At this meeting we will be holding the annual DuPage Greens county convention and officer nominations, which was postponed last month, discussing petitioning for ballot access, and upcoming events for Social Justice in DuPage, Move to Amend, and Occupy Naperville.

Don’t demoralize- organize!  Please join us for our monthly meeting to help us bring real democracy back into the hands of We the People.  As you can see, there is a whole lot to talk about, and we can only make democratic decisions if YOU show up to tell us how you feel.

The meeting begins at 7:00 PM and usually runs until 8:30 PM, when we adjourn and head to Muldoon’s in downtown Wheaton for a drink and further discussion.

Petitioning can be hard work, and it’s rarely feels rewarding- especially when you’re by yourself.  Petitioning with a friend is about a thousand times better!  Below is a list of events coming up in DuPage County that we want to attend for petitioning.  We have an official booth at the Aurora Green Fest on June 9th, and we are looking for volunteers. If you can join us, please send an email to scot.hansen@dupagegreens.org to coordinate efforts and to try to maximize the amount of friendly faces in the crowd.

In addition to the list of events below, we will be spending some mornings at Metra stations gathering signatures. If there are any other events or times that you are looking to fill petitioning, please let us know so we can lend support whenever possible.  If you prefer flying solo, or if you are inclined to do a little door-to-door work on your own, you can print out the petition forms yourself here and here. All completed forms need to be verified and notarized, so make sure you are in contact with us if you are getting signatures on your own- we will help you get them completed!

Any registered voter in the state can sign the petition.  Signing the petition does not imply support or intention to vote for a Green Party candidate.  I like to remind people that signing my petition means that you support democracy and the freedom to choose.  You can learn more about the petitioning process, the laws that created the process, and where we stand to date statewide at the Illinois Green Party’s Petition Central web page.

Every Saturday
Wheaton French Market
Main Street and Liberty Drive
Wheaton, IL
8:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Saturday, May 12
EcoFest 2012
Naperville Riverwalk Grand Pavilion
912 Sindt Court
West of Centennial Beach (South of 500 West Jackson Ave.)
Naperville, IL
10:30 AM to 2:30 PM

Saturdays, Beginning on May 12^th
Downers Grove Farmers Market
5001 Main Street
Downers Grove, IL
7:00 AM to 12:30 PM

Thursday, May 31 to Sunday, June 3
Taste of Wheaton
Memorial Park
Hale and Karlskoga Streets
Wheaton, IL
Closes nightly at 10:00 PM

Saturdays in June
Naperville Farmers Market
200 E. 5^th Avenue
Naperville, IL
7:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Saturday, June 9
Aurora Green Fest
Prisco Community Center/ McCullough Park
150 W Illinois Ave.
Aurora, IL
10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

In addition to marching with the huge crowds that are expected to participate, DuPage Greens will be actively petitioning fellow Occupiers to gain ballot access for our Presidential candidate for the upcoming elections.  We need to gather 25,000 valid signatures, which is no small task.  We need all the help we can get, and we have a suspicion that the Occupy Chicago crowd is ready to embrace the values of the Green Party.  This may be our best opportunity to gain support within the progressive community of activists in the area and beyond.

Metra ticket pricing is $5.75 each way, but they sell a pass that allows for unlimited use for the weekend at just $7.  Remember- tickets cannot be bought at the station on Saturday, and you can only buy one way tickets on the train.  The Naperville train station is open for ticket sales during the week from 5:30 AM to 1:10 PM.  Get your weekend pass now to save a few dollars.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email Scot Hansen at scot.hansen@dupagegreens.org, or call Occupy Naperville coordinator Bob Bowers at 630-327-8166.  For official information regarding Occupy Chicago and the Chicago Spring, please click here.

Don’t Demoralize- ORGANIZE!  See you Saturday!

Go to our petition page to see how YOU can help get our candidates on the ballot!

In DuPage County, contact Scot Hansen, scot.hansen@dupagegreens.org, if you want to get involved.

