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Old 12-21-2010, 02:12 PM   #1041
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Originally Posted by Corkey View Post
I do not trust republicans, even log cabin ones.

Fair enough. I am not a Republican and I am weary of Republicans and Democrats. However, I put my vote with the lesser of two evils.
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Old 12-21-2010, 02:41 PM   #1042
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http://www.broadbandforamerica.com/b...cause-it-wants

And look what an Obama appointee just did.
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Old 12-21-2010, 02:43 PM   #1043
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Originally Posted by Greyson View Post
Fair enough. I am not a Republican and I am weary of Republicans and Democrats. However, I put my vote with the lesser of two evils.
I don't trust either party as well. The lesser of two evils is no choice, as far as I am concerned. I am with the Green Party for this reason. I don't agree with everything on the platform, but if no one supports a 3rd party like the Greens, how will there ever be an alternative? I say if you don't like the democrats then don't be one. Seems to me they get more and more conservative as time goes by, and cave to the republicans instead of making a stand and fighting for their convictions. I question whether their convictions really mean anything to them anymore. And yes, some Dems are a lot better than others. But most compromise way too much and do a disservice to their constituents. Just my .02
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Old 12-21-2010, 02:55 PM   #1044
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I don't trust either party as well. The lesser of two evils is no choice, as far as I am concerned. I am with the Green Party for this reason. I don't agree with everything on the platform, but if no one supports a 3rd party like the Greens, how will there ever be an alternative? I say if you don't like the democrats then don't be one. Seems to me they get more and more conservative as time goes by, and cave to the republicans instead of making a stand and fighting for their convictions. I question whether their convictions really mean anything to them anymore. And yes, some Dems are a lot better than others. But most compromise way too much and do a disservice to their constituents. Just my .02
Drew, with the recent abolishment of the closed primaries here in the State of California, I am more willing to vote my concious instead of straight down the party line. There have been a few times I could not vote straight party and in those cases, I could not bring myself to vote for "other" either. Not all elected positions are partisan. For example City Council races. Thanks for putting in your 2 cents.
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Old 12-21-2010, 03:19 PM   #1045
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Post Can Lesbian and Gay Soliders Now Re-Enlist?

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Come Back?
Congress voted to repeal DADT. Can gay soldiers who were discharged under the old rules re-enlist?


Brian Palmer

Dec. 20, 2010

The Senate voted to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on Saturday after weeks of wrangling. More than 13,000 service members have been fired since that rule came into effect in 1993. Can those people re-enlist?

Probably. For the past 17 years, service members discharged for homosexual conduct have been permanently barred from the military, even if they swore that their sexual preference had changed. During that time, Congress has considered several bills to repeal DADT, many of which would have explicitly permitted discharged service members to rejoin. (The process is technically called reaccession.) In the end, the bare-bones legislation that Congress is about to send to the president punts the re-enlistment issue to the Pentagon. We don't yet know for sure how the secretary of defense will handle the discharged soldiers, but the military's November report (PDF) supporting repeal recommended that they be permitted to come back. Secretary Gates commissioned the report and has so far endorsed its findings.

Any plan to take back dismissed soldiers may run into snags with the paperwork. Most gay people released under DADT received what's called an involuntary honorable discharge, which also applies to personnel with mental health problems or parental duties that preclude military service. Those who receive an involuntary honorable discharge are usually assigned the RE-4 re-enlistment code, which means they're not allowed to come back.

It's not clear how the Pentagon is going to work around this bureaucratic problem. Normally, each branch of the service would draft its own set of rules, but General James F. Amos, the top man in the Marines, has been less than enthusiastic about repealing the policy. Secretary Gates may have to issue a special blanket rule that either alters the re-enlistment codes after the fact for fired gay soldiers, or instructs recruiters to ignore the code when the reason for discharge was homosexual conduct.
In any case, gay soldiers who wanted to return would have to be otherwise eligible for active service. For example, the maximum age for enlistment is between 27 and 42, depending on the branch, so a man who was discharged in 1994 might now be too old to get back into uniform. (Age waivers are sometimes available.) Soldiers who gained weight during their involuntary retirement years may also find it impossible to re-enlist.

