General Clark on mandatory civilian service

[Shanty Oilish]

"General Clark has called for Americans to rally around a New American Patriotism grounded in the belief that citizenship entails responsibilities as well as rights."

"General Clark challenges all Americans, men and women, to sign up for the Civilian Reserves. By signing up for the Civilian Reserves Americans, volunteers would promise to make a sacrifice for their country, when and where needed."

"Calling up the Civilian Reserves if necessary. During a crisis, if sufficient volunteers were not available, the President would have the authority to call-up as many as 5,000 Civilian Reserves, through a lottery of the Reservists with the required skills. The circumstances that would precipitate a mandatory call-up would be exceedingly rare."

"The Civilian Reserves would be activated in times of pressing need."

From http://clark04.com/issues/serviceplan/

[windansea]

1. how do you get "mandatory"

from "volunteers"???????????

[Shanty Oilish]

The word is there.

Not wanting to take it out of context, I used other quotes from the same page on the same subject. The quotes are exact. Mandatory callup is on the table and projected to be exceedingly rare. By all means, go read the whole page.

[Dookus]

8. still flamebait...

there's nothing about mandatory service. Nothing in this proposal would force people to serve if they don't wish to.

Pretending otherwise is disingenuous.

[RafterMan]

15. Mandatory?

"Mandatory" is possible only if you sign up.

Civilians who do not register for the program will not face a callup under any circumstances under Clark's plan.

[Dookus]

2. Mandatory?

I don't see that word in the article. Flamebait.

[Shanty Oilish]

3. Put your glasses on, it's there

I cut and pasted everything in my post, not a word of comment. How can that be flamebait? Don't you endorse his ideas?

[NV1962]

4. Yarright... a mandatory response of those signing up as volunteers

Yup, flamebait.

[windansea]

5. where did you come up with the title?

there's no mandatory "there"

[Dookus]

6. then please highlight

the section referencing mandatory service. Perhaps my glasses are too old for me to see it.

[Shanty Oilish]

11. Middle of page one paragraph before above insert

Insert: "This 'Civilian Reserve' will be a powerful representation of A New American Patriotism..."

The word mandatory is in the paragraph just above that. Mandatory callup is to be exceedingly rare.

[charlie]

16. You're misreading it

It's clear that compulsory service would be drawn only from those who signed up with the program in the first place. A call for volunteers would go out and if too few responded, the rest would be drawn from lottery.

Matching skills with needs.

In a time of urgent need, individuals who signed up for the Civilian Reserves would be asked to volunteer, as necessary, to help address a crisis in their communities, nation, or abroad. The President would have the authority to issue a "voluntary call to action" to encourage particular segments of the Civilian Reserves to mobilize to meet the pressing needs of the nation. The President would only ask people to volunteer if they had the relevant skills to address the pressing need.

Calling up the Civilian Reserves if necessary.

During a crisis, if sufficient volunteers were not available, the President would have the authority to call-up as many as 5,000 Civilian Reserves, through a lottery of the Reservists with the required skills. The circumstances that would precipitate a mandatory call-up would be exceedingly rare. These Reservists could be called up for up to six months. An appeals process would consider hardship exemptions for family and other circumstances. An Act of Congress would be required to call up additional Civilian Reservists beyond the first 5,000 members. Members of the Civilian Reserves would be limited to one six-month call up in their five-year term of service.

[Shanty Oilish]

7. I didn't write the page, folks. It's Clark04 website.

Is there something wrong with mandatory callup?

[Dookus]

9. No, you didn't write it.

You misquoted it.

Nothing in that article refers to mandatory service, and shame on you for continuing to pretend that it does.

[Shanty Oilish]

13. Mandatory call-up is mentioned on the page.

Pretend it isn't!

[Dookus]

14. LOL...

this is comical.

A mandatory callup of VOLUNTEERS!!!!

There is no mandatory service. But you know that.

[Shanty Oilish]

20. Don't forget the hardship appeals

I don't know why you're getting excited, Dookus. I haven't said anything about it, and if you are okay with it, join right up. I didn't write the web page. If I had, I'd have defined things like "pressing need."
If you feel that an exact quote is misleading, bring us one that puts things on the right track. In the meantime, when the page says "mandatory," I believe that's what it means.
BTW, Clark is hardly the only person advocating civilian service to the nation. John Edwards wants schoolchildren to perform community service. Many Democrats have publicly advocated mandatory service, in and out of the military. But you know that!

[Dookus]

21. I'm laughing because

you don't seem to understand the difference between voluntary and mandatory.

Still flamebait.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Dookus]

23. Mike...

edit your post please. You're not allowed to call people that, no matter how true it may be.

[mikehiggins]

24. Oh, I'm not calling anyone anything

"troll" refers to the subject matter, not the person posting it.

I'm fairly certain, for example, that the poster does not live under a bridge and eats billy goats.

I'm pretty certain this post is deliberately misleading and "trolled" past the rest of us in hopes of getting someone to "bite."

If the powers-that-be disagree, I'm certain they'll let me know forthwith.

[Dookus]

25. *shrug*

I tried. It's your warning.

[Shanty Oilish]

28. With 4000 posts? How prolific of me

:kick:

[windansea]

10. sorry your title is totally inaccurate

voluntary signup for something that could mandate something compulsory is not mandatory civil service....hence flamebait

[Dookus]

12. that has nothing to do with mandatory service...

and I'm pretty sure you know that.

Still flamebait.

[girl gone mad]

17. What's your point?

People volunteer for Civil Service, then in a time of crisis (the page cites forest fires and nation building operations as examples), these volunteers might be called to duty for a period of up to 6 months.


The Peace Corps requires a 27 month commitment and doesn't pay as well or provide job security. Do you consider the Peace Corps "Mandatory Civilian Service"?

[sandnsea]

18. No mandatory service here

Volunteers sign up and then are called up in an emergency. A different kind of National Guard. Good idea. Nothing mandatory about it. But I like Kerry's 2 years voluntary service, 4 years college better.

[cprise]

19. Mandatory service should = Voting!

If you dont, you get fined a nominal amount.

It's good enough for other western countries.

[Tweed]

26. Oh really? That's interesting

Seems kind of undemocratic though. In a true democracy, shouldn't you be allowed to participate in anyway you want?

[NV1962]

27. Oh, there's more! Clark also wants to "promise ... a sacrifice"

It's right there! In the second quoted part! He pledges to sacrifice people!

And in the third we find that Clark has a compulsive urge to gamble with volunteers: "a lottery of the Reservists"

Worse yet, in the same, he flaunts the Do Not Call list, invoking "the authority to call-up"

Babies for breakfast I tell you!

:tinfoilhat:

[maddezmom]

29. What are JK's views on civil service?

I remember reading something about mandatory service in high school to graduate. What else does he embrace?

[Moderator]

30. Locking......

1. If you start a thread in this forum, you must present your opinion in a manner that is not inflammatory, which respects differences in opinion, and which is likely to lead to respectful discussion rather than flaming. The moderators have the sole authority to decide whether a thread topic is inflammatory. Extremely inflammatory or inappropriate topics will be deleted rather than locked, and the thread's author will receive a warning.

2. The subject line of a discussion thread must accurately reflect the actual content of the message.



This is misleading and is inflammatory.


DU Moderator