BAUAW NEWSLETTER-MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005

GET THE MILITARY OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS!

There are two important meetings coming up:

Tuesday, March 8th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.

To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000
Monday, March 7th from 8-4 p.m. or
Tuesday, March 8th from 8-3 p.m.

There is an item on the agenda for
Tuesday's board meeting.
Under "Presentations to Board of Education
Superintendent's Report", second item:
"Update on Military Recruiting Policies
and Procedures and JROTC Program"
This is toward the very beginning of the
meeting, and there should be an allowance
for the public (and board) to speak
since it is on the agenda. Call the board
office at 241-6427 to get your name on
the speakers list on this item.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO OTHERS IN THE
ANTI-MILITARISM IN SCHOOLS COALITION

Thanks!

Mark Sanchez

(Note:It is not clear whether comments from
the public will be under this point or under
general comments from the public.
Just call and get your name of the list to speak...bw)

Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.

There will be a "meeting of the whole"
devoted solely to Military Recruitment
and JROTC in our schools.

To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.

Everyone is invited to participate in these
important meetings.

BAUAW has submitted the following resolution to the board:

Draft Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education
Cut Ties with the Military:

WHEREAS, the United States military is
actively recruiting high school students into
the military to fight in Iraq; and

WHEREAS, many young San Francisco
high school alumni are presently serving in
military units fighting in Iraq; and

WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy
by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S.
troops home from Iraq now; and

WHEREAS, over 1,448 U.S. soldiers and
approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been
killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S.
soldiers and unknown thousands of
Iraqis have been wounded; and

WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars
spent on the war have robbed our children of
resources that should be spent on
education and other human needs; and

WHEREAS, military presence in our schools
legitimizes the message that violence is
acceptable;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
It shall be the policy of the San Francisco
Board of Education to cut all ties
with the United States military,
including, but not limited to: Ending military
recruitment on campuses; ending the
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
(JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students
and parents are informed of their right to
deny military recruiters access to their
names, addresses and telephone numbers.

Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)
www.bauaw.org
414-824-8730

Donations are urgently needed to carry
out this important work. We have no
paid staff but need money for posters,
buttons, flyers and informational material
to hand out to students and parents.

If anyone can donate a working copier
that has a large capacity toner cartridge
that would also be of great value. The
copier we were using free of charge
finally died.

Make a tax-deductible donation to:

Bay Area United Against War/NVM
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, CA 94131-8021

Coming Up:

Global Day of Action
March 19, 2005
No to War and Occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People's Needs, Not War!

San Francisco March Assembles:
11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center

THE NEXT BAUAW MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE:
SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 11:30AM
474 VALENCIA STREET, SF
(FIRST FLOOR, TO THE LEFT AND ALL THE WAY BACK
TO THE COMPANEROS DEL BARRIO CHILDREN'S CENTER)

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Resource:
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF SOCIAL
SERVICES UNDER THE KNIFE RIGHT NOW GO TO:
http://www.bauaw.org/2005/02/programs-eliminated-or-cut-in-2006.html

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1) Calling All Soldiers: Military Recruiters Face Resistance
From Young Anti-War Activists
Published on Thursday, February 24, 2005
by the New York Amsterdam News
by Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0224-26.htm

2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY

3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center

4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON-POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES

5) Stricter limits sought on military's access to high schools
-Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/02/MNGRMBITPF1.DTL

6) Bulgaria Says Soldier Killed (link only)
by U.S. Troops in Iraq
By Andrew Marshall
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Mar 7, 2005 09:29 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7826932&src=eDialog/GetContent

7) End the Criminalization of Youth!
The U.S. Supreme Court just ended capital punishment
for youth crimes -- a long overdue measure. This is a
blow to the politicians' racist "tough on youth crime"
rhetoric. It also is a great victory of the movement
against the death penalty and a step toward abolition
-- a fight that continues to grow.
Stop the Execution of Stan "Tookie" Williams!

