‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ needs to be repealed,
By on Jan 2nd, 2007 at 4:31 pm
‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ needs to be repealed,
according to John M. Shalikashvili, former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman: “Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.”
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Oh so now that you are desperate, you will be seen with that tranny, I see how you are.
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:32 pmwe must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.â€
Any trolls here listening? There’s a pair of boots and a shiny new gun ready for you. All you have to do is to sign the dotted line.
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:35 pmAnother red herring.
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:39 pmBetter get ready for the draft, ’cause it is coming. Keep your kids safe and away from the mailbox.
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:41 pmYou mean the military no longer has to only accept the blue-collar, red-state, insipid patriotic stereotypes featured by Chevrolet and John Cougar Mellencamp?
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:41 pmGosh, I’m finally worthy. Thud.
So now it’s OK to be gay in the military??? Next thing ya know, they will be allowed to get married!!!!
Stop the Madness! NOW!!
Gays and American Muslims will be the end of our country. Unless NASCAR or Halliburton steps in to save us all.
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:42 pmI find it sad that when they weren’t short on troops they were “No..no..no gays thank you very little” and when they need more cannon fodder to replace the servicemen that have been there for three tours they are open to the idea. Nothing like deperation to change your mind in allowing a gay man to kill and die just as a straight man would. Their “acceptance” must be liberating.
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:49 pmGay cannon fodder is FABULOUS!!!
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:53 pm/sarcasm
quick!
Get Badmoodman some smelling salts!
The acceptance must have been too much!
;)
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:54 pmI’m sure the Right will scream that this is scraping the bottom-of-the-barrel, but that plateau was reached long ago with Lynndie England.
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:55 pmfinally…someone who gets it.
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:57 pmJust in time for Dead Eye Dick’s kid to sign up.
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:58 pm“So now it’s OK to be gay in the military?”
Yes, I guess being great artists, statesmen (and -women) religious leaders and philosophers just wasn’t sufficient. ;^)
January 2nd, 2007 at 4:59 pmZooey, 3 snaps around the world to ya. BTW, FAB U LOUS is 3 words.
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:00 pmIt’s to funny. Bush/Cheney are cowards and skip out during Vietnam and both hate gays now they want them to be soldiers. What next they’ll push them to the front line as human shields. Sounds alot like the past. If your black in America you have no rights but if it’s war you should serve to prove your love for the US. If by chance you live you come back as you left nothing more then a ______ you full in the blanks. If you don’t know just ask the White House or GOP what they call African Americans they use the name all the time. Or ask Wolf Blitzer as he can’t read now as he made headlines with calling Senator Obama in a picture of Osama Bin Liden then acting like it was nothing but a typo error ( right) that’s what they call it these days.
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:05 pm#13 – Glenn
And don’t forget Evangelical ministers!
This whole discussion must have the trolls ripping their Guns and Ammo and Soldier of Fortune mags up with their 2 remaining teeth!!
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:09 pmSo do we need people that can learn Dari, Poshtu and Farsi better than they can shoot an M-60? http://www.is.lt/atas-buves/ atas_weapon/m60.2.jpg
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:09 pmSo what the former Joint Chief of Staff is saying is:
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:13 pm“We’ll be taking any sucker we can get, reguardless of sexual orientation.”
Yeah, let’s see if they can BUSHWACK the Dems like they did in 1994!
Bill Clinton, in his autobiography, makes it clear that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was a military policy offered to the new President as something they would support.
He put it forward, and they immediately pulled the rug out from under him, and the rightwing eight-year attack on his Presidency was underway.
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:15 pm#16,
I was trying to stick to positive examples.
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:18 pmI feel much better. Between the geezers and the gays, its nice to know that the military is filling its enlistment quotas.
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:23 pmits called surge and purge. you can purge the gays to iraq, where the they will be purged in the holy war! two birds with one stone!
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:24 pmYou were in the military, right JoeSixpack?
