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Peace and War

Tuesday, 23 April 2024

California Senate puts Selective Service bill "in suspense"

After hearings on its policy and fiscal implications, the California Senate has deferred action on a bill to automatically register draft-age applicants for driver's licenses and state IDs with the Selective Service System for a possible future military draft, by placing the bill on the Senate Appropriations Committee "suspense file".... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 23 April 2024, 12:12 (12:12 PM) | Comments (2)

Saturday, 9 March 2024

Selective Service bill set for hearing in Sacramento April 9th

Policy analysis in opposition to California SB-1081 Fiscal analysis in opposition to California SB-1081 More about state laws on on Selective Service registration and drivers' licenses A bill to automatically register draft-age applicants for California driver's licenses with the Selective Service System (SSS) has been set for its first hearing... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 9 March 2024, 13:02 ( 1:02 PM) | Comments (4)

Tuesday, 13 February 2024

California bill would require draft registration for driver's licenses

A bill to require applicants for California driver's licenses ages 16 through 25 to consent to registration with the Selective Service System for a possible military draft, SB-1081, has been introduced again in the California legislature. [Update: The first hearing on this bill is scheduled for Tuesday, 9 April 2024.... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 13 February 2024, 08:35 ( 8:35 AM) | Comments (3)

Saturday, 23 December 2023

Annual "defense" bill leaves Selective Service in limbo

On Friday, 22 December 2023, President Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the Federal government's 2024 fiscal year into law. The signing of the annual NDAA has often been an occasion for pomp and publicity, but this year it was done with no public ceremony and the... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 23 December 2023, 17:31 ( 5:31 PM) | Comments (3)

Monday, 5 June 2023

Marguerite Helen Velte Hasbrouck (1933 - 2023)

[Marguerite at Silver Bay on Lake George] My mother, Marguerite Helen Velte Hasbrouck -- some knew her as Marguerite Helen, others as Mugs, others as Mimi -- died early Sunday morning, 4 June 2023, at the nursing home across the street from Newton-Wellesley Hospital where she had been in... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 5 June 2023, 10:15 (10:15 AM) | Comments (8)

Wednesday, 8 February 2023

In memory and in honor of David Harris

[David Harris speaks to around 20,000 people at the East Coast mobilization against the draft and draft registration on the steps of the U.S. Capital, Washington, DC, 22 March 1980. Photo from Resistance News. David Harris also participated in a resistance workshop the following day with some of the... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 8 February 2023, 15:18 ( 3:18 PM) | Comments (5)

Wednesday, 7 December 2022

Congress again backs away from expansion of draft registration

For the third time in the last six years, proposals to expand the current Selective Service registration requirement to include young women as well as young men were included in versions of this year's annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023, but were removed in back-room House-Senate... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 7 December 2022, 13:44 ( 1:44 PM) | Comments (1)

Sunday, 10 July 2022

Congress is again considering proposals to end, or to expand, Selective Service

Once again in 2022, sooner than we expected, Congress is considering proposals either to finally end the widely disregarded, unenforced, and unenforceable requirement for men ages 18-26 to register and report changes of address to the Selective Service System for use in a future military draft -- or to try... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 10 July 2022, 19:50 ( 7:50 PM) | Comments (2)

Wednesday, 23 February 2022

The Amazing Race 33, Episode 8

Thessaloniki, Macedonia (Greece) [Skateboarders at the base of the White Tower in Thessaloniki, which was the finish line of this leg of The Amazing Race 33.] I watched this episode of The Amazing Race 33 with my stepfather, whose Greek-speaking and Greek-identified parents came to the USA as refugees from... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 23 February 2022, 23:59 (11:59 PM) | Comments (1)

Monday, 27 December 2021

Congress punts decision on draft registration into 2022 or 2023

Congress has once again deferred making a decision as to whether to finally end draft registration or to expand it to include young women as well as young men. What happened with Selective Service and the Fiscal Year 2022 NDAA? The final version of this year's this year's annual National... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 27 December 2021, 09:25 ( 9:25 AM) | Comments (2)

Sunday, 14 November 2021

U.S. Senate prepares to expand Selective Service to women as well as men

After months of delay, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced today that the Senate is "likely" to vote this week on an annual defense [sic] bill which includes a provision -- already approved by the House of Representatives in its version of the bill -- to extend the President's authority... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 14 November 2021, 14:49 ( 2:49 PM) | Comments (3)

Friday, 17 September 2021

House votes this week on Selective Service

Key votes in the U.S. House of Representatives on proposals to repeal (unlikely), expand to women (most likely), or eliminate some of the penalties for violations of the Military Selective Service Act will take place the week of 20 September 2021 as part of the debate on this year's annual... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 17 September 2021, 15:08 ( 3:08 PM) | Comments (1)

Thursday, 2 September 2021

Youth Liberation and Military Conscription

My article on Youth Liberation and Military Conscription is now online in the Summer 2021 issue of the Peace Chronicle, the magazine of the Peace and Justice Studies Association. According to the editor's introduction to this themed issue on "Youth": Edward Hasbrouck offers up thoughtful views on youth and liberation... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 2 September 2021, 09:05 ( 9:05 AM) | Comments (1)

