Mornin’, BT

Didn’t take Brown long to show his asshole-ishness.

This is all about the Base, who are the same kind who resisted the Civil Rights Bill and are looking for political enablers of hate.

Can’t understand why any self-respecting gay person would want to have anything to do with the US military.

That presupposes they’re different from others who join the military.

No mention of transgendered service members. Zero. Zip. Nada. Not any real mention of the fact that the language allows implementation to be deferred indefinitely until some conditions are met. The “compromise” means that this bill could pass tomorrow and be signed by the president but not be implemented for a year, ten years, a hundred years and judging by the squeemishness of the Democrats on this and every other issue, I’m willing to bet that this particular piece of legislation will never be implemented. Normally I’m a huge fan of Rachel Maddow but she dropped the ball on this one. Big time.

self-respecting gay person

Are there other kinds?

It would appear that the only things Obama’s administration doesn’t delay until they’re long out of office are financial benefits for the upper crust.

Um, according to the military, they are different.

There is a lot of talk about how this won’t become law until December, after the mid terms. Talking about December is incredibly misleading since it might be law but it won’t be implemented until those very broad conditions are met. (i.e. when Bill Gates stops being a bigot and Obama grows a spine) The “compromise” amendment specifically states that until it is implemented, the old policy remains in place. It also very specifically denies benefits to same sex spouses and partners. This isn’t a “compromise” not matter what Markos Moulitsas wants you to believe. This is don’t ask, don’t tell with a different name.

The self-hating ones and the ones in the closet. Like other peeps, there are many kinds of gap peeps, at least among the ones I know.

I wasn’t talking about what the military thinks. In my experience what the brass thinks very often differs from what the rank and file thinks.

Are there other kinds

Yes. Ted Haggard, Larry Craig, Lindsay Graham, Mitch McConnell, George Rekers….

Why is DADT even an issue? Aren’t all military gatherings nothing more than elaborate circle jerks?

And then there was the little matter of the grave conspiracy that Massa had brought to me a month earlier — an unbelievable web of treachery involving secret meetings between General David Petraeus and Dick Cheney regarding the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2012.

Link.

Do tell…

Morning BT, Firepups:

I keep hearing this bullshit about waiting until the studies have been completed, etc. Well hey, Mr. Preznint: There’s this thing called an executive order. (You’re probably familiar with it, since you’re doing everything you can to scrape even more power into the executive branch. Never mind that you’re already the “commander in chief.” But I digress…)

If this idiot policy ultimately must be overturned by congressional action, simply issue an order to cease and desist until such time as 1) the studies can be completed and 2) congress can get off its collective fat ass and vote to overturn.

Oh, and I’d like a pony, too.

In my experience what the brass thinks very often differs from what the rank and file thinks.

That was my experience as well. In fact so many Navy officers were so out of touch with reality that they were much more of a detriment to the mission than a help. Don;t get me wrong, there were many great ones too but by and large, most of them lived in this impenetrable bubble of self importance and ignorance.

Do the rank & file have any say in the matter?

Can ya morph that into the 9/11 conspiracies somehow?

That’s not the issue but if ya just wanna be argumentative, I’m game.

Where’d you come by all your in depth knowledge of all things Military? You wouldn’t just be some individual that denigrates those who happened to serve, willingly or not, simply because the entire concept offends you, would you?

The CIC could issue a DOD directive stopping enforcement of the policy at any point he wanted to. Especially in light of the fact that the original DADT was a DOD directive number 1304.26. Oh and when Gates opens his mouth about how it’s going to “hurt morale”, two words: You’re fired.

Not only no but f*ck no. There is this big deal being made about anonymous feedback site on the DOD network. That’s stupid and anything but anonymous because you have to use a CAC, (common access card) to log into a DOD connected server. The CAC card has all of your information stored into the chip so they’ll know exactly who left the comment, what their rank is, what their unit is and so forth.

There’s always fragging… heh…

But what about reaching consensus before issuing the, “You’re fired” order? heh…

If you go back and study the grassy knoll, you’ll see that it all ties together…heh…

WAINS. (Why am I not surprised.)

Just like the only guy to get punished in UBS cash sheltering rich folks from U.S. taxes scam was the whistleblower, who got jail time, I think.

Since 2001, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” discharges have declined by almost half.

It would be interesting to see the stats on whether there’s a difference between fraggin’ straights vs. gays. Not that I don’t have my priors.

