---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
REPORT ON COUNTER-RECRUITMENT TABLE AT
GEORGE WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL, Tuesday, April 4, 2006
By Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
www.bauaw.org
[SEE THE ARTICLE IN FULL SECTION-NUMBER 1, BELOW]
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
NO BORDERS! NO WALLS! NO FENCES! AMNESTY FOR ALL!
OUR HOMELAND IS WHERE WE LIVE!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
Immigration Advocates Rally Around U.S.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 11:36 a.m. ET
April 10, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Immigration-Protests.html?hp&ex=1144728000&en=cc5d02a4578d5744&ei=5094&partner=homepage
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

TONIGHT! TONIGHT! TONIGHT!
People United for General Amnesty
We are here and we are not leaving!
Let's March Together
Tonight, Monday, April 10, 2006
5:00 p.m. assemble at 16th and Mission Streets
March to the Rally at 24th and Mission Streets at 6:00 p.m.

We are working people who have left the best of our lives in the
soil of this country.

Don't let the politicians lie to us with the so-called Immigration
Reform Laws.

We want and demand a General Amnesty for All!

For More Information:

Companeros Del Barrio
415-431-9925

BARRIO UNIDO POR UNA AMNISTIA GENERAL
AQUI ESTAMOS Y NO NOS VAMOS!

Somos trabajadores, estamos dejando lo mejor de nosostros en este
pais.

No nos dejemos enganar por los politicos y sus llamadas
Reformas Migratorias.

Queremos y demandamos una AMNISTIA GENERAL, para todos.

UNETE A LA MARCHA!

FECHA: 10 DE ABRIL
DONDE: 16th AND MISSION STREETS
HORA: 5:00 P.M.
MARCHAREMOS HASTA EL LUGAR DE CONCENTRACION:
24TH AND MISSION STREETS AT 6:00 P.M.

Mayor Informacion llamar a COMPANEROS DEL BARRIO,
415-431-9925

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

WALLS
[Col. Writ. 1/19/06] Copyright '06 Mumia Abu-Jamal

Throughout the tides and turns of history, some people have erected
barriers against the feared foreigners, to protect their lands from
those who would threaten their peace.

History has shown the mighty efforts of nations and empires to erect
barriers against the everpresent other, yet it has rarely shown success.

In human history, few societies have erected as formidable a barrier as
the Great Wall of China, constructed during the Chi'n dynasty (around
the 3rd century, B.C.) and both rebuilt and expanded for a thousand
years thereafter. The wall was built to defend against the nomadic
hordes to the North, but the land was repeatedly invaded by the nomads,
as the wall provided little real military use.

In the latter years of the Roman Empire, the Emperor Hadrian ordered the
construction of a massive wall in Britain.

The wall marked the northern boundaries of the Roman Empire.

Fragments remain of it today.

After the division of Germany into East and West, the Berlin Wall was
erected, to protect the East from Western contamination; and to keep
Easterners from fleeing to the wealthier West.

Less than 30 years later, it was reduced to rubble, its bricks and slabs
now used as museum pieces to reflect a bygone era.

In the Middle East, we see the erection of concrete and steel walls, to
mark the separation of Israel from Palestine. The Israelis call it a
protective barrier; the Palestinians call it an apartheid wall.

Now, legislators in Washington are fast-tracking a plan to build a wall
across the expanse of the Mexican border -- all 1,933 miles of it!

Walls are funny things. Although the builders see them as evidence of
state power, they often come to be seen, not as emblems of power, but as
harbingers of weakness.

They are markers of national fear, not symbols of confidence.

The Ch'in dynasty, which sought to unite various peoples into one, began
a work that would continue for generations. But the hated foreigners,
the fierce nomadic Mongols of the North, would clash against the wall,
go over and around it, and for a century under the Khan, sit on the
imperial throne in the heart of China.

The Roman empire began as a city that welcomed outsiders, and indeed,
used the ideas of those many visitors to build their city-state.
Hadrian's Wall, over 73 miles long, marked the end of expansion, and a
wish to preserve the accumulated wealth and privilege on the inside from
the hungry hordes looking in.

Rome, once the mightiest of empires, went into decline, and, as the
sacking of Rome in 410 A.D. by Alaric, the Gothic king shows, walls
offered little protection.

The Great Wall of China was 1,500 miles long.

Hadrian's Wall was over 73 miles long.

The Berlin Wall was 29 miles long.

The Israeli barrier/wall will surround the whole country.

The Mexican border, being 1,933 miles long, logic suggests, will require
a wall longer than the Great Wall of China, Hadrian's Wall, and the
Berlin Wall combined!

Walls, even great ones, are barriers reflecting fear of the outsider.

They are not achievements of confidence, but actions of people deeply
anxious about 'the barbarians' beyond the barrier.

They reflect the closing and decline of nations and empires, not their
expansion nor strength.

The events of 9/11 unleashed waves of national anxiety and fear in many
Americans. National myths, in times of great conflict, often die
first. The idea that the US is an open nation, that welcomes the people
of the world, is fast eroding.

Foreigners, especially those from Islamic countries, are now seeking
other venues to study, to play, and to live.

For they know that the legend emblazoned on the Statue of Liberty's
base, the Emma Lazarus poem about welcoming 'your tired, and your
poor', doesn't refer to them.

It's just another wall.

Copyright 2006 Mumia Abu-Jamal

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

SOLIDARITY NOW CONFERENCE
April 7th, 8th & 9th 2006
Quality Inn (Located On US 31)
Kokomo, Indiana 46902
Meeting Introductions 7:ooPM Friday
Saturday & Sunday Begin With Registration At 8:00AM

Working people are under attack as never before. The institutions on
which workers have dependedˆthe Democratic Party and the unions have
utterly failed to defend us. Democratic as well as Republican
politicians support the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, savage cuts in
social programs, outsourcing jobs, attacking public education,
rewriting bankruptcy laws to benefit credit card companies. Union
officials work with corporations to cut wages, rob retirees of their
pensions, impose wage tiers, cut health care. They replace worker
solidarity with worker-against-worker Company Teams. They support the
war-makers in DC.

Meanwhile most working people, blue-collar and white-collar, employed
and unemployed, remain unorganized and largely defenseless.

The politicians and the unions are part of the problem. We cannot rely
on them and we cannot change them. We have to go around them, to create
institutions that we control to fight for the values, the livelihoods,
the future of working people.

SOLIDARITY NOW is a new organization formed in Peoria, IL in 2005. Our
goals are to rebuild the culture of mutual support that is natural to
working people, to fight for the goals of working people, and to build
a movement for democratic revolution.

If you are an auto worker, a teacher, a nurse, a student, a professor,
work in an office or school or hospital or university, are employed or
unemployed, working or retired, we invite you to join Solidarity Now
and to join us in Kokomo for our National Meeting.

To be assured of a room, please make your reservations now at the
Quality Inn, Kokomo, IN (765-459-8001). Tell them you are with
Solidarity Now. Rooms are $58 per night, single or double, breakfast
included. Please let Tino Scalici (tinoscalici@msn.com) or Dave
Stratman (newdem@aol.com) know if you would like to join Solidarity Now
or if you plan to attend the meeting.

(For more info on Solidarity Now, please see our web site at
http://www.solidaritynow.com.)

Future of the Union Mailing List
http://futureoftheunion.com/mailman/listinfo/news_futureoftheunion.com

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

Stop Environmental Racism in Bayview Hunters Point!
SHUTDOWN THE PG&E HUNTERS POINT POWER PLANT
TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2006, 12:00 NOON
Evans and Middlepoint Rd.,
Bayview Hunters Point,
San Francisco

Help Make the Closure of PG&E’s Hunters Point Power Plant
a Reality! No More Delays!

PG&E has announced plans to close the dirty Hunters Point Power Plant,
but no date has been set. Bayview Hunters Point residents are sick and
tired of PG&E’s pollution, years of delays and broken promises.
Support the community and join us on April 11th!

Please join Bayview Hunters Point residents in helping to shut down
the PG&E Hunters Point power plant on Tuesday, April 11th at 12 noon.
Despite more promises that the plant would be closed by now, we
have just learned of more delays. If PG&E and the government won’t
shut it down by April 11th, then the community will.

VOLUNTEERS ARE URGENTLY NEEDED TO HELP GIVE OUT FLYERS,
PUT UP FLYERS AROUND TOWN, AND TO HELP ON THE DAY OF THE
ACTION. PLEASE CALL GREENACTION IF YOU CAN HELP! 415-248-5010.

Participating groups include: All Hallows Garden Residents Association,
Answer-SF, Code Pink, Bayview Hunters Point Mothers Committee
for Environmental Justice, Bayview Newspaper, Bayview Samoan
Community, Circle of Life, Chinese Progressive Association,
Community First Coalition, Environmental Justice Air Quality
Coalition, Global Exchange, Gray Panthers, Greenaction for Health
and Environmental Justice, Huntersview Tenants Association,
Literacy for Environmental Justice, Our City, PODER, POWER,
Rainforest Action Network, San Francisco Green Party.

More information on the issue and action is available on our website
http://www.greenaction.org

Here is the Bay Guardian’s alert about the shutdown action!

Shut it down ... now!
Environmental activists are demanding Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
set a firm date for its long-planned closure of the Hunters Point
Power Plant, or demonstrators will move forward with a planned
protest that they threaten could include nonviolent direct action.

"What [PG&E] has to do is shut down the plant by April 11 at
12 noon," Bradley Angel, executive director for Greenaction,
said. "There's nothing else they can do to avoid the demonstration."

PG&E has surpassed several deadlines without ever closing the
dirtiest power plant in the state. Most recently, the company
announced in mid-March that the plant would close "sometime
this spring," without setting an actual date, according to company
statements. The company, which did not return our phone calls,
has claimed that it has been preparing for the plant's closure
by shifting the energy load to other electric transmission
projects in the region.

Angel said PG&E has so far declined to set a permanent date
for closure and has also failed to answer inquiries about when
its alternative transmission lines would be completed. The
California Public Utilities Commission has previously explained
that PG&E was scheduled to close the plant by early April.

The Hunters Point plant was built in 1929, and two of its four
generating units were shut down in 2000, mostly because
of complaints that it was polluting Bayview-Hunters Point
and making its residents - particularly children - sick from
asthma and other respiratory ailments.

