The only reason I would favor a draft is to add young people to the anti-war equation; their numbers would be a major force. BUT--the Catch-22--I don't want to see anyone go into the military given the horribleness of war.

Surrender: we don't need a draft! As you can see, these young people understand and they haven't had to experience the "horribleness of war". They are just paying attention to the world instead of "American Idol" etc. Every time I hear about another group that is singing songs for peace, not war, I am encouraged.

The threat of being drafted would surely add to the anti-war group, and if loopholes were closed so exceptions were not possible, would end the occupation of Iraq. However that would not happen and rich cheerleaders like George Bush would still find a way out. Like Cheney, some would have other things more important and the money to make them happen.

lover of peace: I totally agree with you! Hell, I spent two years in V.N. playing government games and wouldn't wish it on ANY young people. I was just trying to make the point that their numbers would be welcome. I hate to say it but it would get the "American Idlers" you mentioned off their asses and involved. Gawd, NO, lover o' peace, I would NEVER call for a draft...unless it called up all the corporate CEO's and politicians! THEN watch the war get ended and damned FAST too!!!

I would like to see the military completely disbanded, every aircraft, tank and ship dismantled and transformed into things that were actually useful.

Will these characters be hooking up with Crosby, Stills and Nash? I heard from a vet against the war that the Vetrans for Peace had been invited to set up information tables at their concert(s). Intergenerational cohesion would be great.

"However that would not happen and rich cheerleaders like George Bush would still find a way out. Like Cheney, some would have other things more important and the money to make them happen."

Sure , the very,very rich are going to "slip thriugh the cracks"but selective service would make the playing field vastly more level than it is now . This question " Why has the Pentagon not reinstated selective service ?" been asked so many times that it's really becoming banal but since the answer is so stark,simple and true the question is worth repeating once more?,twice more...?.

Everybody should know the answer . If selective service were to be reinstated , there would suddenly be 30-60 thousand draft-dodgers heading Canada-bound as there was in 1970-1975 . I have a dozen friends in Sooke,BC,Canada ( Vancouver Island) who were members of that "jolly band"

With gracious deferrence to the works of CodePink,IVAW,Raging Grannies...,NOTHING would end the occupation faster than completely-deserted recruitment centres and fragging deserters .

Talk about compelling an eighteen-year-old girl or boy to make a very mature decision even more than what college to go to or who to marry...," Does Mom and Dad have enough money to "ransom" me from the military?or shall I take a chance on survival in Iraq?and do the "honorable"thing or should I just flee to Canada as did thousands of run-away slaves and draft-dodgers before me ?"

These kind of questions and answers as most European adolescents have been posed,with variations,have a habit of, overnight," turning seedlings into sunflowers " ( Fiddler on the Roof)

will a day come when artists do not make money off of war?

anti-war songs are war songs. the war brought the songs to life. real anti-war songs are the ones with visions of a world beyond war. we are not at that stage in our journey. instead we must listen to another group of well-meaning individuals capitalizing on the institution and reproduction of death.

Argue the point all you like, but the truth is these are just more white guys making money - same old same old.

by the way roughly 30, 000 Americans fled to Canada in the 1960's and early '70's to escape the draft... almost the same number of Canadians Volunteered to fight in Nam.

"7 shots ring out on a South Dakota farm... somewhere there's 7 new people born."

sorry 1960's and early 1970's

"Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?", the Bush legacy.

Why is it that when young men kill other people, if they are our young men killing others, we call them heroes, but if it is other young men killing ours, we call them terrorists? War = Terror

More new protest songs! Keep singing to power, with songs, old and new.

I love State Radio, I posted their Camilo song the other day on CD. ivaw.org, lots of these kids are staying right here, not going to Canada anymore. They say, "Illegal Invasion, not a war ergo Illegal, make me", so far Matthis has been okay.
nelson, these boys and girls are 17, 18 and 19, from normally, impoverished areas, undereducated poor white neighborhoods and are victimized by predatory recruiting tactics. These are our sons and daughters. Stop reacting as expected, learn of what you speak. TBI, PTSD, quadriplegics, addicts. VA does nothing for them they're families wind up caring for them. Your inference does not solve anything, join Wounded Warriors and help.

mark, State Radio donated that money to aid Resistors.

http://www.ivaw.org

Mark, most of us don't give a rat's ass if they make millions by reaching people through an alternate communication source, in fact we hope they do so they can spread the message farther & wider than right wing controlled media ever would.

BTW, thanks for the lyric from Bob Dylan's "Hollis Brown. Here's another from a song (With God On Our Side) on the same album:

"If God's On Our Side He'll Stop The Next War", very appropriate with the Bush/Israeli war-mongers trying to mix it up any way they can with Iran, wouldn't you say?