Aside from special permission to reenlist, fired gay soldiers shouldn't expect any special favors or apologies from Uncle Sam. The Pentagon's recent report considered and rejected calls for compensation for those discharged under DADT. Nor will the military give returning service members credit for the years spent living the civilian life, so anyone who rejoins will have to go back to the pay grade he or she left with, and work the same number of years to qualify for retirement benefits.

Will married gay soldiers get spousal benefits? Not the good ones. Certain military benefits, like family health insurance and additional housing allowances, are limited to service members with dependents. The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act legally bars the military from treating gay partners as dependents, even if they wed in a gay-marriage-friendly state. Gay service members will be able to grab a few extra perks. Many of them are now afraid to add their partner as a life insurance beneficiary, since it might tip the military off about their sexual preference. Once DADT is repealed, they can designated whomever they like. In addition, the November Pentagon report recommended extending a small category of benefits, like free legal services, to same-sex partners.

Will repealing DADT cost us anything? Yes. According to the Pentagon report, same-sex partner benefits, education and training programs on how to behave in a fully integrated military will cost up to $60 million annually. (That figure includes "minor privacy accommodations"—like shower curtains.) On the other hand, the military will save $20 million on recruiting and training replacements for discharged gay soldiers.

Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2278627/
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Old 12-21-2010, 03:23 PM   #1046
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Default Loathsome Southern Dandy Lindsey Graham About To Be Outed?

Not breaking news just yet...but oh please happen!

-------------------------

from joemygod:

Wonkette reports that outing kingpin Mike Rogers finally has the goods on Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina’s favorite lifelong bachelor and former military prosecutor, is always reliably against homosexuals having any basic human rights in America because Lindsey’s a Republican, y’all. Anyway, famous outer-of-self-hating-queers Mike Rogers says he’s got pictures of one of Lindsey’s boy toys leaving Lindsey’s house. This would be SHOCKING because come on, everybody knows Republicans cannot be gay because Jesus did not make gays.

Mike Rogers has a 100% track record for correctly outing anti-gay closet cases. He's never been proven wrong.

from Wonkette:

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina’s favorite lifelong bachelor and former military prosecutor, is always reliably against homosexuals having any basic human rights in America because Lindsey’s a Republican, y’all. Anyway, famous outer-of-self-hating-queers Mike Rogers says he’s got pictures of one of Lindsey’s boy toys leaving Lindsey’s house. This would be SHOCKING because come on, everybody knows Republicans cannot be gay because Jesus did not make gays.

Mike Rogers says on his Twitter:

I wonder if Lindsey Graham knows I have pictures of a man who spent the night at his house. pls RT
– 10:57 AM Dec 18th

Just reached lawyer at home. Meeting set for Tues. on releasing pix of man who spent night at Lindsey Graham’s.
– 11:05 AM Dec 18th
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Old 12-21-2010, 03:27 PM   #1047
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Why am I not surprised.
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Old 12-21-2010, 04:50 PM   #1048
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Default good and more politicians need to have this happen to them

Quote:
Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow View Post
Not breaking news just yet...but oh please happen!

-------------------------

from joemygod:

Wonkette reports that outing kingpin Mike Rogers finally has the goods on Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina’s favorite lifelong bachelor and former military prosecutor, is always reliably against homosexuals having any basic human rights in America because Lindsey’s a Republican, y’all. Anyway, famous outer-of-self-hating-queers Mike Rogers says he’s got pictures of one of Lindsey’s boy toys leaving Lindsey’s house. This would be SHOCKING because come on, everybody knows Republicans cannot be gay because Jesus did not make gays.

Mike Rogers has a 100% track record for correctly outing anti-gay closet cases. He's never been proven wrong.

from Wonkette:

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina’s favorite lifelong bachelor and former military prosecutor, is always reliably against homosexuals having any basic human rights in America because Lindsey’s a Republican, y’all. Anyway, famous outer-of-self-hating-queers Mike Rogers says he’s got pictures of one of Lindsey’s boy toys leaving Lindsey’s house. This would be SHOCKING because come on, everybody knows Republicans cannot be gay because Jesus did not make gays.

