Opting for 'Opt-In'
By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor, AlterNet
Posted on May 16, 2005, Printed on May 16, 2005
http://www.alternet.org/story/22006

Some school districts are challenging the federal
recruitment guidelines for No Child Left Behind's
military recruitment provision, facing withdrawal
of funding over privacy infringement.

In the heart of California's traditionally
anti-war Bay Area, a stubborn resistance is
growing to access to high school students
by military recruiters.

The rebellion comes at a time when the U.S.
military is simultaneously under pressure
to lift sagging enlistment numbers while
coming under increasing criticism over its
recruitment tactics. U.S. Army officials recently
announced a one-day moratorium on
recruitment, scheduled for May 20, in order
to give recruiters a chance to "focus on
how they can do a very tough mission without
violating good order and discipline."

But federal officials are warning that any
open defiance by school districts to the
military recruitment guidelines contained
within the 2001 federal No Child Left
Behind Act will carry severe consequences:
the complete loss of federal education
funds.

In Alameda County, across the bay from
San Francisco, school district officials are
braving those consequences by promoting
what at first seems like an obscure policy
for military access to student records -- "opt-in."

Section 9528 of No Child Left Behind provides
that "a secondary school student or the
parent of the student may request that
the student's name, address, and telephone
listing ... not be released [to military recruiters]
without prior written parental consent
... ."

When the Santa Cruz City High School District
-- some 50 miles south of San
Francisco -- was considering how to
interpret that clause two years ago, staff
attorney Ann Brick of the American Civil
Liberties Union of Northern California wrote
to the school board urging them to adopt the
"opt-in" policy that "requires a parent's
affirmative consent before such information
is released to the military. ... The
assumption that parents do not object
to the release of this information simply
because they have not expressed their
wishes is very problematic. ... "

According to Dr. Robert Cervantes, the
curriculum leadership manager in the
California Department of Education,
whose duties also include military liaison, the
Santa Cruz City School District and 23
other California districts--including San
Francisco Unified--adopted the "opt-in"
policy around 2003.

"Both the Department of Defense and
the U.S. Department of Education have
categorically deemed 'opt-in' to be
inconsistent with NCLB," Cervantes said. "I've seen
the federal government send down
a lot of policies in my years working in state
agencies, but I've talked with them, and
this is the one that they've really dug their
heels into. They're serious about this one.
There is no ambiguity. Santa Cruz came
close to losing their federal funding over this.
And it's not partial funding. It's all
federal funding. A couple of state legislators
had to intervene to get them to change
their policy and comply."

That was a part of a U.S. Department of Education
crackdown on "opt-in" in the
summer of 2003, in which letters were
sent to state superintendents of education
around the country notifying them that
"opt-in" was illegal.

While the state education departments
in neither Washington or Oregon have an
official policy on the "opt-in/opt-out"
military recruitment information issue,
spokespersons in both departments said
that districts in their states were complying
with the U.S. Education Department's
"opt-out" interpretation.

Meanwhile, California's Cervantes said
that the 23 other rebelling California school
districts have followed suit with Santa
Cruz, changing their policy to releasing student
information to military recruiters unless
the parents or students choose to "opt-out."

But Berkeley did not change.

Since a 2003 policy on military information
policy was passed by the school board in
Berkeley, parents of Berkeley High School
students are provided with a form in the
Student/Parent Handbook asking the
parents to check a box and sign their names
stating: "Please DO release my student's
name, and address, and/or telephone
number." The form goes on to inform
parents that if they "do not check a box and
sign above, [the high school] will NOT
release your child's information to military
recruiters."

"Because we expected the numbers of
'opt-in' students to be so low in Berkeley, this
is partly a measure to minimize paperwork,"
Berkeley Unified School District public
information officer Mark Coplan said --
with a slight smile. "We knew there would be
far more forms to be filled out and handled
by the district if we had asked parents to
opt out." He added that he thought Berkeley's
system was "a better use of time for the
military recruiters themselves. It means
they don't have to waste their time with
students who don't want to be contacted."

Julia Harumi Mass, who has since taken
over some of Brick's staff attorney duties at
the ACLUNC, said in a recent telephone
interview that while her organization doesn't
"recommend to districts to risk federal
funding, I think NCLB allows 'opt-in' on its
face, if that's what districts want to do.
And as a matter of principle, we believe that
the issue of privacy is so important that
the assumption should be don't release the
information unless the parents or students
say to do it."

The results on the amount of student
information available to military recruiters is
not insubstantial. Under Berkeley's "opt-in"
policy, only 27 parents out of
approximately 1,800 students chose
to have their children's information released to
the military. Forty miles south of Berkeley,
under Fremont Unified School District's
"opt-out" policy, 730 of 4,320 junior and
senior students in five high schools chose
to have their information withheld. That
meant that under Fremont's "opt-out"
military recruiters were given information
on 83 percent of the students, while under
Berkeley's "opt-in" they only got 1.5
percent. Other systems around the country
report similar results. In the Portland
(Oregon) Public Schools, which also has its own
anti-war tradition, military recruiters
had access to 76 percent of the district's 6,200
high school students last year under
"opt-out." Even accounting for Berkeley's
legendary social activism, those
differences are clearly significant.

So far, Berkeley has not suffered any
federal consequences from its NCLB
interpretation.

And it may soon have company.

Last month, the governing board of the
Alameda County Board of Education passed a
resolution urging the 18 school districts
under its jurisdiction to adopt the "opt-in"
policy. "Students, parents and legal guardians
should be informed that if a notice is
not provided [by the student, parent, or
legal guardian authorizing disclosure], the
high school will assume that they do not
authorize the school to release the
requested information and their child's
name and contact information will not be
released."

"I thought this was a no-brainer," Barbara
Heringer-Swar told board members while
they were considering the policy.
Heringer-Swar, a military resistance organizer
employed with the Oakland (California)-based
Central Committee For Conscientious
Objectors, brought the military recruitment
information issue to the Alameda County
School Board. "Parents ought to be able to
choose who contacts their children. If we
ask parents to give consent for their children's'
pictures to go in a newspaper, we
should be asking them to give consent
about going to war."

The Alameda County Board has budget
oversight but no other authority over the
county's independent school districts,
so the resolution is only a suggestion. But
given the county district's close working
relationship with the local districts, that
suggestion can be expected to have some weight.

And the possible illegality of "opt-in" may
change, too. Congressmember Mike
Honda, a Democrat representing
a Bay Area district just south of Alameda County,
has authored federal legislation-H.R. 551,
the "Student Privacy Protection Act of
2005" which would end the ambiguity,
amending federal law so that student
information could be released to military
recruiters only "if the parent of the student
involved has provided written consent."
In other words, make "opt-in" the recognized
law of the land.

The proposed legislation is presently mired
in the House Committee on Education and
the Workforce, where Honda communications
director Jay Staunton says it may
languish. "The Republican leadership is
not interested in pushing this legislation,"
Staunton said. "It's not their priority at any l
evel. It's not on their agenda." But
Staunton said that Honda is looking to try
a favorite legislative tactic, attaching the
language of H.R. 551 to a defense or
appropriations bill, where the combination of
needing to get the larger bill passed and
appeals to the more privacy-oriented wing
of conservative Republicans might give it a chance.

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor writes for the Berkeley Daily Planet.

© 2005 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/22006/

(Words of wisdom from our 15-year-old grandson...BW)

I dare not watch it anymore.
It sickens me.
These people are horrible,
these pursuers of pain,
these instigators of paranoia,
these preventers of peace.
I turn on the tube
and count the deaths.
It's gotten to the point where
I'll watch these evil informants
tell me about the bombings,
about the soldiers who've died,
and I say, "How many times have I heard this from you?"
I watch the news to see
the mother of some kid who she will never see again.
I watch her cry.
My heart hurts for her.
But I forget this pain
when I see a man
holding a mic to her face.
I look at him, and I see no remorse.
It's as if he's seen this so many times
that he forgets he's trying to question this grieving mother.
When she begins crying, he gives her
a glance and an apology,
yet he continues to hold the mic to her face,
these consumers of grief,
these stalkers of sadness.

By Vincent Biancalana, 15 years old.
May 2005, Daly City, California

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
NEWSLETTER UPDATE: Sunday, May 15, 2005
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) Judge halts court-martial, orders new hearing
For Kevin Benderman
Associated Press
Published on: 05/12/05
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0505/05sergeant.html

2) SFPD WAR ON BLACK AND BROWN

3) Class in America: Shadowy Lines That Still Divide
By JANNY SCOTT and DAVID LEONHARDT
May 15, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/national/class/OVERVIEW-
FINAL.html?pagewanted=print

4) Senate Panel OKs Defense Spending Boost
Editor's Note: When the Soviet Union fell and many called
for a peace dividend, the defense budget was under
200 billion dollars.-smg
The Associated Press
Saturday 14 May 2005
"Washington -- A Senate committee approved a $441.6 billion
defense bill for fiscal 2006 that envisions spending an
additional $50 billion next year for the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/051505A.shtml

5) A “Welcome Parade” of Blood and Seething Anger
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
May 15, 2005

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) Judge halts court-martial, orders new hearing
For Kevin Benderman
Associated Press
Published on: 05/12/05
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0505/05sergeant.html

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

2) SFPD WAR ON BLACK AND BROWN

Thursday, May 12, around 1 AM, Daniel Alvarenga Flores,
classical guitarist and composer from El Salvador, 28 yr.
Us resident, was slowly walking back home after giving a
concert at Cafe Radio Havana on 22nd and Valencia St. in SF,
when he observed 2 white PD officers detaining a Latino Brother
crying out in Spanish: "I haven't done anything! What did I do?!".

Daniel figured that the detained man was monolingual Spanish
and approached the scene, offering to translate back to him what
the charges were. The officers declined his offer, stating that
they had a translator... nowhere in sight. As Daniel kept offering
his help, he was told that he was interfering with an investigation,
and one officer proceeded to twist his wrist. Daniel broke his
hand lose, until the other officer held him. Daniel then surrendered
"OK, then arrest me".

The officers bent his arms backward so
violently that Daniel feared his shoulders would dislocate, and
until unbearable pain shot through his left arm. Daniel was
crying out for help, but no one would approach the scene. He
was at this point asked if he had any identification, "Sure !
My driver's licence!". "We won't take you to the station" said
one of the officers who then called for an ambulance, while
repeatedly pushing on Daniel's head on the pavement with his
boot, and asked him to turn on his side. "I can't move !
You broke my arm!".The officers then got him on his feet. In the
ambulance, a paramedic told Daniel: "You know, SF police is very
good; they probably would treat you much worse in El Salvador!".
(Actually Daniel had a negative prior experience with
Salvadoran PD, but recounts that it was much less traumatic
than this SFPD assault and battery....) While being treated at
SFGH Emergency Room for a severe fracture of the humerus (upper arm),
his arm rapidly swelling and increasingly painful, Daniel saw the
2 officers again, coming to serve him with a notice to appear
in Criminal Division SF Superior Court on June 23, 2005,
under 3 misdemeanor charges. The report is signed by Officer
McKinney, Badge #4, issuing unit 3D13E.

Not only Brother Alvarenga's human rights were violated, but
he lost his livelihood : A professional musician loved by his
community, recently accepted into the prestigious SF
Conservatory of Music, Daniel will not be able to honor his
upcoming 3 concerts engagements, including "Noche Bohemia" at
Cafe Bella Vista on the 21 in the Mission, as his rehabilitation
promises to be long and painful. Daniel does not know if he will
be able to play professionally ever again...

As we sat in his luminous Mission flat on Folsom St, Daniel,
reserved young brother whose personality, delicate features
and gentle demure exude spirituality, modesty and kindness,
pushing his long hair away from his face, barely audible, said:
"Senora Flor from La Raza gave me your number... I am victim of
police racist stereotypes! We pay their salaries with our tax
dollars, how can they have the power to treat us like animals,
so intense and brutal, do they lose their sensitivity when they
embrace the uniform, and see all of us as delinquents? The
judicial system has to change, they cannot keep condemning us
without proof... They demonstrate the state of mind you would
expect from a violent drunk or less than an animal. My People
has to know their rights ! The Police has to know that we know
our rights. Police suffers from reality distortion! Democracy?
Utopia ! I survived the war and 2 earthquakes in El Salvador
to end up brutalized unjustly by San Francisco police. The
officers were very racist, assuming I was an undocumented
immigrant, therefore justified in breaking my arm... When
they found out I had a Green Card, they decided not to
arrest me??"

Daniel gave me a CD of his music, we hugged by the front door.
Later on that evening at the house of JulioAyala's parents
(Julio Jr was slained by SSF PD at the SF Airport Hotel on 4-3-05),
we listened quietly to Daniel's beautiful music and lyrics,
while sharing Salvadoran soup and rice, as Julio's father
bursted into tears, because his hijo Julito was not with us
to share this moment...

We sadly remember the lethal assault of Marcos Garcia, beaten
to death by the Mission police on Cesar Chavez and South
Van Ness Avenue 6 years ago, while current Assistant Chief
Greg Surh was the Mission Precinct Captain... The brutalization
of day laborer Jose Padua Damian in 2002 at the same street
corner, covered up by former Captain Greg Corrales...

Daniel is alive. But this brutal assault might change his
life forever. Daniel is not afraid to speak out, because he
knows that SILENCE KILL his RAZA ! Us Latinos and people of
Hispanic origin are acculturated to unconditionally respect
our elders, scholars, and authority. This liberal country of
the US is teaching us the hard way to use discretion on who
to respect ! Daniel does not want to see another casualty by
PD in the news, and is filing with the SF Office of Citizen
Complaints. Together, we will to the next SF Police Commission
hearing to demand full exoneration of all charges, official
apologies from the Police Department and disciplinary action
of the 2 Mission Station offending officers.

Justicia para Daniel Alvarenga Flores! Say NO to PD war on
Black and Brown brothers and sisters in San Francisco !

mesha Monge-Irizarry
Idriss Stelley Foundation

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

3) Class in America: Shadowy Lines That Still Divide
By JANNY SCOTT and DAVID LEONHARDT
May 15, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/national/class/OVERVIEW-
FINAL.html?pagewanted=print

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

4) Senate Panel OKs Defense Spending Boost
Editor's Note: When the Soviet Union fell and many called
for a peace dividend, the defense budget was under
200 billion dollars.-smg
The Associated Press
Saturday 14 May 2005
"Washington -- A Senate committee approved a $441.6 billion
defense bill for fiscal 2006 that envisions spending an
additional $50 billion next year for the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/051505A.shtml

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

5) A “Welcome Parade” of Blood and Seething Anger
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
May 15, 2005

As if to add insult to injury, with over 400 Iraqis killed in violence
during the first two weeks of the newly sworn in Iraqi “government,” US
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice made a surprise one day visit to the
newest US colony.

After visiting northern Iraq which has been spared the brunt of the
ongoing violence, Rice traveled to the heavily entrenched “green zone”
in central Baghdad where the U.S. “embassy” is located. She addressed a
crowd in the former Republican Palace, the perfect setting for her
symbolic visit to Iraq where more and more Iraqis are referring to the
devastating occupation which has beset their country as their new
“bloodocracy.”

“We are so grateful that there are Americans willing to sacrifice so the
Middle East will be whole, and free and democratic and at peace,” she
announced before she returned to northern Iraq in her huge contingent of
military helicopters to the mountain stronghold of Kurdish Democratic
Party leader Massoud Barzani before exiting the war ravaged nation.

Rather than a welcoming parade with ticker-tape and rose petals for the
US Secretary of State who was one of the architects of the invasion, 34
corpses of men shot, beheaded or with their throats slit were discovered
across Iraq today.

Other aspects of her warm welcome included drive-by shootings in Baghdad
which claimed the lives of a senior Industry Ministry official, his
driver and a prominent Shia cleric as well as a dual-bomb attack in
Baquba which narrowly missed taking the life of the governor of Diyala
province (but took the lives of four others in his convoy). A second
bomb was delivered five minutes after the first by a man running on foot
towards the convoy who then detonated an explosives belt.

When ambulances arrived medical workers found body parts strewn about in
pools of blood and shattered glass as they attended to 37 wounded Iraqis.

Not only are the vast majority of Iraqis in Iraq vehemently opposed to
the ongoing occupation, but in Amman those I met at the ‘Between the Two
Rivers Trucking Company’ today were just as angry about the occupation.

Inside the large office of the general director of the company, drivers
from Baghdad, Baquba, Sadr City, Fallujah, Ramadi and Basra, Sunni and
Shia alike, crowd about glasses of hot tea to take turns venting their
frustrations amidst my questions.

Prior to the invasion they used to make 4-5 trips between Amman and
Baghdad per month. Now they make one trip per month, primarily due to
the fact that prior to crossing the border into Jordan they are forced
to wait in a line several kilometers long…for 18 days. This is due to,
what they believe, unnecessary harassment by Jordanian border authorities.

They sleep in the cabs of their trucks as the line inches closer to the
border, and when a driver from Basra tells me that if they leave their
trucks at night they are shot at by American soldiers, I glace across
the room to find all of the men nodding in agreement.

None of them are content with the situation.

“All of our problems are due to the Americans,” says Ahmed, a driver who
has been trying to get supplies into Ramadi, “The soldiers have
surrounded the city for so long, there is one entry way in and all of
the people of the city are suffering. The Americans brought all of these
problems with them.”

The subject of civil war is broached, and Mohammed, a Shia driver from
Sadr City blurts out, “The occupiers are creating these problems between
the Shia and Sunni, but they will not divide us! All occupations only
mean destruction and suffering!”

Again I look around the room filled with seething Iraqis and find them
nodding once again.

Ahmed raises his voice over the others and with eyes seething with anger
asks, “My cousin is in al-Qaim, and he just told me the Americans have
destroyed so many houses in that area and killed women and children!”

All of the attention in the room shifts to the large, mustached man
wearing a brown dishdasha as he continues.

“They are entering our houses where women and children are, and this is
totally against our traditions and culture. They must leave our country
immediately!”