The protest (or celebration, depending on what PG&E decides)
is scheduled for noon on April 11, outside the company's
Hunters Point plant, located on Evans Avenue at Middlepoint
Road. (G.W. Schulz)

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

NEXT MEETING OF THE MOBILIZATION TO FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2006, 12:00 NOON
Centro del Pueblo
474 Valencia St., S.F
(Near 16th Street BART)

JOIN US TO HELP CELEBRATE MUMIA'S BIRTHDAY!
Mumia's Been Fast-Tracted! FREE MUMIA!
Saturday, April 22, 3-5:30 p.m.
West Oakland Public Library
1801 Adeline St. at 18th

Speakers:

Jack Heyman, ILWU Local 10; Mel Mason, Seasice CA NAACP, former
Black Panther; Pierre Labossiere, Haiti Action; Yuri Kochiyama, Friend
of Malcolm X and long time Mumia supporter; Cristina Gutierrez,
Co-Founder, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Bay Area United
Against War. (Organizations for identification purposes only.)
Legal Update: Leigh Fleming, Associate of Robert R. Bryan, lead counsel
for Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Moderator: Gerald Smith, Copwatch and former Black Panther
Video: 1999 West Coast Longshore Port Shutdown to Free Mumia
Donations to benefit Mumia's legal defense.

Sponsored by: Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
and The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
Info: 510-763-2347

The Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 16222, Oakland, CA 94610, www.laboractionmumia.org

(The Oakland Public Library does not advocate or endorse viewpoints
of meetings or meeting-room users.)

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

People United for General Amnesty
May 1, 2006, 5:00 p.m.
Federal Building
450 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco
(For more information: 415-431-9925)

We make a call to all people to come and celebrate International
Workers Day by surrounding the Federal Building with our flags
and picket signs showing that we have built the richness and
strength of the United States of North America from our countries
up to now and that we are part of the work force in this country.
That is why we raise our national flags high, not as an insult to the
United States of North America, but to recognize that even though
we come from other countries we have enriched this soil and that
gives us the moral right to demand general amnesty for all.

COME AND UNITE IN THE STRUGGLE!

Barrio Unido por una Amnistia General
1 de Mayo 2006, 5:00 p.m.
450 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco
Mas informacion: 415-431-9925

Hacemos un llamado a toda la poblacion a celebrar el Dia de los
Trabajadores rodeando el Edificio Federal con nuestras banderas
y pancartas demostrando que desde nuestros paises hasta cuando
trabajamos aqui en este pais hemos contribuido a la riqueza y
poderio de los Estados Unidos de Norte America. Por eso levantamos
nuestras banderas nacionales, no como insulto a los Estados Unidos,
sino como reconocimiento que viniendo de otros paises hemos
enriquecido su suelo y con ese derecho moral demandamos una
amnistia general para todos.

Ven Y unete a la lucha

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
REMINDER TO ALL GROUPS: BE SURE AND POST ALL ACTIONS AND
EVENTS TO WWW.INDYBAY.ORG TO REACH THE MOST PEOPLE
AGAINST THE WAR IN THE BAY AREA!
http://www.indybay.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
Flash Film: Ides of March
http://isahaqi.chris-floyd.com/
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
NO BORDERS! NO WALLS! NO FENCES! AMNESTY FOR ALL!
OUR HOMELAND IS WHERE WE LIVE!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
QUICKVOTE
Do you agree with Charlie Sheen that the U.S. government
covered up the real events of the 9/11 attacks?
[So far it's running 83 percent in agreement.]
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/showbiz.tonight/
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
REPEAL THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT IN 2007!
Check out: 10 EXCELLENT REASONS NOT TO JOIN THE MILITARY
http://www.10reasonsbook.com/
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

REPORT ON BOARD OF EDUCATION'S APPROVAL OF:
EQUAL ACCESS FOR RECRUITERS BOARD OF EDUCATION
POLICY (62-14Sp1)

Commissioner Eric Mar voted against this resolution
at the March 28 Board of Education meeting. We, who spoke
against it were applauded with enthusiasm by the parents
and teachers who were at the meeting. Some even spoke
against it from their own experiences. One had a daughter
in JROTC and she asked the military representatives why
they don't show the returning veterans who have lost their
legs or parts of their brains?

I wrote the following letter to Eric Mar and sent copies to
the other Board members. I didn't get to hear how everyone
of them voted so others might have voted against it as well
but the room was full of pre-school kids because there was
a childcare issue on the agenda. It was noisy but it was
beautiful to see their parents respond against approval
of the policy.

Here's my letter to Eric Mar:

Dear Eric,

Thank you so much for taking such a strong stand last
evening and voting against the Equal Access for Recruiters
Board of Education Policy (62-14Sp1). Naturally, I am very
disappointed that it passed. And I am dismayed at the way
Board members, who I know are opposed to the war, voted
on this issue. (I didn't catch how everyone voted. I hope
it will be posted somewhere.)

I am particularly concerned about the restrictions on protests
outside the schools--a restriction that is unconstitutional--
and on the lack of clarity about the equal access to students
by antiwar counter-recruiters.

During the Proposition I campaign this past fall, on the
first day of school, we passed out flyers outside of George
Washington High School. About six of us came early in the
morning, set up a table with buttons and flyers, etc. and
tried to reach as many students as possible with brochures
advocating a yes vote on Prop. I.

When parents drove up with their children we politely
offered them a brochure. Most gladly took them. We did
not use sound or loud voices, we did not block the front
entrance at all, nor did we force any brochure on any
student or parent. Yet, the Principal and Vice Principal
came out with the security guard and told us we were
"disrupting" the school by handing out the brochures.
They called the police. I expressed to them and the police
that we were doing nothing illegal and that we had every
right to stand out here quietly and offer our information
to whoever was interested. The police left because that
is the truth. I am very disturbed by the addition of the
prohibition of "activity" outside of the school within
a block of the entrance.

Clearly it may become school policy to prohibit activity
in front of the school but it is unconstitutional to prohibit
the distribution of material as long as all laws are being
observed. It will not stop us from trying to reach students
and parents to let them know that the military will now be
on school grounds on a regular basis.

I am very unclear as to whether antiwar counter-recruiters
will also be allowed on school grounds on an equal basis?
That was not clarified. There are Career Fairs coming up
very soon and we have material we have to gather to inform
students of alternatives to military service and of career
choices instead of the military.

And, there is still the problem of JROTC--the military's
prime recruitment tool--entrenched in the district. It has
to stop and we have to get enough Physical Education
classes to go around and save the district a million dollars
in the bargain (it's share of the Phys. Ed./JROTC deal.
My figure could be wrong but I thought it was around one
million from the district and one million from the Army
[a million to it's own program] to fund JROTC in lieu of
Phys. Ed. Classes that don't exist and that students need.)

It is also unclear how the community--the parents, families,
friends of school children--are going to know when the
military will be coming to their local school?

The parents have the right to know that their children are
being put in contact with the military against their wishes.
In fact, there are some school districts that prohibit students
who have chosen to "opt out" from coming in contact with
the military recruiters when they are there. Perhaps this
can be added to the policy. In addition, perhaps a sign
could be posted outside of the front door of the school
notifying the local community of the schedule of military
visits to the school at least a month ahead of time.

The schools have a basic obligation to respect the wishes
of the parents who have "opted out" of having that "career
choice" offered to their children. That is the whole sense
of "opting out." The military should be kept away from
those children. Perhaps the military should be assigned
a room and only those children who have "opted in"
be allowed to attend.

I did have trouble hearing a lot of what was being said
by Board members. I was in the last row in the back
with the preschoolers so, as I said, I did not catch how
everyone voted. (To all those who voted No, we thank you.)

We were sitting with a parent of an eleven-year-old in
the SFUSD who thought that by passage of the ballot
initiative, Proposition I, this issue was over and the
schools were finally rid of the military.

This new policy has brought us to a rude awakening.
It seems we won't get rid of the military any time soon--
at least until 2007 when No Child Left Behind will come
before Congress again and we can defeat it. But we can
educate our children in these matters and take a stand
with them and their parents against war, against No Child
Left Behind and against the militarization of our schools.

There seems to be no end in sight to U.S. Imperial military
involvement throughout the world or to their fantastic,
trillion-dollar budget that starves all other social necessities
including our schools. This means it is up to us, the people,
to say no to military service and no to war as a means
to solving the world's problems.

If no one joins they can't fight a war. That would be a truly
democratic expression of the will of the people.

I hope we can work together to change this policy and
make our schools "military free zones."

In solidarity,

Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War, www.bauaw.org

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

Public Law print of PL 107-110, the No Child Left Behind
Act of 2001 [1.8 MB]

http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html

Also, the law is up before Congress again in 2007.
See this article from USA Today:

Bipartisan panel to study No Child Left Behind
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
February 13, 2006
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-02-13-education-panel_x.htm

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

FILM SHOWING:
"Sir! No Sir!"
April 6 Benefit for Iraq Vets Against the War
Runs in SF at the Red Vic April 7-13th
PLEASE FORWARD FAR AND WIDE TO ALL YOUR
LISTS in San Francisco!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Greetings all,

I hope you'll come out to see this amazing and
important film! It is the untold story of the GI
movement to end the war in Vietnam and tells a
part of history that has been forgotten, about
the conscientious objectors, underground
newspapers and coffee houses, of those who
resisted in many ways. It is a powerful glimpse
of both history and of the present and
future. In addition to meeting vets featured in
the film and modern day resisters on April 6th,
there will also be talks featuring these folks,
the director David Zeiger, and members of Bay
Area peace groups after all the screenings during
the week run at the Red Vic April
7-13th!! Finally, we need your help and support
to get the word out in NYC where the film will be
at the IFC for a week April 19-26th. There are
some 30 cities around the nation that are waiting
to see how the film does in NY. If news of this
movement is to reach the heartland of the USA we
MUST sell out all the shows in NYC. If you or
someone you know has contacts in NYC please email
celia@riseup.net for an email blast about the NYC screenings!

Peace,

Celia Alario
celia@riseup.net
310-721-6517

Global Exchange presents
Special Oakland Preview Screening of the film

Sir, No Sir!
A Benefit for Iraq Vets Against the War
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary
at the Los Angeles Film Festival &
Best Documentary Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival

Thursday April 6th at 7:00pm
Grand Lake Theater
3200 Grand Avenue in Oakland
(Closest BART: MacArthur or 19th Street Station)

Celebrate Soldiers' Resistance from Vietnam to Iraq
Film, Music, Spoken Word, Community

Aimee Allison, Army Conscientious Objector
Pablo Paredes, Iraq War Resister
David Zeiger, Director of the Film
Vietnam Veterans from the Film

Advance tickets $8, $10 at the door
For Tickets call 415-255-7296 x244

Presented in partnership with:
Global Exchange, Courage to Resist, Not Your
Soldier, Leave My Child Alone, Not in Our Name,
Ruckus Society, Art in Action, Central Committee
for Conscientious Objectors, Veterans for Peace, Codepink

"A penetrating eye-opener of a documentary."
-The Hollywood Reporter

"Bolstered by proud memories of Vietnam vets
who turned against the war, Sir! No Sir! rings
with an exultant, even elated tone."
-Variety

Check out the trailer at www.sirnosir.com and
contact celia @ riseup.net for posters, postcards
and flyers to help promote this event!

