Monday, April 13, 2009

The ‘GIVE ACT’ should be called the ‘TAKE ACT’ – the federal government taking more power

The bill, HR 1388: The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, otherwise known as the "GIVE Act," was passed in the House by a vote of 321-105 and then the Senate voted closure on the motion to proceed by a margin of 74-14; making ultimate passage likely since Republicans have abandoned their role as a sensible “loyal opposition.”

Let us not forget that President Obama while campaigning made the mistake of revealing his real intentions when he said in his Colorado Springs speech he wanted to create a “civilian national security force which, candidate Obama said "would be just as powerful and well-funded as the U.S. military.”

The legislation also refers to "uniforms" that would be worn by the "volunteers" and the "need" for a "public service academy, a 4-year institution" to "focus on training" future "public sector leaders." The training, apparently, would occur at "campuses."

One writer said of the bill, "This is the equivalent of brown shirts," and who can disagree?

As WorldNet Daily noted: "Is Obama serious about creating some kind of domestic security force bigger and more expensive than that? If not, why did he say it? What did he mean?" I for one believe Obama did say what he meant in an unguarded moment, probably without his teleprompter to tell him what he should say.

This was not the only thing Obama said without permission of his teleprompter.

The original official Obama website (Change.gov), said Obama would "require" all middle school through college students to participate in community service programs and that "President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in under served schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year.”

However, after many blogs protested against children being drafted into Obama's proposed separate domestic army, the official website was reworded to soften the wording to make it seem less mandatory. The word "require" was stricken from the website and replaced with the phrase "setting a goal" and “enabling" Americans to serve, rather than” requiring" them to serve. However elsewhere on the Change.gov site, it described the plan under the heading, "Require 100 hours of service in college." (but since this article was posted, this reference on the Change.gov website was also deleted.)

If the original bill wasn’t bad enough, Democrat George Miller, (D-California) introduced an amendment to the to severely restrict the First Amendment by prohibiting youth opposed to the program from attempting to influence legislation, organize or engage in protests, petitions, boycotts or strikes.

Under the pending legislation AmeriCorps will distribute money even though AmeriCorps volunteers have a history of being recruited and employed by community programs with an ideological purpose supported by Democrat Party politicians, including ACORN and Planned Parenthood. (Under terms of the legislation AmeriCorps volunteers can end up counseling Planned Parenthood clients to recommend and arrange abortions.)

The Canada Free Press wrote: “‘volunteerism that kept America running since the days of its founding’ would be "wiped out with the stroke of a pen."

"It becomes forced labor and like the practice of another era, presses American citizens of all ages and creeds, unknowingly into military service. On paper, H.R. 1388 is the 'Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act'; the more innocuous sounding 'The Give Act,' for short.

"The Give Act puts the finishing touches to Public Allies New Leadership for New Times, modeled after Saul Alinsky's 'Peoples Organizations' and operating under Michelle Obama.”

"Michelle, (wife of Barack Obama), was a pioneer in the social entrepreneur movement – a group of leaders who create new approaches and organize to provide new solutions to social problems. Like most things Saul Alinsky, H.R. 1388 sounds noble in stating why wide-sweeping change is necessary."

"H.R. 1388 goes straight to the heart of volunteerism in America, impacting everything from the lemonade stands of neighborhood children, to the residents of senior citizens homes. … The Give Act puts tow-headed school children and silver-haired seniors in the official uniform of the new State, and encompasses every walk of life in main-street America. Whether you are young or old, or firmly believe that volunteering means you are offering your time to the good of community work, you will be pressed into Obama's National Civilian Community Corps."

"These 'volunteers' would be "grouped together as appropriate in campuses for operational, support, and boarding purposes. The Corps campus for a unit shall be in a facility or central location established as the operational headquarters and boarding place for the unit. … There shall be a superintendent for each camp" – just like Nazi Germany.

Michael Kinsley also wrote about Obama’s plans for enlisting America's youth in voluntary versus required volunteerism on Time's website: "Problem number one with grand schemes for universal voluntary public service is that they can't be both universal and voluntary. If everybody has to do it, then it's not voluntary, is it? And if it's truly up to the individual, then it won't be universal."

I recently pointed out how the federal government exerts control over states the Constitution sought vigorously to separate by dictating terms to states when they accept federal (read – taxpayer) money. Well this is another example of how this is done.

J.D. Tuccille of the Civil Liberties Examiner said "Most public schools depend on federal dollars. As Obama elaborated in a speech last December, 'At the middle and high school level, we'll make federal assistance conditional on school districts developing service programs, and give schools resources to offer new service opportunities.' So, it won't be the nasty federal government forcing your kids to donate their time to government-approved service, it'll be the local schools – but that requirement will be among the strings attached to federal money.”

Obama selected as dictator for the mandatory civil service, political thug Rahm Emanuel, his chief of staff. With good reason this has further worried many that Obama's plans may be more "requirement" than "encouragement."

WorldNet Daily noted that “In his book, ‘The Plan: Big Ideas for America,’ Emanuel writes: ‘It's time for a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us. We propose universal civilian service for every young American. Under this plan, all Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 will be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic training, civil defense preparation and community service.’” “’Emanuel and co-author Bruce Reed insist 'this is not a draft,' but goes on to write of young men and women, 'the nation will enlist them for three months of civilian service.' They also warn, 'Some Republicans will squeal about individual freedom,' ruling out any likelihood that they would let people opt out of universal citizen service.’"

The problem is Republicans won’t “squeal” enough.

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