John Kerry's Bad Joke

John Kerry received a lot of criticism when he told students that if they didn't study hard, they would end up in Iraq. His comment was widely viewed as an insult to the troops.

In many ways, his comment was unfair. Often, people join the military because they are smart, ambitious and are looking for a way to improve their position.

The high school I taught at had two army recruiters. One was an African-American male who had grown up in an impoverished community. When he walked into my classroom, he saw my sign "Knowledge is Power" and knew that Francis Bacon had written that. I gave him points for that. He also had a real sense of humor and a deep concern for the kids. He wanted to mentor them even if they didn't enlist. The second was a woman from a working class background who had been to Iraq and was trained to handle unconventional weapons. After a few years in the army, she was offered a job for $80,000 a year. She turned it down to stay in the military.

On the other hand, I have noticed that many kids who were the most susceptible to recruiters' pitches were the academically unmotivated students and the class clowns. They had few options and knew it. Hence, they went into the service.

My impression was that the military attracted students at the extremes: the highly motivated and the "lost souls."

All of the kids I knew who went in seemed vulnerable. One kid, one of the brightest students I had ever taught, was from a broken home. His father was out of the picture and he lived with his mom and stepdad. His mom signed for him to enlist when he was 17. I can't help but suspect that she thought her new marriage would be easier if her son from a previous marriage was out of the home.

The other kids I knew who went in were immigrants. I don't know what their green card status was. Maybe this is some kind of bias on my part but I always felt that my immigrant students were especially vulnerable because they were going through the painful process of acculturation during adolescence. Immigration is a brutally difficult experience. Our faith in the American dream obscures how the poverty and culture shock inherent in being an immigrant stress families.

A major reason this war is criminal is that its principal victims are the poor.

List of Top 50 Defense Contractors

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Defense_contractors

You may want to increase your level of war resistance by refusing to buy products from defense contractors.

Most of the companies on this list seem to focus mostly on military goods. I have never heard of most of them. A few, however, are familiar. IBM and Verizon are the most obvious.

I personally am unsure of what to do. I avoid using cell phones anyway because about some scientific studies show adverse health effects while others do not. However, maybe Verizon allows the communication needed to save a wounded soldier's life. On the other hand, maybe their communication systems help coordinate attacks.

Therefore, I offer this list for your consideration.

Home Office Deductions: a warning

http://www.quicken.com/cms/viewers/article/taxes/54900

If you deduct home office space on your taxes, you may be liable for taxes if you sell the home. The link above gives details.

The bottom line seems to be that you should be very careful about trying this strategy unless you plan to hang on to your home for a long time.

Establishing Conscientious Objector Status

I haven't read these ideas anywhere, but these ideas seem like they are worth pursuing.

1. Establish a history of making documented financial contributions to peace organizations. Write a check AND request a written receipt from the charity. Sometimes, the government is not happy with a canceled check alone.

2. If your CO beliefs are religously motivated, establish a pattern of "religious behavior." This includes making regular financial contributions to a religious body, attending servoces regularly and perhaps going to their retreats, workshops, conventions and other activities. If the minister, priest or rabbi knows you, he or she will be more likely to write a letter on your behalf.

It seems to me that the government would give greater weight to claims based on religous belief than on individual conscience.

3. If you are in high school or college, if you have a class that allows this, write a term paper on a "peace theme." For example, if you take a religion class, you can write on Buddhism, Catholic just war theory, Quaker peace witness, etc. If you are taking an American history class, you can write about Quaker opposition to the revolutionary war, opposition to the Mexican-American war, Mark Twain's oppositon to the Spanish American war and so on.

In a literature class, write a paper on All Quiet on the Western Front or A Farewell to Arms.

If you take a class on WW II, write about the small German resistance to Nazi Militarism, the White Rose movement, the refusal of Jehovah Witnesses to submit to Nazi authority. You get the idea. You will have both a paper and, one hopes, a letter from a teacher testifiying to your long interest in peace issues.