At this meeting we will be holding the annual DuPage Greens county convention and officer nominations, discussing petitioning for ballot access, and upcoming events for Social Justice in DuPage, Move to Amend, and Occupy Naperville.  As a special addition, we hopefully will also be livestreaming our meeting.  Sorry this didn’t work last month, but we will try again, nonetheless.  If everything goes well, you should be able to click here during the meeting and watch it from the comfort of your own living room.  The Illinois Green Party had very well-received and much-viewed livestream of last month’s convention in Macomb, and the DuPage County chapter is looking to improve the process to allow everyone to get involved, whether they can physically be there or not.

Don’t demoralize- organize!  Please join us for our monthly meeting to help us bring real democracy back into the hands of We the People.  As you can see, there is a whole lot to talk about, and we can only make democratic decisions if YOU show up to tell us how you feel.  We meet at the Two Thirteen Building (213 S. Wheaton Ave., Wheaton, IL).  The meeting begins at 7:00 PM and usually runs until 8:30 PM, when we adjourn and head to Muldoon’s in downtown Wheaton for a drink and further discussion.

If you have encountered any problems at the poll either as a voter, election judge, or pollwatcher please take just a few minutes to document the problem at the IBIP Illinois Election Incidents Hotsheet.  It is especially important to note:

• Your name, address, email, and phone number:
• Time of the incident:
• POLL ID:
• Polling place FULL ADDRESS (LOCATION):
• TOWNSHIP & PRECINCTS:
• Name of the election judge:

Wear Green, but not Green Party t-shirts, as this is a non-partisan event.  You could have a sign that says the “DuPage Greens support Occupy Naperville” or other signs such as “Occupy for Economic Justice” or “Occupy Naperville Move to Amend”, etc.

Here’s the Occupy Naperville parade info:

For all occupiers participating in the St. Patrick Day Parade:
Please arrive at Naperville North High School between 9:00 a.m. and 9:30
a.m. on March 17th.  (W.Ogden Ave and Mill St.)
Our line up number is 71.
Please remember our lineup number (71), so you can quickly get to our place in line.
Parking at Naperville North is very limited, so please carpool or have
someone drop you off  at Naperville North. There will be a
short walk from the front of the high school to the back for those who
are dropped off.
There is NO PARADE PARKING in the West lot of the high school. The West
lot is reserved for school functions and a swim meet that are taking
place on the day of the Parade. Please park only in the lot in the
Northeast corner of the school property. The high school does not want parade participants using the restrooms in
the school. There will be portable toilets in the staging area for your
use. Vehicles can only enter Naperville North off of Mill
Street, heading South from Ogden Avenue. Do NOT attempt to enter the
school directly off of Ogden Avenue. Proceed east on Ogden to Mill
Street for drop-off, parking and entry to the staging area.
Please respect the directions given by Naperville Police officers and
West Suburban Irish volunteers at the staging area. We will get everyone
in place in plenty of time, so long as everyone is patient and
cooperative.
REMINDERS: the Parade is a family event, and takes place on public
property. Please conduct yourselves appropriately. Please no alcohol
before or during the Parade. Please do not throw candy or other objects.
You may hand out candy, literature, or other objects to persons along
the Parade route.
REMINDER: Please do your part to keep the Parade moving along! Be on
time to start, and keep up with the group ahead of you. During the
Parade, and at the end of the Parade route, please do not stop and hold
up those behind you.
We hope everyone has a great time at the Parade. Thanks for occupying for parade!
REMEMBER TO WEAR GREEN

Facebook Invite

For the March 20th meeting, we have a special treat.  We will be “Reclaiming The Lorax”.  We will be screening the original Lorax cartoon, which aired on CBS in 1972.  Unlike the new blockbuster that opened last weekend, the original cartoon stayed true to the words and ideas of its creator, the incomparable Dr. Seuss.  The Lorax is a great story about the dangers created by unregulated greed and anti-environmentalism as businesses shun their responsibilities to society in their never-ending quest to increase the bottom line.  We will compare the original to today’s movie, which seems to be nothing more than a two-hour commercial for SUV’s and pancakes.  Bring the kids- this is guaranteed to be a great meeting for the whole family!  We will also talk about the recent state convention, the impending county convention and officer nominations, petitioning for ballot access, and upcoming events for Social Justice in DuPage, Move to Amend, and Occupy Naperville.  As a special addition, we will also be livestreaming our meeting.  If everything goes well, you should be able to click here during the meeting and watch it from the comfort of your own living room.  The Illinois Green Party had very well-received and much-viewed livestream of last weekend’s convention in Macomb, and the DuPage County chapter is looking to improve the process to allow everyone to get involved, whether they can physically be there or not.