Wednesday, 1 September 2021

House and Senate Armed Services Committees vote to make women register for the draft

Today the House Armed Services Committee joined the Senate Armed Services Committee in voting 35-24 to expand registration for a possible military draft to include young women as well as young men. Following today's House committee vote and an earlier Senate committee vote in July (before Congress's summer vacation), the... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 1 September 2021, 20:31 ( 8:31 PM) | Comments (4)

Saturday, 26 June 2021

Letters to the Boston Globe: "Let's run Selective Service up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes"

[Edward Hasbrouck outside the Federal courthouse in Post Office Square, Boston, before his sentencing for refusal to register with the Selective Service System, 14 January 1983. I'm holding a copy of the statement from the anonymous Abolitionists who had locked the courthouse doors the night before. Photo by Tom... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 26 June 2021, 05:47 ( 5:47 AM) | Comments (0)

Friday, 11 June 2021

Draft registration requirement for Federal student aid to be ended soon

The requirement for men age 18 and older to have registered with the Selective Service System for a possible military draft in order to be eligible for Federal student aid including Federally-guaranteed private student loans will be phased out over the next two months, according to an official letter to... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 11 June 2021, 13:00 ( 1:00 PM) | Comments (0)

Monday, 7 June 2021

Supreme Court won't review Constitutionality of current male-only draft registration requirement

The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it has denied the petition for certiorari in the case of National Coalition For Men v. Selective Service System. The Supreme Court's action today leaves in effect the decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissing the complaint and the District Court... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 7 June 2021, 08:27 ( 8:27 AM) | Comments (3)

Monday, 22 February 2021

Why I'm suing the National Archives

Last night my attorney Kel McClanahan, Executive Director of the nonprofit National Security Counselors law firm, assisted by NSC intern Brendan Stautberg, filed a complaint on my behalf in Federal District Court in Washington against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), seeking a "declaratory judgment" that NARA is required... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 22 February 2021, 09:32 ( 9:32 AM) | Comments (0)

Friday, 8 January 2021

Supreme Court asked to review Constitutionality of current male-only draft registration requirement

Today the National Coalition For Men, a men's rights organization represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Constitutionality -- now that women are allowed in all military combat assignments -- of the law which requires men but not women to register... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 8 January 2021, 11:06 (11:06 AM) | Comments (8)

Tuesday, 29 December 2020

"Solomon Amendment" linking student aid to draft registration repealed

Applicants for Federal financial aid for higher education will no longer be required to have registered with the Selective Service System for a possible military draft or answer questions about their Selective Service registration status or compliance. Among the provisions included in the 2000+ page coronavirus pandemic relief and... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 29 December 2020, 14:41 ( 2:41 PM) | Comments (3)

Tuesday, 3 November 2020

Voting from prison (a story from 1984)

As a result of changes in the law in Florida in 2018 and more recently in the District of Columbia, many prisoners and former prisoners who wouldn't have been allowed to vote in previous elections are able to vote today for the first time since their conviction or incarceration. Like... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 3 November 2020, 08:41 ( 8:41 AM) | Comments (0)

Wednesday, 21 October 2020

The Amazing Race 32, Episode 2

Tobago (Trinidad & Tobago) - Bogotá (Colombia) - Nemocón (Colombia) - Bogotá (Colombia) Are you watching The Amazing Race 32 to look back at the way travel used to be in the time B.C. ("Before Coronavirus")? Or are you looking forward to the ways travel around the world will be... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 21 October 2020, 23:59 (11:59 PM) | Comments (0)

Monday, 19 October 2020

How the Chicago 8 ("Chicago 7") might have been the Chicago 9

There's a footnote to the trial of the Chicago 8 (popularly but wrongly known as the "Chicago 7") -- featured for the fourth time in yet another cinematic adaptation that premiered this past weekend on Netflix -- that few people know, and maybe nobody other than me knows: The eight... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 19 October 2020, 16:56 ( 4:56 PM) | Comments (1)

Wednesday, 30 September 2020

Susan E. Davis: Writer, Editor, Activist, Comrade

[Book Division Co-Chairs Susan E. Davis and Edward Hasbrouck at the 2012 NWU National Executive Board meeting, New York City. Photo by NWUsletter editor Sue Katz.] Susan E. Davis, a leader for many decades in the National Writers Union (including as Co-Chair with me of the Book Division of... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 30 September 2020, 10:14 (10:14 AM) | Comments (0)

Thursday, 13 August 2020

Court of Appeals overturns ruling that male-only draft registration requirement is unconstitutional

Today a 3-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued a decision overturning an earlier ruling by a U.S. District Court in Houston that the current Federal law requiring men but not women to register with the Selective Service System for a possible military draft... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 13 August 2020, 08:35 ( 8:35 AM) | Comments (3)

