FIELD NOTES

UNITED PROFESSIONALS: UP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership
organization for white collar workers, regardless of profession or
employment status. We reach out to all unemployed, underemployed and
anxiously employed workers -- people who bought the American dream that
education and credentials could lead to a secure middle class life, but
now find their lives disrupted by forces beyond their control.

Our mission is to protect and preserve the American middle class, now
under attack from so many directions, from downsizing and outsourcing to
the steady erosion of health and pension benefits. We believe that
education, skills and experience should be rewarded with appropriate
jobs, livable incomes, benefits and social supports.

UP fosters positive social change and delivers value to members through
information, advocacy and service. UP also provides a wide range of
unique benefits, including on-line support, employment and networking
leads, community and regional networks, voluntary supplemental
insurance, liaison with community groups and advocacy training.

http://www.unitedprofessionals.org/about.html

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INDICATORS
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AMERICANS LESS INTERESTED IN MILITARY ESCAPADES

JIM LOBE, INTER PRESS SERVICE - Five years after 9/11, the U.S. public
is considerably less enthusiastic about projecting military power
abroad, according to a major new survey. . . conducted by the Pew
Research Centre for the People and the Press . . . The most interesting
finding . . . appeared to be the growing public disillusionment with
U.S. military intervention. By a 45 percent to 32 percent margin,
respondents said they believed that the most effective way to reduce the
threat of terrorist attacks on the U.S. is to "decrease" rather than
"increase" Washington's military presence abroad. . . That finding marks
a "stark reversal" from the public's position on the first anniversary
of the 9/11 attacks. At that time, a plurality of 48 percent of the
public said expanding U.S. military deployments overseas was the best
way to protect against future attacks, while 29 percent called for
reducing such commitments.

Similarly, according to the new survey, 43 percent of respondents today
say they believed that "military strikes" against nations that were
trying to develop nuclear weapons was a very important way to reduce
future terrorism -- a reduction of 15 percent compared to a Pew survey
taken in October 2002 when Bush was trying to win Congressional approval
for a resolution authorizing him to take military action against Iraq. . .

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0907-08.htm

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