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:28 pmBTW, FAB U LOUS is 3 words.
Comment by the fly-man
Thanks, fly-man. :)
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:30 pmForget it. Not until we get equal rights on the entire playing field…we will not become the new, modern canonfodder for the conservative right. Fight your own illegal wars.
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:37 pmThe euro appreciation is phenomenal, the figures speak for themselves: it increased 11.4 percent with respect to the dollar and 12.6 percent in terms of the yen in 2006. This is a remarkable performance indeed.
Furthermore, there are murmurs in the Gulf states about oil-rich sheikdoms diversifying their billions in petrodollars assets into the more stable and attractive euro. These whisperings are disconcerting to the ears of both Washington’s policy makers and Wall Street’s financiers.
China and Russia are also flirting with the idea of trading in their dollars for euros if the dollar continues its downward slide. One of the two nations is likely to make a substantial shift in their foreign reserves away from U.S. denominated holdings into the euro in 2007.
The backdrop to the euro’s buoyancy and bright outlook for the future is of course a lackluster U.S. economy, which is starting to feel the effects a slowdown in housing prices. In fact towards the late end of 2006 housing prices have gone into reverse in “middle America.â€
This has negatively impacted the dollar as consumers who rely on the value of their property to obtain “cheap†credit have less to spend. The other factor which might be contributing to the only other major world reserve currency’s decline is the soaring (and almost insurmountable) trade deficit with its major trading partner, China. The protracted involvement in Iraq with the mounting costs heading to astronomical figures does nothing to bolster confidence in the U.S. currency among currency traders and speculators.
This dire domestic and foreign situation for the “world’s lone superpower†in turn makes the euro all the more attractive to investors. The fact is simple and clear: Europe, despite its growing pains, remains a harbor of stability in an increasingly uncertain world. It is despite its recent reticence publicly for new members to join, enlarging peacefully. This is a powerful attractive force for the financial markets. Its member states’ economies, especially Germany’s, is on a solid footing.
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:40 pm#20,
I know, all good examples, but I just couldn’t resist another dig at the Far Right-wing nutjobs.
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:41 pmShawn,
I live in MA, and am currently really depressed about the vote today.
Second Vote – Marriage ban still continues
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:42 pmHow are you trueblue? And yes I was.
I was just thinking. The gays better get used to some rules they won’t like. For instance, it is against regulations to carry an umbrella in uniform. Also its against regulations to hold hands while walking in uniform.
At the risk of sounding homophobic, I am guessing that also means the line sergeants and company commanders will have to keep an eye on what the hell is going on in the shower stalls in garrison as well as what is happening in the foxholes out in the field.
And how is that going to help with filling quotas? I am sure the new rules allowing gays will certainly hurt morale and cause concern for all the parents of the 17 and 18 year olds who might be thinking of signing up.
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:44 pmTiming and death tolls are everything.
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:46 pm#29 -
I don’t think it will be a very big issue as most gays are way too intelligent to enlist in the Bushco Chickenhawk Ego-saving Brigade anyway!
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:49 pmDoes this mean soilders will get survival food packs with skittles? Uniforms with brighter colors? Give me a break. Do hetrosexuals walk around saying I’m hetero! This social “special acknowledgment” for being gay, I’m sick of it. Now they enemy will be right–we’ll really be infidels.
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:52 pmJoe Sixpack,
No need to feel we’ll think you homophobic.
We know you are being tongue-in-cheek.
Jones, on the other hand,…….
January 2nd, 2007 at 5:56 pmwell, he’s pretty much proven himself.
For more background on how the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is undermining the American military, see:
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:05 pm“The Cost of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
trueblue,
We know where you stand.
Can’t you do better than to [name] call people “homophobes”?
Hope you feel justified.
