BAUAW NEWSLETTER-SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2005

1) Pastors for Peace Friendshipment
Caravan to Cuba being held up at
US-Mexico Border!
EMERGENCY NETWORKS AND PRESS CONTACTS:

2) Order your advance tickets to Howard Zinn's Marx in Soho
Send check for $10.00 for each advance ticket to:
Bay Area United Against War
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, CA 94131-8021
Please indicate which show:
Thursday, August 4, 7:00 p.m.
Friday, August 5, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, August 6, 2:00 p.m.
Jon Sims Center for the Performing Arts
1519 Mission Street between 11th Street
and South Van Ness, S.F.

3) Cut all Public School Ties to the Military!
Speak up and Picket the S.F. Board of Education
the Fourth Tuesday of Each Month.
Next picket line: Tuesday, July 27, 6:30 P.M.-7:30 P.M.
(The July Board of Ed. meetings have been cancelled. But we
will still hold a picket July 27 at 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
in front of the Board of Education building.)
The next picket line after July 27 is August 23, 6:30 P.M.
-7:30 P.M. (just before school starts back.)
August 23, 6:30 p.m.-7:30 P.M.
555 Franklin St., S.F,
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000
(For more info call: 415-824-8730)

4) Where the Arab and Muslim Community Will Stand on
September 24
From Al-Awda-DC list:

5) Army Likely To Fall Short in Recruiting,
General Says
By ERIC SCHMITT
July 24, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/24/politics/
24recruit.html?hp&ex=1122177600&en=724df10ec5c825fc&ei=5094&partner=hom
epage

6) Government Defies an Order
to Release Iraq Abuse Photos
By KATE ZERNIKE
Published: July 23, 2005
Lawyers for the Defense Department are refusing to cooperate with a federal judge's
order to release secret photographs and videotapes related to the Abu Ghraib prison
abuse scandal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/23/politics/23abuse.html

7) Uncle Sam wants you - even if you're 42 years old
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
July 19, 2005
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-983408.php

8) Bombs hit London two weeks after deadly blasts
Thu Jul 21, 2005 10:08 AM ET
http://go.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=9136128&src=eDialog/GetContent

9) Defend a Woman‚s Right to Choose!
Stop the anti-abortion „Crusade for Life‰

10) Antiwar Activists Reach U.S. Sailors In Australia
The creativity that these antiwar activists used in reaching
active-duty military personnel--and the friendly reception they
received from the sailors--is inspiring. They provided a shining
example of what's possible at a time when Bush's war for oil
is growing increasingly unpopular--in the U.S., around the
world and even within the ranks of the U.S. military.

11) Recruiters Pursue Student Data
Military recruiters are seeking to access to student
lists before families have been given a chance to opt out.
By Brian McNeill/The Connection
July 21, 2005
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/printarticle.asp?article=53499

12) Riot control ray gun worries scientists
By Reuters
http://www.news.com/
http://news.com.com/Riot+control+ray+gun+worries+scientists/2100-7337_3-
5796749.html

13) Some Guantánamo Prisoners
Have Gone on Hunger Strike
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 22, 2005
WASHINGTON, July 21 (AP) - Some 50 prisoners at the
American naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have
been on a hunger strike for three days, a Pentagon
spokesman said Thursday.
Forum: National Security
The spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said he did not
know why the prisoners, detained as terrorism
suspects, were refusing food, adding that their
health was being monitored. Some have already
begun eating again, Mr. Whitman said.
The Pentagon's account of the protest contrasted
somewhat with that of two Afghans released on
Monday from Guantánamo. The two, Habir Russol and
Moheb Ullah Borekzai, said on Wednesday that more
than 180 Afghans were on a hunger strike to
protest mistreatment.
Mr. Russol and Mr. Borekzai estimated that the
men were in the 14th or 15th day of their fast.
Mr. Borekzai later said of the hunger strikers:
"Some of these people say they were mistreated
during interrogation. Some say they are innocent."
"They are protesting that they have been in jail
nearly four years, and they want to be released," he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/22/politics/22gitmo.html?

