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Not sure if this was posted b4 but here goes http://www.congress.org/congressorg/...ua_congressorg

The Draft will Start in June 2005

There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at 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.

$28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) 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 website: www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the sss 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 a permanent state of war on "terrorism"] proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft.

Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and HR 163 forward this year, http://www.hslda.org/legislation/na...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 civ 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.

Even those voters who currently support US actions abroad may still object to this move, knowing their own children or grandchildren will not have a say about whether to fight. Not that it should make a difference, but this plan, among other things, eliminates higher education as a
shelter and includes women in the draft.

The public has a right to air their opinions about such an important decision.

Please send this on to all the friends, parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and cousins that you know. Let your children know too -- it's their future, and they can be a powerful voice for change!

Please also contact your representatives to ask them why they aren't telling their constituents about these bills -- and contact newspapers and other media outlets to ask them why they're not covering this important story.

This will not happen.

I’m not all about ripping threads.. but this one… is just silly.

If the draft in the US happens..

I’ll pose personally for a playtime-shit-pic.

(is just that sure)

Discuss it as you will. (this will be a 23 page thread)

But it will never happen.

maybe you didnt get the memo, but,
if you are going to post on political
issues must you be negative and
anti-government.

dont go pissing management off.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquer...:@@@L&summ2=m&
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquer...:@@@L&summ2=m&
these were discussed, and generally dismissed, and since then the bills have been buried for over a year in committee, essenially killing them.

the alarmist link to the sss website is similarly silly, as, yes the system for activation is tested, but it has not "lain dormant for decades" - the test is to be baselined against the results of the last test, in 1999. in fact, the system is tested, reviewed, and updated every 5 years!

so, as tally said, i'll also pose for playtime to take some scheisse pics if this ever comes into law under this administration, or in the timeframe mentioned.

what is the problem if it is? i happen to think that it would be more fair if all people were required to serve in some capacity, whether it's in military or doing some other service. why shouldn't we give back to our country?

its a matter of choice, no one should be forced to do anything

..Our mass mentality and what our society aspires to isn't conducive to that line of thinking unfortunately...

so paying taxes should be completely optional too, yes?

in a perfect world yeah

I think it’s bollocks myself but if it
WAS to be passed (which it won’t)
it will be interesting to see all
these pro-war "patriot fries" being shipped off
to Iraq. Perhaps I’d take their
opinions a lot more seriously
if they where posting from an actual
military base. Practice what you
preach no?

I'm inclined to think that it shant happen, but if it does twill be sad, sad indeed. I'm already scared to death that so many of my peers, kids i went to school with, are over in Iraq.

I would like to believe that we still live in a free country.....so being required to serve a country who's policies you might not fully believe in is ridiculous. If this shit were to ever happen, I would be the first person to flee. Fuck that shit! And let's see how you feel when they draft your kids into the military.....do YOU honestly want them to fight in a war that is totally stupid and pointless?

refer to Israel. 2 years mandatory minimum...everyone except Hassidim.

i think we're too old for the draft anyway, think the cut off age is 25 or 26

many countries have compulsory military service (off the top of my head: germany, netherlands, china, north korea, switzerland, norway, finland, south korea, sweden, ....) it's actually more rare to find a completely volunteer service.

however, many of those countries also allow those that object to military service to serve in other ways (ie: compulsory community service)

i have read of many pros and cons of compulsory military service from people in the military (the claim that a volunteer soldier would fight better, be more supportive and willing to take orders, etc)

to play devil's advocate, thats sort of the point. much of america might think differently about our military actions if they knew their kids might actually have to do the dirty work

BOTH of my children WILL be serving in the military (although i hope that there will be peace first), but not in the US. i plan on stocking up on lots of xanax and ambien when the time comes

seriously, though, people in this country used to have this quaint idea that one should give something back to their country and to their community. when i suggest this kind of thing, it does not have to mean compulsory military service, but some kind of civil service, whether its working in the parks, working the land, working as teaching aids in schools, helping to construct infrastructure, etc. i think people should be taken out of their environment and put in a completely different one so they can see how people all over this country live. i also think people should know the country better. i was really impressed when i was in Israel the last time because i saw some army kids out in Tel Aviv with an instructor learning the history and culture of Israel. imo, this demonstrates a love of the land and culture that the US has really lost sight of.

