Obama: On second thought, let’s make community service for students voluntary
posted at 12:54 pm on November 8, 2008 by Allahpundit
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If one day of carping in the blogosphere is enough to get The One to reverse himself, maybe we can work with this guy after all. The Change.gov plan as of yesterday:
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.
And, via Sweetness & Light, the Change.gov plan as of this afternoon:
Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by setting a goal that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free.
Interesting that he suddenly decided to slap a number on the program, too. Read Tom Blumer for a back-of-the-envelope analysis of what it could cost and what kind of bureaucracy, potentially, we’re looking at here. The feds already oversee millions of student loans so there’s presumably plenty of institutional knowledge already available to phase this in. Exit question: Why the sudden turnaround? Had they really not thought this through before putting it online, or do they have no real intention of making it happen and are happy to play with the rhetorical particulars so long as it keeps people off their backs?
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He’s borrowing from socialist Germany, where they practice Wehrpflichtgesetz, or conscription. All German males must serve nine months in the military. If they refuse, they can enter “civilian service,” or 100 hours each year for six years in a “civil protection organisation” (you know, like picking up trash or working in old-folk homes).
Obama would not institute a military draft (for various reasons), but he no doubt loves the idea of conscripting the nation’s youth for a non-military Owehrpflichtgesetz, and eventually his militant (but non-military *wink*) “Civilian Defense Force.”
TMK on November 8, 2008 at 2:15 PM
To some, myself included, there is a perceptable, fundamental difference between requirements imposed by a particular school or school district and those imposed by the federal government. This difference makes it a big deal.
DarkCurrent on November 8, 2008 at 2:16 PM
I wonder if ObamaMcCarthy and EmanuelBergen know that idiots like crr6 are running around on the blogs performing cyberfellatio on them?
csdeven on November 8, 2008 at 2:16 PM
$4,000 x 20,500,000 college students = $82 billion annually
What college student won’t want to get $40 an hour for “volunteering?”
How are we leading their expectations? That makes working at Starbucks for $8 an hour look really lame by comparison. So why do it?
And if volunteering is comparable to a salary of $80K per year, why take that job that starts at $30,000 when you graduate? That’s so lame… if you’re smart, you hold out for a real wage. Like Obama taught you.
beatcanvas on November 8, 2008 at 2:20 PM
cyberfellatio
Brilliant!
carbon_footprint on November 8, 2008 at 2:24 PM
only a democrat would come up with a plan to pay people $40 an hour to volunteer.
this will be the perfect addition to my arsenal of nuggets to toss out at my obnoxious liberal friends and family members when they praise the goodness and light that is The One. fools.
rampage on November 8, 2008 at 2:25 PM
I thought Lincoln ended slavery…Does Obama want to bring it back? Do certain minorities get excused for “time served”?
eaglemate on November 8, 2008 at 2:27 PM
Yeah. I mean I don’t really blame you guys for going all crazy about this. It’s kind of your thing.
Actually, my liberal friend, liberalism is the very definition of insanity. Look it, you won this damn election yet you are still not satisfied and must spend hours per day on Hot Air astroturfing and arguing with the losing side.
You won!
Enjoy your moment.
Enjoy your moment, because if our country survives the next 24 months, your heaven on earth in Obama is over forever.
carbon_footprint on November 8, 2008 at 2:27 PM
She can’t. No frame of reference.
Jim Treacher on November 8, 2008 at 2:29 PM
Since we all started discussing this a couple of days ago (here, LGF, and I’m sure elsewhere), there has clearly been some blowback. I would guess some of the lefty kids who check out what we’re talking about had a W.T.F. moment.
In any case, it’s very possible this is a temporary change. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he implemented this plan, only to allow it to morph into the original plan later.
What he initially said is what he really envisions.
capitalist piglet on November 8, 2008 at 2:29 PM
I have a child in middle school. His “set goal” for the dear leader’s “volunteer” program will be zero! There….all done.
eaglemate on November 8, 2008 at 2:30 PM
But of course they will have a new improved name by 2012. Maybe high school kids can get credits for voter registration.
yakwill83 on November 8, 2008 at 2:30 PM
The concept of liberty is apparently something you are unfamiliar with.
BTW, just for the record, the world didn’t end with slavery either, but that is hardly an argument to bring it back.
