Eating Michele Bachmann's Lunch

Sgt. Maj. Michael Barrett, the top non-commissioned officer of the Marine Corps, recently spoke to American soldiers in South Korea about the upcoming repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", and he said, among other things, "Get over it."

Sgt. Maj. Barrett pulled out a small copy of the U.S. Constitution and referred to Article 1, Section 8, and said, “It says, ‘Raise an army.’ It says absolutely nothing about race, color, creed, sexual orientation.” He then asked if everyone in the group joined the Marines to protect their nation, going on to say, “How dare we, then, exclude a group of people who want to do the same thing you do right now, something that is honorable and noble?” Sgt. Maj. Barrett ended his remarks by saying, “Get over it… Let’s just move on, treat everybody with firmness, fairness, dignity, compassion and respect. Let’s be Marines.”

Wow.

(sgt. maj. michael barrett, left,
with gen. james amos)

Sgt. Maj. Michael Barrett, with thirty years of service in the Marines, is the senior enlisted adviser to Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos. Gen. Amos, who fought to retain DADT, told the Marine Corps Times that Barrett is "the best of the best".

Among the branches of the American military, the Marines are the most resistant to the repeal of DADT, but Sgt. Maj. Barrett told Military.com that he saw no evidence of Marines leaving because of the DADT repeal, saying, "It is important that we value the diversity and background and the culture and the skills that all the Marines bring to the service of the nation."

Now doesn't that make you feel great to know that we actually have some members of our military leadership who have their heads screwed on right? And doesn't that make Republicans like Michele Bachmann and John McCain, who are already small-minded about DADT, seem even smaller by comparison? And wouldn't you love to watch a nationally televised debate between Bachmann and Sgt. Maj. Barrett over the issue of DADT? We can already see it in our minds: the extent to which Sgt. Maj. Barrett would eat Bachmann's lunch would only be overshadowed by the extent to which Bachmann would still believe she knew more about the military than a marine with thirty years of service.

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is One Step Closer to an End

Virginia A. Phillips, a U.S. District Judge in California has, today, issued an injunction against the U.S. Military's policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which means that the Pentagon must immediately stop the practice of banning openly gay soldiers from serving in its ranks. The Obama administration is expected to appeal the decision.
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(federal judge virginia a. phillips)
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We don't even have to read the reactions of the Republican right to know what they're going to say about this ruling. They're going to trot out that tired, old excuse that Judge Phillips is an "activist judge". Whatever that means. (To the Republicans, an "activist judge" is any judge who makes a ruling with which they disagree.) But let's get real, as we just wrote in a post yesterday, social change always comes, sooner or later, and often it comes from a judicial ruling. And for opponents of gay rights to say that a judge is being an "activist" for opposing discrimination is a little like Southern slaveholders in the 1860's trying to negate Pres. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation by describing Lincoln as an "activist" president. Bitch, please!

Insert Dick Joke Here

(griffin at her d.c. rally to end "don't ask, don't tell").
On Tuesday, after writing about the need to end the U.S. military policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" we tuned in that night to watch "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List", and it was the episode in which she travels to Washington, D.C. to head up a rally to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". The episode was funny, as usual; she discussed "snorkeling" with Colorado Rep. Jared Polis, she asked Barney Frank how long it had been since he'd called gay bingo, to which he answered, "A couple of summers ago in Provincetown", and she called Majority Whip Jim Clyburn "a queen", a remark for which she had to call his office and apologize..
Some critics are calling Griffin's act "old and tired", and it probably is a bit; the Washington Post critic was especially harsh when writing about last night's episode. Although, in true Kathy Griffin style, we'll digress for a moment to note that the Post's biggest back-handed swipe was taken at the Human Rights Campaign when it said that "the HRC, (on Griffin's show), was shown doing what they do best, trying to micro-manage the gay rights' movement". Ouch and me-ow! Anyway, okay, so yes, Kathy needs some new material, but let's face it, she's so gifted comedically, that even when delivering day old bread, she's still funnier than most comedians on t.v. with brand new stuff. And then there's the fact that she's a true friend to the gay community, and when she fights for us, she means it. Tuesday night's scene in which she interviewed the secretly gay military service members who were in attendance at her HRC dinner was genuinely moving, and Griffin was genuinely moved by their plight as well. So while the bitch might need some new jokes, and she's definitely not "D-List" any longer, we'll still always watch whatever she does, and usually end up on the floor laughing.

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(griffin with arianna huffington in washington, d.c.)

