James48
James48's JournalSelective Service System Equality?
Selective Service System
► Women Draft Registration Could be Next
As Norway became the first NATO country to require women to register for the draft this month, it has
American military analysts debating whether the US could be on the verge of taking the same step, too. It
was back in 1981 that the US Supreme Court ruled that requiring only men to register for the draft was
constitutional, since there were US laws that banned women from fighting in combat. Essentially, the
argument went, since the purpose of registration for selective service -which all men must do at the age of
18, regardless of whether there is a draft in effect –is to prepare for combat, and women are excluded from
combat, then they would not be needed in the event of a draft. But with the Pentagon’s decision to lift the
ban on women in combat by January 2016– and its move in recent months to open a number of jobs to female
troops previously held only by men - those Supreme Court arguments from 33 years ago may no longer
apply, analysts note, adding that mandatory registration for the draft may be the next logical step.
“It’s a social contract with democracy–that’s my take on it,” says Shelly Burgoyne, a former Army
officer who served two tours of duty in Iraq during the war and believes women should be requi
red to add their names to the Selective Service registry. “If you’re going to take advantage of all of the benefits of a
democracy, then I think you should also bear the responsibility as well.” A former platoon leader running
supply convoys, Ms. Burgoyne says she did not initially think that women should be allowed to serve in
combat jobs and even wrote her senior thesis laying out the reasons why they shouldn’t. Her beliefs changed,
she says, after her time in Iraq. “I saw women physically able to do it,” she says. “I did a full-on reversal
–if you can do the job, then you can do the job.” A congressionally chartered association of US military reservists
recently passed a resolution last year calling for the registration of women for the Selective Service as well,
noting that 14 percent of active duty troops and nearly one -fifth of National Guard and Reserves are now
women.
Even though 275,000 women have deployed to fight America’s recent wars, “an inequality exists between
men and women between the ages of 18 -26 under the Selective Service Act,” the Reserve Officers
Association of the United States notes. “Women should be treated equally as responsible, competent,
contributing members of America’s society. While men are required to register for the Selective Service,
there has not been a draft in the United States since the Vietnam -war era. Pentagon brass strongly believes
that the current all -volunteer force performs much better than a conscripted force would. The presence of
women on the rolls has the potential to make a draft even less politically palatable. Yet there are other
possibilities in the event of a national emergency in which the draft is activated, says retired Maj. Gen.
Charles Dunlap, the former deputy judge advocate general of the Air Force and now the executive director
of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University School of Law in Durham, N.C.
Congress might say, for example, that the national emergency requires 95 percent of draftees to be
fighters, or infantry.
A draft bill might argue that since, say, 95 percent of infantry troops are men, then the national emergency
would require 95 percent of men to be called up, and 5 percent of women, Mr. Dunlap notes. In that case,
the law might say that the 5 per cent requirement could be filled by female volunteers, rather than conscripts, he adds. “There would be a relatively small number of women who would want to do it and be able to pass the test,” Dunlap argues. “Those that wanted to do it and could would be welcomed into the unit, because they would be extraordinary people,” he adds. “I don’t see thousands and thousands of women in the infantry.”
[Source: The Christian Science Monitor | Anna Mulrine | October 28, 2014 ++]
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2014/1028/With-US-women-soon-eligible-for-combat-the-draft-could-be-next
MICHIGAN: Breaking News Gary Peters defeats Terri Lynn Land in race for U.S. Senate,
Source: Detroit Free Press
Breaking News --
Gary Peters(D) defeats Terri Lynn Land(R) in race for U.S. Senate, Free Press projects
Read more: http://www.freep.com/
Gun accidentally fired in Bob Evans bathroom
Gun accidentally fired in Bob Evans bathroomFrom Staff Reports 2:05 p.m. EST November 3, 2014
Livingston County Press, Howell, Michigan
Police officials say that a found handgun was accidentally discharged in a bathroom at the Bob Evans in Genoa Township. (Photo: Alan Ward/Livingston Daily )
Texas man’s curiosity led him to pick up a gun — which accidentally discharged — that he found in the bathroom of a Genoa Township restaurant.
Fortunately, only a cooler at the Bob Evans Farms Restaurant at 3880 E. Grand River was shot around 11:30 a.m. today.
Michigan State Police at the Brighton post said the 58-year-old Texan found a 9-mm H&K handgun laying in the restaurant’s bathroom and he decided to pick it up.
It accidentally discharged and the round went through the wall and into the cooler, a trooper explained.