I beg to differ. The Thirteenth Amendment says:
Buy Danish on November 8, 2008 at 2:32 PM
Maybe I’m alone on this one, but I worked during high school and through college. While in college, I was putting in upwards of 50 hours per week at my job and trying in earnest to find time to party while keeping my grades up. I never would have been able to fit in 100 hours of mandatory community service into my schedule. This is not to say I didn’t do any community service, I did, but that was my choice to do so.
I am thankful I have graduated and won’t be forced to make the decision between paying my tuition or adopting a highway under Obama, but that doesn’t mean I won’t argue on a student’s behalf who is in the same shoes I was.
Chad_ on November 8, 2008 at 2:34 PM
Off subject here but has anyone heard anything about Obamas grandmothers funeral why has he not rushed out to Hawaii to take care of things, after all she was the one that raised him.. WHAT A MAN such morals and character is this what we have for our moral compass! give us a fu&#ing break.
driver on November 8, 2008 at 2:35 PM
Buy Danish on November 8, 2008 at 2:32 PM
Dr Evil on November 8, 2008 at 2:36 PM
So they’re paying people $4,000 to go through re-education camps?
That’s how I read this.
Let’s roll.
ex-Democrat on November 8, 2008 at 2:37 PM
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.
In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
Dr Evil on November 8, 2008 at 2:37 PM
Not only that, the blogosphere will be anything Obama and Axelrod want it to be. If you thought astroturfing was bad during the elections, it will be 1,000,000 times worth once axelrod has all the resources of the federal government. Why do you think the trolls are still pretty active amongst us? With the help of the MSM he was able to create an alternative reality and elect the most unvetted president in history. We better not underestimate their ability to make public opinion be, or appear to be, whatever fits their agenda.
neuquenguy on November 8, 2008 at 2:39 PM
…and another thing: how long before “Change you can believe in” becomes “Change you better believe in”?
With the advent of the nascent “Nat’l Civilian Police Korps” and the youf’ service, we’ll see those thousands of “volunteers” who jammed that Chicago radio station’s lines–acting at the Untested One’s behest via the Obama action message start getting in people’s faces more and perhaps breaking in doors if need be. Reminds me of ole’ Pineapple Face Noriega’s “dignity battalions”. Same reason BArry is getting mobbed up with Rahm Napolean (little twirp no doubt racked by penile compensation issues).
sladenyv on November 8, 2008 at 2:39 PM
So, are Obama voters lining up at the enlistment centers to fight for Teh One against the Tolly-bahn?
Let’s roll.
ex-Democrat on November 8, 2008 at 2:43 PM
You must have a different dictionary than everyone else.
ptet on November 8, 2008 at 2:48 PM
I do. It’s the laziest of professions for 90%+ of them.
Tenure in taxpayer-funded schools needs to go YESTERDAY. Just a Full-Fmployment Act for socialists.
Get a real job freaks. Quit undermining my country.
let’s roll.
ex-Democrat on November 8, 2008 at 2:49 PM
What bet lucrative community service dollars must be “earned” in organisations like ACORN or other fronts to help Obama get reelected.
It’s the Alinsky way.
I suggest you also look at the proposed Obama militia, I mean civilian defense force.
Obama LOVES organisations. This is how he builds permanent bases. If he can’t undermine organisations from within he will build alternatives. But he will tend to do this using American traditions (like volunteering!) to not scare off the masses (or rather lull them into a sense of complacency)
saint on November 8, 2008 at 2:49 PM
In a prior comment someone asked how this was going to affect conservatives who already volunteer at a higher rate: using the sepration of church and state as an excuse ny service that is done through a church group will not count. minnesota has a tax credit for educational expenses -
religious material cannot be included.
Blight on November 8, 2008 at 2:49 PM
He does indeed, but I’m not in the he’s not a citizen camp, if that’s what you’re getting at.
Buy Danish on November 8, 2008 at 2:50 PM
driver – re Obama’s grandmother. I heard he was attending a memorial.
In any case a couple of days after he went to Hawaii sans Michelle and kids (which I personally found odd for someone so seriously ill) Michelle was speaking at some rally or function smiling and waving her hand sayin ‘oh grandmother is just fine’. I thought that odd to, so much so that coupled with earlier news of her illness and Obama’s lone visit a couple of days later, that maybe it was a false alarm and maybe all was well after all.
