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Very few people exercise power in our society.  Its exercised by those with wealth, with prestige, with titles, with access to administrative and bureaucratic levers.  The semblance of democracy, each person having equal voice and votes, is made naught by the hierarchies entrenched in all other spheres of social and political life.

The rights, freedoms, and powers everyday people have today involved a history of collective confrontation, conflict, and struggle.  And just to say it, Massachusetts people and places have had great prominence in this country’s movements for independence, abolitionism, woman’s suffrage, civil reform, worker’s rights, environmentalism, and many more.

In the midst of this awful recession, its time for people to start exercising their power.  And when people unite for a common and just purpose, its difficult for them to fail.  I think the fist above can be seen to represent vibrant and diverse struggles for justice, democracy, and freedom, grounded in an understanding of ecology and the wider natural world our society inhabits.  A Green-Rainbow.

More below…

Continue reading The Need for Grassroots Mobilization, some Popular Militancy, and a Principled Electoral Force

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As the House-Senate conference committee decides to hold closed-door meetings, it is important for the people of Massachusetts to weigh in meaningfully on this fast-tracking of legislation with incredible implications for the Commonwealth of MA.

Before passing the different versions of their casino bills, the House had refused to hold public hearings, while the Senate held one poorly announced hearing on the later versions of the bill (and one last year).

And House Speaker DeLeo, according to the State House News Service, is threatening to hold the rest of the legislative session hostage to his desires for slots at the racetracks (because of the 2 tracks in his district):

In an exclusive News Service interview, DeLeo indicated he would use the waning legislative calendar and his power over the agenda as a cudgel to force approval of slots for tracks, two of which are in or near his Winthrop-based district.

…

The increasingly bare-knuckled rhetoric from DeLeo, markedly more militant since hints of a compromise Tuesday, carry risk in that a Patrick racinos veto could come too close to the July 31 close of formal sessions for the Legislature to reverse or be sustained in the Senate. And a DeLeo stick-up of other bills over slots threatens to send lawmakers into the election season without major résumé bullets on a variety of high-visibility policy matters.

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Asked whether he planned to block other legislation as a way of leveraging racinos into the bill, DeLeo replied, “Through the last weeks of session, there’s going to be a whole host of issues and pieces of legislation that sort of become intertwined in conference.”

“It’s inevitable that a lot of the legislation becomes intertwined, especially as you’re getting down to the final days of the session,” DeLeo said. “And, again, I just want to reiterate, as I did yesterday, jobs and local aid are very, very important to me, and I presume they’re important also to the governor and Senate president.”

Continue reading Casino Democracy begins
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In the latest Open Media Boston editorial, Jason Pramas weighs in against Deval Patrick’s neo-liberal addictions to corporatist ideology, and wonders if there might be a cure:

How does one treat people under the spell of an ideology that dictates that the private sector can run every sort of program better than the government when long experience with this kind of boondoggle shows that extracting profit from government monies budgeted for service provision equals … surprise, surprise … worse service provision?

How does one remind such people that the “deficit” as flogged by right-wingers is a paper tiger, and that social investment by a government is well-known to produce a stable working-class and a growing middle-class who can then bulk up the tax base and stabilize government budgets in a happy virtuous circle?

How does one explain to such bought-off and/or befuddled corporate shills that we wouldn’t be in the current economic crisis to begin with if we strengthened the regulation of corporations – and most critically, the financial sector – and TAXED them as they were once taxed; so that the public good was served over the private good?

Then he goes on to state the cure (below the jump)…

Continue reading Stein receives as close to an endorsement as she’ll get from OMB
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Sucks that a candidate like this — by all indications more serious than any of the other gubernatorial contenders (though without the resources that come from being a corporatist candidate) — has to waste her breath saying she should be included in the debates.

But despite the hurdles, Stein lit up Greater Boston last night:

Continue reading Jill Stein lights some sparks on Greater Boston with Emily Rooney
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Governor Deval Patrick recently signed a state budget that imposed painful cuts on education, social services, and the environment.  But he says it was the best that he could do, so don’t blame  him.  Jill Stein makes a compelling case that the cuts were – in fact – avoidable, and that the choice of where the pain would fall was deliberate.  This is a debate that needs to happen.

Continue reading Stein Says State Budget Shows “Misplaced Priorities”
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Updated on July 20 with the following good news from Scott Laugenour, candidate for State Legislature from the Berkshire Fourth District–visit his web site for more information:

I am pleased to report that my campaign collected enough signatures for a single payer question – drafted by Mass Care – to be placed on the November ballot.  The signatures were sent to Mass Care on July 16. Here is the campaign statement [originally published on GMG on July 7]:

The 4th Berkshire District is on track to have a health care reform question on November’s ballot, specifically promoting a comprehensive public health insurance system similar to what most other democracies in the world have.

