MAD

[ravelkinbow]

Is anyone interested in becoming active with MAD (Mother's against the draft) ?

[Lloyd Danforth]

You should consider renaming it MADR

[ravelkinbow]

You should consider renaming it MADR

You have a point, however I didn't name them...

[Kat Kanning]

Mom Protesting Iraq War Meets Bush Aides

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer 54 minutes ago

CRAWFORD, Texas - The angry mother of a fallen U.S. soldier staged a protest near
President Bush's ranch Saturday, demanding an accounting from Bush of how he has conducted the war in
Iraq.


Supported by more than 50 demonstrators who chanted, "W. killed her son!" Cindy Sheehan told reporters: "I want to ask the president, 'Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for?'" Sheehan, 48, didn't get to see Bush, but did talk about 45 minutes with national security adviser Steve Hadley and deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin, who went out to hear her concerns.

Appreciative of their attention, yet undaunted, Sheehan said she planned to continue her roadside vigil, except for a few breaks, until she gets to talk to Bush. Her son, Casey, 24, was killed in Sadr City, Iraq, on April 4, 2004. He was an Army specialist, a Humvee mechanic.

"They (the advisers) said we are in Iraq because they believed
Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, that the world's a better place with Saddam gone and that we're making the world a safer place with what we're doing over there," Sheehan said in a telephone interview after the meeting.

"They were very respectful. They were nice men. I told them Iraq was not a threat to the United States and that now people are dead for nothing. I told them I wouldn't leave until I talked to
George Bush."

She said Hagin told her, "I want to assure you that he (Bush) really does care."

"And I said if he does care, why doesn't he come out and talk to me."

Sheehan arrived in Crawford aboard a bus painted red, white and blue and emblazoned with the words, "Impeachment Tour." Sheehan, from Vacaville, Calif., had been attending a Veterans for Peace convention in Dallas.

The bus, trailed by about 20 cars of protesters and reporters, drove at about 15 mph toward Bush's ranch. After several miles, they parked the vehicles and began to march, in stifling heat, farther down the narrow country road.

Flanked by miles of pasture, Sheehan spoke with reporters while clutching two photographs, one of her son in uniform, and the other, a baby picture, when he was seven months old.

She said she decided to come to Crawford a few days ago after Bush said that fallen U.S. troops had died for a noble cause and that the mission must be completed.

"I want to ask the president, `Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for?" she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "Last week, you said my son died for a noble cause' and I want to ask him what that noble cause is?"

White House spokesman Trent Duffy said response that Bush also wants the troops to return home safely.

"Many of the hundreds of families the president has met with know their loved one died for a noble cause and that the best way to honor their sacrifice is to complete the mission," Duffy said.

"It is a message the president has heard time and again from those he has met with and comforted. Like all Americans, he wants the troops home as soon as possible."

The group marched about a half-mile before local law enforcement officials stopped them at a bend in the road, still four to five miles from the ranch's entrance. Capt. Kenneth Vanek of the McLennan County Sheriff's Office said the group was stopped because some marchers ignored instructions to walk in the ditch beside the road, not on the road.

"If they won't cooperate, we won't," Vanek said.

[Pat K]

Walk in the ditch besides the road ?  wtf?

[Ron Helwig]

Less chance of setting off an IED in the ditch 

[Kat Kanning]

What's an IED?

[Pat McCotter]

Improvised Explosive Device. What "insurgents" in Iraq are using to blow up things.

[Kat Kanning]

From the Sentinel today...some news that's a little positive:

Army struggles with recruiting, here, elsewhere
Schools not so quick to open doors
   

Nika Carlson
Sentinel Staff


The U.S. Army is struggling for soldiers.

Summer is considered a high season for recruitment, but as the season progresses it seems less and less likely that the Army will meet its goals.

In the Monadnock Region, fewer students have been signing up, guidance counselors said, and one school is tightening recruiters? access to students.

Nationwide, the Army is about 7,800 recruits short of its goal for the summer, and 33,000 shy of its September goal of 80,000 recruits for the year, the Associated Press reported.


      


The Navy, Air Force and Marines are meeting goals, but the Army Reserves and National Guard are also below target, according to the Associated Press.

This news comes on the heels of a spate of reports about unethical and illegal tactics by Army recruiters pressured to find more people willing to serve.

In May, CBS News broadcast reports of recruiters encouraging young people to lie to their parents and forge drug tests, even threatening them with jail time.

This year, the Army has confirmed 320 cases of so-called ?recruitment improprieties? in 2004, up from 199 in 1999.

Though Army officials haven?t returned repeated phone calls from The Sentinel for information on local goals and practices, evidence from local school officials shows that national recruitment trends are playing out in the Monadnock Region.

At Fall Mountain Regional High School in Langdon, Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, or JROTC, is a signature program, but military recruiters themselves are less welcome than they used to be.

Where recruiters once had only to check in with school guidance counselors before a visit, now they have to go through Principal Thomas E. Ferenc.

?I don?t want the kids to be alone with recruiters,? he said. ?I would ask that someone else be present, hopefully the student?s parents, or at least that the kid know they have that option.?

The change was prompted in part by his concern over national recruitment scandals, but also a ?bad experience? at Fall Mountain.

?We had an incident here with an overzealous recruiter,? Ferenc said.

