'GIVE' creating youth brigades? »
Posted By RedRiverJ 7 months, 2 weeks ago in News
Supporters of an Americorps expansion plan pending in Congress laud its efforts to "leverage" federal dollars to boost state, local and other resources to "address national and local challenges," while critics say its fine print secretly would create an Obama-styled army of community organizers modeled after Saul Alinsky's Peoples Organizations. So which is it?
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RedRiverJ7 months, 2 weeks ago
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RedRiverJ7 months, 2 weeks ago
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Here is what they are teaching right now at University of Delaware.
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http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view=94... -
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mesodude7 months, 2 weeks ago
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"Sponsored by Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the law would provide $5 billion over five years for minimal living expenses and an educational stipend for people of all ages to volunteer in the fields of health care, energy, education and the environment."
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http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/us/jan-... -
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Goppy7 months, 2 weeks ago
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RedRiverJ prefers this organization for HIS kids.
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http://torchlight.typepad.com/
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Sad ... but this is essentially the direction the base of The Modern Republican Party has been pushing towards since the demise of certain 'southern social clubs' in by gone eras.
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stephen-johnson7 months, 2 weeks ago
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Many of the graduates of these programs will, no doubt, gravitate towards careers in education. There, they can infect the next generation with the teachings of Chairman Alinsky. Before long, you will have large number of people who are unemployable except as community activists - if you call that a profession.
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mesodude7 months, 2 weeks ago
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"Before long, you will have large number of people who are unemployable except as community activists - if you call that a profession."
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I gue$$ I can't help but wonder why it i$ that con$ are $o under-repre$ented in the teaching profe$$ion. ;-P -
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RedRiverJ7 months, 2 weeks ago
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EbQfmVoOfM=http%3A...
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last try.-
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mesodude7 months, 2 weeks ago
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"But Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican who co-sponsored the bill with Kennedy, said government’s role will be limited, with volunteers and national service participants doing the heavy-lifting.
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Help offered by a compassionate neighbor will always be superior to government-driven approaches designed in Washington,” Hatch said, adding that the measure ensures that service action would be spurred by local organizations and community needs."
http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2009/03/27/senate...
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StevieGee7 months, 2 weeks ago
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GWHayduke7 months, 2 weeks ago
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Why......this just reeks of successful programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps.....and the Peace Corps.
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Yup, keep my kids away form any kind of developmental, societal and or cultural organization executing a positive impact and educational experience.
Stupid liberals and their altruistic nonsense.
Dont they know this world isnt big enough for youth to have the option to choose between a money driven life and an educational, devotional one? -
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david_nwpa7 months, 2 weeks ago
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Right wing malarky is flying again today. RedRiver, none of the tales woven in this fantasy article are true. First, the government is not out to create the next Hitler Youth. Recall, Hitler was RIGHT WING!
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Second, what is the big deal with having kids volunteering? Next thing you know, they will take pride in their neighborhoods, decrease crime, and might even find alternatives to drug use! Wow, those ideals should be discouraged by the Republican party, right away! -
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Klarissa7 months, 2 weeks ago
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from factcheck.org:
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As an AmeriCorps member, you may not:
* engage in any effort to influence legislation, including state or local ballot initiatives or lobbying for your AmeriCorps program; for example, you may not organize a letter-writing campaign to Congress;
* engage in partisan political activities or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office;
* organize or take part in political demonstrations or rallies;
* organize or participate in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; ...
* engage in religious instruction; conduct worship services; provide instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship; construct or operate facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship; maintain facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship; or engage in any form of religious proselytization; or
* provide a direct benefit to a for-profit entity, a labor union, a partisan political organization, or, in general, an organization engaged in the religious activities described in the preceding bullet.
The national service bill does not mandate that youth must participate nor does it forbid anyone who does participate from going to church.
