Free Republic

The real war against women is the announced plan of the Obama administration, using outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta as the fall guy, to assign women for the first time in American history to fight our nation’s enemies in military ground combat. That’s real war, with real guns, real bullets and real deaths. This war doesn’t involve only women who have volunteered to serve in our military. It’s a real war against all 18-year-old American girls, because for the first time in our nation’s history they will be required to sign up for the draft and be ready for...

Two lawmakers are waging a little-noticed campaign to abolish the Selective Service System, the independent federal agency that manages draft registration. They say the millions of dollars the agency spends each year preparing for the possibility of a military draft is a waste of money. Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., say the Pentagon has no interest in returning to conscription due to the success of the all-volunteer force. The Selective Service has a budget of $24 million and a full-time staff of 130...

Military draft registration could be coming to an end as two lawmakers are on a campaign to abolish the Selective Service System. Rep. Peter DeFazio, a Democrat from Oregon, and Rep. Mike Coffman, a Republican from Colorado, are the ones leading the charge to end military draft registration. They say the agency wastes millions of dollars each year preparing for the possibility of a military draft, The Associated Press noted.

This one’s long but stick with it. The good stuff doesn’t start happening until after we’re treated to the thousandth iteration of Charlie Rangel’s master plan to end war as we know it by reinstituting a military draft which virtually no one supports and which Congress will never again feel safe voting for. A draft which, incidentally, he thinks should now include women: “Now that women can serve in combat they should register for the Selective Service alongside their male counterparts,” Rangel said in a statement. “Reinstating the draft and requiring women to register for the Selective Service would compel...

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) on Friday said he plans to introduce legislation that would bring back the military draft and extend it to women for the first time. Rangel, who has pushed for years to bring back the draft, said the Pentagon’s decision to allow women to serve in combat means that they too should register for the Selective Service.

(CNN) -- On Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the Defense Department would lift the ban on women serving in combat, marking another significant milestone for equality in our nation. Taking this critical step forward to include women in combat strengthens our military by reducing the burden of the disproportionate number of soldiers who are making sacrifices. I sincerely hope that this will spark a national debate about who is fighting our wars and whether all of America can say that we're sharing the sacrifice. Since January 2003, at the height of the debate on the possible unilateral strike against...

Unless Congress acts, March 1 will trigger a $55 billion-per-year ($45 billion in 2013, as the fiscal cliff deal delayed the cuts for two months) cut in national defense, known as sequestration, which will weaken the United States’s ability to defend itself. But this does not have to happen; Congress should cut other spending to prevent the debilitating cuts to defense. National defense, unlike most other discretionary programs, is a central constitutional duty and today represents only 17 percent of the budget. Yet nearly half of the Congress-mandated sequestration cuts—$492 billion—would come from defense. These across-the-board cuts threaten our...

Yes, women in combat. Women, who can’t figure out how to go to the Target pharmacy and $9/month birth control, will be gunning down terrorists. Women, who think that telling them to buy their own birth control, cupcake, is a “war on women,” will be seeing actual combat. Women who complain about a “rape culture” want girls out into the front lines as rape-bait if captured by the enemy (and those front lines will be six thousand miles away from the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic). The same people who think that it’s a right wing nutjob idea for women teachers...

General Stanley McChrystal is still making the rounds plugging his new book, as well as talking about any old issue of the day the media cares to toss his way. He sat down on Face the Nation this morning and hit a few of the standard questions on Afghanistan, gun control and Chuck Hagel, before Bob Schieffer decided to ask him whether or not it was time to bring back the draft. (H/T NRO) When asked about his thoughts on implementing a draft on CBS’s Face the Nation, General Stanley A. McChrystal said national service would have a positive impact...

An Egyptian panel rushed through a draft constitution seen as undermining basic freedoms on Friday, resulting in mass protests in Cairo. AFP reported that tens of thousands of protesters rallied as the opposition piled pressure on President Mohammed Morsi. "Down with the constitutional assembly," vast crowds armed with megaphones chanted as they filed into Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak in early 2011. Banners condemned "dictatorial Morsi" while protesters shouted "down with the rule of the Guide," a reference to the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, through whose ranks Morsi rose before becoming president....