It isn’t only the Iraqis in Amman who are opposed to the brutal
occupation of their country. Most Jordanians I’ve spoken with over the
last week feel likewise. As an older Jordanian man from Palestine told
me two days ago at my hotel, “The Iraqis must resist this occupation
now, or they will end up like the Palestinians.”

In the office of the trucking company, the mood is that of searing
anger, frustration and urgency.

Hamad, a Shia man from Basra enters the discussion and states, “I have
seen them destroy three farms in Diyala! Why can’t they stay on their
bases like the British do in the south? If they would just stay on their
bases things would be so much better for us.”

“With my own eyes I’ve seen the Americans, when their patrol was hit by
a roadside bomb open fire on all the civilian cars around them,”
exclaims Mohammed.

At this everyone begins talking at once, the anger raising their voices.

Over the din Rathman, a driver from Fallujah demands, “If Bush is a real
man, he should walk down the street alone!”

“Insh’Allah [God willing] Iraq will be the graveyard of the Americans,”
adds Ahmed, “Qaim is three small villages and with all their planes and
tanks they still fail to control it. If they were brave they should
attack one or two villages without planes and helicopters and tanks and
fight man to man!”

A Shia driver from Hilla, a small city south of Baghdad, sternly says
that the US is “the mother company of terrorism.”

My interpreter Abu Talat, my friend Aisha and I decide it’s time to
excuse ourselves. Several of the men follow us to the street as we wait
for a taxi, continuing to make their statements as we wait. They are
anxious to continue, seeing my pen as an outlet for their frustrations
as I continue to take notes.

“Why is the media not talking more about al-Qaim,” asks Ahmed, as a taxi
approaches and begins to pull over to collect us.

“We strongly advise the American people to pressure their government to
leave Iraq,” says a man from al-Karma who asks to be called Ali.

As I begin to step into the car he asks, “We are now free of Saddam
Hussein, so did the Americans come as liberators or acquirers?”


More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
BAUAW NEWSLETTER SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2005
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) May 20, 2005
"Stand Up for Truth in Recruiting:
One Day is Not Enough!"
From: "Oskar Castro"
Reply-To: iwillnotkill@yahoogroups.com

2) Mass March on Washington
Saturday, September 24
in Washington D.C.
With Nationally Coordinated Actions
in San Francisco & Los Angeles
Stop the War in Iraq
End Colonial Occupation
from Iraq to Palestine to Haiti
Support the Palestinian People's Right of Return
Stop the Threats Against
Venezuela, Cuba, Iran & North Korea
U.S. out of the Philippines
Bring all the troops home now
Stop the Racist, anti-Immigrant and anti-Labor
Offensive at Home, Defend Civil Rights
{Get the military out of our schools! Don't enlist!
The increasing difficulty the military is having
recruiting new cannon fodder is a profoundly democratic
expression of the sentiments of the American people
-especially it's young. It is mass, direct, action by
those who refuse to enlist. A united, mass antiwar
movement will increase these numbers. Together we can
put an end to this war. ...BAUAW

3) Pablo Paredes Puts the War on Trial
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/

4) MAY 17,2005 is TAKE BACK OUR SCHOOLS DAY
in honor of the historic Brown v. Board of Education
verdict on May 17,1954. A growing tide of youth,
educators, parents, union members, and community
organizations are calling for an end to the
destructive takeover of the Oakland schools.
Schedule of Events (all events are within a few
block radius of 12th Street BART in Downtown Oakland)
Noon -1 p.m.:Rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza
(at City Hall, 14th and Broadway)
1 p.m.-4 p.m.:Student-led teach-ins, First Unitarian
Church,14th and Castro streets
4 p.m.-6:30 p.m.:Major rally, the State
Building,1 5th and Clay streets

5) After the bombs, illness - and few to care
By Paul McGeough, Chief Herald Correspondent
April 29, 2005
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/After-the-bombs-illness--and-few-to-care/
2005/04/28/1114635692332.html?oneclick=true

6) Black and White and Full of Crap
by Ted Rall
Published on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 by UExpress.com
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0511-25.htm

7) Badlands picket continues...
From: Mecca44@aol.com
May 12, 2005

8) The Young and the Jobless
By BOB HERBERT
"A remark by Louis Brandeis comes to mind: "We can have
democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth
concentrated in the hands of a few. But we can't have both."
May 12, 2005
"...For example, a recent report from the Center for Labor
Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston tells
us that the employment rate for the nation's teenagers in
the first 11 months of 2004 - just 36.3 percent - was the
lowest it has ever been since the federal government began
tracking teenage employment in 1948... 'Two-thirds of this
generation are not living up to their parents' standard of living..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/opinion/12herbert.html?hp

9) Army to Spend Day
Retraining Recruiters
By DAMIEN CAVE
May 12, 2005
"Responding to reports about widespread abuses of the rules for
recruitment, Army officials said yesterday that they would suspend
all recruiting on May 20 and use the day to retrain its personnel
in military ethics and the laws that govern what can and cannot
be done to enlist an applicant."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/national/12recruit.html

10) Appeals Court Backs Cheney in
Secrecy Case
By DAVID STOUT
Published: May 11, 2005
"WASHINGTON, May 10 - A federal appeals court said on Tuesday
that Vice President Dick Cheney did not have to divulge details about
how the White House's energy policies were shaped, ruling in a case
that touched on the constitutional separation of powers."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/11/politics/11cheney.html

11) 'Universal health care now!'
By Diane Bukowski
The Michigan Citizen
"DETROIT - As the City of Detroit,
the Detroit Public Schools, and even the
Big Three automakers say the
skyrocketing cost of health insurance has
exacerbated their fiscal woes,
organizers are stepping up a campaign for
state-sponsored universal health care in Michigan."
http://www.michigancitizen.com/
default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=1727&wpage=1&skeyw
ord=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&re
pmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname

12) The Burden of a Violent History
BY JIM MULLIN
jim.mullin@miaminewtimes.com
(Lists over 70 incidences of violence involving anti-Castro
Cubans in U.S.)
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2000-04-20/news/mullin.html

13) DROP THE PHONY CHARGES ON SHAREEF ALEEM!
SAY NO TO RACIST POLICE BRUTALITY!

14) LA OPINION
REAL ID: The list of "terrorists" has grown
By: Jorge Delgado
May 12, 2005
A CubaNews translation by Ana Portela
Edited by Walter Lippmann
(While the truly REAL terrorists like
Luis Posada Carriles are allowed to
run rampant in the United States of
the Free World of America today.)
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs154.html

15) CALL TO ACTION: TORTURERS OUT OF SAN FRANCISCO!
CAMPAIGN LAUNCH TO SHUT DOWN CACI, Inc.'s SF OFFICE!
Monday, May 16th, 2 PM
Rally outside Westin St. Francis Hotel
(Union Square - 335 Powell St. at Geary)

16) Always Low Wages. Always.
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Op-Ed Columnist
Published: May 13, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/13/opinion/13krugman.html?hp

17) ARMY RECRUITING
May 12, 2005
Amid recruiting shortfalls and accusations of unethical
behavior by some recruiters, the U.S. Army is spending millions
on new programs designed to convince more young Americans to
join the ranks.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/jan-june05/recruiting_5-12.html

18) Just a reminder:
Monday May 16, 7 P.M.,
"DEATH ROW ON THE STREET: THE KILLING OF JULIO AYALA",
presentation by Tania, Julio's sister. At Idriss Stelley
Foundation and Dockta Cooper Networking Project office,
4921 3rd Street, SF, between Palou and Quesada. You can
bring the ninos if you like !

17) ARMY RECRUITING
May 12, 2005
Amid recruiting shortfalls and accusations of unethical
behavior by some recruiters, the U.S. Army is spending millions
on new programs designed to convince more young Americans to
join the ranks.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/jan-june05/recruiting_5-12.html

19) Let's face it - the state has lost its mind
The media coverage of this past
election was a pastiche. Our right to
know what our rulers are doing to
people the world over is being lost
in the new propaganda consensus.
By John Pilger
http://www.newstatesman.com/nscoverstory.htm

20) The family released a statement...
by Michael Gillespie
(Thursday 12 May 2005)
"Mass round-ups and detentions of innocent civilians, torture
and abuse of prisoners and detainees, America's honor and
prestige at the lowest point ever, and investigations that
whitewash the president's men and blame it all on the enlisted
personnel. Thus the obscene spectacle of the grieving families
at funerals forced by the president's dishonesty to defend the
honor of their dead even as they mourn: "He was noble and
always carried himself with honor." "[He was] a loving husband
and father, a devoted son and brother." "He wanted to go where
good people needed help." "He will be dearly missed." Small
wonder that the president, desperately attempting to hide
behind a façade of rigid religiosity that glorifies war and
false patriotism that exalts the very evils it claims to
despise, never attends the funerals of those who have died
in the line of duty. How could he?"
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/14869/

21)Recall Urged for Illegal Biotech Corn
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2005
Contact: Craig Culp, Center for Food Safety, (202) 547-9359;
Bill Freese, Friends of the Earth, (301) 985-3011
Government Must Come Clean on Secret Dealings with Crop Developer
Several hundred tons of the unapproved Bt10 corn, enough to plant
37,000 acres, were mistakenly sold to U.S. farmers under the name
of an approved variety from 2001 to 2004. The resultant harvest of
an estimated 165,000 tons have been sold as food or feed in the
U.S. and abroad. Syngenta first informed the U.S. government of
the mix-up in December 2004, but federal regulatory officials did
not inform the U.S. public that they were eating the untested corn
until the story leaked four months later. U.S. trading partners were
also kept in the dark about possible importation of the corn.
"The potential for yet undetected contamination of other corn varieties
via cross-pollination or seed mix-ups means the unapproved corn could
persist in the food supply for years," said Doug Gurian-Sherman,
senior scientist with Center for Food Safety and a former risk
assessment scientist with EPA. "This happened because the
U.S. regulatory agencies have not followed their own risk
assessment procedures for allowing commercialization of
genetically engineered foods."
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press_release5.11.2005.cfm

22) Amman, Iraq, and Al-Qaim
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
May 14, 2005

23) 'I Will Not Kill' campaign launches
on Capitol Hill News from The Fellowship of Reconciliation

24) Bob Smith, Chair Depleted Uranium Awareness Committee
P.O. Box 480 Franklinton, Louisiana 70438 (504) 581-1086
PRESS RELEASE:

25) CASTRO DEFENDS FUGITIVE SOUGHT BY U.S.
http://playahata.com/hatablog/wp-trackback.php/505

26) Subject: second announcement about peace activities
in Richmond memorial day week
----- Original Message -----
From: "J. Gab..... ....global.net>
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 9:02 PM

27) Recruiter-turned-peacenik hits nerve in N.C.
By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-03-20-recruiter-peacenik_x.htm

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1) May 20, 2005
"Stand Up for Truth in Recruiting:
One Day is Not Enough!"
From: "Oskar Castro"
Reply-To: iwillnotkill@yahoogroups.com

In response to the recent exposure of serious recruiter
improprieties including fraud and coercion the U.S. Army
is issuing a "stand down" order to all Army recruiters for
May 20th, 2005. The American Friends Service Committee is
responding with a national call to action for May 20th, 2005
under the banner, "Stand Up for Truth in Recruiting:
One Day is not Enough!"

We are calling on activists, allies and those concerned
with the militarization of youth to use the date of
May 20th to:
* conduct teach-ins and workshops,
* plan peaceful demonstrations at heavily recruited schools
and invite people negatively affected by military
recruiters to speak,
* peacefully picket recruitment stations.

Themes for these events will include:
* exposure of the unethical and illegal tactics used by
recruiters, particularly in poor communities and communities
of color
* lack of parent & student awareness about the No Child Left
Behind Act Military Recruiter Provision (Sec. 9528) and
school violations of privacy clauses
* the use of JROTC to create generations loyal to and
unquestioning of the military
* the need for viable alternatives to military s
ervice-college, vocational training, living wage jobs

The U.S. Army describes the stand down as a time to
review its recruiting procedures and values and remind
their nearly 8,000 recruiters of the need to stay within
the boundaries of the law. . The impression given by Army
recruitment leaders is that a few "bad apples" are violating
standards due to the increased difficulty of meeting
recruitment quotas during the extended war and occupation
in Iraq We know different. For the last 20 years, the
American Friends Service Committee has been working to expose
and combat what we believe to be a systemic and widespread
problem of abusive and unethical recruitment practices.
One day of "re-training" will not reduce the pressure placed
on military recruiters to meet their monthly quotas –
by whatever means necessary.

The military has clear regulations that are allegedly shared
with its recruiters during their job training, yet an Army
spokesperson recently revealed to the Associated Press that
the Army has investigated 480 allegations of impropriety by
recruiters since Oct. 1, 2005. Some of these cases are still
open while 91 of the 480 allegations have thus far been
considered founded. To date, eight recruiters have been
relieved of duty and another 98 have been reprimanded by
their commands.

Other things that can be done to make an impact and let the
military know that we oppose insidious practices and
recruitment policies are:
* Visit www.afsc.org/youthmil to learn more about the
issues and find out how you, or your organization can
host group trainings.
* Visit www.LeaveMyChildAlone.org and join the campaign
created by Working Assets, the MMOB and ACORN, to get
1,000,000 students "opted out".
* Join or start a local movement to provide information
on comprehensive job & career training, financial aid and
travel alternatives for youth graduating from high school.
* Learn how you can join the growing National Network
Opposing the Militarization of Youth by visiting
www.youthandthemilitary.org.
* Join the Fellowship of Reconciliation's "I Will Not Kill"
Campaign and encourage young people to sign the declaration at http://
iwillnotkill.org/

Also, If you have any local stories or case examples of
recruitment improprieties, or over aggressive recruitment
tactics in schools, or communities it would be great if you
could forward us information on those cases. We are preparing
a press kit for the national media we are in communication
with and want to be able to show them that the problem the
Army is alleging to address is not as isolated as they'd
like the world to think. Certainly, names can be changed
to protect the innocent.

Contact the National Youth & Militarism Program of the
American Friends Service Committee at 215-241-7176, or
youthmil@afsc.org.

Oskar Castro
National Youth & Militarism Program
American Friends Service Committee
215-241-7046
www.youth4peace.org

Peace, Respect & Guidance - for we are not human beings
having a spiritual experience, but
spiritual beings having a human experience.

I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man
in the sky. I believe that what people call God is
something in all of us.
I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and
all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations
have gone wrong.
John Lennon

! Groups Links
* To visit your group on the web, go to:
* http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MOOS-BAY/
*
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2) Mass March on Washington
Saturday, September 24
in Washington D.C.
With Nationally Coordinated Actions
in San Francisco & Los Angeles
Stop the War in Iraq
End Colonial Occupation
from Iraq to Palestine to Haiti
Support the Palestinian People's Right of Return
Stop the Threats Against
Venezuela, Cuba, Iran & North Korea
U.S. out of the Philippines
Bring all the troops home now
Stop the Racist, anti-Immigrant and anti-Labor
Offensive at Home, Defend Civil Rights
{Get the military out of our schools! Don't enlist!
The increasing difficulty the military is having
recruiting new cannon fodder is a profoundly democratic
expression of the sentiments of the American people
-especially it's young. It is mass, direct, action by
those who refuse to enlist. A united, mass antiwar
movement will increase these numbers. Together we can
put an end to this war. ...BAUAW}

Thousands will march on Saturday, September 24 in Washington DC.
The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition urges the antiwar movement to come
together for a united demonstration.

September 24 Call to Action

The anti-war movement must make a precise estimate of the
direction of the White House, the Pentagon and Congress as
it charts its next steps for mass mobilization.

The people of the United States must mobilize against the
global War for Empire that masks itself as the so-called
"war on terrorism" and falsely promotes itself as the
"march for democracy."

The people of Iraq are insisting that the United States
leave their country immediately. As in Vietnam, the people
of the United States must demand the immediate end to this
war of conquest. As we fight to end the war in Iraq, we
recognize that it is not enough to focus on a single front
in this War for Empire. We must unite on a principled basis
that recognizes the reality of our epoch. How can this war
drive come to an end? People in Iraq, in Palestine, in Haiti,
in Venezuela, in Cuba are resisting but the people of the
United States must become their allies. Their resistance
is part of the universal aspiration to live free from foreign
domination or threats of a military or economic character.

The war and occupation of Iraq cannot be seen in isolation.
The U.S. is actively attempting to destroy every government
that resists the Empire. The Iraq war is not an aberration
nor is it a "mistake" of conservative politicians. The war
in Iraq is a necessary component in the political program
and the institutions of global conquest and exploitation.
This is what we must be fighting. We don't want the troops
to be brought home from Iraq only so that they can be
deployed in the next front of imperialism. The people of
the United States have every interest in renouncing the
War for Empire that is directed by the U.S. plutocracy.
The plutocrats have the wealth but the plutocracy is in
inherent conflict with genuine democracy and with the
needs of the people.

This is not just Bush's war. It is not only a Republican
or a neo-conservative campaign. Congress again just
rubber-stamped the next $82 billion appropriation to
finance the criminal occupation of Iraq. The vote in the
Senate was 99-0! The amount spent on the war in Iraq and
Afghanistan is now over $350 billion. Likewise, it is the
White House and Congress and both big business parties that
wholeheartedly support the funding of the ongoing war
against the people of Palestine. The occupation of Haiti,
carried out by proxy forces, is nonetheless a project of
U.S. and French imperialism. The U.S. establishment is
preparing to overthrow the government of Venezuela,
just as every successive administration has sought,
unsuccessfully, to overthrow the Cuban revolution since
1959. While the Pentagon possesses the largest nuclear
arsenal on the planet, the White House and Congress and
both parties join together with the Corporate-owned media
to paint Iran and North Korea as looming nuclear threats.
For more than 100 years the people of the Philippines have
struggled, and are struggling today, to reclaim authentic
sovereign control over their own country, free from
endless U.S. interference.

It is time to take to the streets again today, as we have
throughout the last few years, to demonstrate the growing
opposition inside this country to the War for Empire.
Every working person in the United States must know that
the corporate, political and military establishment is
using our tax dollars, and the lives of our sons and
daughters, to wage their global war. It is a war for
domination. It is a war for the benefit of U.S. banks,
oil monopolies, and transnational corporations. These
are the very same corporate entities that are slashing
wages, health care coverage, pensions and outsourcing
millions of jobs to make super-profits from the super
-exploitation of low-wage labor.

