General: November 2005 Archives

You know, there are a few things that I kind of lump together as being, in theory, the same thing.
The Boy Scouts of America
Marriage
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell - The military policy that discharges military personell out if they find out that they are homosexual

The Boy Scouts of America kicks out any scout leader they find to be gay. They will do the same favor to any scout that is found to be gay. This stems from a ruling (Boy Scouts of America vs Dale) in which the Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America is a “private organization” and as such, can pick and choose their members at will. It’s a settled case. There’s no further need for comment here. But, if you are interested in scouting and are gay, or an open-minded heterosexual who isn’t threatened by homosexuals, check out Scouting For All.

It’s necessary to keep marriage from the gays for the same reason it’s necessary to keep gay scout leaders and gay scout troops away from boys scouts. Actually, I don’t know what the reason is. Can someone explain the logic behind either one?

The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy baring open homosexuals from military service is just stupid at this point in time. You can read the except below and form your own opinions. The military argued that it was necessary to exclude homosexuals to “maintain unit cohesion”. Well, the truth of the matter is, there are many soldiers in Iraq who are gay. What’s more, the guys in their unit knows that they are gay. It’s not a problem. That’s reality.

Another reality is that if the higher ranking officers find out about it, they will begin military separation (discharges) for the homosexual soldiers, AFTER THE STOP LOSS ORDER IS TERMINATED. Right now, because the military is having trouble filling their ranks with soldiers who have no desire to go and die in a war built on lies (shocking, isn’t it?), they are keeping everyone in that they can. And that means even homosexual soldiers. So, what does that say about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and unit cohesion?

The U.S. Military, The Congress, and The President of the United States cares so much about the security of the United States and stopping terrorism where ever it’s found, that they turn around and fire Arabic linguists who were found to be homosexual. That is more important to them than our national security.

Even the 9/11 Commission said that government “lacked sufficient translators proficient in Arabic and other key languages, resulting in a significant backlog of untranslated intercepts.”

And who knows, some of those “untranslated intercepts” could have just been the plans to blow up Grand Central Station in New York City or Los Angeles International Airport.

But at least, we can all go to bed at night knowing that there will be no homosexuals who will have a career in the military, and that if some terrorist plot is discovered by a translated intercept, that it will be a heterosexual linguist who translated it, if we can find one. That’s comforting.

One Arabic linguist was discharged from the military for violating its “don’t ask, don’t tell” sexual orientation policy in fiscal year 2004, according to records obtained by an advocacy group.

In the first 10 years of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the military discharged 54 Arabic and nine Farsi speakers for violating the policy, according to the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military. In fiscal year 2004, however, there was just one Arabic and no Farsi speakers discharged, the center said Wednesday. That compares to at least three enlisted personnel discharged the previous year.

“The military does not like to admit firing gay Arabic linguists during a dire shortage because the public doesn’t understand why we would rather fire gays than have enough Arabic linguists to translate intercepted cables,” said Aaron Belkin, director of the center based at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In 2004, the 9/11 Commission found the government “lacked sufficient translators proficient in Arabic and other key languages, resulting in a significant backlog of untranslated intercepts.” [...]

Besides the Arabic linguist, others linguists discharged under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in fiscal year 2004 included 22 Spanish, three Korean, three French, one Chinese, one German and one Tagalog speaker. The center obtained the data from Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., who requested the statistics from the Defense Department. (source)

There were some very historic outcomes from the elections yesterday. Some of the results show the best of people and some show the worst in people. Or perhaps I’m over simplifying it. Perhaps it has more to do with where the country is at in terms of polarization. Or perhaps, that is adding complexity where is there is none.

TEXAS
Let’s take Texas, as an example. Yesterday, Texas did what it does best. It showed, in no uncertain terms, that homosexuals have absolutely no rights what so ever when it comes to asking for health benefits for their partners, end of life decisions, and a host of other things.

In fact, they have no right to pursue happiness in the State of Texas. If they find a partner to share their life with, Texas will not, in any way shape or form, allow them to get married. But wait, there’s more!

Texas went on to say that they can not even form a “civil union” and went on to say that marriage “consists only of the union of one man and one woman,” and it prohibits the state “from creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage.”

