Showing posts with label Don't Ask Don't Tell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Don't Ask Don't Tell. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

The PROBLEM with the Pentagon's DADT Report...



Upon the release of the Pentagon's survey of military men and women, President Obama commented:

"...Today's report confirms that a strong majority of our military men and women and their families - more than two thirds - are prepared to serve alongside Americans who are openly gay and lesbian..."

Those who have supported the repeal of the "Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell" rule have pointed to this study as some sort of Holy Grail, proof that our enlisted men and women themselves are in support, by a wide margin, of ending the policy. And, I suppose, those who have always opposed ending DADT will argue that the survey was not worded correctly, that one-third opposition is still an enormous number of people, that things should not change until after "the war." (Which war? Iraq? Afghanistan? The war Against Terror? the War against Drugs? The brewing one in Korea? A strike against Iran's nuclear reactor?)

But all of this media spin and cheering and questioning of the Pentagon Report seems to ignore one central, critical fact:

Since when are civil and human rights in the United States determined by popular vote?

In the 1940s, President Harry S. Truman, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, ended racial segregation in the military with a single pen stroke (not an act of Congress, not a public debate, not a Special Study by the Pentagon) - but in his Constitutional capacity as Commander-in-Chief. And this, during a time when housing, and restaurants, and hotels, and even public schools, in both the south AND the north - were still racially segregated.

Imagine if he had waited for a Popularity Poll to come out of the Pentagon before acting. I expect he could have made an Obama-like announcement:

"Today's report confirms that a strong majority of our military men and women and their families - more than two thirds - are not prepared to serve alongside Americans who are Black or Latino. Therefore, we will keep segregated barracks and bases as they are."

At least one Federal Court has already ruled that DADT is clearly Unconstitutional.

The act discriminates based on the content of the speech being regulated...It distinguishes between speech regarding sexual orientation, and inevitably, family relationships and daily activities, by and about gay and lesbian service members, which is banned, and speech on those subjects by and about heterosexual service members, which is permitted,” wrote Justice Virginia A. Phillips, in an 85 page ruling in a case that took six years just to be heard.

Well, dammit, if it's Unconstitutional, I really don't care about popular opinions or Pentagon Polls.

We didn't poll white water-fountain patrons before deciding that separate Water Fountains for Whites and Colored was unconstitutional.

We don't poll pacifists to find out how they would 'feel' if someone in their neighborhood wants to own a rifle.

We don't ask permission from a largely Christian community to build a synagogue in their town.

We don't seek majority approval before agreeing to give an accused rapist the right to take the 5th Amendment.

Ahhhh, you say..."but the military is different!"

No, it's NOT.

In the Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers carefully set out their grievances with the British Crown. One of the prominent complaints they had against King George was this:

"...He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power."

In other words, our founders were clear in their desire that the Military not be independent of, nor superior to, civil authority...something we have routinely ignored in the name of "national defense," and something which has enabled us to send our young men and women around the world in a fools errand at policing and empire building.

I really don't care what the Pentagon survey said. It is immaterial. Constitutional Rights in this country are based in Law for the purpose of securing Liberty, and NOT in popular opinion or mob rule.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund: for Veterans Day, Act to repeal DADT now...



What do the following people have in common:

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates;
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen;
Gen. Raymond Odierno;
Gen. David Petraeus;
Vice President Richard Cheney;
President Bill Clinton;
Secretary of Defense William Cohen;
Ret. Marine Corps Gen. James Jones;
General John Shalikashvili;
General Colin Powell;
104 other Generals and Admirals

ALL are calling for the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." NOW. Before the end of the year and changes in the Senate.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund (SLDF) has released the following 'campaign,' and have given us permission to reprint it for our readers immediate action:

"The next 12 to 36 hours are critical to repeal of "DADT;" important conversations on moving the defense bill are happening now." –Army veteran Aubrey Sarvis.

WHAT'S HAPPENING:

The House has passed legislation repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as part of a Military Funding Bill, but it has not yet seen a vote in the full Senate, where Democrats don't have the votes to overcome a Republican filibuster. Democratic leaders says they are trying to reach a deal across the aisle now that Election Day has passed.

The Senate has not yet acted on the bill. Discussions are happening right now between Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin and Ranking Member Sen. John McCain. McCain wants repeal of DADT stripped out so he is not forced to take an on-the-record vote against funding the troops.

McCain wants the Democrats to cave; WE CANNOT LET THAT HAPPEN

Advocates need to show their support for repeal NOW. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Armed Services Chairman Sen. Carl Levin, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and President Obama need to come together to push back aggressively on Sen. John McCain's threat to filibuster the comprehensive defense bill.

Obama, Levin, and Reid need to be convinced to call the defense bill up in a bipartisan way to bring on a handful of Republicans who we will need to pass the bill. Every day that goes by with silence from the President and Majority Leader Harry Reid makes repeal tougher. The Senate must call up the defense bill as reported out of committee and pass it before it goes home for the year. If the President, Majority Leader Reid, Secretary Gates, and a handful of Republican senators are committed to passing the comprehensive defense bill, there is ample time to do so.

"The Senate should call up the defense bill reported out of committee and pass it before it goes home for the year," said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. "If the president, Majority Leader Reid, Secretary Gates and a handful of Republican senators are committed to passing the comprehensive defense bill, there is ample time to do so."

UPDATED LIST: KEY SENATORS WHO NEED TO HEAR FROM REPEAL SUPPORTERS NOW (critical Republican Senators in New England are in boldfaced type):

Harry Reid (D-NV); Carl Levin (D-MI); Susan Collins (R-ME); Olympia Snowe (R-ME); Mark Pryor (D-Ark.); Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark); Richard Lugar (R-IN); Judd Gregg (R-NH); Scott Brown (R-MA); George Voinovich (R-OH); Kit Bond (R-MO); Joe Manchin (D-WV); Lisa Murkowski (R-AK); Mark Kirk (R-IL)

CHECK OUT THE LIST ABOVE AND TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://bit.ly/dBKRcd

Thursday, January 28, 2010

END DON'T ASK DON'T TELL NOW! Republicans, are you LISTENING!?!?!

"Last night, the president repeated his campaign commitment to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell as part of his State of the Union address. While the President promised that DADT would come to an end 'this year,' he did not provide specifics – and the White House still has not released a plan to kill it. That's unacceptable. I served in the Army for a decade under Don't Ask, Don't Tell – an immoral policy that forces American soldiers to lie about their sexual orientation. Worse, it forces others to tolerate deception. As I learned at West Point, deception and lies poison a unit and cripple a fighting force. That's why I feel strongly that America can't afford to allow this policy to continue one day longer. The time for talk is over. The time for action is now.” – Lt. Dan Choi, who is fighting his military discharge through the discriminatory Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, writing for the Courage Campaign’s “Don’t Wait, Don’t Delay” petition to President Obama