Justy with a sign that says "DAVID COBB speaks here at noon" with an arrow pointing toward room B67.   Stephanie Schaaf, Cameron Spitzer, and David Cobb smile for the camera.

I got there just as Justy was putting up the signs for the event that would guide people into the room where we were. As we were finishing that project, people started arriving. I was glad to get this picture of Stephanie Schaaf, Cameron Spitzer, and David Cobb.
A button that shows peak oil production is bound to happen now or in the next few years.   Leslie began the speaking by introducing David Cobb.

Arlen Comfort has this new button design showing that we are somewhere near the peak of world oil production at this point in time. It wasn't too long after I saw that button that Leslie Bonnet, Cobb's fundraising chair, started the meeting by introducing David Cobb.
David Cobb begins his speech making a hand gesture that looks important.   Cobb with stats that clearly show the Green Party has grown dramatically over the past eight years.  

Cobb talked for most of an hour. He began by talking about the many ways that the status quo has conspired to keep the Green Party from doing anything, including arresting him for trying to attend Presidential Candidate Debates. His hope is that his campaign has been a spark for some conversations about the connections between the war in Iraq and the oil issue. Then he spent some time talking about how the Green Party has grown anyhow, going from ten organized States (including California), five with ballot lines (including California's), and forty elected Greens in 1996 to 44 organized States, 23 with ballot lines, and 207 elected officials. He expects us to end the year with something like 250 elected officials, including Stephanie Scaaf and a number of others running for similar offices in other places.
Cobb with a sticker that makes it clear the status quo expects to win no matter which major Party Candidate gets elected.   Close up of the sticker, so you can see the fine print says WHOEVER WINS, WE LOSE.

Cobb spent some time ranting about how the two party system has so much control over our world it's hard for the corporate outsider to make anything happen. He brandished this sticker as part of making that point.

During the Q&A Arlen gave him one of the peak oil buttons I photographed above. Cobb talked about how US oil production had peaked in 1970, and how every oil well in Texas goes through an increasing production time, followed by peak production and a declining production cycle. He explained that they stop pumping a well when the cost of energy used to get oil out exceeds the value of the oil extracted. He is sure world oil will go through a similar process. Cobb ended by pointing out that even the most optomistic predictions are that peak oil will be ten to twenty years down the road.
Stephanie speaking, with a hand gesture to her left.   Stephanie points in the way people do when ticking off points on their fingers.   Stephanie makes another point.
Stephanie just talked for a few minutes, basically saying she wanted to make Mountain View a more sustainable place for our grandchildren. She also said something nice about sharing the stage with the Green Party's Presidential Candidate.
Carol And David Cobb smile for the camera.   Cobb writes something down for a woman who is organizing the UC Hayward Campus Greens.
After the speaking was over, lots of people wanted to talk to David Cobb. I took a few pictures, but there were many more.
A lot of other greens eating at the other end of the same table.   A long table of greens eat together.  

Everyone who had the time sat down to eat together. Cobb told the story of being sucked into the Green Party by listening to Ralph Nader give his acceptance speech at the 1996 Nominating Convention, being so excited about what he heard that he joined in the "go WE go!" chants. After it was over he got on the phone to the Texas Green Party, only to find out the operator didn't have a number for such a group. He then started that Party, and it wasn't long before he was doing pro bono legal work for lots of Green Partys. From there to being our current nominee was an almost logical sequence of events that started when Nader decided he didn't want the job.