Friday, 26 June 2020

Open letter to the President and Provost of the U. of Chicago

Dear President Zimmer and Provost Ka: Although I've been featured in a profile in the Maroon (Generation X': A Brief History of Dropouts and Transfer Students at the University of Chicago, by Hannah Edgar, October 27, 2016), I've never before been moved to respond to a message from the President... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 26 June 2020, 15:46 ( 3:46 PM) | Comments (1)

Friday, 5 June 2020

End "qualified immunity" for police (and the TSA)

["Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." (Lauderdale County Courthouse, Meridian, MS)] In early March, shortly before returning home to San Francisco where I've been "sheltering in place", I took a week-long road trip along portions of the Civil Rights Trail from New Orleans through Alabama and... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 5 June 2020, 14:02 ( 2:02 PM) | Comments (2)

Tuesday, 24 March 2020

National Commission recommends extending draft registration to women

Today the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service (NCMNPS), after a three-year charade of stage-managed and largely one-sided public events paralleled by closed-door meetings and negotiations among the members of the Commission, released its final report, recommending that Congress amend the Military Selective Service Act to require that... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 24 March 2020, 23:09 (11:09 PM) | Comments (3)

Thursday, 5 March 2020

Appeals Court hears arguments on the Constitutionality of draft registration

I was in the moot court room at Tulane Law School in New Orleans this Tuesday morning, March 3rd -- not for a moot court competition, but for for-real arguments before a 3-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on the government's challenge to a U.S. District Court... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 5 March 2020, 18:46 ( 6:46 PM) | Comments (3)

Thursday, 16 January 2020

Should we be worried about a possible military draft?

Earlier this month, sabre-rattling and threats of further escalation of the war between the US and Iran led to widespread fear that the reinstatement of military conscription might be imminent. Those fears were reinforced by a wave of fake induction notices sent by text messaging to potential draftees' cellphones. Are... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 16 January 2020, 07:04 ( 7:04 AM) | Comments (2)

Friday, 20 December 2019

Bill introduced to end draft registration

Yesterday, just before Congress recessed until the new year, U.S. Representatives Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Rodney Davis (R-IL) introduced H.R. 5492, a bill "To repeal the Military Selective Service Act, and thereby terminate the registration requirements of such Act and eliminate ... the Selective Service System." This bill is the... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 20 December 2019, 05:28 ( 5:28 AM) | Comments (10)

Tuesday, 19 November 2019

Last Call for Public Comments to End Draft Registration!

It's Time to End Draft Registration Once and For ALL! The National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service is at work right now to determine the fate of Selective Service registration for a military draft, and they need to hear from you! Congress established the National Commission on Military,... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 19 November 2019, 10:47 (10:47 AM) | Comments (0)

Anti-war activists meet with members of the National Commission on Military Service

On Wednesday, 13 November 2019, I was one of six representatives of anti-war and anti-draft organizations who were invited to participate in an hour-long conference call with three of the eleven members of the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service (NCMNPS). The NCMNPS was created almost three years... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 19 November 2019, 09:17 ( 9:17 AM) | Comments (0)

Sunday, 28 April 2019

Former Director of Selective Service says it's time to end draft registration

[Dr. Bernard Rostker, Director of the Selective Service System from 1979-1981, testifies before the NCMNPS on Wednesday, 24 April 2019. Video clip, full video, transcript, written testimony.] In what could, and perhaps should, be the beginning of the end for draft registration, the former director of the Selective Service... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 28 April 2019, 09:43 ( 9:43 AM) | Comments (5)

Thursday, 25 April 2019

My testimony to the National Commission on Military Service

C-SPAN video (full hearing and clips of my opening statement and answers to questions) My written statement Official transcript Former Director of Selective Service says it's time to end draft registration NPR News: Selective Service registration comes under fire again I've been invited to testify as part of a... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 25 April 2019, 06:00 ( 6:00 AM) | Comments (3)

Sunday, 24 February 2019

Federal court declares current military draft registration requirement unconstitutional

A Federal District Court judge issued a declaratory judgment on Friday, 22 February 2019, that the current requirement for men, but not women, to register with the Selective Service System for a possible military draft is unconstitutional. How did this happen? What did the Court say? Is this a surprise?... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 24 February 2019, 05:16 ( 5:16 AM) | Comments (21)

Saturday, 2 February 2019

"A modern-day draft, if marketed carefully and cleverly,..."

"A modern-day draft, if marketed carefully and cleverly, could foster patriotism via the investment of every family in the nation. A greater involvement of the population to include National (nonmilitary) Service could reach every social demographic within the U.S." The comments above were included in the recommendations from the Selective... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 2 February 2019, 10:11 (10:11 AM) | Comments (5)

Wednesday, 23 January 2019

Interim Report of the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service

[Members of the NCMNPS at the event yesterday launching the interim report. In foreground at podium: Debra Wada, Vice-Chair of the NCMNPS for military service issues and former Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower [sic] and Reserve Affairs. Photo from offical NCMNPS Twitter feed.] The National Commission on Military,... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 23 January 2019, 05:53 ( 5:53 AM) | Comments (4)

Tuesday, 6 November 2018

To vote, or not to vote?