4. Join Amnesty International or participate on Oxfam America activities. While these are not antiwar organizations per se, it shows a serious interests in human rights and human welfare.

To me, it seems like a person who is willing to "put his money where his mouth is" establishes credibility in a unique way. Even if you don't make huge contributions to peace and human rights groups, make small ones.

If the Draft Returns

As I write this, the Middle East is in turmoil and it is uncertain if the conflict will result in deeper U.S. involvement. If the current conflict does deepen US involvement, it is possible that the draft will be instated.

It may then become important for young people to be able to establish their position as conscientious objectors.

Here is some advice.

How to establish Conscientious Objector Status.

Remember the words: Document, Document, Document. Here are a few ways to do this. http://www.oz.net/~vvawai/CtC/co-info.html

1. When registering for the selective service, which males are required to do, write the words "I am a conscientious objector" on the form. Photocopy this card. Mail the photocopy to yourself so that it has the postal service's postmark on it. Keep this in a safe place.



The most important issue is establishing themselves by properly notifying the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the federal government.


1.Write a statement of your beliefs.

2. Get supporting letters from clergmen, teachers and others who can attest to your beliefs.

3. Keep a log of books read, movies seen that helped form your beliefs. May I suggest a few readings: All Quiet on the Western Front, the religious writings of Leo Tolstoy, anything by Gandhi, Quaker writings by Fox and Penn. Also the autobiography of John Woolman, a Quaker abolitionist.

4. A record of events that show your lifestyle is compatible with your beliefs. This could include antiwar protests. It may also include religious activities, membership in antiwar groups, financial contributions to humanitarian groups and so on.


5. Send certified letters to your congressman and senators declaring yourself to be a conscientous objector based on deeply held religious or moral beliefs. Be sure to keep a copy of the letter and any responses received.

6. If you have not yet registerd with the Selective Service System, write them and declare yourself to be a conscientious objector.
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At the time they actually register, and it is important that everybody registers who is over the age of 18, the objector needs to write on the registration form, " I am a conscientious objector to war..." The objector needs to make copies of the letter to the SSS and the registration form they have written on because the SSS will destroy these documents. If the objector is 18 to 26 the SSS will confirm receipt of the registration and this needs to be kept by the objector. If the objector is one of the estimated 350,000 males over the age of 26 who have never registered he still needs to go through the motions and keep copies of the registration form because the SSS will not even confirm its receipt.


If the objector is registered with the SSS but has not sought CO status is important to write the letter of CO declaration to their congressional delegation and to notify the SSS of a change in status.


Every time the registered objector changes address they need to notify the SSS within 10 days and at the same time repeat the declaration that they are a "conscientious objector to war..."


The persistent repetition is very important and will help to solidify the objector's claim.


7. Next the objector needs to prepare an Affidavit, which is sworn before a Notary Public and witnessed by two registered voters who are not related to the objector. The letter of declaration to the objector's congressional delegation and the notification to the SSS must be attached as supporting documents to the Affidavit because it affirms:"I am a conscientious objector to war based on deeply held moral, ethical and religious beliefs and have informed my congressional delegation and the Selective Service System accordingly as proven by the attached documents." This Affidavit can be filed in federal district court or in any civilian or military proceeding related to the objector's claim. Copies of the Affidavit should also be provided to the parents of the objector, teachers, religious leaders and legal counsel because these individuals may be contacted by Selective Service or military investigators and asked to confirm the objector's claim.

A VERY IMPORTANT ACTION THE OBJECTOR NEEDS TO TAKE IS TO TELL FAMILY, FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES ABOUT BEING A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR TO WAR. Tell the people who are most likely to write letters in support of the CO application and keep these letters as part of a permanent file in addition to the documents described above.
More information on selective service registration can be found at: www.objector.org/conscription/draft-registration.html and http://www.nisbco.org/

Happy Fourth of July

I just received this letter from an Israeli friend.