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

FROM PROTEST TO RESISTANCE
Regional Student Antiwar Conferences
Sponsored by the Campus Antiwar Network
WEST
Students and Educators to Stop the War Conference
San Francisco, CA
Mission High School
April 22
contact: tigger482@gmail.com
http://campusantiwar.net/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=149&Itemid=34
http://www.campusantiwar.net/

Recently the US government has stepped up its bombing campaign
in Samara to the highest level of intensity since the onset of the war. 
Even though public support has turned against the war and active
resistance has begun in many sectors of the country and in the
military, the movement is not at the necessary organizational
levels to attain a complete withdrawal of American forces from
the Middle East.  Meanwhile, large demonstrations are being
planned in cities across the country in April.  This comes at
a time when many politicians, Democrat and Republican, are
supporting policies of “re-deployment” or outright military
action against Iran.

Students are becoming organized and have been making great
strides in fighting recruitment, fostering debate, and
demonstrating for civil liberties. At this crucial time in the
antiwar movement it is essential that a unified student front
emerge to fight campus repression and to end the war. 
Real strategies for active resistance need to be developed
to motivate the overwhelming public support into viable
solutions.

Campus Antiwar Network is establishing regional conferences
to develop the true student power needed to breakdown the
military machine that has relentlessly torn several countries
asunder.  Workshops will look at concrete steps to end the war. 
Anyone is welcome to attend and campuses are encouraged
to send as many people as they can. With the spirit of grassroots
democratic action, we can truly set in motion the catalyst to change.

MIDWEST
Chicago, IL
University of Illinois Chicago
April 22
contact: schwartz2020@gmail.com
mailto:schwartz2020@gmail.com

NORTHEAST
New York City, NY
April 29 & 30
(to coincide with the April 29 protest in New
York City to bring all the troops home now)

contact: monkeywithsoda@hotmail.com

SOUTH
location and date to be announced

contact: originalman777@aol.com

For more information, contact the people above or visit:

http://www.campusantiwar.net/

###

Charles Jenks
Chair of Advisory Board and Web Manager
Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-7427
fax 413-773-7507
http://www.traprockpeace.org

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

END THE WAR IN IRAQ! BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
End the War at Home! Money for Human Needs, Jobs, Education,
Healthcare, and Hurricane Disaster Relief, Not War! No U.S. Wars and
Occupations from Palestine to Haiti, from Afghanistan to Cuba,
from Iran to Venezuela!

The STOP THE WAR NOW! COALITION Invites all those who agree
with the above perspective to join us at the:

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA EDUCATION AND ORGANIZING
CONFERENCE TO STOP THE WAR IN IRAQ

SATURDAY, MAY 13, 9:00 A.M. TO 9:00 P.M.
(Including evening entertainment and rally)

LANEY COLLEGE
OAKLAND, CA
10TH AND FALLON STS. (LAKE MERRIT BART)

WE ARE THE MAJORITY!

In the U.S. today there is a major gap between the rapidly growing
antiwar consciousness of the U.S. population and the dramatic
decline of support for the U.S. war in Iraq, on the one hand, and
the organizational framework to mobilize ever-widening and broad
sectors of society against this war. This is particularly glaring on the
West Coast.

The growing opposition to the war is evidenced by the massive response
to the courageous actions of Cindy Sheehan, the growth of groups like
Gold Star Mothers for Peace and Military Families Speak Out, Iraq veterans'
organizations, the formation of U.S. Labor Against the War, the massive
demonstration of 300,000 in Washington D.C. on September 24, the
open debate in Congress, the increasing number of soldiers who lose
their lives for corporate profit and empire, the exposure of the lies
that were employed to justify the war and the subordination of many
social programs (like the immediate and critical relief necessitated
by Hurricane Katrina) to ever increasing military spending. All of the
above takes place against the backdrop of increasing attacks on basic
civil liberties and civil rights, union busting and broadside attacks
on social gains that were won decades ago, including pensions and
healthcare.

The above fives us great confidence that a far wider social and
political spectrum of society are opposed to the Iraq War and can
be engaged in ongoing educational activities as well as massive
mobilizations against it. What is needed most of all is a broad,
independent united-front perspective and an open and democratic
organizational form that is capable of filling the present void.

For list of endorsers, and information on registration fees, agenda,
workshops, etc. visit:
www.stopthewarnowcoalition.org
415-647-8796, 650-326-8837 or 510-451-1422

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

SCROLL DOWN TO READ:
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
ARTICLES IN FULL
LINKS ONLY

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

Power in Eden:
Emergence of Gender Hierarchies
in the Ancient World

With Bruce Lerro

4 Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 March 19th, 26th, April 2nd, April 9th
Marxist Library 6501 Telegraph (cross-street Alcatraz)

-How Relevant is Engels' Origin of the Family,
Private Property and the State in the light of over one-hundred
years of anthropology and archeology?

-To what extent was "primitive communism" egalitarian
in terms of gender relations?

-When in history does individualism start? Is it a product
of capitalism or does it go back further?

-Agricultural State Civilizations (The Asiatic Mode
of Production) were the most oppressive to women in history.
Why was there no women's movement in the ancient world?

Bruce Lerro has been teaching and writing about the origins
of class and gender inequalities for the past fifteen years.
He has lectured at New College of California and teaches
regularly at Golden Gate University, Dominican University,
John F. Kennedy University and Diablo Valley College.
He is the author of Power in Eden: Emergence of Gender
Hierarchies in the Ancient World, Trafford Press, 2005.

Format
Initial Talk˘broadly discussing all four questions

Part I˘In Depth Reading and Discussion of each of the
Four Questions

Part II √Optional˘In Depth Reading and Discussion of Other
Chapters in the text.

This will be determined by Bruce and the class participants

Pedagogy

The initial talk will be a lecture with brief discussion
at the end of each question

For all four classes in part one there will be assigned
readings during the week and each class will be
a discussion of the readings. We will discuss clarification
as well as substantive questions each week.
There will be no lecture.

Required Reading: Power in Eden: Emergence
of Gender Hierarchies in the Ancient World

My Approach
I consider myself a Marxist-materialist and I believe
that the Marxian tradition must be informed and
enriched by over one hundred years of research.
I consider Marxism a method rather than a scholastic dogma.
What You May Learn
-The process of female subordination was a very gradual
and had super-structural and psychological components
as well as economic
-Engels was right about some things and wrong about others
-A provocative stage theory about how male dominance originated
-There are well-researched conditions under which women
will or will not be likely to rebel

......................................................................

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APRIL TEXAS PEACE MARCH, ENDORSED
BY CINDY SHEEHAN, HOWARD ZINN,
TO ALSO CALL ON EXXONMOBIL TO
“RETURN” $7 BILLION IN WAR PROFITS
(A two-week march to the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas,
starting April 1, that will call for an end to the Iraq War and
immediate withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq)
Contacts - March info: Valley Reed valley.reed@earthlink.net
ExxonMobil info: Nick Mottern nickmottern@earthlink.net

http://www.marchtoredeem.org   
http://www.consumersforpeace.org

A two-week march to the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas,
starting April 1, that will call for an end to the Iraq War and
immediate withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq - endorsed
by peace worker Cindy Sheehan and historian Howard Zinn -
will also call on ExxonMobil Corporation to spend $7 billion
of its record $36 billion 2005 profit to alleviate war suffering
and to compensate thousands more who have documented
harm from its operations.

Ms. Sheehan and Mr. Zinn are among a list of endorsers
of the march that includes: independent journalist Dahr Jamail;
Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly; Michael Letwin,
co-convener of New York City Labor Against the War; author
Norman Solomon; Sundiata Xian Tellem, co-chair of the Green
Party of the U.S. Black Caucus; David Swanson, co-founder
of AfterDowningStreet.org; Tim Carpenter, National Director
of Progressive Democrats of America; and Global Exchange.
The march is being organized by the Dallas Peace Center,
Peace Action Texas, Crawford Peace House, ConsumersforPeace.org
and is endorsed also by the Southern Christian Leadership Council
and the Dallas NAACP. (A complete list of endorsers appears below.)

The call for ExxonMobil to spend $7 billion on meeting war-
related and business-related human needs is based on the
increasingly widely-held view that the conditions created by
the Iraq War have contributed significantly to the dramatic
profits of ExxonMobil and other major oil companies since
the occupation began in 2003. For example, Nobel Prize-
winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and colleague, Linda Blimes,
writing on the cost of the Iraq War, note that the war has had
a major inflationary impact on oil prices, which in turn, has
meant that “Profits of oil companies have increased enormously.”

Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and
Policy Research, responding to an inquiry from
ConsumersforPeace.org, estimates that as much as 20
percent of ExxonMobil’s record $36 billion 2005 profit,
or about $7 billion, is “a ball park number” for what can
be considered war profits for the oil giant. This is an estimate
of the amount of profit that is essentially unearned and is
traceable to oil prices that have been inflated because
(1) the Iraq War has severely depressed Iraq oil production,
and (2) there are fears that the Iraq War may spread, possibly
affecting oil production in Iran and Saudi Arabia.

ConsumersforPeace.org is promoting the ExxonMobil War
Boycott, which seeks immediate withdrawal of all U.S. forces
and mercenaries from Iraq, reparations for Iraq, impeachment
of George W. Bush and prosecution of U.S. officials for war
crimes and crimes against humanity in Iraq.

“ExxonMobil has made at least $7 billion extra in 2005 because
of the invasion and occupation of Iraq,” said Nick Mottern,
director of ConsumersforPeace.org. “This is unearned money,
taken from consumers, and it needs to be returned to society,”
he continued. “We propose that ExxonMobil write checks
to private organizations for relief in Iraq, for war-related
injuries of U.S. veterans and to compensate people in the U.S.
and elsewhere who have been harmed by ExxonMobil operations.”
The beneficiaries would include residents of Beaumont and Baytown,
Texas, living near ExxonMobil refineries who have experienced severe
health problems, according to Mottern.

ConsumersforPeace.org is developing a list of potential
recipients for the $7 billion.

