"Our true foes–– those endlessly gunning for war"

There Is No Future In War: 

Youth Rise Up, a Manifesto

By Ben Norton, Tyra Walker, Anastasia Taylor, Alli McCracken, Colleen Moore, Jes Grobman, Ashley Lopez, Sara Al Harbi, Sophia Arman

Once again, US politicians and pundits are beating the drums of war, trying to get our nation involved in yet another conflict. A few years ago it was Iran, with “all options on the table.” Last year it was a red line that threatened to drag us into the conflict in Syria. This time it’s Iraq and Syria.

We, the youth of America, have grown up in war, war war. War has become the new norm for our generation. But these conflicts–declared by older people but fought and paid for by young people–are robbing us of our future and we’re tired of it.

There is no future in war.We, the youth of America, are taking a stand against war and reclaiming our future.War does not work. Period.

War does not work from an economic perspective.In 2003 US politicians orchestrated the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq based on blatant lies—lies that have cost the American people over $3 trillion.Imagine what we could have done with this money:

With $3 trillion dollars, we could have guaranteed free higher education for all interested Americans. Instead, we are wallowing in over $1 trillion in outstanding college loan debt.With $3 trillion, we could have created a system of universal health care. Instead, affordable health care is still out of reach for many Americans and we have no idea if there will even be a Medicare system when we are old enough to retire.

With $3 trillion we could have renovated our decrepit public schools and crumbling public infrastructure, giving us the kind of foundation we need for a thriving nation in the decades to come.

With $3 trillion we could have created a national energy grid based not upon environmentally destructive fossil fuels, but upon renewable energy sources–something that our generation cares passionately about.

Our true foes–– those endlessly gunning for war–– have been waging an economic war against us. Our foes are the ones who say we must increase Pentagon spending while we cut food stamps, unemployment assistance, public transportation, and low-income housing. They are the ones who want to destroy the social safety net that past generations have worked so hard to build. They are the ones who underfund our public schools – which are more segregated today than they were under Jim Crow – and then privatize them. They are the ones who throw hundreds of thousands of young people in prison, thanks to the racist and classist war on drugs, and then privatize the prisons to exploit and profit off of incarcerated citizens who make close-to-zero wages.

Throwing money at war does nothing to address the real issues we face. We, the youth of our country, are the ones who will feel this pain. The cost of war is sucking us dry; it is burdening us with debts we will never be able to pay back.

And war doesn’t even work to create jobs. Politicians say they can’t cut the Pentagon budget because the weapons manufacturers create much-needed jobs. Yes, our generation need jobs. But if members of Congress really wants to use federal spending to help us find employment, the military is the worst investment. A $1 billion investment in military spending nets 11,600 jobs. The same investment in education reaps 29,100 jobs. Whether it’s education, healthcare or clean energy, investments in those sectors create many more job opportunities than the military. The military-industrial complex does a great job lining the pockets of politicians; it does a lousy job creating an economy that works for all.

War does not work from a national security and defense perspective.The war apologists claim war makes our future “safer” and “freer.” But since the tragic 9/11 attack, the US military response has made the world a more dangerous place. The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the NATO bombing of Libya, the use of predator drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen, and countless other examples of military operations have only increased violence and hatred. Iraqis and Afghans are certainly no safer and freer; we are certainly no safer and freer.

We refuse to let our brothers and sisters, both here and abroad, die for access to cheap Persian Gulf oil. The Iraqis, the Afghans, the Iranians, the Libyans, the Somalis, and the people of any other country our military circles like vultures, are not our enemies. We must oppose US intervention not because we don’t care about them, but because we do.

War does not work from an environmental perspective.War is not environmentally friendly. It never has been, and it never will be. Bombing destroys the environment. It damages forests and agricultural land. It ravages ecosystems, endangering species, even forcing some into extinction.

Bombing contaminates water and soil, often leaving it unsafe to use for centuries, even millennia. This is especially true with nuclear and chemical weapons, such as those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the missiles containing depleted uranium the US used in Iraq. And because of weapons like these, infant mortality, genetic mutation, and cancer rates are exponentially higher in the civilian areas targeted. Children in Fallujah, Iraq, a city hit hard by these weapons, are born without limbs and missing organs.

The environmental costs of war are clearly not limited to isolated moments; they persist for many lifetimes. Heavy military vehicles, in conjunction with deforestation and climate change, lead to the emission of toxic dust from the ground. Even if their homes and livelihoods haven’t been destroyed by bombs, citizens who inhale these toxins are much more susceptible to a wide variety of diseases and health problems.