Yep. Picture a 19 year old kid, (the average age of an enlisted service member when I was in), who just got out into the world by joining the service. He or she was raised not to harbor prejudice but he or she has a CO or immediate supervisor who is a bigoted jerk who wishes he could have gotten into the Marine Corps and goes around badmouthing gay people in general, telling gay jokes, etc. Do you think that kid is going to even visit that feedback site and if he or she does, what do you think he or she is going to say?

Of course if true, that doesn’t address the fact that enlistment is also down in that period and that a lot of gay people no longer consider a military option as a viable alternative BECAUSE of DADT.

Because the purge is succeeding?

It takes a rare individual to speak out, and usually at the expense of his/her entire life.

I don’t know, it’s a positive bullet point on http://www.sldn.org/pages/about-dadt.

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

US KIA Irak: 4,400

US KIA Afghanistan: 1,083

Iraki and Afghan casualties: estimates vary to over 1.5M

US MBS 2010: 17,980 and counting

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

In all of this discussion, it needs to be pointed out that DADT was a “compromise” as well. It replaced the patchwork no policy policy that preceded it when the various units had the power to determine who was thrown out, under what kind of discharge, etc. DADT established so that everybody would be put out under an administrative discharge under honorable conditions, with rank, pay and benefits intact. Abominable as DADT is, it is so much better than what happened to service members prior to that, when they were treated as criminals. This is the same sort of “compromise” as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was: A thinly disguised vehicle that allows bigotry to continue to rule the military and ruin lives.

I’m not interested in “bullet points” They are on the same level as platitudes and I have no use for them.

What would the Republican party be without it’s “culture wars?”

Blacks & women haven’t made a lot of progress, either. And now vilification of browns is at full bore in the U.S. In case misery wants company.

All true. The white, (supposedly) hetero male still has a stranglehold on the strings of power and seems more determined than every to jealously defend them. When somebody is a tyrant, they cannot imagine that someone else may not be if they gain power.

Majorities of weekly churchgoers (60 percent), conservatives (58 percent), and Republicans (58 percent) now favor repeal (Gallup, 2009).

I was listening to Jessie Jackson’s “Keep Hope Alive” on Sunday morning, far better than the Sunday bobble heads on TV, and it was interesting to hear black intellectuals and listeners calling in take Obama to task for his policies and inaction. I think Obama is beginning to be seen in a different light among some if not many in the black community.

Depending on which poll you believe, up to 78% of the people in this country do but for some reason we’re still accommodating the bigoted 22%, possibly because they’re the ones with most of the marbles.

With such solid majorities favoring repeal, you’d think this would be a no brainer but apparently the sh*t for brains outweighs the no brains.

It’s funny the order which individuals and groups are catching on to the real O. I’ve noticed that blacks’ disappointments seem to be ahead of many others. Suspect it’s because they have sensitized hypocrisy & sell-out detectors, given their life experiences.

Got to run. Good days to all.

I’ve got to get going to. I may get a weather window and finally be able to complete a walk. One more thing to ponder: At the end, Rep. Patrick Murphy made a big deal about how all people are created equal and that’s what this is going to do, blah, blah, blah. But apparently either that doesn’t apply to transgendered Americans or they’re not real people because they still don’t get the same rights as everyone else even IF this “repeal” get implemented as they are excluded from this legislation.

I’m no expert on the military, but it seems as if the “top brass” have always lived in a bubble and v. much out of touch with the “common” soldier/sailor/marine/whatever. There seems to be much push-back by the brass, which is not as much reflected in the enlisted ranks. Why remains unclear, other than “manly” fear of the “other” somehow. Most unfortunate and very stupid given other countries’ experience having openly gay folks in their militaries.

As for our vaunted “Lords” in office, I feel that their opposition does have more to do with keeping the voters in their place and pushing forevermore for the rights of the hetero white Xtian man above all else. There definitely seems to be more and more blowback against minorites, all women, and the LGBT folks these days. One can only posit that the white guys don’t like how their bastion of greed and power is “under attack.”

As for Brown, I heard a blip somewhere that the Tea Party was “mad” at him. Don’t know why and could care even less, but I suppose that might account for his pandering on this particular issue.

What. a. waste. Here we have Big Daddy WarBuck$$$ crying out for more gladiators to send into the gaping maw of War Inc, but Big Daddy’s just saying no to a portion of the population who is willing to volunteer to go. Go figure!

I don’t watch Maddow much anymore… But, in watching the video, I was somewhat surprised she wasn’t more critical of the DADT compromise – I mean there is some personal relevance for her. I guess this just confirms her dive into the darkside (ala the HIR fold).