Ken Sain, partly due to the prominence of his blog in the Green world and partly due to his experience as a professional journalist, has taken the lead in trying to fairly present the two strains in the Green Party today, and work to bring them together.

After hearing a report from a meeting of his own local, the DC Statehood Party, which he could not attend, he has again issued a call for mediation and cooperation.

This is the most concise and even-handed statement on the matter I’ve seen. I completely agree with Ken and I hope that GDI will not continue its hardline and antagonistic stance on the matter. To do so would serve to confirm the worst suspicions of those who think that the GDI leaders might not have the best interests of the Green Party at heart.

Digby noted on Friday (during my news blackout while attending the annual Greens meeting) that not one Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee showed up for the hearing to review the confirmation of Karen Hughes to handle public relations for the State Department.

As usual, the Democrats have their heads up their asses at exactly the wrong moment, and miss a golden opportunity to actually communicate something substantial to the American public.

The absence of the Democrats is even more glaring considering just today the New York Times reported that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald called Karen Hughes before the grand jury to testify as to her involvement in the leak-case. Of course, this begs the obvious question: Karen Hughes, did you have a role in leaking the name of an undercover CIA agent?

And, also as usual, the online/grassroots are doing all the heavy lifting. I am continually amazed at how much frustration, neglect and abuse progressive Democrats can take.

Think Progress has a list of questions the Democrats might have asked if they could have gotten it up to attend the meeting. I assume they were too busy with their preparations to lionize John Roberts and didn’t have the time.

Digby, despite his (?) great insight and wicked-good rants, is one of those ever-faithful-against-all-reason Democrats. I just don’t know what it will take for those folks to see the light.

As for Paul S. Sarbanes (MD), Christopher J. Dodd (CT), John F. Kerry (MA), Russell D. Feingold (WI), Barbara Boxer (CA), Bill Nelson (FL), and Barack Obama (IL), I hope they enjoyed their Friday afternoon.

By the way, did I mention that on Friday, I was in Tulsa at the Green Party annual meeting?

I’m about to leave for Tulsa, for the national Greens meeting. Looking forward to talking with attendees from around the country, as well as other Okie Greens. I still don’t know where I’ll be sleeping, but going on faith that something will materialize.

The Green Party issued a stinging rebuke of the Dems over the horrible bankruptcy bill passed and signed this week.

“72 Democrats handed President Bush, the Republicans, and corporate America a victory last week, proving that Americans have only one party for working people — the Green Party,” said Peggy Lewis, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.

Today’s statement, Dems Sell Out on Bankruptcy, was instigated by fellow Okie Green, JMB.

Marla Ruzicka, a California Green Party member and international peace activist, died the other day in Iraq, the victim of yet another car bomb. Her story is amazing — what a brave, loving woman she was. What dedication she had to the true meaning and potential of America. So of course, rabid conservative bloggers are spitting on her memory.

But I think her true legacy, decent and unselfish, will win that battle. Ironically, her death may uncover the project she was working on at the time of her death: the U.S. government’s secret tally of civilian casualties.

Human Rights Watch:

[...]Ruzicka and her colleagues at CIVIC (nearly all local volunteers) worked to identify victims individually, gathering detailed information about the circumstances of their injury, their personal lives, and the impact of the war on them. This information was widely viewed as some of the most accurate data about the condition of civilians and helped put a human face on their suffering. Its reliability made it possible for many civilian victims to receive compensation.[...]