Let’s think about that for one moment... those last words, “creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage”

What does that mean exactly? It means that not only will you not be able to have a civil union, it calls into question ANY LEGAL AGREEMENT that you may have with someone of the same sex that is “identical or similar to marriage”. Folks, that covers wills, power of attorney, medical decisions, and all the other real-life situations that many people face.

But don’t worry. One thing that was kept securely in place is the ability to divorce at will for heterosexual couples. Texas has one of the highest rates of divorce in the entire nation, so their sanctity of marriage is still protected.

But this really wasn’t about protecting marriage. I’m going to call this for what it is. Through all the analysis and through all the religious organizations touting that they were trying to “protect marriage” from homosexual activists, this was simply about old fashioned Southern-style bigotry. They hate homosexuals, and they want everyone to know it.

Even Texas Governor Rick Perry said, “Texans made a decision about marriage and if there’s a state that has more lenient views than Texas, then maybe that’s a better place for them to live.” Governor Perry even told gay Texan veterans returning from Iraq, “Get your faggoty asses out of Texas.”

Usually, the Governor sets the tone and attitude for the state on any given issue. This seems to be true with Texas as well. The people of Texas voted yesterday by an overwhelming 76 percent of voters to approve the constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, outlaw civil unions, and any rights identical or similar to marriage. This makes the 19th state to adopt a state marriage protection amendment, and it was the only state to have such a measure on the ballot this year.

“All that today’s results show is that it is profoundly wrong and profoundly un-American to put the rights of a small minority of Americans up for a popular vote,” said Matt Foreman, the group’s executive director.

“This is not democracy; this is tyranny of the majority,” he added. “No one would tolerate this being done to any other minority, but it’s still open season on gay people.” (source)

Very true, but what are we to do? The only advice I can give to gay people who want a better life and to gay couples, many of whom have children, is to take Governor Perry’s advice, and move away. As long as you are moving, move to a state that will put some value on your personal relationship with the person you love (Massachusetts perhaps?). In fact, as far as I’m concerned, the United States has turned to shit. I would seriously have my eye on Canada - a nation who seems to have it’s stuff together when it comes to the value it puts on all it’s people - universal health care and yes, you can get married there and have all the rights and privileges of marriage!

Texas will undoubtedly feel some backlash from this action. Will it be enough to make them rethink their position. No. I don’t believe so. The backlash will be for progressive companies in places like Dallas and Austin, who had some protections for gay partners, will lose people who will move out of the state, or not relocate there for a job. I’ve also heard that some companies will remove Texas from consideration on a place to relocate their business. It’s bad for business to even appear to look intolerant.

All that aside, bigotry and intolerance has won the day in Texas. And, since the state constitution has been modified, it will be many years before anything happens in Texas. I will never go there - not even a stop over at one of their airports. If that’s really the way the state feels, how safe can you honestly be there? There are some decent and caring people in Texas. I received this heart warming comment from a reader.

Bill,

... I’m ashamed to call myself a Texan today. I’m sorry for you and Kent and everyone like you and for all of us. This is a sad and scary day. Not that I’m surprised ... that’s pretty much where the rest of the states have fallen I think. I wish I knew what the hell was wrong with people. Are they so blinded by “sanctity of marriage” talk or religion or hate that they just can’t see what kind of message they’re sending? Not just to homosexuals but to everyone in any minority (which is pretty much everyone). Isn’t anyone else scared by the majority denying a minority’s rights or by preemptive changes to a state constitution just in case an “activist” judge decides to “legislate from the bench”? And why the f%@k (pardon my French) did only 18% of people think this was important enough to get off they’re lazy contented asses to vote on? (source)

VIRGINIA AND NEW JERSEY
Both states ended up with Democratic governors. I expected that from New Jersey. I was extremely surprised at the outcome in Virginia. Perhaps this is a preamble of what lies in store for the Republican Party in future congressional races and even the White House? We can hope.

Last year, Virginia passed some of the most hateful laws against gay couples.

MAINE
Maine passed a civil rights law banning discrimination in hiring, public accommodations, rent, etc., based on sexual orientation. The law stated that you can’t be fired for being a homosexual, or denied housing. Pretty basic stuff.

