Dear Rep. Boucher,

About a month ago, I had the good fortune to sit in on a health care session at the Build a New World conference in Radford. The list of panelists included Donna Smith and Reggie Cervantes, both featured in the Michael Moore documentary Sicko, as well as other distinguished guests. At this session I first learned about HR 676, the legislation introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) that would create a national single-payer health care plan. (more…)

At the recent “Building a New World” conference held at Radford University, a presidential candidate was in the midst, yet no local media other than the New River Voice seemed to care. That seems to be part of the problem with our current political and media systems. And Jesse Johnson from West Virginia discussed those issues and others in a lengthy lunchtime interview.
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At the “Building a New World” conference held May 22-25 at Radford University, the New River Voice had the opportunity to sit down over lunch and chat with one of the Green Party’s Presidential candidates, Jesse Johnson. We’ll give you more from the interview with Johnson later this week, but first we want to take some time to introduce you to this Presidential candidate whose name is not necessarily well-known.

First, this Jesse Johnson is not the same one that was the original guitarist for The Time and who was part of Prince’s Minneapolis music scene in the 1980s. This one is 49 years old and was born in Charleston, West Virginia. He did not sing “Get to Know Ya” on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack. That was the other Jesse Johnson, although this one is an artist in his right. (more…)

With warm weather upon us, it’s good to get out of the house and get some fresh air and exercise. Around the New River Valley various public parks are available to have an afternoon outing or to simply get away from the office for lunch. From softball fields to hiking trails to a red caboose to explore, there is always something to discover at the many parks the New River Valley has to offer.

In the heart of the New River Valley lies Bisset Park. Along the New River in Radford, the park includes a driving range with putt-putt golf and shelters with grills to host picnics. Plenty of space allows for a backyard football game or just enjoying the scenery Radford has to offer. Along the river enjoy the walking trail with a bird watching overlook. (more…)

On Saturday, the third day of “Building a New World” conference, activists had a busy schedule. With various lectures happening all day it was hard to pick a topic. Some of the highlights included a panel of speakers talking about the indictment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, a session about health care, another on animal rights, and a talk about revolution.

During the discussion about the Bush-Cheney indictment, panelists started off as “normal” citizens believing everything the media and government fed to them. After doing some research on the 9-11 attacks, speakers became angry that they had been deceived by their own government and began speaking out and wanting either impeachment or indictment of the president. Panelists included David Swanson, William Woodward, Gareth Porter, Lynne Stewart, Cathy Garger, and Jesse Johnson.

Over the course of the lecture the speakers pointed out our rights to pursue  actions against the government and what the government has done to deserve such actions. One panelist discussed a book that was printed about five months before the attacks about what the government can and cannot do (Environmental Crimes in Military Action in International Criminal Court). One of the speakers believes that if Sen. Barack Obama knows about what is going on in the government right now that he should promote the fact that if elected President he will take the actions necessary to put responsible parties behind bars.

One of the day’s lectures was based on animal rights, not what you see in movies where “no animals are harmed in the making of the film,” but the killing of animals for clothing or for food. The speakers involved were Dr. Karen Davis, Melissa Karpel, and Alwyn Moss. They talked about how important it is to make small changes in our everyday lives to prevent the torture of animals. Melissa Karpel was a representative of PETA, an animal activist group. This organization puts on sometimes controversial demonstrations to illustrate what people are doing to animals and how they are tortured for our pleasure.

During the discussion, speakers pointed out facts such as animals have the same amount of feelings as we do. “We are all animals,” Davis said when discussing the burning of poultry beaks. Adding onto her statement she said, “‘Animal’ has been taken out of the picture, they are called ‘meat.’”

While listening to the speakers and hearing how passionate they are about the harsh reality that most citizens either do not know or do not want to face speakers want to promote that harsh reality of the situation and put it out there. All of the speakers were very passionate about animals and about today’s situation and want to promote the fact that this is happening and there is something we can do to fix it.

Another of the morning’s sessions was about health care in America and two of the panelists involved were included in Michael Moore’s most recent documentary Sicko. Donna Smith was the keynote speaker and the final speaker was Reggie Cervantes. In between the crowd heard from Dr. Stephen Landau, Geraldine Perry, and Eric Stoner.

