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Rep. Charlie Rangel, Congress's lone champion of reinstating the military draft, can count on another Korean War-era vet for support: Republican James Baker, a soldier in the Reagan and Bush administrations. Baker, secretary of state during the first Gulf War, visited a private girls' school in Virginia, where he was asked how to attract kids into some kind of service that gives them a stake in the country's future. "This is a very unpopular thing that I am about to say," he warned. "But one thing that makes it harder to go to war is to have a draft, because...

Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Rosa DeLauro got together today to introduce four public-service bills in their respective chambers of Congress. National service was a major theme of President Barack Obama's ascent to office -- mentioned prominently in his inaugural address. This package of bills speaks directly to that topic, expanding service possibilities for all age groups. One bill would establish a summer program for kids to serve in an organized community project. Another would allow high-school students to spend a semester getting academic credit for volunteering. And a third would establish a national program encouraging people 55 and older...

A little-publicized Department of Defense Directive (Number 1404.10) establishes a "DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce" and rescinds a prior directive dealing with the emergency use of civilian personnel. The new 1404.10, dated January 23, 2009 -- just three days after the inauguration -- is effective immediately, and cancels the prior directive of the same designation ("Emergency-Essential (E-E) DoD U.S. Citizen Civilian Employees"), that was issued in 1992 under President Clinton. The 1992 directive specifically deals with overseas deployments of civilian personnel, and mentions the term "overseas" no fewer than 33 times. The new directive does not mention the term "overseas" in...

National service is often associated with patriotism, but the degree to which it becomes compulsory is the same degree to which it becomes involuntary servitude. Proponents of universal national service claim that it will bring this nation together and teach younger generations about what it means to be an American. Sadly, many Americans seem to believe those claims. Even with information that the program will be virtually mandatory and might lead to a new version of the draft, some Americans might shrug their shoulders and say "so what?" Well, there is much more wrong with national service than is immediately...

New York Representative Charles Rangel (D) says he plans to reintroduce his bill to reinstate the military draft. “It won’t be right away,” Rangel said. “We’ve got to get the stimulus package finished first. The climate of fear won’t last forever. We’ve got to get and spend this money before the political support dissipates.” A similar Rangel bill to revive the draft failed by a vote of 402-2 in 2004. Representatives John Murtha (D-Penn) and Pete Stark (D-Calif) were the only ones to vote for it. Rangel voted against it because “the risk of going on record in favor of...

Starbucks Coffee wants U.S. consumers to jump on president-elect Barack Obama’s volunteer bandwagon and pledge to join one of his community service corps. Obama and incoming first lady Michelle Obama want Americans to do community service the week of his inauguration Jan. 20. and commit this year to one of his so-called national service corps that will do volunteer work in schools and related to the environment. Starbucks said it will offer free “tall” coffee beginning Wednesday through Sunday for customers who fill out community service pledge cards at the coffee chain’s locations.

Thirty years ago, future U.S. Sen. Harris Wofford led the committee that concluded that year-long mandatory civilian-service programs were politically infeasible. Wofford, however, did not give up on the idea. And as the nation prepares to mark tomorrow's annual Martin Luther King Day of Service, maybe what was infeasible then is workable today. What's changed? The economy, for one thing. Consider City Year. City Year corps members, young adults ages 17 to 24, volunteer for a year of service in cities throughout the country - usually in public schools - and receive a college scholarship in return. It was described...

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) likely will introduce his controversial legislation to reinstate the draft again this year, but he will wait until after the economic stimulus package is passed. Asked if he plans to introduce the legislation again in 2009, Rangel last week said, "Probably … yes. I don't want to do anything this early to distract from the issue of the economic stimulus." Rangel's military draft bill did create a distraction for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) soon after Democrats won control of Congress after the 2006 election. In the wake of that historic victory, Pelosi said publicly that...

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) likely will introduce his controversial legislation to reinstate the draft again this year, but he will wait until after the economic stimulus package is passed. Asked if he plans to introduce the legislation again in 2009, Rangel last week said, “Probably … yes. I don’t want to do anything this early to distract from the issue of the economic stimulus.” Rangel’s military draft bill did create a distraction for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) soon after Democrats won control of Congress after the 2006 election. In the wake of that historic victory, Pelosi said publicly that...

Media commentary today and in recent days indicates that there is the possibility that the Obama White House will reinstitute the draft as part of its “stimulus plan” to “create” several million new jobs in the U.S. One wonders how the idealistic, youthful, leftist Obama voters — most of whom don’t even know the names of the capitals of their own states, let alone the capitals of foreign countries — will react to conscription. A principle of liberty is that the armed forces should be composed of volunteers. The U.S. military embraces this position as well, arguing, for decades, that...

