keep your Patriot Act out of my skill set

We just returned from our vacation in Seattle. We had a fabulous time, but we ran ourselves ragged and both got sick when we got home. Doc has what seems like the same thing I had a couple of weeks ago — fever and hacking cough and general misery. Food has not been my friend since Friday. I’m writing up a synopsis of the trip and will post it here this week.

In other news, the Selective Service system has drawn up a proposal to expand the military draft to include women as well as men, ages 18-34, along with keeping a national inventory of skills of the potential draftees. “Americans would be required to regularly update the agency on their skills until they reach age 35.” The full article ran in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on May 1.

Now, I don’t have a problem with the concept of drafting women. Rachel made the point that “so many times it seems that [women] want to be equal in only the stuff that we want to be equal in.” Reverse sexism is rampant in our culture, and mostly ignored. Either we’re equal or we aren’t; we can’t pick and choose to our advantage. So, if you’re gonna draft anyone, draft everyone.

That being said, I will send you all postcards from Vancouver if they implement a draft while I’m still “of age.”

The part that frightens me most is the use of the word “inventory” and about the government keeping tabs on our skills. Your skills and talents are not the government’s business, unless you choose to make it their business. I’m all for the military placing its recruits where their skills and talents lie, but just how fair and random do you think a draft would be where they had a nice list of everyone ages 18-34, sorted by skill level? Talk about encouraging dishonesty, and rewarding the less talented!

This is all very “Brazil,” and I’m sure it would all be sugar-coated in the guise of patriotism if it ever saw the light of day.

As far as I know, “Consciencious Objector” is still a valid alternative when Selective Service comes calling.