ummm...is this a bill on the draft?

[McKenzie]

I found this linked on another site and it looks, and I stress "looks", like a bill for the military draft. The date it was presented was 14 February 2006.

I might be missing something and the bill might never have been progressed any further. What's troubling me is that something like this would have been spotted long before now by alert DU'ers but I can't recall any discussion in here on the bill. And I'm assuming it is from a genuine source, judging by the URL.

Don't shoot the messenger if I've goofed up (there's a pun in there somewhere and it's not a particularly funny one either)

The purpose of the bill is stated as>>>

<snip>

"To provide for the common defense by requiring all persons in the United States, including women, between the ages of 18 and 42 to 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."

</snip>

Does anyone on DU know anything more about this?

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.4752.IH:

edit - layout of post

[Waya]

1. That's how I read it......

[Drum]

2. more discussion here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1306091
from overnight.

[McKenzie]

3. sorry people - I missed that so it's a repost - d/l if need be mods n/t

[Drum]

5. no sweat

just pointing ya to more discussion on-going.
multiples seem to happen all the time
-Drum (who is not a mod.)

[Wilms]

4. Rangel. a Dem, sponsored it.

He seems to think that a draft hanging over the head of ALL Americans between the age of 18 and 30-something, will make people sit up and pay attention to something other than their SUV and the silly bumper stickers they place on them.

I tend to agree.

[MadMaddie]

6. He is right....but what will happen is the Repugs will torpedo

this legislation and come up with their own version...because seriously they can't come up with anything on their own...and in their bill they will have so many exceptions for the rich that once again....it will fall on the middle class and poor to meet the requirements.....

[NYC]

7. Middle class makes a difference.

When the middle class started getting drafted (no exemptions), people took notice, and the protests increased.

Edit: I'm referring to the Vietnam war.

[MadMaddie]

10. I agree....

[AndyTiedye]

11. But They Will Protesting Against the DEMOCRATS

What makes you think that Democrats can put through the draft
and Republicans will get the blame for it?

If this bill passes, all the blame will fall on our party,
and we will be run out of Washington completely in the next election.

[NYC]

13. I don't think they will put through the draft.

I don't believe either side would vote for it.

[Coastie for Truth]

14. The REAL opposition to the VietNam War heated up with

• The end of graduate school deferments (1968 - with exceptions)
  
• Activating "Berry Plan" doctors before they had completed spedcialty training -- (The "Berry Plan" was a "sign up now for delayed active duty" plan where medical students would enlist in the Military, and the Military would allow the medical student to continue his or her postgraduate training to a specialty, and then promise the physician that he or she would practice in that particular specialty - but they had already "enlisted")
  
• The Tet Offensive (1968)
  
• My Lai (1968)

But the "Biggie" for upper middle class, suburban, majority race kids from the suburbs was the end of graduate school deferments (and cutting PG3 and above for non-surgical specialties under the Berry Plan)

[AndyTiedye]

8. Support for The War and ** Couldn't Go Much Lower Anyway

Public support for the war is already at late Vietnam levels.
Public support for ** is already at Nixonian levels.

The people are paying attention.

Unfortunately, the people have been disenfranchised.

Most of the attention people are paying to their SUV at this point
is when are they getting it paid off so they can sell it.

A draft will merely give ** even more power that he will abuse.
How many more countries will he invade, given an unlimited source
of cannon fodder?

[CornField]

9. Not the draft -- "national service"

That is, it is a requirement, but military service is only one option.

[AndyTiedye]

12. And What Happens to the People Doing That Work Now?

Civilian "national service" would replace unionized public employees with sub-minimum-wage conscripts.

[Coastie for Truth]

16. For larger municipalities in CA

an applicant, in effect, has to have a Paramedic License to get hired as a Fire Fighter -- and that means two years "fer free" in a hospital and ambulance service plus schooling.

(It is not a "formal requirement" - but given the competition for the jobs - and how the applications are "ranked" and "graded" ....)

[CornField]

17. Uhmmm... no, it wouldn't

Many, many government workers have lost jobs which has created even more work for those left behind. Besides, we aren't talking about replacing existing jobs, we are discussing how we can be a nation which takes better care of its own.

Consider a group of 100,000-250,000 young people being sent to help clean up debris in Louisiana... imagine 250,000 young people painting and doing other property maintenance for our elderly and disabled... think about 100,000 people delivering meals for Meals on Wheels... consider state-run childcare with an all national service staff. The possibilities of the marked improvement such a huge workforce could provide is infinite.

Now, imagine our nation's middle and lower class young people NOT HAVING TO JOIN THE MILITARY in order afford higher education.

That's what this is all about. It's about our nation's young people, from all walks of life, joining together to make a difference for our country. It's about hard work and the sense of pride it brings. It's about ownership in our nation.

[BlackVelvet04]

20. No, it's not about ownership....

it's about SERVITUDE to the nation.

Nobody OWES their life to the nation.

[AndyTiedye]

25. You Could Have Gotten That Many Volunteers Easily

Consider a group of 100,000-250,000 young people being sent to help clean up debris in Louisiana...

Quite a few went on their own. More would have if offered transportation and a place to stay.

[Blackhatjack]

15. "national service" --Let's think about that a minute ......

The largest "recruiter" of young people for "national service" is likely to be the Department of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy with strongest ties to the use of military force WITHIN THE UNITED STATES.

As the line between military force used outside the US and within the US being blurred, and the exponential increase in Executive Branch authority without check and balance from the Legislative and Judicial Branches, it may be a difference in name only whether you use "military service" or "national service."

This certainly won't be a "Peace Corp" type of alternative, and certainly not an opportunity to sign up for Bush's own "Americorps" which he touted, and then defunded it out of existence in the past year.

We need to think long and hard before we create a "national" anything, and deemphasize States' rights and powers, and constitutional rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

[rosesaylavee]

18. Sorry - I don't support this idea at all

Have a teenager here at home that would certainly become cannon fodder. Nope. Not in my house. Not for this stupid war or any war dreamed up by the neo cons.

First of all, do you really think they CARE if people disapprove of or protest the war or CARE if their polls are sinking? No. They haven't to this point why would they start then? They have mechanisms in place to keep their kids out of the military as they have had before and have mechanism for keeping the rest of us 'unsettled' for a long time to come or for as long as it suits them... or that is my fear. Nope. Not willing to gamble with my son's life.

I understand what Rangel hopes for - but that would have only worked in pre-911 America... or a democracy.

[libhill]

22. I agree

makes me actually happy that my son is in jail. Nothing serious, but maybe it's enough to disqualify him for military service. I didn't raise my kids to die for Halliburton.

[heartofthesiskiyou]

19. The only serious

draft proposal going on now is the one to draft Gore.

[misternormal]

21. Compulsory service...

... to the Government. Military for those that are fit to serve, and other things, such as the CCC, or Peace Corps type of things for those that don't.

[Blackhatjack]

23. Remember that compulsory service to the Government is the same

Government that decided to allow George Bush to invade Iraq, spy on Americans, and give away the country's wealth and natural resources to his buddies.

You really gonna trust your kid, brother, or husband's life to that kind of entity to make a reasonable informed and justifiable decision?

There are all kinds of organizations out there who do the same kind of work that "national service" is alleged to encompass. Why not offer financial incentives to get the young people to engage --ie. allowing them forgiveness of student loans for teaching in low income areas? Do we really need a "stick" to force young people to make appropriate decisions?

[misternormal]

24. I agree with you whole heartedly...

... My post was a mere offering of a definition of the type of service it suggested, not that I agree with the bill at all.