14) Pentagon Proposes Rise
in Age Limit for Recruits
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: July 22, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/22/politics/22recruit.html

15) GI Special 3B97 ThomasFBarton@earthlink.net
July 21, 2005 By DENNIS HUSPENI, THE GAZETTE

16) House Votes to Keep Anti-Terror Law
But Senate version puts more limits on federal agents
by Edward Epstein
Published on Friday, July 22, 2005 by the San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0722-07.htm

17) 'Every Mother's Son' filmmaker
Tami Gold in Bayview!
by mesha Monge-Irizarry
On June 7, Tami Gold, co-producer of the nationally
acclaimed film "Every Mother's Son,"
came to the Idriss Stelley Foundation on Third Street
in Bayview to touch base and
exchange ideas on how to impact police brutality nationwide.
http://www.sfbayview.com/072005/everymothersson072005.shtml

18) How a Trip to Film in Iraq
Ended in a Military Jail Cell
By TIM GOLDEN
Published: July 24, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/24/national/nationalspecial3/24detainee.html

19) House's NASA Bill Embraces
Bush Plan
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 23, 2005
WASHINGTON, July 22 (AP) - The House overwhelmingly
endorsed President Bush's vision of sending people
back to the Moon and eventually to Mars as it passed
a bill on Friday to set NASA policy for the next two years.
The bill was approved by a 383-to-15 vote after a collegial
debate in which lawmakers emphasized their commitment not
only to Mr. Bush's space exploration plans but also to
traditional programs at the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, like science and aeronautics.
Originally, the measure would have shifted $1.3 billion
from exploration to other NASA programs. But after
administration objections, lawmakers restored the
money for exploration during floor debate by adding
to the bill's bottom line, which is at $34.7 billion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/23/politics/23nasa.html

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

1) Pastors for Peace Friendshipment
Caravan to Cuba being held up at
US-Mexico Border!
EMERGENCY NETWORKS AND PRESS CONTACTS:

SPREAD THE WORD FAR AND WIDE!

http://www.commerce.gov

202-482-2000

Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez
cgutierrez@doc.gov

As of 1:30 pm EDT, The Pastors for Peace
Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba is
being held up at the US-Mexico border
by US Commerce Department officials.
They are threatening to search every
vehicle and every item of humanitarian
aid. They are telling us that "only
licensable goods will be allowed to
cross into Mexico."

Pastors for Peace does not accept
or apply for a license to deliver
humanitarian aid to Cuba.

There are 130 US citizens
traveling with the caravan. They and the
humanitarian aid are traveling
in eight busses, a box truck and two small
cars. It will take days to inspect
the 140 tons of aid. We are prepared to
do whatever we need to do to
deliver our humanitarian aid to Cuba. Stay
posted...

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

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

2) In honor of Karl Marx, the BBC Radio 4's "In Our Time
Greatest Philosopher Vote" winner, Bay Area United Against
War is presenting a Benefit Presentation of Howard Zinn's
one man play, MARX IN SOHO
Starring Jerry Levy as Karl Marx
Directed by Michael Fox Kennedy.
Thursday, August 4, 7:00 p.m.
Friday, August 5, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, August 6, 2:00 p.m.
Jon Sims Center for the Performing Arts
1519 Mission Street between 11th Street
and South Van Ness*

Advance tickets: $10
Door: $20.00
For advance tickets: Send a check to:
Bay Area United Against War
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, CA 94131-8021
Please indicate which performance.
Call: 415-824-8730

The premise of the play is that after Marx dies in 1883, he
is able to see what's happening on earth for next 100 years
and comes back to talk about it. Imagine all Karl Marx would
have to say after one hundred years of just being able to watch...

The single actor in this one-man play is Jerry Levy,
who has been teaching sociology at Marlboro College
and been acting with the Actors' Theater of Brattleboro
since he moved there from Chicago in 1975. Originally
directed by Michael Fox Kennedy of the Actors' Theater,
Levy has been on the road with Zinn's version of Karl
Marx for a year, performing at benefits, colleges, small
theaters and other venues around the state. At Middle
Earth he was sponsored by the Bradford-based Coos Peace
and Justice Alliance and performed free of charge but
charged with mighty talent and a bottomless love of the play.

www.bauaw.org
Contact person: Bonnie Weinstein 415-824-8730-office/home
415-990-4237-cell
*The Jon Sims Center is located at 1519 Mission Street
(between 11th Street and South Van Ness), South of Market,
San Francisco, CA 94103
BY CAR:
From the East Bay: Take 80 North then 101 North to the
Mission Street exit. Stay on the right hand side of the exit.
Turn right off the exit, and stay on Mission Street. The Jon
Sims Center is two blocks past Van Ness, next to Firestone.

From the South Bay: Take 101 North to the Mission Street
Exit. Stay on the right hand side of the exit. Turn right off
the exit, and stay on Mission Street. The Jon Sims Center
is two blocks past Van Ness, next to Firestone.

From the North Bay: Take 101 South to Lombard, make
a right on Van Ness and then a left onto Mission. Jon Sims
Center is two blocks past Van Ness, next to Firestone.