The trooper said the Texan immediately put the gun down, walked out of the bathroom and told a restaurant employee who called 911.
The trooper said he believes the Texan, who remained on scene and was cooperative with the investigation, had no intent to fire the gun and police are not seeking charges.
Source:
http://www.livingstondaily.com/story/news/crime/2014/11/03/shot-accidentally-fired-restaurant-bathroom/18420631/
Police are searching for the gun’s owner.
Charter School loses appeal over $535K Verdict
Linden Charter Academy Loses Appeal Over $535K Verdict
10/30/14 - The Michigan appeals court won't upset a $535,000 verdict for a teacher who said he was illegally fired for making a racial comment at an area charter school. During an exchange about desks, Craig Hecht told another staffer at Linden Charter Academy that white tables were better and "brown should burn." There was no dispute that Hecht made the racial comment but his lawyer said he quickly apologized to a black teacher's aide who heard him. Hecht, who is white, worked at Linden Charter Academy for more than eight years until he was fired in November 2009. Hecht sued, saying black staff at the school had made racial jokes but were never punished like him. The appeals court agreed there was evidence that Hecht was treated differently. In dissent, Judge Kurtis Wilder says Hecht wasn't treated differently because there were no complaints about comments made by black employees.
The school is run by National Heritage Academies, which at the time said it was disappointed by the verdict. (JM)
LinK: http://whmi.com/news/article/21183
Obama and Ebola.....
Attention -- this advice if for my Facebook Conservative friends-
Heads up in November!
I just heard this- please pass it along!
Obama is going to infect the voting booths with Ebola in all the conservative areas!
The survivors of this massacre will be put in FEMA camps.
Don't vote, conservatives!
It's a trap!
...He will get your information from voting registration forms and COME GET YOU!
* Ebola= Obama.
Did you know?
Both have five letters.
Both have THREE VOWELS!!!
Both can be traced to Africa.
Both have the letters "B" and "O" in them!!
Both end in the letter "A".
Need I say more?
Do NOT enter any voting booths in November!
Former senator Jim Webb: 'Taking a hard look' at Democratic presidential bid
Former senator Jim Webb laid out in stark terms the economic and military challenges facing America, saying he is “seriously looking” at a 2016 presidential campaign as a Democrat.
Webb, an ex-Navy secretary under Ronald Reagan who served one term as a senator representing Virginia, outlined in remarks at the National Press Club the federal government’s role as the middle class gets squeezed and the U.S. fights to protect national interests abroad. He shared what he called his “governing principles” in his speech and on Twitter.
“The very character of America is being called into question,” Webb said Tuesday. “Who are we as a people? What is it that unites us, rather than divides us? Where is our common ground when the centrifugal forces of social cohesion are spinning so out of control that the people at the very top exist in a distant outer orbit?”
(snip)
“I have strong reasons for being a Democrat,” Webb said. “Basically, if you want true fairness in society you want to give a voice in the corridors of power for the people who otherwise would not have it, I believe that will come from the Democratic Party and we’re taking a hard look, and we’ll get back to you in a few months.”
more:
http://www.armytimes.com/article/20140923/NEWS/309230065/Former-senator-Jim-Webb-Taking-hard-look-Democratic-presidential-bid
My Afternoon as a Hobby Lobby Sidewalk Counselor
Back in June, I was inspired by a Supreme Court decision to take up Sidewalk “Counseling.” Since SCOTUS declared the buffer zone around Massachusetts’ health clinics unconstitutional, I decided it was time for me to provide those seeking treatments to which I object with counseling of my own. Here, in my post, “My Morning as a Viagra Sidewalk Counselor” I explain why this made perfect sense to me. Eleanor McCullen, lead plaintiff in that Supreme Court case, had been vindicated. Because she prevailed, she has her country back. “It’s America. I should be able to walk and talk gently, lovingly, anywhere with anybody.”
ME TOO!!! Now I can walk and talk lovingly anywhere with anybody, too!!! I have to be honest, I didn’t realize how good it felt to attempt to veer people away from their own personal decisions until I became a sidewalk counselor myself. When the Supreme Court subsequently decided that Hobby Lobby was a “closely held” private company, and thereby could chose to not include treatments to which they have religious objections (however poorly reasoned those objections might be) in the health insurance plans they offered to employees, I said, “Eureka!” Among other things.