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:07 pmI served 11 years AD Army. There have always been gays in the military and there always will be (no I am not one of them), I know I’ve served with more than a few and never had any problems with any of them. I believe the sentiment Gen Shalikashvili is trying to get across is that it is simply time to quit kidding ourselves about the ability of gays to perform as soldiers. Certainly some are the stereotypical limp wristed fairies but there are plenty out here that can kick some serious ass (no puns please). Let’s quit gay bashing and enlist people on their ability to perform as soldiers.
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:08 pmJones,
Wwwhhaaaa?
Are you not reading the posts?
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:12 pmAre you not reading the posts?
Comment by trueblue
I’m confused, true.
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:18 pmDid you mean that Jones had also proved himself as being tongue-in-cheek?
all it means, #32, is that homosexuals will be allowed to tell the truth about themselves without getting kicked out of the service. Normal codes of conduct meant to protect the rights of individuals (like women and racial minorities) will apply excactly as they do now. Sexual harassment, already a problem in the military, will most likely be very strictly applied to servicemembers who would otherwise proposition their peers.
Of course, you know this, if you’ve got the brains to use a computer. You’re just being an asshole. By the way, they call you “infidel” because you’re not of THEIR particular strain of religion, which means you’re already as much an infidel as you’re going to get. Sunnis and Shia call each other infidels, for Christ’s sake!
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:19 pmDraft David Drier, don’t ask him, tell him.
-GSD
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:21 pmNo, Zooey.
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:23 pmHe was an example of someone not willing to allow gays.
This dire domestic and foreign situation for the “world’s lone superpower†in turn makes the euro all the more attractive to investors. The fact is simple and clear: Europe, despite its growing pains, remains a harbor of stability in an increasingly uncertain world. It is despite its recent reticence publicly for new members to join, enlarging peacefully. This is a powerful attractive force for the financial markets. Its member states’ economies, especially Germany’s, is on a solid footing.
Comment by Michael Werbowski
I expect, I am not a economyth, that America will follow with the ‘Amero’ once America, Mexico and Canada and the economic superhighway is completed.
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:44 pmWhen someone is shooting at you I would imagine at that point it doesn’t matter who is in the foxhole with you.
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:46 pmThe American military is already fighting side by side with soldiers who are openly gay…the British military.
So, it’s obvious that it’s American childish homophobia that makes up lame excuses for keeping American gay people out of the military.
British gay soldiers are already fighting side by side with our strictly heterosexual army. Has anyone heard that this is a problem?
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:50 pmI served 11 years AD Army. There have always been gays in the military and there always will be….
Comment by SGT Z
To be serious here, I agree and know that as well. As a matter of fact, I was aware of several gays who were damned fine soldiers. I really had no problem with any of them any more than I have had a problem with any out here in civilian life.
Still, I think the don’t ask, don’t tell policy was just fine. Who gives a crap if you have a thing for your own sex? Or a guy who likes skinny chicks or some gal who gets off with dwarf men? It is not anyones business what you are into: fettish, bondage, etc., so why do gays seem to feel the need to announce to the US Army or Navy what they prefer.
Like everyone else, they can and should keep their sexual preferences to themselves.
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:03 pmI see, so it’s not that the military now believes gays can be productive, patriotic Americans like anyone else, it’s that they’re desperate for recruits… now that they’re lowering standards for admission (lower test scores, overall lower academic requirements, etc.) gays should feel insulted to be included in that same “undesirable” category… I remember howling at the concerns of the military and Congress at the time of this bill – that soldiers would be demoralized worrying about who’s “sizing them up” in the shower room… (on a tangential note: how about individual showers? why no privacy in the military? it would also get rid of those gay shower room fears)
this was the one thing Clinton did that I disagree with, but what choice did he have? it was the best he could have hoped for…
one last thing: once this war is over, will gays be expected to go back to second class status, the way women who helped with the war effort were after WWII?
