"Civilian Reserve Corps"? Why does this scare me so much?

[Ian David]

Text of President{sic} Bush's State of the Union address
Associated Press

<snip>

One of the first steps we can take together is to add to the ranks of our military — so that the American Armed Forces are ready for all the challenges ahead. Tonight I ask the Congress to authorize an increase in the size of our active Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 in the next five years. A second task we can take on together is to design and establish a volunteer Civilian Reserve Corps. Such a corps would function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them. And it would give people across America who do not wear the uniform a chance to serve in the defining struggle of our time.
http://www.middletownjournal.com/n/content/oh/story/news/nation_world/2007/01/24/ddn012407sotutext.html

See:

Bush seeks new civilian corps to aid military efforts

By Daniel Pulliam
[e-mail]

Thanking the "public servants" involved in the fight against terrorism, President Bush called for the creation of a volunteer "Civilian Reserve Corps" to ease the burden on the military in his annual State of the Union address Tuesday.

Bush said that the corps would function "much like our military reserve" and would allow the government to hire civilians with "critical skills" to serve on missions overseas when needed.

The proposal "would give people across America who do not wear the uniform a chance to serve in the defining struggle of our time," Bush said. He also called for an increase in the Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 troops over the next five years.

In a statement issued before the speech, Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said, "1.8 million dedicated federal employees contribute a great deal to the strength of our country and the ability of the federal government to deliver needed services to our citizens. Yet this administration has continuously shown a disregard for their contributions. The fact is that morale is dangerously low among employees in all federal agencies including those who work at the front lines of our homeland security, those who protect our food and drugs, those who guard our nation's financial industries, and those who collect our country's revenues."

More:
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35935&dcn=todaysnews


Is THIS where he got the idea? From Wesley Clark?

Clark touts idea of civilian reserve; Corps would react to crises both at home and overseas.(NATION)
Publication Date: 15-OCT-03
Publication Title: The Washington {Mooney) Times
Format: Online - approximately 689 words

Description
Byline: James G. Lakely, THE WASHINGTON {MOONEY) TIMES

Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark proposed a "vision for New American Patriotism" yesterday that would include an army of volunteers who would be called up for service for emergencies at home and overseas.

The retired four star Army general and former NATO commander, who entered the Democratic presidential-nomination race last month, delivered the first of four days of speeches designed to flesh out his largely unknown domestic agenda.

The new 5,000-strong civilian reserve would be open to anyone over the age of 18, and the president and Congress would have authority to dispatch the new corps to address crises such...

More:
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-3250821_ITM

[lazyriver]

1. Groundwork for channeling more money to the likes of

KBR/Halliburton and Blackwater. Why should these companies have to continue to pay contracted workers when the Pretzeldent can simply assign the "all volunteer" (read as "free labor") Civilian Reserve Corps to do those jobs for them for free?

[Benhurst]

2. Might be a good idea. The Bush Youth Movement. A similar

plan was extremely successful in Germany preceding WWII.

[kineneb]

9. Na, ja- so wollen wir der neuen Buschjugend haben!

Sieg Heil!

[fasttense]

3. Isn't this redundant? Why don't Clark and bush use what they have?

We have a Peace Corps, we have a civilian GS work force that works in the government with the military, we have huge subcontractors like H&B, we have a volunteer military. I'm no sure what more this supposed civilian force will do.

Is it that they want free or very cheap labor? They want volunteers to do the job the GS worker would do and pay them a stipend, while forcing GS workers out? Who would make money on this?

[BoneDaddy]

4. It smacks of Brown Shirt mentality

that is why. He is asking, it seems, for a deputization of regular Americans and guess who might be willing to sign up for that? All the freepers, religious nuts etc who don't have enough guts to sign up for the war but have more than enough "passion" to join a group that is supposed keep the fatherland safe by watching over their neighbors.

Scares the shit out of me.

[Ian David]

6. Remember, Bush and Cheney are big fans of the show "Babylon 5," and see it as a blueprint...

instead of a warning.

Bush has decided to start "The Nightwatch."

[brokensymmetry]

5. Will work make us free? n/t

.

[SanCristobal]

7. I almost screamed when I saw this thread.

Then I realized this is the first Civilian Reserve thread that wasn't some conspiracy theory. The Civilian Reserve would help the military staff jobs they either don't do or aren't good at. Volunteers could be called up for a maximum one year period, and would be paid according to the federal pay scale. Bush probably got the idea from Clark, as it was part of his 04 platform. Here are some links that explain it further:

http://www.clark04.com/misc/003/ http://proceedings.ndia.org/6100/russell.pdf

[Just-plain-Kathy]

8. I wouldn't trust this administration with the one year promise.

[BeHereNow]

11. Hello?

"Calling up the Civilian Reserve if necessary. During a crisis, if sufficient volunteers were not available,
the President would have the authority to call up as many as 5,000 Reservists,
through a lottery of those with the required skills."

DO you REALLY trust THIS government not to exercise this clause?

This section of the "plan" is the section to consider carefully.
NO WAY IN HELL, would I even begin to contemplate going anywhere near
such a plan.

This is a "wolf draft" in "neo-con sheep clothing" if there ever was one.

Sadly, it will most likely work because they have made it impossible for
the average American to survive otherwise.

"Service to the country" will become the new top salary entry level job in
this country; there will be no other viable options, IF you want to eat, have roof over your head
and access to medical care.

The people who sign up, with dreams of building sandboxes for children
in imaginary countries will find their asses in the middle of some
fucked up war defending the "national interests" of invisible global
power brokers.
Count on it.
BHN

[HuffleClaw]

10. sounds sinister to me

none of their schemes have ever had the public's interests at heart so far, why should this one?

[AnnieBW]

12. Something That the 101st Fighting Keyboardists Can Join!

I can just see all of the brave members of the 101st Fighting Keyboardists lining up at their "Civilian Reserve Corps" recruitment offices to join in the fight to bring freedom to all of those Ay-rabs. :evilgrin: