Whither the Green Party?

It is apparent from the results of last week's convention in Tulsa, OK, that there is a serious rift in the national party (GPUS). The convention was largely controlled by a relatively small minority of former Cobb/LaMarche supporters, who now control the steering committee and many state organizations, including Pennsylvania. The initiative to support the principle of "one-Green-one-vote" was soundly defeated by delegates in Tulsa.! The feeling of most of our regular members in Bucks County is to not be too concerned with what the national and state parties do, but continue to operate and organize locally. What’s your opinion?

PEAK OIL: We expect that rapidly rising energy prices will drive all politics to become intensely local in the near future. It will become just too difficult and costly to travel great distances on a regular basis to attend meetings. It is urgent that we prepare to preserve the health and cohesion of our local communities.

Meanwhile, there is a virtual official blackout on the issue of ‘peak oil.’ Roscoe Bartlett (R, Maryland) met with president Bush in early July, and still speaks regularly on the floor of Congress about the looming energy crisis, but as yet no other officials elected or appointed— local or national, have joined him. According to an article in Counterpunch this week by Richard Heinberg, The Hirsch report has been so suppressed by the government that ordered it, Project Censored is listing the report as one of the top censored stories of the year.

The Hirsch Report can be found in Heinberg’s article or here in pdf format.