Mike Rogers says on his Twitter:

I wonder if Lindsey Graham knows I have pictures of a man who spent the night at his house. pls RT
– 10:57 AM Dec 18th

Just reached lawyer at home. Meeting set for Tues. on releasing pix of man who spent night at Lindsey Graham’s.
– 11:05 AM Dec 18th

I hope that more politicians who are hypocrites and actively voting against gay rights while sleeping with the same sex get outed like the creeps that they are!!! keep it coming MIke!!!
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Old 12-21-2010, 05:03 PM   #1049
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Senator Graham is 'best buds' with Senator John McCain and has been for several years..........

<snicker>
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Old 12-21-2010, 05:13 PM   #1050
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http://www.sdgln.com/news/2010/12/21...e-they-are-gay

It's a busy news day.
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Old 12-22-2010, 07:15 AM   #1051
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Default Target Continues To Make The Political Donations They Had Previously Apologized For Making

Target Continues To Make The Political Donations They Had Previously Apologized For Making

jason@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting


First Posted: 12-21-10 06:39 PM | Updated: 12-21-10 06:39 PM


This past fall, mega-retailer Target caught a heap of bad publicity when it was revealed that they had made campaign donations in support of then-Minnesota gubernatorial hopeful Tom Emmer, whose hostility to the LGBT community began "with opposition to same-sex marriage and runs through to wholesale denial of equal rights and alliances with organizations whose takes on the gay community neatly align with those Ugandan madmen." Target CEO Greg Steinhafel was forced to make an apology, and promised to begin a "review process for future political donations."

Over at The Awl, Abram Sauer, who covered this story thoroughly during the election season, has made a review of this review process. You'll never guess what he found out!

According to documents filed with the FEC in October 2010, Target continued donating to a bevy of anti-gay politicians even after Steinhafel apologized and committed to reforming the review process for future political donations. These donations even included some of the same anti-gay politicians the company had already been criticized for supporting.

Here's a taste of the specifics:

After Steinhafel's August 5 letter, Target's Political Action Committee, helmed by the former right hand of Senator Thune, Matt Zabel, recorded $41,200 in federal election activity. Of that total, $31,200 went to anti-gay rights politicians or PACs supporting those candidates.

Supporters of gay equality did get some money. In September, Target PAC gave $1,000 to Chuck Schumer. It also sent a whole $500 to Keith Ellison, the Minnesota Congressman that anti-gay leader Bradley Dean accuses of supporting LGBT rights as a way to bring Sharia law to America.

But donations such as $1,000 to Kelly Ayotte (reported on September 22), who resigned her state post in protest of the legalization of gay marriage and same sex adoption, are far more the norm.

That same day, there is a record of a donation by Target PAC to Spencer Bachus, who voted to ban same-sex adoption. Michigan's David Camp, who, in addition to supporting a Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage, voted against protecting gays from job discrimination based on sexual orientation, also reported money. Through October, Target PAC thousands of dollars in donations were recorded to Michael Crapo and Dave Reichert, both supporters of anti-gay Constitutional amendments, and Rob Portman, a supporter of banning gays from adopting. Portman's position on other gay rights won't surprise. On October 4, a donation was reported: $2,000 to David Dreier, whose position on gay rights is quite a bit of theatre.

Sauer also digs up this magical puff piece by Bill George at the Star Tribune, attesting to Steinhafel's general wonderfulness as a CEO. Amid the assertion that Steinhafel is "always classy" and the insistence that it "isn't easy being CEO of a public company," (I mean, you try living off this pittance in America) there's glancing mention of that minor dust-up over these anti-gay political donations:

Suggestions that Target was somehow "anti-gay" cut deeply. The worst one could say about this incident is that Steinhafel may have been naive. But he admitted his mistake and reaffirmed the company's long-standing support for gay rights. As he told me, "Target has the most gay-friendly policies in this state."

