National Service Corps Bill Clears Senate Hurdle

nytimes.com ^ | 3/23/09 | Kate Phillips

[melt]

Following overwhelming House passage last week, the Senate tonight voted 74 to 14 on a procedural move that essentially guarantees a major expansion of a national service corps, a cornerstone of volunteerism that dates back to the era of President Kennedy. It’s akin to a call to arms by President Obama, who has harkened back to those early days to demand giving back by those who voted for him.

In fact, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the senior Democrat from Massachusetts whose battle with brain cancer has oft kept him absent from the Senate these days, appeared on the floor to welcomes all around as he cast his approving vote as a co-sponsor.

From President Kennedy’s days to the creation of Americorps by then President Bill Clinton, the notion of public service has become a rallying cry. Tonight’s vote, propelled by President Obama’s urging of an expansion, would mean a growth in such work from 75,000 community service jobs to 250,000.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the cost of the Senate bill at least would be an outlay for the fiscal year 2010 of $418 million to about $5.7 billion from 2010 through 2014.

It’s an historic vote in the sense that a national service corps, an army dispersed to help with education, health services and the environment, would vastly enlarge the notion of “community organizing,” and allow, as Senator Barbara Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, said tonight, for about 7 million people to be engaged in such work.

[melt]

Wow! Great thread.

Thanks.

[Myrddin]

“Obama will REQUIRE you to work.”—Madame Obama

Arbeit Macht Frei

[torchthemummy]

...would be an outlay for the fiscal year 2010 of $418 million to about $5.7 billion from 2010 through 2014.

So the dough to be spent is in the first year a little less than the "savings" that O & Co's now abandoned idea to charge vets for their longterm care of service-related wounds would have been. The next four years of funding actually almost triple to an average of 1.425 billion or three times as much as would have been "saved" by cutting out care for vets. Sickening.

[Myrddin]

God help us, our founders warned against standing armies.

Involuntary servitude is unconstitutional. See the 13th Amendment. I haven't seen the text of the Senate bill. The House bill included a section about studying the feasibility of making this service mandatory. The targets include the young and the senior citizens. Mentions of a "permanent cadre" also appear. The early version contained the word "camp" throughout. That was wordsmithed into "campuses". The whole thing stinks.

[Luke21]

Why in the heck should we vote for these Republican clowns? And notice the “call to arms” and “rallying cry” lingo in this drek. All it needed was a “Zeig heil.”

What are they gonna do after Kennedy is gone? Haul out his casket every time they want some new abomination to pass?

[Fiddlstix]

Presented as a Public Service
Certain FReepers may need this

Click the Pic

[Myrddin]

What are they gonna do after Kennedy is gone? Haul out his casket every time they want some new abomination to pass?

They will probably freeze dry his carcass, place it in a glass coffin and arrange for endless lines of worshipers to view their departed saint. I'm sure the carcass will have voting privileges. It the Democrat way.

[patton]

OK, that was clever.

;)

[LibertyRocks]

“It’s akin to a call to arms by President Obama, who has harkened back to those early days to demand giving back by those who voted for him.”

A “CALL TO ARMS” is EXACTLY what the NCCC will be. During the campaign Obama spoke of having this National Security Force as “well-funded, well-trained, and well-equipped” as our MILITARY.

Obama’s organizers are talking about a fight “when we have an army” - well, this establishes it.

This isn’t some extension of what we’ve had before in this country... Definitely NOT... They make it sound all so innocent, but they don’t tell you the DETAILS... They don’t tell you that there is a thought in Washington to make this a MANDATORY “volunteer” service as well... Not that it matters. Obama’s sycophantic supporters will sign up en masse and ALLOW themselves to be used by Obama’s goals... They are too blind to see they will quickly become Obama’s Gestapo! The folks at ACORN are ALREADY doing this like their tour of the AIG folks homes featuring personal harassment — the only difference is that next time they’ll be wearing uniforms and will be housed in CAMPS!

I urge EVERYONE to read over the fine print in this bill. The wording is VERY vague and can lead to all sorts of overstepping by those in charge of this program (not to mention the money this is going to take)...

I’m almost blue in the face talking about this... What the hell is with these Congresspeople that they think giving power to the Democrats and Obama like this is a GOOD THING???

