Monthly Archives: January 2008

Fighting for free speech – again

Posted on by

Bursey Continues Fight in Free Speech Appeal
Document Reveals Disturbing Strategy By White House Advance Team

BY DANIEL TERRILL
Free Times

Local political activist and organizer Brett Bursey is persevering in his struggle to win a free speech case that has received national attention.

On Dec. 28, Bursey’s attorneys filed a motion in federal court in Columbia arguing that the U.S. government withheld evidence of White House involvement in suppressing protesters at presidential rallies.

Bursey’s attorneys recently obtained the Presidential Advance Manual, which contains detailed instructions on handling protestors and other disruptions during presidential events.

Bursey, director of the South Carolina Progressive Network, contends that the White House has been using the Secret Service to protect the president politically. “It’s really chilling,” he says. “It’s very bad news for the Bill of Rights, free speech and democracy.”

Continue reading →

US torture and interrogation policy

Posted on by

Former military leaders speak out

The public is invited to panel discussion moderated by Dean Charles Bierbauer at the Lumpkin Auditorium (8th fl. USC Business Admin. Bldg), College St., today beginning at 3pm.

Participants: 

Vice Admiral Lee Gunn, USN (Ret.) Vice Admiral Gunn served as the Inspector General of the Department of the Navy and commanded the USS Barbey and the Destroyer Squadron “Thirty-one,” a component of the Navy’s Anti-Submarine Warfare Destroyer Squadrons.

Vice Admiral Albert H. Konetzni, Jr. USN (Ret).  Vice Admiral Konetzni served as the Deputy and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command. He has received two Distinguished Service Medals, six awards of the Legion of Merit, and three Meritorious Service Medals.

Major General Fred E. Haynes, USMC (Ret.).  General Haynes is a combat veteran of WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He was a captain in the regiment that raised the American flag at Iwo Jima in 1945. During the Kennedy and Johnson administrations he served as Pentagon Director for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. He commanded the Second and Third Marine Divisions, served as the Senior Member of the United National Limitary Armistice Commission in Korea, and was Deputy Chief of Staff for Marine Corps Research and Development. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Brigadier General David R. Irvine, USA (Ret.)  Brigadier General Irvine was on the faculty of the Sixth U.S. army Intelligence School where he taught prisoner of war interrogation and military law for several hundred military personnel. General Irvine is an attorney and practices law in Salt Lake City and has served four terms as a Republican legislator in the Utah House of Representatives.

Brigadier General Stephen N. Zenakis, USA (Ret).  Dr. Zenakis served 28 years in the United States Army as a medical corps officer with a specialization in clinical psychiatry. He has written widely on medical ethics, military medicine and the treatment of detainees.

This event is free and open to the public. It is co-sponsored by The Walker Institute of International and Area Studies and the non-partisan human rights organization, Human Rights First.

Yellow Rose bus goes up in flames

Posted on by

Columbia MFSO activist Wade Fulmer forwarded this news about Jim Goodenow’s “Yellow Rose” bus. Jim was on his way to South Carolina.

*******

Many of you may remember Jim Goodenow and his bus, the Yellow Rose, who was here in Oklahoma last year as part of his one man impeachment tour. In recent months, Jim has been providing transportation to Iraq Veterans Against the War for their various tours and other activities. Last night, Jim escaped a fire of suspicious origins that destroyed the bus. Luckily Jim is all right, this message was passed on by Bill Perry, a vet and anti war activist. I will pass on any further news of this incident.

Jeri

bus1.jpg

The bus was destroyed by fire around 9:30 pm, Friday night, 1/11/08

This bus, often mired in controversy since the IVAW “Dirty South” tour that left Philly in June, and had Active Duty BBQ’s at Ft Meade, Ft Jackson, Camp Lejeune, Ft Benning, and other Southern Military Posts (including an IVAW benefit by Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, and AudioSlave, in Virginia) as well as backdrop for many a Demonstration, and Ft Drum, NY, organizing parties, has finally died.

bus2.jpg

Jim Goodnow pulled into a South Jersey Truck Stop, to catch a 3 or 4 hour nap. Jim saw, in retrospect, some suspicious activity outside the bus, and about 20 minutes later, the entire engine compartment, and back of the bus was engulfed in flames.
   
Stay tuned…

Be Well, RAISE HELL !
Bill Perry
Delaware Valley Veterans For America
Disabled American Veteran, VVAW, VFP, VFW, VVA

Gloria Steinem comes to Hillary Clinton’s defense

Posted on by

[This article] is a day old and Hillary’s victory is the new, lead story.   I think Steinem’s editorial contributed to Hillary’s win, but won’t tell the pundits, the pollsters, or Fox News. Whether you support Hillary or not, she has been ripped apart in the news media in the last few weeks for being a strong, intelligent, accomplished woman and then ripped apart again for “breaking down.” Did any of these commentators watch the video?