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We have received several inquiries about this bill, which has passed both the House and Senate with significant bipartisan support. Some e-mails and conservative Web sites say it requires the government to draw up plans for a “mandatory service requirement for all able young people.” Others say the bill forbids participants from attending church.
These claims are false. Neither the House-passed bill nor the Senate-passed version says these things.
H.R. 1388 was introduced in the House on March 9. It passed the House a week later by a vote of 321 - 105, with nearly all Democrats and 70 Republicans supporting it. It passed the Senate on March 26, 79 - 19. Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, a cosponsor of the Senate legislation, called it "probably the most bipartisan bill we will see on the Senate floor this year." For the record, 22 Republicans voted yes, and 19 – the only senators who opposed the bill – voted no.
House Republicans who approved of the bill said in the House committee report: "[W]e applaud the inclusion of reforms that Committee Republicans have long championed to ensure that recipients of taxpayer funds are held accountable for results. We are pleased to join with the Majority in supporting bipartisan efforts to strengthen the national service laws and improve service delivery throughout the country."
Called the GIVE Act ("Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act") in the House and the "Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act" in the Senate, the legislation reauthorizes and expands established national service programs including VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) and the National Civilian Community Corps, both of which are AmeriCorps programs. The House bill sets a goal of having 250,000 yearly participants in such programs by 2014; the Senate bill says there should be that many national service positions by 2017. About 75,000 adults participate in AmeriCorps each year now; there are 4 million people total in various national community service programs, according to AmeriCorps.
The act also aims to increase volunteer and public service opportunities, including opportunities for retirees and the Baby Boom generation, and to "support institutions of higher education that engage students in community service activities." It calls for giving students who complete an approved full-time national service job an "educational award having a value equal to the maximum amount of a Federal Pell Grant." AmeriCorps says this would increase the amount its members receive upon completion of service from $4,725 to $5,350, which they can use to pay for school or pay back student loans.
Forced Public Service
Some Internet postings claim the bill says the government must come up with plans for a “mandatory service requirement for all able young people,” but that phrase is nowhere to be found in either the House-passed bill or the Senate version.
The bill as introduced in the House, however, did call for examining whether this would be a good idea. It called for a congressional commission to "address and analyze" several topics, including "issues that deter volunteerism" and how they can be overcome, how expanding international public service might affect diplomacy and foreign relations, and "[w]hether a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people could be developed, and how such a requirement could be implemented in a manner that would strengthen the social fabric of the Nation." The commission would also investigate "[t]he need for a public service academy, a 4-year institution that offers a federally funded undergraduate education with a focus on training future public sector leaders."
All of that language is now gone. To be clear, the original bill didn't call for a mandatory public service program, but called for the exploration of whether one could be established. But the entire section on creating a "Congressional Commission on Civic Service" was stripped from the bill.
It is part of a separate piece of legislation, introduced on March 11 (two days after H.R. 1388 was introduced) by Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott. H.R. 1444 was referred to a House committee. No other action has been taken on the bill. McDermott introduced a similar bill in 2007 and it died, never making it out of a subcommittee.
Furthermore, Hatch, a Republican cosponsor of the Senate's national service bill, said on the floor of the Senate that nothing in the legislation called for mandatory service:
Hatch, March 23: Consistent with our All-Volunteer Army and volunteer opportunities and individuals' choice in communities, nothing in this legislation is mandatory. This bill simply provides more Americans more choices and opportunities to give back to their neighborhoods and their country all through the means which they freely choose.
The only mention of anything being mandatory in either of the bills passed by the House or Senate is in the definition for "youth engagement zone program." Such a program is eligible for funding under the bill, and it is defined in the House bill as one that provides school-based or community-based "service learning opportunities" in which "(A) not less than 90 percent of the students participate in service-learning activities as part of the program; or (B) service-learning is a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency." That's not a call for making public service mandatory, but rather an explanation of one type of program that can get money under the bill. The Senate bill does not include the word "mandatory," saying instead that "service-learning is a part of the curriculum."
