Progressives are drawn to Charlie Rangel’s call for a draft, but a draft only inducts people. Class determines what job they will be assigned once they are in the military and, often, how happy they will be.

The Draft: No Solution to Social Inequality
By Steve Gilliard

“You bet your life,” says Charlie Rangel when asked if he’s still prepared to reinstate the draft. With the Democratic takeover of the House, the 18-term representative from New York is slated to chair the powerful Ways and Means Committee giving him a powerful seat from which to push his legislation.

As recently as August, word that the Marines were calling up their last line of reservists had reignited draft chatter for the first time since Rangel’s previous draft push during the run up to the 2004 elections. “This move should serve as a wake-up call to America,” said Jon Stoltz, former Army captain in Iraq and head of VoteVets.org, who called it “proof that our military is overextended,” and “one of the last steps before resorting to a draft.”

There’s a temptation among progressives and liberals to view the draft as a potentially positive force, both in bringing about an end to the war and in evening the playing field in terms of whose children actually have to fight. Unfortunately, to the extent that it ever was true, this simply isn’t the case anymore. The draft will only pull more unfortunate men and women from the ranks of the underprivileged and underrepresented.

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Today’s video of the day comes from Princeton University professor and superstar intellectual Cornel West, who talks about democracy and the struggle for freedom.

By Clay Cane 

Jennifer Holliday, who made the role of Effie White famous in the legendary 1982 Broadway musical Dreamgirls is NOT GOING when it comes to the role she gave breath, flesh and life. Many of the original cast members from the groundbreaking musical are feeling ignored by the creators of the film, which hits theatres nationwide Christmas Day. For Holliday, Effie White is the best role she EVER HAD and she will tear down the mountains, yell, scream and shout it. In an exclusive interview with Inside Edition Wednesday, November 22nd (check your local listings) she will detail some of her concerns. Supposedly there were “promises” made to Holliday when the film was in production, like a possible cameo, or even an actual role — none of that happened. However, when promoting the film early in the year the original “And I Am Telling You” was used for the trailers, which I remember thinking, “Why are they using this version?” The creators of Dreamgirls have used Holliday’s amazing voice (it is CUTE for Jenny Hudson and a good rendition — but her version isn’t even a Krispy Kreme crumb of Jennifer Holliday!) to promote the film, but according to Holliday her unforgettable contributions have been unrecognized. To make matters worse Holliday, and the two other original Dreamgirls, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Loretta Divine, weren’t even invited to the premiere!

Many might think, “Who cares – this was 25 years ago!” On the other hand, when Dreamgirls hit Broadway it was a watershed moment in African-American history and Broadway history. Never before had a musical arrived on Broadway starring three black women — it never happened again. Holliday’s Tony Award Winning performance made her a legend overnight so it is odd that the creators of the film are not showing the original cast common respect for the history. Sheryl Lee Ralph, who played Beyonce’s role of Deena, said in a March 2006 interview with Rockacandy.com: “In the 1980’s when Dreamgirls opened we completely changed theater, we changed who came to the theater, and who was interested in theater. And now 25 years later, people find it so easy to act like we didn’t do what we did.” While I am ecstatic a high-budget film surrounding three black women is making it to the silver screen with huge promotion, I am deeply confused on how Ralph, Holliday and Divine are being so quickly disregarded. In the 2002 film Chicago Chita Rivera, who originated the role of Velma Kelly on Broadway in 1975, made a cameo as “Nicky.” As much as the film has been compared to Chicago why aren’t Jennifer Holliday and the other women not even given a ticket to the premiere? In many ways the film should be a tribute to the original — obviously without the original there would be no film!

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“By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.” –Charles Wadsworth

Tonight, I’ll be appearing on CNN’s “Showbiz Tonight,” where I’ll be talking about the OJ Simpson controversy. The show airs on CNN HEADLINE NEWS (not the regular CNN, but the other one) at 11:00PM.