Don’t demoralize- organize!  Please join us for our monthly meeting to help us bring real democracy back into the hands of We the People.  As you can see, there is a whole lot to talk about, and we can only make democratic decisions if YOU show up to tell us how you feel.  We meet at the Two-Thirteen Building (213 S. Wheaton Ave., Wheaton, IL).  The meeting begins at 7:00 PM and usually runs until 8:30 or 9:00, when we adjourn and head to Muldoon’s in downtown Wheaton for a drink and further discussion.

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The Obama Administration is peddling a myth:  they say the wars are over and that peace is on the horizon.

But the facts tell a different story:

++ The U.S. and Israel are threatening war on Iran, recycling many of the lies used to justify the war on Iraq. With Iraq, George W. Bush claimed the country had “weapons of mass destruction.” With Iran, Obama is supporting crippling sanctions- the same precursor to war that Bush used against Iraq. He hypocritically threatens war against Iran for its alleged nuclear arms program while supporting nuclear-armed Israel with billions of dollars in arms each year.

++ Annual drone strikes in the tribal areas of Pakistan have tripled since Obama became president, killing thousands of innocent people, and have expanded to Yemen and Somalia. At the end of January, Obama said his drone strikes target only “people who are on a list of active terrorists” – as if you can identify who is a “terrorist” from 20,000 feet. Last year was the fifth year in a row of increased deaths by U.S. drone strikes.

++ The U.S. keeps silent about human rights abuses against minorities in countries that it is allied with, while hypocritically lecturing about human rights abuses by governments it opposes. In U.S.-allied Pakistan, over 4000 Balouchis have been “disappeared” by the security forces and hundreds killed through torture, with their bodies being thrown into the street. In U.S.-allied Kuwait, immigrants – the overwhelming majority of the population – have virtually no rights. In U.S.-allied Saudi Arabia, women have few rights and gays are subject to execution, yet millions of U.S. arms flow there each year.

++ As the Wikileaks revelations of U.S. diplomatic cables showed, the U.S. government, regardless of which party controls it, supports the 1% and opposes the democratic aspirations and self-determination of the 99% in all nations.

++ The U.S.-sponsored Iraq war continues – subcontracted to private military contractors and an unpopular puppet regime instructed by the world’s largest embassy and its huge “diplomatic” corps.

++ Obama announced that his “surge” of troops into Afghanistan would end this September, but that would still leave 70,000 U.S. troops there, along with other NATO troops and the forces of a regime which stole the last election and is widely viewed as among the most corrupt on the planet. Last year was the deadliest year yet for civilians in Afghanistan, up 8% from the year before.

++ Obama continues to sell arms to Gulf dictatorships such as Bahrain (recently invaded by the U.S.-armed Saudi Arabian dictatorship), which stands accused by its own human rights commission of gunning down non-violent protesters and torturing prisoners to death.

++ The U.S. continues to support the military dictatorship in Egypt while hypocritically calling for regime-change in Syria and ignoring reports of systemic torture and pogroms by its new client regime in Libya.

++ Obama continues to arm Israel at a rate higher than any other country in the world, even though it is responsible for systematic human rights abuses including theft of Palestinian land, widespread imprisonment without charge or trial, torture, and refusal to allow refugees to return to their homeland.

At a time when social services from mental health services to libraries to public transit are being slashed, the U.S. spends as much on war as the rest of the world combined. Demand an end to this insanity. Support our march for peace on the 9th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.  We begin at the corner of Devon Avenue and Hoyne Street in Chicago at 3 PM on Sunday, March 18th.  Please click here for more information.

This march is also supported by the Pakistan Federation of America, Pakhtun Jirga, Pakistan United Parade Committee, Midwest Anti-War Mobilization, Coalition Against the NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda, Chicago World Can’t Wait, The Urbane Radical, Chicago Area Peace Action, Chicago Area CodePink and the Gay Liberation Network.