8) Women at war: Sexual combat (link only)
By Pamela Martineau and Steve Wiegand -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 2:15 am PST Monday, March 7, 2005
Gina W. went to Iraq, and came back with a different
kind of war story. Her battlefields were in the barracks
and the mess hall. The weapons were innuendoes and
threats. And the enemy? Her own boss.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/projects/women_at_war/story/12523663p-13379149c.html

9) Doublespeak:
The Ultimate Betrayal From The WarZone
by Mike Griffin
MgriffWZEF@aol.com

10) Tsunami bomb NZ's devastating war secret (link only)
By Eugene Bingham
Top-secret wartime experiments were conducted off the
coast of Auckland to perfect a tidal wave bomb, declassified
files reveal.
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=14727

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1) Calling All Soldiers: Military Recruiters Face Resistance
From Young Anti-War Activists
Published on Thursday, February 24, 2005
by the New York Amsterdam News
by Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0224-26.htm

The military spends about $3 billion each year to convince young
people that enlistment will give them college money, job training
and an alternative to working at McDonald's. In the wake of the
growing conflict in Iraq, which has resulted in over a thousand
U.S. casualties, the military has become more aggressive in
scouting out high school students willing and able to serve.

In many New York City public schools that are predominantly
Black and Latino, military recruiters are a heavy presence,
promising young people financial security and a fulfilling career.
Recruiters roam the halls, set up tables and even pull students
out of class. But in recent months, a group of teenagers and
anti-war veterans have been canvassing the neighborhoods
where the recruiters frequent, hoping to convince students
to consider other options.

''We've heard everything up to and including having a desk
in the guidance counselor's office,'' said Amy Wagner of Youth
Activists-Youth Allies (YaYas), a group that focuses on
counter-recruitment. ''When the kid comes in to talk to the
counselor about college, before the kid can get there,
they've got somebody in their face saying, 'You want to
go to college? How are you going to pay for college?'''

New York City organizers are educating people about
alternatives to enlisting and the realities of military life.
Vietnam veterans and anti-war activists Jim Murphy and
Dayl Wise visit high schools, where they recount for the
students stories about their time in the service. In one
class of juniors at West Side High School, Murphy told
them that before the service he spent time making money
playing seven-card stud.

Once he left community college, he was drafted. ''I wasn't
smart enough to have fear about it,'' Murphy told the class.
''I didn't have a clue.'' Wise, who was in the infantry, didn't
want to go to war when he was drafted. His father offered
to help send him to Canada. ''I took the easy way out by
reporting for duty,'' he said. ''It takes a braver person.
I let it happen to me? I didn't have a plan. I gave up control.''
He warned the students: ''Please have a plan. Don't let others
make plans for you.'' The YaYas, staffed almost entirely by
high school students of color, work to make sure young
people avoid falling into military service because it seems
like the only option for advancement.

''It's either jail or the military,'' said Jeannel Bishop, a senior
at Brooklyn's South Shore High School and a YaYa staffer.
Many students at her school think enlistment is the best
they can accomplish. When Navy recruiters visited her school
recently, students were allowed to leave class to visit with them.
Bishop brought pamphlets and confronted the recruiters about
their assurances of tuition and training. She pointed out to them
and other students nearby that getting college money was
a much more complicated and uncertain process.

''I was taking over their whole show,'' Bishop said.
''[The recruiters] were amazed.'' Three students who had been
''pumped up about the military'' had second thoughts after
Bishop spoke. It took just a little information for them to have
doubts, she said. Besides speaking out in their own schools,
the YaYas hold workshops for teenagers and make presentations
to PTAs. They encourage students to post literature in the
guidance office and set up counter-recruitment tables next
to military recruiters. Most importantly, they want young people
to make an informed choice, Wagner said.

For instance, most students don't know that:

Two-thirds of recruits don't get any college money,
according to the Central Committee for Conscientious
Objectors. Most people in the military do not have time to attend
college while in the service.

To qualify for college money recruits have to pay
$100 per month for a year.
The unemployment rate for veterans is three times
higher than the national average.
People who sign up with the Delayed Entry Program
are told they can't change their minds, but getting
out is as simple as writing a letter.
The enlistment contract is for eight years.
There are other ways to finance college, like federal
financial aid, private scholarships, going to
community college or joining AmeriCorps.

But educating youth is not just about these facts and figures,
Wagner said. The war in Iraq makes their work much more urgent,
she said. ''They're still telling people you can go to Germany, Japan,
but the reality is the vast majority are going to Iraq,'' Wagner
said. ''You risk losing life and limb; you risk being a murderer.''
Giving young people a complete picture of enlisting rests on
the courage and initiative of activists, guidance
counselors and principals.

