This ought to put Charlie Rangle on cloud nine, if he can pry himself out of his 4 rent-controlled apartments long enough to take notice.

Maybe Rangle will want to put out feelers on the possibility of a McCain-Rangle '08 ticket..?

DemoPublicans One And All

Nice job of not addressing the subject of the article, but going on your little rant. Do you write speeches for McCan't?

"...design a draft where everybody equally could serve."

Everybody better include women

"...design a draft where everybody equally could serve."

Let's see..."Don't Ask Don't Tell"...and didn't I read somewhere that the armed forces has lots of troops who can't be on the front line because they have been labeled as financially insecure and thus at risk of being turned by the enemy for monetary gain...

Teh day after 9/11 the biggest mistake that the President made was NOT ordering a draft..!!!
It would have passed 110% and ALL your liberal kids would be serving, not just the patriotic kids...

Bill

In a perfect world the draft would not be necessary. In this imperfect world we should avoid at all costs however it would be foolish to say never. I for one would prefer no women but I an old fellow, so I guess I would bow to the women's lib.
National Health is worse than the draft :) anybody talk to Canada.
Bar-ain't, McCan't hum?

So true.

Rich, Charlie Rangle has been trying to get a military draft bill through Congress for years.
Maybe you don't follow these things very closely. I do. I have a son who's draft-bait if Charlie Rangle or McCain should manage to ram such an atrocity through Congress, so I Definitely AM on topic.

No, I don't write speeches for anyone. And I don't affiliate myself with either wing of our single Oligarchy party.
I see no substantial difference between the two.

Do you shine shoes for Obama?
(Just to play the game the way you seem to like it...)

Oh, one more point:

If every parent in America needs to know that McCain has said he'd consider a draft, every parent in America should Definitely know that Rangle has submitted more than one bill to do just that.

I guess Bill N doesn't have kids or they're over draft age, and he probably is too. Thing is, if we'd been serious about going after bin Laden and those who were actually behind 9/11, we wouldn't even be thinking about a draft now. So if we want a draft that's really fair, we should make everyone who has come out like Bill in favor of war put up or shut up. If there's documented proof that you supported the war and the idiots that got us into it, your kid goes first.

Hey smitisan,

Alot you know, I have 3 children ALL draft age...!!!
20 yr old is testing for Highway patrol in month, 17 yr old is gonig to Naval Academy, if accepted, in june and youngest will be dentist.
Yes, i will put up, 2 of 3 to serve, How about you..?
Or are you shipping your kids to canada.. hahaha

Bill

Hey Bill,

This might surprise you, but I'm one liberal in favor of a draft. Oh, I'm of draft age. And no, I didn't choose to serve in the military.

I think that it's the best way to equally distribute the cost of going to war, which is a serious thing to do and should involve the whole country, not just a few. We might be more careful about picking our fights if we had a draft, and faux patriots who can call for a war yet don't want to fight won't be able to hide. (At least I'm consistent — didn't choose the military, but didn't want to send others in my place).

While I don't want to march in the Army or Marines of my own volition, I can honestly say that if drafted, I wouldn't be burning my draft card.

(Is your hardwired neocon brain exploding right now?)

Hey Artful,

NO, my brain is just fine, I think that MOST young people feel the way you do. They don't want to fight, but if NEEDED, they would.

BIll

We might be more careful about picking our fights if we had a draft..

Having one didn't keep us from jumping into World War I, Korea or Vietnam.

Old John McCain never saw a war he didnt like. Reason is, of course, is because when he crashed his plane into North Veitnam, Uncle Ho tied him naked, spread-eagled upside-down to a beam and then whipped his testicles with a hand-full of electric wire's. He's been crazy as a peach-orchard boar ever since. Unfit to lead, a real sad story.

My father did 24 years in the Army, with a tour in Korea and two tours in Nam. When I turned 17, I went and signed up, and wanted to go to Nam, but he wouldn't sign for me to go into a combat zone, and even offered to give me money and a car to go to Canada; that's how fed up he was with the idiots running the show back then. I did my four years, saw some combat, and got out, just as fed up as he was. I'll fight for my country and I would hope my sons would be willing to as well, but I wouldn't give THIS government any more than it can take. My sons will get the same offer Dad made me.

Hey Bill - let's start with you. Cool? You seem to have "experience". It may be the wrong type of experience, but when you are a speed bump, who cares. Not Bush, not Cheney (5 deferments) and not McCain (how many planes did he total out?)

I love the patriotic thing. Not sure when perpetuating imperialism was patriotic, but lemmings eat that sh*t up.

I would like to see a draft. It would wake these spoiled little bastards up.

Kirkbrew, I'm in complete agreement with that sentiment.