Thou Shalt Not Attend Church
Even though it would be an incredibly draconian law – and a clear violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of religion, upon which this country was founded – Internet postings still claim that under this bill "church attendance [is] forbidden."
The postings, which repeat commentary by the Jonas Clark Ministries, point to section 125, which lists "prohibited activities and ineligible organizations." The section says that those working in national service positions can't engage in partisan politics, union activities or religious instruction. And the language mirrors what AmeriCorps and Senior Corps tell their members about what they can't do while working for those programs.
Specifically, the bill says those in national service positions can't: attempt to "influence legislation"; organize "protests, petitions, boycotts or strikes"; promote "union organizing; engage in "partisan political activities, or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office"; and engage 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." That's the House's language, and the wording in the Senate version is nearly identical. The Senate is perhaps more clear in saying "[a]n approved national service position under this subtitle may not be used for" all of these activities. In other words, public service activities can't include anything overtly religious or political. And this is nothing new.
The current AmeriCorps handbook tells volunteers much the same thing:
AmeriCorps handbook: There are certain activities, including lobbying, political, or advocacy activities, that you may not perform as an AmeriCorps member. Generally, you may not engage in any conduct that would associate the national service program or the Corporation for National and Community Service with any prohibited activity.
As an AmeriCorps member, you may not:
* engage in any effort to influence legislation, including state or local ballot initiatives or lobbying for your AmeriCorps program; for example, you may not organize a letter-writing campaign to Congress;
* engage in partisan political activities or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office;
* organize or take part in political demonstrations or rallies;
* organize or participate in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; ...
* engage in religious instruction; conduct worship services; provide instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship; construct or operate facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship; maintain facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship; or engage in any form of religious proselytization; or
* provide a direct benefit to a for-profit entity, a labor union, a partisan political organization, or, in general, an organization engaged in the religious activities described in the preceding bullet.
Senior Corps' RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) Operations Handbook includes similar language. It prohibits members from using their positions to engage in partisan political activities and stipulates that "volunteers and project staff funded by the Corporation [for National and Community Service] may not give religious instruction, conduct worship services, or engage in any form of proselytization as part of their duties." Organizations that offer religious instruction can continue to do so, but not with government funds. "If an organization conducts such activities, the activities must be offered separately, in time or location, from the programs or services funded under RSVP," the handbook says.
The national service legislation now goes to a Senate-House conference committee to agree upon the language of the final bill.
Update, March 31: The House has approved the Senate version of the bill, and it now will go to President Obama for his signature.
Update, April 6: AmeriCorps spokesman Sandy Scott offered us further clarification on the political and religious restrictions in its handbook and the legislation: "Both House- and Senate-passed bills codify long-standing regulatory restrictions on engaging in certain activities while "on-duty" as an AmeriCorps member. They do not cover what individuals do on their own time at their own initiative," Scott wrote in an e-mail to FactCheck.org. -
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Jeboba7 months, 2 weeks ago
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Klarissa wrote:
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As an AmeriCorps member, you may not:
* engage in any effort to influence legislation, including state or local ballot initiatives or lobbying for your AmeriCorps program; for example, you may not organize a letter-writing campaign to Congress;
* engage in partisan political activities or other activities designed to influence the outcome of an election to any public office;
* organize or take part in political demonstrations or rallies;
* organize or participate in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; ...
* engage in religious instruction; conduct worship services; provide instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship; construct or operate facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship; maintain facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship; or engage in any form of religious proselytization; or
* provide a direct benefit to a for-profit entity, a labor union, a partisan political organization, or, in general, an organization engaged in the religious activities described in the preceding bullet.
DUH! The volunteers/employees are federal employees and subject to the HATCH act which you have so adeptly quoted. ALL Federal employees are subject to the HATCH ACT!
Nothing new here. Nothing to see, move along. -
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