04.21.17
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Support Anita Belle — Candidate for Mayor of Detroit

anita-belleAdmittedly, I was late to the dance. I did not have the opportunity to meet Anita until only just recently, but her passion, brilliance, and compassion for others made a believer out of me in no time. It is with great honor and respect that I ask every engaged citizen near and far to support Anita Belle during her petition drive as she seeks the office of Detroit Mayor. With your support, we can elect Anita as the first Female/Green Mayor of Detroit, Michigan, but more importantly we can elect someone who cares about every citizen, and treats said office with the dignity and respect that it deserves. So I ask you, enlightened citizen, will you help us with this endeavor? Will you share Anita’s invitation to petition with your friends and colleagues? Will you donate just a couple of hours this weekend, and rally your neighbors to lend support to a real grassroots revolution?

If so, please follow the link, and share her support page far and wide. Thank you.

Support Anita Belle for Mayor HERE!

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Words from Anita about this awesome opportunity:

The purpose of Detroit Greens’ meeting every two months, during odd-numbered months, is so that the Working Groups would have time to meet and work. Did we lose momentum after January? Need more than Jill Stein coming back to Michigan for a Voting Justice Conference to motivate you again? Ok, then I’ll run for mayor!

Excited yet? Maybe this will help: I made this decision at the last minute. I need to collect between 500-1000 signatures on a mayoral petition by 3 p.m. on Tuesday, April 25th, in order to be on Detroit’s ballot. Yeah, that’s next Tuesday. Some Greens may think that’s a Mission Impossible, but remember, I’m also working with a few reparations organizations. It’s almost “nothing” for the Reparations Labor Union, the DC Reparations Cadre, and the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America to get 1000 signatures in a weekend. Imagine what we can accomplish if we work together!

We’ve got a lot of work to do and we need to work fast: All Detroit Greens 18 years of age and older are cordially invited to work a shift (or two) on a Mayoral Petition Canvassing Blitz this Saturday and Sunday, April 22nd and 23rd, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., at Erma Henderson Park on E. Jefferson and Burns Drive in the Indian Village/Belle Isle area of Detroit. You may volunteer for shifts at http://signup.com/go/WmzEzp. I promise to have refreshments for volunteers at the park.

Let’s celebrate Earth Day, April 22nd, in Detroit by shaking up and shifting her political paradigm. Although municipal elections are nonpartisan, help me be a mayoral candidate that brings Green values into the local spotlight. Those who know me know that I don’t run to lose. I run to win. Imagine what it will do for the Green Party if I become Detroit’s first Green/woman mayor!

Of course, in order to win, Michigan’s elections must have the integrity of accurately counting valid votes. This makes Michigan’s Voting Justice Conference all the more important. It is now tentatively scheduled for July 21st-23rd. More details about the conference will be announced soon. Be warned: As the Voting Justice Conference approaches, Detroit Greens won’t be able to continue meeting every other month. If you’re not in a Working Group, or if your Working Group is NOT working, then get ready to get busy. Being a Green is not a spectator “sport”. We’re a party of activists!

Please sign up to volunteer for the Mayoral Petitions Canvassing Blitz at http://signup.com/go/WmzEz and I’ll see you this weekend.

Sincerely yours,
Anita Belle
Group Leader of the Detroit Chapter of the Green Party

April 2017
22-23
Sign up to volunteer right now!
VOLUNTEER

04.19.17
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Meet Dwain Reynolds

When someone says the words “Two-Party” system, the first two parties that come to mind usually are neither the Green Party, nor the Democratic Socialist Party, but for Dwain Reynolds, they more than likely are just that. Mr. Reynolds is seeking the endorsement of both alternative parties during his run for Michigan Governor in 2018. I recently had the opportunity to ask Mr. Reynolds why he is Green. His response can be found on our page.

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To learn about Dwain, or view his agenda and vetting questionnaire, visit Reynolds of Michigan.

Dwain will be holding an online Facebook live AMA (ask me anything) session Wednesday April 26 at 8:00 PM at http://www.facebook.com/reynoldsformi.

RSVP to his Ask Me Anything Here

dwain-for-MI

02.11.17
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The Republican Carbon Tax Plan

A group of Reagan and Bush era Republicans, publishing in the name of a newly formed “Climate Leadership Council,” have proposed a national carbon tax and dividend coupled with a “significant rollback” of environmental regulations which seek to limit carbon dioxide emissions. If you want to read their publication directly, it can be downloaded from their website.

The poison pill in this plan is the elimination of environmental regulations. Apparently, it is not enough for them that the American oil and gas industry is exempt from the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking water Act and several other federal laws. (See http://www.frackfreecolorado.com/oil–gas-exemptions-from-federal-laws.html) They also want to eliminate controls on emissions from coal-powered generating plants, mileage requirements for vehicles, and anything else that regulates emissions directly.

They would like to sell us on the notion that the carbon tax can accomplish the task all by itself. In theory, it can, provided the tax is high enough, is applied strictly and with absolutely no exemptions for the military or other government agency, absolutely no exemptions for any nation and absolutely no exemptions for any company or industry. Their publication of course does not mention the possibility of any such exemption.

The possibility of exemptions still exists. Mentioning it would not help sell their idea of “rollback” (i.e., elimination) of environmental regualations. Therefore, it is not mentioned.

There is no actual need to eliminate specific environmental regulations in order to have a carbon tax. There’s nothing inherently incompatible between the two ways of controlling emissions.

For instance, a carbon tax and mileage requirements for vehicles both push in the same direction. A carbon tax and limits on smokestack emissions for coal-burning power plants both push in the same direction. If the carbon tax has compelled automakers to exceed minimum mileage requirements and has forced utilities to shut down coal-burning plants, that’s not really a problem for the goal of reducing emissions.

Let’s picture the situation if environmental regulations have been eliminated, and then there’s a financial/economic crisis similar to to the one that happened in 2008. It did happen in 2008, and restrictions on banking intended to prevent a recurrence are being dismantled, so it’s certainly a possibility that a similar crisis will repeat.

Oh, no! Layoffs! Unemployment! Major companies losing profits and going bankrupt! Stock market crash! We have to take whatever measures are needed to revive the economy immediately! Let’s eliminate the carbon tax! it’s clearly a big drag on the economy!

Hey, there’s a crisis, so this is no time to talk about bringing back environmental regulations. Besides, the agencies that used to do inspection and enforcement have been closed down, technical experts have found different jobs, enabling laws repealed, laws repealed … it’s just impossible to put environmental regulations in place quickly.

In other words, in Phase 1, eliminate environmental regulations because with a carbon tax, they are “not needed.” Then, for Phase 2, eliminate the carbon tax. Mission accomplished.

That is, in my opinion, the intention of the Republican carbon tax plan. A carbon tax is great idea if it is in addition to environmental regulation. It’s a terrible idea if it’s just an excuse to eliminate them.

If anything in current environmental law should be rolled back, it’s  exemptions granted the oil and gas industries.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons