The
California chainsaw massacre
Clear-cutting is tearing up forests in the nation's
most environmentally aware state, and opponents blame the timber industry's
ties to Gov. Gray Davis.
FULL
STORY
June 9, 2000
| Salon.com
----
Dan
Walters: GOP sees Green in California
This is a political quiz: California's Republican
leaders are rooting for which presidential candidate?
If your answer is Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the
all-but-nominated GOP contender, you're only partially correct.
When Republican leaders say their bedtime prayers
these days, they ask for heavenly assistance to consumer activist Ralph
Nader, the Green Party candidate.
Nader was the Green candidate four years ago,
but made only a token effort. He's running again and is indicating that
he'll mount a real campaign to offset what he depicts as the corporate
orientation of the Democratic Party during the Clinton-Gore administration.
"Both parties are subordinating their obligations
to represent the American people to global corporations who have no allegiance
to our country and no allegiance to community," Nader said in one typical
stump speech, singling out Vice President Al Gore for scorn as someone
who "speaks with chattering teeth and forked tongue. He is a coward from
top to bottom.".
FULL
STORY
June 8, 2000
| Dan Walters | Sacramento Bee
----
Ralph
"The Body" Nader?
Jesse Ventura's ad man talks about how he would
sell his next prospective client -- the Green Party presidential candidate.
FULL
STORY
June 7, 2000
| Salon.com
----
Nike
Posts Labor Data on Web
Nike Inc. launched a major offensive on Thursday
against critics who charge it with poor labor practices by posting details
on its website from the inspections
of some of its 700 factories worldwide.
While the Beaverton, Ore.-based athletic shoe
and apparel giant may not please protesters who have called Nike's audits
biased and inaccurate, ``Transparency 101'' as it is called, will probably
shed light on the plight of factory workers. It also may spur feedback
that improves Nike's monitoring efforts, Nike spokesman Cheryl McCants
said. FULL
STORY
June 1, 2000
| Reuters
----
Out
of her tree
Julia Butterfly Hill sat in a giant redwood for two years, then kicked
the big boys' butts. Now her book's a bestseller and she's talking about
a movie deal. FULL
STORY
June 1, 2000
| Salon.com
----
AOL
Bans Green and Reform Parties?
America Online provides "youth filters" that are
supposed to keep kids out of dangerous Web sites--but they seem designed
to eliminate creeping liberalism. For example, if you've setup AOL
to restrict your children to "Kids Only"
Web sites:
* Your children can easily view the site of the
Republican National Committee, but the Democratic National Committee is
blocked.
* Children can call up the conservative Constitution
Party and Libertarian Party, both of which are promoting their own US presidential
candidates. But if they attempt to view Ralph Nader's Green Party
or Ross Perot's Reform Party, they see only a "not appropriate for children"
error.
AOL's "Young Teens" filter, designed for older
children, allows a few more Web sites to be viewed. The apparent
political bias, however, remains the same:
* Sites promoting gun use are available, including
Colt, Browning, and the National Rifle Association. But prominent gun safety
organizations are blocked, including the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence,
Safer Guns Now and the Million Mom March.
. . . AOL's latest software, version 5.0,
was tested by viewing more than 100 political sites over a period of several
days. AOL's filters for children consistently allowed the viewing of far
more conservative sites than Democratic and liberal sites. The selection
remained consistent throughout the testing period. FULL
STORY
May 31, 2000
| CNET
----
NADER:
Yes vote on trade is horrible for U.S., China, and the world
Ralph Nader | The
China lobby is on the march -- and posing serious problems to citizens
in the United States and China alike.
Big business is pulling out all the stops to encourage
Congress to grant China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR, formerly
known as Permanent Most Favored Nation) status.
The many corporations that have endorsed PNTR
are primarily interested not in making goods in the United States for export
but in investing in China, where they can sell services to the Chinese
and make goods for the Chinese and U.S. markets. FULL
STORY
May 23, 2000
| San Francisco Bay Guardian
----
Audie
Bock Staff Resigns en Masse
Noel Brinkerhoff |
What is it with Bay Area lawmakers and staff problems? First, it was Assm.
Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) who got tagged for scaring off staff, then
Assm. Kevin Shelley (D-San Francisco). And now, the problem has jumped
the Bay and earned Assm. Audie Bock (I-Piedmont) a heap of bad publicity.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, five of Bock's staffers quit
last Monday, citing unacceptable working conditions caused by two of Bock's
top aides. Capitol aide Bob Podesta was described by one source as having
a Bobby Knight-like temper, and is apparently a big fan of stapler chucking.
