John Hendrix » soldier’s

Ron Paul Gets More Donations From US Soldiers Than ALL Other Candidates Combined Including Obama!

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:57:43 +0000

September 29, 2011 MSNBC MOXNews.com

Why is it that leaking govt secrets, putting soldiers in danger, and hurting the nation is free speech?

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:00:16 +0000

but saying something that stirs up racial controversy is hate speech? Why is it okay to release classifed govt documents but not Obama’s college transcripts?

More Than 300,000 Children Are Actively Fighting as Soldiers

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 03:02:52 +0000

There is a staggering statistic that “At any one time, more than 300,000 children are actively fighting as soldiers with government armed forces or armed opposition groups worldwide. Almost half of the states engaged in warfare in 2002 were reported to use combatants under the age of 15. Children under the age of 18 are actively participating in hostilities in more than 35 countries worldwide – most are between the ages of 14 and 17, but some are as young as seven” (The Inter-Agency Planning Consultation on Child Protection in Emergencies, 2006). Debate raged in late 1990s about how to address the growing issue of children being used in conflict. The NGO working group in February 1997 issued a working document commonly known as the Paris Principles but fully titled The Paris Commitments to Protect Children from Unlawful Recruitment or use by Armed Forces or Armed Groups. The Paris Principles began the discussion in harmonization and creation of standards for groups working with armed children in conflict, and reintegration. The document also sets out an agenda by which the ngo group could advocate for the rights of armed children in conflict.

In April 1997, UNICEF and the Group of NGOs organized a conference in Cape Town, South Africa. The document that was produced from this meeting has become known as the “Cape Town Principles and Best Practices,” and was adopted at this symposium as the standard by which groups working with child soldiers or those groups working to prevent recruitment of child soldiers would focus their efforts. The main thrust of the Cape Town Principles was to encourage governments to:

Adopt a minimum age of 18 years should be established for any person participating in hostilities and for recruitment in all forms into any armed force or armed group. Adopt and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, raising the minimum age from 15 to 18 years. (Cape Town Principles).84 countries have since signed off on the Paris Principles on but other countries have refused.

It is important to understand why child soldiers are used and to explore ways in which child recruitment may be curtailed. The phenomenon is, however, very complicated. While some children are abducted and used by a fighting force, others join by choice. Given these realities the questions below may guide our discussion into the world of children in armed conflict.

John Nichols: Winter soldiers outshine sunshine patriots at Palin rally

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 08:15:49 +0000

John Nichols: Winter soldiers outshine sunshine patriots at Palin rally
I have attended a good number of tea party rallies, including the previous Tax Day rallies at the Capitol organized by Americans for Prosperity and its allies. (At last year’s rally, I spent a good bit of time joking with Scott Walker about columns I had written regarding him.) One did not need to agree with all the speakers to recognize that the Tax Day rallies of 2009 and 2010 were large …

Are the Mormon soldiers out tonight promotting their guy, Mitt Romney?

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 20:15:52 +0000

I see questions about Romney and McCain and though the answers seems to go somewhat both ways, the thumbs down for the pro McCain answers are vastly dispproportionate to the number of answers.

Supreme Court to rule on free speech in case of soldier’s funeral

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:59:53 +0000

Supreme Court to rule on free speech in case of soldier’s funeral
Summary for story goes here and here’s some morej summary to go with the story mary