Kerry wants a Draft

[PCplay]

As taken from johnkerry.com - 11/03 (you can find this in googles cache and archive.org)

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John Kerry Outlines Plan to Require Service for High School Students

Part of 100 days Plan to Enlist One Million Americans in National Service A Year

On September 11th, 2001, America experienced the most terrible and deadly attack in its history. John Kerry believes we need to think big and do better and get more young Americans serving the nation.

As part of his 100 day plan to change America, John Kerry will propose a comprehensive service plan that includes requiring mandatory service for high school students and four years of college tuition in exchange for two years of national service.

 

[clemzonguy]

Democrats = Communists/Socialism/Entitlement = Bad

 

[darrenl]

Agreed... there is no need for a draft...

 

[freestyler]

hmmmm i dont agree on the draft issue...

but i dont even want to start what G.W.B has done to us in 4 years. huh. I hope in 7 days he is the F.O.R.M.E.R

 

[clemzonguy]

OH....by the way in case you didn't know

Dick Cheney's daughter is a lesbian.

(joke for those of you who watched the last debate or SNL)

 

[Nexus]

Geez. PCPlay, that's some seriously heavy handed propoganda. One of my biggest pet-peeves is when someone intentionally spreads misleading information (or even if they found out something alarming and didn't bothering clearing it up for themselves... virus hoaxes come to mind.) Like someone playing puppet-master.

Insulting when someone thinks other people can't read or research this stuff. "Kerry wants a Draft". Wouldn't that be front page news if that was all to tell? I'm all for informing people, but intentional misinformation isn't cool. I actually searched on Google, followed the links, only to find a very benign and commendable objective.

There is a DISTINCT difference between setting a goal for having a certain amount of increased participation in the public welfare nationwide, and having a MANDATORY draft. I guess the ban on politics and religion has been recinded here, but man... People get silly real quick on this stuff.

MANDATORY SERVICE FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Service Should Be a Graduation

Requirement: John Kerry believes that knowledge of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship - including the duty to serve your community - are as important to American adults as knowing how to read and do math. Combined with a curriculum that teaches students about democracy, citizenship and civic participation, this high school service requirement will be a rite of passage for every young person in the country. As President, John Kerry will ensure that every high school student in America does community service as a requirement for graduation.

States and Communities Will Have Flexibility to Design Programs That Meet Their Needs:
States and local communities will design their own service requirements to make the requirement significant and meaningful without becoming onerous. For instance, the State of Maryland requires seventy-five hours of service over the course of high school and local educators have discretion to implement the requirement in ways that meet student needs. John Kerry understands that young people have many obligations and recognizes that a service requirement should not be onerous or unrealistic for students to meet. Maryland, as well as numerous school districts around the country, including some in New Hampshire, already have such a requirement and have had great results.

"Service for College" Initiative
As President, John Kerry will call on young people to help strengthen America's security and address unmet community needs. In return, he believes we should offer young Americans and their families the opportunity for a college education. A Kerry Administration will offer Americans the chance to earn the equivalent of their state's four-year public college tuition in exchange for two years of service. If service members decide not to go to college, their award can be used for job training or to help start a business. John Kerry will set a national goal of half a million young people serving their nation every year within ten years. President Bush promised to double AmeriCorps, but he broke that promise and let Congressional Republicans cut the program in half. John Kerry believes we need to think big and do better and get 500,000 young Americans serving the nation.

100,000 Older Americans in Service
As President, John Kerry will defend and strengthen vital programs such as Medicare and Social Security, but he also believes on calling on America's seniors to give their time, experience, and expertise to an America that needs their help. As President, John Kerry would create the Retired Not Tired Program. By mentoring students, helping the infirm, or working in their communities for 10 hours a week, members can earn up to $2,000 a year tax free that they can apply to an education grant for a family member or a member of their community. Alternatively, seniors will be able to use these funds to defray their own health care costs. John Kerry plans to engage 100,000 seniors a year in service in the next decade.

Heaven forbid! I don't think these initiatives are necessarily "doable", but I don't think in this day and age you can sum that up by saying its a "draft". Like it or not, those words has always lent itself to "military" implications unless otherwise noted. Regardless though, in the end, like debates on language programs, we all vote on this stuff. What makes Democracy good.

~ Nexus

 

[clemzonguy]

Soon this will be all behind us.....

 

[Nexus]

Soon this will be all behind us.....

Well, here's to hoping.

~ Nexus

 

[gph]

Democrats = Communists/Socialism/Entitlement = Bad

Yeah - you gotta hate a party that established the 5 day work week and removed segregation, eh?

 

[Stinos]

oh well, just come to belgium

 

[darrenl]

Yep it should have been a 4 day work week lol. About the desegregation part that is a good thing they did.

 

[GiantDomains]

We decided a long time ago that political threads would be closed. They only divide us. Let's get back to domains. Thanks