Free Republic

ON Friday we learned that the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent last month and that the economy lost 263,000 jobs. I have been unemployed since February. I have also been incredibly busy. My last job lasted one afternoon. I showed up at a large parking lot in a semi-remote area with a group of other job seekers. In a large area cordoned off with orange traffic cones, we walked around wearing fake suicide bombs and emitting low-level radiation. Our job was to test bomb-detection equipment. I earned $44. After that, even temporary work petered out. I am not unemployable....

Another chestnut dug up by The One’s bete noire at Naked Emperor News, destined to be the inspiration for a new lederhosen segment on “Glenn Beck.” You might recall that this issue’s come up before in the context of Obama’s campaign: For a few days after the election, Rahm Emanuel’s stated fondness for mandatory national service was a hot topic on righty blogs, especially after the Obama transition website posted an entry on national service “requiring” 50-100 hours per year from students. After the outcry from the ’sphere, the “requirement” language was quietly replaced by more ambiguous language about “setting...

Kate Puzey settled into the West African nation Benin almost two years ago as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English. Relatives said she acclimated quickly, dining with local seamstresses and wise women, and attending a birthday party for a village child. Puzey, 24, wrote on her blog of witnessing a ritual circumcision and anticipating the start of mango season in April. So her parents, Harry and Lois Puzey of Cumming, were devastated to learn last week that someone had killed their only daughter. Her body was found Thursday outside her home in Benin.

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...

Stop the Bailout for Planned Parenthood Abortion groups have submitted their 50 page proposal to the Obama-Biden transition team. At the top of the list? More taxpayer dollars for abortion organizations like Planned Parenthood. How much more? Over 1.5 billion dollars more! The Abortion Bailout Package: * $1 BILLION dollars in taxpayer funding for International Abortion Groups * $700 million in taxpayer funding for “Title X” Health Clinics (aka your local Planned Parenthood affiliate) * $65 million for the UNFPA, an international aid organization connected to coercive abortion as part of China’s coercive one-child policy * Repeal the Hyde Amendment...

Report cites Frank's proposal to cut military 25% President-elect Barack Obama raised questions during an election campaign stop in Colorado Springs when he asserted the U.S. needs a "civilian national security force" that would be as powerful, strong and well-funded as the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force, but few of those questions have been answered. But now one report is proposing a possible solution for part of the equation: From where would the money for such an organization come? Democrats in Congress now are floating the idea of cutting U.S. military spending by 25 percent, or $150 billion a...

Barack Obama in his own words explaining how he wants to have a 'Civilian National Security Force' that will be "just as powerful, just as strong and just as funded" as our military.

From July 2008, Obama on video saying: "We cannot continue to relay only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We have got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful just as strong just as well funded." Agreed, Barak needs an American Stazi for the objectives he has set. YouTube Link

These are serious times," said Barack Obama recently. "And they call for a serious debate about where we need to take the nation.”[5] That's true! So where does he want "to take our nation?" How does his version of "service" fit his vision of CHANGE? And what will it cost in terms of freedom, privacy, taxes, and government control? There's nothing wrong with the old voluntary, personal service to the poor and needy. For centuries, Christian missionaries have given their lives and comforts to serve God among the sick, hungry and dying people in distant parts of the world. Others...

Today the campaign of presumptive Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama, (D-Ill) released sketchy details of their proposed "Civilian Security Force" to the press. Although he made this statement on July 2, 2008, no more information has been made public regarding this startling revelation despite almost nonexistent media pressure to do so: "We cannot continue to rely on our military to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded". Barack Obama, July 2, 2008. Through an anonymous spokesperson, it was stated, "The...

...Obama says that as president he will “set a goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students to perform 100 hours of service a year.” What he doesn’t say is that he’ll make such voluntarism compulsory by attaching strings to federal education dollars. The schools will make the kids volunteer. It’s called plausible deniability. In a commencement speech at Wesleyan University, Obama advised graduates not to pursue the American dream of success, but to serve others. “You can take your diploma, walk off this stage and...

Several people have sent a link to this post on the Time Magazine effort to push national service. In an addition to violating liberties on a massive scale, this program would be a colassal waste. It will rob young people of their most important years early in life, taking them out of productive work and making them less able to offer anything to the marketplace after: an extension of an already catastrophic system of publicly funded education, which already drains brain power and time. That both the left and right favor this scheme perfectly illustrates the intellectual bankruptcy and state-worshiping...