Often, the recruiters' sales pitches, brochures and posters
go unchallenged. Many educators fear principals will
retaliate if they speak out, Wagner said. Some schools are
reticent to limit the military's presence because they think
they will lose federal funding, she said. No Child Left Behind,
the educational policy touted by the Bush administration,
requires that recruiters and college representatives have
equal access to students. This is often misinterpreted as
unlimited access. Policy on recruiter access in New York
City public schools is determined school by school and
varies widely.

But some school districts have taken a more active role
and regulate recruiters' visits. In Madison, Wisconsin,
recruiters are only permitted to be in each high school
three days during the school year. Their policy states that
guidance counselors can distribute both military and
counter-recruitment information. There is also no uniform,
enforced policy in New York City governing opt-out forms,
which let students choose whether to release their personal
information to recruiters. Many principals, Wagner said,
are not even aware of the opt-out form. Some schools
give out the form, without any explanation and make
no effort to collect it from students, she said.

Wagner said some students think that signing the forms
will mean their information is not released to any institutions,
including colleges. Other students, often immigrants, fear
they will get in trouble for signing, she said. Currently, New
York City students are often only given the opt-out form
in the ninth grade, Wagner said. Because recruiters ask
for eleventh- and twelfth-grade lists, schools should send
out the forms each year, she said.

In Montclair, New Jersey, the high school sends a fact sheet
with the opt-out form. Tenth-graders who have not returned
the forms are called. If the form is still not turned in, it will
be passed out the following year. Activists have discussed
working on a New York City Council resolution to require
schools to collect the forms from every student. Members
of the YaYas and the New York Civil Liberties Union have
met with the Department of Education (DOE) to discuss
putting together an information packet for principals
about opt-out.

Wagner said the DOE was receptive. Calls to the DOE were
not returned. Local counter-recruiters also plan to make use
of the recent Third Circuit Court's ruling that Yale Law School,
which has a non-discrimination policy, can ban recruiters from
its campus without risk of losing federal funding, because the
military discriminates against gays.

However, without the help of the Department of Education
or the City Council, counter-recruiters' efforts can only go
so far. This frustration is evident in veteran Dayl Wise when
he said that giving presentations, classroom by classroom,
is like ''throwing grains of sand on the beach.''

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg may be reached at
elizabethwg@gmail.com .

(c) 2005 New York Amsterdam News

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

2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY:

SUGGESTION AS TO FORMAT OF LETTERS
TO BE WRITTEN ON BEHALF OF LYNNE STEWART

MARGIN: Please leave at least a one-inch left-hand margin
to allow us to bind the letter into the appendix to the
sentencing memorandum that is being filed on
Lynne's behalf.

INSIDE ADDRESS: Honorable John G. Koeltl
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
United States Courthouse
500 Pearl Street
New York, New York 10007

GREETING: Honorable Sir or Dear Judge Koeltl:

BODY: Briefly introduce yourself and set forth
your relationship to Lynne.
Briefly discuss yourself - your position in work
and in society.
State that you are aware that Lynne is to be
sentenced following a jury verdict of guilty on
serious charges: The remainder of your letter
should discuss whatever you believe to weigh
in favor of no jail time. If possible, you should
tell of an incident where she helped you out or
engaged in commendable community service.
Do not try to argue that she is not guilty or was
unfairly conviction. Focus on the unfairness of
the government's actions in bringing the charges;
the way in which the government portrayed her, etc.

* Typewritten letters if possible are preferred.
*
WHEN LETTER IS COMPLETED: Please mail the final
product to the following address:
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine, Esq.
2537 Post Road
Southport, CT 06890

Do not send your letters to the judge. We ask that you
forward your letter me so that the lawyers can present
it to Judge Koeltl with the other letters being written for
this purpose. This is the manner in which letters will have
the greatest impact. If they are sent directly to the Judge's
chambers, they may have less of an impact and could cause
the judge a substantial inconvenience (and annoyance).

Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions,
please do not hesitate to contact the defense committee at
www.lynnestewart.org.