Which it wasn’t given she died a few days later.
But that’s what she said: she’s fine. Almost flippant.
I saw video footage but can’t remember if it was on the net or on TV.
saint on November 8, 2008 at 2:55 PM
Obama became president to reorganize our society to what he believes will be Utopia. His obsession with race, class and white people is pathological. The man scares me a lot.
UnEasyRider on November 8, 2008 at 2:58 PM
It sounds like one of his staffers may have finally bothered to advise the Constitutional scholar on the content of the 13th Amendment.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE (mo-lone lah-veh) Translation: Come and take them!
Retired USAF on November 8, 2008 at 3:01 PM
I have two sons in college…they’re at a gun show today.
Ozark_sky on November 8, 2008 at 3:07 PM
You must be a liberal.
Jim Treacher on November 8, 2008 at 3:10 PM
Community service complete – works for me.
ManUFan on November 8, 2008 at 3:11 PM
The conservatives use the same dictionary than liberals. However, liberals are so engrossed in the disease that they fail to see it. Case in point: what are you doing here on Hot Air on such a beautiful day where your candidate won the election squabbling with us?
carbon_footprint on November 8, 2008 at 3:11 PM
I’m [incredibly] skeptical as to how the federal government could ensure that the hours worked for every college student are genuine and accurate. The community service requirements for my high school clubs, which are smaller and much more manageable than a government program, were usually a complete joke. A student could get his hours simply by forging signatures or getting his friends to write his name on a sign-in sheet. And if you have to obtain your hours through a community organization, how do you keep the system fair for the student in Backwoods, GA who has no access to an organization but is very deserving of the money? Regardless, if I’m correct–and this craptacular idea actually becomes a reality–the government will be paying a lot of money to a lot of dishonest students.
flyonthewall on November 8, 2008 at 3:12 PM
Instead of the students, lets make it mandatory 100 hours a year for graduates… Especially Ivy league grads. (I’d like to see ‘em in orange jumpsuits, cleaning the freeways.)
Wait, a lot of ‘em are doing it now, but not enough of ‘em.
/s
docjohn52 on November 8, 2008 at 3:17 PM
crr6, This
Bud’squote’s for you:As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness–William O. Douglas, U.S Supreme Court Justice
Buy Danish on November 8, 2008 at 3:18 PM
I guess this is what you get what your top advisor, David Asselrod is a nothing more than a PR guy on steroids. Looks like our next 4 years is going to be management by public opinion.
Secondly, WHO the hell is advising this guy??? I thought he won because he’s clever — this is downright moronic. 80k a year for volunteer work? (Noooooo way can corruption infiltrate that. How many illegal immigrants are suddenly going to become collegiate for 50 hours a year?)
I mean, this makes him the laughing-stock of anybody with a brain.
It’s almost as if…he doesn’t have any experience.
What an idiot.
Republigal on November 8, 2008 at 3:21 PM
Oh, wait. It’s a tax credit. My bad.
Still, it’s a completely ill-conceived plan and there will be corruption.
Republigal on November 8, 2008 at 3:28 PM
BTW, it’s not just Universal Service that Rahm Emanuel envisions for America. He is a wealth-redistributing Socialist who is attempting to hide behind the mantle of J.F.K. (who was not a Socialist!) and wants to change pretty much everything about this country, then wrap it up in a pretty package he would sell as the “Real Patriot Act”.
His ideas are just the height of arrogance (which is of course to be expected from a hard core liberal) and clearly he has been raised to believe that he is wiser than our Founding Fathers. Here are the nauseating details.
Buy Danish on November 8, 2008 at 3:32 PM
As a parent with 2 kids in college, I know firsthand that when young people are compelled to perform a task; it gets done poorly.
However, when these same kids truly voluteered (in church youth group missions); those tasks were done well, and with the generosity, joy and pride that goes along with voluntary community service.
kooly on November 8, 2008 at 3:44 PM
Please remember the purpose in any of his proposed programs – to get & retain power over the masses.
Changing the wording on this for middle & high school students STILL leaves in place the power over Not-For-Profits. NFP’s will have to conform to an arbitrary standard to be recognised as an “acceptable” place to achieve the “goal”.
In the case of college students – as it has already been pointed out – colleges will simply raise their tuition since the 4k is “free”. And again, an NFP will have to conform to the arbitrary standards for the student to get the money.
