Martha Burk says she won't protest at Augusta National this year

AP via Canada.com ^ | 02/28/2004

[GeneD]

CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) - Martha Burk regrets that she did not allow herself to get arrested by picketing outside the gates of Augusta National last year, but said Saturday there is no point returning to protest the club's all-male membership in April.

"Our plans are basically pretty set - we're not going to do it," said Burk, head of the National Council of Women's Organziations. "There's no point repeating last year if we're going to be stuck in a hole." Burk had threatened a demonstration on Saturday of the 2003 Masters, but a local ordinance denied her access to the intersection of Washington Road and Magnolia Lane, the private tree-lined drive where players, club members and officials enter the golf club.

Instead, she was forced to protest about a half-mile down the road in a grassy lot, and it turned into a circus with more media than protesters.

"As anyone can attest, it didn't have quite the same impact it would have had if she was right there in front of the entry gates," Tiger Woods said in a recent interview.

Burk said getting led away in handcuffs might have made a difference.

"If I have any regrets about the situation down there - other than what they did to us, which was outrageous - is that I did not let them arrest me," Burk said. "At the time, I was making the distinction between discrimination and the First Amendment."

To have been arrested "could have gotten the story back on the purpose."

Augusta National has never had a female among its 300 members since it opened in 1933.

Burk's appeal of the ordinance is still before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th circuit in Atlanta.

"We don't have a ruling from the court, and even if we got one, there's not time to get anything together," Burk said from her home in Washington. "But I'd love to see a few citizens around the gate to make the point that the club cannot abuse people's rights to free speech."

It became an incendiary issue last year when club chairman Hootie Johnson issued a scathing statement to the media that Augusta National would not be forced to take a female member "at the point of a bayonet."

Johnson affirmed his position at last year's Masters.

"If I die right now, our position will not change on the issue," he said. "I promise you what I'm saying is if I drop dead this second, our position will not change."

Burk said she is resigned to the fact nothing will change until Johnson is no longer chairman.

In the meantime, she said the NCWO is still working actively, even though they are not in the news.

"The view one year later is not that we failed, but that we did something important in the big picture," she said. "The protest was a one-day story, but it was one episode in a much longer movie. I'm quite happy with the progress we've made."

[squarebarb]

How can some nobody like this command national attention?

Never mind, I know. It's just such a crock.

[gr8eman]

Where's the WHACKO Alert

[talleyman]

"There's no point repeating last year if we're going to be stuck in a hole."

In other words, Masters 1, Nags zero. He-he-he...

[eddie willers]

"But I'd love to see a few citizens around the gate to make the point that the club cannot abuse people's rights to free speech."

Which is all you got last year even when you had the New York Times, ABCNBCBS and Jesse Jackson et. al. trumpeting your cause.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Wow.....someone realizes she got her fat *** kicked by logic.

[Mr. Mojo]

"The view one year later is not that we failed, but that we did something important in the big picture," she said.

Actually, the view one year later is .......Martha who?

[speedy]

The New York Times probably won't bother to cover The Masters this year. They invented the Martha Burk story, and without her, it simply reverts to being one of America's great sporting events and therefore of little interest to the Times. Bobby Jones bump.

[priviteer]

Another thing that makes me ill about about Martha Burk and her silly organization, is that the press totally goes along with her phoney membership figures. She claims that she has millions upon millions of members and the press just states this as fact. The Augusta paper did a little research and found she didn't even have but a few thousand paying members. Her group just "claims" to represent ALL the womens groups. That's like me just saying " My association represents all the gun owner groups" and the press goes along and says my group has ten million memebrs EVEN THOUGH NOBODY actually applied and paid for my membership! What a freaking joke.

[flixxx]

Gee...I guess I only want to protest if it is EASY, WELL PUBLICIZED, and not too early in the morning...Glad she is gone, but it goes to show that many protesters are only interested in the publicity.

[The Good Doctor]

"The view one year later is not that we failed, but that we did something important in the big picture,"

No, you failed.

[N. Theknow]

In the meantime, she said the NCWO is still working actively, even though they are not in the news.

In the meantime, she said the NCWO is still working actively, even though none of their imaginary number they are in the news.

[speedy]

If her group had so many members, more of them would have shown up in Augusta last year. This whole saga is a work of fiction. Thankfully, it appears to be over.

[Always Right]

I am planning a huge protest at Augusta this year! I am sick and tired of gigolos like John Kerry not being allowed to golf there. Just because the man is a kept woman, they should not be able to discriminate.

[N. Theknow]

Meanwhile Martha is devoting her time to more important endeavors such as trying to figure out why it is that sitting in a chair she can't raise her right foot off the floor and keep it moving around clockwise, while drawing the figure "6" in the air with her right hand.

[N. Theknow]

That will keep her busy for the rest of this millenium.

[judgeandjury]

Burk said. "At the time, I was making the distinction between discrimination and the First Amendment."

Actually, Burk left a very important word out of her statement. It should read:

"At the time, I was making the distinction between legal discrimination and the First Amendment."

[RJL]

More wackiness from Ms. Burke.

Here she merely wants the government to control every man’s fertility.


"Sperm Stops Here!" by Martha Burke
Ms. Magazine Nov/Dec 1997 issue

Let’s stop the abortion debate right now. Both sides can agree that eliminating the need for abortion would solve the problem. If all babies were planned, wanted and could be cared for, women wouldn’t seek abortions. A modest proposal: control men’s fertility.

The facts of men’s fertility are that men can cause hundreds (even thousands in the case of certain athletes who shall remain nameless) more unwanted pregnancies than can women. In the most extreme case, consider a woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth every year of her fertile life.

It is theoretically possible for her to have 35 children in her lifetime. In the same period, if a man had unprotected sexual intercourse once a week he could theoretically father 1,820 children. Add his increased years of fertility, and his potential for physical domination over women, and we can readily see that the problem of unwanted pregnancy is largely one of uncontrolled sperm.

So how do we control men’s fertility? Mandatory contraception beginning at puberty, with the rule relaxed only for procreation under the right circumstances (he can afford it and has a willing partner) and for the right reasons (determined by a panel of experts, and with the permission of his designated female partner). This could be easily accomplished with a masculine version of the contraceptive implants some judges are now trying to force on some women by court order.

Controlling men’s fertility would not be a hard restriction to enforce. The fertility authorities could use a combination of punishments for men who failed to get the implants and for doctors who removed them without proper authorization. The men could be required to adopt one orphan per infraction and rear her or him until adulthood. The doctors, could lose their licenses or, in extreme cases, go to prison.

The current welfare law allows states to eliminate support for many women with children and deny additional assistance to single mothers who have more than one child while on welfare. Why not punish men caught fathering more than one child with a mother who’s already on welfare?

With DNA fingerprinting, the method could be foolproof, especially if doctors reported any man who refused the implants or sought medical attention after unsuccessfully attempting to remove them himself. Understand, men’s right to control their own bodies and life choices would not be infringed. Men could continue to have sexual intercourse and to father children. They would merely be required to accept a few minuscule and ever-so-reasonable restrictions.

[Lizavetta]

Hey Martha, tell us about the LPGA bylaws that state that the competitors must be born female.

Not only are you discriminating against men, but you're also discriminating against the transgendered, ya bigot!

[NYCVirago]

Martha Burk is about as successful as the "Move On" activists -- lots of fawning press, but no actual victories.