[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [house-talk] draft legislation

[Ricky Baldwin]

Very informative.  Sounds like there's enough going on
that contacting our reps is worthwhile, but do we have
any sense of what kind of support these bills have? 
The last I heard, support in Congress was almost
nonexistent.  Has that changed?

Ricky
--- Regina Cassidy <rcassidy at parkland.edu> wrote:
> Got this from a homeschooler concerned about some
> bills pending on the
> draft.
> 
> Gina

> ATTACHMENT part 2 message/rfc822 
> From: "Sue Garton" <suenotes at hotmail.com>
> To: house-talk at interversity.org
> Subject: [house-talk] draft legislation
> Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 18:54:08 -0500
> 
> Got this forwarded from my friend Constance. . . .
> .S.
> 
> ***************************
> 
> The article comes from the link:
> 
>
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/alert/?alertid=5834001&content_dir=ua_congressorg
> 
> 
> Pending Draft Legislation Targeted for Spring 2005
> 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 
> civilian 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 eliminate 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.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> suenotes at hotmail.com
> 
> Sue Garton
> 1202 Devonshire Dr.
> Champaign, IL   61821
> 
> (217) 355-9498
> 
>
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