Showing posts with label dadt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dadt. Show all posts
12/17/10
11/7/10
DefSec Gates: Repeal DADT Before The Repubs Get In!
via HP/APU.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Congress should act quickly, before new members take their seats, to repeal the military's ban on gays serving openly in the military.
He, however, did not sound optimistic that the current Congress would use a brief postelection session to get rid of the law known as "don't ask, don't tell."
"I would like to see the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" but I'm not sure what the prospects for that are," Gates said Saturday, as he traveled to defense and diplomatic meetings in Australia.
Unless the lame-duck Congress acts, the repeal effort is considered dead for now.
10/12/10
DADT Suspended By Judge
From the Advocate:
A federal judge has blocked enforcement of "don't ask, don't tell" and has instructed the Defense Department immediately to "suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation, or other proceeding" related to the policy.
U.S. District judge Virginia A. Phillips, who presided over the federal challenge to DADT that went to trial in Riverside, Calif. in July, entered her judgment shortly before noon Pacific time on Tuesday. The injunction becomes effective immediately, although Justice Department attorneys have previously objected in court to the immediate halt of DADT enforcement and may appeal Phillips's ruling to the U.S. court of appeals for the ninth circuit....
2/5/10
The Military Doesn't Need An Effing Year To End DADT
An email from a Navy submarine officer to Tom Ricks:
The debate may exist in the media, and certainly exists in Congress, but on the ship, if it's talked about at all it with a little bit of confusion about what the big deal is. Don't get me wrong, there is homophobia and there are a few loud, mostly uneducated, mostly very junior, and mostly still well-meaning people who would tell you they think its wrong -- but they're the kind of people who are just saying it because its what they were brought up to say, and even they aren't saying it with much fervor. I can tell you with certainty that if the ban were lifted tomorrow -- no year of preparation -- life would go on exactly as it did before....[emphasis mine]
Life would go on. Mostly what I heard after Admiral Mullen's declaration was, "it's about time." There is no question if the military is ready -- the military is waiting.
... I just want the press to understand that it is the Congress that needs pushing, not the military, and that excuses such as "senior military officials like the CJCS and SecDef are out of touch with the low-level, young guys on the ground" may be true on many issues, but not this one.
9/30/09
Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Make It Go Away
The Boston Globe reports that the forthcoming issue of Joint Forces Quarterly seeks to determine a link between openly gay servicemembers and unit cohesion, the prime argument against allowing such service. Conclusion:h/t Attackerman
It would be nice to say we can consider this shameful chapter of American history closed, but first Secretary Gates, President Obama and Congress have to actually close it. There are no excuses. If there ever were. And there weren't.“After a careful examination, there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that unit cohesion will be negatively affected if homosexuals serve openly,’’ writes Colonel Om Prakash, who is now working in the office of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. “Based on this research, it is not time for the administration to reexamine the issue; rather it is time for the administration to examine how to implement the repeal of the ban.’’
I assume most of my readers are on the same page as the Colonel mentioned above. We have heard from gay soldiers and their buddies that gayness is not an issue, not should it be an issue, in the military. We have known this for a long time.
This is also one of the things President Obama could fix right now. He doesn't need a law created. He is the Commander in Chief. It is his military and he can direct Gates to end all inquiries into teh gay. He can suspend DADT with a swipe of his pen. That he won't, or hasn't, is to me very predictive of how his presidency is going to be. I am not encouraged.
9/2/09
Yummy, Ass Vodka! Updated
From Mother Jones:
Update:
This is not an anti-gay post. Indeed, the crap described in the pictures above, and now with the interview, seems to obviate the need to get rid of DADT. I have a feeling that gay soldiers, if they could be assured of remaining in the military regardless their sexual orientation, would be among the first to see to it that this kind of sexual harassment, or of any kind for that matter, doesn't happen.
And technically, I have no problem with ass vodka, for others.
Drunken brawls, prostitutes, hazing and humiliation, taking vodka shots out of buttcracks— no, the perpetrators of these Animal House-like antics aren't some depraved frat brothers. They are the private security contractors guarding the US embassy compound in Kabul.
These allegations, and many more, are contained in a letter sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday by the Project on Government Oversight, which has been investigating the embassy security contract held by ArmorGroup North America (a subsidiary of Wackenhut, which is in turn owned by the security behemoth G4S). The contractor was the subject of a congressional probe earlier this summer that found serious lapses in the company's handling of the embassy security contract, which internal State Department documents said left the embassy compound "in jeopardy." Nevertheless, the government opted to extend the company's 5-year, $189 million contract for another year.
Butt Vodka by TFT
>Update:
Private security guards at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul were pressured to participate in naked pool parties and perform sex acts to gain promotions or assignment to preferable shifts, according to one of 12 guards who have gone public with their complaints.Just so we're clear: I have nothing against gay people, or being gay, or knowing gay people, or loving them, or letting them get married and have kids. Gay is good, at least as good as hetero (maybe slightly worse than bi?), but I kid.
This is not an anti-gay post. Indeed, the crap described in the pictures above, and now with the interview, seems to obviate the need to get rid of DADT. I have a feeling that gay soldiers, if they could be assured of remaining in the military regardless their sexual orientation, would be among the first to see to it that this kind of sexual harassment, or of any kind for that matter, doesn't happen.
And technically, I have no problem with ass vodka, for others.
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