I for one am not interested in my tax money going to pay some good-for-nothing narcissistic student to go do a half arsed “volunteer” job at a children’s hospital. Or to have a bogus volunteer organisation like ACORN to get the money to train & employ the student.
Remember – Someone has to be paid to train all these “volunteers”.
It’s all about power.
*keep your eye on the ball*
batterup on November 8, 2008 at 3:46 PM
“If one day of carping in the blogosphere is enough to get The One to reverse himself, maybe we can work with this guy after all.” –> No, AP, we work ON him. And work him over. For as long as we have our freedom of speech people need to get on him and keep him feinting and pussyfooting over his policies. We weaken him by forcing him to defend himself over and over and over.
Then we call him a liar who could’t execute his promises, etc etc… The next two years is going to be a lot of fun.
onefinejay on November 8, 2008 at 3:50 PM
Maybe you should read the 13th amendment.
lorien1973 on November 8, 2008 at 3:57 PM
It’s more about competing with people who might enlist with the military than get a job at starbucks.
lorien1973 on November 8, 2008 at 3:58 PM
Wasn’t Obama a constitutional lawyer at some point in his wierd past? Or just a lawyer that wasn’t aware that the constitution prohibits REQUIRING service of any kind without payment? (IE; slavery)
That’s why he stuck compensation in there instead of just deleting it completely. It will morph again, simply because there are no funds to cover such a thing. Not to mention that everyone already knows “community service” to college kids only means picking up the beer cans off their front lawn for 5 minutes a month and having someone say they spent 100 hours working with the elderly.
It ain’t gonna fly either way.
Spiritk9 on November 8, 2008 at 4:04 PM
Bless your heart Allahpundit. A dose of over-confidence on your part is not an assuring antidote to the imperious mien of this administration-to-be. Keep trying. The change definitely, however, indicates that they are closely monitoring the blogosphere.
I would be willing to give this guy a chance, but I am not going to give my approbation away without something more than cryptic indicators.
anti-boomer on November 8, 2008 at 4:06 PM
Who? The Media
Won due to being clever? No, again, due to the The Media.
Obama made every mistake in the book( bad associations, racist preacher, no experience, flip flopped on just about everything, lied, belittled, mocked, had an unpatriotic wife, no questionable birth certificate, belonged to a socialist wing of his party, man is this list long, but you get the point and there are lost more)…only problem is, no one reported it or when they did, it was packed in a big “NO BIG DEAL” story….
I’m mad, are you?
javamartini on November 8, 2008 at 4:09 PM
All of us already participate in community service.
It’s called taxes…
Mister Ghost on November 8, 2008 at 4:09 PM
I hope you’re right but I wouldn’t be so sure. This is a way of adding to their base of legions of brainwashed Obamatons working as foot soldiers for the Democrat party and they’re not going to give up without a fight.
They will force taxpayers to cover the cost of their indoctrination program, and as others have said, by paying these “volunteers” it cannot be called involuntary servitude.
Buy Danish on November 8, 2008 at 4:11 PM
javamartini on November 8, 2008 at 4:11 PM
If you are an enemy of the Constitution, it doesn’t matter whether you are foreign or domestic.
anti-boomer on November 8, 2008 at 4:13 PM
Is Isreal socialist as well? Because they have required military service. I thought they were a holy land, so to speak, of Democracy and Capitalism in the heart of the enemy? Shouldn’t we try and be MORE like the promised land? Conservatives calling Isreali policy socialist and slavery? Hmmm, sounds like partisan hackery!
DeathToMediaHacks on November 8, 2008 at 4:14 PM
I’m all for total insubordination, although the Bible suggests against working against leaders. My take is that this is an unholy leadership. Absalom delenda est.
anti-boomer on November 8, 2008 at 4:21 PM
it’s not that any particular plan is socialist. it is the fear of what a marxist would do with a slew of small/large changes that aggregate federal power.
your scoffing is noted. And, our goal as Americans is not to be like Israel anymore than it is to be like Europe or Asia or Venezuela. Thank you.
anti-boomer on November 8, 2008 at 4:25 PM
Well said…
CaptFlood on November 8, 2008 at 4:27 PM
Mr. Obama is a distraction. Nothing more than the smiling front man for a radical revolution that will be occuring beneath the radar.