Parking: Daytime parking is very difficult. We encourage
day users to take public transportation. In the evening,
street parking along Mission Street, Minna Street and
11th Street is not horrible (in San Francisco terms) after
6:00 PM, but the closer you are to 6:00 PM, the better
your chances of finding parking. There is no parking
along Mission between 4-6 PM, and you will be
promptly towed.

VIA BART/MUNI/SAMTRANS:
Go to http://www.transitinfo.org for more information
about Bay Area public transportation.

BART: Take BART to the Civic Center station, then transfer
to the outbound Muni J,K,L,M or N train. Exit at the next
stop (Van Ness Station). Walk 1 block south, cross Mission,
and the Jon Sims Center is next to Firestone.

MUNI: The Jon Sims Center is 1 block south of the Van
Ness Muni underground station, accessible from any Muni
streetcar. Additionally, the 14 Mission, 42 Loop 49 and
47 Van Ness bus stop at Mission and 11th Street, only
1/2 block from the Jon Sims Center. Current Muni fare is $1.25.

SamTrans: The SamTrans DX, KX, MX, NX, PX, RX and
TX buses stops at Mission and 9th Streets. Walk three
blocks west (towards Sutro tower) to reach the Jon Sims
Center. Current SamTrans fare is $1.10. Please note that
SamTrans buses to the City only run during rush hours.

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

3) Cut all Public School Ties to the Military!
Speak up and Picket the S.F. Board of Education
the Fourth Tuesday of Each Month.
Next picket line: Tuesday, July 27, 6:30 P.M.-7:30 P.M.
(The July Board of Ed. meetings have been cancelled. But we
will still hold a picket July 27 at 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
in front of the Board of Education building.)
The next picket line after July 27 is August 23, 6:30 P.M.
-7:30 P.M. (just before school starts back.)
August 23, 6:30 p.m.-7:30 P.M.
555 Franklin St., S.F,
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000
(For more info call: 415-824-8730)

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

4) Where the Arab and Muslim Community Will Stand on
September 24
From Al-Awda-DC list:

On September 24 in Washington, DC the Arab American
and the Muslim community will stand united with all
targeted communities against the onslaught of the
National Security State at home and abroad, as we
declare a clear opposition to the war on Iraq. We
will assemble from far and wide in a unified
mobilization at the White House under the banner of
the "September 24 National Coalition for the March on
Washington" with thousands of people from every
community, region, sector and background to send a
message to the Bush administration that its illegal
war and occupation must come to an end. In addition
to Washington, DC, we will also simultaneously
mobilize in Los Angeles and San Francisco to send a
powerful national message on a massive scale.

Emphasizing the consensus of the movement worldwide
that war is neither singular in nature nor narrow in
goals, we will inextricably support the struggle of
the Palestinian people for freedom and return. As
people in Palestine march the streets in support of
their Iraqi brothers and sisters and as the
Palestinian flag is waved in Iraq, we fully understand
that those struggles cannot be disconnected from each
other.

We are honored to insist on standing with our brothers
and sisters in Haiti as they face off ongoing
assaults, for their struggle is also ours. It should
not be any other way. As such, we will stand in
solidarity with all those targeted by Empire as we
collectively share the wrath of its violence. We will
defend civil rights and liberties, and reject any
attempt to falsely position Muslims and Arab Americans
as outsiders in this society.

Indeed, forty-two years ago, the 1963 March on
Washington carried the bitter struggle of generations
as it announced that the violence and hatred of racism
and segregation have no place in our midst. That
march continues to this very day, as we in turn
announce that war and occupation also have no place in
our midst.

As we march in the footsteps of those who have
preceded us in the streets of Washington, DC, and
despite repeated attempts by the leadership of United
for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) to create political
segregation under various false pretexts, we will not
be shunned nor will we start from separate rallies or
segregated points of departure. We are angered that
UFPJ leadership would attempt to divert activists
headed for Washington, DC on that day away from where
our community will be standing. Those days of
separation, we believed, are over. We are saddened
that the leadership of the very organization to which
we extended a sincere invitation of partnership, UFPJ,
would instead respond 11 days later by calling for a
rival and segregated protest on the same day and in
the same place, simply to spite our community, oust
Haiti and Palestine from the slogans of the anti-war
movement, and remove Arabs and Muslims from positions
of leadership.

Under the pretext of reaching out to a wider
population, it is we, the targeted communities, who
are being squeezed out and shunned aside by those
calling for a separate march. And under the guise of
minimalist slogans, it is the political demands of
those at the receiving end of war that are being muted
and silenced.

