state representative brennan joins us via democracy now video stream from spartanburg, south carolina, from the district he represents. welcome to democracy now! we are going to begin with you, republican state representative doug brannon. tell us about your decision to introduce legislation to bring down that flag. >> i woke up thursday morning, last thursday morning to the news of the deaths of these nine wonderful people. i felt something had to be done in -- then. it took a few hours to figure out what, but what really prompted my desire to file the bill was when i saw the photos of the front of that automobile and the photos of the t-shirt and then later in the day, but that shooter caring -- carrying the flag. clementa pinckney deserves this. those not people deserve this. our state capital needs to be free of the flag. amy: how long have you been in office? >> five years. amy: have you ever had a desire to do this? had you ever spoken with clementa pinckney about his desire to have this removed? >> no was the the senator and i had not talked about the flag specifically. we did

>> doug brannon from spartanburg. >> spartanburg is very conservative part of this state. >> that's right. he said i'm going to sponsor a bill to take the flag down. it has to come down. we've got to move forward in this state. >> during the show we then got state representative doug brannon on the phone to tell us why he's going to sponsor that bill. >> i had a friend die wednesday night for no reason other than he was a black man. senator pinckney was an incredible human being. i don't want to talk politics, but i'm going to introduce the bill for that reason. >> and over the weekend hundreds of people marched in charleston and the state capital columbia calling for lawmakers to take down the confederate flag. a moveon petition ultimately garnered over 500,000 signatures and retreat from prominent republican helped ratchet up the pressure on his own party. to many it is a symbol of racial hatred. remove it now to honor charleston victims. but the death blow for confederate flag apologizism showing the white supremist who confessed embracing the battle flag, burning the stars and stripes

. >> rose: and they sent you down to spartanburg south carolina, or somewhere in south carolina. >> spartanburg, south carolina. it was a different world. ( laughter ) >> rose: how was it different? >> well, the draftees, of course, came from all over the country. in washington heights, there was an article in a german newspaper after the war that called washington heights the fourth reich. >> rose: the fourth reich yes. >> because there was a preponderance of german jewish immigrants, at least a very large number. and most of the people i associated with there, and then in the shaving brush factory i was in contact mostly with italian immigrants-- not jewish. there was a different group. but in the army, i met, of course, a cross-section of americans, and i finally wound up in the the 84th infantry division, which was composed of of-- most of its soldiers came from northern illinois or southern wisconsin. the vast majority of people. so that is when--. >> -- we did our training in louisiana where we got jungle training, and we were sent to the coldest winter that europe had had in quite a whil

it is a wonderful success story from spartanburg, south carolina. and they tell me, because commercial banks in the u.s. are for pitted from using foreign receivables as collateral, they have no alternative but to apply for xm bank banking to support their international sales support. can you comment on whether these happenings are being let in the wrong direction or not? mr. hochberg: companies come to us when they cannot find the financing at competitive rates they receive overseas. 90% of our customers are small businesses. a full $10 billion came directly from small businesses. sen. scott: i will ask you this question a little differently. according to sage, commercial banks in the u.s. are prohibited -- is that accurate -- from using these foreign receivables as collateral mr. hochberg:. that's correct. when we insure those ads zero through credit insurance, they will then blend 75%, 80%, 90%. so they can blend capital and get their goods overseas. sen. scott: having operations in making sales and 90 countries, not to be able to use a part of t

. >> one republican state senator lee bryce of spartanburg is completely opposed to this, calling the attempt to remove the flag "a stalinist purge." >> jon: a little bit of a hype-- removing a flag would not be stalinist purge style. stalin he would probably keep the flag but whitewash it with is its associations with slavery, and concoct something saying it represents something positive and saying the new meaning justifies not just keeping the flag around but elevating it, honoring it. fortunately americans wouldn't fall for such stalinist. ( cheers and applause ) all right. but, as of this will week, as of this week, pro-confederate flag public figures no longer seem to be in the main stream to get an actual outright defender of the flag on camera, you just have to dig deep. >> once the flag is removed it will start down the slippery slope, and then there will be the monument will be called for to be removed from state house grounds. and then the next thing will be street names, and building names, which is already begun. >> jon: yeah um let me explain to you how the slippery slope

