Pinal County Greens Congratulate Jill Stein on Landslide Win in Arizona Green Party Presidential Primary

Pinal County Greens Support the Librotraficante Caravan Effort to Bring Contraband books—“Wet-Books”—to Arizona

APACHE JUNCTION, Feb. 25 -

The Pinal County Greens today passed a resolution supporting the efforts of the Librotraficante Caravan, which is bringing contraband books — or “wet-books” — to Arizona. The project is also intended to raise awareness of the “prohibition” of the Mexican-American Studies Program and the removal of books from classrooms.

As Colorlines noted:

“When we heard that Tucson Unified School District administrators not only prohibited Mexican-American Studies, but then walked into classrooms, and in front of young Latino students, during class time, removed and boxed up books by our most beloved authors - that was too much. This offended us down to our soul. We had to respond,” said Tony Diaz, founder of Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say, which has led the charge.


Diaz added, “With their record of anti-immigrant legislation, politicians in Arizona have become experts in making humans illegal. We did not do enough to stop that, thus that anti-immigrant legislation spread to other states such as Alabama and Georgia. Now, these same legislators want to make thoughts illegal. If we allow this to happen, these laws, too, will spread. Other branches of ethnic studies will be prohibited, and other states will follow suit.”

The Librotraficante Caravan will travel from Houston, Texas, to Tucson, Ariz., carrying a payload of contraband books, creating networks of Underground Libraries and leaving community resources in its wake.

With just days away from launching the caravan Libroficante could use your help...donations are critical.

"We urge everyone -- both Arizonans and normal people concerned with government censorship of ethnic studies and ethnic literature -- to support the work of the Librotraficante Caravan," said Pinal County Greens co-chair Richard Grayson, who has taught classes in multicultural and immigrant literature at several colleges in Florida and New York.

"These 'forbidden' books -- such as Paolo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which I first read decades ago in a class at Teachers College at Columbia University -- should be required reading for some of our ignorant state officials."

For information on how you can make a tax-deductible donation, please visit the Librotraficante Caravan website.

Tucson Weekly Endorses Richard Grayson in Arizona Green Party Presidential Preference Primary on February 28

TUCSON, Feb. 22 -

Tucson Weekly, sponsor of Project White House 2012, today endorsed Richard Grayson in next week's Arizona Green Party presidential primary and Sarah Gonzales in the Arizona Republican Party presidential preference primary. The newspaper's editorial board

called Gonzales "severely awesome," noting that she was the only Latina among the many white male candidates running for the Republican nomination.

The editorial wrote this about Grayson, co-chair of the Pinal County Greens:

All of the Greens have done a lot to express their plans through Project White House, but we have been most impressed with Richard Grayson,

including his plan to deport Republicans back to the 18th century, where they could be more comfortable with their tricorner hats and other Tea Party garb, and his demand that Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu be nicer to his ex-boyfriends. Few of the Project White House candidates have done a better job of responding to the issues of the day.

"I am very grateful to everyone at Tucson Weekly for this endorsement," said Grayson, reached in Brooklyn at a campaign fundraiser. "I'm so excited I don't know whether to scream or eat a banana."

Green Party Presidential Candidate Richard Grayson Calls for Nationwide Moratorium on Jeremy Lin Puns

APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz., Feb. 20 -

Green Party presidential candidate Richard Grayson, running in next week's Arizona Green Party presidential primary, today called for a nationwide moratorium on Jeremy Lin puns.

Speaking at a press conference, Grayson said, "Enough is enough. While the First Amendment protects every citizen's right to free speech,

I call on Americans to exercise restraint and stop making puns based on Jeremy Lin's last name. Most of these puns totally suck.

Cut it out already!"

Grayson, co-chair of the Pinal County Greens, noted that twenty years the Chicago Sun-Times called him "fun-loving and pun-loving"

and Best Sellers, in reviewing Grayson's Lincoln's Doctor's Dog, said he was "given to outrageous puns."

"So it's not that I don't love puns," Grayson said.