The US Department of Defense has long been the country’s largest consumer of fossil fuels. Military vehicles consume obscene quantities of oil for even small tasks. If we truly care about reversing, or at least mitigating, anthropogenic climate change—what many scientists recognize as a literal threat to the future of the human species—eliminating war would be an incredibly effective first step.

War does not work from a human rights perspective.The world isn’t any safer and freer for the million Iraqi civilians who died. How is freedom supposed to come at the tip of a bomb?

The debate rages back and forth; “specialists” fill the TV airwaves, repackaging the same tired excuses we’ve heard for years. Most of these “experts” are old white males. The people actually affected by our bombs and our guns–mostly young people of color–are nowhere to be seen. Their voices are silenced, their voices shouted over by the corporate media, by hawkish politicians, and by the profit-hungry military contractors.

War does not work from a historical perspective.War has never been about freedom and liberation; war has always been about profit and empire. American historian Howard Zinn once said “Wars are fundamentally internal policies. Wars are fought in order to control the population at home.”

Military intervention gives US corporations free reign in the countries we destroy. We bomb the country, targeting public infrastructure, and our corporations build it back up again. Fat cat CEOs make millions, even billions; the country, the people of the country, are left with mountains of debt. Our corporations own their infrastructure, their industrial capital, their natural resources. War is always a lose-lose for the people. Economic and political elite in both countries will make a fortune; the people of both countries will be the ones who have to pay for this fortune.

In 1935, Smedley Butler, the highest ranking official in the Marines and the most decorated Marine in US history in his day, published War Is Racket, a book repudiating war and exposing it for the charade that it is. It famously opens with the powerful lines “War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.”

Defenders and purveyors of war have always done empty lip service to ideals like “freedom” and “democracy”; they have always repeated tired, vacuous tropes about “assisting,” or even “liberating” peoples.

How can we trust a country that says its brutal military invasion and occupation is “humanitarian,” when, at the same moment, it is supporting repressive dictators around the world? Saddam Hussein was on the CIA payroll since the 1960s. While we were invading Iraq to “overthrow tyranny” and “free” the Iraqi people, we were supporting the KingFahd’s theocratic tyranny in Saudi Arabia, the brutally repressive Khalifa family in Bahrain, and Mubarak’s violent regime in Egypt, among countless other unsavory dictators.

When we invaded Afghanistan to “free” the Afghan people from the Taliban, the corporate media failed to mention that Ronald Reagan had supported the Mujahideen, who later became the Taliban, and the Contras throughout the 1980s. He called the latter “the moral equivalent of our Founding Fathers,” while they were disemboweling civilians in a campaign of terror.

These historical events are absolutely pertinent to contemporary discussions of war. We must learn from them, as to not repeat them in the future, as to not fall for the same past political tricks.

Our naysayers say we are against the troops. We are not against the troops. US troops are disproportionately from less-privileged backgrounds. Military recruiters target impoverished communities of color, and there are many recorded instances of them using deceptive tactics to get young citizens to sign long binding contracts. These are the troops that die in US military operations. They are not our enemies. We refuse to let our brothers and sisters be cannon fodder. The real people against the troops are the ones who send our country’s poor to die in rich people’s wars.

How many times do we have to be lied to, how many times do we have to be tricked, how many times do we have to be exploited until we say enough is enough? We are tired of war! War accomplishes nothing. War only fattens the wallets of economic and political elites, leaving millions dead in its wake. War only leads to more war, destroying the planet and emptying the national treasury in the process.

We, the youth of the United States of America, oppose war.

We oppose war not because we don’t care about the rest of the world; we oppose war precisely because we do.

We oppose war not because we don’t care about our security; we oppose war precisely because we do.

We oppose war not because we don’t care about our troops; we oppose war precisely because we do.

We oppose war not because we aren’t concerned with our future; we oppose war precisely because we do.

There is no future in war. Join us.

See more at: http://codepink.org/blog/2014/09/there-is-no-future-in-war-youth-rise-up-a-manifesto/#sthash.FVEeJym3.dpuf

Want A Missile "Defense" Base In Maine, NY, Ohio Or Michigan? None Of The Above!

Rangeley, Maine

I am re-blogging my friend Bruce Gagnon's excellent piece on behalf of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. I told him I am tempted to send yet another public comment myself: The grassroots resistance to this proposal in either Maine or upstate NY will be so fierce and unrelenting that you will be sorry you ever thought of attacking our environment in this way. (I can't speak knowledgeably abut Ohio or Michigan, but I expect it would be similar.)