In its behavior, the leadership of UFPJ is fanning the
flames of separation and is unnecessarily pitting
trusting movement activists against our community and
people. Last year, hundreds of organizations and
thousands upon thousands of activists took a clear
stand against the marginalization of the Arab and
Muslim community, and in favor of a principled
political position. Yet, here we are again, facing
the same attempts of separation by the same leadership
of UFPJ.

It has become too common for some sectors in the US
anti-war movement to be selective about opposition to
Empire for their own political gains and demand that
various targeted communities must "wait". But today's
war on and occupation of Iraq, against which we all
stand from the first day of sanctions until now, is a
manifestation of an ongoing larger quest for dominance
targeting all. Consider the Palestinian people's
perspective - what more can they wait for? Their land
has been colonized through a racist Zionist political
program; the vast majority of the Palestinian people
has been expelled and remains in exile for nearly six
decades; more than 550 villages and towns have been
erased and the destruction continues; at least 650,000
have been jailed so far; massacres upon massacres have
been committed; and the killing of Palestinian Arabs
has been normalized. All with full US backing and
total cover, as an integral component of that same
overall strategy of Empire. And all while the same
sectors of the movement still say, "wait." What else
must we "wait" for?


Because we are at the primary receiving end of war,
and in spite of its systematic violence and
persecution here and abroad, we will neither wait, be
sidelined, tokenized or be spoken for. We will not
re-live the past. As we in the US join a galvanized
world against the occupation of Iraq, our inextricable
demands for justice must be put forward.

And as we march on to realize a dream long deferred,
we are reminded of what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
wrote in his Letter from Birmingham Jail: "For years
now I have heard the word 'Wait!'...This 'Wait' has
almost always meant 'Never.' We must come to see...that
'justice too long delayed is justice denied'...Perhaps
it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging
dark of segregation to say, 'Wait.'"

The streets of Washington, DC for decades have
witnessed the struggles for ending hegemony over our
communities and against separation and isolation. To
us, purposely assembling apart and marching away from
our young and old can only have one meaning!!



What does the leadership of UFPJ gain by continuing to
pit activists and communities against each other?
Unity with those facing Empire should not just be an
option; it should be a must!

We call on every community center and place of
worship, on every student group and grassroots
organization to join the thousands who will assemble
at the White House on September 24.

We call on all to leave behind the era of separation
and to join in unity.

All Out on September 24!

Muslim American Society (MAS) Freedom Foundation
National Council of Arab Americans
Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, Chairman, Coordinating
Council of Muslim Organizations
Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Arab Muslim American Federation
The Palestine Right of Return Congress
Free Palestine Alliance
Palestinian American Women Association
Middle East Cultural and Information Center


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545

To engage in online discussion of UFPJ matters, j
oin our discussion list by sending a blank email to
ufpj-disc-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Yahoo! Groups Links

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

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

5) Army Likely To Fall Short in Recruiting,
General Says
By ERIC SCHMITT
July 24, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/24/politics/
24recruit.html?hp&ex=1122177600&en=724df10ec5c825fc&ei=5094&partner=hom
epage

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

6) Government Defies an Order
to Release Iraq Abuse Photos
By KATE ZERNIKE
Published: July 23, 2005
Lawyers for the Defense Department are refusing to cooperate with a federal judge's
order to release secret photographs and videotapes related to the Abu Ghraib prison
abuse scandal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/23/politics/23abuse.html

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

7) Uncle Sam wants you - even if you're 42 years old
By Rick Maze
Times staff writer
July 19, 2005
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-983408.php


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

8) Bombs hit London two weeks after deadly blasts
Thu Jul 21, 2005 10:08 AM ET
http://go.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=9136128&src=eDialog/GetContent

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

9) Defend a Woman‚s Right to Choose!
Stop the anti-abortion „Crusade for Life‰

The „Crusade for Life‰ is in the Bay Area disrupting
our community by harassing women at health clinics
from July 15-27. See below for a report about what
happened when they hit town last Saturday and the
successful defense of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate.
We need your help to defend our clinics and to send
the message that the Bay Area is pro-choice and stands
up for reproductive rights!

 Call your local Bay Area clinic and let them know
you are willing to help. Sign up for escort or clinic
defense training. The anti-abortionists will be in
San Francisco from July 15-24. They are planning to
be in Oakland on July 22, Berkeley on July 26, and
Richmond on July 27.

 Drive by local reproductive health centers on a
regular basis (especially at night) to ensure the
safety of the facility.

 Support the Abortion Rights and Reproductive Justice
Network by sending tax-deductible donations payable to
Women‚s Choice Clinic, 570 14th St. #3 Oakland, CA
94612. Call 415-864-1278 for information on Network
meetings. The next meeting is Monday, July 25,
6:00-8:00pm at the Women‚s Building in San Francisco,
on 18th Street between Valencia and Guerrero.

