The only mandatory service in America is when there is a draft.  It may be random, but it is not a choice.  It is not currently in effect.  I have seen many high schools require mandatory community service to graduate.  This is a choice because you can choose not to graduate or you can get your GED instead.  I have never seen a national plan for mandatory service.  Even the plans outlined to research are voluntary.

Don,
Most trade schools accept federal financial aid, I can't see why they wouldn't be included in the progam.

...or you could open your secret spy ring and take your cyanide pill while they are not looking thereby foiling them altogether.

Choose not to graduate or choose to get a GED?  That makes it not mandatory?  What if we don't like the agenda they are foisting on our children and our families.

German citizens thought things were just peachy in 1938.  Where do we consider the government takeover of our children dangerous?  After it is too late?  By around 1945 most Germans realized there was a problem.

QuoteBy around 1945 most Germans realized there was a problem.

About the time the Americans showed up. Go figure. 

As forwarded to me and I think it applies here.
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2...countries-die/

QuoteQuote:
Citizens won't bother to inform themselves about public policy, especially the details. Given the lack of influence of a single vote, it doesn't make sense for a non-specialist to invest the time. Olson says this is why we have a progressive income tax, obvious to all voters, and a lot of obscure loopholes that benefit the wealthy and influential. He notes that the benefits of Medicare and Medicaid to the old and the poor are publicized, not the fact that they are "implemented or administered in ways that resulted in large increases in income for prosperous physicians and other providers of medical care" because "the many smaller choices needed to implement these programs are influenced primarily by a minority of organized providers."

QuoteQuote:
"Great Britain, the major nation with the longest immunity from dictatorship, invasion, and revolution, has had in this century a lower rate of growth than other large, developed democracies. ... Britain has [a] powerful network of special-interest organizations. The number and power of its trade unions need no description. [Olson wrote this book just as Margaret Thatcher was coming to power.] The venerability and power of its professional associations is also striking. ... Britain also has a strong farmer's organization and a great many trade associations."

QuoteQuote:
Olson preempts the question of "How come the Swiss aren't poor given that they've had stability for so many centuries?" by looking at their constitution, which "makes it extremely difficult to pass new legislation. This makes it difficult for lobbies to get their way and thus greatly limits Switzerland's losses from special interest legislation."

...

It passed in the house today. Nothing to see here folks just move along by the way the white house puppy should arrive soon!

Crap...

People, there is nothing wrong with this bill, which is just a reworking of existing statutes and service groups that have been around since at least 1990, when Bush Daddy signed the National and Community Service Act.   George Bush had similar programs in 2002.

Legislative History

Quote1990: National and Community Service Act of 1990: A renewed focus on encouraging volunteering in America led to the passage of the National and Community Service Act of 1990. This legislation, signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, created a new independent federal agency, the Commission on National and Community Service.

The Commission was charged with supporting four streams of service:

Service-learning programs for school-aged youth;
Higher education service programs;
Youth corps; and
National service demonstration models.

1992: National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC): A bipartisan group of Senators, working with the Bush Administration, drafted legislation to create NCCC as a demonstration program to explore the possibility of using post-Cold War military resources to help solve problems here at home. The NCCC, enacted as part of the 1993 Defense Authorization Act, is a residential service program modeled on the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps and the United States military.

1993: The National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993: Both the NCCC and the Commission on National and Community Service would later be incorporated into the Clinton Administration's National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993. Introduced by a bipartisan coalition of Members of Congress, President Bill Clinton signed it into law on September 21, 1993. The legislation created the Corporation for National and Community Service, and three Corporation administered programs: Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America with the responsibility of mobilizing Americans into service.

2002: USA Freedom Corps: In his 2002 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush announced the creation of the USA Freedom Corps. Chaired by the President, USA Freedom Corps was a coordinating council that worked to strengthen our culture of service and helped find opportunities for every American to serve.

There is no mandatory service for all youth, though if volunteers want the benefits (such as help with college tuition), it is mandatory that they provide three years of service.  That's it.  No conscription, no forced labor, no child slavery.

What is happening is that right-wing blogs and talk radio personalities are mischaracterizing it for their own purposes; that's what they do, that's how they make money, by selling an unfounded conspiracy to those who don't ask any questions before they pick up their torches and pitchforks.  You are being had.

I support this bill, and I hope a lot of people take advantage of the programs it creates.  It is good for Americans, and it is good for America.

It's not how it's written that's the problem, it's how it'll be interpreted and then instituted that is the problem.

My crystal ball is on the fritz, so I'm a little hazy on how the government will force our youth in labor camps without a law to do so.  Sounds like the Attorney's Full Employment Act to me.

I doubt our government would use this to fill sweat shops with American children to produce products to sell to the newly affluent Chinese. Rather, I can see the government saying if you want college aid then you must "volunteer" at something on a government approved list. Think about all of the social programs the government funds and then consider how easy it would be for the government to say "If you want these benefits then you must volunteer."