PUBLIC COMMENTS ON PROPOSED MISSILE DEFENSE BASE IN RANGELEY, MAINE

Comments to Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Continental United States Interceptor Site

TO: Missile Defense Agency MDA.CIS.EIS@BV.com

Our organization is opposed to any of the four proposed interceptor sites in Maine, Ohio, Michigan or New York.

First reason is because of enormous cost, especially at the time of severe economic hardship for people across the nation.

Secondly, the proposed GMD program is severely underperforming in its testing phase and has long suffered from corruption.

Thirdly, development of the interceptor base at any of these proposed sites would have severe environmental consequences.

In particular I want to address the proposal for Rangeley, Maine since I live and work in this state.

Culture: The proposal to put the base in Rangeley would have enormous negative impact on the local culture by essentially doubling the size of the existing community.  Local schools and other human resources would be overwhelmed by the influx of personnel estimated to work at the proposed base.  There would be an obvious detrimental impact on tourist haven Rangeley area and against Maine's life giving tourist industry.

Environment:  The ridiculous notion of driving interceptor silos and missiles on already bad Maine roads would further destroy these roads that the state already cannot keep in good condition.  The idea of widening these roads in some places to make it possible to transport silos and missiles would have severe negative impact on the environment.  The state would not be able to maintain even wider roads since they can’t already handles their existing road network.  Blasting mountain areas to place the silos underground would also have severe impact on wildlife, native vegetation and water quality would be impacted.  It is my understanding that Poland Springs has a 1,000 acre water well near this area that would certainly be negatively impacted. Where's the enormous amount of gravel needed for this project going to be mined?

Liquid rocket fuels:  The toxic liquid fuels to be used in the interceptor missiles would have to be transported, stored, and then placed inside missiles.  This process would allow many opportunities for toxic spills in the area contaminating local water sources.  Liquid Hydrazines are most commonly known for their use in rocket fuels. They are highly toxic, colorless, flammable liquids with an ammonia-like odor. There are several types of hydrazines, including hydrazine, monomethylhydrazine (MMH) and 1,1-dimethyl-hydrazine, also known as unsymmetrical dimeth-ylhydrazine (UDMH). Hydrazine is unstable and is usually handled as an aqueous solution for safety reasons. Exposure to hydrazines can cause central nervous system effects as well as kidney and liver damage. Hydrazine and UDMH are listed as probable human carcinogens and classified under Group B2 by the U.S. EPA.

Solid rocket fuels: An analysis of data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control indicates that a toxic chemical in solid rocket fuel has severely contaminated the nation's food and water supply - read the Environmental Working Group study http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_3250.cfm.  Scientists warn that the chemical, known as perchlorate, could cause thyroid deficiency in more than 2.2 million women of childbearing age. This thyroid deficiency could damage the fetus of pregnant women, if left untreated. Perchlorate, the explosive ingredient in solid rocket fuel, has leaked from military bases and defense and aerospace contractors' plants in at least 22 states, contaminating drinking water for millions of Americans. Despite massive complaints, defense contractors have done little or nothing to clean up the pollution. Perchlorate has also been widely detected in milk, lettuce, produce and other foods. In an alarming study, the CDC found perchlorate in the urine of every person tested. The Organic Consumers Association has mobilized thousands of consumers to pressure the EPA and government officials to begin a massive clean up of perchlorate. The Environmental Working Groups report is an analysis of data originally released in 2005, when the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released its long anticipated report on the human health effects of perchlorates. Perchlorates have been found in 93% of lettuce and milk.... 97% of breast milk samples taken randomly from around the U.S. have tested positive for perchlorates. The government funded NAS report reveals that perchlorates are roughly ten times more toxic to humans than the Department of Defense has been claiming. Perchlorates can inhibit thyroid function, cause birth defects and lower IQs, and are considered particularly dangerous to children. The NAS report recommends human exposure at no more than .0007 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. The EPA has responded to the report by recommending a water standard reference dose of 24.5 ppb for perchlorate. This is bad news for military sites and rocket fuel plants around the country, including Henderson, Nevada, where EPA well monitoring has found perchlorates at a level 30,000 times higher than that. There are over 12,000 military sites in the U.S. that are used for training with live explosives.