HAPPY 4th of July....
America is a great nation. You'll overcome the Bushs and Bushism.
Baruch.

Happy Fourth of July. Please join me in wishing for an end to military adventurism and the occupation of Iraq.

Long live America.

A list of socially responsible investment companies

The following link http://www.socialfunds.com/funds/chart.cgi?sfChartId=desc provides a chart of companies that do "socially responsible investing". You can peruse this list to see which companies adhere to your particular set of values.

Many have IRA programs. I recommend IRAs because they allow tax savings and because retirement accounts are virtually immune to bankruptcy judgments. They are a good way of protecting your assets, quite apart from war tax issues.

From Protest to Resistance

From Protest to Resistance


Years ago, I watched a documentary about ordinary Germans who resisted Nazi tyranny. A woman engaged in an act of resistance combining both courage and simplicity: she told the truth in public. As she stood in supermarket lines, she told her friends that the Jews who disappeared from their neighborhoods were being murdered, not resettled as government propaganda claimed. Oh, her friends replied, you have been listening to Allied propaganda. When she returned home, she told her husband what she had done. “My dear,” he replied, “if you want to kill a snake, you must step on its head. If you step on its tail, it will turn around and bite you. You have stepped on the snake’s tail.”

Those of us who opposed the war on Iraq by protests, letters, and phone calls to our leaders have too often embraced tactics that have been merely irritating to the authorities. We have stepped on their tails. Since our government is a hyper-power, it has chosen to ignore us rather than bite us and has slithered on, killing an estimate 100,000 Iraqis in a war based on lies, imprisoning thousands without charge or trial, and practicing small-bore tortures on men unlucky enough to be trapped in our “gulags”.

While the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan fails to approach the brutality of the Nazi and Soviet regimes, our government’s crimes have been severe enough to compel Americans of conscience to “resist, resist, resist” as Karen Kwiatkowski urged in her article “Unleashing the Resistance”.

Resistance begins by refusing to fund the Bush administration’s odious activities through our taxes. Following Kwiatkowski’s observation that Iraqi dissidents work hard to stay out of law enforcement’s “dangerous and lumbering way,” I am advocating only legal strategies for reducing one’s tax burden. I was able to reduce my 2004 tax payments by 40% compared to my 2003 payments by following simple strategies available to everyone. I contributed $500 a month to a 403b plan—like a 401k only for public sector employees. I started an IRA, being careful to choose a company that did not invest in defense stocks. Moreover, I bought a book on the tax code and looked for every legal deduction and loophole I could fine. Until I did the research, I did not know that I could deduct my union dues or that the government allowed teachers a $200 deduction for the supplies that teachers invariably buy for their classes. I haven’t tried starting a home-based business yet but other tax resisters use this strategy effectively to write off part of their housing costs as a business expense.

The effectiveness of this strategy is multiplied if one advertises the fact that you have legally and deliberately tried to reduce your tax obligations as a way of reducing your support for oppressive government policies. Tell your tax preparer, your family, and your colleagues about your strategy. Encourage them to try it.

Resistance continues by strengthening civil society, Give more money to charities and religious institutions. Not only is the money tax-deductible, your donations serve to strengthen civil society—the sum total of social activities not connected to the government. I am a convert to Catholicism and like to give money to the Archbishop’s Charities and Development Drive not only because my donations help the needy but because I am helping to strengthen an institution that has courageously opposed the war on Iraq. I would not tell you where to spend your money but urge you to find a cause that you believe in deeply and give tax-deductible donations to it.

Patronize “mom and pop” businesses instead of large chains. Pay cash. This saves the owner the credit card fees and it gives him the option of not reporting his income from you. I always report my income and urge others to do so too but I am the business owner’s customer, not his conscience and in any case, I regard not paying taxes as more moral than paying them.

