tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post2298402071109848754..comments2023-12-17T19:35:07.459-08:00Comments on Bouphonia: Friday Hope BloggingPhilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15849261651028725772noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-80201950248239762512007-08-18T05:30:00.000-07:002007-08-18T05:30:00.000-07:00Not environmentally related, but I think this qual...Not environmentally related, but I think this qualifies as good news:<BR/><I>On this island with a long tradition of military service, pro-independence advocates are tapping the territory's growing anti-Iraq war sentiment to revitalize their cause. As a result, 57 percent of Puerto Rico's 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders, or their parents, have signed forms over the past year withholding contact information from the Pentagon -- effectively barring U.S. recruiters from reaching out to an estimated 65,000 high school students.<BR/>Antiwar advocates have even gained direct access to Puerto Rican classrooms under a controversial directive issued last September by Rafael Aragunde, the island's education secretary, granting "equal access" by pacifist groups and military recruiters. Although he will not bar recruiters from schools, Aragunde said, he has a "lot of sympathy" for what pacifist groups are trying to accomplish. "I've always felt that one of the byproducts of a good educational system is that you have citizens who will defend pacifism," he said. "I think that just like we have to insist on ecological values, we have to insist on pacifist values." Aragunde described his relations with military recruiters as "cordial."<BR/></I><BR/>From the WaPo, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/17/AR2007081702175.html?hpid=topnewsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com