no way out

Let's review. Educational social programs that offer lower-income and first-generation students a route through college to the middle class are being savagely crushed. Meanwhile, under No Child Left Behind, military recruiters have unfettered access to all students' contact information, and they're not afraid to use it:

Recruiters are up-front about their plans to use school lists to aggressively pursue students through mailings, phone calls, and personal visits -- even if parents object. "The only thing that will get us to stop contacting the family is if they call their congressman," says Major Johannes Paraan, head U.S. Army recruiter for Vermont and northeastern New York. "Or maybe if the kid died, we'll take them off our list."

So the new budget closes every door out of Flipburgers, Texas but one. And only the military recruiters hold the key to that door.

Next stop: the Draft?

SPACEDARK