The beauty of tax-reduction strategies is that they are moral on all levels. By saving for retirement with tax-free dollars, you have benefited not only yourself but younger people who would otherwise sacrifice to care for you. Wisely invested, this money can create economic growth and increased prosperity. Charitable donations can be used to strengthen organizations that act as a counterweight to the state and make your community more pleasant and livable. Most importantly, you are not spending your wealth to blow the arms off of Iraqi children.

Resist by withdrawing your support from our lying media. This is easy—turn off the television and don’t buy newspapers and magazines whose editorial staffs were enthusiastic proponents of war. The “Faux News Channel” and the “War Street Journal” should pay a price for lying us into war. When media outlets begin losing advertising revenue, they will become reluctant to act as mouthpieces for government propaganda.

Buy newspapers that report critically on the government's agenda.

Resist in the courts. If you get a chance to serve on a federal jury, take it. If the defendant is accused of a crime whose only victim is the state—drug law violations, tax improprieties, lying to the FBI ala Martha Stewart—vote to acquit him. The government spends thousands of dollars trying a case. Make them lose the money. Deny the government the ability to enforce its laws with the consent of ordinary citizens. If other jurors pressure you, act like an OJ juror: define “reasonable doubt” as “any doubt at all.”

Resist by thwarting military recruitment. Did you know that the No Child Left Behind Act requires that schools receiving federal funds make information about their students available to recruiters? Few parents know this and even fewer know that they can keep their child's records from being given to recruiters if they send a letter to the child's school requesting that their children's records be kept confidential. If you have high-school age children, send the letter as soon as possible. Send it via certified mail.

Talk to your children about not serving in the military. Help them establish the documentation they will need if the draft resumes and they choose to become conscientious objectors. When they register for the draft, have them note on the form that they are conscientous objectors. Photocopy the form before mailing it and keep a record. Encourage your kids to join a church with a peace witness. Urge them to participate in peace activities of various kinds and keep records you can use to document their claims to CO status.

Submit your ideas for war resistance on this site.

Health Savings Accounts

Health Savings Accounts are tax-deductible savings programs to pay for health care expenses not covered by insurance.

Their importance to war-tax resisters is that the money in these accounts is never taxed if it is used for approved medical expenses not covered by insurance. If you contribute to the HSA yourself, you get an "above the line" deduction on your income tax. If your employer makes the contribution in lieu of wages paid to you, the money is considred non-taxable and is not counted as income. Unlike IRAs, the money is not taxed upon withdrawal as long as it is spent to pay medical bills. These accounts allow war-tax resisters to save for medical emergencies and legally avoid taxes.

To quality for an HSA, you must have a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). In other words, your deductible must be at least 1, 000 per year. The maximum allowable contribution to the HSA is limited to the size of your deductible, up to to $2,650 in the year 2005 for an individual and $5,250 for a family. These amounts are adjusted annually for inflation so be sure to check the limits each year. The advantage to HSAs over Flexible Spending Accounts is that with HSAs, the money rolls over from year to year. You always have the money, even if it is not spent within a year.

Generally, anyone with a HDHP is eligible for this account. The unemployed or self-employed may set one up also. If you are self-employed, you may also deduct your insurance premiums from your taxes. Many banks, insurance companies, and credit unions offer these accounts.

For further information, see the following government website: http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/public-affairs/hsa/faq2.shtml#hsa20

A letter from a Libertarian Opponent to the War

Ms. Ramer,

I believe that there are many things that we can do to fight government incursion into our lives or the lives of other innocent people around the world - including spreading knowledge and ideas about the government and its effects on all of us. The point is to identify the ultimate cause of the problem and attack it. The lack of information among our political leaders about public opinion is not the cause of war - but that is the only problem protesting attempts to solve.