"I'm a Knicks fan who adores Jeremy Lin. But there is no excuse for any more Jeremy Lin puns. The time wasted on creating them is hurting our economic recovery."

Grayson, in calling for the moratorium, condemned the fact that "林疯子几乎占据美国各大体育网站的头条"

and announced the support of Tao Lin, the bestselling author of Shoplifting From American Apparel, and other writers who are being made physically ill from all the Lin-related puns.

"If I win the Green Party primary next week and am elected President, I will stop this insanity," said Grayson. "Insanity. Insanity!"

Pinal County Greens Call on Sheriff Paul Babeu to Be Nicer to His Ex-Boyfriends: "Deporting Them Is Tacky," Says PCG Co-Chair Richard Grayson

APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz., Feb. 18 -

The Pinal County Greens today passed a resolution calling on Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu to be nicer to his former boyfriends.

"Threatening to deport your ex is really tacky," said Richard Grayson, Pinal County Greens co-chair and a gay activist who is the author of such gay-themed books as The Silicon Valley Diet, And To Think That He Kissed Him on Lorimer Street, and Vampires of Northwest Arkansas. "He needs to apologize right away, maybe send some nice flowers."

Grayson is also a candidate for President in the February 28 Arizona Green Party presidential preference primary.

The Pinal County Greens' resolution also said the organization would volunteer to provide couples therapy for the sheriff and his former boyfriend, Jose Orozco,

whom he allegedly threatened to deport to Mexico. "We'd be happy to help them work things out," Grayson said. "I am good friends with all of my ex-boyfriends."

Green Party Presidential Candidate Richard Grayson Announces Support for Bayer Aspirin on Demand

APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz., Feb. 17 -

Richard Grayson, Pinal County Greens co-chair and candidate for President in the February 28 Arizona Green Party presidential preference primary, today announced support for Bayer aspirin on demand for all women, Scottsdale millionaires, and members of the Roman Catholic clergy.

"As a longtime supporter of Planned Parenthood and women's reproductive rights, I believe that those who are trying to curtail access to contraceptives are causing big headaches for American society," said Grayson. "We need fast relief from these knee-o-conservatives."

Pinal County Greens Celebrate Arizona's 100th Birthday

APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz., Feb. 14 -

The Pinal County Greens today passed a resolution celebrating Arizona's 100th birthday.

"Yay!" said Richard Grayson, Pinal County Greens co-chair. "We will all be doing the hora just like they did on February 14, 1912, at the Goldberg-Melczer wedding, the first wedding in the state of Arizona, with three-year-old Barry Goldwater as ring-bearer."

"It would be nice if more people in Arizona could celebrate like that," Grayson added.

Pinal County Greens Co-Chair Richard Grayson Reacts to Arizona Green Primary Poll Showing Jill Stein Leading and Grayson Running Last

APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz., Feb. 12 -

Green Party presidential candidate Richard Grayson today reacted to the latest poll in the February 28 Arizona Green Party primary, saying it made him "very depressed."

"There's just no good way to spin this poll," Grayson said.

The latest Ragamuffin Reports telephone survey of unlikely Arizona Green presidential preference primary voters

finds Dr. Jill Stein leading with 61% support

to Dr. Kent Mesplay’s 21%.

The Rev. Michael Oatman is a distant third with 8% of the vote,

followed by Gary Swing and Gerard Davis with 5% each,

with Richard Grayson trailing with 0%.

This Arizona survey of 122 unlikely Arizona Green presidential preference primary voters was conducted on February 11, 2012 by Ragamuffin Reports.

The margin of sampling error is +/- 40 percentage points with a 35% level of confidence. Field work for all Ragamuffin Reports surveys is conducted by Putz Opinion Research, LLC.

"I guess I might as well concede now," Grayson said, before leaving for the free show celebrating the second anniversary of The Underground in downtown Mesa.

"But the poll didn't contact me, and I already cast an early vote for myself.

Inshallah, I could double or even triple that in the final returns."