charlie: and they said you down to spartanburg, south carolina? dr. kissinger: it was a different world. [laughter] charlie: how was it different? dr. kissinger: the draftees came from all over the country. there was an article in the gym and newspaper that called washington heights the fourth reich. there was a preponderance of german-jewish immigrants, at least a very large number. most of the people i associated with their and in the shaving brush factory, i was in contact mostly with italian immigrants not jewish. but in the army, i met a cross-section of americans and finally wound up in the 84th infantry division which was composed of -- most of its soldiers came from northern illinois or southern wisconsin. the vast majority of people. that is where we did our training, in louisiana, we got jungle training, and then we were sent to the coldest winter europe had had in quite a while. charlie: you were naturalized as an american citizen? it was a fast track. if they drafted you, they would naturalize you. dr. kissinger: you needed five years livi

in spartanburg, they really intensify. so this is at 5:00 tomorrow, speciesly 24 hours from now, and big-time storms again, d.c. towards fredericksburg, and they are not going to be as widespread, but any storm that will develop will heavy and any storm that develops would be severe. there is more shear in the atmosphere tomorrow than yesterday. 6:00, still thunderstorms in maryland and calvert and ann arundel county, and once that passes, we will still runt risk but the severe weather window is 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. tonight, clear to partly cloudy and comfortable, a fantastic night, 62 to 72. and the bulk of tomorrow will be fine. 80% of tomorrow you'll love until we get to the window. mostly sunny and pleasantly warm in the morning, 62 to 84, and then by afternoon, partly sunny and warm and isolated storms, some arrive and some severe. highs, 85 to 90. 78 in oakland, and 84 in cumberland, and mid-80s in hagerstown and martinsburg, afternoon storms, and 87 in warrenton and leesburg. 87 in gaithersburg, and 84 in annapoli

. >> this fiery crash in spartanburg, south carolina killed three people.uck and two other people collided. all lanes were closed for hours. the firefighters battled the flames, there's no word on what caused the crash. >>> hundreds of people are hurt in taiwan at a water park. a powder was thrown from the stage and it exploded. medics rushed victims from the scene, 8 people are in critical condition. police are questioning several people including the two park workers who launched the powder. meanwhile, there's a ban on the bands that cruise the colorful powder. >>> in tunisia hundreds gathered to ban terrorism. some held signs saying stop terrorism we love tunisia. authorities say a gunman pulled an assault rifle out of his beach umbrella and killed 38 people before security forces shot and killed him. witnesses say the gunman used grenades as he moved from the beach to the pool area inside a hotel. 1,000 extra police are being deployed at tourist sites and beaches in the north africa nation. >>> we're learning new grizzly details about the terror attack

actually, he is from my home county spartanburg. i am really proud he is sponsoring that bill.isten. i heard the first interview and we talk about white supremacy and dylann roof thing an anomaly. he is not an anomaly. if you write around south carolina, in some places, confederate flag on car windows flung from people's homes are as common as stop signs. and when you talk about white supremacy as a structure, you have to talk about why supremacy as a structure that permeates america, that the foundation of our politics in this country is why supremacy. why supremacy is not nearly the ku klux klan and race hate groups. why supremacy is a structure which keeps people down based on race, that keeps people in power. racism is about power. you earlier had flp official on talking about race baiting and which is just trying to flip the script, as we say it, on people that are challenging this idea of police power and the power -- the white supremacy that is involved in the police beatings and police killings that have gone on across this country. to say i'm surprised, i'm hurt becaus

