North Side Green Party

According to Dennis Byrne, a group representing large corporations, has developed a legal rational for stripping pension benefits from retired state employees. It is time, according to Byrne, for former governmental employees to make "sacrifices."

US Representative Mark Schauer says this week's Michigan oil spill is the largest oil spill in Midwest history. As many as 1 million gallons of oil may be on its way to our kitchen faucets.

The Kalamazoo River drains into Lake Michigan, Chicago's only water source. Apparently there is no practical way to prevent water from the Kalamazoo from making its way into the Lake.

Monday, July 26, is the anniversary of the overthrow in 1959 of a US backed dictator, Fulgencio Batista. A popular movement led by Fidel Castro, a Cuban attorney, drove Batista from power.

The Castro government subsequently nationalized US corporations operating in Cuba. The Cubans offered compensation, as is required by international law, but the US Ambassador, speaking on behalf of the corporations, refused.

Jim Kunstler has published a letter from someone in the oil industry rebutting Matthew Simmons' warnings about continued leakage at BP's gulf oil well.

The Greens have not taken a position on this issue. Their continued opposition to reliance on fossil fuels is based on issues of sustainability. Greens are concerned about the economic and environmental consequences. The likelihood of spills is only one of those consequences.

Illinois Greens will be meeting this weekend at Loyola University's Lake Shore campus. The Green 2010 State Convention starts Friday at 3:00 p.m.

There will be business meetings - these are necessary to run a statewide green movement - but also political and educational events and workshops. For information or to register, click here.

America's senior citizens may be soon be sleeping under bridges and picking through garbage dumps, if the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has anything to say about it. The IMF is once again warning the US to cut "entitlement" programs.

Social Security is at the top of the IMF list.

Matthew Simmons spent his working life operating a bank which specializes in funding oil exploration and extraction. The best selling author of Twilight in the Desert, Simmons is acknowledged by all to be an expert in his field. In an interview at King World News, Simmons delivers an alarming assessment of the Gulf oil situation.

It appears that the Deepwater Horizon may be leaking. Thad Allen, National Incident Commander Deepwater Horizon Response team has warned
BP about taking action. Apparently some evidence has been found that the Deepwater bore hole has been compromised.

At 5:29:45 a.m. July 16, 1945 the first atomic bomb was detonated by the US in northern New Mexico.

With virtually no notice from a US press corps primarily focused on 4th of July celebrations, the United States has once again intervened militarily in Central America. A fleet of 46 warships and 7,000 Marines will spend the next six months in Costa Rica, ostensibly to combat drug trafficking there. Some commentators see the military operations as aimed at Nicaragua, an ally of oil-rich Venezuela.

Michael Powell, writing in the New York Times, explains why Illinois is the most poorly run state in the Union.

On Monday, July 12, 2010, join Northside Greens to hear "To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate, That is the Question." Barbara Mullarkey, president of Illinois Vaccine Awareness Coalition (IVAC), discusses vaccines' ingredients, science, warnings, contraindications, adverse reactions and exemptions. Bring your vaccination questions and concerns.

The FLOURISH 2010 Conference starts Friday. FLOURISH brings together people who are interested in developing computer software using the open source development model. Under this model intellectual property does not present a barrier to participation. All are able to participate and benefit from the digital revolution.

This year the Flourish Conference will be Friday, March 19th and Saturday, March 20th at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) - 750 South Halsted Street

A major peace demonstration is planned for Thursday at 5:30 pm. in Federal Plaza, Chicago. Click here to get details.

The Democrats won overwhelmingly in the 2008 election. Liberal Democrats were jubilant. Who could blame them? They believed they had voted for peace, and their candidates won overwhelmingly.

The reality turned out to be far different than had been hoped.

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojavich today called his hand picked successor a eunich.

The North Side Greens have agreed to co-sponsor a peace rally and march scheduled for March 18.

Few people outside of Green circles expected that there would be any need for peace marches at this point in time. It was widely believed that then Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would move swiftly to end US involvement in the Mideast.

Now in his second year, President Obama has sent additional troops to Afghanistan, expanded the war in Pakistan, and is putting increasing pressure on Iran.

The Illinois State Election Board has declared a winner in the hotly contested Republican Gubernatorial primary. Ultra conservative Bill Brady will face Green candidate Rich Whitney and Democratic incumbant Pat Quinn.

In a January 18th Chicago
Tribune Profile, it was revealed that Republican Gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady favors permitting local school boards to mandate teaching of creationism in the schools.

In a move that has provoked shock and outrage among liberal Democrats, the Obama administration is promising to push the construction of new nuclear power plants.

Utah's Republican controlled state legislature has declared that global warming has no scientific basis. The resolution called for an immediate end of efforts to fight global warming.

The Utah legislative action is not the first attempt by a state legislature to overrule science. In 1897 the Indiana State House of Representatives passed overwhelmingly a bill to legislate the value of pi.