Military free zone campaign by congressmen opt your child out

A coalition of musicians and activists, along with Congressman McDermott (WA), Congressman Stark (CA), and Congresswoman Woolsey (CA) joined forces last week to launch the "Military Free Zone." A campaign aimed to put an end to a section of the No Child Left Behind Act that allows military recruiters access to student's private information for the purpose of armed service recruitment, unless parents formally "opt-out" in writing.

"Under the No Child Left Behind Act, if you attend a public high school, your school system is required to turn over YOUR private information to the US military unless you OPT OUT! Sec 9528 of The No Child Left Behind Act gives you the right to OPT OUT! by turning in a form signed by your guardian or parent stating that you do not want the military to have access to your private information."
If our military is truly volunteer based, this type of section should be brought to light for all students and parents before that fact—not after. To learn more about this campaign and how you can protect your private information, visit: www.militaryfreezone.org.

—Noreen Nielsen

http://blogforamerica.com/

Representatives McDermott, Stark and Woolsey joined members of the punk rock band "Anti Flag" highlighting the groups launch of a nationwide petition drive to the fix the "No Child Left Behind Act."
http://www.house.gov/mcdermott/

Hooray and thank you to them all.

before they started calling my son.

I came home from work one night, and my son said some guy called to talk about career planning and college money. I figured it was some bozo ignoring the fact that I'm on the no-sales-call list and trying to sell me some crap. WRONG!

The next time he called for my son, I had the opportunity to play Who are you? Where are you calling from? Why are you calling? Why do you want to speak to my son? After much wrangling, it turned out he was a Navy recruiter. I reminded him that good telephone manners dictate that he should properly identify himself. I informed him that I already had college costs covered (not a lie - we have prepaid tuition plan), and my son had plans to complete his education immediately after high school. I also let him know that although I'm a military brat, that I have become a pacifist and I'm raising pacifist children who, like me, refer to Iraq war as "the illegal and immoral war started by the idiot in the White House over control of oil".

If we can't be up-front about who we are and why we're calling, maybe there's something wrong with our message!

be upfront about ID'ing himself. Pretty sure he wasn't following the rules.