I don't think the worst you could say about Steinhafel is that he is naive! More like, "is a liar." But, as Sauer points out, this Strib handjob was written by a former member of Target's board and the author of a book titled 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis that "just happens to count Gregg Steinhafel as one of its profiled 'leaders.'" So, you know: hard-hitting.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1..._n_799950.html
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Old 12-22-2010, 08:14 AM   #1052
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Smile LIVE FEEDS--Signing of Repeal of DADT

http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/22/ob...al-live-video/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1..._n_800126.html

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Old 12-22-2010, 08:31 AM   #1053
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Thank you. I sit here watching it live on CNN.

Tears stream down my face for those who know, and those who do not. For those who ended their careers and their lives for coming out in the military.

For those who fought for this for years, and for those that have risen above and know our truth. Now we can serve openly and proud.

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Old 12-23-2010, 05:30 AM   #1054
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ya know this is and was soo disgusting..... it was on the local news here again this morning.. about the sentencing of this idiot who adopted this cat from the SPCA.. geezz..
thank god.... the cat was yelling for help when the cops stoped him.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/08/10...stop-new-york/
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Old 12-23-2010, 09:31 AM   #1055
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Post

Who killed the bill to prevent forced child marriages

The Cable
Foreign Policy Magazine
Wednesday, December 22, 2010; 6:22 PM



Incoming House Foreign Affairs chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) defeated a bill Dec. 16 that would have committed the United States to combating forced child marriages abroad. The episode - in which she invoked concerns about the legislation's cost and that funds could be used to promote abortion - highlights the tough road that the Obama administration will face in advancing its women's rights and foreign aid agenda during the next congressional session.

Nongovernmental organizations, women's rights advocates and lawmakers from both parties spent years developing and lobbying for the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2010, which the House failed to pass in a vote Thursday. The bill failed even though 241 representatives voted for it and only 166 voted against, because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) brought it up under "suspension of the rules." This procedure has the advantage of not allowing any amendments or changes to the bill, but carries the disadvantage of requiring two-thirds of the votes for passage.

Even still, supporters in both parties fully expected the bill to garner the 290 votes needed - right up until the bill failed. After all, it passed the Senate unanimously Dec. 1 with the co-sponsorship of several Republicans.

So what happened? Ros-Lehtinen first argued that the bill was simply unaffordable. In a Dec. 16 "Dear Colleague" letter, she objected to the cost of the bill, which would be $108 million over five years, and criticized it for not providing an accounting of how much the United States was already spending on this effort. Ros-Lehtinen introduced her own version of the bill, which she said would cost only $1 million. But in a fact sheet, organizations supporting the original legislation said that Ros-Lehtinen's bill removed the implementation procedures that gave the legislation teeth.

Regardless, the supporters still thought the bill would pass because House Republican leadership had not come out against it. But about an hour before the vote, every Republican House office received a message on the bill from GOP leadership, known as a Whip Alert, saying that leadership would vote "no" on the bill and encouraging all Republicans do the same. The last line on the alert particularly shocked the bill's supporters. "There are also concerns that funding will be directed to NGOs that promote and perform abortion and efforts to combat child marriage could be usurped as a way to overturn pro-life laws," the alert read.

The bill doesn't contain any funding for abortion activities and federal funding for abortion activities is already prohibited by what's known as the Helms Amendment, which has been federal statute since 1973.
Invoking the abortion issue sent the bill's supporters reeling. Republican anti-abortion senators had carefully reviewed the legislation and concluded it would not have an impact on the abortion issue.

Rep. Stephen LaTourrette (R-Ohio) called out the Republican leadership for invoking the abortion issue to defeat the forced child marriage act in a floor speech Friday morning.

"All of a sudden there was a fiscal argument," LaTourette said. "When that didn't work, people had to add an abortion element to it. This is a partisan place. I'm a Republican. I'm glad we beat their butt in the election, but there comes a time when enough is enough."



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...?wpisrc=nl_fed
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Old 12-23-2010, 08:05 PM   #1056
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Gays ousted from military now hoping to return


Associated Press

NEW YORK – Joseph Rocha reported being cruelly hazed by Navy colleagues. Katherine Miller resigned from West Point halfway through, weary of concealing her sexual orientation. David Hall was outed by a fellow Air Force cadet and booted from the career he loved.

