At yesterday’s silly House hearing on the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, where Republicans got a chance to shake their heads in disbelief in front of of the military’s top leaders, lawmakers were told the military could be ready to let openly gay troops begin serving by this summer. How come? Because even Marine chief Gen. James Amos noted there “hasn’t been the recalcitrant pushback” during repeal training. Amazing: American soldiers following orders in a professional manner. CAN U BELIEVEZIES?! It’s just a matter of wrapping up training our troops that dudes might be talking about their boyfriends, so don’t freak out. But isn’t forecasting repeal to begin this summer a bit of a tight timeline? After all, at last count just 200,000, or 9 percent of troops had received their DADT repeal training. Plus, the repeal bill Congress passed and President Obama signed puts full repeal into effect sixty days after Obama, Joint Chiefs head Mike Mullen, and Defense Sec. Robert Gates sign off on it. So if we’re going to fall within “summer,” which runs from June 21 – September 22 this year, training needs to be completed and Obama needs to sign off on it by July 22. Let’s move, people!
NB: The winningest quote from the hearings, however, goes to Mississippi’s freshman Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.), who believes he’s arriving after the Alamo and is unable to tend to the slaughtered: Men and women “thought was a good military, a correct military, and this Congress comes and tinkers with it. … I just apologize to our veterans. I have yet to find anybody that is in support of repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.”
[pictured: Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz (right) listens to a question during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee in Washington, D.C., on April 7, 2011. General Schwartz was joined by (left to right) Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amo; via Air Force]
Dan Cobb
Watch my words: Obama will back off the DADT repeal. If the GOP doesn’t want it repealed –which they don’t– it will be repealed. The fact is that Obama is compromised for some probably personal reasons/blackmail, and will do whatever the GOP wants.
PersonOfInterest
@Dan Cobb:
What kind of delirious paranoia is this? Obama is a do-nothing president because the GOP is blackmailing him?!? Or because of “personal reasons”?? Get real. Obama is a do-nothing pres because he’s never done anything other than campaign for office — simple equation. As far as DADT, Obama doesn’t like us fags in any way, regardless of how much you might not want that to be true. That’s right, your messiah doesn’t give a shit about you. Accept and live with it.
Ricky
I hope Obama proves you both wrong. Time will tell.
Indigo
As a Lesbian OEF/OIF Army Veteran, I’d like to invite Congressman Palazzo can shove his apology up his ass.
Indigo
*to
Steve
“I just apologize to our veterans. I have yet to find anybody that is in support of repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.”
Looks like someone hasn’t talked to anybody in the military. But yet they claim to know what the troops want.
Cam
He’s never found anybody for it? Well gee, since a huge majority of Americans was for repeal it looks like we have another example of just WHY Mississippi schools are ranked dead last in the united states. If he is unable to read a poll, look at a newspaper, or do an internet search he is obviously the proud holder of a Mississippi of a diploma from one of the many fine high schools in MS.
Indigo
Congressman Palazzo hasn’t asked ANYONE. Hello, I’m right here. I’m for it. I was out while serving and no one really cared. There was a sweet gay man in my platoon who was also out. His apology is a slap in the face to my service.
Lonnie
Let’s HOPE Obama doesn’t!
The worst part of the “debate” on the repeal of DADT was the ridiculous arguments and reasoning put out by Gay Inc which trickled out of the mouths of thousands of “weekend activist” queers. “This is about honesty and integrity!”, one poor sap told me. Suddenly, queers were trying out-patriot the Shamefully missing from the entire debate was the actual real world context of the repeal. The fact is the US government is at war. Several wars, in fact. All illegal, too, by the way. The wars against Iraq and Afghanistan are war crimes. They used to be Bush’s war crimes. Now they are Obama’s. Since 2001,
The repeal was never about “respect” for queers. The repeal was never an attempt to right a wrong. The repeal had nothing to do with human rights or equality. The repeal, in fact, served the interests of the war machine. The US military needs soldiers to fight its wars for oil and empire. Straight kids are wising up and seeing the bullshit for what it is. They can not maintain the empire without an effective and disciplined army. That’s one of the lessons they learned from Vietnam, when the military itself was threatened by mutiny from below. Gay Inc just offered up queers as the latest sacrifical lambs to the empire.
I fought against DADT for many years and I’ve always wanted it repealed, not for the sake of the US War Machine, but for the sake of the men and women serving time in the military (I do not use that noxious phrase “serving their country”). I fought for equal protections and dignity on the job for the folks in the military, NOT for the right for queers to serve as cannon fodder.
Indigo
@Lonnie: Nice tinfoil hat. Did you make that yourself?
Please, spare me your ridiculous crap. Gay people join the military for the same reasons straight people do…patriotism, college money, a career, to meet a spouse. And by the various latest counts we 1.5-10% of the population and even LESS of the military population…so your crazy theory makes no sense.
We are no more cannon fodder than anyone else is.
Come give me your cracked opinion after you are shot at by a stranger in a foreign land as I have been, THANKYOUVERYMUCHGOODBYE!
PersonOfInterest
Such drama over something that affects so few of us. If ladies’ hair salons suddenly implemented a DADT policy, I could understand the outrage, since 90% of hair stylists would be out of work. But the military? Should they really compromise the their dynamic to accommodate the personal lives of a small percentage? Are you people that starved for “equality”? Why not start with something smaller, like, oh, say, gaining acceptance into the Muslim church? And when they say no, you can protest and demand inclusion until . . . well, until they kill you.
tjr101
@PersonOfInterest: There is a muslim church?
zeb
“person of interest” is not so interesting. That whole “muslim church” and “you people” section was funny though. Who knew that trolling the internet was so popular with homeschoolers?
Time to change your name to “trollus interruptus” ^ Or just “uninformed” will work too. ^