The U.S. War on Children

by Sarah Meyer Index Research

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Mother and Child, Kaethe Kollwitz (1867 – 1945)

This research is about violence to children in the United States within the last month, with examples given for various states. The Bush veto was, for me, an appalling additional violence. Children must not be victims in any country.

"No, you can't make this stuff up." RICK PERLSTEIN .


Alabama

DHS Sponsors Martial Law Exercise For Kids
21.09.07. intelstrike. The Department of Homeland Security is currently sponsoring an event in Huntsville, AL where children have the opportunity to participate in a mock martial law oriented disaster exercise. The event called the Be Ready Camp is being held in two sessions as part of the government’s National Preparedness Month initiative.


California

School Security Guards Beat Teen over Cake Spill
28.09.07. MyFoxLA / Blacklisted.
It all started with a piece of birthday cake, but it ended up with a high school girl being beaten and expelled. Video.

Taser Torture

Google taser USA: 1,760,000
Google taser: 5,600,000

United States Forest Service Purchases 700 TASER X26 Electronic Control Devices
19.09.07. moneycentral. TASER International, Inc. (Nasdaq:TASR), a market leader in advanced electronic control devices, today announced that it received an order from the United States Forest Service for 700 TASER(r) X26 electronic control devices and related accessories. … We are proud that law enforcement within the Departments of Defense, Justice, Homeland Security, Interior, and Agriculture are now relying on TASER devices to protect life (sic). The order was placed with Aardvark Tactical, Inc. of Azusa, CA, TASER International's GSA distributor to the federal government.

Florida: Andrew Meyer Corporate Media Makes Light of Meyer Tasering 19.09.07. Adeblog. In the wake of the tasering of Andrew Meyer, the University of Florida student who asked Skull and Bones Kerry the wrong question, Emil Steiner, writing for the CIA’s favorite newspaper, the Washington Post, advises that “free speech is a good thing—up to a point.” Dial 9-11 for Police State 20.09.07. J. Joyner, outsidethebeltway. Washington Examiner columnist Melanie Scarborough believes the recent tasering incident at a John Kerry speech at the University of Florida, and particularly the students’ passive reaction to it, is a sign of something truly depressing. This year’s freshmen were 12-year-olds on Sept. 11, 2001, which means they have only a vague recollection of life in a free society. To them, it is normal to be stopped and searched before entering public facilities. They think nothing of police officers capriciously demanding that they produce identification. They have been trained not to question their government. … Like good little boys and girls, we put our toiletries in 6 ounce bottles in plastic bags of government specification to facilitate more easy searches and then, like sheep, we strip off our belts, take off our shoes, and empty our pockets while hoping that the TSA agents don’t single us out for extra special scrutiny. All the while, we dare not complain or make a joke. Yet, few seem to think any of that is problematic because, well, “Everything changed after 9-11.” Since 2001, the United States has undergone a subtle, but tragic, transformation from a nation where citizens were free to do as they wished as long as they broke no laws to one where they are free to do only what their government expressly permits. And unfortunately, one of the things the government most discourages is dissent. DON'T TASE ME, BRO 21.09.07. Independent Florida Alligator. Student newspaper containing stories by Jessica daSilva, Kim Wilmath and Editorial and VIDEO . Comment under video: Tasers are powerful weapons delivering extremely painful electric shocks. Amnesty International considers them inhumane and has said that they have been linked to more than 70 deaths in America. Taser Nation 21.09.07. J. Conaston, Salon.com. Defending Chris Matthews is not exactly a preoccupation of mine -- in fact, we've had our sharp disagreements from time to time -- but on Tuesday evening he spoke an important truth for which he is now under attack. Appalled by the Tasering of student Andrew Meyer during an appearance by Sen. John Kerry at the University of Florida, Matthews said on "Hardball" that he regards that incident as "an iconic moment" in the degradation of free speech during the Bush years. (Click to see Kerry response. ) UPDATE Probe Finds Taser Use on Student Was OK 25.10.07., AP. Some had questioned the use of force in using the stun gun against Andrew Meyer, leading to the investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. A summary of the agency's report was released Wednesday. [ I guess this same FDLE would agree with the US government policy on torture? ]

New Mexico

High School Club Ban Could Mean “Detention” for NM School
10.07. publicnewsservice. Students trying form a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club at Piedra Vista High School in Farmington were turned down after the school received complaints from some parents. However, the school may have to re-consider. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico has sent a letter to the school principal about the decision. The ACLU’s Whitney Potter says seven recent federal court cases in similar situations make it clear: schools must allow GSAs, as well as other, non-curricular clubs.