The exits from military service were wrenching consequences of "don't ask, don't tell," the policy prohibiting gay and lesbian personnel from being open about their sexuality. Yet Hall, Rocha and Miller savored military duty and now — with "don't ask, don't tell" heading toward oblivion — they want to return.

Rocha, 24, was in Washington on Wednesday, watching euphorically as President Barack Obama signed the bill clearing the way for repeal of the 17-year-old policy. Obama encouraged those who were discharged to re-enlist, and Rocha said he hopes to do just that by enrolling in the Marine Corps' Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Va.

"I had a rough childhood, and the only father figure I had was a godfather who was a Marine," Rocha said in a telephone interview after the ceremony. "To me the Marine Corps exemplified honor, integrity, a sense of family — things that were drastically the opposite of what I experienced as a child."
Rocha's eagerness to serve is remarkable, given his experience in Bahrain in 2005 with a Navy bomb-sniffer dog unit. He reported being tied to a chair and left in a dog kennel, hosed down while in uniform and forced to simulate oral sex on another sailor — part of series of hazing incidents that prompted a high-level Navy review earlier this year.

After Bahrain, Rocha attended the U.S. Naval Academy Preparatory School in Rhode Island but decided to leave the Navy in 2007 by telling his commander he's gay. He's scheduled to graduate in May from the University of San Diego.

A recent Pentagon survey found that the Marine Corps, among all the service branches, had the highest portion of members worried that repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" would cause problems. But that hasn't deterred Rocha from aspiring to a Marine career."Marines are very loyal to their leadership, and unfortunately they have leaders who've been insubordinate to the president," he said. "But I know the Marines appreciate to a great degree how a person's qualifications — if they're willing to die for their country — is far more important than a person's sexuality."

More than 13,500 people were discharged under "don't ask, don't tell." The question of reinstatement was addressed earlier this year in a Pentagon study. It recommended that ousted gays and lesbians "be considered for re-entry, assuming they qualify in all other respects."

The study said the fact that they violated "don't ask, don't tell" should not be held against them but added that if they received an "other than honorable" discharge for accompanying reasons, those reasons should be considered.
Miller, a 21-year-old from Findlay, Ohio, wasn't discharged, but "don't ask, don't tell" was the reason she left the U.S. Military Academy despite impressive achievements there.

She ranked ninth in her class of more than 1,150 and relished most aspects of academy life. But lying about her sexual orientation — in conflict with West Point's honor code — took its toll. "Every day was a compromise — portraying myself as something I was not," she said.
She said she also felt anguished over her reluctance to speak up when some members of her military ethics class used anti-gay slurs and suggested that sexually active gays were going to hell.
She resigned from the academy in August and is now halfway through her junior year at Yale University. But with "don't ask, don't tell" soon ending, she has already reapplied to West Point and hopes to return there this summer to complete her final two years.

Why go back?
"Retrospectively, now that I've been to Yale, everything at West Point is more of a team effort," she said. "You get a feeling of cohesion, camaraderie. I like that." If she does pursue an Army career, it's not a desk job she wants. First choice, if combat units are opened to women, would be duty with an armored unit. If not, flying helicopters.
Hall is a former staff sergeant with the Air Force, which he joined in 1996, following in the footsteps of a father and stepfather who each served more than 20 years.

After basic training, Hall served with fighter squadrons at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia and Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. He was honorably discharged as an enlisted man in 2001 to enroll in the Air Force ROTC program with hopes of becoming an officer, but he was discharged the next year after a female cadet told his commanders that he's gay.

"You can't even imagine how that feels," Hall wrote in a letter to Obama in May. "Almost 8 years later, I still remember wearing my flight suit for the last time and handing my ID card to the NCO who was trying not to cry."
Hall subsequently got a job as fundraiser and information technology manager with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which campaigned against "don't ask, don't tell." On Wednesday, Hall was on hand as Obama signed the repeal bill.

Now, at age 36, he's pondering whether to return to the Air Force.
"I definitely do want to look into it," he said. "If the Air force does want me, what do they want me to do? Do I go back an enlisted man or to officer candidates school?"
He said he enjoyed the structured schedule and the team spirit of the Air Force. "You make a lot of close friends," he said. "And you know everyone's going to do their job."