“War profiteering is unacceptable in any war,” said Mottern, “and
it is particularly despicable when it is done by the nation’s largest
oil company during an illegal war that has so much suffering and
has so much to do with oil.”

On April 4, in Waxahachie, Texas, the march will commemorate
the 38th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. This is also the date in 2004 when Ms. Sheehan’s son
was killed in Iraq; his body was returned to her on Palm Sunday.

MARCH SCHEDULE

April 1 - 10 a.m. Press conference at ExxonMobil headquarters
in Irving, Texas, then march to the Trinity River.
A partial list of those appearing at the press conference:

Texas Rep. Lon Burnham
Dallas civil rights leader Rev. Peter Johnson
Rev. Roy Malveaux, Beaumont, Texas
Valley Reed, chief organizer, March to Redeem Campaign
Maureen Haver, Jumpstart Ford Campaign
Nick Mottern, Director, ConsumersforPeace.org

April 2 - 2:30 p.m. Press conference in front of Dallas County
Courthouse and Jail, then take DART to Dallas VA Hospital.
4:30 p.m. Rally at Dallas VA Hospital.
April 3 - 10 a.m. March south to Red Oak.
April 4 - 10 a.m. March south to Waxahachie.
7 p.m. Vigil in Waxahachie commenrating the
assassination of Dr. King.
April 5 - 10 a.m. March south to Italy.
April 6 - 10 a.m. March south to Carl’s Corner.
8 p.m. Performances by musicians and dancers.
April 7 - 10 a.m. March south to Hillsboro,
then southwest to Aquilla Lake.
April 8 - 10 a.m. March to Aquilla.
April 9 - 10 a.m. March to Gholson.
April 10 -10 a.m. March to Lacy Lake View.
April 11 -10 a.m. March to Waco.
April 12 -10 a.m. March to Waco Lake.
April 13 -10 a.m. March to Crawford for the celebration
of the 3rd Anniversary of the founding of the
Crawford Peace House.

ENDORSERS

After Downing Street
Annie and Buddy Spell, Louisiana peace activists
(Annie is president of the Greater Covington, LA branch of the NAACP.)
Anthony Arnove, author - “Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal”;
co-editor with Howard Zinn - “Voices of a People’s History of the U.S.”
Arden Buck, Mountain Forum for Peace, Nederland, CO
Beth K. Lamont, Humanist Chaplain, NGO Rep. to the United
Nations for the American Humanist Society.
Bloomington Peace Action Coalition (Indiana)
Campus Antiwar Network
Charles Jenks, Chair, Advisory Board, Traprock Peace Center,
Deerfield, MA
Cindy Sheehan, Co-founder, Gold Star Families for Peace
Coalition Against War and Injustice (Baton Rouge)
Consumers for Peace
Covington Peace Project (Louisiana)
Crawford Peace House
Dahr Jamail, independent journalist who spent over 8 months
reporting from occupied Iraq
Dallas County Young Democrats
Dallas NAACP
Dallas Peace Center
Democrats.com
David Swanson, Co-founder, AfterDowningStreet.org
Dennis Kyne, Gulf War veteran, activist and author of
“Support the Truth”
Dirk Adriaensens, Coordinator, SOS Iraq and member
of the Executive Committee of the Brussells Tribunal, Belgium
Don Debar, correspondent, WBAI, New York, NY
Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, National Coordinating Committee
- Campus Antiwar Network
Eric Ruder, reporter, Socialist Worker newspaper
Gabriele Zamparini, freelance journalist and film maker
living in London; co-editor of thecatsdream.com
Global Exchange
Goldstar Families for Peace
Howard Zinn, historian, playwright and activist; author
of “A People’s History of the United States” and co-editor
with Anthony Arnove of “Voices of a People’s History of the U.S.”
International Socialist Organization
Jacob Flowers, Director, MidSouth Peace and Justice Center
Judy Linehan, Military Families Speak Out
Jumpstart Ford Campaign, a joint effort of Global Exchange,
the Rainforest Action Network and the Ruckus Society
Kathy Kelly, Nobel Peace Prize nominee; Co-founder
Voices for Creative Non-Violence
Karen Burke, Campus Antiwar Movement to End the
Occupation, Austin, TX
Karen Hadden, Seed Coalition, Austin, TX
Lindsey German, Convener, Stop the War Coalition (UK)
Michael Letwin, Co-convener, New York City Labor Against the War
Mid-South Peace and Justice Center (Memphis)
Mike Corwin, International Socialist Organization, Austin, TX
Nick Mottern, Director, ConsumersforPeace.org
Nada Khader, Executive Director, WESPAC Foundation,
White Plains, NY
Norman Solomon, author of “War Made Easy: How Presidents
and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death”
Paola Pisi, professor of religious studies (Italy) and editor of uruknet.info
Phil Gasper, Chair, Department of Philosophy & Religion,
Nortre Dame de Namur University; Professors for Peace
Progressive Democrats of America
Sharon Smith, author of “Women and Socialism: Essays
on Women’s Liberation”
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Sonya Sofia, Rainbow organization
Stan Goff, Master sergeant, retired, U.S. Army
Sundiata Xian Tellem, Co-chair, Green Party of the United States
Black Caucus; former chair, Green Party of Dallas County
Sunny Miller, Executive Director, Traprock Peace Center, Deerfield, MA
Texans for Peace
Traprock Peace Center (Massachusetts)
Thomas F. Barton, Publisher, GI Special
Tim Baer, Director, Bloomington Peace Action Coalition
Tim Carpenter, National Director, Progressive Democrats of America
Valley Reed, Chief organizer, March to Redeem Campaign
Ward Reilly, SE National Contact, Vietnam Veterans Against the
War; Veterans for Peace, Baton Rouge, LA
Wespac Foundation

Affiliations are for identification purposes only.

- 30 -

Charles Jenks
Chair of Advisory Board and Web Manager
Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-7427
fax 413-773-7507
http://www.traprockpeace.org

....................................................

SOLIDARITY NOW CONFERENCE
April 7-9, 2006
Quality Inn (Located On US 31)
Kokomo, Indiana 46902
Meeting Introductions 7:ooPM Friday
Saturday & Sunday Begin With Registration At 8:00AM

Working people are under attack as never before. The institutions on
which workers have depended?the Democratic Party and the unions have
utterly failed to defend us. Democratic as well as Republican
politicians support the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, savage cuts in
social programs, outsourcing jobs, attacking public education,
rewriting bankruptcy laws to benefit credit card companies. Union
officials work with corporations to cut wages, rob retirees of their
pensions, impose wage tiers, cut health care. They replace worker
solidarity with worker-against-worker Company Teams. They support the
war-makers in DC.

Meanwhile most working people, blue-collar and white-collar, employed
and unemployed, remain unorganized and largely defenseless.

The politicians and the unions are part of the problem. We cannot rely
on them and we cannot change them. We have to go around them, to create
institutions that we control to fight for the values, the livelihoods,
the future of working people.

SOLIDARITY NOW is a new organization formed in Peoria, IL in 2005. Our
goals are to rebuild the culture of mutual support that is natural to
working people, to fight for the goals of working people, and to build
a movement for democratic revolution.

If you are an auto worker, a teacher, a nurse, a student, a professor,
work in an office or school or hospital or university, are employed or
unemployed, working or retired, we invite you to join Solidarity Now
and to join us in Kokomo for our National Meeting.

To be assured of a room, please make your reservations now at the
Quality Inn, Kokomo, IN (765-459-8001). Tell them you are with
Solidarity Now. Rooms are $58 per night, single or double, breakfast
included. Please let Tino Scalici (tinoscalici@msn.com) or Dave
Stratman (newdem@aol.com) know if you would like to join Solidarity Now
or if you plan to attend the meeting.

(For more info on Solidarity Now, please see our web site at
solidaritynow.com.)

We are still negotiating the cost of the conference rooms. We will
either take up a collection or charge a small conference fee to cover
the costs. The meeting will be an all day event.

Future of the Union Mailing List
http://futureoftheunion.com/mailman/listinfo/news_futureoftheunion.com

......................................................................


Major Mobilization Set for April 29th

Dear Friends,

We are pleased to announce the kick-off for the organizing
of what promises to be a major national mobilization on
Saturday, April 29th. Today, each of the initiating groups
(see list below) is announcing this mobilization. Our
organizations have agreed to work together on this
project for several reasons:

The April 29th mobilization will highlight our call for an
immediate end to the war on Iraq. We are also raising
several other critical issues that are directly connected
to one another.

It is time for our constituencies to work more closely:
connecting the issues we work on by bringing diverse
communities into a common project.

It is important for our movements to help set the agenda
for the Congressional elections later in the year. Our
unified action in the streets is a vital part of that process.

Please share the April 29th call widely, and please use
the links at the end of the call to endorse this timely
mobilization and to sign up for email updates.

April 29th Initiating Organizations
United for Peace and Justice
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
National Organization for Women
Friends of the Earth
U.S. Labor Against the War
Climate Crisis Coalition
Peoples' Hurricane Relief Fund
National Youth and Student Peace Coalition

A war based on lies
Spying, corruption and attacks on civil liberties
Katrina survivors abandoned by government

MARCH FOR PEACE,
JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY

End the war in Iraq -
Bring all our troops home now!

SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2006
NEW YORK CITY

Unite for change - let's turn our country around!

The times are urgent and we must act.

Too much is too wrong in this country. We have a foreign
policy that is foreign to our core values, and domestic
policies wreaking havoc at home. It's time for a change.

No more never-ending oil wars!
Protect our civil liberties & immigrant rights. End illegal
spying, government corruption and the subversion of
our democracy.

Rebuild our communities, starting with the Gulf Coast.
Stop corporate subsidies and tax cuts for the wealthy
while ignoring our basic needs.

Act quickly to address the climate crisis and the
accelerating destruction of our environment.

Our message to the White House and to Congress
is clear: either stand with us or stand aside!

We are coming together to march, to vote, to speak
out and to turn our country around!

Join us in New York City on Saturday, April 29th

Click here to endorse this mobilization:
http://unitedforpeace.org/modinput4.php?modin=119
Click here to sign up for email updates on plans for April 29th:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email

April 29th Initiating Organizations
United for Peace and Justice
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
National Organization for Women
Friends of the Earth
U.S. Labor Against the War
Climate Crisis Coalition
Peoples' Hurricane Relief Fund
National Youth and Student Peace Coalition

......................................................................

ANSWER Coalition: All Out for April 29 in New York City!
End Occupation from Iraq to Palestine, to Haiti, and Everywhere!
Fight for workers rights, civil rights and civil liberties - unite
against racism!