As this Election Day in the USA has approached, I've been seeing more and more "Get Out The Vote" messages that argue (or, worse, don't bother to argue but rather presume as not needing argument) that voting is some kind of duty or obligation, and that eligible citizens "ought" to... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 6 November 2018, 11:46 (11:46 AM) | Comments (0)

Friday, 20 April 2018

Testimony and reports from the hearing of the National Commission on Military Service in Denver

[Some of the opponents of military conscription who attended the hearing in Denver, 19 April 2018. Left to right: Matt Nicodemus (publicly refused to register for the draft, 1980), Edward Hasbrouck (imprisoned for refusing to register for the draft, 1983-1984), Mary Beth Kern (Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center),... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 20 April 2018, 22:04 (10:04 PM) | Comments (1)

Friday, 6 April 2018

Hearing on the draft & draft registration, Thursday, April 19th in Denver

The "National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service" has announced that the second of its open-mike public hearings throughout the US on whether registration for a military draft should be ended or extended will be in Denver, Colorado, on Thursday, April 19th, from 3-5 p.m.: Open-Mike Public Hearing National... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 6 April 2018, 15:35 ( 3:35 PM) | Comments (2)

Friday, 16 February 2018

Public hearings and written comments on draft registration

[Poster by James Groleau, 1981. More draft resistance graphics.] Podcast (35 min.): The Future of Draft Registration in the U.S. Testimony and reports from hearing in Denver, CO, 19 April 2018 Schedule of locations and dates of all hearings through September 2018 Deadline for submisison of written comments extended... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 16 February 2018, 20:26 ( 8:26 PM) | Comments (13)

Tuesday, 23 January 2018

"A demonstration's been announced... Against the draft, war taxes, the rise in food prices..."

"It was good to be outside, after the rooms with locked doors, the hiding places. It was good to be walking, swinging his arms, breathing in the clear air.... To be among so many people, so immense a crowd, thousands marching together, filling all the side streets as well as... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 23 January 2018, 19:35 ( 7:35 PM) | Comments (0)

Wednesday, 20 December 2017

Former Selective Service director admits draft registration has failed

Bernard Rostker, who was Director of the Selective Service System (SSS) from 1979-1981 durung the attempt to resume registration of all young men in the U.S. for possible military conscription, has publicly admitted what I've been saying for decades: failure by young men to notify the SSS of address changes... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 20 December 2017, 10:47 (10:47 AM) | Comments (0)

Tuesday, 14 March 2017

Palantir, Peter Thiel, Big Data, and the DHS

[On the sidewalk in front of Palantir founder and Trump supporter Peter Thiel's house at 2920 Broadway in San Francisco.] On Saturday, I joined an ad hoc group of picketers outside the Pacific Heights mansion of Palantir Technologies founder and Trump supporter Peter Thiel (photo gallery from the SF... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 14 March 2017, 22:57 (10:57 PM) | Comments (2)

Sunday, 30 October 2016

"Generation X': A Brief History of Dropouts from the U. of Chicago"

I'm honored to be among the former U. of C. students from "Generation X" featured in a thoughtful article by Hannah Edgar in the current issue of the student newspaper, the Chicago Maroon, Generation X': A Brief History of Dropouts and Transfer Students at the University of Chicago. (The title... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 30 October 2016, 01:26 ( 1:26 AM) | Comments (0)

Tuesday, 25 October 2016

Tom Hayden, 11 December 1939 - 23 October 2016

Testimony of Thomas Emmett Hayden Before the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence 23 October 1968 Tom Hayden: First of all, I should say very frankly that I don't come here with any expectation of a dialogue or understanding being achieved or with any belief in the... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 25 October 2016, 09:28 ( 9:28 AM) | Comments (0)

Tuesday, 18 October 2016

National reading of "It Can't Happen Here" on Monday, Oct. 24th

Over the weekend I got to see a stellar new staging of Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here at the Berkeley Repertory Theater. The 1935 novel is prescient even in its details. I've re-read it several times in the last year, and I've been recommending it to everyone I know.... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 18 October 2016, 11:23 (11:23 AM) | Comments (0)

Monday, 25 July 2016

Burning the U.S. flag

[On the lawn of the U.S. Capitol, gagged with a U.S. flag, at a press conference with Joey Johnson and others on 21 June 1990, as Congress was voting on whether to amend the U.S. Constitution to outlaw the "desecration" of the U.S. flag.] Nobody could seriously argue that... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 25 July 2016, 18:40 ( 6:40 PM) | Comments (12)

Thursday, 7 July 2016

House votes down proposal to defund the Selective Service System

[Poster by James Groleau, 1981. More draft resistance graphics.] This week, during consideration of the annual funding bill for the Selective Service System and miscellaneous other agencies, the U.S. House of Representatives: Yesterday, voted down (294-128) a proposed amendment to completely defund the Selective Service System; and then Today,... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 7 July 2016, 21:50 ( 9:50 PM) | Comments (3)