on a related note, my 31 year old cousin was in Philly the other day, and she told me that was the farthest North she's ever been and i'm pretty sure she doesn't have a passport

*cough* Free-rider problem *cough*

that is what should happen here if the draft is reinstated, imo.

at least prevent people who would get exempted from military service (like myself) from getting off the hook completely.

let other people sacrifice so you can live in a free country.

must be nice to be so self absorbed.

or not.

oh and to the matter at hand this was legislation proposed by charles rangel and some other minority legislators to try to make a point that maybe evil white politicians wouldn't support any military conflict if there were a blind draft.

this was stupid.

My daughter will not be able to serve our country and I am sorry that she will not have that choice.

I was ready to work towards entering a service academy for my schooling. I got started in a different career before the academy.

Several of my close friends are in the military. Mitch is an Army helicopter pilot, his wife Sarah is in Military Intgelligence, Alex is M.I., Tim is Tank/Infantry, Kim is Infantry, Jason and his wife Colleen are both chopper pilots as well, Enoch is infantry.

These 8 people are putting themselves in harms way in my stead, and I have not the words or deeds to be able to thank them for what they do every day.

As a civ, I do what I can to support my friends in the different services, now mostly the Army. To those that don't support the people in our armed forces, even if you don't support the policies, make an effort to help support those that work for us.

Oh screw you.....I dont ask those people to join the military....they do it on their own accord, so that is not my problem. Self absorbed? Damn right I am! I live here-and it is my choice whether or not I want to go to fight in a war that I do not support. Not to mention, I dont want to have to worry about people like my brother, boyfriend, friends being forced to go to that shithole and fight in this stupid and pointless war-since none of them support it either. Again, let's see how you feel when they ship you off to Iraq smartass because people like you seem to think the draft is such a good idea.
Oh, and by the way-I may be self absorbed, but I still do things to help the community-not because I was forced to by some wanna-be-dicatorship that has infiltrated our government-but on my own because I enjoy helping people and giving back to my community, not that you would know anything about that since you do not know me

sometimes I may talk alot of shit, ands sway to the liberal side a bit, but when and if it came right down to it, I'd line up and serve my country if need be... like it or not, this country has provided a FREE society for you and others to live in, on the heels & backs of others who died to get you, me and millions of others here...

so you think that every single person serving in the IDF and IAF agree with what their government is doing with the West Bank and Gaza???

no...but they do their duty anyways and get KILLED doing it. and they know if that if they DON'T serve, their country will get pushed into the sea by the 6 countries surrounding it.

I'm really sorry that your friends have to fight in this war, and yes, I do appreciate those that are over there-I am not some heartless bitch that doesnt care....I'm actually very scared for them. At the same time though, I just cannot support this war at all. I dont think we have any right to be in that country, so when I hear things like they want to reinstate the draft, it bothers me because why should I have to fight for something I dont believe in?

hunny...you don't know what a dictatorship is...meaning: you've never SEEN AND/OR EXPERIENCED an actual dictatorship. despite our president being a bumbling free-wheeling idiot, we still live in a free society where you can speak out against him and his policies, and not worry about going to jail or being sentenced to death.

it's kind of a lot easier said than done in a country as large and diverse as this one... it would be more fair to compare israel to new jersey, size-wise, but even then new jersey has a higher population by about 30%.


when many of our states are larger than entire nations, in every aspect, it becomes all that much more amazing that we are as cohesive a nation as we are.

even despite the hate-filled rhetoric spewing from people like dj becka, there are other people who love what they have here enough to go out and fight for it... and rather than condemning those patriots, and spitting curses at them, she should be thanking them.

but she doesn't have to.

she can be as vile and venomous as she chooses, that's her right, that's what other people have fought and died to ensure as her right...

for all the mistakes made, i wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

who is 'they'?

apparently you didn't read carefully.

please define 'they'.

You are taking what I said way out of context-I know I've never seen or experienced a dicatorship, but with the way shit is going in this country, I am slowing watching certain freedoms being taken away from us here-and not liking it too much. Anyway, I'm staying out of this discussion from now on cuz I can already tell I'm just going to wind up pissed off today.....