Another potential re-enlistee is Jeremy Johnson, who is pursuing a bachelor's degree in sociology at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
Johnson, 33, served 10 years in the Navy, specializing in public affairs and journalism while traveling to far-flung posts and advancing to chief petty officer first class. But he eventually tired of "don't ask, don't tell" hypocrisy and told his commanding officer in 2007 that he's gay.
"I basically just had that moment where you choose integrity over career," he said.

Now Johnson wants to talk with recruiters about options for serving again — perhaps in the Navy Reserves, perhaps trying to become an officer.
"Professionally, the military was a great experience," he said. "When it came to personal life, it was very difficult."
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Old 12-24-2010, 11:48 AM   #1057
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Post The Nuts and Bolts of DADT

Gates: 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Ban Still in Effect
by Yochi J. Dreazen

Thursday, December 23, 2010

A day after President Obama signed legislation repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" ban on openly gay troops, Defense Secretary Robert Gates had a different message for senior Pentagon officials: The restrictions remain in effect, and service members who violate the 17-year-old law could still face "adverse consequences."

The memorandum from the Defense chief highlights the unusual nature of the compromise legislation that Obama signed into law in a high-profile ceremony at the Interior Department on Wednesday. The bill formally struck down the don't ask, don't tell provisions, but openly gay troops will only be allowed to serve 60 days after Obama, Gates, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen each certify that the Pentagon is prepared to implement the repeal without harming military readiness.Until those two months have elapsed, Gates noted in the memo, the don't ask, don't tell provisions "remain in force and effect."

"To prevent any confusion, I want to be perfectly clear: At this time, there are no new changes to any existing department or service policies," Gates wrote to senior officials such as Clifford Stanley, undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, who is the department's point man on implementing the repeal. "Service members who alter their personal conduct during this period may face adverse consequences."

The final phase of the long political struggle over the restrictions exposed deep fissures within the Pentagon: Gates and Mullen lobbied lawmakers for a repeal of don't ask, don't tell, while other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff--most notably Gen. James Amos, the Marine Corps commandant--argued strongly for keeping the provisions in place, at least until the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan came to an end. In congressional testimony, Amos warned that Marine ground forces who live and fight in close quarters would be uneasy about having openly gay troops in their midst, potentially disrupting the units while they are already engaged in difficult and dangerous combat.

Still, the Gates memo is in many ways a formality. Even before Wednesday's signing ceremony, the law had been effectively repealed months earlier when the Pentagon--at Gates's direction--adopted bureaucratic changes making it extraordinarily difficult to investigate or discharge gay troops.

Last March, Gates put in place new rules that limited the use of third-party accusations when investigating troops who were outed against their will. He also mandated that only Army colonels, Navy commanders, and other senior officers were allowed to open fact-finding proceedings against troops suspected of violating the don't ask, don't tell restrictions.

Gates went even further this fall, putting in place a second set of changes that meant that troops in violation of the ban could only be discharged by the secretaries of the Army, Navy or Air Force. Even then, the secretaries need the approval of two other high-ranking Pentagon officials--Stanley and Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson--before the troops are actually drummed out of the military.

The two sets of changes slowed the number of investigations and discharges dramatically. Pentagon statistics show that just 428 troops were discharged in 2009, the last full year for which data are available. That is down sharply from the 633 discharged in 2003 and the 1,273 drummed out of the military in 2001, the highest figure on record. Defense officials and advocates for gay troops expect the 2010 figures to be even lower. Several advocacy groups say they haven't heard of any discharges at all in months.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/natio...ffect-20101223
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Old 12-26-2010, 09:16 PM   #1058
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http://proamlib.blogspot.com/2010/12...-need-for.html

This is long overdue, and a welcome sign of progress.
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Old 12-27-2010, 08:07 AM   #1059
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Big step.....remember this is the south

Gay man leads N.C. church association
Stan Kimer of Raleigh breaks ground as president of the N.C. Council of Churches' board.