The Bush administration cries poverty when it comes to
meeting Social Security's obligations as well as the
funding for education, health care and housing. There
is no poverty claim, however, for the Pentagon and its
corporate contractors: the real military spending level
for the next year will be over $600 billion.

Instead of paying for endless war, we demand that the
resources be used to meet human needs here and around
the world. Instead of acting as shock troops for Empire,
we demand that the soldiers and sailors in the U.S. military
be provided decent paying jobs at union wages, the right to
go to college, and an immediate increase in veterans
benefits.

On September 24 we will march and rally starting at the
White House in Washington D.C. There will be coordinated
actions that day in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The U.S. government says it is promoting the march for
democracy and freedom abroad. What a sham. They pretend
to promote freedom abroad but at the same time fan the
flames of racism, anti-immigrant discrimination, sexism,
homophobia and bigotry of all forms at home.

There is nothing more urgent than to construct unity in
the face of Empire. Real unity cannot be built by
sacrificing the rights of some but rather it will be
forged by embracing everyone's rights and just struggles
for liberation. United we are the majority. United we
can fight and win.

Funds are urgently needed to help build the September 24
mass action. We can't do it without your help. You can
make a contribution through a secure server by clicking
here, where you can also find information on how
to contribute by check.

A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org http://www.actionsf.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-533-0417
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
For media inquiries, call 415-821-6545 or 202-544-3389.

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3) Pablo Paredes Puts the War on Trial
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/

On May 11th, 2005, Pablo Paredes was found guilty of missing
movement. The unauthorized absence charge was dismissed.
Sentencing continues today, May 12th in the court martial.

BUT, DURING THE PRE-SENTENCING PHASE...Marjorie Cohn made
ABSOLUTE MINCEMEAT OUT OF THE PROSECUTION!

So much so that the military judge in the court martial said,
"I BELIEVE THE GOVERNMENT JUST PROVED THAT ANY SERVICEMEMBER
HAS REASONABLE CAUSE TO BELIEVE THAT THE WARS IN YUGOSLAVIA,
AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ WERE ILLEGAL"

Read more from the court martial attendees

As his court martial took place, outside around 50 supporters
performed act 1 of the 3 act play "Put the War on Trial", which
Pablo wrote. Following that they marched through Logan Heights
and received a warm reception. One person driving by said
"Thank you for coming to our neighborhood! Gracias para venir
a nuestra barrio!" The march ended at the gates of the 32nd
naval base where supporters held banners over the bridge,
rallied on the sidewalk and showed their support for Pablo and
everyone with the courage to resist this illegal and immoral
war all day, in the unrelentingly hot sun. Support events will
continue today with act 2 of Put the War on Trial and a film
night fundraiser .

Story from Zengers |Audio from night forum 5/11 |Audio from
night forum on 5/10 |Direct Action to shut down recruiting offices
English

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

4) MAY 17,2005 is TAKE BACK OUR SCHOOLS DAY
in honor of the historic Brown v. Board of Education
verdict on May 17,1954. A growing tide of youth,
educators, parents, union members, and community
organizations are calling for an end to the
destructive takeover of the Oakland schools.
Schedule of Events (all events are within a few
block radius of 12th Street BART in Downtown Oakland)
Noon -1 p.m.:Rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza
(at City Hall, 14th and Broadway)
1 p.m.-4 p.m.:Student-led teach-ins, First Unitarian
Church,14th and Castro streets
4 p.m.-6:30 p.m.:Major rally, the State
Building,1 5th and Clay streets

For information on the May 17 events, including curriculum for your
classroom visit www.ednotinc.org
For articles on the destructive effects of the State Takeover:
www.oaklandrising.com

Jonah Zern wrote:

Please forward widely!!

May 17:Take Back Our Schools Day is a project of
Organize Da BAY, Education Not Incarceration, Oakland Education
Association, Oakland ACORN, AFSCME 257, Oakland AFT and many more
organizations from the Coalition to Defend and
Improve Public Education

Media Contact: Micah, Organize Da Bay, 510.841.0690,
enigmicah@gmail.com
Education Contact: Jessica Vasquez: 510.847.2523,
jessica_vasquez@hotmail.com
Outreach Contact: Victor Duarte: 510.847.9521,
duarte138@yahoo.com

Oakland City Council Unanimously Passed the Following Resolution
Supporting May 17th's Events on May 3, 2005. The Resolution was
introduced by Councilwoman Jane Brunner:

Resolution to Save Public Education

WHEREAS, on May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court of the
United States issued their historic opinion in the
case of Brown v. Board of Education that called for an
immediate end to segregated education; and

WHEREAS, on May 17, 2004, Mayor of Oakland Jerry Brown
issued a proclamation declaring May 17th "Equal
Education Day" in the City of Oakland; and

WHEREAS, the Oakland Unified School District has been
under the complete fiscal and legislative authority of
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack
O'Connell and his appointed Administrator Dr.
Randolph Ward since June 3, 2003; and

WHEREAS, vested with the authority of the State of
California, Dr. Ward in 2004 closed five Oakland
public schools and has, in his recently issued
"Multi-Year Fiscal Recovery Plan" and in public
statements, announced plans to close up to 9 more
Oakland public schools mainly in the flatlands, while
simultaneously opening up to 25 new, undefined
learning communities within the next two years; and

WHEREAS, Oakland schools have experienced an alarming
rate of student attrition with more than 6,900
students leaving the District since the state takeover
began and thousands more expected to leave in coming
years; and

WHEREAS, according to a March 24, 2005 Oakland Tribune
article, less than 50% of Oakland Unified School
District students graduate high school on time, with
closer to 30% of Latino and African-American students
likely to earn a high school diploma within four
years; and

WHEREAS, the closure of neighborhood schools and such
low graduation rates point to the prevalence of
unequal educational conditions for many Oakland
students and constitute an alarming crisis in the
Oakland public schools that demands immediate
attention; now

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council of
the City of Oakland encourages school administrators,
educators, community organizations, and concerned
citizens to participate in educational programs
located on school sites during the school day or
elsewhere after school, on May 17th, 2005, including

1. Study and discussion on the historic
importance of Brown v. Board of Education and its
relevance to public education today.

2. Development and presentation of workshops
to students, parents, and community members on May 17,
2005 on a variety of issues related to equal access to
public education.

3. Ongoing public dialogue among all
sectors of the community on the state of the Oakland
Unified School District and next steps to improve the
quality of education provided to the children and
youth of Oakland.

4. Study of the Oakland Unified
School District's proposed Multi-Year Fiscal
Recovery Plan, including the financial plan, a
timeline for the State of California to return
Oakland's schools to local control, and how we can
support Proposition 98 and increasing resources for
our schools.

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BayAreaOrganizing/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MOOS-BAY

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5) After the bombs, illness - and few to care
By Paul McGeough, Chief Herald Correspondent
April 29, 2005
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/After-the-bombs-illness--and-few-to-care/
2005/04/28/1114635692332.html?oneclick=true

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6) Black and White and Full of Crap
by Ted Rall
Published on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 by UExpress.com
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0511-25.htm

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7) Badlands picket continues...
From: Mecca44@aol.com
May 12, 2005

Hi everyone
The picketing and boycott of Badlands continues. As you know,
the Castro bar was recently found guilty of discrimination
against African Americans by the city's Human Rights Commission.
We have been picketing on Saturday nights and so far it's going
well. The owner is obviously very threatened since he hired
cheerleaders to walk around the Castro giving out 1/2 price
drink cards last Saturday...they also stood outside the bar
and screamed at us as we marched and spoke with passersby.
We are a peaceful presence and we have been informing people
of what's going on...

This Saturday, join us at 9pm at LYRIC,
127 Collingwood/18th for a special training.
At 10pm we will walk over to the Badlands (just around the corner)
to peacefully picket and hand out flyers...

If you are available Friday night, we are thinking of
flyering at 18th & Castro...please let me know if you can
help with this. I will be there...
SO let me know if Friday works for you...
AND JOIN US SATURDAY FOR WEEK THREE of the picket!!!!
Tommi

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8) The Young and the Jobless
By BOB HERBERT
"A remark by Louis Brandeis comes to mind: "We can have
democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth
concentrated in the hands of a few. But we can't have both."
May 12, 2005
"...For example, a recent report from the Center for Labor
Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston tells
us that the employment rate for the nation's teenagers in
the first 11 months of 2004 - just 36.3 percent - was the
lowest it has ever been since the federal government began
tracking teenage employment in 1948... 'Two-thirds of this
generation are not living up to their parents' standard of living..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/opinion/12herbert.html?hp

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9) Army to Spend Day
Retraining Recruiters
By DAMIEN CAVE
May 12, 2005
"Responding to reports about widespread abuses of the rules for
recruitment, Army officials said yesterday that they would suspend
all recruiting on May 20 and use the day to retrain its personnel
in military ethics and the laws that govern what can and cannot
be done to enlist an applicant."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/national/12recruit.html

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10) Appeals Court Backs Cheney in
Secrecy Case
By DAVID STOUT
Published: May 11, 2005
"WASHINGTON, May 10 - A federal appeals court said on Tuesday
that Vice President Dick Cheney did not have to divulge details about
how the White House's energy policies were shaped, ruling in a case
that touched on the constitutional separation of powers."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/11/politics/11cheney.html

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11) 'Universal health care now!'
By Diane Bukowski
The Michigan Citizen
"DETROIT - As the City of Detroit,
the Detroit Public Schools, and even the
Big Three automakers say the
skyrocketing cost of health insurance has
exacerbated their fiscal woes,
organizers are stepping up a campaign for
state-sponsored universal health care in Michigan."
http://www.michigancitizen.com/
default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=1727&wpage=1&skeyw
ord=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&re
pmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname

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12) The Burden of a Violent History
BY JIM MULLIN
jim.mullin@miaminewtimes.com
(Lists over 70 incidences of violence involving anti-Castro
Cubans in U.S.)
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2000-04-20/news/mullin.html

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13) DROP THE PHONY CHARGES ON SHAREEF ALEEM!
SAY NO TO RACIST POLICE BRUTALITY!

On February 3rd, 2005, Denver activist, Shareef Aleem, was targeted
and attacked by campus police at a Board of Regents meeting
convened to discuss the University of Colorado's intended action
against Ward Churchill. Shareef Aleem went to this meeting because
it was advertised as an open meeting, and he wanted to film the
event for Denver Community Television and show support for the
students dissent against education cuts and fee hikes as well as
their protest of attacks on Ward Churchill, a professor who blamed
U.S. foreign policy for leading to the 9/11 attacks. Aleem stood
up in the meeting after one activist had been asked to leave for
openly addressing the Regents. He reiterated that the meeting
was advertised as being public and stated, "Is this a free country
or not? Do we live in a democracy or not? If not, let's stop calling
it that." Campus cops then pushed aside an older Black woman
and began grabbing Aleem, who told them to leave him alone and
not touch him. He said he had a right to be there and that the
students should be allowed to speak. Shareef was grabbed by
cops, pulled down on top of one, had his hands bound and was
shot in the neck with a taser.

HE HAS SINCE BEEN CHARGED WITH SECOND-DEGREE
ASSAULT ON AN OFFICER.

We are asking for national, and even, international support
for this anti-racist activist who has challenged the brutal police
in Denver and the surrounding metropolitan areas. This case
is a political one because of the fact that Shareef showed support
for the students who were expressing their dissent to the right-wing
attacks on campuses across the country trying to silence progressive
voices, and because Shareef has been so active against police
brutality. His case is an attempt to silence him and his activism
and to threaten those who stand by him and his actions. Also,
the possibility of Shareef facing up to 16 years in prison is a real
threat to his and his family's well being.

SHAREEF NEEDS THE SOLIDARITY OF JUSTICE-LOVING PEOPLE
EVERYWHERE! BY ATTACKING SHAREEF'S RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH,
THE POLICE ARE TRYING TO INTIMIDATE AND SILENCE THE ENTIRE
SOCIAL JUSTICE MOVEMENT IN DENVER AND AROUND THE COUNTRY!

AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL!

We are asking that people deluge the judge presiding his trial
and the prosecuting District Attorney and let them know that we
will not let Shareef be victimized and demand that the charges
be dropped.

In defense of Aleem, send emails to defendshareef@yahoo.com
and cards or money to pay for his attorney or letters of support
in care of Aleem to 4860 Chambers Road, P.O. Box 173. Denver,
CO 80239.

Letters of protest can also be sent to Judge Michael A. Cox, Adams
County Justice Center, 1100 Judicial Center Dr., Brighton, CO 80601,
or to Don Quick, 17th Judicial District Attorney,
1000 Judicial Center Dr., Suite 100, Brighton, CO 80601.


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---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

14) LA OPINION
REAL ID: The list of "terrorists" has grown
By: Jorge Delgado
May 12, 2005
A CubaNews translation by Ana Portela
Edited by Walter Lippmann
(While the truly REAL terrorists like
Luis Posada Carriles are allowed to
run rampant in the United States of
the Free World of America today.)
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs154.html

The country can now sleep in peace;
the Republican administration has just
taken an "important step" in its fight
against terrorism with the approval
by the Lower House of the Senate of
the Real ID measure including the
Supplementary Law project of military
expenditures. This measure will become
law in the coming days once the full
Senate gives its final vote and
President Bush signs it and orders
its enforcement.

The measure demands that any person
presenting themselves to the California
Department of Vehicles (DMV) to
request a driver's license should present
proof of identity and citizenship or
legal residence with at least four
documents. This project also eliminates
the possibility of using consular
registrations as documents of identity;
it establishes restrictions to
request political asylum and sets down
new measures to set up barriers
around the border.

With this measure illegal activities
of more than 10 million "terrorists"
will be blocked, terrorists who have
entered national territory through the
inefficiency or convenience of the
system and border control authorities.

The list of "terrorists" is all encompassing:
Thousands of undocumented
"terrorists, mostly Hispanics who,
from sun up to sun down, pick tomatoes,
lettuces and fruits, receiving low
wages, that end up on the table of the
U.S. citizens for the enjoyment of
their pockets and palate.


Hundreds of thousands of "terrorists"
who build the houses we live in, some
climbing up to the roofs of the houses
with temperatures above 100 degrees
Fahrenheit, such as the temperatures of Arizona.

Hundreds of thousands of "terrorists"
who prepare the food in the fast food
restaurants of the nation and who
courteously and diligently attend the
clients.

Hundreds of thousands of "terrorists"
who clean the houses, offices, hotels
and shops of the country.

Hundreds of thousands of "terrorists"
who help hospital staff in the care
and attention of patients.

Hundreds of thousands of "terrorists"
who care for the gardens that allows
us to enjoy the fragrance of flowers
and the colorful patios.

Hundreds of thousands of "terrorists"
who care for the helpless old people,
specially lacking affection due to the
fast modern life.

The list of "terrorists" is long and has
almost the same profile: dark skin,
strong for heavy work and long hours,
willing to work for little, submissive
and faithful.

And their living conditions are, also,
the same: low wages, few chances for
the improvement of their children,
without access to medical care. These are
the terrible people who go to the
emergency services "costing tax payers
money"; and who go to the offices
of social services when they have no
choice but to ask for help or die.
How terrible these "uncivilized
terrorists" who live marginally so
that the system can allow the enrichment
of those who pay low wages and do
not offer medical insurance.

In addition, the measure decrees that
those who have previously acquired a
driver's license will lose them;
sending millions of these "terrorists out
into the streets" for whom this
document is a means to earn a living:
gardeners, food home deliveries,
small business persons who, if they lose
their means of a livelihood, must
go to the charities or social care
institutions to feed their children
adding to the number of poor and to
social dissatisfaction. Because what
the politicians who prepared the
project have not considered is that
they are creating a sub-class among its
own citizens who, sooner or later,
will turn against the system.

It is ironic that the system aims
to prepare its children in the highest
social and moral values; the society
aims to have its citizens respect the
laws and follow its measures. The
government brags that no child should be
left behind and, however, they make
it hard for the parents to take them to
school, take them to a park, to feed them. Why?

For the crime of having crossed the
border illegally although they now bend
their backs working to make this a
better nation.

Poor "terrorists" they no longer
suffer the hardships but the
impenetrability.

Jorge Delgado lives in Irvine, California.

Marxism mailing list
Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

15) CALL TO ACTION: TORTURERS OUT OF SAN FRANCISCO!
CAMPAIGN LAUNCH TO SHUT DOWN CACI, Inc.'s SF OFFICE!
Monday, May 16th, 2 PM
Rally outside Westin St. Francis Hotel
(Union Square - 335 Powell St. at Geary)

CACI International, a private corporation, provided many of the
interrogators at Abu Ghraib prison. Its employees were directly
implicated in the torture scandal. But CACI has faced no consequences so
far. Not one of its employees has been prosecuted, its contract for
"intelligence services" in Iraq was renewed last August, and it
earned over $1 billion in revenue last year - 95% of it from your tax
dollars. Plus, CACI continues to do business undisturbed in San
Francisco and dozens of other cities around the U.S.

This Monday, May 16th, CACI's vice president and other top executives will
be in town to present at an investors' conference at the Westin St.
Francis Hotel. Come help us confront CACI's directors and clients about
their involvement in torture and launch a campaign to shut down CACI's San
Francisco office.
Tell CACI: torturers are NOT WELCOME in our community!
Come to an
ART BUILD & PLANNING MEETING FOR THE CACI ACTION
Saturday, May 14th at 1 PM
St. Boniface Church (133 Golden Gate St. between Leavenworth and Jones,
by Civic Center BART)
FOR MORE INFORMATION and to get involved, email
torturersoutofsf@yahoo.com, call Sarah at 510-472-8476, or come to the
planning meeting/art build on Saturday (details above).

