"The Children's Crusade"

[understandinglife]

The Children’s Crusade
Military programs move into middle schools to fish for future soldiers
By Jennifer Wedekind



A high school JROTC at the dedication of the WWII Memorial in Washington D.C.

Tarsha Moore stands as tall as her 4-foot 8-inch frame will allow. Staring straight ahead, she yells out an order to a squad of peers lined up in three perfect columns next to her. Having been in the military program for six years, Tarsha has earned the rank of captain and is in charge of the 28 boys and girls in her squad. This is Lavizzo Elementary School. Tarsha is 14.

The Middle School Cadet Corps (MSCC) program at the K-8 school is part of a growing trend to militarize middle schools. Students at Lavizzo are among the more than 850 Chicago students who have enlisted in one of the city's 26 MSCC programs. At Madero Middle School, the MSCC has evolved into a full-time military academy for kids 11 to 14 years old.

<snip>

Military recruiters are known for their flashy tactics: television ads, omnipresent brochures, recruiting ships, trucks and vans, and even a free Army video game kids can download off the Internet. Yet, the Army hasn't met its recruitment goals in three months. The Marines haven't met their quotas since January. Suspicious recruitment tactics are in the headlines and Army recruiters took off May 20 to retrain in the ethics and laws of recruitment.

(more at link:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2136/

An interesting correlation is to wonder just how Bush and the neconster war criminals intend to sustain their colonization efforts. To wit, the y axis in this graph are dead soldiers:

http://www.intelligencesquad.com/id118.html

Peace.

We have all the evidence of mendacity and illegal war-making we need to indict and prosecute Bush, Blair and every other neoconster scum-bag on the planet having any involvement in the Bush's illegal war on Iraq and all the torture and other atrocities that have been committed since August 2002.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[Raster]

1. Horrifically in the U.S., war is the number one business, obscene

weaponry are profit centers and our nation's children are raw materials for the beast.

Now is the time.

[Journeyman]

2. Thanks for the graphic. . .

I intend to share that with everyone I know. I haven't seen the idiocy made so plain before.

[understandinglife]

3. It is an excellent graphic and all credit goes to "The Intelligence Squad"

for creating it:
http://www.intelligencesquad.com/id118.html


Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[Journeyman]

4. Yes. I went to their site right after I posted. . .

a lot of good commentary there.

[understandinglife]

5. Relevant NYTimes report:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3775905

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

6. THESE ARE CHILDREN. Please spread this information to all parents.

If you need a truly chilling and accurate accounting of how children are seduced into the support of a brutal regime's expansive war-mongering and comprehensive oppression of dissent, then just read "Defying Hitler" by Sebastian Haffner.


I regret having to 'kick' this thread, but I will continue to do so because the fact that the military has any form of access to American citizens under the age of 18 is exceptionally dangerous and perverse.

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

7. They really mean "No Child Left Behind"! How many of you remember ...

... this item from 2002. It was actually reported by the corporate news media:

Pentagon Zeroes In On Teens

BOSTON, Dec. 3, 2002

The No Child Left Behind law, signed last January, pumps billions into education but also gives military recruiters access to the names, addresses and phone numbers of students in 22,000 schools. The law also says that schools must give the military the same access to their campuses that businesses and college recruiters enjoy.

School systems that fail to comply could lose federal money. The measure also applies to private schools receiving federal funding. But Quaker schools and others that have a religious objection to military service can get out of the requirement.

Students and parents who oppose the law can keep their information from being turned over to the military, but they must sign and return an "opt-out" form.

<snip>

"It's a vast departure from the way we've done business," said Donna Harlan, an associate superintendent in the Northampton school system. "We are not in the business of giving lists of names of kids to anybody. That was tough. The issue was if we were to receive federal or state money, we had to comply with the law."


Read the entire item:
http://cbsnews.cbs.com/stories/2002/12/03/national/main531532.shtml

SEC. 9528. ARMED FORCES RECRUITER ACCESS TO STUDENTS AND STUDENT RECRUITING INFORMATION.
http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg112.html

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[SlipperySlope]

8. Excellent graphic - N/T

[understandinglife]

9. THESE ARE CHILDREN. I'm going to keep repeating this until ...

... the vast, massive outrage that Bush's "No Child Left Behind" ploy to gather information on the children of America is like a fire-storm across the continent.

They will use YOUR CHILDREN to advance their wealth and their totalitarian, imperialistic goals. Does everyone 'get it'?


Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us