A couple months before New Orleans flooded, I remember walkingthrough my neighborhood on a beautiful weekend afternoon andhearing music.

I followed the sound a couple blocks, to where about thirtypeople, all of them Black, followed a few musicians throughthe streets. They were mourning the death of a loved one, NewOrleans-style. Most folks were wearing custom t-shirts witha picture of the deceased. Next to the photo were the words'sunrise' along with the date of his birth, and 'sunset,' abovethe date of his (recent) death - he was 20. Also on the shirtwere the words, 'No More Drama.'

On the back, the shirts were individualized, with the relationof the wearer to the deceased. One woman's shirt said 'momma'. Afew teenagers had shirts that said 'cuz.' A small child'sshirt said 'daddy.'

Despite their loss, they were dancing through the streets. Whenthe band finished their final song, everyone danced theirhearts out. I don't know what else to say, except that's howwe do it in New Orleans, and the image of those people mourningthrough celebration sticks with me as I see New Orleans today,struggling with so much loss and tragedy.

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Even though the racist, Republican-backed opposition to Elaine Brown'scampaign for mayor of Brunswick, Georgia, succeeded in removing hername from the November 8th ballot--AND taking away her right tovote!--a federal court judge, at the 11th hour, on November 7th, ruledthe local Board of Elections had to count her votes! IN OTHER WORDS,ELAINE HAD ONLY HOURS TO MOUNT ANOTHER CAMPAIGN TO CONVINCE BLACKSTHEIR VOTES FOR HER WOULD NOW BE COUNTED. Read thecomplete statement from the Brown for Mayor campaign .

The Georgia Green Party, in an overwhelming consensus vote,officially endorsed Elaine Brown in her run for mayor of theCity of Brunswick during their annual convention Sept. 17.Although the race is non-partisan, Brown, who became an officialmember of the Green Party earlier this year, faces strongopposition from Republican-backed candidate Bryan Thompson. Ifelected, she will become the first female and the first blackto hold the position. In addition to his conservative politicalleanings, Thompson is also President/CEO of Blueprint Brunswick,a private company created to institute a wide-spread plan to"revitalize" the Brunswick area. Blueprint Brunswick hasreceived over $150 thousand in funding from the city duringthe past three years. In addition to presenting a glaringethical conflict to Thompson's attempt to run for mayor, partof his company's plan targets residents for displacement in135 blocks of an area of the city which is predominantly blackand economically challenged. Readthe rest of the Georgia Party's press release on thesubject .

It is Saturday-five days after Katrina. In New Orleans, MalikRahim is without electricity, running water, medicine or realfood. But he is dry, and his telephone works. Rahim, a communityorganizer, lives in the Algiers District, which escapedthe flood. When soldiers brought a modicum of relief today,courtesy of a politically spooked president, Rahim must useprecious gasoline to drive a dozen miles for food and water. Thetroops do not want to rumble through Algiers, a largely blackneighborhood near the central city. "There is a dawn-to-duskcurfew here," says Rahim. "Vigilante whites are riding aroundwith shotguns. Blacks are lying dead in the street." Readthe rest of Peter Byrne's report, as published in the SanJose Metro .

A father and daughter team, both active with the BlackCaucus of the Green Party of the United States, addressedthe 2005 World Conference Against the Atomic and HydrogenBomb on the 60th Anniversary of the U.S. nuclear attack onJapan in August 1945. You can read their comments here: NzinghaTingling-Clemmons: Never Again and RickTingling-Clemmons: None of us is Free, Until All of us are Free\[of Nuclear Power\] .

Here is a new publication that university departments andprofessors specializing in environment related topics, mayfind useful "Inside the Bottle: An Expose of the BottledWater Industry." Tony Clarke, author, and director of thePolaris Institute, exposes ten issues with the bottledwater industry. These range from the exploitation ofspring water to doctored tap water, recycling records,and the eco-threatening nature of bottling plants. Inaddition to being a resource on these topics, the bookcan be used within a classroom setting as a source ofdiscussion towards the need for reviewing legislation (orthe lack of) surrounding water, and environmental ethics. Readmore .

On Saturday, May 21, 2005, in a GPUS Black Caucus Special Mtg. , a full quorum endorsed the special report "The Right to Vote Act! vs.The Right to Vote Amendment?" prepared by the DC Statehood Green Party Electoral College Task Force and the Douglass Institute of Government , and a request of the GPUS that I may be selected to make a plenary address at the National Green Party Convention, July 21-24, on this subject, e.g. "The Green Party's 'Right to Vote Act' , An Act to Enforce American Democracy" and hold a follow-up workshop. GPBC Spotlight: Asa Gordon

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld must be removed, say Green leaders, citing abuses of power.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders called on Congress to begin immediate and far-reaching investigations of major abuses by the Pentagon:

Evidence of torture and abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and abuse at facilities in the U.S., especially at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Recent reports that the Pentagon is unable to account for more than a trillion dollars in financial transactions and missing equipment; $8.8 billion in Iraqi oil sales unaccounted for in a 2005 audit, according to the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. Fuill Release

Gerthy Lahens, Activist and Community Organizer in the Boston, MA Haitian community talks with Sistah Anelle regarding the urgent situation in Haiti. Ms. Lahens has been working on affordable housing and immigration issues for the past 8 years; is an active member of MASS VOTE and member of the Board of Champions of DUNK the VOTE and Mass Affordable Housing Alliance and Mass Legalization Coalition, Founder of The Friends of Petite Anse (Haiti) among other activities. Hear Program