Of course I will inform the viewers that it was Charles Rangel (D) and Fritz Hollings (D) as soon as I tell them that Bush's National Guard Documents were faked.
/sarcasm off
Posted on 09/29/2004 9:27:21 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Five weeks before the election, CBS decided to give legitimacy to Internet rumors by devoting a "What Does It Mean to You?" segment to "fears" of a supposedly Bush-supporting mother that President Bush will impose a military draft. Dan Rather intoned: "A mother worries her son will be drafted. Does she have good reason?" Richard Schlesinger focused his piece around how the mother "is petrified about a military draft, and she's not alone. Mass e-mails are circulating among worried parents." Schlesinger pointed out how both Bush and Kerry deny that they'd institute a draft, but the mother is "not buying it. She's a Republican, but she's also a single-issue voter." He asked her: "Would you vote for a Democrat?" She replied: "Absolutely. I would vote for Howdy Doody if I thought it would keep my boys home and safe." Schlesinger concluded with a warning: "She's a Bush supporter today, but if she doesn't like what she hears between now and November, Beverly could easily cross over."
Earlier, Schlesinger had given credence to her fear: "The machinery for a draft is already in place, and the acting director of Selective Service believes he could start drafting people quickly."
Dan Rather teased at the top of Tuesday's CBS Evening News, with the heading "Draft Fears" beneath video of the soon-to-be profiled Philadelphia mother at the dinner table with her two sons: "A mother worries her son will be drafted. Does she have good reason? We'll tell you where the presidential candidates stand on the draft in the election series, 'What Does it Mean to You?'"
Rather set up the eventual story, as checked by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth against CBS's posting of the text: "It's no secret, the all-volunteer U.S. military, especially the Army, Marines, and many Reserve units, are stretched thin in Iraq and Afghanistan. So what about bringing back the draft? A lot of Americans are worried about that. Where do the presidential candidates stand? CBS's Richard Schlesinger tells you in the 'Eye on America' election series 'What Does it Mean to You?'"
Schlesinger began, over video of Beverly Cocco working as a school crossing guard: "Beverly Cocco has spent most of her life protecting children in Philadelphia. She usually worries about other people's kids. But as Election Day approaches, it's her own two grown sons who Beverly is most worried about."
Beverly Cocco, identified on screen as a "Pennsylvania voter," inside her home: "I go to bed every night and I pray, and I actually get sick to my stomach. I'm very worried. I'm scared. I'm absolutely scared. I'm petrified."
Schlesinger: "Beverly is petrified about a military draft, and she's not alone. Mass e-mails are circulating among worried parents. But neither President Bush nor John Kerry has said he will re-institute the draft. In fact, they both say they will not."
John Kerry, in May: "I will give us a foreign policy that absolutely makes it unnecessary to have a draft for this country."
Schlesinger: "Kerry says he'll try to get allies of the U.S. to send troops that could relieve American soldiers in Iraq. The Bush administration says that is pure fantasy. The President wants to train more Iraqi troops to take over for the Americans."
George W. Bush: "The war on terror will continue. It's gonna take a while. And no, we don't need a draft." Schlesinger: "But Beverly's not buying it. She's a Republican, but she's also a single-issue voter. Would you vote for a Democrat?"
Cocco: "Absolutely. I would vote for Howdy Doody if I thought it would keep my boys home and safe."
Schlesinger: "In fact, there are at least three votes in this house riding on the draft: Beverly's and her sons Carmen and Nick. Are you guys worried about being drafted?"
Nick Cocco, college senior, inside their home: "Yeah, it's the talk, there's the talks there, and though people aren't actually coming out and saying it, it's there."
Schlesinger: "The machinery for a draft is already in place, and the acting director of Selective Service believes he could start drafting people quickly."
Jack Martin, Selective Service system: "I think that we could do it in less than six months if we got the call."
Schlesinger: "This time there would be no long deferments for college students, and a lot more people could be eligible for the draft than ever before -- men and women aged 18 to 26 could be called up. Of course, there hasn't been a draft since 1973. But that's not much comfort to Beverly Cocco. So she's keeping a sharp eye on the political traffic. She's a Bush supporter today, but if she doesn't like what she hears between now and November, Beverly could easily cross over. In Philadelphia, I'm Richard Schlesinger for 'Eye on America.'"
For the CBSNews.com version of the story, with pictures of the Cocco family:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/28/eveningnews/main646055.shtml
As a Howdy Doodie and Doodieville fan, I am offended by this woman implying that Kerry could be a leader on par with Howdy Boy. Shame on CBS! They are jealous cause NBC had Howdy who was always pro-American, pro-Wonder Bread, and reminded boys and girls to attend church on Sundays.
Notwithstanding recent stories in the news media and on the Internet, Selective Service is not getting ready to conduct a draft for the U.S. Armed Forces -- either with a special skills or regular draft. Rather, the Agency remains prepared to manage a draft if and when the President and the Congress so direct. This responsibility has been ongoing since 1980 and is nothing new. Further, both the President and the Secretary of Defense have stated on more than one occasion that there is no need for a draft for the War on Terrorism or any likely contingency, such as Iraq. Additionally, the Congress has not acted on any proposed legislation to reinstate a draft. Therefore, Selective Service continues to refine its plans to be prepared as is required by law, and to register young men who are ages 18 through 25.
http://www.sss.gov/
Lets Roll people! Rathergate style!