Well, I know one thing for sure — my children are NOT going to “serve” Obama. We will help our neighbors because it is the RIGHT thing to do — not because we’re being FORCED! (I have a question for liberals - you all complain how many less fortunate kids go into the military for school money and such — well do you realize that even MORE kids will sign up for this if they THINK they will be rewarded in some way? Little do they know they will be forming LABOR GANGS to “BUILD INFRASTRUCTURE” projects!)

The biggest concern I have is that this new NCCC is a way to bypass our military’s restrictions on engaging in activities here in the U.S.. In the bill is says the NCCC will respond to Natural & “OTHER EMERGENCIES” (like civil unrest???). This is, again, exactly what Obama warned about during the election.

[IrishCatholic]

Heck, why not? They got an academy all ready set up.
www.uspublicserviceacademy.org

[LibertyRocks]

PING TO NEW INFO for people I've been discussing this with and some who may be interested:

The “Service Act/GIVE ACT” (aka the NCCC BILL) has PASSED THE SENATE...

Yep, Borntobeagle, it looks like your eyes are open, and your ears are hearing this correctly! Pray that more people are awakened to what is going on here... It's not good... Not at all...

People will think this is merely another “volunteer” program, but what it is is far, far worse. Volunteers do not go live in camps and wear uniforms and remain in a PERMANENT CADRE and remain at the beck and call of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

Seeing as only 14 Republicans voted against this I can say it's safe to assume that almost the entire Congressional Delegation sitting in Washington D.C. right now have SOLD US OUT. They are no longer “working for the people” they are “working for Obama”. Except for the 14 voting against this — they have ALL voted to rip to shreds part of our Constitution (especially the House that voted for that feasibility study — why would you NEED a study to tell you that making participation in this SECURITY FORCE mandatory violates the 13th Amendment - you know the SLAVERY LAWS?)

There is nothing innocent about these actions. The one thing that people in the U.S. need to wrap their heads around is that there is PURE EVIL in this world. Too many (myself included) try to look for the good in everyone... Well, my FRiends, power corrupts even the best people. Even those you think you can trust - when they are deeply involved in politics you can't really trust any of them. That's just the atmosphere that one finds themselves in when they get to D.C.... Everyone there is looking out for their own personal interests, and how best to preserve their jobs vs. doing their job to preserve and protect our Constitution, and the people... As I said - even the good ones are at EXTREME risk of being pulled into things they wouldn't normally support for a wide variety of reasons.

Some of these people proposing these bills that rip our Constitution to shreds ARE EVIL. They are NOT interested in the welfare of our country or its people. They see the destruction of the US as a means to an end — a world government. The Communists think they'll be in charge, and the Radical Islamics think that “Allah” will let them defeat the Communists. Some of you will remember what I said earlier — there is probably a 50%+ chance that Obama is not a true Communist, but is instead MORE beholden to his Arab brothers. Either way it's bad, of course. But, if Obama comes out on the side of the Muslims, then the Russians, China, etc... will NOT be too pleased...

[LibertyRocks]

Is that the 4-year college to teach “Future Public Servants”? I remember that subsection too. I wonder if in the near future ONLY those people who have attended their public servant school will be allowed to run for office or hold government jobs. Of course, the only people who will be picked to attend this institution will be those they find valuable, or extra loyal... Probably only the “commanders” of their youth security force will need apply.

All of this is so predictable when one reads history. It may not look exactly the same, but there are bits and pieces of different communist dictator’s actions that Obama has taken and put a modern spin on it...

SCARY STUFF...

[JSteff]

“During the campaign Obama spoke of having this National Security Force as “well-funded, well-trained, and well-equipped” as our MILITARY.”

Didn't he ALSO SAY as WELL FUNDED as our MILITARY?

[LibertyRocks]

DBrow told me that the Final House version deleted the study, and the senate version didn't have it, but as he brought up it could yet be included in their conference to reconcile the two bills (unless that's already been done).

Don't forget the new snazzy uniforms they'll get, too! Did you see the two articles today that had liberals speaking of fighting “when we have an army”, and an elected official saying that they will use “all means necessary including CIVIL WAR” to make a moratorium on Drilling permanent?

