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Towards a just & healthy democracy in the Commonwealth... and beyond!
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2010 
Fri Apr 09, 2010 at 15:44:56 PM EDT
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(After all the noise coming from the far right in regard to the healthcare bill, it's reassuring to see labor unions taking the lead in creating an alternative movement of their own and going after conservative Democrats who refused to support HCR. These unions have found a friend in the WFP--something for the GRP to think about... - promoted by michael horan)
Apparently inspired by certain Democrats voting against the health insurance reform, the Service Employees International Union - a union representing over 2 million workers - is surprisingly planning to work against Democrats this election season.
Perhaps the strongest challenge to Democrats, if not the Democratic establishment itself, will be in North Carolina. The national SEIU is working with the State Employees Association of North Carolina, its state affiliate, to form the North Carolina First Party.
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Sun Feb 07, 2010 at 17:06:10 PM EST
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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."
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Tue Feb 02, 2010 at 10:23:37 AM EST
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(After a pretty disgraceful failure to update its party platform at the 2008 national convention, the national Green Party has gotten its act together and changed its process so that the platform can be amended over time and in pieces, and they're inviting YOUR input. This is a huge step towards grassroots participatory democracy -- messy for sure but I'll take that over the alternative any day. - promoted by eli_beckerman)
GreenChange.org and GP.org are inviting Greens to participate in the process of rewriting the Green Party Platform for 2010. This is an example of the potential of online grassroots democracy, and a great opportunity to contribute your voice to the Green Party's vision for our future. Read on for details: Dear Green friends, I’d like to invite you to an experiment in online democracy. The Green Party of the United States is amending its platform. I volunteered to serve as the co-chair of the Platform Committee. We’re asking you to help update the Green platform in an open, collaborative process on GreenChange.org and GP.org, the website of the Green Party of the United States. A number of volunteers have already joined our platform writing team - will you help too?
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| About |
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Green Mass Group is an online forum for Green thought and collective action in Massachusetts. It is a community forum for justice, sustainability, democracy and health in the Commonwealth and beyond.
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| Quotes |
"Now, is this the deal I would have preferred? No. I believe that we could have made the tough choices required - on entitlement reform and tax reform - right now, rather than through a special congressional committee process. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year. Most importantly, it will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest of America."
--President Barack Obama on the debt ceiling "deal"
"Despite Democratic control over the White House, despite Democratic control over the Senate, despite overwhelming opposition from the American people, a small minority of the members of the Republican-controlled House have successfully pushed an extreme right-wing agenda onto the American political landscape. It is an ideology which believes that despite the fact that the rich are getting richer, the middle class is shrinking, and poverty is increasing, all - all of the burden for deficit reduction should rest on working people."
--Independent Senator Bernie Sanders on the debt ceiling "deal"
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Then and Now
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Then...
"Last year Evergreen, a Massachusetts company, agreed to establish their first-ever United States based manufacturing facility here in Massachusetts. They did so, or are doing so, at Devens. They have now agreed and chosen to triple their size at Devens. Their next phase of expansion, right here in Massachusetts, a signature company in a signature sector, and we congratulate all of the folks at Evergreen and look forward to continuing to work with you...
We made a personal commitment to Evergreen for the sake of Evergreen, but also because we wanted to show that there are ways in which state government, in working together with private industry and with the utility companies, could begin to create a different kind of environment, a different kind of business climate here, to grow that sector, and it is happening. It's happening. Evergreen is one of the most prominent examples, but there are a whole host of examples."
--Governor Deval Patrick, April 7, 2008, boasting about state investment in Evergreen.
and Now...
"Evergreen Solar Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, completing a stunning reversal of fortune for a high-flying alternative-energy company that once seemed to herald a new era for the Massachusetts economy... At its peak, Evergreen employed roughly 900 people locally and attracted more than $50 million in state support, as its stock price soared above $100 a share.
Yesterday, Evergreen's stock closed at 18 cents. The company shuttered its manufacturing plant in Devens earlier this year and now has only 85 employees left. Massachusetts is one of its top creditors, owed $1.5 million in rent."
--Erin Ailworth, Boston Globe, August 16, 2011
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