NYT: Vote Drives Gain Avid Attention of Youth in '04

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/15/politics/campaign/15youth.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=

Four years ago, the presidential election was not even white noise to Marie Reyes. She had bigger concerns, like, um, anything except that whole Social Security lockbox thing that Al Gore and George Bush kept talking about.

"There was nothing in that election that I felt even remotely related to my life," said Ms. Reyes, who is 22.

But now, even with a full college classload, a baby and a part-time job, she spends nearly 20 hours a week in Albuquerque, her hometown, trying to get other young people to register to vote.

What happened to change Ms. Reyes was not just the issues - terrorism, the Iraq war and college costs, she said - but simple math.

"It hit me the same way it hits other people when I tell them: New Mexico was decided by 366 votes - I mean, that's how many people I expect to register, because I think I can do 300 easy," she said.

[Placebo]

1. I don't think you want some young people voting

I never realised how stupid my peers can be, but now that I've started college I see just how annoying and ignorant and boooooooooooooooooooooooring 99% of them are!

frankly, i don't want most of them voting lol i don't know if they can be trusted with that power

[mitchtv]

3. That, my dear nation,

is not limited to the youth.That is the majority.

[dumpster_baby]

4. Survey sez... youth prefer Kerry to Bush 2 TO 1!!!!

Bring on the 20-somethings!

[JoFerret]

7. Ask them how they feel about the draft

and paying off the Bush deficit for the rest of their lives. And tell them not to know anyone who might want a legal abortion.....

[wildeyed]

8. draft and abortion rights seem to get the attention of 20 somethings.

When I talk about the draft, I point our that they will take women this time, they will take older, and it is unlikely that it will be as easy to get a deferment as it was in Vietnam. Bring it home that it could happen to them, not just on TV.

I was talking to a young male co-worker the other day. He says, 'what does abortion have to do with me?' and knowing that he is pretty loose in the girlfriend department (hooking up?, I am soooo old, I don't know the terms anymore) I just laughed. He got a look of comprehension as he finally thought about it.

[PartyPooper]

2. I hope she's a Democrat.

We need more like her!

:bounce:

[OWR51]

5. New Mexico voter registration

My brother, a disabled Vietnam Vet and strong Kerry supporter, has been registering voters in the Albuquerque area. He says the ratio has been 7 new Democrats for every 1 new Republican. A recent NM news story stated that the total number of NM voters has increased by 10% in the last year. Keep up the great work!!

[newyawker99]

11. Hi OWR51!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[LTRS]

6. America Coming Together is registering

progressive voters like crazy, all over the country. I since I work with them, I hear that we are outpacing republicans by about 35% precent in numbers of new voters registered. If we get out the vote, I think we win. I really think that's going to be a huge factor this year.

[wildeyed]

9. I have been registering voters since spring.

And for allot of the same reasons the woman interviewed gave. It was so close last time, a little more effort by the grass roots dems, we would have won despite the cheating. Well you know what they say, fool me once, fool me twice, I won't get fooled again.

My goal has been to register 537 new voters, same number that we lost FL by in 2000. I was tickled to see that Reyes wants to register 300 new dems, the number NM was decided by. Great minds think alike.

[Eurobabe]

10. hats off to you!

this is the way to get even! Now make sure those you register actually VOTE on 11/2...we WILL win.

I hate the TV this morning. Bush is supposedly up by many electoral votes according to Chuck Todd-Hotline.

[sonias]

12. We need the youth vote

Don't be afraid of them. They aren't stupid. Most of them worry about the draft and as someone has said above they favor Kerry over bu$h 2 to 1. They better start worrying about the jobs they don't have waiting for them too. We need to engage the youth early and get them to help take back our country.

Sonia

[Dems Will Win]

13. SPECIAL MILITARY DRAFT ALERT!!

SPECIAL MILITARY DRAFT ALERT!

A military draft planning document, recovered through the Freedom of Information Act, is now online at the Blatant Truth Web site:
http://blatanttruth.org/selective_service091304.pdf

Please distribute this post and the official SSS draft document, the Feb. 11, 2003 “Issue Paper”, to all college newspaper editors, in LTTEs and mass e-mails to your personal lists.

This is a SPECIAL MILITARY DRAFT ALERT. In May, the Seattle Post Intelligencer published an article about a document they received through the Freedom of Information Act. It was revealed that the SSS is currently “designing procedures” for the implementation of a “Skills Draft” and had held a top-level meeting on it with Deputy Undersecretaries at the Defense Department. This draft would change the essential mission of the Selective Service and require “virtually every young American”, male and female ages 18-34, to register for the Skills Draft and list all the occupations they are proficient in to fill labor shortages throughout nearly the entire government. If enacted, the Skills Draft proposed in this FOI-recovered document would change America as we know it.

The Pentagon is suffering from immediate labor shortages. Recently, the inactive Ready Reserve had to be called up for the first time since the Gulf War to fill 5,600 job shortages in the Armed Forces. DoD said in the recent IRR callup “20% of the call-ups are truck drivers, 12% are supply specialists who can use a computer to track supplies, 10% are Humvee mechanics, 7% are administrative specialists and 6% are combat engineers” (USA Today, August 8, 2004).

Although Congress would have to approve new legislation to create a Skills Draft or reinstate the combat draft, Family Circle reported in its July 13 issue that Karl Rove has polled GOP members of Congress in September 2002 to see if they would support the President if he requests reinstatement. The Republicans said they would vote for the draft. They would likely support the new legislation needed to create the Skills Draft. While Bush and the Republicans are of course keeping the return of the draft and the new skills draft as quiet as possible, many anti-draft organizations have recently begun warning of a “Coming New Draft”.

The Issue Paper document was revealed through the Freedom of Information Act by Seattle Post Intelligencer reporter Eric Rosenberg, who wrote a partial explanation of it that was printed May 1, 2004:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/171522_draft01.h...

Rosenberg’s article was edited, however, and some key points about this document were omitted in the published article. What follows is a full explanation of the document. (Link to the document itself is at the top of the post)

This .PDF document is real, having been acknowledged by the DoD and the SSS when they said no action is being taken on it at the present time. However, given the current manpower shortages for certain skills and nurses, if Bush gets back in, expect all the options outlined in the Issue Paper to be implemented by the end of December of this year, and at the least a non-combat skills and medical draft to start next year, if not the male combat draft, ages 18-25.