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Sorry We Asked, Sorry You Told

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post (and a frequent commentator on Countdown with Keith Olbermann) wrote a column for the paper's website entitled Sorry We Asked, Sorry You Told. In it, he reports on some of the testimony given by one of the biggest fans of the failed & unnecessary "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy. Just reading what Elaine Donnelly, who is founder and president of the Center for Military Readiness & who is fighting to keep DADT, made my blood boil! Watching her on the clips I've seen on YouTube only reinforces my indignation!

What Dana does, however, is explain that Donnelly's obvious homophobia & insistence on perpetrating the same old lines & the same old lies has actually helped in advancing our cause. Not that DADT will be repealed as long as Bush is in office or if his comrade-in-arms, John McCain wins in November, as McCain has said he sees no reason to scrap the program either. Senator Obama has made it clear, however, that he will work to kill the program as Commander-in-Chief.

Some video of Donnelly's interaction with an Iraqi-War-vet-turned-Congressman Patrick Murphy:

Some video of retired Staff Sergeant Eric Alva (the very first US soldier injured in Bush Jr.'s Iraq War & whom George Bush called a "hero"--before he knew Alva is gay). Alva, who is openly gay, says he risked his life & lost his leg to fight for freedoms that, ironically, he himself doesn't get to enjoy.

DADT's Days Numbered???

It just really does my heart good to see Democrats on Capitol Hill actively talking about gay rights in the midst of a presidential election season! To be sure, repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is an issue that apparently 3/4 of the nation agrees on now, so the Dems aren't exactly going out a limb for us, but with the problems of recruiting soldiers in the midst of an unpopular war & the sheer stupidity of kicking out highly-trained soldiers who refuse to lie about themselves, the Democrats obviously think this political fruit is ripe for the picking. Good for them (and us)!

Whatever the cause, I'm just glad to that we're all getting a chance to discuss the inanity of a policy that actively encourages secrets & lies.

It should be interesting to see & hear what those who actually still support the ban have to say at the hearing tomorrow. I'm sure that, where these fear-mongers are concerned, it'll be the same "homosexuals-are-a-demoralizing-threat-to-the-stability-of-a-cohesive-unit" argument that they have simply already done to death. Same old song, not even a new verse! I guess where these people are concerned, as it says in Ecclesiastes, there's just nothing new under the sun.