According to Gateway Pundit the new site Change.gov said this as of November 7th:

As of today, November 10th, though apparently changed the 8th it says this:

The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by setting a goal that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.

In a December 5th, 2007 post to his website, still available, said:

So when I’m President, I will set a goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students to perform 100 hours of service a year. This means that by the time you graduate college, you’ll have done 17 weeks of service. We’ll reach this goal in several ways. At the middle and high school level, we’ll make federal assistance conditional on school districts developing service programs, and give schools resources to offer new service opportunities.

I’ve pointed this out to Tim Zimmermann given he recently said that:

Mandatory service simply does not make any sense. It is not a good idea, there is no infrastructure for it, no public support for it, no leadership support for it, and no money for it. Frankly, it is not something I spend a lot of time worrying about….

I agree it doesn’t make any sense hovever Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel think otherwise. It’s intelectualy dishonest to make these changes without an official announcement of policy change. It’s also dishonest to act as if this is not effectively mandatory. It’s the same trick used by the federal government to get the drinking age to be 21 and there be state laws for seat belts to be worn while driving. Only one state disobeys the federal government. New Hampshire. And that’s only for the seat belt request. Should a state refuse they will see their income tax dollars go out of the state and not come back in. At least a significant portion of it. It’s even worse in this particular case given the government mandates children attend school, continues to tax those who home school or use private schools, and not only would a school not receive federal funds but you can guarentee the local tax payers would continue to be taxed by the federal government at the same rate. If the locals don’t wish to pay higher local taxes and no reduced income taxes they’d have to comply meaning the children would be unable to graduate without doing the national service. Therefore it’s mandatory. And given the requirements for private and home schools imposed by the State it wouldn’t be surprising if they mandated national service for those children too.

http://news.cnet.com/…

IRS undercover operations: Privacy invasion?
The bailout bill also gives the Internal Revenue Service new authority to conduct undercover operations. It would immunize the IRS from a passel of federal laws, including permitting IRS agents to run businesses for an extended sting operation, to open their own personal bank accounts with U.S. tax dollars, and so on. (Think IRS agents posing as accountants or tax preparers and saying, “I’m not sure if that deduction is entirely legal, but it’ll save you $1,000. Want to take it?”) That section had expired as of January 1, 2008, and would now be renewed.

Starting with the so-called Anti-Drug Abuse Act in 1988, the IRS has possessed this authority temporarily, with occasional multiple-year lapses. A 1999 internal report said the IRS had 126 “trained undercover agents” working in field offices at the time. This is the first time that such undercover authority would be made permanent.

Sens. Max Baucus (D) and Chuck Grassley (R) have been pushing to make it permanent for a while, claiming (PDF) in April that: “Undercover operations are an integral part of IRS efforts to detect and prove noncompliance. The temporary status of this provision creates uncertainty, as the IRS plans its undercover efforts from year to year.”

There’s another section of the bailout bill worth noting. It lets the IRS give information from individual tax returns to any federal law enforcement agency investigating suspected “terrorist” activity, which can, in turn, share it with local and state police. Intelligence agencies such as the CIA and the National Security Agency can also receive that information.

The information that can be shared includes “a taxpayer’s identity, the nature, source, or amount of his income, payments, receipts, deductions, exemptions, credits, assets, liabilities, net worth, tax liability, tax withheld, deficiencies, overassessments, or tax payments, whether the taxpayer’s return was, is being, or will be examined or subject to other investigation or processing, or any other data received by, recorded by, prepared by, furnished to, or collected by the Secretary with respect to a return.”

That provision had already existed in federal law and automatically expired on January 1, 2008.

What’s a little odd is that there’s been little to no discussion of the IRS sections of the bailout bill, even though they raise privacy concerns. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said this week: “I will continue to work with congressional leaders to find a way forward to pass a comprehensive plan to stabilize our financial system and protect the American people by limiting the prospects of further deterioration in our economy.” He never mentioned the necessity of additional IRS undercover operations.

While everything is going on and the abolition of the Fed is on many people’s minds… lets not forget the terrible things the IRS does and that it too needs to be abolished.

Can you smell that? Is that the smell of constitutionally limited government?

Nope… it’s corporatism/fascism^1,2,3,4,5 and the rising police state^1,2,3.

Ah well. Even if the current state of affairs are less than desirable and the US Constitution not a perfect document… it’s sure a lot better than what we’ve got now.

Daily Paul posted this:

If you remember back to last year, Constitution day was the start of the Ron Paul Presidential Campaign’s “Fill the Quill” initiative. Does anyone else remember that? They were looking to garner a total of 1787 donations - they weren’t even counting how much they raised (!!) only how many dontations they received. AND they were recording the number of donors in real time. This was a precursor to the money bombs, and it was this real-time reporting technology that made it possible! Looking back, it seems like a lifetime ago now, doesn’t it? Share any of your memories below.

Well, there is plenty to look forward to on this Constitution day. Let’s give Ron Paul some company in Congress!

1. BJ Lawson, running for Congress in NC 4, is having a money bomb.
2. John Cunningham, running for Congress in MA 7, is having a money bomb.
3. Today is the Liberty Straw Poll! Buy your ticket ($10), listen in to the debates between the candidates and vote! The winners get the money for their campaigns! The debate will be hosted by Kurt Wallace, with round table discussion provided by Tom Woods and Jack Hunter (the Southern Avenger).
4. Check out MA Questions 1 and 2, to eliminate our state income tax and decriminalize marijuana. If you don’t live here in Taxachussets, you might think this doesn’t apply to you. But if you can help us pass these two citizens initiatives, it will make it that much easier for you to pass the same ones in your state next year! So lend us your support!

Thank you, and happy Constitution Day!

Good luck Massachusetts residents.