[OT] Bush called this a "rumor"

[Chris Carlen]

Hi:

I was disappointed by the debate Friday. Here's one minor reason why:

President Bush said something to the effect of "there are rumors, out
there on the internet, about a military draft..."

After he said that I went to my computer and typed in "HR 163" to
Google, and came up with this:

http://www.theorator.com/bills108/hr163.html

I'd hardly call that "a rumor, out there on the internet."

It appears there was a motion to suspend the rules and pass, which
failed 402-2:

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/roll494.xml

But I don't know whether this means the bill is dead, or can still pass
through the normal procedures, whatever those are.

Oddly (or maybe not), it was 2 Democrats who voted for it.

Kerry in the debate said nothing. I think both of them were deceptive
about this issue. Bush distorted almost to the level of a plain lie,
and Kerry deceived through his silence. I would be shocked if they were
truly ignorant of such a bill, but I suppose it's possible, in which
case I retract my criticisms. But it is still depressing how uninformed
the populace is, and how useless the mainstream media has become.


Good day?


--
_____________________
Christopher R. Carlen
crobc@earthlink.net
SuSE 9.1 Linux 2.6.5

 

[Winfield Hill]

Chris Carlen wrote...

I was disappointed by the debate Friday. Here's one minor reason why:
President Bush said something to the effect of "there are rumors, out
there on the internet, about a military draft..."

After he said that I went to my computer and typed in "HR 163" to
Google, and came up with: http://www.theorator.com/bills108/hr163.html
I'd hardly call that "a rumor, out there on the internet."

It appears there was a motion to suspend the rules and pass, which
failed 402-2: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/roll494.xml

But I don't know whether this means the bill is dead, or can still pass
through the normal procedures, whatever those are.

No, the bill is dead and gone.

Oddly (or maybe not), it was 2 Democrats who voted for it.

You can relax, Chris, most everybody knows about this bill. It was an
effort by some democrats to put the issue on the table, which failed
to pass, but did effectively put the issue into the discussion scene.

Kerry in the debate said nothing. I think both of them were deceptive
about this issue. Bush distorted almost to the level of a plain lie,
and Kerry deceived through his silence. I would be shocked if they were
truly ignorant of such a bill, but I suppose it's possible, in which
case I retract my criticisms. But it is still depressing how uninformed
the populace is, and how useless the mainstream media has become.

The bill wasn't really worth any discussion in the debate, having simply
been a ploy anyway. But the rumors on the internet, etc., are there from
folks who fear push will come to shove vis-a-vis our troops stretched too
thin, the heavy use of the reserves, second tours, stop-loss orders. etc.,
etc. on the one side, and the Iraq mess on the other. Bush claims he'll
redeploy troops from elsewhere in the world, which seems sensible to me
(not knowing the implications). But rumor speakers can't know what Bush
may have in mind, or whether it's anything more than campaign rhetoric.

It's true Bush served Kerry a softball that he failed to swing at, but it
seems to me Kerry passed up quite a few luscious softballs.


--
Thanks,
- Win

(email: use hill_at_rowland-dotties-org for now)