Obama Jobs Program: The Draft? January 5, 2009 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: John, Palm Springs, California, you're next on the Rush Limbaugh program. Hello, sir. CALLER: Hey, Rush, it's always a pleasure. This is the second time in the history of man I've spoken to you. Let's see, just to not take away from your main themes but just a quick aside here, if you don't mind me tweaking you and striking a blow for those who are right, for it to mean something when we're right, and I believe I'm right about this, your characterization on the -- I...

Shortly after his election, President-elect Obama set up a new website, change.gov, to promote his future agenda. While most of this website contains the usual political jargon about innovative plans and hope, the section on community service has raised quite a few eyebrows. "The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation's challenges ... Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year..." You read...

STARBUCKS promotes GOOD National Service. Step into any Starbucks this week and pick up the Free Starbucks GOOD newsletter No 010 November 13-19, 2008. GOOD NATIONAL SERVICE....What can you do for your country? Quote" As always, AMERICA, Love it or FIX IT. (I guess that little old constitution is obsolete) I asked my Barista if he knew about the compulsory civic service. I asked my Barista if he knew about service for tuition I asked my Barista if he knew about public allies at www.publicallies.org Poor guy fixed himself with a treble shot full milk late with caramel and honey...

Yes, I mentioned that Rahm Emanuel has proposed, in his book "The Plan", that young people, between the ages of 18 and 25, be enlisted for 3 months of civilian service. They would report for basic civil defense training in their state or community to learn what to do in the event of biochemical, neclear, or conventional attack. On WMAL Radio, Washington, DC, this morning, I heard Chris Plante tell people about this book and about Emanuel's youth training. He played a radio snip of Obama saying that "this youth corps should be as strong and as well-financed as our...

NICARAGUA Ortega’s “Councils of Citizen Power” CUBA Fidel’s “Committees For Defense of the Revolution” PANAMA Noriega’s “Dignity Batalions” VENEZUELA Chavez’s “Popular Defense Units” HATI Papa Doc's National Security Volunteers, commonly called the Tonton Macoutes CHINA Mao's Red Guards IRAN Ayatollah's Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution

In 2006, at the Regency Hotel in Manhattan, NY Daily News reporter Ben Smith interviews Rahm Emanuel about his book, "The Plan." Emanuel explains his plan for mandatory civil service training.

Rahm Emanuel, Obama's Chief of Staff appointee, talked to NY Daily News reporter Ben Smith in 2006 about his mandatory civil service plan. The idea was detailed in Emanuel's co-authored book, The Plan. This Socialist National Civilian Security Force is exactly what Obama was talking about on the stump this year. Here is the audio from that interview:

2006 NY Daily News Podcast Interview With Rahm Emanuel On Compulsory Service Plan, Will Media Ignore Again? **Updated with more transcription 11/12/08

In a 2006 interview with Ben Smith of the NY Daily News, Rahm Emanuel, who will be Barack Obama's White House chief of staff, laughed at Smith's concerns about how far-reaching a mandatory civil-service plan would be. UPDATE FULL VIDEO AVAILABLE THE OTHER ONE HAD AN ERROR

Rahm Emanuel, Obama's Chief of Staff, in a revealing discussion about Obama and the Democrats coming MANDATORY CIVIL SERVICE PLAN Rahm laughs at the reporters concern at how far reaching the Mandatory Civil Service would be.

WASHINGTON -- A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist or fascist dictatorship. "It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he's the one who proposed this national security force," Rep. Paul Broun said of Obama in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. "I'm just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may -- may not, I hope not -- but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism." Watch out,...

Obama's civilian defense force, that is ‘as well funded as the militaryDoes anyone know if a state controlled militia is legal under the constitution without succession?I did a search and found nothing. This is an offshoot of another thread, "Rep calls Obama a Marxists".

Obama is touting an armed "national civilian security force" to rival the U.S. military and mandatory "community service" for all children. Obama's paid "digital brown-shirts" dominated the internet throughout the 2008 election cycle silencing or countering all anti-Obama news stories, often before they even came out, resulting in the election of a man people know literally nothing about. A sense of civic duty and voluntary civil service has always been a good American idea. Involuntary service forced at gun-point, is something quite different. Obama has no personal military, intelligence or security experience and his "community service" experience is limited to...

There is a raging storm brewing over the ever changing content of the America Serves section Obama’s president elect website http://change.gov/. The short version of the story is that at the first whiff of outrage to Obama’s required service programs web pages have been changed quicker than the sheets at the Emperors Club. The programs have been described from being called a draft to slavery.

Preparing for the Obama EraBush Officials and President-Elect Working Together On Pressing Issues By Robert Barnes, Dan Eggen and Anne E. Kornblut Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, November 9, 2008; A01 Faced with one of the most important transfers of presidential power in American history -- amid wars on two fronts, the looming threat of terrorism at home and a full-blown economic crisis -- the outgoing Bush administration and the incoming Obama team have responded with exceptional cooperation on those issues, aides and outside experts say. **SNIP** The Obama team has begun submitting names to the FBI for expedited security...