President Obama won re-election last night because women voters had his back. A majority of women supported Obama’s re-election, more than countering Romney’s lead among men, exit polls showed yesterday. The president garnered 54 percent of the female vote compared with 44 percent for Romney. Historically, more women vote than men.

The IDF will begin to draft hareidi-religious 16 to 19-year-olds, but "will wait till after elections" for 20 to 28 year olds, says Defense Minister Ehud Barak. The IDF will send out the orders within the next few weeks, summoning about 15,000 hareidi-religious Jews for interviews at induction centers, Barak said at a Knesset committee hearing on Monday. The IDF's Netzach Yehuda combat battalion and the Shachar high-tech training unit were two of the hareidi service programs Barak said would be expanded to meet the increased recruitment of hareidi-religious Israelis. But many 19-year-old hareidi-religious young men have already received draft...

Whatever one thinks of the morality of the draft, I believe that the war will continue to drag on as long as upscale Americans see it as an abstract issue that has little relevance to their day-to-day lives. Unless their toilet overflows, these denizens of the Nike and Chablis milieu of our society seldom have any meaningful contact with, or concern for, the strata that furnishes the bodies to be killed or mutilated in our military crusades.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former top commander of international forces in Afghanistan, said this week that the United States should bring back the draft if it ever goes to war again. "I think we ought to have a draft. I think if a nation goes to war, it shouldn't be solely be represented by a professional force, because it gets to be unrepresentative of the population," McChrystal said at a late-night event June 29 at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival. "I think if a nation goes to war, every town, every city needs to be at risk. You make that...

On a stage crowded with war heroes, Mitt Romney recently praised the sacrifice "of the great men and women of every generation who serve in our armed services." It is a sacrifice the Republican presidential candidate did not make. Though an early supporter of the Vietnam War, Romney avoided military service at the height of the fighting after high school by seeking and receiving four draft deferments, according to Selective Service records. They included college deferments and a 31-month stretch as a "minister of religion" in France, a classification for Mormon missionaries that the church at the time feared was...

Rush Limbaugh, the nation’s top-rated radio talk-show host, briefly brought up the issue of Barack Obama’s potentially criminal use of a Connecticut-based Social Security Number, since the president has never lived in the Constitution State. While speaking with a caller named Rob about Obama’s alleged deception of citizens, Limbaugh tossed out the question: “What are your thoughts on the fact Obama’s Social Security Number is from Connecticut and he’s never been there?” Rob responded, “That’s what you call a red flag. A red flag is also, ‘First of all, I don’t need to give you my birth certificate,’ and then...

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2012 — Changes in the wording of Selective Service System record-keeping requirements, made days after the opening of an investigation into the alleged forgery of President Barack Obama’s selective service registration form, raise serious questions about U.S. Government intentions. The new rules allow existing copies of documents that may be sought by investigators to be destroyed. The Selective Service System’s new privacy rules were published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, September 20, 2011, four days after the September 16 announcement by World Net Daily that the Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff’s Office “Cold Case Posse” was opening...

Changes in the wording of Selective Service System record-keeping requirements, made days after the opening of an investigation into the alleged forgery of President Barack Obama’s selective service registration form, raise serious questions about U.S. Government intentions. The new rules allow existing copies of documents that may be sought by investigators to be destroyed. The Selective Service System’s new privacy rules were published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, September 20, 2011, four days after the September 16 announcement by World Net Daily that the Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff’s Office “Cold Case Posse” was opening an inquiry with full subpoena...

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has sent a memo to all 32 teams threatening "significant discipline" to anyone caught leaking confidential information gathered on draft prospects to the public. The Associated Press obtained the memo, which was sent on Wednesday night after reports that LSU defensive back Morris Claiborne allegedly scored poorly on the Wonderlic test. The exam is used by NFL teams to try to gauge a prospect's intelligence, problem-solving ability and cognitive skills. Claiborne scored a 4 out of 50 on the test administered at the NFL scouting combine in February, sources confirmed to ESPN. = = = =...