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:07 pmmy daughter had a friend who joined the army and HATED it… this kid was so very unhappy… his dad was a recruiter… a real gung-ho ass…
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:10 pmwell, not long after boot camp, the kid went AWOL… found him and put him in jail… waiting to get sent back to camp he hung himself…
all his friends knew he was gay but he couldn’t come out to his family… and he couldn’t come out to the military because of his dad…
one of the saddest stories i know…
Joe Sixpack your comments are so ignorant I don’t know where to begin. Since you are homophobic there really is no risk to you for sounding like one.
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:11 pmThey have finally figured out that firing these gay Arabic translators was not such a good idea. Tough!
Comeuppance is tough, is it not?
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:37 pm#49…I agree. Just because the military found out that some Arabic translators were gay, how does that make these gay translators suddenly so incompetent that they can no longer translate Arabic to English? How many lives could have been saved by Arabic translators, who happen to be gay? If the military would consider that homosexuals might be able to save many heterosexual lives, they might reconsider their policy. This homophobic game that America plays is silly and dangerous.
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:46 pmBetter get ready for the draft, ’cause it is coming. Keep your kids safe and away from the mailbox.
Comment by Tom
haha. you and your conspiracy theories. how long down the road with no draft until you admit you’re wrong? you’re one of those people who thought a bush reelection in 04 would equal a draft… aren’t you?
still waiting…
January 2nd, 2007 at 8:26 pmThanks a whole heap, General, for speaking up now when you are no longer in power and nobody gives a damn what you say. You could have done something in 1993 and instead you told your Commander in Chief to pound sand. Thanks for nothing.
January 2nd, 2007 at 9:33 pmHere’s the issue:
About 7 percent of the U.S. military are not citizens. There are about 30,000 foreign soldiers in the U.S. military from more than 100 countries; more than a third are Hispanic. To encourage recruitment, in 2002 the Bush administration made it easier for foreign-born U.S. troops to become naturalized citizens. Now, any legal resident who joins the military can immediately petition for citizenship rather than wait the five years required for civilians to start this process. They do not even have to pay the several hundred dollar fee for this process.
On top of this, these foreign-born soldiers who achieve U.S citizenship are being recruited to work as prison guards in the over 120 FEMA detention centers being built around the country. These camps are supposedly being built to house Illegal aliens that cross our border, but most are housed in states that don’t have an Illegal alien issue. Those of you who believe that FEMA camps are to house Illegal aliens have to ask yourself why? By googling “REX84″ you will find out why these camps are being built. They are being built to house dissenters against this government. First foreign-born soldiers will not hesitate to fire on American citizens, and with 30,000 naturalized citizens coming to America would jump at the chance to take this position at all cost. Something to think about n this new Amerika.
January 3rd, 2007 at 2:32 amI can see it now… “Company ‘Q’ reportiiing, we’re sooo glad you got rid of the don’t ask don’t tell policyyy, and we totally looove the new pink and purple camooo, but what’s with the bull’s eye on the back?”
January 3rd, 2007 at 9:35 amJoe Sixpack your comments are so ignorant I don’t know where to begin. Since you are homophobic there really is no risk to you for sounding like one.
Comment by Republicans are the fear and smear party
Whatever. I guess some of us are biased in some ways and not as pious in our beliefs as other pompous asses.
January 3rd, 2007 at 9:38 amHomo – prefix meaning ’same’
Phobe – postfix meaning ‘fear’
homophobe – fear of the same, specifically fear of one’s own gayness.
Words mean something and this word does not mean fear of homosexuals. Personally I couldn’t give a rat’s behind about this issue, it’s all a smokescreen anyway.
January 3rd, 2007 at 9:48 amWant to open things up let athsmatics like me or other less physically fit people into non-combat jobs. Not everyone in the military needs to be fit for battle, let those who cannot fight support those who can, including gays.
No sweat JTitor (#53), by the time we need to enfore the “REX84″ measure inthie country, people like you will already have all the “foreign-born soldiers” locked up based solely on the fact that they are “foreign-born”!