THIS ISN’T SATIRE Minnesota Archbishop Tutu barred by U. of St Thomas because of criticism of Israel muzzlewatch.

New Mexico

High School Club Ban Could Mean “Detention” for NM School
10.07. publicnewsservice. Students trying form a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club at Piedra Vista High School in Farmington were turned down after the school received complaints from some parents. However, the school may have to re-consider. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico has sent a letter to the school principal about the decision. The ACLU’s Whitney Potter says seven recent federal court cases in similar situations make it clear: schools must allow GSAs, as well as other, non-curricular clubs.


New York

The police state of our schools
24.09.07. donna Lieberman, ny.metro.us. This spring, 13-year-old Chelsea Fraser scribbled “okay” on her school desk. In another time or another city, she might have been sent to the principal’s office. Instead, she was arrested and held at a police precinct for more than three hours. And Biko Edwards, a junior at one of the city’s worst schools, stayed to speak to a teacher after class and ran off late to chemistry lab without a pass. A school official ignored his plea to go to class and when Biko kept going, a police officer grabbed Biko, threw him up against a brick wall, maced him and put him under arrest. Biko ended up in the emergency room — and spent over 28 hours in jail. Two Harlem teens were stopped by police who refused to believe that they were on their way to a Manhattan private school to take exams. The girls, the cops said, must instead be truants. They were held at a truancy center for two hours and missed their exam. Just as black and Latino men are routinely stopped by police without evidence of wrongdoing, youth — especially youth of color — are being unfairly and unlawfully treated. Since 1998, the NYPD has assumed complete control over school safety and installed a massive police presence.

Readers might also like to learn about Campus Watch . "According to the Campus Watch web site, "Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum, reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them. The project mainly addresses five problems: analytical failures, the mixing of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views, apologetics, and the abuse of power over students. Campus Watch fully respects the freedom of speech of those it debates while insisting on its own freedom to comment on their words and deeds." [1]

Further research on Campus Watch can be found here . Those who financially support Campus Watch can be read here . Pipes has recently been in conflict with New York’s Khalil Gibran International Academy , which was aired on aljazeera.net/English but probably not shown in America.


Tennessee

District police proposal bad for schools
27.09.07. M. Adair, mtsusidelines.com. Nashville is deciding whether or not to increase the police presence in local schools.


Texas

Texas officials yank youths from Geo facility
02.10.07. biz journals. The Texas Youth Commission said a recent unannounced audit raised questions about the safety of the youths at the Coke County Juvenile Justice Center in Bronte, Texas, and on Oct. 1 the organization determined "the facility was in an advanced state of disrepair, that programming and rehabilitation efforts were not being pursued, and the overall health and safety of the youth housed there were in jeopardy."

Texas High Schooler Kicked Out of School for Wearing John Edwards T-Shirt
03.10.07. Alternet. Pete Palmer, a sophomore, says he didn't think he was doing anything wrong wearing the political shirt to school.

The Religious Right's New Tactics for Invading Public Schools
04.10.07. Rob Boston , Church and State / Truthout. "In mid-August, Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed something called the 'Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act' into law. Although the new law has an innocuous-sounding title, it's really a ticking time-bomb, opponents say. … "This law is fundamentally at odds with the principle of religious freedom," said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network. "It will force public school students to participate in public events that promote religious views - through prayer or even proselytizing - that they and their families may not share or may even find deeply offensive. So rather than protecting religious freedom, this law represents a grave threat to it. … "Rather than providing schools with training and appropriate guidelines for protecting First Amendment freedoms," Miller said, "legislators decided to play politics with our children's faith. The law is of dubious constitutionality. (The law) promoted by a Religious Right group called the Liberty Legal Institute. Other school issues:
- Creationism/Intelligent Design
- Teaching "About" The Bible
- Religion-Themed Charter/Public Schools

NOOSES IN THE NEWS

Louisiana: JENA

TREE, JENA

Tipping the Scales of Justice in Jena
19.09.07. Amy Goodman, King Features Syndicate / Alternet.
The Jena Six face discrimination from the school, the law, and the town at large.

Louisiana Justice on Trial
21.09.07. J. Flaherty, Indypendent. “The highest crime in the Old Testament,” he declared, “is to withhold due process from poor people. To manipulate the criminal justice system to the advantage of the powerful, against the poor and the powerless.” (Alan Bean).

