Guys, I got this in my inbox and I do not know if it is true or not, but I thought posting it here would help me find out. Give it a good read and perhaps someone here has seen this and knows it to either be true or false. We all k now how chain emails can be... I'm still waiting on that cheque from Bill Gates  :P.

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Subject: Mandatory Military Draft - 2005

Guess what is QUIETLY being put through the House and Senate - a DRAFT starting 2005.  If you are against this, you better pass this on IMMEDIATELY.  I was not aware of this until I received this today.


Mandatory draft for boys and girls (ages 18-26) starting June 15, 2005, is something that everyone should know about. This literally effects everyone since we all have or know children that will have to go if this bill passes. There is pending legislation in the house and senate (companion bills: S89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin as 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.  Details and links follow. This plan, among other things, eliminates higher education as a shelter and includes women in the draft.  Also, crossing into Canada has already been made very difficult.

Actions
Please send this on to all the parents and teachers you know, and all the aunts and uncles, grandparents, godparents.  .  . And let your children know - - it's their future, and they can be a powerful voice for change! This legislation is called HR 163 and can be found in detail at the following website: http://thomas.loc.gov/ Just enter in "HR 163"
and click search and will bring up the bill for you to read.  It is less than two pages long. If this bill passes, it will include all men and ALL WOMEN from ages 18-26 in a draft for military action.  In addition, college will no longer be an option for avoiding the draft and they will be signing an agreement with the Canada which will no longer permit anyone attempting to dodge the draft to stay within it's borders. This bill also includes the extension of military service for all those that are currently active. If you go to the select service web site and read their 2004  FYI

Goals you will see that the reasoning for this is to increase the size of the military in case of terrorism.  This is a critical piece of legislation, this will effect our undergraduates, our children and our grandchildren. Please take the time to write your congressman and let them know how you feel about this legislation.
www.house.gov    www.senate.gov 


Please also write to your representatives and ask them why they aren't telling their constituents about these bills and write to newspapers and other media outlets to ask them why they're not covering this important story. The draft $28 million has been added to the 2004 selective service system 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 www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html  to view the Selective Service System 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 permanent state of war on terrorism) proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft. www.hslda.org/legislation/national/2003/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 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. What to do: Tell your friends, Contact your legislators and ask them to oppose these bills Just type "congress" into the aol search engine and input your zip code. A list of your reps will pop up with a way to email them directly.


We cannot just sit and pretend that by ignoring it, it will go away.  We must voice our concerns and create the world we want to live in for our children and grandchildren.
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That was it. I sure hope this isn't true.

this is the bill introduced last year to embarras the politicians who rushed to war, into thinking about whether they'd be so eager for this particular war if their own kids could get drafted.  It was easily defeated.

I still expect a "limited" draft will get quietly approved in a year or two as the military gets stretched out further and new recruits are harder to find.

http://www.sss.gov/

should answer questions about that particular bill.

For Crissakes, there WILL BE NO DRAFT!  And this is NOT NOT NOT anything like Vietnam!!!  Iraq is going to have its first democratic elections a month from now, we've liberated fifty-eleven million people!  Everying is under control, everything is under control! We're winning the war...we are winning...the war....we are winn-ing...
:-\\

Smells like bullsh**.

For Crissakes, there WILL BE NO DRAFT!  And this is NOT NOT NOT anything like Vietnam!!!  Iraq is going to have its first democratic elections a month from now, we've liberated fifty-eleven million people!  Everying is under control, everything is under control! We're winning the war...we are winning...the war....we are winn-ing...
:-\\


Is this sarcasm, Max? I hope so b/c I watched Oprah the other day where there was an Iraqi woman being quietly interviewed and she explained how things are worse b/c of the absence of law and order.

Tanya

Is this sarcasm, Max?
Yup.

Smells like bullsh**.

You mean "smells like Bush."
::)

This can't be good....