Bock herself wasn't singled out for any bad behavior, but that doesn't
make the news any less troubling for the former Green. Last year, following
her announcement that she was dropping her Green Party affiliation and
going independent, Bock lost part of her staff in protest of the decision.
Meanwhile, Bock continues to struggle to raise money for her re-election
fight against a tough Democratic challenger, Wilma Chan.
May 19, 2000
| State Net Capitol Journal
----
A
Soggy Report From Davis
Greens recruit
hard at the Whole Earth Festival
Ken Adams | The Greens
were one of the few non-profits/political groups to set up on that rainy
Sunday and the only one to last until closing. We were still signing up
people and discussing issues right to the end. I don't have the final numbers
but I'm pretty sure we signed up over 200 new Greens over the weekend.
May 17, 2000
----
Nader
slams corporate subsidies
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader vowed Tuesday to wage an active campaign
for president as he slammed elected officials in both parties for subsidizing
corporations.
During a series of campaign stops, the Green Party candidate called
for a grass-roots movement to enact such reforms as universal health care,
public financing of campaigns and stronger labor laws.
FULL
STORY
May 17, 2000
| Associated Press (AP)
----
Seymour
Hersh Investigates
US
War Crimes in IRAQ
Current US "Drug
Czar" Implicated
When HarperCollins agreed to pay Seymour Hersh
$750,000 last year, it was for a book about Clinton's foreign policy. But
then, as reported in the Washington
Post last month, Hersh
began investigating another, more explosive topic
in American foreign policy: the alleged war crimes committed by the 24th
Infantry Division in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. His
25,000-word story on the allegations of atrocities
appears this week in the New Yorker. FULL
STORY
May 15, 2000
| Inside..com | Washington Post
----
Justice
Department May Sue Lapd
The Justice Department is prepared to slap the
scandal-ridden Los Angeles Police Department with a civil rights lawsuit
but will hold off in hopes of reaching a settlement. [...] The Justice
Department has been monitoring the LAPD since 1996 to determine whether
it shows a pattern of abusive behavior. [...] So far about 30 police
officers have been relieved of duty because of the scandal and 73 felony
convictions have been overturned. Authorities are investigating hundreds
more criminal cases to determine if they, too, were tainted by dishonest
cops.. FULL
STORY
May 9, 2000
| Salon.com
----
Rolling
back three strikes
The Justice Department is prepared to slap the
scandal-ridden Los. FULL
STORY
May 9, 2000
| Salon.com
----
Convention
in the cross hairs
After Seattle: Protestors prepare for
action at the Democartic convention in LA later this year
Sometime in July, at a Southern California location not yet decided,
nearly 200 professional demonstrators and amateur anarchists are expected
to attend a summer camp to prepare for a political assault on the Democratic
National Convention in Los Angeles. MORE
May 7, 2000 |
SF Examiner
----
A
Corporation is not a person
City Of Point Arena Resolution On The
14th Amendment & Corporations
THE CITY OF POINT ARENA, CA CITY COUNCIL
has, by a vote of 4 to 1, approved a resolution that says in part: "The
City of Point Arena agrees with Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in his
1938 opinion in which he stated, "I do not believe the word 'person' in
the 14th Amendment includes corporations." MORE
May 8, 2000
| vis Ken Adams
----
Panel
votes to lift Cuba sanctions
Farm groups that want to sell food to Cuba have initiated a new battle
in Congress over weakening the four-decades-old U.S. economic embargo on
the island nation.
A House Appropriations Committee subcommittee approved legislation Thursday
that
would permit exports of food and medicine to Cuba so long as they are not
subsidized by the federal government. MORE
May 5, 2000 | Salon.com
----
Sacramento
Civil Rights Attorney
Profiled
in April issue of The Progressive
Won a $755,000 settlement against the
Sheriff's Dept.
Scott Soriano
| Those of you interested in prison issues and local law enforcement might
want to pick up a copy of April's The Progressive magazine. Anne-Marie
Cusac's article, "The Devil's Chair" profiles local civil rights attorney
Stewart
Katz's landmark court case against the Sacramento Sheriff Department.
Stewart proved that the county cops were using the prostraint chair as
a torture device. The judgement led to the largest settlement ever against
the Sheriffs, a whoppin' $755,000.
