An Informative Thursday

Thursday's meeting definitely came as a surprise to me. I was almost running late, as I hurried into the old cafe and took my seat. The meeting soon started, and to my surprise I found we had a guest. His name was Ryan Cooper and is the Florence organizer for BarackObama. Before I continue further, I will state that the FMU GSA does not endorse any presidential candidate, we have an open forum for anyone wishing to come speak with the GSA.
After Ryan made his introductions everyone at the meeting had a chance to ask him about Senator Obama, and his stance on things. I took notes, and this is what we learned:

• · On Education- Senator Obama wants to focus on early education, that way children have the skills necessary to learn, before they start Kindergarten. The Senator also said that teachers needed more compensation for the great work that they do. It is also necessary, in Mr. Obama's mind to have sufficient funding for Bills when they are passed, and to put more money into recruiting teachers.
  

• · On the War-Obama has always been major candidate to oppose the war. But it still took place, so Barack has proposed a staged withdrawal (little by little) of troops and believes it is important to have a deadline for setting a sense of urgency. He wants the Iraq leaders know that America won’t be there forever.

• · On Poverty Issues- Obama has fought on behalf of the struggling population since before he became a US citizen. He has worked in the community especially in low income area; and he has created after school programs for children,etc. Mr. Obama believes in tax relief to low income people and says that larger companies (IE. Walmart) should offer health care to employees. Barack also wants to remove the cap from higher income people, so they contribute more money.

• · On Health Care- Mr. Obama believes in universal health care; and with universal health care he thinks that people will have to make less doctor trips and can, overall, be healthier.
  There are 5 things that Barack Obama wants: The federal government to take tabs for the most expensive procedures and operations; taking a preventive approach (regular trips) to the doctor (will will reduce the amount of 'emergencies; requiring hospital to document better along with moving from the expensive paper driven system (better with technology like computers); and taking power away from insurance and drug companies. To clarify, he doesn’t want to take up all their 'seats', he just wants to make room for more of them. And hopes to make generic drugs along with cheaper drugs from Canada more accessible.

• · Equality- Barack is for strong civil unions. He believes that every person should have the same rights as a married couple, legally. He believes it should be up to each denomination of the church to decide on "gay marriage," but will push for having civil unions.

• · Fuel- The senator wants more prevalent E85 stations, and is also looking more into ‘corn’ for fuel. He also wants to invest in better research, bring back the smart scientists that have gone elsewhere.

• · Steam Cell- Barack Obama believes in stem cell research, and wants to provide funding for it, along with (again) bringing back the scientists that have gone elsewhere.

• · Social Security- The question is, should we tax the wealthy past $97,000? First off, Barack doesn’t want to privatize social security and he believes that the cap should be removed.
  

• · Foreign Policy- Mr. Obama believes in capability of the leaders in east to fight off Al Queda in Pakistan and elsewhere. He thinks we should employ diplomacy (talking) before even considering war. And since the speaker we had included this in this section, I will too. Barack Obama also supports unions.

• If anyone wishes to learn more about Barack Obama or wants to help in his campaign you can call 843-601-6087. Ryan Cooper was the speaker who came to us, you'll probably want to ask for him. You can also visit their office at 466 West Cheves.
  

Now, the business at hand. A couple more announcements were made at the meeting.

• On October 25th a representative for Hillary Clinton will come to speak to the GSA. If you want to be more informed, you are welcome to attend.

• Very soon, we will have a "mock" showing, or debate, or whatever you want to call it, where we can all get together and talk about the '08 Presidential Candidates.

• · Bill Oberst did a small presentation on Biology on Sexual Orientation last year, will have him again on Feb 7^th. (www.billoberst.com)

In regards to National Coming Out Day:

• We were approved for the space by FH/CEMC near the fountains. We will have two tents, two tables, chairs, trashcans and pegboards.
• It is reserved for 10am until 3pm. You are encouraged to volunteer.
• Based on your class schedules, we will soon make up a ‘schedule’ for when people can be there to help.
  
• The theme will be: “Come out as an ally for people rights…” A lot of people are coming out as allies for equality, you can too...and so on.
• As a note, Jeff Brown of Warehouse 250 will be loaning us the magical grill there.
• Remember, Thursday October 11th is the day!

And that's all I've got for you right now. Meetings are Thursdays at 6pm at the old UC Cafe. You really should come to the meetings, they're exciting.

Also, Thanks to all you came out for PRIDE, we had a blast. If you missed it, you missed out!