Lets get this around the blogosphere and let it chew on the issue for a while and keep the story alive till it finally topples CBS!
What has happened to America? The worst thing that ever happened to this country was getting rid of the draft. My husband was drafted during the Berlin Crisis and the Cuban missle Crisis and I followed him to Ft. Riley KS with only my last allotment check (91.30)in my purse. (he made only 25.00 as a pfc.) We paid 75.00 rent, 25.00 reduced car payment, with 16.30 left over to eat and buy gas for a month. My mother was hysterical when I left to drive 13 hours in an old car (with very bad tires) through a snow storm to Manhatan,KS, but I was in love and I had the ridiculous notion that no one in America starved to death. (Little did I know) For two years we had a crash course in "the real world." That was 43 years ago, and to this day still think it was the best thing that ever happened to us.
GWB may need to address this to allay the fears of these types of voters.
Of course I will inform the viewers that it was Charles Rangel (D) and Fritz Hollings (D) as soon as I tell them that Bush's National Guard Documents were faked.
/sarcasm off
Cohen:"Republican Keynoter Zell Miller Said Draft May Be Necessary to Win War on Terror - "Of all the surprises of 2004, perhaps the biggest has to be the prominent mention of Wendell Wilkie by Republican keynoter Zell Miller, perhaps the only U.S. Senator to whom the hoary term "Dixiecrat" now applies"..."(I am active in Philadelphia's Parents Against the Draft; see stopthedraft.meetup.com" to sign up)"(This could be a source of the "draft scare" info put out by Democrats.)
Cohen writes: "Advocates of a draft are the kind of people who give idealism a bad name. It is one thing to advocate something that has never been tried before. It is something else to advocate a failed program of the past that is being abolished or scaled down in country after country."
Comment to Cohen in his blog report: Hello Mr Cohen!
"I know you frequent the GFA blog and I recall you that you attended the Progressive Dems Convention in Boston- I was there also!...........
The 60's changed the thinking in America on the draft issue..the Kerry/Fonda movement and testimony..the Peace movement fed with misinformation from those like Kerry who in turn put war protesters up to testifying on atrocities (they never witnessed). They burned the flag..held it upside down. Called out military "baby killers" (the drug culture also made the influence easier).
They still use scare tactics to obtain their cause.
Did I say I admire you? "I admire you!"
Need to copy Cocco's info to Hannity etc.
Good post.
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SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/164693_draft13.html
Agency initiates steps for selective draft
Congress shows little support for effort to draw skilled Americans
Saturday, March 13, 2004
By ERIC ROSENBERG
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- The government is taking the first steps toward a targeted military draft of Americans with special skills in computers and foreign languages.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is adamant that he will not ask Congress to authorize a draft, and officials at the Selective Service System, the independent federal agency that would organize any conscription, stress that the possibility of a so-called "special skills draft" is remote.
Nonetheless, the agency has begun the process of creating the procedures and policies to conduct such a targeted draft in case military officials ask Congress to authorize it and the lawmakers agree to such a request.
"Talking to the manpower folks at the Department of Defense and others, what came up was that nobody foresees a need for a large conventional draft such as we had in Vietnam," said Richard Flahavan, a spokesman for the Selective Service System. "But they thought that if we have any kind of a draft, it will probably be a special skills draft."
Flahavan said Selective Service planning for a possible draft of linguists and computer experts began last fall after Pentagon personnel officials said the military needed more people with skills in those areas.
A targeted registration and draft "is strictly in the planning stage," he said, adding that "the whole thing is driven by what appears to be the more pressing and relevant need today" -- the deficit in language and computer experts.
The spokesman said it could take about two years to "to have all the kinks worked out."
The agency already has a special system to register and draft health care personnel ages 20 to 44 in more than 60 specialties if necessary in a crisis. According to Flahavan, the agency will expand this system to be able to rapidly register and draft computer specialists and linguists, should the need ever arise. But he stressed that the agency has received no request from the Pentagon to do so.
Congress, which would have to authorize a draft, has shown no interest in taking such a step.
Kathleen Long, a spokeswoman for Sen. Carl Levin, the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said a draft has little support among lawmakers.
A spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, agreed. "There are massive operations under way to retrain soldiers" for more pressing duties and to recruit specialties in demand such as language experts, said Harald Stavenas, Hunter's spokesman.
The military draft ended in 1973 as the U.S. commitment in Vietnam waned, beginning the era of the all-volunteer force. Mandatory registration for the draft was suspended in 1975 but resumed in 1980 by President Carter after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. About 13.5 million men, ages 18 to 25, are currently registered with the Selective Service.
The military has had particular difficulty attracting and retaining language experts, especially people knowledgeable about Arabic and various Afghan dialects. To address this need, the Army has a new pilot program under way to recruit Arabic speakers into the service's Ready Reserves. The service has signed up about 150 people into the training program.