Tuesday, 14 June 2016

Senate approves "Defense" bill including expansion of draft registration to women

[Poster by Yolanda V. Fundora] Today the U.S. Senate voted 85-13 to approve a version of the proposed National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (S. 2943) including a provision which, if also approved by the House of Representatives and signed into law by the President, would extend... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 14 June 2016, 18:54 ( 6:54 PM) | Comments (49)

Sunday, 5 June 2016

Op-Ed: Dump draft registration, don't extend it to women

[My "Open Forum" op-ed on Selective Service registration in the San Francisco Chronicle, online 4 June 2016, print edition 7 June 2016, page A8. Original version on the sometimes-paywalled SFChronicle.com Web site; PDF. If you agree, here's a leaflet about what you can do to help.] Congress is now debating... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 5 June 2016, 18:49 ( 6:49 PM) | Comments (8)

Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Inquiring minds want to know how to avoid the draft

If you click on a Google search result, Google passes the text you originally entered in the search box through to the search result Web site. The same is true of most other search engines. Marketers use this data to analyze what queries bring visitors to their Web sites, but... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 25 May 2016, 12:25 (12:25 PM) | Comments (2)

Tuesday, 17 May 2016

House removes authorization to order women to register for the draft from its version of pending "Defense" bill

[Front ranks of the West Coast mobilization against any draft or draft registration for women or men on Market Street in San Francisco, 22 March 1980, Photo by Chris Booth for Resistance News. Click image for larger version.] The U.S. House of Representatives voted today to remove (see page... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 17 May 2016, 13:16 ( 1:16 PM) | Comments (18)

Friday, 13 May 2016

Senate & House "Defense" bills would extend draft registration to women

[Lesbian Anti-Draft Action contingent in the West Coast mobilization against draft registration, 22 March 1980, followed by a group with the banner of the Oakland Feminist Women's Health Center. Photo by Chris Booth for Resistance News. Click image for larger version. Straight feminists and many other women were also... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 13 May 2016, 11:11 (11:11 AM) | Comments (11)

Thursday, 5 May 2016

Young women organize against draft registration

Less than a week after the House Armed Service Committee voted to attach an amendment to a pending "must-pass" Defense Department funding bill that would authorize the President to extend draft registration to women, more than 12,000 people -- mostly women -- have signed a petition started by a... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 5 May 2016, 11:53 (11:53 AM) | Comments (2)

Tuesday, 3 May 2016

"Millions of Female Felons"? Government admits resistance made draft registration unenforceable

[Editorial cartoon by Mike Keefe, Denver Post, 1982] We won -- and now, thirty years later, the government has finally admitted it. It's not often that government officials admit to failure in the face of popular resistance. When they do, it's an occasion for celebration. Draft registration was reinstated... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 3 May 2016, 14:46 ( 2:46 PM) | Comments (5)

Wednesday, 27 April 2016

House Committee votes to extend draft registration to women

Today the House Armed Service Committee voted 32 to 30 to attach an amendment to the pending annual military spending authorization bill that would give the President the authority to order women as well as men to register for the draft. [Update: I still haven't found a full record... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 27 April 2016, 18:24 ( 6:24 PM) | Comments (40)

Friday, 26 February 2016

The Amazing Race 28, Episode 3

Cartagena (Colombia) In this episode of The Amazing Race, the travellers got to work a job that is common around the world, but almost nonexistent in the USA: bus conductor. "Outside the First World," as I note in The Practical Nomad: How to Travel Around the World, "All buses have... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 26 February 2016, 23:59 (11:59 PM) | Comments (0)

Friday, 11 December 2015

Extend draft registration to women -- or end it?

Congress will soon have to choose whether to amend the Military Selective Service Act to extend draft registration to women, to end all draft registration, or to allow registration to end by court order. When the Supreme Court upheld the current males-only draft registration in 1981, it based its... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 11 December 2015, 16:52 ( 4:52 PM) | Comments (41)

Friday, 13 November 2015

The Amazing Race 27, Episode 8

The Hague (Netherlands) - Krakow (Poland) The first time The Amazing Race visited Poland, the reality-TV travel show visited the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. This season, the racers were sent to the Krakow municipal historical museum at Oscar Schindler's Enamel Factory, where more than a thousand and Jews... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 13 November 2015, 23:59 (11:59 PM) | Comments (4)

Friday, 2 October 2015

The Amazing Race 27, Episode 2

Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) - Buenos Aires (Argentina) Sites of memory of state terrorism in Argentina ["2 km ahead: Pilar Highway Patrol station, former clandestine center of detention and torture"] Both The Amazing Race and my partner and I returned to Argentina this June after an absence of several years.... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 2 October 2015, 23:59 (11:59 PM) | Comments (1)

Thursday, 21 May 2015

Snapshots from my visit to Palmyra in 2008

The month I spent in Syria was one of the highlights of my most recent trip around the world in 2007-2008. [We spent an entire day exploring the Roman city of Palmyra, most of the time without a single other person in sight.] There were bureaucratic hassles, but these were... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 21 May 2015, 16:49 ( 4:49 PM) | Comments (0)

