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Rangel Calls for Reinstating Military Draft

 
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USAFE5
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:39 pm    Post subject: Rangel Calls for Reinstating Military Draft Reply with quote

Monday, November 20, 2006

WASHINGTON — A senior House Democrat said Sunday he will introduce legislation to reinstate the military draft, asserting that current troop levels are insufficient to sustain possible challenges against Iran, North Korea and Iraq.

"There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm's way," said Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.

Rangel, a veteran of the Korean War who has unsuccessfully sponsored legislation on conscription in the past, said he will propose the measure early next year.

At a time when some lawmakers are urging the military to send more troops to Iraq, "I don't see how anyone can support the war and not support the draft," he said.
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streetsweeper95B
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Didn't he vote against his earlier bill in the end?
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Me#1You#10
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Like any to the bone "fellow traveler", Rangel will foment "class warfare" at every opportunity. It's his bread and butter.
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GoophyDog
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've played the Rangel clips a couple of times and listened to the pundits go after him on the draft issue. What is blatant by its omission though is the complete lack of coverage of Rangel stating basically the same thing Kerry said in his "botched" joke.

In several interviews Rangel intimates the draft was NECESSARY so it wasn't just the poor, underprivileged, or otherwise unemployable who were in the service. Unfortunately, the MSM just never picked up on this. Not many others did either.

Rangel's statements are endemic of the far lefts' and yes, rights' mindset that out military is composed of those who are too poor to get into the ivy league colleges, too lazy to get a job at a fast-food joint or just too stupid to be employed elsewhere. This legacy mindset from the Vietnam era where the thought process of "they served because they were too stupid to avoid the draft" continues to this day virtually unopposed.

What should be hammered home is that our voluntary military today is an excellent statistical snapshot of our societal makeup in all categories with two exceptions - education and crime. In the case of education, our service men and women with one year or more of service are MORE educated. In the case of crime, our military statistically has far LESS.

Why are these to areas different? I'm sure there have been and will continue to be studies on this by people far more educated then I with all sorts of alphabets following their names and they will all miss the point. The difference between today's military and our society, the key element the high-brows and wingnuts alike will overlook regardless of how hard you shove their collective faces in it is something the military teaches from the very first day. Responsibility and Respect. Yes, I could go into great detail on these two points but I will leave that to the reader.

Rangel and the rest of his ilk have consistently failed to Responsibly do their homework on the make-up of our military and as a result have no Respect for the men and women who have volunteered for service. While I doubt this mindset could ever be changed, it should always be pointed out so as not to be lost in the static of hot button words like DRAFT.
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Me#1You#10
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excellent rant GD. You are ABSOLUTELY correct that Rangel and ALL that comprise the left in this country (especially the MSM) are died-in-the-wool military "loathers" (thanks Clinton) who equate military service with lower class servitude. It is UNDENIABLE when you parse their words carefully as you have so well demonstrated.

But let me take issue with one minor point you raised...

GoophyDog wrote:
Rangel and the rest of his ilk have consistently failed to Responsibly do their homework on the make-up of our military and as a result have no Respect for the men and women who have volunteered for service.

Do not suggest for a minute that Rangel et al don't actually know the score in that regard. Acknowledging that reality does nothing to further foment the "class struggle" and its ideological roots which is second in importance only to their own incumbencies.
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ocsparky101
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Referencing those heros in the military as lazy, stupid, untrustworthy, and in need of a hand out. Is that not the same as calling them the "N" word. What is up with that?
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fortdixlover
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ocsparky101 wrote:
Referencing those heros in the military as lazy, stupid, untrustworthy, and in need of a hand out. Is that not the same as calling them the "N" word. What is up with that?


Good point.

Basically, Rangel is an idiot. He got into office by polemics and exploitation, not merit.

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shawa
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 3:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A good article at American Spectator last week on the Democrat leadership ignoring what the Generals are saying. It's their Vietnam syndrome. But it cites a new study from the Heritage Foundation which begs to differ with Rangel's "class" mongering. Did you know that over 45% of new enlistees came from America's richest neighborhoods?
"For every two U.S. recruits from the poorest neighborhoods, three come from the richest."

Quote:
~SNIP~

Rangel has pushed for a draft for the past three years. He argues that the government would not start wars if the sons of the elites who decide such things were at risk of being deployed to fight the wars the elites start.

The only problem with that thesis is that it has no basis whatsoever in reality. The United States had a draft from 1948 to 1973. We still went to Korea and (ahem) Vietnam. Rangel also has no idea who is actually in our military. He claims it's the poor and unprivileged. (In other words, if you don't study in school so you'll have good career options, you'll get stuck in Iraq.)

But the military today is not the military of the Civil War or even Vietnam. It is more educated and affluent than ever before. A report by Heritage Foundation researcher Tim Kane, released just before the election, found that "the average reading level of new soldiers is roughly a full grade level higher than their civilian peers" and that the high school graduation rate for enlistees was 17 percentage points higher than the rate for the civilian population.

The military is also not just a bunch of poor boys with no other options. "The wealthiest 40 percent of neighborhoods in America are the home of 45.6 percent of 2005 enlistees," Kane found. "For every two U.S. recruits from the poorest neighborhoods, three come from the richest."


So how is Rangel's idea going over in poor neighborhoods?

"What, he was smoking pot or something?" 58-year-old James Brown of Harlem, one of Rangel's own constituents, asked a New York Daily News reporter when asked for comment on Rangel's plan.

Another Rangel constituent, 48-year-old Neil Davis, said Rangel "doesn't represent the people of Harlem if he's for the draft."

Generals often make the mistake of fighting the last war. On Iraq, Democrats are doing exactly that. They just cannot get past Vietnam. Someone might want to remind them of two important lessons of Vietnam they seem to have forgotten: 1) In the absence of U.S. troops, the Communists slaughter of innocents continued unchecked; 2) Our retreat taught the world what the North Vietnamese already knew: To defeat the United States you don't have to win a single battle, you just have to kill enough Americans to turn public opinion against the war...


The American Spectator
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