Soon after the settlement, I was at a King's game with Stewart when
we ran into former-Sheriff Glenn Craig.
"Evening, Sheriff," said Stewart, shit-eating grin across his face.
"Hello, Stewart," Craig answered, adding with a chuckle, "So did you
pay for those tickets or did we?"
May 2000 | Sacramento
Comment
----
Nader
Discusses UAW Endorsement
Justin Hyde | DETROIT (AP) -- Consumer advocate
and Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader (news - web sites)
discussed an endorsement Monday with leaders of the United Auto Workers
union.
Nader said he didn't directly ask for the union's backing, and added
that it will not endorse a candidate until after a congressional vote expected
this month on providing permanent normal trade relations with China - which
Nader, the UAW and other major labor unions oppose.
Instead of asking for endorsements, Nader said: ``I just tell people
what we're doing.'' MORE
May 1, 2000 | Yahoo News
| AP
----
Ralph
Nader Polls Well in Ohio
Net favorability rating beats shrub
and Gore
The Ohio Poll finds that Ralph
Nader received the highest net favorability ratings in the state
among presidential candidates. Nader's net favorability was 24 percent,
higher than Bush at 22 percent, Gore at minus 3 percent and Buchanan at
minus 36 percent. Net favorability was calculated by subtracting the unfavorability
rating from the favorability rating received for each candidate. According
to the Ohio Poll, Ralph Nader is also the only candidate tested who received
a positive net favorability rating among Democrats (40 percent), Independents
(20 percent) and Republicans (10 percent). See the Ohio
Poll.
May 1, 2000 | Just Politics
----
The
Strike Against Pacifica News
The strike against Pacifica Network News was initially
set for a three-month period, to end April 30. Strikers have now voted
overwhelmingly to continue striking until a negotiated settlement is reached.
Not a single striker voted to end the strike.
More Info: http://www.savepacifica.net/strike
May 1, 2000 | Just Politics
----
Green
Party Convention, Berkeley
A Mainstream take on the proceedings
| Cites
growth in the party and adoption of
its key values by others.
A positive spin on the Green party in the mainstream press? You be the
judge: read Dan Reed's story
from the San Jose Mercury News. The convention agenda
is available at www.greens.org.
May 1, 2000 | San Jose
Mercury News
----
L.A.
Janitors OK
Contract
in Landmark Vote
By NANCY CLEELAND| Janitors overwhelmingly
approved a new contract Monday, ending an imaginative and colorful three-week
strike that is likely to be remembered as a watershed moment for Los Angeles
labor. MORE
April 25, 2000 | Los
Angeles Times
----
CA's
"Open Primary"
before
U.S. Supreme Court
Update from the California Voter Foundation
California's "open primary" law (technically a blanket primary) is being
challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court. Yesterday the justices
heard arguments put forth by representatives of the state, who defended
the law (which was enacted by voters as Prop. 198 in 1996), and attorneys
arguing against the law, representing several major and minor political
parties. MORE
April 24, 2000 | CA Voter
Foundation
----
Abbie
Hoffman Film in Production
Tom Hayden to be played by his son
Goosed
by protests aimed at the World Trade Organization and the International
Monetary Fund, that old band of `60s lefties have been given a reason to
get up in the morning. So it's no surprise that Hollywood is taking a second
look at the original source material. One such undertaking, scheduled for
release this summer, carries with it a unique twist. "Steal This Movie!"
is based on a biography of the late activist Abbie Hoffman and features
as one of its characters Tom Hayden, Hoffman's Chicago Seven cohort
turned termed-out senator. Nothing unique about that, you say? True enough.
But the actor who will portray Hayden -- Troy Garity -- has an especially
keen insight into the role. Hayden, you see, is Garity's father. That's
right. The son of Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda will kill two birds
with one stone, using his mom's profession as a vehicle to cinematically
fill the old man's shoes.
Hayden was reportedly on hand to watch his son work during the re-enactment
of the 1968 Chicago riots and gave a little pep talk to the cast and crew.
The film itself is an indie job, featuring Vincent D'Onofrio (the
bug-alien bad guy in "Men in Black") as Hoffman and comedian Janeane
Garofalo as his wife. Should be an interesting turn, though it'll be
interesting to see how they arrange the seating chart at the premiere,
given the, um, different roads taken by mom and dad after their split.
April 24, 2000 | State
Net Capitol Journal
