governor campaign:

Dear friends and supporters,

YOU DID IT!  YOU blew past the $100,000 we needed to ensure our place in the media consortium debate. Our voices will be heard! Voters will get to hear real vision and practical proposals for our common wealth and common health – not just the petty bickering of Beacon Hill insiders avoiding real issues.

AND THAT’S NOT ALL!  Today just before the 5 p.m. deadline campaign staffers turned in qualifying contributions of over $129,000 to the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) – exceeding the required threshold for state matching funds. We are optimistic that the application will be approved, and we will keep you posted. If it is approved, we will have qualified our campaign for public financing, and every dollar we raise between now and the end of October will be matched by the state.

No matter what happens, though, it’s clear that a groundswell for democracy is rising up in this campaign. People sacrificed, people dropped everything, people put their lives on hold to make sure that we reached the threshold for debate inclusion and would not be silenced by the corporate press – and that we qualified for public finance matching funds. Your hard work and inspiration made it happen. Money is continuing to come in from all over the commonwealth, from everyday people who are fed up with the bailouts, layoffs, ripoffs and payoffs, and who are ready for  the healthy, secure green commonwealth that’s within our reach today!

Continue reading Congratulations! YOU are what democracy looks like!
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Clean Money Tidal Wave for Jill Stein

Jill Stein’s campaign has about 24 hours to raise $25,515 in order to ensure that Jill’s voice will be included in these debates that are so important to the future of the Commonwealth. She has expanded the public dialogue and political discourse, and the media drumbeat to shut her out from future debates is raging. If Jill can qualify for state matching funds, however, the media will have a hard time trying to justify excluding a candidate receiving public funding for her campaign.

Continue reading Join the Clean Money Tidal Wave for Jill Stein
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Dan Hamburg, LeAlan Jones, and Jill Stein are running three races that are very important to the Green Party this year.  In California, Hamburg is a former Democratic Congressman hoping to be elected as a Green to Mendocino County Supervisor.  In Illinois, Jones is the only African American in the Senate race and has polled as high as 14%, in a state where the Green candidate for governor got over 10% in 2006.  In Massachusetts, Stein is less than $1,000 away from qualifying for the rest of the debates, and about $38,000 away from qualifying for matching funds.

I’ll make this as simple as possible.  Here’s what each one needs from you:

Continue reading Take action for 3 important Green candidates
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