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

16) Always Low Wages. Always.
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Op-Ed Columnist
Published: May 13, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/13/opinion/13krugman.html?hp

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

17) ARMY RECRUITING
May 12, 2005
Amid recruiting shortfalls and accusations of unethical
behavior by some recruiters, the U.S. Army is spending millions
on new programs designed to convince more young Americans to
join the ranks.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/jan-june05/recruiting_5-12.html

RECRUITER: You want a dog tag? It's a custom made dog tag, man.

TOM BEARDEN: On a recent night in Chicago, Army recruiters
were scouring the bleachers before a Golden Gloves boxing
tournament --looking for people to join the Army.

They handed out forms to be filled out with personal information
in exchange for free dog tags and a chance to win an iPod music
player. Some found a receptive audience.

Pitching to young people and trying to hit quotas

RECRUITER: You can go to any state school, like UI, UIC for
free if you go into Army. I got 70-grand for college, I'm
going to get out and they're going to pay me to get a free
education.

TOM BEARDEN: But most were greeted with skepticism...

YOUNG MAN: You all ain't going to draft in the Army or
nothin', is y'all?

RECRUITER: No! There's no draft in this country!

TOM BEARDEN: The military is finding out how hard it can
be to attract volunteers while soldiers and Marines are
dying in Iraq -- more than 1600 so far. The Army alone
has a yearly goal of recruiting 80,000 new people.
Monthly quotas vary. In April, the number was 6,600.

TOM BEARDEN: The Army missed that quota by 42 percent.
For the year, they are down 16 percent.

RECRUITER: You guys want a flag?

TOM BEARDEN: The Army Reserve, National Guard, and the
Marine Corps have also missed monthly quotas, while the
Air Force and Navy have met their goals.

RECRUITER: Anybody else want to fill one out? iPod
raffle for Friday --

TOM BEARDEN: Col. Tom Nickerson is in charge of the
Army's recruiting outreach program.

COL. TOM NICKERSON: It's a very tough environment. It's
the first time that we've recruited for the volunteer
force during a protracted war, so there are some challenges.

TOM BEARDEN: Is the war the issue or is the economy
a factor as well?

COL. TOM NICKERSON: I think there's a number of things.
First of all, I think there are a lot more opportunities
for young Americans today than there have been in the
past, a tribute, if you will, to the improving economy.

Sponsoring sporting events and other tactics

ANNOUNCER IN BOXING RING: It is with great pleasure that
I introduce you to the United States Army's Chicago
recruiting battalion who will be presenting our colors --

TOM BEARDEN: So the Army has stepped up efforts to spread
its message by going to sporting events... and by bringing
sports celebrities into schools. Recently recruiters
brought Army-sponsored bull rider Mike Lee to meet
adoring fans in Calhan, Colorado.

MIKE LEE: You can get something from the soldiers; you
can learn something from these guys that come here to
your school. They give you a new mindset on life that
will make you a successful person.

RECRUITER: The Army has more than what you see or hear
on the news. My career in the United States Army started
back in 1973. I did not have a job; I had no focus,
no direction, so I joined the Army to get that.
It instilled in me discipline that stays with me today.

TOM BEARDEN: The Army is now spending nearly $100 million
a year to sponsor outreach events like professional bull
riding, rock concerts and NASCAR races.

They are events that typically attract crowds of young
men and women who are considered most likely to be
receptive to the Army sales pitch. Sgt. Major Ozell
Johnson is in charge of recruiting in the Chicago area.
He says these days that initial contact is the easy part.

SGT. MAJOR OZELL JOHNSON: For the most part, we found that
most young men and women are really want to serve their
country; however, when they get home and tell mom and dad,
hey this is something I want to do, then that's where the
resistance starts.

AD SPONSORED BY U.S. ARMY (mother speaking to her son):
Something good happen today?

AD SPONSORED BY U.S. ARMY (son speaking): I found someone
to pay for me to go to college --

TOM BEARDEN: So the Army just released a new series
of television ads aimed at what the Army calls "influencers":
parents, teachers and other adults who have influence in
a young person's life.

AD SPONSORED BY U.S. ARMY (son speaking):
It's time for me to be the man.

AD SPONSORED BY U.S. ARMY (mother speaking):
Okay, tell me more.

TOM BEARDEN: The Army is using a lot of different
tactics to try to meet its personnel requirements.
Some 1,500 additional recruiters have been assigned.
Signing bonuses for new recruits have doubled;
they're now as much as $20,000 and there's
talk of raising them even further.

RECRUITER: Have you ever thought about the Army
as a viable option and as a career choice for you?

TOM BEARDEN: The maximum age of recruits has been raised
to forty. And the number of high school dropouts the Army
has accepted has doubled. While that particular change
can boost the number of recruits in the short term, military
sociologist Charles Moskos says that they will hurt the
Army in the long run.

CHARLES MOSKOS: Down the road it's going to have very,
very strong negative effects to recruit people who are not
qualified. And it's a fact that the lower your education
level, the more likely you are not to complete your term
of enlistment, so dropping the standards is going to make
the dropout rate even greater. That's why the real market
has to be looked at college graduates -- something that
the Defense Department has not yet paid attention to.

TOM BEARDEN: The most significant drops in recruiting has been
among African Americans. In 2000, blacks made up 23-percent of
all recruits; five years later, it's 14-percent. Seventeen year
old Keith Nellums, a junior at Englewood Tech Prep High School
in Chicago, says he once considered military service.

KEITH NELLUMS: I really saw it as a way to get an education
and get a good background. But with the war in Iraq and I was
seeing how people was dying, it just scared me basically.

TOM BEARDEN: Polls indicate that African Americans
overwhelmingly oppose the war. Among African American youth
only 36 percent thought the war was justified, compared to
61 percent of white youths.

'Counter-recruiting' and alleged unethical conduct

TOM BEARDEN: Army recruiters insist they aren't troubled by the
decline in black recruits, saying that 14 percent more accurately
represents the percentage of African Americans in
society at large. Even so, Army outreach into minority
neighborhoods and schools like Englewood has significantly
increased.

Students here say recruiters have escalated the pressure to
sign on. Senior Letoya Kimbough is the battalion commander
of her junior ROTC unit at Englewood.

She's been heavily recruited by all branches of the military.
She told recruiters she's going to college first -- and
will then join the Navy. But the navy recruiter is
still calling.

TOM BEARDEN: How often do you hear from the recruiters?

LETOYA KIMBOUGH: Almost every day he calls my house.

TOM BEARDEN: What do the recruiters say when they call
your house?

LETOYA KIMBOUGH: He like tries to encourage me to change
my decision, change my mind, like go into the military
now instead of going to college first.

TOM BEARDEN: Some believe pressure on recruiters to meet
their quotas has led to violations of Army regulations.

In Colorado, Arvada High School Senior David McSwane
says he wanted to see just how desperate recruiters were
so he put them to the test.

DAVID McSWANE: I was just curious, how far would they
go to get one more soldier?

TOM BEARDEN: McSwane, an honors student and editorial
page editor of his high school newspaper, presented
himself at a local recruiting office.

DAVID McSWANE: That's when I told him that I was a
17 year old dropout and that I have a drug addiction.

TOM BEARDEN: And what did he say?

DAVID McSWANE: He said the drug addiction wasn't
a problem, that we would cross that bridge when we come to it.

TOM BEARDEN: And what did that turn out to mean?

DAVID McSWANE: That there was a way of beating a drug
test, the way he knew with this stuff that he would give
me, a detox drink to pass the urinalysis to get in the Army.

TOM BEARDEN: McSwane says the recruiter took him in
a government vehicle to buy the drug elimination kit
and also told him how to get a fake high-school diploma.

DAVID McSWANE: What my recruiter told me to do was go
on the Internet, type in fake diploma and order one off
the Internet, it would need to look real, have a foil
seal on it, and I would need transcripts to go along with it.

The high school name he gave me, which is imaginary, was
Faith Hill Baptist School. So I did that and I brought it
in and he said it was good and he gave it to his superiors
and they cleared it.

TOM BEARDEN: McSwane secretly taped his phone conversations
with the recruiters.

DAVID McSWANE ON TAPE: So they accepted my diploma and
all that?

RECRUITER ON TAPE: Yeah, that's what they told us, so?

DAVID McSWANE ON TAPE: All right. So they don't know that
it's fake or anything? I'm not going to get in trouble?

RECRUITER: Right. They won't know.

TOM BEARDEN: The Army has begun an investigation of the
two soldiers involved. They have been removed from recruiting
duties. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Brodeur heads Denver's Army
recruiting battalion.

TOM BEARDEN: Did these allegations come out of the blue?
Were they a surprise to you?

LT. COL. JEFFREY BRODEUR: They were; they were. I would
not have suspected those two recruiters, I really would
not have; they are good soldiers and they present
themselves as good soldiers.

TOM BEARDEN: Lt. Col Brodeur says the accused recruiters
never submitted McSwane's paperwork, and no one else had
seen the diploma. The U.S. Army recruiting command
acknowledges there were 320 substantiated cases of
wrongdoing by recruiters last year, a 14 percent increase
from 2003. The violations ranged from threats and
coercion to false promises that the recruit would not
be sent to Iraq.

WOMAN AT COUNTER-RECRUITING ALLY: I say that schools
are for learning, not for recruiting --

TOM BEARDEN: Those critical of what they see as overly
aggressive recruiting tactics have stepped up their
opposition --demanding that recruiters not be given such
broad access to the schools. And some school counselors and
teachers like Jackson Potter at Englewood are inviting
so-called counter-recruiters into their classrooms.

JACKSON POTTER: Barry Romo here is a guest speaker. He's
going to give you today a very different perspective than
what you've heard from military recruiters, what it's like
to serve in the Army. Well, there's a different view from
people who have served and seen the death and carnage.

TOM BEARDEN: Vietnam veteran Barry Romo bluntly described
his experiences.

BARRY ROMO: I blew the top of a Vietnamese man's head off.
It went in his skull and totally blew off the top of his
skull. His brain was sitting there --

TOM BEARDEN: Romo went on to join Vietnam Veterans Against
the War, and has been an antiwar activist ever since.

STUDENT: What advice would you give to a young man
graduating out of high school, thinking about going in --

BARRY ROMO: Going into the service? Going to Iraq,
I would say not to do it. You're better off working at
McDonalds and going to a community college; you're
gambling with your life and your future; you're gambling
with your personal integrity.

TOM BEARDEN: Romo told the students to be wary of
recruiters making promises they wouldn't keep.

BARRY ROMO: The Army recruiters promised us free medical
care for life. But we didn't get it in writing. Before
any of you enlist, make sure everything you're promised
is there.

RECRUITER TALKING TO HIGH SCHOOL KIDS: We're just trying
to give you the information on what we can offer you to
get where you want to go in life.

TOM BEARDEN: Despite all of these "challenges," as the
Army calls them, the demand for new recruits is relentless.
The Army goal for May is even higher than last month.
Recruiters all over the country are now out pounding
the pavement, looking for 8,000 new recruits to make quota.

JIM LEHRER: The Army for the first time in recent history
has ordered a one-day suspension of all recruiting next
Friday. The Army's 7,500 recruiters will be lectured on
what is proper to encourage people to enlist.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

18) Just a reminder:
Monday May 16, 7 P.M.,
"DEATH ROW ON THE STREET: THE KILLING OF JULIO AYALA",
presentation by Tania, Julio's sister. At Idriss Stelley
Foundation and Dockta Cooper Networking Project office,
4921 3rd Street, SF, between Palou and Quesada. You can
bring the ninos if you like !

The meeting is hosted every other Monday at 7 PM by the
Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Bayview Chapter.

The rest of the meeting will be spent on strategizing for
summer CEDP actions, particularly on the case of Tookie Williams,
5 times honoree for the Nobel Prize, innocent Brother on death
row in San Quentin after 20+ years, who might be scheduled for
execution in 2005.

When it comes to Justice4Julio Campaign, the Steeringring
Committee (independently from CEDP) is planning to meet after
the general meeting to divide tasks (press release, flyers
for Press conference and Protest on Wed 18 at 5 P.M. on the
steps of SSF City Hall on Grand Boulevard in South City,
networking on carpool from SF for folks who have no wheels,
how to talk to homies, friends, families and co-workers
about the murder of Julio and upcoming actions. & if you
ain't got the time to do any of this, maybe just show up
to show some love to la familia on Monday !

* Paz * Valor * Solidaridad *
mesha Monge-Irizarry
Idriss Stelley Foundation
4921 3rd St SF 94124
Home office 900 Ingerson, a block away from the Ayala Family
(415) 595-8251 24HR Bilingual Spa. Crisis Line

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4Julio
Please sign up on the group if you haven't already !

Also when you get a chance, please check out:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4Gus/
about the murder of Gus Rugley By SFPD on 6-29-04

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

19) Let's face it - the state has lost its mind
The media coverage of this past
election was a pastiche. Our right to
know what our rulers are doing to
people the world over is being lost
in the new propaganda consensus.
By John Pilger
http://www.newstatesman.com/nscoverstory.htm

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

20) The family released a statement...
by Michael Gillespie
(Thursday 12 May 2005)
"Mass round-ups and detentions of innocent civilians, torture
and abuse of prisoners and detainees, America's honor and
prestige at the lowest point ever, and investigations that
whitewash the president's men and blame it all on the enlisted
personnel. Thus the obscene spectacle of the grieving families
at funerals forced by the president's dishonesty to defend the
honor of their dead even as they mourn: "He was noble and
always carried himself with honor." "[He was] a loving husband
and father, a devoted son and brother." "He wanted to go where
good people needed help." "He will be dearly missed." Small
wonder that the president, desperately attempting to hide
behind a façade of rigid religiosity that glorifies war and
false patriotism that exalts the very evils it claims to
despise, never attends the funerals of those who have died
in the line of duty. How could he?"
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/14869/

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

21)Recall Urged for Illegal Biotech Corn
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2005
Contact: Craig Culp, Center for Food Safety, (202) 547-9359;
Bill Freese, Friends of the Earth, (301) 985-3011
Government Must Come Clean on Secret Dealings with Crop Developer
Several hundred tons of the unapproved Bt10 corn, enough to plant
37,000 acres, were mistakenly sold to U.S. farmers under the name
of an approved variety from 2001 to 2004. The resultant harvest of
an estimated 165,000 tons have been sold as food or feed in the
U.S. and abroad. Syngenta first informed the U.S. government of
the mix-up in December 2004, but federal regulatory officials did
not inform the U.S. public that they were eating the untested corn
until the story leaked four months later. U.S. trading partners were
also kept in the dark about possible importation of the corn.
"The potential for yet undetected contamination of other corn varieties
via cross-pollination or seed mix-ups means the unapproved corn could
persist in the food supply for years," said Doug Gurian-Sherman,
senior scientist with Center for Food Safety and a former risk
assessment scientist with EPA. "This happened because the
U.S. regulatory agencies have not followed their own risk
assessment procedures for allowing commercialization of
genetically engineered foods."
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press_release5.11.2005.cfm

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

22) Amman, Iraq, and Al-Qaim
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
May 14, 2005

Amman, Iraq, and Al-Qaim

It feels uncomfortable writing about Iraq from Amman...but my close
friends, Abu Talat (my close friend and interpreter) and intuition have
all provided the same message-do not go inside Iraq at this time.

So I've been in Amman now for about a week, and will resume posting
stories from here soon. We've been working on a couple of stories about
Iraqis in Amman...those should be out soon.

For now, I am using my Iraqi contacts in Baghdad (and other cities) as
well as those who have joined me here, along with watching Al-Jazeera
television, to pass on some news and photos about the situation.

Abu Talat phoned his family today in Baghdad. They've had no electricity
for four days. They told him (uncomfirmed) that all of Iraq has had no
electricity for several days. As Abu Talat says, "Baghdad is running on
the generator."

Of course the gas crisis persists augmented by the lack of electricity,
along with constantly increasing attacks.

We were in a taxi earlier, driving across the orderly streets of Amman
and talking about the situation in Iraq. "Now I feel ashamed to tell
people I am Iraq," says Abu Talat after he told the taxi driver he is
from Baghdad, "Because my country has been totally destroyed."

I look out the window, not knowing what to say. I think to say, 'But it
isn't your fault, habibi," but instead sit quietly, feeling that any
words would be inadequate.

The situation around Al-Qaim where "Operation Matador" is ongoing,
appears to be a micro-version of Fallujah. The military and corporate
media continue to portray the situation as if "foreign fighters" have
taken control of Qaim and surrounding villages (as was said about
Fallujah) when reports from the ground state that interviews with the
fighters have them all saying they are Iraqi.

Of course it behooves the military to claim they are battling "foreign
fighters," because as in Fallujah and elsewhere, it doesn't look good in
the press to admit that they are fighting Iraqis who are fighting for
their independence from the occupiers of their country. Even the marines
in Fallujah admitted they had killed a grand total of 35 foreign
fighters there. That kind of debunks the myth of a foreign terrorist
group taking over the city and terrorizing the citizens.

Another similarity between Qaim and Fallujah is that now there is a
humanitarian crisis in Qaim from the fighting. There are 1,300 displaced
families (approximately 80,000 people) from Qaim and the hospital there
was destroyed amidst fighting on 8 May between resistance fighters and
locals. On the 9th there was no electricity or water in Qaim and the
surrounding areas and schools were closed. On the 11th US warplanes
continued to bomb Obeidy and other nearby locations.

All of the aforementioned statistics were provided to me by a friend who
is here working with the Italian Consortium of Solidarity, an Italian
NGO based in Amman which provides humanitarian aid and has set up an
emergency working group for al-Qaim and has contacts on the ground
there. She also reports that people there need shelter, food, water and
medical care.

The loss of life continues unabated....in the last week at least 37 US
soldiers have been killed, while at least 450 Iraqis have died amidst a
huge surge of ongoing attacks since 28 April, when the Iraqi government
was officially announced.

Abdul-Khaliq al-Raqwi, the director of communications for the Iraqi
Government in al-Qaim, confirmed to Al-Jazeera that 2 US helicopters
were shot down in Qusaybah this past Wednesday. The military denied
this, even though witnesses on the ground confirmed the report as well.