This has certainly heated up the steam in my kettle. 

Beth Crawford, Columbia

Closing the gender gap in SC politics

Posted on by

A press conference was held yesterday at the State House in Columbia to announce the formation of the Southeastern Institute for Women in Politics, which aims to identify, recruit and support female candidates for political office in South Carolina.

The Palmetto State ranks 50th in the percentage of women office holders, with only nine percent serving in the State House, Senate or statewide office. Only two women serve in the State Senate.

The Institute will hold its first day-long workshop on Feb. 8. Keynote speaker will be Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, whose impressive political career demonstrates the impact women in power can have on health care, education and other issues critical to women and families.

The Institute proposes to change the gender imbalance in South Carolina politics by:

* Identifying women already elected or appointed to local government councils, committees, and task forces, and women members of PTOs and other leadership organizations;

* Recruiting women from private sector professions such as law, real estate, and education who have potential for serving as public officials;

* Building a grassroots network of these politically-viable women, including conferences, a web site, issue resources, and training in advocacy, fund-raising and campaigning skills; and

* Researching, district by district, demographic, attitudinal, partisan and other political factors that affect election outcomes.

For details, call 803-206-0901 or e-mail wil@campaignsystems.com.

Read more in today’s The State.

Is incrementalism the way to universal health care?

Posted on by

by Mark Dunlea
CommonDreams

Governor Spitzer and state lawmakers seek an evidence-based plan that will bring comprehensive health care to all of the people of New York State, a result that almost everyone would like to see.

Unfortunately, the Spitzer administration, along with many health care reformers, continually assert, without providing any evidence, that the best way to universal health care is a series of incremental steps that build upon existing programs to bring targeted populations of the uninsured into the “health care” system.

Incrementalists argue that the public opinion polls showing overwhelming public support – not just for a comprehensive government universal health care financing system but also for radical reform – are misleading. They contend that if one digs deeper, one finds that those with health insurance (“those who actually vote”) would rather keep the shrinking (and often already inadequate) coverage they have than see the entire system changed. They murmur that it is not “politically feasible” for our leaders to stand up to the power of the private health insurance industry and big pharma. They redefine the public’s desire for choice in doctors to hospitals to instead be choice among which insurance company to contract with. They confuse access to comprehensive health care with expanding health insurance.

Continue reading →

Candidates urged to reject voting machines

Posted on by

South Carolina’s system causes particular concern

A group of state-based civic organizations has urged presidential candidates to call for paper ballots in all 2008 primary elections.

In a letter sent to the major Democratic and Republican candidates last week, the groups Georgians for Verified Voting, Iowans for Voting Integrity, the North Carolina Coalition for Verified Voting, and the South Carolina Progressive Network offered evidence of the unreliability of paperless electronic voting systems, and expressed special concern about the paperless machines to be used statewide in South Carolina’s presidential primaries on Jan. 19 and Jan. 26.

“Many of the world’s best computer scientists have concluded that paperless e-voting systems are vulnerable to error and fraud,” said Brett Bursey, director of the South Carolina Progressive Network. Last year, a task force that included Howard Schmidt, former chief security officer of Microsoft, called strongly for voter-verified paper records of each vote cast. 

Continue reading →

Network merger

Posted on by

Network Director Brett Bursey married Network Communications Director Becci Robbins on New Year’s Eve at their home in Lexington. The two exchanged vows surrounded by family and friends; Rev. Joe Neal (who served as Network Co-chair for many years) presided.

i-do.jpg

Refusing to address teen births

Posted on by

By Bonnie K. Adams

The State’s Dec. 27 editorial about the nation’s rising teen birth rate expressed appropriate concern about taxpayers’ funds being used to put abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in our schools, stating “we need some assurance that specific programs do work before we keep spending tax money on them.” Indeed.

The editorial also bemoaned that rational conversations about sex education are nearly impossible because the debate about how to address teenage pregnancies is so ideologically charged. While true, it is an oversimplification to suggest that this issue is only about philosophical differences: The sex education debate in the United States is at least as much about the protection of large pots of money benefiting abstinence-only-until-marriage entrepreneurs as it is about genuine philosophical differences.

According to a recent study by USC’s Center for Health Policy and Research, births to young mothers 10-19 cost South Carolina’s taxpayers $156 million annually. When our state budget forecast is dismal, when our schools are hurting and when DHEC needs more funding for family planning clinical services rather than less, $156 million is enough to merit some public attention. Yet, since the Beasley administration, the General Assembly has continued to earmark taxpayer funds for its favorite abstinence-only-until-marriage program providers every year.

Continue reading →