300,000 Came to Washington on Sept. 24

In recent weeks the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has been in the final
stages for planning a national demonstration in Washington DC on April
29, 2006. This action was to follow the local and regional
demonstrations for March 18-19 and youth and student actions scheduled
on March 20 on the 3rd anniversary of the criminal bombing, invasion
and occupation of Iraq.

On September 24, 2005 more than 300,000 people surrounded the White
House in the largest mobilization against the Iraq war and occupation
since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. This demonstration was
initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition in May 2005 and we urged a
united front with other major anti-war coalitions and communities. We
marched demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Iraq. We
also stood in solidarity with the Palestinian and Haitian people and
others who are suffering under and resisting occupation. Coming as it
did following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we changed the demands of
the September 24 protest to include the slogan "From Iraq to New
Orleans, FundPeople's Needs not the War Machine."

During the past several years, and as demonstrated in a powerful
display on September 24, the anti-war movement has grown significantly
in its breadth and depth as the leadership has included the Arab and
Muslim community -- those who are among the primary targets of the
Bush Administration's current war at home and abroad.

The anti-war sentiment inside the United States is rapidly becoming a
significant obstacle to the Bush Administration's war in Iraq. The
anti-war movement has the potential to be a critical deterrent to the
U.S. government's aspirations for Empire. At this moment the White
House and Pentagon are issuing threats and making plans to move
against other sovereign countries. Iran and Syria are being targeted
as the U.S. seeks to consolidate power in the Middle East.

Simultaneously the Bush administration is working to undermine the
gains of the people of Latin America by working totopple the
democratically elected president of Venezuela and destroy the
revolutionary process for social change going on in that country.
Likewise it is intensifying the economic war and CIA subversions
against Cuba.

We believe that our movement must weld together the broadest, most
diverse coalition of various sectors and communities into an effective
force for change. This requires the inclusion of targeted communities
and political clarity. The war in Iraq is not simply an aberrational
policy of the Bush neo-conservatives. Iraq is emblematic of a larger
war for Empire. It is part of a multi-pronged attack against all those
countries that refuse to follow the economic, political and military
dictates of the Washington establishment and Wall Street.

This is the foundation of the political program upon which the
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has organized mass demonstrations in the recent
years. The fact that many hundreds of thousands of people
havedemonstrated in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, New
York and other cities is a testament to the huge progress that has
been made in building a new movement on this principled basis.
The people of the United States have nothing to gain and everything to
lose from the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Haiti and
the threats of new wars and intervention in Syria, Iran, Venezuela,
Cuba, the Philippines, North Korea and elsewhere. It has been made
crystal clear in recent weeks that Washington is aggressively
prosecuting its strategy of total domination of the Middle East. U.S.
leaders are seeking to crush all resistance to their colonial agenda,
whether from states or popular movements in the region. The
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition andthe anti-war movement is raising the demand,
"U.S. Out of the Middle East."

At its core, the war for Empire is supported by the Republican Party
and Democratic Party alike, which constitute the twin parties of
militarism and war, and this quest for global domination will continue
regardless of the outcome of the 2006 election. In fact, leading
Democrats are attacking Bush for being "soft" on Iran and North Korea.
Real hope for turning the tide rests with building a powerful global
movement of resistance in which the people of the United States stand
with their sisters and brothers struggling against imperialism and the
new colonialism.

On the home front the Bush administration is involved in a
far-reaching assault against working class communities as most
glaringly evidenced by its criminal and racist negligence towards the
people of New Orleans and throughout the hurricane ravaged Gulf
States. While turning their backs on these communities in the moments
ofgreatest need, the U.S. government is now working with the banks and
developers who, like vultures, are exploiting mass suffering and
dislocation to carry out racist gentrification that only benefits the
wealthy. The administration is also working to eviscerate hard-fought
civil rights and civil liberties, engaging in a widespread campaign of
domestic spying and wiretapping against the people of the U.S. and
other assaults against the First and Fourth Amendments.

In early December 2005, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition filed for permits
for a national march in Washington DC on April 29, 2006. We were
preparing to announce the April 29 action but in recent days we have
heard from A.N.S.W.E.R. organizers in a number of unions that U.S.
Labor Against the War was seeking union endorsements for a call for an
anti-war demonstration on the same day in New York City. Having two
demonstrations on April 29 in both Washington D.C. and New York City
seems to us to be lessadvantageous than having the movement unite
behind one single mobilization. As such, we decided to hold back our
announcement. Subsequently, the New York City demonstration has been
announced by a number of organizations. Underscoring the need to have
the largest possible demonstration on April 29, the A.N.S.W.E.R.
Coalition has decided to fully mobilize, in all of its chapters and
organizing centers, to bring people to the New York City demonstration
on April 29. The banners and slogans of different coalitions may not
be the same, but it is in the interest of everyone to march
shoulder-to-shoulder against the criminal war in Iraq and the Bush
administration's War for Empire, including its racist, sexist and
anti-worker domestic program.

All out for a united, mass mobilization on April 29 in New York City!
Click here to become a transportation center in your city or town for
the April 29 demonstration.

Click here to receive updates on A.N.S.W.E.R.'s mobilization for the
April 29 NYC demonstration.
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: 212-694-8720
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
Click here to unsubscribe from the ANSWER e-mail list.

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

Code Pink Mother's Day Vigil May 13-14, in Washington DC

Mother's Day is often seen as if through a soft-focus lens --
a sentimental day of cards and flowers and frills. It has a
surprisingly radical history, however. Just as International
Women’s Day, March 8, started as a day for women to rise
up for peace and justice, so did Mother’s Day in the US begin
with Julia Ward Howe’s inspirational 1870 Proclamation against
the carnage of the Civil War:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!…
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!

Julia goes on to exhort women to leave their homes and
gather for an “earnest day of counsel” to figure out how
“the great human family can live in peace.” It’s time to
take Julia’s words to heart and bring them to fruition
in the world. Bouquets of spring flowers may be lovely,
but lasting peace is the greatest way to honor all mothers
-- past, present and future. Read the rest of Julia's
Proclamation here.

Join us this Mother's Day weekend, May 13-14, in
Washington DC as we gather for a 24-hour vigil outside
the White House. Bring your mother, your children, your
grandmother, your friends, your loved ones. Come for
the whole vigil (4pm Saturday to 4pm Sunday) or for
a few hours! We’ll sing, dance, drum, bond, laugh,
cry and hug. We’ll write letters to Laura Bush to appeal
to her own mother-heart, and read them aloud. We’ll
discuss new ideas for ending the war and building peace.
In the final two hours, from 2-4pm on Sunday, we’ll be
joined by some amazing celebrity actresses, singers,
writers--and moms. For more information & a schedule
of events to help you plan your trip, check out the
Mothers' Day page on the CODEPINK website. If you
can’t join us, you can create or join a Mother's Day
activity in your own community. For ideas to help
you plan an action check out the resources section
of the Mother's Day page.

And whether you’re in the US or overseas, please
consider writing a letter to Laura Bush to ask her how
she, as a mother, can continue to support a war that
is leaving scores of American and Iraqi mothers bereft.
Send your letters to laurabush@codepinkalert.org,
we’ll deliver them en masse; we'll also take the most
compelling letters and turn them into a book, “Letters to Laura.”
Let’s make this Mother’s Day, May 14, one where we
heed Julia Ward Howe’s original call to action. Let’s
come together to build the world we want for our
children -- and our mothers.
Alison, Dana, Farida, Gael, Jodie, Medea, Rae and Tiffany

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

PUSH FOR PEACE
MEMORIAL DAY KICKOFF
MONDAY, MAY 29, 2006
GOLDEN GATE PARK, S.F.
(Exact location to be announced.)

Welcome to the Official Push for Peace Site!
http://www.pushforpeace.us/civic/index.php?q

The Push For Peace movement is geared to combine the efforts of
able-bodied activists to those with special needs or challenges,
so that all people can participate and be counted.

The Push for Peace logo shows a Navy veteran in a wheelchair
with a peace sign on the wheel, with people marching behind
him. It can be seen at:

http://www.pushforpeace.us/civic/index.php?q=node/71

Just in case we don't get to modify the map before the weekend,
I'll just name our proposed stops. We start, of course with Golden
Gate Park, from there we head south to Los Angeles. Turning
east we move to Phoenix, then on to Albuquerque. Now it's
north to Denver, and east to St Louis. North again to Chicago,
and east to Detroit. Continue east to Cleveland, and then NYC
if all goes well Central Park (Imagine), culminating at the gates
of the White House on July 4, 2006

Push For Peace is a collective of veterans, progressive activists,
and everyday citizens working together through education,
motivation, and truth to bring America's troops home from the
war in Iraq and to help bring healing and peace to our nation.
The Push For Peace movement is geared to combine the efforts
of able-bodied activists to those with special needs or challenges,
so that all people can participate and be counted. The Push
For Peace effort will include organized rallies and marches,
as well as appearances and performances by high-profile
speakers and entertainers, to rally the American people and
show them we stand united with our fellow citizen and soldier.
It is our goal to grow the base of participants each day resulting
in a cross-country Push culminating at the gates of the White
House on July 4, 2006. Events will be scheduled across the
country leading up to the big Push in July. So keep checking
the Push calendar for events near you. Mapping it all out...
[Website shows map of stops in US en route to DC on July 4, 2006...bw]

This is a tentative and unfinished P4P route and is only a work in progress.
The Push is set to leave Golden Gate Park on Memorial Day 2006 (currently
working on permits) and then we will Push our way across the country
to arrive in DC across from the White House gathering at Lafayette Park
(currently working on permits) on July 4th, 2006. Golden Gate Park,
San Francisco, California Las Vegas Nevada Phoenix, Arizona Denver,
Colorado Crawford, Texas New Orleans, Louisiana more states pending...
Pushing real Democracy! http://www.pushforpeace.us/civic/index.php?q=

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

FACTSHEET
The Right To Return, a Basic Right Still Denied
http://al-awda.org/facts.html
...........................................................

Protests Planned Against Media War Coverage
By Danny Schechter
Source: MediaChannel.org
http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/3378

...........................................................

TELL BUSH AND CONGRESS: STOP THE WAR
ON IRAN BEFORE IT STARTS!
Please join the online campaign to
STOP THE WAR ON IRAN BEFORE IT STARTS!
YOUR EMERGENCY ACTION IS NEEDED NOW!
Send emails to President Bush, Vice President
Cheney, Secretary of State Rice, U.N. Secretary-
General Annan, Congressional leaders and
the media demanding NO WAR ON IRAN!
http://stopwaroniran.org/

...........................................................