Monday, 23 February 2015

Andrew Patner and I at the U. of Chicago

["President Gray and Robert McNamara left the dinner surrounded by police", Chicago Maroon front page, 25 May 1979] [Photo spread, Chicago Maroon centerfold, 25 May 1979] I learned today of the sudden death earlier this month of Andrew Patner, longtime Chicago music and culture critic and commentator with WFMT... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 23 February 2015, 09:33 ( 9:33 AM) | Comments (3)

Sunday, 5 May 2013

The Amazing Race 22, Episode 10 (season finale)

Edinburgh, Scotland (U.K.) - Stranraer, Scotland (U.K.) - Belfast, Northern Ireland (U.K.) - Liverpool, England (U.K.) - London, England (U.K.) - Washington, DC (USA) - Mt. Vernon, VA (USA) Ten years and twenty seasons of The Amazing Race separate my own visit to Northern Ireland in 2002, which I mentioned... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 5 May 2013, 23:59 (11:59 PM) | Comments (5)

Monday, 17 September 2012

"The draft and the politics of identity and status"

My activism and writing aren't limited to travel-related topics, and I have an essay on, The draft and the politics of identity and status in the forthcoming anthology, We Have Not Been Moved: Resisting Racism and Militarism in 21st Century America, co-edited by my old and dear friend the educator,... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 17 September 2012, 10:54 (10:54 AM) | Comments (0)

Wednesday, 16 February 2011

What you see is what you get: Yemen

Street scene in Sana'a, Yemen (2008) Once I've visited a place, I pay more attention to news from and about that place. And that news seems more real: I have images, sights, smells, tastes, and sensations in my memories, maybe even tangible souvenirs on the shelves in my house,... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 16 February 2011, 15:25 ( 3:25 PM) | Comments (4)

Sunday, 13 February 2011

Bill introduced to limit draft registration to "national emergencies"

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) has introduced a bill to restrict draft registration, funding or operation of the Selective Service System, and denial of government benefits ot nonregistrants for the draft (pursuant to the Solomon Amendments) to times when the President has declared a national emergency.... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 13 February 2011, 20:36 ( 8:36 PM) | Comments (0)

Sunday, 18 April 2010

A lesson from Berlin to take to Strasbourg

I spent a brillant spring day on Saturday strolling down from the hostel where I've been staying in the Prenzlauer district of the former East Berlin, gentrified but still diverse in ways that remind me of some of the parts of Brooklyn closest to Manhattan, into Berlin's "Mitte" (downtown), past... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 18 April 2010, 08:40 ( 8:40 AM) | Comments (3)

Sunday, 22 November 2009

The Amazing Race 15, Episode 9

Keava (Estonia) - Prague (Czech Republic) Why we travel: A tale of two conferences As The Amazing Race 15 approaches the finish line, the remaining teams of travellers are becoming more and more focused on the footrace, to the exclusion of anything else about the places they pass through. This... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 22 November 2009, 23:59 (11:59 PM) | Comments (1)

Friday, 9 October 2009

Work interrupted by bombing and strafing

From: Edward Hasbrouck To: David.Campos@sfgov.org Copies to: Michela.Alioto-Pier@sfgov.org, Carmen.Chu@sfgov.org, Bevan.Dufty@sfgov.org, Eric.L.Mar@sfgov.org, Ross.Mirkarimi@sfgov.org, John.Avalos@sfgov.org, David.Chiu@sfgov.org, Chris.Daly@sfgov.org, Sean.Elsbernd@sfgov.org, Sophie.Maxwell@sfgov.org, sffleetweek@airshownetwork.com Subject: Blue Angels noise and danger Dear members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors: Since I can't concentrate on my writing work with the Blue Angels simulating bombing and strafing overhead... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 9 October 2009, 09:18 ( 9:18 AM) | Comments (2)

Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Solomon Amendment found unconstitutional

Ruling on a lawsuit brought by four long-time Federal government employees who were fired (or forced to resign under threat of firing) after it was discovered that they hadn't registered for the draft , a Federal District Court Judge in Boston ruled yesterday that the law barring nonregistrants from Federal... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 27 January 2009, 16:27 ( 4:27 PM) | Comments (1)

Monday, 8 September 2008

Obama, McCain, and draft registration ("Selective Service")

In an interview yesterday, Barack Obama said that, "I had to sign up for Selective Service when I graduated from high school." That has prompted many questions about Selective Service and the draft registration requirements for men Obama's age. Since I maintain a Web site about the draft, draft registration,... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 8 September 2008, 08:35 ( 8:35 AM) | Comments (8)

Friday, 25 May 2007

Report from Iran

I've wanted to go to Isfahan for decades, ever since I first saw pictures of its architectural masterpieces, long before I'd ever set foot outside North America. As I've gotten to other places, Isfahan has been left near the top of my personal lifetime travel "wish list". Today I got... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 25 May 2007, 14:24 ( 2:24 PM) | Comments (2)

Monday, 25 December 2006

Eric Weinberger, RIP

[Eric Weinberger in front of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York at the "Blockade the Bombmakers" direct action, 14 June 1982.] Eric Weinberger, who I've mentioned before in this blog, died December 15th in Boston at age 74. Here are some photos of Eric performing... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 25 December 2006, 07:55 ( 7:55 AM) | Comments (3)

Tuesday, 19 September 2006

Where are we now?

