OntheWilderSide

Cynthia McKinney, Green Party Candidate for President, Will Spend Labor Day Weekend Visiting Michigan

Cynthia McKinney (www.votetruth08.com), Presidential candidate of the Green Party of the United States
and head of the first nationwide ticket putting two women of color on ballots across the US, will visit Michigan for Labor Day weekend August 30 – September 1.

The Green Party of Michigan (GPMI; www.MIGreens.org) will be hosting a press conference for Congresswoman McKinney at 7pm Saturday, August 30 at the International Institute (111 E. Kirby, Detroit). The press conference will be followed by a rally with other GPMI Federal, state, and local candidates at 7:30pm at the same location. The rally is open to the public, and free.

The following evening — Sunday, August 31 — Congresswoman McKinney will deliver a key policy speech on the elimination of poverty at the National Welfare Rights Union (www.MWRO.org) Awards Dinner. The dinner, starting at 6:30pm, will be held at St. Paul of the Cross Retreat House, 23333 Schoolcraft, Detroit.

On Monday, Labor Day, Congresswoman McKinney will be joining thousands of union members in Detroit celebrating Labor Day by marching down Woodward Avenue.

Other campaign events during the visit will be announced as the details are finalized.

The Green Party of Michigan welcomes Cynthia McKinney to Michigan. She will lead GPMI’s 2008 slate — which includes

* Harley Mikkelson of Caro, retired after service with
the Army in Vietnam and for 26 years in Michigan state
government, for US Senate (www.harleymikkelson.com);

* Rev. Edward Pinkney, a Benton Harbor community activist
currently unjustly imprisoned at Hiawatha Correctional
Facility, running to represent his home 6th Congressional
District in the US House (see also BHBANCO.blogspot.com);
and

* 30 other Michigan Greens running for Federal, state, and
local offices.

Cynthia McKinney is a six-term former Congresswoman from
Georgia who quit the Democratic Party on her birthday in 2007
because the Democratic Party no longer represented her values.
She joined the Green Party, campaigned for its Presidential
nomination, and was nominated in Chicago at the Green Party
National Convention on July 12 (www.votetruth08.com).

During her time in Congress, Cynthia McKinney

* consistently opposed funding for bloated military and
secret intelligence budgets;

* introduced Articles of Impeachment for George Bush,
Dick Cheney, and Condoleezza Rice;

* introduced, championed, and passed in the U.S. House
the Arms Trade Code of Conduct, prohibiting the sale
of arms to known human-rights abusers; and

* passed legislation to extend health benefits for Vietnam
War veterans still suffering the health effects of
exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange.

She currently serves on an International tribunal on
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and on the Brussels Tribunal on
Iraq. She is also participating in War Crimes prosecutions
in Spain, and working with the Malaysian Peace organization
to criminalize war.

Cynthia McKinney’s long-time advocacy for poor people
and her recent participation as a Commissioner in the Truth
Commission for Water Rights held in Detroit May 3 prompted
anti-poverty leaders to invite her as the guest speaker for
the Awards Dinner at the National Welfare Rights Union Retreat.

Currently on the ballot in 25 states that hold a majority
of electoral votes — and with a good chance to make it on in
several more states — the Green Party presidential ticket is
breaking new ground, and breaking down barriers, in American
politics with the Cynthia McKinney-Rosa Clemente campaign.

The campaign has also crossed the fundraising threshold
in 14 states (including Michigan) out of the 20 required to
qualify for matching Federal funds for the primary season.
The deadline to qualify in at least six more states, and
earn matching funds, is September 4.

The McKinney/Clemente campaign offers a profoundly pro-
people, anti-corporate program for this election. Congress-
woman McKinney will bring the troops home — all the troops —
not only from Iraq and Afghanistan, but from every country
where US troops are stationed. She will reduce significantly
the bloated Pentagon budget, and spend the money here at home.
She supports an immediate moratorium on foreclosures. She
wants to convert the prisons for profit into money spent on
education. She supports universal, single-payer healthcare.

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