All very good points Michelle, but unfortunately since Bo won the WH, this is only the beginning of a much deeper and sinister plot to destroy the America of the founding fathers via the change mantra. Most people are accepting and chairitable of most things by nature and they have historically given willingly and self-lessly, however, they do not always know all the details of DC laws until it is too late, wherein lies the devil. I heard a liberal thinker say yesterday on TV that no one on the hill (particularly the conservative repubs) reads any of the stuff they vote on. Amazing! I would characterise his comment as insulting to the many congress people who do read these proposals, on both sides of the ailse! These people are merely looking for that devil in those details, which is why we sent them to DC. When they find that devil they're expected to speak out which causes them to become targets of scorn from those who wish to grow that devil! A rather sad state for America shall become the administration needed (along with the associated funding costs!) to "organize" GIVE/SERVE. Through being kind and inclusive, from undersanding and accepting, from attempting to be receptive to all the possibilities, of all things, America has opened the floodgates to her own peril. Shame on all the people who allowed it to happen!

Spread some more fear Michelle Malkin.

Disgusting!

In her recent column, “To Give and to Serve,” Michelle Malkin makes an unfounded and inaccurate attack on the service legislation that is currently being discussed on the Senate floor. This legislation, called The Serve America Act, is a bipartisan bill being sponsored by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ted Kennedy (D-MA), and co-sponsored by leading Republican Senators such as John McCain (R-AZ), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and others.
The Serve America Act creates more opportunities for citizens of all ages to serve their communities. Far from creating “permanent bureaucracies,” this bill invests in our nation's citizens. It harnesses the growing interest people have in national service and volunteerism, and provides the architecture necessary to channel this service where our country needs it most.
This effort couldn't be more timely. Contrary to what Ms. Malkin says, there is hardly a need to “force” people to serve. Just ask the 35,000 young people who applied for just 4,000 slots at Teach For America last year. Or the young people who have driven City Year applications up by 180%. Or the three people who are turned away from AmeriCorps for every one person who is accepted. People are serving their communities at unprecedented rates.
As she has done in the past, Ms. Malkin also erred in her description of the Social Innovation Fund, which invests in high-impact community organizations that are working to solve America's social problems. A far cry from a “liberal slush fund,” this relatively small Fund would support results-driven, proven organizations that are making a real difference in communities, none of which resemble anything like the “liberal radical groups” Malkin describes.
Now more than ever, our nation needs people who are willing to help their neighbors tackle challenges involving employment, health care, education, and other issues. What better way to help those in need than to encourage volunteerism and support the community-based organizations that provide these critical services? This approach is, in fact, the opposite of big government. Which is why some of our nation's leading Republicans are supporting this bill.
In truth, The Serve America Act defies traditional partisan labels and represents a departure from business as usual in Washington. It is a bill that even a conservative like Malkin could love – if she would, for once, try examining its intent through something other than a partisan lens.
Kelly Ward
Director, America Forward

Re: Mick. Tell more lies. You're the disgusting one.

Re: Kelly Ward. In the past, as well as today, , the laudable goals you describe, such as "help their neighbors tackle challenges involving employment, health care, education, and other issues" were accomplished by volunteers...not students serving the government as indentured servants under penalty of having their student loan application denied. Funny how liberals come out of the woodwork to get all over Malkin for criticizing this horrid piece of brown-shirt legislation (frighteningly recalling of the Hitler Youth), but fail to explain how America somehow got by without it for over two centuries.