>> spartanburg, south carolina, december 17, 2005, 2:00 a.m.uty keith gibbs is patrolling a quiet highway when he sees a driver in trouble. >> i met the vehicle coming towards me in the opposite lane with no headlights on. they were just creeping about five miles an hour. >> only the brake lights are lit. >> creeping with no lights are can mean many things. could mean that they're so impaired they can't operate the vehicle. i followed this car as it merged onto the highway, and it failed to follow the curve around and almost hit the guardrail. as they were making a left turn into a parking lot, i went ahead and did a traffic stop. as i approached the car and got within a few feet of it, i could smell alcohol coming from the car. hi there. >> i got no license, no i.d. >> where are you going? stay in the car for me, okay? >> oh, i'm sorry. >> i stopped you because you're driving without your lights. >> i know. i can't find the lights. >> so the driver has no license, no i.d., and no idea where the lights are. >> whose car is this? >> mine. >> my

. >> he's from spartanburg. >> that's a very conservative part of the state. >> he said i'm going to sponsor a bill to take the flag down. it has to come down. we have to move forward. >> i don't know if that's been previously -- >> no you're the first-person to know this. >> representative from spar tanburg called you and said he is going to sponsor legislation to take that flag down off the confederate memorial on state grounds. >> that's right. >> that is news. that is very big news. >> he's going to get the legislation drawn up next week. we can't prefile until december. but come january we will take that up. >> well, that is on the record now. representative rutherford it's a great pleasure to have you. >> thank you for all you do. >> it's a pretty remarkable moment today in that hearing i referenced earlier in which the judge residing over it before the profound grief shown by the families of the victims. the judge decided to take time to give a message of his own. >> we have victims, nine of them. but we also have victims on the other side. there are victims on this young man'

host: spartanburg, south carolina george, independent. welcome to the conversation.ler: good morning. i appreciate what you have done there writing the book on president george h.w. bush. that have a little personal information i wanted to mention to you. i was inspired to a certain degree by president bush and this was back in the early 1970's. i was a student here at wofford college, in spartanburg and in january came up to the united nations in early 1973 spent two weeks studying at the u.n. and then u.n. ambassador to the united nations -- excuse me -- u.s. ambassador to the united nations feels was the later president bush and we went to the american mission across the street from the u.n. and we were visiting and the door opens and in comes ambassador bush. it was a very riveting and inspiring hour or hour and a half. he tacked to us about a lot of different issues and especially i remember talking about this is when we were beginning to open relations with china and he talked quite a bit about that subject matter. i got a law degree and degree in international

i like you, from spartanburg saw the comments of forgiveness from the victims families. i must confess to you, i'm not there. i couldn't do it. i could not forgive him. i don't forgive him. i don't. i can't. i hope i live long enough to be that kind of christian. but i'm not there yet. i confess to you, i'm not. i hope one day i can forgive him. i cannot forgive him for what he has done. i cannot forgive him for what he has done to this state. i hope i live long enough to forgive him. but at the proper time, mr. president pro tem, i want you to bring this matter to a vote. the sooner, the better. don't let this thing faster. please just as soon as we can, let's have a vote on this matter and move on. everything that has been asked of me both sides of the aisle is what would clem want us to do. thank you, mr. president. >> thank you. proceed. senator from arlington. >> allow the majority leader from cherokee some comments to be placed in the journal. >> without objection. >> thank you mr. president. in that vein, senator from cherokee, the reason i ask to be heard, the ne

. >> it's a wonderful success story from spartanburg, south carolina. because commercial banks and the u.s. are prohibited from using foreign receivables as collateral for loan ss, they have no alternative but to apply for national sales support. >> i had a chance to visit sage on a recent trip to south carolina companies come to us when they can find finance inging sage is an excellent example of that. 90% of our customers are small businesses. of the exports we financed last year of 27 $1/2 billion a full 10 billion came directly from small businesses. >> i'll ask you this question directly. according to sage, commercial banks in the u.s. are prohibit ed from using these foreign receivables as collateral? >> that's correct. commercial banks will not value upon -- they valuated at zero, when we ensure those receivables through credit insurance. they will lend 75 80, 90% against the receivables, creating a real base so the banks can get the working capital, hire people, get the raw materials and ship the goods overseas. >> for a business having operatio