In Barack Obama’s July 2, 2008 speech calling America to national service, Obama proposed “a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as our military. This has prompted some in the blogosphere to raise the specter of a huge new domestic paramilitary organization. Others suggest that he may have been talking about our “current non-military security agencies - FBI, CIA, NSA, DEA, DHS, etc.” I think that both interpretations are probably wrong. If you listen to the whole speech –- or even the couple minutes before his security force proposal — I think...

Having had the pleasure of sitting in for Hugh Hewitt today on his radio show, much of the discussion centered around a peculiar riff by Barack Obama in a speech from July 2 -- one which, remarkably enough, is going unreported by the media. In a deviation from the speech's transcript as printed in the Wall Street Journal and the Denver Post, Barack added: We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as...

The staggering implications of another embarrassing Obama statement would remain unexplored, with the public record obscured, were it not for a video clip of one of his speeches posted to the web and alert internet journalists. As first developed by World Net Daily's Joseph Farah, the story is about what the candidate said in Colorado Springs on July 2nd: We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded. Published transcripts of the...

A video that the MSM won’t show you. In fact the Obama campaign doesn’t have it on their website and no transcript can be found for this speech in Colorado Springs. Peculiar… Unfortunately for the Obama campaign the speech can be had on YouTube. (Video Included)

BARACK OBAMA : July 2, 2008 Address: "A New Era of Service" University of Colorado - Colorado Springs, ColoradoObama: "New Era of Service" 7/2/08 speech: "Civilian National Security Force" genesis  (View video of entire speech on YouTube) (Prepared text of speech as released to the media) (Jump to "prepared" and "marked-up" versions of speech) In a recent article on WorldNetDaily ("Obama's 'Civilian National Security Force,'" July 15, 2008), Joseph Farah points out what, prior to his piece, no source in the mainstream media has discussed - one of numerous proposals contained in Barack Obama's July 2, 2008 speech - delivered...

The stunning comments from Democrat Sen. Barack Obama that the United States needs a "civilian national security force" that would be as powerful, strong and well-funded as the half-trillion dollar United States Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force have mysteriously disappeared from published transcripts of the speech. In the comments, Obama confirmed the U.S. "cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set." Campaign officials have declined to return any of a series of WND telephone calls over several days requesting a comment on the situation. Nor have they posted a transcript...

With all the reporters covering the major presidential candidates, it amazes me no one ever seems to ask the right questions. For several days now, WND has been hounding Barack Obama's campaign about a statement he made July 2 in Colorado Springs – a statement that blew my mind, one that has had me scratching my head ever since. In talking about his plans to double the size of the Peace Corps and nearly quadruple the size of AmeriCorps and the size of the nation's military services, he made this rather shocking (and chilling) pledge: "We cannot continue to rely...

On Thursday, we talked a lot about Liberal Fascism. Apparently, it wasn't a moment too soon. "[W]e are going to grow our foreign service, open consulates that have been shuttered and double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 to renew our diplomacy," said Obama. "We cannot to continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we have set. We have got to have a civilian national security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded." (link) LOL WUT? Obama's going to create a civilian national...

I count Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace among the fairest and most incisive interviewers in the business, and hope his tenure at Fox News is a long one. Anyone who can relentlessly cross-exam Mitt Romney on his changed position on abortion the way Wallace did a while back, then turn around and provoke Bill Clinton to near the point of taking a poke at him, is doing his job and playing no favorites. But should Wallace ever wish a change of venue, never fear: MSNBC apparently can find a place for him. Wallace made some news when, appearing on...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a cabinet-level office for volunteer service Tuesday that aims to raise the profile of volunteerism and emergency relief in a state beset by wildfires, earthquakes and other natural disasters. Schwarzenegger named Karen Baker, executive director of the governor's commission for volunteerism, as secretary of service and volunteering, the first such state cabinet position in the country, he said. Speaking in a crowded hall at Cal State Northridge, he said he hoped the change would inspire other states to establish similar offices around the country. He gave his wife, Maria Shriver, credit for pushing the idea to...

NASHUA, N.H. - Aiming to create the first generation in which all Americans serve their country, Democratic presidential hopeful Chris Dodd is offering a range of initiatives to encourage — and in some cases compel — community service. "All Americans should serve our country," the Connecticut senator said in remarks prepared for delivery Saturday. "Endowed as we are with so many gifts, is it too much to ask that we each give something back to this remarkable place?" He proposes making community service mandatory for all high school students, doubling the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 and expanding...

