I didn't believe it at first, but after several people I know have voiced their concerns, I am now unable to ignore the possibility.

Bush will attack Iran before the end of his term.

All of this distraction over Barack has allowed the MSM to ignore the biggest story in the country right now . . .

HuffingtonPost reports that John McCain said at a teletownhall last night regarding the draft in the possibility of World War III:

After reflecting on the content of the speeches by Senators Obama and Clinton last Tuesday evening, I did a bit of soul-searching on the issue of my having supported the draftobamaclinton.com movement.

                  What's Up Wid Dat?

The Dems Vs The GOP in 2008

A brief discussion of the Draft, the GOP, life in the "Fab" 60's
The argument for Unity among all Democrats, Independents, Republicans
Green Party members...Human Beings in general. One guys time in 1971
and 2008 and how they relate. Theres even a Poll <G>

I live in Kansas City, and I hope that somehow, my Senator gets this message...

The next Democratic presidential nominee will be Barack Obama.  We can only hope and pray (and vote and campaign) for his successful election.

Eventually, however, the Democratic Party will need a new nominee for president, whether it's in 2012, 2016, or 2020.

Senator McCaskill - your country needs you!

I just wanted to add my contribution to discussions of a couple of things I have seen on the blogs recently.

UPDATE: I added a paragraph to the Coulter part.

Back in 1979 I was living in Berkeley when the Iranian hostage situation occured. Even though Berkeley was the mecca of student activism a few years earlier the campus was deep in politcal hibernation. A few members of a left-wing sectarian group were standing in front of Sproul Hall---scene of the famous Free speech Movement in 1964. They were trying in vain to explain the backstory---the U.S. installation of the hated Shah---similar to Saddam Hussein in many respects, a secular modernizing megalomaniac tyrant who used torture to maintain power---after the CIA overthrew a popular democratic leader in 1953.

The US Embassy was heavily involved in counter-revolutionary intrigue and just before it was taken hostage the US personnel were frantically shredding highly incriminating documents which suggested another attempt to undermine Iranian sovereignty. But Americans never were told any of this by the MSM, just that these fanatics in Iran were imprisoning Americans. (see Robert Fisk, The Great War for Civilization, for the details). This was, incidentally, before Khomeni turned Iran into a theocracy. Our efforts were to restore the Shah or his clique for our own interests, not those of the Iranian people.

I was sitting on the side of my chaise lounge "sipping on a lemon phosphate," crunching on some "Necco Wafers, Nibs, and Juju Beads," and watching The Cheap Detective on my personal DVD player. The movie’s setting was San Francisco during WWII, and the fog had rolled in. Then out of the mouth of French expatriate Paul DuChard, played by Fernando Lamas, comes, with exaggerated conviction, "We must open a two star restaurant in Oakland where all free Frenchmen can gather around the radio to listen to the war."

Thought it would be fun to take a break from politics and cover the other big event this week.  Yes, I'm talking about football.  I'm a huge fan, huge  fantasy football player.  It's 30 minutes till the 2008 Football season begins and things are starting to shape up and people are moving.

No Longer Being Updated.  The top 10 are complete and the diary has moved far enough down that few are viewing.  Thanks to all that contributed to the dissucssion.

My nephew is six years old.  He loves to play war.  Almost every time I see him we've gotta go outside, armed with lightsablers (such a collection he has!) and run around whacking each other and screeching.  I'm a middle-aged woman.  It's not dignified, trust me.  He likes to defend his 'fort' (the playstructure) and since I'm tall enough to poke at him in there I've never launched a full-scale invasion.  He loves playing Army, with his matchbox cars, the little planes, lego monstrosities.  He's a kid, and his dad is an Air Force surgeon, so it's not surprising that my lil buddy can't wait to grow up and enlist in the military.

But he's six. He might change his mind about that.  I don't want him drafted because our next president decides that their interests are best served by provoking Iran with talk of 'obliteration' during the next few years while our current intelligence suggests they do not have nuclear weapons.  That kind of talk just gives other countries more justification for building their own arsenal, as it shows the level we'll escalate to if we feel (rightly,wrongly or homespun) that our control over their part of the world is being thwarted.