· Anyone who wants to help coordinate this week‚s
clinic defense activities, help organize a proposed
press conference on Saturday morning, and get the word
out, meet Radical Women and other activists at 6:30pm
at City Blend Café, 3087 16th Street (near the corner
of Valencia) in San Francisco‚s Mission District.
*

Here‚s an eyewitness report from the streets about the
very successful clinic defense that happened when the
anti-abortion rights „Crusade for Life‰ youth, on a
tour to harass clinics and women from San Diego to
Sacramento, hit San Francisco this past Saturday.

As predicted, the „Crusade‰ showed up at Planned
Parenthood on Eddy Street with their Vatican flag,
vials of holy water, small plastic fetus figurines,
rosaries and a bullhorn. There were about 25 of them,
all college-aged. (Go to www.crusadeforlife2005.com to
get more information about this group and their
sponsors, the American Life League and the Catholic
Church).

Thanks to quick mobilizing, a vibrant, disciplined and
militant group of reproductive rights activists were
prepared to meet them. Planned Parenthood had lined
up a number of escorts for the day, who did a great
job. We also had about 40 other folks out at 8am,
ready to surround and drown out the bigots' prayers
and rightwing propaganda. There were only a few older
local „'regulars‰ out with their rosaries and
doctored-up posters, but then ''Crusaders'' arrived at
10am, clearly not expecting to be greeted by such
staunch opposition!

Representatives of Radical Women, the Freedom
Socialist Party, the International Socialist
Organization, Code Pink, the Abortion Rights and
Reproductive Justice Network, and a number of
individuals of all races, ages, and genders who got
news about the need for clinic defense came out to
confront the „'Crusaders.‰ We were there from the
moment the clinic opened until it closed for the day,
making sure that these emboldened young bigots didn't
have a moment of silence to hear themselves praying or
spouting their anti-choice, anti-feminist hogwash. We
had a lot of chants ready, such as „Your crusade is
broken! We‚ll keep this clinic open!‰ and „Not the
church, not the state! Women will decide our fate!‰

We also held signs with slogans defending abortion as
a healthcare issue, calling for an end to forced
sterilization and forced maternity, and demanding
every person‚s non-negotiable right to control their
own body ˆ these got lots of honks and waves from Muni
buses and cars passing by. Virtually everything the
Crusaders did was met with effective counter
protesting. When they sang, we chanted louder; when
they held up „abortion is homicide‰ signs, we held our
multi-issue ones higher, and when they started
chalking the sidewalk with their sexist graffiti
rhetoric, we poured water and wiped it out.

Many of the Crusaders staged a „die-in‰ right in front
of the doors of Planned Parenthood and started giving
sermons over the bullhorn full of lies about the
health effects of abortion and other misleading
propaganda, meant to intimidate women and make them
feel as guilty as possible. We corralled them and
made it clear throughout the day that San Francisco is
a pro-choice town.

With this in mind, we need more groups and individuals
to participate in clinic defense this Friday and
Saturday. Since we expect the „Crusaders‰ to hit
Oakland clinics on Friday, July 22 and San Francisco
clinics again this Saturday, July 23, we want to try
to keep them as far away from the clinic doors and the
clients and as possible, so Radical Women and our
allies will be right out there at 8am again. We need
your help! Call 415-864-1278 for details.

*
Issued by Radical Women
415.864.1278  rwbayarea@yahoo.com 
www.radicalwomen.org

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

10) Antiwar Activists Reach U.S. Sailors In Australia
The creativity that these antiwar activists used in reaching
active-duty military personnel--and the friendly reception they
received from the sailors--is inspiring. They provided a shining
example of what's possible at a time when Bush's war for oil
is growing increasingly unpopular--in the U.S., around the
world and even within the ranks of the U.S. military.

July 22, 2005 By Eric Ruder, Socialist Worker

ANTIWAR ACTIVISTS in Sydney, Australia, turned the harbor
area surrounding three U.S. Navy ships into a huge, open-air
theater--and found that U.S. sailors warmly received their
leaflets and the antiwar documentary they projected.


Using a projector and huge sound system, organizers used the
side of a shipping container next to the Navy ships to
project Sir, No Sir, a new documentary by David Zeiger
about the revolt in the U.S. military during the Vietnam War.


"We estimate that at least 700 personnel saw some of the
movie," wrote James Courtney, a peace activist and member
of Greenpeace, in a report he sent to the Internet
newsletter GI Special.