One of the day’s fiery sessions was called “Revolution,” and starred Cindy Sheehan as the keynote speaker. Panelists discussed how common Americans can take back their country from the corporations and public officials who have hijacked a government for the people and by the people. Donna Smith was part of this panel as well and coined the term “Radford Revolutionaries” to refer to conference attendees who would hopefully go forward from this conference inspired with a revolutionary attitude.

The conference concluded on Sunday with a morning-long brain-storming session on how to move forward with solutions to the many issues and problems presented at the conference.

Check with the New River Voice later this week for a recap of the conference and more notes and quotes. Also, we’ll we’ll give you a glimpse of Green Party Presidential candidate Jesse Johnson, who was a conference attendee and panelist for several sessions.

Tim W. Jackson and Anna Keffer contributed to this story. 

In the first full day of the “Building a New World Conference” being held at Radford University, something occurred to me about the attendees. “These are people,” I thought, “who have chosen the path of least resistance.”

While sitting in the Thursday afternoon session of “9/11 Truth,” I glanced around to realize that the room was probably at no more than 20 percent capacity. That might be a generous estimation. Author Steve Alten commented that “the problem” was not with those of us in the room, but with all of those empty seats.” I realized then that we live in a country that doesn’t like inconvenient truths.

And this conference is apparently for people who don’t mind such truths. Many, in fact, choose making others aware of these truths their life missions.

Whether or not it’s a stick-our-heads-in-the-sand mindset or the fact that this conference was woefully underpublicized, a conference of this magnitude should have 50,000 attendees. It probably has less than 1,000. True, the conference fee is $110, and that’s a bit steep for the average working Joe in tough economic times. But for activists, dreamers, and revolutionaries, few opportunities exist for so many like minds to gather—especially in the New River Valley.

In my conversations with attendees, I spoke with folks from California and Maryland and Florida and New Hampshire. But NRV residents were few and far between. Why? As I said, the conference fee of $110 was surely prohibitive to many—and that fee did not include room or board, which are extra. And the conference received scant attention in the area’s mainstream media—or even inexplicably from Radford University itself. The Roanoke Times offered this jewel of a column, which really misses the whole point of the conference. But this point remains: A lot of locals either didn’t know the conference was going on or didn’t have an idea about what it truly was about.

But I think many of us living our comfortable American lives don’t want to attend a conference such as this because it forces us to face reality—a reality more significant than the American Idol winner, the NBA playoffs, or catching up on the latest gossip we obtain through our Facebook friends. In this reality we must look at people face-to-face and hear their stories. For instance, Kingsport, Tenn., native and current Asheville, N.C. resident Jason Hurd (pictured in the middle of photo above) of Iraq Veterans Against the War told of pressing the trigger on his weapon almost to the point of firing upon an approaching car before an Iraqi man convinced the driver to stop and out stepped an old and respected woman in the community. She was clearly just an old and probably confused woman. She certainly wasn’t a threat. And James Morriss (pictured far right in photo above) told of being ordered to shoot a boy—a young boy—who was carrying a rifle but walking away from Morriss and his fellow soldiers. Morriss refused, but a soldier nearby followed through on the order.

In a session on “Taking Back the Media,” we had to face the reality that we are force-fed what the corporate media tosses out for us, and we rarely hear such stories such as those offered by Morriss and Hurd. We also rarely hear about the mountain of evidence that suggests 9/11 was an inside job. Whether it was or it wasn’t, we should be allowed to hear the debate in our various media outlets instead of having the conference ridiculed by the likes of corporate-owned The Roanoke Times. (At least it’s owned by Landmark Communications Inc. today, which is looking to unload the Times and other holdings. Hey Rupert Murdoch, too bad you missed out on the Newsday buyout. Wanna buy a paper in Southwest Virginia instead?)

And finally, in the evening we had to face the reality of our treatment of animals in the documentary Earthlings. Whether we use animals for food or clothing, pets, entertainment, or medical research, being forced to actually see our treatment of animals was more than some could bear.

But if you want to be someone who is aware, someone who wants to see the world for what it is, the conference continues at RU through Sunday. Registration takes place at the Bonnie Hurlburt Student Center. I would encourage you to take a break from your normal reality of John Mayer dating Jennifer Aniston or maybe Grand Theft Auto IV, and look at the reality of building a new world.

Tim W. Jackson has opinions. Just ask him.