Posted on 09/17/2004 6:40:43 PM PDT by Wonderama
Hi fellow Freepers. I just got this e-mail from one of my misguided Liberal Dem friends. I don't know how to answer this, because, I don't know if it's true. Does anyone out there have some info on this? Is it a Democratic dirty trick, playing on the fears of mothers everywhere? I would love to reply to my friend with some concrete information. I know Israel has a mandatory draft, and it's a good thing, but I'm not sure how well it would go over here in USA.
Your help my lovable pj bloggers, is desperatly needed.
Mandatory draft for boys and girls (ages 18-26) starting June 15, 2005, is something that everyone should know about. This literally effects everyone since we all have or know children that will have to go if this bill passes.
There is pending legislation in the house and senate (twinbills: S89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin as early as spring, 2005, just after the 2004 presidential election. The administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed immediately. Details and links follow.
This plan, among other things, eliminates higher education as a shelter and includes women in the draft. Also, crossing into Canada has already been made very difficult.
Actions:
Please send this on to all the parents and teachers you know, and all the aunts and uncles, grandparents, godparents. . . And let your children know
- - it's their future, and they can be a powerful voice for change!
This legislation is called HR 163 and can be found in detail at this website:
http://thomas.loc.gov/
Just enter in "HR 163" and click search and will bring up the bill for you to read. It is less than two pages long.
If this bill passes, it will include all men and ALL WOMEN from ages 18 - 26 in a draft for military action. In addition, college will no longer be an option for avoiding the draft and they will be signing an agreement with the Canada which will no longer permit anyone attempting to dodge the draft to stay within it's borders. This bill also includes the extention of military service for all those that are currently active. If you go to the selcet service web site and read their 2004 FYI Goals you will see that the reasoning for this is to increase the size of the military in case of terrorism. This is a critical piece of legislation, this will effect our undergradates, our children and our grandchildren. Please take the time to write your congressman and let them know how you feel about this legislation.
www.house.gov www.senate.gov
Please also write to your representatives and ask them why they aren't telling their constituents about these bills and write to newspapers and other media outlets to ask them why they're not covering this important story. The draft $28 million has been added to the 2004 selective service system budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. Selective service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the Selective Service System annual performance plan, fiscal year 2004. The pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide. Though this is > an unpopular election year topic, military experts and influential members of congress are suggesting that if Rumsfeld's prediction of a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan (and permanent state of war on terrorism) proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft.
www.hslda.org/legislation/national/2003/s89/default.asp> entitled the Universal National service Act of 2003, "to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons (age 18-26) in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." These active bills currently sit in the committee on armed services. Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era. College and Canada will not be options. In December, 2001, Canada and the U.S. signed a "smart border declaration," which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in. Signed by Canada's minister of foreign affairs, John Manley, and U.S. Homeland Security director, Tom Ridge, the declaration involves a 30 point plan which implements, among other things, a "pre-clearance agreement" of people entering and departing each country. Reforms aimed at making the draft more equitable along gender and class lines also eliminates higher education as a shelter. Underclassmen would only be able to postpone service until the end of their current semester. Seniors would have until the end of the academic year.
What to do:
Tell your friends
Contact your legislators and ask them to oppose these bills Just type "congress" into the aol search engine and input your zip code. A list of your reps will pop up with a way to email them directly. We can't just sit and pretend that by ignoring it, it will go away. We must voice our concerns and create the world we want to live in for our children and grandchildren.
Go look at who sponsored the bills and get back to us.
Check these out. This is running through the home school community. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1219438/posts
Tell your lib friends to go see what political party is sponsoring the draft bills. But first get them to agree thatthe draft is bad idea and that no rational person would vote for that party.
Two words for your Dem friend: Chuck Rangel
It ain't gonna pass.
Are these the bills authored by Democrats Rangle and Hollings???
No one in the WH is talking about a draft,,,gotta look up that bill and see who is authoring it. This is being spread around the teaching community. I am not a teacher but I know of a couple people who have gotten these at there respective community colleges.
If you don't want a draft, vote Republican.
These are the sponsers of the bills.
Mr. RANGEL (for himself, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. STARK, and Mr. ABERCROMBIE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services .
Well Rangel I know is a crazy idealogue, but the other two, who know?
Sponsored by Democrats, without any Republican backing, without any backing of the President, mainly to try to embarrass the President.
Now being used by Democrats to start false rumors.
CBS must be involved.
Rangle is an ass it will not fly.
The draft is Charley Rangel's (D-NY) pet project. He wants to reinstate the draft so he can ressurect false Vietnam-era charges that the black soldiers get the most dangerous jobs, are discriminated against, etc. It was part of what I thought was a long-abandoned ploy to appear tougher than Bush on the war, co-opting his strength.
We're homeschoolers, and we've seen this spam.
The following was excerpted from a note I wrote to a friend who was freaked-out about this.
Relax. The House and Senate versions of these bills were introduced in January, 2003 (almost two years ago), in the previous session of Congress (the first session of the 108th Congress) by DEMOCRATS to panic people into going against George Bush and the policies of the current administration. The bill was deliberately written with language chosen to maximize parental horror. Look at the cast of characters sponsoring the House version of the bill. Charlie Rangel D-NY, Jim McDermott D-WA, John Conyers D-GA, John Lewis D-GA, Pete Stark D-CA, Neil Abercrombie D-HI. The Senate version of the bill was introduced to the Senate Armed Services committee by its sole sponsor, Ernest "Fritz" Hollings D-SC. The chance of a one-party sponsored bill getting out of any committee and onto the floor of Congress is miniscule. The chance of any Democrat-only sponsored bill by the abovelisted group of ultra-Left looney toons getting out of a committee chaired by a Republican is ZERO. Both versions of the Bill will certainly perish with the impending expiration of the 108th Congress this year. I'm sure if you contact Cong. Bass and Senators Gregg and Sununu, you will find that they have no intention of lending any support whatsoever to much of anything promoted by the nutcases that sponsored this piece of junk legislation. I'm not saying that a draft cannot happen. It still can. But I can all but guarantee that it won't look anything like the piece of work submitted by the Maoist Wing of the Democrat Party. Hope this provides a little comfort.
I believe the Leftists started circulating this stupid piece of crap just to get us to waste cycles worrying about it.
Fuggedaboudit.
Sure a draft is possible. So is getting hit by a comet. The comet is more likely so if you want to worry about something worry about that.
A quick search on 'draft' would have prevented this unnecessary posting. Typical scare mongering by dems has already been thoroughly debunked.
Also, the LAST Republican president to institute a military draft was Abraham Lincoln. Otherwise, it's always been a Democrat.
S89 is from Fritz Hollings
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c108:./temp/~c108gyvquN
Here's a comment on it from Pete Starks in January of 2003!!! It is the Rangel/Conyers bill. I know Rangel is a Democrat, gotta look at Conyers.
It is a scare tactic by the DNC.
The draft could happen under any administration.
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