Protesters proud of actions opposing draft: Today, he's convinced it was the right thing to do. New Call for a draft to end war: Selective Service, chief, peace advocates have various reasons for forced enlistment by Peter Urban, Connecticut Post, Sunday, 3 September 2006 More:... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 19 September 2006, 05:02 ( 5:02 AM) | Comments (0)

Saturday, 16 September 2006

This is a song about the draft. (Not.)

"Group W's where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the secret army after committing your special crime ." Streaming audio (with four-part harmony on the final choruses) MP3 download Lyrics (If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud. )... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 16 September 2006, 16:45 ( 4:45 PM) | Comments (0)

Wednesday, 19 April 2006

USA military prepares to recall retired soldiers to active duty

Exhausting all means of getting people into uniform short of a draft , yesterday the USA Department of Defense published new regulations on Management and Mobilization of Regular and Reserve Retired Military Members (32 CFR 64, 71 Federal Register 19827-19829, 18 April 2006): It is DoD policy that military retirees... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 19 April 2006, 18:49 ( 6:49 PM) | Comments (12)

Monday, 17 April 2006

Workshops on the draft in S.F., N.Y., and D.C.

Upcoming events in San Francisco, New York City, and Washington, DC: Bay Area Students and Educators to Stop the War conference -- Saturday, 22 April 2006, 10.a.m. - 6 p.m., Mission High School, 18th St. and Dolores Ave. (near 16th St./Mission BART station), San Francisco, CA. Information on the draft... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 17 April 2006, 06:57 ( 6:57 AM) | Comments (0)

Saturday, 14 January 2006

U.S. war resisters in Canada; "Omega" art exhibit in S.F.

A new 28-minute video on war resisters from the USA-Iraq War in Canada, and the debate now going on (in the context of Canada's national elections) on whether to grant them refuge in Canada, is now available in full online as streaming video in seven segments (plus links to supplemental... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 14 January 2006, 17:13 ( 5:13 PM) | Comments (0)

Wednesday, 2 November 2005

"Pacifists for War" and the draft?

The cover story of today's SF Weekly is on Pacifists for War ("within a feuding peace movement, counter-recruiters are conspiring to bring back the draft"). In response, I've sent the letter below. You can send your letters to feedback@sfweekly.com . Against the Draft Despite pro-draft quotes from people as far... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 2 November 2005, 23:34 (11:34 PM) | Comments (0)

"Medical Reserve Corps" collecting names ... for a medical draft?

I've been meaning for some time to post a pointer to the Medical Reserve Corps for those concerned about possible military conscription of health care workers . According to the MedicalReserveCorps.gov Web site: In his 2002 State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush announced the USA Freedom Corps,... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 2 November 2005, 21:50 ( 9:50 PM) | Comments (0)

Tuesday, 18 October 2005

Upcoming S.F. Bay Area draft resistance events

On The Frontlines: Options for Youth in Times of War "A conference for youth and their allies", Saturday-Sunday, 22-23 October 2005, University of California at Berkeley. Open to all: free for youth, $10-25 donation requested for adults. High school students, parents, and teachers especially invited. Workshop for students, other... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 18 October 2005, 20:30 ( 8:30 PM) | Comments (1)

Thursday, 1 September 2005

RIP: Kepler's Bookstore

Of all the places where I've read from and signed copies of my books , there is none of those appearances of which I am more proud than the one on 25 January 1998 at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, California. Not because of anything I said -- although the... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 1 September 2005, 14:18 ( 2:18 PM) | Comments (0)

"On the Frontlines" conference in Berkeley

On The Frontlines: Options for Youth in Times of War A conference for youth and their allies 22-23 October 2005, Berkeley, CA, USA The conference Web site and program are stilll under construction, but the topics to be discussed include the draft , conscientious objection , and options for resistance... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 1 September 2005, 10:32 (10:32 AM) | Comments (0)

Wednesday, 31 August 2005

Life Outside the Mainframe

[Poster by Fred Moore for the National Resistance Committee, 1980] My essay on Fred Moore and his historical significance, Life Outside the Mainframe, is now online in the August book review issue of the AFSC's Peacework. It's in the context of a review of John Markoff's new book, in... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 31 August 2005, 22:31 (10:31 PM) | Comments (5)

Monday, 28 March 2005

Anti-draft movement begins to come together

As the likelihood of a military draft in the USA becomes more apparent, anti-draft activism is beginning to move beyond individual Web sites (like those I have created and maintain, Resisters.info and MedicalDraft.info ) to the formation -- mainly on the initiative of parents of potential draftees -- of small,... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 28 March 2005, 17:59 ( 5:59 PM) | Comments (3)

