Making good history

Finally, victory on Dont Ask, Dont Tell - Paris video
Repeal of the Military’s bigoted and anachronistic “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on Gays in the Military - a campaign promise that seemed to be slipping out of reach - doesn’t fully mend the relationship between Obama and the Democratic Party’s liberal wing. But it’s a pretty terrific start. Progressives needed a clear, unambiguous victory to ease the sting of those extended Tax Cuts for the rich. They got one Saturday with the Senate’s his...

Here We Go
The ink isn’t dry yet on the Repeal of DADT and the nitwits are calling for generals to be fired because they didn’t learn the gay way at West Point. All the training, the wisdom, the knowledge, the experience…. MEANINGLESS! We have to replace these generals with people who are thinking about nothing else but Homosexuals. That is the most important thing that any general can be… sensitive. HT. Doc From WAPO Marine Corps commandant has to go By Richard Cohen I am a fan...

Kirk to skip "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal bill-signing
WASHINGTON -- Mark Kirk, the new Republican senator from Illinois, has said thanks, no thanks to an invitation from the White House to attend a Wednesday ceremony when President Barack Obama will sign into law a historic Repeal of the ban on gays and Lesbians serving openly in the Military. Kirk, 51, of Highland Park, who entered the Senate on Nov. 29, was one of eight Republicans to vote Saturday in favor of repealing the ban. He is a commander in the Naval Reserve. Kirk's spokeswoman Kate Di...

'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Ain't Over Til It's Over (ContributorNetwork)
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the U.S. Military policy banning gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals from serving openly in the military, in place for 17 years, has been repealed by Congress. The Legislation is to be signed by President Obama Wednesday morning. "It was the right thing to do for our military, " said Independent Senator Joe Lieberman. "It was the right thing to do for our country." Republican Senator Susan Collins agrees: "I want to thank all of th...

Dont Ask, Dont Tell: Next Steps
Following the Senate’s historic vote on Saturday to Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the final steps for implementation have begun. President Obama is expected to sign the Act into law on tomorrow. “Implementation of the new policies and regulations written by the Department is consistent with the standards of Military readiness, Military effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention of the Armed Forces.” “Once this Legislation is sign...

More Gay Rights Policy Hurdles Ahead
WASHINGTON — The Republican senator from North Carolina was blunt. “Because she’s a damn Lesbian,” Jesse Helms snapped, explaining to The Washington Times why he would vote against Roberta Achtenberg, President Bill Clinton’s nominee for assistant housing secretary. Later, he clarified, calling her “a Militant, Activist, mean lesbian.” Senator Jesse Helms, top, in 1989, spoke against a Clinton nominee who was a lesbian. The latest on President Obama, t...

Congratulations All Around on Ending Dont Ask, Dont Tell
The end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has finally arrived, and congratulations all around to those who fought so hard to overturn this bigoted policy. Congratulations to President Obama, for adopting a winning strategy, and sticking with it. Congratulations to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, for recognizing the moral imperative of changing this policy. Congratulations to Harry Reid, for keeping all Democratic Senators in line. Congra

Clinton, Obama Both Get Credit on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal
Maybe it takes a Congress undergoing post-election traumatic syndrome to do the right thing and allow gays and Lesbians in the Military to do their jobs without the added stress of lying about who they are. Maybe it’s something about the Holiday Season that led lawmakers to acknowledge that there’s something very distasteful about asking people to feel ashamed about whom they love. [See a roundup of editorial cartoons about 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.] The more alarming trend is that t...

Asking, Telling, Not Caring
Well, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is going to be history. The bill -- passed during the 1990s and signed by President Clinton -- took into law a matter previously covered by the regulations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and took the authority for handling the subject out of the hands of the military and the Commander In Chief. I've always been somewhat of an agnostic on the matter. As a general rule, I support Gay Rights (every now and then, when I feel the emotional need for attention ...

We Are All Making Headlines Now
Rep. Peter King (R-NY) says he wants to convene Congressional hearings examining the Radicalization of young American Muslims. Naturally, his critics immediately wondered why people would wish to engage in such “Bigotry”.  Why, what right does Joe American have to make sure our enemies are not being bred under our noses? King’s willingness to take on the PC Police is admirable, although we can’t help but think a keen observer, who posted a comment on this story at Th...

Richard Cohen - Marine Corps commandant has to go
I am a fan of the old World War II movies, the ones where the platoon was composed of typical Americans, Hollywood-style. There was a guy named Farmer and one called Preacher and another called Brooklyn (who was killed shortly after receiving a salami from home), no blacks and, of course, an officer who was good-looking and clearly a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant of the John Wayne variety. Now, of course, we would have to add a gay soldier. I fear for him. He'll need someone to watch his back. ...

Hysterics over DADT repeal are an insult to the military
Originally posted at David Horowitz’s Newsreal: There have been a lot of different responses to the news that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell has been repealed. President Obama is planning to sign the bill this week. Supporters are touting it as a victory for civil rights. Before the Senate passed the Repeal, critics continued to voice concerns, including the Commandant of the Marine Corps. Some have continued to voice those concerns — others, however, have taken those concerns on...

The Religious Right to Denounce Homosexuality
As I reported yesterday, the religious right is framing the Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell as an infringement of Christians' Religious Freedom, and is vowing to "protect" the "religious liberty" of chaplains and other servicemembers who claim that serving with gays and Lesbians violates their rights. This is the next front in the religious right's Military Culture War, in which it has promoted overt proselytizing by both chaplains and officers, and in the process, portrayed the US wars in Iraq ...