Sincerely,
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine
Attorney for Lynne Stewart
For more information go to:
www.LynneStewart.org

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

3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center

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

4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON ARE
SOME POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
"Mission Accomplished" is a a brutally vivid documentary
filmed entirely on the ground in Iraq. The reality of this
war for American troops is contrasted to the
overwhelming reality of the devastation felt and experienced
by the people of Iraq.
"Mission Accomplished" will open March 18th:
4 Star
2200 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94121
415.666.3488

"Voices In Wartime" is a compelling portrayal of human
experience with war through poetry, both from the point
of view of those who were in combat and those who are left
behind.
"Voices In Wartime" will play in S.F. on April 15th at:
Landmark Lumiere 3
1572 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94109

[This poem by fourth-grader Cameron Penny was read
by Marie Howe in this very beautiful film
directed by Rick King.

"If you are lucky in this life
A window will appear on a battlefield between two armies
And when the soldiers look into the window
They don't see their enemies
They see themselves as children
And they stop fighting
And go home and go to sleep
When they wake up, the land is well again."
By Cameron Penny]

To learn more about these film visit
Cinema Libre Studio
http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/

Also: check out, GUNNER PALACE |
Some war stories will never make the nightly news.


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

5) Stricter limits sought on military's access to high schools
-Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/02/MNGRMBITPF1.DTL

Washington -- San Jose Democratic Rep. Mike Honda, citing privacy
concerns, has proposed a law that would make it easier for parents to
block military recruiters from gaining easy access to high school
students on or off campus.

School officials in cities such as San Francisco, which had banned
military recruiters from campuses for a decade, say the recruiting issue
has become heated as U.S. military casualties mount in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Recent Defense Department reports say the military is having a tougher time
meeting recruiting goals for the all-volunteer force, increasing the pressure
on recruiters -- armed with a $4 billion budget -- to sign up more high
school juniors and seniors.

The No Child Left Behind Act approved by Congress in 2001 requires school
districts to provide military recruiters with the same access to high schools
given to college or job recruiters.

Under the current law, parents must tell school officials they don't want
their child contacted by the military, at school or home. Otherwise, schools
are required to turn over students' names, addresses and phone numbers to
Pentagon recruiters. Honda wants to turn that around, and allow the military
to talk only to those students whose parents approve such contact.

"The authority for such contacts should be with the parents, not the schools,
the military or the federal government,'' said Honda, a former high
school teacher and administrator in Sunnyvale. "I'm not against them
recruiting on campus, but they should follow the protocol, and that protocol
was changed by Congress.''

Honda's proposal, like almost all bills introduced by members of the
House Democratic minority, faces a stiff challenge to even receive a hearing.
But he has some support.

In San Francisco, school board President Eric Mar strongly endorsed
Honda's proposal and said the district allowed military recruiters into high
schools only after the state Department of Education threatened to cut off its
federal money if it didn't comply with the new law. School districts in Santa
Cruz and Santa Monica received similar warnings.

"It's not like the military heavily targets San Francisco,'' Mar said.
"They know we are wary of military recruiters,'' because of widespread anti- war
sentiment in the city and because of the military's "don't ask, don't
tell'' policy that has led to the dismissal of gays and lesbians from the
military.

"We as a school district should have the say not to allow them in at all, '' he
contended. "There would be tremendous support in our district for what
Mr. Honda is doing.''

But Thomas Donnelly, military analyst at the American Enterprise Institute,
said Honda's proposal is "really stupid. It's going nowhere, and even if it did,
it would face a tough constitutional challenge.''

"Face it, war is a young person's game,'' said Donnelly, and the Congress
has a constitutional responsibility to raise a military and needs access to
young people. What's more, he said, federal aid to education gives Washington
the power to tell local school districts what they can do, if they want to
keep their federal money.

"Given that military service is still something of a civic responsibility,
it seems quite reasonable to me that public schools should give the military
access,'' he said.

Mar, however, said the school board is under pressure from parents to
allow groups to come on campus to counter the message of military recruiters.

"There are a lot of concerns about the privacy of children and their
families,'' said Julia Harumi Mass, a staff attorney at the Northern
California American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU has received complaints from parents, students, teachers and
principals about the current policy. It says the law provides that schools
have to give the military the same access it provides to other recruiters,
such as those from businesses or colleges. But reports from around the country
say that at some schools, military recruiters are a fixture, making regular
appearances.