The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release March 16, 2012 Executive Order -- National Defense Resources Preparedness EXECUTIVE ORDER NATIONAL DEFENSE RESOURCES PREPAREDNESS By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. App. 2061 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows: PART I - PURPOSE, POLICY, AND IMPLEMENTATION Section 101. Purpose....

As U.S. forces come home from Iraq after nine years at war, the nation is facing professional troops sufficiently bruised and isolated from American society that some defense experts whisper we may need major changes in military education and even a conscription-based national youth service program to reboot our fighting forces. Painful reminders are everywhere of an unpopular U.S. military venture that began with grave strategic miscalculations and is ending with violence and political instability in Iraq. In Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai is openly contemptuous of his U.S. protectors, while Afghan security forces murder allied officers. These U.S. military campaigns have...

Giants and Patriots fans aren't yet in full-blown draft focus mode, but it seems like everyone else is. As Senior Bowl week in Mobile comes to a close, here's the first of our seven attempts to mock out how the April 27 first round will unfold at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan. Don't go trying to hold me to this version, NFL fans. If I got it all right in late January, I could only go downhill from there over the course of the coming three months, and where's the fun in that?

I’ll bet you’ve never personally performed open heart surgery. You haven’t? Really? In that case, I don’t want your stinkin’ opinion on how the government should best distort the health insurance markets with artificial incentives. You probably also haven’t dropped acid in the last ten years. Given that painful deficiency on your CV, I don’t want to hear any of your sanctimonious blithering about The War on Drugs. I assume, furthermore, that you’ve never been behind enemy lines, staggering home through the bad guys’ wire with your small intestine in one your canteen cups.* If such is the case; then...

January 2, 2012 Palin on 'Draft Sarah' Campaign Will former vice presidential nominee join race for White House?

Newt Sets Up a SurpriseHis emergence is a sign of Mitt's weakness. It seems to me that I have a duty to write about Newt Gingrich, as I am one who did not think his rise in the polls as a Republican presidential contender would be as durable as it already has been. As interesting as Newt himself is the dumbfounded reaction to his return to the grand tier of political life after a sleep almost as long as Rip Van Winkle’s, and after he had flat-lined for months as a candidate, and had been abandoned by his entire staff....

WHERE CAN A STUDENT-ATHLETE GET THE MONEY TO PAY FOR THE INSURANCE WHILE IN COLLEGE? Family members upon whom the student-athlete is naturally or legally dependent may provide the money for the insurance premium. The student-athlete is permitted to borrow the money from a regular bank or savings and loan or credit union, provided a coach, booster or athletics staff member does not make the loan arrangements. The Panel and/or the associate athletic director for compliance will provide you advice if the student-athlete wants to secure a loan. The NCAA has arranged a disability insurance program so that qualified student-athletes...

SUBJECT: Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces References: (a) DoD Directive 1344.10, “Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces on Active Duty,” August 2, 2004 (hereby canceled) (b) Sections 973, 888, 101, and Chapter 47 of title 10, United States Code (c) DoD Instruction 1334.1, “Wearing of the Uniform,” October 26, 2005 (d) Section 441a of title 2, United States Code (e) through (i), see Enclosure 1

It's a surprise, at first, how comfortable Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Mellinger and his boss, Gen. Ann Dunwoody, seem talking with each other in her office. But the respect between the soldiers is quickly obvious. And just as obvious is that the four-star leader of the Army Materiel Command is going to miss her top sergeant. Mellinger was drafted into the Army on April 18, 1972, and is believed to be the Army's last continuously serving enlisted draftee. After nearly 40 years in uniform, he is retiring this year. In a Change of Responsibility ceremony this morning at AMC's new...

The dust has not yet settled over the Libyan capital of Tripoli since rebels took control over the weekend. But already, a draft constitutional charter for the transitional state has appeared online (embedded below). It is just a draft, mind you, and gauging its authenticity at this point is difficult. There is also no way to know whether this draft or something similar will emerge as the final governing document for a new Libyan regime. As both the Morning Bell and Washington in a Flash noted today, Heritage Fellow Jim Phillips recently pointed out that Islamist forces “appear to make...

