Am I freaking missing something here??

[Phillycat]

Why on cnn.com, msnbc.com, etc, is the first story NOT that the government is now involuntarily forcing people into military service? And instead is some crap about 70% of Americans believing there will be another terrorist attack? Who cares about some stupid poll results?

They are, for all intents and purposes, DRAFTING people at this point. And it's only a matter of time before we'll have a civilian draft. I mean, DUers have known this all along. But is the general public not shocked by this news? Is this just another story they'll swallow with their morning coffee? Where's the outrage? When they instituted the draft for Vietnam, people rioted in the streets.

I don't understand this country.

[warrens]

1. Morning edition led with this all morning

Didn't even mention the poll, for those who seem to think NPR journalists are on the GOP payroll.

[enuffs_enuffs]

3. May be not GOP payroll directly...

but the man in charge has definately "steered" news reporting in very specific directions... and of course leaves out a whole host of info that would be mightily useful to us.

[enuffs_enuffs]

2. It's almost time to amputate a pinky toe...

I couldn't live with myself if I had to kill somebody for Bush and Cheney to make a profit...

[EST]

8. Don't do it.

Just become a political activist loudmouth and take that message to the induction centers, the morning papers, every political hack you can locate. Buy a megaphone and practice screaming into it for a year or two.

Get yourself arrested a few times while protesting at govt self-preening functions and, after all that, they will definitely not be interested in availing themselves of your valuable services undor any circumstances.

Also, it helps to, every time they say, "You will," say, "Fuck you--I WILL NOT!"

[enuffs_enuffs]

9. My uncle sectioned 8 during Vietnam...

He convinced his superiors that he'd kill anything that moves if they gave him a rifle... and it worked! I know there are other ways to side step the draft, and the toe issue is just one, may be a good thread would be to list the ways to get out of a draft... or if drafted, how to mitigate your imposed responsibilities.

[EST]

11. I told a less than enthusiastic draftee about a hoary old tale

of a friend of mine who carried some apple juice with him and when it came tome to dip the litmus paper into the bottle of urine (that used to be the urine test) that he had secretly filled with the juice, he said something to the effect that the piss was too pale and should be run through again. Thereupon, he drank it, freaking out the docs and keeping his freedom.

This particular guy thought it was a terriffic idea and said he was gonna do it. Apparently he managed to forget, or lose, his juice (or so he said) and couldn't pull the trick off.

Not to be outdone, when it came time, he drank the pee! I don't know for sure just how the doctors reacted, but he did not get drafted--must have worked.

[enuffs_enuffs]

12. Hmmm... drink urine and ur'out!

I like that... and since it's sterile, why not?

And if THAT doesn't work... the ol' destructive masturbation ought to do the trick! Cheese grater anyone?

[EST]

14. Yuck!

Pencil in the eardrum seems preferable.

[pooja]

4. Please, stop freaking out. Freaking out accomplishes absolutely

nothing. Put up a sign in your yard, send a mass e-mail, write your paper, congressman and govenor. Who cares what MSM puts up on their web site. If you inform enough people, it will move around the country (you know you might get it moving so fast it clogs up those tubes). When everyone knows what is going on, then it becomes MSM. Write a satire, a joke, an informative letter. Write it here on DU... I will copy and paste. I will post it to my activist groups, I will send it to Grandma Peggy (she has instant Group send to lots of old people with nothing better to do than e-mail everyone 2 times over). Become active, instead of reactive. I'm learning that positive thought and progressive movements beats the lows... Its easier getting through the day. We still own this country, we stay awake, we watch, we remain active... Defeatism is our only threat and it is the way we let this country fall into evil hands.

[EST]

5. Actually there was no draft instituted for VietNam.

Involuntary, conscripted servitude for all physically capable males who wouldn't or couldn't arrange some other berth was a condition of military readiness for many years at that point.
Viet Van just raised the ante. Conscripts were more motivated to stay out and induction center personnel were more highly motivated to get 'em in. When you're killing off forty or fifty personnel a day, the process has to be quick clean and sure.

[acmavm]

6. They probably hope that if the can scare the shit out of

everyone they won't care who they're making go into the military as long as it's not them.

[lisainmilo]

7. your'e right!

We should be. I believe this is a small indication of what will happen if in 2008 we have a republican president. Mc Cain has clearly stated we need more troops. If things keep going the way they are the draft will surely be re-instituted.

[Redneck Socialist]

10. Yup, you are missing something

The government isn't "...involuntarily forcing people into military service..."

What they are doing is calling up the Individual Ready Reserves.

Soldiers who enlist in the military commit to serving for a specific number of years but might serve only some of those years on active duty.

Once deactivated, they can join the National Guard or the active reserve, in which they continue to train and draw pay.

If they don't choose active service, they go into the Individual Ready Reserve and can be called back into active service until their enlistment term expires. Officers who have deactivated can be recalled until they resign their commissions or reach mandatory retirement age."

From: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-08-05-irrcallup_x.htm

The article is from 2004, which is the last time they pulled this stunt IIRC.

The folks in question chose to go into the IRR and quite likely never expected to get called up, but they hadn't served their entire hitch and essentially remain property of the US government.

[enuffs_enuffs]

13. None the less... it's a stark reminder of just how F'ed up this...

admins policies are. Can't exactly call it all volunteer... if ya know what I mean...