Another interesting incident which occurred the beginning of the month
was when two F-18 Hornet jets crashed in Iraq. The military claimed
there was no indication of hostile fire, yet they crashed in different
locations. On the day of their crash, Baghdad airport was closed to
commercial air traffic for three days with no reason given by authorities.

More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com

You are subscribed to the Dahr Jamail's email Iraq Dispatches because
you requested a subscription at some point.

You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/ to subscribe or
unsubscribe to the email list.

Or, you can unsubscribe by sending an email to
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unsubscribe in the subject or the body of the email.

(c)2004, 2005 Dahr Jamail.
All images and text are protected by United States and international
copyright law. If you would like to reprint Dahr's Dispatches on the
web, you need to include this copyright notice and a prominent link
to the DahrJamailIraq.com website. Any other use of images and text
including, but not limited to, reproduction, use on another website,
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Of course, feel free to forward Dahr's dispatches via email.

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---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

23) 'I Will Not Kill' campaign launches
on Capitol Hill News from The Fellowship of Reconciliation

Fwd: [militaryfreeschools] Fwd:
from: Rosalio Munoz
This cam via Arlene Aginouye a leader of the counter
recruitment movement in L.A. Coalition Against
Militarization of the Schools. Rosalio
--- aginouye@aol.com wrote:

on Capitol Hill

CAMS is supporting this national campaign. Please
feel free to send a statement why you will not kill
send a picture to the website, and spread the
word if you can. Thanks. Arlene

Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 23:44:40 GMT

From: "The Fellowship of Reconciliation."


To: ""
Subject: 'I Will Not Kill' campaign launches on
Capitol Hill

Greetings,

News from The Fellowship of Reconciliation

'I Will Not Kill' Campaign to be launched at Capitol


New FOR initiative supports right to resist war
As U.S. military recruiting numbers fall, the
military is stepping up efforts to entice youth
to join their ranks. The launching of the Fellowship
of Reconciliation's 'I Will Not Kill' campaign is an
to educate youth about the reality of war and their
right to say 'no' to killing.

I Will Not Kill
(http://ga3.org/ct/Qd_SBOK10Xs9/)will hold a
press conference on Monday, May 16th, at 3:30 p.m.
at the U.S.Capitol Building (Room HC-9, basement
level on the House side).
FOR members and supporters in the DC area are
welcome to attend as well!

Co-sponsoring organizations include the Center on
Conscience and
War (http://www.centeronconscience.org
http://www.centeronconscience.org/) and the
office of Rep.Cynthia McKinney (D-GA).
Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) will also attend.

"The human right to say no to militarism and killing
must be unconditionally supported for everyone," said
Ibrahim Ramey, coordinator of FOR's disarmament program.
"It is only when we refuse to kill that real peace and,
in this nation and throughout the world, becomes
living possibility".

The mission of the I Will Not Kill campaign is to
Raise awareness of resistance to war, educate youth about
the impacts of war, oppose a future draft, dismantle the
selective service system, promote a culture of life and promote
conscientious objection to war as a positive alternative to
violence and a way to strengthen and uplift communities and
all of civil society.

The campaign will target high school and college age
youth of color and youth from rural and impoverished white
communities. With this audience in mind, the coalition of
organizations sponsoring this campaign stress the importance of
participation by youth and people of color.

For more information, go to
http://ga3.org/ct/Q1_SBOK10Xsk/
To donate to the I Will Not Kill campaign, visit
http://ga3.org/ct/Q7_SBOK10Xso/

Job openings at FOR for two Development Associates

The Fellowship of Reconciliation is looking for two
Development
Associates. The deadline for applications is May
20th, so hurry!


For more information, go to
http://ga3.org/ct/Pp_SBOK10Xsi/ or
call Anita at 845-358-4601 x32.

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24) Bob Smith, Chair Depleted Uranium Awareness Committee
P.O. Box 480 Franklinton, Louisiana 70438 (504) 581-1086
PRESS RELEASE:

On May 12th, Peter Kovacs, the Managing News Editor of the New
Orleans Times- Picayune, the region‚s major daily newspaper, in
a telephone conversation with veterans advocate Bob Smith, and
a Times-Picayune political analyst stated that a story concerning
a bill giving the right for service women and men from Louisiana
to a best practices health-screening test for exposure to depleted
uranium would not be published. The reason Kovacs gave was because
the bill was not costing the state any money. Kovacs went on to
say that the Times Picayune criteria for newsworthiness was how
much it would cost. The fact that the bill supports the troops‚
health concerns is not the criteria. Four other media outlets in
the region have already covered the story expressing concerns
for the troops. On Tuesday, May 3rd, The Louisiana State House
of Representatives passed a bill to give the right to all Louisiana
Servicemen and women returning from Operations Enduring Freedom
and Iraqi Freedom for testing for depleted uranium contamination.
Louisiana is the first state in the nation to have their House
pass this type of bill. The vote was 101 to 0 in favor. The
Louisiana Brigade, with approximately 4,500 National Guardsmen,
is expected to return home from Iraq between October and December
2005. DU is radioactive and can cause leukemia, DNA breakdown,
various other cancers, and birth defects in offspring of soldiers
who have come into contact with it. The VA and the DOD have been
conducting testing that is not sensitive enough to detect whether
a soldier has been contaminated. This bill would have helped
alleviate that by pressuring the State‚s Adjutant General to
insure that the test mandated by DOD orders and Army regulations
would be executed. The „money‰ criteria used by the New Orleans
Times-Picayune is shocking in light of the fact that the country
is at war and legislation supporting the troops health concerns
is of utmost importance.
F O R I M M E D I A T E R E L E A S E Bob Smith Chair Depleted
Uranium Awareness Committee Louisiana Activist Network

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25) CASTRO DEFENDS FUGITIVE SOUGHT BY U.S.
http://playahata.com/hatablog/wp-trackback.php/505

HAVANA- President Fidel Castro has rejected calls to hand over a black
militant convicted in 1973 of killing a New Jersey state trooper, saying
she's avictim of racial persecution and not a terrorist, as U.S. officials
declared recently.

"They wanted to portray her as a terrorist, something that was an
injustice, a brutality, an infamous lie," Castro said in a television
address Tuesday night.

While Castro did not identify the woman by name, he was clearly alluding
to ASSATA SHAKUR - the former JOANNE CHESIMARD - who was put on a U.S.
government terrorist watch list May 2. On the same day, New Jersey
officials announced a $1 million reward for her capture.

Castro's remarks were his first comment on the new U.S. actions.

A member of the Black Liberation Army, Shakur, 57, was convicted of
killing New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster as he lay on the
ground. She escaped from prison in 1979 and fled to Cuba.

Castro referred to her as a victim of "the fierce repression against the
black movement in the United States" and said she had been "a true
political prisoner."

"They have always been hunting her, searching for her because of the
fact that there was an accident in which a policeman died," Castro said,
reflecting Shakur's assertion that she did not shoot the officer.

Castro said an appeal for her expulsion had been raised with him several
years ago by a woman who was both "a friend of Cuba" and a friend of
former President Clinton.

"I transmitted my opinion to the president of the United States," he
said, though he did not specify who raised the issue nor when she
visited. He made clear the case involved New Jersey.

Castro suggested that the action was meant to divert attention from
Cuba's demand that U.S. officials arrest Luis Posada Carriles, who is
wanted in Venezuela on charges of involvement in blowing up a civilian
Cuban jetliner in 1976, killing 73 people.

His attorney has said that Posada, a former CIA employee, slipped into
the United States and is seeking asylum. Posada denies any role in the
airplane attack.

Castro, in a televised appearance Wednesday that lasted four hours,
stepped up his denunciations of the U.S. government for failure to
arrest Posada.

Castro read summaries of newly released U.S. intelligence documents
linking Posada and other anti-Castro militants to terrorist attacks
beyond the 1976 bombing of a jetliner that killed 73 people.

The Cuban leader previously has called for a massive rally on May 17 in
front of the U.S. Interests Section, or diplomatic mission, to demand
the arrest of Posada.

He dedicated most of Tuesday's remarks to descriptions of numerous
terrorist actions that Cuba alleges Posada and his anti-Castro
associates have committed over the past 35 years.

Castro referred to earlier published suggestions that Posada and
Florida-based exile Orlando Bosch could have been involved in the 1963
assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

"There are strange things, very strange, mixed up here," Castro said.

Marxism mailing list
Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism

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26) Subject: second announcement about peace activities
in Richmond memorial day week
----- Original Message -----
From: "J. Gab..... ....global.net>
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 9:02 PM


dear friends please pass this along to anyone you
think might be available to help us --
thanks and peace to us and people everywhere
Gabriella

PEACE ACTIVITIES IN RICHMOND , California, USA
A coalition of West County groups will engage in a
series of peace, anti-violence, and anti-war actions
in recognition of Memorial Day. The public is
encouraged to stand with us at the following actions.

We will be exhibiting large images of the war dead
using posterboards that have three- by five-inch
pictures and the names of American soldiers and images
of Iraqis who have died in Iraq in the last two years.
This powerful visual presentation of the consequences
of war is on loan from United For Peace and Justice
Bay Area. The idea is to demonstrate the human cost
of war to the people in Iraq, the US soldiers and the
people in our community.
We will have literature about the military and
their recent recruitment efforts, information for
kids about the reality of joining the military as
well as some literature that connects the lack of
services in West Contra Costa county, the huge
military budget, and local violence.

We plan to gather:
Tuesday May 24th from 11 am to 1pm at Contra Costa
College between the library and the student union.
The college is at 2600 Mission Bell Drive in San Pablo.

Wednesday May 25th at 1:50 (dismissal time) in
front of Kennedy High School, at 4300 Cutting Blvd, Richmond

Thursday May 26th at 3:05 (dismissal time) in front
of Richmond High school at 1250 23rd St, Richmond

Friday May 27th at the Richmond Farmer's market
(Macdonald and 27th St) from 11 am - 1 pm

Saturday May 28th at Nicholl Park ( 32nd and
Macdonald ) from 12 - 1 pm.

We hope to get at least 10 to 20 activists at each
locale even though the events are during the work day.
We hope that people can come on their lunch hour for
any part of each event. If you want more information,
please contact Gabriella Heinsheimer at
gheinsheim@sbcglobal.net or 524-5297.

If you know when you can come please contact
Soula Culver at sc@lmi.net

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27) Recruiter-turned-peacenik hits nerve in N.C.
By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-03-20-recruiter-peacenik_x.htm

WAYNESVILLE, N.C. - If you were young and tough and wanted
a challenge, Jimmy Massey was the man to see. He was gung ho.
He was Semper Fi . He was the strutting, cussing, tobacco-
chewing Marine recruiter.

The staff sergeant won scores of recruits in this and other
patriotic mountain towns by talking courage, honor, commitment.
Then, following his own adage - "you gotta walk the walk" –
he went to Iraq.

That was two years ago, before Massey left the Marines,
returned to Waynesville, and began saying things about the
war that make people wonder whether they really knew him
in the first place. These days Massey carries a sign around
town that says he killed Iraqi civilians. He confesses to
having enticed some recruits with false promises, and
encouraged others to lie on applications. He has gone to
Canada to testify for an Army deserter seeking asylum,
and he has spoken at peace rallies.

He left a Marine recruiter and returned a peacenik.

This is the story of a veteran and the town to which he
returned - a town that no longer recognizes the man who
once preached the leatherneck gospel and now has a whole
different sermon.

Carolyn Burkes, whose son served in Iraq, wants to kick
his butt for recruiting him. Louise Goss, whose son will
soon return to Iraq, wants to run him over for turning on
the troops. Cpl. Lincoln Walburn, a reservist who could go
to Iraq any time, wants to deck him. "I looked up to the
staff sergeant," says Walburn, whom Massey recruited,
"but he is dishonoring himself and the Marine Corps."

Others want to shake Massey's hand. "It's unthinkably
courageous to admit you're wrong and turn your life around,"
says Daniel Miller, whose Marine son was recruited by Massey.
"Most people would slink away. He's trying to make amends."

More than anything, people are puzzled by Massey's
transformation.

But they don't know the whole story: that for two years before
he went to Iraq, Massey apparently suffered from depression,
which he blamed on the stress of recruiting, and that before
rejoining his unit, he stopped taking his medication.

Does knowing the whole story make a difference? Did depression
color what Massey saw in Iraq, or did what he saw there make
him depressed? Soldiers talk about the "fog of war." Sometimes
things aren't any clearer on the home front.

When Massey came here as the recruiter in 1999 after eight
years in the Corps, he seemed to embody its mystique, down
to his tattoos. Kids dropped by the recruiting station just
to hang out. "Sgt. Massey was someone I could talk to,"
Walburn says. But there was a side people didn't see,
according to a military medical report furnished by Massey.
It was written after he returned from Iraq.

When he was a recruiter, Massey felt stressed by pressure
to fill his quota and by guilt over the half-truths he told
to fill it. He developed shingles and high blood pressure.
In May 2001, halfway through his three-year tour, he was
diagnosed with depression.

But in April 2003, according to the medical report, Massey
asked "to taper off his psychiatric medications. In
anticipation of finishing recruiting duty, he expected that
things would just magically improve. He reports that he would
tell himself that everything would be great as soon as he
was off recruiting and in a normal unit again."

That fall, Massey says, he stopped taking antidepressants
and prepared to rejoin his infantry weapons unit. Walburn
heard worry in Massey's voice, "but he kept up a good front.
If you're a staff sergeant, you don't want to look weak."

A year later, Massey was back. He had left the Marines,
gotten engaged to a local woman and was selling furniture.
No one knew what happened in Iraq. When Mark Phillips, whom
Massey recruited into the Marine Forces Reserve, ran into
him on the street, "He just told me he had some issues and
he had to get out."

Then, in February 2004, the local newspaper published
a story about Massey.

Massey told The Mountaineer that he and his platoon were
staffing a roadblock near Baghdad when a car inexplicably
failed to slow as it approached, despite the Marines'
warnings. The Marines opened fire, killing three occupants.
Only the driver survived.

Massey said that these and other civilian deaths depressed
him, and that finally he told his superiors he thought that
the Geneva Conventions were being violated.

He was sent back to the USA, where a military doctor diagnosed
him with major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
He was honorably discharged with an 80% disability.

Massey's friends were shocked by his charges about civilian
deaths. Walburn says he asked himself, "That's the hard ass
that recruited me?"

Louise Goss, whose son was recruited by Massey, wrote
a letter to the newspaper accusing him of turning his back
on his recruits: "This is war, Mr. Massey. ... Innocent
people die in war, always have and always will."

The Marines say Massey's charges about civilian killings
have been "found to be unsubstantiated," according to a
Corps spokesman, Maj. Doug Powell. He declined to discuss
in detail the incidents Massey described, but said, "You
have to consider the rules of engagement and the current
threat," which demanded heightened suspicion of civilians
and civilian vehicles.

Many Massey recruits feel his description of what he saw
in Iraq doesn't support his conclusions. Soldiers, they
argue, are obligated to fire on a vehicle that fails to
stop at a war zone checkpoint. "In that situation, it's
either kill or be killed," Walburn says. Phillips agrees:
"He was doing his job, whether he knows it or not."

Massey has his defenders. As a recruiter, "He was straight
with me," Marine Sgt. Noah Miller says. "Some recruiters offer
you the sky because if they told you the real deal, they
wouldn't get nearly the number of people they get. ... That
was not the case with Jimmy Massey."

For others, Massey's claims raise difficult issues. Louise
Owens sent a copy of her letter in The Mountaineer to her
son Cody, who spent six months in Iraq last year. His reaction
surprised her: "He said, Mom, I'm not saying he's right or
wrong, but some of the things that happen in Iraq, the U.S.
people don't know about. ... I don't like to hear anyone
putting Massey down who's not been over there and done that.' "

At 33, Massey is not what you might expect in a former Marine
sergeant. He seems introspective. He says he is in therapy,
and takes six different prescription medicines for maladies
ranging from depression to high blood pressure. He lives
on disability pay.

Most local veterans regard Massey as "an outcast," according
to Roy Pressley, an officer at the American Legion post
here. He keeps to himself, and left his sales job because
of tension over his comments on the war. He says that once,
when he was out walking with his protest sign, a man driving
a car swerved at him.

Why the one-man picket line? Isn't he afraid of looking
like a nut?

"It's leadership by example. That's what the Marines
teaches," he replies. "How can I ask another Marine to
protest the war if I haven't done it myself?

"That lifestyle never leaves you," he adds. "Honor, courage,
commitment - that still works well for me. I still eat and
sleep the Marines. I'm still a Marine."

He pulls up his right sleeve to reveal, on his right arm,
a big purple tattoo: the Marines' eagle, globe and anchor
insignia.

When Lincoln Walburn is told of his old recruiter's battle
with depression, he's not sympathetic. He says Massey should
never have tried to go to war.

But he understands why Massey had wanted to get back to his
combat unit after his stint as a recruiter: "That's the Marine
mentality," he says. "He was a staff sergeant in the United
States Marine Corps. If that doesn't say something about who
you are, I don't know what does."

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posted 3:19 PM  1 comments

1) MONEY FOR SCHOOLS NOT FOR WAR!
GET THE MILITARY RECRUITERS OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS!
COME TO THE COLLEGE NOT COMBAT KICKOFF RALLY
AND PETITION DRIVE FOR THE ANTIWAR COUNTER
RECRUITMENT BALLOT INITIATIVE!
SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2004
16TH AND MISSION BART STATION
Planning meeting for kickoff rally: Sat. May 21, 3pm,
110 Capp St. between 16th & 17th—buzz #202
415-248-1701
Come and help petition to get a proposition on the ballot that
Says:
The people of San Francisco oppose U.S. military recruiters
using public school, college and university facilities to
recruit young people into the armed forces. Furthermore,
San Francisco should oppose the military’s “economic draft”
by investigating means by which to fund and grant scholarships
for college and job training to low-income students so they
are not economically compelled to join the military!
Speakers TBA

2) Soaring birth deformities and child cancer rates in Iraq
By James Cogan
10 May 2005
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/may2005/iraq-m10.shtml

3) FREE PABLO PAREDES AND KEVIN BENDERMAN
PUT THE WAR ON TRIAL
This is the most up-to-date information on the
Put the War on Trial event in New York City.