Sol Alinsky wrote the book and the revolution is being implemented.
There better be someone watching the warehouse because that’s where the real work is being done.
The White House for the next 4 years will simply be the diversion.
mylegsareswollen on November 8, 2008 at 4:31 PM
Okay, I found the answer for my question concerning what Obama means when he says that there will be educational assistance for MOST Americans.
In the process of community service (re-educational training), the middle school and especially high school students will report wrong-thinking students to Acorn, the training organization, and if the students fighting the brain-washing attempt cannot be rehabilitated and brought into line, they will not be getting the educational funding, but will go off to a special school where they will not bother the active Obama supporters.
Without elections in the future, we will have a problem changing the new direction of our country. Obama is simply jesting and appeasing the media when he mentions getting thing done within the time frame of 1 year or 1 term in office. They are eating out of his palms and following his lead into an irreversible future.
Hail Obama !
Sunshein on November 8, 2008 at 4:36 PM
I did; you should read Butler v Perry, 240 U.S. 328 (1916). An old case, but still good law – the 13th Amendment does not prohibit a compulsory community service program.
ManUFan on November 8, 2008 at 4:37 PM
If. Time will tell, won’t it?
Buy Danish on November 8, 2008 at 4:43 PM
I have two sons in college…they’re at a gun show today.
Ozark_sky on November 8, 2008 at 3:07 PM
LOL. My two college boys are out at our farm practicing their aim with the Mossburg and a box of claybirds.
Chewy the Lab on November 8, 2008 at 4:49 PM
Perhaps. I’m concerned that millions of young kids will get the idea, which is already a bit planted in their heads, that life is easy and that they should start at $80K, no matter what they’re doing. Anything less is lame.
Obama is leading our youth to become less productive. He teaches them that they shouldn’t have to work hard. They can just take from others. The government will supply their needs.
$40 an hour is setting an unrealistic expectation of life, of volunteering.
beatcanvas on November 8, 2008 at 4:51 PM
I think it’s all of the above. You are both right :)
Buy Danish on November 8, 2008 at 4:53 PM
Scum.
Jaibones on November 8, 2008 at 4:54 PM
If this carping thing is working, can we carp on them confiscating our 401Ks now?
Done That on November 8, 2008 at 5:08 PM
What do you expect from the nation’s first affirmative-action president and first affirmative-action first lady?
BuckeyeSam on November 8, 2008 at 5:29 PM
hahaha!!! Yeah, ChimpyMacFanniemae’s toadies are now down to looking for one single campaign promise fulfilled to justify their slavish fawning over his Highness.
Ignorant douchebags, right down to the very last one.
csdeven on November 8, 2008 at 5:39 PM
In other words….put a frog in a pot of boiling water and he’ll jump out. Put him in a cold pan of water and turn a fire under it, he’ll sit there until he expires.
csdeven on November 8, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Look, I worked to earn that money. The government took it, and now they think I should work for it again?
I have a better idea! Let’s make the welfare recipients work for their money.
angelat0763 on November 8, 2008 at 5:59 PM
1) Everything in life is voluntary until someone either dictates or legislates it to be otherwise.
2) There’s nothing voluntary about forcing Americans to finance what is clearly bound to be yet another “government secured” pyramid scheme. Anyone want to lay down cash on this being a thinly disguised plan to EXPAND ACORN???
3) It’s not voluntary if you’re targeting a specific group. It’s RECRUITMENT.
4) If the aim is to help Americans acquire a college education, make it available to everyone eligible for college, not just the targeted group the government intends to RECRUIT.
There are lots of Americans past the age of middle and high school who are just as deserving of a college education including new immigrants with families, seniors wanting to return to college, skilled labor workers aspiring to higher paying white collar jobs, low-income adults wanting and deserving a better life.
DO THEY AS AMERICANS NOT DESERVE A CHANCE AT COLLEGE?
They’ve made it abundantly clear. THEY DON’T WANT ANYONE IN THIS PROGRAM OTHER THAN THE HIGHLY IMPRESSIONABLE YOUTH OF AMERICA.
WHY???
Why specify the middle to high school age UNLESS the intent is to INDOCTRINATEE them in the theology of “COMMUNITY ORGANIZING” that is so near and dear to Dear Leader???