"We finally had a glimpse of what the President-Elect wanted to accomplish, and now that glimpse is gone as soon as we started scrutinizing the specifics…." Take a look at this unbelievable story! Spread it around!!!

"The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by...

The name “City Year” reflects the idea that just as young people enroll in a freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year at school, so too should they be challenged to dedicate themselves to a “city year” of full-time service, idealism, civic engagement, and leadership development. (SNIP> Twenty years ago, City Year was founded by Michael Brown and Alan Khazei, then-roommates at Harvard Law School, who felt strongly that young people in service could be a powerful resource for addressing our nation's most pressing issues. Since 1988, City Year has been built on the belief that one person can make a...

What do you think about Barack Obama requiring community service? * Finally, our country takes responsibility. * It is an outrage! How is this freedom?

Yes we can -- draft your ass You know, I warn, and I warn, and I warn, and I warn, but nobody listens. Don't know what I'm talking about? Read on ... Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, President-Elect Obama's choice for chief of staff in his incoming administration, is co-author of a book, The Plan, that calls for, among other things, compulsory service for all Americans ages 18 to 25. The following excerpt is from pages 61-62 of the 2006 book: It's time for a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us. We propose universal...

VP candidate Joe Bien has (now famously) stated that Obama will be tested with an emergency shortly after taking office. He also claims that his supporters will not like his solution, and that his pole numbers will tank, but advised supporters that they wouldn't be happy. One of the scenarios could include deploying troops all over the globe. How an he manage a multi-front emergency? You guessed it.

Obama on the draft speaking at Columbia: But it’s also important that a president speaks to military service as an obligation not just of some, but of many. You know, I traveled, obviously, a lot over the last 19 months. And if you go to small towns, throughout the Midwest or the Southwest or the South, every town has tons of young people who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s not always the case in other parts of the country, in more urban centers. And I think it’s important for the president to say, this is an important obligation....

Obama: "But it’s also important that a president speaks to military service as an obligation not just of some, but of many. You know, I traveled, obviously, a lot over the last 19 months. And if you go to small towns, throughout the Midwest or the Southwest or the South, every town has tons of young people who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s not always the case in other parts of the country, in more urban centers. And I think it’s important for the president to say, this is an important obligation. If we are going into war,...

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MzBmNTg3YTQ5NWRiOWI1NTU0ZmU2YjhhMWFkZTU2Mzg= That's what some Hillary supporters think Joe Biden was talking about when he warned about the coming test under a President Obama and unpopular actions in response. Biden said: " . . .we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.” Recall that Obama has said: “But it’s also important that a president speaks to military service as an obligation not just of some, but of many. You know, I traveled, obviously, a lot over the...

Even as the U.S. confronts two long wars, neither Sen. John McCain nor Sen. Barack Obama believes the country should take the politically perilous step of reviving the military draft. But the two presidential candidates disagree on a key foundation of any future draft: Mr. Obama supports a requirement for both men and women to register with the Selective Service, while Mr. McCain doesn't think women should have to register. Also, Mr. Obama would consider officially opening combat positions to women. Mr. McCain would not. Read more here

At a town-hall event in New Mexico today, John McCain was asked about veterans' care, but the questioner added a provocative point at the end of her question. Take a look: (YouTube link) For those of you who can't watch clips online, a woman in the audience told the presumptive Republican nominee, "Senator McCain I truly hope you get the opportunity to chase Bin Laden right to the gates of hell and push him in as you stated on your forum. I do have a question though. Disabled veterans, especially in this state, have horrible conditions... I think it is...

On January 8th of 2003, Congressman Charles Rangel [D—NY] began an extensive campaign to bring back the military draft. He repeatedly submitted legislative bills to begin a military draft and compel all American men and women up to the age of forty—two to serve two years of military service. Under the Republican—controlled Congress, such bills went down to defeat. One of the few notable supporters of the draft was Congressman John Murtha [D—PA]. Congressman Murtha reportedly is preparing to campaign to take over the highly influential position of House Majority Leader. Congressman Rangel is set to take over the House...

McCain says only World War III would justify draft 25 Jun 2008 00:47:58 GMT Source: Reuters - Only World War III would prompt Republican presidential candidate John McCain to bring back the military draft, McCain said on Tuesday. Many Americans are fearful the U.S. government will be forced to reinstitute the draft given the prolonged Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Asked about that possibility by a potential voter in Florida during a telephone "town hall meeting," McCain said: "I don't know what would make a draft happen unless we were in an all-out World War III." The United States ended its...