4) 20,000+ letters sent to Bush & Congress to say:
No asylum for Luis Posada Carriles
Extradite him to Venezuela

5) Halliburton Lands $72 Million in Bonuses
Reuters
Tuesday 10 May 2005
Army awards firm for logistics work; no decision on
dining services.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/051005W.shtml

6) Pentagon Is Asking Congress to Loosen Environmental Laws
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
Published: May 11, 2005
"WASHINGTON, May 10 - After three unsuccessful tries,
the Pentagon is asking Congress again this year to loosen
major environmental laws to allow military training
exercises around the country to proceed unimpeded.
Military officials say the requested changes, which could
be approved this week as part of the defense authorization
bill for 2006, are essential to preserve the quality of
training and to avoid lawsuits over possible violations
of statutes that govern air, water and waste."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/11/politics/11enviro.html?

7) Super Sized Support for 'McLibel'
Global Exchange, CorpWatch and National Lawyers Guild on Board to
Promote High-Profile 'McLibel' Case Doc. Film Opens in June.
Cinema Libre Studio
8328 DeSoto Avenue
Canoga Park, CA 91304
www.cinemalibrestudio.com
May 10, 2005
Contact: Lauri Blue, (818) 349-8822, lblue@cinemalibrestudio.com
Beth Portello, 818-349-8822
bportello@cinemalibrestudio.com


8) May Day in Caracas 2005
a multi-media presentation
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
7:30-9:30pm
Sliding scale $5-15 (no one turned away for lack of funds)
La Pena Community Center
3105 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA
(near the Ashby BART)
Jonathan Nack traveled to Venezuela on special assignment for
the Epicenter News Service to cover the mass mobilizations that
took place there for May Day, May 1, 2005. Mr. Nack will give
a multi-media presentation including video, photos, interviews
with workers and leaders, Venezuelan music, and a brief travel log.
A short clip from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias's day
Day speech will be included.
Come out and learn how Venezuela is completely off-the-hook
and how the Bolivarian Revolution is mobilizing and being led
by workers and the poor. Get your battery charged and faith
reinforced off the energy of the Venezuelan people. Know for
sure that another world is possible.
Jonathan Nack is the Managing Editor of the Epicenter News
Service, which is the publisher of EastBayNews.org .
The program will include other special guests.
http://www.EastBayNews.org

9) Sanders' Forums Take Aim at Poverty
by Kim Smith Dedam, Southern Vermont Bureau
Published on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 by the Rutland Herlad
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0510-10.htm

10) LUIS POSADA CARRILES
THE DECLASSIFIED RECORD
CIA and FBI Documents Detail Career in International
Terrorism; Connection to U.S.
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 153
For more information contact
Peter Kornbluh - 202/994-7116
May 10, 2005
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm

11) Real Wages Fall at Fastest Rate in 14 Years
by Christopher Swann in Washington
Published on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 by the Financial Times
"Real wages in the US are falling at their fastest rate in 14
years, according to data surveyed by the Financial Times by
the Economic Policy Institute."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0511-08.htm

12) Memories of Phil and Phylis Morrison
Send contributions (images, audio, stories) to
stories@memoriesofmorrison.org
This site celebrates the lives of two remarkable people:
Phil and Phylis Morrison
http://www.memoriesofmorrison.org/
The friends and extended family of Phil and Phylis Morrison
are saddened at the passing of an era that occurred in the
afternoon of Friday, April 22, 2005, when Phil passed away
in his sleep. Although neither Phil nor Phylis had much use
for tributes, we do feel the need for continuing connection,
and so have come together in cyberspace to celebrate their
impact on our lives.
A memorial service will be held at M.I.T. on Saturday,
September 10, 2005. At this point, times are being coordinated,
but it looks like a late morning to early afternoon affair
to be held in Kresge Auditorium on the main M.I.T. Campus.
Watch this space for more information.
We welcome you to this site, and hope you will pass along
ideas and suggestions for ways that we can continue to
honor their legacies. You can send email to
stories@memoriesofmorrison.org

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1) MONEY FOR SCHOOLS NOT FOR WAR!
GET THE MILITARY RECRUITERS OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS!
COME TO THE COLLEGE NOT COMBAT KICKOFF RALLY
AND PETITION DRIVE FOR THE ANTIWAR COUNTER
RECRUITMENT BALLOT INITIATIVE!
SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2004
16TH AND MISSION BART STATION
Planning meeting for kickoff rally: Sat. May 21, 3pm,
110 Capp St. between 16th & 17th—buzz #202
415-248-1701
Come and help petition to get a proposition on the ballot that
Says:
The people of San Francisco oppose U.S. military recruiters
using public school, college and university facilities to
recruit young people into the armed forces. Furthermore,
San Francisco should oppose the military’s “economic draft”
by investigating means by which to fund and grant scholarships
for college and job training to low-income students so they
are not economically compelled to join the military!
Speakers TBA

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2) Soaring birth deformities and child cancer rates in Iraq
By James Cogan
10 May 2005
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/may2005/iraq-m10.shtml

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3) FREE PABLO PAREDES AND KEVIN BENDERMAN
PUT THE WAR ON TRIAL
This is the most up-to-date information on the
Put the War on Trial event in New York City.

Please Distribute Widely:

FREE PABLO PAREDES AND KEVIN BENDERMAN
PUT THE WAR ON TRIAL

On May 11th, Sailor Pablo Paredes and soldier Kevin Benderman are
scheduled to appear before military court martial tribunals for their
opposition to the Iraq War. They face forfeiture of pay and benefits,
and military jail time.

On December 6, 2004, Navy Petty Officer Pablo Paredes refused to board
his ship as it left the San Diego Naval Station in support of the Iraq
War and occupation.

On January 5, 2005, Army Sgt Kevin Benderman refused to deploy for a
second tour of duty in Iraq with the Army's Third Infantry Division.
At the same time seventeen other soldiers from his unit went AWOL, two
tried to kill themselves and one had a relative shoot him in the leg to
avoid deploying.

Both men applied for discharge from the US military as conscientious
objectors. The military has wrongly rejected both claims.

It's time for us to escalate public pressure and action in support of
Pablo, Kevin and the thousands of other courageous men and women who
have followed their conscience to uphold international law and to take
a principled stand against the unjust, illegal war and occupation of
Iraq. It's time we had their backs.

On May 12th, we will have a unique event. What Pablo and Kevin are
unable to say in their trials we will say in public. We will put the
war on trial.

Guest Witnesses Include:
Michael Ratner, Center for Constitutional Rights
Tod Ensign, Citizen Soldier
Chris Harrison, Iraq Veterans Against the War
Ray Ramos, deployed in Iraq with the 442nd Military Police
Medija Tahir
and more...

Thursday, May 12th at 7pm
The Community Church of New York
40 East 35th Street (between Park and Madison Ave.)
Take the 6 train to 33rd Street or the B, D, F, and R to 34th Street
and 6th Avenue at Herald Square.

To endorse the event, please email ParedesBendermanDefense@yahoo.com

Sponsored by (in formation):
Citizens for Pablo
Veterans for Peace
Military Families Speak Out NY-NJ-CT
Vietnam Veterans Against the War
United For Peace and Justice
International Action Center / SNAFU
Not In Our Name
Campus Anti-War Network
Vietnam Veterans Against the War - Clarence Fitch Chapter (NY, NJ, CT)
New York City Labor Against the War
Chris Harrison (Iraq Veterans Against the War, Peace-Out.com)*
Nancy Romer (Chair, PSC-CUNY Peace and Justice Committee and Co-
convener, Educators to Stop the War)*
International Socialist Organization
Solidarity
GI Special
Military Project
Code Pink
Citizen Soldier

* For identification purposes only

"All of the politicians that want to fight a war are free to trade
places with me at any time. I will gladly go and learn war no more."
--Sgt. Kevin Benderman

"I call on everyone who reads these words, to reclaim their humanity.
Refuse, as every member of humanity should, to promote this mass
violence against innocent people."
--Pablo Paredes

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT PABLO AND KEVIN AND TO SIGN AN ONLINE PETITION
IN SUPPORT OF THEIR CASES VISIT:
www.defendpablo.org
www.bendermandefense.org

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4) 20,000+ letters sent to Bush & Congress to say:
No asylum for Luis Posada Carriles
Extradite him to Venezuela

You can help keep the pressure up!

The incredible response to A.N.S.W.E.R.'s campaign to extradite
anti-Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles has led to people sending
more than 20,000 emails and letters to Bush and members of Congress.
Weeks of letter writing, press conferences and rallies has
successfully drawn attention to the obvious hypocrisy of the Bush
administration's so-called "War on Terrorism."

This campaign is making a big impact. Yesterday (May 9), the New York
Times ran a major front-page story on the case. A link to the article
can be found below. Today, there was a follow-up editorial.

Let's keep up the pressure - right now - as it is making a big
difference. Please send a letter or another letter and forward
this appeal to a friend or family member and urge them to act now.
It is easy for you and your friends to join this campaign.
A.N.S.W.E.R. has set up an easy-to-use mechanism to facilitate
sending a quick email to George W. Bush and the Congressional
Representative in your District and Senators in your state with
your demands. We have provided a sample letter, but you can
customize your message to get your point across. Just click
here to get started sending your letter! For background on
the case, click here.

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition can continue this and all the other
campaigns because of the generous contributions and donations
of people who want this movement to grow.

Your Help Makes the Difference

It is the tireless work of volunteers that allows us to
simultaneously support Cuba's right to be free from U.S.-sponsored
terrorism, oppose the occupation of Iraq, support the Haitian
people's fight for democracy, defend Social Security and oppose
the Bush budget cuts, while striking back in support of the Bill
of Rights and the First Amendment as the government tries to
eviscerate those cherished freedoms.

Hard work from hundreds of dedicated activists throughout the
country is only part of the equation. Every person of conscience
needs to support this work by a making a contribution. We use
the principle of the equality of sacrifice. A donation of $10
for low income people could be equal to a $50 contribution or
a $500 contribution from someone in a more stable economic
situation. The most important thing is that everyone who
believes in social justice and peace participate in this
great undertaking.

Click here now to make a credit card contribution through our
secure server, where you can also get information on how to
contribute by check.

Read the article in the May 9 New York Times: Cuban Exile
Could Test U.S. Definition of Terrorist.

A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-533-0417
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
For media inquiries, call 202-544-3389.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

5) Halliburton Lands $72 Million in Bonuses
Reuters
Tuesday 10 May 2005
Army awards firm for logistics work; no decision on
dining services.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/051005W.shtml

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6) Pentagon Is Asking Congress to Loosen Environmental Laws
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
Published: May 11, 2005
"WASHINGTON, May 10 - After three unsuccessful tries, the
Pentagon is asking Congress again this year to loosen major
environmental laws to allow military training exercises
around the country to proceed unimpeded.
Military officials say the requested changes, which could
be approved this week as part of the defense authorization
bill for 2006, are essential to preserve the quality of
training and to avoid lawsuits over possible violations of
statutes that govern air, water and waste."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/11/politics/11enviro.html?

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

7) Super Sized Support for 'McLibel'
Global Exchange, CorpWatch and National Lawyers Guild on Board to
Promote High-Profile 'McLibel' Case Doc. Film Opens in June.
Cinema Libre Studio
8328 DeSoto Avenue
Canoga Park, CA 91304
www.cinemalibrestudio.com
May 10, 2005
Contact: Lauri Blue, (818) 349-8822, lblue@cinemalibrestudio.com
Beth Portello, 818-349-8822
bportello@cinemalibrestudio.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 10, 2005


Super Sized Support for 'McLibel'
Global Exchange, CorpWatch and National Lawyers Guild on Board to
Promote High-Profile 'McLibel' Case Doc. Film Opens in June.

LOS ANGELES - Global Exchange, CorpWatch, National
Lawyers Guild, CodePink, Voices for a Viable Future, SF Vegetarian
Society and Bay Area Vegetarians have joined forces with Cinema
Libre Studio to support the June theatrical release of the
controversial documentary 'McLibel.'

Directed by Franny Armstrong, "McLibel" follows the
15-year story of London Greenpeace activists Helen Steel and Dave
Morris as they are transformed from anonymous campaign volunteers
into unlikely global heroes. McDonald's sued the single father
and part-time bar worker for libel in 1990, after "McSpies"
infiltrated their non-profit group.

Morris and Steel refused to apologize for distributing a leaflet
that asked consumers to ponder the question: "What's Wrong with
McDonald's?" The leaflet listed 15 reasons why the corporation
did not have the public's best interests in mind. The 'McLibel 2'
defended themselves through what became the longest running
legal battle in English history. The case has been described
as "the biggest corporate PR disaster" ever.

"For organizations like ours," says Andrea Buffa, Communications
Director of Global Exchange, "that are dedicated to exposing
the toll that corporate globalization takes on human rights
and environment, it is important we be able to get real information
to the public about what corporations are doing. Global Exchange
can't afford billboards and television commercials like the
corporations can, so we need to be able to spread our information
in other ways - like leafleting outside McDonald's the way
David and Helen did."

The seven organizations will provide support for the film by
spreading the word on a grassroots level and educating their
members on the issues raised in the film in relation to their
own organizational causes. Some of the orgs will reach out to
the media, leafleting outside of McDonald's in select cities
and by creating specific actions to promote the film.

Eric Schlosser, author of "Fast Food Nation," became a supporter
of "McLibel" early by participating in the film as one of the
interviewees. In addition, agit-prop artist Ron English generously
donated his artwork titled "McAmerica" (owned by Robert C. Carvalho)
to use as the "McLibel" poster image in the US.

In the "McLibel" case (1996-2005), London's Royal Courts of
Justice found McDonald's marketing to have claimed "a positive
nutritional benefit which their food did not match", that
McDonald's "exploits children" with their advertising strategy,
found the company to be "culpably responsible for animal
cruelty", and that it was fair comment to say that McDonald's
employees worldwide "do badly in terms of pay and conditions."
And finally, "If one eats enough McDonald's food, one's diet
may well become high in fat, with the very real risk of heart
disease."

In February 2005, the European Court of Human Rights declared
that the notorious "McLibel" case breached Steel's and Morris'
rights to a fair trial, to freedom of expression, and had failed
to protect the public's right to criticize massive corporations
whose business practices can affect people's lives, health and
the environment. The court's rulings will likely change the
course of British freedom of speech laws forever.

Media interest in the story remains as fevered today as it has
been for the past decade and a half.

"This story is an inspiration to activists everywhere," says
Pratap Chatterjee, managing editor/project director of CorpWatch.
"Two individuals with no money can defeat multinational Goliaths!"

"McLibel" will open on Friday, June 10th in San Francisco and
Seattle and will continue to Minneapolis on June 17th. Exact
theaters to be announced shortly and additional cities to be
added soon.

Grassroots organizations interested in becoming involved in
the McLibel campaign should contact Rich Castro at
rcastro@cinemalibrestudio.com.

ATTENTION EDITORS AND PRODUCERS: Screeners of "McLibel" and
interviews with Franny Armstrong, Dave Morris or Helen Steel
are available upon request. To learn more about the feature
film "McLibel," or to download photos, please visit
www.McLibelthemovie.com.

-30-

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8) May Day in Caracas 2005
a multi-media presentation
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
7:30-9:30pm
Sliding scale $5-15 (no one turned away for lack of funds)
La Pena Community Center
3105 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA
(near the Ashby BART)
Jonathan Nack traveled to Venezuela on special assignment for
the Epicenter News Service to cover the mass mobilizations that
took place there for May Day, May 1, 2005. Mr. Nack will give
a multi-media presentation including video, photos, interviews
with workers and leaders, Venezuelan music, and a brief travel log.
A short clip from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias's day
Day speech will be included.
Come out and learn how Venezuela is completely off-the-hook
and how the Bolivarian Revolution is mobilizing and being led
by workers and the poor. Get your battery charged and faith
reinforced off the energy of the Venezuelan people. Know for
sure that another world is possible.
Jonathan Nack is the Managing Editor of the Epicenter News
Service, which is the publisher of EastBayNews.org .
The program will include other special guests.
http://www.EastBayNews.org

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

9) Sanders' Forums Take Aim at Poverty
by Kim Smith Dedam, Southern Vermont Bureau
Published on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 by the Rutland Herlad
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0510-10.htm

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

10) LUIS POSADA CARRILES
THE DECLASSIFIED RECORD
CIA and FBI Documents Detail Career in International
Terrorism; Connection to U.S.
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 153
For more information contact
Peter Kornbluh - 202/994-7116
May 10, 2005
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

11) Real Wages Fall at Fastest Rate in 14 Years
by Christopher Swann in Washington
Published on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 by the Financial Times
"Real wages in the US are falling at their fastest rate in 14
years, according to data surveyed by the Financial Times by
the Economic Policy Institute."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0511-08.htm


---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

12) Memories of Phil and Phylis Morrison
Send contributions (images, audio, stories) to
stories@memoriesofmorrison.org
This site celebrates the lives of two remarkable people:
Phil and Phylis Morrison
http://www.memoriesofmorrison.org/
The friends and extended family of Phil and Phylis Morrison
are saddened at the passing of an era that occurred in the
afternoon of Friday, April 22, 2005, when Phil passed away
in his sleep. Although neither Phil nor Phylis had much use
for tributes, we do feel the need for continuing connection,
and so have come together in cyberspace to celebrate their
impact on our lives.
A memorial service will be held at M.I.T. on Saturday,
September 10, 2005. At this point, times are being coordinated,
but it looks like a late morning to early afternoon affair
to be held in Kresge Auditorium on the main M.I.T. Campus.
Watch this space for more information.
We welcome you to this site, and hope you will pass along
ideas and suggestions for ways that we can continue to
honor their legacies. You can send email to
stories@memoriesofmorrison.org

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) For Mother's Day, Bring the Troops Home Now
By Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
(Talk given at the "Wage Peace Mother's Day
Media Walk and Rally Saturday, May 7)

2) National Day of Action to Support GI Resisters
Tuesday, May 10 - San Francisco
Support Pablo Paredes and Kevin Benderman!
Noon at the SF War Memorial Building,
401 Van Ness across from City Hall

3) Julio Ayala, 26 yr. Salvadoran citizen, was beaten to death for
15 minutes by 13 SSF "Peace Officers" on 4-3-05, shortly after
midnight after SF Airport Inn Manager and the occupant of Rm 202,
adjacent to Julio's room complained to PD about excessive noise.

