Green Party of TN 518 Moore Avenue Nashville, TN 37203

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party presidential candidates will participate in an online discussion immediately following President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union speech on Tuesday, Jan. 24. During the show, to be broadcast on the Green Party’s Livestream channel (http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus), viewers can call in with questions for the candidates. http://goo.gl/v3VYj

When: Tuesday, Jan. 24, 9:00 pm EST until 11:30 pm
Where: http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/events/338640229488962/

The two party system in the US is maintained by anxiety. This is an anxiety that is driven by a lack of vision for the future along with a lack of imagination that allows for an evaluation of the present political questions.

Why libertarians must deny climate change, in one short take
I must applaud Matt Bruenig's summing up of the inherent conflict between libertarianism and environmental issues

Over the Christmas break I read what I believe is the most important environmental essay of the past 12 months. Though it begins with a mildly unfair criticism of a column of mine, I won't hold it against the author. In a simple and very short tract, Matt Bruenig presents a devastating challenge to those who call themselves libertarians, and explains why they have no choice but to deny climate change and other environmental problems.

Bruenig explains what is now the core argument used by conservatives and libertarians: the procedural justice account of property rights. In brief, this means that if the process by which property was acquired was just, those who have acquired it should be free to use it as they wish, without social restraints or obligations to other people.

What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success
from http://goo.gl/GwB8T

In the Finnish view, as Sahlberg describes it, this means that schools should be healthy, safe environments for children. This starts with the basics. Finland offers all pupils free school meals, easy access to health care, psychological counseling, and individualized student guidance.

The problem facing education in America isn't the ethnic diversity of the population but the economic inequality of society, and this is precisely the problem that Finnish education reform addressed. More equity at home might just be what America needs to be more competitive abroad.

That this point is almost always ignored or brushed aside in the U.S. seems especially poignant at the moment, after the financial crisis and Occupy Wall Street movement have brought the problems of inequality in America into such sharp focus. The chasm between those who can afford $35,000 in tuition per child per year -- or even just the price of a house in a good public school district -- and the other "99 percent" is painfully plain to see.

Chris Hedges "Brace Yourself! The American Empire Is Over and The Descent Is Going To Be Horrifying!" How the Republicans and Democrats have created the corporate state and gutted the middle class.

Climate change – our real bequest to future generations
The major parties' narrow conception of redistribution and cross-generational burden
from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/03/climate-c...

It is remarkable how efforts to reduce the government deficit/debt are often portrayed as a generational issue, while efforts to reduce global warming are almost never framed in this way. This contrast is striking because the issues involved in reducing the deficit or debt have little direct relevance to distribution between generations, whereas global warming is almost entirely a question of distribution between generations.

The main factor that will determine the economic wellbeing of our children and grandchildren will be the strength of the economy that we pass down to them. This will depend, in turn, on the quality of the capital and infrastructure we pass onto them, along with the level of education we give them, the state of technical knowledge we achieve and the state of the natural environment.

If we cut the deficit by making spending cuts that affect our progress in these areas, we will be making our children worse-off, not better-off.

Where next for Occupy Wall Street?
from guardian.co.uk, Monday 2 January 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/02/occupy-wall-street-w...

According to a 2010 report titled "Income Inequality and the Great Recession" by the US Congress Joint Economic Committee, "the share of total income accrued by the wealthiest 10 percent of households jumped from 34.6 percent in 1980 to 48.2 percent in 2008. Much of the spike was driven by the share of total income accrued by the richest 1 percent of households. Between 1980 and 2008, their share rose from 10.0 percent to 21.0 percent, making the United States as one of the most unequal countries in the world." A previous report by the congressional committee found that the after-tax income of the richest 0.1% rose 400% between 1979 and 2005. The present-day rightwing offensive against what they call "big government spending" and union bargaining power build on the budget cuts and income inequalities over last three decades.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2, 2012 -- On Tuesday, January 3, representatives of the Libertarian Party and the Green Party will join the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT*) -- a national coalition of major Muslim organizations -- and other civil liberties group leaders at a news conference in Iowa to express their opposition to the unconstitutional nature of the National Defense Authorization Act's detention provisions.

This news conference is intended to convey a broad-based public response to President Obama's signing into law of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that authorizes the military to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens suspected of terrorism without charge or trial.

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