It’s marketing vomit like this that makes the lefties swoon. This siren call of their soaring rhetoric. The intent is to INTOXICATE, MESMERIZE, and INTOXICATE the reader/listener into accepting the message they otherwise would never accept WILLINGLY.
This program is all about REINVENTING AND EXPANDING ACORN IN SCOPE AND POWER.
Has the world ever witnessed such programs in its past? Are there not other countries using exactly the same INDOCTRINATING PROGRAMS, the same community “PROGRAMMING”?
Ever wonder why EVERY SOCIALIST STATE has them?
spaceman spiff on November 8, 2008 at 6:00 PM
correction:
‘…intent is to INTOXICATE, MESMERIZE, and HYPNOTIZE….’
spaceman spiff on November 8, 2008 at 6:04 PM
Has anyone ever heard this phrase: My parents got smarter the older I got”.
All the ignorant starry eyed college kids who voted for ObaMcCarthy will, oh in about a year I guess, be saying the same thing.
csdeven on November 8, 2008 at 6:21 PM
So when you take away the work study program at some schools, you no longer have the help. This means you have to hire people, which means their salary is passed on to the student’s cost. Wow, what a great smoke and mirror show.
boingo_tx on November 8, 2008 at 6:22 PM
The script kiddies are already hard at work
He hasn’t made much noise about it, but he already has a ‘volunteer corps’ tracking comments sections like this on conservative blogs to tighten the feedback loop about what is being well-received and what is not. Sure, sounds paranoid, but it is true, just as they have their paranoias about those of us here commenting in hotair.com They make changes to change.gov accordingly based on what they learn from reading pages just like this. If you go to my.change.gov, in the lower right, you will see some text that says AMERICA SERVES – two days ago, this was 2 links – one that said ‘Find Ways to Serve’ which led to a blank page that said ‘NEEDS CONTENT’- now that link is gone – probably because it was so widely discussed in places like this.
Elsewhere the site says:
…but Obama is just like Bush in this sense as he is not currently interested in offering ways to serve or learning how you want to serve. Later, I’m sure the links will come back… when his ‘testing’ and ‘focus-grouping’ identifies terms, titles, names, and concepts that don’t set us off in this venue.
The whole idea of the volunteer corps is to have a chance to give the (mostly) youngsters liberal indoctrination before they grow up some and start learning how to think.
All this volunteer stuff will amount to is a way to indoctrinate people – mostly youngsters – to the ways of liberal governance.
If you click ‘Protecting America’ in the right menu about halfway down at my.change.gov, you will find:
…which means he will try to regulate the content of the internet so that it, too is a ’safe zone’ for liberal ideas without dissenting opinions like ours.
If you want to see Obama’s ‘focus group’ just scan up and down this page. Their message will be adjusted according to what they find here and in similar places.
He’s already made it pretty plain that no matter what you love to do, he’s going to have a place for you. So if you love to surf the internet and investigate ’seditious content’ then there is a ‘cheeze whiz and cheetos’ volunteer stipend waiting just for you. If you want a grant to develop a video game that protrays Obama and Acorn as heroes and Palin as a violent monster, there is a BIG grant waiting just for you….
ElRonaldo on November 8, 2008 at 6:35 PM
They will force taxpayers to cover the cost of their indoctrination program, and as others have said, by paying these “volunteers” it cannot be called involuntary servitude.
Buy Danish on November 8, 2008 at 4:11 PM
>>>>>>>
They could just as easily give welfare recipients the job for $40 an hour, thus getting them off the welfare rolls. But they don’t want to do that.
They want to force every college student to get $4,000 of welfare ($40/hr for walking roadsides, for example)instead of working for private companies or work study, which would pay a reasonable wage and fuel the economy.
The Cloward-Piven Plan is to get everybody on welfare. That’s what socialism is, after all.
justincase on November 8, 2008 at 6:35 PM
Obama will continue to be arrogant and aloof with the media. They are going to get tired of HIM telling THEM when and if he will speak. When they have had enough, the claws will come out and his plans, intentions, mistakes and motivations will go under the microscope. And then things like this will make headlines and then, let the games begin. Our moment.
sherry on November 8, 2008 at 6:41 PM
This is not some big surprise, just read Zbigniew Brzezinski’s books. He’s Mika’s dad and he served as NSA for Carter. He was one of the first to support Obama and everything he has written is Obama’s policy, from mandatory service to the foreign aid giveaway. Read his stuff and there will be no surprises. They didn’t elect a younger black man, they elected old Polish man.