"They target low-performing schools. At some schools like that, the
military recruiters have more of a relationship with students than the school
staff,'' said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil
Liberties Union.

She also said that for districts such as San Francisco, which bans other
groups that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, the federal law
forces them to violate their own rules. "Many schools have anti-discrimination
policies that would otherwise prohibit the military, and the military is
perhaps the single largest violator of such policies,'' she said.

The issue is part of a larger debate over military recruiting that also
involves colleges that have denied access to recruiters because of the
Pentagon rules about gays and lesbians serving openly. The matter
ended up in court, where a federal appeals court overturned a rule
co-authored by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, requiring colleges to
allow military recruiters on campus.

That ruling, in turn, led Congress to pass a nonbinding resolution by a
327-84 vote last month calling on the Justice Department to pursue
an appeal.

"It's not a violation of their free speech,'' Pombo said of the colleges
that don't want the military on campus. "You can't on the one hand,
say we are so upset about these policies we are not going to allow
military recruiters on our campus, but then we give them the use of
the money anyway."

In the floor debate on the resolution, House Majority Leader Tom
DeLay, R- Texas, said college policies blocking the military "are
obnoxious in times of peace, but they are simply intolerable in times
of war, and the equal access of our military recruiters to federally
funded colleges and universities must be protected.''

E-mail Edward Epstein at eepstein@sfchronicle.com .

Page A - 7
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/02/MNGRMBITPF1.DTL
(c)2005 San Francisco Chronicle

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6) Bulgaria Says Soldier Killed (link only)
by U.S. Troops in Iraq
By Andrew Marshall
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Mon Mar 7, 2005 09:29 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7826932&src=eDialog/GetContent

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

7) End the Criminalization of Youth!
The U.S. Supreme Court just ended capital punishment
for youth crimes -- a long overdue measure. This is a
blow to the politicians' racist "tough on youth crime"
rhetoric. It also is a great victory of the movement
against the death penalty and a step toward abolition
-- a fight that continues to grow.
Stop the Execution of Stan "Tookie" Williams!

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (covering nine
western states including California) just ruled to
uphold the death sentence of Stan "Tookie" Williams --
former "Crips" youth gang leader, and Nobel Peace &
Literature Prize nominee. This ruling means Tookie may
be executed this summer -- despite the racist sham of
his trial and the work he has done from jail to keep
kids off drugs and out of gangs.

Please join us to discuss the significance of the
Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit rulings -- and help us
launch the crucial and urgent effort to stop the
execution of Tookie Williams.

Wednesday March 16, 2005, 7:00 pm
Cesar Chavez Student Center, Room C-116
San Francisco State University
19th Avenue and Holloway

Sponsored by the Campaign to End the Death Penalty
Phone: (650)771-3537
http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/

For more on Tookie's life and his case, see:
http://www.tookie.com/


You fasten the triggers
For others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's on thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

-Bob Dylan "Masters of War"

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

8) Women at war: Sexual combat (link only)
By Pamela Martineau and Steve Wiegand -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 2:15 am PST Monday, March 7, 2005
Gina W. went to Iraq, and came back with a different kind of war story.
Her battlefields were in the barracks and the mess hall.
The weapons were innuendoes and threats. And the enemy? Her own boss.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/projects/women_at_war/story/12523663p-13379149c.html

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

9) Doublespeak:
The Ultimate Betrayal From The WarZone
by Mike Griffin
MgriffWZEF@aol.com

In society today nothing has been more widely accepted, used, and
promoted that the art of 'Doublespeak'. The damage from the practice
of this dark art has impacted America's standing in the world, caused
countless deaths abroad, including more than thirteen hundred American
troops and thousands of maimed, disfigured, and disabled. One prime
example of doublespeak was the justification for war in Iraq, based on
myths, lies, and deceit. Creative intelligence analysis used to bring an
unquestioning media and both sides of the aisle on board to support
the outrageous lies of the Bush Whitehouse. Cowardly journalists who
refused to speak up out of fear of being labeled 'unpatriotic', if you
don't support the war, 'you are aiding our enemies'. American media
owned by the very corporations who benefit from endless wars always,
always, in the name of profit. Lies are now considered 'misstatements'
and facts are akin to beauty, 'in the eyes of the beholder'.