Barney Frank: Straight and Gay Soldiers Must Shower Together, But Not Men and Women
Tuesday, December 21, 2010 By Nicholas Ballasy House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke) (CNSNews.com) - Rep. Barney Frank (D.-Mass.) says he agrees with the recommendation of a Department of Defense (DOD) working group that straight and gay Military personnel of the same gender should be required to shower together when the Repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law goes into effect. Frank, ho

Pelosi leads celebration of 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal
Source: CNN Washington (CNN) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday led jubilant legislators and Soldiers discharged under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in singing "God Bless America" to celebrate the upcoming Repeal of the Controversial law. President Barack Obama will sign the Repeal bill on Wednesday, and Pelosi did her part at the ceremony attended by hundreds of supporters of the Repeal by signing the measure passed by Congress to send it to the White House. SNIP "Isn't this a joyful...

Washington Post Bigotry: Marine Corps Commandant Should Resign, Because He Raised Concerns About DADT?!
The Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James Amos, gave his honest assessment of what the Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would mean to the Marine Corps.  Now that it’s passed,  he has said that he will enforce the new law.  But that’s not enough for some on the Left.  Richard Cohen of the Washington Post is calling for his head,  asking for General Amos to resign.  Cohen,  with his full intolerance on display,  s...

At Long Last, Military Honor
"More than 14,000 Soldiers lost their jobs and their dignity over the last 17 years because they were gay, but there will be no more Victims of this injustice. The nation’s Military is about to send a message of tolerance and shared purpose to the world — now that political leaders, who voted for legalized Bigotry in the Armed Forces in 1993 and kept it alive since then, have found the strength to stand up and end it. The Senate vote on Saturday afternoon to allow open service by gay...

Gov. McDonnell Says No Way To New DADT For Va. National Guard
A state lawmaker from Virginia is so upset about the Congress repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell that he wants to institute a mini-DADT banning gay men and Lesbians from the Virginia National Guard. "It's a distraction when I'm on the battlefield and have to concentrate on the enemy 600 yards away and I'm worried about this guy whose got eyes on me," the lawmaker, Delegate Bob Marshall (R), told WUSA9. "If I needed a Blood Transfusion and the guy next to me had committed Sodomy 14 times in the l...

ACLU threatens to sue over Marshall's bill banning gays from Va. National Guard
The ACLU of Virginia threatened Tuesday to file suit if Del. Bob Marshall (R-Prince William)'s proposed bill banning gays from openly serving in the Virginia National Guard becomes law next year. "Not only is Delegate Marshall's proposal an affront to gay men and Lesbians throughout the state but it will surely be ruled Unconstitutional before it is ever implemented," the group's Executive Director Kent Willis said. The U.S. Senate voted to end the 17-year-old federal ''Don't Ask, Don't Tell' p...

U.N. restores gay reference to violence measure
By Louis Charbonneau United Nations | Tue Dec 21, 2010 6:38pm EST United Nations (Reuters) - The United States succeeded on Tuesday in getting the United Nations to restore a reference to killings due to Sexual Orientation that had been deleted from a resolution condemning unjustified executions. Western delegations were disappointed last month when the U.N. General Assembly's Human Rights committee approved an Arab and African proposal to cut the reference to slayings due to sexual orientati...

Gillibrand To Attend DADT Signing Tomorrow
Kirsten Gillibrand's image-making moment rolls on. After receiving the A1 treatment in The Times on Sunday—as one of the senators celebrating the Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell—Gillibrand will be in attendance at the Department of the Interior tomorrow morning when President Obama officially signs the bill, an aide confirmed. It's one more photo-op in what has become a coming-out party for the junior senator during this lame-duck session. She attended the House version of the bill ...

Happy Days Are Here Again . . . Well, Almost
Checked off are campaign pledges, implied and real, says the president: Bush Tax Rates (right, for the middle-class!), Health Insurance gambits, Financial Regulations (when they come), less Offshore Drilling, more Food Safety and more Gay Rights. But Santa, where's our greatest Christmas wish, true homage to the Prince of Peace: end so many needless civilian killing fields, close down two utterly failed wars of choice, and perhaps deflect new Terrorist Attacks. If only Obama, the new "comeback...

Pelosi leads celebration of 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal
Source: CNN Washington (CNN) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday led jubilant legislators and Soldiers discharged under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in singing "God Bless America" to celebrate the upcoming Repeal of the Controversial law. President Barack Obama will sign the Repeal bill on Wednesday, and Pelosi did her part at the ceremony attended by hundreds of supporters of the Repeal by signing the measure passed by Congress to send it to the White House. SNIP "Isn't this a joyful...

Attitudes, lifestyle in WWII Germany helped to end segregation in States
Germany lay defeated and in ruins, responsible for the recent Murder of millions and a world war. Yet it also became an unlikely haven for some Soldiers. “For black GIs, especially those out of the South, Germany was a breath of freedom,” Colin Powell, a former Secretary of State, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and America’s most famous African-American soldier, noted in his memoir. “They could go where they wanted, eat what they wanted and date whom they wanted...

Why Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal is Not the Brown v. Board of Ed for Gay Rights - Newsweek
With the timely reversal of a handful of Senate Republicans, a bill to Repeal the ban on gays and Lesbians serving openly in the Armed Forces passed the super-majority threshold to defeat a Filibuster. The measure then passed the Senate by a 65-31 vote. Having already passed the House of Representatives by a 250-175, and President Obama is certain to sign it. Gay-rights supporters are, naturally, elated. The National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce issued a statement saying, "We celebrate this i...