1/16/2006 - In a speech in Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C., Al Gore delivered a stemwinder of a speech on the dangers the nation faces from the Bush Administration. It's a shame he didn't have the fervor back in 2000. Read the speech.
12/21/2005 --Joshua Frank and Merlin Chowkwanyun point out some facts that many of us don't wish to hear: our civil liberties have been under assault far longer than George W. Bush has been president. The major legislative milestones in the decline of freedom have been supported by Democrats as well as Republicans. Clinton signed into law the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, for instance, which severely limited the ability of prisoners condemned to death to appeal their convictions and sentences. As this publication has pointed out, many of the Democrats now in Congress voted for those measures then. What have they got to offer different from the Republicans? Read the article.
6/3/2005 -- In 1963, historian Howard Zinn was fired from Spelman College, where he was chair of the History Department, because of his civil rights activities. This year, he was invited back to give the commencement address. Here is the text of that speech, given on May 15, 2005.
11/3/2001
On her way from Bangor, Maine to Chicago, Nancy Oden, Green Party USA elected Coordinator, was stopped Thursday from boarding American Airlines Flight 4643 by National Guardsmen on the grounds that she did not "cooperate" with the search of her carry-on baggage. We spoke to her this afternoon at her home in Maine, where she remains, unable to book a flight to Chicago. continued...
8/24/2000
Logically, it doesn't seem possible for great character and big bureaucracy to be linked. This writer found the exception and it's closer than Jacksonians might realize. Read the article by Carmelita Allen.
2/28/2000
According to the Associated Press, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, a physician practicing in Cuba, was sentenced Friday to three years of imprisonment by a three-man Cuban court for hanging three Cuban flags upside down at his home protesting Cuban government policies. Readers of the Jackson Progressive will recall an exchange of letters last spring between the editor and U. S. Representative Ronnie Shows regarding the latter's support of a consitutional amendment to outlaw the desecration of the American Flag.Perhaps Shows admires Fidel Castro and wants to emulate his legally-enforced brand of patriotism. If that is his intention, a flag amendment outlawing desecration of the American flag is certainly a step in the right direction.
12/20/99
Everybody admits that the current policy on homosexuals is a failure. The problem is, nobody in power is willing to admit the truth: discrimination against homexuals in the military is an invitation to blackmail and espionage. Read the article.
On June 24, the House of Representatives passed by a vote of 305-124 a constitutional amendment to ban the desecration of the American Flag. To see the names of the courageous representatives from the State of Mississippi who voted against this outrageous attempt to destroy the First Amendment click here. To see the actual vote tally of the House with our representatives's names highlighted in red, click here.To see an 11-year old letter by the editor to Sonny Montgomery which is remarkably pertinent, click here.7/12/99
Your editor emailed a copy of the foregoing letter to U. S. Representative Ronnie Shows. Here is his response and a further response from the editor.