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 25, 2011 - House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings today released a YouTube video unveiling discussion draft legislation to reorganize and reform the Interior Department’s offshore energy oversight. The draft proposal officially abolishes the Minerals Management Service to create three separate agencies and establishes a new Under Secretary of Energy, Lands and Minerals in order to elevate the role of American energy production on public lands within the Interior Department. These reforms will help expand American energy production in order to protect and create American jobs, grow the economy and lower energy costs, while ensuring that...

FORT BELVOIR, Va. -- A homemade wind chime with the word "Whining" under a red slash is made from metal parts put in his leg after a parachute accident. Every Sunday he trims his crew cut. He didn't join the Army willingly, but as Command Sgt. Maj. Jeff Mellinger prepares to retire, he's grateful he found his calling. Mellinger was drafted to fight the Vietnam War, and the Army believes he's the last draftee to retire, after 39 years. Most did their two years and left. But Mellinger had found home. "I think I'm pretty good at it, but I...

THOUGHTLESS THOUSANDS TWEET WITHOUT EXAMINING THE FACTS Donald Trump, we are learning today, sought student and medical deferments during the Vietnam war, according Selective Service records obtained by the Web site The Smoking Gun. He received the deferments before his draft number came up. He got student deferments, allowing him to complete his education, and was later disqualified for medical reasons; by the time his number came up, he wasn’t required to serve. Somehow this is supposed to be a big deal. Nowhere in the story is it asserted that he lied or stretched the truth to avoid service. Neither...

On this weeks Banter we sit down with AEI’s Director of Economic Policy Studies Kevin Hassett to talk about the economics of the NFL draft. The guys also discuss Apoorva’s article from the WSJ Asia and the feedback he’s received.

The White House is circulating a piece of draft legislation that would give the Department of Homeland Security oversight over cybersecurity at civilian agencies, according to a report from FedNewsRadio. The proposed legislation combines the comprehensive cybersecurity bill introduced last year by the Senate Homeland Security Committee with the administration's memo from July 2010 to expand DHS's responsibilities over non-military networks, according to the report. Like the Homeland Security bill sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine)

It Feels Drafty By John H. Taylor My cousin and fellow Episcopalian and blogger, Bebe Bahnsen, believes it's time for rich and poor to share the burden of defending our country. For one thing, she thinks we'd all pay more attention to decisions about where, when, and how military force is used: And I believe it should be a universal draft—men and women. The new draft I envision would require one or two years of service from all young Americans. Many would probably be in the military but there might be other ways to perform required service—teaching or assisting...

Every year, one NFL player has the dubious distinction to be the last player picked in the NFL draft. Dubbed "Mr. Irrelevant,"... In the third installment of the Draft Dose series, we examine how the five most recent Mr. Irrelevants have fared on the field.

If I recall correctly, gays were classified 4F during previous military drafts. In the event that the draft is brought back, what will happen to gays who do not want to serve? Michelle Obama wants American children to lose weight so that they can be inducted. Could it be, that Obama also wants to enlarge the pool of possible inductees?

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-5741I received a call from a person who is trying to provide awareness for this bill, HR-5741. This bill will give Obama complete power over all draft age persons 18-45 My question is, do you think this is a valid concern when the Senate votes on this after the elections perhaps during the holidays I am also sending this to many candidates to help me understand if this could be passed as a part of the lame duck after the election. Would the senate really enrage the people and pass this in a lame duck. I am looking for input...

On July 15, 2010, Democrat Charles Rangle introduced a piece of legislation into Congress that would basically reinstate the draft (compulsory military service). H.R. 5741 will give the President of the United States the power to require all American citizens between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform either military service or civilian service in the interests of "national defense and homeland security." It would also give him the power to require citizens to join the military during wartime to meet the manpower needs of the military. In February 2009, President Barack Obama asked Congress to send him a...

Per Foxnews, a local affiliate is reporting Rangel has struck a deal. FNC is working to confirm...