There has been talk in the military of reintroducing the draft.  It is argued that we cannot afford to keep going the way we are.  There has even been speculation that the very reason that our national reserve forces are being taxed to their limits is to reintroduce the draft as a socially acceptable resolution to the current crisis in Iraq.  Our military forces are broken.  They are being taxed to their limits, but the solution is not the reintroduction of a draft.  This war in Iraq was based on lies and manipulation.  There is nothing honorable about recruiting unwitting young men in order to support the lies and misdeeds of the current administration.

Recently the drum beat for a potential war with Iran is getting kindled by Bush and McCain (and Pat Buchanan does not help the situation). I've been wondering about this because no one in the MSM seems to want to ask this question:

"How exactly is the Army supposed to proceed in a potential McCain presidency given that the Army's numbers are stressed to a breaking point?"

There is only really one answer and Army Vice Chief of Staff General Richard Cody gave that question an answer at the beginning of April 2008:

Ok...this is going to be a bit of a quickie.  I just wanted to throw something out there that's bothering me.

I don't know if this has been diaried, because my search for "bat shit crazy ideas" didn't come up with anything.  If someone has, please link it in the comments.  I'm very interested to hear what people have to say about this, if anything.  Or maybe I really am the only one who had this nightmare...

Eighty-one percent of Americans think current situation in the US is no longer tenable.  I don’t know why they think this is the case, but they do.  Some might think the war in Iraq is untenable.  Others may think it’s health care, the price of oil, global warming, environmental collapse, corruption, infrastructure collapse, incompetence, illegal spying, rendition, torture, rape, secret prisons, the lack of reliable elections, political polarization, or the economy.  No longer willing to overestimate those who cannot be underestimated, I think the last one, the economy, resonates most sympathetically in people’s gut-consciousness.  For many, the ever upward creeping dissatisfaction is likely nothing more distinct than a vague anxiety lying in wait, imperceptibly inching closer to fear. For whatever reason, people think the country now sucks.  And, boy howdy, it does.  Unfortunately, the election won’t fundamentally change that fact.

Wow.

Rarely have I felt moved by the courage of the American politician facing the "Establishment" controlling the Congress and tell nothing but the truth in his quest to stop the protracted & pointlessly bloody Vietnam War by divulging the lengthy texts of the leaked "Pentagon Papers" into the Congressional record for permanent posterity, end the mandatory draft and bring home the troops.

Let the first short intro video speak for itself.

Alright I'm tired of all this bullshit about Hillary said this, or Barack did that. Neither of these two  can hold a candle to the only remaining candidate in the race who has actually saved American lives.

Are you over eighteen? Did you sign up for selective service? DID YOU? Did they grab your ass and haul you off to boot camp to go fight in a foreign land against your will? Do you know why they didn't lasso your ass, make you sign on the dotted line, put a rifle in your hand and send you out to be a  target silhouette in somebody elses' country?

MIKE GRAVEL, THAT'S WHY!!!

Well, as some folks here know, I had the pleasure of helping lead DraftObama.org back before the campaign began.

And... it just occurred to me that the TV ad we put out was actually launched 14 months ago.  I've got nothing profound to say about that, just a "holy crap" realization that time really does fly.

So, for your viewing (and nostalgia) pleasure, I've included that TV ad right here.  Enjoy it, but don't get too nostalgic until this thing is actually done.  

Big, big, big thanks to all the people who worked so hard on this and other draft movements, and big, big, big thanks to all the people working like crazy on the actual campaign.

Mmmm.... I love the smell of hope in the morning.

(cross posted at BareNaked Pundits)

Those of us who are "of an age" remember the influence of the Draft Board on the lives (and deaths) of us and our brethren.  Even if the closest we ever actually came to experiencing that influence was listening to Arlo sing about the Group W bench.

Several years ago, when speculation about the possibility of an Iraq War draft was rampant, there was talk in liberal circles of applying to join Selective Service local boards so that a less militaristic viewpoint might be represented.  Just to see what would happen, I submitted such an application.

This week, I received a response.