A second group guilty of doublespeak and double standards is
organized religion. While claiming Separation of Church and State
many church leaders are walking the line in becoming the great
deceivers spoken about in the Bible, the inspired, written word of God.
While blindly heaping praise on a President who most certainly would be
prosecuted in a world court, many church leaders are turning a blind
eye to the lies and deceits this administration has used to justify their
assault on sovereign nations and the United States Constitution.
Criticizing the church is not pleasurable, but relevant to the puzzle
unfolding in America. Church organizations are using donated funds
for political purposes to support the agenda of the extreme right
based on social issues such as abortion, gay rights and prayer in schools.
While important issues, it is hypocritical to rail against abortion deaths
and turn a blind eye to a hundred thousand dead in Iraq, the needless
deaths of more than thirteen hundred American soldiers, and scores of
thousands of innocent Afghanistan civilians. Church leaders can picket
an abortion clinic but look the other way when missiles were used against
an Afghani wedding party. While America's economy is being literally
blown away in Iraq, homelessness, poverty, and child hunger are rampantly
rising here at home. By choosing their words carefully, ignoring the reality
of the corporate assault on other nations, and our own, the church has
engaged in doublespeak to justify its agenda. The church is promoting
a President and his party in acts of destruction and corruption of
unparalleled evil.

In the House of Labor, doublespeak has become the main speak and
nowhere else in society is deception used with such finesse. A current
example is the New Unity Partnership {NUP}, the gang of five International
Union Presidents involved in a coup to take control of the AFL-CIO.
If you listen to the rhetoric, the doublespeak, they will bring new direction
to an ailing movement; till you sift through bull. They will increase 'market
share' by 'downsizing' the number of affiliates from 66 to twenty. Sounds
kind of corporate doesn't it? It is! Business Unionism run from the top
by corrupt and greedy leadership is nothing new.

While this gang of five, Doug 'Cash' McCarron, Carpenters union,
Andy Stern, Service Employees, Wilhelm, Hotel Employees Union, Bruce
Raynor, UNITE, and Sullivan from the Laborers Union with the feeble
assistance of labor's notorious flip-flopper, James Hoffa, Teamsters, are
promising a resurrection for labor; read between the lines! As they embrace
the 'corporate mantra' it is unbelievable how closely they are aligned with
the employers to the detriment of ordinary workers. Nowhere in their spiel
is there any mention of democracy, member's rights, or involvement in
decision-making. They propose 'downsizing' the current federation from
66 unions to 20 or less. What say would members of the 66 unions have?
Absolutely none! There is nothing in their program committed to defending
current manufacturing jobs that have decent pay and benefits, after many
has been destroyed by NAFTA. Realistically, there is no fight coming from
any union in the AFL-CIO to defend current jobs, current benefits and
pay scales. Not one union today is fighting for its members and many
are aligning with employers to roll back the clock to 1950. Two tiered
wages, few benefits, and employee paid health-care are common in every
contract signed in the last decade. The United Auto Workers, Steelworkers,
Paperworkers, Grocery workers; you name it. While selling out rank and
file workers and pissing on the sacrifice of those who fought and died for
the union, 'mis-leadership' in every union is refusing to fight while
wallowing in absolute comfort corruption at the top. Bigger salaries
for the bureaucrats, the best health-care, multiple retirements and
lavish expense accounts are common.

Many in the house of labor today are Ivy Leaguers like Stern and Raynor,
who have never worked a day in their lives. Most labor leaders today are
scrambling to organize service industry jobs, low pay, no benefits, and
no hope of improving their lot in life. Organizing campaigns full of
doublespeak make promises that are never delivered, poverty level
jobs with just enough left to pay dues to support those at the top.
While promising to revitalize labor, not one of these self-embodied
saviors mentions the rampant corruption in their existing organizations.
Almost weekly, indictments are handed down against leaders of these
unions, but that will never be mentioned in Carpenter magazine or the
AFL-CIO news. If they have something new to offer, why can't they rid
themselves of the massive corruption in their own organizations?

