North Side Green Party

John Fontana reports in the latest issue of Network World that the Administration is seeking the power to shut down all or part of the Internet in the event the President determines that an issue of national security is involved. National security is not defined.

Illinois Coalition for Justice, Peace & the Environment will hold their 4th annual conference April 17 - 18. The theme this year will be "Ending the Cycle of War - Beyond Corporate Dominance: Which Way Forward for the Justice, Peace and Environment Movement?"

The event starts 7:00 pm Friday April 17, at the People's Church, 914 West Lawrence. Click here for more information.

An op-ed in the New York Times marks the 40th birthday of the Internet. It was 40 years ago today that R.F.C.1 was published. R.F.C. stands for "Request for Comment."

The United States lacks a national health insurance system of the kind Britain, France, Canada, and other advanced societies have long enjoyed. Newly elected President Barack Obama says the issue is off the table.

Supporters of National Health are organizing a rally to insist the Democrats put National Health back on the agenda.

The event takes place at 12:00 pm Monday at Federal plaza.

In a surprise move, a veteran campaigner for reform within the Teamsters Union is now encouraging his supporters to vote for Matt Reichel, the Green Party candidate in Tuesday's election. "If I lived in the 5th Congressional District, I would vote for Matt Reichel," declared Vince Tenuto, in a mailing to 5th District Teamsters.

In a stunning setback for liberal Democrats, Single Payer National Health Insurance is now "off the table." This was one of the conclusions which grew out of a panel discussion chaired by Quentin Young, MD. National Coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program, The event, "Examining Single Payer," took place Saturday at the Unitarian Church of Evanston.

Satellite photos taken by the European Space Agency (ESA) show a massive ice shelf breaking away from Antarctica. The story appeared in the ESA News, Friday.

On Monday, in what now appears to have been monumentally bad timing, the libertarian Cato Institute ran a full page advertisement denying global warming. Their ad, an open letter to President Obama, appeared just four days before Friday's story broke.

The Parking Geek is an underground hero to many Chicagoans. For some time, he has been helping fellow residents avoid parking tickets. He has many well-wishers, but prefers, for reasons which will be obvious to anyone from Chicago, to remain anonymous. His web site sells "Mayor Daley's Time Has Expired" T-shirts. He is considered a thorn in the side by City Hall.

The Parking Geek narrowly avoided arrest on Wednesday.

Matt Reichel the Green Party candidate in the 5th Congressional race told several hundred demonstrators Thursday that Chicago taxpayers could not afford financial guarantees required to host the 2016 Olympics. Furthermore, he said, a thousand two-week jobs would not benefit unemployed Chicagoans. "We need real jobs, permanent jobs," he said.

Mayor Daley has been promising the public that no taxpayer money will be spent on the Olympics.

A new group, No Games Chicago doesn't believe the Mayor. They are organizing a protest against the Olympics on Thursday, April 2nd. The protest starts at 5:00 pm in Federal Plaza (50 West Adams).

The anniversary of the April 4, 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King falls on Easter Sunday this year.

Michel Chossudovsky has posted a story in Global Research about the National Emergency Centers Establishment Act (HR 645), which was introduced in January by Representative Alcee Hastings.

Chossudovsky believes the US is facing fiscal collapse.

The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, ran a full page open letter opposing global warming. The letter is addressed to President Obama. The letter appears on page 22 of the Chicago Tribune.

The letter includes references to research. One of the references appears to contradict the letter's thesis,

The Cover story in the March 28 Newsweek is about Nobel Memorial Prize winning economist Paul Krugman. The author of Conscience of a Liberal, Krugman broke with the Clinton era "new economy in the 1990's, and went on to become the scourge of the Bush administration's economics.

People around the world will dim their lights for one hour tonight. Earth hour begins at 8:30 pm, local time Saturday.

R. Colin Johnson, writing in EE Times, reports that Naval researchers may have confirmed cold fusion. Cold fusion involves fusion of atoms of lighter elements, yielding enormous amounts of energy and (at least in principle) either minimal or no radioactive by-products. If cold fusion has been achieved, and if this can lead to a practical means of generating power, there may be significant implications for world energy policy.

On Thursday PBS-NOVA aired a spectacular documentary on Earth's melting glaciers, Extreme Ice. "It is the speed of the melt that is astonishing," says the narrator, as huge ice shelves implode. This NOVA is must viewing.

"The only explanation is the burning of fossil fuels." According to climate scientist James White, "We're playing with fire when it comes to the ice sheets."

Heidi Ledford, blogging on the The Great Beyond is commenting on a strange spin being given by Associated Press to a newly released report on birds.

Although the report never mentions the word "ethanol" and only cautions that wind farms should be carefully sited, AP singles out these two sources of renewable energy as responsible for decline in bird numbers.

Paul MacNamara, writing in Network World, has a story about a new web site established by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Someone will surely brand this site "a threat to national security," says MacNamara. We should not be deterred, however. "This site is not meant for those whose faith in their benevolent government remains unshaken. It's more for those who have lived the past eight years, in particular, with their eyes wide open."

Steve Chapman, writing on Sunday, characterized Congressional action to confiscate AIG bonuses as an unconstitutional bill of attainder. A bill of attainder is a legislative action designed to impose punishment on particular individuals. Congress is specifically forbidden by the US Constitution to pass such a law.