Forensic experts have yet to confirm that the body found in a remote mountain village in northern Philippines is that of American Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell, who has been missing since April 8. And yet grief and disbelief have started to hit Campbell's friends and colleagues here and abroad. Page, a water sanitation technician and Campbell's Peace Corps "sitemate," reported the reaction of fellow volunteers assigned in Legazpi City in Albay to the news of the body's discovery in Batad village in Banaue, a town famous for its rice terraces, in Ifugao province. In an entry titled "Impermanence," posted...

An Army officer who was born and raised in Honolulu is refusing to go with his unit to Iraq because he says the basis of the war is illegal and immoral. 27-year-old First Lieutenant Ehren Watada is with the Stryker unit out of Fort Lewis, Washington. Watada is the son of former state Campaign Spending Commission executive director Bob Watada. "I feel that we have been lied to and betrayed by this administration," Watada said Tuesday in a telephone interview with the Seattle Times from Fort Lewis. "It is the duty, the obligation of every soldier, and specifically the officers,...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - A 38-year-old Santa Cruz man pleaded guilty Wednesday to having sex with a minor overseas while working with the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, prosecutors said. Timothy Obert admitted to sexually abusing a 14-year-old minor while volunteering with the Peace Corps. The U.S. government invoked the Patriot Act to give it jurisdiction. Obert faces as many as 15 years in prison when sentenced in federal court here later this year. Congress hurriedly passed the Patriot Act in the weeks following the 2001 terror attacks, and the measure broadly expanded the government's wiretapping and surveillance authority....

PEACE CORPS-KILLING COVER UP?Jan 26, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.comby staff reportsOver a quarter century ago, a Peace Corps worker was murdered in the Kingdom of Tonga, allegedly by a co-worker. The defendant was tried there and released, but the story has resurfaced with the publication last year of a book dealing with the issue. The author of the book and the victim’s father believe that the Corps has been less than forthcoming. The (Tacoma) News Tribune reports that U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Belfair) is looking into whether or not the case should be reopened. Philip Weiss, author of “American Taboo” stated...

Date: Friday, October 15, 2004 6:04:37 PM EST By GAURAV GHOSE WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- More Muslim countries are asking to be hosts for Peace Corps volunteers, which the agency's director says will help promote global peace and cross-cultural understanding. About 1,500 Peace Corps volunteers are serving in 18 Muslim countries, out of the more than 7,500 Peace Corps volunteers who are serving in 71 countries. And there are 13 Muslim countries that have made a formal request to host programs and are waiting for the Peace Corps' decision. "These (Muslim) countries, I believe, want to better understand America,...

So, it is high time for another accursed mass email update, now that things are changing. It should tell everyone that I might not be coming home… I just interviewed for a job on Thursday with OPE. OPE is an agency that is under contract from the State Dept to process West African refugees on their way to the States… basically I’d sit in an office with a computer and a translator to interview refugees and get all their demographic data for the applications. The job would require me to travel for 6 of every 8 weeks all over West...

Revive the Conservative Revolution by Stephen Moore Posted May 21, 2004 This summer, the famous Contract With America that swept Republicans into power in Congress in January 1995 turns ten years old. The contract was a bold and sweeping agenda to change the way government works in Washington. It included 10 major provisions, including welfare reform, rules to force Congress to live under the same laws as the rest of us, term limits, tax cuts, and, most importantly, budget reduction. In the memorable words of Newt Gingrich, the Republican revolutionary who inspired and led the Contract With America Revolution, Republicans...

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Idealistic Americans can help heal the damage from the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq (news - web sites) by serving on the international aid frontlines with the Peace Corps, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) said on Saturday. In a commencement address at historically black Southern University in New Orleans, the decorated Vietnam veteran, who came back to the United States an anti-war activist, asked 670 graduates to reject "the cynicism that says you can't make a difference." "In the last days we've all seen photos of horrific abuses in an Iraqi prison...

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico has broken a decades-old tradition of rejecting U.S. aid workers, granting permission for the first group of U.S. Peace Corps volunteers ever to work here. Mindful of national sensitivity over U.S. influence, though, the government plans to keep the group out of public view. Still, for a country that has kicked out or criticized U.S. experts in the past - and for one touchy about being viewed as underdeveloped - it's a big change. The first 15 volunteers, scheduled to arrive this summer, won't be performing the Peace Corps' usual tasks in construction, rural schools,...

