DRAFT TO DETER WAR
"Thirteen House Democrats ? all of whom voted last October against authorizing President Bush to use force against Iraq ? have introduced legislation to begin drafting people ages 18 to 26 into the military or alternative non-military service.

"The bill?s chief sponsor, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said last month he thought the additional personnel might be needed because ?the Bush administration?s apparent determination to invade Iraq could thrust us into all-out war, perhaps a religious war, in the Middle East. I do not share Defense Secretary Rumsfeld?s certainty that the U.S. has the capacity to defeat Iraq and North Korea in quick succession.?

"Rangel also argued that by drafting the children of the policy-making elite, Congress would deter U.S. military action. ?Decision-makers who support war would more readily feel the pain of conflict and appreciate the sacrifice of those on the front lines if their children were there, too,? he said. "
       
Will new US missions require a draft?

Sen. Robert Byrd | We Stand Passively Mute . Read what a responsible representative has to say. If we had a Congress full of Byrds, Americans would still live in a country we recognize. Let's elect better human beings to Congress next time.

Art on the streets of Sao Paulo

Unpopular? You Might Be a Nerd

Do you hate school so much you want to kill yourself (and others)?

If so, you may be a nerd. As a fellow nerd, I was comforted to read this article. I only wish I'd read it when I was in Junior Hell.

It makes a good case that school is like prison (which brings out the insanity in everyone) because young people are not allowed to do anything that matters. Here are some highlights:

"This type of society debases anyone who enters it. There is neither admiration at the bottom, nor noblesse oblige at the top. It's kill or be killed.

"This is the sort of society that gets created by default in American secondary schools. And it happens because these schools have no real purpose beyond keeping the kids all in one place for a certain number of hours each day. What I didn't realize at the time, and in fact didn't realize till very recently, is that the twin horrors of school life, the cruelty and the boredom, both have the same cause.
[...]
"Nerds still in school should not hold their breaths. Maybe one day a heavily armed force of adults will show up in helicopters to rescue you, but they probably won't be coming this month. Any immediate improvement in nerds' lives is probably going to have to come from the nerds themselves.

"Merely understanding the situation they're in should make it less painful. Nerds aren't losers. They're just playing a different game, and a game much closer to the one played in the real world. Adults know this. It's hard to find successful adults now who don't claim to have been nerds in high school.

"It's important for nerds to realize, too, that school is not life. School is a strange, artificial thing, half sterile and half feral. It's all-encompassing, like life, but it isn't the real thing. It's only temporary, and if you look you can see beyond it even while you're still in it.

"If life seems awful to kids, it's neither because hormones are turning you all into monsters (as your parents believe), nor because life actually is awful (as you believe). It's because the adults, who no longer have any economic use for you, have abandoned you to spend years cooped up together with nothing real to do. Any society of that type is awful to live in. Occam's razor says you don't have to look any further to explain why teenage kids are unhappy."

Under the radar
A recent plane crash in Colombia is a perfect excuse for sending more troops in the doomed drug (civil) war there, which goes on despite logic, better plans, and obvious failure. Will Colombia Become The New Vietnam?

Weapons of Mass Destruction: Not Found

AlterNet: Kurt Vonnegut Vs. the !*!@

AlterNet: Duct Tape and Cover?

www.anti-war.us

Dangerous Futures from KurzweilAI.net

Splay / BLAZER SUEDE / FUTURA 2000 ∧ NIKE

Tagger Trap - The sound-sensor story you heard on CNN and everyone sent you in email. NPR said it hasn't been built yet, but not all stories would lead you to believe that. Sounds like a bold PR move to fund vaporware by first blowing it full of hot air. Still, it's fun to think of interesting ways for it to fail.

UNCONSUME - THE SUBTLE REINTRODUCTION OF GRAFFITI, PERFORMANCE BY DAUSONE

SKILLS FROM DA OUTSIDAZ has been deported for some BS
and needs to be back in Philadelphia with his family. He asks you to sign his petition.

Peace

Saturday 15 February
LONDON, UK
PEACE LOVERS' BALL
Underground squat party for 5000 + all night after
demo venue will be kept secret till 9 .00PM
ring after this time 0207 644 5170 or 07971 273 481
to get location details
(news thanks to pornografux, which is all about love at the moment)


Struggle

idleworm: games - gulf war 2

Source of Pentagon Papers Critiques Iraq Coverage

A taste: "What specific questions are not being asked or not asked often enough by the press?

One question the press is not asking: Is there a single high military man who believes this war should happen now, that it is appropriate and [the] risks worthwhile? Every indication leaking out is that most feel that it is far from certain, even unlikely, that the war will be as short and successful as the civilian bosses say. What are we gaining here that is worth the chance of a disastrous outcome? The military chiefs do not agree with civilians in the Pentagon as far as we can tell. And does anyone in State or the CIA strongly favor war?

Another question not asked is: What do we do if Saddam launches chemical weapons, nerve gas, etc., against invading U.S. troops? Based on my years of experience within government and familiarity with such scenarios, let me say I am certain we have contingency plans for use of nuclear weapons in response to a successful use of gas against our troops. I would say there's a significant chance that we will respond by initiating nuclear war.

So you should press officials hard. Ask: "Under what conditions would you use nuclear weapons? Are there plans? Have targets been picked?" Ask: "Are there nuclear weapons in that region right now?"

There must be a public discussion of how serious we are in possibly using nuclear [weapons]. But officials don't want to do that fearing it will scare the public and our allies who may think they are out of their minds. In fact, they are smart guys -- who are out of their minds."

MotherJones.com
the change is forever


Graffiti

World Signs Magazine
Post graffiti, and the 2nd issue features : Wilfried Hou Je bek (NL), Oxo Ovo (Australia),
The art of Urban warfare (Worldwide), Getting Up (Germany), Uraban Art Official (UK),
Seak (Germany), Hobo Art (Canada), Erosie (Nl), Miss Van (Fr) and many more...

graffiti lighter 3 pack at the end of MARCH.
see it now at http://www.dsensenyc.com

4th Third-Eye Open , New Bedford Mass: get involved (all elements of hiphop and Bball too)
508.984.8377 or peacefirst@hotmail.com
They have a great DVD out now of last year's event with lots of bboy action.


Art

New interfaces in Musical Expression will be in Montreal this year.
Check it out at http://www.nime.org

ASCII art

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                 ___|_____|:(_==.|___________

             .-'"  |                     |   '"-.____________________.---.

             |     |  =*=           ._   |      |____________________|(( |

             |     |               ///   |      |                    '---'

    .--------*-----*---------------""----*------*-------._

  .'  _    U.S. ARMY        |--|                          "-.

  |  |X|                    |--|                             '.

  |   "                     |--|                              |

 '._________________________________________________________.'

    |  / /   .''.   \                    /    .-.   \ \

    | | |   /    \   | .---------'''-------..____    | |

      | |   \    /   |/_____________________|    |__ | |

       \ \   `..'   //  _________________   '----'  / /

        `. ` .  . ' /__| (_) (_) (_) (_) |_________/.'

           `-.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.-'  LGB / GRP

Doris Mitsch: New Work
January 30 - March 29, 2003

250 West 27th Street, Loft 1C
New York City 10001
Call or email first and make an appointment to see it or check it out online at the link above.
info@clampart.com
646.230.0020


Other finds

Your computer, your enemy: now push porn and back doors
American Apparel Sweatshop Free T-Shirts Wholesale
Indian History

Check out this UPI article detailing how CIA veterans are warning President Bush against attacks on Iraq.