Christine Legere, Boston Globe

Members of Citizens for an Informed Community are asking Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School to let them attend the annual career day as a counter to military recruiters. (Robert E. Klein, for the Boston Globe)

At Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School, back-to-school preparations include a debate over whether antiwar activists will be allowed at the school's annual career day, just as military recruiters are.

The effort is led by a Bridgewater-based group called Citizens for an Informed Community. Spokesman Vernon Domingo, a Bridgewater resident and Bridgewater State College geography professor, said the group simply wants to promote thought-provoking discussion.

"We're local, we live here and work here, and we support this country," said Domingo. "We're patriotic in the sense that we want this country to be as good as it can be."

More...

Part of the UnConvention

Related:

The UnConvention

The UnConvention is a non-partisan collective of citizens who have come together to create a forum in which to promote the democratic and free exchange of ideas on important issues. It exists as a counterpoint to the highly scripted and predetermined nature of the contemporary presidential nomination process and convention.

More...

A parallel conference in St. Paul during the Republican National Convention

Peace Island will convene as a solutions driven conference at Concordia University in St. Paul to promote and celebrate peace, justice, harmony, nonviolence and care of the earth.

Nationally known speakers have been invited to participate in panels and discussions relating to their field of expertise.

The conference will run two days, September 2 and 3, with three plenary sessions each day. The plenary will be followed by four breakout sessions where all attendees will contribute to the discussion and the solutions.

Entertainment, films, and other discussions and presentations will be offered in between the sessions. And, a large gathering/break room "The Commons" will be available with organization information tables.

To learn more and to register...

The lies of Hiroshima live on, props in the war crimes of the 20th century

The 1945 attack was murder on an epic scale. In its victims' names, we must not allow a nuclear repeat in the Middle East

John Pilager, The Guardian | UK

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Ken Mitchell

When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression of a human being at ease: legs splayed, back bent, one hand by her side as she sat waiting for a bank to open. At a quarter past eight on the morning of August 6, 1945, she and her silhouette were burned into the granite. I stared at the shadow for an hour or more, then walked down to the river and met a man called Yukio, whose chest was still etched with the pattern of the shirt he was wearing when the atomic bomb was dropped.

He and his family still lived in a shack thrown up in the dust of an atomic desert. He described a huge flash over the city, "a bluish light, something like an electrical short", after which wind blew like a tornado and black rain fell. "I was thrown on the ground and noticed only the stalks of my flowers were left. Everything was still and quiet, and when I got up, there were people naked, not saying anything. Some of them had no skin or hair. I was certain I was dead." Nine years later, when I returned to look for him, he was dead from leukaemia.

More...

Teen Who Signed Non-Binding Contract Told He'd Be Jailed If He Didn't Join Army

CBS News

From NASCAR to bull riding, Army recruiters are pulling out all the stops and have had remarkable success meeting their quotas despite two wars. But one recruiter was caught in a tape-recorded phone call doing it with threats, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.

As CBS affiliate KHOU in Houston first reported, Irving Gonzalez signed a non-binding contract that left him free to change his mind about joining the Army up to the moment he reported for basic training - which is exactly what he did.

"I'd rather just stay here," he said. "Go to college."

But listen to what his recruiter, Sgt. Glenn Marquette, told him would happen.

More...

Still more...