March 2006 National Immigrant
Solidarity Network Monthly Digest
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
URL: http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org
e-mail: Info@ImmigrantSolidarity.org
No Immigrant Bashing! Support Immigrant Rights!
No Borders! Papers for All!
...........................................................

WHY WE FIGHT
A film by Eugene Jarecki
[Check out the trailer about this new film.
This looks like a very powerful film.]
http://www.sonyclassics.com/whywefight/

...........................................................

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html
http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/decind.html
http://www.usconstitution.net/declar.html
http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/02/1805195.php

Bill of Rights
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html
http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/02/1805182.php

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------
ARTICLES IN FULL:
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*--------

1) REPORT ON COUNTER-RECRUITMENT TABLE AT
GEORGE WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL, Tuesday, April 4, 2006
By Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
www.bauaw.org

2) In Notification of Army Deaths, More Pain
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
April 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/07/us/07notify.html?hp&ex=1144468800&en=b84da629f9b0a6a6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

3) Gonzales Suggests Legal Basis for Domestic Eavesdropping
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
April 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/07/washington/07nsa.html

4) Freedom of Movement, a Working Class
Alternative to Immigration Problem
by Mahmood Ketabchi
April 7, 2006
mekchi@msn.com

5) Lobbying Cases Shine Spotlight on Family Ties
By PHILIP SHENON
April 9, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/washington/09lobby.html?hp&ex=1144555200&en=b22d52753fd8b7bc&ei=5094&partner=homepage

6) Ángels in America
By JOHN TIERNEY
CHICAGO
April 8, 2006
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/opinion/08tierney.html?hp

7) Making It Ashore, but Still Chasing U.S. Dream
By NINA BERNSTEIN
April 9, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/nyregion/09venture.html?hp&ex=1144555200&en=f0e1adbf1883e666&ei=5094&partner=homepage

8) Drug Plan's Side Effect Is Severe
By ALEX BERENSON
April 8, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/business/08copay.html

9) We are what we eat
"The Omnivore's Dilemma" author Michael Pollan on how
Wall Street has driven America's obesity epidemic, the
misleading labels in Whole Foods, and why we should
spend more money on food.
By Ira Boudway
http://www.salon.com/books/int/2006/04/08/pollan/

10) WOMEN'S *HERSTORY* MONTH
[Col. Writ. 3/23/06] Copyright 2006 Mumia Abu-Jamal

11) Criminal probe of mine fire initiated
U.S. attorney to investigate
By Tara Tuckwiller
Staff writer
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has launched a criminal investigation into
the January fire at Massey Energy’s Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine in
Logan County that killed two coal miners.
April 07, 2006
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2006040638

12) Chirac to Replace Youth Jobs Law
[VICTORY FOR WORKERS EVERYWHERE--FRENCH MASS
DEMONSTRATIONS FORCED THE CHIRAC GOVERNMENT TO DITCH
YOUTH LAW WHICH WOULD HAVE GIVEN EMPLOYERS THE RIGHT
TO FIRE WORKERS YOUNGER THAN 26 FOR ANY REASON! BUT
WHAT WILL THE GOVERNMENT COME UP WITH NEXT?...BW]
By KATRIN BENNHOLD
April 10, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/world/11cnd-france.html?hp&ex=1144728000&en=ddb1f2fd9333a8e9&ei=5094&partner=homepage

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

1) REPORT ON COUNTER-RECRUITMENT TABLE AT
GEORGE WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL, Tuesday, April 4, 2006
By Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
www.bauaw.org

These are my notes about my experience at a counter-recruitment
table at George Washington High School that I was able to arrange
on the spur of the moment thanks to a tip-off from one of the
Teachers at the school. I had been to the school last year also for
their Career Fair--a time when the colleges, and trades come
to offer kids their programs in order to help them choose their
future careers.

As a result of the passage March 28, 2006, by the San Francisco
Board of Education, of the "Equal Access for Recruiters" Board of
Education Policy (62-14Sp1), the high schools in San Francisco
are being inundated with military recruiters in full force.

This new policy in effect, circumvents the 95 percent "opt-out"
rate chosen by the parents of San Francisco students. It is
outrageous that after 95 percent of all parents in the district
have made it clear that they do not want the military to contact
their children; and while the signed "opt-out" form will prevent
the school from turning over students information to the military
--including school files--the new policy lets the military right
in the front door, up close, and in personal contact with students
on a regular and frequent basis. This decision is a clear betrayal
of the will of the overwhelming majority of parents and voters
in the district!

In 2005 San Francisco voters voted Yes on Proposition N, to
Bring the Troops Home Now! In 2006, we voted Yes on Proposition I,
to get the military out of our schools! And 95 percent of the parents
of the San Francisco Unified School District opted out of military
recruitment of their kids and yet, here we are, with an open door
policy for military recruiters in our schools.

CONCRETE EXAMPLE OF THE IMPACT OF THE PASSAGE OF THE
EQUAL ACCESS POLICY (62-14Sp1):

At the counter-recruitment table set up at George Washington
High School's Career Fair this past Tuesday, April 4, not only did
the military send two representatives from each of their branches
--but, clustered together with their three-billion-dollar advertising
budget, they were the most popular tables at the fair.

Each branch of the military gave out flashlights, nylon-web key
chains (very popular with students), school folders, rulers, periodic
table charts, and shopping bags full of other stuff from the Army,
Marines, Navy, Air Force and National Guard.

And each had their usual slick brochures that promise students
they can become electric guitar players and graphic designers in
the Service and that they don't even have to go into combat if they
don't want to! They promise tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses
to students who join.

(Of course, the reality is, that an honorably discharged, and bronze
star recipient who was sent home because of post traumatic stress
syndrome has been ordered to pay back the bonus he had received
while serving in Iraq. Not only did the Army seize his final bonus check
but he is being forced to pay back the bonus money he received because
he did not complete his full tour of duty of six years. He only completed four.)

What was remarkable at George Washington High, was the interest in
the counter-recruitment table that Bay Area United Against War set up.
I copied brochures from American Friends Service Committee, War Resisters
League and other informative pamphlets and hand-outs, in Spanish and
English, that offered information on how to apply for college financial aid,
8 Reasons JROTC has to go (very popular with the students since there
is a large JROTC at this school,) questions you should ask yourself
before you enlist, a flyer called "the military is hazardous to your health" etc.

We had a bunch of College Not Combat Prop. I buttons which were
snapped up right away--I even had to give up my Mumia button to
a student. We also had flyers for upcoming activities in the antiwar
movement like the upcoming Stop the War Now Coalition May 13
conference flyers and the April 10, Amnesty for All demonstration
at 5pm at 16th and Mission Street, S.F.

More than half of the material that I brought was taken by students
(hundreds.) I had a lot of Spanish flyers left because the school seems
to be predominantly Asian. I only wish I had more stuff to give out.
I ran out of the main flyers and, of course, the buttons.

I had wonderful conversations with students. A young woman who
had stuff from the Army in her arms stopped at the table with a friend,
also holding the military junk. The young woman who spoke first
picked up the "8 Reasons Why JROTC Has to Go" flyer. She said she
had been put into JROTC in her freshman year because the P.E. classes
were full. She hated it. Her friend said that her gym teacher told the
class that if anyone fails PE, they will have to take JROTC. This is
a clear violation of the San Francisco Unified School District policy
that prohibits forcing students into JROTC, but it happens routinely.
We also ran across this at Lincoln H.S. and International Studies
Academy last spring.

Most often, students are unable to take a PE class because there
is not enough to go around so they either have to wait a semester
to graduate or take JROTC--and that is no choice to any kid who
wants to graduate with his or her class. And some, who are late
registers to high school, get put into JROTC automatically their
freshman year. JROTC is supposed to be for Juniors and Seniors
only!

I had a great conversation with these two young women about
their JROTC experience. We also talked about the war and the
state of our schools as a result of the huge costs of the war.
I explained that the military advertising budget ($3 billion) alone
for recruitment--to hand out the slick brochures and trinkets--
could fund fantastic public education improvements. After hearing
that, the two young women looked at each other and said, "heck,
we didn't even need these stupid folders" referring to the Military
folders they had in their arms.

I spoke with a group of four or five young men who had their
arms full of Military stuff too. They came over to the table
enthusiastically and took the flyers about JROTC and the "military
is hazardous to your health" flyer and read them then and there.
They asked questions and listened in earnest. They took the
COLLEGE NOT COMBAT buttons and put them on.

I spoke to these young men for about ten minutes comparing
the information in the flyers we had at our table to what the
recruiters had just told them when they were getting the free
stuff. They reacted like they knew those military guys were
"full of it."

The same group of young men came back about a half-hour
later with other friends after looking at all the other tables
and told me that, "although I didn't have a lot of fancy stuff
to give out, this was the best table."

These instances were repeated throughout the 10:00 am to
12:30 pm time slot for the fair as hundreds of students strolled
down the long hallway gathering free stuff and looking at the
career options offered to them.

There were many colleges present and I sat across from the
Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union. Everyone was giving out some
kind of trinket, button, sticker, pen, etc. and the kids were
grabbing all of it up.

UNEQUAL ACCESS FOR ANTIWAR GROUPS:

The School Administration--the Principal and the Career
Counselor--although they permitted our table, held us under
different guidelines than everyone else. We were situated in
a place where we had no view of the military tables which were
around the corner in another hallway. As part of securing the
table, I had to send electronic copies of all material I intended
to give out to students--which I did, promptly.

I got a call from the Career Counselor informing me that we
could not have any sigh-up sheets or way to collect students
names or phone numbers or any information from them and
that, she said, went for the Military as well. Yet I saw many
of the tables giving students cards to fill out to receive
information, etc. I could not see if the Military was doing that
as I was prohibited from going near their tables. I would have
loved to pick some of their brochures up. I have a few that were
sent to our teenage grandsons but would like to have more.

I was informed by the Career Counselor the day before the fair,
that the Principal did not want me to bring the flyer, "8 Reasons
Why JROTC Has to Go" because, he said, it would "upset and
intimidate the students who were in JROTC." I spoke to the
Principal directly and he repeated this claim. I asked him if he
is saying that presenting students with an alternative point of
view--the reason we were there in the first place--was considered
intimidating by him? Was this what he was teaching his students?
Should students be "intimidated" by a different point of view?

He told me that if I brought those flyers I would not be allowed
to set up the table. I told him I would contact the members of
the Board of Education about it immediately. He got very angry
with me and hung up. I was in the process of emailing the board
members when, about an hour later, the Principal called me back
and told me it was OK to bring the flyer. I didn't write the letter
to the board.