Sunday, 20 March 2005

"The Draft Debate Heats Up"

My article on the possibility and likely character of a military draft, the potential for draft resistance, and the state of anti-draft organizing, The Draft Debate Heats Up , has been published in the Winter 2005 issue of The Nonviolent Activist , the magazine of the War Resisters League .... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 20 March 2005, 22:21 (10:21 PM) | Comments (0)

Thursday, 28 October 2004

Pelosi begs my question on the draft

Tonight's live national call-in simulcast on Link-TV and Pacifica Radio, FAQs: The Politics of the Draft , seems to have been intended much more as a forum for Democratic Party electioneering than as a way to elicit actual answers to any of the Frequently-Asked Questions About the Draft . But... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 28 October 2004, 21:46 ( 9:46 PM) | Comments (2)

Saturday, 23 October 2004

Approbation and Ignominy

BOSTON, Oct. 22 [The New York Times] -- In the wake of the death of a Red Sox fan hit by a police pepper-spray weapon after the team's playoff victory, Boston officials are imposing restrictions on the bars around Fenway Park.... A police officer fired the pepper-spray weapon, striking 21-year-old... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 23 October 2004, 21:50 ( 9:50 PM) | Comments (1)

Monday, 18 October 2004

Military draft becomes a campaign issue

Military conscription has become an issue in the Presidential campaign -- even though neither Bush nor Kerry has done anything to put their claimed opposition to the draft into action. Campaigning around the draft includes television ads being broadcast this week, Web-based appeals to student voters , an ad in... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 18 October 2004, 22:32 (10:32 PM) | Comments (3)

Wednesday, 13 October 2004

Bush, Kerry, Nader respond to questions on the draft

Three of the Presidential candidates -- Bush, Kerry, and Nader -- have responded in writing today to questions about the military draft posed by young voters in an online debate. Unfortunately, the questions and answers failed to address the real issues of whether there will be a draft. There was... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 13 October 2004, 09:18 ( 9:18 AM) | Comments (0)

Tuesday, 5 October 2004

USA House votes down military draft. So what?

This evening in Washington -- after the Red Sox beat the Angels in the first game of the baseball playoffs, and before the Vice-Presidential debate between Cheney and Edwards -- the full USA House of Representatives voted, for the first time in my lifetime, on a bill to reinstate military... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 5 October 2004, 20:33 ( 8:33 PM) | Comments (7)

Saturday, 3 July 2004

Will the USA reinstate a military draft?

If you read this article in today's New York Times , you should also read this . The erroneous (but so taken for granted as to be unstated) assumptions behind the Times story, and many similar ones, are that: The only threat of a draft is of a general draft... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 3 July 2004, 22:16 (10:16 PM) | Comments (8)

Saturday, 5 June 2004

Draft Registration and Draft Resistance

In preparation for the workshop tomorrow morning on the draft, draft registration, and draft resistance at the Reclaim the Commons convergence in San Francisco, I've added a new section to my Web site with updated versions of a set of informational leaflets originally produced by the National Resistance Committee, in... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 5 June 2004, 15:49 ( 3:49 PM) | Comments (0)

Thursday, 3 June 2004

Will There Be A Draft? What Can You Do About It?

As the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq drag on year after year, military tours of duty and reserve call-ups are extended, and enlistment declines, more and more people are beginning to wonder how soon the Pentagon will run out of "volunteers", and turn to a draft. I'll be leading a... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 3 June 2004, 08:41 ( 8:41 AM) | Comments (4)

Thursday, 27 May 2004

"I am an old man and I am just speaking feebly and not too well"

Transcript of Proceedings United States of America vs. David T. Dellinger, et al. United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois before the Hon. Judge Julius J. Hoffmann Chicago, Illinois February 14, 1970 The Court: The Court now has the responsibility of dealing appropriately with the contemptuous conduct that has... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 27 May 2004, 22:15 (10:15 PM) | Comments (0)

Dave Dellinger, Presente

Dave Dellinger -- nonviolent hero: Rest in Peace On Tuesday, May 25, 2004, at approximately 1:30 p.m., nonviolent hero Dave Dellinger passed from this world in Montpelier, Vermont. Although suffering from Alzheimer's for several years, Dave recognized his wife, Elizabeth, and other family members right until the end. For more... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 27 May 2004, 08:24 ( 8:24 AM) | Comments (0)

Monday, 26 April 2004

National Radio Project on "Courage Under Fire: Resistance to War"

Twenty years ago this month I was released from the Federal prison camp in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania after "serving" a six-month sentence for wilfull refusal to submit to registration with the the USA Selective Service System for a possible draft of soldiers to be sent to fight in Afghanistan on the... (...Read Entire Entry)
Link | Posted by Edward, 26 April 2004, 16:25 ( 4:25 PM) | Comments (0)

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