[extropy-chat] Fwd: House kills draft bill

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Jacob Levich <jlevich at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 21:51:16 -0400
> To: news at nodraft.info
> From: Jacob Levich <jlevich at earthlink.net>
> Subject: House kills draft bill
> 
> Thanks to all who called their Congressmen. This takes Rangel's bill
> off 
> the table, which is a relief, and once again demonstrates that we're 
> capable of raising hell when it counts.
> 
> Celebrating would be premature, however. Rangel's bill was a trial
> balloon 
> that has just been exploded for reasons of partisan electoral
> strategy -- 
> but not before it revealed implicit support for a draft among certain
> 
> ostensible liberals (like columnists Sheryl McCarthy and E.J. Dionne)
> who 
> are casting around for a "progressive" argument for reinstating
> conscription.
> 
> We've always argued that the impending move to reinstate the draft is
> 
> dictated by military necessity in this time of relentless wars of 
> aggression. Barring a major change in US foreign policy, that means 
> pro-draft forces are likely to try again after the election --
> regardless 
> of who wins.
> 
> So stay vocal and be ready.
> 
> Jake
> People Against the Draft
> www.nodraft.info
> 
> 
> Oct. 5, 2004
> House Crushes Military Draft Bill
> 
> By Vicki Allen
> 
> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Tuesday
> crushed a 
> bill to reinstitute the draft as Republicans accused Democrats of
> raising 
> the specter of compulsory military service to turn voters against
> President 
> Bush 
>
(<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22President%20Bush%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw>news
> 
> - 
>
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=web-storylinks&p=President%20Bush>web
> 
> sites)'s reelection bid.
> 
> After a bitter debate on Bush's handling of Iraq 
>
(<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Iraq%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw>news
> 
> - 
>
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=web-storylinks&p=Iraq>web
> 
> sites), the House killed the bill 402-2 as Republicans sought to
> stamp out 
> rumors of an impending draft that have swept college campuses and the
> 
> Internet, worrying young people and parents across the country.
> 
> With the presidential and congressional elections less than a month
> away, 
> the White House also worked to dampen draft rumors that Republicans
> said 
> have been fueled by Democrats. It threatened to veto the bill it
> called 
> "both unnecessary and counterproductive."
> 
> "This campaign is a baseless and malevolent concoction of the
> Democrat 
> party," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican. "It
> has 
> one purpose -- to spread fear."
> 
> Rep. John Conyers 
>
(<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/politics/news/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Rep.%20John%20Conyers%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw>news,
> 
>
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/capadv/bio/SIG=117h29r8u/*http://yahoo.capwiz.com/y/bio/?id=327>bio,
> 
>
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/capadv/vote/SIG=11gmvlhge/*http://yahoo.capwiz.com/y/bio/keyvotes/?id=327>voting
> 
> record), a Michigan Democrat, countered that Bush's Iraq policies
> have so 
> strained U.S. forces, that a draft was possible no matter how
> unpopular it 
> would be.
> 
> "Guess what, we're running out of troops ... Let's not be astounded
> that 
> what follows is a draft. The only problem is that you can't announce
> it 
> until after the election," Conyers said."
> 
> Rep. Charles Rangel 
>
(<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/politics/news/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Rep.%20Charles%20Rangel%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw>news,
> 
>
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/capadv/bio/SIG=117ua6sek/*http://yahoo.capwiz.com/y/bio/?id=419>bio,
> 
>
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/capadv/vote/SIG=11gf8kqr9/*http://yahoo.capwiz.com/y/bio/keyvotes/?id=419>voting
> 
> record), a New York Democrat, said he offered a bill last winter to 
> reinstitute the draft to spark debate on a system that he said placed
> the 
> burden of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan 
>
(<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Afghanistan%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw>news
> 
> - 
>
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=web-storylinks&p=Afghanistan>web
> 
> sites) on lower-income people who make up most of the volunteer U.S.
> military.
> 
> DeLay said Republicans pulled up the long-dormant bill "to expose a
> fraud" 
> that he said "has been given voice by the leading Democrats" that
> Bush 
> would move to reimpose the draft after the Nov. 2 election.
> 
> In the Senate, Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican,
> called 
> reinstituting the draft "a nonissue" and said it would not be
> addressed in 
> that chamber.
> 
> House Democrats accused Republicans of a dirty election-year trick,
> and 
> used the debate to attack Bush's Iraq policies which they said have
> left 
> the country in chaos and discouraged help from foreign troops.
> 
> "This president's foreign policies are what's scaring the kids of
> this 
> country," said Rep. Tim Ryan 
>
(<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/politics/news/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Rep.%20Tim%20Ryan%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw>news,
> 
>
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/capadv/bio/SIG=11936hop3/*http://yahoo.capwiz.com/y/bio/?id=30639>bio,
> 
>
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/capadv/vote/SIG=11i5ij0os/*http://yahoo.capwiz.com/y/bio/keyvotes/?id=30639>voting
> 
> record), an Ohio Democrat.
> 
> Some Democrats also said they doubted Bush would have taken the
> country to 
> war if members of wealthy families had been called on to fight it.
> 
> "He would never have been able to say bring 'em on with other
> people's 
> children," Rangel said.
> 
> "This is a rich man's war, and it's a poor man's fight," said Rep.
> John 
> Dingell 
>
(<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/politics/news/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Rep.%20John%20Dingell%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw>news,
> 
>
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/capadv/bio/SIG=117t4r24c/*http://yahoo.capwiz.com/y/bio/?id=329>bio,
> 
>
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/capadv/vote/SIG=11gias7eu/*http://yahoo.capwiz.com/y/bio/keyvotes/?id=329>voting
> 
> record), a Michigan Democrat. "We do not have enough troops in the
> field to 
> prevail," he said, while accusing Republicans of ducking debate on
> how to 
> get more forces.
> 
> White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush has made it clear he 
> "strongly supports the all-volunteer military," and "does not believe
> we 
> need a military draft."
> 
> "There are some who have tried to bring this up as a scare tactic,
> and that 
> is highly unfortunate," McClellan said.
> 
> Rep. Jim McDermott 
>
(<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/politics/news/*http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Rep.%20Jim%20McDermott%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw>news,
> 
>
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/capadv/bio/SIG=117ocvcvc/*http://yahoo.capwiz.com/y/bio/?id=619>bio,
> 
>
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/capadv/vote/SIG=11gif67m1/*http://yahoo.capwiz.com/y/bio/keyvotes/?id=619>voting
> 
> record), a Washington Democrat, said, "Every time they get up on
> television 
> and say there's never going to be a draft ... people start calling
> our 
> offices saying when's the draft going to start."
> 
> McDermott said Republicans were worried because new voter
> registrations 
> were going up "and they know those people are going to come out and
> vote 
> against them. So they're trying their best to tamp down this fire,
> but they 
> can't get anyone to believe them any more." (Additional reporting by
> Thomas 
> Ferraro and Susan Cornwell)
> 
>
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&u=/nm/20041005/pl_nm/campaign_draft_dc&printer=1
> 


=====
Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
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