[GPSCC-chat] Cminutes for CGPSCC Meeting 6-26-14

[Spencer Graves]

*** Please reply to all with any additions, corrections, ... .


On 6/25/2014 2:54 PM, perrysandy at aol.com wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> This looks like a short meeting. Please send any additions or changes.
> Sandy
> **
> *GPSCC PROPOSED AGENDA 6-26-14*
> **
> 7:00 PM Thursday June 26 at San Jose Peace & Justice Center, 48 S. 
> Seventh St., San Jose CA 95112
> 7:00  Speaker: none scheduled.
> 7:30 Meeting begins. Introductions, announcements, changes or 
> additions to
>          agenda, hat passing.
>
>
> 7:45 Identify Facilitator:  Warner


> , Note Taker:  Spencer


> , Vibes Watcher: Drew


> , Time Keeper:  Caroline


> , Agenda Preparer for July. Meeting:


Warner
>
>
> 7:55  Report on Single Payer Health Care work


       Sandy:  two trends:


       1.  try to get a bill.


       2.  initiative on the ballot


       Two state-wide networks, which need to patch up their differences 
if they want to be effective.  California Nurses' Association needs to 
be figure out how to work with others and vice versa.


       No major events as far as is known now.

> 8:10Report on Climate Change work.


       Caroline:  2 climate change meetings this week.  They are trying 
to get more groups in 350 Silicon Valley.  One is Vietnamese and 
Filipinos.  De Anza Filipino students have organized events around this.


        There will be a Climate Train to New York Sept. 15-18 (must sign 
up by July 11) to support a march Sept. 20-21.


       Global Climate Convergence Sept. 19-21 in NYC.


       A group has organized a presentation and is looking for venues.
> 8:25  Report on De Anza work


       There is now a DeAnza Green Party with student officers. They've 
made their own banner.


       Cheri Honkala came in 2012.  Laura Wells and Luis Rodriguez came 
this spring.  Club advisors:  Cynthia Kaufman(sp) organizes the 
Institute of Community and Civic Engagement at DeAnza.


       Drew would like to see more student empowerment, e.g., a 
representative on the Board of Trustees.


       A bank "Higher One" is pushed by DeAnza for the students. 
Approved by the Board of Trustees over the objections of a student 
representative on the Board.  Try to organize a drive to expose the 
questionable marketing practices of Higher One.


       Problems with sexual predators / rape on campus.


       Working with other groups such as "Inclusability" (disability 
rights) plus minority groups.
> 8:35  Request for a letter in support of Green Party Rev. Edward 
> Pinkney (see story
> below) (Sandy)


       Sandy got info on this from "Voice of Detroit" (available on the 
web).


       Warner would prefer that we just affirm the proposal and give 
Sandy the authority to create a final version without the need for 
approval by the County Council.  We have consensus on the proposal as 
revised.

>
> 8:45Report back from the State Plenary if anyone has any information.


       No one here went to Santa Barbara.


       Andrea talked with Sanda on the GPCA Media committee (email): 
Mike is putting together information.  He's no longer on the Media / PR 
committee.  "Mike is going to write a report."


* Discussion about the status and future of email list and web site (15 
minutes, max)


       Are local web page and email list have had operational problems 
from its connection with the statewide Green Party.  This was a system 
created a decade ago by Cameron among others.


       Do we want to close down our email lists and web site and create 
something new?  Warner spoke about this with Cameron roughly a month 
ago.  riseup.net tries to minimize the intrusions of the surveillance 
state.  We should have a list for the County Council to record their 
deliberation.


        There are two separate GPSCC web sites.  They should be merged.


       Let's continue this discussion on the email list, and we will 
keep this on the agenda for next month's meeting.


* Who will get the current list from the Registrar of Voters (10 minutes)


       Spencer will contact Jim Doyle to find out the rules and then try 
to get a free update of the list of registered voters.  Sometime now and 
the end of August.


       We will have this on the agenda as a regular item at least until 
we get an updated list.


* Strategy, e.g., How to revive this group (Drew, 15 minutes)


       Drew is concerned that our monthly meetings are boring. He likes 
the Move to Amend group with their committee submeetings then coming 
together are reporting to the group as a whole.