RALEIGH As the newly elected president of the N.C. Council of Churches, Stan Kimer is typical of those who served before him: a retired business executive, longtime churchgoer and member of several nonprofit organization boards.

He's also openly gay. And that sets him apart.

Only one other of the country's 33 similar church councils has elected an openly gay leader. In California, a lesbian was elected president in the late 1990s. That makes Kimer's presidency of the N.C. Council - a coalition of 17 Christian denominations and eight individual churches that work on social issues - historic in the South.

It also signals an acceptance among member denominations - Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Roman Catholics - that even if they have theological differences about homosexuality, they are OK with a gay man at the helm. Or at least, they don't see it as an issue worth fighting.

"A lot of our member denominations have internal battles about this," said the Rev. George Reed, the council's executive director. "But the governing board felt the fact that he is a gay man was not a disqualifying factor."

As president, Kimer leads a 35-member governing board that sets the council's direction on a host of social issues, including racial equality, health care, immigrant rights and environmental conservation. He was elected to a one-year term and could run for a second one-year term.

Kimer's election has its roots in a controversial 1993 decision by the N.C. council to add the Metropolitan Community Churches to its roster of cooperating denominations. The MCC is made up of nearly 200 U.S. churches, including seven in North Carolina, and caters to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.

Soon after the MCC became part of the N.C. council, Kimer joined the board as a representative of St. John's MCC, a Raleigh church where he has been a member for 18 years.

Kimer, 55, said he was elected president because he was able to convince the board that his agenda is broader than issues of sexuality.

"I have a strong belief that as a Christian I'm called to make the world a better place," he said. "I like to spend my time with groups where I can see an impact."

He cited the council's efforts to educate churches about immigration, obesity and disease, as well as about the need for diversity in public schools.

As president, he wants to help the council grow and attract younger people to its mission. He hopes to bring more churches into the mix, too, including independent evangelical churches that share concerns about the environment.

Kimer anticipates tough battles ahead as the state legislature transfers power to Republican hands. The council promotes a left-leaning legislative agenda on immigration, health care, tax policy, guns and the death penalty.

"Instead of helping pass good legislation, we'll be helping prevent bad legislation," Kimer said. "Probably a lot of our efforts will be on defense."

Kimer, who retired from IBM last year after serving as director of sales operations for its global business services, is now a private consultant. He lives in Raleigh with his partner of 19 years, Rich Roark, a loan manager for Capital Bank.

"Stan's getting elected president is not a referendum on gay individuals," said Jimmy Creech, a former Methodist minister and a champion for gay causes. "It's about Stan's leadership."

Kimer said that as president he intended to find consensus whenever possible.

But in the short term, his election may cause some friction. Back in 1993, when the council voted to admit his church as a member, the N.C. Conference of the United Methodist Church objected and withheld dues for nine years.

Still, the Rev. Steve Hickle, a Methodist pastor who sits on the governing board, said Kimer's election was possible because the council does not require theological agreement. Members work together on social issues where they can find common ground.

"The point of interreligious conversation is to continue to find common ground and understanding," Hickle said. "We want to work together on social justice whenever we can."
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Old 12-28-2010, 03:09 PM   #1060
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Post Where are the jobs?

Where are the jobs? For many companies, overseas

By PALLAVI GOGOI
Dec 28, 2010

Corporate profits are up. Stock prices are up. So why isn't anyone hiring?

Actually, many American companies are - just maybe not in your town. They're hiring overseas, where sales are surging and the pipeline of orders is fat.

More than half of the 15,000 people that Caterpillar Inc. has hired this year were outside the U.S. UPS is also hiring at a faster clip overseas. For both companies, sales in international markets are growing at least twice as fast as domestically.

The trend helps explain why unemployment remains high in the United States, edging up to 9.8 percent last month, even though companies are performing well: All but 4 percent of the top 500 U.S. corporations reported profits this year, and the stock market is close to its highest point since the 2008 financial meltdown.

But the jobs are going elsewhere. The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, says American companies have created 1.4 million jobs overseas this year, compared with less than 1 million in the U.S. The additional 1.4 million jobs would have lowered the U.S. unemployment rate to 8.9 percent, says Robert Scott, the institute's senior international economist.

