Daily Archives: April 21, 2004

The Draft

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I was talking to my mother last night and she told me that there is talk of Bush bringing the draft back if he is re-elected. I found this website which has various articles to back up the claims.

The administration denies it but I honestly don’t trust them as far as I could throw them, especially since there is legislation in Congress to do it.

Read this bill and this bill. Then keep track of the progress on the bill and write your reps if that is what you do in situations like this. Granted, it’s still in committee and will not probably come up until January 2005, but I think it’s an issue we need to examine in this election year, especially as it pertains to the War (and it still *IS* a war) in Iraq.

And for those who say “but this is good and will encourage patriotism”, go talk to someone who was alive during the Vietnam War and had a friend, family member, or classmate sent over. This will NOT be permitted to happen again, especially after the mistakes made in Vietnam and the effect it had on the lives of those who served there.

BBC Schtuff

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I was listening to the BBC World Today as I normally do at midnight (it’s my lullaby since white noise helps me sleep) and the following headlines jumped out at me:

Vanunu prepared for jail release. Apparently, he enlightened the world to the fact that Israel had nuclear weapons. (“Nuclear”, by the way, is pronounced “new-clear”, not “nuke-you-ler” the way some unnamed world leaders pronounce it. My O-Chem professor threatened to fail us if we mispronounced it.)

Grameen Foundation allows loans to beggars. I couldn’t find a link for this but I thought it was interesting news. Apparently, the poor are much better about paying back the loans and the Grameen bank hasn’t lost a dime on the loans.

UN Darfur mission ‘within days’. This is good news as I had a Sudanese classmate at the seminary and since he went home, I’ve been doubly concerned about violence in Sudan. (I wonder how Ruben is doing…)

I actually like the BBC better than any US news source because their news actually tells me something about what is happening in the world. There’s always a story about something in the US, but I hear about Africa, Asia, and other interesting places that the American media tends to skip. One could say that their news is indeed “fair and balanced”.