"Around 200 or so watched it for 10 to 15 minutes. The U.S. MPs
and around 15 plainclothes U.S. military staff watched
the whole movie (it was right in their face so they didn't
have much choice). The sound system was very loud, so we
expect that possibly thousands of personnel heard what
was happening."

U.S. Navy officers asked local police to stop the activists,
but the police replied that they had a democratic right
to protest.

Activists also found other ways to reach out to the
sailors. "At the main gates of the naval base through
which all service personnel coming or going passed...we
laid out candles in the shape of the peace symbol," wrote
Courtney. "The response was moving and inspiring. We had
naval personnel helping to light candles and taking photos.
Many words of thanks from ships' crew--some with tears
welling in their eyes.

"We had nothing but positive feelings from the ships' crew
that spoke with us. "We managed to hand out around 200
copies of Traveling Soldier, but noticed that that this
was mostly from crew going ashore, and that many were
cautious about taking it..."

"This was a very moving and inspirational experience for
the small group of people that made it happen. We felt moved
by the plight of the young men and women that we met. There
was one line that we heard from many: 'Sometimes, I feel
that we are fighting for the wrong reason.'"

The creativity that these antiwar activists used in reaching
active-duty military personnel--and the friendly reception
they received from the sailors--is inspiring. They provided
a shining example of what's possible at a time when Bush's
war for oil is growing increasingly unpopular--in the U.S.,
around the world and even within the ranks of the
U.S. military.

GI SPECIAL 3B96

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

11) Recruiters Pursue Student Data
Military recruiters are seeking to access to student
lists before families have been given a chance to opt out.
By Brian McNeill/The Connection
July 21, 2005
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/printarticle.asp?article=53499

The 'Do No Recruit' List
Section 9528 of the federal "No Child Left Behind" law
requires public high schools to provide military recruiters
with a list of student names, addresses and phone numbers.
To remove a teenager's information from the military recruitment
list, the student or a parent must sign an opt-out form - which
Fairfax County Public Schools mails to every high school
student's home in August.

The FCPS opt-out form is also available throughout the year at http://www.fcps.edu/
mediapub/publicat/familygram/optout/hsmilitary.htm.

Any high school student - even those under the age of 18 –
are permitted to remove their name from the military
recruiting list.
During the 2004-2005 school year, approximately 14 percent
of Fairfax County high school students requested that their
names be excluded from the recruiting list.



Photo by Brian McNeill/The Connection
Sgt. Mike Watson, a National Guard recruiter, sought
military volunteers last fall at South Lakes High
School in Reston.


Facing pressure to recruit young volunteers during
wartime, U.S. military recruiters have been increasing
their efforts to identify potential recruits in
Fairfax County high schools.

Over the past three months, recruiters have sought
student names, addresses and phone numbers at the
county's 25 high schools - before families have
been given the opportunity to remove their student's
name from the recruiting list.

"Recruiters want to complete their mailings this
summer, but it is important that families be able
to choose whether or not to opt out," said
a Fairfax County Public Schools e-mail alert
sent Wednesday to principals and guidance directors.

The No Child Left Behind law of 2002 requires
schools to provide recruiters with student
contact information.

But the federal law also allows families to
remove the teenager's name from the recruiting
list. Fairfax County Public Schools mails out
military recruitment opt-out forms to each
student's home in August.

It is not clear if military recruiters have
been wrongly allowed to access information
about next year's student population.
In at least one recent case, however, a U.S.
Marine Corps recruiter told a high school
principal that she had already obtained student
information from several other Fairfax County schools.

"I have some serious concerns about this," said
School Board Member Janet Oleszek (at large).
"These recruiters are doing everything they can
to get access to student information."

SGT. JIMMIE PERKINS, a spokesman for the Marine
Corps Recruiting Command in Quantico, said military
recruiters have the right to ask high schools for
the student contact information.

"If parents are upset, they need to take that up with
the school system," Perkins said.

Lynn Terhar, president of the Fairfax County Council
of PTAs, said she has heard several complaints about
military recruiters contacting students that asked
to be removed from the list.

Recruiters will often purchase student telephone
directories in Fairfax County high schools to
acquire more contact information - including data
on those students who opted out, Terhar said.

"A lot of parents in this county feel its
inappropriate and intrusive for recruiters to
contact students who don't want to be contacted,"
she said.

Additionally, military recruiters have access to
a nation-wide database of information on nearly
12 million students between the ages of 16 and 18
and all college students, according to a May 23
notice in the Federal Register.

The database - compiled from commercial and
government documents - includes each student's
date of birth, gender and address. If available,
it also lists the student's ethnicity, e-mail
address, grade point average and course of study.

