Conscript: essentially, a draftee

Religious activity: much harder to define. I am not going to say I am 100% right, but I will say it is any activity that involves the worshiping of a higher power, whether it be God, Buddah, Allah, etc.

Does that help?

H.R. 1388: Obama’s Youth Brigade Conscripts Would Be Prohibited from Participating in Religious Activities
http://truediscernment.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/hr-1388-obama%E2%80%99s-youth-brigade-conscripts-would-be-prohibited-from-participating-in-religious-activities/

I like information straight from the horse's mouth.

Costs: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/100xx/doc10027/hr1388.pdf


The Bill: http://www.rules.house.gov/111/LegText/111_hr1388_txt.pdf


The section of the bill which Willing's link distorted states:

‘SEC. 125. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.

‘(a) Prohibited Activities- A participant in an approved national service position under this subtitle may not engage in the following activities:

‘(1) Attempting to influence legislation.

‘(2) Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes.

‘(3) Assisting, promoting, or deterring union organizing.

‘(4) Impairing existing contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements.

‘(5) Engaging in partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office.

‘(6) Participating in, or endorsing, events or activities that are likely to include advocacy for or against political parties, political platforms, political candidates, proposed legislation, or elected officials.

‘(7) Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization.

‘(8) Providing a direct benefit to--

‘(A) a business organized for profit;

‘(B) a labor organization;

‘(C) a partisan political organization;

‘(D) a nonprofit organization that fails to comply with the restrictions contained in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 except that nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent participants from engaging in advocacy activities undertaken at their own initiative; and

‘(E) an organization engaged in the religious activities described in paragraph (7), unless Corporation assistance is not used to support those religious activities.

‘(9) Conducting a voter registration drive or using Corporation funds to conduct a voter registration drive.

‘(10) Such other activities as the Corporation may prohibit.

‘(b) Ineligible Organizations- No assistance provided under this subtitle may be provided to the following types of organizations (including the participation of a participant in an approved national service position under this subtitle in activities conducted by such organizations) or to organizations that are co-located on the same premises as the following organizations:

‘(1) Organizations that provide or promote abortion services, including referral for such services.

‘(2) For-profit organizations, political parties, labor organizations, or organizations engaged in political or legislative advocacy.

‘(3) Organizations that have been indicted for voter fraud.

‘(c) Nondisplacement of Employed Workers or Other Volunteers- A participant in an approved national service position under this subtitle may not perform any services or duties or engage in activities which--

‘(1) would otherwise be performed by an employed worker as part of his or her assigned duties as an employee or by another volunteer who is not a participant in an approved national service position; or

‘(2) will supplant the hiring of employed workers or work of such other volunteers.’.


http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-1388

This section prevents an employer from replacing a full-time employee with the volunteer supplied by the program too.

The Civilian Conservation Corps was one of the most successful New Deal programs of the Great Depression. It existed for fewer than 10 years, but left a legacy of strong, handsome roads, bridges, and buildings throughout the United States. Between 1933 and 1941, more than 3,000,000 men served in the CCC.

The effects of service in the CCC were felt for years, even decades, afterwards. Following the depression, when the job market picked up, businessmen indicated a preference for hiring a man who had been in the CCC, and the reason was simple. Employers believed that anyone who had been in the CCC would know what a full day's work meant, and how to carry out orders in a disciplined way.

Today, many of the remaining physical features the CCC built have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1586.html

So no Nazi-isms?

Yes. Thanks a lot

You are absolutely right. It's darn near impossible to find any source that has no agenda on any given topic, and is willing to give a balanced viewpoint from BOTH sides. So, you have to read as much as you can and sift through the piles until you find what most closely resembles the truth.

My grandmother used to say there are three sides to every story - theirs, ours, and the truth :)

Your Grandmother was a wise woman!

it's about three times bigger than the picture shows. only water for about 200 miles in any direction.

but it was all built by a CCC camp back before I was born

EDIT: here is an aerial view of the pool. its too big to stick in here

http://www.balain.com/images/Balmorhea_7-4-2005/balmorhea.jpg

Got a video sent to me, found it intriguing, comes complete with some extra reading, for those of us who do that sort of thing.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

The Give Act, HR1388

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn5P8iY0Mho&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eprisonplanet%2Ecom%2Fmandatory%2Dvolunteerism%2Dis%2Dthis%2Da%2Drepeat%2Dof%2Dhistory%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded

http://www.nesc.wvu.edu/ndwc/articles/OT/FA01/CCC.html


The CCC was a youth group. Initially, young men between 18 and 25 years old enrolled in the corps for six-month service stretches. They could re-enlist for another six-month period, if they wished, for a maximum of two years. The enrollees received $30 per month. If they had families, they received $5 on payday and $25 was sent home.

“I had to quit school when I was 17,” says Dominic Cuda, who served in the CCC in Somerset, Pennsylvania. “My family only had $3 a week. I could give them the $25, and I would have $5 spending money. We never saw the $25. It was sent straight home. Roosevelt took people off the streets and off Relief. He knew what he was doing.”

In 1937, the government lowered the minimum enrollment age to 17 and raised the maximum age to 28. The government also expanded the program to include World War I veterans, Native Americans, Eskimos, and local experienced men who served as trades supervisors. At its peak in 1935, the CCC employed 505,782 young men scattered throughout 2,652 camps.