"The Obama Youth Corps" - Update

As I predicted, HR 1388 has sailed through the Senate yesterday 79-19, and was renamed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, and Act to reauthorize and reform and national service laws (S 277). Not surprisingly, none of the 19 'nay' votes came from the Democrats.

An amendment introduced by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) which would have barred ACORN or any of it's affiliate organizations from receiving any funding from the bill was tabled before the vote. Vitter, you might remember, also offered a similar amendment to the 'porkulus bill' which was also defeated.

In reviewing the text of the Senate version I noticed something that may be of serious concern to all of us (the house version also contained this provision, and I apologize for having overlooked it).

It is found in sec. 1304;

SEC. 1304. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.
Section 125 (42 U.S.C. 12575) is amended to read as follows:

SEC. 125. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.

(a) Prohibited Activities- A participant in an approved national service position under this subtitle may not engage in the following activities:

(1) Attempting to influence legislation.

(2) Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes.
......

(7) Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization.

Nice! As a participant in Obama's Youth Corps one forfeits all rights guaranteed under the first amendment. Congress understands that they cannot simply suspend the constitution all at once, so they are just going to render it null and void for certain people at certain times, until, before we realize it, it no longer applies to any of us.

Our rights are given to us from God. We loan those rights to our government to do for us as a whole that which we cannot do for ourselves individually. This government has long ago gone well beyond the simple mandate afforded to it by the constitution, and we have allowed it. But, our rulers are not satisfied with the power we have unwisely allowed it to usurp. It now wants the power to tell us what rights we may exercise, when we may exercise them, and under what conditions we may exercise them.

Wake up America, the hour is late.