GMD Program:  The Ground-based Midcourse missile defense system has been riddled with failure and corruption since its inception. In early 2000, the GAO received a request from former Rep. Howard Berman of California to review certain allegations of fraud in the missile defense program. Dr. Nira Schwartz, an Israeli-born scientist made the allegations while working at TRW - a defense contractor based in Los Angeles. TRW was a subcontractor to the defense behemoth Boeing Company. She was promptly fired from her job after she made the allegations. She alleged that a key component in the missile defense system – software to process signals collected by an infrared sensor - did not perform as advertised by TRW and Boeing.  She was intimately involved in the development of the software, which was used in a crucial test of the missile defense program in 1997 at a cost of $100 million. The contractors Boeing and TRW falsely claimed it was a total success. Many of the so-called “successful” tests over the years have been what scientists call “strap down rabbit” tests as they placed a beacon on the dummy missiles so that the interceptors could identify them in deep space at 15,000 mph.  For all these reasons and more this program should not be building any permanent deployment installations anywhere.  It is a huge waste of taxpayers dollars.

Public Hearings: I attended one of the two “public meetings” that were held in Rangeley and spoke to others who attended them in Farmington.  In every case people who attended complained to me that the nature of the meetings had nothing to do with “public”.  The poster sessions, where people were swarmed with MDA and contractor personnel, were not very informative.  Many of my questions were not answered by those staffing the event.  (Such as what is the weight displacement on a road of a truck hauling silos or interceptor missiles.  I was told I’d be informed but I never heard from anyone with an answer.  This is why I’ve waited until the last minute to send in my comments.)  In most real public hearings there is a formal time when testimony can be taken from the public and citizens can listen and learn from one another.  The average citizen is not able to go into such a “hearing” like these and understand the many technical variables involved.  A real public hearing would allow citizens to learn from one another.  That is how true democracy works.  It was clear to me, and others that I spoke with who attended these events, that the MDA and its contractors intentionally and effectively limited the public participation process.  For that reason alone this public comment period should be extended and the hearings should be redone in a proper way.

No Decision: Our organization thus opposes the selection of any of the four sites and proposes that no selection be made.

September 13, 2014

Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

- Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. - Henry David Thoreau

An Open Letter To My Union, MEA/NEA: Stop Backing The War Party

Students in Newark walked out of class calling for support for public vs. privatized education for its citizens, and a return to local control of how education funds are spent. Source: PopularResistance.org 

I kind of needed irony guard yesterday morning while reading the Maine Education Association (MEA) newsletter in my email.

AT LEAST 5  KIDS IN YOUR CLASS ARE PROBABLY HUNGRY On Tuesday the Legislature held its third public meeting for the Task Force on Student Hunger in Bangor. Representatives from a variety of stakeholders spoke on the importance of providing our students with adequate meals so that all students have the chance to optimize their learning.  
One in 4 (25%) of Maine's students experience food insecurity, with over 45% of our kids qualifying for free or reduced lunch.  According to the Good Shepherd Food Bank some ways to identify hungry students are:

• food hoarding  

• anxiety about when meals will be served  

• rushing to get to the cafeteria and/or being one of the first in line for school meals  

• complaints of headaches, stomachaches, or falling asleep 

Your school may qualify for the Backpack Program through Good Shepherd, a program that provides food for families and students.  You can learn more here (large PDF file please allow time for it to download). 

HELPING KIDS COPE Recently there have been many stories in the news that are upsetting, even to adults.  These are particularly difficult for children.  We need to be letting kids know that our schools will protect them and are safe havens.  The American Psychological Association has put together some resources at their website.
Resources:

• How Much News Coverage is OK for Children?

• Resilience Guide for Parents & Teachers

And here is the feedback I sent the MEA, my union as an educator in Maine, and an affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA):

Regarding the high incidence of child poverty in Maine, and the many disturbing stories in the news that teachers need to support students in handling...

One of the reasons so many news stories are upsetting is that the Democratic Party, which the MEA/NEA unfailingly supports, is a war party. More than 50% of the discretionary federal budget each year under Democratic leadership has gone to the Pentagon and its contractors. Now President Obama has announced he will (continue) bombing Iraq and Syria, ostensibly to fight ISIS which the U.S. and the Saudis helped create, fund and arm. Then there is Ukraine, where the Obama administration is backing the neo-Nazis.

If the MEA/NEA cares about the well being of students as much as it says it does, it must stop supporting the war party. Any war party.

For years I implored the MEA to get involved in Maine's Bring Our War $$ Home campaign, waged to bring pressure on Congress to redirect military spending to needs at home. They never even dignified my requests with a reply must less joined us. Because they are beholden to the Democrats, who have not just stood by but actually helped gut the social program that made the U.S. prosperous and literate once upon a time. Like free, quality public education.