Question 1 on the Maine ballot asked voters if they wanted to repeal the state law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in areas including housing, employment and education.

But, this law has been a law three other times in Maine. Each time, the voters of Maine have gone to the ballot box and defeated the bill. So, despite what polls said a few days ago that the majority of registered voters in Maine favored keeping the bill on the books, I was worried that history would repeat itself.

Voters defeated an effort to repeal the state’s new gay rights law Tuesday with supporters of the law declaring victory shortly after 11 p.m. to a cheering crowd of more than 500 people at the Holiday Inn By the Bay.

“I think Maine people have heard our message that discrimination happens and real people get hurt,” said Ted O’Meara, the senior adviser to the Maine Won’t Discriminate campaign, as he reflected after midnight when unofficial totals showed 55 percent rejecting the repeal and 45 percent in favor, with 86 percent of precincts reporting. [...]

The law is now likely to take effect by year’s end. The secretary of state has until Nov. 28 to make the election results final. The governor must then sign a proclamation certifying the results, and the law would take effect 30 days after that signing, according to state elections officials.

Tuesday’s vote was a referendum on the law, enacted earlier this year, to amend the Maine Human Rights Act by making discrimination illegal in employment, housing, credit, public accommodations and education based on sexual orientation.

The Maine law already prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, disability, religion, ancestry and national origin. The gay rights provision was broadly worded to protect transsexuals, transvestites and those who have undergone sexual reassignment surgery, in addition to homosexuals.

The law exempts religious organizations that do not receive public funds. It also is worded to say it is not meant to address a right to marry. (source)

I’m elated by this. I love Maine. I love vacationing there and I was trying to prepare myself for the very real possibility that I would have to deal with never going there again (I don’t support bigotry) and having to just live with all the wonderful photos that I have taken of their beautiful state.

Now, with this behind me, I can look forward to my late spring and summer vacation in Maine next year.

The Internal Revenue Service has warned one of Southern California’s largest and most liberal churches that it is at risk of losing its tax-exempt status because of an antiwar sermon two days before the 2004 presidential election.

Rector J. Edwin Bacon of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena told many congregants during morning services Sunday that a guest sermon by the church’s former rector, the Rev. George F. Regas, on Oct. 31, 2004, had prompted a letter from the IRS.

In his sermon, Regas, who from the pulpit opposed both the Vietnam War and 1991’s Gulf War, imagined Jesus participating in a political debate with then-candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry. Regas said that “good people of profound faith” could vote for either man, and did not tell parishioners whom to support.

But he criticized the war in Iraq, saying that Jesus would have told Bush, “Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine. Forcibly changing the regime of an enemy that posed no imminent threat has led to disaster.”

On June 9, the church received a letter from the IRS stating that “a reasonable belief exists that you may not be tax-exempt as a church ... ”The federal tax code prohibits tax-exempt organizations, including churches, from intervening in political campaigns and elections. (source)

How is this any different from what is happening in Massachusetts, where priests in the Catholic Church are, from the pulpit, asking parishioners to sign a petition (being politically active) to put the gay marriage issue on the ballot?

Maybe I’m missing something here, but the way I read it is this...

It’s not ok to talk from the pulpit about the war in Iraq and being against it because the government is behind that.

It is ok to talk from the pulpit (the government will just look the other way) when talking about gay marriage because the government doesn’t see that as their issue and/or really doesn’t want to see it happen.

Could our government possibly have an agenda here? Both actions are politically motivated yet, the government isn’t going after the Catholic Church for asking parishioners to sign the gay marriage ban.

America’s faith in George Bush and in his decision to go to war in Iraq has plummeted in the wake of a White House intelligence scandal that went to court this week, according to a new poll.

America’s faith in George Bush and in his decision to go to war in Iraq has plummeted in the wake of a White House intelligence scandal tAs the president encountered violent protests in Argentina at the start of his Latin America tour yesterday, a survey published by the Washington Post and ABC News showed that public confidence was eroding rapidly back home.

Nearly six in 10 Americans, 58%, said they had doubts about the president’s honesty, a 13% rise in 18 months. Only 32% believed Mr Bush was handling ethical issues well, a significantly worse score than Bill Clinton achieved in his last scandal-besmirched year in office. His overall popularity has plunged to 39%, a new low for the Washington Post/ABC survey.