In a dramatic report, the New York Times has uncovered a conspiracy by the United States military to conscript children. Posing as male nannies, bow-tie wearing Republicans wisk away infants as their single mothers fulfill their dreams in exciting careers away from the drudgery of traditional home-based chores. They then force these babies into combat zones and cover up their misdeeds with the complicity of the right-wing hate media. This conspiracy came to light in today's Times. Buried deep inside a front page story detailing how George W. Bush has personally foreclosed on millions of American homeowners in order to...

Civic Platform to abolish military conscription in Poland 13.11.2007 10:49 The Civic Platform (PO) wants to speed up the process of professionalisation of the Polish military. Bronislaw Komorowski, speaker of the parliament, has said that Donald Tusk’s government will attempt to get rid of the Polish army’s main “affliction in the form of conscription”, as he put it. Komorowski is of the opinion that it may take only few years to get rid of compulsory military service completely. He has complained that the current defence minister Aleksander Szczyglo has not done enough to reform military service in Poland. “Every one...

LINCOLN — Sen. Chuck Hagel, speaking to an audience of Lincoln High School students, warned Tuesday that the nation may need to turn to compulsory military service "or some kind of draft" to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Questioned after his speech, Hagel, R-Neb., said he is not calling for reinstatement of the military draft. But he said the growing difficulty of maintaining an adequate volunteer military force is "a reality." "I'm just stating the obvious. At some point we're going to have to make a decision on how to attract a quality force," he said. Hagel, a...

WELLESLEY, Mass. — Senator Clinton is describing her opposition to the war in Iraq as an extension of Eugene McCarthy's position in the 1960s movement against the war in Vietnam. Mrs. Clinton's comments came at an energy-charged rally yesterday at her alma mater, Wellesley College. Her visit, the ostensible purpose of which was to announce a new Web site aimed at younger voters, hillblazers.com, created palpable excitement on campus. Hundreds of students lined up amid Wellesley's autumnal splendor for a chance to hear the speech of the 1969 graduate and then moved and bopped to the strands of Smash Mouth's...

Gen. Abizaid: No draft please By Mike Wereschagin TRIBUNE-REVIEW Wednesday, October 31, 2007 The military is stretched thin and the tangle of problems in the Middle East will take generations to unravel, but the former top U.S. commander in that region said this morning he still thinks a draft is the wrong way to go. "Young people need to figure out how to serve the country," said retired four-star Gen. John P. Abizaid, who spoke to the Trib this morning before a speech at Carnegie Mellon University.

Some Democrats have decided to try to transform the military draft into what the Social Security issue was 25 years ago. Time and time again since the late 1970s, Democratic candidates and campaign committees sought to win the votes of seniors by raising questions about whether Republicans would dismantle Social Security if they ever won control of Congress. The Democrats’ scare tactics on Social Security were not without basis. Republicans opposed the creation of Social Security, and for more than a decade, many conservative GOP candidates and high-profile officeholders, including former Rep. Newt Gingrich (Ga.), bashed the system and berated...

Nearly six years after 9/11, what's striking is how little has changed in America - and in its war effort. And yet if we can't change ourselves, what are the chances that we can change others? When President George W. Bush declares that the Global War on Terror is "the concentrated work of generations," one has to wonder if he really means it. Certainly there's been little concentration on effective war mobilization, and other countries have noticed. As we look back to study wars that the United States has won - and why - the most obvious metric is the...

Special contributor Jennifer Reynolds suggests that 2008 US Presidential candidate Ron Paul may be the only hope of avoiding a draft. The subject of a draft came into play this week. A top U.S. military officer in charge of co-ordinating the U.S. war effort in Iraq said yesterday that it makes sense to consider a return of the draft to meet the U.S. military's needs. Lieutenant-General Douglas Lute, said the all-volunteer military is serving "exceedingly well" and the administration has not decided a draft is needed. But in an interview with National Public Radio, he said, "I think it makes...

Aug. 12, 2007 The so-called war czar who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has once again raised the issue of whether or not America might consider reinstituting a military draft. "I think it certainly makes sense to consider it," Lt. Gen. Douglas Luke told NPR. "And I can tell you this has always been an option on the table. But, ultimately this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security one means or another." Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., is a long-time champion of the idea. The chair of the House Ways and Means Committee...

WASHINGTON — Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday. "I think it makes sense to certainly consider it," Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in an interview with National Public Radio's "All Things Considered." "And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table. But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another," Lute added in his first interview since...

Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan, says he is concerned about the toll the war in Iraq and extended deployments are taking on U.S. forces. The man who is widely known as the "war czar" also says that from a military standpoint, a return to a draft should be part of the discussion. On the ground in Iraq, Lute tells Michele Norris that there has been "demonstrable progress" on the security front. But on the political front, the Iraqi government is lagging behind, though he does cite progress at...

Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday. "I think it makes sense to certainly consider it," Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in an interview with National Public Radio's "All Things Considered." "And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table. But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another," Lute added in his first interview since he was...