First signs of "Civilian National Security Force"?

A bill introduced in the house by Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) - H.R. 645 - would provide $360M over FY09 and FY10 to "establish not fewer than 6 national emergency centers on military installations." What for, you ask?

(b) Purpose of National Emergency Centers- The purpose of a national emergency center shall be to use existing infrastructure--

(1) to provide temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster;

(2) to provide centralized locations for the purposes of training and ensuring the coordination of Federal, State, and local first responders;

(3) to provide centralized locations to improve the coordination of preparedness, response, and recovery efforts of government, private, and not-for-profit entities and faith-based organizations; and

(4) to meet other appropriate needs, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security.

I suppose it's number (4) above which prompted the ever-excitable WorldNetDaily to quickly label these facilities "detention camps" for "corralling civilians on military installations". All jumping to paranoid conclusions aside, doesn't this sound just a little bit like the kinds of facilities needed for Rahm Emanuel's creepy little plan for 18- to 25-year-olds?

Compulsory service coming our way?

Special delivery for Mr. Rahm Emanuel

Hot Air - and everyone else in the righty blogosphere - is linking this audio clip of Rahm Emanuel talking frankly (if a bit flippantly) about his ideas for a national universal service plan.

Like Allahpundit says, "the weeks of fun we’ll have with “Imagine if Bush had proposed this” scenarios will amount to a new golden age for the right-wing blogosphere". But listen to the audio clip. Emanuel's vague and not very well thought out plan is that all Americans age 18-25 will be required to participate in something like three months of "civil defense" training so that they'll have a "common experience" of what it means to be an American. What. The. Fuck?

It's said that Rahm Emanuel once sent a dead fish to a pollster (or some political pundit) who pissed him off. My suggestion? The minute this idea gets floated by the Obama administration, everyone opposed to this idea return the favor and send one to the Office of the Chief of Staff at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.