Everyone engages in little behaviors that, in aggregate, support the system that spreads grief and misery to all. If we can identify any of these behaviors and eliminate them the system is bound to collapse. One of them is paying taxes. Any reduction in taxes would be a positive step. Another is voting for a major party candidate. Bush and Kerry were both pro-war. The only difference was their rhetoric. Yet another is supporting our troops. Everytime our troops get sent a care package from a concerned citizen or see signs proclaiming how heroic they are, they feel a little better about the shitty situation they are in. If feelings are the only important thing, by all means support the soldiers. But if all the soldiers felt hated by half the population or more, they'd be bound to tell people what a bad deal being a soldier is, and the army, which is, after all, volunteer (for now) would shrink. If the politicians were faced with the choice of draft or not fight war, they might be more inclined to slow down. Nobody wants to be drafted, and drafts instigate even more civil disobedience.

The more you think about the little things that go into supporting government and war, the more ways you'll have to fight personally for what you believe in - peace and freedom. Usually this type of thought requires challenging established views - like the "against the war, for the soldiers" mentality that allows our army to recruit more victims. But in the end it will pay off.

Neal Zupancic

Don't Pay for This War!

Martin Luther King used to say "No one can ride your back unless its bent." It is time for the American people to unbend their backs and stop paying for a war that is robbing us of our sons and daughters, bankrupting the country, and creating so much anger against us in the world that we may be in greater danger of terrorism than ever before.

In the coming weeks, I will be researching and posting tips for reducing the amount of money we spend financing this immoral war. Please feel free add your comments and tips for liberating ourselves from the war mongers.

Realistically, it is impossible to entirely avoid contributing toward this war. If you buy a winter jacket, no doubt somewhere along the line, the federal government gets its cut. Still, the more your reduce your tax bill, the harder it is for Uncle Sam to finance the weapons that blow arms off of children.

I am offering a set of suggestions ranging from the highly conventional to the more radical.

1. Open a traditional IRA and contribute the maximum amount to it. You can deduct the amount of money contributed--up to $3, 000--from your taxes. If your purpose for opening an IRA is war tax resistance, don't open a Roth IRA as you cannot deduct money invested in these accounts from your taxes.

It is important to avoid investing this money with defense contractors. You may want to consider investing in mutual funds administered by Pax World Funds. Their website is located at http://www.paxworld.com. This company refuses to invest in military industries and favors investing in companies which are eco-friendly, have fair-hiring practices, and promote international development. Investing in the stock market is always risky, but then again, so is war.

2. If you have children you are planning to send to college, you may want to open a Coverdell account, which is specifically set up to meet educational expenses. The money you contribute to these accounts is not tax-deductible, but money in the account grows without being taxed until withdrawal. In a conventional savings account, you would be required to pay taxes on the interest. While this is not a great way of avoiding taxes, it is better than sticking the money in a CD.

3. If you are an employee of a non-profit institution--like a school teacher--you can open a 403b. These accounts allow you to save much more than an IRA does. You can save up to $13, 000 a year and the money going into these accounts is not taxed until withdrawal. The programs available for investment vary from region to region and must be researched carefully.


4. Hang up on war. Refuse to pay the federal excise tax on your phone bill. Usually, there are two separate taxes, one for local service and one for long distance service. If your local and long distance service are provided by the same company, you have to look for the taxes in two places on the bill.

Every month when paying your phone bill, simply deduct the amount of the excise tax from the total due and pay the full bill minus the federal excise tax. Enclose a note with your check, explaining that you are refusing to pay the tax as a statement of opposition to the war. Ask that the company deduct this amount from your bill. The company will report to the IRS that you are not paying the tax. Usually, this report is done on a quarterly basis.

For more information, visit the website: http://www.hanguponwar.org/

Generally, the risk of doing this is small. The cost to the IRS of collecting such small sums of money is greater than the benefit; hence, they rarely pursue people engaging in this form of resistance.

5. Reduce your purchases. There are various kinds of taxes already hidden in the goods you buy. These are usually paid by the producers of those goods. By reducing your consumption, you are reducing the taxes you pay.

For more information, see the website of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee. http://www.nwtrcc.org/