4) The Gates of Hell: Occupied Iraq
by Jack Random
www.dissidentvoice.org
May 5, 2005
http://dissidentvoice.org/May05/Random0505.htm

5) U.S. to Spend Billions More to Alter Security Systems
By ERIC LIPTON
May 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/08/national/08screen.html?hp&ex=1115611200&en=5cfdf0fee9e6ae67&ei=5094&partner=homepage

6) Under New Medicare Prescription Drug Plan,
Food Stamps May Be Reduced
By ROBERT PEAR
May 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/08/politics/08drugs.html?

7) ACLU OF NEW MEXICO SUES APS FOR FAILURE
TO COMPLY WITH THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, May 5, 2005
CONTACT:
Peter Simonson, Executive Director, ACLU of New Mexico
at 505-266-4622 or (cell) 505-620-0775

8) Toward Global Dialogue: Can We Talk?
by Sam Husseini
www.dissidentvoice.org
May 7, 2005
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/May05/Husseini0507.htm

9) U.S. Forces Mount Offensive
Near Syrian Border With Iraq
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
and TERENCE NEILAN
Published: May 9, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/09/international/middleeast/09cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1115697600&en=036929e346b855f6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

10) States Propose Sweeping Changes to Trim Medicaid by Billions
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: May 9, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/09/national/09medicaid.html?hp&ex=1115697600&en=a22d0d23988af62b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

11) Cuban Exile Could Test
the U.S. Definition of Terrorist
By TIM WEINER
Published: May 9, 2005
"Mr. Posada, a Cuban exile, has long been a symbol for the
armed anti-Castro movement in the United States. He remains
a prime suspect in the bombing of a Cuban commercial airliner
that killed 73 people in 1976. He has admitted to plotting
attacks that damaged tourist spots in Havana and killed an
Italian visitor there in 1997. He was convicted in Panama in
a 2000 bomb plot against Mr. Castro. He is no longer welcome
in his old Latin America haunts.
Mr. Posada, 77, sneaked back into Florida six weeks ago in
an effort to seek political asylum for having served as
a cold war soldier on the payroll of the Central Intelligence
Agency in the 1960's, his lawyer, Eduardo Soto, said at
a news conference last month."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/09/national/09exile.html?hp&ex=1115697600&en=6d59e05bb7bfc462&ei=5094&partner=homepage

12) "REAL ID" APPROVED
Immigration News Briefs (INB), a weekly English-language
summary of US immigration news, is forwarded out to the
email list of the Coalition for the Human Rights of
Immigrants (CHRI).

13) Foss High Students Win Victory For Free Speech And
Counter-Recruitment Movement
Received May8, 2005
Thanks to Doug Nielson for compiling this information.
Thanks to everyone who called in to support us
May 6, 2005
By Clara Lightner (sophomore at Foss High School, Tacoma, WA)

14) Soldier Lifts Lid on Camp Delta
By Paul Harris
The Observer UK
Sunday 08 May 2005
For the first time, an army insider blows
the whistle on human rights abuses at Guantánamo.
"An American soldier has revealed shocking new details
of abuse and sexual torture of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay
in the first high-profile whistleblowing account to emerge
from inside the top-secret base.
Erik Saar, an Arabic speaker who was a translator in
interrogation sessions, has produced a searing first-hand
account of working at Guantánamo. It will prove a damaging
blow to a White House still struggling to recover from the
abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq.
In an exclusive interview, Saar told The Observer that prisoners
were physically assaulted by 'snatch squads' and subjected to
sexual interrogation techniques and that the Geneva Conventions
were deliberately ignored by the US military.
He also said that soldiers staged fake interrogations to
impress visiting administration and military officials.
Saar believes that the great majority of prisoners at
Guantánamo have no terrorist links and little worthwhile
intelligence information has emerged from the base despite
its prominent role in America's war on terror."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/050805Y.shtml

15) Palestinians Join Human Rights Lawsuit Against Caterpillar, Inc.
Victims and Surviving Family Members Join Suit Brought by Family
of Rachel Corrie and Charge Company with Responsibility for Role
in Killings and Injuries Resulting from Home Demolition Policy
Caterpillar Amended Complaint (PDF)99KB
Synopsis
On, May 2, 2005, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and partnering law firms
added members of four Palestinian families as plaintiffs to their
federal lawsuit against Illinois-based Caterpillar, Inc., charging
the company with responsibility for human rights abuses in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory. The new plaintiffs are joining
the case brought by the parents of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old
American peace activist and student who was crushed to death by
a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer on March 16, 2003.
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=nrt9um7hhM&Content=569


16) "More Powerful Than the US Army"
Straight to Bechtel
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
May 9, 2005
http://www.counterpunch.org/


17) 'Venezuelan workers are building Bolivarian socialism'
Roberto Jorquera, Caracas
May Day 2005 will go down in Venezuelan history as an significant
date in the developing revolution. Although there was no official
estimate release, it is speculated that around 1 million workers
marched through Caracas on the day. The main slogans of the
demonstration were "Co-management is revolution" and "Venezuelan
workers are building Bolivarian socialism".
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/626/626p13.htm

18) Stop Racial Profiling & Police Brutality! Drop All
charges Against the Somerville 5!
The following appeal was initiated by
the Women's Fightback Network
in Boston, an affiliate of the IAC.
Please respond immediately:

19) Spycam Force
Chicago's two-fisted street cops have a new kind of backup:
a point-and-click
surveillance network tied to a citywide crime-fighting
database. (Smile for the camera.)
By Noah Shachtman
May 2005, Issue 13.05
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.05/crime.html

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1) For Mother's Day, Bring the Troops Home Now
By Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
(Talk given at the "Wage Peace Mother's Day
Media Walk and Rally Saturday, May 7)

This Mother's day, we are taking up the declaration issued
by Julia Ward Howe in 1870 on behalf of all mothers and all
children: "The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
We protest this war today and vow to do all we can to prevent
the next one. We want all the troops returned home now!
Our work to end the war and discourage young people from
joining the military is of utmost importance. Without
cannon fodder, the government will not be able to continue
this war, or get us into any more wars.

And, we're making progress. The U.S. Army, the Army Reserve,
the National Guard, the Marines, have all failed to meet
their recruitment goals by at least 30 percent or more-the
Army missed it by 42 percent! Nationwide, enrollment in
the Army's Reserve Officers' Training Corps-ROTC-which
trains and commissions more than six of every ten new Army
officers each year, has slipped by more than 16 percent.
Junior ROTC funnels high school kids who plan to go to
college into ROTC. And if they don't plan to go to college
they are encouraged to practice "good citizenship" and
"serve their country" in some way after high school. The
U.S. Army runs JROTC in the public high schools. The schools
have no say in JROTC curriculum and the Army appoints the
teachers. In San Francisco they pretend that it's a "conflict
resolution program," but we are well aware that it is
a multi-million dollar propaganda program to glorify the
U.S. military and to recruit our children for war.

The military's low enlistment rate reflects the fact that
the American people are opposed to this war.
We know what's going on!

While our schools are being shut down across the country,
and schools, roads, railroads, and other basic necessities
are crumbling, and funds for human needs are routinely and
systematically being stripped, U.S. military expenditures
are skyrocketing. Congress voted $82 billion more last
Thursday(May 5, 2005).

In fact, the super-grand total for the military budget for
2004 reached the astonishing amount of nearly $754 billion.
That's 3/4 of a trillion dollars! -And that figure doesn't
include the huge sums of money being spent on war-related
security, space, oceanographic and atmospheric technology,
biological and germ experimentation, research and development,
just to name a few-which brings the amount the U.S. government
actually spends on war into the trillions of dollars each
year-dwarfing the four-hundred-and-one billion dollar war
budget the government officially claims.

Now think of this: The U.N. estimates that it would cost
80 billion dollars to feed, clothe, house and give medical
care to every homeless and starving person on the planet
this year! Can you imagine what we could do with the trillions
this government is wasting?

And where do they get the money for all this? Over the last
three decades, the tax system has been twisted even further
to subsidize the wealthiest 1/100th of one percent of the
country. It is a myth that the more one earns, the more
one pays in taxes. The tax laws are designed by both
Republicans and Democrats to subsidize the super rich
by stealing from the rest of us.

Through tax laws never reported in the news, Congress
takes money from those making $30,000 to $500,000 per
year and funnels it to the wealthy elite.

What a great system. The wealthiest 1/100th of one percent
of Americans create the tax laws that force the rest of
us to subsidize them, and pay for their wars, with our
tax dollars and the lives of our children.

And what do we get in return? Jails! Growing at a rate
of about 900 inmates each week they now hold over
2.1 million people. That's roughly 1000 prisoners out
of every 138,000 U.S. residents. Compare that to Cuba,
which holds 297 prisoners out of every 100,000 Cuban
residents. Prison has become a "rite of passage" for
young people in America's poor communities-those same
communities where the U.S. military hunts and captures
its hungry cannon fodder.

But has American big business suffered in any way? Exxon
Mobil Corporation's first-quarter profits surged 44 percent.
Halliburton's net profit was only $365 million. It would
have been much more but they had to pay fines for being
caught cheating on government contracts. But Bechtel, based
right here in San Francisco, made a cool $17.4 billion-all
of them are profiting at the expense of Iraqi and American
lives.

We are going to have to put a stop to this. We are going to
have to join together and turn things around to end this war
and bring our troops home-and we want them home now!

We have to reach out to everyone opposed to this war and
continue to build and organize a giant, united antiwar
movement-including a counter-recruitment campaign in every
city. It's already being done all over and we're linking
together now. We have to go to every college and high school,
every mall, every recruitment office in every community and
stop them from recruiting; we have to have antiwar referendums
on every ballot to make it crystal clear what the American
people really want; we have to go to every school district
and demand that they cut all ties to the military and stop
handing our kids over to them-and we have to show up anywhere
the military shows up-to put an end to military enlistments
and prevent this government from continuing this war or
from spreading this war to Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Korea
or anywhere else.

Together we can defeat the warmongers, protect our children
and ensure them a bright, peaceful and caring world.

Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870
BY JULIA WARD HOWE

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:

"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity,
mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,

Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

2) National Day of Action to Support GI Resisters
Tuesday, May 10 - San Francisco
Support Pablo Paredes and Kevin Benderman!
Noon at the SF War Memorial Building,
401 Van Ness across from City Hall

Over a dozen cities participating!

On the day before their scheduled court martial for refusing
to participate in the unjust Iraq war and occupation, tell the
U.S. military: "Resisting illegal war and occupation is not
a crime!" and to "Respect Conscientious Objection". Some Bay
Area event participants will immediately car caravan to San
Diego to support Pablo Paredes. To join the caravan, contact
courage@riseup.net

On December 6, 2004 Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes
refused to board the USS Bonhomme Richard as it left San Diego.
Instead, Pablo stayed on the dock and spoke with the media about
his opposition to the Iraq War while wearing a t-shirt that
declared, "Like a cabinet member, I resign." (photo above right)

On January 16, 2005 Iraq War veteran Army Sgt Kevin Benderman was
charged with "Desertion with Intent to Avoid Hazardous Duty" and
"Missing Movement by Design" after refusing to return to Iraq.
His bid to for discharge as a conscientious objector had earlier
been rejected. Army Sgt Kevin Benderman is scheduled to be brought
before a general court martial at Fort Stewart, Georgia on the same
day as Pablo Paredes' special court martial in San Diego, California,
on May 11.

Initiated by Courage to Resist, with the support of Not in Our Name
and many other organizations and individuals.

Sunday, May 29 - Berkeley
Military Voices Against Endless War and Occupation
Aidan Delgado, Dr. Gene Bolles, Camilo Mejia, Cindy Sheehan,
Tim Goodrich, Stephen Funk, with audio/visual presentations,
awards, and entertainment.
6 PM at King Middle School, 1781 Rose Street

Online advance tickets now available!
Event endorsers needed!

"A celebration of conscience, courage, resistance, and truth
in a time of war."

With Iraq War veterans, family members of service persons killed
in Iraq, and military resisters. Iraq uncensored. Today's military,
from recruiting to stop-loss to a possible draft.

Memorial Day Weekend 2005: Saturday, May 28 in Los Angeles
at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church, and Sunday, May 29 in
Berkeley at King Middle School.

Hosted by Not in Our Name, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Gold
Star Families for Peace, and the Los Angeles Coalition Against
Militarism in Our Schools. Co-sponsored by Middle East Children's
Alliance, Veterans for Peace, Vanguard Foundation, Central
Committee for Conscientious Objection, Global Exchange,
KPFK Radio (LA), and many others. $12 adv online, $15 at
the door ($9 students)
-
The Not in Our Name Project needs your support!

Donate online: donate.notinourname.net

Or send your tax-deductible contribution today to:

Not in Our Name
3945 Opal Street, Oakland CA 94609
www.notinourname.net

phone: 510-601-8000
email: bayarea@notinourname.net
local: bayarea.notinourname.net

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

3) Julio Ayala, 26 yr. Salvadoran citizen, was beaten to death for
15 minutes by 13 SSF "Peace Officers" on 4-3-05, shortly after
midnight after SF Airport Inn Manager and the occupant of Rm 202,
adjacent to Julio's room complained to PD about excessive noise.

The official version stands: Julio "stopped breathing" while
constrained in a body wrap.

The Ayala's family was not allowed to view Julio's body, due to
"lack of suitable facility", was barred from talking to hotel
staff, has not been able to access autopsy, PD, paramedics or
Fire Department reports. Idriss Stelley Foundation, October 22
Against Police Brutality, Ella Baker Center and staff from SF
Carecen and Coleman Advocates are launching Justice4JulioAyala's
Campaign, to support Julio's family struggle for justice.

A Candlelight vigil was held for the 30 Day Anniversary of Julio's
death by the SF Airport Inn. Today, the altar was dismantled
without notice to the Ayala's family, who left instruction to
hotel management and SSF DPW department in order to retrieve
altar in such eventuality. The community is organizing a press
conference and protest on the steps of SSF City Hall on
Wednesday 5-18-05 at 5 P.M., and is scheduling a special hearing
with San Mateo City Council in June. The Ayala's family attended
the first year anniversary for Cammerin Boyd march and Rally in
San Francisco yesterday, and are bravely joining the rank of
families whose loved ones have been killed by Law enforcement
in the Bay Area, struggling for Justice. On Friday May 12 at
7PM, there will be a traditional 40-day mass at St John of the
Shipwreck on 3rd and Jamestown in San Francisco. Please send
a message of support to the Ayala's by loging onto:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4Julio/

Dear members of the press:

The Ayala Family is anxiously awaiting calls from the media
to update our community on the developments of
Justice4JulioAyala Campaign. Please contact Julio Sr.
or Mirna Ayala at (415) 508-0094, or call Idriss Stelley
Foundation 24HR Bilingual Spa. Crisis Line at (415) 595-8251.
Please log onto the site listed as above for latest community
messages and posted events.

We are counting on you !

mesha Monge-Irizarry

Idriss Stelley Foundation
Hosting "Justice4Julio" on Indymedia Radio noon time weekly,
exact day to be posted later

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4) The Gates of Hell: Occupied Iraq
by Jack Random
www.dissidentvoice.org
May 5, 2005
http://dissidentvoice.org/May05/Random0505.htm

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

5) U.S. to Spend Billions More to Alter Security Systems
By ERIC LIPTON
May 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/08/national/08screen.html?hp&ex=1115611200&en=5cfdf0fee9e6ae67&ei=5094&partner=homepage

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6) Under New Medicare Prescription Drug Plan,
Food Stamps May Be Reduced
By ROBERT PEAR
May 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/08/politics/08drugs.html?

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7) ACLU OF NEW MEXICO SUES APS FOR FAILURE
TO COMPLY WITH THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, May 5, 2005
CONTACT:
Peter Simonson, Executive Director, ACLU of New Mexico
at 505-266-4622 or (cell) 505-620-0775

ALBUQUERQUE - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New
Mexico sued the Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) today for
failing to properly notify parents of their option to prohibit
public schools from directly sending their children's contact
information to military recruiters. The ACLU claims that the
school district's current practices violate students' privacy
and due process rights, as well as provisions in the federal
No Child Left Behind Act.

"Not all parents want their children to be plied with mailings
and phone calls pushing them to enroll in the military," said
ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson. "At a time when people
who enter the military face the very real prospect of going
into battle, parents should have the right to control what the
US Department of Defense knows about their children and how
easily they can recruit them to become soldiers."

Karen Meyers, a volunteer attorney for the ACLU said, "We sent
letter after letter to the APS administration asking them to
comply with the privacy protections in the No Child Left Behind
Act. They responded by creating a form for parents, but didn't
fully address our concerns about the timing of the issuance of
notice to parents. It's important to get notice to parents that
their children's information is being disclosed in a timely
fashion, in order for parents to be able to respond. We hope
this lawsuit will finally clear this up."

"It wouldn't surprise me if upon learning of this lawsuit many
parents will find out for the first time that their children's
contact information is going straight to military recruiters,
courtesy of the Albuquerque Public Schools," Meyers said.