'Jena Six' bring back US civil rights
21.09.07. Telegraph. Black American leaders hailed the beginnings of a 21st century civil rights movement as tens of thousands of demonstrators descended on a tiny town in Louisiana to support six black teenagers arrested over the beating of a white classmate.

Why Civil Rights Leaders Didn't Get Mychal Bell Out of Jail
21.09.07. Earl Ofari Hutchinson, AlterNet. Mychal Bell, the most well-known of the Jena Six, has languished in jail since last December. So why didn't civil rights leaders, black celebrities, and marchers pony up the cash to get him out?

Judge Denies Request to Free Jena Teen
21.09.07. AP / legitgov. A judge on Friday denied a request to release a teenager [Mychal Bell] whose arrest in the beating of a white classmate sparked this week's civil rights protest in Louisiana.

Jena Ignites a Movement
21.09.07. Jordan Flaherty, Left Turn/Alternet.
On the ground at the Jena protest on Sept. 20, one got the sense that Jena could be the beginning of a larger movement for racial justice. [Also read comments]. There were
many Jena protests

Neo-Nazi Group Publishes Addresses and Phone Numbers of Jena Six Families
22.09.07. Pam Spaulding, Alternet. White supremacist William A. White is trying to stir up violence by posting addresses and phone numbers of the Jena 6 family on his website. He also listed some of the defendants telephone numbers.

White supremacist backlash builds over Jena case
24.09.07. H, Witt, chicagotribune / legitgov.org. No sooner did tens of thousands of African-American demonstrators depart the racially tense town of Jena, La., last week after protesting perceived injustices [Uh, nooses hanging on a 'Whites Only' tree?! NOT 'perceived' injustices - *actual* injustices!] than white supremacists flooded in behind them... "There is a major white supremacist backlash building," said Mark Potok, a hate-group expert at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group in Montgomery, Ala. [The Second Amendment can and should take care of white supremacists, Nazis, KKKers and - while we're at it - the terrorists who allow them to flourish] Video.


No Way, Baby
26.09.07. commonsense. This week is the 50th anniversary of a seminal American event --- the desegregation of Central High in Little Rock Arkansas. It's a different world. (Link with “Vanity Fair about Little Rock). But not different enough. … It's hard to imagine, isn't it? But it's even more hard to believe that the echoes of this exact behavior are still heard -- loudly -- down in Jena, Louisiana today where they didn't scream "lynch her" or "send that nigger back to the jungle" -- they just hung symbolic nooses under the "white tree" where African Americans aren't allowed to sit and posted the addresses of black students on web sites, calling for their followers to "lynch the Jena 6". And once again, as those who have followed the story know, the authorities are complicit at best and active perpetrators at worst.

Jena Six Defendant Mychal Bell Released on Bail
27.09.07. AP. ‘a black teenager whose prosecution in the beating of a white classmate prompted a massive civil rights protest here walked out of a courthouse Thursday after a judge ordered him freed. Mychal Bell's release on $45,000 bail came hours after a prosecutor confirmed he would no longer seek an adult trial for the 17-year-old. Bell, one of the teenagers known as the Jena Six, still faces trial as a juvenile in the December beating in this small central Louisiana town.’

"Jena 6" Protest at Justice Dept.
03.10.07. AP. About 80 protesters chanting "No justice, no peace" gathered outside the Justice Department on Tuesday to demand that federal authorities aggressively investigate the racially charged "Jena 6" case.

North Carolina

Chicago Tribune roundup of racial cases
30.09.07. What local officials are calling an isolated event that led to charges against a high school student in Gurnee is apparently the latest in a series of incidents across the country causing heightened concern in the racially explosive aftermath of the Jena 6 case in Louisiana. In North Carolina last week, four nooses were found dangling from trees and a flagpole at a North Carolina high school, a local newspaper reported. On their own, the incidents might not have garnered much attention. But against the backdrop of the Jena 6 case in Louisiana, where nooses found hanging from a tree set off a chain of events that polarized the town, local officials and experts say similar occurrences -- even if they might be unrelated -- can be especially troubling.


New York

School stages mock lynching with little kids; Noose found in police locker room
01.10.07. Newsday. On Long Island, .. someone put a hangman's noose in the locker room of the Hempstead Police Department after a black cop was named deputy chief.

Meanwhile, teachers at an elementary school on the campus of Grambling State University, a historically black college, are under fire for a lesson on racism that included a mock lynching of at least one student, according to The News Star. The Gramblinite, a student newspaper, posted a story and photos of the incident last week. School officials later ordered the paper to remove these items from its website, according to The News Star.