In the unions wanting to downsize, leaders have stripped locals of
power, formed District councils, and moved decision-making further
from rank and file members. One ringleader has a patent on doublespeak.
McCarron of the Carpenters has systematically stripped the members
of involvement. Combining locals, forming District and Regional
Councils, looting local union treasuries to foot the bill, no one has
done more to mirror the Bastards of the Boardroom. Members have
been stripped of the right to elect who represents them, to vote on
contracts, and have no rights on the job. Contractors have the right
to hire and fire at will and it has become the job of Business Agents
to back the contractor. Contractors can change work hours on
a minutes notice, work conditions and operate as unsafe as he sees fit.
Any protest or resistance on work conditions or safety will be met with
termination. No grievance, no representation, no hope. Anyone who
dares challenge a contractor or the Business Agent will be dealt with.
Blackballing is alive and well in the UBC. Members are often starved
out or brought up on phony charges and sometimes removed from
membership.

While McCarron uses The Carpenter magazine to pump up the
rhetoric for his 're-organization' of the UBC, his forked tongue often
spits out terms like 'competitiveness', 'market share', and 'cooperation'
with 'our friends', union contractors. At the National Erectors
Association meeting in Hawaii he told his 'Friends', 'It is our job
to know what the contractors need and to give it to them'. Clearly,
UBC members no longer matter. McCarron has allied himself with
George Bush, labor's number one enemy, flying around on Air
Force One and inviting Bush to the UBC training Center in Las Vegas.
In a carefully worded article in The Carpenter, McCarron told members
the UBC would not endorse either party in the national elections in
spite of the fact that an overwhelming number of locals and councils
supported the Democrats. In doublespeak he told the members that
he favored their right to choose whom they voted for. Amazingly
enough, McCarron's sudden penchant for democracy does not
extend inside the UBC. Bush's friendship and that of Elaine Chao,
Secretary of labor, does have its advantages as he continues to
illegally rob his members of democracy.

George Dubbya said the Carpenters Union is my kind of union.
Did he mean the fact it is a dictatorship, or just corrupt enough
he can control it?

In spite of McCarron's speeches on union values, and his laughable
articles in Carpenter magazine, he has created the best example
of a company union in modern times. Many see his efforts, me
included, as building a huge Rat Contractor organization willing
to raid the work of other unions. A rat Manpower with a union
logo, UBC Inc.

McCarron and his sheep took the UBC out of the AFL-CIO over
two years ago without a vote of the membership and in fact, without
the members even knowing it. In perfect doublespeak, McCarron
and his henchmen laid claim to the excuse that organizing was the
key issue. Copies of letters between John Sweeney and McCarron
tell a different story. McCarron's main request was for the
AFL-CIO to suspend the articles of the AFL-CIO Constitution
governing jurisdiction. Those rules prevent one union from
raiding another. In Hawaii McCarron told his corporate playmates
that when it comes to deciding work, it is the contractor's jobs,
let them decide.

McCarron continues to boast of UBC organizing efforts but once
again, double speak, smoke and mirrors. The UBC has managed
to drag into the UBC, employees from rat contractors but without
organizing the contractors and the work. Thousands of Millwrights
and Carpenters are literally being starved out and many of those
newly organized return to the rat contractors where there is work.
What little work is left is controlled by appointed Business Agents
who make sure nepotism and cronyism rules the out of work lists.

In the union movement, doublespeak is the ultimate betrayal.
Unions are supposed to be about worker solidarity, a brotherhood;
the social diocese of the working class. When leaders betray their
own class, lie for personal power and gain, they become lower than
the employing class we have every right to despise. If business
unions are brotherhoods, they are incestuous relationships. Lies,
deceit, and doublespeak are all anti-union traits. They represent
an evil far more damaging than anything an employer can conjure up.

There was another time in history when the same organizations
were co-opted. When the media refused to ask the hard questions;
when both sides of the aisle fell into servitude, when the unions
became servants of the corporate masters and the church fell into
line behind a leader controlled by powerful industrialists, just prior
to World War Two. Fascism took control and Hitler rose to power
forming 'Homeland Security' to subvert the rights of German citizens.
Deceit and carefully crafted doublespeak masked the horror that
lay ahead. Are we headed down that road again?

Mike Griffin

Decatur IL

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10) Tsunami bomb NZ's devastating war secret (link only)
By Eugene Bingham
Top-secret wartime experiments were conducted off the
coast of Auckland to perfect a tidal wave bomb, declassified
files reveal.
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=14727

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