LevStrauss on November 8, 2008 at 6:55 PM
This occurred yesterday evening. Over at Politico, the lefties suddenly started using the words “its voluntary” about the time the Change (TM) happened.
These things will not be voluntary for very long. My kids had to do 20 hours of community service per year in both middle school and high school, as a condition of graduation. Not every charity was eligible for credit — only the ones on the school district’s list. The 20 hours actually became 40, because we parents had to drive the kids to the places where the community service was to be performed, and since the community service generally encompassed an hour or two at a time, we had to stay there — either that or drive back to pick them up later.
My kids, who were eager to do community service when it was optional, hated the slavery component of the district program, and (unlike we, their parents) have ceased doing community service. It’s as if all aspects of charity by works has been tainted by this governmental intrusion into what should be a deeply personal choice.
Quite a bit of paperwork was required to document their “volunteer” hours. And the kids could have cared less about the paperwork — its maintenance fell to us parents. We had to make sure the charities signed off on a form and detailed the hours worked.
The ethos Obama’s plan will instill in our children is not the one he is thinking of.
Of course, it won’t quite be slavery in college. Obama’s planning on paying the college kids, via the government, $40 per hour. I can see the college fees skyrocketing into the air (by $4,000 per year) now, as the education market adjusts itself to Obama’s largess.
unclesmrgol on November 8, 2008 at 7:10 PM
Maybe its time to look for an off shore data haven and hosting service, or build one.
ignatzk on November 8, 2008 at 8:23 PM
unclesmrgol on November 8, 2008 at 7:10 PM Sez:
Absolutely! It’s about power and retaining power. Remove the personal choice, thereby making the volunteerism disingenuous and cause resentment among those who would come to volunteer on their own.
If you do a comparison of the metro/suburban areas that do the most volunteer work with how they voted in 2004 & past you can see that it is mostly republicans who volunteer.
Retain power by destroying volunteerism.
*keep your eye on the ball*
batterup on November 8, 2008 at 8:26 PM
Jack the price of state universities up $4000. Then waive that for doing the “service”. Tell people they’re getting it “completely free”.
Alternatively, actually make it “free” from the student’s point of view, and you’ve got the taxpayer paying each student for a hundred hours of labor at a rate of $40/hour.
Tzetzes on November 8, 2008 at 8:29 PM
I would rather give back to the community in my own way than to be an indentured student just to receive my degree. School used to be about learning something now its learning and slavery even though you pay for your education.
Actually the way I read it is that you have 7 years of 50hrs a year and then 4 years of 100 hrs to get a single tax credit of $4000. Not 4k / year of college.
4000 / ((7×50) + (4×100)) = $5.33/hr
Either way I would rather spend those 750 hours doing something useful that furthers my education thus being better for society as smarter people = a better community.
nobleclem on November 8, 2008 at 8:37 PM
That, my dear fellow, is just the foot in the door of collectivism just as cooperative learning established the mindset for a generation of students. Competition for excellence became dumbed-down mediocrity. Social skills became more important than academic skills.
No wonder you are so easily led and impressed by a cult figure.
onlineanalyst on November 8, 2008 at 8:57 PM
Maybe astroturfing will be one of those approved “community service” volunteer jobs.
onlineanalyst on November 8, 2008 at 9:08 PM
The Komsomol was “voluntary” too.
Boudica on November 8, 2008 at 9:16 PM
I have been reading all the comments and agree with most. I am a teacher so this really concerns me. For many school districts middle school starts with 6th grade. it is possible for a sixth grader to be eleven but most will be 12 or a young 13. Anyone see a problem with telling a pre-adolescents child that they have to perform 50 hours governmment required work?
The second problem concerns the pre-adolescent and adolescent children safty. School districts go through a lot of expense to insure that their teachers and any adult that comes in contact with them has been checked to insure that they have no records or history of child abuse or molestation. The schools are secured so that only those that have a legitimate reason to be in the school are allowed in. How would they insure that the children are safe? The answer is that it would be impossible for them to do that. The cost, the logistics of trying to insure that every adult that came into contact with them, the close oversight that is required, the vetting of all employees and members of every organization or business would be impossible. It is a well known fact that people with a sexual interest in children seek out opprotunites that allow contact with chilren, preferably a position of trust or supervision. This is going to be a dream come true for those people.