Here's the song/video:

www. youtube.com/watch?v=7BkvRnUZJys

Registration for the military today makes it such that the current registration is/ would be invalid. What Reagan did in 81 was make it such that no man can get federal financial aid for college without registering for the military. Where is the courageous lawyer (ACLU, NLG?) who will litigate this issue. Why should any woman win the right to federal financial aid free for college when a man must first register with the national war machine. And if he does not, then no financial aid other than a private bank loan is available.
Michael Franti and Spearhead kept my activism going for literally two years. The man's poetry is powerful, spoken well, sung better. I do not personally care for the hellfire cd, but then a hard core rocker I have never been. Home - Chocolate Supa Highway, Everyone Deserves Music, and STAY HUMAN, can't beat em.
Thank you Common Dreams and all who comment on it. Keep it peaceful. Keep speaking out. Speak our truth to Power. Nuclear is not the solution to global warming... the renaissance is child of Cheney's 01 energy task force meetings... supported by the 05 Energy policy Act...
Keep speaking truth to power....please.

Where's Judy Collins, Joan B., Simon and Garfunkle,Buffy St.Marie, when I need them?

To "PissantNobody"---

Methinks you are a follower of WSWS.org. A sort of hollowed-out Remembrance of the Fourth International...

Not that I am opposed to them. I just wish that someone could come up with a real alternative to the bullshit that passes for economics these days. We are dying here!

-30-

If you're looking for anti-war songs, check out the songs from my "Stop The War!" album on iTunes. Here's some excerpts of the lyrics:

VIDEO-GAME SOLDIERS
Our leaders say they're defending our shores
Pretending they're keeping us free.
But their children will never set foot in Iraq
Cause they only send people like you and like me.

WHO WILL BE THE LAST MAN TO DIE FOR A MISTAKE?
And all the people who cheered as the bombs
were falling .....
Will they hide from the eyes
Of that soldier now dead?
Will they block out the cries
Of the family instead?
Will they stand before God in submission and say: "We're sorry. We're sorry. We're sorry."

Plus there's the song "Wussies For War" (about the chickenhawks in the Bush Administration) and "Kool-Aid Man" (a song about military recruiters). Plus I got another one on the way: "McCain In Hell" (a tale of Satan and his demonic reception for the Prince of War John McCain).

This article, and some of the vet comments, more than any I have read in months, has so impressed me that I am moved to restart my anti-war activity.
Young people can really inspire their elders to do something. Thanks.

Congrats to all brave enough to try protest music, we know what price can be levied for that, but someday, we'd like to join that protest song party, unless all that's allowed are shallow slogans wedded to wimpy tunes.

Now is this a cool new 4th of July protest song?

FLAG SONG: All those you see around you, they had good lives like you, they fell in love and dreamed, they felt real pain too, they gave everything they had, so things would be better for you, all this they gave for freedom, all this they handed to you.

Chorus: But our flag's been ripped down and shredded, by those who claim to love it most, over the protests of any, and the founding fathers ghosts; the flags been ripped down and shredded, and used as a filthy, bloody rag, by those who do evil in its name, and want your freedoms banned.

The White House is covered in oil, and the churches are buried in crude, and those who profit from war madness, worry only about what's being accrued; grand buildings of solid granite, now filled with hollow ideals, and a tear in the eye of fake patriots who steal. (Chorus)

And the rich are all powdered and pampered, eating and getting their fill, and they and the media keep ignoring the shame of all those being killed; and when war becomes ragingly popular, and there are no doubts allowed, they sing the Star Spangled Banner with blood in their mouths. (chorus)

The pundits are bloated on hubris and pride, and the media won't tell you nothing but a million more lies, and they swear God looks down and blesses their Armageddon riot, but in the cold dark of space, Earth might just go quiet...

Http://www.myspace.com/thehaymarketorphans

Michael Franti and Spearhead's album Yell Fire is a masterpiece of poetry, great dance music, activist ideas and hope. I encourage everyone to check it out. Their vision is for citizen activism based on inclusiveness and caring.

Hello! Do any of you know how many Blackwater thugs are we paying in Iraq? We don't need a draft because Chenet decided to outsource the war and not tell the Amercan people.

I'd like to see a way for civic duty to one's country to expand beyond the tradition of military service and really build our country's standing in the world while fostering secure communities internationally.
Why not a conscription, like in Israel and France, which facilitates the chance to learn skills, experience other cultures, develop an education and serve our nation- but that provides equal access and footing in either the military or a robust Peace/Americorps program? Two years in either department, to be served by able-bodied (but providing inclusion for any disabled citizen wanting to forgo their deferment) some time before their 30's. A large part of this service should be focused on environmentally-oriented social projects; we in America consume so many resources, and sending our young people into the Second- and Third-World (including here in the US) can help in changing our consumption and waste attitudes.
There is certainly a fine line between mandatory civic duty and fascist dictatorship, but having rules that bind citizens in their part of the social contract with government- voting, taxes of some sort, driver's licenses, birth certificates, etc- strengthens individuals and the country.
I do not advocate war, nor killing of any sort, but maintaining a military is a reality. To balance what has been grossly weighed in favor of the industrial-military complex in our government and culture, civic duty and patriotism need to be facilitated in peaceful, productive forms that bring our international and cultural differences abroad and domestically together to complement, enriching all people of all nations.

And Blackwater needs to be disbanded by congress immediately. No question.

anyone who turns away from that war, has my support...and aid