OLESZEK SAID federal law should require
families to ask to be included on recruiting
lists, rather than requiring families to be removed.

"We should have to opt-in, not opt-out," she said.
Some members of Congress agree. The Student Privacy
Protection Act of 2005, sponsored by U.S. Rep.
Michael Honda (D-Calif.), would amend No Child
Left Behind by requiring families to specifically
ask to be contacted by military recruiters.

The bill has 53 co-sponsors in Congress, including
U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-8).

Not everyone believes the current law is problematic.
School Board Member Stephen Hunt (at large) said the
nation needs recruits to complete its military missions
in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Hunt, a former U.S. Navy flight officer, said student
contact information helps recruiters convey their
message that the military is a valuable experience.

"There are many young people out there who are willing
to defend our nation's freedom, but who wouldn't
otherwise know about the opportunity the military
provides," he said.

Hunt said he is disappointed that some families do
not want to hear from military recruiters.
"We're talking about the same annoyance as telemarketers,"
he said. "To hear people say that they've got to protect
their kid from the evil military recruiters just saddens me."

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12) Riot control ray gun worries scientists
By Reuters
http://www.news.com/
http://news.com.com/Riot+control+ray+gun+worries+scientists/2100-7337_3-
5796749.html

Story last modified Wed Jul 20 12:22:00 PDT 2005


Scientists are questioning the safety of a Star Wars-style
riot control ray gun due to be deployed in Iraq next year.

The Active Denial System weapon, classified as "less lethal"
by the Pentagon, fires a 95GHz microwave beam at rioters to
cause heating and intolerable pain in less than five seconds.

The discomfort is designed to prompt people caught in the
microwave beam to move away from it, thereby allowing riot
-control personnel to break up and manage a crowd.

But New Scientist magazine reported Wednesday that during
tests carried out at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico,
participants playing the part of rioters were told to
remove glasses and contact lenses to protect their eyes.

In another test they were also told to remove metal objects
such as coins from their clothing to prevent local hot
spots from developing on their skin.

"What happens if someone in a crowd is unable for whatever
reason to move away from the beam?" asked Neil Davison,
coordinator of the nonlethal weapons research project at
Britain's Bradford University.

"How do you ensure that the dose doesn't cross the
threshold for permanent damage? Does the weapon cut
out to prevent overexposure?"

The magazine said a vehicle-mounted version of the
weapon named Sheriff was scheduled for service in Iraq
in 2006 and that U.S. Marines and police were both
working on portable versions.
Story Copyright (c) 2005 Reuters Limited .
All rights reserved.

Copyright (c)1995-2005 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

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13) Some Guantánamo Prisoners
Have Gone on Hunger Strike
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 22, 2005
WASHINGTON, July 21 (AP) - Some 50 prisoners at the
American naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have
been on a hunger strike for three days, a Pentagon
spokesman said Thursday.
Forum: National Security
The spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said he did not
know why the prisoners, detained as terrorism
suspects, were refusing food, adding that their
health was being monitored. Some have already
begun eating again, Mr. Whitman said.
The Pentagon's account of the protest contrasted
somewhat with that of two Afghans released on
Monday from Guantánamo. The two, Habir Russol and
Moheb Ullah Borekzai, said on Wednesday that more
than 180 Afghans were on a hunger strike to
protest mistreatment.
Mr. Russol and Mr. Borekzai estimated that the
men were in the 14th or 15th day of their fast.
Mr. Borekzai later said of the hunger strikers:
"Some of these people say they were mistreated
during interrogation. Some say they are innocent."
"They are protesting that they have been in jail
nearly four years, and they want to be released," he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/22/politics/22gitmo.html?

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14) Pentagon Proposes Rise
in Age Limit for Recruits
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: July 22, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/22/politics/22recruit.html

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15) GI Special 3B97 ThomasFBarton@earthlink.net
July 21, 2005 By DENNIS HUSPENI, THE GAZETTE

A Fort Carson soldier has been convicted of intent to avoid hazardous
duty ˜ what amounts to desertion ˜ and is serving time in a military
prison after trying to declare himself a conscientious objector.

Army officials also have filed a felony charge against his wife,
alleging she was „enticing, abetting a deserter,‰ her attorney said.

Spc. Dale Bartell, assigned to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, didn‚t
always oppose war.

He enlisted almost three years ago and served a tour in Iraq.

But Bartell and his wife, Amy Bartell, joined a Mennonite church, and
their philosophies changed, she said Wednesday outside a U.S. District
courtroom in Colorado Springs where she was scheduled for a hearing.