Not coincidentally, the treatments and medications to which Hobby Lobby object are the VERY SAME THINGS against which Eleanor McCullen and her Sidewalk-Counseling-Hare-Krishna-Kumbaya-All-You-Need-Is-Love-and-Salvation Posse object!!! Things that they (in some cases, mistakenly) believe lead to abortion!!! Forget that our fallen female bodies naturally abort “babies” all the time in the form of miscarriages. It’s when women actually have a SAY in whether a blastula survives that we must fetch Mrs. McCullen (and now, the Green Family of Hobby Lobby fame) the smelling salts so that they may lovingly and gently show us the error of our ways. Because they. know. better.
Anywho, buoyed from my sidewalk counseling triumph regarding turning people away from the evils of Viagra, I decided to turn my loving and gentle gaze to another group of people who needed to be saved from their own behavior.
Hobby Lobby Shoppers.
More:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/theworthingtonpost/2014/08/my-afternoon-as-a-hobby-lobby-sidewalk-counselor/
Veteran needs help to get home back
Veteran needs help to get home backFundraising effort seeks $132,000 for Hamburg resident
Howell, Michigan: -- A Livingston County Veterans Affairs employee hopes others will step up to help an 82-year-old Hamburg Township veteran on the brink of being homeless.
Joshua Parish, a veterans benefits counselor, launched a crowdfunding campaign June 25 and plans to host fundraisers to try and raise $132,008 for Ross Dahlberg to reclaim his home before a six-month redemption period expires Sept. 26.
Owing about $4,000 in mortgage payments, the Korean War-era veteran lost his home of 17 years at a sheriff’s auction in March while in the hospital recovering from triple-bypass surgery. Parish said he believes Dahlberg was overlooked by a state system when he applied for financial assistance.
“It’s not just this veteran in this county that it’s happening to, it’s everywhere,” Parish said.
Dahlberg, who uses a wheelchair due to the effects of diabetes, said he applied for assistance through the StepForward program after he fell behind on mortgage payments after several surgeries and a divorce.
Parish said he had been conditionally approved through the program and was told his house would not be foreclosed upon while the program processed his application. Yet, Dahlberg received a letter from the program weeks later informing him that his application had been declined due to a clerical error, Parish said.
“Either something fell through the cracks, or someone didn’t do their job,” said Parish, who is acting as a representative for Dahlberg while he recovers from a bacterial infection at a Howell rehabilitation facility.
“It’s a nightmare,” said Dahlberg, who said his faith is helping him through his situation. “It’s like I’m in a horror chamber.”
More news story:
http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20140711/NEWS01/307110012/Veteran-needs-help-to-get-home-back
GoFundme site:
http://www.gofundme.com/KoreanWarVeteran
Fundraising campaign launched to help veteran keep his home
Fundraising campaign launched to help veteran keep his homeby By Lizzy Alfs | lizzyalfs@mlive.com
Joshua Parish of the Livingston County Department of Veterans Affairs has a goal: to help a veteran keep his Pinckney home after it was sold at a sheriff auction in March.
Parish launched a crowdfunding campaign on June 25 and plans to host fundraisers to try to raise $132,000 in order for Ross Dahlberg to reclaim his home before a six-month redemption period expires on Sept. 26.
“The veteran is currently wheelchair bound and he suffers from several medical ailments that would make moving him to a new location very difficult,” Parish said.
Parish said a series of unfortunate events led to Dahlberg’s current situation: a Korean War-era veteran, Dahlberg was hospitalized for health issues and fell behind on his mortgage.
Owing about $4,000, Dahlberg applied for the Step Forward Michigan program, which allows residents who meet a minimum set of qualifications apply for up to $30,000 in past due property tax or mortgage payment relief.
Parish said Dahlberg was initially approved for the program, but his application was later denied due to a clerical error.
Dahlberg contacted Parish, who works as a veterans benefits counselor in Livingston County, and Parish drafted an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order in court to save Dahlberg’s house from going to a sheriff's auction while Parish tried to obtain the $4,000 to pay the past due mortgage.
The motion was denied and Dahlberg’s home sold to Day Glo LLC for $132,000 in March.
Dahlberg is living in his home until a six-month redemption period expires in September.
“The redemption period will expire, and if we cannot raise the funds to keep him in his home, the company that purchased his home is going to evict him or remove him from the home,” Parish said.
“The vet is adamant about staying in the home. He’s owned that home for 20-plus years. In his own words, ‘I want to die there,’” Parish continued.
More:
http://www.mlive.com/business/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/07/fundraising_campaign_launched.html
I know the veterans office- this is legit.
here is the link to the gofundme donation site:
http://www.gofundme.com/koreanwarveteran
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