I remember when I wa…

I remember when I was a kid and Nixon and McGovern were running against each other for the presidency. One of the rumors that went around the school was that if McGovern was elected, he would make us go to school on Saturday. Well, that made us schoolkids dead set against him, of course, but it was just some rumor, an urban legend, probably started by someone who didn’t like McGovern.

Today, the Internet is where those rumors really kick into high gear. Here’s the latest:

One of those “come-out-of-nowhere” emails now circulating in cyberspace warns about a sneaky administration effort to begin a “mandatory draft for boys and girls (ages 18-26) starting June 15, 2005…just after the presidential election.”

The email says the Bush administration “is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public’s attention is on the elections.”

In fact, the bill in question – HR 163 – was introduced by liberal New York Democrat Rep. Charles Rangel on Jan. 7, 2003 – almost two years ago — and it does not have administration backing.

The companion Senate bill is S. 89, was introduced by Democrat Ernest Hollings of South Carolina, also on Jan. 7, 2003.

The legislation was introduced by lawmakers who oppose the war in Iraq. The bill, according to Rep. Pete Stark, (D-Calif.), “will ensure all Americans share in the cost and sacrifice of war.”

Anti-war Democrats introduced the legislation, knowing it would be unpopular. They wanted to make the point that the burden of fighting the war in Iraq would fall disproportionately to poor and minority populations unless a mandatory draft is imposed.

According to the alarmist, pre-election email now circulating, the mandatory draft bill “eliminates higher education as a shelter and includes women in the draft” It says “crossing into Canada” as a means of avoiding the draft has been “made very difficult.”

Readers of the email are urged to send it to “all the parents and teachers you know, and all the aunts and uncles, grandparents, godparents. . . And let your children know — it’s their future, and they can be a powerful voice for change!”

You want to be a voice for change? Work to get rid of Rangel, Hollings and Stark. Then you’ll be less likely to get drafted. And, of course, Kerry’s going along with this hoax.

Last week, at a campaign stop in West Palm Beach, Sen. John F. Kerry said in response to a question:”If George Bush were to be re-elected, given the way he has gone about this war and given his avoidance of responsibility in North Korea and Iran and other places, it is possible” that he would support a mandatory draft.

The Bush campaign called Kerry’s statement “irresponsible.”

They could also call it “par for the course”.

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