„He‚s changed since joining. If he knew the teachings then that we know
now, he never would have joined,‰ Amy Bartell said. „He knew there was
going to be consequences for his stance.

„I didn‚t know I‚d get into trouble for being a housewife.‰

As his unit was preparing to go back to Iraq, Bartell‚s commanding
officers would not help him ˜ and even hindered him ˜ in filing the
paperwork to become a conscientious objector, said Amy Bartell‚s
attorney, Bill Durland.

„He knew that once they got him over there, they would have their way,‰
Amy Bartell said, noting officers offered to let him use „non-lethal‰
ammunition in Iraq. „He would have to ignore his religious convictions.
What choice did he have? He went AWOL.‰

Soldiers have filed about 150 conscientious-objector applications since
2002, the Los Angeles Times reported recently using Pentagon figures.
About 71 of those applications were approved. During the Vietnam War ˜
where many soldiers were drafted ˜ there were some 17,000 applications
from active-duty soldiers, according to the Times report.

Bartell, who has been transferred to a military prison in Fort Sill,
Okla., was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

The first time Bartell went absent without leave was from March 7
through April 8, according to Durland. During that time, Bartell never
left Fort Carson, where the couple lived on base with their four
children, ages 1 to 11.

Amy Bartell received a letter saying all pay and benefits were being cut
off.

The second time Bartell went AWOL was on the day he thought his unit was
to ship out, April 17. He met with a military defense attorney May 12
and turned himself in.

By that time, the couple had moved to the Cañon City area to be near
their church, the Skyline Mennonite Church.

Military police showed up in early May and served Amy Bartell with the
felony charge of „enticing, abetting a deserter,‰ Durland said.

That charge could result in punishment of up to three years in prison,
Durland said.

Prosecutors charged Spc. Bartell with „intent to avoid hazardous duty,‰
which is basically the same as desertion, Durland said. On advice from
his military attorney, Bartell pleaded guilty to the charge in hopes his
conscientious objector position could mitigate a harsh prison sentence.

„He pleaded guilty because he accepted responsibility for what he had
done,‰ Bartell said. „It was his only option. He was not going to say
Œno‚ to God.‰

Bartell‚s military attorney told a Fort Carson public affairs officer
Wednesday she would have to get permission from her client before
answering any questions.

The spokesman for the U.S. Attorney‚s Office in Denver declined comment
on the case Wednesday.

On July 12, Spc. Bartell was sentenced to four months in prison, after
which he will be dishonorably discharged.

Rev. Loren Miller, of Skyline Mennonite, said the church is for pacifist
Christians. Church officials and volunteers have helped the Bartells,
and were at the hearing Wednesday ˜ which was postponed until Aug. 17.

„We are harmless, peaceloving people,‰ Miller said, noting Mennonites
take the Scriptures literally.

Amy Bartell is worried about the felony charge she faces. And she‚s
worried about her husband.

„He‚s going through a lot,‰ she said. „It does affect him. He‚s sitting
in prison knowing I‚m getting into trouble for what we believe.‰

[Thanks to CS and Tom Joad, who sent this in. CS writes: That wife out
at Ft Carson is a first to my knowledge. They need support.]


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

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16) House Votes to Keep Anti-Terror Law
But Senate version puts more limits on federal agents
by Edward Epstein
Published on Friday, July 22, 2005 by the San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0722-07.htm

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17) 'Every Mother's Son' filmmaker
Tami Gold in Bayview!
by mesha Monge-Irizarry
On June 7, Tami Gold, co-producer of the nationally
acclaimed film "Every Mother's Son,"
came to the Idriss Stelley Foundation on Third Street
in Bayview to touch base and
exchange ideas on how to impact police brutality nationwide.
http://www.sfbayview.com/072005/everymothersson072005.shtml

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18) How a Trip to Film in Iraq
Ended in a Military Jail Cell
By TIM GOLDEN
Published: July 24, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/24/national/nationalspecial3/24detainee.html

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19) House's NASA Bill Embraces
Bush Plan
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 23, 2005
WASHINGTON, July 22 (AP) - The House overwhelmingly
endorsed President Bush's vision of sending people
back to the Moon and eventually to Mars as it passed
a bill on Friday to set NASA policy for the next two years.
The bill was approved by a 383-to-15 vote after a collegial
debate in which lawmakers emphasized their commitment not
only to Mr. Bush's space exploration plans but also to
traditional programs at the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, like science and aeronautics.
Originally, the measure would have shifted $1.3 billion
from exploration to other NASA programs. But after
administration objections, lawmakers restored the
money for exploration during floor debate by adding
to the bill's bottom line, which is at $34.7 billion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/23/politics/23nasa.html

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