I was told, however, in no uncertain terms, that I was to stay put
and stay away from the military tables. (Last year we stood quietly
by the military tables with Stephen Funk (who came on his own and
stood there quietly wearing an Iraq War Resister T-shirt) and handed
out flyers about "Military Myths." We were ordered to stop, by the
Principal at that time and in fact he eventually called the police on us.

About three squad cars came and the police surrounded us with
about seven officers, and threatened to arrest us if we didn't stop
handing out flyers near the military tables. So this year, the Principal
made me guarantee that I would not approach the military. And
I didn't--even though at least one Recruiting Officer came to our
table and took a flyer--a flyer asking, "Why Enlist?" (The recruiter
took it with a smirk on his face and he didn't look me in the eye!)

The experience was invigorating. The students are bright and full
of questions and have opinions of their own--good ones! The table
tended to get clusters of 4 to 6 students together who also discussed
among themselves and compared their experiences they had just
had at the military tables. It was a real upper for me to be included
in these discussions. Some students who came to the table came
by again later and brought other friends.

I am writing this long report of my experience to express the
importance I feel this kind of work is. I must also report that I had
a hell of a time getting anyone to go with me--in fact--I went alone
with the stuff I copied off my computer, using my ink cartridges
($$$plural$$$) and the buttons we had left over from Prop. I. The
students are hungry for information and for activity to do. If we
had hundreds of buttons, hundreds of students would be wearing
them.

We need to organize this work. We need to produce material to
hand out; raise the money to pay for the material. We need to set
up career day events in all the schools and organize a network of
volunteers who can go to them. We also need to set up flyering
at the schools especially in the mornings, since many parents
still drop their kids off and can be reached with a flyer, etc.

We must give these counter-recruitment endeavors the tools
they need to attract and educate students by creating a literature
committee, volunteer and outreach committee, and fundraising
committee to pay for the material.

We also need to decide on unifying slogans and a counter-
recruitment program that can involve the parents.

Many of the parents in the district know nothing of this new policy
and think the military has already been banned in the schools.
They also think that since they signed the opt-out form that their
children will remain free from military predation--at least in
school! WE HAVE TO WORN ALL PARENTS THAT THIS IS
HAPPENING IN THEIR CHILD'S SCHOOL!

In fact, many students came up to the table and questioned
if Proposition I, the No Military in our Schools initiative, had
passed? One parent, who attended the fateful board meeting
where the policy was adopted, was shocked to find the military
still in the schools. She had the naive idea that passing Prop.
I would have put a stop to it. She was furious when she found
out that now they would be more firmly in place in our schools
then they were before the passing of this new policy--a policy
that the military recruiters were very pleased with! That's why
she came to the meeting--she was outraged!

It is imperative that we continue to convince young people not
to enlist on a massive scale and to demand increased funding
for schools and for job training and career training options as
well as increased financial aid for college. The decision not to
enlist on a massive scale is a profoundly democratic antiwar
action!

By carrying out a high school counter-recruitment program
we can involve broad new layers of people into the antiwar
struggle. By coordinating our efforts, planning and working
together, we can reach out into more schools than ever before.
By pooling our resources--asking print shops to donate their
services, or by procuring donations for the printing of specific
flyers or general donations for the costs of producing as much
as we can to give out to kids and for the kids to take home to
their parents as possible. We also need some young designers
who can design stuff that is attractive to young people.

We need to set tables up at the malls where the kids hang out
and, by the way, where many of the recruitment offices are
located! Stonestown Mall is one! We need to set tables up
outside of all the summer concerts that will be coming up--
concerts that are often co-sponsored by the Navy, etc.

We also need to encourage the formation of antiwar and counter
-recruitment and Amnesty Now committees on the high schools
and college campuses and among the parents--and encourage
them to coordinate and work with the organized antiwar
movement to demand, for instance, that only those students
whose parents have "opted in" can approach the military at
any school career fair and that the military should be out of
reach to the other 95 percent of students.

This is a momentous task but one that promises to bring in
fresh new thinking and ideas into the movement. It is a chance
to reach the masses of people who have never demonstrated
or protested before and bring them into the movement and
broaden it. It is a chance to influence a young person--make
them think twice about enlisting. (Regina Johnson from College
Not Combat, was able to convince a young woman at International
Studies Academy last spring not to join the military and to go
to college instead to become a nurse. That was the result of
setting up a counter-recruitment workshop at the school's
Career Day Fair.)

CONCLUSION: ORGANIZE A BROAD CAMPAIGN TO IMPLEMENT
PROPOSITION I BY ORGANIZING AN AGGRESSIVE COUNTER-
RECRUITMENT MOVEMENT IN THE SAN FRANCISCO HIGH
SCHOOLS AND THROUGHOUT THE CITY WITH THE GOAL OF
ORGANIZING TOGETHER AND COORDINATING OUR ACTIVITY
IN ORDER TO SET AN EXAMPLE AND SPREAD THE MOVEMENT
THROUGHOUT THE BAY AREA AND THE COUNTRY--
TO CONVINCE MORE YOUNG PEOPLE NOT TO SIGN UP FOR
MILITARY SERVICE!

We went out on the sidewalks to collect signatures for Proposition I.
We talked to thousands of people and were happy, but not surprised
at the vote in favor of Prop. I. The increased militarization of our schools
is intolerable under these circumstances in San Francisco. We need
to organize a movement strong enough to get the military out of
our schools as per the wishes of 95 percent of the parents of the
district and the majority of voters in the city! And a growing majority
of people throughout the country and the world.

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

2) In Notification of Army Deaths, More Pain
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
April 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/07/us/07notify.html?hp&ex=1144468800&en=b84da629f9b0a6a6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

After Neil Santorello heard the news that his son, a tank commander,
had been killed in Iraq, from the officer in his living room, he walked
out his front door and removed the American flag from its pole.
Then, in tears, he tore down the yellow ribbons from his tree.

Rather than see it as the act of a man unmoored by the death
of his 24-year-old son, the officer, an Army major, confronted
Mr. Santorello, saying,

"Don't be disrespectful," Mr. Santorello recalled. Then, the officer,
whose job it is to inform families of their loss, quickly disappeared
without offering any comfort.

Later, the Santorellos heard a piece of crushing but inaccurate
news: They would not be allowed to look inside their son's coffin.
First Lt. Neil Santorello, of Verona, Pa., had been killed by
an improvised bomb. His body, the family was told, was
unviewable.

The Santorellos eventually learned that families have the right
to see a loved one's body.

"I asked them to open the casket a few inches so I could reach
in and touch his hand," recalled Mr. Santorello, who is still
struggling with his son's death, in large part because
he was not allowed to see him.

"The government doesn't want you to see servicemen in
a casket, but this is my son. He is not a serviceman.
You have to let his mother and I say goodbye to him."

Scores of families whose loved ones have died fighting
in Iraq and Afghanistan have gone head-to-head with
a casualty system that, in their experience, has failed to
compassionately and competently guide them through
the harrowing process that begins after a soldier's death.

When the system works smoothly, and it often does,
families say they feel a profound sense of comfort.
But others have seen their hurt deepen.

They have complained about coffins placed in cargo bays
alongside crates, personal belongings that disappear,
questions about how their loved ones died that go
unanswered for months or even years, and casualty
assistants who are too poorly trained to walk them
through the labyrinth of their anguish.

After three years of war in Iraq, with the number
of active-duty deaths there surpassing 2,330, the
military is scrambling to improve the way it cares for
surviving relatives and honors soldiers who have been
killed in battle. Even senior officials, including the
secretary of the Army, have acknowledged flaws
in the system.

Not since the Vietnam War have so many service
members in dress uniforms knocked on so many
doors to deliver such somber news.

The Army, which has suffered the largest number
of deaths, 1,589 as of March 28, has faced an enormous
challenge and has received the sharpest criticism for
its treatment of surviving families and soldiers killed
in action.

Now it is rushing through new regulations to overhaul
the casualty process, which has been tinkered with,
but not fully revised, since 1994. "We take it to heart
whenever something is not done properly and are
painfully aware of the additional grief it brings to the
family concerned," said Col. Mary Torgersen, the
director of the Army's Casualty and Memorial Affairs
Operation Center, in an e-mail response to questions,
adding that some changes have already been put in place.

For some grieving families, the cracks in the system
have deepened their distress and many have been
turned to Congress, state officials and private lawyers
for help.

Many wonder why it has taken the military so long
to address their concerns. The answer appears
straightforward: The military did not expect to be
fighting this long. It also did not expect to lose
this many soldiers.

Lapses in the past few years run from the heart-wrenching
to the head-scratching. Families have said that items like
cameras and computers containing treasured e-mail
messages and photographs have been lost or damaged.

Gay and Fred Eisenhauer, of Pinckneyville, Ill., whose son,
Wyatt, an Army scout, was killed last May in Iraq by an
improvised bomb, are still hoping to receive their son's
watch, eyeglasses and cellphone. The phone is precious
because it holds a recording of their son's voice. A combat
patch they were promised has never arrived.

"I know these are little things," Mrs. Eisenhauer said. "What
makes it important to me is that my son was good enough
to go over there to fight, but he is not important enough
to get his stuff back to his family."

Colonel Torgersen said the Casualty and Memorial Affairs
Operation Center "aggressively monitors the movement"
of personal effects. Mortuary specialists inventory, photograph,
clean and then ship belongings to the center via Federal Express.

Soldiers, in their coffins, usually arrive from Dover Air Force
Base in the belly of a commercial flight. But honor guards
have not always been present as the coffins come off the plane.

The Eisenhauers had hoped to take comfort in the military
rituals. Instead, the airline placed Private Eisenhauer's coffin
in a cargo warehouse with crates and boxes stacked high
around it. There was no ceremony, no flag over the coffin.

Only the airport firefighters did their bit to honor him,
hoisting flags on their ladder trucks.

"I just wanted to scream," Mrs. Eisenhauer said. "My son
was owed that. He was owed that."

When Joan Neal of Gurnee, Ill., went to the airport for the
body of her son, Specialist Wesley Wells, 21, she was aghast.
"To glance over and see your child's casket on a forklift is not
really the kind of thing you want to see," Ms. Neal said.

News of a death has also been delivered at awkward times.
Ms. Neal was at work when she was notified in September 2004
that her son had been killed in Afghanistan, and Mrs. Eisenhauer's
6-year-old niece was in the room when Mrs. Eisenhauer
received the news.

