GREENS COMMENT ON THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION

News from New York: Charles Shaw, co-chair of the Green Party's Peace Action Committee, former New York Green congressional candidates Margaret Human and Steve Greenfield, and possibly other Greens were detained after participating in peaceful civil disobedience organized by the War Resisters League. According to the National Lawyers Guild, lawyers were being prohibited from seeing detainees, and detainees have been held more than 24 hours, in violation of the law. A New York State Supreme Court judge has ordered the city to release hundreds of people (many of them bystanders swept up by police on Tuesday, August 31) who had spent 48 hours or more in jail, and found the city in contempt of court after it failed to comply. More at <http://nyc.indymedia.org/>

EFIA NWANGAZA, Green candidate for U.S. Senate from South Carolina who visited Baghdad in January 2004 along with the People to People Delegation <http://www.scgreenparty.org>:: "The protesters outside the convention aren't just raising hell. They're defending working Americans from Bush's plan to end overtime pay. They are young people who know that a second Bush term (and probably a Kerry first term) will mean revival of the draft. They represent all Americans who are outraged at Bush's deceptions to justify invading Iraq. The Green Party is proud of the thousands of Greens who are participating in the nonviolent protests, including candidates like David McReynolds, who's running for U.S. Senator from New York."

PAUL RICHMOND, Green candidate for Washington State Attorney General <http://www.richmond4ag.com>: "Every minute of the Republican Convention reminds me why the Green Party called for President Bush's impeachment in July, 2003. Americans are less secure after four years of Bush. His invasion of Iraq, which had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, squandered worldwide good will for the U.S. after the attacks and inflamed Muslims around the world against us. Worst of all, a second Bush term probably means passage of the USA Patriot Act Part II, giving the Justice Department sweeping powers to suppress free speech and invade privacy."

BOB KINSEY, Green candidate for Congress, 4th District in Colorado <http://www.KinseyforCongress.org>: "In this election, the Republican Party presents the most divisive, unqualified, disastrous alternative in the history of our country. It waves God and flag to cover over the huge misjudgments and intentional deceptions it has made. They were asleep on watch before 9/11, chose essentially unilateral solutions to it, and knowingly sold us a war with lies. They have gutted our economy, sending the wealth to too few at the top. Their health care plan is about the health of private corporations and not our citizens. Those who protest all of this are patriots of the most courageous kind."

MIKE MILES, Green candidate for Congress in Wisconsin's 7th District <http://www.milesforcongress.com>: "In his Tuesday evening speech, Gov. Schwarzenegger tried to paint the Republican Party as the champion of free enterprise, while accusing Democrats of 'creeping socialism.' This is a joke. Democrats have largely acquiesced to the Republican agenda: privatizing public resources and services; pumping up the power of corporations over We the People. Gov. Schwarzenegger, like Mr. Bush, favors transferring money from working Americans to the bank accounts of major corporations, in the form of tax breaks, loopholes, handouts, and excused violations of the public trust."

PAT DRISCOLL, Green candidate for Congress, 5th District in California <http://www.driscollforcongress.org>: "The Republicans are portraying the invasion of Iraq as an exercise in liberation, while Iraqis are trying to liberate themselves from U.S. occupation. Iraqi citizens rebelling in Najaf and other cities aren't motivated by loyalty to Saddam Hussein or affection for Osama bin Laden. They're furious because they've been deprived of their livelihoods ever since Iraq administrator Bremer issued orders opening Iraqi businesses to up to 100% foreign ownership. Bremer's orders have allowed pillage by U.S. corporations, and the results include lost jobs, imported resources that are killing Iraq's own industries, and increasing U.S. control over Iraqi resources, especially oil and fresh water."
(See also: "Baghdad Year Zero: Pillaging Iraqi in Pursuit of a Neocon Utopia" by Naomi Klein, in Harper's Magazine, September 2004)