All her life, Heather Uber loved adventure and the outdoors, so when her older daughter joined the Peace Corps and moved to the West African nation of Cameroon in September 2002, Uber eagerly made plans to travel there. But that visit ended tragically Thursday morning when Uber, a 55-year old mother of four, was killed by a rampaging elephant while visiting a wildlife park with her husband and daughter. Uber, of Point Breeze, suffered internal injuries when she was knocked down by the elephant, which suddenly charged at the group from a distance of about 40 feet, said Ned Uber....

Problems arise when volunteers get caught up in Cape Verde cultureISLAND OF SAL, Cape Verde-European tourists dressed in the latest swimwear tan along the wide Atlantic beaches. At an outdoor club in the capital of Praia, on the island of Sao Tiago, men strumming acoustic guitars entertain customers sitting atop a cobblestone patio, a scene from a waterfront cafe in Seattle or a jazz club in the New Orleans French Quarter. This series of islands, which together are about the size of Rhode Island, sits 300 miles off the African coast, but it's nothing like the rest of the continent:...

Teen says father berated him BUT WHY HE KILLED MOTHER IS A MYSTERY By Tom Lasseter HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER COLUMBIA - At the age of 16, Blake Walker shot his parents to death in their home last year, emptying the clip of a 9mm rifle, because he said he could no longer stand his father's constant criticisms about his life, friends and housework. In Adair Circuit Court yesterday, Walker, crying and shaking a little, apologized for the Dec. 8 murders. He loved his father, Walker said, but they never got along. In a statement he wrote for the court, Walker...

PC Peace Corps -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: August 19, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com George Bush's Peace Corps is contributing your hard-earned tax dollars to the cause of cultural revolution – specifically the promotion of the radical homosexual political agenda. One recent example is a proclamation by Bush's Peace Corps director, Gaddi Vasquez, designating June as "Gay and Lesbian Pride Month" in his agency. "Pride Month is a time to appreciate and celebrate contributions that Gay and Lesbian [Americans] have made to our society," Vasquez said in making the proclamation. "The Peace Corps is committed to maintaining a diverse workforce...

PC Peace Corps Posted: August 19, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com George Bush's Peace Corps is contributing your hard-earned tax dollars to the cause of cultural revolution –specifically the promotion of the radical homosexual political agenda. One recent example is a proclamation by Bush's Peace Corps director, Gaddi Vasquez, designating June as "Gay and Lesbian Pride Month" in his agency. "Pride Month is a time to appreciate and celebrate contributions that Gay and Lesbian [Americans] have made to our society," Vasquez said in making the proclamation. "The Peace Corps is committed to maintaining a diverse workforce reflective of...

I've only been stationed at my Peace Corps site for a month now --Katierela, a village of 700 in Mali's South -- but I've already run into a serious problem. You see, I am a closet bean-eater. Even when they catch me red-handed (or bean-handed), I have to deny it, of course. "No, I don't eat beans," I say, taking another forkful. "You eat beans." Illogical as such an exchange may seem, the words represent one of Mali's most important traditions, as well as the basis for its stability and famous hospitality: the "joking cousins" relationship. Like many African countries,...

Amid threats by some of President Bush's conservative supporters to bolt the Republican Party for appeasing homosexual activists, several federal agencies are observing "Gay and Lesbian Pride Month." A June 3 memo from the Interior Department's J. Michael Trujillo said the agency "will recognize the many achievements and contributions made by Gay and Lesbian Americans" in a special observance this month. A memo issued by Lou Gallegos, the Department of Agriculture's assistant secretary for administration, said the agency has included sexual orientation in its nondiscrimination policy statement since 1993. "However, preventing discrimination is not enough; diversity should also be celebrated."...

LIMA, PERU - Amid heightened security following last week's explosion outside the US Embassy here, President Bush's arrival Saturday marked the first visit to Peru by a sitting US president. The trip was billed as part of Mr. Bush's commitment to Latin America that has been sidelined since Sept. 11. And while the war on terror, drug trafficking, and free trade were the dominant themes of Mr. Bush's 17-hour stop, it was a much smaller announcement that held particular significance to Peru's President Alejandro Toledo: the return of the Peace Corps to Peru following a 27-year absence. As a young...

When I think of the Peace Corps I think of a bunch of 60s hippy peace-niks running around saying that we shouldnt build anymore tanks because we need to work towards 'peace' and not provoke anyone with our war machine as if we are the antagonizers and want to control the world. Would this observation be accurate and if not could you all fill me in.