       Caroline:  We used to do things, organize events.  "Food for 
Thought" = pot luck with one or more speakers.  Movie nights.


       Sandy and Drew has organized 2 or 3 events each month.


       Andrea:  We need to fix the email list and web page.


       Sandy will make a list of what we've done recently.


       Warner can draft a short envisioning exercise for next month's 
meeting.


* Cosmos watching at Caroline's (date yet open)





* Treasurer's report:  balance $1,158.29 as of earlier this week.


> 8:55Adjourn
>
>
> *Facing Twenty-Five Years in Prison for Circulating a Petition*
> Green Party member and 2008 Congressional candidate Rev. Edward 
> Pinkney of Benton Harbor, Michigan is once again battling political 
> persecution. On July 21, he will stand trial for circulating recall 
> petitions against Benton Harbor's pro-corporate Mayor James Hightower. 
> The state is charging him with five felony counts and threatening him 
> with up to twenty-five years in prison.
> Benton Harbor has 70% unemployment and 90% of its people living below 
> the poverty line, and is also home to one of the richest companies in 
> the world, the $19 billion Whirlpool Corporation.
> Rev. Pinkney has led residents in a relentless battle against racism 
> in the criminal justice system, for jobs, for education, for a better 
> life, and against the state-appointed "Emergency Financial Manager" 
> (EFM) that took over Benton Harbor in 2011. EFMs are a threat to 
> democracy everywhere, as proven when an EFM declared the bankruptcy of 
> Detroit in 2013. A federal judge subsequently ruled that its workers 
> had no right to keep their pensions despite explicit protection in the 
> Michigan State Constitution, a decision that impacts the fate of 
> workers as far away as California.
> The specific charges against Rev. Pinkney in the recall of Mayor 
> Hightower are that he altered some of the dates on the petitions. 
> However, the evidence against him introduced at his preliminary 
> hearing was flimsy and contradictory, as pointed out in a June 3 
> article in /Voice of Detroit/:
> ·Another Benton Harbor resident turned in the recall petitions on 
> January 8, not Rev. Pinkney.
> ·Rev. Pinkney was formally charged and a warrant issued for his arrest 
> on that same day, January 8, but the petitions were not turned over to 
> the Michigan State Police Forensics Lab for examination until February 26.
> ·In March, Berrien County Sheriff Deputies conducted a massive 
> campaign to interrogate and intimidate petition signers throughout 
> Benton Harbor.
> ·Sgt. James Goff, who examined the petitions, is not a certified 
> Forensics Document Examiner.
> ·Sgt. Goff testified that, "I can't say who altered them or when."
> ·No original petitions were admitted into evidence, only copies, and 
> the Berrien County Sheriff's Department, Elections Commission, and 
> Michigan State Police disagree on where the originals are located.
> ·Three witnesses who had circulated petitions testified that they saw 
> petition signers themselves change the dates on their signatures due 
> to errors, and one circulator testified that she changed a date she 
> herself entered due to an error.
> ·County Sheriff Sgt. David Zizkovsky stated that he himself asked the 
> Forensics Lab to change five dates on the petitions.
> ·There was no confession, no certified handwriting expert testimony, 
> no eye witnesses, no evidence that Rev. Pinkney had exclusive access 
> to the petitions, and lots of evidence that lots of other people had 
> access to them.
> The charges against Rev. Pinkney are an attack on our right to 
> petition for redress of grievances and our right to take political 
> action independently of the corporate agenda and the two-party system. 
> The fight to defend Rev. Pinkney is the fight for democracy and for 
> the future of America.
> Publicize this case. Write letters of support for Rev. Pinkney to 
> BANCO (Black Autonomous Network of Community Organizations) at 
> banco9342 at sbcglobal.net <mailto:banco9342 at sbcglobal.net>Donations for 
> legal defense may be sent to BANCO, 1940 Union Street, Benton Harbor, 
> MI 49022.
>
>
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-- 
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Technology Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567
web:www.structuremonitoring.com

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