Mike's Blog Roundup

Standing in the way of repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell"
A member of the House Armed Services Committee plans to introduce Legislation next week designed to put the brakes on Repeal of the Military’s ban on Openly Gay Troops.   The measure by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) would add the four military service chiefs to the list of those who must sign off on repealing the policy before it can be officially scrapped. ...The Hill If you're worried about your own masculinity, bring in the Marines.  They may be even more worried than y...

House Republican will try to derail repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell'
Never mind that nearly 80% of all Americans supported the Repeal of the Military's discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, Republicans must bow to -- or pander to, take your pick -- their Teabagger overlords: A member of the House Armed Services Committee plans to introduce Legislation next week designed to put the brakes on Repeal of the military’s ban on Openly Gay Troops. The measure by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) would add the four military service chiefs to the list of those...

Congressman attempts to block 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal
(CNN) - The Repeal of the Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy may hit a road block in Congress next week. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California, is drafting a bill that would change how - and possibly if - the Repeal is implemented. The Repeal law passed in December requires the president, Defense Secretary and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to certify that the military is ready for the change. Hunter's bill would require the four service chiefs to also sign off on the policy change. At ...

Eco-News Roundup: Friday January 14
Stories on health, the environment, and energy from our other blogs. Public Enemy: Should Mental Health be considered a Public Safety issue? Repeal Rerun: Chamber of Commerce decides it does want to kill Health Care reform after all. School Daze: Even if Jared Lee Loughner sought Mental Health help in High School, he may not have gotten it. ...

J. Eric Fuller, Tucson Shooting Victim Arrested at Town Hall Meeting For Threatening GOP Rep Terri Proud & Tea Party Spokesman
One week after the Tucson, AZ tragedy and there is an arrest at a town hall meeting for death threats … So much for that call for peace, calm and tranquility in the aftermath of the shooting last week at the hands of Jared Loughner. Tucson Shooting Victim J. Eric Fuller threatened Trent Humphries, the Pima County Tea Party Leader, stood up to speak during the event. He was being very respectful. Trent told the audience that before we start placing blame on individuals we need to get al...

Arizona shooting victim arrested for death threat against tea party leader
ABC affiliate KGUN-TV reports that one of the Victims of last Saturday's shooting in Tucson was arrested Saturday morning for making a threat against a local tea Party Leader at a town hall meeting scheduled to be televised Sunday morning. According to a report by Forrest Carr, the meeting was taking place at Tucson's St. Odilia's Catholic Church and was attended by local dignitaries, witnesses to the shooting and the First Responders.  Tucson mayor Bob Walkup, Congressman Raul Grijalva and...

Duncan Hunter Will Try To Undermine Dont Ask, Dont Tell Repeal With Amend. Opposed By Military
Duncan Hunter Will Try To Undermine Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal With Amend. Opposed By Military Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr. (R-CA) ...

Hunter tries to slow 'don't ask' repeal
A Republican congressman is working on a bill that would slow, or perhaps stop altogether, the Pentagon’s ability to implement the Repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning gays serving openly in the Military. The repeal, approved by Congress last month, requires the president, the Defense Secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to certify that implementation won’t affect military readiness before moving ahead. Continue Reading Te...

Duncan Hunter Wants to Cripple DADT Repeal
More proof we probably need the Log Cabin Republicans to continue their suit against the Military’s Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell policy, despite the showy ‘Repeal’ signing ceremony at the White House month: Congressman Duncan Hunter (the son) will introduce Legislation to cripple the repeal. He’s going to introduce what SLDN’s Aubrey Sarvis called the “killer amendment,” which would add the service chiefs to the certification process. Mitch McConne...

DADT dead-enders dig in
DADT DEAD-ENDERS DIG IN.... This is starting to get pretty silly. A member of the House Armed Services Committee plans to introduce Legislation next week designed to put the brakes on Repeal of the Military's ban on Openly Gay Troops. The measure by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) would add the four military service chiefs to the list of those who must sign off on repealing the policy before it can be officially scrapped. [...] The aide said Hunter could introduce the bill as soon as Tuesday ev...

Nancy Duff Campbell: Now It's Time to Lift the Restrictions on Women's Military Service
The recent Repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" restriction on Military service is an important advance both for National Security and for Civil Rights. As President Obama said in heralding repeal, "It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by Sexual Orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed." But wait. In the military, the exercise of these values is still officially limited by gender. It's time to lift the remaining gender restrict...

DOJ opposes abrupt end to 'don't ask, don't tell'
Lawyers for the U.S. government are accusing a Gay Rights group of trying to circumvent a Federal Court ruling that put on hold a trial judge's ruling striking down the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for Gays in the Military. The Department of Justice said in legal papers filed Friday that arguments by the Log Cabin Republicans this week are an attempt to keep the Lawsuit alive. The group is asking the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals, which imposed a stay preventing the lower court's ruling from takin...

This Week at War: The Ask-Tell Era Begins
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the Military's social contract Last month, the U.S. Senate voted 65 to 31 to Repeal the 1993 "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy that prohibited gays from openly serving in the military. The Senate vote sent the Repeal bill to President Barack Obama, who eagerly signed it into law. The focus now shifts to the Defense Department, with Defense Secretary Robert Gates promising to implement the Repeal "as quickly, but as responsibly, as possi...