"There's a huge difference between what is good for American companies versus what is good for the American economy," says Scott.

American jobs have been moving overseas for more than two decades. In recent years, though, those jobs have become more sophisticated - think semiconductors and software, not toys and clothes.

And now many of the products being made overseas aren't coming back to the United States. Demand has grown dramatically this year in emerging markets like India, China and Brazil.


Meanwhile, consumer demand in the U.S. has been subdued. Despite a strong holiday shopping season, Americans are still spending 3 percent less than before the recession on essential items like clothing and more than 10 percent less on jewelry, furniture, electronics, and big appliances, according to MasterCard's SpendingPulse.

"Companies will go where there are fast-growing markets and big profits," says Jeffrey Sachs, globalization expert and economist at Columbia University. "What's changed is that companies today are getting top talent in emerging economies, and the U.S. has to really watch out."

With the future looking brighter overseas, companies are building there, too. Caterpillar, maker of the signature yellow bulldozers and tractors, has invested in three new plants in China in just the last two months to design and manufacture equipment. The decision is based on demand: Asia-Pacific sales soared 38 percent in the first nine months of the year, compared with 16 percent in the U.S. Caterpillar stock is up 65 percent this year.

"There is a shift in economic power that's going on and will continue. China just became the world's second-largest economy," says David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's, who notes that half of the revenue for companies in the S&P 500 in the last couple of years has come from outside the U.S.

Take the example of DuPont, which wowed the world in 1938 with nylon stockings. Known as one of the most innovative American companies of the 20th century, DuPont now sells less than a third of its products in the U.S. In the first nine months of this year, sales to the Asia-Pacific region grew 50 percent, triple the U.S. rate. Its stock is up 47 percent this year.

DuPont's work force reflects the shift in its growth: In a presentation on emerging markets, the company said its number of employees in the U.S. shrank by 9 percent between January 2005 and October 2009. In the same period, its work force grew 54 percent in the Asia-Pacific countries.

"We are a global player out to succeed in any geography where we participate in," says Thomas M. Connelly, chief innovation officer at DuPont. "We want our resources close to where our customers are, to tailor products to their needs."

While most of DuPont's research labs are still stateside, Connelly says he's impressed with the company's overseas talent. The company opened a large research facility in Hyderabad, India, in 2008.

A key factor behind this runaway international growth is the rise of the middle class in these emerging countries. By 2015, for the first time, the number of consumers in Asia's middle class will equal those in Europe and North America combined.


"All of the growth over the next 10 years is happening in Asia," says Homi Kharas, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and formerly the World Bank's chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific.

Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent often points out that a billion consumers will enter the middle class during the coming decade, mostly in Africa, China and India. He is aggressively targeting those markets. Of Coke's 93,000 global employees, less than 13 percent were in the U.S. in 2009, down from 19 percent five years ago.

The company would not say how many new U.S. hires it has made in 2010. But its latest new investments are overseas, including $240 million for three bottling plants in Inner Mongolia as part of a three-year, $2 billion investment in China. The three plants will create 2,000 new jobs in the area. In September, Coca-Cola pledged $1 billion to the Philippines over five years.

The strategy isn't restricted to just the largest American companies. Entrepreneurs, whether in technology, retail or in manufacturing, today hire globally from the start.

Consider Vast.com, which powers the search engines of sites like Yahoo Travel and Aol Autos. The company was founded in 2005 with employees based in San Francisco and Serbia.

Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria worries that the trend could be dangerous. In an article in the November issue of the Harvard Business Review, he says that if U.S. businesses keep prospering while Americans are struggling, business leaders will lose legitimacy in society. He exhorted business leaders to find a way to link growth with job creation at home.

Other economists, like Columbia University's Sachs, say multinational corporations have no choice, especially now that the quality of the global work force has improved. Sachs points out that the U.S. is falling in most global rankings for higher education while others are rising.

"We are not fulfilling the educational needs of our young people," says Sachs. "In a globalized world, there are serious consequences to that."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OVERSEAS_HIRING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=D EFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-28-07-59-38
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