No Child Left Unrecruited

This morning I spoke with Emily, my 16-year-old daughter who lives in Maryland. She told me this story:

A man came in to the fast food restaurant where she works and ordered his meal. He initiated a conversation with Emily and found out that she wants to be a cosmetologist. Telling her about his “wife’s business” in cosmetics he told Emily that he might be able to get her a job with his wife, so he got Emily to give him her phone number.
Ever since then, she has been called daily by this man, identifying himself as a recruiter from the Army recruiting office in her area. She does not answer her phone, instead allowing the recruiter to leave her his message.

Needless to say, my jaw dropped to the floor as she told me this. I have effectively instilled in my children the merits of becoming conscientious objectors and the alternatives to war to promote peace and justice. This includes educating them on the deceptive tactics that military recruiters use to get young people to enlist.

Emily has been instructed to write down the number the next time this person calls and to forward it to me.

The recruiter will be very sorry he is calling her when he hears from me.

Rising Fuel Costs

The Deseret News has started a series of articles examining the rising cost of heating bills and the impact it will have on Utahns. The D-News will follow individuals and their families throughout the winter to learn how they cope with the rising heating costs.
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Robert Redford’s Accomplishments

Robert Redford, creator of the annual Sundance Institute in Utah (which was created to support independent film), will receiving an award tonight at the 28th annual Kennedy Center Honors, an award given to people who have amassed a life of achievement in the arts.
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Today in history

(Sources: Peace Buttons and War Resisters League Calendar)

December 4

1916
Five members of a Woman’s Suffragist group unroll a banner from the visitor’s gallery during President Wilson’s address to Congress, asking, “Mr. President, What will you do for woman suffrage?”

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The Poor in Utah

Each year the Green Party of Utah participates in the Utah Issues Annual Conference in Salt Lake. This organization’s mission is line with the key value of Social Justice. Utah Issues, a Center for Poverty Research and Action, is a statewide nonprofit organization whose mission is to develop long-term, systemic and sustainable solutions and approaches to the problems of poverty in Utah. This is its 30th year of existence.
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Provding Electricity for California: A Dirty Deal for Utah

In exchange for providing 20% of California’s electricity Utah gets more pollution, according to an article in today’s Salt Lake Tribune.

I pass the Intermountain Power Project Plant when I go camping in the Thomas Range of Utah’s West Desert. You can see the plumes of steam from miles away. It is one of four plants that provides California’s electricity.
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Today in history

(Sources: Peace Buttons and War Resisters League Calendar)

December 3
Viola Liuzzo and Bhopal Union Carbide plant leak.
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Salt Lake’s events – Rosa Parks Day and World Aids Day

Members of the NAACP took a bus rideon a 1953 bus in downtown Salt Lake in honor of the 50th anniversary of the day that Rosa Parks refused to give her seat on a bus to a white man.

I found an article in the Salt Lake Tribune about a “leadership breakfast” held yesterday in recognition of
World Aids Day. While the cause is noble, I find it odd that a fancy breakfast in a fancy corporate hotel was held. I cannot help but think that a low-cost event would have been just as effective and the money that would normally be spent on a swank affair could be donated to the Utah Aids Foundation. Perhaps the cost of the event was absorbed in some other way, the article did not say.

At any rate,the article stated that in Utah, the HIV numbers have tripled since 2001, from 36 that year to 102 projected for 2005, a startling figure. Yes, more resources are needed to address this issue.

Also today in history….

…I gave birth to my beautiful daughter, Emily, 16 years ago. Out of my three wonderful children, Emily is the “baby”.

Happy birthday, Em.

December Peace History

(Sources: Peace Buttons and War Resisters League Calendar)