LINKS:
1. “We're not looking for a fight. That will happen when we have an army”;
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2212285/posts

2. “Offshore Oil Drilling Ban Will Be Restored By Any Means Necessary, Even Civil War - Dem Congressman”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2212837/posts

THIS IS OBAMA'S CIVILIAN ARMY. It started this way in Germany too. It doesn't even matter if it's mandatory or voluntary because there are enough sycophantic idiots to achieve what Obama is looking for here already... And, the rest of us who would only go if forced might cause more problems for him than just letting us refuse...

I'm POSITIVE that even if the MANDATORY part is not in there now — THEY ARE PLANNING IT ANYWAY — it's what they want, and after people get used to the idea of this civilian security force, THEN they will pass the mandatory portion - at least that's how it will go if history is any indicator...

[thecabal]

This should serve as a wakeup call to those who haven’t yet figured out what the Repubs really think of you rabble.

[nathanbedford]

Beleaguered Americans join with you and ask, how could all but 14% of the American Senate support camps to indoctrinate our children?

Make no mistake, the goal of 250,000 is only a whistle stop on the way to the Conscription and indoctrination of our youth. There is virtually no chance that this can be undone, no chance that the participation will remain voluntary, no chance that Conscription will be avoided, no chance that the participation will be limited to 250,000 American children, no chance that the budget will not be increased.

There is no chance that the entire organization will not be taken over by a leftist and run as indoctrination camps. Once the process is started, as it has for example on our universities, in the Peace Corps, in AmeriCorps, it is never reversed. The American left will never relinquish this ground once seized. There is simply no hope that a conservative, a culturally conservative, a constitutionally conservative atmosphere will be allowed. There is no chance that these indoctrination camps will not become aggressively anti-Christian. There is no chance that that these camps will not further the cult of personality.

There is every likelihood that they will become something like the Nazi SS camp located about 2 km from my house here in Germany in which soldiers were paired with nubile Nordic looking Maechens and encouraged to couple and produce a new generation of Aryan Nazis to serve the Reich. I don't object to people getting laid but I do object to it being done in the Orwellian position. I object to the elitist atmosphere. I object to the Potemkin nature of the brave New World.

We must understand that the impulse to conscript youth and indoctrinate them and exploit their time for leftist ambitions is a drive that can never be satisfied. They will want more and more and more.

I fear a Rubicon has been crossed.

[21twelve]

From the article: “....to demand giving back by those who voted for him.”

Well - I found MY loophole!

[Just A Nobody]

Kennedy...the K'Toon...Zero...but no mention of President George W. Bush's challenge to volunteer!?!?
Ohhhh, that's right -- President Bush did not FORCE anyone to "volunteer" and he set up a system to recognize those that chose to do so without stealing billions of dollars from the taxpayers.

In his 2002 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush issued a challenge to all Americans to make time to help their neighbors, communities, and Nation through service. He called on each person to dedicate at least 4,000 hours – or two years – to service over the course of their lives. He created the USA Freedom Corps to help all Americans answer his call to service and help foster a culture of service, citizenship, and responsibility.

In 2003, President Bush created the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation to find ways to recognize the valuable contributions volunteers are making in our Nation. The Council brings together leaders from the worlds of business, entertainment, sports, education, government, nonprofits, and the media.
http://www.globeaware.org/Content/presidentialvsa.php

http://www.blueavocado.org/content/george-w-bushs-legacy-dramatic-increase-volunteer-spirit

[anglian]

Back on November 7, 2008, when President Obama was still President Elect Obama, the official website of his presidential transition was www.change.gov. When the site was first posted, on the page labeled “America Serves,” Obama outlined his plan that would require that students perform a certain number of hours of community service. “Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year.” (emphasis added) As the outrage rippled through the web, Obama’s transition team got wary of the impending backlash and within hours amended the site. The new language in question, still available on the site, now reads: Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by setting a goal that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free. Now, this might seem innocuous, until you read House Bill 1388, introduced on March 9, 2009, that “reauthorize(s) and reform(s) the national service laws” and creates a congressional committee that will analyze “whether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed.”

[anglian]

http://www.floppingaces.net/2009/03/18/obama-ujana-the-plan-for-compulsive-service-under-the-guise-of-government-run-volunteer-service-reader-post/