Sorry, I hit the send button, and realized I'd left the post unfinished.
Ken and Mike,
>
> I've also thought that some form of national service would be a good
> thing. I'd think that something like VISTA or the Peace Corps could be a
> viable option for those who are philosophically opposed to, or otherwise
> unsuited for military service. Soon after I graduated from college, and
> was looking for a job with a degree in political science, I got the card
> from the Army that said "We Want You!" and the followup phone call from the
> local recruiter. I talked to him on the phone and didn't tell him about my
> disabilities (they aren't apparent in my speech). We set up an appointment
> to talk more, and he was shocked when I came into his office in my chair.
> We talked for a while, and he told me how to investigate civilian
> opportunities with the Army. I thanked him, and asked him if I still got
> the free T-Shirt. He said that I'd get it in the mail in a couple of
> weeks. I did, and still use a part of it as a cleaning rag, after I
> couldn't wear it anymore. Either it shrunk, I grew, or a combination of the
> two things happened. I think it's more likely the last two things.
>
> I also think that there needs to be some mechanism to pay for the war
> other than continuing to cut into social and educational programs. I serve
> on the advisory council for our state Tech Act project, and funding for that
> has gotten rolled into the war funding bill that recently passed both Houses
> of Congress with the provision for the US to be out of Iraq by the end of
> 2008. President Bush has promised to veto this, if it comes to his desk
> with the provision that we ar out of Iraq by the end of next year. I
> actually agree with that, because I don't see Iraq being stable by that time
> on it's own. I wish that weren't the case, but all my wishes, and Nancy
> Pelosi's, and Dick Cheney's and George Bush's won't make it so. That being
> said, I think continuing the present tax cuts is a bad idea. the
> Pay-as-you-go (paygo) policy that was instituted under George HW Bush, and
> continued under Clinton was a good philosophy, and is one that should have
> been continued by the present administration.
>
> With the number of service people who are returning with disabilities,
> funding for Tech Act projects and other disability related services is going
> to be very necessary. From what we've seen at Walter Reed, I don't think we
> can count on the Department of Veteran's Affairs to handle these needs
> well.
>
>
> On 3/27/07, [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > I agree that some form of civil service should be mandatory for all
> > citizens.
> >
> > ---- OrI agree iginal message ----
> > >Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2007 15:32:17 -0700
> > >From: ken barber <[log in to unmask]>
> > >Subject: Re: Some say US citizens need a war tax or a call to national
> > service.
> > >To: [log in to unmask]
> > >
> > >this is interesting. do you agree or disagree?
> > >
> > >--- "Kendall D. Corbett" < [log in to unmask]>
> > >wrote:
> > >
> > >> Interesting piece from the Christian Science Monitor
> > >> on the war.....
> > >>
> > >> *Few Americans share Iraq war's sacrifices*
> > >>
> > >> *By Gordon Lubold* | Staff writer of The Christian
> > >> Science Monitor
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> *WASHINGTON***
> > >>
> > >> Ask Navy corpsman Adam Shepherd what he wants
> > >> Americans to know about his
> > >> service in Iraq and he says it boils down to one
> > >> thing. "Just don't forget
> > >> that we sacrificed a lot to be out here," says the
> > >> medic, stationed at Camp
> > >> Taqaddum, Iraq.
> > >>
> > >> It's a sentiment that many servicemen and women
> > >> express. Five years after
> > >> President Bush declared war on Islamic extremism,
> > >> the military has lost
> > >> 3,599 troops and spent $503 billion in Iraq and
> > >> Afghanistan. Yet unlike past
> > >> wars, even unpopular ones, most Americans have
> > >> contributed little directly.
> > >> Tire and paper drives of World War II are a dim
> > >> memory. An increasingly
> > >> narrow slice of the population serves in the
> > >> military.
> > >>
> > >> Now, a growing number of observers question whether
> > >> Americans should make
> > >> some kind of sacrifice for what Bush himself calls
> > >> the "decisive ideological
> > >> struggle of our time." Despite the billions spent on
> > >> defense, which
> > >> represents 4 percent of the gross domestic product,
> > >> many inside the
> > >> administration and conservatives outside it believe
> > >> it's time to spend more.
> > >> But raising defense spending at a time when
> > >> Americans are frustrated with
> > >> the Iraq war is problematic. It also raises
> > >> questions for the growing number
> > >> of Americans who don't support the president's war
> > >> strategy. So what should
> > >> citizens do – if anything – to support US troops?
> > >>
> > >> Aside from sending care packages or volunteering to
> > >> help those in uniform,
> > >> Americans seem to have no ready answers.
> > >>
> > >> All this comes at a time when lawmakers, analysts,
> > >> and many current and
> > >> former military officials blame Bush for failing to
> > >> mobilize the nation by
> > >> calling on Americans to join the military or
> > >> creating national service
> > >> programs or even raising additional resources to
> > >> help pay for the war
> > >> effort. Instead, he has doled out tax cuts and
> > >> suggested Americans can be
> > >> true patriots by keeping the economy going strong.
> > >>
> > >> Says one retired general: "Marines are at war,
> > >> America is at the mall."
> > >>
> > >> The president has also asked for patience as
> > >> challenges to the war effort
> > >> have mounted – a different kind of sacrifice that
> > >> the public and Congress
> > >> seems increasingly unwilling to make.