Mr Bush is no more popular in Argentina, where a protest by several thousand demonstrators turned ugly. In the coastal city of Mar del Plata, where he is attending a regional summit, protesters set fire to a bank, looted stores and battled riot police.

Earlier, the tone was struck by the former football star Diego Maradona, who wore a “Stop Bush” T-shirt to an anti-Bush “counter-summit” that drew some 4,000 protesters from around the world and easily eclipsed the official summit in the public’s attention. “I’m proud as an Argentine to repudiate the presence of this human trash, George Bush,” said Maradona. (source)

Received via email from a reader of this site. Thank you for making me aware of this petition.

Dear Friend,

Instead of uniting the country around a consensus nominee, the White House has chosen a potentially divisive candidate to distract from its current problems. A Supreme Court nomination is too important to be scripted from the Karl Rove playbook of distract, deceive, and divide.

And while George Bush attempts to distract the country, he knows CIA leak case is bigger than the indictment of Scooter Libby or Karl Rove. It is about how the Administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions. Now it’s time for President Bush to come clean with the American people.

Now we know there were no WMDs in Iraq and no connection to the terrorists who attacked America on September 11. Yet Republicans, led by George Bush continue to peddle a disingenuous tale: Claiming we attacked Iraq because of September 11th. Every day that these myths continue to be perpetrated by the White House our country becomes less and less safe.

George Bush needs to know this failure of leadership cannot continue. He needs to lay out the facts about Iraq and his strategy to achieve military, political and economic success to bring our troops home.

Join me and tell George Bush: You can no longer mislead Congress and the American people. It’s time for an Iraq success strategy that will bring our troops home. Join me by visiting:

SIGN THE PETITION

Sadly, George Bush, Dick Cheney and Republican leaders have never admitted any of their mistakes to either Congress or the American people. According to the National Journal, in a story that was overshadowed last week: “Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby . . . decided to withhold crucial documents from the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2004 when the panel was investigating the use of pre-war intelligence that erroneously concluded Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.”

A cloud also hangs over this Republican-controlled Congress for its unwillingness to hold this Republican Administration accountable for its misdeeds on these issues. What has been the response of this Republican-controlled Congress to the Administration’s manipulation of intelligence that led to this protracted war in Iraq? Basically nothing. Did the Republican-controlled Congress carry out its constitutional obligations to conduct oversight? No. Did it support our troops and their families by providing them the answers to many important questions? No. Did it even attempt to force this Administration to answer the most basic questions about its behavior? No.

That is why yesterday I motioned to put the Senate into a special closed session of Congress to force Republicans to discus these important issues of national security. If Republicans will not do their constitutional oversight duty, Democrats will force them to discuss these issues.

SIGN THE PETITION

Supporting the troops means providing them a strategy for success. We cannot continue to stay the course in Iraq - we must change the course. America can do better and our brave men and women deserve better.

Thank you,

Harry Reid

P.S. Last week I asked you to help four Democrats running for Senate. Your response was unbelievable and I just want to say thank you.

Paid for by Friends For Harry Reid 422 C St. NE Washington, DC 20002

I wonder if I’m addicted to writing? When my site was down for about a week, I went crazy. I put my energy into photography and other things around the house, along with work. And, I didn’t really follow all the happenings going on in Washington - a big achievement for me!

But now that I’m back, I see that I really didn’t miss a thing. It’s all still the same old stuff; the President is putting forth a right wing ideologue that will probably end up changing the balance of power in the U.S. Supreme Court that will result in the roll back of many civil right issues such as Roe v. Wade. Not a bright future for the high court exactly, but we are the real losers. There are those in this country who despise the way some of us live. There are those who despise women who have a choice in how they will live their lives. There are those in this country who do not want African Americans to have equality to whites. And I haven’t even gotten to the subject of equality for gay citizens.

We need to brace ourselves for a few things. I don’t say this to bring you all down, but it’s reality.

