Getting hammered by RW'ers over this "Civilian National Security Force" crap

[danalytical]

The RW'ers are claiming Obama will create a mandatory paramilitary service with a budget the size of the DOD. Based on the quote below from a speech Obama gave, from the plan below on his website, and from Rahm Emmanuel's book tour interviews in 2006 talking about mandatory civilian service.

"July '08: "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

And this plan:

"He said he would make federal assistance conditional on school districts establishing service programs and set the goal of 50 hours of service a year for middle and high school students."


Help me out here. These guys are crazy. And I can't find a lot of info other than 200,000 RW websites and blogs when google searching.

[glowing]

1. If you don't think younger kids don't have 50hrs in a whole week to help their

community, then what's the point of living in the community. As a young person, I longed for a program that rewarded for good works... Our school oriented community service as invaluable and encouraged it heartedly.. ASK anyone who goes to college, grades aren't enough... anyone can get good grades.. Its what you do to help your community that counts.. it describes your character, your motivation, and sense of morality and hope.

[LynnTheDem]

2. RWers claim George W. Bush is a brilliant mind.

Both claims are total bullshit.

"Getting hammered" is also bullshit.

[danalytical]

5. OK then

So I'm not getting attacked by about 20 RW'ers on a forum I frequent right now? Why is it taboo to ask for some help fighting back against RW'ers? Is it off limits to use DU as an idea resource? If you have anything helpful than pony up.

[TexasObserver]

16. DUers tend to be dubious of posts imploring us to help deal with some RW meme.

I don't understand why anyone would waste even one minute arguing with rightwingers about anything.

You want us to spend our time "defending" the alleged arguments of unknown rightwingers, regarding something that is not an issue among the population. That sounds like an invitation to a snipe hunt.

[dorkulon]

19. I'm afraid this BS is gaining momentum on RW radio.

It is easy enough to dispel by simply showing the quote in context, but if we don't even have that answer ready, well that's how Al Gore invented the internet.

[TexasObserver]

20. you're probably right, but I don't see much point in arguing with them

The rightwingers are not rational. You can show them something that most would consider definitive, and they'll simply refuse to accept it and go on thinking whatever they want to think.

Arguing with them over birth certificates, or place of birth, or secret Muslim status, or any of the issues they make up will not lead anywhere. The time is better spent talking with those who are not rightwingers, those whose minds are not toxic.

Until one of their themes is an issue at the mainstream media level, I see no reason to give it attention, for doing so gives it more attention than it would otherwise have. The wingers are always saying crazy shit on rightwing talk radio. They will believe anything the nuts on there tell them. They want to make us respond to every asinine thing they say.

[SIMPLYB1980]

3. You won't win with them. They think that national service

can only be done threw the military. Everything else is GASP "Socialism". Just tell them they are unpatriotic, and traitors. It's what they would do to us.

[tjwash]

4. I'd just laugh at their asses and tell them to enjoy their relagation to marginalization.

Sucks to be them...they have no say, no power, and are down to boo-hooing, and conspiracy theories.

Also tell them to be very careful what they say, or the new government of wacko-islamic extremists will now use the same patriot act that they cheered when it was going after brown people, to take care of them now that they will soon be deemed domestic terrorists.

Seriously-they aint gonna change their minds no matter how many facts you present to them; you might as well have a little fun with them...

[danalytical]

6. LOL, I like that

Now this I could use.

"Also tell them to be very careful what they say, or the new government of wacko-islamic extremists will now use the same patriot act that they cheered when it was going after brown people, to take care of them now that they will soon be deemed domestic terrorists."

Brilliant!

[babylonsister]

7. This is getting old. Orgs. like the Peace Corps are NOT

comparable to the military. Tell your r/w buddies to turn the channel or edumicate themselves. I'm sure the concept of sacrifice is foreign to them, but there you have it.


Obama promises tuition help for college students
Updated 6/18/2008 4:54 PM

TAYLOR, Mich. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama recalled paying off his own mountain of student loan debt and promised struggling college students Tuesday he would help them pay for school.

Obama said he would give students a $4,000 tax credit to help pay tuition and fees in exchange for 100 hours of community service. The campaign said the program would cost $10 billion a year.

"You get a hand living your dreams, and then you help your fellow citizens live theirs," the Illinois senator told a small group of students in a courtyard at Wayne County Community College. He listened as they told stories of balancing family demands, high fuel prices and school costs.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-06-17-obama-education_N.htm

[mondo joe]

8. Tell them "Elections have consequences." And that's it. NT

[dorkulon]

9. It's deliberate misinterpretation.

Obama is talking about community service, Americorps kinda stuff. The "civilian national security force" quote is a metaphor, the idea being that national security is also about diplomacy and taking care of each other at home. But I wouldn't bother trying to explain that to people who are willfully distorting anything they can about Obama to vilify him.