We need to draft the children of every single politician in this country. YES! Draft them! But, its got to be a special kind of draft. One where they are drafted into being tank armor! Operation Human Shield! Tie those little buggers to every Abrams and Stryker in the motorpool.

But seriously, in a perfect world, we would have a law that says that if you become a legislator at any level, your children become automatically drafted. And, if they are drafted but somehow got put into a safe position away from the war zone (like being in Texas when the poor kids are being slaughtered and getting doped up 8,000 miles away), then any American can seize all of your property or money in the bank. Or something along those lines...

One more thing. I sometimes think when it comes to the draft and military service some people confuse two sentiments, similar to confusing self-esteem with confidence. That is defending one's country and defending one's government. Our country is a beautiful thing, its why all the Mexicans are swarming the borders, they know our sh*tholes are like paradise compared to their sh*tholes. For gods sakes, in North Korea, John Stewart would have been publically executed years ago! Yet, here he is making fun of bush and his cronies every night and getting paid for it! Rights like that need to be defended. But defending the government, too often its a bunch of douches and turds running things that don't deserve the unprocessed corn in my doo-doo.

Attention everybody: there will never be another draft. The public hates it, the military doesn't want it, contemporary warfare doesn't need it, and it doesn't work (does anyone think that conscripting people to build bridges or roads or make microchips makes any sense? Then why does a military draft make sense?). Throw in the fact that it's undoubtedly unconstitutional, and you have a recipe for no draft, ever.

The only reason people like McCain talk about the draft is because it plays well to a certain demographic of people who have read too much Heinlein and think he's on to something and/or believe that blowing your youth learning a bunch of economically useless combat skills, and then deploying those skills against third-worldy types on the other side of the planet, all on the public's dime, is somehow "serving" one's country. That or to stir the pot.

I'm no fan of John McCain. My question is what exactly are you complaining about in this instance? If a government is willing to commit to war, they should be willing to commit to a draft. If the people allow a war to be fought, then they should accept the possibility of a draft. McCain is advocating for a fair draft which would be difficult to implement, but he holds the correct position on this.

Hey Bill Nigh, Nice to see you grammar skills improving, and that you've learned how to use the spell checker. Now you need to work on your math skills.

1 in the Highway Patrol, 1 to the Naval Academy (if accepted), and 1 dentist. How do you get 2 out of 3 from that? I see possibly 1 out of three, and possibly 0 out of three. What are the 17 yr old's plans if they're not accepted to the Naval Academy? Enlistment?

But seriously, in a perfect world, we would have a law that says that if you become a legislator at any level, your children become automatically drafted.

So the children would be punished for the sins of their fathers & mothers?

I can't go with the notion that the government owns the lives of anybody's children. No children's lives are the governments, to dispose of or enslave as it suits government.

I'll second that, Droolius.

Droolius, the point I was trying to make is that given the status of our country in the world, the profiteering associated with wars, and the ease with which we can go to war, we need something to make the idiots in DC hesitant to fight. Entering politics is a choice and if they aren't willing to take that risk, then so be it. Might end up electing people who see war as a last resort.

But in all honesty, I completely agree with you, the government doesn't own anybody's lives. Which means that they don't own the lives of anyone in the service. They sign up to defened the country, its people, and the magnificent rights enshrined in the Constituion, not the current government and its policies.

Given our geographical isolation from the world's other powers, the logistical nightmare in maintaining an occupation force for 300 million people armed to the teeth in one of the largest countries in the world, and our wealth in resources, there are few reasons for us to fight. But we do anyway. Too often I might add. Thousands died for "national interests". And if politicians are willing to use the lives of kids who enter the service looking for college tuition or a f-ing job, then the least they can do is give up their children and suffer the horrors of seeing their kids covered head to toe in 3rd degree burns.

There is no such thing as a fair draft in a war against terrorism unless we make everyone a soldier—suicide babies—we make a tape of the baby saying goo-goo-gaa-gaa and then suit'em up with their cute little explosive vest and off to war baby (they get chucked out of airplanes with parachutes and then as the “enemy” goes to help the poor little baby they go “pop goes the weasel”, sneak assassin grannies, Pop bombs (Dads who go boom), C4 surprise Turkey dinner—to toughen up the society against terrorist attacks people need to know that at each instant every act could be their final act—thus C4 Turkeys are a random surprise gift from Uncle SAM (paid for with your tax dollars) to help to make sure families are on guard—if you discover that you got a C4 turkey then its yours to give to someone you hate, teachers who can execute students on the spot for wrong answers—we are at war and a wrong answer could destroy the nation, so I'm sorry little Bobby but you's dead—and so on until we defeat terrorism.

Shall not Podhoretz Neo-Con Insane McCain and Neo-Lib Liberjudasman, America’s most danger pair of Crypto-Neo-Marxists, be justly condemned to the gallows for their notorious treason against Christian culture and Constitutional rule of law?