The complaint was filed in the Second Judicial District Court
in Bernalillo County by ACLU of New Mexico Staff Attorney George
Bach, ACLU of New Mexico Co-Legal Director Maureen Sanders, and
Cooperating Attorney Karen Meyers with Aguilar Law Offices, P.C.
###

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8) Toward Global Dialogue: Can We Talk?
by Sam Husseini
www.dissidentvoice.org
May 7, 2005
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/May05/Husseini0507.htm

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9) U.S. Forces Mount Offensive
Near Syrian Border With Iraq
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
and TERENCE NEILAN
Published: May 9, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/09/international/middleeast/09cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1115697600&en=036929e346b855f6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

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10) States Propose Sweeping Changes to Trim Medicaid by Billions
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: May 9, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/09/national/09medicaid.html?hp&ex=1115697600&en=a22d0d23988af62b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

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11) Cuban Exile Could Test
the U.S. Definition of Terrorist
By TIM WEINER
Published: May 9, 2005
"Mr. Posada, a Cuban exile, has long been a symbol for the
armed anti-Castro movement in the United States. He remains
a prime suspect in the bombing of a Cuban commercial airliner
that killed 73 people in 1976. He has admitted to plotting
attacks that damaged tourist spots in Havana and killed an
Italian visitor there in 1997. He was convicted in Panama in
a 2000 bomb plot against Mr. Castro. He is no longer welcome
in his old Latin America haunts.
Mr. Posada, 77, sneaked back into Florida six weeks ago in
an effort to seek political asylum for having served as
a cold war soldier on the payroll of the Central Intelligence
Agency in the 1960's, his lawyer, Eduardo Soto, said at
a news conference last month."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/09/national/09exile.html?hp&ex=1115697600&en=6d59e05bb7bfc462&ei=5094&partner=homepage

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12) "REAL ID" APPROVED
Immigration News Briefs (INB), a weekly English-language
summary of US immigration news, is forwarded out to the
email list of the Coalition for the Human Rights of
Immigrants (CHRI).

On May 5, the House of Representatives voted 368-58 to approve
the final version of an emergency supplemental appropriations
bill, which includes a series of anti-immigrant measures
originally introduced as the REAL ID Act [see INB 2/12/05,
4/3/05, 4/24/05]. The appropriations bill assigns about $76
billion for military operations, $656 million for tsunami relief,
$4.2 billion for foreign aid and $635 million for the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS) bureaus of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). About
$455 million goes for ICE to hire 50 criminal investigators and
168 immigration enforcement agents and deportation officers, and
to obtain 1,950 additional detention beds. About $177 million
goes to CBP to allow that agency to hire, train, equip and
support 500 Border Patrol agents.

Although the Senate voted 99-0 on Apr. 21 for a version of the
appropriations bill which excluded REAL ID, Senate leaders agreed
in negotiations on May 3 to accept most of the REAL ID Act
provisions in the final bill, supposedly in exchange for support
of future immigration reform measures. The Senate is expected to
approve the final version of the appropriations bill when it
resumes sessions during the week of May 9.

The final bill requires applicants for state driver's licenses to
show proof of citizenship or legal residency, document a home
address and provide a photo ID. State motor vehicle departments
would have to verify the documents using federal databases.
States would have three years to comply with these requirements.
If a state didn't comply, its licenses couldn't be used for
federal identification purposes, such as boarding planes or
entering federal buildings. [Associated Press 5/6/05; Los Angeles
Times 5/6/05; Investor's Business Daily 5/6/05; Miami Herald
5/6/05; GovExec.com 5/5/05]

Some of the bill's controversial asylum provisions were modified
in the final version. As passed, the Real ID Act will require
applicants for asylum to prove that their race, religion,
national origin, political opinion or membership in a particular
social group constituted "at least one central reason" for their
persecution. Current law requires applicants show that their
persecution was based "at least in part" on one of these factors;
the original version of REAL ID would have required applicants to
prove that one of these factors was "a central reason" for their
persecution.

Taken out of the final version of the bill were provisions
eliminating stays of removal (which would have allowed asylum
seekers to be deported while their cases are on appeal to federal
court), giving bail bondspeople unprecedented power to detain
immigrants in removal proceedings, and restricting judicial
review of credibility determinations by immigration authorities.
In a positive development, the Real ID Act removes the annual
cap--presently 10,000--on the number of asylees who can adjust
their status to permanent residency. [Immigration Equality
5/5/05; Latin America Working Group 5/6/05; ILW.com 5/6/05;
Congressional Quarterly 5/4/05]

REAL ID gives the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to
waive any legal regulation that would impede the construction of
border barriers, fences, or roads. It also limits legal
challenges to such projects to those brought on constitutional
grounds. The original version of REAL ID would have required the
Secretary of Homeland Security to waive all laws that would
impede barrier construction, and would have barred all court
challenges. [LAWG 5/6/05]

The final bill includes an amendment from Sen. Barbara Mikulski
(D-MD)--approved in the Senate's version of the bill--for a two-
year waiver of the 66,000 annual cap on H-2B visas for returning
low-skill seasonal workers. Maryland's seafood processing
industry, which relies on foreign workers, lobbied heavily for
that amendment. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) inserted
a line in the final bill giving 10,500 visas to Australian guest
workers in high-skill jobs. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
added a provision to provide up to 50,000 visas for foreign
nurses and physical therapists and their family members, by
reassigning visas which were left unused between 2001 and 2004--
though apparently drafting errors have left that provision in
doubt. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) added a measure eliminating an
annual cap of 1,000 on asylum grants for people (primarily from
China) who claim persecution based on forced population control
policies. [Investor's Business Daily 5/6/05; AP 5/4/05]

On May 7 hundreds of immigrants and supporters protested the
passage of REAL ID in Rockville, Maryland. Maryland is one of 10
states that don't require driver's license applicants to prove
they are in the US legally. [AP 5/7/05]

Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) plan to
unveil a bipartisan immigration reform plan during the week of
May 9. The plan is likely to include provisions for allowing some
undocumented immigrants to apply for permanent residency, while
also including measures tightening immigration and border
enforcement and penalizing employers for hiring undocumented
workers. [Arizona Republic (Phoenix) 5/6/05]

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13) Foss High Students Win Victory For Free Speech And
Counter-Recruitment Movement
Received May8, 2005
Thanks to Doug Nielson for compiling this information.
Thanks to everyone who called in to support us
May 6, 2005
By Clara Lightner (sophomore at Foss High School, Tacoma, WA)

I'm happy to announce that Principal Sharon Schauss
has finally agreed to our proposals for Students Against the
Draft and War. This victory for free speech was the result of
the tremendous student support we recieved in Foss and also the
phone calls to my administrators from thousands of supporters
from around the country and world. Today I had a meeting with
Principal Schauss and informed her of SADW's three key demands:

1. The right to find out two weeks before the military
recruiters are scheduled to come to our school. We also want the
right to put up a table next to the recruiters with alternative
points of view and information.

2. The right to have weekly meetings in the school in order to
build our student club.

3. Permission for having the meeting next Tuesday, May10, that
we had planned for May 5, including the guest speaker, Ty Moore,
of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Principal Schauss has agreed to the first two demands. She will
also agree to the third one after she has seen the video we are
going to show: Military Myths, which I plan to bring to her on
Monday. She will also talk to the school board and go through
the necessary procedures to have guest speaker Ty Moore come in.

I'd also like to describe how May 5th went. That morning,
before school, I went into Principal Schauss's office with a member
of Socialist Alternative, Jessica Pruitt, who has been helping
out with the campaign. We asked Principal Schauss whether or not
she was allowing the meeting to happen that afternoon. Mrs. Schauss,
of course, told us we could not hold the meeting because we had
not filled out all the proper paperwork and did not have $1 million
in insurance. Although we had a chartered student club willing to
sponsor us, she still would not let us hold a meeting. This is
a hypocritical double standard because other student clubs don't
need to fill out paper work or get Principal Schauss's approval
to bring guests into our school. After not letting us explain
ourselves for most of the meeting, Principal Schauss threw us
out of her office. Jessica was attempting to explain that she
was not clear on the procedure when Principal Schauss yelled
at us to exit the office. We immediately took that as another
infringement on our rights as students.

That afternoon, we called a press conference. I spread
the news through the entire school and passed out fliers urging
students to meet in front of the school for a protest/press
conference. A couple newspapers showed up, Tacoma News Tribune
and the Tacoma Weekly. I was interviewed and gave a speech to
the students who were there. The speech went well, except for
one point where the JROTC who had been watching attempted to
disrupt by laughing loudly. I, of course, thanked them for being
so mature and went on speaking. Also, Principal Schauss attempted
to break up the press conference in the middle by making an
announcement over the intercom for everyone to leave. She was
ignored and the meeting went on very well. We had 40 students
sign up for our e-mail list and met students who were very
interested in becoming very involved. We now have nearly 100
students signed up on the list.

This morning, I found a large article about the event
in the Tacoma News Tribune. It made the front cover of the local
news section with a large picture of myself giving my speech.
(It can be found at
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/education/story/4839747p-4444990c.html)

I've also had a few confrontations with JROTC students who were
quite angry with me, but I was able to explain myself. I found
that most of the JROTC students are very open-minded and
considerate. We are not against the JROTC students. We understand
that most young people join the military because they don't see
any decent jobs or educational opportunities out there. We are
against people being signed up to die for a war about oil and
empire. We are fighting for more money for jobs and education so
young people can chose an alternative to the military. Hopefully,
we will make peace with them and will be able to have meetings in
the future with no problem. We are also offering the JROTC
students the opportunity to come to any of our meetings to watch
or speak if they request it.

So, I'd like to thank everyone who called in and
e-mailed Principal Sharon Schauss and Superintendent James
Shoemake. Even the steelworkers national union office called
me to guarantee 100 calls to my principal from their members,
and more support if we needed it. The entire school was aware
that they had been receiving hundreds of phone calls each day
from all over the world. I'd like to thank member of the local
coalition for their help. I'd like to give a special thanks
to Socialist Alternative, the organization I joined recently
for giving me help, support, advice, and all the resources I
needed. It all went so well that there is no more need to call
or e-mail. We will also update everyone on how next Tuesday goes.

Thank you all again for calling and supporting us. This has
been a major success for our school and for Students Against
the Draft and War.

Clara Lightner, sophomore at Foss High School, Tacoma, WA
Students Against the Draft and War

Marxism mailing list Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism


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14) Soldier Lifts Lid on Camp Delta
By Paul Harris
The Observer UK
Sunday 08 May 2005
For the first time, an army insider blows
the whistle on human rights abuses at Guantánamo.
"An American soldier has revealed shocking new details
of abuse and sexual torture of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay
in the first high-profile whistleblowing account to emerge
from inside the top-secret base.
Erik Saar, an Arabic speaker who was a translator in
interrogation sessions, has produced a searing first-hand
account of working at Guantánamo. It will prove a damaging
blow to a White House still struggling to recover from the
abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq.
In an exclusive interview, Saar told The Observer that prisoners
were physically assaulted by 'snatch squads' and subjected to
sexual interrogation techniques and that the Geneva Conventions
were deliberately ignored by the US military.
He also said that soldiers staged fake interrogations to
impress visiting administration and military officials.
Saar believes that the great majority of prisoners at
Guantánamo have no terrorist links and little worthwhile
intelligence information has emerged from the base despite
its prominent role in America's war on terror."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/050805Y.shtml

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15) Palestinians Join Human Rights Lawsuit Against Caterpillar, Inc.
Victims and Surviving Family Members Join Suit Brought by Family
of Rachel Corrie and Charge Company with Responsibility for Role
in Killings and Injuries Resulting from Home Demolition Policy
Caterpillar Amended Complaint (PDF)99KB
Synopsis
On, May 2, 2005, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and partnering law firms
added members of four Palestinian families as plaintiffs to their
federal lawsuit against Illinois-based Caterpillar, Inc., charging
the company with responsibility for human rights abuses in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory. The new plaintiffs are joining
the case brought by the parents of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old
American peace activist and student who was crushed to death by
a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer on March 16, 2003.
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=nrt9um7hhM&Content=569

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16) "More Powerful Than the US Army"
Straight to Bechtel
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
May 9, 2005
http://www.counterpunch.org/

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17) 'Venezuelan workers are building Bolivarian socialism'
Roberto Jorquera, Caracas
May Day 2005 will go down in Venezuelan history as an significant
date in the developing revolution. Although there was no official
estimate release, it is speculated that around 1 million workers
marched through Caracas on the day. The main slogans of the
demonstration were "Co-management is revolution" and "Venezuelan
workers are building Bolivarian socialism".
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/626/626p13.htm

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18) Stop Racial Profiling & Police Brutality! Drop All
charges Against the Somerville 5!
The following appeal was initiated by
the Women's Fightback Network
in Boston, an affiliate of the IAC.
Please respond immediately:

Please take a minute to read the flyer below regarding a very
important struggle against police brutality and racial profiling
in Somerville, MA.

We are appealing to you to immediately call or send a fax to
Dr. Albert Argenziano, Superintendent of Somerville Schools,
demanding that all five students immediately be reinstated at
Somerville High School, in good standing, with no repercussions.
The decision to reinstate or expel is currently in the hands of
Dr. Argenziano and the deadline is this Thursday, May 12.

The students have been unjustly suspended for more than 10 days.
No court has found them guilty but Somerville High School
officials have decided they are "guilty until proven innocent".
This is a travesty of justice!! More than 300 of their peers
at Somerville High School signed a petition requesting their
reinstatement. Please help save their futures!
Make your voice heard!

Dr. Albert Argenziano Superintendent, Somerville School
Department Phone: 617-625-6600 x6005 or 617-625-6600 x6000
Fax: 617-625-4731 aargenziano@k12.somerville.ma.us

Letter from Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
To: Dr. Albert Argenziano, Superintendent of Somerville Schools

Dear Dr. Argenziano,

The problems in the schools are a reflection of the problems
in the general society. Today, our youth find themselves in
the position of working for MacDonald's and Burger King holding
two or three part-time jobs, joining the U.S. Military, or
risking the streets and going to jail.

When will our children be able to stand up for their rights
and needs? In a country that spends literally trillions of
dollars on war and weapons research and development, schools
across the country are being shut down. Community Colleges
are being ravaged and dedicated students must work sometimes
more than one job, take care of a family and go to school.

In addition, our poorer communities are virtual police states
where everyone is a criminal suspect. And while drugs are used
by young people from all economic backgrounds, the poor are
prosecuted and incarcerated at a much higher rate. In fact,
more than 90 percent of all prisoners come from economic poverty.

Our educators are obliged to act in the interests of the poor
and disadvantaged and demand for them the same they demand
for their own children.

When do poor kids get a trip to Paris to study art instead
of a trip to jail?

Reinstate those kids and help them to fight against their
circumstances of poverty and racism. That is the obligation
of every educator.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, Ca. 94131-8021
Come & Pack the Court! Tuesday, May 10, 9:00 AM
Somerville District Court
(Orange Line to Sullivan Station, Bus #92 or #90)

Call the Mayor of Medford, Michael McGlynn to demand that
all charges be dropped Now! - 781-393-2408

STOP RACIAL PROFILING AND POLICE BRUTALITY!

DROP THE FRAME-UP CHARGES AGAINST CALVIN BELFON,
CASSIUS BELFON, EARL GUERRA, ISIAH ANDERSON &
MARQUIS ANDERSON!

Every day, across the country, Black youth and other young
people of color are the victims of racial profiling and
police brutality. Skin color and national origin are seen
by police as a cause for suspicion and a reason to violate
people's rights. "Driving while Black" or "walking while
Black" is the all too common harsh reality for our young
people. Racial profiling can result in beatings, maiming,
imprisonment and even death.

On April 20, 2005, 5 Black youths from Somerville (Calvin
Belfon 17, Cassius Belfon 15, Earl Guerra 16, Isiah Anderson 17,
and Marquis Anderson 16) were the victims of racial profiling
and a brutal, unprovoked attack by Medford Police. The Somerville
youths were walking to catch a bus home and stopped at a Store 24
nearby. Outside they were confronted by a heavily armed Medford
police officer. He grabbed Calvin Belfon by the throat and
punched him twice in the face. Fearing serious bodily harm
or worse, Belfon defended himself. His brothers and friends
came to his aid. When Calvin appealed for the cop to stop,
he responded by calling him a racist name. A police riot
ensued with at least 10 cops armed with guns, clubs, mace and
flashlights, beating the 5 youths. All 5 young people sustained
injuries to the face and head and all were maced. Calvin and
Isiah were clubbed on their heads with a flashlight. All later
went to the hospital for treatment. Police also gang-profiled
the youths as evidenced by asking them what their "street names"
were.

A cover-up of this vicious assault by the Medford Police
quickly followed. In pre-fabricated stories, police told the
press and media such things as they were "fighting for their
lives" "teens turned on them" , "were overwhelmed", etc. Absurd
lies like these are commonly used by police to cover up abuse
and pin it on the victims in order to get away with it.
Needing a probable cause for the unprovoked attack, the police
claimed the youth were making trouble in the Store
24 and that the youth had tried to grab cop's weapons.

All five of these young people are students at Somerville High
School who get good grades and have never been in trouble at
school or with the law. They are all excellent athletes and
members of the football, track and basketball teams; respected
by their peers. All five attend church on a regular basis.
All dream of going to college. They currently have been
unjustly suspended from school. They have been charged with
assault with a deadly weapon, assault and battery, and
disorderly conduct. The future of these promising students
and athletes is now in jeopardy.

Our youths have a right to walk down the street, attend an
event, or drive their cars free from police harassment both
psychological and physical. They have a right to walk safely
and not be terrorized by racist police. We need to come
together as a community and demand this - parents, guardians,
educators, peers, and residents.

Join us in demanding: Drop all charges now. Reinstate the
students at SHS immediately. Conduct an independent
investigation into police actions on April 20, 2005.
Stop racial profiling and police brutality.

Come & Pack the Court! Tuesday, May 10, 9:00 AM Somerville
District Court (Orange Line to Sullivan Station, Bus #92 or #90)

Call the Mayor of Medford, Michael McGlynn to demand that
all charges be dropped Now! - 781-393-2408

Issued by: Committee to Defend the Somerville High School 5
Against Police Brutality c/o Women's Fightback Network &
International Action Center - 617-522-6626


Anyone can subscribe.
Send an email request to
Action.News-subscribe@organizerweb.com

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19) Spycam Force
Chicago's two-fisted street cops have a new kind of backup:
a point-and-click
surveillance network tied to a citywide crime-fighting
database. (Smile for the camera.)
By Noah Shachtman
May 2005, Issue 13.05
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.05/crime.html

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posted 5:53 PM  0 comments