Hats off to students in Newark, N.J. this week who blocked traffic to protest the privatization of education in their high poverty city.  State control of the schools there has hastened a charter school takeover.

“We are building a movement to take back democratic local control of our schools,” Kristin Towkaniuk, president of the Newark Students Union to Eye Witness News. “Our action…will be an escalation demonstrating the community’s unrest over Chris Christie’s efforts to privatize our public schools.” 

You can read more about students' impressive organizing and resistance here. Follow events on twitter:#OurNewark.

What's Wrong With This Picture? #HandsUpDontShoot

News media ran a back to school article last week with this photo under this headline:

CHILDREN ARE PROTECTED ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL IN CHICAGO

Does this African American student look like she feels safer having these armed white men with bullet proof vests walking in front of her elementary school?

It's hard to tell how the woman with her is feeling or even what she is doing. Perhaps she is giving her daughter advice on how to stay safe in the face of violent patriarchy. Or maybe just giving her lunch money.

Can you write a better caption for this photo?

Zionists Are Grasping At Straws These Days

So I spent last evening and this morning asking people on the street for the First Friday Art Walk and at the Farmer's Market to sign a petition calling on Maine's congressional delegation to hold Israel accountable for its bombing of civilians in Gaza, and to halt military aid until the blockade of Gaza and the occupation of Palestine come to an end. (Note that 1,000 acres of land owned by Palestinians in the West Bank were annexed by Israel just last week.)

It has been extremely illuminating to open a public space for conversations with all kinds of people.

For one thing, it is only slightly possible to predict who will sign the petition based on their appearance.

Wealthy older white couples appear to be hermetically sealed into a bubble that prevents them from even considering the option.

Hipsters don't usually consider it either, or even acknowledge that you asked them, "Do you want to sign our petition?"A 20-something family member once said disparagingly of Portland hipsters: "They think they are cool because they are vaguely artsy, but they don't believe in anything."

Portland's many immigrants appear to mostly consider our poster, but mostly do not sign the petition. Exceptions were a man from Congo who said he had lived with "war all my life" and a woman from Iran who worries about being targeted for being, well, Iranian.

Baby boomers wearing -- ok, I'll admit it -- "artsy" type clothing are the most likely to sign. They are also likely to have background knowledge. They are among several groups including young parents and art student types who appear to have a pent up desire to do something about their tax support of Israel's aggression.

Everyone else is about 50% likely to say, "I don't know enough about it to sign a petition." A good percentage of these people are interested in taking literature with more information. We had many good conversations with people who took a few minutes to share their views, their dilemmas and their questions.

Older white males and females are the most likely to repeat corporate media sound bites about Hamas, tunnels, rockets and that the conflict is a war where the two sides are evenly matched.

One interesting response from a woman of about 60 was, "Don't even ask me!" I said thank you, which I say to everyone who responds to me whether they sign or not. Her reply: "Well, you're taking that chance when you come out here!" As she walked away she turned and added, "They want to kill everyone."

As an English teacher I reflected on how using an indefinite pronoun (they) without a clear reference led to a murky message. As she was standing next to a poster that said HOLD ISRAEL ACCOUNTABLE at the time, passersby might have been excused for thinking she was referring to Israel. Also a bit confusing was "that chance" -- that someone might disagree with me in public? It kind of seemed as if she was actually talking to herself

A middle aged man who told us his grandfather had been in the Warsaw ghetto said he thought Israel was violating many, many scriptures and began crying. This made my Codepink associate Pat tear up also. He was immaculately dressed in all white and a Panama hat.

A young Jewish mother with two small children in a stroller stopped and expressed relief at being able to sign something. We invited her to a talk that night by Dr. Alice Rothchild and she looked wistful. Just about then the littlest child got bonked by the sun shade of the double stroller and started crying so she moved on.

And then there were the Zionists. There are fewer and fewer of them. I'd say of people who spoke up enough to be identified as such, they were less than 5% of total people we interacted with.

They were by far the most aggressive in terms of hostile language, body posture and challenging our right to disseminate information. Here is a sampling of their responses:

"How dare you ask me that? See this beak?" demanded an older man pointing to his large, prominent nose.

Many people told us we should be ashamed of ourselves.

"Hamas is firing rockets. Where's your petition to stop that?" If they were still listening and not just walking away after straightening us out I would point out that the U.S. isn't sending $3.1 billion a year to buy those rockets. (In light of the U.S. -- along with Israel -- helping to create and fund ISIS, though, do I really know that?)