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And, of course, as you can see from the photos below, Miss Griffin wasted no time in taking advantage of the news that Bristol Palin and her "boyfriend", Levi Johnston, are engaged.

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Rachel Tells All

. It's all about the U.S. military this week. Rachel Maddow traveled to Afghanistan last week and broadcast an entire week of her shows from there, and the news wasn't heartening. She highlighted the extent to which we are paying millions and millions of dollars to bribe Afghans not to kill us, or to build Afghan city services, which is especially discouraging considering that so many American cities are begging for money to shore up desperately needed social services or crumbling infrastructure. Millions of our tax dollars are also finding their way into the pockets of the Afghani elite, who are using the money to build huge homes surrounded by high security walls. And then, of course, these are the same people who are quick to tell our military leaders whatever our leaders want to hear, because it's in the interest of those Afghani elite to keep us in their country as long as possible. Most shocking, though, was when Rachel interviewed an American military leader who explained our current strategy, afterwhich Rachel asked him, "Okay, if that plan doesn't work, what's our 'Plan B'?" The military leader didn't have an answer. Wow. People, we are fucked in Afghanistan; it's Vietnam all over again, period. It's time to get out. And our Plan B should be to get out.
. Coming on the heels of Rachel's stellar reporting, was the news that the U.S. military was about to issue a survey to current service members asking them their opinions about serving with openly gay service members. Typical questions were, "How would you feel about showering with a gay person?", and "What would you do if another service member brought someone of their own gender to a military-sponsored social event?". Multiple choice responses followed the questions, one being, "Would it make you less likely to want to serve in the U.S. military?". We couldn't believe it; it's truly difficult to imagine that this type of ignorance and homophobia is still so rampant in American society in 2010. First, can you believe that the military asked its members what they thought about a military order? Doesn't that fly in the face of everything we've ever heard about how the U.S. Military works? We always thought that once orders are given, it's the soldier's job to follow them. Period. We don't remember hearing very many examples of generals asking their soldiers in World War II, "Well, guys, I'd like to take that hill. What do you think? Would taking that hill make you less likely to want to be in my unit?" When the U.S. President issues the order that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has ended, and that openly gay people can serve openly in the U.S. military, isn't it the job of the soldiers to follow and respect that order, or be court-martialed? Or are we missing something here? Can you imagine if white soldiers were asked in the 1940's if Black people should be allowed to serve, or if male soldiers in the 1970's were asked how they felt about women serving beside them? . But even if you take the survey at face value, believing that the creators of the survey really believed they were helping to head off mass protestations and anger among the ranks of the military, even that notion is a little shocking. Because to believe that that was the motive of the survey creators is to realize that those creators are hopelessly mired in their own homophobia and 1950's-era ignorance. Gay people have served in the U.S. military since the beginning of American history, and in 2010, most "straight" service members know this, understand it, and for the most part, don't have a problem with it. Because as we all know, the quickest way to end homophobia is to place a straight with a gay, and in very little time, that straight person realizes that gay people aren't really very different from anyone else. We would venture to guess that most straight service members already know that they've been showering with gay service members, and sharing barracks and foxholes with them, for a long, long time, and are probably laughing their asses off at the thought that our military leaders are the very top think they can't handle it. It's time for Pres. Obama to end this ridiculous issue right now; he should end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" immediately, and let us start to put this shameful chapter of our American history behind us.

Don't Ask Me If You're an Ignoramus and I Won't Tell You

Oh God, here we go again! It was just announced on MSNBC that Pres.-Elect Obama plans to immediately do away with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the official policy concerning gay people in the U.S. military. Which means that gay people will be able to be openly gay and still serve in the military. Cue the right-wing army of screaming homophobes.

If you think Prop 8 was a controversy, wait until this issue hits the fan. We won't even bother to go into a discussion of the facts here, we'll hear about it ad naseum over the next few days. For now, just consider this: gay people have served in the U.S. military since the beginning of the nation, and have you ever heard of a problem really caused by gays in the military? Or certainly any problems worse than the widespread incidences of sexual assalts on our female soldiers by our own male (heterosexual) soldiers, or the number of illegitimate pregnancies among the ranks of our female soldiers? Maybe we should start focusing on the behavior of our soldiers and not their sexuality.

What's more, our military currently counts thousands of gay
people among its ranks, most have even served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has it stopped our military from being the most powerful and potent fighting force on the face of the planet? I don't think so.

Regardless of common sense, gird your loins. The homophobes will come screeching out of their backwoods caves on this one.