January 3rd, 2007 at 10:09 amhomophobe – fear of the same, specifically fear of one’s own gayness…Personally I couldn’t give a rat’s behind about this issue, it’s all a smokescreen anyway.
Comment by meeoouuch
Actually, maybe I am into beastiality. I’ve been accused of that on occasion with some of the gals I’ve taken home from the bar. I’ll say it again, as I did in post #45 that Republican smear conveniently overlooked. It is not anyones business what you are into, be that fettish, bondage, gay relationships, or women’s panties. Nor do I want to know what my roommate is into. Its all BS.
You want to enlist? Then keep your sexual preferences to yourself and don’t try and force them on everyone else to accept them. And as long as you conduct yourself with honor and in a military manner, its not the governments business to know if you are straight or gay or want dwarfs for sexual pleasure.
Don’t ask, don’t tell has worked just fine for 200 years.
January 3rd, 2007 at 10:13 am#58 – “You want to enlist? Then keep your sexual preferences to yourself and don’t try and force them on everyone else to accept them.” Comment by Joe Sixpack — January 3, 2007 @ 10:13 am
When I served in the Army, I had to listen to my roommates tell me about their girlfriends and who the “loose” women were. They should have kept their heterosexuality to themselves and shut the hell up! (Based on your opinion.)
“Don’t ask, don’t tell has worked just fine for 200 years.”
Slavery worked well for a few thousand years until it was abolished in the 19th century. Why don’t we go back to what worked in the past?
Simple: gays shouldn’t have to hide their sexuality to honorably serve, just as straight people shouldn’t have to shove their sexuality down my throat by constantly talking about their relationships and spouses.
January 3rd, 2007 at 10:29 am#59 – It goes both ways (no pun intended), I didn’t serve in the military (athsma kept me out) but at one restaurant where I cooked there was this gay woman who disgusted me with her constant talk of sexual escapades, then went to the boss to complain of harassment if any of the straight guys did the same. I was later fired for referring to her as the ‘lesbian midget’. She likes women and is 4′8″ so I thought it was a statement of fact.
January 3rd, 2007 at 10:56 amRegardless I wouldn’t have wanted to listen to your roomates because I believe certian personal things should remain personal.
As far as soldiers being openly gay I’m comfortable with my heterosexuality and couldn’t give a bleep if I was serving with them, the problem is those who are not.
Joe Sixpack (#58),
First of all, what other people do in their bedroom is definitely not my business, but what about other’s families and significant others? Do you think it is acceptable for male soliders to show his fellow soliders pictures of his Girlfriend/Wife? If that is acceptable, than why do gays in the military have to risk being discharged for merely mentioning their significant others at home?
You are very clear about where you stand on gay sex, you equated it with (and in my opinion, reduced it to) fetishes, but what about gay love?
Until you can say it is OK to enforce the “don’t tell” policy across the board to include all soldiers regardless of their sexual orientation, “don’t ask, don’t tell” remain a discriminatory policy exist for discrimination sake. If you want gay soldiers to never tell any person in the army how much they miss their partners at home, then you also need to come up with a way to make sure straight soldiers do not talk about their wives/husbands at all, on and off duty. I think that would be a fair price to pay in order to enforce your “keep your sexual preferences to yourself” idea in a non-discriminatory manner.
January 3rd, 2007 at 11:05 am#61…what a great post!
I might also add that since “don’t ask, don’t tell” has ruined so many lives and careers, how does that translate to working “just fine”?
January 3rd, 2007 at 11:47 amstill waiting…
Comment by wingnutt
Keep waiting nutzo. How you follow along behind bushco is a mystery nobody can understand. Nutzo’s start wars and send other kids to fight it. Sounds like a chickenhwak to me. No Nutzo, you keep waiting for mr bush to do something right. You may have to wait a very long time, but it could happen. Progressives will be here to help you find your way back.
January 3rd, 2007 at 1:31 pm