When Social Security was proposed people were against it because they would be "issued" a number. It passed because people were assured these numbers would never be used as a form of identification. How many times in a year are you asked for your Social Security number?

The difficulty is in attempting to see how this program can be changed over time and transform into something completely different than what is currently being proposed.

I suppose if all other forms of financial aid were eliminated, it would create a burden on students who didn''t have the luxury of time to volunteer.  But I don't see that as the case here, where the governement is actually creating new programs for financial aid, in addition to traditional sources.

Any program can be perverted for evil, but I don't see that as a reason to avoid all new programs for fear they will at some future point be misused.  The perfect is not the enemy of the good.

True enough, which is why we must anticipate what may happen before we willingly follow our so called leaders as they erode our rights and subjugate us to the whims of corporations and the wealthy.

Quote from: Pox Eclipse on March 19, 2009, 08:10:39 AM
Any program can be perverted for evil, but I don't see that as a reason to avoid all new programs for fear they will at some future point be misused. 

I agree with PE.

One must keep an eye on what's going on. But there's no reason to halt all changes just because of a "what if".

Section 6104

(b) Specific Topics- In carrying out its general purpose under subsection (a), the Commission shall address and analyze the following specific topics:



(5) The effect on the Nation, on those who serve, and on the families of those who serve, if all individuals in the United States were expected to perform national service or were required to perform a certain amount of national service.

(6) Whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation and overcome civic challenges by bringing together people from diverse economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds

(c) Methodology-

(1) PUBLIC HEARINGS- The Commission shall conduct public hearings in various locations around the United States.


So you have 2 years to make your opinion known in person. 
And they have already issued guidance on what public service could be required.

Amendment numbered 9 printed in House Report 111-39 to denote that sending care packages to soldiers deployed in combat zones overseas is included as an eligible service program.

Quote from: Squirl on March 19, 2009, 01:43:56 PM

(1) PUBLIC HEARINGS- The Commission shall conduct public hearings in various locations around the United States.

So you have 2 years to make your opinion known in person. 

I expect this will make it through the senate. Then the members of the commission will be appointed. All will have time to either write their opinions to the commission as well as attend public meetings. From past experiences with this sort of thing it is imperative that anyone with opposing thoughts write and/or attend meetings. For that matter if you are in favor you should do the same. More than likely there will be a website as well. It's too early to say what might be attempted and how exactly. Give the system a chance to work.

"Give the system a chance to work. "


Let's see ---  the calls from the 'citizens' were going 300 to 1 against the bailout


what system

you mean the "system" that pays off congress from unlimited lobbyist funding

Section 6104  defines the  "ad hoc" comission findings

they "shall" find a way to shove this down our throats

the big timber companies clear cut most of the pacific north west back in the early 1900's

and got it replanted for free by the poor shmucks in the CCC under that bastard FDR's plans for the  slaves hard working Americans "trying to put food on their families" to quote another president

George Carlin got it right

"The American Dream"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RhIxxvYtRE

I agree with Windpower, you can't trust this sham government to do anything right. This bailout bonus tax fiasco has got to be the most childish thing I've ever seen washington do. They are not operating like a government so much as they are acting like a bunch of spoiled children and that includes Obama.

Could you imagine if you won the lotto and before you went to get your check congress decided you did not need it and taxed it all.
The whole situation stinks and I know stink!

Quote from: ScottA on March 17, 2009, 12:41:52 PM
If he can get these lazy kids we have nowadays to do some work I say more power to him. Oh and good luck sucker. 

"S#%T.  You want me to do wha?  Un uh.  I don't think so!  I tell you what I'm gonna do.  I'm gonna get back down to the ghetto, sling some rock like my cousin De-de, an play some X-box.  Man!  I di-int even want no education, I thought that whack-a$$ Obama was one of us, an was gonna give us props out here.  Build a road?  S#%T!  I tell you wha, gimme a gun, an I'll smoke a mutha fo ya!" 

A portion of the kids in my neighborhood, perhaps.  I think it's kind of a funny picture, but then some friends of mine were getting taunted with the well thought out words, 'Oh yeah...you may think it's over, but we the one's on top now sucka!  That's right!  Obama, Obama, Obama"

I am surprised that spell check hasn't been updated yet to include Obama.

Wonder if the three years will also include military service?

HR 1388 made it through the senate vote.

The bill may now proceed to a conference committee of senators and representatives to work out differences in the versions of the bill each chamber approved. The bill then goes to the President before becoming law.

Having passed in identical form in both the House and Senate, this bill now awaits the signature of the President before becoming law. [Last Updated: Apr 21, 2009 12:11PM]

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1388

Awaiting Obama's signature, foregone conclusion there, right Don?

President Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act yesterday.  Let the enslaving begin!