The Hate Continues
Posted by John at 8:21 PM Did you think it was over, just because Barack Obama and other liberals are calling for Bipartisanship and mellowness? Don't be silly! It would take a lot more than that to stem the bizarre outpouring of hate that we have seen from liberals in recent months. Here is the latest example--a left-winger who was shot by wacko/fellow left winger Jared Loughner has gone around the bend: "Tucson Shooting Victim detained at taping of TV special." A Tucson mass Shooting Victim w...

Most endangered species in America? Reality.
Let’s also face another tragedy: The only two civic reforms that might have actually stopped him — tighter Gun Control and an effective Mental Health safety net — won’t materialize even now. Gun and ammunition sales spiked last week, especially for the specific varieties given the Loughner imprimatur. No editorial — or bloodbath — will move Congress to enact serious Gun Control (which Giffords herself never advocated and Obama has rarely pushed since 2008). Enhanced Men

Obama's education focus faces big hurdles
WASHINGTON — Signs of trouble are arising for President Barack Obama's plan to put education overhaul at the forefront of his agenda as he adjusts to the new reality of a divided government. Giving Students and teachers more flexibility is an idea with Bipartisan support. Yet the debate about the overdue renewal of the nation's chief education law, known as No Child Left Behind, is complicated by political pressures from the coming 2012 presidential campaign and disputes over timing, mon...

Obama's education focus faces big hurdles (AP)
WASHINGTON – Signs of trouble are arising for President Barack Obama's plan to put education overhaul at the forefront of his agenda as he adjusts to the new reality of a divided government. Giving Students and teachers more flexibility is an idea with Bipartisan support. Yet the debate about the overdue renewal of the nation's chief education law, known as No Child Left Behind, is complicated by political pressures from the coming 2012 Presidential Campaign and disputes over timing, mon...

Tracheotomy Lets Surgeons Remove Giffords' Feeding Tube
U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is making progress, neurosurgeons say, now that a tracheotomy has been performed and her breathing tube has been removed as they try and help her regain as much of her former abilities as possible. Ms. Giffords was shot in the head about a week ago when alleged gunman Jared Lee Loughner opened up with a Glock 19 on a meeting near a Tucson Walgreens, authorities note. She has been able to open her eyes under her own power, and officials at the Hospital say that she ha

US: Killer posed for photos holding gun and wearing only a G-string
THE suspect in the Arizona shooting - Jared Lee Loughner - posed for photographs holding a gun and dressed only in a red G-string, it has emerged. Six people were killed and 13 injured, including Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, 40, who was seriously wounded in Tucson last Saturday. Yesterday, Pima County Sheriff's Office released details of what Loughner, 22, did in the 11 hours before the shootings. The itinerary begins with Loughner visiting a pharmacy to drop off the 35mm film...

PATRICK RICHARDSON: CNN is reporting there are provocative photos of Jared Loughner in a g-stri
Patrick Richardson: “CNN is reporting there are “provocative photos of Jared Loughner in a g-string with a gun.” Leaving aside the fact that makes me want to scream “MY EYES” and run for the brain bleach, why is that important or worth a story on a major news network?” ...

How liberals exploited a mass murder for political points
U.S. President Barack Obama’s unofficial motto was coined by his first Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Emanuel was talking about the banking crisis that Obama used to nationalize General Motors and Health Insurance. And so last weekend when a lone gunman in Arizona killed six people and wounded 13 more, including a congresswoman, the Democrats saw their chance. Clarence Dupnik, the Democrat who is the sheriff for the crime scene, knew what t...

HOW BAD WAS THE MEDIA COVERAGE OF TUCSON? So bad that Charles Blow is writing about The Tucson Wit
HOW BAD WAS THE MEDIA COVERAGE OF Tucson? So bad that Charles Blow is writing about “The Tucson Witch Hunt.” Within hours of the shooting, there was a full-fledged witch hunt to link the shooter to the right. “I saw Goody Proctor with The Devil! Oh, I mean Jared Lee Loughner! Yes him. With The Devil!” The only problem is that there was no evidence then, and even now, that overheated Rhetoric from the right had anything to do with the shooting. (In fact, a couple of people who s...

Tucson Shootings: Sympathy for the Mothers
When Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes Wednesday for the first time since being shot, her husband was there, along with the congresswoman's Democratic colleagues, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who spoke to CNN about the moment. Also in the room were Gloria and Spencer Giffords, her parents. Picture the scene: Mark Kelly by the bedside urging his wife to open her eyes and touch his Wedding Ring. Her friends close by, encouraging. And her...

Doctors open breathing hole in Giffords' throat
By Brad Poole TUCSON, Arizona | Sun Jan 16, 2011 7:07am EST TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) - Doctors performed a tracheotomy on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on Saturday, inserting a breathing tube through a hole in her neck and removing her from a ventilator, Hospital officials said. It was the first time Giffords was removed from the ventilator since last Saturday, when she arrived at University Medical Center after a gunman shot her through the head. Giffords, 40, remains the only patient in...

A Potheads Defense of Frum
I’m a reader of FrumForum, and I smoke pot. Last weekend, David Frum posted in this space about the connection between cannabis and schizophrenia. Those words prompted this jibe Jan. 11 from the Huffington Post. It is an impossibly funny thing to picture Mr. Frum rolling a joint, lighting up to enjoy a few huffs and puffs with the single malt before executing a piece in a perspicacious search for answers as to the apparent ills of Marijuana, how it might tie in to Jared Lee Loughner and rece...