As parents to a married son, the Santorellos experienced
something that is commonplace: The Army focuses on the
spouse and has often left parents to fend for themselves.

The Santorellos were not assigneda casualty assistant and
were expected to pay their own way to a memorial ceremony
in Fort Riley, Kan., and to find transportation to the burial at
Arlington Cemetery.

"We were not considered next of kin," said Mr. Santorello,
who with his wife, Dianne, opposes the war. "He was my son
for 25 years. He was her husband for 22 months, and I had
no say."

Recognizing the distress of parents with married children,
the Army in mid-February began assigning casualty assistants
to mothers and fathers.

Unanswered Questions

Some families say that the most upsetting aspect of the
casualty process may be the lack of information about how
the loved ones died.

In a 2005 survey of 50 military families by The Military Times,
about half of the families said they did not know enough about
their loved ones' deaths.

Parents and spouses crave details to help them cope, particularly
because they cannot visit the spot where loved ones died: Who
held his hand? Did he say anything?

"You know what my casualty assistant said? 'These are just
questions you will never get answers to,' " Ms. Eisenhauer said.
"But there were men there. Why can't I get answers?"

The Santorellos were told by the Army that their son had died
instantly. A few weeks later, they received a letter saying he
had lived for four hours.

Mrs. Santorello learned the time of death by reading the a
utopsy report. "I don't think anyone should be forced to read
an autopsy report to find out when their son died," she said.

Ms. Neal's casualty officer told her that her son had been
killed in action by a gunshot wound to the chest. After her
son's funeral, Ms. Neal learned that he might have been
killed by his own forces.

She had been told that she would be notified in 30 days.
Seven months later, when she still had not received further
news, she took a plane to Hawaii, where her son had been
stationed, to talk with his superiors, who greeted her warmly.

"They did confirm he was killed by American bullets," she said.
"The autopsy was done within a week of his death. They knew
that when they did the autopsy."

A Personal Apology

Karen Meredith's son Lt. Ken Ballard, 26, a fourth-generation
Army officer and a tank commander, was killed in Iraq in May 2004.

Her experience went so awry that she received a personal letter
of apology last September from the secretary of the Army,
Francis J. Harvey.

The problems began when her casualty officer abandoned her
after 10 days, just as the process was beginning. It also took
five months to receive Lieutenant Ballard's personal belongings.
His clothes were returned washed, which might have made some
families thankful, but devastated her. But there was worse to come.

The week her son died, Ms. Meredith was told that he had
been killed by enemy fire.

Fifteen months later, there was a knock on the door. Ms. Meredith
was told by an Army casualty official that her son's death had been
accidental. Her son had been killed when his tank backed into
a tree branch, setting off an unmanned machine gun.

"It was not a secret," said Ms. Meredith, now an outspoken
critic of the war. "It was incompetence."

"The subliminal assumption is that they take care of everything,"
added Ms. Meredith, who credits the Army for responding to her
complaints and working to fix the system. "They don't. I was
tenacious."

Even when soldiers are alive, it can be difficult to get answers.
Laura Youngblood, 27, was seven months pregnant with their
second child in New York last July when her husband was
wounded by an improvised bomb in Iraq.

Because of the pregnancy, she said, the corpsman assisting
her did not want to tell her that her husband was "very seriously
injured." When she was finally told he was off his ventilator, she
recalls saying, "Good, because you never told me he was on one."

Six days after being wounded, he died.

A Sensitive Duty

Many casualty assistants say they recognize the sensitive nature
of their task and are assiduous about getting it right. Although
all services have different casualty policies. The Marines,
steeped in tradition, have been mostly praised for the way
they handle the jobs. But all agreed that the job of a casualty
assistant is a difficult one. At times, they have become the focus
of a family's anger. Sometimes they suffer emotionally, watching
as wives crumble or children hysterically cry "Daddy."

Afterward, some casualty assistants seek counseling.

"It's hard," said Sgt. First Class Julio Correa, 44, who is based
at Fort Bragg, N.C., and has notified two families of deaths and
assisted two others. "You see the kids screaming. You think,
'It could be my kids.' "

But typically the Army's notification officers, who bring news
of the death, and its casualty assistants, who help families
afterward, are picked simply because they are nearby. Their
training often amounts to reading a manual and watching a video.
Casualty duty is a side job. The officers and assistants are told
to focus on families as long as needed, typically six weeks.
Sometimes they retire or are reassigned midstream. Eric K. Schuller
is a senior policy adviser for the Illinois lieutenant governor,
Pat Quinn, whose office has dealt with distraught families,
including the Eisenhauers and Ms. Neal.

"This had to be fixed," Mr. Schuller said. "There were so many
of them over a large period of time."

Still, the casualty process has improved since the Vietnam War,
when it amounted to little more than face-to-face notification
of a death.

"It is dramatically different now in terms of how they respond
and the number of survivor benefits," said Morton Ender,
a West Point sociology professor. "They really embrace the
family."

The Army acknowledges that more can be done. Mr. Harvey,
the Army secretary, ordered an investigation last September
to help address families' concerns.

The report, issued in January, included suggestions that the
Army is planning to implement, including upgrading training
materials, creating a 24-hour hot line and sending mobile
casualty assistance training teams across the country.

The Army now requires commanders to telephone families
within a week of a death and to cross-check casualty reports.

Congress has asked for an investigation by the Government
Accountability Office.

These instances, Colonel Torgersen said, "do cause us to
reflect on our processes."

She added, "In the end, however, this work is carried out
by human beings and however hard we may strive, none
of us are invulnerable to error on occasion."

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

3) Gonzales Suggests Legal Basis for Domestic Eavesdropping
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
April 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/07/washington/07nsa.html

WASHINGTON, April 6 — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales
suggested on Thursday for the first time that the president might
have the legal authority to order wiretapping without a warrant on
communications between Americans that occur exclusively within
the United States.

"I'm not going to rule it out," Mr. Gonzales said when asked about
that possibility at a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

The attorney general made his comments, which critics said reflected
a broadened view of the president's authority, as President Bush
offered another strong defense of his decision to authorize the
National Security Agency to eavesdrop without warrants on
international calls and e-mail messages to or from the United States.

Mr. Bush, in an appearance in North Carolina, told a questioner
who attacked the program that he would "absolutely not" apologize
for authorizing it.

"You can come to whatever conclusion you want" about the merits
of the program," Mr. Bush said. "The conclusion is I'm not going
to apologize for what I did on the terrorist surveillance program."

At the House hearing, Mr. Gonzales faced tough questioning from
Democrats and Republicans but declined to discuss many
operational details.

Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., the Wisconsin
Republican who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee and
one of the administration's staunchest allies, accused the
administration of "stonewalling."

"Mr. Attorney General, how can we discharge our oversight
responsibilities if every time we ask a pointed question, we're
told that the answer is classified?" Mr. Sensenbrenner asked.
"Congress has an inherent constitutional responsibility to do
oversight. We are attempting to discharge those responsibilities."

The House and Senate have conducted limited inquiries into the
surveillance program, which many Democrats contend is illegal.

Republicans on the Senate intelligence panel have agreed
on measures to impose new oversight but allow wiretapping
without warrants for up to 45 days.

Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who is
chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has proposed that
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court have a role in ruling
on the legitimacy of the program. In the past, Mr. Gonzales and
the administration have avoided discussing what they consider
hypothetical possibilities in the face of Democrats' accusations
that Mr. Bush has asserted unbridled authority to fight terrorism.

At the hearing, Mr. Gonzales inched closer toward acknowledging
that intercepting purely domestic calls could be considered legally
permissible in his view if the communications involved Al Qaeda.

"You would look at precedent," he said. "What have previous
commander in chiefs done?"

Answering his question, he cited Woodrow Wilson's authorizing
the interception of all cables to and from Europe in World War I
"based upon the Constitution and his inherent role as commander
in chief."

Mr. Gonzales said he would use that legal framework to decide
whether intercepting purely domestic communications without
a warrant was legally permissible. He would not say whether such
wiretapping has been conducted.

The attorney general and other administration officials have said
the National Security Agency eavesdropping was authorized just
to monitor communications with one end outside the United States.

Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who raised
the question with Mr. Gonzales, said the refusal to rule out purely
domestic interceptions without a warrant was "very disturbing."

The position, Mr. Schiff said, "represents a wholly unprecedented
assertion of executive power."

"No one in Congress would deny the need to tap certain calls under
court order," he added. "But if the administration believes it can tap
purely domestic phone calls between Americans without court
approval, there is no limit to executive power. This is contrary
to settled law and the most basic constitutional principles of the
separation of powers."

The Justice Department later backed away somewhat from
Mr. Gonzales's statement and said his comments should not
be interpreted as a change in policy.

A department spokeswoman, Tasia Scolinos, said, "The attorney
general's comments today should not be interpreted to suggest
the existence or nonexistence of a domestic program or whether
any such program would be lawful under the existing legal analysis."

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

4) Freedom of Movement, a Working Class
Alternative to Immigration Problem
by Mahmood Ketabchi
April 7, 2006
mekchi@msn.com

As Republican and Democrats in Washington have been debating
what sort of anti immigration bill they can pass, millions
of immigrant workers, student, and progressive forces all across
the country have come out in protest. Their voice was clear;
the sea of people who poured into streets condemned the racist and
xenophobic immigration measures that the government plans
to impose on the society. The protesters demanded human rights
and equality for millions of undocumented immigrant workers who
with their blood and sweat have worked to build this country.

While right-wing republicans and their fascist allies want
to turn millions of immigrant into criminals and erect a 700-mile
wall on the border with Mexico among many other draconian and
sickening racist measures, a so called „bipartisan‰ group of
Republican and Democrats are pushing another reactionary
legislation that will make millions of undocumented immigrants
into second class workers to be ruthlessly exploited by US capitalist
who need cheep and under sieged labor.

The level of discussion in the Congress over the immigration bill
is so degraded that it only shows the deep seated hatred and
contempt that Washington politicians have against immigrants.
The debate over the immigration bill has been so openly racist
that even Bush noticed and advised his racist colleagues to watch
their mouths while referring to immigrants.

The right-wing and racist campaign to criminalize current and
future undocumented immigrants, as well as humanitarian and
progressive groups who help them, is a „shock and awe‰ tactic
to intimidate the public and immigrant rights groups and push
the Democrats as far to the right as they can possibly go. These
reactionary lunatics who hold a powerful position in Washington,
as a matter of political maneuvering, always end up with the
most abhorrent policies. Many people can still remember Newt
Gingrich's „Contract with America‰ where he proposed taking
kids away from their poor families and placing them in orphanages.