A Pentagon official familiar with personnel issues stressed that the armed forces are against any form of conscription but acknowledged that the groundwork is already under way at the Selective Service System.
On Capitol Hill, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has introduced a bill that would reinstate the draft. The legislation has minimal support with only 13 House lawmakers signing on as co-sponsors. A corresponding bill in the Senate introduced by Sen. Fritz Hollings, the outgoing South Carolina Democrat, has no co-sponsors.
See post #55!
http://www.nodnc.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=14&mode=nested&order=1&thold=0
Tuesday, September 28, 2004, just 3 weeks after the widely discredited story by 60 Minutes II using forged memos, CBS is back at it again. This time the claims are carefully crafted in such a way that they could easily be considered political propaganda. Goebbles might have been impressed.
CBS reporter Richard Schlesinger on the CBS Evening News ran a story related to the draft, clearly implying that the Republican administration under President Bush is going to invoke the draft to support military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dan Rather prompts the segment with:
It's no secret: The all- volunteer U.S. Military, especially the Army, Marines and many reserve units, are stretched thin in Iraq and Afghanistan. So what about bringing back the draft? A lot of Americans are worried about that. Where do the presidential candidates stand?
CBS names Beverly Cocco as a key maternal source in opposition of current congressional draft proposals. Only CBS leaves out crucial information about those congressional draft proposals and about Ms. Beverly Cocco's membership and involvement in "Parents Against the Draft."
After speaking with Ms. Cocco, she has expressed every parent's legitimate concern--, parents don't want their children forced into any war against their will, even a war they might agree with.
Ms. Cocco noted she was aware the congressional legislation on the draft was introduced and sponsored by democrats, "they're all democrats, all 14 democrats co-sponsored" the House legislation. When asked if CBS was aware of this, she noted "they know, they know, they had more information than me." She also noted that the interview lasted for a few hours and that she made it clear on several occasions that at the time of the interview, her vote, and the votes of her house were in favor of Bush.
Ms. Cocco went on to note that she had been getting very disturbing, hate-filled, and threatening e-mails. Most of these were related to the CBS spin on the story. Whether Ms. Cocco is republican or not is irrelevant, what is relevant is that she had made it clear, on repeated occasions to CBS, that she was a one issue voter and that the democrat support for the bills all but ensured her and her house's vote for Bush.
This story is important, not because of what Ms. Cocco's positions are, but because of how CBS does its news gathering and reporting. After the Rathergate episode it has become painfully obvious that CBS routinely uses "errors of ommission" in their reporting, such as not reporting that ALL of the draft bills were submitted by, and sponsored by, you guessed it, democrats. Further, by not noting clearly that Ms. Cocco's position in this story was as a one issue voter, unless something changed, she couldn't support a democrat because they sponsored the legislation and Republicans do not support it.
What CBS does can no longer be called News but, Rather propaganda. When consdering the Rathergate affair, it appears that the "gold standard" of CBS News reporting included:
1. Killian's family (his widow and son) had their objections ignored
2. CBS do*****ent experts were misrepresented and concerns dismissed
3. Hodges was misled
4. Killian's secretary was not interviewed until after the story, and then it was never noted that she had changed her previous position
5. Staudt, who had his character attacked in one memo, was never contacted
6. George Bush's National Guard roomate, who had the most accurate first hand knowledge and agreed to speak to CBS, was turned down because he was "too pro-Bush"
It would appear that CBS is no longer interested in news, but has become the political media wing of the democratic party. I for one would Rather know the truth, all of it, not the dissected peices that fit an anti-Bush political agenda.
It is especially unforatunate that every story CBS News runs now needs to be checked, double-checked, and verified again by outside sources. The controversy and scandals in CBS continue. Even when they try to be "fair" they just can't seem to report the facts when those facts might implicate the democrats they support.
How hard would it have been in this story to report that the controversy around the draft was centered on a discredited e-mail rumor? And how hard would it have been to report that the draft bills, S89 and HR163, were introduced by, and supported EXCLUSIVELY by democrats? Even Jacob Levich, a "progressive" left-winger, who notes he "is a founding member of People Against the Draft," (Beverly Cocco's organization) recognizes, with significant support from Kerry Campaign do*****entation, that it is almost certain that Kerry will introduce the draft. For the record, Mr. Levich's peice makes a case that either Presidential candidate would introduce the draft, however, only do*****ented proof is offered for the Kerry campaign as a proponent of draft legislation.
Draft Impeachment Resolution Against President George W. Bush
___________________________________________________________________
CounterPunch
January 17, 2003
by FRANCIS A. BOYLE
professor of law, University of Illinois School of Law
Impeaching George Walker Bush, President of the United States, of high crimes and misdemeanors.
See Link for particulars..............
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All Stop the Draft Meetup Groups
Meet other local people who want to Stop the Draft in the US. Organize with others to discourage the reinstatement of the draft and help set up an infrastructure to help people avoid a reinstated draft.
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So we have some serious activity it seems here in Southern California:.
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Orange County Stop the Draft Meetup Group
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