The recruiter was pressuring a student who?d already signed up but was having second thoughts, leading him to believe he couldn?t withdraw from his obligation as he had a legal right to do, Ferenc said, ?calling him names, belittling and berating him about changing his mind, as young people are wont to do.?

The young man ended up staying with the military. Ferenc changed the school?s policy soon thereafter.

?By no means, one person doesn?t spoil the bunch, but I?m in charge of these children here and I?m going to think twice about how they?re recruited,? he said.

Even before the change, the number of Fall Mountain graduates entering the military was down by half, said guidance counselor Lisa A. Ranauro.

Three of 142 graduates enlisted, compared to six or seven last year, she said.

?I suspect that it?s in part due to the war and the fact that it?s a lot more dangerous,? she said. ?Their lives are at risk, and they don?t feel that the benefit at this time is worth the risk.?

At Keene High School, enlistment was cut in half as well, down to five out of 389 graduates choosing the military, compared to 10 of 352 in 2004.

Enlistment of Keene High graduates has hovered around 10 since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said Cynthia J. Day, director of guidance and counseling at the school.

?Military recruiters are actively seeking students,? she said.

Their job was made easier in 2002, when the military gained access to students? personal information through a small provision of the federal No Child Left Behind education-reform law, prompting outrage from parents, privacy advocates and schools, and numerous debates among Keene?s school board members.

Keene High had to change its privacy policy, which had forbidden the school to give out student information, or risk losing federal money.

?Recruiters are in the building fairly regularly,? Day said, mostly to speak to students they?ve already made contact with, but they also visit several times a year in an effort to tempt untapped graduates, she said.

At Hinsdale High School, enlistment actually increased last year to five out of 62 graduates, up from an average of one or two in previous years, counselor Drew Arsenault said.

Arsenault doesn?t credit recruiters with the increase.

The kids in the ?very small community? of Hinsdale who are interested already know they want be soldiers, he said.

?Most of the time kids know if the want to do it by 10th grade,? he said.

In general, however, school officials agreed that things have been different since both the war on terror and the war in Iraq began.

?The stakes are really high,? Ferenc said. ?Everyone needs to be mindful of options and on the up and up ... (The military) is a wonderful vehicle for young people to find themselves in. I just want to make sure the games are being played by the rules.?

Nika Carlson can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1439, or ncarlson@keenesentinel.com.

[Russell Kanning]

So they can stop you from walking down a road?

If he doesn't like visitors at the ranch.....maybe he should quit his high profile job.

[Kat Kanning]

Russell posted in liberty ladies!?!      

[Russell Kanning]

Russell posted in liberty ladies!?!? ?? ?

oops

[Pat K]

I heard they were threating to arrest this poor women today if she did not leave.

The good news is about 100 people have shown up to stand by her side.

[Kat Kanning]

Jerks.

[Friday]

Here's some info about efforts to fight the new system where U.S. high schools let the military know about your cannon fodder teenaged children:

Protect our children by helping them "Opt Out"!
Opt your child out of the list high schools give military recruiters and the Pentagon's illegal JAMRS database.
Repeal No Child Left Behind's Military Recruiting Provision
Become a citizen co-sponsor of the Student Privacy Protection Act
How can I make a difference in my school district?
Host or attend a back-to-school Event or School Board outing

Dear Friends,

Buried deep within the No Child Left Behind Act is a provision that requires public high schools to hand over the private contact information of students to military recruiters. If a school does not comply, it risks losing vital federal education funds. As if that weren't bad enough, the Pentagon has now built an illegal database of 30 million 16-25 year olds as another recruitment tool.

Protect our children by helping them "Opt Out"!
Working Assets has helped create the Leave My Child Alone coalition to make it easy to protect children from unwanted military recruiting by getting their names off both Pentagon and high school recruiting lists. To opt your child out, go to:

www.leavemychildalone.org/optout

Most parents don't even know about the need to opt out. Please forward this email to parents, grandparents, and teachers you know. Tell them to visit LeaveMyChildAlone.org for more information and all the forms needed to opt out.

Repeal No Child Left Behind's Military Recruiting Provision
The Student Privacy Protection Act of 2005 amends section 9528 of No Child Left Behind to prohibit military recruiters from contacting students unless these minors and their parents specifically "opt in" and consent to receive such communications. Click here to become a Citizen Co-Sponsor of the Student Privacy Protection Act.

www.leavemychildalone.org/HR551

Want to tell the Pentagon that their database is a violation of privacy? To send a letter telling them to shut down their illegal database, go to: www.leavemychildalone.org/act

How can I make a difference in my school district?
From September 7 to 30, Leave My Child Alone coalition partners will be mounting a nationwide Back-to-School campaign complete with events in all 50 states plus D.C.

You can join up with other concerned parents, teachers, grandparents, veterans and members of your local community by attending or organizing school board meeting outings to advocate for opt out policies and pass model school board resolutions. To find out about events near you or to find out how you can organize an event yourself, go to:

www.leavemychildalone.org/eventcenter

Do you know school principals, parent group officers, school board members or other people in a position to change school policy on military opt-out procedures? Tell them to visit LeaveMyChildAlone.org for organizing resources or simply email Catherine (cgeanuracos@workingassets.com) to find out how we can help them make a difference in their district.

Thank you for helping to build a better world.

Catherine Geanuracos
Campaign Organizer
Leave My Child Alone Coalition/ Working Assets

PLEASE SEND QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS TO: leavemychildalone@workingassets.com.

www.leavemychildalone.org