Catching up

Here are a few disconnected notes to catch us up on what's been going on with the Green Party:

* The Green Party of LA County website has been spruced up a lot, and we finally sent out an email announcement to registered Greens in LA County. The next County Council meeting is tomorrow.

* Today we are going to a forum with several Green Party candidates, including Peter Camejo (governor) and Todd Chretien (U.S. Senate) at Bethel AME Church. There has been some controversy about the way Camejo, Chretien, and a few others have been running as a self-selected slate ("A Million Votes for Peace"), arbitrarily excluding others. It is entirely within their rights to do so, although I'm not sure why they feel the need to.

* I'll be at the forum largely to support someone who wasn't invited to speak--Green congressional candidate Byron De Lear. De Lear is close to gathering enough signatures to get on the ballot without paying the filing fee. The deadline is next week.

* The LA Greens meeting was earlier this week. The big decision item was a response to a vote the national Green Party (GPUS) took last year to call for a boycott of Israel in protest of Israel's treatment of Palestinians. The vote caused a lot of suprise and consternation among the grassroots where it had not been vetted. The GPLAC County Council responded in January with a letter asking for more thorough discussion of controversial issues in the future. On Wednesday, the LA Greens endorsed the County Council's response.

* There is a new group blog (not Green Party-related) out of New York that is in opposition to the "War on Terror" and its suppression of civil liberties. The blog is called Against the War on Terror.