Scott’s campaign took the lead in giving voters in the 4th Berkshire District an opportunity to weigh in on the issue.

Continue reading Single Payer Question on 4th Berkshire Ballot–UPDATE!

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The Stop Spewing Carbon Ballot Campaign announced today a major victory in the fight against biomass incinerators promoted as “clean energy” and as a result will not put its question on the statewide ballot for November 2010.

“Today Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles issued a letter* saying his agency will change our state laws to bring them in line with current science and public policy requiring biomass incinerators to meet strict standards for forest protection, greenhouse gas emissions, and efficiency,” said Meg Sheehan, Chair of the Stop Spewing Carbon Ballot Campaign. “This is a groundbreaking development that means an end to commercial biomass electric power plants in Massachusetts. Science confirms that the greenhouse gas emissions of burning forests are worse than

coal and there’s no reason to subsidize this form of energy,” Sheehan said.

Secretary Bowles’ letter says that to meet greenhouse targets the state should change “the incentives we provide biomass energy under the Renewable Portfolio Standard.” The Stop Spewing Campaign collected over 120,000 signatures from Massachusetts’ voters to end biomass subsidies. Sheehan said, “this sent a clear message to Governor Patrick. Ending renewable energy credits for dirty incinerators was the central goal of our ballot question and we have won.” The state also announced that construction and

demolition debris incinerators will not get renewable energy credits, another victory for the Campaign.

“Our coalition of social justice, public health, environmental, forestry advocates and fiscal watchdogs have won a victory for the citizens of Massachusetts, the nation, and indeed the planet,” Sheehan said. “Citizens have let government officials know they don’t want their taxpayer and ratepayer money spent on these toxic incinerators disguised as “clean energy.”

“We will continue to work to prevent air pollution impacts from potential smaller biomass projects and for a state wide ban on construction and demolition debris burning. We also intend to pressure the administration to tighten the biomass regulations even further than what was put forth today to prevent all destructive bio-energy schemes and false solutions to climate change. We will *want to make sure that so called “clean energy” projects don’t pollute the air, the water, and destroy our forests,” said Sheehan.

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Contact: Meg Sheehan,Chair,Stop Spewing Carbon Campaign tel. 508-259-9154

meg(at)ecolaw(dot) biz Go to: www.stopspewingcarbon.org

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* Bowles’ letter below:

Continue reading Biomess Victory in Massachusetts!
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We in the Green-Rainbow Party are occasionally asked about the ‘Rainbow’ in our name.  A few days ago an inquiry came into the party’s e-mail address from a person who suggested dropping the ‘Rainbow’ because including it in the party name might turn off some people.  The party’s Treasurer, Merelice, offered reply (A) below.  I was copied on her reply and felt a great deal of pride for the party that I affiliate with and whose slate I campaign on as a candidate.

Last month, a different inquiry came to the party from a voter who was concerned that the party did not adequately promote gay/lesbian issues.  I wrote the reply (B) which follows (A) in the next section.

Continue reading The Rainbow

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http://holyokesunonline.com/06…

Holyoke Resident Running for Lt. Governor, by Dennis P. Hohenberger (Holyoke Sun, 25 June 2010)

Richard P. “Rick” Purcell, a longtime Holyoke resident and community activist, is making a run for the state’s second highest office as the Green-Rainbow Party’s candidate for Lt. Governor.

During a lunchtime stroll in West Holyoke on Tuesday, Purcell spoke of his candidacy, the issues that matter most to him and the way the city has shaped him and his political views, which eventually led him to be Jill Stein’s running mate.

While Purcell and members of his party gather the necessary 10,000 signatures needed to be placed on the fall ballot, his campaign, though grassroots and relying on small, individual donations, continues to speak out on affordable healthcare, schools, the environment, gambling, and issues that matter to working class families.  

Continue reading Excellent interview with Rick Purcell, GRP 2010 candidate for Lt. Governor
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great op-ed by Max Page and Michael Ash, UMass Amherst:

AMHERST – “Shared sacrifice.” You will hear the governor say it every time he talks about the budget. It is the phrase used by Charles Murphy, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, when he unveiled a budget that cuts local aid – schools, police and fire, libraries, parks – by $234 million, and public higher education by $132 million.

It was echoed by Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association when he endorsed the House’s budget; “They (cities and towns) need to share in the pain given our fiscal realities.”

“Shared sacrifice” must poll well in focus groups. But it is a lie and a fraud.

Continued at

http://www.gazettenet.com/2010…

Continue reading The myth of shared sacrifice
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