Read the remark in context, From Obama's July 2 speech in Colorado Springs, Colorado:

Today, AmeriCorps -- our nation's network of local, state, and national service programs -- has 75,000 slots. And I know firsthand the quality of these programs. My wife, Michelle, once left her job at a law firm and at City Hall to be a founding director of an AmeriCorps program in Chicago that trains young people for careers in public service. And these programs invest Americans in their communities and their country. They tap America's greatest resource -- our citizens.

And that's why as president, I will expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 slots and make that increased service a vehicle to meet national goals like providing health care and education, saving our planet and restoring our standing in the world, so that citizens see their efforts connected to a common purpose. People of all ages, stations, and skills will be asked to serve. Because when it comes to the challenges we face, the American people are not the problem -- they are the answer.

So we are going to send -- we're going to send more college graduates to teach and mentor our young people. We'll call on Americans to join an Energy Corps to conduct renewable energy and environmental cleanup projects in their neighborhoods all across the country. We will enlist our veterans to find jobs and support for other vets, to be there for our military families. And we're going to grow our Foreign Service, open consulates that have been shuttered, and double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 to renew our diplomacy.

We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.

We need to use technology to connect people to service. We'll expand USA Freedom Corps to create online networks where Americans can browse opportunities to volunteer. You'll be able to search by category, time commitment, and skill sets; you'll be able to rate service opportunities, build service networks, and create your own service pages to track your hours and activities. This will empower more Americans to craft their own service agenda, and make their own change from the bottom up.

Oooooh, scaaary.


H/T: http://mediamatters.org/items/200811060010

[danalytical]

11. I think I'm finally winning

Some of them have begun to understand that this isn't as it is being represented. Some of these RW'ers really are just woefully uninformed, the other 90% though... They do it on purpose. Thanks, I'm all set now.

[rolleitreks]

17. Thank you for taking the time to explain this. n/t

[dorkulon]

18. My pleasure.

It would be nice if the press--and Obama's team--would do it also, though.

[Buzz Clik]

10. Jesus. Hysteria rules.

[Marr]

12. Tell them you're bookmarking this thread and sending it to Homeland Security

on the day Obama is inaugurated. Thank them for the Patriot Act and for supporting domestic spying and the ability to jail people without a trial. Thank them for supporting the concept of the "Unitary Executive". Tell them you wish it weren't necessary, but everyone will be safer when anti-American people who don't support the president are in Gitmo.

You'll never convince them of anything and they'll never learn anything on their own. They're idiots. The best they can provide is entertainment.

[Lumpsum]

13. These whack jobs are losing it big time.

Obama wants to give kids a 4,000 dollar tax credit if they do a certain amount of community service. This on top of other loans and scholarships will help immensely. It's these group of kids doing community service that he was referring to.

How is this turning our youth into Nazis?

[calmblueocean]

14. I know exactly where you're at. The best thing you can do is make a bet with them.

Obama definitely made a poor choice of words when he said that we needed a "civilian national security force" that's "just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded" as the military.

From everything I've read, the basic idea is that we shouldn't have to rely on the National Guard -- a branch of the armed forces -- to do the work of holding communities together in times of natural disaster, like after Katrina, or a major earthquake. Obama thinks we should have a corp of trained (unarmed) civilians who do those jobs. And by "just as well-funded", he simply means that their funding isn't fickle, like, say, the Peace Corps or Americorps funding has been. He's saying we should treat this kind of disaster-preparedness seriously.

But it's Obama's own fault that these rumors persist. He hasn't issued a press release clarifying his remarks, which he should've done long ago. It's exasperating, the same way it's exasperating for me that he doesn't just release his vaulted birth certificate and shut down all the right wing nutjobs on the subject. I just imagine that he's been so busy with the campaign and now the transition that these rumors haven't been a priority for him. They should be. The wingnuts know how to spread fear, and they're very good at it.

My response now is to simply challenge these wingnuts to a bet. "One of us is profoundly ignorant here, and the only question is which one. I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is. I'll bet you $1000 that at no time in Obama's term will the kind of paramilitary force you describe ever come to be. Are you willing to bet $1000 against me?"

They never are.

Which proves that they know they're slinging bullshit.

[Trillo]

15. You may not understand what they're saying.

They are clamoring for a well-regulated militia.