"What if you lived in Rhode Island and people from Maine started shooting rockets into your yard? What would you do?" Pat pointed out that this was not a useful analogy since she does not live in an open air prison. "What if I cut your head off?" he escalated. At this point I said that his language was getting too violent and asked him to leave us alone. As he walked away he asked, "Do you even have a permit to be here?"

Me: "Yes, the Bill of Rights, first amendment." A teenager who was selling wooden craft products on the art walk and listening to every word of this exchange got a kick out of that.

Education work is interesting to me. When people are shifting their paradigm it's emotionally stressful for them. They have been exposed to hundreds of hours of misinformation based on the false dichotomy of either you support everything Israel does or else you're supporting "terrorists."

Sometimes you can see their cognitive dissonance as a facial expression or body posture. Sometimes it comes out in words that seem to reject new information.

What I could have been doing today was working on promised drafts of educational materials on BDS targeting SodaStream for the upcoming gigantic annual event, the Common Ground Fair. There I'll be helping to table in a venue that reaches tens of thousands of mostly liberal, poorly informed citizens.

But background education about the map of Israel and what's left of Palestine is really an important foundation to understand BDS, its necessity and its immense potential.

I love doing this work. I don't mind if Zionist believers get mad at me. I am challenging their world view, and they are grasping at straws to hold onto it these days.

Sep. 10 #InternetSlowdown Will Show What Happens If We Lose #NetNeutrality

SATIRE Stuff Hillary Supporters Say #cats

School Begins With Talk of ISIS And The #FergusonSyllabus

The regular crew was on the bridge Sunday at noon in Skowhegan, Maine and we had several visitors. This Navy man, who crews on a nuclear submarine, stopped to talk for quite a while about his perceptions of whether the use of depleted uranium is a war crime (he didn't think so) and the toxic chemicals that do permeate every military base he's been on. Also the work of the Navy pursuing "narco-terrorists" outside Columbia, drug lords who employ one-use fiberglass submarines to ship drugs around.

It was a respectful dialogue, and that is one of the things I love about my bridge community.

My friend Fang's sign can only be partially seen here but says in full:
NOBAMA
DEPLETED URANIUM
IS A
WAR CRIME

By carrying this sign, he is creating a space for the discussion to happen. For a long time he had a sign that said D.U. = WAR CRIME but most of his audience didn't know what D.U. stood for and probably just read it as Duh. So maybe stupidity = war crime?

Which bring us to ISIS. Click through to Vimeo to watch this video on the confusing situation where the US first arms militants like ISIS and then subsequently bombs them. Or, if you prefer text to video, you might want to read Edward Snowden's latest revelation, documents showing that Israel's spy agency Mossad trained ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, aided by the CIA and Britain's M-16.


Pentagon Hymn, the shores of Tripoli from MarkFiore on Vimeo.

Our ten year old grandson told us that he loves his new teacher, that she is young, that she told them about ISIS and what bad guys they are, and that she mentioned that in 5th grade they would be studying the Bill of Rights. Then she mentioned that people standing on the bridge every week in a nearby town is an example of the First Amendment. Our grandson raised his hand and told her some of those people were his grandparents.

I worry when I hear that kids are going back to school learning about ISIS, but not Ferguson. (Maybe she'll cover that, too, who knows?) I've seen news reports that some school administrators are telling their teachers "change the subject" if Ferguson comes up. I'm sure many educators will ignore that particular directive.

Others have put forth a hash tag #FergusonSyllabus to help organize material to teach about racism in the USA, police brutality, and let us hope some lively debate on whether racist policing is a standalone problem or part of a larger class war in which people of color are far more likely to be low income than white people are. And how white racism sows confusion.

The more confusing, the better for our corporate masters. How do you explain ISIS to 5th graders -- and still keep your job? Maybe Irony Guard would help.


Today is Labor Day when educators everywhere rest an extra day and write lesson plans. Will they be teaching that organizers called for people to stop driving at 4:30pm today and use emergency blinkers for 4 1/2 minutes in solidarity with the demand that Police Officer Darren Wilson be charged and tried for the death of Michael Brown?

Because Ferguson. Everywhere. Now.

Morgan Bradley (left) asks school girls what they plan to be when they grow up as protesters demonstrated against the police shooting of Michael Brown at the Ferguson police station on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2014. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com

From Popular Resistance "Over 1,000 Protest In Ferguson, Call For Highway Shutdown Monday"