Franklyn on November 8, 2008 at 9:28 PM
This makes me laugh hysterically, because when the school where I work was first opened 15 years ago, community service was “mandatory,” in that every senior had to at least take the class to organize their senior project. They pissed and moaned about it for several years, and the ultimate view of our lefty profession was that it was unreasonable to force someone who didn’t want to do community service to do it.
And now it’s probably a swell idea because BO thinks it’s a swell idea.
Bob's Kid on November 8, 2008 at 9:43 PM
That would make excellent congressional testimony.
Buy Danish on November 8, 2008 at 9:47 PM
At $40 / hour, there will probably be lots of college students doing community service, for 100 hours (2-1/2 weeks) a year.
But the road to He!! is paved with good intentions. Some of the college students will probably try to do this service during Christmas (forgive the political incorrectness, I meant Kwanzaa) vacation, meaning that normal community servants (employed by the municipality) replaced by the college students will all go on vacation, leaving the town hall in the hands of neophytes.
Others will do this for part of the summer. But college students don’t have enough experience to earn $40 / hour on the open market. So, they will spend 100 hours less per year working lower-paying summer jobs. While they do their expensive community service, low-paid civil servants will be furloughed or sent on vacation, then they’ll come back from vacation cleaning up the mess they made.
As for the high-school and middle-school students, what is their reward? Nobody would expect them to do as well as a bureaucrat, but if they’re not rewarded, it’s called child-labor or slavery and is illegal and unconstitutional.
Steve Z on November 8, 2008 at 10:13 PM
So if it can be proven that Barack Hussein Obama Jr. was not born in the United States, we would end up with President Biden. This would be a vast improvement–he’s a Democrat, but has no record of working with domestic terrorists and PLO sympathizers in Delaware.
Not sure about their credibility, but there’s an African group claiming that Obama was born in Kenya. Check this out!
http://africanpress.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/a-mombasa-mosque-imam-agrees-to-release-barack-obamas-documents-of-birth/
Steve Z on November 8, 2008 at 10:19 PM
No, no, BD – you have it all wrong. Allah says he’s brilliant; surely we are just too ignorant to understand the grandiosity of the plan.
Jaibones on November 8, 2008 at 10:41 PM
I think they would have a hard time getting middle school students to do 50hrs of required community service (indenture servitude) as well as every high school.
Personally if I had kids I would be taking the forced Community Service to court and getting it removed using the 13th amendment.
Its kinda funny though how a many whos long dead relatives owned slaves. I guess that him wanting to enslave kids is just genetic.
nobleclem on November 8, 2008 at 11:52 PM
Acorn and Friends Will Shape His Presidency
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vJcVgJhNaU
“Just let me say. BEFORE I EVEN GET INAUGURATED, during the transition, we’re going to be calling all of you in to HELP US SHAPE THE AGENDA. WE’RE GONNA BE MEETING WITH COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS SO THAT YOU HAVE INPUT INTO THE AGENDA OF THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!”
President-Elect Obama
(Heartland Democratic Presidential Forum 12/07)
Anyone having difficulty envisioning what Obozo’s “community service” scheme for America’s pre-high school youth really means, please re-visit what America has already witnessed.
Obama Kids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdPSqL9_mfM
Obama Youth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSvBCBnulLs
Grant Park
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH-2Fwx5RU0
Any more questions?
spaceman spiff on November 8, 2008 at 11:56 PM
Acorn and Friends Will Shape His Presidency
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vJcVgJhNaU
“Just let me say. BEFORE I EVEN GET INAUGURATED, during the transition, we’re going to be calling all of you in to HELP US SHAPE THE AGENDA. WE’RE GONNA BE MEETING WITH COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS SO THAT YOU HAVE INPUT INTO THE AGENDA OF THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!”
Barack Obama, Heartland Democratic Presidential Forum 12/07
spaceman spiff on November 9, 2008 at 4:10 AM
I don’t doubt that Rahm Emanuel is well-endowed with brain cells. He’s brilliant like an evil scientist is brilliant and the Obama agenda is Frankenstein’s monster.
Buy Danish on November 9, 2008 at 8:15 AM
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