I think that [Sc]Alito will be confirmed. He will be confirmed because there is nothing the Democrats can do to stop it from happening. And, the moderate Republicans (all two of them) have no backbone. The rest will go with “their President”, and not show a divided Republican Party. It will be done, and whatever happens to our rights, will happen.

Everyone is wondering, “Will Alito really be that bad? Will he really interpret each case on it’s merits and apply the Constitution in a non-biased way?” Some suggests that he is even going to be worse than Scalia.

Scalia has actually proved to be less adventuresome than Alito in curtailing congressional power. Alito wrote a dissenting opinion in 1998 arguing that Congress couldn’t bar possession of a machine gun, because merely having a machine gun isn’t connected closely enough to the thing Congress can constitutionally regulate—interstate commerce. Alito relied on a 1995 Supreme Court case saying Congress couldn’t constitutionally regulate the possession of a handgun near a school. Every court of appeals, save one, that reached this question rejected Alito’s position. [...]

While Alito goes to conservative places Scalia won’t, the more telling point is that Scalia goes to liberal places Alito won’t. [...]

The Alito record holds few such surprises. In the Washington Post, Cass Sunstein examined Alito’s dissents and found them “almost uniformly conservative.” That’s nearly true for criminal matters—just forget the “almost.” In 15 years on the bench, Alito has filed more than a dozen dissents in criminal cases or cases involving the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. Not one of those dissents urges a position more protective of individual rights than the majority. (source)

Texas is about to amend their state constitution to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. That means that Texas will not allow gay couples to be married, if the amendment passes (which I expect, true to real Texan ideals, it will pass easily). The amendment further states that the state “may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.” And that means, Texas will not allow any town or city in the state to authorize civil unions either. In other words, we get nothing. But we knew this, didn’t we? This just confirms it, and more progressive cities like Austin, and the companies that reside there, will have to roll back any same-sex spousal rights they have afforded their employees. Many companies there are worried about this, and many companies are reconsidering their plans to move to the state in light of the possible passing of this amendment. We shouldn’t let it get us down. It is inevitable, for now. I have to believe, as we all do, that in time, dignity and equality will prevail. For Texas, that may mean a lot of time.

Alaska seems to be going through similar issues. What can be done? Nothing really. This is, after all, the United States. I’m learning, with age, that the United States are not all that united. They all vary in how much gay bashing they want to dish out and how much gay bashing is publicly permissible. And most of this gay bashing all comes wrapped up as “Christian Love”. In time, will they accept us as equals and finally feel shame for these actions, or will they continue with this current trend of hatred? I don’t know the answer to that.

There are possible signs of hope in Maine. Maine passed a civil rights bill making it illegal to fire someone for being gay or lesbian. This has happened several times before, only to be overturned by voter referendum. Well, the same thing is happening this year. But unlike other years, polls suggest that voters may not over turn the bill this year. Who knows what will happen. The polls make me hopeful, but it all depends on who turns out to vote. Will people care enough about what happens to show up to vote? In America, you see, people will show up if their favorite TV show isn’t on that night and they have absolutely nothing else to do. In other countries, people risk their very lives just to walk to the voting place.

I do know this. I have this life. I have no intention spending it worrying about people who couldn’t care less for the feelings or well being of their fellow citizens. I care for people very deeply. I do. But I find myself, over time, qualifying that to read, “I care for people very deeply, to a point.” And let me tell you, that point is getting sharper and sharper as time goes on. I’m starting to care nothing for people who don’t even see me as their equal. I don’t even care to debate them on the issue because I think they are scum. I don’t hate them. I simply give them as much time of day as they give me at say, the voting booth.

As for President Bush, as pathetic a leader as he is, he should be trying to address unity at this point. He should stop talking about the Flu that is going to kill us all (only $7 billion being spent on that one, but at least it got the scandal of Libby and Rove off the front pages), and he should have used the opportunity of the Supreme Court nomination to bring us closer together as a people, instead of telling those outside of his right-wing base that we simply don’t matter.

We lost Rosa Parks this week. She was truly one of my heroes - talk about courage. I hate to even mention her in the same entry as President Bush. He’s a moronic coward with probably very few original ideas of his own. She was a pioneer and a warrior on the side of equality and civil rights. We need more like her.

We will never see the likes of that from President Bush.