A bill introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., would reinstate a compulsory military draft during war time and require U.S. citizens not selected for military duty to perform a "national service obligation" – as defined by President Obama – for a minimum of two years. Rangel introduced the Universal National Service Act, or H.R. 5741 on July 15. The measure was referred to the House Armed Services' Subcommittee on Military Personnel on July 23. Rangel introduced similar bills in 2003, 2006 and 2007. His current bill does not have a co-sponsor. Rangel took to the...

Charles Rangel is not only known for his various ethics violations, but also for his desire to bring back the military draft. For that purpose, Rangel has introduced H.R. 5741, Universal National Service Act.

Rep. Charles Rangel yesterday again called for bringing back the national draft -- right at the Times Square recruiting station. For the third time since the Iraq War began, the Harlem Democrat announced his plans to introduce a bill requiring all Americans to serve in the armed forces. "If you love your country, be prepared to serve," said Rangel, a Korean War veteran. Congress should stop funding the war and, instead, use tax dollars to bring troops home, he said. Rangel, who this year was stripped of his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the bill calls...

Proclamation 4771--Registration Under the Military Selective Service ActSource: The provisions of Proclamation 4771 of July 2, 1980, appear at 45 FR 45247, 3 CFR, 1980 Comp., p. 82, unless otherwise noted.Section 3 of the Military Selective Service Act, as amended (50 U.S.C. App. 453), provides that male citizens of the United States and other male persons residing in the United States who are between the ages of 18 and 26, except those exempted by Sections 3 and 6(a) of the Military Selective Service Act, must present themselves for registration at such time or times and place or places, and in...

Here are a series of links on the NHL website discussing the various moves throughout the League. Free Agent Signings (since June 30) http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=63235 Free Agency Blog - 2010 http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=533377 2010 Free Agency List http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=63234

STOCKHOLM - A 100-year tradition of military conscription, also known as the draft, was abolished today according to the Associated Press. Sweden, population approximately 9 million with well over 1.5 million in greater Stockholm, has adopted a new policy which means that 'required military service' will only be enacted if the country feels threatened. In peacetime, a voluntary system will be in place with more stringent requirements that must be met in order to join the military. The new system applies to both men and women. Defense Minister Sten Tolgfors is quoted as saying "Sweden's defense capacity is strengthened by...

By Wesley Wilson, Age 12 Let's face it. We all hate cancer. But when you read John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth and the life," that gives us something to think about. Jesus' way is the only way. You won't be misled. Jesus' truth is the only truth you can always depend on in good times and bad. And the most important, The Life is the only thing we live for. Some people say there's no cure for cancer. Jesus is the only cure for cancer. And that's the truth. Editor's Note: Wesley is my son, and he's...

As early as this week, the United States Senate may turn to the annual legislation known as “The National Defense Authorization Act” (NDAA) that is supposed to provide the Pentagon what it needs to defend our nation.  Unfortunately, thanks to an amendment added in the Senate Armed Services Committee that would impose the radical homosexual agenda on the U.S. military, a more appropriate title for this bill would be “The Bring Back the Draft Act.”Mind you, none of the bill’s sponsors would want it given such a descriptor.  Nor are they likely to own up to the reality that their...

As early as this week, the United States Senate may turn to the annual legislation known as "The National Defense Authorization Act" (NDAA) that is supposed to provide the Pentagon what it needs to defend our nation. Unfortunately, thanks to an amendment added in the Senate Armed Services Committee that would impose the radical homosexual agenda on the U.S. military, a more appropriate title for this bill would be "The Bring Back the Draft Act." Mind you, none of the bill's sponsors would want it given such a descriptor. Nor are they likely to own up to the reality that...

The FTC has issued a discussion report on rescuing the failing newspaper industry, labeled as "The Reinvention of Journalism," Fox News reports. An NYU journalism source speaks for critics of the FTC draft: The problem with this is that the FTC is trying to set an agenda here, that some sort of government intervention is necessary. It's a power grab by the FTC and it's also an example of one old power structure circling its wagons around another.