Within the last 48 hours the Israeli Defense Forces surrounded,
attacked, boarded and confiscated a boat carrying humanitarian aid
to Gaza , in international waters, with a large group of human
rights workers including our 2008 Green Party Presidential Candidate
and former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney.

Below you will find the official GP press release and information
about a special report tonight on blogtalkradio. Call your
congresspeople, most are not aware of the situation yet. Also
inform your media as no one besides al-jazeera has covered it yet!

Spread the word through all your networks to help free the 21
hostages including our friend Cynthia!

In solidarity,

kat swift
co-chair
Green Party of Texas
kat@txgreens.org

The Green Party of Texas is pleased to announce that Bill Stout will be our lobbyist for the 2009 legislative session in Austin.

"This is an exciting moment for the Green Party of Texas," says Kat Swift, state party co-chair. "This is the first time we have had a lobbyist on our staff, and we were fortunate enough to find just the right person for the job."

Bill will serve as a liaison between the membership of the GPTX and the Texas legislature, promoting legislation vital to the Green party agenda and reporting back to the membership on the progress of bills through the complex legislative process.

While the Green legislative agenda will be evolving as some favored bills proceed through the committees and others fail to gain support, the broad themes that Bill and the GPTX Legislation Committee will be pursuing this year are the abolition of capital punishment, easier ballot access for third parties, and water conservation.

There are a lot of other worthy causes that are being addressed during this session, such as medical marijuana, that Bill will keep us informed about through a weekly blog. His blog can be found at http://texasgreenslegislation.blogspot.com/.

"Not only do I want to help Greens around the state have some input during the legislative process, but I also plan to work to build coalitions and relationships with groups that share similar goals," Bill says. "Above all, I want to make our presence felt at the Capitol."

Bill can be contacted at billstout@txgreens.org.