> > >>
> > >> Americans would be willing to sacrifice in real ways
> > >> if they were asked,
> > >> says Fred Kagan, a senior analyst at American
> > >> Enterprise Institute, a
> > >> conservative think tank in Washington. "It's one of
> > >> the worst failures of
> > >> the administration, the weakness of its efforts to
> > >> make it possible for the
> > >> American people to support its troops."
> > >>
> > >> Soon, Mr. Kagan and other strong supporters of going
> > >> the distance in Iraq
> > >> will release a report that among other things will
> > >> explain why mobilizing
> > >> the nation in support of the war on terrorism has
> > >> become so critical – and
> > >> offer practical ways on how to do it.
> > >>
> > >> Military recruiters have their own solution –
> > >> enlist. Since the military
> > >> became an all-volunteer force in 1973, an increasing
> > >> number of servicemen
> > >> and women have come from lower-income households.
> > >>
> > >> With few exceptions, the conspicuous absence of the
> > >> social elite – including
> > >> celebrities, the upper class, and children of
> > >> politicians – in the military
> > >> creates the impression that this war isn't worth
> > >> fighting, says Charles
> > >> Moskos, noted military sociologist at Northwestern
> > >> University in Evanston,
> > >> Ill. "This is the no-sacrifice war."
> > >>
> > >> But if it's not possible to enlist, some say the
> > >> next best thing is money.
> > >>
> > >> Enter Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the independent from
> > >> Connecticut, who last
> > >> Thursday proposed a new tax to raise money for
> > >> troops. The "Support Our
> > >> Troops Tax" would raise $50 billion per year over
> > >> the next five years to pay
> > >> for defense and veterans benefits and services. The
> > >> proposal, coming in the
> > >> form of an amendment to the fiscal 2008 budget, is
> > >> what Senator Lieberman
> > >> calls the need for a "shared sacrifice."
> > >>
> > >> "It's my way of making a larger point that our
> > >> military went to war but our
> > >> nation didn't go to war," he says. "And as long as
> > >> that is true, we are not
> > >> going to have the success and the victory we need."
> > >>
> > >> The senator concedes that taxes are unpopular and
> > >> that levying one on an
> > >> already unpopular war may not go over well with the
> > >> American public or
> > >> fellow lawmakers. "There may be other ways to do
> > >> this, but we haven't been
> > >> creative about it," he says.
> > >>
> > >> Other observers say the problem is not that
> > >> Americans haven't been asked to
> > >> sacrifice, it's that they're indifferent to
> > >> sacrifice.
> > >>
> > >> The burden of the war on terrorism has fallen
> > >> exclusively on the nation's
> > >> young – the current generation known as the
> > >> Millennials, born beginning in
> > >> the 1990s and known for their penchant for
> > >> conformity, public service, and
> > >> duty, says William Strauss, a prominent generational
> > >> historian and author of
> > >> 10 books.
> > >>
> > >> He says it's difficult to convince other Americans
> > >> to sacrifice because so
> > >> many of them are baby boomers, who grew up during
> > >> Vietnam and typically
> > >> don't trust institutions like the military. Thus,
> > >> they are less inclined to
> > >> want to make a sacrifice in the same way their
> > >> parents did during World War
> > >> II or their sons and daughters are doing now, Mr.
> > >> Strauss says.
> > >>
> > >> Political calculations aside, that generational
> > >> mind-set may make it
> > >> difficult for the nation's leaders to ask for people
> > >> to make a sacrifice –
> > >> especially during an unpopular war, he adds. Still,
> > >> the war on terrorism
> > >> presents baby boomers with a dilemma.
> > >>
> > >> "It's one of the questions for boomers; as a
> > >> generation, they need to
> > >> reflect on whether they are looking for a free pass
> > >> through history," says
> > >> Strauss, "and to see what their legacy will be as
> > >> elders."
> > >>
> > >> The memory of 9/11 is "a little distant now," says
> > >> Strauss, who believes it
> > >> may take another dramatic event before the country
> > >> is truly galvanized and
> > >> therefore capable of true sacrifice. "If we have
> > >> that, the nature of our
> > >> nation's response could surprise us."
> > >>
> > >> •*Tom Peter contributed to this story.*
> > >> --
> > >>
> > >> Kendall
> > >>
> > >> An unreasonable man (but my wife says that's
> > >> redundant!)
> > >>
> > >> The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the
> > >> unreasonable one
> > >> persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.
> > >> Therefore, all progress
> > >> depends on the unreasonable man.
> > >>
> > >=== message truncated ===
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > >____________________________________________________________________________________
> > >TV dinner still cooling?
> > >Check out "Tonight's Picks" on Yahoo! TV.
> > > http://tv.yahoo.com/
> > >
> > >-----------------------
> > >
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> > >
> > > http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?SUBED1=c-palsy
> >
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> Kendall
>
> An unreasonable man (but my wife says that's redundant!)
>
> The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
> persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
> depends on the unreasonable man.
>
> -George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950
>
--
Kendall
An unreasonable man (but my wife says that's redundant!)
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.
-George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950
-----------------------
To change your mail settings or leave the C-PALSY list, go here:
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