White Supremacists Urge Followers to Hang Nooses in Their Communities
01.10.07. Alternet. In a disturbing trend since the incident that sparked the Jena Six case, noose incidents are popping up all over the country.

WARNING: International: Fingerprint Database for Children

EU states will be free to fingerprint children from day one of their life as soon as it is technologically possible

EU:Fingerprinting of children - the debate goes on

[ There is no debate. This fascist future for a child must N O T be allowed to happen. ]

Children’s Health Care Insurance Bill

Bush Says He'll Veto Congress's Plan for Children's Health Care
22.09.07. Bloomberg. Bush dismissed an agreement reached yesterday by congressional leaders to expand the government's children's health insurance program and said he will veto the measure.

House OKs Child Health Insurance Bill
25.09.07. CBS /legitgov.org. Measure Would Expand Insurance For Children But President Bush Promises Veto. The House voted Tuesday to expand health insurance for children, but the Democratic-led victory may prove short-lived because the margin was too small to override President [sic] Bush's promised veto.

Ask The White House about SCHIP!
27.09.07. commonsense.

States sue Bush administration over children's health insurance
01.10.07. AP. Several states said Monday they would challenge the Bush administration in federal court over its new rules that block the expansion of a health insurance program for children from low-income families. Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Washington are joining in the litigation, either as plaintiffs or by filing supporting briefs.

Governor Eliot Spitzer | Why I'm Suing the Bush Administration
02.10.07. Eliot Spizter, Huffington Post / Truthout.: "after months of negotiation and countless attempts at compromise, the Bush administration is still refusing to let New York and other states across the country expand their State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP). The president is refusing to back down from destructive new rules his Administration has imposed - the sole purpose of which are to curb bi-partisan state efforts to insure more of our nation's children. The reason? As the president himself put it: 'I mean, people have access to health care in America. They can just go to the emergency room.'"

Bush vetoes child health insurance plan
03.10.07. businessweek / ICH. President Bush, in a sharp confrontation with Congress, on Wednesday vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have dramatically expanded children's health insurance.

This Veto Will Not Be Quiet
03.10.07. B. Scherr, commonsense.ourfuture. This morning, President Bush stood for bad government, insurance companies and cheaper tobacco and vetoed expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program to cover 10 million kids. In the words of the White House, the plan was to "veto it quietly," so not to draw attention to such an unpopular act. The latest poll from ABC and the Washington Post says 72% of Americans support expanding kids' health insurance by increasing tobacco taxes. Republican voters support expansion nearly as much as Democratic voters. The House members whom Bush is counting on to sustain his veto do not want to do it under a white hot spotlight. Too bad. This veto will not be quiet.

AmateurBall
03.10.07. B. Scherr, commonsense.ourfuture.org. Perhaps the only thing going for conservatives in the SCHIP debate is complete journalistic incompetence from the Washington media.

Can't make this stuff up
04.10.07. R. Perlstein, commonsense.ourfuture. …

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Monday, October 1, 2007, as Child Health Day. I call upon families, schools, child health professionals, faith-based and community organizations, and State and local governments to reach out to our Nation's young people, encourage them to avoid dangerous behavior, and help them make the right choices and achieve their dreams.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-second.

GEORGE W. BUSH

“No, you can't make this stuff up.”

UPDATE

Repress U
28.01.08. MICHAEL GOULD-WARTOFSKY, The Nation. From Harvard to UCLA, the ivory tower is fast becoming the latest watchtower in Fortress America. The terror warriors, having turned their attention to "violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism prevention"--as it was recently dubbed in a House of Representatives bill of the same name--have set out to reconquer that traditional hotbed of radicalization, the university.

Building a homeland security campus and bringing the university to heel is a seven-step mission: 1. Target dissidents. 2. Lock and load. 3. Keep an eye (or hundreds of them) focused on campus.4. Mine student records. 5. Track foreign-born students; keep the undocumented out. 6. Take over the curriculum, the classroom and the laboratory.7. Privatize, privatize, privatize.

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Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in the UK. She is a member of the BRussels Tribunal

Other Index articles on the plight of present America;

Totalitarianism and Obedience

U.S. Martial Law Timeline

SOS: The United States of Terror

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The url to The U.S. War on Children is: http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/10/us-war-on-children.html
smaller url is: http://tinyurl.com/2ssrtf

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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Tags: Index Research, news and politics, United States, Bush veto child health insurance, Campus Watch, detention, taser, racism